memeorandum: Re-Read Bill Barr's Infamous Letter With Full Quotes From the Mueller Report (Tim Dickinson/Rolling Stone)

4:15 PM ET, April 19, 2019

Top Items:

Mueller Hints at a National-Security Nightmare — The missing piece of the report is a counterintelligence investigation that should set off alarm bells about our democracy and security. — Mr. Geltzer is the executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NBC News, Just Security and Raw Story

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Comparing Barr's Excerpts With Mueller's Report — Attorney General William P. Barr sent a letter to Congress last month citing brief fragments from the Mueller report. Now that the document is public, his selections are coming under scrutiny. — When Attorney General William P. Barr sent Congress …

Discussion: New Republic, Washington Post, Vox, Lawfare, Raw Story and Northeastern

ABC News:

5 key takeaways from special counsel Robert Mueller's report — The report is a trove of information about the current presidency. — While there will be no legal case brought against President Donald Trump by special counsel Robert Mueller's team, the much-anticipated redacted report …

Yuval Levin / National Review:

Another Warning Sign — The Mueller report is of course about Russian interference in the 2016 election and about the White House's interference in the resulting investigation. But I couldn't help also reading the report as a window into the manner of administration that characterizes the Trump era …

Discussion: Mother Jones

David French / National Review:

The Mueller Report Should Shock Our Conscience — I've finished reading the entire Mueller report, and I must confess that even as a longtime, quite open critic of Donald Trump, I was surprised at the sheer scope, scale, and brazenness of the lies, falsehoods, and misdirections detailed by the Special Counsel's Office.

Discussion: Townhall, Conservative Tribune, Raw Story, wabe.org, NPR, CNN, Quartz, The Week, Mediaite, Shakesville and Wired

New York Times:

A Portrait of the White House and Its Culture of Dishonesty — WASHINGTON — As President Trump met with advisers in the Oval Office in May 2017 to discuss replacements for the F.B.I. director he had just fired, Attorney General Jeff Sessions slipped out of the room to take a call.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Daily Wire, Washington Post, Breitbart, Slate and The Intercept

George T. Conway III / Washington Post:

George Conway: Trump is a cancer on the presidency. Congress should remove him. — George T. Conway III is a lawyer in New York. — So it turns out that, indeed, President Trump was not exonerated at all, and certainly not “totally” or “completely,” as he claimed.

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Trump suspected that former White House counsel Don McGahn wore a wire

Discussion: New York Times, Law & Crime, Raw Story, Townhall, Mediaite and DCReport.org

Ken Dilanian / NBC News: The counterintelligence investigation of the Trump team and Russia hasn't stopped

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic: The Mueller Report Could Alienate the Voters Republicans Need

Tom Nichols / USA Today:
Mueller report: Donald Trump failed us as commander-in-chief

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway and Politico

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
The Mueller Report Won't End Trump's Presidency, But It Sure Makes Him Look Bad

Discussion: Vox, CNN, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Reason and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Cheyenne Haslett / ABC News:
Sarah Sanders grilled on her contradictory statements highlighted in Mueller report

Discussion: New York Post, USA Today, TIME, Sunlight Foundation, IJR, New York Times, The Guardian and Breitbart

Masha Gessen / New Yorker: The Hustlers and Swindlers of the Mueller Report

Renato Mariotti / Politico:
The Obstruction Case Against Trump that Barr Tried to Hide

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast

Timothy O'Brien / Bloomberg: Does Mueller Think Trump's Guilty? Read Closely

Lawfare:
What Mueller Found on Russia and on Obstruction: A First Analysis

Discussion: Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hullabaloo, Salon and Vox

Michael R. Bloomberg / Bloomberg:
Mueller Did His Job. Now It's Our Turn

Discussion: New York Post, Vox, Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Slate, Politico, Fox News and DCReport.org

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed News:
How We Characterized Michael Cohen's Testimony

Discussion: Politico, Daily Mail, Daily Wire, VICE News, The Wrap, Vox, Mediaite and Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Mueller didn't charge Trump — but his report is a brutal indictment

Discussion: Media Matters for America and The Guardian

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Mueller's Report Speaks Volumes

Discussion: RedState, Daily Wire, Instapundit, twitchy.com, Power Line, MarketWatch and The Gateway Pundit

Eli Lake / Bloomberg: How Not to Obstruct Justice — Trump gave Mueller a steady stream of ammunition.

