memeorandum: Bannon described Trump Organization as ‘criminal enterprise’, Michael Wolff book claims (Edward Helmore/The Guardian)

2:55 PM ET, May 29, 2019

Top Items:

As he exits, Mueller suggests only Congress can ‘formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing’ — Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III reiterated Wednesday that his office could not clear President Trump of obstructing justice, asserting in his first public remarks about his investigation …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Associated Press, Power Line, Axios, Breitbart, Reuters, CANNONFIRE, One America News Network, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Splinter

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:

Robert Mueller Was Telling Nancy Pelosi to Begin Impeachment Proceedings — Special counsel Robert Mueller issued a final statement on Wednesday before resigning from the Department of Justice, which clearly appeared aimed at one person: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Discussion: Vox, The Daily Beast and Spectator USA

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:

Full transcript: Robert Mueller's statement on the Russia investigation — Special counsel Robert Mueller's remarks to reporters on Wednesday at the Department of Justice: — Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. Two years ago, the acting attorney general asked me to serve …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Breitbart

Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:

Robert Mueller to Make Statement on Russia Investigation — WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, will speak about the Russia investigation at 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, his first public comments since he took over the inquiry two years ago, the Justice Department announced.

Discussion: Fox News, Outside the Beltway, Commentary, Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Political Wire, Liberty Unyielding, VICE News, Althouse, The Week and New York Post

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Roger Stone associate agrees to testify before Mueller grand jury — Washington (CNN)An associate of Roger Stone has agreed to testify to special counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury on Friday morning, his attorney and a Mueller prosecutor said in a court hearing before a federal judge.

CNN:

Mueller: ‘If we had confidence the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so’ — Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller said in a rare and remarkable public statement Wednesday that charging President Donald Trump was not an option his office could consider.

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Media Matters for America, KTLA, KFOR-TV, IJR, The Colorado Sun, Sara A. Carter and The Root

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:

Robert Mueller breaks silence, does not want to testify, says charging Trump ‘not an option’ — Special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday broke more than two years of silence about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice …

Discussion: Vox, NBC News, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Politico, CNN, NPR, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, Conservative News Today and The Week

New York Times:

Full Transcript of Mueller's Statement on Russia Investigation — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, made his first public comments on Wednesday about the Russia investigation that he took over two years ago. — The following is a transcript of his remarks, as prepared by The New York Times.

Discussion: Reason, Washington Monthly, Associated Press, Daily Wire and Slate

David Frum / The Atlantic:
What the Mueller Report Actually Said

Discussion: Quartz

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Mueller: Trump Is Not Not a Criminal

Sean Davis / The Federalist: Mueller Just Proved His Entire Operation Was A Political Hit Job That Trampled The Rule Of Law

Zachary Basu / Axios:
Mueller: “We would have said” if confident Trump did not commit a crime

Discussion: The Week

Andrew Clark / Indianapolis Star:
Pete Buttigieg on Mueller statement: ‘As close to an impeachment referral as you could get’

Discussion: Politico, The Federalist, Conservative Review and The Daily Caller

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Mueller statement emboldens some Dems on impeachment

Discussion: The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News and Speaker Nancy Pelosi

U.S. Department of Justice:
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III Makes Statement on Investigation into Russian Interference …

Discussion: Quartz, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Breitbart, UPI and KTLA

Eric W. Dolan / Raw Story: ‘Is it that bad?’ Fox Business host stunned as Napolitano explains Mueller has evidence Trump committed a crime

Grace Segers / CBS News:
Mueller: If it was clear president committed no crime, “we would have said so”

Discussion: CBS Boston, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Allan Smith / NBC News:
Robert Mueller to make public statement about Russia probe on Wednesday

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Washington Post, The Week and Politico

Ted Barrett / CNN:

In reversal from 2016, McConnell says he would fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 — (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday if a Supreme Court vacancy occurs during next year's presidential election, he would work to confirm a nominee appointed by President Donald Trump.

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

McConnell Hasn't Reversed Himself — The Washington Post joins a host of media outlets this morning in contending that Mitch McConnell has “reversed” his position on considering Supreme Court appointments in presidential election years. McConnell said last night that he would “fill” any Supreme Court vacancy that arose next year.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mother Jones and Instapundit

Daniel Victor / New York Times:
McConnell Says Republicans Would Fill a Supreme Court Vacancy in 2020, Drawing Claims of Hypocrisy

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media, VICE News, Wall Street Journal, Politico and Rolling Stone

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

DNC makes it more difficult to qualify for 3rd debate — ABC News, in partnership with Univision, will host the third Democratic presidential debate in September, the Democratic National Committee announced Wednesday, saying it was raising both the polling and fundraising bars for candidates to qualify.

