memeorandum: James O'Keefe's infiltrated ‘antifa headquarters’ is a bookstore from ‘Portlandia’ (Zachary Petrizzo/The Daily Dot)

11:30 PM ET, June 4, 2020

Top Items:

New York Times Says Senator's Op-Ed Did Not Meet Standards — After a staff uproar, The Times says the editing process was “rushed.” Senator Tom Cotton's “Send In the Troops” essay is now under review. — Executives at The New York Times scrambled on Thursday to address the concerns …

Discussion: Townhall, Politico, The Guardian, Washington Post, New York Post, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Patterico's Pontifications, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Wire, The Nation, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, No More Mister Nice Blog and Redstate, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Welch / Reason:

New York Times Journalists Scared To Have an Op-Ed Page — Last night, The New York Times, which has long maintained the pretentions of being the serious journalistic institution in the United States, published an article about how its own employees were scared—not just irritated, or …

Discussion: Redstate, The Federalist, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Instapundit, Commentary Magazine, Bloomberg, The Root, The Daily Dot and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Tom Cotton's Fascist Op-Ed — How should opinion pages respond to the right's authoritarian turn? — Before Donald Trump became president, most newspaper op-ed pages sought to present a spectrum of politically significant opinion and argument, which they could largely do while walling off extremist propaganda and incitement.

Discussion: Breitbart, Fox News, The Daily Caller and Los Angeles Times, more at Mediagazer »

Ashley Feinberg / Slate:
Newsroom Breaks Into Open Revolt After New York Times Publishes Call for Military Crackdown

Discussion: Mediaite, New Republic, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, The Hill, Washington Post and Nieman Lab, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Trump Agrees to Send Home Troops From Washington, Easing Tensions With the Pentagon — But what appeared to be an uneasy truce between the White House and military leaders did not mean the conflict was over. — WASHINGTON — President Trump agreed on Thursday to begin sending home 82nd …

Discussion: Politico, POLITICUSUSA and The Daily Caller

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Trump and the Military: A Mutual Embrace Might Dissolve on America's Streets

Discussion: Axios, Understanding the Threat, The Sun, Defense One and Talking Points Memo

ABC News:
At fortified White House, Trump under verbal assault from military's top ranks

Discussion: Fox News, NBC News and Washington Post

Andrew J. Bacevich / The Nation: Trump Is Deploying Troops Against Americans, and Military Leaders Are Abetting Him

CNN:
Republican senators shrug off Mattis' criticism of Trump: 'It's his opinion'

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite, FiveThirtyEight and Bloomberg

CNN:
GOP senator says she's ‘struggling’ on whether to back Trump

Discussion: Daily Kos

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Why Mattis and Mullen toppled their bridge of silence

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and Fox News

Politico:
Esper risks being sidelined as White House floats replacements

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and ABC News

Max Cohen / Politico:
Ex-Defense Secretary William Perry joins Mattis in condemning Trump

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News and Common Dreams

New York Times:

Witness Who Was in Floyd's Car Says His Friend Did Not Resist Arrest — Maurice Lester Hall, who fled Minneapolis after witnessing George Floyd's death, was arrested Monday in Houston and interviewed by a Minnesota investigator. — WASHINGTON — A longtime friend of George Floyd's …

Discussion: WCCO | CBS Minnesota, INSIDER, The Daily Caller, The Hill, WTRF-TV, The Daily Signal and New York Post

Associated Press:

Attorneys: 2 Ex-Cops Charged in Floyd's Death Were Rookies — MINNEAPOLIS — Two of three Minneapolis police officers accused of aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd were rookies barely off probation when a more senior white officer ignored the black man's cries for help and pressed …

Discussion: KRON4 and ABC7

Washington Post:
Live updates: George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis set to begin

Discussion: Mediaite, Fox News, Just The News, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Hill, Financial Times, Daily Kos, New York Post, Politico, Axios and Contemptor

Ella Torres / ABC News:
George Floyd's memorial filled with love, hope and calls for change

Discussion: New York Times, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Breitbart and Mediaite

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Cuomo says George Floyd protesters should ‘assume’ they have been ‘infected’ with coronavirus

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart, Mediaite, Axios and The Hill

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Trump's Approval Slips Where He Can't Afford to Lose It: Among Evangelicals — Polls and private concerns from top social conservatives show the president's standing with the cornerstone of his base isn't what it used to be. A photo op with the Bible was supposed to help fix that.

Discussion: KTVZ-TV

PRRI:

Trump Favorability Slips Among White Catholic and Non-College Americans During National Unrest — New data from PRRI shows that 41% of Americans hold favorable views of President Donald Trump, while a 55% majority hold unfavorable views of him. These numbers are similar to Trump's favorability in April …

Discussion: americamagazine.org and Washington Post

Nick Boykin / wusa9.com:

U.S. Park Police said they didn't fire tear gas Monday, but tear gas cannisters were found at the scene — WUSA9's Nathan Baca experienced first hand what was used when U.S. Park Police cleared Lafayette Square amid protests over George Floyd's death. — WASHINGTON — Update: 6/4/2020:

Discussion: FactCheck.org, Raw Story, Associated Press and American Thinker

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
Black Lives Matter Is Suing Trump And The Federal Government Over Force Used Against Protesters Outside The White House

Discussion: DCist, Vanity Fair, ProPublica, New York Magazine, Raw Story and Mediaite

HuffPost:
William Barr's Vast, Nameless Army Is Being Brought To Bear On D.C. Protesters

Discussion: Raw Story, Mother Jones, The Hill, NBC News and Daily Kos

Michael Balsamo / Associated Press:
Hundreds of federal agents descend on DC to quell violence

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Steve Inskeep / NPR:

Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump's Threat To Use Military At Protests — In rare public comments, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey condemned Trump's threat to use military force to suppress nationwide protests as “dangerous” and “very troubling,” in an interview with NPR on Thursday.

