MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – MAY 2, 2019

Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Thursday May 2, 2019

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON

Trump Admin, Congress Ready to Designate Muslim Brotherhood a Terror Group By Adam Kredo Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Chinese Espionage Conspiracy By Bill Gertz House Republicans Present a Budget, Chide Dems for Failure to Do Same By Brent Scher Beto O’Rourke Has A Turtle Problem By Andrew Stiles QUIZ: Are These Obama-Netflix Productions Real or Fake? By Andrew Stiles Allen West Says NRA Board Voted for LaPierre, Others in Voice Vote By Stephen Gutowski Bennet’s Facebook Advertising Suggests Presidential Run Still in Cards By Todd Shepherd Survey: One in Three Americans Worries About Spending Too Much Time on Phone By Charles Fain Lehman Maddow, Democrats Use Deceptively Edited Clip to Argue Barr Lied to Congress By Alex Griswold The Fall of Beto, the Rise of Pete, and the Awfulness of Political Cartoons By Hacks on Hacks MSNBC Host on Venezuela: Because of Russia, It’s ‘Not Clear Which Side We’re On’ (It Is Clear) By David Rutz You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website. Copyright © 2019 Free Beacon, LLC, All rights reserved.  To reject freedom, click here. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

LARRY J. SABATO’S CRYSTAL BALL

>ASSESSING ELECTABILITY: LIKE NAILING JELL-O TO A WALL http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball ASSESSING ELECTABILITY: LIKE NAILING JELL-O TO A WALL
Democrats are trying to figure out who is the best to beat Trump. It’s a difficult task By Kyle Kondik
Managing Editor, Sabato’s Crystal Ball
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE — Trump’s victory in 2016 presents a great counter-argument to the idea that campaign professionals and pundits can confidently determine in advance who is electable to the presidency and who is not. — Many presidents beyond Trump have seemed unelectable at various points of their ultimately successful campaigns or benefited from the perceived unelectability of others. — As Democrats consider who has the best chance against Trump, they will have to sort through different kinds of electability arguments, any one of which may be right (or wrong), and only one of which will actually be tested. The perils of determining who is electable, and who is not “A very conservative Republican can’t win in a national election.”Gerald Ford, speaking about Ronald Reagan to the New York Times, March 2, 1980. “I think he’s got a big electability problem.” Jerry Brown, speaking about Bill Clinton, during a March 15, 1992 Democratic presidential primary debate. We’re not exactly sure when the awkward word “electability” really entered the national lexicon, but the concept — voters and party bigwigs making a pre-election assessment about who is likeliest to win — is surely as old as democracy itself. Concerns about electability are dotted throughout American history, and have sometimes led party leaders to consider alternatives to nomination frontrunners — alternatives who would go on to become historically important presidents. A couple of examples: Sen. William H. Seward (R-NY) entered the race for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination as a favorite, but questions about his perceived weakness in crucial states “formed a growing cloud on the horizon of his anticipated nomination,” wrote Civil War-era historian James McPherson. “Pragmatists from all regions and politicians from the doubtful states combined in a stop-Seward movement,” McPherson wrote. Seward led on the first ballot at the Republican convention but by the third the nomination went to a man who emerged from a position as “the darkest of horses” to become the Republican nominee: Abraham Lincoln, arguably the greatest of all the presidents. Electability concerns about Sen. Robert A. Taft (R-OH) also informed the decision of some Republican leaders to draft Dwight D. Eisenhower into the 1952 presidential race. “Electability” is clearly on the minds of Democrats as they determine who gets the nod to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee seeking a second term in the White House. A few weeks ago, the Huffington Post’s Kevin Robillard and Amanda Terkel explored the idea of electability in the Democratic Party primary. It’s something everyone seems to care about, but few can persuasively define or determine: The perception of which candidates stand the best chance of toppling Trump will play a major role in deciding who ultimately wins the Democratic Party’s nomination, according to polling and interviews with campaigns, operatives and rank-and-file voters across the early primary states.But many of those perceptions and theories — Joe Biden can win back the Rust Belt! Isn’t Elizabeth Warren a bit like Hillary Clinton? Bernie Sanders can win West Virginia! — are based on flimsy evidence. And unlike the simple question of whom voters like the most, the question of electability involves evaluating what other people might like. And that’s something voters — and even political operatives — aren’t great at. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump and his campaign manager during the last months of the 2016 contest, spoke at our University of Virginia Center for Politics’ American Democracy Conference after Trump’s victory. She questioned the ability of campaign operatives and observers to truly figure out who is electable and who is not: “What happens early in the process is, people say ‘So and so’s electable — he can win.’ And you very patiently should ask, ‘OK great, how do you know that?’ ‘Well, a hundred other people just said it on TV, it must be true,’” she said. Certainly Trump’s victory is a great argument against the idea that so-called electability can be discerned in advance. For much of the campaign cycle it didn’t seem like Trump was capable of winning, but then he did. This was a vindication for Conway, obviously, but also for many conservatives who believed in the wake of John McCain and Mitt Romney’s losses to Barack Obama that the rank and file had bowed to party leaders concerned about “electability” and nominated candidates many GOP base voters didn’t like only to see them lose anyway. As Laura Reston of the New Republic put it in a 2016 piece from the late stages of the GOP primary about Ted Cruz and John Kasich arguing they were more electable than Trump, “The way rank-and-file conservatives see it, the party acceded to its most ‘electable’ candidates in the last two cycles… For many, if not most, Republicans, ‘electability’ has come to look like a way to both compromise the party’s principles and lose general elections.” There are some problems with this argument from conservatives. Politics is often about timing, and the political conditions in 2016 for Trump (an open-seat election coming off two terms of a Democratic president with relatively mediocre approval ratings) were better than those for McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012. The former had to deal with the weight of George W. Bush’s unpopular presidency and the latter faced the unenviable task of running against an incumbent president. Obama, it now seems very fair to say, was also a superior campaigner than Hillary Clinton and had better favorability numbers. One could argue that because of extenuating circumstances, McCain and Romney, who lost, were more “electable” than Trump, who won, but on its face it’s kind of a silly argument because of what actually happened. Yes, perhaps Romney and McCain both would have won in 2016, and Trump would have lost in both 2008 and 2012. But ultimately, how can one say for sure? Other recent presidents have overcome electability concerns. As noted above, the question of Clinton’s ability to win in 1992 was such an issue that one of his competitors, then-former (and future) California Gov. Jerry Brown, was asked to opine on it during a debate. Clinton had dealt with a litany of controversies, including his rampant womanizing and questions about whether he had dodged the draft during the Vietnam war. Clinton, though consistently dogged by scandal, went on to win two terms in the White House. One of Hillary Clinton’s top aides, Mark Penn, wrote a memo in the early stages of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that included an observation that her chief rival, Obama, was “unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun.” Whether any African American could win a general election was a theme that hovered over 2008. As late as March 1980, former President Gerald Ford was saying this of his 1976 primary rival, Ronald Reagan, as part of the same interview cited above: “Every place I go and everything I hear, there is the growing, growing sentiment that Governor Reagan cannot win this election.” Ford, who at that time was still considering running again, watched as Reagan won the nomination and the presidency, re-orienting American politics toward the very same conservatism that Ford (and many others) saw as electorally unviable. The bottom line here is that there are a lot of candidates who seem unelectable until, that is, they are actually elected. Polls almost universally show Joe Biden running better against Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2020 matchup than his rivals for the Democratic nomination. Similar polls during 2015 after Donald Trump took the lead in the GOP primary generally showed him performing poorly against Hillary Clinton compared to other Republican contenders. Does that mean that any GOP nominee was destined to win in 2016 against Clinton? Perhaps. But then one looks at the granular election results, and the immense improvements Trump made on recent Republican performances in the electorally vital rural areas and small cities of Big Ten Country. It is reasonable to wonder: Could Jeb Bush have done that? Or Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio? Perhaps so, but perhaps not. But maybe those other Republicans wouldn’t have hemorrhaged as much support in some affluent suburban areas in those same states, and they could have won in a different, more traditional way. We can assemble data to suggest that from polling and extrapolating from down-ballot performances by more traditional Republicans in 2016, but there’s no way of knowing for sure. Elections are not simulations one can run over and over again to test the performance of different candidates. They are one-time propositions with “what ifs” we can only speculate about using imperfect measures, like opinion polls conducted months or even years in advance of a general election that test different possibilities of candidates. Following 2012, a report commissioned by the Republican National Committee laid out a roadmap back to national power that, among other things, emphasized the need for comprehensive immigration reform and better outreach to minorities. One couldn’t have designed in a lab a candidate who flew more in the face of that roadmap than Trump, who has demagogued immigrants, loudly insisted on building a wall along the southern border with Mexico, and broke into national GOP politics by suggesting, without proof, that the nation’s first nonwhite president wasn’t really a natural-born American. By the Republican Party’s own reckoning, Trump wasn’t electable in 2016, which helps explain why party leadership was so hostile to his candidacy (that leadership is much more supportive of Trump and his renomination now). It would be tempting for Democrats to look at Trump and argue that if Trump could fly in the face of conventional wisdom and run hard to the right and still win, then they could beat him by doing the same thing themselves and running to the left. That may end up being the case, but there are a few factors Democrats should consider before coming to that conclusion. For one thing, self-identified conservatives still outnumber liberals in the general public. It may be that the general electorate would be more open to a far-right candidate than a far-left one because of the nation’s ideological orientation. Additionally, the reality of Trump’s 2016 candidacy may be more complicated than just saying he was and is a far-right conservative. Certainly on immigration he is. But Trump also subverted usual GOP messaging on other issues. Even though he did not actually oppose the Iraq war when it started in 2003, he pitched himself in 2016 as an opponent of that war and was highly critical of Bush administration foreign policy. He also sounded like a labor-oriented Democrat on trade issues, assailing recent trade agreements. While Trump was and is a right-wing conservative on certain issues, such as immigration and other issues of patriotism and national identity (such as his loud denunciations of Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem), but in other respects he positioned himself as a critic of Republican foreign policy and trade policy. His was a hybrid candidacy. Perhaps that helps explain why Trump performed so strongly among the segment of the population who, in response to a battery of questions from the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, placed themselves in the economically moderate or liberal but culturally conservative “populist” portion of the electorate (we wrote about this in some depth in the Crystal Ball back in 2017). Logically, the most “electable” Democrat would be able to claw back some Trump voters who reside in that populist ideological portion of the electorate. We already mentioned Biden’s strength in general election polls against Trump compared to other Democrats, although we don’t think such polls are all that predictive at this point. Still, a polling edge combined with Biden’s support from the more moderate elements of the Democratic Party and his coolness to some of the more progressive policy proposals that have been discussed during the Democratic primary so far, like Medicare for all, might lead one to believe Biden is the most electable. That said, Bernie Sanders is already going after Biden for his votes to authorize the Iraq war and in support of NAFTA. Couldn’t Trump do the same, effectively getting to the left of Biden on international issues and holding his populist support in the key heartland states as a result? From that standpoint, maybe Sanders actually would be the more electable candidate; in addition to his votes against NAFTA and the Iraq war, Sanders’ political arguments are couched more on class than on race, which has sometimes gotten him into trouble with nonwhite activists who want the Democratic nominee to focus more on racial injustice and issues of white privilege. But isn’t it possible that de-emphasizing racial disparities in favor of emphasizing more color-blind class distinctions is a more electorally plausible path to winning back some white working-class voters? At the same time, could it also be possible that a Democrat who did emphasize racial justice issues could generate better turnout among nonwhite voters, thus improving on Clinton’s margins enough in big, diverse, and electorally important cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia to overcome Trump’s huge margins in the countrysides of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania? Alternately, could such a Democratic candidate reshape the electoral map altogether by competing better in the diverse, growing Sun Belt than the whiter Midwest? Different people will evaluate these different “electability” arguments in different ways. Our only point is to say that the uncertainty associated with each, and many other such arguments that will emerge, demonstrates how tricky assessing who is likeliest to win actually is.   Read the fine print Learn more about the Crystal Ball and find out how to contact us here. Sign up to receive Crystal Ball e-mails like this one delivered straight to your inbox. Use caution with Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and remember: “He who lives by the Crystal Ball ends up eating ground glass!”
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Larry J. Sabato
UVA Center for Politics
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THE FLIP SIDE

