memeorandum: Congress flummoxed by firing of top intel watchdog (Politico)

3:55 PM ET, April 6, 2020

Top Items:

Jeff Schogol / Task & Purpose:

Acting Navy Secretary blasts USS Roosevelt captain as ‘too naive or too stupid’ in leaked speech to ship's crew — Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly reportedly made an unhinged speech to the crew members of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, in which he lashed out at former Capt. Brett E. Crozier …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Politico, Talking Points Memo, VICE, New York Post, Mediaite, Raw Story, National Review, Law & Crime, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Washington Post

CNN:

Acting Navy secretary blasts ousted aircraft carrier captain as ‘stupid’ in address to ship's crew — (CNN)The Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasted the now ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as “stupid” in an address to the ship's crew Monday morning, in remarks obtained by CNN.

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Axios, The Daily Caller, Task & Purpose, Raw Story, Just The News, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Balloon Juice and Patterico's Pontifications

Winona Ruth / SoundCloud:

SoundCloud — Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly reportedly made an unhinged speech to the crew members of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, in which he lashed out at former Capt. Brett E. Crozier and told sailors to stop complaining and do their jobs. Full story here: https …

Discussion: Defense One

New York Times:

Acting Navy Secretary Slams Fired Captain as ‘Stupid’ — Thomas B. Modly addressed the crew of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt in a speech that one crew member described as “whiny, upset, irritated, condescending.” — The U.S. Navy's top civilian excoriated the fired commander …

Washington Post:

Wisconsin governor moves to suspend in-person voting in Tuesday's elections amid coronavirus fears, drawing GOP court challenge — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order Monday suspending in-person voting in Tuesday's elections, immediately prompting a legal challenge …

Discussion: Axios, Common Dreams, The Hill and Mother Jones

Politico:

Wisconsin governor orders stop to in-person voting on eve of election — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a last-minute order halting in-person voting in his state on Tuesday, plunging the Democratic presidential primary and state and local elections into uncertainty amid deep concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, RightWisconsin, Fox News and Washington Post

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issues order shutting down Tuesday's election

Discussion: Fox News, FiveThirtyEight, HuffPost, VICE, Daily Kos and The Daily Beast

Associated Press:
Wisconsin moves ahead with election, awaits Supreme Court

Discussion: The Week and WTOP, more at Mediagazer »

State of Wisconsin:
Gov. Evers Suspends In-Person Voting, Calls Legislature into Special Session on April 7 Election

Discussion: The Hill and IJR

Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:
Tuesday's Wisconsin Election Is Our Future

Discussion: Vox, The Nation, The Atlantic and The Guardian

Lisa Du / Bloomberg:

Half the U.S. Supply of Trump-Touted Virus Drug Now Cut Off — Nearly half the supply of hydroxychloroquine to the U.S. comes from makers in India, a flow that has now been abruptly stanched after the Asian nation banned exports of all forms of the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a …

Discussion: National Review, Raw Story and Vanity Fair

Donald Shaw / Sludge:

Pharma-Funded Group Tied to a Top Trump Donor Is Promoting Malaria Drug to the President — Founded by one of Trump's top donors, the Job Creators Network has been pushing Trump to approve the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19. — EDITED BY

Discussion: The Nation, Common Dreams, The Week and Axios

Chandelis Duster / CNN:
Peter Navarro on his qualifications to disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on coronavirus treatments …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, The American Independent, POLITICUSUSA, Axios, The Week, HuffPost and The Hill

CNN:
Heated disagreement breaks out in Situation Room over hydroxychloroquine

Discussion: The American Independent, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The Week and Raw Story

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: SCOOP: Schumer makes his case to Meadows during a Sunday night call

Discussion: Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, VICE, The Hill, The Week and The Daily Beast

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine

YouTube:

Alyssa Milano explains silence on Joe Biden allegation … Alyssa Milano tells Andy why she's staying quiet about the sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden. — Hear Andy Cohen Live every Monday & Wednesday at 10amET/7am PT, only on Radio Andy. SiriusXM 102, and anytime on the SiriusXM app.

Discussion: Redstate and Twitchy

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Has Anyone Found Trump's Soul? Anyone? — He's not rising to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. He's shriveling into nothingness. — Do you remember President George W. Bush's remarks at Ground Zero in Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks?

Discussion: Kaiser Health News, Althouse, The Hill and Twitchy, more at Mediagazer »

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

Why Donald Trump's firing of the Intelligence Community IG is so, so egregious — (CNN)President Donald Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, late on a Friday night amid the coronavirus pandemic in hopes that you wouldn't know what he did.

