memeorandum: Trump's Twists on Confronting Iran Confound Allies in Europe (New York Times)

9:35 AM ET, June 7, 2019

Top Items:

CNN:

Inside Jerry Nadler's private push to open up impeachment inquiry — Nadler: Mueller clearly demonstrated that Trump is lying — (CNN)At a frank meeting this week, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler again lobbied to win Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, New Republic and The Root

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

House Backs Off Holding Barr in Contempt in New Resolution — WASHINGTON — After weeks of pledging to hold Attorney General William P. Barr and the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II in contempt for defying subpoenas, House Democrats appear poised to pursue an alternative path to try to force them into sharing information.

Discussion: HuffPost, VICE News and Washington Post

Lee Moran / HuffPost:
Donald Trump Uses D-Day Ceremony Interview To Rant About Nancy Pelosi

Discussion: CNN, Slate, The Daily Beast and Contemptor

Zachary Basu / Axios:
The impeachment whip list

Discussion: Washington Post and Political Wire

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Forget impeachment. Tee up prosecution.

Discussion: Speaker Nancy Pelosi

John Solomon / The Hill:

Key figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source — In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence. — But hundreds of pages …

Discussion: RedState, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit and Conservative News Today

Bill Barrow / Associated Press:

Joe Biden reverses course on Hyde abortion amendment — ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is reversing course and declaring that he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions.

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, KTLA and Axios

Eric Bradner / CNN:
Biden reverses long-held position on abortion funding amid criticism

Discussion: The Week, Above the Law, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Wire, Rewire.News, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Washington Post and Vanity Fair

Katie Glueck / New York Times:
Joe Biden Denounces Hyde Amendment, Reversing His Position

Discussion: Slate, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, IJR, The American Conservative, CNSNews, VICE News and RedState

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Jobs creation slows dramatically with payrolls up just 75,000 in May, much worse than expected — KEY POINTS — March's job count was revised lower from 189,000 to 153,000 and the April number was lowered to 224,000 from 263,000, for a total reduction of 75,000.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and The Week

Associated Press:

The Latest: US employers added a weak 75,000 jobs in May — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the May U.S. jobs report (all times local): — U.S. hiring slowed in May as employers added just 75,000 jobs, a sign that businesses may have become more cautious in the face of slowing global growth …

Igor Derysh / Salon:

“Pro-choice” Susan Collins has voted to confirm 32 anti-abortion Trump judges — Collins still claims Brett Kavanaugh won't vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. She also thinks Maine will re-elect her — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of just two Republican senators who claim to be pro-choice …

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Poll: Majority Want To Keep Abortion Legal, But They Also Want Restrictions

Discussion: Washington Post

The Daily Beast:

House Dems Ready to Investigate Giuliani's Ukraine Shenanigans — The president's lawyer says he welcomes the scrutiny and plans to turn it to his advantage. — Top congressional Democrats are actively discussing opening a probe into Rudy Giuliani for his overseas political work …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Daily Beast

Maggie Severns / Politico:

Koch network floats backing Democrats in revamp of influence operation — The Koch network is shaking up how it tries to influence Washington heading into 2020, starting with plans to spend money to reelect lawmakers from either party who back its issues and are facing primary challenges.

Discussion: Political Wire

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Koch network opens its doors to Democrats as it expands political engagement

Discussion: Axios

Lisa Friedman / New York Times:

Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal — WASHINGTON — Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, will donate $500 million to a new campaign to close every coal-fired power plant in the United States and halt the growth of natural gas, his foundation said Thursday.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Post and UPI

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Racial Reckoning Comes — Trump has changed our national narrative. — When I was a boy I was taught a certain story about America. This was the land of opportunity. Immigrants came to this land and found an open field and a fair chance to pursue their dreams.

Discussion: Tablet Magazine

Washington Post:

Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with potential deal limiting migrants going north, allowing U.S. to deport Central American asylum seekers — U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico's immigration enforcement efforts and give …

The Hill:
Trump plans to declare new national emergency to impose tariffs

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart, One America News Network and POLITICUSUSA

Robert Burns / Associated Press:

US commander says he believes Iran threat still ‘very real’ — BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said.

