memeorandum: Rep. Ilhan Omar called Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist.’ GOP critics accused her of anti-Semitism. (Meagan Flynn/Washington Post)

12:05 PM ET, April 9, 2019

Top Items:

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Trump's Immigration Crisis — Behind the flailing lies a potential disaster for immigration hawks. — Across the decade that preceded Donald Trump's election, American politicians of both parties consistently tried to pass big, sweeping immigration bills that would legalize …

Discussion: The American Conservative, Politico and Breitbart

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:

Grassley warns White House not to oust any more top immigration officials — The most senior Senate Republican is warning the White House not to oust another top immigration official, making appeals to the administration against dismissing Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship …

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, The Week, Test Feed Using Fields and Wall Street Journal

Melanie Zanona / Politico:

Trump's DHS purge floors Republicans — President Donald Trump's congressional allies are alarmed by his purge at the Department of Homeland Security — urging him not to fire more top officials and warning him how hard it will be to solve twin crises at the border and the federal agencies overseeing immigration policy.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Shareblue Media, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, Reuters, ImmigrationProf Blog, Daily Wire, The Daily Beast, Vox, Breitbart and Mother Jones

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Cancel Kirstjen Nielsen — Her role in terrorizing children should make her a permanent pariah. — On Sunday evening, news broke that Kirstjen Nielsen was leaving her job as head of the Department of Homeland Security. The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted that according …

Discussion: Vox, Breitbart, NBC News, Daily Kos, WBUR, CNN, Quartz, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, RedState, Rolling Stone, Task & Purpose and Washington Post

Axios:

Trump orders dramatic changes in immigration policy, aims to accelerate deportations — President Trump has directed top officials to execute the most aggressive changes in immigration policy since his inauguration, sources tell Axios. Some officials consider the moves legally and politically dubious.

Discussion: Vox, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA and Politico

Michael Gerson / Washington Post: Trump takes an honor of a lifetime and turns it into a black hole

Jake Tapper / CNN:
Trump pushed to close El Paso border, told admin officials to resume family separations and agents not to admit migrants

New York Times:
Trump Purge Set to Force Out More Top Homeland Security Officials

Discussion: CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, Conservative News Today, Bipartisan Report, The Week, Mashable, Raw Story, Gizmodo, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Vox, Salon and Washington Post

Politico:
Legality of Trump move to replace Nielsen questioned

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, IJR and Washington Post

Associated Press:
Inside 12 days of turmoil that shook Homeland Security

Discussion: CBS San Francisco, KTLA and theGrio

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Kirstjen Nielsen's attempt to suck up to Trump ended badly. It always does.

Discussion: Breitbart, The Resurgent, ABC News and Slate

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Donald Trump Plays a Brutal Game of Musical Chairs

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story and New York Times

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: Trump's Homeland Security purge puts spotlight back on Stephen Miller

Discussion: Vox, American Greatness, The Sun, Fox News and FOX31 Denver

Washington Post:
Trump removes Secret Service director as purge of DHS leadership widens

Discussion: Shakesville, CBS News and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

New York Times:
Trump Signals Even Fiercer Immigration Agenda, With a Possible Return of Family Separations

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Politico, Mashable, Washington Post, Slate, The Week, New Republic, The Mahablog and CNN

Jonathan S. Tobin / New York Post: Behind the homeland security shakeup: This prez demands results

New York Times:

The Democratic Electorate on Twitter Is Not the Democratic Electorate in Real Life — A detailed look at the voters with the numbers to decide the 2020 Democratic nominee. — Democrats on social media — Progressive activists Other Democrats — The Democratic electorate off social media

Damian Paletta / Washington Post:

Mnuchin reveals White House lawyers consulted Treasury on Trump tax returns, despite law meant to limit political involvement — Treasury Department lawyers consulted with the White House general counsel's office about the potential release of President Trump's tax returns …

Lawrence H. Summers / Washington Post:
The IRS chief must release Trump's tax returns — and Mnuchin must not stop him

Discussion: CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Vox and Shareblue Media

New York Times: Sanctions Deal With Russian Oligarch Included Transfer of Shares to Benefit His Children

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
Push to Obtain Trump's N.Y. Tax Returns Wins Cuomo's Support

Discussion: Washington Times, Liberty Unyielding, Political Wire, The Hill, Law & Crime and The Daily Caller

Fox News:

