memeorandum: New York legislature passes bill allowing state to prosecute people pardoned by the President (CNN)

9:30 AM ET, May 22, 2019

Top Items:

Rex Tillerson Secretly Meets With House Foreign Affairs Committee to Talk Trump — The former Secretary of State is talking with lawmakers at the same time virtually everyone else who worked for the president is defying Congress. — Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was spotted entering …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Just Security, POLITICUSUSA, Politico, Vox and Mediaite

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

As Trump Sics Velociraptors on House, Pelosi Warns Impeachment Would Be a Distraction — House Democratic leaders sparred once again over whether to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump Monday night, with speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterating her opposition to such a move.

Discussion: New Republic, Washington Post and Slate

Politico:

Pelosi preaches caution on impeachment as pressure builds — House Democrats hold a closed-door meeting, with the speaker eager to tamp down calls for Trump's removal. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to hold the line — no impeachment. At least not yet.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, Outside the Beltway and New York Times

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: Don Jr. to pen book ... Inside Pelosi's impeachment battle plan — DRIVING THE DAY — PLAYBOOK SCOOP — DONALD TRUMP JR. has signed a book deal with Center Street Books, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, for a book “that will focus on politics …

Discussion: Reuters, Political Wire and Raw Story

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Why Democrats — and pundits — shouldn't assume impeachment will backfire — Pressure is growing on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to impeach President Trump, no matter how much she denies it. With an increasing number of House Democrats and 2020 hopefuls calling …

Discussion: UPI, ABC News and Vanity Fair

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
The case for and against impeachment — Here's how Democrats might …

Discussion: Salon, Politico and Conservative News Today

Politico:
Trump to Democrats: No infrastructure without trade deal

Discussion: Townhall, The Hill and Axios

Rick Klein / ABC News: The Note: Impeachment buzz boiling over for Pelosi and House

Zachary Cohen / CNN: Tillerson quietly meets with House lawmakers to discuss Trump

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:
Tillerson meets for seven hours with House Foreign Affairs Committee

Discussion: Fox News and Splinter

Washington Post:

Confidential draft IRS memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless president invokes executive privilege — A confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, JustOneMinute, CNN, The Week, Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, Vox, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit, Slate, Raw Story, Axios, The New Civil Rights Movement, Mother Jones, The Guardian and Mediaite

Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
I.R.S. Memo Undercuts Mnuchin on Withholding Trump's Tax Returns

Discussion: CNBC, The Week, Common Dreams, The Reality-Based Community, Talking Points Memo and CNN

CBS News:

Americans feel good about economy and give Trump credit - CBS News poll — Most Americans remain confident about the U.S. economy and in their own financial situation, and more now give President Trump's policies credit for a strong economy than did so last year.

Discussion: The Week

QU Poll:

Release Detail — May 21, 2019 - Good Feelings On Economy Don't Help Trump, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Biden Is Only Contender With Positive Score — The nation's economy is “excellent,” 22 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University National Poll today, the highest “excellent” rating for the economy.

Discussion: National Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Mediaite, Vox, Politico, The Week, Washington Times, Breitbart, Front Page Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Political Wire and CNBC

Jennifer De Pinto / CBS News:
Majority of Americans don't want Roe v. Wade overturned, CBS News poll finds

Discussion: NB Blog, The Week, Splinter and Political Wire

CNN:

Schiff cancels ‘enforcement’ meeting after Justice Department offers to share Mueller documents — Barr makes Dems an offer to stave off ‘enforcement action’ — Washington (CNN)House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff is scrapping a Wednesday morning meeting intended to take an …

Discussion: Axios and Talking Points Memo

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:

Justice Department and House intelligence panel strike deal for Mueller materials — The House Intelligence Committee will not enforce a subpoena against Attorney General William P. Barr as planned Wednesday, after the Justice Department agreed at the 11th hour to produce the redacted material …

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:

Judge orders public release of Michael Cohen search warrants — (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller's search warrants in his investigation of Michael Cohen will be made public with redactions on Wednesday, a federal judge ordered Tuesday. — The five warrants in total encompass the searches …

BuzzFeed News:
New Transcripts Say That Trump Crafted Michael Cohen's Lies More Closely Than Was Previously Known

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg: Avenatti Says He Expects Indictment in New York Within 48 Hours

New York Times:

Trump Administration Could Blacklist China's Hikvision, a Surveillance Firm — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering limits to a Chinese video surveillance giant's ability to buy American technology, people familiar with the matter said, the latest attempt to counter Beijing's global economic ambitions.

