memeorandum: Robert Mueller will frustrate the hell out of Congress (Josh Campbell/CNN)

3:45 PM ET, July 23, 2019

Top Items:

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Key Aide Will Appear Alongside Mueller During Hearings — WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III's longtime right-hand aide will appear beside him at the witness table during Wednesday's hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to assist as needed as the former special counsel answers questions …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Talking Points Memo, The National Interest and The Daily Caller

Josh Campbell / CNN:

Robert Mueller will frustrate the hell out of Congress — Josh Campbell is a CNN analyst covering national security issues. He previously served as a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI, special assistant to the bureau's director and is the author of a forthcoming book on the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation.

Discussion: National Review

Eric Felten / RealClearInvestigations:

The Shaky Standing of Mueller's Footnotes — Jule 23, 2019 — The Mueller report. Top photo: Its author, left, with his successor as FBI boss, James Comey, who looms large not just in height but in the report's footnotes. — Who knew that the humble footnote would loom so large …

Discussion: The Hill, Real Clear Politics, TheBlaze, Power Line, PJ Media Home, CNN, The Gateway Pundit and The New Neo

CNN:
Mueller makes last minute ask to swear in deputy for hearing

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The National Interest and Law & Crime

Neal K. Katyal / New York Times:
With Three Simple Answers, Mueller Can Speak Volumes

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo and Law & Crime

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

With budget deal, Trump drains the swamp — of the Tea Party — President Trump once vowed to drain the swamp, but by joining with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the latest budget deal, he has merely drained it of the Tea Party. — There are many ways in which the Trump presidency has been disruptive to the status quo.

Discussion: ImmigrationReform.com, CNN, The Week, Mediaite and The Resurgent

John Harwood / CNBC:

Why the GOP keeps losing the fight in budget deals — KEY POINTS — Having failed to repeal Obamacare, President Donald Trump and his party now plan to surrender their own achievement: budget caps Republicans once forced on President Barack Obama. — This latest concession tells …

Walter Shapiro / Roll Call: Moderation in the Trump era? Democrats, it's futile

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: The budget deal shows how unserious the GOP is about deficits in the Trump era

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, Chicks On The Right and The Rush Limbaugh Show

Issues & Insights:
A Budget Disaster of Epic Proportions

Discussion: Instapundit

Maxwell Strachan / HuffPost:

The Fall Of Mic Was A Warning — “I don't need a pair of Nikes. I need a 401(k)” — and other lessons from the death of a venture-backed, Facebook-dependent, millennial-focused news site. — Esther Bergdahl felt invigorated. How could she not? It was 2014, and she had just joined …

Discussion: Nieman Lab and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »

Obed Manuel / Dallas Morning News:

A Dallas-born citizen picked up by the Border Patrol has been detained for three weeks — An 18-year-old Dallas-born U.S. citizen has been in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three weeks, his attorney says.

Discussion: CBS News, Heavy.com, The Daily Beast, The Independent, Daily Kos, The Week, Daily Wire, TheBlaze and Splinter

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
A U.S. citizen has been in immigration custody for nearly a month due to a paperwork snafu, attorney says

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, The Texas Tribune, Slate, VICE and twitchy.com

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Fox News helped radicalize domestic terrorist Cesar Sayoc, say his lawyers — Cesar Sayoc pleaded guilty in March to mailing improvised explosive devices to 13 people, including many prominent Democratic figures, among them former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden …

Discussion: The Week and Mediaite

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast: MAGA Bomber's Lawyers Blame Trump, Sean Hannity for His Radicalization

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
Lawyers For Trump ‘Super Fan’ Cesar Sayoc Say Trump's Rhetoric Inspired Terrorist Plot On Democrats

Discussion: ThinkProgress and UPI

New York Times:

Trump Relies on Populist Language, but He Mostly Sides With Corporate Interests — WASHINGTON — History will record last week as a moment when President Trump turned to raw racial appeals to attack a group of nonwhite lawmakers, but his attacks also underscored a remarkable fact of his first term …

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Kera Bolonik / The Cut:

The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge A Harvard Law professor who teaches a class on judgment wouldn't seem like an obvious mark, would he? — It was just supposed to have been a quick Saturday-morning errand to buy picture hooks. On March 7, 2015, Harvard Law professor Bruce Hay, then 52 …

Malachi Barrett / MLive.com:

NAACP supports Trump impeachment at Detroit convention — Gallery: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Michigan officials speak at NAACP national convention — America's oldest and largest civil rights organization called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump at its annual national convention in Detroit.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Alex Pappas / Fox News:
Trump mocks Tlaib for ‘screaming’ at 2016 speech: ‘This is not a sane person’

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
WATCH: Rashida Tlaib Was Once Dragged Out of Trump Speech As Supporter Yelled 'You're an Animal!'

