Top Items:
New York Times:
Shifting Strategy, Trump's Lawyers Set New Conditions for Mueller Interview — WASHINGTON — President Trump's lawyers set new conditions on Friday on an interview with the special counsel and said that the chances that the president would be voluntarily questioned were growing increasingly unlikely.
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Q13 FOX News, Vox, Raw Story, Mediaite and Washington Post
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Eric Lipton / New York Times:
‘Super Polluting’ Trucks Receive Loophole on Pruitt's Last Day — WASHINGTON — In the final hours of Scott Pruitt's tenure as administrator, the Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to effectively grant a loophole that will allow a major increase in the manufacturing …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Breitbart, Vox, Mediaite and The Atlantic
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Bloomberg:
Pruitt Was Told to Resign in Call From White House, Sources Say — EPA chief's tenure was marred by alleged ethical missteps — Call to quit came from Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly — Scott Pruitt resigned as EPA chief Thursday after White House Chief of Staff John Kelly delivered …
Erin Dunne / Washington Examiner:
Why the Left will hate Andrew Wheeler at EPA even more than Scott Pruitt
Why the Left will hate Andrew Wheeler at EPA even more than Scott Pruitt
Discussion:
The Guardian and The Daily Caller
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Manafort bank fraud trial does have Trump campaign connection, Mueller's team says — (CNN)Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller intend to present evidence at the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort that a banking executive allegedly helped Manafort obtain loans …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Hill Reporter, Axios and Joe.My.God.
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Washington Post:
Paul Manafort wants trial moved to Roanoke, says Northern Virginia too liberal — Attorneys for Paul Manafort asked a federal judge to move his fast-approaching criminal bank and tax fraud trial from Alexandria to Roanoke, Va., saying a more Republican-friendly jury would decide his guilt or innocence more fairly.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Adam K. Raymond / New York Magazine:
Manafort Kept in Solitary 23 Hours a Day to ‘Guarantee His Safety,’ Lawyer Says — Paul Manafort is being kept in solitary confinement in a Virginia jail in order to “guarantee his safety,” his lawyer said in court documents filed this week. “He is locked in his cell for at least 23 hours per day …
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Manafort proposes delay and move for Virginia trial
Manafort proposes delay and move for Virginia trial
Discussion:
One America News Network
Ronn Blitzer / Law & Crime:
Why the Heck is Paul Manafort Being Kept in Solitary Confinement?
Why the Heck is Paul Manafort Being Kept in Solitary Confinement?
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Politico:
‘A cesspool of deviancy’: New claims of voyeurism test Jordan denials — A half-dozen former wrestlers at Ohio State, where GOP Rep. Jim Jordan once coached, said they were regularly harassed by men in their training facility. — New allegations in the Ohio State University sexual abuse scandal …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Mediaite, Breitbart, Washington Post, The Guardian, TheBlaze and HuffPost
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Catie Edmondson / New York Times:
Jim Jordan Is Defiant as Allegations Mount, and Supporters Point to ‘Deep State’ — WASHINGTON — Representative Jim Jordan is facing the kind of slowly percolating scandal that would bring down other politicians in other times, as new accusers step forward by the day to say the wrestling …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Mediaite and ThinkProgress
Associated Press:
The Latest: North Korea says Pompeo talks ‘regrettable’ — PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to North Korea (all times local): — North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were …
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John Hudson / Washington Post:
Secretary of State Pompeo leaves North Korea with promise of more talks but no tangible breakthrough
Secretary of State Pompeo leaves North Korea with promise of more talks but no tangible breakthrough
Discussion:
Associated Press
Gardiner Harris / New York Times:
Pompeo and North Korean Official Meet for 2nd Day of Talks
Pompeo and North Korean Official Meet for 2nd Day of Talks
Discussion:
VICE and Just Security
Washington Post:
Ahead of NATO and Putin summits, Trump's unorthodox diplomacy rattles allies — President Trump will land in Europe next week amid fears that he will blow up a key summit focused on Europe's defense and then offer concessions to NATO's main adversary in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Discussion:
One America News Network and Raw Story
New York Times:
Trump Starts a Trade War, but the Path to Success Remains Unclear — WASHINGTON — The United States and China hit each other with punishing tariffs on Friday as the two nations tipped into a long-feared trade war that is only expected to escalate. — President Trump has said that trade wars are “easy to win.”
