memeorandum: Omarosa releases secret tape of Lara Trump offering her $15K/month campaign job (Adam Edelman/NBC News)

8:20 PM ET, August 16, 2018

Top Items:

William H. McRaven / Washington Post:

Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President — William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. — Dear Mr. President:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, ABC News, CNN, BuzzFeed News, Politico, Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Reuters, KTLA, twitchy.com, Splinter, Daily Wire, Axios, Washington Times, The Week, Hot Air, IJR, Shareblue Media, HuffPost, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Death Spiral”: Why Omarosa Totally Triggered Trump — The perceived betrayal of a longtime female ally, and her perfectly executed Trumpian tactics, made the feud too personal to ignore. — In the days before Omarosa Manigault Newman rolled out her White House tell-all, Unhinged …

Adam Edelman / NBC News:

Omarosa releases secret tape of Lara Trump offering her $15K/month campaign job — The tape, which was broadcast on MSNBC, was made just days after the former “Apprentice” contestant left her White House job. — Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former reality TV star who became a top White House aide …

Discussion: The Atlantic, New Republic, Fox News Insider, The Root, Common Dreams, Splinter, VICE News, Axios, Taylor Marsh and MSNBC

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Trump gears up to strip more clearances from officials tied to Russia investigation — President Trump has told advisers that he is eager to strip more security clearances as part of an escalating attack against people who have criticized him or played a role in the investigation …

Discussion: Political Wire, Just Security and Axios

Nicholas Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times is not participating in today's nationwide editorial page protest against Trump's attacks on the press. Here's why — More than 300 newspapers around the country will participate today in a group protest of President Trump's frequent attacks on the news media.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Caller, KTLA, The Hill and BloombergQuint, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Omarosa Manigault Newman Releases Tape of Lara Trump's $15,000-a-Month Job Offer — Omarosa Manigault Newman released a secret recording on Thursday that she said backed her claim that President Trump's daughter-in-law had offered her a $15,000-a-month contract in exchange for her silence about her time as a White House adviser.

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Exclusive: Omarosa's publisher tells Trump campaign: We ‘will not be intimidated’

Discussion: Mediaite and The Week

John O. Brennan / New York Times:

John Brennan: President Trump's Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash — That's why the president revoked my security clearance: to try to silence anyone who would dare challenge him. — Mr. Brennan was director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2017.

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Trump Is Not Trying to Silence Brennan — The president's strategy is the opposite: to make the former CIA director more prominent and use him as a foil. — President Donald Trump's decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan is, according to conventional wisdom, an effort to silence his critics.

Discussion: Washington Post, ACLU and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast: CIA Chief Gina Haspel Silent as Trump Attacks Her Predecessor and Patron

Associated Press: Former US security leaders blast Trump for yanking clearance

Fox News Insider:
Gen. Tata: ‘Communist John Brennan’ Never Should Have Had a Security Clearance

Discussion: U.S. Senator Rand Paul …, Conservative Tribune, The Western Journal, Telegraph, Yahoo, Townhall, Front Page Magazine, The Daily Caller and IJR

David French / National Review:
Yes, Revoking John Brennan's Security Clearance Raises Constitutional Concerns

Discussion: Washington Post, Lawfare and The Daily Banter

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump blurts out another Lester Holt moment

Discussion: CNN, Hit & Run, Hullabaloo, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Shakesville, Breitbart, Hot Air, The National Memo and Politico

Mike Levine / ABC News: Why does the US government let millions of people access its secrets?

Amanda Macias / CNBC:

Trump's military parade is now estimated to cost $92 million - $80 million more than earlier estimate — President Donald Trump's military parade is estimated to cost $92 million, according to a U.S. defense official with firsthand knowledge of the assessment.

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, New Republic, Task & Purpose, New York Times, TheBlaze, The Week, Politico, ABC News, The Hill, AOL, Daily Kos, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo, Splinter and VICE

Associated Press:
$92M new estimate for Trump military parade is big increase

Discussion: One America News Network

Violet Ikonomova / Detroit Metro Times:

Detroit Rep. Bettie Cook Scott on Asian opponent: 'Don't vote for the ching-chong!' — More than a dozen community groups have called on Rep. Bettie Cook Scott (D-Detroit) to apologize for a series of racial slurs sources say she used to describe her primary election opponent, Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit).

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, HuffPost, Splinter, Washington Times, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Wire, Liberty Unyielding and twitchy.com

Wall Street Journal:

As ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape Surfaced, Michael Cohen Changed Tune on Paying Stormy Daniels — Federal prosecutors investigating former Trump lawyer view October 2016 tape as trigger for burying potentially damaging information, people familiar with the matter say

Discussion: Slate and CNN

CNN:

CNN Poll: Brett Kavanaugh nomination has lowest public support since Robert Bork — Trump's SCOTUS pick could change America — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, receives a cooler public reception than nearly every nominee for the last four administrations …

Discussion: MSNBC

Patrick Leahy / U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont: BREAKING NEWS From Senator Feinstein, Senator Leahy, And Senator Durbin: Documents Indicate …

