memeorandum: Cabinet secretaries: They're just like us! (Politico)

5:15 PM ET, August 19, 2018

Top Items:

Giuliani: 'Truth isn't truth' — President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday claimed “truth isn't truth” when trying to explain why the president should not testify for special counsel Robert Mueller for fear of being trapped into a lie that could lead to a perjury charge.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Vox, Joe.My.God., No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire, Breitbart, The Mahablog and emptywheel

Axios:

Trump's epic Mueller gamble — Several top White House officials thought then and think now that President Trump made an epic error in rolling over to cooperate with Robert Mueller in the early stages of the special counsel investigation. — Why it matters: Trump himself thought then and thinks …

Discussion: Raw Story, Vox and New York Times

Politico:
Cabinet secretaries: They're just like us!

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times and Deadline

NBC News:
Meet the Press - August 19, 2018

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:
What John Dean Has to Say About the NYT's Blockbuster Don McGahn Story

Discussion: The Hill, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, The Daily Banter, Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, NPR, HuffPost, NY State of Politics and Raw Story

Megan Keller / The Hill:

Clapper: Brennan's rhetoric is becoming an issue — Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper — said Sunday that he thinks former CIA Director John Brennan — 's rhetoric is becoming an issue “in and of itself.” — “John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Guardian and The Daily Caller

Max Boot / Washington Post:
What will finally turn Trump's supporters against him?

Discussion: HuffPost

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:
The Untouchables vs. The Deplorables

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze and The Daily Caller

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

Speechwriter who attended conference with white nationalists in 2016 leaves White House — (CNN)A speechwriter for President Donald Trump who attended a conference frequented by white nationalists has left the White House. — CNN's KFile reached out to the White House last week about Darren Beattie …

Discussion: Political Wire

Robert Costa / Washington Post: Trump speechwriter fired amid scrutiny of appearance with white nationalists

Quinn Scanlan / ABC News:

Trump adviser John Bolton floats formal review of security clearances for former officials — President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton floated the possibility of reviewing longstanding policy allowing former government officials to keep their security clearances.

Discussion: HuffPost, AOL, Politico and Breitbart

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:
Michael Hayden says he, too, would be honored if Trump revoked his security clearance

Discussion: Washington Times

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Johnson: Brennan didn't misuse security clearance, but abused privilege

Discussion: Breitbart

Anne Helen Petersen / BuzzFeed:

Beto O'Rourke Could Be The Democrat Texas Has Been Waiting For — Beto O'Rourke's grassroots campaign to unseat Senator Ted Cruz is blazing across Texas. But can it convert energy into actual votes? — Beto O'Rourke is a prolific, prodigious sweater. We're talking shirt-soaking …

Axios:

Scoop: Trump said one-state solution would lead to Israeli PM named Mohammed — President Trump told King Abdullah of Jordan that a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might lead in a few years to someone named Mohammed becoming prime minister of Israel, according to several sources briefed on the meeting.

Susan Ferriss / Washington Post:

In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches — Tameika Lovell was retrieving luggage at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when Customs and Border Protection officers detained her for a random search. It was Nov. 27, 2016 …

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

As Trump Dismantles Clean Air Rules, an Industry Lawyer Delivers for Ex-Clients — WASHINGTON — As a corporate lawyer, William L. Wehrum worked for the better part of a decade to weaken air pollution rules by fighting the Environmental Protection Agency in court on behalf of chemical manufacturers …

Discussion: TheBlaze and Common Dreams

CBS News:

Democrats in stronger position to take the House: CBS News Battleground Tracker — Democrats have improved their standing in the fight for control of the House of Representatives. Our House model now shows the party poised to win 222 seats if the election were today, up from our estimate of 219 earlier this summer.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Blake Farenthold Blames ‘F-Tards,’ Me Too Campaign For His Downfall — Months after quitting Congress in disgrace, the Texas Republican insists his sexual harassment scandal was everyone's fault but his own. — WASHINGTON Four months after abruptly quitting Congress amid a sexual harassment scandal …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Scarce / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Kevin McCarthy Mocked For Tweet Complaining Of Conservative Censorship On Twitter — The GOP Leader, and would-be Speaker-in-waiting, joined the other Trump cultists in accusing Twitter of censoring them. — It was later pointed out pretty much immediately that he [was being a dumbass] …

Discussion: Splinter, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

The media's hatred of Trump is only hurting itself — This month marks the two-year anniversary of one of the most important articles ever written on journalism. On Aug. 7, 2016, after Donald Trump formally secured the Republican nomination and the general election was underway …

Bill Estep / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Coal jobs have dropped in Eastern Kentucky. Income has followed, new report shows — Personal income has gone down in several Eastern Kentucky counties where coal employment has been decimated in recent years, according to a report from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Ellen Knickmeyer / Associated Press:

U.S. says conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative — FILE- In this April 23, 2018, file photo a car is filled with gasoline at a station in Windham, N.H. Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement …

Discussion: Associated Press and The Daily Caller

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

Mulvaney on canceled military parade: It wasn't just the money — Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney said he believes President Donald Trump's plans for a military parade were canceled for other reasons besides the cost of the event, but would not specify other “contributing factors.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, @thebudgetguy, Political Wire and Breitbart

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

How Donald Trump made me love privileged men — A black-and-white photograph from 1962 shows special counsel Robert S. Mueller III when he was a student at the St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. — It's a hockey-team photo. Mueller, dark-haired number 12, sits front row, close to the center.

Roey Hadar / ABC News:

Trump adviser: Besides Russia, ‘national security concern’ on, China, North Korea and Iran election meddling — National Security Adviser John Bolton said Russia is only one of four countries that could potentially try to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, CNBC, POLITICUSUSA, twitchy.com, The Week and Breitbart

Amy Lieu / Fox News: China's Xi to make first official visit to Pyongyang for North Korea's 70th anniversary

Farah Master / Reuters:

Empty hotels, idle boats: What happens when a Pacific island upsets China — KOROR, Palau (Reuters) - Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.

Fox News:

Rudy Giuliani on McGahn's testimony, origins of Russia probe — Rudy Giuliani, attorney for President Trump, speaks out about the Russia investigation on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ … MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good Sunday morning. Thanks for joining us. — President Trump responding …