memeorandum: Trump unblocks more Twitter users after U.S. court ruling (David Shepardson/Reuters)

3:30 PM ET, August 29, 2018

Top Items:

Aris Folley / The Hill:

DeSantis: Florida voters shouldn't ‘monkey this up’ by voting for Gillum — (R) on Wednesday warned Florida voters not to “monkey this up” by voting for his Democratic gubernatorial opponent Andrew Gillum. — “You know, this is a guy, although he's much too liberal for Florida …

Discussion: Fox News, Sputnik International, Second Nexus, Tallahassee Democrat, IJR, CBS Chicago, twitchy.com, Boing Boing, The Right Scoop, HuffPost, Conservative Review, Discourse.net, Mediaite and Common Dreams

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue Media:

Even Fox News isn't OK with this Trump-backed nominee's casual racism — Republican nominee Ron DeSantis somehow managed to be too racist for Fox News. — Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) couldn't even wait 24 hours after winning the Republican nomination for the Florida governor's race …

Discussion: The Nation, Townhall, Vox, Washington Post, Media Matters for America and Hullabaloo

Ben Shapiro / Daily Wire:

The Media Say Republican Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Ron DeSantis Just Dropped A Racist Dog Whistle. That's Silly. — On Wednesday, the political world set itself alight thanks to the comments of Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ron DeSantis.

John Wagner / Washington Post:

DeSantis says Florida voters would ‘monkey this up’ if they elect Gillum as governor — Rep. Ron DeSantis, the newly christened Republican gubernatorial candidate in Florida, said Wednesday that voters would “monkey this up” if they elect his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first African American governor.

Discussion: Miami New Times, Politico, Mother Jones, New York Times, CNBC, Sun-Sentinel, No More Mister Nice Blog, YouTube, Outside the Beltway, The Capitolist and Political Wire

Lissette Rodriguez / ABC News:
DeSantis says Floridians can't ‘monkey this up’ by electing African-American Democrat as governor

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Mediaite

New York Times:
A Black Progressive and a Trump Acolyte Win Florida Governor Primaries

Steve Contorno / Tampa Bay Times:
Don't ‘monkey this up’ and elect Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis says

Discussion: Conservative News Today and Washington Times

NBC News:
DeSantis under fire for saying Florida shouldn't ‘monkey this up’ by electing Gillum, who is black

Discussion: The American Spectator, NPR, Raw Story and The Daily Beast

Grace Segers / CBS News:
Florida, Arizona primaries set up fierce fall showdowns

Discussion: Reuters, Townhall, Florida Phoenix, CBS Los Angeles and Shakesville

Ashe Schow / Daily Wire:
Left-Wing Media Claims FL GOP Candidate Said ‘Monkey It Up’ …

Discussion: Politico and Vox

miamiherald:
DeSantis says Florida shouldn't ‘monkey this up’ by electing Andrew Gillum

Discussion: The Atlantic, HuffPost, Roll Call and Observer

Axios:

Scoop: Don McGahn's coming White House exit — Top White House officials and sources close to White House counsel Don McGahn tell Axios that McGahn will step down this fall — after Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, or after the midterms. — The big picture …

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News:

Inside The Trump Administration's Secret War On Weed — The White House has secretly amassed a committee of federal agencies from across the government to combat public support for marijuana and cast state legalization measures in a negative light, while attempting to portray the drug as a national threat …

Discussion: CNBC

Washington Post:

Trump says White House Counsel Donald McGahn will leave his job in the fall — White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who has led the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the judiciary while confronting turmoil in the West Wing surrounding the ongoing special counsel probe …

Discussion: Above the Law, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Political Wire, CNBC, Daily Wire, The Guardian and Mediaite

Murray Waas / NYR Daily:

The Flynn Tapes: A New Tell — In early February 2017, a senior White House attorney, John Eisenberg, reviewed highly classified intelligence intercepts of telephone conversations between then-National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:
White House Counsel Donald McGahn Will Leave This Fall, Trump Announces on Twitter

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Roll Call, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, CNN and Joe.My.God.

Andrew Harnik / RealClearInvestigations: There's Method in Trump's Slackness on Opening Files

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP eyes another shot at ObamaCare repeal after McCain's death — Senate Republicans say they would like Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to appoint a successor to late Sen. John McCain — (R-Ariz.) who, unlike McCain, would support GOP legislation to repeal ObamaCare.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Vox, POLITICUSUSA, Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Philip Elliott / TIME:
Why the Senate May Not Rename a Building for John McCain After All

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Breitbart, TheBlaze, Splinter, The Daily Caller, politics.myajc and The Hill

Politico:
Cindy McCain wields quiet influence over Senate replacement

Discussion: Associated Press, National Review, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Republicans can't even agree to take a segregationist's name off a building

Discussion: Conservative News Today, IJR and DCist

CNN:

Sources: Second Trump Org employee discussed immunity deal — (CNN)A second Trump Organization employee discussed a potential immunity deal with the federal prosecutors who charged Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

MJ Lee / CNN: Michael Cohen is resigned to going to prison to protect his family

BuzzFeed News:

“Suspicious” Transactions At Russian Embassy Sparked Deeper Bank Probe Than Previously Known — When BuzzFeed News reported earlier this year on dozens of suspicious financial transactions by Russian diplomats living in Washington, Kremlin officials objected with ferocity.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Jay Cassano / Sludge:

