memeorandum: James Patterson Apologizes for Saying White Writers Face a ‘Form of Racism’ (Michael Levenson/New York Times)

6:05 AM ET, June 15, 2022

Top Items:

Publix heiress paid Kimberly Guilfoyle's $60,000 speaking fee on Jan. 6 — The funds were directed to Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancee through Turning Point Action, a nonprofit run by Charlie Kirk — Kimberly Guilfoyle, a fundraiser for former president Donald Trump and the fiancee of his eldest son …

Discussion: CNN, Vanity Fair, HotAir, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Deadline, The Mahablog, Salon, Breitbart, Raw Story and Washington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump team descends into infighting over Jan. 6 — We've seen just two relatively brief hearings of the House Jan. 6 committee. Yet already members of Donald Trump's inner circle are accusing one another of lying under oath, taking bribes from Democrats, shilling for Marxists and being past their primes.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, FactCheck.org, Associated Press and Idaho Capital Sun

New York Times:
Jan. 6 Panel Puts Trump Fund-Raising Tactics Under Scrutiny

Discussion: Insider, Axios, CBS News, Raw Story, ABC News and Yahoo News

Neal K. Katyal / New York Times:
The Future Criminal Case Against Donald Trump

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Salon, Washington Post, The American Spectator, Raw Story, Washington Post, The Hill, The Editorial Board and Washington Post

HuffPost:
Despite Testimony, Bill Stepien Is Still Making Lots Of Money Spreading Trump's Election Lie

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Mediaite, Yahoo News, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
The Two-Pronged Test That Could Put Trump in Prison

Discussion: Insider, Election Law Blog, Newsweek, Raw Story and HotAir

Annie Linskey / Washington Post:

Republicans collide in key primaries as Trump's pull tested in S.C., Nev. — Tuesday's vote across four states serving as the latest checkpoint of attitudes in the Republican Party and the ability of the former president to steer its direction. — Competing wings of the Republican Party collided across …

Discussion: New York Times, ABC News, Vox, Associated Press, CNN, Washington Examiner, Politico, Al Jazeera, Roll Call and Los Angeles Times

Kipp Jones / Mediaite:

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace Defeats Trump-Backed Primary Challenger, Per Projection — Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) will defeat her Trump-backed primary challenger Katie Arrington, according to a projection. — Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report called the race at 10:55 p.m. ET.

Discussion: Roll Call, RedState, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
In South Carolina, a Republican congressman who voted to impeach Trump loses his primary to a Trump-backed rival.

Discussion: HuffPost, NPR, The Hill, Townhall, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Fox News, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Media Right News, Just The News, Ballotpedia and Politico

Myah Ward / Politico:
Rep. Tom Rice loses GOP primary after voting to impeach Trump

Discussion: Insider, Washington Examiner and Washington Post

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
GOP's Rice loses House seat after voting to impeach Trump

Discussion: Forbes, Politico, New York Times, Townhall, CNN, BorderReport, The Hill, Boston.com and Washington Post

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

Leave Joe Biden Alone — Biden's been a good president, but Republicans want to impeach him and some Democrats want to replace him. — Every administration has its ups and downs; today I examine why the Biden White House is taking more than its fair share of hits.

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Post, CNN, Washington Post and IJR

The Daily Caller:

We Asked All 50 Democratic Senators If They Would Endorse Biden In 2024. Only 5 Said ‘Yes’ — The Daily Caller contacted all 50 Senate Democrats repeatedly and asked if they would support President Joe Biden in his 2024 presidential bid. Five Senators said “Yes.”

Discussion: CNN and The Hill

Morgan Lee / Associated Press:

GOP commission refuses to certify New Mexico primary vote — SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Votes in a New Mexico community are at risk of not counting after a Republican-led commission refused to approve primary election results over distrust of Dominion vote-tallying machines.

Discussion: Insider, Alamogordo Daily News, Washington Post, Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

Scoop: Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House — President Biden is tapping former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace Cedric Richmond as one of his most senior aides, bringing a Democratic rising star and former VP contender into the White House at a critical juncture, Axios has learned.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, New York Post, Washington Examiner and The Hill

Jim Saunders / Miami Herald:

South Florida synagogue sues over Florida's new 15-week abortion ban — BY JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA — A South Florida Jewish congregation has challenged a new state law that blocks abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, contending the measure violates privacy and religious-freedom rights.

Brendan Pierson / Reuters: Florida abortion ban violates Jews' religious freedom, lawsuit says

Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:

Herschel Walker Says He's a Model Dad. He Has a Secret Son. — The GOP Senate hopeful, who has bemoaned “fatherless households,” was named in a paternity case. … For years, former football star turned Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker has expressed an enormous pride …

Discussion: New York Times, Rolling Stone, Raw Story and Insider

Barnini Chakraborty / Washington Examiner:

Republican Mayra Flores wins South Texas House seat long a Democratic stronghold — Rising Republican star Mayra Flores beat out Democratic challenger Dan Sanchez on Tuesday in a special election to finish Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela's current term in South Texas, a competitive congressional seat …

Discussion: New York Times, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, Fox News, Breitbart, Roll Call, Texas Scorecard, Politico, Washington Times, The Hill, Townhall and The Daily Wire

Mayra Flores / New York Times:

Texas 34th Congressional District Special Election Results — In a special election to replace former Representative Filemon Vela, a Democrat who resigned from Congress in March, Republicans are trying to flip the South Texas seat. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff election in August.

