memeorandum: How Trump's Stonewalling Puts Our Democracy at Risk (Ryan Goodman/New York Times)

8:10 AM ET, May 20, 2019

Top Items:

David Enrich / New York Times:

Deutsche Bank Staff Saw Suspicious Activity in Trump and Kushner Accounts — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Anti-money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended in 2016 and 2017 that multiple transactions involving legal entities controlled by Donald J. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner …

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, Mediaite, Raw Story, Slate, The Week, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Vox, The Guardian, Splinter and Hullabaloo, more at Mediagazer »

Grant Stern / Washington Press:

A whistleblower just revealed Deutsche Bank covered up 2016 Kushner money transfers with Russia — A whistleblower has revealed that the brass of the only major bank willing to do business with President Trump covered up credible suspicious activity reports (SARs) about him and Jared Kushner.

Discussion: Raw Story, CNBC, New York Times and Mediaite

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: The Trump impeachment slow burn — Good morning and welcome back! Tips, comments, recipes? Reach out and sign up. Thanks for waking up with us. — The Investigations — ARE WE THERE YET?: An unlikely lawmaker added over the weekend to the drumbeat gathering for impeaching President Trump.

Discussion: CNBC, Raw Story and Breitbart

Bo Emerson / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

JUST IN: Morehouse commencement speaker to pay off Class of 2019's student loans — Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College's Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school.

Discussion: Associated Press, NBC News, New York Post, UPI, The Atlantic, The Root, Deadline, CNN, Common Dreams, Mother Jones, The Guardian, YouTube, Slate, WGN-TV and Mediaite

Emily S. Rueb / New York Times:
Morehouse Class of '19, Congratulations: Your Student Loans Will Be Paid Off

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Emily S. Rueb / New York Times:
Morehouse Graduates' Student Loans to Be Paid Off by Billionaire

Discussion: NPR and Forbes

Gregg Re / Fox News:

Buttigieg takes on Trump, pitches four new tax hikes in Fox News Town Hall — Insurgent Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg acknowledged at the Fox News town hall in Claremont, New Hampshire Sunday evening that he needs to do more to appeal to “black and brown” voters …

Discussion: Politico, Conservative News Today, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

Jeff Parrott South Bend / South Bend Tribune: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg out of town for nearly half the days in recent months

Bianca Quilantan / Politico: Trump: Fox News ‘wasting airtime on Mayor Pete’

Samuel Chamberlain / Fox News:

Trump says war will mean ‘official end of Iran,’ warns ‘never threaten the United States again’ — President Trump fired a social media broadside at the Iranian regime Sunday afternoon, vowing that war between Washington and Tehran would result in “the official end of Iran” before warning, “[n]ever threaten the United States again!”

Discussion: Common Dreams, One America News Network, RedState and Washington Post

Carlo Muñoz / Washington Times:
Rocket attack targets U.S. embassy in Iraq

Discussion: Townhall and CNBC

CNN:

Harris unveils plan to fine companies that don't achieve pay equity — (CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled her plan to close the wage gap by fining companies that fail to ensure they are paying men and women equally. — The plan seeks to change …

Discussion: Axios

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Kamala Harris wants to punish companies that don't pay women equally

Discussion: Washington Post

Ryan Goodman / New York Times:

How Trump's Stonewalling Puts Our Democracy at Risk — Congress needs the full Mueller report to do its job of protecting our elections from foreign adversaries. — Mr. Goodman served as special counsel to the general counsel of the Department of Defense.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Mueller changed everything — From now on, the Trump-Russia affair, the investigation that dominated the first years of Donald Trump's presidency, will be divided into two parts: before and after the release of the Mueller report. Before the special counsel's findings were made public last month …

Ben White / Politico:

Dark clouds hang over Trump's trade war — President Donald Trump is doing everything he can to soften the economic blow of his trade battle with China, doling out billions of dollars in farmer bailouts and telling Americans that the Chinese are paying the tariffs he's slapped on U.S. importers.

Discussion: Political Wire

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
China trade war: Trump defends tariffs impact, goes after Biden

Discussion: One America News Network and Fox News

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

There's No Boom in Youngstown, but Blue-Collar Workers Are Sticking With Trump — YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — In May 2016, David Betras, a Democratic Party leader in the heart of industrial northeast Ohio, sent a memo warning Hillary Clinton's campaign that it was on the verge of losing Ohio …

Axios:

Democrats' next oversight move: The power of the purse — House Democrats are considering a new idea to pressure the Trump administration to comply with their subpoenas. The idea is to use the appropriations process as leverage and threaten to withhold funding until they get the documents and testimony they've requested.

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump and the Four-Letter Presidency — WASHINGTON — In modern times, presidents have rarely been church mice afraid of a little salty language. But President Trump has grown increasingly willing in recent months to say in public what most of his predecessors tried to keep behind closed doors.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump scrambles to reverse Rust Belt slide — Donald Trump's aides and allies are moving aggressively to shore up his support in three Rust Belt states that propelled him to the presidency — but where his own polling shows him in trouble heading into 2020.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Lisa Friedman / New York Times:

E.P.A. Could Make Thousands of Pollution Deaths Vanish by Changing Its Math — WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency plans to adopt a new method for projecting the future health risks of air pollution, one that experts said has never been peer-reviewed and is not scientifically sound …

Discussion: CNN

Mike Allen / Axios:

Trump wants to use his 2020 campaign kickoff to sow division in the huge Democratic field — President Trump plans to formally launch his re-election campaign next month, likely with a burst of swing-state rallies, Republican sources tell me. — Why it matters: Trump's personal campaign approach …

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:

First on CNN: White House to focus on investment in Middle East as part of peace proposal — (CNN)The White House announced Sunday afternoon the first part of its Middle East peace proposal, what officials are calling an economic “workshop” to encourage investing capital in the West Bank …

Discussion: The Week, Mediaite, New York Times and Jewish Telegraphic Agency