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Thursday, May 2, 2019 Attorney General William Barr Testifies On Wednesday, “in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General William Barr [defended] his handling of the Mueller report and his decision not to bring obstruction of justice charges against President Trump. Lawmakers also [questioned] him on why he didn’t disclose Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s written concerns about his initial letter to Congress summarizing his findings.” C-SPAN

On Wednesday evening, “several Democrats on the Senate committee called for Barr’s resignation

[accusing]

Barr of misleading Congress, by saying in April that he did not know whether Mueller agreed with his characterization of the report – failing to mention Mueller’s March 27 letter that Barr’s initial summary did not ‘fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office’s work’… Barr was due to face the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but pulled out after the two sides were unable to agree on the format for the hearing.” Reuters

From the Left The left takes Mueller’s letter and Barr’s testimony as confirmation that Barr is behaving more like Trump’s defense attorney than the U.S. Attorney General. “Barr said on Wednesday that he felt releasing parts of the report piecemeal would simply confuse the public. But that same critique could be leveled even more powerfully at his own, misleading-by-omission summary… Even if no specific sentence in the letter was wrong, it misleadingly downplayed the gravity and scope of the report, and misrepresented the thinking behind Mueller’s decision not to bring obstruction charges… as a side-by-side comparison of Barr’s and Mueller’s words shows, the attorney general selectively quoted from the report, and took many of those quotations out of context. The result was, as Mueller noted, that the public was misled about the contents of the report.”
David A. Graham, The Atlantic
 
“The Barr memo was worded and released in such a way that implied Mueller had given Trump a pass on obstruction, a point which was picked up in news coverage of Barr’s description. When the Mueller report itself became public this month however, it became clear that Mueller had compiled a substantial obstruction case, leaving it to Congress to decide whether to pursue it. Barr’s release of the report’s findings… went to great lengths to set a narrative that Trump was in the clear and give it time to congeal well before there was any information available to refute Trump’s barrage of self-exculpatory tweets.”
Elliot Hannon, Slate
 
“For an institutionalist like Mr. Mueller, who never once spoke up to defend himself or his work from relentless attacks from the president and his Republican allies, the letter is an unusual (and welcome) breach of protocol… The regulations governing Mr. Mueller’s work call for a ‘confidential’ report to the attorney general at the conclusion of the inquiry, which the attorney general may then release if he determined it ‘would be in the public interest.’ That Mr. Mueller quoted from this regulatory language in his letter to Mr. Barr shows that he cares about rules, perhaps to a fault. But it also shows that Mr. Mueller sensed the urgency of his conclusions — and that he couldn’t sit idly by as the chief legal officer of the United States actively undermined them.”
Editorial Board, New York Times
 
“Barr’s Senate testimony on Wednesday was a master class in obfuscation, backtracking and blame-shifting… When asked how a political campaign should react if approached by a foreign national offering dirt, Barr didn’t give the only correct and sensible answer — ‘run and call the FBI’ — but instead twisted himself in a pretzel, saying the person should first try to ascertain if the foreigner is an intel agent. And Barr pretended not to understand what basic words such as ‘receptive’ and ‘suggest’ mean, when Democrats had the nerve to use such ‘technical’ terms.”
Elie Honig, CNN
 
“There was a tortured exchange about the fact that, as Mueller details, Trump instructed then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn to have Mueller fired, and then when that was reported in the press, instructed McGahn to deny it publicly. The report even describes Trump insisting to McGahn that because he had not used the word ‘fire,’ that meant he didn’t really tell McGahn to have Mueller fired, and that meant McGahn could publicly insist that Trump never told him to have Mueller fired. McGahn, perhaps realizing how absurd that was, refused… As Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) later said about a separate matter, ‘That’s some masterful hairsplitting.’”
Paul Waldman, Washington Post
 
Regarding the larger question of the attorney general’s powers over special counsel investigations, some note that “the special counsel regulations [were] produced in 1999 by Janet Reno’s Department of Justice under Bill Clinton’s administration… For the drafters of the special counsel regulations then, the goal was to create a mechanism that would still allow investigation of the president, but would prevent future Starrs from going on what the Clinton administration perceived as witch hunts against future presidents. Putting the special counsel under the supervision of the attorney general was the centerpiece of the strategy… 
 
“Somehow, in the course of building up trust in Mueller over the last two years, many Democrats conveniently forgot that the regulations drafted by Democrats would allow the attorney general to minimize or even subvert Mueller’s findings… Blame the regulations for Barr’s distortions — and fix them. Rest assured, there will be a next time.”
Noah Feldman, Bloomberg From the Right The right defends Barr, arguing that concerns over his memo are irrelevant now that the entire report has been released, and that his previous statements were not false. “Mueller is a prosecutor employed by the Department of Justice to investigate actual and potential criminal activity and not an investigator employed by Congress to consider the case for impeachment. It was entirely fair for Barr to focus on the top-line legal conclusions in his initial statement… [in any case] within days, Barr released the entire report, with minimal material redactions. The American people have the opportunity to read every word, and so do members of Congress who may seek impeachment.”
David French, National Review

“What are Democrats so upset about? Is it that they lost a precious 25 days — from March 24 to April 18 — to spin Mueller’s findings to their liking?… [Since Trump won the 2016 election, the narrative] that he might be a Russian asset or may have conspired with Russia has been a near article of faith for the resistance. If Democrats can chastise Barr for spinning Mueller’s report for 24 days, then why can’t Republicans ask why Mueller didn’t end all the speculation about a Trump-Russia conspiracy as soon as he found out it wasn’t true?”
Eli Lake, Bloomberg

“The Democrats’ perjury/contempt/impeachment slander against Barr is based on the fact that, in prior congressional testimony, Barr was asked whether Mueller agreed with Barr’s conclusions about the report, including that there was insufficient evidence to charge obstruction. Barr replied that he did not know whether Mueller agreed. Democrats now contend that Barr must have known Mueller disagreed because he had Mueller’s letter. But Mueller’s letter doesn’t say he disagreed with Barr’s conclusion… Mueller’s complaint is that Barr ‘did not fully capture the context’ of Mueller’s magnum opus – the ‘nature and substance’ of the report… 

“Parsed carefully (which you have to do with the special counsel’s Jesuitical work), Mueller is precisely not saying that Barr misrepresented his key findings. He is saying that he and the Clinton/Obama minions he recruited to staff the case wrote the report with a certain mood music in mind. To their chagrin, Barr gave us just the no-crime bottom line.”
Andrew McCarthy, Fox News

“Read the supposedly damning exchange with Sen Chris Van Hollen. Barr is never asked whether Mueller is unhappy with his letter, just whether he’s unhappy with his conclusions, meaning his decision not to charge the president with obstruction… There’s another exchange with Rep . Charlie Crist that people are also focusing on. Barr is asked about anonymous officials from the Mueller probe telling the press they are unhappy with his summary letter. Barr, correctly, says he doesn’t know their discontents (he presumably didn’t talk to any of them about this, and wouldn’t know anyway since they were anonymous).”
Rich Lowry, National Review

Moreover, “Mr. Barr told the Senate Wednesday that he offered Mr. Mueller the chance to review his four-page letter before sending it to Congress, but the special counsel declined. Mr. Mueller worked for Mr. Barr, and that was the proper time to offer suggestions or disagree. Instead, Mr. Mueller ducked that responsibility and then griped in an ex-post-facto letter that was conveniently leaked on the eve of Mr. Barr’s testimony… 

Democrats and the media are turning the AG into a villain for doing his duty and making the hard decisions that special counsel Robert Mueller abdicated… This trashing of Bill Barr shows how frustrated and angry Democrats continue to be that the special counsel came up empty in his Russia collusion probe. He was supposed to be their fast-track to impeachment. Now they’re left trying to gin up an obstruction tale, but the probe wasn’t obstructed and there was no underlying crime. So they’re shouting and pounding the table against Bill Barr for acting like a real Attorney General.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

“Ultimately, both Attorney General Barr and Special Counsel Mueller have done the nation a service not just by clearing the President of collusion, but by returning the question of obstruction to Congress, where it belongs… Impeachment must be the only solution to Trump’s challenge to the constitutional order. The Constitution did not envision that the criminal justice system would address abuses of presidential power… The Constitution makes Congress alone accountable for removing a President who abuses his office.”
John Yoo, The Atlantic
On the bright side…

Man brings bag of moose poop to airport, says he collected it as gift for politicians.
Fox News
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POLITICO PLAYBOOK

POLITICO Playbook: What Trump is saying behind closed doors about the Democratic field

By BLAKE HOUNSHELL and DANIEL LIPPMAN 

05/02/2019 06:00 AM EDT

Presented by

President Donald Trump
Scott Turner, Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Thursday, April 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY

TIGER COMING TO TOWN … Trump administration sources tell us that TIGER WOODS is coming to the White House on Monday for a ceremony to celebrate his Masters win. Fox News’ Ed Henry tweeted he heard this Wednesday night — we poked around, and it’s true.

WHAT WILL JERRY DO? — Attorney General BILL BARR was due to appear before the House Judiciary Committee today, but the Justice Department says he ain’t comin’, as Andrew Desiderio reported in his story laying out the latest back-and-forth.

DOJ also said Barr won’t comply with Dems’ subpoena demanding he release the full, unredacted Mueller report and all the underlying evidence by today’s deadline. So what will Chairman JERRY NADLER do now?

We know he’ll hold a mock hearing today at 9 a.m. with an empty chair. Then what? Tee up a committee vote to cite Barr for contempt of the first subpoena? And later, will he compel Barr to testify for real?

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. Blake Hounshell here with Daniel Lippman, filling in for Jake and Anna.

INSIDE TRUMP’S HEAD — We talked to several people who speak frequently with President DONALD TRUMP to get a feel for how he’s thinking about the Democratic field these days.

“He talks a lot about it,” someone who knows Trump told us. “With Trump, everything is personal. So for Trump, a lot of the day is spent trying to assess the weaknesses of the other candidates.”

The president is “not necessarily” watching any particular candidate, a senior administration official said — “occasionally he’ll comment on one or another, Crazy Bernie, Sleepy Joe” — though his intense Twitter focus on Biden in recent days suggests otherwise.

