memeorandum: On 4-3 vote, Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds state's lame-duck laws limiting power of Democratic governor (Patrick Marley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

12:30 PM ET, June 21, 2019

Top Items:

Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Abruptly Pulls Back — WASHINGTON — President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Shareblue Media, Politico, Washington Post, Fox News, Axios, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, The American Conservative, National Review, CNN, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Reason, VICE, Media Matters for America, WORLD, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Root, Hot Air, CNBC, Splinter, Task & Purpose, emptywheel, The Diplomat, Rolling Stone, TheBlaze, The Salmon of Knowledge, PJ Media Home, The Gateway Pundit, JNS.org, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, C4ISRNET, The Daily Caller, WTVR-TV, WSVN-TV, POLITICUSUSA, Hullabaloo, NPR, The Week, ABC News, Al Jazeera, No More Mister Nice Blog, Financial Times, GZERO, Slate, Daily Kos, Issues & Insights, Outside the Beltway, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Townhall, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Balloon Juice, The Sun, Taylor Marsh, Informed Comment, Mediaite, Newser, UPI, fox5sandiego.com, Power Line, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Israellycool, Daily Caller News Foundation, Wonkette, Foreign Policy, Progress Pond, Washington Monthly and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

Trump Stopped Strike on Iran Because It Was ‘Not Proportionate’ — President Trump said Friday morning that the United States military had been “cocked and loaded” for a strike against Iran on Thursday night, but that he called it off with 10 minutes to spare when a general told him that 150 people would likely die in the attack.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, CNSNews, The Gateway Pundit, abc7NY and Daily Wire

Peter Baker / New York Times:

For Trump, ‘Judgment Time Is Coming’ on How to Respond to Iran — WASHINGTON — President Trump's tenure as commander in chief came to a dramatic turning point on Thursday night as he found himself torn between his own competing advisers and his own competing instincts …

Discussion: Washington Post, PJ Media Home, Breitbart, Politico, Al Jazeera, CNBC, New York Post, Axios, Financial Times, The Week and The American Conservative

Newsweek:
Donald Trump Decided to Strike Iranian Missile System, Then Changed His Mind

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Defense One, The Guardian, CNN, Splinter, VICE, The New Civil Rights Movement and The Daily Beast

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post: The commander in chief is AWOL

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
The U.S. Has Lots of Options With Iran

Discussion: CNN, The Week and The American Conservative

Steve Inskeep / NPR:
Iran's U.N. Ambassador: U.S. Escalating Hostilities Like A ‘Knife Under Your Throat’

Discussion: Breitbart and New York Post

Washington Post:
Trump ordered attack on Iran for downing drone, then called it off, citing casualties

Discussion: Townhall, Reason, TASS and Conservative News Today

New York Times:
Attacking Iran Is Congress's Call

Discussion: Just Security, The Guardian, The Week, The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media and Splinter

Washington Post:
The U.S. should strive for a stable Iran. Instead, it is suffocating it.

Discussion: The American Conservative and Fox News

Associated Press:

Migrant children describe neglect at Texas border facility — EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A 2-year-old boy locked in detention wants to be held all the time. A few girls, ages 10 to 15, say they've been doing their best to feed and soothe the clingy toddler who was handed to them by a guard days ago.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, CNN, The Week, Axios and Human Rights Watch

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Trump Bets We'll Stop Caring About Migrant Kids

Discussion: Vox

Associated Press: Lawyers claim infants, children are in dangerous situation at border detention site

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone: Trump Administration to Migrant Kids: No Soap for You!

New York Times:

Andrew Weissmann, a Top Mueller Prosecutor, Has a Book Deal — Andrew Weissmann, one of the top prosecutors for Robert S. Mueller III on the Russia investigation, is writing a book that will explore his work on the special counsel's inquiry, according to a publishing executive with knowledge of the deal.

Politico:

Dems see Hope Hicks testimony as huge gift in legal battle with Trump — In an exclusive interview, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler also said Democrats would soon sue former White House Counsel Don McGahn. — House Democrats are planning to file a lawsuit within days to force former White …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Caller News Foundation, POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:

NYT reporter flagged Jared Kushner meetings with Russians to FBI — A New York Times reporter fed information about Jared Kushner meeting with Russians to the FBI, newly released emails show. — Journalist Michael Schmidt sent an email on March 24, 2017, to FBI Assistant Director …

Discussion: Washington Post, Power Line, Daily Kos and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Nicholas Ballasy / The Intercept:

Ocasio-Cortez Not Apologizing to Kevin McCarthy: “He Should Apologize to the Children That Have Been Separated From Their Parents” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., fired back on Thursday at House Republican Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who had demanded that she apologize …

Discussion: Crooked Media, Common Dreams and The Atlantic

Andrea Pitzer / NYR Daily:
‘Some Suburb of Hell’: America's New Concentration Camp System

Discussion: CNN

Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo:
Fighting About Calling Them ‘Concentration Camps’ Is Besides The Point

Discussion: Bloomberg, Townhall and Algemeiner.com

Elizabeth Warren / Medium:

Ending Private Prisons and Exploitation for Profit — Last month Caliburn International — a for-profit company whose subsidiary operates Homestead, the largest detention center for unaccompanied migrant children — hired John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff.

