memeorandum: What the US would look like without police, as imagined in 3 scenarios (Scottie Andrew/CNN)

1:05 AM ET, June 18, 2020

Top Items:

The Scandal of Trump's China Policy — The president pleaded with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for domestic political help, subordinated national-security issues to his own reelection prospects and ignored Beijing's human-rights abuses — U.S. strategy toward the People's Republic of China …

Jennifer Szalai / New York Times:

John Bolton's Tone in ‘The Room Where It Happened’ Swings Between Tedious and Slightly Unhinged — Pity, for just an infinitesimal moment, John Bolton. — There he was last January, commanding an enormous share of the public's attention with news of a forthcoming book that reportedly included an …

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, The Hill, IJR, Patterico's Pontifications and Daily Kos

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Bolton Says Trump Impeachment Inquiry Missed Other Troubling Actions — In his new book, John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, describes episodes where the president sought to halt criminal inquiries. He also says President Trump's loyalists mocked him behind his back.

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

Trump asked China's Xi to help him win reelection, according to Bolton book — President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win the 2020 U.S. election, telling Xi during a summit dinner last year that increased agricultural purchases by Beijing from American farmers would aid …

Del Quentin Wilber / Los Angeles Times:

Federal prosecutors are mulling criminal charges against John Bolton — Federal prosecutors are weighing whether to criminally charge John Bolton with disclosing classified information in his upcoming White House memoir, and the Justice Department is expected in coming days to ramp …

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, Mediaite, Publishers Weekly, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, The Daily Caller, NPR, Reason, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Fox News, Axios and Vanity Fair

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

John Bolton's book is full of startling revelations he should have told us sooner — “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord,” reads a famous passage from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. John Bolton has provided a secular version of that cosmic payback in his account of Donald Trump's presidency …

Business Insider:

Trump said it would be ‘cool’ to invade Venezuela because the country is ‘really part of the United States,’ according to John Bolton's new book — Foto: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images National Security Advisor John Bolton (R) listens to U.S. President Donald Trump talk to reporters during …

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

John Bolton Tells the Truth — Even if they don't like him, every Republican and conservative in Washington knows that Bolton doesn't make things up. What will they do now? — Twice over the last few years, I've met with individuals who had recently departed the Trump administration after serving at very senior levels.

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:

‘He Is a Liar’: Trump Pushes Back on Bolton Book — President disputes allegations made by former national security adviser John Bolton and defends handling of foreign policy issues — WASHINGTON—President Trump broadly defended his handling of foreign policy issues that are the subject …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and New York Post

Nicole Gaouette / CNN:

What we learned from John Bolton's eye-popping tale of working with Trump — Washington (CNN)John Bolton details a troubling and shocking series of allegations in a new book about his tenure as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, alleging Trump requested Chinese help to win the 2020 election …

Discussion: KEYT-TV

Washington Post:

Bolton's new book blows apart one of Trump's biggest reelection arguments — Even after impeachment, even after his disastrous mishandling of coronavirus, even after over 19,000 false and misleading claims and thousands of appalling tweets, President Trump still retains the capacity to shock us with the depth of his corruption.

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, The Hill, The Guardian, The Mahablog and Mediaite

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast: Trump Thought Elton John Would Love His Rocket Man Gift to Kim

Washington Post:
Justice Department seeks emergency order to block publication of Bolton's book

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, The Hill, Just Security, The Daily Caller and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

CNN: Anti-Trump Republican group launches new ad attacking President over China policies

Axios:
John Bolton gets his revenge six months after Democrats needed him for impeachment

Discussion: Twitchy, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill and The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Put Re-Election Prospects Ahead of National Interest, Bolton Alleges

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Mediaite and New York Times

Axios:
John Bolton: Putin thinks he can play Trump “like a fiddle”

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and ABC News

Conor Finnegan / ABC News: ‘I think Putin thinks he can play [Trump] like a fiddle’: Former national security adviser John Bolton …

New York Times:

Does Trump Want to Fight for a Second Term? His Self-Sabotage Worries Aides — Advisers and allies say the president's repeated acts of self-destruction have significantly damaged his re-election prospects, and yet he appears mostly unable, or unwilling, to curtail them.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Patterico's Pontifications

Madeline Charbonneau / The Daily Beast:

Trump Wants to Find, Prosecute Person Who Leaked His Trip to the Bunker: NYT — LET IT GO — President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants to find and prosecute the person who leaked the fact he went to the White House bunker as protests escalated in Washington, D.C. earlier this month …

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Impeachment casts shadow over Army officer's promotion — An Army officer's promotion is in jeopardy over what some officials fear could be White House retaliation for his role in last year's impeachment inquiry, raising the possibility that President Trump might again intervene in military affairs …

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:

‘Wednesday night massacre’ as Trump appointee takes over at global media agency — New York (CNN Business)The heads of four organizations overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) were all dismissed Wednesday night — a move likely to heighten concerns that new Trump-appointed CEO Michael Pack means …

Discussion: The Hill and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Schwartz / CNBC: Federal media chief Michael Pack installs Trump loyalists to leadership posts, memo says

Matthew Lee / Associated Press: New VOA chief seeks to ease fears of any Trump propaganda

Arizona Republic:

Pinal County sheriff says he tested positive for COVID-19 before planned Trump meeting — Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb announced on Wednesday afternoon that he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. — Lamb posted on the Pinal County Sheriff Office's Facebook page …

