memeorandum: I Was a Lawyer for Spiro Agnew. President Trump Should Consider Resigning (Martin London/TIME)

12:00 PM ET, August 24, 2018

Top Items:

Allen Weisselberg, Longtime Trump Organization CFO, Is Granted Immunity in Cohen Probe — Weisselberg earlier this year was subpoenaed to testify before grand jury — Allen Weisselberg, President Trump's longtime financial gatekeeper, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors …

William K. Rashbaum / New York Times:

Manhattan D.A. Eyes Criminal Charges Against Trump Organization — The Manhattan district attorney's office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Michael D. Cohen's hush money payment to an adult film actress …

Jeff Horwitz / Associated Press:

AP: National Enquirer's safe held damaging Trump stories — NEW YORK (AP) — The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Donald Trump leading up to 2016 presidential election …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, Jezebel and Axios

Martin London / TIME:

I Was a Lawyer for Spiro Agnew. President Trump Should Consider Resigning — London is a retired partner for the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and the author of The Client Decides; he was a principal lawyer for Vice President Spiro Agnew.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Just Security, Raw Story and Mediaite

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

No collusion? We'll see. But what about tax fraud? — President Trump's touchstone mob boss, Al Capone, famously went down for tax evasion when the feds couldn't nail him on more serious crimes. Has Trump stopped to consider whether he could be headed for the same fate?

Discussion: Fox News, Daily Kos and Gizmodo

Neal K. Katyal / New York Times:
This Conspiracy Theory Should Worry Trump

Discussion: Raw Story and CNN

Tom Winter / NBC News:
Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg given immunity by prosecutors to testify

Discussion: Raw Story and MSNBC

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
A cancer on the presidency

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Joe Tacopino / New York Post:
National Enquirer reportedly kept Trump hush money info in safe

Discussion: Page Six

Jason Schwartz / Politico:

Second Fox News reporter leaves amid objections to network — In the Trump era, hard reporting is being crowded out by opinionated panels, current and former staffers say. — Another on-air reporter is leaving Fox News over frustrations with the direction and tone of the network …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Right Scoop, Conservative News Today, Hill Reporter, TVNewser, AOL, Raw Story and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:

Trump Has Found a Voice to Love in Tucker Carlson. That Love Isn't Always Returned. … There is a tiny universe of people with the power to trigger the president of the United States into upending international diplomacy and electrifying pockets of white nationalists at home and abroad.

Discussion: The Guardian and Informed Comment

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
‘Dangerous and poisoned’: Critics blast Trump for endorsing white nationalist conspiracy theory on South Africa

Discussion: Townhall, Breitbart, USA Today, One America News Network, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic, HuffPost, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Sputnik International

Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:
President Trump's false claim about murders on South African farms

Discussion: TimesLIVE, NPR and Daily Caller News Foundation

Jed Shugerman / Slate:

A Lone Holdout Juror Actually Made It More Likely That Paul Manafort Will Go to Jail Even if Trump Pardons Him — On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump had recently discussed with his lawyers the prospect of issuing a pardon for Paul Manafort.

Discussion: New York Times, Fox News, The National Memo, Washington Post, HuffPost and Hot Air

Françoise Mouly / New Yorker:

Barry Blitt's “Closing In” — The artist Barry Blitt, a contributor since 1994, has drawn more than a hundred covers for the magazine—and, since 2015, more than fifteen featuring President Trump. His latest ("Sending sketches because I couldn't help myself," the accompanying note said) takes inspiration from a “Sopranos” scene.

Discussion: Washington Post

Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:
Paul Manafort and Trump's Pardon Pattern

Discussion: Washington Post, New Republic and Raw Story

Axios:

Trump's fantasy legal system — When President Trump told “Fox & Friends” that this “whole thing about flipping ... almost ought to be outlawed,” he was continuing a long habit of declaring what he thinks laws and the legal system should be, and ignoring what they are.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week, Breitbart and Washington Post

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal: When Justice Is Partial — Mueller is determined to sniff …

Popular Information:
BONUS: Trump's plot to muzzle Mueller

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Republicans: Sessions gone after midterms

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The New Neo, PennLive, Raw Story, Breitbart, New Republic, Political Wire and ABC News

Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
Ben Sasse threatens to vote against any new AG if Trump fires Jeff Sessions

Discussion: Townhall

Calvin Lawrence Jr / ABC News:
Trump responds to Jeff Sessions push-back: Look at 'corruption on the 'other side"

Discussion: Breitbart and Political Wire

New York Times:

John McCain Will No Longer Be Treated for Brain Cancer, Family Says — WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has been battling brain cancer for more than a year, will no longer be treated for his condition, his family announced on Friday, a sign that the Republican war hero is most likely entering his final days.