“Trump believes that if you can encapsulate someone in a phrase or a nickname, you can own them,” the person who knows Trump explained. “Low-energy Jeb, Little Marco — that kind of s— really diminishes people and puts you in control of them, and that’s what Trump is a genius for doing.”

Trump isn’t particularly worried about Elizabeth Warren or Beto O’Rourke. “He thinks that he killed her with ‘Pocahontas,’” this person said. “He thinks Beto is a joke.”

There are “two camps around the president,” one person close to Trump said. “One sees an enthusiastic, charismatic candidate like a Beto or maybe a Kamala Harris as energizing the Democratic base and being the most threatening. Another camp says, ‘No, no, no, it’s the centrist type like a Joe Biden.’”

Others counter that even Biden will have to tack hard left if he wants to win the primary. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh likened the Democratic field to “one big socialist organism with 20 heads.”

Both camps see the election coming down to states — Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — where Biden seems strong on paper.

But ultimately, the person close to Trump said, he’s more worried that his great run of economic news might run out: “The president looks at it as his main threat is the Federal Reserve.”

Does Trump think he can lose? “I don’t think he’s worried about any one of them,” said one person close to the president. Or, as another of our sources put it, “Trump has a very bad sense of danger.”

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RELATED … GABBY ORR and MARC CAPUTO: “Trump’s Biden-bashing splits his advisers”: “As the 2020 Democratic presidential field began to form earlier this year, Trump campaign officials received a directive from the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner: Don’t meddle in primary politics.

“Targeting specific Democratic presidential hopefuls was at best a waste of time—and could even be counterproductive, Kushner warned. …

“One school of thought [inside Trump’s orbit] holds that an early front-runner like Biden … must be attacked early and often. Another argues that engaging Biden gives the Democrat exactly what he wants in a 20-candidate primary field: the image that he is already waging a head-to-head battle with a rattled incumbent.

“‘We’ve asked him — I’ve personally asked him — to stop. It’s not helping us. It’s helping Biden,’ said one Trump adviser.” POLITICO

A message from the American Beverage Association:

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NANCY SCOLA SCOOP —Exclusive: New privacy oversight on the table for Facebook, Zuckerberg”: “Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission are negotiating a possible settlement that would require the company to place privacy-minded executives at the company’s highest levels, a source close to the talks told POLITICO on Wednesday — in addition to paying the expected multibillion-dollar fine it disclosed last week.

“The steps, which are subject to change until a deal is final, would include appointing a federally approved privacy official at the social network and creating an ‘independent’ privacy oversight committee that may include Facebook board members, said the person, who requested anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.” POLITICO

A message from the American Beverage Association:

Three competitors—Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi—are working together to reduce sugar consumed from beverages. That’s a big deal.

PLACE YOUR BETS … WAPO: “Thune says Trump’s choice of Moore for Fed Board ‘is in trouble,’ expects decision on nomination this week”

TRUMP’S THURSDAY — The president has two events on his public schedule. At 11 a.m., he and the first lady will participate in the National Day of Prayer Service in the White House Rose Garden. Then, at 2:30 p.m., he’ll huddle with Republican senators in the Roosevelt Room.

PLAYBOOK READS

A man walks past garbage that was put on fire in Paris
PHOTO DU JOUR: A man walks past garbage that was put on fire in Paris, on Wednesday, May 1 after scuffles between police and protesters broke out as thousands gathered for May Day rallies under tight security measures. | Francois Mori/AP Photo

THE BARR AFTER-ACTION REPORT … NYT’S PETER BAKER: “Barr Defends Handling of Mueller Report Against Withering Rebukes”: “The hearing was electric, one of those Washington moments when power, politics and passion meet before the klieg lights.

“At the center of the clash was nothing less than the presidency and the integrity of the law enforcement system, but the hours of back-and-forth reinforced the dueling realities defining the two parties.

Democrats skipped over the fact that Mr. Mueller accused Mr. Trump of no crime and instead focused on the evidence within his report that they still saw as proof of wrongdoing. Republicans dismissed the report’s damning elements and shifted attention to what Mr. Trump has called the actual scandal, the fact that he was investigated in the first place.” NYT

— CLIFFSNOTES: “‘The letter’s a bit snitty,’ Mr. Barr said near the end of the hearing, ‘and I think it was probably written by one of [Mueller’s] staff people.’” NYT

— @MerriamWebster: “To be ‘snitty’ is to be disagreeably ill-tempered. Got it?”

— WHO WON THE BARR PRIMARY? Three Democratic presidential hopefuls grilled the attorney general during Wednesday’s Senate hearing. The consensus rankings from our Twitter feeds: 1) Kamala Harris, who impressed with her focused, sharp questions; 2) Amy Klobuchar, who got Barr to confirm that the White House pressured GOP senators not to support efforts to create a paper ballot trail; and 3) Cory Booker, who didn’t make much of an impression.

— HILLARY CLINTON TRASHES BARR: “He auditioned for the job with his 19-page memo basically saying there is no such thing as obstruction of justice when it comes to a president. He was hired to make sure that was a reality. He has behaved in that way. … Calling for his resignation makes perfect sense because he is not discharging the duties of the office. He is not going to resign. And at this point, I think we know that we know what we need to know about him.” MSNBC video POLITICO highlights

— FREELANCER @marcusdipaola in Des Moines:“@JoeBiden calls on AG Bill Barr to resign: ‘I think he’s lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should.’” Watch the video

@marcusdipaola: “While getting the video I just shot of Biden calling for Barr to resign, a @JoeBiden staffer physically placed her body between me and the candidate, causing me to bump into her.”

— DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN: Who got tossed under the Bill Barr bus?”

— JON HUNTSMAN speaks … The U.S. ambassador to Russia spoke to PRI’s “The World” about the aftermath of the Mueller report: “I think many on the Russian side conclude that maybe this is the magic elixir and all of our issues are all of a sudden solved, and we have to remind them that, no, this does not solve any of our issues. We still have a lot of the underlying challenges and problems that brought us to where we are today.” The interview

VENEZUELA LATEST — “Guaidó’s supporters and Maduro’s forces clash in second day of Venezuelan protests,” by WaPo’s Anthony Faiola in Panama City, Mariana Zuñiga in Caracas and Mary Beth Sheridan in Mexico City: “[T]he chaotic events of the day before — which began with [opposition leader Juan] Guaidó’s calling for a peaceful insurrection by the military and ended with few takers and Maduro still in the presidential palace — left opposition supporters grappling with a sense of a pivotal moment lost.

“Many in the ranks remained resolute after a day of violence that left one man dead, dozens injured and more detained. But there were also strains of confusion and disappointment.” WaPo

A message from the American Beverage Association:

America’s beverage companies are working together to bring you more ways to help reduce calories from sugar.

2020 WATCH — MUCK READ … KEN VOGEL and IULIIA MENDEL in the NYT: “Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies”

“Biden calls for end to U.S. support for Saudi war in Yemen,” by WaPo’s Josh Rogin

— ANGELA WRIGHT-SHANNON in WaPo, “Joe Biden doesn’t owe me an apology. Clarence Thomas does”: “[A]s ‘the uncalled witness’ in the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, I believe we have more pressing issues than whether Biden has sufficiently apologized for what did or did not happen almost three decades ago. … I disagree with those who say only Biden is to blame for the way the hearing unfolded. More condemnable are Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and former senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), who interrogated Hill and challenged her credibility.” WaPo

Pete and Chasten Buttigieg

BORDER TALES — “Emails show Trump admin had ‘no way to link’ separated migrant children to parents,” by NBC’s Jacob Soboroff: “On the same day the Trump administration said it would reunite thousands of migrant families it had separated at the border with the help of a ‘central database,’ an official was admitting privately the government only had enough information to reconnect 60 parents with their kids, according to emails obtained by NBC News. ‘[I]n short, no, we do not have any linkages from parents to [children], save for a handful,’ a Health and Human Services official told a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 23, 2018.” NBC

WORTH THE CLICK — For its new “Money Issue,” The New York Times Magazine put together this gorgeous slideshow on the sad end of General Motors’ Lordstown plant, with photos by Latoya Ruby Frazier and text by Dan Kaufman: NYT

MEDIAWATCH — SORTA MEET THE PRESS: So far, Biden isn’t taking questions from journalists during media gaggles on his campaign stops, our colleague Marc Caputo notes. Nor is he fielding questions from members of the audience at his events, though he is working the rope lines and talking to voters fairly often. And Biden did take a few questions from select pool reporters at a carefully staged event.

— Why the caution? Biden has had a great week since his announcement. He’s tops in the polls. He’s leading in endorsements. And Trump is rage-tweeting him, making Biden look like the Democrat who most worries the president. No reason to mess that up for the once-gaffe-prone former VP if he winds up in a media scrum.

— Natasha Korecki adds: “If he doesn’t take questions he’ll be unlike others in the field. Warren does it at every event. Even Buttigieg took questions at a 1,600-person rally and I believe Bernie is doing the same now. They’re submitted to staff and then the candidate reads it from the stage.”

— MICHAEL KELLY AWARD FINALISTS: The Atlantic released the names of four journalists the magazine is honoring for their “fearless pursuit and expression of truth in journalism.” The awardees: Hannah Dreier of ProPublica; Christine Kenneally of BuzzFeed; Maggie Michael, Nariman El-Mofty and Maad al-Zikry of the AP; and Connor Sheets from Alabama Media Group. The winner will be announced May 23. The finalists

— DEEP DIVE … “How an anti-Semitic cartoon ended up in The New York Times,” by CNN’s Brian Stelter, Hadas Gold and Oliver Darcy: “In interviews this week, 16 Times staffers described a short-staffed international publication; an opinion section prone to self-inflicted wounds; and an ongoing debate about the newspaper’s biases and blind spots. …

“[On Wednesday publisher A.G.] Sulzberger spoke out about the cartoon for the first time. He wrote in an internal memo that ‘we are taking disciplinary steps’ with the editor involved, and making a series of procedural changes to ‘ensure adequate oversight.’” CNN

— WAIT, WHAT? — CNN’s Anderson Cooper is moderating a town hall May 9 with … former FBI Director James Comey.

— Here’s the money quote from Comey’s NYT op-ed attacking Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein, published while Wednesday’s hearing was still ongoing: “Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. … Trump eats your soul in small bites.” NYT

VALLEY TALK — BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK COVER: “The Most Valuable Company (for Now) Is Having a Nadellaissance: Under Satya Nadella, Microsoft has more subscribers than Netflix, more cloud computing revenue than Google, and a near-trillion-dollar market cap,” by Austin Carr and Dina Bass (print cover headline: “The Miracle of Microsoft: The greatest tech company of the 1990s is back!”)

“Silicon Valley is awash in Chinese and Saudi cash — and no one is paying attention (except Trump): A tough, new enforcement regime is becoming a geopolitical minefield for venture capitalists and startups,” by Recode’s Teddy Schleifer

PLAYBOOKERS

HOT JOB — Facebook: “Product Policy Associate Manager, Global Elections”

TRANSITIONS — Candace Owens has left as communications director at Turning Point USA, she wrote on Instagram. … Tanya Bradsher will be chief of staff for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). She is the former assistant secretary for public affairs for the Obama DHS. … Joanna Rodriguez, former comms director for Michael Waltz and Carlos Curbelo, started as an NRSC press secretary.

