memeorandum: Republican Rep. Richard Hanna will vote for Clinton (Nick Gass/Politico)

3:35 PM ET, August 2, 2016

Top Items:

Richard Hanna.JPG / Syracuse Post-Standard:

Rep. Richard Hanna letter: We should all be done with Donald Trump (commentary) — U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican from Oneida County, represents the 22nd Congressional District. Hanna is shown speaking last month to firefighters in Binghamton. (Provided photo)

Discussion: ABC News, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Guardian, Real Clear Politics, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and CNN

Mark Weiner / Syracuse Post-Standard:

GOP Rep. Richard Hanna: I'll vote for Clinton; first House member to cross party line — U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, says he will vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president. Hanna said the GOP nominee, Donald Trump, is unfit to serve. The three-term congressman is shown speaking July 18 …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The Nation, Independent Journal Review, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Politico, WND and Balloon Juice

Matt Friedman / Politico:

Christie calls Trump criticism of the Khans ‘inappropriate’ — In an unusual break with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Gov. Chris Christie said that Khizr and Ghazala Khan have the “right” to say whatever they want, and that criticism of them is “inappropriate.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Political Wire, Mediaite, BuzzFeed and The Week

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Rep. Says He'll Vote For Clinton: Trump Is A ‘National Embarrassment’

Discussion: Guardian, Joe.My.God., The Week and Daily Kos

Nick Gass / Politico:
Republican Rep. Richard Hanna will vote for Clinton

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, New York Magazine, War in Context, AOL and Hot Air

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Obama Says Republicans Should Withdraw Support for Trump — WASHINGTON — In his strongest denouncement of Donald J. Trump so far, President Obama on Tuesday said Mr. Trump was “unfit to serve as president” and urged the leaders of the Republican Party to withdraw their backing for his candidacy.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The American Spectator, Political Wire and Joe.My.God.

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Obama Hammers GOPers Distancing Themselves From Trump's Khan Attacks — President Obama on Tuesday called out Republicans who distanced themselves from Donald Trump's attacks on Khizr and Ghazala Khan, but who have not withdrawn their endorsement of the GOP nominee.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

New York Times:
Mr. Trump and Spineless Republicans

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, The Week, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Media Matters for America, The Resurgent, Salon, CNN, Hit & Run, Senator John McCain, Arizona, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, The San Diego Union …, ABC News and New York Magazine

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:
To the Go-Along Republicans — Memo to Paul Ryan …

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Times, Tennessean.com, Washington Post and Paul Nehlen

NBC News:
First Read: A Last Exit Ramp for the GOP?

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, USA Today, CNN, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and National Review

New York Times:

Donald Trump Avoided Draft With a Heel Problem, but the Details Are Murky — Back in 1968, at the age of 22, Donald J. Trump seemed the picture of health. — He stood 6 feet 2 inches with an athletic build; had played intramural football, tennis and squash; and was taking up golf.

Discussion: Mother Jones, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Atlantic, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, CNBC, CBS New York, New Urban Legends, AOL, The Colorado Independent, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, New York Magazine, The Week, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and The Mahablog

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump gifted Purple Heart, says he ‘always wanted’ one

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
President Obama calls Trump ‘woefully unprepared’ for the presidency

Discussion: ABC News and Hit & Run

Arlette Saenz / ABC News: President Obama: Donald Trump Is ‘Unfit to Serve as President’

KUTV-TV:

Utah could vote Democrat for president for first time in 5 decades — (KUTV) The Republican and Democrat national conventions are over and as the dust starts to settle, it looks like Hillary Clinton has a chance to carry Utah in the U.S. presidential election.

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

That poll showing Clinton leading in Utah? It doesn't exist. — The only fitting way for the 2016 campaign to end, after all of the tumult and bizarreness that we've seen over the past 20 months, is for there to be some dramatic result on Election Day. An electoral college tie, maybe.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WSB-TV, The Week and Salt Lake Tribune

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

DNC CEO resigns amid turmoil — A trio of top Democratic National Committee officials are have left their posts, the organization announced Tuesday. — Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey resigned Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the move confirm to POLITICO.

