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Michael Cohen will be released from prison due to pandemic — (CNN)The federal Bureau of Prisons has notified Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, that he will be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter and his lawyer.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Hill, courthousenews.com, Raw Story, The Real Deal New York, Axios, The Daily Beast and Washington Times
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My Wild, Totally Surreal Experience Covering a Trump Coronavirus Briefing — “Your forehead, please,” said the woman in a mask. — She was a medical technician sitting in a tent outside the northwest gate of the White House in the otherwise deserted section of Pennsylvania Avenue that is usually crammed with tourists in April.
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Trump calls on governors with “beautifully low” coronavirus numbers to reopen on May 1
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NBC News, One America News Network, Daily Kos, Associated Press, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, IJR and New York Post
Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
Trump snubs Romney by inviting every other GOP senator to council on restarting economy amid coronavirus
Trump snubs Romney by inviting every other GOP senator to council on restarting economy amid coronavirus
Discussion:
Breitbart

Who will Joe Biden pick as his running mate? Here's what Vegas betting odds show — With the Democratic primary field down to one candidate, attention has turned to who former Vice President Joe Biden will pick as his running mate. — While pundits are discussing the options …
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Biden says he's already choosing a presidential transition team
Discussion:
The Hill
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Sen. Joe Manchin will back Biden for president
Sen. Joe Manchin will back Biden for president
Discussion:
Fox News, One America News Network and The Hill
John Cassidy / New Yorker:
The Case for Joe Biden to Pick Elizabeth Warren as His Running Mate
The Case for Joe Biden to Pick Elizabeth Warren as His Running Mate
Discussion:
Breitbart and Washington Monthly
Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Biden shoots down Cuomo as VP pick, says it's ‘important’ that a woman be his running mate
Biden shoots down Cuomo as VP pick, says it's ‘important’ that a woman be his running mate
Discussion:
The Hill

For Mark Meadows, the Transition From Trump Confidant to Chief of Staff Is a Hard One — Only weeks into the job, the former congressman has confronted the same problems that frustrated his three predecessors. It hasn't helped him with his new White House colleagues that he's emotional and sometimes cries.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Gothamist and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Trump's new chief of staff Mark Meadows responds to frequent controversy with fits of emotion: Sources — Source predicts short tenure; White House says Meadows is “tremendous asset.” — President Donald Trump has often boasted that he not only tolerates controversy, he thrives on it.

Early peek at data on Gilead coronavirus drug suggests patients are responding to treatment — A Chicago hospital treating severe Covid-19 patients with Gilead Sciences' antiviral medicine remdesivir in a closely watched clinical trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Foreign Policy, ABC17NEWS, Balloon Juice, The US Sun, Financial Times and Reason

Small-Business Rescue Shows Not All States Are Created Equal — During the first 10 days of the federal government's small-business rescue program, the spigot was wide open in Nebraska. Firms there got enough money to cover about three-fourths of the state's eligible payrolls.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Seeking Alpha and ABC17NEWS
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The Trump administration paid a bankrupt company with zero employees $55 million for N95 masks, which it's never manufactured — The Trump administration has awarded a $55 million contract for N95 masks to a company with no experience producing medical supplies and whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Most Americans Say Trump Was Too Slow in Initial Response to Coronavirus Threat — Wide concern that states will lift COVID-19 restrictions too quickly — How we did this — As the death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral, most Americans do not foresee a quick end to the crisis.
Discussion:
Axios, The American Spectator, Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Vox, The Hill and Politico

As testing outcry mounts, Trump cedes to states in announcing guidelines for slow reopening — President Trump released federal guidelines Thursday night for a slow and staggered return to normal in places with minimal cases of the novel coronavirus, moving to try to resume economic activity …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Letters from an American

Why Michael Savage is blasting Sean Hannity and the right-wing media on the coronavirus — There are a lot of people who are ruining the country right now, according to Michael Savage. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Liberal mayors in big cities like San Francisco. Undocumented immigrants.