DHS DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Per Ted Hesson and Daniel Lippman: “Homeland Security Department chief of staff Miles Taylor will step down from his role, he told staffers in a farewell email … Taylor — who has held the role only since February — will be the latest high-level department official to leave his position amid a broader bloodletting at DHS. In the email, Taylor asked DHS personnel to contact Patrick Flanagan, a former chief of staff to now-acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, with business related to his chief of staff role.”

SPOTTED: Terry McAuliffe in the last row of first class on a United flight from LAX to IAD on Wednesday. He had a copy of the Wall Street Journal.

OUT AND ABOUT — Michael Best & Friedrich LLP and Michael Best Strategies LLC hosted a reception Wednesday night for clients and friends featuring Reince Priebus, former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and Kevin Barner to celebrate their new office on The Wharf. SPOTTED: Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Matt Murray, editor-in-chief of the WSJ. What he’s been reading: “I’m always restlessly picking up and putting down too many books at once. But I raced through Mark Bowden’s ‘The Last Stone,’ about the Lyon sisters, which was a major event from my childhood. I’m working through ‘Fear Itself’ by Ira Katznelson, which is illuminating about the New Deal. And just starting ‘The Panic of 1819,’ about a signal event in the early republic, feeding my interest in Jacksonian America.” Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Mika Brzezinski … Jesse Rodriguez, director of booking at MSNBC, celebrating in Beirut, where they’ll spend several days exploring the city and the ruins (hat tip: Michael LaRosa) … Steve Elmendorf (h/t Alex Slater) … Kimberly Morrall, senior director of W.H. Cabinet affairs … former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, now founder and chairman of PSP Capital Partners, is 6-0 … Kyle Downey … former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe … Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is 51 … Rob King … Megan Harrington is 34 … Julianna Goldman … Karen Doyne (h/ts Ben Chang) … Gabe Cahn is 29 … Rick Stengel is 64 … Arielle Goren … Alan Gross is 7-0 … Facebook’s Lindsey Held Bolton (h/t Tucker Bounds) … Taylor Lioce (h/t Fred Brown) … Marton Dunai … Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is 72 … Drew Florio is 31 … Will Morrow (h/t Andy Barr) … Florence Shapiro is 71 … North Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov is 59 … Jacques Rogge is 77 …

… CNN’s Poppy Harlow (h/t Kelley McCormick) … POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury … CISA’s Daniel Kroese is 31 (h/t wife Mary) … Emily Tisch Sussman, founder and president of ETS Advisory … Hilary Clifford … Doug Gordon … Katie Thompson … Courtney Snowden and her twin sister Crystal Snowden … Raul Paez is 24 … Avi Small is 25 (h/t Ed Wasserman) … Joel Payne … Tracy Terrill … Jeff Butler … Dean Stephens … Brett Russell … N.Y. Assemblyman David Weprin is 63 … BofA’s Bess Evan (h/t Kyle Lierman) … T.W. Arrighi, comms director for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), is 29 (h/t Matt Swift) … Rush E. Baker IV … Stephen Schatz, deputy COS for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (h/t Amelia Chasse) … Sheila Grant … Conchita Cruz … former Rep. Robert L. Turner (R-N.Y.) is 78 … Ben Barber … Kathy Barks Hoffman … Bridget O’Meara … Lauren Azar … Lauren Devoll, public policy associate at Twitter … Mollie Wilken is 27 … Joe Jongewaard (h/t Teresa Vilmain) … Patricia E. Rausch … Will Bohlen, SVP at Cogent Strategies … Ben Austin is 5-0 … Alon Ben-Meir … Leo Cendrowicz is 49 … Amanda Sherzer … Christian Pierre-Canel … Nate Zimpher … Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is 47 (h/t AP)

A message from the American Beverage Association:

America’s beverage companies—Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi—are working hard to support families as they reduce the sugar in their diets. That means offering more great tasting options with less sugar or no sugar at all, putting clear calorie labels on every product and working with public health organizations and other national and local partners to build stronger, healthier communities. With more choices, smaller portions and less sugar, America’s families can find the balance that’s right for them.

THE RESURGENT

The Resurgent’s Morning Briefing for May 2,2019 View this email in your browser Share Tweet Forward Good morning,

Here is all the news conservatives need to know to start their day.  At 4pm ET, you can catch me on radio to bring you up to speed on developments throughout the day.  You can listen live here.  

Washington Leaders Seem to be Fighting Over a Corpse At this point, we probably ought to ask if the United States still has a pulse. It looks more and more like the political class in Washington is just fighting over the corpse. Our nation is completely unprepared for coming crises, is on the verge of bankruptcy, and both sides are pointing fingers and focusing on partisan squabbles instead of real threats. For every Democrat who would read all this and say “But Trump,” I’d reply that Russian meddling began during the Obama Administration after Obama said they were not a threat. But pointing fingers is beside the point now. We have problems as a nation without anyone in Washington ready to play a long game to fix them. The post Washington Leaders Seem to be Fighting Over a Corpse appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


AL State Rep. on Abortion: “Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later” The success of the abortion lobby depends on their ability to deviously hide the substance of the practice being discussed. They need to keep the conversation vague and about choice without any respect to the violent, murderous choice being chosen or the existence of the human being in his or her mother’s womb. Not all […] The post AL State Rep. on Abortion: “Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later” appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Scientists: Humans to Eat Bug Hot Dogs Appetizing right? Wait wait wait, aren’t bugs already in hot dogs? If you’re a fan of Frasier, you’ll remember an episode where Martin gets sick while he is supposed to be at a school safety assembly.  Niles fills in for him and tells the kids about hygiene and food safety. Niles says this, “Well, I […] The post Scientists: Humans to Eat Bug Hot Dogs appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Uncle Joe Surges Into Lead If there’s one thing we should have all learned from the 2016 election it’s that nobody knows anything anymore. But pundits gotta eat so everyone is weighing in on Joe Biden’s chances at being elected president. And they’re all pretty much agreed that he has no chance. He’s too old/too white/too handsy/too prone to gaffes/too […] The post Uncle Joe Surges Into Lead appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Here’s The Clip of Lindsey Graham That Everyone Is Talking About The post Here’s The Clip of Lindsey Graham That Everyone Is Talking About appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Mike Lee Goes Off on Democrats and the Media The post Mike Lee Goes Off on Democrats and the Media appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Sanders: GOP Wants Low Minority Turnout So They Prevent Felons From Voting The post Sanders: GOP Wants Low Minority Turnout So They Prevent Felons From Voting appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Democratic Candidate Wants to Quattuordecuple The Amount of Money in Politics Democrats complain about money in politics so they want even more of it! After the 2016 election, the Washington Post decried the amount of money spent in pursuit of electing Trump and Hillary as well as congressmen and senators. Two years ago, the Washington Post said this regarding the 2016 election, “$6.5 billion is a […] The post Democratic Candidate Wants to Quattuordecuple The Amount of Money in Politics appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Antisemitism And The Chabad of Poway Synagogue Shooting There was a manifesto. The other day, DailyMail ran an extensive article on the contents of a manifesto that is likely linked to the synagogue shooter. DailyMail says, The manifesto author wrote that he was carrying out the attack on the synagogue because he was a good Christian. ‘My god understands why I did what […] The post Antisemitism And The Chabad of Poway Synagogue Shooting appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »


Mama Mia! Joe Biden reveals his campaign slogan for 2020. The post Mama Mia! appeared first on The Resurgent.  Read in browser »




  Recent Items: Remember, you can listen to the Erick Erickson Show anytime and anywhere via WSB Radio, iTunes, Stitcher, and Soundcloud.

As always, you can find pretty much anything and everything I’m writing about throughout the day via The Resurgent.

Thanks for reading and tuning in.

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THE DAILY SIGNAL

  May 02, 2019   Good morning from Washington, where Democrats unhappy about the findings of the Mueller report take it out on Attorney General William Barr. We’ve got key takeaways of a Senate hearing from Fred Lucas. Will Congress step up to pay for fixing the mess at the southern border? Jim Carafano weighs in, and Obama border chief Mark Morgan visits the podcast. Plus: Sen. Mike Lee on why the Declaration of Independence matters, Joel Griffith on what drives hatred of Jews, and Kelsey Bolar and Lauren Evans pose problematic questions.       News 7 Big Moments in William Barr’s Senate Testimony on Mueller Report Barr says he will make his findings available to Congress after he reviews the pre-election government surveillance of a Trump campaign official and the origins of the counterintelligence operation against the Trump team. More Analysis Former Border Patrol Chief Explains Why Border Crisis Is Worst It’s Been in US History Former Obama Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan says the crisis is far worse than it was in the 1990s and early 2000s, due to the number of families released into the country and never deported. More Commentary Lies Are Fueling the Rise of Anti-Semitism Right now college campuses provide a safe quarter for the unlawful behavior of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement—a movement rooted in anti-Semitism. More Commentary Trump Is Asking for Emergency Border Funds. Is Congress Still AWOL? The president’s critics can claim they don’t want open borders—but if they oppose providing resources to secure the border, oppose immigration enforcement, and refuse to close the asylum loopholes, how are they not for open borders? More Commentary Problematic Women: Where’s the Phyllis Schlafly of Our Time? We take on a New York Times column asking, “Where Are the Socially Conservative Women in This Fight?,” and discuss the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition’s decision to feature the first Muslim model wearing a hijab and burkini. More Analysis Sen. Mike Lee Explains How the Declaration of Independence Makes America Exceptional “Whenever liberty is jeopardized, it’s often … because equality morphs into radical egalitarianism, and people start to see the state, the brooding omnipresence of government, as the answer to create an equality of outcomes,” says Sen. Mike Lee. More           The Daily Signal is brought to you by more than half a million members of The Heritage Foundation.
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ROLL CALL

 
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Morning Headlines

Democrats learning their subpoenas are only as powerful as Trump allows

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As Donald Trump vows to fight every congressional subpoena issued by House committees investigating his presidency and personal affairs, Democratic lawmakers and strategists are coming to grips with a new reality in which the subpoena might be obsolete. Read More…

First women to lead spending panel have a mission: keep the lights on

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The first all-female duo leading the House Appropriations Committee since its Civil War-era creation is setting out to avoid the mess they walked into on Day One of their new roles — a government shutdown. Read More…

Trump already forging campaign path to rebuild 2016 electoral map

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First Michigan. Then Wisconsin. And now Florida. President Donald Trump is already on a narrow electoral path to a second term, largely of his own creation. Read More…

2020 Democrats showcase campaign styles in Barr hearing

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Three presidential contenders were in the national spotlight Wednesday thanks to their day jobs as senators. And the questions they directed at Attorney General William Barr highlighted how each is also approaching the race to take on President Donald Trump.  Read More…

After gun massacre, Charlotte is now ‘one of those cities’

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OPINION — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Now we’re one of those schools.” That’s what a  University of North Carolina student, in more sadness than anger, told a local radio station after a gunman killed two and wounded four others on her campus on Tuesday. And now Charlotte, a city already experiencing a spike in homicides, is “one of those cities.” Read More…

If Trump had been a master builder instead of a malevolent tweeter

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OPINION — Imagine an alternative universe where Donald Trump understands words like “presidential” and “emotional self-control.” In that science fiction world, the 45th president’s Tuesday meeting with the Democratic congressional leadership would have served as a model for his entire administration. Read More…

