Top Items:
Emily Tillett / CBS News:
Attorney General William Barr on caring about his reputation: “Everyone dies” — Looking back on his lengthy career as a top Department of Justice official, Attorney General William Barr doesn't seem fazed by critics questioning his relationship with President Trump and alleging he's …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, VICE News, Law & Crime, Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire and Splinter
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Elizabeth Warren / Medium:
No President Is Above the Law — When Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report was released on April 18, I sat down and read it. All 448 pages of it. I started reading it that afternoon, and I read all through the night and into the next morning. And when I got to page 448, three things were clear to me.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Vox, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Axios, The Daily Beast, Joe.My.God., Political Wire, The Week and C-SPAN.org
CBS News:
Barr says Justice Department and Mueller sparred over “legal analysis” in Russia report — In an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning,” Attorney General William Barr said Robert Mueller and the Justice Department disagreed over the “legal analysis” in the special counsel's report …
Discussion:
Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, Sean Hannity, Joe.My.God., New York Post and New York Times
CBS News:
William Barr interview: Read the full transcript — In an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning,” Attorney General William Barr said he believes special counsel Robert Mueller could have reached a decision on whether President Trump committed obstruction of justice …
New York Times:
Mueller Played by the Rules. Trump Made New Ones. — The special counsel led an investigation that was disciplined, quiet, and by the book — and the president seized the opportunity. — WASHINGTON — The president of the United States appears to believe that you don't matter unless you are on television.
Discussion:
Press Herald and Orlando Weekly
Andrew Prokop / Vox:
Mueller's punt keeps looking worse — The special counsel's decision not to say whether Trump broke the law sets a bad precedent. — Robert Mueller's report makes the stirring claim that “a fundamental principle of our government” is that no person, not even the president, “is above the law.”
Matt Stevens / New York Times:
Elizabeth Warren Wants Congress to Ensure Presidents Can Be Indicted
Elizabeth Warren Wants Congress to Ensure Presidents Can Be Indicted
Discussion:
VTDigger
Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Trump's latest Mexico tariff gambit is reckless and mindbogglingly stupid — Defenders of President Trump's trade wars have tried to argue that his reckless moves are actually part of a cunning strategy to lower tariffs, knock down trade barriers, and usher in true free trade.
Discussion:
The Hill, CNBC, Bloomberg, Don Surber, Politico, Conservative News Today, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Raw Story and The Last Refuge
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Washington Post:
Trump's tariff threat to Mexico may upend trade deal, undermine the economy — President Trump's surprise announcement of an escalating series of new tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico is likely to upend hopes for early congressional action on his proposed North American trade deal …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNN, Associated Press, CNBC and Daily Kos
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Behind the scenes of Trump's Mexico tariff surprise — As Trump announcements go, his planned tariffs on Mexican goods appeared more orchestrated than most with a tweet, a presidential statement from the press office and a background call with reporters. — But behind the scenes, it was an administration-wide scramble.
Washington Post:
Trump prepares to threaten Mexico with new tariffs in attempt to force migrant crackdown
Trump prepares to threaten Mexico with new tariffs in attempt to force migrant crackdown
Daniel Moritz-Rabson / Newsweek:
U.S. economy slips from first to third place in global competitiveness ranking amid Trump's tariffs
U.S. economy slips from first to third place in global competitiveness ranking amid Trump's tariffs
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
A trade war with Mexico is more serious — and more political — than you might think
A trade war with Mexico is more serious — and more political — than you might think
Discussion:
Fox News, CNN and One America News Network
Joyce Lee / Reuters:
North Korea's Kim Jong Un carrying out purge after Hanoi summit collapse: Chosun Ilbo — SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea executed Kim Hyok Chol, its special envoy to the United States, and foreign ministry officials who carried out working-level negotiations for the second U.S.-North Korea summit in February …
Discussion:
Townhall, Power Line and TheBlaze
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Shinhye Kang / Bloomberg:
North Korea Executed Envoy Over Trump-Kim Summit, Chosun Reports — North Korea executed its former top nuclear envoy with the U.S. along with four other foreign ministry officials in March after a failed summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in Vietnam, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
South Korean Daily Says That Kim Jong-un Executed and Purged Top Nuclear Negotiators
South Korean Daily Says That Kim Jong-un Executed and Purged Top Nuclear Negotiators
Discussion:
Daily Wire and Splinter
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
“Inconsistent, Incoherent, and Poorly Conceived”: As the Times Clamps Down on Reporters Going on MSNBC, Is This a Liberal-Media War? — The Times recently yanked one of its journalists from Rachel Maddow amid concerns about cable-news “bias.” Dean Baquet “thinks it's a real issue.”
Discussion:
RedState, TVNewser, NB Blog, Joe.My.God., Fox News, Daily Wire, Sean Hannity, Conservative News Today, Don Surber, TheBlaze and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
The Daily Beast:
Team Obama Tells Iran: Don't Escalate, Don't Take Trump's Bait — As tensions with Iran heat up, former Obama administration officials have quietly urged government officials there to keep their cool. — As the Trump administration sent warplanes and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf …
Discussion:
Breitbart and One America News Network
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Maggie Haberman: Trump Was Unsettled by Mueller on TV Because He Hasn't Read the Report — Was President Donald Trump particularly vexed as he addressed a press gaggle assembled on the White House lawn on his way to address the Air Force Academy graduation?
