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12:30 PM ET, May 23, 2018

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Paul Wood / BBC:
Trump lawyer ‘paid by Ukraine’ to arrange White House talks  —  Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's FBI Spy Theory Is Completely Insane  —  In the face of widening evidence of Trump campaign culpability in the Russia investigation, Republicans have churned through a frequently mutating series of conspiracy theories to defend him.  The latest, and possibly final, such theory …
RELATED:
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Comey Rips Trump's ‘Attacks’ on the FBI: ‘How Will Republicans Explain This to Their Grandchildren?’  —  Former FBI Director James Comey came to the agency's defense this morning as President Trump continues to attack it over the informant used during the election.
Discussion: Politico, CNN, Axios and Washington Post
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump is spinning desperately to distract from his corruption. Democrats should say so.
Discussion: The Hill, NBC News and Townhall
New York Times:
5 Key Takeaways From Tuesday's Primaries  —  It was a night for upsets and breakthroughs: In Georgia, a black woman was nominated for governor by a major party for the first time in any state.  In Kentucky, a math teacher defeated a Republican power broker.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Stacey Abrams Wins Georgia Democratic Primary for Governor, Making History
Daniel Lippman / Politico:   Playbook: Trump says he's ‘not really sure’ he believes voting in 2018 is as important as it was in 2016
Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Trump reelection bid begins in a hole  —  Just 36 percent say they would vote to reelect the president in 2020, compared with 44 percent who would pick the Democrat.  —  The 2020 presidential election is still two and a half years away, but President Donald Trump's path to a second term …
RELATED:
Navigator:
What Are They Hiding?  —  Americans Want Answers on Mueller Investigation, Cabinet Scandals, Congressional Oversight, and #MeToo  —  Welcome to NAVIGATOR — a project designed to better understand the American public's views on the issues of the day and help advocates, elected officials …
Discussion: Vox
Alex Roarty / McClatchy Washington Bureau:   Dem operatives craft Trump-Mueller message for 2018 elections
Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump demands housecleaning on White House communications team  —  Chief of staff John Kelly has signed off on a plan to dismiss mid-level and junior aides in an effort to limit leaks.  —  President Donald Trump has demanded changes to his communications team - long seen …
RELATED:
Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Top Senate Republicans ask White House for entry into meeting on classified information
Discussion: Lawfare, Hullabaloo and NPR
CNN:
A GOP congressman's lonely quest defending Julian Assange
Discussion: Raw Story
Justin Sink / Bloomberg:   White House Bars Democrats From Meeting on Russia Investigation Records
New Yorker:
Philip Roth, the Seminal American Novelist, Has Died  —  Philip Roth, the seminal American novelist whose book “American Pastoral” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1998, has died, at the age of eighty-five.  His great subjects, as Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote in this magazine, in 2006 …
Discussion: NPR
RELATED:
New York Times:
Michael Cohen's Business Partner Agrees to Cooperate as Part of Plea Deal  —  A significant business partner of Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's personal lawyer, has quietly agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness, a development that could be used as leverage to pressure …
The Daily Beast:
Exclusive: U.S. Government Can't Get Controversial Kaspersky Lab Software Off Its Networks … Federal agencies are so far unable to comply with a law banning Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government networks by October, The Daily Beast has learned.  Multiple divisions of the U.S. government …
Discussion: Political Wire and archive.fo
Emily Rauhala / Washington Post:
State Department warns U.S. citizens in China after employee suffers possible sonic attack  —  BEIJING — The U.S. State Department is warning U.S. citizens in China that a government employee reported unusual “sensations of sound and pressure” and was later diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury …
RELATED:
Channel NewsAsia:
Bookmark  —  BEIJING: The US embassy in China issued a health alert …
Discussion: Reuters and Daily Wire
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
Giuliani's New Stance On Russian Collusion: So What?  It's Not Illegal.  —  “It was sort of like a gift,” Giuliani said of the Clinton campaign material stolen by Russia.  “And you're not involved in the illegality of getting it.”  —  WASHINGTON His client insists there was “NO COLLUSION” …
RELATED:
Christopher Dickey / Washington Post:   Former intelligence chief's argument that Putin did indeed sway the 2016 vote
David Carnoy / CNET:
Would you wear this muzzle around the office for private calling?  —  A new accessory called Bloxvox muffles your phone conversations in an open office.  Just don't share it.  —  Enlarge Image  —  Back in January of 2017 I discovered a product at CES called HushMe that I described as …
Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
The Risky Business of Speaking for President Trump  —  Flacks in this White House press office are getting enormous exposure — but potentially at a long-term cost to their credibility.  —  It was getting late on a Wednesday, and by 2018 standards the evening's news cycle felt almost serene.
Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:
A 30-year-old demanded notice for eviction from his parents' house.  ‘Outrageous,’ a judge said.  —  Michael Rotondo refuses to move out of his parents' house.  —  So much so that the 30-year-old argued for a half-hour with a judge in Upstate New York on Tuesday, saying that while he knew …
Discussion: CNN, ABC News, IJR and Outside the Beltway
RELATED:
Lia Eustachewich / New York Post:
Parents win suit to kick 30-year-old deadbeat son out of their house
Discussion: NPR and VICE
Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
Families of Sandy Hook victims, FBI agent file defamation lawsuit against right-wing radio host Alex Jones  —  Six families of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the scene, filed a defamation lawsuit today …
Natasha Korecki / Politico:
Prominent donor threatens GOP over DACA  —  CHICAGO — An influential, multi-millionaire GOP donor is threatening to choke off campaign resources to Republican congressmen who haven't engaged in the latest immigration battle in Congress.  —  Former Exelon chairman John Rowe …
Will Oremus / Slate:
The Privacy Scandal That Should Be Bigger Than Cambridge Analytica  —  Wireless carriers are sharing your real-time location with shady third parties—and a bug lets anyone use that data to track you.  —  Stop me if you've heard this before: A giant company that relies on users to trust …
Discussion: Krebs on Security
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Israeli Intelligence Company Formed Venture With Trump Campaign Firm Cambridge Analytica
Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
The new AG itching to take on Trump  —  New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has jurisdiction over 20 Trump properties and is ready to step into Eric Schneiderman's void.  —  The man aspiring to be the new face of the resistance is a practicing Sikh who likes to call attention to his turban …
Discussion: Political Wire
New York Times:
How the Mueller Investigation Could Play Out for Trump  —  If Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finds evidence that Mr. Trump broke the law, he will have decisions to make about how to proceed.  We explain them.
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Stefan Halper is just another middleman  —  By David Ignatius Opinion writer May 22 at 7:21 PM Email the author Follow @ignatiuspost  —  In the bizarre double helix that is the Russia investigation, one of the recurring themes is the role of would-be influencers.
Discussion: National Review, Axios and Breitbart
Sam Levine / HuffPost:
The ACLU Is Suing To Strike Down Ohio's Congressional Map  —  The civil liberties group says Ohio's map is so heavily gerrymandered, it violates the Constitution.  —  The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Ohio to strike down the state's congressional map, saying it was intentionally drawn …
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
There is no evidence for ‘Spygate’ — but there is a reason that Trump invented it  —  In the grand tradition of Gretchen Wieners, President Trump has a new catchphrase that he is trying on for size. … “Spygate” made its debut on Wednesday morning during Trump's “executive time,” …
Emily Holden / Politico:
EPA bars reporters from toxic chemicals summit again  —  EPA staff Wednesday morning barred POLITICO and reporters from at least two other publications from entering a national summit on toxic chemicals.  —  The agency at the first day of the event on Tuesday allowed a select group of reporters …
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
Pompeo: US will fight Russian interference in 2018 elections  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration will not tolerate Russian interference in the 2018 congressional midterm elections.  —  Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday …
Associated Press:
The Latest: Pompeo hopeful N. Korea talks will take place  —  The Latest on the United States and North Korea (all times local):  —  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says it is ultimately up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un whether a planned summit with President Donald Trump takes place.
Discussion: Politico
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“That Psychopath Is Going Down”: Inside Trumpworld, a Bizarre Counter-Narrative Takes Hold  —  People in Trump's orbit have become convinced that anti-Trump forces in the F.B.I. entrapped his advisers using informants to plant evidence about Russian collusion—and that former C.I.A. director John Brennan is somehow behind the plot.
Q13 FOX News:
A week after controversial head tax passes, Seattle City Council members propose property tax increase … SEATTLE — People who own a home in King County are paying about 17% more in property taxes this year than last year to help pay for the state's funding of public education.
Discussion: Hot Air, RedState and Daily Wire
 
