Top Items:
Sonia Moghe / CNN:
Exclusive: Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases ‘catch-and-kill’ contract about alleged Trump affair — (CNN)A former Trump World Tower doorman who says he has knowledge of an alleged affair President Donald Trump had with an ex-housekeeper, which resulted in a child, is now able to talk …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Hill Reporter, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos
Chris Sommerfeldt / New York Daily News:
Rudy Giuliani distances himself from Trump over his ‘flipping’ comments: ‘The President is not a lawyer’ — When it comes to flipping, Rudy Giuliani won't budge. — The former federal prosecutor — famous for coaxing New York mobsters into spilling the beans on their bosses …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo
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Nancy Cook / Politico:
Aides expect Trump to go rogue on Manafort pardon — The president's comments are being read as a signal that he wants to ignore his lawyers and exonerate his former campaign chairman. — President Donald Trump's lawyers and a cadre of informal White House advisers claim they've convinced …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., AOL, The Hill, Yahoo and The Daily Caller
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
QAnon Leaders Crack Down on Mentions of Cohen After He Turned on Trump … Michael Cohen's guilty plea Tuesday shook up believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, who had previously believed special counsel Robert Mueller was secretly working with President Donald Trump, not investigating him.
Discussion:
Politico, Mashable and Hullabaloo
Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
Allen Weisselberg, the Man Who Knows Donald Trump's Financial Secrets, Has Agreed to Become a Coöperating Witness — In late 2016, I had lunch with a former high-ranking Trump Organization executive, a person who said he was happy to share dirt on his old boss, but who confessed to not having much dirt to share.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Politico and The Root, more at Mediagazer »
Michael Kruse / Politico:
Trump on Weisselberg: ‘He Did Whatever Was Necessary’
Trump on Weisselberg: ‘He Did Whatever Was Necessary’
Discussion:
USA Today, Bloomberg, The Atlantic and MSNBC
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump's hell week: fear and fury
Trump's hell week: fear and fury
Discussion:
Politico, Wall Street Journal and The National Memo
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Trump Meets QAnon Kook Who Believes Democrats Run Pedophile Cult … President Donald Trump posed for Oval Office photos on Thursday with one of the leading promoters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that top Democrats are part of a global pedophile cult.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Boing Boing, New Republic, Balloon Juice and twitchy.com
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The three illegal acts that may have helped Trump win the presidency — The nation heard this week accusations that Donald Trump was personally involved in the decision to offer two women money shortly before the 2016 election to keep them from sharing stories of alleged affairs.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
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New York Times:
Allen Weisselberg, Top Trump Organization Official, Was Granted Immunity for Testimony — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan struck a deal earlier this summer with Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, granting him immunity for his grand jury testimony …
Discussion:
Salon, The Guardian, Vox, Daily Kos and The Real Deal New York
David French / National Review:
Stop Blaming Investigators More Than Criminals for Trump's Woes — At the end of a yet another tawdry, scandalous week, I'm seeing the same thing I see at the end of every other tawdry, scandalous week. Lots of folks on the right continue to believe that the true scandal is not that the president …
Anne Gearan / Washington Post:
Bad blood between McCain and Trump lingers, even as the Arizona Republican nears the end — It got off to a bad start, and President Trump's venomous relationship with Sen. John McCain probably won't end well either. — The president was reportedly disinvited to McCain's funeral months ago …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
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Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
At GOP event, Trump is silent on dying McCain — President Donald Trump said nothing Friday at an Ohio Republican dinner about Sen. John McCain, following the announcement that the Arizona senator had opted to stop receiving treatment for terminal brain cancer.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:
TPUSA Members Quit in Protest of ‘Exploiting’ Mollie Tibbetts' Death … The University of Iowa chapter of a conservative student organization declined a proposal that the campus host two of the group's highest-profile national leaders for an “immigration event” following the alleged murder …
Discussion:
Althouse, Right Wing Watch and Mediaite
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Cory Bennett / Politico:
Trump anxiety spreads through South Korea — Many South Koreans worry that the U.S. president — though hailed for bringing Kim Jong Un to the table — lacks the patience for a true breakthrough with the North. — SEOUL — South Koreans are growing more anxious about President Donald Trump's commitment …
Discussion:
Axios, Shareblue Media and Joe.My.God.