‘Ellen’ Crew Furious Over Poor Communication Regarding Pay, Non-Union Workers During Coronavirus Shutdown (EXCLUSIVE) — Endeavor Content, Keller/Noll Launch Game Show Podcast With ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Host Matt Iseman — Crew members from Ellen DeGeneres' long-running daytime talk show …

Trump's Job Rating Slides; U.S. Satisfaction Tumbles — WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Donald Trump works to contain the damage from the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the rally in support he enjoyed as the nation entered a virtual lockdown has faded.
Discussion:
Fox News, POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

What AOC Gets that Bernie Didn't — The 27-year-old progressive activist Sean McElwee made the POLITICO 50 list of influential thinkers in 2017 for “Abolish ICE,” a pithy slogan that more liberal Democrats adapted into a quixotic campaign to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Matt Gaetz rents office space from longtime friend and donor — at taxpayer expense — Gaetz's relationship with a Pensacola real estate developer highlights how a friendship can become intertwined with congressional duties. — Rep. Matt Gaetz. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has spent nearly $200,000 …

Berkeley institution Top Dog is on the ropes. But they still won't take federal aid. — You never forget your first trip to Top Dog. — The tiny, Berkeley-born grab-and-go grill is a rite of passage for Cal students, slinging superlative sausages late night 'til 3 a.m. — along with a side of libertarian literature.

DNC Milwaukee Host Committee reduces staff by more than half through layoffs and transfers — In the latest sign of trouble for the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this summer, the host committee announced Thursday that it is cutting its staff by more than half by reassigning some employees and laying off others.
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Yair Netanyahu tweets leftists will die of coronavirus following protest — “I hope the elderly people who die following this protest will be from your bloc,” the younger Netanyahu junior wrote on Twitter. — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair Netanyahu caused controversy Thursday night …

Snubs, feuds and phone tag: Inside Congress' coronavirus breakdown — Party leaders are squabbling like normal, even as the stakes are so much higher. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell bump elbows during an encounter in March. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Army Decides a Pandemic Is a Good Time to Give GOP Donors $569 Million to ‘Build the Wall’ — What coronavirus crisis? Big Republican donors get a half-billion dollar, no-bid deal that one watchdog calls “a travesty that must be investigated and audited immediately.” — BEAST INSIDE

Massachusetts man charged with trying to blow up Jewish nursing home — Blood found on the failed explosive matched the DNA of suspect John Michael Rathbun, 36, the FBI said. — Federal agents arrested a western Massachusetts man and accused of him trying to blow up a Jewish assisted living facility …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, New York Post and Justice News

Family of New York woman blames hydroxychloroquine combo for fatal heart attack — The 65-year-old woman was prescribed the malaria drug and an antibiotic by her doctor to treat coronavirus symptoms. — A New York woman with coronavirus symptoms died last week after being prescribed …

New York Extends Coronavirus Lockdown as Some Asian Countries See Rise in Cases — U.S. jobless claims soar as the U.K. also extends its stay-at-home policy — New York state and the U.K. moved to extend coronavirus lockdowns as U.S. jobless claims jumped and countries around the world wrestled …

A Gloomy Prediction on How Much Poverty Could Rise — Researchers suggest the poverty rate may reach the highest levels in half a century, hitting African-Americans and children hardest. — The pandemic crippling the American economy portends a sharp increase in poverty …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Chalkbeat

Country grows more pessimistic about a return to normalcy post-coronavirus: POLL — Ideological allegiance extends to nearly every aspect of the crisis. — The country is growing more pessimistic about a timeframe for a return to normalcy, with ideological allegiance extending …

An Open Letter to the New New Left From the Old New Left — Now it is time for all those who yearn for a more equal and just social order to face facts. — “THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country....
Discussion:
The Mahablog

He risked his life photographing the 1961 Freedom Riders. Theodore Gaffney just died from the coronavirus at 92. — In the spring of 1961, Jet magazine asked Theodore Gaffney, a Washington freelance photographer, to travel with the Freedom Riders, a group of activists from across the country …

The WHO doesn't only have a China problem — it has a dictator problem — This week, President Trump announced that he is suspending U.S. funding for the World Health Organization. He accused the organization of taking “China's assurances at face value” and pushing “China's misinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak there.
Discussion:
The Daily Signal

US alerted Israel, NATO to disease outbreak in China in November — report — Israeli officials said to have debated threat five months ago, before public was aware of coronavirus, but ‘nothing was done’ by Health Ministry — US intelligence agencies alerted Israel to the coronavirus outbreak …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo