memeorandum: POLITICO Playbook PM: For one shining moment, Trump stayed on message (Politico)

3:15 PM ET, April 26, 2019

Top Items:

Murray Waas / The New York Review of Books:

Mueller Prosecutors: Trump Did Obstruct Justice — Prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded last year that they had sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice over the president's alleged pressuring …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and New York Times

Washington Post:

Rosenstein fires back at critics over Mueller report — NEW YORK — Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein hit back hard against politicians and the press Thursday night, and warned that hacking and social media manipulation are “only the tip of the iceberg” …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Axios, Outside the Beltway and Mediaite

U.S. Department of Justice:

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein Delivers Remarks at the Armenian Bar Association's Public Servants Dinner — “Peri yerego.” Good evening. — Rick, I am grateful for your friendship and for your 20 years of exceptional service to the Department of Justice …

Discussion: RedState, CBS News, Fox News, Breitbart, Big League Politics, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Raw Story, VICE News, The Daily Beast, twitchy.com, IJR and The Daily Caller

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Rosenstein defends Russia investigation, takes shots at Obama administration

Discussion: Above the Law

Charles Sykes / The Bulwark: Did Trump's Attempts to Obstruct Actually Work?

The Daily Beast:

Fox News Reporter Rips Colleagues Over Charlottesville: You Sound Like ‘White Supremacist Chat Room’ — In emails obtained by The Daily Beast, one bold Fox reporter stands up to two of his colleagues who defended Trump's ‘both sides’ comment about neo-Nazi rallygoers.

Discussion: Politico, Shakesville and Raw Story

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Fox News' Jon Decker Blasts Colleagues Over Charlottesville in Leaked Emails: Like a ‘White Supremacist Chat Room’ — In leaked internal emails obtained by Mediaite, Fox News Radio correspondent Jon Decker scolded several of his colleagues for their defense of President Donald Trump's …

Discussion: Washington Post

Scott Jones / FTVLive:
EXCLUSIVE! Fox News Internal Emails Regarding Biden's Announcement

Discussion: Contemptor

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump tries to re-write his own history on Charlottesville and ‘both sides’

Discussion: Vox, Mother Jones, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, The Daily Dot, Breitbart, RedState, PJ Media Home and The Daily Caller

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Why Is Joe Biden the Only Democrat Who Wants to Talk About Donald Trump? — In the week since the release of the Mueller report, President Trump has gone to war against its findings, raged against advisers who coöperated with the special counsel's investigation, lied about what the report concluded …

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:
Restoration Versus Revolution

Discussion: New York Times

Chris Stirewalt / Fox News:
Is Trump trying to get impeached?

Discussion: USA Today, Politico and The Daily Beast

NBC News:
If it's Biden v. Bernie, buckle up

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Townhall and Above the Law

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Trump says he would beat Biden ‘easily’ in 2020, takes a swipe at former VP's age

Discussion: Politico and Liberty Unyielding

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Joe Biden is the best candidate to beat Trump

Discussion: Splinter, IJR, The Guardian, Mashable and The Moderate Voice

John Bresnahan / Politico:
Trump's Biden insults fueled by belief he can win

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, The Hill, NPR, New York Times, VICE News, Raw Story, ABC11 and IJR

Molly Nagle / ABC News:
Biden says he's ‘more cognizant’ of private space after allegations

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, IJR, Los Angeles Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hollywood Life, Joe.My.God., Decider, New York Times, The Week and Breitbart

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Russian Agent Maria Butina Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison: ‘I Destroyed My Own Life’ — The government says she illegally courted U.S. figures, including conservatives and NRA leaders, on behalf of Moscow. — Betsy Woodruff — Maria Butina, who admitted to conspiring to act …

Discussion: Politico, Boing Boing, VICE News, Rolling Stone and NBC News

Washington Post:

Maria Butina, Russian who conspired to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups, sentenced to 18 months — Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina was sentenced to an 18-month prison term Friday in Washington after failing to register as a foreign agent for conspiring …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Rewire.News, Political Wire and The Crime Report

Associated Press:
Trump speaks to a weakened National Rifle Association

Discussion: MyNorthwest.com and The Crime Report

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Women Did Everything Right. Then Work Got ‘Greedy.’ — How America's obsession with long hours has widened the gender gap. — Daniela Jampel and Matthew Schneid met in college at Cornell, and both later earned law degrees. They both got jobs at big law firms, the kind that reward people …

Washington Post:

During NRA speech, Trump drops out of another global arms treaty — President Trump announced Friday that he would un-sign the global arms pact known as the Arms Trade Treaty in the latest illustration of his aversion to international pacts and world governance.

