memeorandum: Joe Biden hires Rufus Gifford as new deputy campaign manager (Michael Scherer/Washington Post)

2:30 PM ET, April 29, 2020

Top Items:

Why Have Women's Groups Gone Dead Silent on Biden Sex-Assault Accusation? — In the wake of the #MeToo movement, prominent women came forward expressing regret they didn't take allegations against then-President Bill Clinton seriously in the 1990s. — Women's groups and prominent feminist figures …

Discussion: National Review, Damian J. Penny, Fox News, TheBlaze, HuffPost, Washington Post, Twitchy, The American Conservative, Mediaite, Breitbart and Townhall

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

So, Tara Reade . . . For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters. — Did Joe Biden sexually assault Tara Reade in 1993, as she claims? I don't know. As is so often the case, there were no witnesses and no physical evidence, so it's literally her word against his.

Discussion: Power Line, CNN, pjmedia.com, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

BuzzFeed News:

Democrats Will Have To Answer Questions About Tara Reade. The Biden Campaign Is Advising Them To Say Her Story “Did Not Happen.” — While Joe Biden has remained publicly silent about a sexual assault allegation made against him, his presidential campaign has sought to coordinate …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, Washington Post, The Week, CNN, ABC News, Townhall, HuffPost, Breitbart, The Root, Vanity Fair, Politico, IJR, The Daily Caller, NB Blog, Mediaite, Al Jazeera, Althouse, The Bread Line, The Daily Beast, Washington Monthly and Twitchy

Washington Examiner:
The media owe Brett Kavanaugh an apology

Discussion: Breitbart, Fox News and IJR

New York Times:

De Blasio Breaks Up Rabbi's Funeral and Lashes Out Over Virus Distancing — After overseeing the dispersal of hundreds of Hasidic mourners in Brooklyn, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the gathering “absolutely unacceptable.” — Mayor Bill de Blasio lashed out at Hasidic residents …

Discussion: Reason, NBC News, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Instapundit, Jewish Insider, ABC News, The Yeshiva World, Tangle and Just The News

Batya Ungar-Sargon / The Forward:
De Blasio is stoking anti-Semitism. He's not alone.

Discussion: Townhall, The Daily Dot, New York Post and Breitbart

David Harsanyi / National Review:
Incompetent De Blasio Scapegoats the Jews

Discussion: Redstate, Breitbart and New York Daily News

David Marcus / The Federalist:
Bill De Blasio Should Resign Over His Anti-Semitic Tweet

Discussion: Townhall, BuzzFeed News and National Review

Ronn Blitzer / Fox News:
De Blasio warning to Jewish community sparks backlash in latest controversy over coronavirus measures

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico and The Guardian

New York Times:

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests — Total deaths in seven states that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic are nearly 50 percent higher than normal for the five weeks from March 8 through April 11, according to new death statistics …

Discussion: Mother Jones, GovExec.com, Daily Kos, Power Line and Raw Story

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:

Gilead says early results of coronavirus drug trial show improvement with shorter remdesivir treatment — Gilead said preliminary results of a coronavirus drug trial showed at least 50% of patients treated with a five-day dosage of remdesivir improved. — Dr. Fauci's positive comments …

Discussion: Reuters, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Breitbart, The Week and Observer

New York Times:
Coronavirus Live Updates: F.D.A. Plans to Announce Emergency Use of New Drug After a Trial Showed Shortened Recovery

Discussion: The Lancet and Forbes

STAT:
Critical study of Gilead's Covid-19 drug shows patients are responding to treatment, NIH says

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Week and Mediaite

Rick Hasen / electionlawblog.org:

Breaking: In Major Decision Rejecting Kris Kobach's Claims of Massive Voter Fraud, Tenth Circuit Unanimously Holds Kansas's Documentary Proof of Citizenship Requirement to Register to Vote Violates Constitution and Federal Law — In a major ruling, a 10th Circuit panel (consisting of 2 judges …

Emma Tucker / The Daily Beast:

Jared Kushner Calls Coronavirus Response ‘a Great Success Story’ as Death Toll Nears 60,000 — UM, WHAT?! — President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has been largely absent amid the coronavirus crisis in recent weeks, said on Wednesday that “this is a great success story” …

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Kushner predicts much of the country will be ‘back to normal’ in June

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Fox News

Kathleen McGrory / Tampa Bay Times:

Florida medical examiners were releasing coronavirus death data. The state made them stop. — When the medical examiners' list was available, it showed more deaths than the state's count. — State officials have stopped releasing the list of coronavirus deaths being compiled …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Intellectualist

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

The economy shrunk at the fastest pace since the Great Recession — Everyone expects much worse numbers next quarter. — The US economy shrank 1.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020 — or a 4.8 percent annual rate of decline — according to data released Wednesday morning by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Discussion: U.S. Bureau …, Mother Jones and POLITICUSUSA

Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press:
Economists agree: No quick rebound from recession is likely

Discussion: CNBC, Politico and The Week

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

Trump says White House ‘fading out’ social distancing guidelines set to expire this week — President Trump on Wednesday said the administration will be “fading out” the federal social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus that are slated to expire Thursday.

