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News you need: Morning links for Friday, May 11
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News you need: Morning links for Friday, May 11

Here are some of the headlines and stories you need to know from around the web this morning, Friday, May 11:

Did the FBI have a spy in the 2016 Trump campaign? (Wall Street Journal)

The FBI says it started its investigation into possible Russian collusion in the 2016 election based on Fusion GPS info and George Papadopoulos' statements. But is that all? The WSJ's Kimbery Strassel reports Friday that a top-secret source the Justice Department has tried to hide may well have been an informant placed in the Trump campaign by the FBI or CIA.

AT&T paid Trump's lawyer $600K to 'advise' on merger that the gov't was examining; swears he wasn't a lobbyist (Washington Post)

Newly discovered documents reveal that AT&T paid Trump lawyer Michael Cohen a whole heckuva lot of money to "help" with issues the company had before the federal government — not the least of which was its $85 billion proposed merger with Time Warner. President Donald Trump repeatedly said during the 2016 campaign that he opposed the merger, but Cohen was telling businesses around the country like AT&T that he had the president's ear. Despite the role Cohen, who is not a registered lobbyist, was being paid to play, AT&T's contract specified that Cohen was not to lobby anyone in the government — he was simply "advising" the company. Meanwhile, AT&T appears to have ushered the executive responsible for approving this contract with Cohen out the door.

New poll reveals gun control isn't even close to being the No. 1 issue in the upcoming elections (Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Despite the continued efforts by radical gun control groups, a new poll from Florida Atlantic University revealed that gun-control is no where near being the top issue for voters this election season. What is? Immigration.

Iran vows to pursue 'industrial-scale enrichment' if nuclear deal fails (CNN)

The mullahs who run Iran have declared that, should the Iran nuclear deal ultimately fall apart, their nation will restart its nuclear program. A statement from the government declared that the nation is prepared to resume nuclear enrichment on an "industrial scale" following Trump's announcement that the U.S. would be leaving the Iran deal.

Ben Shapiro: How conservatives can win back young Americans (The Weekly Standard)

For years, young Americans moved rightward as they got older. New polling shows that's no longer the case: Young Americans are becoming more liberal — and are staying there. So what's the problem? Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro says it's not politics — it's values. But there's hope.

'Yesterday was not a good day': Novartis CEO really, really regrets hiring Trump lawyer Michael Cohen (Fortune)

In a memo to employees, the CEO of the Swiss drugmaker that paid Michael Cohen $1.2 million stated that the company was experiencing some major regrets about it's connection to Trump's "fixer." “We made a mistake in entering into this engagement and, as a consequence are being criticized by a world that expects more from us,” Vas Narasimhan said.

Elon Musk's unveils video of his next really awesome project (Los Angeles Times)

Elon Musk declared that he wanted to dig a tunnel under Los Angeles to avoid traffic. So he did. In just a few months, people in the City of Angels might be able to take a ride under the town via Musk's first tunnel.

Some Senate Republicans are demanding that the leadership cancel the August recess so they can get their work done (Washington Post)

After President Donald Trump signed the massive $1.3 trillion supplemental spending bill in March, he declared he wouldn't sign another one. He demanded that Congress do its job and pass the individual spending bills its supposed to pass every year. Some GOP senators are taking the president at his word and believe they shouldn't get to have a summer break if they haven't done their job.

US takes a risk: Old Iraqi enemies are now allies (New York Times)

The United States is now training former members of Iranian-backed militias. These figures fought and killed Americans, now we are sharing intel and resources with them in order to stabilize Iraq and bring down the Islamic State.

The NRA's new president says gun control activists are 'civil terrorists' (Washington Times)

Oliver North was recently named the new president of the NRA, and he has wasted no time going after gun control activists. In an interview with the Washington Times, North declared it was time to stop the cyberwar and media war against the gun rights group. He blasted the anti-gun movement for giving after the NRA's finances, donors, and members, and then declared, "They call them activists. That’s what they’re calling themselves. They’re not activists — this is civil terrorism. This is the kind of thing that’s never been seen against a civil rights organization in America. You go back to the terrible days of Jim Crow and those kinds of things — even there you didn’t have this kind of thing."

John Kelly says he isn't going anywhere (Time)

White House chief of staff John Kelly told NPR he has never considered quitting his job, despite multiple media reports that he has been fed up with his time as Trump's top man. Are there times of frustration? Yep. But he says that has more to do with the media coverage of him and the staff than anything else.

Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance (The Guardian)

Rakem Balogun believes his statements about police brutality have landed him on the FBI's radar. According to the Guardian, he is the fist person to be prosecuted under a "secretive" U.S. practice of tracking "black identity extremists."

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