Discussion: Political Wire, VICE News and Hill Reporter

Burgess Everett / Politico:
McCain to discontinue medical treatment

Discussion: Breitbart and One America News Network

Lia Eustachewich / New York Post:

Cohen told Congress he doesn't know if Donald knew about Trump Tower meeting — Michael Cohen told Congress that he had no idea whether President Trump knew ahead of time about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting that included Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer, a report said Thursday.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Conservative News Today, Axios, Daily Wire, Mediaite, The Stream, The Western Journal and The Week

Associated Press: A president who demands loyalty finds it fleeting in DC

Kate Sullivan / CNN:

Indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter: My wife handled my finances — (CNN)Rep. Duncan D. Hunter seemed to shift any blame onto his wife, Margaret, on Thursday for alleged campaign fund abuses, saying she was the one handling his finances. — “She was also the campaign manager …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Mediaite, MSNBC, Joe.My.God., Splinter, Press Enterprise and KTLA

Carla Baranauckas / HuffPost: Rep. Duncan Hunter Blames Wife For Campaign Spending Under Inquiry

Daniel Marans / HuffPost: Indicted California Congressman Proposed Raising Retirement Age To 72

New Yorker:

The Conspiracy Memo Aimed at Obama Aides that Circulated in the Trump White House — The 2017 document, titled the “Echo Chamber,” accused former Obama officials of undermining the incoming Administration. — In early 2017, some of Donald Trump's advisers concluded that they faced …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New Republic, The Week, Contemptor, Mediaite, Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Mark Landler / New York Times:

With a Vocabulary From ‘Goodfellas,’ Trump Evokes His Native New York — WASHINGTON — For much of the 1980s and 1990s, “the Dapper Don” and “the Donald” vied for supremacy on the front pages of New York's tabloids. The don, John J. Gotti, died in a federal prison in 2002 …

James Gagliano / Washington Examiner:
Trump is acting like a mob boss — I know because I lived with one

Discussion: BloombergQuint, The Atlantic and New York Magazine

CNN:

Elections board takes less than a minute to reject proposal to close 7 of 9 polling places in majority-black county — Critics had said the plan to consolidate polling places in Randolph County, Georgia, was a brazen attempt to suppress the black vote in Georgia's governor race …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller

EndPlay / WSB-TV:
County votes down controversial proposal to close voting precincts

Discussion: ABC News, Rewire.News and electionlawblog.org

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Kavanaugh eases off call for presidential immunity in meetings with senators — Senate Democrats on Thursday pressed Judge Brett Kavanaugh on how he would view potential obstruction of justice or other possible criminal charges against President Trump — if he were confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: Chuck Grassley's Moment

Tom Nichols / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh's confirmation must wait

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Abha Bhattarai / Washington Post:

Thousands of Amazon workers receive food stamps. Now Bernie Sanders wants Amazon to pay up. — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will soon introduce legislation that would require large employers like Amazon, Walmart and McDonald's to fully cover the cost of food stamps, public housing …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Aris Folley / The Hill:

Spiro Agnew lawyer: Trump should resign to keep Mueller from prosecuting his family — Martin London, a lawyer who represented former Vice President Spiro Agnew, said that President Trump — should resign from office to keep federal prosecutors from prosecuting his family.

Kevin Collier / BuzzFeed News:

Tech Companies Are Gathering For A Secret Meeting To Prepare A 2018 Election Strategy — Representatives from a host of the biggest US tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, have scheduled a private meeting for Friday to share their tactics in preparation for the 2018 midterm elections.