Top Items:
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Faked Pelosi videos, slowed to make her appear drunk, spread across social media — Distorted videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), altered to make her sound as if she's drunkenly slurring her words, are spreading rapidly across social media, highlighting how political disinformation …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Political Wire and No More Mister Nice Blog, more at Mediagazer »
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Quint Forgey / Politico:
‘Extremely stable genius’: Trump defends his mental fitness as he tears into Pelosi — President Donald Trump on Thursday called on his top aides to publicly state he was “calm” during the disastrous meeting with Democratic leaders the day before, as he hijacked an event with farmers to air …
Discussion:
Fox News, Roll Call and Contemptor
Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:
TrumpTantrum spreads on Twitter after impromptu press conference — Calls for President Trump to resign began circulating on Twitter on Thursday morning, mocking the president for throwing a “#TrumpTantrum” and walking out of a meeting with Democratic leadership this week.
Discussion:
Washington Press, PJ Media Home and Mashable
Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Trump talks ‘Crazy Nancy’ Pelosi and treason at wild press conference — “When the ‘extremely stable genius’ starts acting more presidential, I'll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues,” Pelosi shot back on Twitter. — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon
Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Kellyanne Conway accuses Pelosi of treating her like a ‘maid’ — Kellyanne Conway escalated a feud with Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, accusing the House speaker of treating her like “her maid” following the previous day's disastrous meeting on infrastructure. — Conway, a senior counselor to Trump …
Discussion:
Contemptor and Breitbart
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Kellyanne Conway scrambles after accusing Pelosi of being anti-woman: ‘She treats me like her maid’ — Kellyanne Conway speaks to Fox News (screen grab) — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Thursday frantically defended her attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who she alleged is anti-woman.
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Maria Bartiromo: ‘Is There Any Reason Why We Should Not Be Trusting President Trump?’
NBC News:
Pelosi tells colleagues Trump is ‘villainous’ — and he wants to be impeached
Pelosi tells colleagues Trump is ‘villainous’ — and he wants to be impeached
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mediaite, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Shakesville, Conservative Review, New York Times and MSNBC
Washington Post:
Pelosi says Trump wants to be impeached and is angry that House Democrats are not moving in that direction
Pelosi says Trump wants to be impeached and is angry that House Democrats are not moving in that direction
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, One America News Network, Political Wire, Media Matters for America, Axios and New Yorker
Jordyn Hermani / Politico:
Pelosi: Trump needs ‘an intervention’ after White House blowup
Pelosi: Trump needs ‘an intervention’ after White House blowup
Discussion:
Breitbart
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Kellyanne Conway fires back at ‘rich’ Pelosi after clash: ‘Treats me like’ her ‘maid’
Kellyanne Conway fires back at ‘rich’ Pelosi after clash: ‘Treats me like’ her ‘maid’
Discussion:
Politico, American Greatness, twitchy.com, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit and Vox
New York Times:
Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues — WASHINGTON — Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, has been indicted on 17 new counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010 …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, Vox, Bloomberg, The Guardian, TechCrunch, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Law & Crime, Political Wire, NY State of Politics and Mashable
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The Daily Beast:
Trump Justice Department Crosses New Line, Charges Assange With Publishing U.S. Secrets — For the first time in modern American history, the government indicts a publisher for revealing classified information. — In a stunning escalation of the Trump administration's war on the press …
Washington Post:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange charged with violating Espionage Act — Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of violating the Espionage Act, bringing against him a new, 18-count indictment alleging he unlawfully obtained and disclosed national defense information.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »
Audrey Strauss / Justice News:
Bank CEO Stephen M. Calk Charged With Corruptly Soliciting A Presidential Administration Position In Exchange For Approving $16 Million In Loans — Ms. Strauss said: “As alleged, Stephen M. Calk abused the power entrusted to him as the top official of a federally insured bank by approving millions …
Discussion:
Politico, Mad Dog PAC, Shareblue Media, Axios, Slate, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit, Fortune and Eschaton
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Greg Farrell / Bloomberg:
Kushner Replied ‘On It!’ After Manafort Sought Post for Banker — Indictment doesn't name Trump insider who took up Calk's cause — Evidence from Manafort trial shows request fielded by Kushner — Shortly after Donald Trump's 2016 election, his onetime campaign chief Paul Manafort wrote …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
Breaking: Nobody Knows What's Going to Happen in 2020 — “Who's going to win?” I am now asked all the time, by friends and family members, by people I speak to professionally: “What's going to happen?” — I don't know, I tell them. I don't know. I tell them what I hope will happen …
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Are More Moderate Democrats More Electable?
Are More Moderate Democrats More Electable?
Discussion:
NBC News, The Poll Bludger and The Economist
Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
Waiting for Obama — Barack Obama is literally more popular than Jesus among Democrats.
Waiting for Obama — Barack Obama is literally more popular than Jesus among Democrats.
