memeorandum: Coronavirus: California governor orders release of 7 high-level sex offenders as he criminalizes beach attendance (Hollie McKay/Fox News)

4:40 PM ET, May 1, 2020

Top Items:

By Biden's Own Standards, He Is Guilty As Charged — Like most people, I cannot know for sure what actually happened between Joe Biden and Tara Reade many, many moons ago, or, for that matter, what may have once transpired between Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford.

Discussion: Althouse

Joe Biden:

Statement by Vice President Joe Biden — April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every year, at this time, we talk about awareness, prevention, and the importance of women feeling they can step forward, say something, and be heard. That belief — that women should be heard …

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
Biden left no room for the possibility of an official complaint by Tara Reade surfacing

Discussion: SHERO, Breitbart and Balloon Juice

YouTube:
Full Interview: Biden Denies Sexual Assault Allegation From Tara Reade | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Discussion: Washington Post, Townhall, New York Times, The Federalist, NBC News, Breitbart, The Slot, Los Angeles Times, The Hill and CNN

Washington Post:
Joe Biden denies he sexually assaulted a former Senate aide, calls on National Archives …

Discussion: Axios, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, CNN, Breitbart, FiveThirtyEight, Politico, Columbia Journalism Review, NBC News and Althouse

Robby Soave / Reason:
Joe Biden Denies Sexual Assault Accusation, Fails To Explain Why ‘Believe Victims’ Doesn't Apply to Tara Reade

Discussion: Mediaite and Patterico's Pontifications

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Why won't Biden open up his records to scrutiny?

Discussion: ABC News

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What Joe Biden did right in rebutting Tara Reade's claims

Discussion: Power Line, The Atlantic and Axios

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist: Democrats Are Reaping The ‘Whirlwind’ Kavanaugh Warned About

Conrad Black / American Greatness: Joe Biden Is Cooked

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Women's groups start to break silence on Biden allegations, as candidate makes first statement

Discussion: Sean Hannity and New York Post

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Internal GOP poll points to troubling signs for Georgia Republicans — An internal poll conducted for the Georgia House GOP Caucus points to troubling signs for Republican leaders: President Donald Trump is deadlocked with Joe Biden and voters aren't giving the White House …

Discussion: Politico, National Review, Forbes, Washington Monthly, Erick Erickson's Confessions … and Deseret News

Chelsea Prince / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

BREAKING: Georgia verifies 1K new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours — State health officials have confirmed an additional 1,000 cases of the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing Georgia's total infections above 27,000. — As of noon Thursday, the Georgia Department of Public Health was reporting just over 26,000 confirmed cases.

Discussion: LiveScience, Daily Kos and Breitbart

CNN:

Top HHS spokesman repeatedly directed sexually crude and sexist tweets at women — WARNING: This story contains graphic language. — (CNN)The top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly directed crude and sexist comments toward women in now-deleted tweets, a CNN KFile review finds.

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story and The Wrap

Victor Ordonez / ABC News:

Michael Cohen's early prison release over coronavirus concerns was rescinded: Sources — He had been notified in mid-April that he would be released to home confinement. — President Donald Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen will not be leaving prison to serve out the rest …

Discussion: The Week and New York Post

The Daily Beast:
Trump's Lawyer Threatens Michael Cohen as He Remains in Jail

Discussion: Palmer Report and Raw Story

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

15 minutes after pledging not to lie, Trump's new press secretary made an obviously false claim — It dealt with a former Trump official who admitted lying — White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the first daily news briefing in more than a year Friday, her first since assuming her current role last month.

Discussion: Breitbart

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Kayleigh McEnany holds first White House press briefing in over a year

Discussion: The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:
New White House press secretary McEnany to hold 1st briefing

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, IJR and WGN-TV

Colin Kalmbacher / Law & Crime:

Woman Claims Biden Sexually Harassed Her When She Was 14 Years Old by Complimenting Her Breasts — A woman says she was sexually harassed by presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden when she was 14 years old. — The woman, Eva Murry, told Law&Crime that Biden complimented …

Politico:

Wearing a mask is for smug liberals. Refusing to is for reckless Republicans. — In the '60s, protesters burned bras. In 2020, they might soon be burning masks. — Views on how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic have become increasingly polarized, yet another political issue …

Discussion: Fox News, CBS Boston, The Points Guy, The American Independent and CNN

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Pence staff threatens action against reporter who tweeted about visit to clinic without surgical mask

Discussion: HuffPost, The Root, Daily Kos, Vanity Fair, The Wrap, The American Independent, The Slot, Mediaite, PRESS RUN, The Week, New York Post, CounterPunch, Raw Story, CNBC, Palmer Report and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Lawfare:

Flynn Redux: What Those FBI Documents Really Show — Over the last few days, the president's supporters have taken a brief break from COVID-19, the economic collapse, and the 2020 presidential campaign to fixate anew on the case of General Michael Flynn. — You remember Mike Flynn …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and New York Times

Norman L. Eisen / New York Times: Why Trump Is Obsessed With the Flynn Case

Leyland Cecco / The Guardian:

Trudeau announces Canada is banning assault-style weapons — Move comes after murder of 22 people in worst mass shooting in Canada's history — Canada has banned assault-style weapons following the murder of 22 people in the worst mass shooting in the country's history, Justin Trudeau announced on Friday.