Discussion: Power Line, The Daily Caller, RedState and Media Right News

The Nevada Independent:

Lombardo routs field in GOP governor primary; election doubter prevails for SOS — A more moderate Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo won a decisive victory over the sprawling field of Republican gubernatorial candidates, even as further-right figures romped to victory over more centrist opponents in other statewide GOP primaries.

Discussion: NPR

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
Jim Marchant, a Trump loyalist, is G.O.P. voters' choice to be Nevada's top election official.

Discussion: Associated Press, HuffPost, NBC News, Bloomberg and NPR

Ella Nilsen / CNN:

Wind and solar power are ‘bailing out’ Texas amid record heat and energy demand — (CNN)Texans are cranking on the air conditioning this week amid an unusually early heat wave, setting new records for electricity demand in the state, which surpassed 75 gigawatts on Sunday and smashed the 2019 record.

Discussion: Informed Comment

Evan Halper / Washington Post: Why an energy crisis and $5 gas aren't spurring a green revolution

Phillip W. Magness / Reason:

Is Twitter-Famous Princeton Historian Kevin Kruse a Plagiarist? — When former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke intimated in early 2017 that he would be joining Donald Trump's nascent administration, CNN obtained a copy of Clarke's master's thesis from the Naval Postgraduate School and revealed …

Discussion: Power Line

Politico:

How a centrist, a liberal and 2 conservatives achieved 4-part harmony on guns — One day after the mass shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Texas, Kyrsten Sinema held a rare off-the-cuff press gaggle where she vowed to talk to Republicans about a gun safety deal.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Allahpundit / HotAir:
Wow: McConnell says he'll support Senate gun deal

Discussion: Associated Press and The Dispatch

Ian James / Los Angeles Times:

Major water cutbacks loom as shrinking Colorado River nears ‘moment of reckoning’ — As the West endures another year of unrelenting drought worsened by climate change, the Colorado River's reservoirs have declined so low that major water cuts will be necessary next year to reduce risks …

Discussion: Idaho Capital Sun

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:

Photos capture election-night tension at White House as Trump family, aides watch lead fade away — They reflect what advisers told the Jan. 6 committee despite Trump's claims. — A series of photos taken on election night 2020 inside the Trump White House captures the tension as Trump's family …

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:

Trump's pick for Pa. governor says he sees ‘parallels’ to Hitler's power grab in Capitol riot — WASHINGTON — The Donald Trump-endorsed nominee for governor in Pennsylvania compared the Jan. 6 attack to historical events staged by the Nazis, saying that he saw “parallels” …

Discussion: The American Independent

Madison Muller / TIME:

WHO Will Rename Monkeypox Virus to Minimize Stigma and Racism — The World Health Organization will officially rename monkeypox, in light of concerns about stigma and racism surrounding the virus that has infected over 1,600 people in more than two dozen countries.

Discussion: Summit News, Reuters, Axios, Fox News, Breitbart, New York Post, nationalinterest.org and STAT

Michael Levenson / New York Times:

James Patterson Apologizes for Saying White Writers Face a ‘Form of Racism’ — The comments by Mr. Patterson, the prolific author of best-selling thrillers, had been widely criticized. — Give this article- - - Read in app — James Patterson, the prolific author of best-selling thrillers …

Discussion: Washington Post, Althouse, TheBlaze, The Hill and Full Feed

Dakota Smith / Los Angeles Times:

Bass has pulled ahead of Caruso. She can thank those last-minute mail-in voters — Rep. Karen Bass pulled ahead of rival Rick Caruso in the primary election for Los Angeles mayor on Tuesday after a surge of vote-by-mail ballots boosted the congresswoman and several other progressive candidates.

Charles R. Davis / Insider:

Trump might have to be prosecuted to save American democracy, an expert on authoritarianism argues — Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a history professor and expert on fascism at New York University. — In 2020, she warned that authoritarian leaders, including Donald Trump, do not give up power easily.

Discussion: americamagazine.org and Lucid

Washington Post:

White House has security concerns about any deal for NSO hacking tools — The Biden administration is warning that a potential deal between a major American defense firm and NSO Group, a blacklisted Israeli spyware company, to buy the Israeli firm's hacking tools would raise “serious” …

Discussion: Intelligence Online and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

Michael Edison Hayden / Southern Poverty Law Center:

Far-Right Influencers Hyped Coeur d'Alene Pride Before Patriot Front Showed Up — Right-wing influencers, including the pseudonymous, viral Twitter account “Libs of TikTok,” repeatedly drew negative attention to the Pride event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in its runup, setting the stage for white supremacists to target it.

Discussion: CBS News, Los Angeles Times and Truthout

New York Times:

Biden Weighs Tariff Rollback to Ease Inflation, Even a Little Bit — While lifting some levies on China is unlikely to put a large dent in inflation, administration officials concede they have few other options to address surging prices. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Wall Street Journal