memeorandum: GOP congressman warns fellow Republicans: Be careful messing with Ocasio-Cortez (Lesley Clark/McClatchy Washington Bureau)

5:35 PM ET, April 16, 2019

Top Items:

White House officials concerned about being exposed by Mueller report — Some of the dozen-plus officials interviewed by Mueller are concerned about president's “wrath” if they are seen as a source of damaging information in Thursday's report. — WASHINGTON — Some of the more than one dozen current …

Discussion: Newsweek, Joe.My.God., Law & Crime, Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Shakesville, Rolling Stone, Daily Kos, The Week, Splinter, Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times and Axios

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

Trump's greatest fear: His underlings told Mueller the truth — As we await Attorney General William P. Barr's redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report on the investigation into the Russia scandal, some people in the White House are getting nervous.

Discussion: Law & Crime, Raw Story and wabe.org

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge: Barr sowing public mistrust with Mueller report handling

Discussion: Raw Story

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:
As Mueller report release nears, White House prepares robust response: Sources

Discussion: IJR and Washington Times

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
White House denies House Democrats' AT&T-Time Warner records request

Discussion: One America News Network

Talia Lavin / Washington Post:

How the far right spread politically convenient lies about the Notre Dame fire — The news out of Paris was not actually about a conflict between the West and Islam. But why let facts stop you? — As a conflagration spread through the ancient timbers of Notre Dame Cathedral's attic on Monday …

Discussion: Observer, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, twitchy.com, Agence France-Presse, Al Jazeera, The Verge, Raw Story, VICE News and ABC News, more at Mediagazer »

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

The Daily 202: Tax returns show 2020 candidates gave to charity, but not a ton — THE BIG IDEA: Former congressman Beto O'Rourke (D-Tex.) released 10 years of tax returns last night. He and his wife reported $1,166 of charitable giving from a total income of $370,412 in 2017, the most recent year for which they released a return.

Discussion: National Review, RedState, The Federalist, TheBlaze, IJR, Fox News, The Week, The Daily Caller and The Daily Beast

Eugene Scott / Washington Post:

Trump and Pence tweeted about Notre Dame fire but said nothing when 3 black churches burned — The Monday fire that devastated France's iconic Notre Dame Cathedral drew expressions of sorrow and sympathy from around the world, including from U.S. lawmakers.

Discussion: Breitbart, One America News Network, New York Times, Essence and Mashable

James McAuley / Washington Post:
The fall of Notre Dame is a body blow to Paris and all it represents

Discussion: The Atlantic

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

‘Stop Sanders’ Democrats Are Agonizing Over His Momentum — WASHINGTON — When Leah Daughtry, a former Democratic Party official, addressed a closed-door gathering of about 100 wealthy liberal donors in San Francisco last month, all it took was a review of the 2020 primary rules to throw a scare in them.

Discussion: Townhall, Spectator USA, Common Dreams, Washington Free Beacon, Jezebel, Washington Monthly, Breitbart, Splinter, Raw Story, Herman Cain, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Althouse, Washington Post, twitchy.com and Fox News

New York Times:

The Rematch: Bernie Sanders vs. a Clinton Loyalist — WASHINGTON — The bad blood started early. — In 2008, Neera Tanden, then a top aide on Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign, accompanied Mrs. Clinton to what was expected to be an easy interview at the Center for American Progress …

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, Splinter, Observer, Washington Monthly, Politico, twitchy.com, The Resurgent, Diane Ravitch's blog, Washington Post and Fox News

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Poll: Roy Moore leading Alabama GOP field — Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore leads the field of potential Republicans vying for the chance to challenge Sen. Doug Jones (D), a year and a half after Moore lost what was supposed to be an easy election in a deep-red state.

Discussion: Big League Politics, Outside the Beltway and The Root

Grace Segers / CBS News:
Roy Moore leads in Alabama Senate poll

Discussion: Advocate

David Edwards / Raw Story: Accused child molester Roy Moore leads Alabama Senate race after losing to Doug Jones in 2017

Howard Koplowitz / al.com: Roy Moore leads in early 2020 Alabama Senate poll

NBC News:

Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show — Facebook's leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data — and privacy was an afterthought. — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg oversaw plans to consolidate the social network's power …

Discussion: Mashable, NB Blog, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, CNBC and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

Bernie's Fox News Town Hall Was a Ratings Smash. More Dems May Follow Him There. — At least three Democratic presidential campaigns have indicated interest in participating in a Fox News town hall or have begun discussions about doing one. — Gideon Resnick

Discussion: Townhall, Political Wire, Roll Call, Contemptor, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Outline and The Week

Mediaite:
Fox News Scores Big With Bernie Sanders Town Hall, Posts Highest Ratings of Any 2020 Forum to Date

Discussion: The Hill, Splinter and New York Post

Daniel Marans / HuffPost:
A ‘Medicare For All’ Question Backfired At Bernie Sanders' Fox News Town Hall

Discussion: The Federalist, Vox, CNBC, Joe.My.God. and IJR

Wired:

15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook — Scandals. Backstabbing. Resignations. Record profits. Time Bombs. In early 2018, Mark Zuckerberg set out to fix Facebook. Here's how that turned out. — THE STREETS OF Davos, Switzerland, were iced over on the night of January 25 …

Discussion: Boing Boing, Mashable and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Gina Haspel Relies on Spy Skills to Connect With Trump. He Doesn't Always Listen. — WASHINGTON — Gina Haspel was trying to brief President Trump early in her tenure as the C.I.A. director, but he appeared distracted. Houseflies buzzing around the Oval Office were drawing his attention, and ire.

