memeorandum: How the Trump Administration Twisted Coronavirus Intelligence (Olivia Troye/The Bulwark)

8:40 PM ET, May 27, 2021

Top Items:

Senate Republicans prepared to block Jan. 6 commission — Senate Republicans are ready to filibuster a proposed independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot, as GOP opposition swelled in the final days before the vote expected later Thursday. — Several undecided Republicans came …

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, ABC News, POLITICUSUSA, IJR, Crooks and Liars, HotAir, Alaska Public Media and Mock Paper Scissors

CNN:

McConnell doubles down to pressure Republicans, asking for ‘a personal favor’ to block January 6 commission — Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation — One of those Republicans told CNN that McConnell has even made the unusual move of asking wavering senators …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Intellectualist, Talking Points Memo, KEYT-TV, Fox News, HotAir and The Hill

Politico:

GOP frets behind the scenes over potential Trump 2024 bid — Republicans largely oppose forming a commission to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, hoping to block out further Donald Trump-induced chaos while they try to retake Congress next year. — The former president is making clear he isn't going anywhere.

Discussion: CNN, Page Array, TheBlaze, Raw Story, Insider, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, The Hill and Hackwhackers

Politico:
Eleventh-hour deal appears to salvage Senate's bipartisan bid to counter China

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller and The Hill

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: GOP dreads the return of Trump rallies

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Times, The Hill, Bloomberg, NBC News, Joe.My.God. and Salon

Natasha Bertrand / CNN:
First on CNN: Former DHS secretaries tell Senate to ‘put politics aside’ and support January 6 commission

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Daily Kos and POLITICUSUSA

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Mitch McConnell's Gift to Progressives

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Hill and The American Independent

Olivia Troye / The Bulwark:

How the Trump Administration Twisted Coronavirus Intelligence — Rather than use intelligence to inform the government's response to the pandemic, the Trump administration tried to bend the facts for political ends. — Two stories reported by CNN yesterday seem to conflict.

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, The Daily Signal, KEYT-TV and Washington Post

New York Times:

U.S. Is Said to Have Unexamined Intelligence to Pore Over on Virus Origins — Intelligence officials have told the White House that computer analysis may shed light on the mystery. — WASHINGTON — President Biden's call for a 90-day sprint to understand the origins of the coronavirus pandemic came …

Discussion: Tangle and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

Biden's announcement is the beginning, not the end, of a real covid origin investigation — President Biden took an important but limited step Wednesday toward a genuine investigation into the origins of covid-19. He issued an order directing his intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” …

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press, New York Times, The Guardian, National Review and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

David Frum / The Atlantic:
Trump's Supporters Are Getting the Lab-Leak Story Backwards

Discussion: HotAir and Washington Post

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:
Media Downplayed Or Ignored These 8 Lab Leak Theory Facts For Over A Year

Discussion: New York Post, Forbes and Tangle

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Can Democrats avoid the pitfalls of 2020? A new analysis offers striking answers. — As Democrats face a 2022 midterm landscape that could cost them the House, they are grappling with hard strategic challenges. Democrats in tough districts with many Republican voters in them feel twin pressures …

Discussion: The Mahablog

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

Democrats Are Running Out of Time — Anxiety is growing among a broad range of civil-rights, democracy-reform, and liberal groups over whether Democrats are responding with enough urgency to the accelerating Republican efforts to both suppress voting and potentially overturn future Democratic election victories.

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, NBC News, Insider, The Week, National Review, Snopes.com, New York Post, The Editorial Board, OpenSecrets.org, HotAir, CNBC, Bloomberg and KEYT-TV

Sean Illing / Vox:
Are Democrats sleepwalking toward democratic collapse?

Discussion: ABC News, CNN, Raw Story, Occupy Democrats, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Economist, ABC7, The Guardian, Washington Times and Hackwhackers

New York Times:

Prosecutors Investigating Whether Ukrainians Meddled in 2020 Election — The Brooklyn federal inquiry has examined whether former and current Ukrainian officials tried to interfere in the election, including funneling misleading information through Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and The Intellectualist

Jim Tankersley / New York Times:

Biden to Propose $6 Trillion Budget to Boost Middle Class and Infrastructure — The president's plans to invest in infrastructure, education, health care and more would push federal spending to its highest sustained levels since World War II. — WASHINGTON — President Biden will propose …

Anita Kumar / Politico:
Biden mocks Republicans for promoting recovery plan they voted against

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, CNN and Crooks and Liars

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Senate GOP unveils its $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer to Biden — here's what's in it

PRRI:

Understanding QAnon's Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption — THREE COMPONENTS OF THE QANON CONSPIRACY MOVEMENT — Three Components of the QAnon Conspiracy Movement — The far-right conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon emerged on the internet in late 2017 …

Discussion: Forbes, Washington Post, Insider, NPR, Nieman Lab, NBC News and Raw Story

Giovanni Russonello / New York Times:
QAnon Now as Popular in U.S. as Some Major Religions, Poll Suggests

Discussion: Washington Post and Florida Politics

Associated Press:

BLM's Patrisse Cullors to step down from movement foundation — A co-founder of Black Lives Matter announced Thursday that she is stepping down as executive director of the movement's foundation following what she has called a smear campaign from a far-right group and recent criticism from other Black organizers.