Discussion: Washington Times

CNN:

Warplanes from four countries face off in Asian confrontation — Seoul (CNN)Warplanes from four countries faced off Tuesday in a chaotic and unprecedented confrontation above a small, disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan. — South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff issued …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Caller and The Week

Jeffrey Cimmino / Washington Free Beacon:

Gabbard: ‘Kamala Harris is Not Qualified to Serve as Commander in Chief’ — 'She's got no background or experience in foreign policy' — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) argued Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) is not qualified to serve as commander in chief during an appearance on Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Tuesday.

Ben Terris / Washington Post: Who is Kamala Harris, really? Ask her sister Maya.

Tom Polansek / Reuters:

Trump administration pursues rule that would remove 3.1 million people from food stamps — CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday will propose a rule to tighten food stamp restrictions that would cut about 3.1 million people from the program, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials said.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Fox News, Washington Post, Axios and Progress Pond

Mike Dorning / Bloomberg:
Trump Administration Moves to End Food Stamps for 3 Million People

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters, Fortune, Eduwonk, Law & Crime, POLITICUSUSA and The Root

Aidan Smith / The Nation:

The Overlooked Difference Between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — It's their approach to party politics—not policy—that truly sets the progressive senators apart. — The skeptics were wrong. After a long period of speculation that only one of the progressive icons would run …

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Trump sues House Ways and Means panel to block disclosure of his tax returns — KEY POINTS — President Trump filed a lawsuit against the House Ways and Means Committee, the New York state's attorney general and tax chief to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns.

Discussion: VICE, Pirate's Cove and The Daily Beast

Bloomberg: Trump Sues to Block House From Getting State Tax Returns

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Sherrod Brown Is the Only Democrat in America Not Running for President — EL PASO, Tex. — As 20 Democrats debated on national television, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and his wife, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, texted each other a running critique of the candidates.

New York Times:

Jeffrey Epstein Moved Money Overseas in Transactions His Bank Flagged to U.S. — As Deutsche Bank officials this year scrambled to extricate themselves from a yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier charged this month with sex trafficking, they uncovered suspicious transactions …

Jim Treacher / PJ Media Home:

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: AOC Was Weeping Over an Empty Road, Not an Empty Parking Lot — We've all seen the harrowing, heartbreaking pictures: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez standing next to a chain-link fence, weeping in anguish over what she saw on the other side.

Discussion: twitchy.com, Louder With Crowder, @politifact and RedState

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

US attorney general William Barr says Americans should accept security risks of encryption backdoors — U.S. attorney general William Barr has said consumers should accept the risks that encryption backdoors pose to their personal cybersecurity to ensure law enforcement can access encrypted communications.

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:

Bill Barr Already Won — Back in May, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan held a town hall to defend his position as the lone Republican calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. Amash explained to voters that he'd arrived at this position …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Axios

Morgan Phillips / Mediaite:

MSNBC Guests Keep Repeating False Claim That Fox News Isn't Covering the Mueller Hearings — Former Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards, appearing on MSNBC Tuesday morning, repeated the false claim that Fox News will not be airing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's hearing before Congress this week.

Discussion: NB Blog, Washington Free Beacon and Deadline

Bruce Schlesman / Judicial Watch:

Judicial Watch Files House Ethics Complaint against Rep. Ilhan Omar over Potential Immigration, Marriage, Tax, and Student Loan Fraud — (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch announced today that it hand-delivered ethics complaint to Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Office …

Discussion: Townhall, The Daily Caller and LifeZette

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Biden announces criminal justice policy sharply at odds with his '94 crime law — Former vice president Joe Biden, who has faced criticism from liberals for spearheading a 1994 law when he was a senator that cracked down on criminals, announced a proposal Tuesday that would eliminate …

Discussion: Joe Biden for President, New York Times, CBS Philly, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, Axios and The Crime Report

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Democratic Progressives and Centrists Are Both Committing Strategic Suicide — From the standpoint of its activist base, the Democratic Party is a hidebound claque of traditionalists who are consistently outmaneuvered by a more disciplined and ruthless opposition.

Discussion: The American Conservative, NPR and Daily Kos

NBC News:

Human rights groups lead chorus of alarm over new Trump administration commission — A trio of letters sent Tuesday voice concern over the administration's new “Commission on Unalienable Rights.” — WASHINGTON — Hundreds of prominent human rights organizations, presidential candidates …

Discussion: Politico