Discussion: The Guardian, Politico, Washington Post, Raw Story and Splinter

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Mick Mulvaney's Master Class in Destroying a Bureaucracy From Within — The C.F.P.B. was created to protect Americans from predatory lenders after the financial crisis. President Trump's new chief of staff took it apart on his way to White House. — One rainy afternoon early in February 2018 …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, NB Blog and Raw Story

Lesley Clark / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

GOP congressman warns fellow Republicans: Be careful messing with Ocasio-Cortez — A Kentucky Republican congressman is warning his colleagues that if they mess with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they could be inviting trouble. — “A lot of Republicans are making a mistake picking on her,” said Rep. James Comer.

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story and twitchy.com

Julie K. Brown / Miami Herald:

New Jeffrey Epstein accuser goes public; defamation lawsuit targets Dershowitz — A new victim has gone public in the Jeffrey Epstein case, filing a sworn affidavit in federal court in New York Tuesday, saying that she was sexually assaulted and her then-15-year-old sister molested by Epstein …

Discussion: Raw Story and Above the Law

Sam Levine / HuffPost:

House Republicans Are Upset Democrats Are Investigating Voter Suppression Allegations — The Republicans accused the Democratic lawmakers of meddling in state election issues. — House Democrats overstepped their authority by asking state officials for information as part of an inquiry …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo and twitchy.com

Irin Carmon / The Cut:

How the Kavanaugh Hearings Changed American Men and Women — Around five or six hundred traumatic public events ago — which is to say last fall — Republicans declared Democrats would live to regret that they pushed for women accusing now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault or misconduct to be heard.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Andrew C. McCarthy / New York Post:

Behind the Obama administration's shady plan to spy on the Trump campaign — In Senate testimony last week, Attorney General William Barr used the word “spying” to refer to the Obama administration, um, spying on the Trump campaign. Of course, fainting spells ensued, with the media-Democrat complex in meltdown.

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show and Althouse

Michael Hobbes / HuffPost:

Pete Buttigieg Was An Effective Mayor — With A Gaping Blind Spot — South Bend residents describe a technocratic leader who struggled to see beyond spreadsheets. — Like many residents of South Bend, Indiana, Laura Jensen has known Pete Buttigieg for years.

Discussion: Rolling Stone and LGBTQ Nation

Wardah Khalid / Houston Chronicle:

Why isn't Dan Crenshaw following his own advice with Ilhan Omar? [Opinion] — Last week, the shocking image of two burning twin towers from the 9/11 attacks appeared on the cover of the New York Post, along with a caption calling out Rep. Ilhan Omar. — “Here's your something,” it read.

Discussion: Townhall, NB Blog and Above the Law

Jeff Stein / Newsweek:

‘Fear Is a Very Powerful Force’: How the White House Whistleblower Exposed a National Security Scandal — When Donald Trump and his advisers arrived at the White House for their first real day of work on January 21, 2017, they inherited over 1,800 civil service employees who have more-or-less permanent jobs …

Bloomberg:

Trump Gets Trade Setback With WTO Ruling That May Foil U.S. Strategy — WTO's first ruling on national security will stand uncontested — Ukraine says decision may help curb unjustified protectionism — The debate over whether the World Trade Organization has the authority to rule …

Nina Burleigh / Newsweek:

Adam Schiff Says ‘Individual 1’ Donald Trump Should Be Prosecuted—And He's Not Giving Up — Adam Schiff was angry. It was late March, and Attorney General William Barr had just released his summary of the special counsel's Russiagate report, deflating many Democrats' hopes for impeachment.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, and the psychology of liberalism — Buttigieg is going for the “hope and change” voters. — There was a word missing from the speech Pete Buttigieg gave in South Bend, Indiana, announcing his presidential campaign. It's a word you heard twice in Bernie Sanders's …

Discussion: The Guardian and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Sandra E. Garcia / New York Times:

White Man Gets 10 Years in Prison for Trying to Hire Hit Man to Lynch Black Neighbor — A white man in South Carolina has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hit man to kill his black neighbor, hang him from a tree and leave a burning cross in his yard, prosecutors said.

Discussion: TheBlaze

Lena H. Sun / Washington Post:

Unaware he had measles, a man traveled from N.Y. to Michigan, infecting 39 people — ‘Patient Zero’ offers a cautionary tale about how speedily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet can spread — Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox …

Discussion: New York Post and KTLA

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

9 Takeaways From the Clearest Glimpse Into the 2020 Money Race So Far — Bernie Sanders is the money leader. Elizabeth Warren is spending big. Pete Buttigieg emerged out of nowhere. And (almost) everyone is buying gobs of Facebook ads. — The Democratic challengers to President Trump raised tens …

Discussion: Vox and New York Times

Tom Hauser / KSTP-TV:

Trump talks tax bill, Omar in interview with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS — While visiting Minnesota Monday, President Donald Trump promoted the impact of tax cuts passed in 2017 and began a new round of criticism of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar during an interview with KSTP Chief Political Reporter Tom Hauser.

Discussion: RedState, CNN, Big League Politics, Politico, The Root, Daily Caller News Foundation, Breitbart, New York Post and Splinter

Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:

NRA Sues Its Longtime Advertising Firm, Revealing Major Internal Dispute — NRATV has allegedly told the National Rifle Association that it can take key financial information about the groups' relationship from its cold dead hands, according to a lawsuit the NRA filed on Friday.

Discussion: New York Times, The Week and Media Matters for America

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:

Woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway skates — Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Maryland — the bastion of leftism and Trump hatred I call home — have dismissed charges against the woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway in a restaurant where Conway was celebrating her birthday.

Discussion: Washington Post and DCist