Cuomo Received $25,000 From Weinstein Lawyer's Firm as He Suspended Probe — The contribution from Weinstein's former lawyer was made the same month Cuomo suspended an investigation into the New York district attorney's failure to prosecute Harvey Weinstein in 2015. — EDITED BY

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Page Six, Splinter and The Intercept

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Probing Whether Malaysian Fugitive Laundered Funds to Pay Chris Christie and Trump Lawyer — Jho Low under investigation for alleged embezzlement of $4.5 billion from 1MDB fund — The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether a fugitive Malaysian financier laundered tens …

Discussion: Shakesville and Washington Post

BuzzFeed News:

In An Unprecedented Move, The US Postal Service Released A Former CIA Officer's Security Application To A Republican Group — The former officer, Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger, has suggested the information was released for partisan purposes. Documents shows USPS was responding …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and New York Times

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
CIA Analyst Turned Candidate Fears She'll Get Doxxed Next

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

HuffPost:

Democrats Just Confirmed Lots Of Trump's Judges So They Could Skip Town — The resistance wilts in August. — WASHINGTON Senate Democrats just gave a huge gift to President Donald Trump: They agreed to expedite votes on 15 of his nominees to lifetime federal court seats because they wanted to go home.

Discussion: Common Dreams, Rewire.News, IJR and Daily Wire

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Maria Butina: Private Messages Reveal Accused Russian Spy's True Ties to D.C. Wise Man … When federal prosecutors charged Maria Butina with covertly infiltrating the conservative movement on behalf of the Kremlin, questions began to swirl around a Washington think tank that had published …

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:

BREAKING: Day After Ohr's Testimony, Congress Seeks to Question His Wife — Lawmakers are also seeking all communications - texts and emails - between Bruce Ohr and top officials at the FBI — Numerous congressional sources are telling SaraACarter.com that after Department …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Politico, Fox News, Washington Times and The Daily Caller

John Solomon / The Hill:
Russian oligarch, Justice Department and a clear case of collusion

Discussion: The Political Insider

Politico:

Trump lawyer Giuliani got paid to lobby Romanian president — Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was being paid by a global consulting firm when he sent a letter to the president of Romania last week that contradicted the U.S. government's official position.

Discussion: New York Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Joe.My.God., Politico, Balkan Insight, Axios, The Guardian, Splinter, Raw Story, EURACTIV.com and Bloomberg

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed:

The Diver Elon Musk Called A “Pedo” Is Preparing A Libel Claim — “You published through three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr. Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children.”

Discussion: HuffPost, BloombergQuint, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, AOL, JONATHAN TURLEY, Raw Story, Sputnik International and Boing Boing

Julie Bykowicz / Wall Street Journal:

The New Lobbying: Qatar Targeted 250 Trump ‘Influencers’ to Change U.S. Policy — Blockaded by Mideast neighbors, the emirate deployed an unconventional lobbying campaign to win over an unconventional U.S. president — Longtime New York restaurateur Joey Allaham visited Manhattan's Park East Synagogue late …

Alex Burness / The Colorado Independent:

Body-cam vid shows Denver cops cuffed Indy editor as she photographed their badges — Police body camera footage released today shows two Denver officers told The Colorado Independent's editor, Susan Greene, to “act like a lady” as they handcuffed and detained her in July for attempting …

Discussion: The Republic

New York Times:

Dozens at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture — SAN FRANCISCO — The post went up quietly on Facebook's internal message board last week. Titled “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity,” it quickly took off inside the social network.

Discussion: New York Post, Liberty Unyielding, TheBlaze, Gizmodo, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Wire, East Bay Times, Conservative News Today, Mashable, Instapundit and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Liker, a Facebook Alternative for Liberals, Is Hive of False Claims About Trump … In the world of the anti-Trump Facebook #Resistance, no one has a bigger soapbox than Omar Rivero, the founder of the Occupy Democrats Facebook page. — Along with his brother Rafael, Rivero …

Christopher Flavelle / Bloomberg:

Miami Will Be Underwater Soon. Its Drinking Water Could Go First — One morning in June, Douglas Yoder climbed into a white government SUV on the edge of Miami and headed northwest, away from the glittering coastline and into the maze of water infrastructure that makes this city possible.

Discussion: Shakesville

Tom Sietsema / Washington Post:

La Vie on the Wharf is so bad I'm only writing about it as a warning — Every now and then I encounter a restaurant that's so dismissive of diners' senses, my initial reaction is simply not to write about it. Why waste the money, the words and your precious time?

Discussion: Washingtonian and DCist

Tasneem Nashrulla / BuzzFeed News:

Several Women Say Airlines Don't Do Enough To Protect Them From Men Who Masturbate On Flights — Mikaela Dixon was sitting in the middle seat on a United flight from Orange County to Chicago on August 11 when she realized the stranger next to her was masturbating.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

An ode to one of the worst GOP candidates in recent memory — For the second time in two years, Arizona Republicans held a Senate primary. And for the second time in two years, a uniquely bad and desperate candidate named Kelli Ward went down in flames. — Ward lost to Sen. John McCain …

Discussion: Raw Story, Weekly Standard, Fox News and VICE News

John Wagner / Washington Post:

FBI pushes back on unfounded Trump claim that China hacked Hillary Clinton's email — The FBI on Wednesday pushed back on an unfounded claim by President Trump that Hillary Clinton's emails were hacked by China, saying it had found no evidence that the private servers she used while secretary of state had been compromised.