 
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 More Items: 
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Twitter adds candidate labels ahead of midterm elections
Discussion: Politico
Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:
A man posed for months as an ICE agent. A traffic stop led his girlfriend to unravel the truth.
Stephen Brown / Politico:
Swedish far right at record high in pre-election poll
Discussion: Daily Wire
Lacey Rose / Hollywood Reporter:
“It's a Revolution”: The Hollywood Reporter Drama Actress Roundtable
Discussion: The Root
Elana Schor / Politico:
Senators unveil proposal to overhaul Capitol Hill harassment policy
Discussion: Associated Press
Bre Payton / The Federalist:
Lying Liar James Clapper Just Lied Again About His Previous Lies About NSA Spying
Discussion: NewsBusters and Instapundit
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The sinister history underlying Neil Gorsuch's decision lashing out at American workers
Tami Abdollah / Associated Press:
Critics see no end to foreign favors to Trump businesses
 Earlier Items: 
Dallas Morning News:
Lupe Valdez becomes first Latina to win major-party nomination for Texas governor
ProPublica:
An Alarming Tip About a Neo-Nazi Marine, Then an Uncertain Response
Max Fisher / New York Times:
Deep in the Desert, Iran Quietly Advances Missile Technology
Alec MacGillis / ProPublica:
Forced To Choose Between A Job — And A Community
David Siders / Politico:
California Republicans bet the House on unknown businessman
Discussion: FITSNews
Ryan Saavedra / Daily Wire:
EXCLUSIVE: Former Trump Adviser Admits Talk Of Second Government ‘Informant’ …
Discussion: The Last Refuge
Gregory Korte / USA Today:
Trump signs security clearance reform bill — but may not comply with it
 

 
From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
The US Senate reauthorizes FISA's Section 702; some communication service providers had threatened to stop cooperating with the US government in case of a lapse

George Steer / Financial Times:
Nvidia closed down 10% on Friday, falling the most since March 2020 and losing more than $200B of its market value, as investors pull back from AI bets

 
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