memeorandum: California orders insurers to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing (Kathleen Pender/San Francisco Chronicle)

12:05 AM ET, March 6, 2020

Top Items:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Judge Calls Barr's Handling of Mueller Report ‘Distorted’ and ‘Misleading’ — The judge said the attorney general lacked credibility on the matter and said he would review the report to decide whether to make its redacted portions public. — WASHINGTON — A federal judge …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Judge demands unredacted Mueller report, questions Barr's ‘credibility’ — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to hand over to him a copy of the unredacted Mueller report and accused Attorney General William Barr of misrepresenting its findings in the days before it was submitted to Congress last year.

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, Associated Press and The Intellectualist

Washington Post:

Judge cites Barr's ‘misleading’ statements in ordering review of Mueller report redactions — A federal judge in D.C. sharply criticized Attorney General William P. Barr on Thursday for a “lack of candor,” questioning the truthfulness of the nation's top law enforcement official in his handling …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

Federal Judge Says He Needs to Review Every Mueller Report Redaction Because Barr Can't Be Trusted — Attorney General William Barr's wildly inappropriate campaign to spin the Mueller report in Donald Trump's favor last year may have finally backfired. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge …

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Post

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed News: A Federal Judge Slammed The Attorney General For Being Misleading About What Was Actually In The Mueller Report

Bob Brigham / Raw Story: Federal judge issues ruling saying he can't trust AG Bill Barr's Department of Justice

Kim Bellware / Washington Post:
On immigration, Attorney General Barr is his own Supreme Court. Judges and lawyers say that's a problem.

Discussion: Just Security

TIME:

‘Doomed from the Start.’ Experts Say the Trump Administration's Coronavirus Response Was Never Going to Work — The Trump Administration's strategy to combat COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, began with a relatively simple focus: keep it out of the United States.

Discussion: Rolling Stone

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Pence admits 'we don't have enough tests' to meet demands as delay in coronavirus testing persists — Washington (CNN)Confusion and delays appear to persist in testing Americans for coronavirus even after an outcry from state and local health authorities that the United States was behind in determining the extent of the outbreak.

Discussion: New York Times

Politico:

White House sidelines Azar from coronavirus response — There will be a notable omission when Vice President Mike Pence visits Washington state Thursday as part of the Trump administration's coronavirus response: health Secretary Alex Azar. — The White House on Wednesday also benched Azar …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and C-SPAN.org

BBC: Coronavirus: White House concedes US lacks enough test kits

Toluse Olorunnipa / Washington Post:
The Trump administration's greatest obstacle to sending a clear message on coronavirus may be Trump himself

Discussion: NBC News, The American Independent, PJ Media Home and POLITICUSUSA

Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
Trump falsely blames Obama admin for hurting rollout of coronavirus test kits: Fact Check

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren, Once a Front-Runner, Drops Out of Presidential Race — Ms. Warren, a senator and former law professor, staked her campaign on fighting corruption and changing the rules of the economy.

Lisa Lerer / New York Times:

The Amy Klobuchar Exit Interview — The hot dish on how she decided to end her bid and what the future holds for female candidates. … A lot of candidates dropped out of the presidential race over the past week (including Elizabeth Warren today). We were able to grab a few minutes with one of them …

Discussion: HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA and IJR

Ryan Grim / The Intercept: Elizabeth Warren's Campaign Fell Apart in the Fall, and It Never Recovered

Lisa Lerer / New York Times: Was It Always Going to Be the Last Men Standing?

Timothy Shenk / New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Was the Wrong Kind of Radical

Megan Garber / The Atlantic:
America Punished Elizabeth Warren for Her Competence

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, Breitbart, CBS News, National Review, The Wrap, Washington Post and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jill Lawrence / USA Today: Warren, Klobuchar, Harris, Gillibrand: Did gender sink Democratic women in 2020? Nope.

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Elizabeth Warren's candidacy failed because voters saw through her

Discussion: HuffPost and NBC News

Michael Scherer / Washington Post:

Mike Bloomberg plans new group to support Democratic nominee — Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to form a new independent expenditure campaign that will absorb hundreds of his presidential campaign staff in six swing states to work to elect the Democratic nominee this fall.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, One America News Network, Politico, Fox News, National Review, Twitchy and Breitbart

Kevin Freking / Associated Press:

Trump to take questions at 1st TV town hall of 2020 campaign — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will field questions at his first TV town hall of the 2020 election cycle Thursday in the city that helped to shape a would-be rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Fox News, The Hill and Breitbart

Jacob Ogles / Florida Politics:
Latest poll of Florida primary shows Joe Biden with huge lead over Bernie Sanders