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James Politi / Financial Times:
Fed candidate slams bank's ‘Soviet’ power over markets — Judy Shelton, a senior US official who is being vetted for a job on the board of the Federal Reserve, has attacked the central bank for wielding undemocratic, Soviet-style powers over markets and suggested it should not even be in the business of setting interest rates.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Los Angeles Times:
After dazzling debut, Kamala Harris falls from top of presidential pack … When Kamala Harris launched her presidential bid four months ago, the stars all seemed to align. — She drew a crowd of roughly 20,000 to a lavish Oakland rally. She raised $1.5 million in just 24 hours.
Washington Post:
McCain warship incident raises questions about a changing military culture under Trump — A dust-up over who directed and knew about White House efforts to obscure the USS John S. McCain ahead of President Trump's visit to Japan has raised new questions about whether the military's culture …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Defense One, RedState, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Politico
RELATED:
Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Patrick Shanahan asserts military's independence from politics after USS John McCain incident
Patrick Shanahan asserts military's independence from politics after USS John McCain incident
Discussion:
Politico and Liberty Unyielding
Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
The Ocasio-Cortez-Cruz Bill Would Almost Certainly Be Unconstitutional — A motley crew in the House and the Senate has resolved to prohibit former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists. In the bipartisan working group — which was formed ad hoc yesterday, on Twitter …
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John F. Harris / Politico:
5 Ways Trump Has Remade the Democratic Party — For years, a growing stripe of Democrats has argued that what their party needs is a leader willing to shatter old assumptions, a radical disrupter. — Well, Democrats already have found their transformational figure for the 2020 campaign.
Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
Clarence Thomas tried to link abortion to eugenics. Seven historians told The Post he's wrong. — In the opinion he wrote on the Supreme Court's recent decision about two abortion laws, Justice Clarence Thomas reached back into history. — Thomas argued that the door for abortion rights …
Discussion:
Althouse, Alternet.org and National Review
Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
Making Sense of the New American Right — Column: Keeping track of the Jacksonians, Reformicons, Paleos, and Post-liberals — I like to start my classes on conservative intellectual history by distinguishing between three groups. There is the Republican Party, with its millions of adherents …
Justin Doom / ABC News:
Donald Trump ‘wants us to impeach him,’ Nancy Pelosi tells Jimmy Kimmel — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that President Donald Trump actually wants to be impeached because he believes the Republican-controlled Senate would bail him out.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Martyn McLaughlin / Scotsman:
UK accused of ‘sweetheart deal’ with Donald Trump over Turnberry lighthouse — Sorry, we're having problems with our video player at the moment, but are working to fix it as soon as we can — Waiting for Video... Donald Trump's flagship Scottish business is paying just £100 a month …
Caitlin O'Kane / CBS News:
Russian trolls fueled anti-vaccination debate in U.S. by spreading misinformation on Twitter, study finds — Russian Twitter trolls have attempted to fuel the anti-vaccination debate in the U.S., posting about the issue far more than the average Twitter user last year, a study out of George Washington University has found.
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Inside Romney's Trump strategy — When asked about Republicans' criticism of his occasional anti-Trump stances, Mitt Romney doesn't miss a beat: “I have to show you something.” — He grabs his iPad and pulls up an article: “Romney: why the Republican pros distrust him.”
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Trump and Bibi's Bad Week — They're both at war with those who would investigate them. But are they winning or losing? — We knew that this particular Presidential meltdown was coming. By the time President Trump ranted to the media on Thursday morning, shouting over the noise …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy
Tim Alberta / Politico:
Kirsten Gillibrand's Failure to Launch — HAMPTON, New Hampshire—Kirsten Gillibrand is only asking for a dollar. — It's not that she couldn't use more money. In the first quarter of 2019, the junior senator from New York raised just $3 million for her presidential campaign …
Discussion:
Shakesville and Splinter
Kavitha Surana / Tampa Bay Times:
Old Northeast shooting suspect fascinated by mass shootings, stockpiled weapons, police say — A St. Petersburg police detective said defendant William Shutt has links to the “alt-right.” The victims in the shooting are both black. — The day after he is accused of firing on two men stopped next …
Middle East Eye:
EXCLUSIVE: Trump approves Turkish offer for joint S-400 study group — In call with Turkish president, Trump agrees to body to find ways to cohabit Ankara's purchase of F-35s and Russian missile system — US President Donald Trump has accepted an offer to form a joint technical study group …
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Mueller destroyed one of Trump's biggest lies. Trump just helped him do it. — President Trump just admitted that Russia helped elect him president. “I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn't exist,” Trump rage-tweeted, adding that this again shows …
Discussion:
Alternet.org, NBC News, CBS News, Politico, The Hill and twitchy.com