Nunes files $150M lawsuit against McClatchy, alleging conspiracy to derail Clinton, Russia probes — House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes filed a $150 million lawsuit in Virginia state court against The McClatchy Company and others on Monday, alleging that one of the news …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Roll Call, Gizmodo, Mediaite, Raw Story, American Greatness, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Axios and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Sam Stanton / Sacramento Bee:

First Twitter, now The Fresno Bee: Devin Nunes files lawsuit against McClatchy — In his latest legal onslaught against perceived critics of his policies, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, filed a $150 million defamation suit Monday in a Virginia circuit court against the McClatchy Co …

Discussion: Law & Crime

Daniel Victor / New York Times:

Devin Nunes Sues McClatchy Newspaper Chain, Alleging ‘Character Assassination’ — Less than a month after suing Twitter for allowing its users to insult him, Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, said he was suing the McClatchy Company, a newspaper chain, over what he called “character assassination.”

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week, Fox News Insider and Shareblue Media

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Democrats plan to use hearing to press Barr on Mueller report — House Democrats plan to grill Attorney General William Barr about his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report when he appears before an Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday morning.

Discussion: Axios, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Trending Home, The Week, PJ Media Home and Breitbart

Fox News:
AG William Barr testifies at House hearing, first since Mueller report memo release — LIVE BLOG

Discussion: Politico

Associated Press:
White House steps up attacks as Mueller report release nears

Discussion: WGN-TV and Associated Press

Asha Rangappa / Politico: The Forgotten Reason Congress Needs to See the Mueller Report

ABC News:
Attorney General William Barr defends handling of Mueller report, says release ‘within a week’

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and IJR

Justin Elliott / ProPublica:

Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.

Discussion: Vox and The Verge

New York Times:

At Trump's Florida Resort Empire, a Quiet Effort to Eliminate an Undocumented Work Force — PALM BEACH, Fla. — Behind the clipped hedges of President Trump's sumptuous private clubs in South Florida, including his Mar-a-Lago estate where he has spent many getaway weekends …

Discussion: Miami Herald and Politico

Pew Research Center:

Race in America 2019 — Public has negative views of the country's racial progress; more than half say Trump has made race relations worse — More than 150 years after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, most U.S. adults say the legacy of slavery continues …

Discussion: CNN, Axios and Boing Boing

New York Times:

Trump Says the U.S. Is ‘Full.’ Much of the Nation Has the Opposite Problem. — An aging population and a declining birthrate among the native-born population mean a shrinking work force in many areas. — President Trump has adopted a blunt new message in recent days for migrants seeking refuge …

Discussion: Vox, Hit & Run and Washington Monthly

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Why Does Trump Want to Debase the Fed? — The tax cut fizzled; send in the clowns! — As far as I know, the Federal Reserve — the world's most important economic policy institution — doesn't have an anthem. But if it were to adopt one now, the choice would be obvious: “Send In the Clowns.”

Discussion: Daily Kos and CNBC

Peter Nicholas / The Atlantic:
Why Trump Is Serious About Herman Cain

Discussion: Raw Story and Dealbreaker

The Daily Beast:

Prince William's Lawyer Tries to Suppress Rumors of Affair — As ‘In Touch’ magazine in the U.S. publish allegations about Prince William having an affair, his lawyers are sending letters threatening legal action to the U.K. media. — In Touch magazine has become the first mainstream outlet …

Discussion: Slate

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

Rep. Ilhan Omar called Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist.’ GOP critics accused her of anti-Semitism. — A familiar story line played out Monday night for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who condemned one of President Trump's most trusted advisers only to end up being accused of anti-Semitism.

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, RedState, New York Post, The Root, Daily Kos and Conservative News Today

Jacopo Barigazzi / Politico:

Michel Barnier: No-deal Brexit ‘never’ the EU's decision — LUXEMBOURG — A no-deal Brexit will “never be the decision of the EU,” the bloc's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday. — His statement, made after briefing EU ministers attending the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg …

Discussion: One America News Network

Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post: This is a pivotal week for Brexit. Here are four ways it could end.

Vicki Divoll / New York Times:

Subpoena Isn't the Only Way to Get the Mueller Report — By law, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees should already have certain investigative materials relating to Russian election meddling. — Ms. Divoll was the general counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2001 to 2003.

Roll Call:

Only 15 Mainers gave $200 or more to Susan Collins — Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republican senators in 2020, raised more than $1.1 million in itemized contributions during the first three months of the year. But less than 1 percent of that money came from her home state.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Conservative News Today