memeorandum: Theresa May to resign as prime minister (BBC)

11:20 AM ET, May 24, 2019

Top Items:

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Fox & Friends Correct Record After Diamond & Silk Mock Nancy Pelosi for Slurring Her Words: ‘Not a Real Video’ — Fox & Friends did the right thing Friday morning in swiftly correcting the record after Fox Nation hosts and frequent Fox News guests Diamond & Silk made remarkably disparaging remarks about Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Rick Klein / ABC News:

The Note: Pelosi figures out Trump's game — This week started out by highlighting Democratic divisions, but it ends underscoring and reinforcing the party's unity. — Democrats can thank, again, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She redirected an emerging rebellion over impeachment …

Discussion: Washington Post and Monmouth University …

Ed Mazza / HuffPost:

WHOOPS: Giuliani Busted With Doctored Pelosi Video As He Tweets About Integrity — The former New York mayor shared a video that was altered to make the House speaker appear to be slurring her words. — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani shared a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Mediaite

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 …

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Facebook refuses to delete fake Pelosi video spread by Trump supporters

Discussion: Politico

USA Today:
Donald Trump, put on your billionaire britches and act like a president

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Hill, ABC News and Daily Kos

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump shares video that highlights verbal stumbles by Pelosi and questions her mental acuity

Discussion: Mediaite, Breitbart, Shareblue Media and Fortune

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Watch This Very Carefully — As Kate Riga reported earlier …

Discussion: Contemptor and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Jumps Into Impeachment Fray With Both Feet — WASHINGTON — The idea was to talk about relief for farmers hurt by tariffs, with a couple of them standing behind him in cowboy hats. But it did not take long on Thursday for President Trump to go off on “Crazy Nancy” and “Crying Chuck” …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

The Daily Beast:

Trump Devotes Press Conference to Instructing Aides to Explain That He's Definitely Not Mad — He claims Nancy Pelosi has ‘lost it,’ while he remains an ‘extremely stable genius.’ — Accused of having a temper tantrum at a White House the day before, President Donald Trump did what anyone trying …

Discussion: Politico, Contemptor and AllNews 24/7

New York Times:
Nancy Pelosi Says Democrats Are ‘Not on a Path to Impeachment’

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Politico, CNN, Daily Wire, The Week, The Sun, Vox, Mediaite, Roll Call and Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Gets White House Witnesses to Attest to His ‘Very Calm’ Demeanor

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Fox News, The Week and Washington Post

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Democrats are getting sucked into Trump's chaos vortex

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God. and ThinkProgress

Washington Post:

‘He always brings them up’: Trump tries to steer border wall deal to North Dakota firm — President Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, Vanity Fair, The Week, Raw Story, CNN, Splinter and Slate

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Trump keeps trying to pick winners and losers - from the bailout for farmers to a border wall contract

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:

Trump Gives Attorney General Sweeping Power in Review of 2016 Campaign Inquiry — President Trump took extraordinary steps on Thursday to give Attorney General William P. Barr sweeping new authorities to conduct a review into how the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia were investigated …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC News, The Atlantic, Mediaite, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, Shareblue Media, Splinter, Fox News, Balloon Juice, Joe.My.God., Townhall, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Breitbart

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
Trump gives Barr power to declassify intelligence related to Russia probe

Discussion: Public Pool, Power Line, Conservative News Today, Shareblue Media, Shakesville, Raw Story, Bipartisan Report, Instapundit and The Week

BBC:

Theresa May to resign as prime minister — Theresa May has said she will quit as Conservative leader on 7 June, paving the way for a contest to decide a new prime minister. — In an emotional statement in Downing Street, Mrs May said she had “done my best” to honour the 2016 EU referendum result.

Discussion: Hollywood Life, Quartz, Joe.My.God., The Week, Political Wire and Mashable

Politico:
Theresa May steps down in emotional Downing Street speech

Discussion: The Resurgent, One America News Network, Common Dreams and The Daily Beast

Heather Stewart / The Guardian:
Theresa May announces she will resign on 7 June

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, Outside the Beltway and Balloon Juice

Reuters:
Tearful Theresa May resigns, paving way for Brexit confrontation with EU

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Telegraph

Ariana Eunjung Cha / Washington Post:

New Trump administration rule would weaken protections for transgender people in health care — HHS civil rights director says the change interprets sex according to the “plain meaning of the term” — The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday proposed a new rule …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Out Magazine, The Intercept, Curbed and Washington Blade