Discussion: Fox News, TheBlaze and TheGrio

Natalie O'Neill / New York Post:

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigns amid controversy — The embattled co-founder of Black Lives Matter announced on Thursday that she's resigning as executive director amid criticism over her lavish lifestyle. — Patrisse Cullors, 37 — who has been at the helm …

Discussion: NOQ Report, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

Marc Caputo / Politico:

‘The only Bush who got it right,’ as far as Trump is concerned — No Republican political family has been as tormented by Donald Trump as the Bush dynasty. — Now Trump has one more opportunity to twist the knife, as George P. Bush — the last remaining Bush in public office …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story, Insider and Hackwhackers

Jonathan V. Last / The Triad:
The Worst Bush — Picking sides in the Lone Star State's Iran-Iraq war. — 1. The Iran-Iraq War of Texas

Discussion: New York Times, HotAir and TheBlaze

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Rush Limbaugh's Radio Show to Be Taken Over by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton — Duo's show to begin airing in the coveted weekday time slot on June 21 in hundreds of markets — The Rush Limbaugh replacements are in, as Clay Travis and Buck Sexton will take over his three-hour conservative talk radio show …

Discussion: OutKick, Fox News, HotAir, KEYT-TV, Deadline, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Forbes, RedState, National Review, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Twitchy, New York Post and The Intellectualist, more at Mediagazer »

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:

‘No vaccine!’: Woman arrested for allegedly driving through vaccination site in protest, nearly hitting workers — As a coronavirus vaccination tent was set up in the hope of inoculating more residents in Maryville, Tenn., sheriff's deputies working at the site this week saw an SUV speeding their way …

Discussion: Law & Crime, The Hill, TheBlaze, ABC News and New York Post

Rachael Levy / Wall Street Journal:

San Jose Shooter Was Previously Questioned by Law Enforcement Over Hatred of Workplace — Samuel Cassidy was detained in 2016 by border officials who also found he possessed books about terrorism — U.S. Customs officers previously detained the man who killed nine people in San Jose …

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC7, New York Post, KEYT-TV, CNN, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., ABC News and San Francisco Chronicle

Jocelyn Gecker / Associated Press:
Killer of 8 in California had talked of workplace attacks

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The White House, KEYT-TV, CBS News, The Hill and TheBlaze

Daniella Diaz / CNN:

Paul Ryan to enter GOP's civil war by criticizing Trump's hold on party — Washington (CNN)Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is set to criticize former President Donald Trump and his hold on the Republican Party during a speech Thursday night, according to excerpts obtained by CNN.

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair and The Hill

Annie Karni / New York Times:
Paul Ryan to Critique Trump's Grip on the Republican Party

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, Forbes and New York Post

Tess Owen / VICE:

Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Bought a 40-Acre Compound in Texas for Its ‘Patriots’ — The Rod of Iron Ministries has become more militant since leader Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon attended the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. — TO — A religious sect known for worshipping …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Raw Story

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Emails Tie Top Trump Exec Allen Weisselberg to Yet Another Trump Financial Scandal — Allen Weisselberg is in the hot seat—and that's bad news for Donald Trump and his family. Assorted news reports have identified Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Current, Daily Kos, Decider, Hackwhackers and Washington Post

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Exclusive: Meet The Murky Russian Network Behind An Anti-Pfizer Disinformation Drive In Europe — A network of Russian marketing companies known for selling dubious nutritional supplements and pushing malware is behind a disinformation campaign to denigrate Western coronavirus vaccines, according to a new RFE/RL investigation.

Discussion: New York Times, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Post and Insider

Wall Street Journal:

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Explore Changes to Foundation — The philanthropists have discussed adding a board and outside directors in wake of divorce filing, people familiar with matter say — Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates are discussing changes to the structure …

Molly Fischer / The Cut:

Guilty Parties Two entrepreneurs have built a business dredging up white women's shame. — Were White Fragility to be adapted as reality TV, the result might look something like this: A collection of affluent white women, equipped with varying degrees of vanity and self-delusion, gather at a well-appointed dinner table.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Report alleges Missouri lawmaker had sex with teen when he was a cop — JEFFERSON CITY — A Missouri lawmaker allegedly used his position as a cop to receive a “sexual favor” from an intoxicated teenage girl in 2015 and his boss, the Pike County sheriff, is accused of attempting to obstruct …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Political Wire

John Ratcliffe / Jerusalem Post:

Ex-US intel chief to ‘Post’: Biden is surrendering to Iran — If Biden administration re-enters a nuclear deal with Iran and lifts sanctions on the regime, this will be like giving them another airplane full of cash. — President Joe Biden's national security team appears …

Discussion: Washington Post

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Exclusive: Evictions of Palestinians could spark further conflict, Blinken warns — Secretary of State Tony Blinken warned Israeli leaders on his visit to Jerusalem this week that evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem or further unrest on the Temple Mount could spark renewed …

Discussion: Insider and Townhall

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Top Republicans think GOP can win in Puerto Rico — Sen. Rick Scott believes Puerto Rico will achieve statehood — and the Florida Republican rejects arguments by some in his party that the Caribbean island territory would elect Democrats to Congress in perpetuity.

Discussion: Fox News and Political Wire

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Ron DeSantis Forces Cruise Ships to Take Unvaccinated Passengers It's not like they're doing something harmful, like ordering a gay wedding cake. — A few years ago, conservatives became obsessed with the legal travails of a bakery that refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple.

Discussion: wtsp.com, HotAir and Tampa Bay Times

Amanda Woods / New York Post:

Atlanta councilman Antonio Brown, who voted to defund police, has car stolen — An Atlanta mayoral candidate who voted to defund millions of dollars from the local police department's budget reportedly had his car stolen by a group of young thieves this week.

Discussion: WAGA-TV, Fox News, WSB-TV, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Hill, RedState, BizPac Review, Townhall and Twitchy

CNN:

Prosecutors announce fresh charges against ‘Maga Caravan’ leader, others in January 6 insurrection — Washington (CNN)The self-proclaimed leader of the “Maga Caravan,” which led dozens of vehicles to Washington, DC, to a rally held by former President Donald Trump, was charged with allegedly …

Discussion: Raw Story and Crooks and Liars