memeorandum: Energy Department gets energy gain from nuclear fusion for the second time (Rachel Frazin/The Hill)

3:50 PM ET, August 7, 2023

Top Items:

Amanda Terkel / NBC News:

‘Of course he lost’: Ron DeSantis rejects Trump's 2020 election claims — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday rejected Donald Trump's claim that he was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election in his most forceful comments to date on the matter. — “Whoever puts their hand …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Trump and his new lawyer are not on the same page about judge's recusal — The former president's public statements are already diverging from the advice of his newest lawyer, John Lauro. — Donald Trump blared Sunday morning that his legal team would be “immediately asking for recusal” …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, Political Wire and The Hill

Washington Post:

‘Fake’ elector plot raised concerns over legal peril, indictment shows — A contingency plan, a crime or a ‘donkey show’? Doubts across seven states and within the Trump campaign. — Six weeks after the 2020 election, senior campaign officials for Donald Trump called a group …

Ankush Khardori / New York Magazine:

The Pelosi Factor … If you were going to draw up a list of the people most responsible for the latest indictment of Donald Trump, the former president himself would be at the top, followed by the prosecutors who have brought the case. Republicans in Congress perversely deserve a great deal of credit …

Discussion: The Messenger, The Hill, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Insider, New York Post, BizPac Review, Political Wire and The Gateway Pundit

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:

There's a Good Reason Trump Aides Don't Think the New Indictment Is a Joke — A number of Donald Trump's current aides are involved in the latest case against their boss. That could put them in some very difficult positions. … Donald Trump has publicly joked about the four latest felony charges brought against him.

Discussion: Raw Story and The Messenger

Dennis Aftergut / The Bulwark:
Will Trump's Social Media Behavior Cost Him in Court?

Discussion: Robert Reich, Bloomberg, PJ Media, Raw Story, Morning Shots and HuffPost

Dawn White / WXIA-TV:
Fulton County insiders expect former President Donald Trump to be indicted this week in Georgia

Discussion: The Hill, The Western Journal, Fox News and Political Wire

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
A majority of Americans think the Trump probes are about 2024

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, CBS News, The Hill and The Daily Caller

Jack Birle / Washington Examiner:
Pelosi says Trump winning in 2024 would put a ‘criminal enterprise in the White House’

Discussion: The Messenger, The Hill, Twitchy and Fox News

Betsy McCaughey / New York Post:
Trump prosecutor Jack Smith would rip up Americans' right to free speech

Discussion: New York Daily News and Showbiz411

CNN:
State of the Union — DANA BASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): Trial on the trail?

Discussion: The Messenger, RedState and The Daily Caller

Politico:
Playbook: Welcome to the courtroom campaign

Discussion: Raw Story, NBC News, The Hill and Forbes

Zolan Kanno-Youngs / New York Times:
Kamala Harris Takes on a Forceful New Role in the 2024 Campaign

Discussion: NBC News, RedState, The Daily Caller, Althouse, National Review and CNN

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
If Trump committed ‘a technical violation of the Constitution,’ it's not a crime, his lawyer says

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Semafor, New York Daily News, CBS News, Washington Examiner, CNN, Financial Times, Breitbart, Washington Times, Politico and Reuters

New York Times:
Trump Calls for Recusal of Judge as His Lawyer Denies Pence's 2020 Claims

Discussion: Bloomberg, Axios, Digby's Hullabaloo, Boston.com, PJ Media, CNN, Raw Story, The Hill, Vanity Fair, CNBC, USA Today, Reuters, New York Post, CBS News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, NBC News, Political Wire, ABC News and Washington Post

Dan Mangan / CNBC:

Trump counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll dismissed, DA can get deposition — A federal judge dismissed a counterclaim by Donald Trump against the writer E. Jean Carroll in her pending lawsuit that accuses him of defaming her after she wrote that he had raped her.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Reuters, Politico, Fox News, UPI, New York Post, Whatever, Mediaite, New York Daily News, Rolling Stone, Political Wire, Raw Story, NBC 7 San Diego and PoliticusUSA

Hillary Rodham Clinton / The Atlantic:

The Weaponization of Loneliness — To defend America against those who would exploit our social disconnection, we need to rebuild our communities. — The question that preoccupied me and many others over much of the past eight years is how our democracy became so susceptible to a would-be strongman and demagogue.

Discussion: National Review, PJ Media, Balloon Juice, KXAN-TV, Law & Liberty and Orlando Sentinel

CNN:

Officer who held back crowd during George Floyd's murder sentenced to over 4 years in prison — Tou Thao, the former Minneapolis police officer who held back a crowd of bystanders during George Floyd's fatal arrest in May 2020, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison Monday …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, ABC News, Washington Post, One America News Network, UPI, New York Daily News, Associated Press, Law & Crime, The Root, National Review, Al Jazeera, The Messenger, New York Times and Fox News

N'dea Yancey-Bragg / USA Today:
Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to nearly 5 years for role in George Floyd's killing

Discussion: Associated Press and The Messenger

Washington Post:

Most disapprove of Biden's handling of climate change, Post-UMD poll finds — Less than 3 in 10 Americans say they know a good or great deal about the Inflation Reduction Act, though many voters in both parties support some of its key climate programs — Nearly one year after President Biden enacted …

Discussion: The Hill and The Messenger

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
The White House plays it cool as ‘Bidenomics’ struggles to catch on

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Dispatch and Washington Post

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

John Eastman, awaiting potential indictment, asks judge to postpone his disbarment proceedings — The lawyer who advised Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 is known as “co-conspirator 2” in the special counsel's newest case. — Attorney John Eastman, an architect of Donald Trump's …

Discussion: The Hill

Brianna Herlihy / Fox News:

Some conservatives have surprising ‘Barbie’ take despite criticisms of liberal agenda — ‘Barbie’ surpassed $1 billion in global box office sales, despite ‘woke’ claims — Some conservatives are standing by the film “Barbie,” despite criticisms and reviews that blasted the blockbuster film for an allegedly liberal agenda.

Discussion: Raw Story, CBS News and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Rachel Frazin / The Hill:

Energy Department gets energy gain from nuclear fusion for the second time — Scientists with the Department of Energy were recently able to achieve a net energy gain from a nuclear fusion reaction for the second time, the department said Monday. — Paul Rhien, a spokesperson …

Discussion: Blue Virginia, Axios, Mock Paper Scissors, Al Jazeera, Washington Post and Financial Times

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

The Republican Party's Split on Economics — Why an argument over economic policy is roiling the party. — The Wall Street Journal's editorial board has spent the last few months trying to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign. It has called his legislative record …

NBC News:

Nursing pillows are associated with more than 160 infant deaths, NBC News investigation finds — Federal officials are poised to propose the first safety requirements for nursing pillows. An industry-supported group is fighting back, arguing that government regulation of the widely used product could discourage breastfeeding.