Discussion: Washington Post, WSAV-TV and The Week

Associated Press:
AP sources: CEO at Democratic National Committee resigns

Discussion: Mediaite, Political Wire, Washington Free Beacon and Guardian

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Clinton campaign reports nearly $90 million raised in July

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Post

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:

Paul Ryan: We're in fight to ‘retake the soul’ of the Republican Party — (R-Wis.) told a donor audience convened by the billionaire Koch brothers that conservatives are in a fight to “retake the soul” of the Republican Party. — “We have to do a better job of taking the moral high ground …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, RedState, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Stuart Rothenberg / Washington Post:

Will GOP officials jump ship on Trump? — The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of disastrous for the Republican Party. — No, Donald Trump's position in the race hasn't worsened dramatically, nor did the Democratic convention wash away Hillary Clinton's many political warts.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump boots baby from Virginia rally — Donald Trump asked a woman with a crying baby to leave his rally in Ashburn, Virginia on Tuesday. — The GOP nominee initially suggested that he did not mind the disruption. — “Don't worry about that baby. I love babies,” Trump said after hearing …

Discussion: Sputnik International, Raw Story and AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Beefs With Crying Babe At Rally: ‘Get The Baby Out Of Here!’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Business Insider

NBC News:

Poll: Clinton Support Spikes Following Democratic Convention — Following the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump by 8 points — 50 percent to 42 percent — up from a single-point difference last week, according to the latest NBC News| SurveyMonkey poll.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, CNBC, Joe.My.God., Hot Air, RedState, Talking Points Memo, TVNewser and AOL

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Panic Mode: Khizr Khan Deletes Law Firm Website that Specialized in Muslim Immigration — Khizr Khan, the Muslim Gold Star father that Democrats and their allies media wide have been using to hammer GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, has deleted his law firm's website from the Internet.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, WND, The Gateway Pundit, BizPac Review and The San Diego Union …

Geoffrey Dickens / NewsBusters:
DOUBLE STANDARD: Khizr Khan Receives 50x More Coverage Than Pat Smith on ABC, CBS, NBC

Discussion: Mediaite

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Trump: There's something ‘phony’ about these polls — cast doubt on general election polls that show him trailing Hillary Clinton — , calling those polls “phony.” — “I see some great polls — I see one from the Los Angeles Times, just came out, where were ahead by 4 or 5 points.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Jeff Donn / Associated Press:

Medical benefits of dental floss unproven — HOLMDEL, N.J. (AP) — It's one of the most universal recommendations in all of public health: Floss daily to prevent gum disease and cavities. — Except there's little proof that flossing works. — Still, the federal government …

Discussion: US News, New York Magazine, AOL, The Verge, FOX31 Denver, The Week and Mother Jones

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:

Trump Says He'll Spend More Than $500 Billion on Infrastructure — The proposal would amount to a massive new government program. — Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed a plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure that costs “at least double” the amount that Hillary Clinton has floated …

Discussion: Politico, Hit & Run and The Daily Caller

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

The Religious Right's Dangerous Bet On Trump — On July 17, 2015, Donald Trump received a caps lock-heavy campaign memo from one of his advisers containing instructions on how to communicate with a voter species that was especially exotic to the candidate at the time.

Discussion: RedState, The Resurgent and Political Insider blog

Ramin Setoodeh / Variety:

How Jeff Zucker Made CNN Great Again … It's the second day of the Democratic National Convention, and Jeff Zucker is huddled with his CNN staff on the ground in Philadelphia. Unlike most cable news network chiefs, he is painstakingly involved with the minutiae of hourly coverage …

Discussion: Politico, Media Matters for America, Mediaite and CNNMoney

The Daily Beast:

Why Did Russia Send ‘The Terminator’ on a Humanitarian Mission in Syria? — Russia's Defense Ministry says the aircraft was returning from a ‘humanitarian cargo’ mission. If so, it was a strange model to use. — While we don't yet know which rebel group shot down a Russian military helicopter …

Discussion: Instapundit, RT and The Week

Lisa Barrington / Reuters:
Rescuers say toxic gas dropped on Syrian town where Russian helicopter shot down

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton to Announce Resignation — Bratton, 68, will be replaced by Chief of Department James O'Neill. — New York City police Commissioner William Bratton will announce on Tuesday that he is resigning and will be replaced by Chief of Department James O'Neill …