Top Items:
New York Times:
Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model — WASHINGTON — President Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and The Guardian
Will Hurd / New York Times:
Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do? — Lawmakers must keep the American people informed of the current danger, writes a Republican congressman from Texas. — Mr. Hurd, a former C.I.A. officer, is a congressman from the 23rd District of Texas.
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, IJR, NBC News, BloombergQuint, Axios, Roll Call, Political Wire, The Week, Bloomberg and Mediaite
RELATED:
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Are Republicans Covering for Trump, or for Themselves? — If the N.R.A. was compromised by Russia, the whole party's in trouble. — Of all the interlocking mysteries of the Trump-Russia scandal, one that I've found particularly perplexing is the utter servility of congressional Republicans …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, USA Today, CNN and Mother Jones
Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
A Theory of Trump Kompromat — Why the President is so nice to Putin, even when Putin might not want him to be. — The former C.I.A. operative Jack Devine watched Donald Trump's performance standing next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday, and his first thought was, “There is no way Trump is a Russian agent.”
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Trump says he's ‘ready’ to put tariffs on all $505 billion of Chinese goods imported to the US — President Donald Trump has indicated he is willing to put tariffs on all $505 billion of Chinese goods the U.S. imports. — The rhetoric marks ramps up the U.S-China trade war another step …
Discussion:
NPR, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon, Sarah Palin, Wall Street Journal, Political Wire, Axios, Raw Story, The Guardian and The Week
RELATED:
Blake Hounshell / Politico:
Why I'm No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic — Facts are piling up, and it's getting harder to deny what's staring us in the face. — When I wrote, back in February, that I was skeptical that President Donald Trump would ever be proved to have secretly colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election in his favor, I mistyped.
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
White House morale tanks amid Helsinki fallout — Staffers are considering accelerating their departures in the wake of the president's equivocations on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. — President Donald Trump's disastrous performance since his news conference alongside Russian …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times, NewsBusters, IJR, BloombergQuint, Raw Story, Washington Post, Vox, Contemptor, Breitbart and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Henry Kissinger: ‘We are in a very, very grave period’ — It was not hard to entice Henry Kissinger to meet for lunch. Though he is 95, and moves very slowly, the grand consigliere of American diplomacy is keen to talk. He hops on and off planes to see the likes of Russia's Vladimir Putin …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Washington Post and Althouse
Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:
Poll: Half of Americans Think Trump Acted ‘Treasonous’ in Helsinki … President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended his extraordinary performance at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki, dismissing the “many haters” who wanted to see “a boxing match.”
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hot Air, Daily Kos, New York Times, NBC News and Media Matters for America
RELATED:
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
“No Way to Run a Superpower”: the Trump-Putin Summit and the Death of American Foreign Policy
“No Way to Run a Superpower”: the Trump-Putin Summit and the Death of American Foreign Policy
Discussion:
Just Security, Balloon Juice, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal
New York Times:
Bill Shine, Trump's Top Communicator, Was Questioned by Federal Prosecutors — WASHINGTON — Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News hired this month as President Trump's communications chief, brought conservative credentials and heavy baggage with him into the White House.
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Week, CNNMoney and Mediaite
NBC 6 South Florida:
Father of Parkland School Shooting Survivors Killed in North Lauderdale Armed Robbery — North Lauderdale Robbery Surveillance Video — The father of two Parkland school shooting survivors was fatally shot at his own North Lauderdale convenience store during a robbery, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Bustle, VICE News, Townhall and TheBlaze
Politico:
McConnell issues Supreme Court ultimatum — The Senate GOP leader is vowing to squeeze Democrats with a vote on Brett Kavanaugh right before the midterms if they don't back down on their demand for documents. — Mitch McConnell has a warning for Democrats demanding copious documents …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Sarah Palin, Above the Law, SCOTUSblog and The Week
RELATED:
Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Fox News' Kimberly Guilfoyle leaving the network to hit campaign trail with Donald Trump Jr. — Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Fox News host and longtime network personality, plans to leave her role at the cable news channel, two people familiar with the matter said.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Conservative News Today, Contemptor, AOL, Mediaite, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller
Scott Johnson / Power Line:
The Brennan factor revisited — Following former Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan on Twitter, we see his animus nakedly on display. He is demented by hatred. Is this really the public role a former Director of the CIA is to be playing? Below is his most recent effusion on Twitter.