Discussion: Washington Post, Gizmodo, VICE News and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Alexandra Stevenson / New York Times: China Faces New ‘Long March’ as Trade War Intensifies, Xi Jinping Says

Li Zhou / Vox:

Kirsten Gillibrand's new policy platform is about making parenting affordable — It outlines a wide-ranging vision on everything from affordable child care to the costs of fertility treatments. — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has sought to make gender equity and family policies cornerstones …

Discussion: Medium, Politico and The Daily Beast

Stephanie Saul / New York Times: Gillibrand Proposes Huge Investments in Maternal Health, Child Care and Education

Allan Smith / NBC News:

New York lawmakers pass bill aimed at weakening Trump's pardon power — The measure, which creates a narrow exception to the state's double jeopardy law, now goes to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk. — New York state lawmakers passed a measure Tuesday that would allow prosecutors …

Discussion: Townhall, NPR, UPI and Axios

CNN: New York legislature passes bill allowing state to prosecute people pardoned by the President

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

GOP leaders back North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis by bloodying his primary challenger — Republican leaders in the Senate are aggressively defending Sen. Thom Tillis, with plans to carpet bomb primary challenger Garland Tucker across the North Carolina airwaves if he jeopardizes the incumbent's 2020 reelection.

Discussion: Political Wire

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump campaign and Senate GOP clash over president's pollster

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Fox News

Matthew S. Schwartz / NPR:

Nevada Poised To Become 15th State To Ditch Electoral College — President Hillary Clinton? — That would have been the result of the 2016 presidential election — if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact were in effect. — With a state Senate vote Tuesday …

Amanda Fitzsimons / New York Times:

How ‘The View’ Became the Most Important Political TV Show in America — Not long ago, politicians didn't take the daytime talk show seriously. Now it's an essential campaign stop for Democrats and Republicans alike. — On a weekday in March, less than two months before his three-year sentence …

Discussion: Political Wire and RADAR

Greg Weiner / New York Times:

It's Not Always the End of the World — Political prudence isn't in vogue, but it should be. — Mr. Weiner is a political scientist and was a senior Senate aide to Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska. — President Trump recently declared that he won the White House in …

Peter Hermann / Washington Post:

Senate employee dies after altercation outside restaurant in Navy Yard — A longtime Senate employee and popular youth baseball coach on Capitol Hill has died after an altercation outside his favorite restaurant and steps from his home near Nationals Park, according to his family and D.C. police.

Melissa Nann Burke / Detroit News:

Amash challenger scrubs campaign website of bio information — The state lawmaker who plans to challenge West Michigan U.S. Rep. Justin Amash in the Republican primary has been accused of misrepresenting how his college education was funded. — State Rep. Jim Lower, R-Greenville …

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

The Democrats' 100-year flood — The midterm elections may have been a sign of what's ahead for the 2020 presidential election: experts say the voter turnout could be the highest in a century. — The big picture: According to Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida …

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

Trump's Constitutional Conflicts Are Exposed — The president loves the Constitution when it helps stop his advisers from testifying, less so when it's used to demand the disclosure of his finances. — Just before boarding Marine One on the south lawn of the White House on Monday evening …

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:

‘Terrible Idea’: Senators Slam Trump Plan To Pardon Vets Accused Of War Crimes — Sen. Mitt Romney said it would be “unthinkable” to pardon service members who were “legitimately convicted of committing war crimes.” — WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's reported plans …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Fox News

Edvard Pettersson / Bloomberg:

U.S. Wall Funding of $1.57 Billion Yields 1.7 Miles of Fence — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has put up just 1.7 miles of fencing with the $1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year for President Donald Trump's wall along the Mexican border, a federal judge was told.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Associated Press

Winnie Hu / New York Times:

Rats Are Taking Over New York City — Gentrifying neighborhoods are a key reason behind the vermin outbreak, which extends beyond New York — Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles are also confronting issues. — So many rats regularly lurk on a sidewalk in Brooklyn that it is the humans who avoid the rats, not the other way around.

BBC:

Brexit: PM under fire over new Brexit plan — Theresa May will make the case for her new Brexit plan in Parliament later, amid signs that Conservative opposition to her leadership is hardening. — The prime minister will outline changes to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill …

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg and ABC News

WKYT-TV:

Andy Beshear wins Democratic nomination for governor — LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WKYT) - Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has won the Democratic Party nomination for governor. — Beshear defeated House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins and former State Auditor Adam Edelen to win the race.

Discussion: Lexington Herald-Leader and Axios

Washington Post:

Appeals court refuses to stay Mueller grand jury subpoena for Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller — A federal appeals court Tuesday refused to block a grand jury subpoena for testimony by Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller in an investigation launched by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III …

Rebecca Mansour / Breitbart:

NYT Confirms Hunter Biden Bank of China Deal, Leaves Out Key Details — A Tuesday New York Times article confirms revelations in Peter Schweizer's bestselling book Secret Empires regarding the $1.5 billion deal Hunter Biden's private equity firm secured from the state-owned Bank of China …

Discussion: Fox News and Contemptor

Karen Heller / Washington Post:

How San Francisco broke America's heart — SAN FRANCISCO — A Tuesday afternoon in the Mission District of America's tech wonderland. — Michael Feno stands outside Lucca Ravioli, his beloved pasta emporium on Valencia, a vestige of old San Francisco, puffing on a cigar while posing for pictures, his customers in tears.