memeorandum: Will Smith didn't slap just Chris Rock (Jonathan Capehart/Washington Post)

10:55 AM ET, April 1, 2022

Top Items:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Scoop: Jen Psaki planning to leave White House this spring for MSNBC gig — White House press secretary Jen Psaki is in exclusive talks with MSNBC to join the network after she leaves the White House around May, according to a source close to the matter.

more at Mediagazer »

Axios:

Scoop: New clue on Trump gap — On Jan. 6, 2021, during an apparent seven-hour gap in White House call logs that the House select committee investigating the attack is now trying to piece together, then-President Trump's executive assistant, Molly Michael, was absent for most of the day, three sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.

Discussion: Raw Story, CBS News and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

CNN:

Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete — Washington (CNN)In the seven hours during which White House records show no phone calls to or from then-President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, among the calls that are conspicuously absent is one Trump …

Discussion: Breitbart, Twitchy, Townhall, TheBlaze, The Racket News, The Hill, New Republic, YouTube, Power Line and Raw Story

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Jared Kushner interviewed by Jan. 6 committee for over six hours

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, NPR, Joe.My.God., The Times of Israel, Insider, The Hill, Bloomberg, PBS NewsHour, CBS News and MSNBC

New York Times:

Russia's War Lacks a Battlefield Commander, U.S. Officials Say — WASHINGTON — Russia is running its military campaign against Ukraine out of Moscow, with no central war commander on the ground to call the shots, according to American officials who have studied the five-week-old war.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, New York Post, HotAir, Hennessy's View, CBS News and Joe.My.God.

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
How Russia's War Revealed a Blindspot in U.S. Intelligence

Discussion: Bloomberg, Ag Data News, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, Aearnur's Newsletter, Daily Briefing, The Atlantic, Faridaily, Washington Examiner and Reuters

Associated Press:
Live updates | Australia sending armored vehicles to Ukraine

Discussion: Hellenica and Associated Press

Serge Schmemann / New York Times:
Putin Is Setting Back Russia's Potential By Decades

Discussion: Associated Press and Washington Post

New York Times:
Syrian Mercenaries Deploy to Russia en Route to Ukrainian Battlefields

Discussion: Мед …

The Daily Beast:

Inside Ginni Thomas' ‘Insane’ Hiring Memos for Trump — Ginni Thomas' suggested hires included known bigots and at least one suspected foreign spy, sources say. — Years before she became one of then-President Donald Trump's most prominent coup supporters, Ginni Thomas was already notorious …

Discussion: Insider, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Politico

Joseph Klein / Front Page Magazine:
The Left Smears Virginia Thomas to Delegitimize Justice Thomas

Discussion: Rolling Stone, CBS News and TMZ.com

Natalie Allison / Politico:

‘The baggage is too heavy’: GOP foes tee up last-ditch effort to sink Herschel Walker — Herschel Walker, the former football star who's armed with former President Donald Trump's enthusiastic endorsement, has been on a glide path to the GOP nomination since announcing his Senate bid in Georgia.

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Stephen Fowler / NPR:
Trump is struggling again in Georgia, with 2022 endorsements driven by his 2020 loss

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:

Peter Baker, Susan Glasser to publish sweeping history of Trump presidency — Peter Baker and Susan Glasser will be out Sept. 20 with a sweeping history of the Trump presidency, “The Divider,” billed as “an ambitious first cut at this historical moment.” — The backdrop: Baker …

Miami Herald:

Federal judge: Some new Florida voting laws unconstitutional — A federal judge ruled that multiple parts of a voting law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year are unconstitutional, striking down various provisions and prohibiting the Legislature from passing future voter laws without first getting approval from a court.

Lori Rozsa / Washington Post:
Judge strikes down Florida election-law changes

Discussion: Election Law Blog and WSVN-TV

Amy Walter / Cook Political Report:

How Big Is the House Playing Field? — This week, Democratic and Republican campaign operations acknowledged that the House playing field is expanding. The NRCC added another 10 House districts to its already robust list of 72 Democratic-held targets. And on the Democratic side …

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:

Biden Runs Out of Gas — “This is a wartime bridge to increase oil supply into production,” President Biden said during his announcement Thursday that he would release more barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve than at any point in American history. His decision was also a concession.

Discussion: Washington Post, Today's Edition Newsletter and Breitbart

Marist Poll:
Marist National Poll: Biden Job Approval Rating, March 31, 2022

Discussion: PoliticsPA

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:

Will Smith didn't slap just Chris Rock — When Wanda Sykes was a child, the comedian shared in her 2009 special, her mother always stopped her from dancing in the car. “White people are looking at you!” she would say. — “Black folks, we always got to be dignified,” Sykes observed.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

David Dayen / American Prospect:

Supply Chain Fixes, Energy Transition Take Major Steps Forward — Nobody will tell you, but Congress came closer to re-regulating an economic sector while the president began the wartime mobilization of clean energy. — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) talks with reporters …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Abha Bhattarai / Washington Post:

U.S. economy adds 431,000 jobs in March … The national unemployment rate fell to a pandemic low of 3.6 percent in March, as employers added 431,000 jobs, further bolstering the most rapid labor market rebound on record. — Average hourly wages for private-sector workers …

Discussion: New York Times, MSNBC, Associated Press, CBS News, Outside the Beltway and Joe.My.God.

Detroit Free Press:

'He's a b— ': Defense rests case in Whitmer kidnap plot after suspect's wild testimony — The defense in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap trial rested its case following the explosive testimony of a defendant who came off as a defiant hothead, if his comment about an undercover informant is any indication.

Discussion: Raw Story

NPS.gov:

100 year-old National Park Service Ranger Betty Reid Soskin retires after remarkable career — WASHINGTON - Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service's (NPS) oldest active ranger, retired today after a decade and a half of sharing her personal experiences and the efforts of women …

Discussion: Fox 8 Cleveland WJW

New York Times:

She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit. — The former chief White House photographer made plans to publish a book of Trump photos. The former president had other plans. — Give this article- - - Read in app — WASHINGTON — As President Donald J. Trump's tenure came …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Insider, The Wrap, Althouse and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

JONATHAN TURLEY:

In Like Flynn: Clinton Lawyer Adopts a Familiar Defense Against Durham Charge — This week, a former Clinton campaign lawyer was in court with his counsel to fight the indictment by Special Counsel John Durham alleging a false statement to federal investigators.

Discussion: Law & Crime

The Daily Beast:

There Might Be a Stupid Explanation for the 7-Hour Gap in Trump's Phone Logs — That, plus: Why Colorado's secretary of state is being forced to take an opponent indicted for compromising voting equipment seriously. (Hint: It has to do with the MyPillow guy.)

Discussion: Raw Story

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

Appeals Court Upholds Gibson's Bakery Massive Verdict Against Oberlin College — “The Gibson family appreciates the Court of Appeals' thorough and thoughtful analysis which rightly rejected all of Oberlin College's and Dean Raimondo's challenges on appeal.” — Telegram — Gab — MeWe

Discussion: Plain Dealer and National Review

Ryan Lizza / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Biden's sophomore slump — DRIVING THE DAY — For JOE BIDEN, this was one of those weeks that demonstrated the limits of the powers of the presidency. — Political scientists often like to rib pundits and the public for having a so-called “Green Lantern” …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, New York Times, Supercreator, Bulletin and Weil's Notes from a Corner …, more at Mediagazer »

Kimberly Wehle / The Bulwark:

A Federal Judge Found That Trump “Likely” Committed Serious Crimes—Now What? — “A coup in search of a legal theory.” — According to an order issued on Monday by a federal judge, Donald Trump “likely” committed multiple crimes in connection with the 2020 presidential election and the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.

Discussion: Raw Story and Common Dreams

Ari Shapiro / NPR:

The far-right and environmentalism overlap is bigger than you think — and growing — At first glance, the modern environmental movement and the far-right movement - including anti-immigrant and white supremacist groups - might appear to be on opposing sides of the political ideology spectrum.

Discussion: Raw Story