Latest News Releases:

HHS Proposes to Revise ACA Section 1557 Rule to Enforce Civil Rights in Healthcare, Conform to Law, and Eliminate Billions in Unnecessary Costs — Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulatory reform related to regulations issued under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement

Washington Post: New Trump administration rule would weaken protections for transgender people in health care

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Twitter Bans #Resistance-Famous Krassenstein Brothers for Allegedly Operating Fake Accounts — Ed and Brian Krassenstein are banned for life after ‘operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing account interactions,’ a Twitter spokesman said. — Twitter has permanently banned prominent …

Discussion: Variety, Joe.My.God., Conservative News Today, Mediaite, RedState, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Fox News and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Out-of-Control Hannity Thumbs His Nose at Fox News Bosses — Despite reportedly being told to stop referring to dubious pundits as ‘investigative reporters,’ the primetime star has continued to do so. Does anyone at Fox control Hannity? — Sean Hannity is apparently above the law at Fox News.

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael McAuliff / New York Daily News:

Pro-choice activists push reluctant Jerry Nadler to reveal secret Justice Kavanaugh abortion opinions from Bush White House — WASHINGTON — With states passing harsh abortion restrictions aimed squarely at bringing a challenge in the Supreme Court, pro-choice activists are turning their attention …

Tom Coleman / Kansas City Star:

Former GOP Rep. Tom Coleman: Trump, Pence are illegitimate. Impeach them — According to the redacted Mueller report, candidate Donald Trump, along with members of his team, on multiple occasions welcomed Russian interference on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Washington Times

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 …

Eli Lake / Bloomberg: The New Assange Indictment Endangers Journalism

Washington Post:

Fight over Trump's financial records accelerates, could land at Supreme Court as 2020 race peaks — A federal appeals court in Washington said Thursday that it will expedite its review of President Trump's request to block a congressional subpoena seeking financial records from the president's accounting firm.

Discussion: The Week

Brian Faler / Politico:
IRS could be forced to release Trump's taxes in the heat of 2020

Discussion: Raw Story and Contemptor

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

'We're getting back on track': Dems ready Mueller strategy shift — Democrats admit it: They need to shift their post-Mueller strategy. — They've been so busy fighting technical battles over access to special counsel Robert Mueller's report that they've barely had time to speak directly …

Discussion: Fox News and American Greatness

Doha Madani / NBC News:
Rep. Nadler: Robert Mueller wants to testify to Congress — but in private

Discussion: Issues & Insights, Washington Post, Daily Wire, Breitbart and Fox News

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Michael Avenatti once dominated cable news. Now he's watching it. — Irony oozed out of a tweet sent by lawyer Michael Avenatti the other day. He was upset about a segment on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” discussing his latest legal mess, an indictment for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels.

Discussion: Mediaite, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, RedState, Conservative News Today, Don Surber and Breitbart

Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:
Did We Learn Anything From Michael Avenatti?

Discussion: Fox News and The Daily Caller

Barton Swaim / Wall Street Journal:

Politics: A Closer Look at the American Fabric — The poor are hurt by the decline of civil society: churches, clubs, unions, marriage. — The book market is awash just now with what might be called post-Trump travel books. These are books in which the authors advance arguments …

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Racial prejudice has declined as a reaction to Trump's presidency, a new study suggests — Donald Trump began his campaign for the presidency by branding Mexicans as “rapists.” He initially declined to denounce David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Discussion: Althouse and The College Fix

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

A stunning case of European hypocrisy — For sheer hypocrisy, it's hard to match the European nations that are refusing responsibility for dozens of their nationals who became jihadist “foreign fighters” over the past five years and are now warehoused in makeshift prisons in northeastern Syria.

Washington Post:

Planned Parenthood, other health clinics sue Alabama over near-total abortion ban — The law would criminalize abortion in almost all circumstances — Planned Parenthood and the Alabama Women's Center on Friday filed suit against the state of Alabama to block the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.

Discussion: Axios and Vox

Lev Facher / STAT:

These Republicans campaigned on a bold drug-pricing pledge. Since they won, they've gone silent — WASHINGTON — Just a handful of Republicans have ever endorsed the progressive idea to let Medicare negotiate drug prices. — But now, less than five months since they were sworn in …