memeorandum: Ex-Roger Stone aide agrees to testify before grand jury (Associated Press)

3:30 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, Breitbart, Axios, CANNONFIRE, Reuters, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Splinter and New York Post

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 Week, The Daily Beast and Spectator USA

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, Vanity Fair, Talking Points Memo, Liberty Unyielding, Political Wire, VICE News, Althouse and The Week

David Frum / The Atlantic:

What the Mueller Report Actually Said — Robert Mueller has advised Americans to go back and actually read his report if we want to understand what happened in 2016. “We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself,” he said on Wednesday morning, speaking publicly for the first time since his appointment.

Discussion: Quartz

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, BuzzFeed News, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Breitbart

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Mueller statement emboldens some Dems on impeachment — Special counsel Robert Mueller handed Democrats a new weapon on Wednesday that they hope will convince Speaker Nancy Pelosi to open an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. — So far, though, Pelosi isn't embracing those calls …

Discussion: Washington Post, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and The Atlantic

Eric W. Dolan / Raw Story:

‘Is it that bad?’ Fox Business host stunned as Napolitano explains Mueller has evidence Trump committed a crime — Fox legal analyst Andrew Napolitano. (Screenshot) — Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller had indicated …

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.

Discussion: Fox News and Law & Crime

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, IJR, KTLA, KFOR-TV, The Colorado Sun, Sara A. Carter and The Root

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Mueller: Trump Is Not Not a Criminal — Famously taciturn prosecutor Robert Mueller decided to address the public to make it very clear that he did not exonerate President Trump of committing obstruction of justice. “If we had confidence that the president did not commit a crime we would have said so,” he said.

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Robert Mueller breaks silence, does not want to testify, says charging Trump ‘not an option’

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Atlantic, NBC News, Vox, Politico, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, Conservative News Today and The Week

New York Times:
Full Transcript of Mueller's Statement on Russia Investigation

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

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

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Mueller turns up the heat on impeachment

Discussion: IJR

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

Discussion: Politico, Townhall, The Federalist and The Daily Caller

Zack Budryk / The Hill:
Chris Christie: Mueller ‘contradicts’ Barr's summary of his findings

Discussion: Political Wire and Breitbart

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

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

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Robert Mueller should testify before Congress

Discussion: Mother Jones, NPR and Conservative Review

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

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

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

Discussion: CBS Boston, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

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

Ted Barrett / CNN:
In reversal from 2016, McConnell says he would fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy in 2020

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: Associated Press, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, 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

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: Political Wire and Instapundit

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

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, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, CNBC and Contemptor

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

Discussion: Axios, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News and Splinter

VICE:

Twitter Has Started Researching Whether White Supremacists Belong on Twitter — “Is it the right approach to deplatform these individuals? Is the right approach to try and engage with these individuals? How should we be thinking about this? What actually works?”

more at Techmeme »

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

CNBC:

Man sets himself on fire near White House — KEY POINTS — A man sets himself on fire Wednesday on the Ellipse in downtown Washington, across from the White House, the Secret Service said. — A spokesman for the Washington Fire Department tells CNBC, “I can confirm that we've transported …

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart, Big League Politics, The Root and The Gateway Pundit

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

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

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 …