memeorandum: Attorney General Barr, Known by Aides as ‘the Buffalo’, Scrutinized Over Firing of U.S. Attorney (Wall Street Journal)

2:35 PM ET, June 21, 2020

Top Items:

TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally — Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump's rally in Tulsa, Okla.? — President Trump's campaign promised huge crowds at his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday, but it failed to deliver.

Andrew Solender / Forbes:

Turnout At Trump's Tulsa Rally Was Just Under 6,200-A Fraction Of The Venue's 19,200 Capacity — While President Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday was pitched as an over-subscribed event, with Trump campaign staffers touting ticket registrations over a million …

Discussion: Vox, Rolling Stone, The Gateway Pundit, Iowa Starting Line, New York Post, The Hill, New York Times, Slate, Fox News and The Wrap

CNN:

Sick staff and empty seats: How Trump's triumphant return to the campaign trail went from bad to worse — (CNN)By the time President Donald Trump was gliding in his helicopter toward Joint Base Andrews on Saturday, destined for what he'd once hoped would be a triumphant packed-to-the-rafters return …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Breitbart, Slate and The Daily Caller

Brad Parscale / Donald J. Trump for President:

Trump campaign statement on bogus claims of ticket hacking — “Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don't know what they're talking about or how our rallies work. Reporters who wrote gleefully about TikTok and K-Pop fans …

Discussion: New York Post and Mediaite

Jacob Knutson / Axios:

Chris Wallace grills Trump campaign adviser on Tulsa rally: “The arena was empty” — “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace grilled Trump campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp on why the president's Saturday rally in Tulsa saw lower-than-expected attendance, despite claims by Trump last week that 1 million people had requested tickets.

Discussion: Tulsa World

Jacob Knutson / Axios:

Tulsa fire department says just under 6,200 people attended Trump rally — Just under 6,200 people attended President Trump's rally in Tulsa Saturday, well below the BOK Center's total capacity of 19,200, a public information officer for the Tulsa Fire Department told Forbes Sunday.

Discussion: Donald J. Trump for President, Big League Politics, Breitbart and The Guardian

Dave Boyer / Washington Times:

Anti-Trump protesters ‘interfere’ with president's rally, force cancellation of outdoor speeches — The Trump campaign canceled planned outdoor speeches by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at their comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday night after protesters “interfered” …

Discussion: Breitbart, Redstate, Bloomberg, POLITICUSUSA, Politico, courthousenews.com, The Moderate Voice, New York Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, IJR, The US Sun, Daily Kos, Al Jazeera and New York Times

Washington Post: Trump campaign, Democrats joust over Tulsa rally turnout

Christina Wilkie / CNBC:
Trump stokes culture wars, but low turnout mars Tulsa campaign rally

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post and One America News Network

Robin Givhan / Washington Post: Trump's rally looked like his vision of America. Limited and pitiless.

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Trump's campaign was trolled by TikTok users in Tulsa

Discussion: Politico, POLITICUSUSA, The National Pulse and Breitbart

Washington Post:
Trump rallies in red-state America — and faces a sea of empty blue seats

Discussion: Rev, Axios, Los Angeles Times, The Colorado Sun and Fox News

Fox News:
President Trump speaks with John Roberts prior to his appearance at Tulsa rally

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg and Axios

Wall Street Journal:

Attorney General Barr, Known by Aides as ‘the Buffalo’, Scrutinized Over Firing of U.S. Attorney — Mr. Barr's critics accuse him of undermining the Justice Department's tradition of independence — WASHINGTON—Attorney General William Barr has earned a reputation for being so hard-charging within …

Sarah Westwood / CNN: Nadler says Attorney General Barr deserves to be impeached but that it would be a ‘waste of time’

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump and Barr Discard Law, Morality and Honor

Discussion: Justice News, New York Post and NBC News

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Barr's botched effort to remove a prosecutor who probed Trump allies

Discussion: Daily Kos, Axios and New York Times

Adia Robinson / ABC News:
Berman could shed light on ‘pattern of chaos, crisis and corruption’: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries

Discussion: Breitbart and The Hill

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Trump's deflating Tulsa turnout reveals a deeper problem for him — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was supposed to get a boost Saturday from his first campaign rally since late February. Instead, he got a bust. — After bragging earlier in the week that more than 1 million people …

Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Twin Trumpworld strategies following ‘bad night’ in Tulsa: Blame, and hope

Discussion: One America News Network and Breitbart

Tim Miller / The Bulwark: Make Arenas Empty Again

Sharon Otterman / New York Times:

N.Y.C. Hired 3,000 Workers for Contact Tracing. It's Off to a Slow Start. — The program is crucial to the next phase of reopening, which begins on Monday. But workers have not had much success in getting information from people who test positive. — New York City's ambitious contact …

Discussion: Althouse

Gabby Orr / Politico:

Trump allies see a mounting threat: Biden's rising evangelical support — It was June 10, 2008. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had gathered with dozens of evangelical leaders — many of them fixtures of the religious right — at the urging of campaign aides.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

Pirated editions of John Bolton memoir have appeared online — NEW YORK (AP) — John Bolton's memoir officially comes out Tuesday after surviving a security review and a legal challenge from the Justice Department. But over the weekend, it was available in ways even his publisher is hoping to prevent.

Conor Finnegan / ABC News:
Everything you need to know about John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Hannah Allam / NPR:

Vehicle Attacks Rise As Extremists Target Protesters — Right-wing extremists are turning cars into weapons, with reports of 50 vehicle-ramming incidents since protests against police violence erupted nationwide in late May. — At least 18 are categorized as deliberate attacks …

Washington Post:

Police enter Seattle cop-free zone after shooting kills a 19-year-old, critically injures a man — SEATTLE — Derrek Jones rolled out of his tent Friday morning at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest — or CHOP — to find a yoga class for people of color underway in the park.

Discussion: New York Times, Fox News, Althouse, Breitbart, Just The News and Redstate

Andy Ngo / New York Post:
My terrifying five-day stay inside Seattle's cop-free CHAZ

Discussion: Breitbart and CHS Capitol Hill Seattle

Sareen Habeshian / KTLA:

Black Lives Matter sign in Thousand Oaks vandalized by employees of Ventura County sheriff's and DA's office — A Black Lives Matter sign in Thousand Oaks was vandalized on at least three separate occasions, including by a sheriff's office employee and a district attorney's office employee, officials said Saturday.

Libor Jany / Star Tribune:

Hail of late-night gunfire in Uptown kills 1, wounds 11 — Dozens of shots fired in one of the city's most violent shootings in recent history. — TEXT SIZE — Gunmen unleashed a torrent of gunfire in a crowded Uptown block early Sunday in Minneapolis, killing one person and wounding 11 others …

Discussion: Power Line and New York Times

CEBM:

COVID-19 Evidence is lacking for 2 meter distancing — In a t ransmission review for which our group is extracting data, we included some studies also included in the review recently published in The Lancet: — Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person …