memeorandum: China hits back at so-called coronavirus ‘lies’ by US politicians as war of words escalates (Nectar Gan/CNN)

8:45 AM ET, May 11, 2020

Top Items:

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: Redstate, Patterico's Pontifications, Raw Story and Axios

Chuck Rosenberg / Washington Post: The long list of people who thought Flynn's lies were material

New York Times:

White House Races to Contain Virus in Its Ranks: ‘It Is Scary to Go to Work’ — 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: Raw Story, The Week, Politico, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Hill, Rolling Stone and Washington Post

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: New York Times, IJR, Raw Story, The Week, Axios, Fox News, Mediaite, Gizmodo and Vanity Fair

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump sticks with positive messaging as coronavirus misery piles up

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story, Vox, Mother Jones and Breitbart

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 POLITICUSUSA

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

Discussion: Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Washington Post:
Top White House advisers, unlike their boss, increasingly worry stimulus spending is costing too much

Discussion: ABC News, The Week, Slate, emptywheel, Reuters, Washington Monthly and Raw Story

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: The Gateway Pundit, Redstate and The Philadelphia Inquirer, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

Politico:

Kamala emerges as early Biden VP favorite as sting of debate attack fades — Kamala Harris was written off as a possible vice presidential pick for Joe Biden last year after a cutting debate performance where she seemed to suggest he was racially insensitive.

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times: Kamala Harris Is Weighing Her Next Step. Could It Be Vice President?

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

USA Today:

Ben Crump: Ahmaud Arbery killing reminiscent of lynching — Imagine for a moment that two black men with rifles jumped out of a pickup in a residential neighborhood and shot to death a white jogger because they suspected him of committing a crime. — Imagine the fury of justice that would rain down upon them.

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

Discussion: The Week and The Hill

Joe Biden / Washington Post:

How the White House coronavirus response presents us with a false choice — Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States. — The coronavirus, to date, has taken the lives of more than 79,000 Americans. One of every 5 U.S. workers has filed for unemployment …

Discussion: Axios and The Hill

Dion Rabouin / Axios: Despite polling disadvantage, betting markets see Trump winning re-election

Alayna Treene / Axios:
The Trump campaign plans to unleash a new set of swing-state attacks against Joe Biden

Discussion: Associated Press, Raw Story and NBC News

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

Wall Street Journal:

Barack Obama on Michael Flynn — The lawyer President misstates the crime and the real threat to justice. — By The Editorial Board — Barack Obama is a lawyer, so it was stunning to read that he ventured into the Michael Flynn case in a way that misstated the supposed crime and ignored …

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 »

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

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 …

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...

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, Twitchy and TMZ.com

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: National Review, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Raw Story and Jerusalem Post, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body … PLEASE NOTE — 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

Nasser Karimi / Associated Press:

Iran Says It's Ready for Unconditional Prisoner Swap With U.S. Amid Coronavirus Fears — (TEHRAN, Iran) — Iran says it is ready for unconditional prisoner swap talks with the United States because of fears that the coronavirus could put the lives of the prisoners at risk, Iranian media reported Sunday.