Discussion: Washington Post, CBS News, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The Week, Daily Kos and Splinter

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
DNC to raise qualifying threshold for third presidential debate

Discussion: Shakesville

FiveThirtyEight:
Is There An Anti-Biden Lane In The Democratic Primary?

Discussion: Political Wire and IJR

Bill Barrow / Associated Press:
Democrats up requirements for 2nd round of primary debates

Discussion: Axios and The Resurgent

Sheena McKenzie / CNN:

Boris Johnson, favorite to be Britain's next PM, to face court for alleged Brexit lies — London (CNN)The leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as British Prime Minister has been ordered to appear in court to face allegations he lied to the public during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.

Discussion: The Week

BBC:
Brexit: Boris Johnson ordered to appear in court over £350m claim

Discussion: Instapundit and Political Wire

Edward Helmore / The Guardian:

Bannon described Trump Organization as ‘criminal enterprise’, Michael Wolff book claims — Former White House adviser says financial investigations will take down president in sequel to Fire and Fury — The former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization …

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, CNBC, Raw Story, Contemptor and TheBlaze

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Biden: America is less divided now than it was in the early 1970s

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Splinter and The Week

Axios:
Trump muses about Protestant Supreme Court picks in Michael Wolff's new book

Discussion: New York Times and Raw Story

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Can Jaime Harrison End the Democrats' Drought in South Carolina? — The Times talked to Mr. Harrison, the first black chairman of the state's Democratic Party, about his bid to unseat Senator Lindsey Graham. — Let's begin with the obvious: No Democrat has won a statewide race in South Carolina since 2006.

Discussion: Shakesville

Greg P. / twitchy.com:

CRINGE: Joe Biden gets handsy with young girl, says 'I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking' — Just to update you on this story we told you about last night, we now have video of 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden getting handsy with a young girl at an AFT town hall and telling her …

Discussion: YouTube, Summit News, Glamour, Washington Times and Althouse

The Daily Beast:

The Future of NRATV Is in Doubt After Ad Agency Severs Ties to Gun Group — Ackerman McQueen, which operates the network, formally moved to end its relationship with the NRA on Wednesday—the latest in a nasty legal drama. — NRATV's future is in jeopardy.

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Planned Parenthood's false stat: ‘Thousands’ of women died every year before Roe — “We face a real situation where Roe could be overturned. And we know what will happen, which is that women will die. Thousands of women died every year pre-Roe.” — “Before Roe v. Wade …

Discussion: National Review, Fox News, LifeNews.com, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Students For Life, Washington Free Beacon and Althouse

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Maggie Haberman Reacts to Criticism of Her Reporting: ‘The Tenor Has Gotten Extremely Personal’ — NY Times reporter and CNN contributor Maggie Haberman addressed a recent New York magazine article entitled “Of Course Trump Hates Maggie Haberman. Why Does the Left?” Wednesday morning.

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos

Michael R. Gordon / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Says Russia Likely Conducting Low-Yield Nuke Tests, Defying Test Ban Treaty — Intelligence assessment marks first time U.S. has said Kremlin failed to observe Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty commitments — Russia has likely been secretly carrying out very low-yield nuclear tests …

Discussion: Fox News and Meduza.io

Pew Research Center:

Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms — Midterm voter turnout reached a modern high in 2018, and Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X accounted for a narrow majority of those voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available Census Bureau data.

Discussion: The Week

Axios:

Trump's 2020 plan to target black, Hispanic and suburban female voters — Trump campaign officials have been discussing a digital campaign to boost President Trump's 2020 support among three key demographic groups: African Americans, Hispanics and suburban women, two sources familiar with the plan tell Axios.

Melanie Zanona / Politico:

GOP impeachment champion gets a hero's welcome back home — GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rep. Justin Amash is a lonely man in Congress, the sole Republican to back Donald Trump's removal from the Oval Office. But back home on Tuesday night, the Michigan lawmaker got the red-carpet treatment …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Bulwark, Outside the Beltway, Reason, The Resurgent, The Daily Beast, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Post, Roll Call, NBC News, IJR, CNN, Eschaton and The Week

New York Times:

New York Can Tell Congress Lots About Trump's Taxes — His state returns will give the House a glimpse of past I.R.S. audits, before and after he entered the Oval Office. — Mr. Hemel is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Rosenthal is a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Discussion: Raw Story