memeorandum: Cruz: GOP leads in 2014 because of shutdown (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

1:30 PM ET, June 1, 2014

Top Items:

Bergdahl release arrangement could threaten the safety of Americans, Republicans say — Amid jubilation Saturday over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from captivity by the Taliban, senior Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were troubled by the means by which it was accomplished …

Discussion: Liberaland, Guardian, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare, The Raw Story, The Week and Mediaite

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Susan Rice responds to political debate over negotiations for soldier's release — (CNN) - White House national security adviser Susan Rice defended the Obama administration's decision to exchange Guantanamo detainees for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, amid criticism that the United States negotiated with terrorists in the process.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and Politico

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:

Here are the Taliban Terrorists Obama Released to Free POW Bowe Bergdahl — In exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, the U.S. has released five senior Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison. They are considered some of the worst of the worst. — The five Guantanamo detainees released …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Power Line, Yahoo! News, RedState and Patterico's Pontifications

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

Taliban Prisoner Swap Frees U.S. Soldier Held Nearly 5 Years — WASHINGTON — The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay …

Discussion: The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, The Week, The Moderate Voice, The Talking Dog, Hinterland Gazette, Patterico's Pontifications, Hot Air, Defense One, Outside the Beltway, Mashable, Business Insider, Gawker, The Daily Caller, Independent Journal Review and Balloon Juice

Associated Press:

Hagel: Soldier's health required urgent action — WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly five years after his capture by insurgents, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's “safety and health were both in jeopardy” and officials had to act quickly to obtain his release, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.

Discussion: ABC News

Agence France-Presse:
‘New opening’ for US-Taliban talks possible: Hagel

Discussion: Hot Air

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
Taliban-held U.S. soldier released in exchange for Afghan detainees

Discussion: RedState, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Associated Press:
US SOLDIER FREED FROM CAPTIVITY IN AFGHANISTAN

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Politico, NBC News, Scared Monkeys and The PJ Tatler

Fox News:
US soldier held captive by Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly five years freed

Discussion: CNN and The Impolitic

New York Times:

N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images — The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents.

Discussion: Business Insider, Gawker, Hot Air, The Verge, Fox News, RT, Engadget and emptywheel

Philly.com:

Lewis Katz, co-owner of The Inquirer, dies in plane crash — Lewis Katz, 72, co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, died Saturday night in the crash of a private jet at a Massachusetts airfield. — Katz's death was confirmed by Inquirer editor Bill Marimow …

Discussion: Poynter, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Prisoners of Sex — IN an ideal world, perhaps, the testimony left by the young man who killed six people in Santa Barbara would have perished with its author: the video files somehow wiped off the Internet, his manifesto deleted and any printed copy pulped.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, Daily Kos, The Daily Banter and Roger Ailes

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Jim Webb weighs in on his political future — (CNN) - Former Democratic Sen. Jim Webb is still not ruling out a potential presidential bid. — “We're taking this one day at a time,” Webb said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union” when asked if he was interested in the presidency.

Discussion: Politico and The Lead with Jake Tapper

New York Times:

Fixed Soccer Matches Cast Shadow Over World Cup — JOHANNESBURG — A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000 in $100 bills, according to another referee traveling with him.

Discussion: Vox Popoli and Unfogged

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

Cuomo Secures Support of Working Families Party — ALBANY — Defusing a tense and potentially campaign-changing challenge from the left, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo secured the endorsement of the Working Families Party on Saturday night, easing the popular Democrat's path as he runs for re-election …

Walter Russell Mead / Washington Post:

Was Hillary Clinton a good secretary of state? — Walter Russell Mead is the James Clarke Chace professor of foreign affairs at Bard College and editor at large of the American Interest. He is the author of “Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World.”

Discussion: Outside the Beltway