Sean Sullivan / San Francisco Chronicle: Senate confirms the 25th and 26th appellate judges during Trump's tenure

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Dems threaten to sue over release of Kavanaugh documents

Discussion: Common Dreams, One America News Network and SCOTUSblog

Andrew Kirell / The Daily Beast:

Fox News Mistakes Patti LaBelle for Aretha Franklin — Fox News apparently mistook singer Patti LaBelle for Aretha Franklin on Thursday, including a photo of LaBelle as part of the network's obituary image for Franklin, who passed away earlier this morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Discussion: Contemptor, The Daily Beast, One America News Network, Politico, ABC News and Splinter

David Remnick / New Yorker:
Aretha Franklin: A Legacy in Music

Discussion: New York Times, IJR, Vox, The Atlantic, Gothamist, Longreads and Consequence of Sound

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Forecasting the race for the House — Our forecast for every district — The chance of each candidate winning, with all 435 House districts shown at the same size — CartogramMap — Dem. — Solid — Likely — Lean — Rep. — ≥95% — ≥75% — ≥60% — Toss-up

Discussion: Grasping Reality …, CNBC, ABC News, DC Tribune and Political Wire

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:

Manafort jury sends judge four questions, asks him to define ‘reasonable doubt’ — Jurors weighing the fate of President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort ended its first day of deliberations Thursday with a set of questions for the judge, asking for further explanation …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Manafort trial Day 13: No verdict as defense calls jury's questions ‘a good sign’

Discussion: ABC News

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

‘If they take the House, he wins big’: Trump loyalists see upside in impeachment — Why some Trump allies think his path to reelection runs through an effort to kick him out of the Oval Office. — There's a new way of demonstrating loyalty to Donald Trump and his Republican Party …

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Kos, New Republic, The Week, Raw Story and The Hill

New York Times:
Pelosi, Under Threat in Her Own Party, Says She Is Building Bridge to New Leaders

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation, The Week, Axios, Townhall, The Editorial Board, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Politico and CNN

Mary Ellen Klas / miamiherald:

Rick Scott killed a high-speed rail plan. Then All Aboard rolled up and he bought it. — TALLAHASSEE — As one of his first acts in office in 2011, Gov. Rick Scott canceled a $2.4 billion federally funded and shovel-ready bullet train from Orlando to Tampa because it carried …

Discussion: CBS Miami and Florida Politics

Noah Weiland / New York Times:

Meet the Special Counsel Team: So Careful They Won't Even Disclose Their Shake Shack Orders — ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Greg D. Andres looked like any ordinary guest at the Westin hotel here, standing near the valet in flip-flops and a white Notre Dame boxing T-shirt, waiting for a Postmates delivery from Shake Shack.

Justin Rosario / The Daily Banter:

Terrified of the Blue Wave, Georgia Republicans Shut down 75% of Black Voting Sites — Republicans have little to no use for democracy. We've known this for decades. It's why we had to pass the Voting Rights Act in the first place and why the extremists of the Republican controlled Supreme Court gutted it.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Booman Tribune

Associated Press:
ACLU of Georgia Slams Plan to Close Many of County's Polls

Discussion: Daily Kos and theGrio

David W. Chen / New York Times:

Surprise Gift: Free Tuition for All N.Y.U. Medical Students — The New York University School of Medicine announced on Thursday that it would cover the tuition of all its students, regardless of merit or need, citing concerns about the “overwhelming financial debt” facing graduates.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CBS Chicago and Unfogged

Howard Fischer Capitol / Arizona Daily Star:

Poll: Martha McSally's lead in Arizona GOP race for U.S. Senate nearly insurmountable — A new statewide poll suggests that all of the money being spent on behalf of Martha McSally on TV commercials to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate Arizona has been paying off.

Tad Walch / Deseret News:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issues new name guidelines, dropping term Mormon in most uses — SALT LAKE CITY — President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Thursday afternoon regarding the name of the church:

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times and fox13now.com

BuzzFeed News:

How Michael Avenatti Got His Start In Political Dark Arts Under Rahm Emanuel — Many politicians spent their younger days working or volunteering for campaigns, and they now regale voters with stories about knocking on doors for a candidate whose virtue appealed to their young idealism.

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com and CNN

Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:

Elon Musk on Whistleblower Accusing Tesla of Illegally Spying on Employee: ‘This Guy Is Super [Nuts Emoji]’ — Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday moved to discredit a former employee and self-proclaimed whistleblower whose attorneys have accused Musk of authorizing Tesla to allegedly engage in …

Discussion: The Verge, New York Times and Breitbart

Nathan McDermott / CNN:

Corey Stewart used racist stereotypes to disparage NFL players in 2017 campaign event — (CNN)Corey Stewart, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Virginia, used racist stereotypes to disparage NFL players who protest during the National Anthem in an online exchange with his supporters last year.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Mediaite and Vox

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

‘Queer Eye’ Star Jonathan Van Ness Under Fire After Saying ‘Not All Republicans Are Racist’ — “Ah, yes... ‘mutual understanding’ with racists,” says one commenter after Bravo reality star advocates for “center left candidates” — “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness had to defend himself …