Tyler Olson / Fox News:
White House, Pelosi respond to bleak GDP report amid efforts to lift coronavirus shutdowns

Discussion: Fox Business, Breitbart and CNBC

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

Mass layoffs begin in cities and states amid coronavirus fallout, threatening education, sanitation, health and safety — Millions of municipal workers could find themselves out of a job or without pay, according to local leaders, who say programs would fall into disarray unless Washington intervenes

Discussion: Raw Story, Morning Consult, Politico and Vanity Fair

Christina Maxouris / CNN:

US could be in for ‘a bad fall and a bad winter’ if it's unprepared for a second wave of coronavirus, Fauci warns — (CNN)A second round of the coronavirus is “inevitable,” the nation's top infectious disease doctor says, but just how bad it is will depend on the progress the US makes in the coming months.

Discussion: Observer, POLITICUSUSA, New York Post, The Hill and MSNBC

Joe Walsh / Washington Post:

You can't win, Justin Amash. You can only help Trump get reelected. — We both came in with the tea party wave. Reelecting this president isn't the way to go out. — President Trump is everything our Founders feared. He routinely misleads or outright lies to the American people …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Axios, Politico, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, NPR, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Dispatch, IJR, CNN and The Gateway Pundit

Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:

Antibody tests support what's been obvious: Covid-19 is much more lethal than the flu — The Washington Post is providing this important information about the coronavirus for free. For more free coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter where all stories are free to read.

Discussion: The Week, ProPublica and Raw Story

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP faces pressure to get tougher with Trump — Republicans in the Senate are under growing pressure to take the administration to task for its response to the coronavirus. — GOP senators, with a few exceptions, have been reluctant to criticize the administration, but they are starting …

Matt Bruenig / People's Policy Project:

Threatening Retaliation for Protected Activity Is No Joke — Last week, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concluded that the Federalist's top manager, Ben Domenech, violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when, on the same …

Ben Domenech / Wall Street Journal:
How My Joke on Twitter Became a Federal Case

Discussion: Reason

Amanda Mull / The Atlantic:

Georgia's Experiment in Human Sacrifice — The state is about to find out how many people need to lose their lives to shore up the economy. … At first, Derek Canavaggio thought he would be able to ride out the coronavirus pandemic at home until things were safe.

Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Beast

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

COVID-19 turning out to be huge hoax perpetrated by media — Media hyped the virus and alarmed Americans to the point of shutting down the economy — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — When the postmortem is done on the media's coverage of COVID-19 (and it will be), it will be clear that the virus …

Discussion: Associated Press

Michael Collins / USA Today:

‘My Fellow American’: Donald Trump letter to stimulus check recipients raises objections — WASHINGTON - Americans who received a stimulus check from the federal government also are getting something else in the mail: a letter from President Donald Trump. — A one-page letter …

Discussion: Fortune and American Greatness

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

The American People Should See Trump's Coronavirus Briefings in Their Entirety — We're committed to keeping our readers informed. … To get to the White House Rose Garden during the pandemic, you first walk through a tent outside of the grounds, where your temperature is checked …

Discussion: The Media Nut and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Stevens / New York Times:

Does Andrew Yang Want to Be New York's Post-Coronavirus Mayor? — The ex-presidential candidate has boosted his profile, giving money to Bronx residents and starting a podcast and an antidiscrimination campaign. — On the night Andrew Yang dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary …

Bloomberg:

Trump's ‘Operation Warp Speed’ Aims to Rush Coronavirus Vaccine — Secret project has goal of 100 million doses by year's end — Fauci has said vaccine will take 12 to 18 months to develop — The Trump administration is quietly organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort …

Kelly McBride / NPR:

Interview With A Coffee Shop Owner Upset Liberals: Here's What Really Happened — Last week, I was listening to Morning Edition when I heard Scott Horsley's story exploring the benefits and drawbacks of the federally enhanced unemployment benefits. Even before the Internet exploded, I had some questions.

CNN:

Meat plant workers to Trump: Employees aren't going to show up — New York (CNN Business)Meat-processing plant workers are concerned about President Donald Trump's executive order that compels plants to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. Meat plant employees are among America's …

Discussion: Raw Story and Forbes

W.J. Hennigan / TIME:

Trump Says U.S. Will Run 5 Million Daily Virus Tests ‘Very Soon.’ His Testing Chief Says That's Impossible — President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that the U.S. will be able to carry out five million coronavirus tests per day, but the top official overseeing testing strategy told TIME earlier …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vox, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:

Police Investigating Death of Arizona Man From Chloroquine Phosphate — The Mesa City Police Department's homicide division is investigating the death of Gary Lenius, the Arizona man whose wife served him soda mixed with fish tank cleaner in what she claimed was a bid to fend off the coronavirus.