Discussion: New York Post, Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, The Gateway Pundit, KTLA, The Hill and Vox

Melissa Nann Burke / Detroit News: Slotkin throws support behind Biden in Democratic primary

Team Warren:
The Fight Goes On — Remarks from Elizabeth Warren shared in a call with campaign staff:

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, Reason, ABC News, UPI, The Week, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Rolling Stone, The Wrap and Talking Points Memo

Detroit News:
Joe Biden is Democrats' best choice in Michigan presidential primary

Discussion: Detroit Free Press and The Hill

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity — Previously unseen documents from a Soviet archive show how hard Mr. Sanders worked to find a sister city in Russia when he was a mayor in the 1980s. Moscow saw a chance for propaganda.

Discussion: Twitchy

ABC News:

Controversial execution carried out despite pleas from advocates — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey refused to step in and stop the lethal injection. — The controversial execution of Nathaniel Woods was carried out late Thursday in Alabama just minutes after the Supreme Court denied a temporary stay, issued only hours earlier.

Discussion: Reason

Brian Lyman / The Montgomery Advertiser:

Nathaniel Woods executed as accomplice in 2004 police murders — A Birmingham man was executed Thursday evening on a 2005 conviction of being an accomplice to the murder of three police officers. — Nathaniel Woods, 43, was pronounced dead at 9:01 p.m. after an execution that lasted 15 minutes.

Discussion: UPI, Common Dreams, Associated Press and The Daily Beast

Hannah Sampson / Washington Post:

Sick cruise passengers await coronavirus results at sea as officials debate quarantine — A Princess Cruises ship that recently carried people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus was still being kept off the coast of California Thursday as officials sent kits to test passengers …

Discussion: CNN, VICE, KTLA, WREG-TV and Politico

Washington Post:
Maryland coronavirus: Hogan confirms three cases in Montgomery County

Discussion: CBS Baltimore

Teta Alim / WTOP: Gov. Hogan: Maryland has first positive cases of coronavirus

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

Romney could derail Republican subpoena targeting Bidens — A Republican effort to subpoena records about Joe Biden and his son Hunter could be derailed amid concerns from at least one GOP senator that the push appears politically motivated. — The Senate Homeland Security Committee is set …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, One America News Network, Breitbart and The Daily Beast

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Romney may vote against Trump again — this time with some bite

Discussion: HuffPost, The American Independent, National Review, Raw Story, The Daily Beast and Politico

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Romney: Biden, Burisma probe ‘appears political’

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Fox News and The Intellectualist

New York Times:

'It's Pure Panic': A Wrenching Wait at Nursing Home Where Coronavirus Took Hold — Cut off from their relatives inside a virus-stricken nursing center, families are frantically searching for help and basic information. — KIRKLAND, Wash. — The hardest day of Debbie de los Angeles's life …

Discussion: The Nevada Independent

Elizabeth Bruenig / New York Times:

How Bernie Sanders Can Still Win It All — America's favorite radical is a family values candidate in disguise. — Elizabeth Bruenig is an Opinion writer. — Super Tuesday was not the electric showing many fans of Bernie Sanders had hoped for. While some early projections forecast …

Discussion: Washington Post, Jezebel and Bloomberg

Sydney Ember / New York Times:
Bernie Sanders Cancels Mississippi Rally, Shifting Focus to Michigan

Discussion: The Hill and Townhall

Tamara Keith / NPR:

Trump's Gut Collides With Science On Coronavirus Messaging — President Trump is known to say what's on his mind, to go with his gut and accentuate the positive. That approach is now colliding with a public health emergency in the form of coronavirus. — The challenge posed …

Discussion: Vanity Fair

CNN:

Garry Kasparov: The danger of nominating Sanders — Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative and a former world chess champion. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN. — (CNN)In an election year …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Coronavirus Live Updates: Cases Surge in U.S. and Europe, Thousands Quarantined in N.Y.C. — Congress approved an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to fight the virus, but officials in several countries say the virus will keep spreading fast for some time.

Discussion: HuffPost and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:

Before Clearview Became a Police Tool, It Was a Secret Plaything of the Rich — Investors and clients of the facial recognition start-up freely used the app on dates and at parties — and to spy on the public. — One Tuesday night in October 2018, John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner …

Discussion: OneZero, The Surveillance, The State of Surveillance and The Daily Dot, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Gun found inside Epstein jail during lockdown — WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators found a loaded gun Thursday that had been smuggled into the jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself last summer, following a weeklong lockdown that turned up other contraband and led …

Discussion: Twitchy, KRON4 and New York Post