David Brooks / New York Times:
It's Not the Collusion, It's the Corruption

Discussion: The Hill, Reason and The Atlantic

Griffin Connolly / Roll Call:

Rep. Hunter pretends to cross the Mexico border and gets called out for violating ‘parole’ — California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter and his Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar traded Twitter barbs Thursday over a video Hunter posted in which he appeared to suggest he was crossing the southern border into Mexico.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Ken Stone / Times of San Diego:

Rep. Hunter Hops Border Barrier — But Not Into Mexico as Video Suggests — Rep. Duncan Hunter posted a video Thursday showing himself at the “grand border wall in Yuma, Arizona.” He says: “It looks pretty tough to cross. Let me see if I can do it.” — He swings his legs …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, IJR, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Simon Romero / New York Times:
Militia in New Mexico Detains Asylum Seekers at Gunpoint

Discussion: Alamogordo Daily News, CNN, Slate, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, Boing Boing, The Stranger, Raw Story, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail and Fox News

Jerry Iannelli / Miami New Times:

South Florida Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill Democratic Lawmakers, Including Ilhan Omar … Lately, Donald Trump fans have enjoyed attacking left-leaning Americans. Last year, for instance, Miami-area resident Cesar Sayoc sent pipe bombs to prominent liberals around the country and went to jail.

Discussion: Contemptor, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
FL Man Arrested For Threatening To Murder Several Dems, Including Omar And Tlaib

Discussion: Mediaite

Michael Hirsh / Foreign Policy:

How Trump Practices ‘Escalation Dominance’ — “You have restraint on your side. He has no restraint. So you lose,” says outgoing French Ambassador Gérard Araud. — Following in the footsteps of Alexis de Tocqueville, Gérard Araud has made a study of the United States …

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Shareblue Media and Mediaite

Julian Borger / The Guardian:
‘Whimsical, uninformed’: French ambassador's parting verdict on Trump

Discussion: IJR and The Local

Yara Bayoumy / The Atlantic: The French Ambassador Is Retiring Today. Here's What He Really Thinks About Washington.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Democratic equivocation over impeachment is a moral and political disaster — As the political world digests the shocking scale of corruption, misconduct and skirting of criminality detailed in the Mueller report, Democrats have been pushing back on the idea that it's time to initiate an inquiry into the impeachment of President Trump.

Discussion: Vox, Rolling Stone, Crooked Media, No More Mister Nice Blog, Roll Call and CNN

Alex Pareene / New Republic:
Democrats Are Hoping You Don't Understand What “Impeachment” Entails

Discussion: The Federalist, Vox, Raw Story, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and The Week

Washington Post:
Mueller report updates: Nadler subpoenas full findings; White House calls it ‘political grandstanding’

Discussion: Breitbart, Axios, Politico, IndieWire and Media Matters for America

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:

Joe Biden Is Running for President — Joe Biden is running. The former vice president will make his candidacy official with a video announcement next Wednesday, according to people familiar with the discussions who have been told about them by top aides. — Seriously, he's actually made a decision.

Discussion: TIME, Associated Press, New Republic, Daily Wire, Politico, Vanity Fair, LifeNews.com, Trending Home, Breitbart, Splinter, Fox News, Townhall, Washington Times and Mediaite

Brian Schwartz / CNBC: Biden hires over a dozen senior advisors from Obama administration for 2020 campaign: Sources

New York Times:

Pete Buttigieg Fired South Bend's Black Police Chief. It Still Stings. — SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Pete Buttigieg had been mayor just 13 weeks when he faced a leadership crisis. — It was March 2012, and 300 residents of South Bend, Ind., solemnly marched to the Martin Luther King Center …

Kevin Poulsen / The Daily Beast:

Mueller Report: Assange Smeared Seth Rich to Cover for Russians — Julian Assange repeatedly blamed Seth Rich, the murdered DNC staffer, for Russia's leaks. The Mueller report shows that Assange was lying from the start. — Julian Assange not only knew that a murdered Democratic National …

Discussion: TheBlaze, Lawyers, Guns & Money and NBC News

Scott Jennings / CNN:
Mueller's report looks bad for Obama

Discussion: USA Today, Conservative Tribune and Mediaite

New York Times:

Joe Biden Begins Taking Money for a 2020 Presidential Campaign — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has begun accepting financial donations for a 2020 presidential campaign, an unambiguous sign that he intends to begin his challenge to President Trump within days.

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:

Screaming Mark Levin Leaves Fox & Friends Speechless with 8 AM Mueller Rant: ‘Ed, You Have No Idea!’ — Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin stunned the hosts of Fox & Friends this morning after a particularly unhinged rant, in which Levin screamed and cursed about claims of obstruction against President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Washington Times

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

Re-Read Bill Barr's Infamous Letter With Full Quotes From the Mueller Report — Context is everything. Trump's attorney general is a partisan hack — Attorney General William Barr released a letter to Congress on March 24, 2019, purporting to summarize the top-line conclusion of the Mueller report.

Dave Gershgorn / Quartz:

Microsoft staff are openly questioning the value of diversity — Some Microsoft employees are openly questioning whether diversity is important, in a lengthy discussion on an internal online messaging board meant for communicating with CEO Satya Nadella. — Two posts on the board criticizing …

Discussion: The Verge

The Daily Beast:

Matt Gaetz Hires Speechwriter Fired From White House Over White Nationalist Conference — Dr. Darren Beattie was pushed out of the administration over his appearance alongside alt-right figures. Less than a year later, he has a new gig on the Hill. — One of President Donald Trump's top …

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, Axios, Shareblue Media and Mediaite