Discussion:
The Federalist, Front Page Magazine, Breitbart and Slate
RELATED:
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Brennan and the 2016 Spy Scandal
Molly Hensley-Clancy / BuzzFeed News:
Centrist Democrats Want A Presidential Candidate To Take On Bernie. They Just Don't Know Who It Is. — At a centrist Democrats' conference in Columbus, Ohio, the burning question was how to create an economic message that could beat two people in 2020 who have crystal clear economic messages: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
RELATED:
Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:
The Progressive Hawaii Senator Reshaping the 2020 Race, Without Even Running
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Justice Department plans to alert public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy — The Justice Department plans to alert the public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy, under a new policy designed to counter hacking and disinformation campaigns such as the one Russia undertook …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Engadget, Vox and The Week
RELATED:
Jessica Sager / Page Six:
Roseanne Barr on Valerie Jarrett tweet: ‘I thought the b—h was white’ — Roseanne Barr spoke out relatively unapologetically about the vile Valerie Jarrett tweet that got her “Roseanne” reboot canceled: “I thought the b—h was white!” — In a video posted to Barr's YouTube page …
Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:
She Gave Millions to Artists Without Credit. Until Now. — The artist Carrie Mae Weems recalls sitting at her desk in Syracuse in 2014 “feeling very anonymous and misunderstood and trying to figure out how to make some new work” when she got the call. — “I was offered this extraordinary gift,” she said.
Bloomberg:
Where the Super-Rich Go to Buy Their Second Passport — Cheaper than a Gulfstream, nimbler than a superyacht, a second passport—or a third or fourth—has become another trophy for the ultra-wealthy. — Even self-styled citizens of the world, it seems, need a Plan B. Plus, that gold Maltese coat of arms looks classy.
Jay Nordlinger / National Review:
Tiny, Faraway Countries and Us — Montenegro is in the news, much to its discomfort. President Trump cast doubt on collective security, which is the crux of NATO: “You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. . . . They are very aggressive people.
RELATED:
Jon Levine / The Wrap:
USA Today Drops Columnist Cheri Jacobus After Tweet About Convicted Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein (Exclusive) — “Our editors let Jacobus know that she would no longer be writing for USA TODAY,” a spokesperson for the paper tells TheWrap — USA has dropped columnist Cheri Jacobus …
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, Washington Times, twitchy.com, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
Joyce Cohen / New York Times:
Graduating to Their First Big City Rental — For two young newcomers, having “the full New York City experience” meant finding a happy medium between uptown gloss and downtown grit. — Two years ago, Alexi Stathakis and Lauren Witonsky met as summer interns at a public relations firm.
Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount TV President Amy Powell Fired Over Inappropriate Comments — She was tapped to oversee the division in 2013 and has delivered hits including ‘13 Reasons Why’ and ‘The Alienist.’ — Five years after being tapped to lead the newly relaunched Paramount Television banner, Amy Powell is out.
Discussion:
AOL, BloombergQuint, New York Times, theGrio and KTLA, more at Mediagazer »
Ricochet:
The Left Gives Up on Comedy — Jon Gabriel, Ed. — Four years ago, progressives were riding high. Obama was president, healthcare was fixed forever, and the reset-button Ruskies were our best pals. But even in that golden age, there was a growing sense that comedy was ... well ... problematic.
BuzzFeed News:
Congratulations, Mr. President: Zuckerberg Secretly Called Trump After The Election — In the days following Donald Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg placed a secret, previously unreported call to the president-elect during which, sources tell BuzzFeed News …
Discussion:
BloombergQuint and Bustle, more at Techmeme »
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Dems plan longshot gambit to force action on Mueller protection bill — House Democrats are moving Friday to force Republicans to hold a hearing on a measure that would prevent President Donald Trump from unilaterally removing special counsel Robert Mueller.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Terry Gross / NPR:
Reporter Shows The Links Between The Men Behind Brexit And The Trump Campaign — Carole Cadwalladr's investigation into Cambridge Analytica's role in Brexit led her to Russian connections and the Trump campaign. She says British investigators are working “closely with the FBI.” — TERRY GROSS, HOST:
Ryan P. Williams / RealClearPolicy:
Do We Really Need a New Conservatism? — EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second essay of a RealClearPolicy series centered on the American Project, an initiative of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. The project looks to the country's founding principles to respond to our current cultural and political upheaval.
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Emily Cochrane / New York Times:
Who Heard What Trump Said to Putin? Only One Other American — WASHINGTON — Marina Gross, the only other American in the room during President Trump's meeting on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, was the interpreter for Laura Bush at the Russian resort of Sochi in 2008 …
Discussion:
RedState, TheBlaze, HuffPost, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon
Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
Young voters make up significant portion of new registrations in key states since Parkland shooting — Young voters are flocking to register to vote in key battleground states in the wake of the February school shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school, according to a new analysis from Democratic data firm TargetSmart.
Discussion:
New Republic, Naked Politics and TargetSmart
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
God bless the ‘deep state’ — Before this harebrained and reckless administration is history, the nation will have cause to celebrate the public servants derided by Trumpists as the supposed “deep state.” — The term itself is propaganda, intended to cast a sinister light upon men …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, CNBC, Vox and FOX2now.com
Associated Press:
US, allies set to evacuate Syrian aid workers from southwest — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the United States is finalizing plans to evacuate several hundred Syrian civil defense workers and their families from southwest Syria as Russian-backed government forces close in on the area.