Discussion: Axios and Washington Post

Minyvonne Burke / NBC News:

White man accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery allegedly used racial slur after shooting, investigator says — The white Georgia man accused of killing an unarmed black man, Ahmaud Arbery, used a racial slur after the fatal shooting, according to another suspect's account to an investigator.

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Daily Caller

Eliott C. McLaughlin / CNN:
Ahmaud Arbery was hit with a truck before he died, and his killer allegedly used a racial slur, investigator testifies

Discussion: Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, UPI and The Daily Caller

The Tennessean:

Nashville judge orders Tennessee to permit vote by mail for all registered voters — A Nashville judge on Thursday ruled the state of Tennessee must give any registered voter the option to cast a ballot by mail, paving the way for widespread mail-in voting in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Discussion: Axios

Associated Press:
Judge: Tennessee must allow vote by mail for all amid virus

Discussion: The Hill

Terry Carter / BuzzFeed:

Meghan McCain Responded After Her Neighbor Called Her Out For Making False Claims About The Black Lives Matter Protests In New York — Yesterday, Meghan McCain tweeted about the protests happening in New York City following the killing of George Floyd by four police officers in Minneapolis.

Jeff Coltin / CSNY:
Did Bill de Blasio's political career just end?

Discussion: New York Daily News and One America News Network

Washington Post:

With White House effectively a fortress, some see Trump's strength — but others see weakness — The security perimeter around the White House keeps expanding. Tall black fencing is going up seemingly by the hour. Armed guards and sharpshooters and combat troops are omnipresent.

Discussion: The Hill

Reuters:

Ukrainian prosecutors find no evidence against Hunter Biden — Audit probed energy company Burisma, of which Biden was a board member from 2014-2019 — An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden …

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Dot:

James O'Keefe's infiltrated ‘antifa headquarters’ is a bookstore from ‘Portlandia’ — It's also closed. — Undercover video trickster James O'Keefe appears to be back at it with another “timely” video from his group of well-known fraudsters at Project Veritas.

Discussion: Mediaite

David Reddish / Queerty:

trump's america Trump wants the Supreme Court to allow adoption agencies to turn away same-sex couples — The Trump Administration has filed a new law brief with the Supreme Court. In it, the administration argues that adoption agencies should have a right to refuse to home children with same-sex couples based on religious beliefs.

Michael Moline / Florida Phoenix: FL Supreme Court kills proposed constitutional amendment to ban assault weapons

Bloomberg:

Estee Lauder Workers Demand Heir Ouster Over Trump Support — Employees of Estee Lauder Cos., one of the world's largest beauty businesses, called for the ouster of a board member and family heir over his support for President Donald Trump and criticism of the company's response to the protests against police violence.

Dan Diamond / Politico:

Suddenly, Public Health Officials Say Social Justice Matters More Than Social Distance — For months, public health experts have urged Americans to take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19—stay at home, steer clear of friends and extended family, and absolutely avoid large gatherings.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Reason and National Review

Elliot Henney / WJLA-TV:

VIDEO: Group posting signs for George Floyd in Bethesda say they were assaulted by cyclist — The Maryland-National Capital Park Police are searching for a man wanted in an alleged assault that happened on the Capital Crescent Trail in Montgomery County on June 1.

Discussion: New York Post

Neil Patel / The Daily Caller:

Time For Normal People To Take Back Our Country — Our country is hurting. Culturally, as a society and how we relate to each other, we are in the midst of a steep drop, almost a free fall. Race is just one aspect; we are talking past one another, and we are less of a community than I ever recall.

Yahoo News:

Pentagon intelligence employees raise concerns about supporting domestic surveillance amid protests — WASHINGTON — The government's increasingly militarized response to nationwide protests has sparked concern among employees of a Pentagon intelligence agency, who fear they might be compelled …

Discussion: Raw Story

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Gabrielle Union Launches Discrimination Action Against Simon Cowell & Fremantle Over 'America's Got Talent' Firing; Claims NBC Exec Paul Telegdy “Threatened” Her Over Probe — Clearly moving towards either a lawsuit she now has the right to pursue or arbitration, Union's harassment …

Discussion: Variety, The Daily Caller and The Week

Michael Gartland / New York Daily News:

NYC hits hopeful milestone: Zero confirmed coronavirus deaths for first day since March — For the first day in months, New York City witnessed zero confirmed deaths due to coronavirus, current records show. — The first confirmed COVID-19 death in the Big Apple occurred on March 11 …

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Rand Paul battles Kamala Harris and Cory Booker on anti-lynching bill — The Senate's foremost contrarian, Rand Paul, clashed with Kamala Harris and Cory Booker on the Senate floor Thursday over Paul's opposition to a popular anti-lynching bill. — The Senate could easily approve …

Discussion: Associated Press and The Hill

CBO Publications:

Economic Effects of Additional Unemployment Benefits of $600 per Week — At the request of Senator Grassley's staff, CBO has examined the economic effects of extending the temporary increase of $600 per week in the benefit amount provided by unemployment programs.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit