memeorandum: Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had ‘likely hold’ over Trump, ex-spy alleges (Dan Sabbagh/The Guardian)

3:05 PM ET, June 22, 2020

Top Items:

The President's Shock at the Rows of Empty Seats in Tulsa — Inside the campaign, advisers believe disappointing attendance at the rally shows genuine fear of the coronavirus and the reality of Mr. Trump's sliding poll numbers. — President Trump and several staff members stood backstage …

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, CNN, Washington Post, Fortune, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Defense One and The Week

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Inside Trump's Oklahoma debacle — Donald Trump's campaign advisers had it all mapped out: A blowout rally in Oklahoma — coupled with a withering ad launched days earlier questioning Joe Biden's mental acuity — would finally shift the focus to the elusive Democrat amid the worst stretch of Trump's presidency.

Discussion: Axios, HuffPost, Washington Post, The Hill, The US Sun, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, No More Mister Nice Blog and NBC News

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Trump aides debate future size and look of signature rallies after Tulsa debacle — Why Trump was upset before Tulsa rally started — (CNN)Swaths of empty blue seats and a vacant overflow venue in Oklahoma have led President Donald Trump's aides to begin debating what his signature campaign rallies …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Florida Politics and The Daily Beast

Brian Flood / Fox News:

Trump rally gives Fox News largest Saturday night audience in its history — President Trump's rally on Saturday attracted a record-setting audience on TV despite the smaller-than-expected crowd in attendance at the Tulsa, Okla., event. — A whopping 7.7 million total viewers tuned …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Talking Points Memo, The Ringer and Raw Story

CNN:
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump ‘pissed’ at Trump campaign manager over his rally crowd size predictions, source says

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The US Sun, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, The Week, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, Mashable and courthousenews.com

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News: Lewandowski takes swipe at Trump campaign over Tulsa rally crowd size

Matt Viser / Washington Post:
Biden campaign confirms he will attend three debates with Trump, criticizes the president …

Discussion: The Hill and Deadline

Ken Meyer / Mediaite: Fox & Friends Host Questions Wisdom of Trump Rally: 'I Don't Know Who Thought It Was a Good Idea'

Joe DePaolo / Mediaite:
McEnany Says Trump Isn't ‘Angry’ About Rally Crowd, Steve Doocy Doesn't Buy it: The Trump I Know is ‘Furious’

Discussion: Political Wire

Yahoo News:
Tulsa rally failure may spark Trump campaign team shakeup

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos

David Siders / Politico:
Trump's ‘trench warfare’ reelection campaign begins

Discussion: The Daily Beast, POLITICUSUSA, NBC News and The Sun

Wall Street Journal:

Attorney General Barr, Berman at Odds Over Letter Criticizing New York City Mayor — Geoffrey Berman, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, refused to sign letter criticizing Mayor de Blasio for enforcing social-distancing rules to block religious gatherings but not protests

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Post, The Hill and Law & Crime

Quinta Jurecic / The Atlantic:
Three Plausible—And Troubling—Reasons Why Barr Tried to Force Berman Out

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Raw Story and New York Times

Travis Gettys / Raw Story: 'Trump's legal goon' Bill Barr needs to be impeached before he corrupts the election: ex-FBI agent

New York Times:
For Barr, Standoff With Prosecutor Adds to String of Miscues

Discussion: The Week, Daily Kos, Fox News, The Dispatch, Stanford Law School, Wall Street Journal and CNN

Asha Rangappa / The Daily Beast:
Bill Barr's Above the Law. The Only Answer Is to Impeach Him.

Discussion: courthousenews.com, Raw Story and One America News Network

Craig McCarthy / New York Post:

How conspiracy theories about the NYPD Shake Shack ‘poisoning’ blew up — The three cops at the center of the NYPD milkshake “poisoning” scandal never even got sick, and there wasn't the slightest whiff of criminality from the get-go — but that didn't stop gung-ho brass from rolling …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Wrap

Adam Entous / New Yorker:

What Fiona Hill Learned in the White House — The senior fellow at Brookings and expert on modern Russia had hoped to guide the U.S.-Russia relationship. President Trump had other ideas. — The Brookings Institution is one of many think tanks in Washington, D.C., where scholars …

Discussion: The Week

Tom LoBianco / Business Insider:

Mike Pence and his wife Karen voted by mail in April from a mansion they haven't lived in for four years — Vice President Mike Pence and his wife mailed in their ballots for Indiana's June GOP primary, according to a copy of the state's voter files obtained by Insider.

