memeorandum: Head of NYPD union gives Fox News interview with QAnon mug in background (Marshall Cohen/CNN)

1:25 AM ET, July 18, 2020

Top Items:

Ryan Haas / OPB:

US Attorney For Oregon Calls For Investigation Into Portland Protester Arrests — UPDATE (1:36 p.m. PT) — U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said Friday he wants an investigation into actions of federal officers who have pulled Portland protesters off the street and into unmarked vehicles.

Discussion: Informed Comment, POLITICUSUSA, Twitchy, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Common Dreams and KOIN-TV

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

‘It was like being preyed upon’: Portland protesters say federal officers in unmarked vans are detaining them — When several men in green military fatigues and generic “police” patches sprang out of an unmarked gray minivan in front of Mark Pettibone in the early hours of Wednesday morning, his first instinct was to run.

Steve Vladeck / Lawfare:

What the Heck Are Federal Law Enforcement Officers Doing in Portland? — Today marks the 50th straight day of protests in Portland, Oregon—which have been ongoing since shortly after the May 25 murder of George Floyd. The protests have been largely peaceful, but there have been several …

Discussion: Fox News, KOIN-TV, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Federal Agents Unleash Militarized Crackdown on Portland — Federal authorities said they would bring order to Portland, Ore., after weeks of protests there. Local leaders believe the federal presence is making things worse. — PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal agents dressed in camouflage …

Discussion: KOIN-TV, Mother Jones, Alternet.org, Los Angeles Times, Oregonian and americandigest.org

Ken Klippenstein / The Nation:

Border Patrol Responsible for Portland Arrest — An internal memo, obtained exclusively by The Nation, details a coordinated program of domestic counterinsurgency. — For days, federal agents in unmarked cars have reportedly been snatching Portland protesters off the streets.

Discussion: The Root, Raw Story, Breitbart, Mediaite, The Hill and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
50 Nights of Unrest in Portland

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal

Discussion: KPTV-TV, CNBC, Big League Politics and The Nation

The Daily Beast:
'It's Spooky Right Now': Inside the Creepy Federal Crackdown on Portland Protesters

Discussion: New York Times, The American Spectator and Fox News

Sister Toldjah / Redstate:
Paul Krugman Tightens Tin-Foil Hat in Latest Bizarre Attempt to Prove Trump Will Try to Steal Election

Discussion: Twitchy

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Trump's agents are sweeping peaceful citizens off the streets. This is not America.

Discussion: Reason, The Daily Signal, Breitbart, Human Events and The American Independent

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80 — Images of his beating at Selma shocked the nation and led to swift passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; he was called the conscience of the Congress. — Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle …

David Cohen / Politico:

John Lewis, civil rights icon and longtime congressman, dies — John Lewis, who went from being the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington to a long-serving congressman from Georgia and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday. He was 80. — In December 2019, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Discussion: Axios, Business Insider, Reuters, Breitbart, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos

Laurence I. Barrett / Washington Post: John R. Lewis, front-line civil rights leader and eminence of Capitol Hill, dies at 80

Benjamin Siu / ABC News:
John Lewis, congressman and civil rights icon, dies at 80

Discussion: NBC News, Bloomberg and BuzzFeed News

Tamar Hallerman / Atlanta Journal-Constitution: John Lewis, civil rights hero, Georgia congressman, dies at 80

USA Today:
Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who began pushing for racial justice in the Jim Crow south, has died

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

See You Next Friday: A Farewell Letter — The good news is that my last column in this space is not about “cancel culture.” Well, almost. I agree with some of the critics that it's a little nuts to say I've just been “canceled,” sent into oblivion and exile for some alleged sin. I haven't.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Power Line, Althouse, Instapundit and National Review, more at Mediagazer »

Jim Acosta / CNN:

White House blocks CDC from testifying on reopening schools next week — (CNN)The White House is blocking US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other officials from the agency from testifying before a House Education and Labor Committee hearing …

Washington Post:

Rancor between scientists and Trump allies threatens pandemic response as cases surge — This week's remarkable character assault by some top White House advisers on Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's leading infectious-disease expert, signified President Trump's hostility toward medical expertise …

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story and National Review

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:
White House blocks CDC director from testifying before House panel on reopening schools

Discussion: Redstate

CNN:

White House portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush moved from prominent space to rarely used room — WH: Trump's doing a lot of things at once amid case surge — (CNN)The official portraits of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were removed from the Grand Foyer …

Discussion: Mediaite

Matt Viser / Washington Post:

Joe Biden, citing intelligence briefings, warns that Russia, China are engaged in election interference — Joe Biden, citing intelligence briefings that he is now receiving, warned Friday night that Russia and China were both actively engaged in trying to sow doubt in the American electoral system.

Will Weissert / Associated Press:
Biden says he's had intel briefings, warns of vote meddling

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Post and The Hill

Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg:
Biden Begins Receiving Intel Briefs, Warns of Russian Meddling

Discussion: Mediaite

Courier-Journal:

Breonna Taylor was alive after police shot her, records indicate. No one tried to treat her — LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just after midnight March 13, three Louisville police officers fired more than 20 bullets into Breonna Taylor's apartment, striking her five times. — But she didn't die — not right away.

