memeorandum: New poll puts Missouri Gov. Greitens' approval rating at 37 percent (Rick Montgomery/Kansas City Star)

10:10 AM ET, April 22, 2018

Top Items:

Maeve Reston / CNN:

Mitt Romney fails to secure Utah GOP nomination, will face primary — West Valley, Utah (CNN)Mitt Romney did not win the Utah Republican Party's nomination on Saturday, meaning he must compete in a June primary election as he seeks to replace retiring US Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Discussion: RedState, The Week and Washington Press

John Bowden / The Hill:

Romney forced into GOP primary for Utah Senate nomination — Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney — failed to secure the Utah Republican Party's nomination for Senate on Saturday, triggering a June primary. — In the final round of voting at the party's convention …

Discussion: Politico

Spencer Cox / Salt Lake Tribune:

Senate race — Romney blamed his second-place finish — out of a dozen Republicans seeking the seat of retiring seven-term Sen. Orrin Hatch — on delegates' dislike of candidates like him who hedge their convention bids by also gathering signatures to ensure at least a place on the primary ballot.

Discussion: Political Wire, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post

Maeve Reston / CNN: Mitt Romney says he'll make decision on supporting Trump in 2020 ‘down the road’

Dana Schuster / Page Six:

Ivana Trump thinks Vanessa will ‘have a problem’ finding a new man — Ivana Trump doesn't want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2020. — “I'll tell you something, I don't think it's necessary,” she told The Post during an interview Wednesday at her Upper East Side townhouse.

Discussion: Althouse

Washington Post:

Barbara Bush visited our facility for children with HIV/AIDS. It was unforgettable. — Debbie Tate is president of TERRIFIC, a D.C. nonprofit that provides housing and human services to families in crisis. Joan McCarley is executive director of TERRIFIC.

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Barbara Bush: Fake Pearls, Real Heart — WASHINGTON — Barbara Bush was an expert at throwing shade, even before the term existed. — When Congressman Dan Rostenkowski gave the first lady a shampoo for white hair made in his Illinois district, she tried it on her dog Millie.

USA Today:
Before dying, Barbara Bush said she would miss George but was going to ‘a beautiful place’

Discussion: IJR, NPR and New York Magazine

Kaylee Remington / Plain Dealer:

2-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed at Wickliffe hotel, police say — WICKLIFFE, Ohio — A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her mother at a hotel Friday night, police say. — The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. at a hotel on Euclid Avenue …

Discussion: Raw Story

Larry O'Connor / Washington Times:

Conservative author Brad Thor announces 2020 challenge to Trump — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — Conservative author and commentator Brad Thor took to Twitter Saturday to announce he would challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. — America is great because it is good.

Discussion: WGN-TV, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller and RedState

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

Scott Pruitt Met With Lobbyist Whose Wife Rented Him a $50-a-Night Condo — WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, met personally last year with J. Steven Hart, the lobbyist whose wife had rented him a $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill and Bloomberg

New York Times:
Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money

Discussion: Washington Press, CNN, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, Political Wire and CBS News

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Trump considering pardon for boxing legend after call from Sylvester Stallone — said Saturday he's considering a posthumous pardon for boxer Jack Johnson at the urging of actor Sylvester Stallone. — “Sylvester Stallone called me with the story of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson.

Discussion: Townhall, Newsday, Slate, HuffPost, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, CNN and Instapundit

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:
Trump says he's ‘considering’ a pardon for boxer Jack Johnson

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mashable, Deadline and Axios

John Dickerson / The Atlantic:

I. A Broken Office — Donald Trump often appears to be a president in rebellion against his office. A president, we have come to expect, hastens to the scene of a natural disaster to comfort the afflicted. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, President Trump arrived tardily …

Kyle Feldscher / Washington Examiner:

Kellyanne Conway goes off on CNN's Dana Bash for asking about her husband's Trump criticisms: WATCH — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway went after CNN's Dana Bash for asking her about her husband's tweets critical of President Trump in an interview Sunday morning.

CNN:

4 killed at Tennessee Waffle House as police search for seminude suspect — (CNN)Nashville police are asking residents to lock their doors and stay alert after a seminude gunman killed four people at an area Waffle House. — “Keep your doors locked, keep your eyes open.

