memeorandum: Ex-spy Valerie Plame eyeing return to Washington — as a member of Congress (Colby Itkowitz/Washington Post)

8:25 AM ET, April 6, 2019

Top Items:

The Reluctance of Bernie Sanders to Release His Damn Tax Returns Is Part of a Bigger Issue — Why hasn't Bernie Sanders just released his damn tax returns already? — It's a question that's something of a Rorschach test for Democratic primary voters. For veterans of the great war of 2016 …

Discussion: CNN, TheBlaze and Washington Post

CNN:

Trump lawyers issue letter fighting tax return request — Trump on releasing his tax returns: Speak to my lawyers — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump continues to hold his ground against Democratic efforts to obtain his tax returns, with one administration official telling CNN …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week, Trending Home, Test Feed Using Fields, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

David French / National Review:

The Trump Era Should Make Libertarians of Us All — Democrats' quest for Trump's tax returns once again highlights the distortions in American law. — Democrats and many other Trump opponents are thrilled that House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal has “formally requested” six years of Donald Trump's tax returns.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Nancy Cook / Politico: Mnuchin losing two senior Treasury aides

New York Times: Trump Lawyer Asserts President's Right to Keep Tax Returns Private

Brian Faler / Politico:
Democrats face minefield if they get Trump's tax returns

Discussion: Raw Story

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump says law ‘100 percent’ on his side in tax return fight

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Breitbart, Axios and IJR

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
President Trump's Lawyer Urges IRS to Reject Democrats' Tax-Return Demand

Discussion: Law & Crime

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

Trump raises eyebrows by saying, ‘We should get rid of judges’ — A reporter asked Donald Trump this morning why, after all of his rhetoric, he didn't close the border like he said he would. The president replied: … On the first point, the idea that Mexico is suddenly implementing policies …

Discussion: The Guardian and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:
‘Our country is full. . . . So turn around,’ Trump warns migrants during border roundtable

Discussion: Breitbart

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Trump's border threats jam up Pence's trade tour

Discussion: Raw Story

Associated Press:
‘Our country is full’: Trump says migrants straining system

Discussion: CBS San Francisco

The Babylon Bee:

Joe Biden Appointed As Head Of TSA — WASHINGTON, D.C.—Amid a flurry of accusations of inappropriate touching and crowding people's personal space leveled at former vice president Joe Biden, President Trump announced Friday that Biden is his appointment to the Transporation Security Administration.

Kevin Robillard / HuffPost:
Joe Biden Is Betting The Democratic Party Hasn't Changed

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News and PJ Media Home

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Biden: 'I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done'

Discussion: Front Page Magazine, CNN, Daily Wire, Breitbart, Politico and Washington Post

Lisa Lerer / New York Times:
Joe Biden Jokes About Hugging in a Speech, Then Offers a Mixed Apology

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, The Root, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Vox, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Common Dreams and VICE News

Matt Viser / Washington Post:
Joe Biden makes joking reference to controversy over touching women

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Quartz and Politico

Marcy Wheeler / Washington Post:

We already knew Barr's summary was too easy on Trump. Public records prove it. — Court filings and congressional testimony show the attorney general left out a lot of Mueller's findings. — When Attorney General William P. Barr released a four-page memo two weeks ago opining that …

Discussion: Raw Story

Corky Siemaszko / NBC News:

Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski might have been a woman or intersex — Researchers noticed the Polish officer's delicate bone structure after the skeleton was extracted from the Pulaski monument in Savannah, Georgia. — Casimir Pulaski, hero of the Revolutionary War and the pride …

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:

Ex-spy Valerie Plame eyeing return to Washington — as a member of Congress — Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer whose identity was leaked in 2003 by members of the George W. Bush administration, is seriously considering running for Congress in New Mexico in 2020.

Associated Press:
Ex-spy Valerie Plame eyes run for Congress in New Mexico

Discussion: twitchy.com and Axios

ProPublica:

The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn't Go Well. — Ten years ago, the tax agency formed a special team to unravel the complex tax-lowering strategies of the nation's wealthiest people. But with big money — and Congress — arrayed against the team, it never had a chance.

Discussion: Raw Story

Hell World:

I hate what they've done to almost everyone in my family — Progress is made one funeral at a time — Mom don't read this one. I love you very much and I will call soon I promise but don't read this one ok because it's about me jacking off just kidding it's about a sore spot …

Associated Press:

The Latest: Jury rejects Harry Reid therapy band injury case — LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's injury lawsuit against the maker of an exercise band (all times local): — A jury in Las Vegas rejected former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's lawsuit against an exercise band maker …

Discussion: twitchy.com

Liz Mair / USA Today:

Free speech means I don't have to be nice to Devin Nunes on Twitter. So why's he suing me? — I didn't act like Miss Congeniality toward a member of Congress. He's upset that I did my job, so now he's trying to stifle my free speech and yours. — CONNECT

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding and Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

Ex-US Congressman's Russian bank stripped of license — MOSCOW (AP) — A small Russian bank owned by former U.S. congressman Charles Taylor was stripped of its license Friday after allegedly breaking anti-money laundering rules. — Russia's central bank said that Commercial Bank of Ivanovo committed …

Charles Duncan / The Charlotte Observer:
Accused of money laundering in Russia, former NC congressman's bank loses license

Discussion: Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and BloombergQuint

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Ruling on grand jury records could affect release of Mueller report details — Mystery grand jury in Mueller probe explained — (CNN)The federal appeals court in Washington, DC, sided with grand jury secrecy on Friday, ruling that federal district judges don't have the power …

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. to Designate Iranian Guard Corps a Foreign Terror Group — The Trump administration is preparing to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. officials said, a step that would vastly escalate the American pressure campaign against Tehran but which has divided U.S. officials.

Discussion: The Guardian, The American Conservative and CNN

David Jackson / USA Today:

Donald Trump says he will again skip the White House correspondents dinner — At the 2018 White House Correspondents' dinner, comedian Michelle Wolf delivered a number of racy jokes. Her main target seemed to be Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. — CONNECT

Discussion: Washington Post and The Root, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

Is Pete Buttigieg a Transformational Candidate? — One of the reasons I thought Donald Trump would win in 2016 was not just that he was focusing on the core issues roiling the middle classes (immigration and globalization). It was because he had the perfect foil for his persona in Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: Front Page Magazine and Vulture