Doha Madani / NBC News:

Uncle Ben's rice to change brand as part of parent company's stance against racism — The parent company of Uncle Ben's rice said Wednesday that “now was the right time to evolve” the brand, including visually, but did not release details of what exactly would change or when.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller and NPR

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Corporate Pandering Means Invisibility

Discussion: Louder With Crowder

Ben Kesslen / NBC News:
Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is ‘based on a racial stereotype’

Discussion: New York Times, Forbes, The American Spectator, Rolling Stone, Breitbart, The Western Journal, Townhall, The Stranger, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, TheGrio, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Redstate, CNN, The Daily Caller, WRIC-TV and Twitchy

Washington Post:

Blackface incident at Post cartoonist's 2018 Halloween party resurfaces amid protests — Every year, Tom Toles's Halloween party draws an eclectic mix — journalists and political types from Washington's power elite, but also artists and musicians, everyone from retirees to college kids …

Discussion: Newsbusters

Politico:

House Republican leaders condemn GOP candidate who made racist videos — The House's highest-ranking Republicans are racing to distance themselves from a leading GOP congressional candidate in Georgia after POLITICO uncovered hours of Facebook videos in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.

Discussion: Fox News, New York Times, Axios, Washington Post, Facebook, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Hill and Right Wing Watch

The Guardian:

Revealed: officer who killed Rayshard Brooks accused of covering up 2015 shooting — The Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks was accused of covering up an earlier shooting he and other officers participated in, according to a judge who reviewed the case.

Discussion: CBS News, Portland Mercury, New York Post, NPR, Raw Story and TheGrio

Kate Brumback / Associated Press:
Officer charged with murder for shooting Rayshard Brooks

Discussion: Common Dreams, Daily Kos and Associated Press

NBC News:

Half-brother of man found hanged involved in deputy shootout — The half-brother of a man found hanged from a tree in Southern California was involved in a gunfight with authorities Wednesday in the Mojave Desert, law enforcement sources told NBC News and NBC Los Angeles.

Ryan Parker / Hollywood Reporter:

'That ‘70s Show’ Star Danny Masterson Charged With Raping Three Women — The alleged separate incidents occurred between 2001 and 2003, according to authorities. — Daniel Masterson was charged on Wednesday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office with raping three women.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

David Dayen / American Prospect:

Big Tech Finds Competent Defenders Hard to Come By — You don't want the guy who said there would be 500 total deaths from COVID-19 in the United States as your champion. — Amazon and other Big Tech firms are calling in the big legal guns as investigations into their business practices mount in multiple jurisdictions.

jsonline:

Wisconsin Elections Commission approves sending 2.7 million absentee ballot request forms to voters — MADISON - State election officials signed off Wednesday on a plan to send absentee ballot request forms to most registered voters despite a last-minute push by a Republican lawmaker to halt the effort.

Jon Jankowski / WKMG:

260 workers test positive for COVID-19 at Orlando International Airport — 2,993 people have died from COVID-19 in the state — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis said 260 workers at the Orlando International Airport have tested positive for the coronavirus after nearly 500 employees were tested.

Discussion: New Republic, TheGrio, Florida Politics, TheBlaze, Twitchy, The Guardian and Raw Story

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Anti-intellectualism at Cornell Law School: Student groups organize boycott of my course — “we further urge the administration to critically examine the views of the individuals they intend to employ” — I have been chronicling the saga of efforts to get me fired and denounced …

Discussion: Althouse

CNN:

US stockpile stuck with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine — (CNN)The federal government is stuck with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the US Food and Drug Administration has revoked permission for the drug to be distributed to treat coronavirus patients.

Discussion: New York Times

Eliza Shapiro / New York Times:

Elite N.Y.C. Girls' Schools Have a Racist Culture, Black Alumni Say — Prestigious all-girls schools, including Brearley and Chapin, have been rocked by allegations of racism made by generations of black graduates on Instagram. — Stories of racism faced by black students …

Jens Manuel Krogstad / Pew Research Center:

Americans broadly support legal status for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children — About three-quarters of U.S. adults say they favor granting permanent legal status to immigrants who came illegally to the United States when they were children, with the strongest support coming …

Wall Street Journal:

NBC Tries to Cancel a Conservative Website — The network colluded with a foreign advocacy group that wanted Google to demonetize the Federalist. — NBC News attempted this week to use the power of Google to cancel our publication, the Federalist. The effort failed, but it should serve …

Discussion: The Daily Signal and Fox News

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Financial Problems Plagued Rick Wilson as He Became Never Trump Leader — Never Trump leader Rick Wilson's hypocrisy is not limited to now attacking those who support the Confederate flag after previously supporting it himself. — As Wilson's personal financial situation turned dire …

Brentin Mock / Pittsburgh City Paper:

This is what happens when you're threatened by diversity — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff photographer Michael Santiago poses for a portrait in front of a Black Lives Matter mural with George Floyd painted behind him in Downtown Pittsburgh, along the Allegheny River, on Mon., June 15, 2020.

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

Cassandra Fairbanks Claims Antifa Attacked Her. Police Reports and Neighbors Say Otherwise — Cassandra Fairbanks and her right-wing media colleagues solicited nearly $25,000 in a fundraiser benefiting Fairbanks after she claimed she was targeted …