Discussion: 6abc.com, Tennessean.com, Townhall, USA Today, ABC News, Associated Press, NBC News, fox13now.com, New York Times, CBS New York, FOX31 Denver, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

David Siders / Politico:

'We've never seen a campaign start this early, ever' — Little-known Congressman John Delaney spends big on his long-shot 2020 presidential bid. — COLUMBIA, S.C. — The first presidential contests of 2020 are nearly two years away, but for one Democrat the campaign is already in full swing.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

A Fine Theorem:

The 2018 John Bates Clark: Parag Pathak — The most prestigious award a young researcher can receive in economics, the John Bates Clark medal, has been awarded to the incredibly productive Parag Pathak. His CV is one that could only belong a true rocket of a career: he was a full professor …

Discussion: bradford-delong.com

Eric Talmadge / Associated Press:

AP Analysis: Kim Jong Un tests Trump with latest nuke offer — TOKYO (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has finally broken his silence on what he plans to bring to the table during his summits with the South Korean and U.S. presidents, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with tossing out his hard-won nuclear arsenal.

Washington Post:
White House privately skeptical of North Korea's plans to freeze nuclear testing

Discussion: New York Times, One America News Network, NK News, The Week and Outside the Beltway

miamiherald:

Watch this judge brutally berate a woman in a wheelchair. The woman died. The judge has quit. — A Broward County circuit judge delivered a blistering, arm-waving, face-palming, tongue-lashing to a frail, out-of-breath woman — pushed into court in a wheelchair — who was facing misdemeanor charges following a family feud.

Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:

Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Warns Trump: Evidence DVD Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ … Daniels, of course, is a renowned porn star who was paid $130,000 by President Donald Trump's longtime attorney/fixer Michael Cohen to stay silent about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2011 …

Discussion: Breitbart

ABC News:

Mnuchin expresses optimism trade standoffs can be resolved — The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank repeatedly warned at their meetings this week that intensifying trade tensions could jeopardize a healthy global economic expansion. — But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin …

Discussion: One America News Network and Associated Press

New York Times:

‘Overwhelmed’ Postal Carrier Hoarded 17,000 Pieces of Mail, Officials Say — A mail carrier in Brooklyn stashed about 17,000 pieces of undelivered mail for more than a decade because he was “overwhelmed” by the amount he had to deliver, the authorities said.

ABC:

World's oldest person, Nabi Tajima, dies in Japan at the age of 117 — The great-great-great-grandmother regarded as the world's oldest person has died in Japan at the age of 117. — An official in the southern Japanese town of Kikai said Nabi Tajima died in a hospital on Saturday night.

Discussion: AOL

Rick Montgomery / Kansas City Star:

New poll puts Missouri Gov. Greitens' approval rating at 37 percent — Fifty-one percent of Missourians disapprove of embattled Gov. Eric Greitens' job performance, according to a new poll, and he maintains a 37 percent approval rating. — The survey released Saturday …

Discussion: Political Wire and Splinter

Sydney Greene / The Texas Tribune:

Texas students walk out of classes, continuing momentum of gun violence protests — Thousands of Texas students walked out of their classes Friday morning to protest ongoing gun violence in America. — For one minute and 13 seconds on Friday, students across Texas stood in silence outside of their schools after walking out of class.

Discussion: Off the Kuff

Carole Cadwalladr / The Guardian:

Arron Banks, the insurers and my strange data trail — Carole Cadwalladr just wanted to insure her car. Six months later, she found a mass of personal details held by a firm she had never contacted that is run by Leave.EU's biggest donor, Arron Banks. How did it get there?

Litigation & Trial Lawyer Blog:

The Who, What, Where, When, & Why of the DNC Lawsuit — Earlier today, the Democratic National Committee filed a massive lawsuit against almost everyone arguably associated with the hack on the DNC's servers, including the Russian Federation, Russia's foreign military intelligence agency …

Discussion: Letters Blogatory

Verne J Troyer:

It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that — Verne passed away today. — Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone — smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any — extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the

Discussion: NBC News, EW.com, IndieWire, New York Times, The Guardian and Mediaite

Avery Anapol / The Hill:

Michael Moore brings ‘Flint Water’ to Michigan capitol, tells governor to drink it — Liberal filmmaker and activist Michael Moore on Friday visited the Michigan Capitol to spray “Flint water” at GOP Gov. Rick Snyder's office. — Moore, who is from a suburb of Flint, Mich. …

Discussion: Breitbart, Detroit News and Washington Press