memeorandum: China's Liu He denies backtracking on trade agreements with the US (Financial Times)

7:35 AM ET, May 12, 2019

Top Items:

Leaked Letters Reveal Details of NRA Chief's Alleged Spending — Wayne LaPierre expensed $39,000 in clothes in one day, $18,300 for car and driver, ad agency says; NRA says board has ‘full confidence’ in him — National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre billed the group's ad agency $39,000 …

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Leaked Documents: NRA Racked Up $24 Million in Legal Bills — The NRA has racked up huge legal bills over the last year that threaten to debilitate the organization, according to documents posted anonymously online that appear to be written by the group's ex-president Oliver North.

Discussion: Raw Story and Slate

Washington Post:

Trump and his allies are blocking more than 20 separate Democratic probes in an all-out war with Congress — President Trump and his allies are working to block more than 20 separate investigations by Democrats into his actions as president, his personal finances and his administration's policies …

Discussion: Politico and Mediaite

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Trump seeks to limit judges' powers on injunctions after legal blows — President Trump is looking to stop lower courts from being able to issue wide-ranging injunctions in a move that could dramatically limit the authority of judges. — The plan comes as groups opposed to Trump have been able …

Jamie Raskin / Washington Post: Congress isn't just a co-equal branch. We're first among equals.

Kate Taylor / New York Times:

Harvard Drops Harvey Weinstein Lawyer as a Faculty Dean — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard said on Saturday that a law professor who is representing Harvey Weinstein would not continue as faculty dean of an undergraduate house after his term ends on June 30, bowing to months of pressure from students.

Discussion: The Harvard Crimson, The American Conservative and Law & Crime

Financial Times:

China's Liu He denies backtracking on trade agreements with the US — Chinese vice premier Liu He has denied that China backtracked on agreements made in trade negotiations with the United States, in Beijing's first detailed response to Washington's allegation that changes …

HuffPost: Trump Trade War Just Raised Taxes On Consumers By Tens Of Billions of Dollars

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Killing the Pax Americana

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Raw Story

Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:

A group raised over $20 million to ‘build the wall.’ Now its supporters want answers. — A December fundraising campaign brought in more than $20 million over the course of a few weeks, its thousands of donors united by a common goal: the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, oft-promised by President Trump.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Axios and Daily Kos

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

Michael Oren Cuts Short a Conversation About Israel — Michael Oren, born Michael Bornstein in New York in 1955, emigrated to Israel forty years ago and served in the Israeli Defense Forces. After returning to the U.S. to receive a Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies from Princeton …

Mariam Khan / ABC News:

McConnell tells Trump ‘not to worry’ about Trump Jr. subpoena — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday urged President Donald Trump “not to worry” after the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Discussion: Breitbart and Power Line

Eliza Collins / USA Today:
Firestorm erupts around Sen. Richard Burr, man behind Donald Trump Jr. subpoena. He's not backing down

Discussion: Breitbart, Mother Jones and HillReporter.com

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:

A reporter declined to reveal his source. Then police showed up at his front door with guns. — Bryan Carmody, a freelance reporter in San Francisco, awoke Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into his house. — About 10 officers from the San Francisco Police Department …

more at Mediagazer »

Alex Thompson / Politico:

Trump backers applaud Warren in heart of MAGA country — KERMIT, W. Va. — It was a startling spectacle in the heart of Trump country: At least a dozen supporters of the president — some wearing MAGA stickers — nodding their heads, at times even clapping, for liberal firebrand Elizabeth Warren.

Discussion: The Guardian

Nick Clegg / New York Times:

Breaking Up Facebook Is Not the Answer — Dismantling our company won't fix what's wrong with social media. — Mr. Clegg is Facebook's vice president for global affairs and communications. — When does a company become too big or too successful to exist?

Discussion: The Week, New York Post, PJ Media Home, Variety, Gizmodo, Deadline, The Verge, Mediaite and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Trump Has a Strong Economy to Proclaim. In Wisconsin, It Just Might Work. — COLFAX, Wis. — President Trump came to Wisconsin late last month to boast about the state's unemployment rate, which has been at or near 3 percent for more than a year. “It's never been this low before.

Maureen Groppe / USA Today:

Vice President Pence to graduates: Be prepared to be ridiculed for being Christian — WASHINGTON -The last time Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Liberty University, he used the backdrop of one of the world's largest Christian schools to vouch for candidate Donald Trump's faith credentials during the 2016 campaign.

Discussion: Fox News and Washington Times

Reuters:

Venezuela's Guaido seeks U.S. Pentagon cooperation to solve political crisis — CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Saturday he has asked his envoy to the United States to meet with Pentagon officials to “cooperate” on a solution to the South American country's political crisis.

Harry Siegel / New York Daily News:

Rudy Giuliani's adventures abroad: How the former mayor is helping Trump anywhere he can — “We're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do.” — That's what Rudy Giuliani — America's mayor turned pro bono personal attorney for Donald J. Trump …

Washington Post:
Trump's interest in stirring Ukraine investigations sows confusion in Kiev

Discussion: News Agency UNIAN, Fox News and Raw Story

NBC News:
Sen. Chris Murphy calls for probe into Giuliani efforts in Ukraine on behalf of Trump

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo and Splinter

Sam Dorman / Fox News:

Resurfaced video shows Joe Biden pushing border fence, calling for employers who hired ‘illegals’ to be punished — Former Vice President Joe Biden, while a senator in 2006, advocated for a southern border wall and punishment for employers who hired illegal immigrants.

Discussion: Townhall, IJR and CNN