Discussion: The Bulwark

Politico:
Congress flummoxed by firing of top intel watchdog

Discussion: New York Times, Common Dreams and Just Security

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Inspector General Fired by Trump Urges Whistle-Blowers ‘to Bravely Speak Up’

Discussion: The Federalist, The Guardian, IJR, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, POLITICUSUSA, The Week and Washington Times

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump vs. Biden on coronavirus: The timeline is utterly damning — We're now learning that President Trump's efforts to promote an anti-malarial drug for use against the coronavirus is causing internal administration tensions. Anthony Fauci, the administration's own leading expert …

Discussion: Raw Story

Politico:

Schumer taps Warren aide for new coronavirus oversight commission — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will appoint Bharat Ramamurti, a former Elizabeth Warren aide, to a newly created panel meant to police the Trump administration's handling of a $500 billion coronavirus relief fund.

Discussion: The Hill

Brooke Singman / Fox News: Trump nominates former GSA watchdog as inspector general for coronavirus response

Fox News:

Supreme Court upholds controversial traffic stop by police — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a warrantless traffic stop by a sheriff's deputy in Kansas that was conducted based on information that the car owner's license had been revoked. — Charles Glover Jr. claimed that the deputy …

Discussion: Associated Press

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Justices rule for federal employee over age discrimination

Discussion: Washington Post

New York Times:

U.S. Will Give Terrorist Label to White Supremacist Group for First Time — The designation of the Russian Imperial Movement reflects growing concerns among U.S. officials about violent white supremacists with transnational links. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expected …

Discussion: Associated Press, Foreign Policy, The Daily Caller, The Week and The Smoke Eater

Sharyl Attkisson / Just The News:

News media, liberals mock conservatives for early pandemic comments they made themselves — Analysis of three months of public comments shows health officials, liberals and media personalities made comments similar to conservatives now being mocked. — A video entitled “Heroes of the Pandumbic” …

Discussion: Washington Post and Instapundit

L. Brent Bozell III / Washington Times:
How the liberal media weaponizes COVID-19 against Trump

Discussion: Associated Press

Washington Post:

Trump's coronavirus commentary bolsters attack ads questioning his fitness to lead — Within days of President Trump's assertion that “I don't take responsibility at all” for coronavirus testing failures, Democrats were spending millions in key November states on an ad that replayed a series of his most pungent remarks.

Discussion: The American Independent and Raw Story

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Trump, Biden trade barbs over possible virtual Democratic convention

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg and Vanity Fair

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

News Analysis: The coronavirus crisis will change America in big ways. History says so — The Social Security check that arrives each month. The unemployment benefits that help tide workers over between jobs. The security lines snaking through airports, back when millions of Americans were still flying.

Nathan L. Gonzales / Roll Call:

Ratings change: Senate races shift toward Democrats — Gardner now an underdog, Shaheen safer, Collins more at risk — While coronavirus news is rightfully saturating the headlines, the 2020 elections are going to happen this fall and will arguably be more important than ever.

New York Times:

As School Moves Online, Many Students Stay Logged Out — Teachers at some schools across the country report that less than half of their students are participating in online learning. — Chronic absenteeism is a problem in American education during the best of times, but now …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:

Dr. Anthony Fauci was correct — more importantly, he was humble — In certain political circles, it has apparently become important to knock Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. — One prominent article at RealClear Politics argues …

ProPublica:

How New York City's Emergency Ventilator Stockpile Ended Up on the Auction Block — A 2006 pandemic plan warned that New York City could be short as many as 9,500 ventilators. But the city only acquired a few hundred, which were ultimately scrapped because it couldn't afford to maintain them.

ABC7:

LA doctor seeing success with hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 — LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A Los Angeles doctor said he is seeing significant success in prescribing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Discussion: Townhall, Louder With Crowder, Law & Crime, Tangle, Twitchy and Local doctor …

Ronna McDaniel / Fox News:

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel: Democrats' coronavirus voting plan - this is the way to undermine democracy — After failing with their first left-wing laundry list disguised as coronavirus relief, Democratic leaders are already plotting their next attempt to use the pandemic for political gain.

Discussion: Washington Times

The City:

First Rikers Virus-Positive Fatality Was Jailed on Technicality — Need to know more about coronavirus in New York? Sign up for our daily morning newsletter. — The first COVID-19 positive city jail inmate died in Bellevue Hospital Sunday as he awaited a hearing on a parole violation, according to multiple sources.

Discussion: The Root, The Appeal and New York Post