Discussion: Mother Jones, CNN, Fox News, Axios, Breitbart, Observer, UPI and Washington Free Beacon

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Ban Private Prisons: They Have ‘No Place in America’

Discussion: Politico

Ali Vitali / NBC News:

Clyburn explains why Harris and Booker haven't caught on in S. Carolina — The third-ranking House Democrat talked to NBC News ahead of his famous ‘Fish Fry’ gathering Friday night, featuring more than 20 presidential contenders. — COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn expressed …

Discussion: Political Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Prosecutors Intensify Scrutiny of Trump Fundraiser Elliott Broidy — Federal probe examines foreigners who attended inauguration at invitation of top Trump fundraiser — Federal prosecutors have stepped up a criminal investigation into possible efforts by longtime Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Joe Biden's letters to segregationist Sen. James O. Eastland — The letters were obtained from the University of Mississippi, which houses Sen. James O. Eastland's archived papers. — The correspondence from 1972 to 1978 shows Joe Biden, at the time a young senator, trying to establish …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Breitbart

Washington Post:
Tensions ripple through Biden campaign as his past working relationship with a segregationist …

Discussion: Politico, Shakesville, Political Wire, New York Post, Breitbart, The Atlantic and The Daily Caller

Sam Rosenfeld / Washington Post:
Joe Biden's nostalgia for ‘civility’ is nostalgia for the politics of Jim Crow

Discussion: HuffPost, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Mother Jones

Maxwell Strachan / HuffPost:

Some White House Reporters Are Throwing Sarah Huckabee Sanders A Goodbye Party — White House correspondents and some Trump staffers plan to send Sanders off with “farewell drinks” next week. — Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the reporters who cover the White House haven't always had the smoothest relationship.

Discussion: Politico, Conservative News Today, Washington Post, Splinter, Daily Kos, checkyourfact.com, TheBlaze and Mediaite

Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
After Crying ‘Fake News’ For Years, Sanders Is Getting A Party — Thrown By Reporters

Discussion: Splinter

Donald Trump / TIME:

Donald Trump's Interview With TIME on 2020: Read the Transcript — President Donald Trump sat down for an interview with TIME in the Oval Office on June 17 for a story on his re-election campaign. — During the 57-minute conversation, he discussed his Democratic rivals …

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Contemptor, Shareblue Media, Mediaite, Splinter, The Week and Hullabaloo

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Fairfax ‘thinking very seriously’ about run for governor, says scandal has raised his public profile — Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said Thursday that he is “very hopeful about the future” and “thinking very seriously” about a gubernatorial run in 2021. — Fairfax, who faces sexual assault allegations …

Discussion: Daily Wire and Washington Free Beacon

Olivia Gazis / CBS News:

Justice Dept review of intel in Russia probe fuels fears of politicization — A mix of concern, confusion and defiance has spread through elements of the intelligence community as a murky picture emerges of Attorney General William Barr's review of its investigative and analytical work …

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Hacked documents reveal sensitive details of expanding border surveillance — Far more information was taken in the hack of a Customs and Border Protection contractor than U.S. officials have acknowledged. — The recent cyberattack on a U.S. Customs and Border Protection subcontractor …

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

Trump to Officially Nominate Esper as Next Defense Secretary — WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to nominate Mark T. Esper, the secretary of the Army and former West Point classmate of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to be the next defense secretary, administration officials said on Friday.

Patrick Marley / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

On 4-3 vote, Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds state's lame-duck laws limiting power of Democratic governor — MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld lame-duck laws Friday that limit the power of the state's new Democratic governor, handing Republicans a victory in one of several legal fights over the laws.

Discussion: Mother Jones and Political Wire

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Laura Ingraham Dismisses Reparations: 'No Do-Overs...We Won, You Lost, That's That' — “As Trump always says, 'you don't get do-overs,' she declared. ” No do-overs, that's it. Fox News star Laura Ingraham waded into the ongoing debate over reparations for descendants of slaves during …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The New Civil Rights Movement and Contemptor

Emily Flitter / New York Times:

Being Transgender at Goldman Sachs — How Maeve DuVally, an employee in the bank's buttoned-up communications department, became herself at work. — Goldman Sachs's trading floors are vast rooms crammed with rows of tightly packed workstations, four monitors for every trader.

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

Biden called Booker to quell tensions. Things only got worse — After Sen. Cory Booker appeared on CNN on Wednesday night sounding off on Joe Biden's recent comments surrounding segregationists, the New Jersey Democrat got a phone call — it was the former vice president.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Splinter, The Hill and Talking Points Memo