memeorandum: By claiming ‘total exoneration,’ does Trump risk a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment? (Ashley Parker/Washington Post)

8:15 PM ET, April 10, 2019

Top Items:

AP Interview: Pelosi: 'I don't trust Barr; I trust Mueller' — WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she doesn't trust Attorney General William Barr and suggested his statements alleging President Donald Trump's campaign was spied on undermine Barr's independence as the nation's top law enforcement officer.

Discussion: Axios, CNN, Politico, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Week, Daily Kos, Political Wire, twitchy.com and Bloomberg

Zachary Basu / Axios:

Barr walks back claim that law enforcement spied on Trump campaign — Attorney General Bill Barr told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday that he believes spying by law enforcement officials on the 2016 Trump campaign “did occur,” before clarifying at the end of the hearing …

Discussion: Fox News, Law & Crime, Mother Jones, Herman Cain, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire and Townhall

CNN:

Barr says spying on Trump campaign ‘did occur,’ but provides no evidence — (CNN)Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers Wednesday that he will be looking into the “genesis” of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation that began in 2016 of potential ties between members …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Raw Story, Associated Press, NPR, USA Today, Media Matters for America, Spectator USA, KTLA, The Week and The Root

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:

William Barr Sends Troubling Signals Ahead of Mueller Report Release — THE MUELLER REPORT has been sitting in the Justice Department for nearly two weeks. Attorney general William Barr told Congress Wednesday he's hoping the public will finally get a look at the 300-plus page document sometime within …

Ryan Goodman / Just Security:
What the President May Now Fear Most in Mueller Report

Discussion: Raw Story

John Solomon / The Hill:
The single-sentence Russia bombshell that Attorney General Barr delivered to Congress

Discussion: Politico, New York Times and Washington Examiner

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Bill Barr Is Trying Hard to Be President Trump's Roy Cohn

Discussion: The Guardian, Mercury News, Breitbart and Talking Points Memo

Greg Sargent / Washington Post: Adam Schiff just issued a stark warning about William Barr

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
William Barr's highly questionable use of Trump's ‘spying’ talking point

Discussion: RedState, twitchy.com, The Federalist and Raw Story

Andy Kroll / Rolling Stone:
Trump Is Getting Exactly the Attorney General He Wants

Discussion: Raw Story, Law & Crime and Politico

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
FBI brass discussed possibility Trump fired Comey ‘at the behest of’ Russia

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

National Enquirer expected to be sold imminently as parent company faces pressure — American Media Inc. is actively seeking to sell off the National Enquirer, according to three people familiar with the process who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Discussion: Splinter, The Wrap, Raw Story, Political Wire and New York Post, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Retiring as a Judge, Trump's Sister Ends Court Inquiry Into Her Role in Tax Dodges — President Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has retired as a federal appellate judge, ending an investigation into whether she violated judicial conduct rules by participating in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings.

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

Treasury denies Democrats' request to hand over Trump's tax returns by the end of Wednesday, says it will confer with Justice — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied House Democrats' demand to release six years of President Trump's tax returns, saying the department could not complete …

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:
Treasury says it will miss Democrats' deadline for turning over Trump tax returns, casts skepticism over request

Discussion: RedState, Reuters, The Mahablog and The Week

Aaron Rupar / Vox:
Steve Mnuchin tried to tell Maxine Waters how to run a congressional hearing. It did not go well.

Discussion: Common Dreams, ABC News, IJR and The Root

Brian Faler / Politico:
Treasury misses congressional deadline for turning over Trump's tax returns

Discussion: Axios, ABC News, Breitbart and New York Times

Washington Post:

Gregory Craig, ex-Obama White House counsel, expects to be charged in relation to Ukrainian work with Manafort, his lawyers say — The expected indictment — which his attorneys called “a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion” — stems from work Craig did with GOP lobbyist Paul Manafort …

Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig expects to be indicted in the coming days on charges stemming from work he performed for Ukraine in 2012, Mr. Craig's legal team said. — Mr. Craig has refused to accept a plea deal, and the matter could be presented to a grand jury …

Sarah Grossbart / E! Online:

Broken Friendships, Family Fights and Prison Sentence Anguish: How Lori Loughlin Is Coping With Her New Normal — Whatever happened to the woman who once declared her family wasn't interesting enough for prime time TV? — “We've been asked to do a reality show a couple times,” …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Page Six, Daily Wire and Vanity Fair

Wall Street Journal:

Hush-Money Probe Gathered Evidence From Trump's Inner Circle — Federal investigators, looking into payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, questioned longtime aides of the president and amassed more evidence than previously known — The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office has gathered …

Discussion: Bipartisan Report, Talking Points Memo, Politico, New York Post, Raw Story, CNN and Mediaite

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:
Trump Hush Money Probe ‘Gathered Evidence From Hope Hicks’ and Others Close to President

Discussion: Bipartisan Report and Talking Points Memo

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Pete Buttigieg, Gay and Christian, Challenges Religious Right on Its Own Turf — WASHINGTON — As a religious gay man who believes his party has ceded discussion of religion and spirituality to Republicans, Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for president, is talking about God and sexuality …

Discussion: New Republic, The Daily Beast and The Atlantic

Tucker Higgins / CNBC: Mike Pence, facing criticism from 2020 Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg over his record …

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

DHS, FBI say election systems in all 50 states were targeted in 2016 — Joint Intelligence Bulletin issued in March says Russian hacking efforts were wide-ranging. — A joint intelligence bulletin (JIB) has been issued by the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation …

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Trump's ‘truly bizarre’ visit to Mt. Vernon — President Donald Trump had some advice for George Washington. — During a guided tour of Mount Vernon last April with French president Emmanuel Macron, Trump learned that Washington was one of the major real-estate speculators of his era.

