memeorandum: Coronavirus case cluster tied to Pasadena party and ‘selfish behavior,’ officials say (Alex Wigglesworth/Los Angeles Times)

1:15 AM ET, May 11, 2020

Top Items:

‘Scary to Go to Work’: White House Races to Contain Virus in Its Ranks — With two White House staff members testing positive, some officials fear the disease is already spreading rapidly through the West Wing. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is racing to contain an outbreak …

Discussion: Politico, The Week, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Hill and Rolling Stone

Washington Post:

Top White House advisers, unlike their boss, increasingly worry stimulus spending is costing too much — Conservatives are eyeing potential policies to reduce long-term budget impact, but they say Trump probably won't go along — Senior Trump administration officials are growing increasingly wary …

Discussion: ABC News, Reuters, Slate, emptywheel and Washington Monthly

CNN:

Pence will not self-quarantine and plans to be at the White House Monday — (CNN)Vice President Mike Pence is not planning to enter self-quarantine after his press secretary tested positive for coronavirus on Friday and plans to be at the White House on Monday, his office said on Sunday.

Discussion: Axios, Gizmodo, Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Vox and Slate

Benjamin Fearnow / Newsweek:
White House Economic Adviser Says ‘It Is Scary to Go To Work’ After Staffers Test Positive for Coronavirus

Discussion: CBS News, NBC News and Mother Jones

Michelle Mark / Business Insider Nederland:
Birx said ‘there is nothing from the CDC that I can trust’ in a White House coronavirus task force meeting

Discussion: Redstate, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Inside House Democrats' whopping $1.2 trillion+ coronavirus relief proposal

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Axios:
Lamar Alexander knocks Trump for pushing ahead with Obamacare lawsuit

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, IJR, The Week and Breitbart

Sophia Ankel / Business Insider Nederland:
11 Secret Service agents test positive for COVID-19 and fears of it spreading through the White House are mounting

Discussion: Raw Story

Dave Goldiner / New York Daily News: Fauci won't appear in Senate after exposure to White House staffer infected with coronavirus …

Michelangelo Signorile / The Signorile Report:
The White House is a coronavirus hotspot. It's proof-positive we need mass testing.

Discussion: Raw Story, DCist and Washington Post

Mary B. McCord / New York Times:

Bill Barr Twisted My Words in Dropping the Flynn Case. Here's the Truth. — The F.B.I.'s interview of Mr. Flynn was constitutional, lawful and for a legitimate counterintelligence purpose. — Ms. McCord was an acting assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department from 2016 to 2017.

Discussion: Raw Story, Patterico's Pontifications and Axios

Chuck Rosenberg / Washington Post:

The long list of people who thought Flynn's lies were material — Chuck Rosenberg is a former U.S. attorney, senior FBI official and acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. — Michael Flynn made false statements to FBI agents interviewing him about his December 2016 telephone conversation with a Russian diplomat.

Discussion: New York Times

Mike Allen / Axios:
Exclusive: Pence says he'd be “happy” to see Michael Flynn back in government

Discussion: One America News Network, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, The Hill and The Week

Scott Pelley / CBS News:

Trump administration cuts funding for coronavirus researcher, jeopardizing possible COVID-19 cure — An American scientist who collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology had his grant terminated in the wake of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 is either manmade or leaked out of a Chinese government lab.

Discussion: Twitchy

NBC News:

Georgia AG asks for federal investigation of Ahmaud Arbery killing — Local prosecutors never told Attorney General Chris Carr of their involvement in the case, his office said. — Georgia's Attorney General asked the U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday to investigate how local authorities handled the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

Discussion: Slate, The Daily Caller and New York Post

Washington Post:
New video said to show moments leading up to Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery's death

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Post, Law & Crime and The Hill

Rishika Dugyala / Politico:
Georgia AG seeks federal probe of jogger's death

Discussion: The Hill

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:
Atlanta mayor on Ahmaud Arbery shooting: White House rhetoric gives ‘permission’ to those ‘prone to being racist’

Discussion: Georgia Bureau …, Breitbart, Fox News and New York Post

Associated Press:

Virus Outbreak — The latest news on the worldwide virus pandemic. — The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can...

Discussion: Daily Kos

Mark Sherman / Associated Press: Trump asking justices to bar demands for taxes, bank records

Politico:

Kamala emerges as early Biden VP favorite as sting of debate attack fades — At the vetting process gets underway, major Biden supporters see her as the best fit, though Warren is a leading contender, too. — Sen. Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris was written off as a possible vice presidential pick …

Soumya Karlamangla / Los Angeles Times:

A nurse without an N95 mask raced in to treat a ‘code blue’ patient. She died 14 days later — The decision that Celia Marcos made, the one that would ultimately steal years from her life, had been hard-wired after decades working as a nurse. — On the ward that she oversaw …

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Big Tech Has Crushed the News Business. That's About to Change. — News organizations have long hoped that tech platforms would pay them for news. Now regulators abroad are moving to make that happen. — It reads like a coroner's report on the news business, 623 pages filled with charts …

more at Mediagazer »

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Trump charges Obama with ‘biggest political crime in American history’ — Donald Trump continued to fume over the Russia investigation on Sunday, more than a year after special counsel Robert Mueller filed his report without recommending charges against the president but only three days …

Discussion: The Hill, Political Flare, Rolling Stone and The Daily Caller

Joe Lockhart / CNN:

Why aren't editorial boards screaming: Trump has to go? — Trump disagrees with nurse calling PPE availability ‘sporadic’ — Joe Lockhart is a CNN political analyst. He was the White House press secretary from 1998-2000 in President Bill Clinton's administration. He co-hosts the podcast “Words Matter.”

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Can a reality-TV president create a new U.S. reality that pretends death, despair don't exist?

Discussion: Raw Story

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

The Four Men Responsible For America's COVID-19 Test Disaster — The White House's inability to track the disease as it spread across the nation crippled the government's response and led to the worst disaster this country has faced in nearly a century — Dr. Robert Redfield …

Discussion: Raw Story

Shelly Bradbury / Denver Post:

Castle Rock restaurant reopens to Mother's Day crowds in defiance of statewide public health order — A Castle Rock restaurant drew crowds Sunday when it reopened fully for Mother's Day in defiance of Colorado's public health order that limits restaurants statewide to takeout and delivery services.

Discussion: The Hill, TMZ.com and Twitchy

New York Times:

U.S. to Accuse China of Trying to Hack Vaccine Data, as Virus Redirects Cyberattacks — Iran and other nations are also looking to steal data and exploit the pandemic with attacks on infrastructure, officials say. — WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security …

Discussion: Raw Story and Jerusalem Post, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

South Korea's Early Coronavirus Wins Dim After Rash of New Cases — More than 50 cases have been linked to Seoul's nightclubs and bars, which have now been ordered closed — SEOUL—South Korea, which largely succeeded in quelling the spread of the coronavirus, is back on the defensive …

Discussion: Gizmodo, Talking Points Memo and New York Times

Marcy Oster / Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

Republican Jewish Coalition will support primary challenger to Rep. Steve King of Iowa — (JTA) — The political action committee of the Republican Jewish Coalition is supporting a primary challenger to Rep. Steve King of Iowa, whose record includes inflammatory comments condoning white supremacists and anti-Semites.