Road trip: Romney and Murphy the newest Senate Middle East travel team

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As the leaders of the Senate subcommittee focused on foreign policy in the Middle East, Sens. Mitt Romney and Christopher S. Murphy might be spending a lot of time together overseas in the coming years. Read More…

Lobbyists to Congress: Pay staffers better

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K Street denizens and former members of Congress offered tips on Wednesday for making Capitol Hill great again to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, including recommendations to help Congress keep pace with lobbyists like themselves. Read More…

Koch brothers, no fans of Trump, boost lobbying spending

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The famously conservative Koch brothers, Charles and David, were among those libertarian-minded conservatives who sat out the 2016 presidential election out of distaste for Donald Trump. Read More…

GOP conservatives sharpen knives for spending fight

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Conservatives are making a fresh push to spread their message of fiscal discipline after new estimates that the Medicare and Social Security trust funds will soon be depleted, and amid talk of a $2 trillion infrastructure spending package and busting discretionary spending limits. Read More…

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CAFFEINATED THOGUHTS

Connect: Facebook Twitter YouTube View this email in your browser ”Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving,” (Colossians 4:2, ESV). Ernst: Complete Trade Deals, End Tariffs By Shane Vander Hart on May 01, 2019 05:59 pm
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, called on the Trump administration to complete lingering trade deals, in particular the USCMA, and end the tariffs.
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Did the Iowa Legislature Do on Behalf of Taxpayers? By Shane Vander Hart on May 01, 2019 03:56 pm
Iowans for Tax Relief recaps the 2019 session of the 88th Iowa General Assembly on what the legislature did to advance sound fiscal policy.
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CDN NEWS BLAST

CDN’s Daily News Blast delivers the day’s news first! View this email in your browser CDN Daily News Blast 05/02/2019 Excerpts: President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Thursday, May 2, 2019 By R. Mitchell – President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in the National Day of Prayer Service in the Rose Garden of the White House. Later, the president will meet with Senate Republicans. Keep up with Trump on CDN’s Presidential Schedule Page. President Trump’s schedule for 5/2/19 All Times EDT: 11:00 … President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Thursday, May 2, 2019 is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
Read on »

The Trump Appointee Who Believed Trump By Michael R Shannon – The suggestion that the Trump administration release illegal aliens in sanctuary cities was the inspiration of Deputy White House Policy Coordinator May Davis. Broaching this idea indicates that Davis is either very courageous or never plans on eating an undisturbed restaurant meal in the DC area again. Davis’ inspiration is … The Trump Appointee Who Believed Trump is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Attorney General Bill Barr Cancels House Judiciary Committee Testimony By Henry Rodgers – Attorney General William Barr will reportedly no longer testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, as Democrats voted to allow staffers to question Barr. “Barr has been in a dispute with the committee over its plans to have a counsel question the top law enforcement official alongside … Attorney General Bill Barr Cancels House Judiciary Committee Testimony is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Ilhan Omar Blames America For Venezuela Chaos And ‘Devastation’ By Molly Prince – Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar stated Wednesday American policies were the catalyst for the armed conflict that tore through the Venezuelan capital of Caracas a day earlier, rather than blaming socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro. “You know, I mean, a lot of the policies that we have put in place has … Ilhan Omar Blames America For Venezuela Chaos And ‘Devastation’ is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Pentagon Leaders Urge Quick Defense Budget Approval to Sustain Momentum By Jim Garamone – Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan thanked the House Appropriations defense subcommittee for its work last year to pass the DOD budget on time, and asked them to duplicate the feat so the department doesn’t lose momentum. Shanahan and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, … Pentagon Leaders Urge Quick Defense Budget Approval to Sustain Momentum is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Watch: President Trump Participates in National Day of Prayer Dinner By R. Mitchell – President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the annual National Day of Prayer Dinner held at the White House. Watch: Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and … Watch: President Trump Participates in National Day of Prayer Dinner is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
Read on »

Democrats & Republicans Please Imagine the Following Fanciful Scenario… By Amanda Alverez – Well, it’s election night, 2020, and America is learning that Bado Bozo O’Rourke wins the Presidential political race. As would be expected, the presidential campaign was hard-fought and bitter. A major political victory and upset! Then immediately after the results become official, President Trump’s weaponized political machine, Fox News, DoJ, … Democrats & Republicans Please Imagine the Following Fanciful Scenario… is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Poll: Most Americans Don’t Consider Mueller Report ‘Important Factor’ In 2020 Decision By Peter Hasson – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling won’t be an “important factor” for most voters when deciding for whom to vote in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new poll released Wednesday. Just six percent of Americans consider the Mueller report the “most important factor” in their 2020 … Poll: Most Americans Don’t Consider Mueller Report ‘Important Factor’ In 2020 Decision is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Judge Says Democrats Can Proceed With A Novel Emoluments Lawsuit Against Trump By Kevin Daley – Democratic lawmakers can proceed with their lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump is violating an anti-corruption provision of the Constitution, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected the president’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to proceed to an evidence-gathering phase … Judge Says Democrats Can Proceed With A Novel Emoluments Lawsuit Against Trump is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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The Three Bs – Tina Toon By Tina – The Three Bs Okay, I had a little fun here. Beta Biden– “Make America Moral Again” or “MAMA” IF he can stay awake. Beta BETO Fading fast and reduced to a Democrat version of the “Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man” Beta Butt Just the sticky new flavor of … The Three Bs – Tina Toon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Democrats Told To Avoid Talking About Paris Climate Accord Ahead Of Voting On It By Michael Bastasch – House Democratic leaders told members to avoid talking about the Paris climate accord ahead of a scheduled vote on legislation to remain in the international agreement. Lawmakers were told in a closed-door meeting Tuesday to instead emphasize the economic benefits of staying in the Paris agreement, E&E News reported. Democrats … Democrats Told To Avoid Talking About Paris Climate Accord Ahead Of Voting On It is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Trump Asking Congress For Billions More In Border Emergency Funding By Jason Hopkins – The Trump administration on Wednesday requested an additional $4.5 billion in emergency border spending from Congress, a request that will likely face pushback from Democratic lawmakers. “The situation becomes more dire each day. The migration flow and the resulting humanitarian crisis is rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government … Trump Asking Congress For Billions More In Border Emergency Funding is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Barr ‘Surprised’ Mueller Didn’t Make Decision On Obstruction By Chuck Ross – Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that he was “surprised” that Special Counsel Robert Mueller declined to make a decision on whether President Trump obstructed the Russia probe. During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr said that he was “absolutely” confident in his decision not to pursue an … Barr ‘Surprised’ Mueller Didn’t Make Decision On Obstruction is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Jobama – A.F. Branco Cartoon By A.F. Branco – With Trump’s big economic success among all the other promises made and kept, about all Biden has to offer is bringing us back to more failed Obama style policies. Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2019. See more Branco toons HERE Jobama – A.F. Branco Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Athletes With High Testosterone Can Be Barred From Women’s Sports By Mary Margaret Olohan – Athletes with high levels of testosterone will have to take suppressants if they want to compete in women’s sports, according to a Wednesday court ruling from the highest court in international sports. The Swiss Court of Arbitration for Sport decided Wednesday that though restrictions on testosterone levels can be discriminatory, … Athletes With High Testosterone Can Be Barred From Women’s Sports is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Adam Schiff, Who Pushed False Collusion Narrative For 2 Years, Calls On Barr To Resign By Chuck Ross – A top House Democrat who pushed the now-debunked collusion narrative for more than two years is calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign from office for giving what he claims is “deliberately false and misleading” testimony to Congress last month. “There’s no sugarcoating this: I think he should step … Adam Schiff, Who Pushed False Collusion Narrative For 2 Years, Calls On Barr To Resign is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Watch Live: Attorney General Barr Testifies Before Senate Committee By R. Mitchell – U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning on the contents of the Mueller Report and his summation of the key findings. Barr’s testimony is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Live Streams of William Barr’s Senate Testimony 5/1/19 Fox News Golden State Times … Watch Live: Attorney General Barr Testifies Before Senate Committee is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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WikiLeaks’ Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail For Jumping Bail In 2012 By Mary Margaret Olohan – A British court sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison Wednesday for jumping bail in 2012. The court sentenced 47-year-old Assange to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail and fleeing to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London after Sweden requested his extradition following sexual assault allegations, according … WikiLeaks’ Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail For Jumping Bail In 2012 is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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Gillibrand Reveals First Major Policy Proposal: Give Voters Money To Give Back to Politicians By Molly Prince – Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand revealed a plan Wednesday that would give every voter in the U.S. up to $600 to donate to political candidates running for federal office. “If you want to accomplish anything that the American people want us to accomplish — whether it’s healthcare as a right, … Gillibrand Reveals First Major Policy Proposal: Give Voters Money To Give Back to Politicians is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.
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BRIGHT

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Thursday, May 2, 2019



Democrats Drum Up Hit Job on AG William Barr
Democrats frustrated with the Mueller Report’s inability to find criminality in President Trump’s actions have now selected their next target for a public takedown – AG William Barr. Barr is being lambasted by the Left for his supposed “mishandling” of the Mueller Report in March. Several Democrats have called for impeachment, though the impeachment of an AG has never occurred before. The mantra of the Left is supposedly rescuing our beloved norms by destroying all of them. 
 
The slim basis of Democrats’ hysterical cries for impeachment are found in a recently leaked letter from Robert Mueller expressing frustration with Mueller’s framing of the Mueller investigation’s finding. But as Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire points out, this whole takedown seems like a lazy hit job on the part of the media, fueled seemingly by Mueller’s own disappointment that his investigation couldn’t rustle up something worthy of prosecution:
 
“On Tuesday evening, the day before Attorney General William Barr was set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, The Washington Post obtained a “leaked” letter from Special Counsel Robert Mueller to Barr, written just days after Barr first released a letter summarizing the conclusions of Mueller’s findings. According to the Post’s headline, “Mueller complained to Barr about memo on key findings.” But that wasn’t actually what Mueller was complaining about.
 
It turns out that Mueller was complaining, not about the inaccuracy of Barr’s summary of his conclusions, but that Barr hadn’t captured the “context, nature, and substance” of Mueller’s work…
 
So, what exactly did Barr do wrong? He didn’t lie. His letter was an accurate summation of the bottom line of the Mueller report… So what Mueller actually wanted is what he eventually got with the release of the full report: he wanted the media and Democrats to hone in on a political case for impeachment, rather than the criminal bottom line. And he didn’t like that Barr did what the Attorney General is supposed to do: avoid smearing unprosecutable people for unspecified crimes. Barr instead issued a statement explaining that no prosecution would take place.”
 
Barr’s testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee discussing the Mueller investigation once again reiterated no findings of collusion and that he had assigned staff to investigate allegations of spying against the Trump campaign. Barr also clarified some of Mueller’s criticisms of his summary, noting in a phone call that Mueller had been concerned about the media’s representation of the investigation as a consequence of Barr’s summary. From The Washington Post:
 
“In…a phone call [subsequent to Mueller’s letter], Mueller told Barr that he was concerned in particular that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and created public misunderstandings about the office’s work, Barr testified. Barr asserted several times that in that call, the special counsel said that he was not upset with the accuracy of Barr’s summary but rather “that he wanted more out there to provide additional context.”
 