Discussion: The Sun, Axios, Raw Story, Daily Kos and New York Post

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:

Republicans eye sweeping shield from coronavirus liability — WASHINGTON (AP) — A new plan from Senate Republicans to award businesses, schools, and universities sweeping exemptions from lawsuits arising from inadequate coronavirus safeguards is putting Republicans and Democrats at loggerheads …

Reuters: Trump expected to exclude undocumented migrants from U.S. census

Reuters:
U.S. Republicans seek liability protections as coronavirus aid battle looms

Discussion: ABC News

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Fox host Chris Wallace fact-checks Trump claim Biden wants to defund police — “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace in a new interview shut down President Trump's claim that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is in favor of defunding the police.

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, Breitbart, Twitchy, POLITICUSUSA and Deadline

Louis Jacobson / @politifact:
No, Joe Biden will not ‘abolish’ police or prisons, as Donald Trump said

Discussion: The Guardian, Fox News and The American Independent

Tom LoBianco / Business Insider:

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump campaign is investigating campaign spending, Parscale contracts — The Trump campaign has launched an internal audit of spending irregularities during Brad Parscale's tenure as campaign manager. — Jeff DeWit, the 2020 campaign chief operating officer …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, HillReporter.com and Lawyers, Guns & Money

The Daily Beast:

Fox News Staffers Erupt Over Network's Racism: Bosses ‘Created a White Supremacist Cell’ — SH*T.' — A heated early-June phone call between Fox execs and Black staffers was just the beginning of an internal revolt against racism at the network, insiders told The Daily Beast.

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewser, POLITICUSUSA, Contemptor, Raw Story and Variety, more at Mediagazer »

KJ Edelman / Mediaite: Fox News Staffers Privately Rail Against ‘White Supremacist Crap’ …

New York Times:

Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside — Several people involved in the events that took down Twitter this week spoke with The Times. What might have been a pursuit of Bitcoin spun out of control. — OAKLAND, Calif. — A Twitter hacking scheme that targeted political …

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Stephen Gutowski / Washington Free Beacon:

St. Louis Gun Couple to Join Friday Night Trump Campaign Event — The St. Louis couple at the center of a firestorm over their armed confrontation with a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters will join an official Trump campaign event on Friday night. — Mark and Patricia McCloskey …

Courier-Journal:

‘People would die’: Andy Beshear blasts Daniel Cameron's effort to block COVID-19 orders — Gov. Andy Beshear condemned Attorney General Daniel Cameron's attempt to block all of his past and future executive orders under the COVID-19 state of emergency, calling the action “scary and reckless.”

Discussion: Raw Story

Marshall Cohen / CNN:

Head of NYPD union gives Fox News interview with QAnon mug in background — Ed Mullins during an appearance on Fox News Friday. A coffee mug with the logo of QAnon sits above his left shoulder in the bottom right of the photo. — (CNN)The head of the New York Police Department's second …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:

Trump says 'I don't agree' with CDC director's mask message — President Donald Trump on Friday continued muddying his administration's messaging on the use of masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus, saying he disagreed with his CDC director about how effective they would be in stopping COVID-19 …

Discussion: FOX6Now.com and Breitbart

Sarah Cristobal / InStyle:

CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins Says, “You've Got To Get Up Before The Tweets” — As one of the youngest White House correspondents in the history of CNN, Kaitlan Collins has a resilient nature that has served her well. — “I never thought I'd be covering the White House.

New York Times:

A Detailed Map of Who Is Wearing Masks in the U.S. — In some American neighborhoods, it's hard to spot even one person outside without a face covering. In others, your odds of seeing many maskless people are quite high. — Public health officials believe that face coverings …

Discussion: The Hill, Twitchy and CBS Pittsburgh

David Pugliese / Ottawa Citizen:

Graffiti on monument commemorating Nazi SS division being investigated as a hate crime by police … An incident involving graffiti spray painted on a monument to those who fought in Adolf Hitler's SS is being investigated as a hate crime by an Ontario police force.

Peter Fimrite / San Francisco Chronicle:

With coronavirus antibodies fading fast, vaccine hopes fade, too — Disturbing new revelations that permanent immunity to the coronavirus may not be possible have jeopardized vaccine development and reinforced a decision by scientists at UCSF and affiliated laboratories to focus exclusively on treatments.

CNN:

How Dr. Deborah Birx's political skills made her the most powerful person on the coronavirus task force — Washington (CNN)As the relationship between Dr. Anthony Fauci and President Donald Trump publicly disintegrated over the past few months, Dr. Deborah Birx, Fauci's former mentee …

Andrew Feinberg / The Independent:

Will there be a ‘Trump Crimes Commission’ if Biden wins in November? There might have to be — 'I don't care about the chaos that might result by opening up the presidential archives after Trump so that the public can see what the heck is going on' — If the November 3 general election turns …

New York Times:

Suspect Is Arrested in Grisly Killing of Tech C.E.O. Fahim Saleh — Mr. Saleh, 33, was found dismembered and decapitated inside his Manhattan apartment. — The former personal assistant of a young tech entrepreneur found decapitated and dismembered in his Manhattan apartment was arrested early …