memeorandum: Kushner defends not telling FBI about Trump Tower meeting (MSNBC)

12:40 PM ET, June 9, 2019

Top Items:

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Joe Biden leads, followed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg — The field of Democratic presidential candidates is starting to settle into tiers: Joe Biden leads the pack, and Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg are in close competition for second place …

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, Mediaite and Political Wire

Dan Guild / Bleeding Heartland:

Joe Biden will probably lose Iowa — Dan Guild examines what history tells us about how to interpret the latest Iowa Democratic caucus poll by Selzer & Co for the Des Moines Register, Mediacom, and CNN. -promoted by Laura Belin — It has been two months since the last good Iowa caucus poll.

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Biden slumps, Buttigieg soars: 6 takeaways from benchmark Iowa poll — Just hours before presidential candidates will pitch themselves to Iowa Democratic activists in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, a new poll of likely caucusgoers is rattling the race — and hinting that a formidable front-runner …

Discussion: Des Moines Register

Des Moines Register:
How proposed Democratic caucus rules make polling even harder, and how we crafted our best shot

Discussion: CNN, Axios and WHOTV

CNN:
CNN Iowa Poll: Biden leads a tighter top tier in first caucus state

Discussion: Townhall, New York Times, Yahoo News, Outside the Beltway, Des Moines Register, Washington Times, The Week and WHOTV

John Verhovek / ABC News:
Beto O'Rourke shrugs off early polls, says importance of Trump's trade deal with Mexico ‘overblown’

Discussion: Breitbart and IJR

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
At Pride Fest in Des Moines, politics are in the spotlight

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:

Mexico Agreed to Take Border Actions Months Before Trump Announced Tariff Deal — WASHINGTON — The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, The Guardian, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Week, KTLA, CNBC, One America News Network, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Slate, CNN, WHOTV, Mother Jones and Vanity Fair

Bloomberg:

Trump Hints at Details; Mexico Still Baffled by Farm Claim — Mexican envoy says USMCA passage would generate more trade — Mexico already a major importer of U.S. grains, meat, dairy — President Donald Trump hinted at additional measures between the U.S. and Mexico …

Discussion: Forbes, Associated Press, Splinter, The Resurgent, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, Patterico's Pontifications, RedState, No More Mister Nice Blog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Connor Mannion / Mediaite:
Mexico Reportedly Didn't Agree to New Farm Deal Despite Trump Tweeting About One

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post and Axios

Ben LaBolt / The Atlantic:

I Helped Obama Win in 2012. Now Trump Is Using the Same Playbook. — The general-election campaign is happening today. And Donald Trump is running unopposed. — Presidents who have recently won reelection seeded their victories not in the final sprint before Election Day …

Murtaza Hussain / The Intercept:

An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But Is He a Real Person? — In 2018, President Donald Trump was seeking to jettison the landmark nuclear deal that his predecessor had signed with Iran in 2015, and he was looking for ways to win over a skeptical press.

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:

Case opened: Democrats begin public airing of Mueller report — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says it's “case closed .” But Democrats are just getting started with Robert Mueller . — House Democrats have scheduled a series of hearings this coming week on the special counsel's report …

Washington Post: For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

The cheater in the Oval Office should be banished from the tribe — The Mueller report amply chronicles President Trump's staggering, decades-long crime spree. Like an iron skillet to the head, the extent of Trump's corruption seems to have stupefied voters, legal scholars and, of course …

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

ICE deported veterans while ‘unaware’ it was required to carefully screen them, report says — On the same day the White House heralded veterans on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a federal watchdog said the government had violated its own rules on deporting former service members …

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Kamala Harris, Seeking a Campaign Jolt, Defends Record as Prosecutor — WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Kamala Harris of California has, for months, faced criticism from activist Democrats who have said her record as California attorney general was at odds with her progressive reputation.

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Kamala Harris says prosecutor past will help defeat Trump

Discussion: Axios and Los Angeles Times

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Kamala Harris leans into prosecutor record in South Carolina

Discussion: TalkLeft

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Former White House Ethics Chief Proposes ‘Golf On Your Own Damn Dime Act’ — Walter Shaub thinks Donald Trump's nearly $106 million golf tab is getting way out of hand. — The former White House ethics chief is sarcastically proposing a “Golf on Your Own Damn Dime Act of 2019.”

Discussion: Splinter

MSNBC:

Kushner defends not telling FBI about Trump Tower meeting — White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner sat down for what many are calling a very revealing interview with political news outlet Axios ahead of joining Donald Trump on his state visit to the United Kingdom.

David Cohen / Politico:

Trump says there's more in Mexico deal but doesn't say what — As critics continued to suggest the U.S. deal with Mexico didn't accomplish much, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning there is more to the agreement than meets the eye. — “Importantly, some things. …

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

The 2020 circular firing squad is here — The niceties have ended: 2020 Democrats are breaking their own pledge not to go after one another. The attacks of the past week show what a long primary they're in for. — Why it matters: These jabs and skirmishes show a fracturing Democratic Party …

Barbie Latza Nadeau / The Daily Beast:

‘Whitey’ Bulger Wrote Letters Praising Trump to a Juror Who Convicted Him — One of the jurors who convicted the notorious Boston gangster has shared reams of letters he wrote to her praising Trump and criticizing Mueller. — Correspondent-At-Large — Just months before he was bludgeoned …