For an entertaining dismantling of the Democrats’ argument, here’s Ted Cruz’s speech at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
 
Venezuelans Take to the Street Protesting Maduro’s Socialist Regime
Wednesday marked the second day of protests in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas, as thousands filed into the streets to protest the socialist regime of President Maduro at the behest of opposition leader Gauido. From Fox News:
 
“If the regime thought we had reached maximum pressure, they cannot even imagine,” Guaidó told supporters, according to Reuters. “We have to remain in the streets.”
 
Maduro took to the airwaves on Tuesday night to proclaim that the rebellion had been defeated, but that didn’t stop Guaidó, who in a video tweeted Tuesday night urged the military to join with those seeking change in Venezuela.

So far, only one high-ranking officer and a small group of soldiers have broken publicly from Maduro. The leader of SEBIN, Venezuela’s secret police, reprimanded Maduro in a letter he wrote to the Venezuelan people on Tuesday. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera said it’s time to “rebuild the country.”

Maduro on Tuesday was “ready” to up and flee the Central American nation amid calls for his ouster, but Russia convinced him to stay, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox News’ “Special Report.” The U.S., along with around 50 other countries, believe that Maduro’s most recent election was fraudulent and have argued that he’s not the legitimate president of Venezuela. In addition to Russia, Cuba has also been in direct opposition to Guaidó, according to Pompeo.”

My Reads for the Day Joe Biden Should Apologize to Clarence Thomas, not Anita Hill (The Federalist) The Times Cartoon Reveals the Link between Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism (NRO) Ilhan Omar Blames U.S. Policy for Upheaval in Venezuela (NRO) Poll: Even More Democrats Now Describe Our Southern Border As Being in ‘Crisis’ (The Daily Wire)  
Beauty Recommendations That I LOVE Pineapple C-Brightening Serum, Glow Recipe, $49 I have naturally fair skin and frequently look for products to tone down the reddish coloring on my face. This product does the trick. Nothing dramatic, but it definitely makes the scramble for the foundation a little less eager. I recommend using it after you’ve washed your face. The directions recommend multiple times per day, but I haven’t found that to be necessary—before bed is just fine. It goes on quite smooth and not sticky, but don’t use as a replacement for a moisturizer! Precisely, My Brow Pencil Ultra Fine Shape & Define, Benefit Cosmetics $24 Usually my brows are the last thing to get attention on my face, partially because I’m blonde and they’re simply not that prominent and partially because I am lazy. This pencil is great for those who are not “brow experts” but would like to put a little effort towards them. This pencil is so fine, it is close to impossible to “mess up” your brows. Also the thin pencil means the lines have a much more “natural,” hair-like appearance to them.  Peach Puff Long-Wearing Diffused Matte Lip Color, Too Faced, $19 Another matte lipstick review, but had to review it, since this one has a twist bottom that “diffuses” lip color into a foam applicator. I was intrigued. It does indeed have a nice, non-drying feel when applied. The color lasts through the day, and the formula is not nearly as drying as the Kylie Lipkits (which contain, above and beyond, the most drying matte formula, though I love the color selection). The one downside to this lipstick is that its shades are pretty much limited to the peach/rouge family. For those of you who like a bit more experimentation in color, this might not be the lipstick for you.  BRIGHT is brought to you by The Federalist.
Today’s BRIGHT Editor
Erielle Davidson is a law student at Georgetown University Law Center. She previously was an economic research assistant at the Hoover Institution and a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute.  She enjoys Chick-Fil-A, her pug, and Russian literature. Find her on Twitter at @politicalelle.

 
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THE BLAZE

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here   Trending now Ilhan Omar defends socialist dictatorship in Venezuela — and blames the U.S. instead for the chaos   WATCH: Alabama Democrat gives horrifying statement on abortion: ‘some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later’       More from TheBlaze Sports writer boasts of screaming at a man for wearing a MAGA hat at a jazz festival   Covington teen Nicholas Sandmann slaps NBC with a massive lawsuit over irresponsible reporting     Jon Miller: Here are 10 ways Trump can fix the border crisis   Eric Swalwell complains that the word ‘woman’ isn’t in the Constitution—overlooking the fact that ‘man’ isn’t either   more stories One last thing… Chris Wallace excoriates pundits ignoring the facts on Mueller letter to Barr to push a political agenda In a scathing commentary on Fox News, Chris Wallace excoriated “opinion people” who were ignoring the facts of the letter from former special counsel Robert Mueller to Attorney General William Barr in order to push a favorable political agenda. And he specifically named his own network, Fox News, as the home of some of the culprits he was criti… Read more Share Tweet Email  
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      Exclusive: Foreign Government Leases at Trump World Tower Stir More Emoluments Concerns     “This new information raises serious questions about the President and his businesses’ potential receipt of payments from foreign governments,” Cummings said in a statement to Reuters. “The American public deserves full transparency.” More       READ MORE             Biden’s Rise in 2020 Race Catches Trump’s Eye, Unnerves His Allies     Biden soared from “will-he-or-won’t-he-run?” status to the head of the crowded Democratic field just days after announcing his candidacy last week, pulling away from Senator Bernie Sanders and a host of other rivals in opinion polls. More       READ MORE             Democrats Press on as US Attorney General Refuses to Testify     Barr said on Wednesday he would not attend the hearing of the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee in a dispute with Chairman Jerrold Nadler about the questioning format. More       READ MORE             Explainer: Can Trump Use Executive Privilege to Block Congressional Probes?     Trump is stonewalling Congress on multiple probes of himself, his presidency and his businesses, blasting them as “presidential harassment.” In an unusual move, he is even suing to stop the release of some materials that lawmakers want. More       READ MORE             Official Says White House Never Told Him to Change a Security Clearance Decision -Source     Carl Kline spoke with investigators after days of conflict over whether he would appear. He told them all security clearance decisions were made by career professionals and he was never asked by anyone in the White House or Oval Office to do his job differently, the source said. More       READ MORE             Multiple Democrats Demand Attorney General Barr Resign After Senate Judiciary Hearing     “What I just saw from the attorney general is unacceptable.” More       READ MORE             ‘He’s Lying’: MSNBC Breaks From AG Barr’s Senate Testimony for a Brutal Fact-Check     “I’m not going to dance around this — he’s lying.” More       READ MORE             Sen. Durbin: Barr Has ‘Virtually Disqualified’ Himself From Leading DOJ After ‘Political Favoritism’     “He’s virtually disqualified himself to be the kind of person we can expect to stand back & make sure justice is served.” More       READ MORE      
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THE FEDERALIST

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Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray May 2, 2019
Investigation Time Is Over, Democrats. Impeach Or Shut Up By Adam Mill
Democrats won’t impeach Trump because then the president would get his day in court in the form of a trial in the Senate, and he would easily win it.
Full article Biden’s Alleged Financial Ties To U.S. Enemy China Overshadow His 2020 Bid By Ben Weingarten
It’s crucial that presidential contenders be able to evaluate China objectively, free of conflicts of interest and excessive financial entanglements.
Full article Arya Stark Was The Wrong Choice For Winterfell Hero By John Martin
Arya Stark is a great character, but the showrunners tossed away seven seasons of buildup by making her the ultimate hero in the Battle of Winterfell.
Full article Alabama Democrat Admits Abortion Is Killing Children By Madeline Osburn
During a filibuster session on an abortion ban bill in Alabama, State Rep. John Rogers said, ‘Some kids are unwanted. So you kill them now, or kill them later.’
Full article In Ethics Seminar, Lawyers Say They’d Report A Client For Legally Owning A Gun By Rebecca Kathryn Jude and Chauncey M. DePree, Jr.
The fact the client owned a gun and had firearm permits was enough to label him as reasonably certain to cause death or serious bodily harm and report him to the police.
Full article Why Christian Children Don’t Belong In Public Schools By Aaron Ames
Public education neither teaches nor believes in the transcendentals of truth, goodness, and beauty, the very pillars of the education that built the western world and flow from Christianity itself.
Full article What Happens When Two Feminists Face Off In Front Of A Me Too Crowd In Australia By Libby Emmons
This week Christina Hoff Sommers and Roxane Gay took the stage for two much-anticipated debates in Australia about free speech, feminism, and due process.
Full article 5 Reasons There Is No Phyllis Schlafly 2.0 To Fight For Women And Family Today By Rebekah Curtis
There are plenty of fierce socially conservative women out there, but most of them have other priorities than anti-feminist activism.
Full article If You Want To Be Multicultural, Learn Real History, Not Identity Politicized Garbage By Elizabeth Bauer
All this I might well expect from a pundit or a columnist in a college newspaper. But it’s a particular disappointment for this to have been authored by a professor of history.
Full article Why Affirmative Action Is Racist And Un-American By Berlin Fang
Affirmative action creates a fixed mindset that because one is born into a specific racial or ethnic group, one is entitled to certain privileges such as lowered criteria.
Full article Revisiting ‘Batman, The Animated Series’: ‘Beware the Gray Ghost’ By Warren Henry
In this animated ‘Batman’ episode, Adam West plays an actor typecast as a masked hero in a commentary on fandom.
Full article Federalist Radio Hour: Impeachment, Joe Biden, And The 2020 Electorate By Madeline Osburn
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FEDERALIST RADIO HOUR HERE. On this episode of the Federalist Radio Hour, host Ben Domenech interviews Yoni Appelbaum, senior editor at The Atlantic, Read More (https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/01/federalist-radio-hour-impeachment-joe-biden-and-the-2020-electorate/)
Full article DOJ Reviewing Whether Steele Dossier Was Russian Disinformation By Emily Jashinsky
At a Wednesday hearing, Attorney General William Barr said he is reviewing whether the Steele Dossier is evidence of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Full article The FDA Approves ‘Heat Not Burn’ IQOS Cigarettes For American Sale By David Marcus
In good news for Americans trying to quit smoking, a new product with international success will now be allowed for sale in the United States.
Full article




UPRISING IN VENEZUELA
Guaido makes his move. http://vlt.tc/3mkn “Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Tuesday called for mass anti-government protests and military defections, announcing what he termed the “final phase” in an operation attempting to remove President Nicolás Maduro from office.”