Courtney Kube / NBC News:
U.S. commander says American forces face ‘imminent’ threat from Iran

Discussion: UPI and Sean Hannity

Aiden Pink / The Forward:

DC Dyke March Bans Jewish Pride Flag — A gay pride parade in Washington, D.C. has been criticized by Jewish and LGBTQ groups for banning Jewish and Israeli symbols from its Friday event. — The D.C. Dyke March is designed to include people of diverse races, religions and gender identities …

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, Washington Blade, Tablet Magazine, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and AWiderBridge

David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
D.C. Gay Pride March Bans Israeli Flags, Allows Palestinian Ones

Discussion: Washington Post, Jewish Journal and Algemeiner.com

New York Times:

Trump's Twists on Confronting Iran Confound Allies in Europe — PARIS — President Trump and his aides have sent a dizzying, seemingly conflicting set of messages to Iran in recent weeks, ordering more troops to the Middle East and a carrier to the Arabian Sea as military threats …

Keith Griffith / Daily Mail:

Russia is making its own ‘correct’ version of Chernobyl that will blame AMERICA and the CIA for the nuclear disaster following the unexpected success of the new HBO show — Furious at the breakout success of the HBO series Chernobyl, Russia is planning to make its own series portraying …

Discussion: news.avclub.com, VICE, The Playlist and Jezebel

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Republicans Have Become the Except-When-Trump-Does-It Party — Before heading off for a break at his Trump-branded golf course in Ireland, President Trump this week attacked the mayor of London as a “stone cold loser,” called an American-born British princess “nasty” and then denied he said it …

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

New Files From GOP Operative's Hard Drive Suggest N.C. Republicans Lied in Court to Maintain Racial Gerrymander — The latest bombshell from the formerly secret files of the GOP's top gerrymandering guru emerged on Thursday, and it's astounding: Voting rights advocates claim to have evidence …

Discussion: NPR, New York Times, PJ Media Home and Shareblue Media

Coral Davenport / New York Times:

Automakers Tell Trump His Pollution Rules Could Mean ‘Untenable’ Instability and Lower Profits — WASHINGTON — The world's largest automakers warned President Trump on Thursday that one of his most sweeping deregulatory efforts — his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution standards …

Discussion: Axios, POLITICUSUSA, Electrek, The Week and The Verge

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Brings Rare Dose of Stability to a Continent in Flux — Though he launched a few barbs at domestic targets, the U.S. president was diplomatic with his European counterparts — COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France—At a time of political upheaval across the European Union …

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:

Are Voter Opinions on Trump as Stable as They Seem? — The great irony of the Trump presidency, one that is built on chaos and drama, is how stable it is. By that, I mean the stability of opinions of this president. Despite all of the twists and turns and tweets over the last three years …

Media Matters for America:

Two of Fox News' most vitriolic hosts just lost a major advertiser: Bayer — The multinational pharmaceutical company Bayer has dropped Tucker Carlson's and Laura Ingraham's Fox News prime-time shows, Judd Legum reported in his Popular Info newsletter. — Bayer's departure is a devastating blow …

Discussion: Popular Information, POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Brady McCombs / HuffPost:

Trump Supporter Arrested After Allegedly Threatening To Kill Members of Congress — Scott Brian Haven of Utah is accused of making over 2,000 phone calls to the U.S. Capitol over a three-year period about Democrats threatening Trump's presidency. — SALT LAKE CITY (AP) …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

April Doss / The Atlantic:

Bill Barr's Dangerous Claims — Attorney General William Barr has repeatedly used the word spying to refer to the counterintelligence investigation into Russian contacts with Donald Trump's team in 2016. Barr's loose use of language risks a panoply of harms, undermining public confidence …

Stacy Perman / Los Angeles Times:

No, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was not misquoted in Nieman Lab — There is the word. And then there is Twitter. — An interview with Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg and executive editor Adrienne LaFrance in Nieman Lab about the 162-year-old publication's efforts to include …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Mediaite and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Emily Guskin / Washington Post:

Nearly 1 in 6 D.C. residents ride e-scooters, according to Post-Schar School poll — They've been zipping around the District for more than a year, becoming a source of both convenience and consternation. But their ubiquity raises the question — how many people are using electric scooters, and who are they?

The Economist:

Google rewards reputable reporting more than left-wing politics — Our statistical study revealed no evidence of ideological bias in the search engine's news tab — “Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives”, tweeted Donald Trump in 2018. “They are controlling what we can & cannot see.”

John Whitesides / Reuters:

Democrats to pour into Iowa for biggest event yet in 2020 White House race — (Reuters) - Nineteen Democratic presidential candidates will swarm Iowa this weekend for the biggest political gathering of the 2020 election cycle so far, as the White House race picks up steam ahead of debates …

Discussion: Political Wire

Matt Dixon / Politico:

DeSantis staff shakeup prompts competing narratives — TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis has lost as many as seven aides in the past 24 hours, some of whom have been with him since the start of his campaign, according to a person with direct knowledge of the turnover.

Discussion: Florida Politics and Splinter