Discussion:
PJ Media Home, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Week, Politico and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »
State Primary Schedule / Polls:
Women Rise in Dem 2020 Field — Biden maintains lead, but it's not as large among early state voters — West Long Branch, NJ - Former Vice President Joe Biden maintains his front-runner status among Democratic voters nationwide, but some female candidates - namely Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren …
Discussion:
Fox News, Mother Jones, Washington Post, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire
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Zach Montellaro / Politico:
Spirituality guru Marianne Williamson locks in 2020 debate spot — Marianne Williamson, a self-help author and failed congressional candidate running an upstart campaign for president, is virtually ensured a spot in the first series of Democratic debates next month.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Feeds, Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon and New York Times
Washington Post:
Trump announces new $16 billion aid package for American farmers hit in trade war — President Trump, flanked by more than a dozen U.S. farmers at the White House, on Thursday announced a new $16 billion farm aid package to offset losses from the U.S. trade war with China.
Discussion:
New York Times, Slate, Shareblue Media and The Daily Caller
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Chris Sommerfeldt / New York Daily News:
Democrats ramp up pressure on Trump for answers on ‘outrageous’ …
Michelle Alexander / New York Times:
My Rapist Apologized — I still needed an abortion. — My 12-year-old daughter recently asked me what I think about abortion. She walked into the kitchen, poked around the refrigerator, then spun around and blurted it out: “I can't decide what I think about abortion. I want to know what you think.”
Columbia Journalism Review:
Report reveals new details about DOJ's seizing of AP phone records — With its latest leak indictment last week, the Department of Justice under Donald Trump is now on pace to break the previous record for prosecutions of journalists' sources, just two and a half years into its administration.
Discussion:
Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »
Murray Waas / The New York Review of Books:
What Rod Rosenstein Knew When He Helped Trump Fire Comey — In May 2017, then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein agreed to assist President Trump in an effort to fire James Comey as FBI director despite Rosenstein's knowing beforehand that the president had devised a false cover story …
Adolfo Flores / BuzzFeed News:
The ACLU Has Filed A $100-Million Claim Against The US Over The Fatal Border Patrol Shooting Of A Guatemalan Woman — The ACLU of Texas on Thursday filed a $100-million claim for damages against the US government on behalf of the family of a 20-year-old Guatemalan woman who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in 2018.
The Economist:
American voters don't care about the economy — If you're a Republican, it looks great—and vice versa — James carville, who worked for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, hung a sign in his Arkansas headquarters in 1992. Designed to keep the candidate on-message, it read: “Change vs. more of the same.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Dylan Stableford / Yahoo News:
Trump declares man he appointed secretary of state ‘totally ill prepared and ill equipped’ for the job — President Trump on Thursday lashed out at Rex Tillerson after the former secretary of state — reportedly told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Washington Press and CNN
Alex Crawford / Sky News:
Syria: Sky News witnesses horrors of Idlib as crew shelled by regime — Sky's Alex Crawford says the crew was attacked with tank shells, as an activist they were travelling with was hit by shrapnel. — Created with Sketch. — Sky News has gained exclusive access to the bombardment of Idlib …
ProPublica:
TurboTax Uses A “Military Discount” to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.
Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:
How Trump Broke the Freedom Caucus — Back in February 2018, I sat down with two leaders of the House Freedom Caucus to discuss, among other things, whether fiscal conservatism had gone extinct. — A few days earlier, with encouragement from his budget director, Mick Mulvaney …
Discussion:
Reason, Contemptor, IJR, PJ Media Home and The Daily Caller
Emily Heil / Washington Post:
Obama surprises kids at D.C. after-school program with pep talks and softball — Surprise, kiddos, it's former president Barack Obama! — The onetime commander in chief shocked local students attending after-school programs at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Southeast D.C …
Discussion:
Bipartisan Report and The Root
Paul Musgrave / Foreign Policy:
IR Theory and ‘Game of Thrones’ Are Both Fantasies — They draw on the same narrow slice of European history—and get it wrong anyway. — Since the start of the series, Game of Thrones has been catnip for scholars of world politics and foreign policy. — They eagerly applied their talents …
Dan Alexander / Forbes:
The Truth Behind Trump Tower Moscow: How Trump Risked Everything For A (Relatively) Tiny Deal — It's getting late, and Felix Sater—a onetime Trump partner, two-time convicted felon and longtime federal informant—sits in the back of a New York City restaurant, ready for a drink.
Evan Perez / CNN:
FBI has seen significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism in recent months — (CNN)The FBI has seen a significant rise in the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases in recent months, a senior FBI counterterrorism official said Thursday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Marshall Zelinger / KUSA-TV:
Colorado Secretary of State's Office asks Planned Parenthood for edits on news release — Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office asked Planned Parenthood to look over a news release announcing restricted travel to Alabama after it passed a strict abortion ban.
Discussion:
National Review, Denver Post and Washington Free Beacon
VICE News:
Here Are the GOP's Secret Talking Points Defending Alabama's Abortion Law — WASHINGTON — In the days since Alabama's passage of the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, national Republicans have tried to distance themselves from its most controversial provisions that would outlaw abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
Discussion:
Splinter, Shareblue Media, POLITICUSUSA and NPR