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SCOTT RASMUSSEN

ScottRasmussen.com Launch – Check Out My All New Website No Images? Click here   Good morning,During the month of April, I’m pleased to report that our data was featured in 1,921 television news broadcasts. Media outreach is an important part of our effort to enhance the public dialogue through data-driven analysis.My weekly syndicated column notes that Joe Biden has had a very good week. It is possible that his frontrunner status will evaporate quickly upon contact with real voters (think Rudy Giuliani 2008).  But, what happens to the Biden campaign will be the defining feature of the Democratic presidential nominating contest. The race is his to lose.Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters believe Joe Biden is politically liberal. But he is seen as closer to the center than other leading Democratic candidates. The data suggests Biden is seen as roughly as far left of center as President Trump is to the right of center.Yesterday, we released data showing Biden leading the president by seven. Today, we’ve added some additional match-ups. Trump leads Pete Buttigieg by 11, Kristen Gillibrand by 11, and Amy Klobuchar by 12. However, low name recognition is clearly a factor. A majority of voters have either never heard of these candidates or don’t know enough about them to have an opinion.Finally, the latest Job Creators Network/ScottRasmussen.com Weekly Pulse shows that economic optimism may be growing. Thirty-five percent (35%) of adults now believe the economy is getting better while just 23% say it is getting worse. That 12-point margin reflects the most positive net rating since November.By a 31% to 14% margin, Americans also believe their own finances are getting better rather than worse.Forty-seven percent (47%) of Republicans say their finances are getting better while just 6% say worse. Democrats are less enthusiastic–22% say better, 17% worse. Among Independent voters, the numbers are 27% better and 16% worse.Thank you for your interest in our work,Scott     Stay Informed Up To The Minute and Share ContentDeeper CurrentsScott Rasmussen offers his personal insight, analysis, and opinion on current political races, issues, and controversy. Read more     Scott’s ColumnsPresident Trump has perfected the art of antagonizing his opponents with provocative tweets. He demonstrated this skill recently in declaring that the tax reform act,… Read more   SCOTT RASMUSSEN
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LEGAL INSURRECTION

Share This       Pro-Life Speaker’s Event Disrupted by Smoke Bomb at UT-Austin San Jose City College Disinvites Border Patrol From Campus Job Fair Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Banning ‘Free Speech Zones’ From Public Campuses  William Jacobson: “SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK: New York State government joins the War on Trump Kemberlee Kaye: “Be sure to follow our exclusive coverage of the Gibson’s Bakery vs. Oberlin College trial. Trial begins Friday!” Mary Chastain: “Barr testified today in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing showed the Democrats still believe Trump obstructed justice. They forget that words don’t mean Trump obstructed justice. Trump and no one he spoke to put in any effort to put into action any of Trump’s suggestions. Also, get your damn vaccines!” Leslie Eastman: “I love “Game of Thrones”.  So I have decided that I am going to name my pet dragon Barr, because I have never seen so many burns dished out so quickly as I have at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today with the Attorney General.” Miriam Elman: “Censorious behavior on the part of faculty is becoming more and more common—especially when it comes to shutting down and trying to shut up academics who dare to challenge received wisdom and conventional orthodoxies. You can read here about the meltdown that’s ensued after a group of academics who wrote a special issue for the journal Israel Studies, which dared to question the dominant terminology that castigates Israel as a pariah state and renders the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a simplified caricature. Subjected to an ugly smear campaign, the reaction of longtime virulently anti-Israel scholars was ‘swift and hysterical’. LI contributor Petra Marquardt-Bigman will soon have a detailed post on this latest shameful example of academics running roughshod over academic freedom and open intellectual inquiry.”                   Legal Insurrection Foundation is a Rhode Island tax-exempt corporation established exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to educate and inform the public on legal, historical, economic, academic, and cultural issues related to the Constitution, liberty, and world events. For more information about the Foundation, CLICK HERE.   Legal Insurrection Foundation
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AMERICAN THINKER

View this email in your browser Recent Articles Ignorance, Fear, and LGBTQ May 02, 2019 01:00 am
LGBTQ activists’ domination of our culture has come a long way from the days when they claimed they only wanted tolerance.  Read More…
Red Flag Laws and Individual Rights May 02, 2019 01:00 am
History screams of “well intentioned” legislation by the Left that resulted in unintended negative consequences. Read More…
Why Does Islamist Anti-Semitism Receive a Pass? May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Much of the growing tide of anti-Semitism in the West has a basis in Islamist anti-Semitism promoted by hate preachers. Read More…
Explaining Ukrainegate May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Now that Robert Mueller’s report has exonerated the president, the attention has switched to those who really colluded. Read More…
The American Political Kaleidoscope May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Like a kaleidoscope, government works to focus the will of the people, expressed by a multitude of constituencies, improving society at large.  Read More…
Are Democracy and Equality Compatible? May 02, 2019 01:00 am
I’m beginning to wonder about our ability to maintain democracy in the U.S. in the face of ever rising demands for more equality. Read More…

  Recent Blog Posts

Barr stuns Sen. Blumenthal during Judiciary Committee hearing
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
A moment to savor…  Read more…
Barr laid it on the line with the simple question the Russia Hoaxers can’t answer
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
William Barr is a man who is not intimidated or distracted by the chaff thrown out by Democrats  Read more…
Tucker Carlson destroys Eric Swalwell’s latest showboating attempt
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
The buffoonery of a lawyer who apparently has never read the Constitution exposed  Read more…
The victims of the low bail movement that progressives have created
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
By pretending to champion as victims people who are accused of serious crimes, progressives are re-victimizing some of their favorite objects of concern.  Read more…
Dem Rep: ‘Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later’
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
As the level of civility in politics plummets to levels not seen since before the Civil War, a clumsy attempt at sarcasm yields a horrifying peek into the souls of today’s Democrats  Read more…
The Democrats on the Judiciary Committees are a pack of Iagos
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Our Trump-hating Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee bared their rotten teeth at Kavanaugh and lost in the end.  Read more…
Hey, Mazie Hirono! Who Do You Work For?
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Surely, it’s not the people of Hawaii or the rest of the country  Read more…
Communists shoot to kill
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
They will do a lot of shooting to kill to protect Maduro.  Read more…
What is the deal with all these social justice warrior Christians?
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
Whom on Earth are liberal Christians appealing to? To whom do they hearken to make things right?  Read more…
Speedy Gonzalez is Back
May 02, 2019 01:00 am
The clever Mexican cartoon mouse is up to his old tricks as regards folling the Gringo on immigration.  Read more…
Inside the collective snowflake tantrum that tried to get scholar Camille Paglia fired
May 01, 2019 01:00 am
Like lunatics demanding to run the asylum.  Read more…
Caravaners clear out after Mexican police raid
May 01, 2019 01:00 am
Credit goes to President Trump for warning Mexico to start enforcing its own border.  Read more…
Trump goes for a twofer: Knocking Cuba’s socialist dictatorship out along with Venezuela’s
May 01, 2019 01:00 am
Trump vows to squeeze Venezuela’s puppetmaster to the gills with the mother of all embargoes.  Read more…
Time to sound the alarm about 5G?
May 01, 2019 01:00 am
New technology that might destabilize the world.  Read more…
MSNBC contributor admits a hard truth: In Venezuela, arms ownership matters
May 01, 2019 01:00 am
Disarming the peaceful democratic public doesn’t take away the horrible reality that people may still have to fight for their freedoms. Right now, they are fighting — with their hands.  Read more…
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NOQ DAILY REPORT

NOQ Report Daily

Percentage of Democrats who believe there’s a border crisis has more than tripled since January Posted: 02 May 2019 04:48 AM PDT A recent Washington Post-ABC poll shows more people are starting to believe there is a “crisis” at the border as the surge of illegal immigrants continues to dominate conservative media and is even making an appearance on some mainstream news outlets. Republicans believing in the crisis crossed the majority threshold from 49% in January to […] The post Percentage of Democrats who believe there’s a border crisis has more than tripled since January appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Trump teams up with Pelosi and Schumer on infrastructure spending Posted: 02 May 2019 02:30 AM PDT Reaction by the idolaters of Donald Trump to the article I wrote a few days ago about his narcissistic plan to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure was typical of what I’ve come to expect from the people Trump claims would support him even if he murdered someone on Fifth Avenue. There was the usual attempt […] The post Trump teams up with Pelosi and Schumer on infrastructure spending appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Dysfunctional Hawaii politics: Repudiating Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz Posted: 02 May 2019 01:05 AM PDT Mazie is at it again. Just being her own nasty self and spewing venom instead of spreading the spirit of aloha. Hawaii Democrats probably will never say this out loud, but they are obviously embarrassed and humiliated by both of our two U.S. Senators who think they can act with impunity and that they have […] The post Dysfunctional Hawaii politics: Repudiating Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Philippians 4:6 – ‘careful for nothing’ Posted: 01 May 2019 08:28 PM PDT Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. – Philippians 4:6 (KJV) This is one of those few verses where the KJV interpretation of the word can be misleading to modern readers. The Greek word transliterated as merimnaō is shown in this verse […] The post Philippians 4:6 – ‘careful for nothing’ appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Ilhan Omar: ‘This is not going to be the country of white people’ Posted: 01 May 2019 08:14 PM PDT It’s getting harder and harder to criticize Democrats, especially the new breed of hyper-leftist radical progressives in DC today. It’s not that they don’t do or say things that aren’t worthy of criticism. It’s that they say so many nutty, racist, or dangerous things, it’s getting hard to pick and choose which ones to focus […] The post Ilhan Omar: ‘This is not going to be the country of white people’ appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Alabama Rep. John Rogers on unwanted children: ‘You kill them now or kill them later’ in the electric chair Posted: 01 May 2019 06:21 PM PDT In an effort to disrupt proceedings and bring attention using “shock and awe” to the latest pro-life piece of legislation passed in a state, Democrats in the Alabama House used vile comments and silly poems to advance their agenda. It was a losing agenda anyway – HB314 passed easily – so they had free rein to make fools […] The post Alabama Rep. John Rogers on unwanted children: ‘You kill them now or kill them later’ in the electric chair appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
The real reason William Barr won’t testify before Jerry Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee Posted: 01 May 2019 04:39 PM PDT Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler has said many idiotic things and asked a multitude of dumb questions in his long career in DC, but the one-sentence political statement he made regarding Attorney General William Barr’s refusal to testify before the committee may be the most asinine thing the 14-term Congressman has ever said in […] The post The real reason William Barr won’t testify before Jerry Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
MSNBC report on Venezuela makes case for 2nd Amendment Posted: 01 May 2019 04:09 PM PDT It’s the part of the debate over everyone’s common sense human and civil right of self-preservation that the Liberty Grabber Left loves to ignore. Why does the National socialist-Left avoid talking about the true purpose of the 2nd amendment like the plague? Aside from keeping the debate to emotional appeals and scary looking inanimate objects, […] The post MSNBC report on Venezuela makes case for 2nd Amendment appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Barr confirms ‘We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way’ Posted: 01 May 2019 08:52 AM PDT One of the first big takeaways from Attorney General William Barr’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee came following a question by Senator Chuck Grassley. He asked, “What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by the department and FBI officials during the Russian investigation?” Barr replied, “We have multiple criminal leak investigations under […] The post Barr confirms ‘We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way’ appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
Everyone’s a lawyer: The Barr hearing, Tweeted Posted: 01 May 2019 08:21 AM PDT When the legal dimwits (most, not all) in the Senate take on the actual legal mind of Attorney General William Barr, there’s going to be fireworks. As a result, every journalist and social media pundit becomes a lawyer and expresses their ideas on Twitter. It’s 2019. This is how things are. Rather than give a […] The post Everyone’s a lawyer: The Barr hearing, Tweeted appeared first on Conservative Christian News.
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REAL CLEAR POLITICS


