memeorandum: Trump speechwriter fired amid scrutiny of appearance with white nationalists (Robert Costa/Washington Post)

7:10 PM ET, August 19, 2018

Top Items:

Trump Lawyers' Sudden Realization: They Don't Know What Don McGahn Told Mueller's Team — President Trump's lawyers do not know just how much the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, told the special counsel's investigators during months of interviews, a lapse that has contributed …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, JustOneMinute, Washington Post, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, AOL, The Daily Banter, Hullabaloo, HuffPost, Mediaite, Mother Jones, The Week, Daily Wire, Slate, KTLA, ThinkProgress and NewsWars

Politico:

Giuliani: 'Truth isn't truth' — President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday claimed “truth isn't truth” when trying to explain why the president should not testify for special counsel Robert Mueller for fear of being trapped into a lie that could lead to a perjury charge.

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Daily Wire, The Guardian, HuffPost, Politico, Vox, Joe.My.God., No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Breitbart, The Mahablog and emptywheel

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Michael Cohen's attorney says he's talking to lawyer who brought down Nixon — Lanny Davis, an attorney for former longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, said he has been reaching out regularly over the last few months to John Dean, the former White House counsel who helped bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, AOL, The Week and POLITICUSUSA

Axios:

Trump's epic Mueller gamble — Several top White House officials thought then and think now that President Trump made an epic error in rolling over to cooperate with Robert Mueller in the early stages of the special counsel investigation. — Why it matters: Trump himself thought then and thinks …

Discussion: Raw Story, Vox and New York Times

Julian E. Zelizer / The Atlantic: The New Enemies List — Reacting to The New York Times' story …

Politico:
Cabinet secretaries: They're just like us!

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times and Washington Times

NBC News:
Meet the Press - August 19, 2018

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Week

New York Times:

Cohen, Trump's Ex-Lawyer, Investigated for Bank Fraud in Excess of $20 Million — Federal authorities investigating whether President Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, committed bank and tax fraud have zeroed in on well over $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses …

Discussion: Political Wire

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

Speechwriter who attended conference with white nationalists in 2016 leaves White House — (CNN)A speechwriter for President Donald Trump who attended a conference frequented by white nationalists has left the White House. — CNN's KFile reached out to the White House last week about Darren Beattie …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios and Political Wire

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Trump speechwriter fired amid scrutiny of appearance with white nationalists — A White House speechwriter for President Trump was terminated last week after revelations that he had spoken at a conference attended by well-known white nationalists, according to three people familiar …

Discussion: Raw Story

Megan Keller / The Hill:

Clapper: Brennan's rhetoric is becoming an issue — Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper — said Sunday that he thinks former CIA Director John Brennan — 's rhetoric is becoming an issue “in and of itself.” — “John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself …

Discussion: The Guardian and The Moderate Voice

Megan Keller / The Hill:
Hayden: Relationship between Trump, national security community ‘dangerously close to being permanently broken’

Discussion: Political Wire

Quinn Scanlan / ABC News:
Trump adviser John Bolton floats formal review of security clearances for former officials

Discussion: Breitbart, HuffPost, AOL and Politico

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:
Michael Hayden says he, too, would be honored if Trump revoked his security clearance

Discussion: Washington Times

Axios:

Scoop: Trump said one-state solution would lead to Israeli PM named Mohammed — President Trump told King Abdullah of Jordan that a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might lead in a few years to someone named Mohammed becoming prime minister of Israel, according to several sources briefed on the meeting.

Anne Helen Petersen / BuzzFeed:

Beto O'Rourke Could Be The Democrat Texas Has Been Waiting For — Beto O'Rourke's grassroots campaign to unseat Senator Ted Cruz is blazing across Texas. But can it convert energy into actual votes? — Beto O'Rourke is a prolific, prodigious sweater. We're talking shirt-soaking …

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

How Donald Trump made me love privileged men — A black-and-white photograph from 1962 shows special counsel Robert S. Mueller III when he was a student at the St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. — It's a hockey-team photo. Mueller, dark-haired number 12, sits front row, close to the center.

JONATHAN TURLEY:

Brennan: I Did Not Mean Trump Was Treasonous When I Said His Actions Are “Nothing Short Of Treason” — I have been critical of the decision of President Donald Trump to rescind the clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan and to release a list of other officials to be reviewed …

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost and twitchy.com

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Johnson: Brennan didn't misuse security clearance, but abused privilege

Discussion: Breitbart

Bill Estep / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Coal jobs have dropped in Eastern Kentucky. Income has followed, new report shows — Personal income has gone down in several Eastern Kentucky counties where coal employment has been decimated in recent years, according to a report from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

As Trump Dismantles Clean Air Rules, an Industry Lawyer Delivers for Ex-Clients — WASHINGTON — As a corporate lawyer, William L. Wehrum worked for the better part of a decade to weaken air pollution rules by fighting the Environmental Protection Agency in court on behalf of chemical manufacturers …

Discussion: TheBlaze and Common Dreams

Susan Ferriss / Washington Post:

In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches — Tameika Lovell was retrieving luggage at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when Customs and Border Protection officers detained her for a random search. It was Nov. 27, 2016 …

CBS News:

Democrats in stronger position to take the House: CBS News Battleground Tracker — Democrats have improved their standing in the fight for control of the House of Representatives. Our House model now shows the party poised to win 222 seats if the election were today, up from our estimate of 219 earlier this summer.

Discussion: Mother Jones, twitchy.com and BloombergQuint

Scarce / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Kevin McCarthy Mocked For Tweet Complaining Of Conservative Censorship On Twitter — The GOP Leader, and would-be Speaker-in-waiting, joined the other Trump cultists in accusing Twitter of censoring them. — It was later pointed out pretty much immediately that he [was being a dumbass] …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Splinter, Mashable and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News:

Rudy Giuliani on McGahn's testimony, origins of Russia probe — Rudy Giuliani, attorney for President Trump, speaks out about the Russia investigation on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ … MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good Sunday morning. Thanks for joining us. — President Trump responding …

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
'Truth isn't truth': Giuliani weighs risks of possible Trump interview in Russia probe

Discussion: BuzzFeed News and Outside the Beltway

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Blake Farenthold Blames ‘F-Tards,’ Me Too Campaign For His Downfall — Months after quitting Congress in disgrace, the Texas Republican insists his sexual harassment scandal was everyone's fault but his own. — WASHINGTON Four months after abruptly quitting Congress amid a sexual harassment scandal …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Ellen Knickmeyer / Associated Press:

U.S. says conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative — FILE- In this April 23, 2018, file photo a car is filled with gasoline at a station in Windham, N.H. Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

The media's hatred of Trump is only hurting itself — This month marks the two-year anniversary of one of the most important articles ever written on journalism. On Aug. 7, 2016, after Donald Trump formally secured the Republican nomination and the general election was underway …

Amber Athey / The Daily Caller:

Dem Rep. Alcee Hastings Jokes About President Trump Drowning In The Potomac River — Florida Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings made a disturbing joke during a rally on Sunday about no one trying to save a drowning President Donald Trump. — Hastings was speaking at a rally in Sunshine …

New York Times:

Trump Won Pennsylvania. Democrats Want the State (and His Voters) Back. — CONWAY, Pa. — The rules are workable enough in the right hands, in the right corner of a right-leaning region of a state like this one. — Avoid the jacket-and-tie look, so voters — wary enough of Democrats …