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Grace Segers / CBS News:
Beto O'Rourke says “nothing more American” than NFL players protesting the national anthem — Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate challenging Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, was featured in a viral video posted to Twitter on Tuesday giving an answer at a town hall defending NFL players who kneel during the national anthem before games.
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, theGrio and Conservative News Today
Roger Cohen / New York Times:
How Far America Has Fallen — The thing with every shocking revelation about Trump is that it's already baked into his image. I've never met a Trump supporter who did not know exactly who he is. — RIDGWAY, Colo. — It's different in the West. It's easier to feel in touch with some essence of what America is.
Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Trump says it's ‘probably tougher’ for GOP to retain control of House — COLUMBUS — President Trump acknowledged a “probably tougher” path to retain GOP control of the House at the state party's annual dinner here, injecting some political reality into his standard rhetoric that boasts of a “red wave” in November.
Discussion:
Axios
Bloomberg:
Putin's Economic Armor Suffers Cracks in Showdown Over Sanctions — Bank of Russia pauses foreign-currency purchases to aid ruble — Growing fears of U.S. curbs put Russian assets under pressure — The upheaval set off by the threat of American sanctions is roiling …
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Tucker Carlson walks back bogus South Africa scaremongering — On his Wednesday evening program, Fox News host Tucker Carlson roared about the issue of land reform in South Africa. “The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has begun — and you may have seen this in the press …
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and Townhall, more at Mediagazer »
Nick Reisman / NY State of Politics:
Gillibrand Says Trump Should Resign — U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told reporters in Syracuse Friday that President Donald Trump should resign after his former personal lawyer implicated him in violating campaign finance law. — But she stopped short of saying whether impeachment proceedings …
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
How This Will End — Michael Gerson, one of the most eloquent and principled critics of Donald Trump, insists that we are at June 1973, the moment when John Dean's testimony broke the dam that a year later swept Richard Nixon off into disgrace. Others agree: This is an inflection point.
Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:
Devin Nunes silent after Trump gang's 16 convictions and guilty pleas — Rep. Devin Nunes seems to hope that ignoring the damning news will make it go away. — Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is one of Trump's most outspoken defenders. He even admitted, during a private fundraiser …
Rick Gladstone / New York Times:
U.N. Says Saudi-led Airstrike Killed at Least 22 Yemeni Children — The United Nations said Friday that a Saudi-led airstrike had killed at least 22 children and four women in Yemen as they fled a fighting zone — the second mass killing of Yemeni civilians by Saudi Arabia and its military partners in two weeks.
Discussion:
Common Dreams, NPR, The American Conservative and The Intercept
Alex Thompson / VICE News:
“Hottie Avenatti” brings his show to the DNC summer meeting — CHICAGO — Michael Avenatti — attorney, potential presidential candidate, and owner of a strong jawline — dropped in on the Democratic Party's summer meeting on Thursday as he continued to tease a 2020 run.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, twitchy.com, Balloon Juice and Politico
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Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed News:
Michael Avenatti's Next 2020 Move: His Own PAC
Michael Avenatti's Next 2020 Move: His Own PAC
Discussion:
Observer, Splinter, Daily Caller News Foundation, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite
Kartikay Mehrotra / Bloomberg:
Jailed Russian of Interest in U.S. Election Probe, Official Says — Lawyers say Russian embassy keen on visting accused hacker — Judge questions pychiatrist chosen to examine Yevgeniy Nikulin — A Russian charged with hacking LinkedIn is of great interest in a U.S. probe of election meddling …
Discussion:
Boing Boing
Dave Eggers / New Yorker:
No One Is Safer. No One Is Served. — An immigrant family hides from Donald Trump in a Connecticut church. — The legendary Chicago oral historian and moral force Studs Terkel once said, “There is a decency in the American people and a native intelligence—providing they have the facts, providing they have the information.”
Christine Wang / CNBC:
Former head of CDC Tom Frieden arrested and charged with forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment — Tom Frieden, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been arrested amid allegations of forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Political Insider, CNN, Splinter, FOX6Now.com, Breitbart and The Week
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