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, NBC News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams and Law & Crime

Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine: Are We Headed for a Voter-Suppression Catastrophe in November? …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Sarah Sanders says John Bolton was “drunk on power” — One former top West Wing official tells Axios that national security adviser John Bolton was unpopular even before the leaks from his tell-all, “The Room Where It Happened,” which is out Tuesday. — Axios has a first look …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Breitbart, NPR, New York Post, The Guardian, The Hill, The US Sun, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, The National Interest, IJR and One America News Network

Conor Finnegan / ABC News:
Bolton says he hopes Trump is 1-term president, warns country imperiled by his reelection

Discussion: USA Today, New York Post, Vanity Fair, IJR, POLITICUSUSA, The Week, Al Jazeera, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Telegraph, The Guardian, Axios, Breitbart, Bloomberg, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Politico:
What Donald Trump really thinks of European leaders

Discussion: ABC News, One America News Network and The Week

Franco Ordoñez / NPR:
Bolton: Trump And China's Xi Talked ‘Frequently’ About Trump's Reelection

Discussion: ABC News and The Hill

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

News Analysis: Joe Biden is no Hillary Clinton, and that's a problem for President Trump — Joe Biden is old. He has a paper trail reaching back half a century. He is, by his own admission, a “gaffe machine” who regularly trips over his own tongue. — He is not, however …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Pennsylvania swing voters tire of Trump's inability to heal the country

Discussion: Fox News and Raw Story

NBC News:
Tuesday's primaries give progressives opportunities to make inroads

Discussion: Politico and Mother Jones

RI.gov:

Statement from Treasurer Magaziner about the State's Name — PROVIDENCE, RI —Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magazine today made the following announcement about his office's use of the state's name: — “Today, I am announcing that the Office of the General Treasurer will remove the words …

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

Kevin Hassett, senior Trump economic adviser, to leave White House — He had emerged as a leading voice on the economic impact of the coronavirus. It will be the second time he has left the Trump White House. — One of President Trump's most trusted economic advisers will leave …

Hans Nichols / Axios:
Kevin Hassett to leave White House this summer

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Fox News, Raw Story and The Hill

Thomas Franck / CNBC:
Larry Kudlow says a second wave of coronavirus cases 'isn't coming'

Discussion: The American Independent, Raw Story, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, CNN, IJR and The Hill

ESPN:

NASCAR says noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage at Talladega — A noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, on Sunday, less than two weeks after Wallace, who is NASCAR's only black driver, successfully pushed the stock car racing series …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Axios, NASCAR Talk, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Disrn, Raw Story, TheGrio and The Root

CNN:
Dept. of Justice looking into noose found in NASCAR star Bubba Wallace's garage stall

Discussion: NPR, The Gateway Pundit and The Guardian

Carmel Dagan / Variety:

Joel Schumacher, Director of Batman Films and ‘Lost Boys,’ Dies at 80 — Joel Schumacher, costume designer-turned-director of films including “St. Elmo's Fire,” “The Lost Boys” and “Falling Down,” as well as two “Batman” films, died in New York City on Monday morning after a year-long battle with cancer.

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

TikTok Teens Are Obsessed With Pizzagate — The Comet Ping Pong conspiracy theory has been widely discredited, but it lives on with Gen Z. — BEAST INSIDE — NEWSLETTERS — Right Richter — See what's happening with the extreme right wing from the safety of your inbox.

Discussion: Gothamist

Dan Sabbagh / The Guardian:

Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had ‘likely hold’ over Trump, ex-spy alleges — Exclusive: Christopher Steele claims May government turned blind eye to Trump allegations — Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump …

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

A Schlapp in the face — Since the murder of George Floyd, Verizon has been an outspoken advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement. In dozens of tweets and statements, Verizon has said that, as a company, it is not enough to express support for racial justice.

Scott Detrow / NPR:

Kamala Harris Is Seen As The Clear Front-Runner To Be Joe Biden's Running Mate — More than a month before former Vice President Joe Biden's stated deadline for naming his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris is seen as the consensus front-runner to become the Democrat's vice presidential nominee.