Discussion: New York Post and The Intellectualist

Rob Gillies / Associated Press:
Canada bans assault-style weapons after shooting rampage

Discussion: The Hill, CBC News, Mother Jones, Forbes and Slate

Senator Mitt Romney:

Romney “Patriot Pay” Plan Would Support America's Frontline Workers — WASHINGTON—In order to help compensate essential workers who are necessarily subject to greater risk of COVID-19, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today proposed that they receive Patriot Pay, a temporary bonus of up to $12 per hour in May, June, and July.

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, Patterico's Pontifications and The Week

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Romney calls for hazard pay for workers on the front line of the pandemic

Discussion: Axios and The Hill

Washington Post:

Justice Dept. scrutinizes White House-connected doctor linked to disputed coronavirus treatment — Federal prosecutors are examining the communications of a New York family doctor who appears frequently on Fox News and has been in touch with the White House to tout an anti-malarial as a treatment …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Dot, Politico, GovExec.com, Axios, Palmer Report, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Law & Crime and The Intellectualist

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Makes Push for Seniors as Coronavirus Crisis Erodes Support — President trails Joe Biden in polls among older voters, who are paying close attention to his handling of the pandemic—and watching his press briefings — WASHINGTON—President Trump has opened a new charm offensive aimed …

Discussion: CNBC, Daily Kos, The Intellectualist, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

After a day of armed protesters and a GOP lawsuit threat, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extends state of emergency — Confronted with armed protesters at the state capitol and a lawsuit threat from GOP lawmakers over her executive orders, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was unmoved …

Discussion: NPR, Michigan Advance, Associated Press, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Detroit Metro Times and Daily Kos

Philip Klinkner / Vox:
The pandemic is hitting counties that voted for Hillary Clinton harder — for now

Discussion: The Guardian, The American Independent and VICE

Maggie Fox / CNN:

Expert report predicts up to two more years of pandemic misery — (CNN)The new coronavirus is likely to keep spreading for at least another 18 months to two years—until 60% to 70% of the population has been infected, a team of longstanding pandemic experts predicted in a report released Thursday.

Discussion: Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Post and IJR

Matthew Gault / VICE:

Increasingly Desperate Alex Jones Says He Will Kill and Eat His Neighbors — Alex Jones seemingly hasn't been doing so well lately. Things are so tough that he has pivoted to talking about his imminent cannibalism, and how he will kill and eat his neighbors.

PRRI:

President Trump's Favorability Ratings Recede from March's Peak — New data from PRRI shows that President Donald Trump's favorability rating has dropped seven points over the last four weeks. Today, just over four in ten (43%) Americans hold mostly or very favorable views of Trump …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Congressional Democrats are governing from the minority — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wears a cloth mask to cover her mouth and nose to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus during her weekly news conference at the US Capitol on April 30. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Hollie McKay / Fox News:

Coronavirus: California governor orders release of 7 high-level sex offenders as he criminalizes beach attendance — Just days before California's Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of parks and beaches in Orange County, making it a criminal offense to step foot in the sand …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Los Angeles Times, CBS Los Angeles and TheBlaze

Washington Post:

Nearly seven weeks into the shutdown, here's why so many are still getting sick — The District, Maryland and Virginia have been shut down for weeks, their economies in tatters. Large swaths of the population venture out only rarely, wrapped in masks and gloves.

Rosa Cartagena / Washingtonian:

Twitter Account “Room Rater” Judges TV Journalists' Home Decor. We Asked a Few About Their Scores. — Started by a DC-area provocateur, @RateMySkypeRoom has earned tons of attention—and some hurt feelings. — The coronavirus shutdown has forced news commentators to broadcast from their homes …

Ian Kullgren / Politico:

IRS mistakenly sends stimulus checks to foreign workers — Thousands of foreign workers, many living overseas, are receiving stimulus checks designated for U.S. residents due to an unforeseen glitch that funneled taxpayer dollars to other countries, according to tax consultants and the recipients themselves.