Discussion: Hot Air and Axios

David Brown / Politico:
Trump says U.S. ‘will never ratify’ arms trade treaty

Discussion: Townhall

CBS News:
Nearly two years later, Trump defends Charlottesville response

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Gateway Pundit, Sputnik International, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and The Week

BuzzFeed News:

Trump Says Mar-A-Lago Can't Find US Workers To Hire. New Documents Show Dozens Applied. — Trump often says his resorts have no choice but to hire foreign guest workers — there just aren't any Americans to take the jobs. But government records show nearly 60 US residents applied for those jobs, and only one was hired.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Political Wire and Shareblue Media

Justin Elliott / ProPublica:

TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page From Search Engines — The makers of TurboTax as well as H&R Block promised the IRS to offer free filing for many Americans. But they're keeping Google from seeing it. … This week, we reported on how TurboTax uses deceptive design …

Discussion: The Verge and Splinter, more at Techmeme »

Manu Raju / CNN:

GOP's Jordan asks White House to let ex-official testify to avoid ‘unnecessary conflict’ on security clearances — (CNN)Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, is seeking to resolve a tense dispute between Democrats and the White House as part of the panel's review …

Discussion: KTLA

CNN:
Connolly threatens to jail Trump officials who won't comply with subpoenas

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Daily Kos, Shareblue Media, Townhall and Vanity Fair

Mike Dorning / Bloomberg:

Farm Equipment Purchases Plummet as Trade War Hits Rural America — Opinion — Nixon Got Pushed Out by Republicans. Trump Might, Too. — Some party leaders surely know the costs of letting him crush Congress as an institution. — April 26, 2019 — Jonathan Bernstein

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Trump: People ‘have to get their shots’ amid measles crisis

Discussion: Axios, Breitbart and Washington Post

Fred Imbert / CNBC:

US economy grows by 3.2% in the first quarter, topping expectations — The U.S. economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the first quarter and posted its best growth to start a year in six years. — First-quarter GDP expanded by 3.2% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Last Refuge, RedState, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, twitchy.com and TheBlaze

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook PM: For one shining moment, Trump stayed on message — PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP at the NRA convention in Indianapolis: — “Every day of my administration, we are taking power out of Washington, D.C., and returning it to the American people, where it belongs.

Discussion: ProPublica, Political Wire, PJ Media Home and Breitbart

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

Warren's free-college-and-debt-forgiveness plan may be liberal, but it isn't progressive — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) might want to work on making her free-college-and-debt-forgiveness plan more progressive. — That might sound like a weird criticism for a candidate already vying for the left-most lane in the 2020 primary.

Discussion: The Federalist, New York Times, National Review and Real Clear Politics

Chris Quintana / USA Today:
Free college plans like Elizabeth Warren's are pretty pricey. Some say her plan would benefit the rich most

Discussion: twitchy.com, Slate, National Review and Axios

Washington Post:

Pentagon set to expand military role along southern border — The Pentagon is preparing to approve a loosening of rules that bar troops from interacting with migrants entering the United States, expanding the military's involvement in President Trump's operation along the southern border.

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

Rich guys are most likely to have no idea what they're talking about, study suggests — Researchers attempt to measure how often people oversell themselves in society — Researchers embarked on a novel study intent on measuring what a Princeton philosophy professor contends …

HuffPost:

Psychiatrists Say Mueller Report Offers More Proof Of Trump's Mental Decline — Trying to fire Mueller despite the clear downside shows the president can't rationally process risk, a new study states. — WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's “reckless” response to the investigation …

Discussion: Raw Story

Dan Margolies / NPR:

Kansas Supreme Court Rules State Constitution Protects Right To Abortion — Updated at 11 a.m. ET — The Kansas Constitution protects a woman's right to an abortion, the state's Supreme Court ruled Friday. — The landmark ruling now stands as the law of the land in Kansas with no path for an appeal.

Discussion: The Federalist, Joe.My.God., The Daily Beast and Daily Caller News Foundation

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump's top aide is trying to overhaul the West Wing snake pit — It may be Washington's most coveted happy hour invitation. On the patio outside the White House chief of staff's office, cozily enclosed by greenery, West Wing aides relax with beer and wine under a white pergola …

Discussion: USA Today

Axios:

Pence hits back after speculation that FBI tried to infiltrate his team — Vice President Mike Pence's former chief of staff, Josh Pitcock, has responded for the first time to speculation in conservative media outlets that FBI agents wanted to use him to infiltrate President-elect Trump's transition team in 2016.

Discussion: Hot Air, Fox News, Washington Post and Raw Story

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:

George Conway slammed Trump as ‘Deranged Donald,’ and a new nickname was born — In President Trump's world, people may come and go, but nicknames are forever. — Whether they are “Crooked,” “Crazy,” “Lyin'” or “Little,” it appears that Trump has made it his personal mission to saddle …

Discussion: The Root, IJR, HuffPost and Joe.My.God.