05/02/2019 Share: Carl Cannon’s Morning Note Dark Money; Choose Wisely, Dems; ‘Luckiest Man’ By Carl M. Cannon on May 02, 2019 08:58 am
Good morning, it’s Thursday, May 2, 2019. Eighty years ago today, as war clouds gathered in Europe and Americans slogged through their 10th year of the Great Depression, baseball fans attending the Tigers-Yankees game in Detroit witnessed something that no one in this country had seen since June 1, 1925: a New York Yankees lineup without Lou Gehrig in it. Until this day in 1939, the “Iron Horse” had played in a record 2,130 consecutive games, a testament to his work ethic and competitive desire. He’d played those games with incomparable skill, collecting some 2,721 hits along with 493 home runs, nearly 2,000 runs batted in, while batting cleanup behind Babe Ruth — and fielding his first-base position superbly — on perhaps the greatest baseball team in history. By 1939, The Babe was gone from the New York Yankees and the team’s new superstar was Joe DiMaggio. But Lou Gehrig was still team captain, so on May 2, 1939, it was his duty to trudge out to home plate and present the lineup card to the umpires — a starting lineup without his name on it. Gehrig, whose performance had fallen off in 1938, had benched himself eight games into the 1939 season. He hadn’t been hitting well, everyone could see that, but his teammates knew something more was wrong with Big Lou. What no one knew was that he had only two more years to live. I’ve written about the Iron Horse before, as some readers of these morning essays will recall. There’s a reason for that: His story is more than poignant; it’s also relevant to our times. It’s relevant to any age, really, as I’ll explain in a moment. First, I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion columns spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters and contributors, including the following: * * * For 2020 Dems, Dark Money Is Taboo — and Much Needed. Phil Wegmann explores the dilemma candidates face as they call for campaign finance reform while also needing to match the super PAC funding their opponents will have. Whom the Democrats Nominate in 2020 Matters — a Lot. David Brady, Morris Fiorina and Douglas Rivers lay out the findings from a recent survey experiment by YouGov. Billion-Dollar Binge Buying Is No Way to Budget. Joni Ernst and Adam Andrzejewski spotlight the annual “use it or lose it” shopping spree government agencies engage in and steps the Iowa senator is taking to end it. When Loretta Met Bill on the Tarmac. In RealClearInvestigations, Eric Felton examines the transcript of former AG Loretta Lynch’s closed-door testimony about her fateful meeting with Bill Clinton amid the email investigation of Hillary Clinton. National Security and Winning the Race to 5G. In RealClearDefense, Michael Chertoff, Keith B. Alexander and Timothy Keating argue that the wireless technology will fundamentally change the operating backbone for all Defense Department systems. American LNG Positioned to Win as Maritime Fuel. In RealClearEnergy, Charlie Riedl explains how new rules to ensure cleaner shipping fuels will benefit the U.S. natural gas industry.  Two New Studies Show How Not to Do Science. Ross Pomeroy highlights glaring examples of researchers making spurious correlations. * * * Lou Gehrig’s story is one of the most often told in the rich lore of baseball, a sport that venerates its history. Gehrig’s life, and early death, are recounted in books, movies, and the fertile oral tradition of the great American game. The line most Americans remember is his declaration, at a July 4, 1939 ceremony at Yankee Stadium, after his deadly disease had been diagnosed, that he considered himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” But it’s also a life with enduring relevance. It was said that Gehrig’s example inspired Americans during the Depression, but that is a lesson that needs reinforcing from time to time. In 1995, when Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr. broke Gehrig’s consecutive games streak — a record that had been widely considered unbreakable — President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore both went to Camden Yards to see it happen. Millions of Americans turned on their televisions to see it, too: It was one of the most widely watched baseball games in history. Why? Bill Clinton himself explained it nicely in a speech the following night in which he held forth on Ripken’s achievement: “One reason that’s so popular is most of the people that were in that baseball stadium last night are the same kind of people,” the president said. “They show up for work every day. They work when they don’t feel good. They work when the weather is bad. They work to earn money to do right by their children. They are the people that keep this country going.” The malady that killed Lou Gehrig, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is still known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.” We are learning more about it all the time. During Gehrig’s streak, he was diagnosed with a broken thumb, a broken toe, back spasms, and multiple undiagnosed fractures in his hands. Thanks to groundbreaking investigative reporting done recently, it was also learned that he played through numerous concussions: That discovery has been key in addressing this growing problem of ALS-like symptoms in athletes who sustain blows to the head — and it may be saving lives. As for Gehrig himself, he would have shrugged off suggestions that he was any kind of savior. In his private life, he lived simply, and died bravely, and was cremated — his ashes buried in Valhalla, New York. His wife, Eleanor, received over 1,500 letters and telegrams of condolence. Among those who sent flowers was Franklin D. Roosevelt. The tribute to Gehrig on the ALS Association website reminds us that when actor Edward Herrmann played him in a made-for-television movie he tried in vain to find an edge to Gehrig so he could better understand the man he was portraying. “What made it so tough is I could find no ‘key’ to his character,” Hermann said. “There was no strangeness, nothing spectacular about him. As Eleanor Gehrig told me, he was just a square, honest guy.”  Carl M. Cannon  
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)
ccannon@realclearpolitics.com 
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MEET THE PRESS DAILY

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 From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

FIRST READ: After Barr’s testimony and snub, what do Democrats do next? 

Attorney General William Barr’s testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee was jaw-dropping.

It was also predictable – given Barr’s initial (incomplete) summary of the Mueller report, his news conference before the full report’s release and his criticism of the Mueller probe BEFORE he became attorney general.

And now with Barr declining to testify today before the House Judiciary Committee, it all raises the question: What do Democrats do next?

House Democrats could subpoena him, as NBC’s Alex Moe and Rebecca Shabad write.

And if he refuses the subpoena, they could hold him in contempt and censure him. Some 2020 Democrats even believe he should be impeached.

But their real next move is likely having Robert Mueller testify.

Moe and Shabad report that House Judiciary Dems are looking at May 15 as a possible date.

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MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Seven highlights of Barr’s hearing

Just to put all of the news of Barr’s Senate testimony yesterday into one place, here are our seven highlights: 

1.      He said a president could replace an independent counsel if he thought in the investigation was unfair.

“If the president is being falsely accused, which the evidence now suggests that the accusations against him were false, and he knew they were false, and he felt that this investigation was unfair, propelled by his political opponents, and was hampering his ability to govern, that is not a corrupt motive for replacing an independent counsel.”

2.      He admitted he didn’t review the underlying evidence in the Mueller report on whether Trump committed obstruction of justice.

“We accepted the statements in the report as the factual record… We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurately accepted as accurate.”

3.      He indicated he didn’t read the full Mueller report or even its executive summaries.

Cory Booker: “Polling data was shared, sir.  It’s in the report; I can cite you the page.”

Barr: “With who?”

(Answer: Paul Manafort shared polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik – revealed on page 7 of Mueller’s executive summary of Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign.)

4.      He dodged Kamala Harris’ question on whether the president or anyone at the White House asked him or suggested to him to open an investigation into anyone.

“I’m trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest.’ I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that… they have not asked me to open an investigation.”

5.      He said the Mueller report was his “baby” after Mueller submitted it.

“At that point, it was my baby… It was my decision how and when to make it public.”

6.      He said Mueller’s concern to him about his March 24 summary was inaccurate media reporting.

“And I called Bob and said, you know, what’s the issue here? Are you — and I asked him if he was suggesting that the March 24th letter was inaccurate, and he said no, but that the press reporting had been inaccurate.”

(But here’s Mueller’s letter complaining about Barr’s summary: It “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.”

7.      And/but he called Mueller’s letter “snitty”.

“The letter’s a bit snitty, and I think it was written by one of his staff people.”

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(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

2020 Vision: Bennet says he’s in it

On CBS this morning, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said he’s running for president.

On the campaign trail today: On the 2020 campaign trail today: Jay Inslee, in San Francisco, holds a climate discussion… And Pete Buttigieg raises money in Minnesota. 

DATA DOWNLOAD: And the number of the day is … 57 percent

57 percent.

That’s the share of voters who say that Donald Trump committed crimes before he became president, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

Just 28 percent of voters disagree (which includes a not-all-that-overwhelming majority of Republicans, at 60 percent.)  

The same poll finds that voters are split down the middle — 46 percent to 46 percent— on the question of whether he has committed crimes SINCE becoming president. 

Tweet of the day: Who is Ben Sasse?

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THE LID: Three is the magic number

Don’t miss the pod from yesterday, when we looked at Democrats’ Senate recruiting woes. 

SHAMELESS PLUG: The Toddcast!

The three of us also taped an episode of The Chuck Toddcast to talk about 2020, Bill Barr and Chuck’s favorite TV show.  (Warning: Yes, there are Game of Thrones spoilers.)

Check it out here.

ICYMI: News clips you shouldn’t miss

Emails obtained by NBC News show that the government admitted privately that it had ‘no way to link’ separated migrant kids to their parents.

The Congressional Budget Office finds that Medicare for All would probably lower administrative costs but increase wait times and access to care.

Hillary Clinton told our own Rachel Maddow that she’s “living rent free inside of Donald Trump’s brain.”

Trump’s advisers are split on what do to about his attacks on Biden.

Joaquin Castro isn’t running for Senate in Texas.

Pete Buttigieg met with Hillary Clinton this week.

Thanks for reading.

If you’re a fan, please forward this to a friend. They can sign up here.

Have thoughts on our new format? We love hearing from our readers, so shoot us a line here with your comments and suggestions.

Thanks, 

Chuck, Mark and Carrie

SEAN HANNITY

– View in a Browser –

Thu, May 02
BOMBSHELL REPORT // COMEY GOES CRAZY 
BOMBSHELL REPORT: Ohrs ‘Funneled’ Uncorroborated Intel on Donald Trump Using Private Emails Months after Americans learned that senior DOJ employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page exchanged anti-Trump text messages during and after the 2016 election, we’re now discovering that Bruce and Nellie Ohr “funneled” opposition research on Donald Trump using “Hi Honey” emails.“A series of “Hi Honey” emails from Nellie Ohr to her high-ranking federal…

CONTINUE READING

NOT A DRILL: Ocasio-Cortez Stunned by Her Own Garden, Says ‘Food That Comes from Dirt’ is ‘Magic’ Controversial Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez left millions of Americans scratching their heads this week; saying she was “shook” and stunned by her own garden and declaring “food that comes out of the dirt” is “like magic.”“Look! Oh my god, look at this! I am shook. Honestly, gardening, food that comes out of dirt, it’s…

READ THIS STORY

COMEY GOES CRAZY: Fired FBI Boss Publishes Vicious Op-Ed, Says Trump ‘Eats Your SOUL’ Disgraced former FBI boss James Comey published a scathing op-ed Wednesday regarding Robert Mueller’s final report; blasting President Trump and viciously claiming the Commander-in-Chief slowly “eats your soul.”“What happened to these people?” asked Comey, referencing Attorney General William Barr and outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “I don’t know for sure. People…

CONTINUE READING HERE

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REDSTATE

The Gloves Come Off As Even Ben Shapiro Hits Mueller for His Underhanded Behavior

    READ STORY    
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Bill Barr and Department of Justice Tells Fat Jerry Nadler Where He Can Put His Subpoenas

    READ STORY     More Bad News For The Press: Barr Announces ‘Multiple’ Criminal Leak Investigations Related To Russia Probe

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At the Barr Testimony Sen. Josh Hawley Aims at the Behavior of Select Members of the FBI, DOJ

    READ STORY     WATCH: CNN’s Chris Cuomo Praises Antifa AGAIN

    READ STORY     Ilhan Omar Says This Won’t be a Nation of White People, Pegs Trump for Synagogue Shooting

    READ STORY     Ilhan Omar Breaks Silence, Goes to Bat for Murderous Dictator Maduro

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