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Political Wire, Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal and Outside the Beltway
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Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:
Bill Shine's Wife Darla Complained She Couldn't Use N-Word and Spread Conspiracy Theories About ‘Blacks’ — The wife of Bill Shine — former Fox News co-president who just joined the Trump administration as White House communications chief — has a lengthy history of defending racists …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Week and HuffPost
RT:
Greenwald: I came to Russia to combat US' toxic view on the country … Too many people in the US consider any contact with Russia suspicious, or worse, journalist Glenn Greenwald told RT. Combating this toxic attitude is one of the reasons he decided to come to Russia this week.
Julia Jacobs / New York Times:
Holocaust Denier in California Congressional Race Leaves State G.O.P. Scrambling — A Republican congressional candidate in a reliably blue California district managed to capture nearly a quarter of votes cast in the state's open primary last month — just after the state Republican Party caught wind …
Discussion:
Law & Crime and The Daily Beast
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Democratic Socialism Is Dem Doom — A political novice who calls herself a “democratic socialist” wins an unexpected Democratic Party primary victory, and now political taxonomists are racing to explain just what the term means. Here's my definition: political hemlock for the Democratic Party.
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Kenneth Lovett / New York Daily News:
Cuomo not the only NY Democrat keeping Trump money
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Eight Republicans pick the worst possible place to celebrate July 4 — “What does July 4th mean to me? Freedom,” Sen. Ron Johnson chirruped on Twitter on Independence Day. — For the Wisconsin Republican, it meant, specifically, the freedom to spend July 4 in Moscow with seven …
Discussion:
Politico, POLITICUSUSA, Hullabaloo and Salon
Tom Ley / Splinter:
Inspiring: A Small Number of Jackasses Put Minimal Effort Into Remembering Some Onion Inc. Blogs — The Daily Beast reported today that Univision, the parent company of both the Gizmodo Media Group and Onion Inc., is planning to layoff a significant number of Onion Inc. employees in the coming days.
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Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Expected to Suspend ACA Program Related to Insurer Payments — Companies could take financial hit from freezing of risk-adjustment payouts — The Trump administration is expected to suspend an Affordable Care Act program that plays a key role in the health law's insurance markets …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and ACA Signups
Keith L. Alexander / Washington Post:
Federal prosecutors abruptly dismiss all remaining Inauguration Day rioting cases — District prosecutors on Friday dismissed rioting charges against all remaining defendants arrested after destructive Inauguration Day protests, bringing to a close a controversial case which led to allegations of government overreach.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Hit & Run, TheBlaze, Conservative News Today, Pacific Standard, The Week, Boing Boing and Axios
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Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed:
The Government Is Dropping All Charges In The Remaining Inauguration Day Prosecutions
The Government Is Dropping All Charges In The Remaining Inauguration Day Prosecutions
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Dave Philipps / New York Times:
They Came Here to Serve. But for Many Immigrants, the Army Isn't Interested. — Recruit Zhang, an immigrant from China, joined the United States military on the promise that enlisting would lead to American citizenship. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and was handed an Army T-shirt.
Los Angeles Times:
Southern California sets all-time heat records as broiling conditions bring misery — Many parts of Southern California hit new high-temperature marks Friday, with a few spots reaching the hottest readings ever recorded. — Among the places that set all-time records were Van Nuys Airport …
Discussion:
Legal Planet and The Mahablog
Reveal:
Defense contractor detained migrant kids in vacant Phoenix office building — A major U.S. defense contractor quietly detained dozens of immigrant children inside a vacant Phoenix office building with dark windows, no kitchen and only a few toilets during three weeks of the Trump administration's …