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

A Texas bill would make it possible to put women to death for having abortions — Men and women, young and old, native Texans and immigrants, they rose to ask lawmakers to protect life, describing a “genocide” and foreseeing the arrival of “God's wrath.” — The act of public atonement …

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media, TheBlaze, Faithwire, Right Wing Watch, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, Common Dreams, Shakesville, Dallas Morning News and LifeNews.com

WTTG-TV:
Texas lawmakers consider the death penalty for abortion

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Townhall and Essence

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

Is This the Dumbest Moment in Congressional History? — A Kentucky congressman's impossibly daft line of questioning left John Kerry flabbergasted — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) may have studied robotics at MIT, but he is now responsible for one of the most asinine moments in congressional history.

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Splinter, The Mahablog and CNN

Bloomberg:

Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa — Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening.

more at Techmeme »

Noa Landau / Haaretz:

PR firm behind Likud's hidden cameras in Arab polling sites boasts of lowering voter turnout

Washington Post:

European leaders offer a long Brexit delay, avoiding chaotic exit on Friday — BREAKING NEWS: Although British Prime Minister Theresa May had asked for an extension until the end of June, E.U. leaders are tired of emergency Brexit summits and skeptical of what she can accomplish in less than three months.

Discussion: The Guardian and Political Wire

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:

White House eyeing former head of anti-immigration group for DHS job — The White House is considering nominating the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a White House official and three people briefed on the deliberations …

Discussion: Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, VICE News and Booman Tribune

Mediaite:

Kirsten Gillibrand's CNN Town Hall Pulls in Rock Bottom Ratings — CNN has hosted a series of 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates for town halls. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Corey Booker, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have all participated.

Discussion: Big League Politics and RedState

Trisha Thadani / San Francisco Chronicle:

SF supervisors reject housing complex that would cast shadow on SoMa park — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously rejected a 63-unit apartment complex, including 15 below-market-rate units, because it would cast an evening shadow on a South of Market park.

Discussion: Curbed SF and Lawyers, Guns & Money

CNN:

Tiny bees found in woman's eye, feeding off tears — (CNN)Doctors treating a Taiwanese woman for a swollen eye were shocked to find four tiny bees living under her left eyelid. — The miniscule insects, known as sweat bees, are 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12-0.16 inches) in length, according to CNN affiliate CTS.

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding, The Daily Caller and The Guardian

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

By claiming ‘total exoneration,’ does Trump risk a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment? — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — President Trump paused on the White House South Lawn Wednesday to describe special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation …

Discussion: Raw Story and Vox

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:

Amid Trump's immigration crackdown, the administration is silent on whether the president's own company is being scrutinized — President Trump has shown he is willing to take dramatic steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the United States, but his administration has been silent …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and New York Times

Carol Morello / Washington Post:

Netanyahu win would complicate prognosis for peace plan, analysts say — The apparent victory of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Israeli elections clouds prospects for the Trump administration's yet-to-be-released peace plan and could further undermine bipartisan support for Israel in Congress, according to analysts.

Discussion: Haaretz and Political Wire

Lawfare:

Memo to the Press: How Not to Screw Up on the Mueller Report — Back in February, writing with Susan Hennessey and Mikhaila Fogel, we laid out “Four Principles for Reading the Mueller Report.” The report was then still vapor, a document whose preparation was widely hypothesized by most analysts …

Discussion: WGN-TV, Media Matters for America and KTLA

Dennis Overbye / New York Times:

Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole — Astronomers at last have captured a picture of one of the most secretive entities in the cosmos. — Astronomers announced on Wednesday that at last they had captured an image of the unobservable: a black hole …

Discussion: New Republic, Slate, The Atlantic, Dealbreaker, Rolling Stone, twitchy.com, Splinter, Boston Magazine and Fox News

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

A QAnon Believer Is Running for Congress and Is Currently Unopposed in His Republican Primary — Matthew Lusk says he is not a ‘brainwashed cult member.’ He just has some questions. — Believers in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory are fond of telling each other to “Trust the Plan” …

Discussion: New York Post and Mediaite

Matt Novak / Gizmodo:

Pentagon Pulls Funding for Team of Academics Who Work on the Most Difficult Scientific Problems — The U.S. Department of Defense under Patrick M. Shanahan has quietly pulled funding for an independent organization called the Jason Group under the Pentagon's latest budget proposal.

Discussion: Science