memeorandum: ‘Boy Bye!’ CNN Panel Goes Off the Rails After Lewandowski Goes Birther on Obama (Josh Feldman/Mediaite)

11:10 AM ET, August 3, 2016

Top Items:

Trump refuses to endorse Paul Ryan in GOP primary: 'I'm just not quite there yet' — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump escalated his war with his own party's leadership Tuesday by refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul D. Ryan or Sen. John McCain, two of the GOP's highest-ranking elected officials …

Washington Post:

Donald Trump transcript: The Republican nominee in his own words — Republican nominee Donald Trump sat down with The Post's Philip Rucker for an interview at Trump National Golf Club on Aug. 2 following a rally at a nearby high school. This is a lightly edited transcript of the 50-minute interview.

Discussion: Althouse, Political Wire, Mediaite and Daily Wire

CNN:

Sources: Trump-world frustrated by their candidate — (CNN)Donald Trump aides and people close to his campaign are increasingly frustrated by his insistence on waging various fights that steer him off message. — Sources close to the campaign are describing a series of missteps that are trailing …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Post and Political Wire

Elena Schneider / Politico:

Huelskamp loses GOP primary after ideological battle — GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a three-term incumbent and House Freedom Caucus member from Kansas, lost his House primary Tuesday night to challenger Roger Marshall, a physician backed by agricultural interests and several big-spending outside groups.

Discussion: RedState, Hot Air and The Week

Katy Tur / NBC News:

RNC Chairman Priebus ‘Apoplectic’ Over Trump's Refusal to Endorse Ryan — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is “apoplectic” over Donald Trump's refusal to back House Speaker Paul Ryan or Sen. John McCain, a top Republican source said. — Priebus called several Trump staffers …

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, ABC News, Political Wire, Politico, Mediaite, Arizona Republic, Slate, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Media Matters for America and CBS New York

David Weigel / Washington Post:
For Trump, a new ‘rigged’ system: The election itself

Discussion: Daily Kos and Balkinization

NBC News:
GOP Reels After Unprecedented 24 Hours From Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate and Daily Wire

Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Ignoring Advice, Donald Trump Presses Attack on Khan Family and G.O.P. Leaders

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, The Colorado Independent, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Politico, Mediaite, Politicus USA, The Right Scoop and Dallas Morning News, more at Mediagazer »

John Harwood / CNBC:
Ally of Trump staffer Paul Manafort: The staff is ‘suicidal,’ he's mailing it in

Discussion: Washington Post and Politicus USA

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Lewandowski Revives Birther Conspiracy Theory About Obama — Former Donald Trump campaign manager and CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski on Tuesday night suggested that President Obama did not release his Harvard transcripts in order to hide that he was not born in the United States.

Discussion: The Week

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

‘Boy Bye!’ CNN Panel Goes Off the Rails After Lewandowski Goes Birther on Obama — CNN contributor and former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski went full birther tonight in a panel segment that really went off the rails. — Lewandowski and Angela Rye were fighting …

Discussion: alan.com and Joe.My.God.

Media Matters for America:
CNN's Corey Lewandowski Revives Trump's Birther Claims That Obama Got In Harvard As Non-Citizen

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, driftglass, Little Green Footballs and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Nick Gass / Politico:
Trump insists ‘great unity’ in campaign

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Guardian and Political Wire

Nick Gass / Politico:
CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski: Was Obama a citizen when he went to Harvard?

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Hot Air, Variety, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and TVNewser

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed — Obama administration insists there was no quid pro quo, but critics charge payment amounted to ransom — WASHINGTON—The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release …

Wall Street Journal:

George W. Bush Delivers Critique of Donald Trump's Policies — Former president stops short of putting his remarks in the context of the 2016 presidential campaign — Without naming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, former President George W. Bush delivered an incisive critique …

Discussion: RedState

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill: George W. Bush criticizes Trump's policies at GOP fundraiser: report

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Meg Whitman, Calling Donald Trump a ‘Demagogue,’ Will Support Hillary Clinton for President — Meg Whitman, a Hewlett Packard executive and Republican fund-raiser, said Tuesday that she would support Hillary Clinton for president and give a “substantial” contribution to her campaign in order …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheStreet.com, Mashable, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, CNN, New York Magazine, The Week, CBS San Francisco, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, NBC News, Politico, Business Insider, Towleroad, Outside the Beltway and Shakesville

Media Matters for America:

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: Trump Asked “Three Times In An Hour Briefing, 'Why Can't We Use Nuclear Weapons?'” — JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): What concerns you most about Donald Trump? — GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: How erratic he is, Joe. I can argue about this position or that position.

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:
Trump asks why US can't use nukes: MSNBC

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Infowars, Slate, Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite, twitchy.com, Political Wire, Raw Story, The Week and Instapundit

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:

Senior GOP Officials Exploring Options if Trump Drops Out — Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party's presidential nominee dropped out? — ABC News has learned that senior party officials …

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

Trump spokeswoman blames Obama for 2004 death of Captain Khan — Donald Trump's spokeswoman blamed the policies of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the death of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, despite the fact that Khan died in 2004. — “It was under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Mother Jones, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Daily Wire, driftglass and BuzzFeed

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Katrina Pierson Implies Obama, Clinton Are to Blame for Humayan Khan's Death in 2004

Discussion: Breitbart and Media Matters for America

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Trump memo calls for ‘urgent pivot’ from Khan controversy

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState, twitchy.com, WTVR-TV and Politico

Michael Crowley / Politico:

Trump changed views on Ukraine after hiring Manafort — Donald Trump sounded like a supporter of Ukraine's territorial integrity last September, when he spoke by video feed to a gathering of political and business elites in Kiev. — “Our president is not strong and he is not doing …

Discussion: Instapundit, Independent Journal Review, The Huffington Post and RedState

David Remnick / New Yorker:
Trump and Putin: A Love Story

Discussion: Michael J. Totten's blog and Mediaite

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Trump: Americans should avoid stock market — suggested Tuesday that Americans should not place their retirement funds into the stock market, warning of “some very scary scenarios.” — In a phone interview with Fox Business, the GOP presidential nominee said that he isn't a big investor …

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

A Trump Victory Is a Scary Thought. A Disputed Loss Might Be Scarier. — Why his “rigged” comments are so corrosive and dangerous. — We have a tradition in the United States. When you lose an election, you take the L, and you move on. It's what John Adams did after he lost …

Discussion: Salon, Vox and Guardian

New York Times:

Tim Huelskamp, Anti-Establishment House Republican, Loses Primary in Kansas — Representative Tim Huelskamp, a member of the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus, lost to a political newcomer on Tuesday in the Republican primary for his Kansas district. — Mr. Huelskamp, who was elected …

Discussion: Wichita Eagle, NPR and Joe.My.God.

Numbers / Pew Research Center:

Nearly 1 in 100 worldwide are now displaced from their homes — More than 60 million people are displaced from their homes as of the end of 2015, the highest number of displaced people since World War II, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Discussion: Pew Research Center and The Week

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

BREAKING: Muslims Firebomb Bus in Paris (VIDEO) — According to reports, a gang of Muslim migrants in Paris allegedly ambushed and burned down a passenger bus in the Saint-Denis district around 1 AM on the night of Thursday, the 28th of July 2016. — The masked men set up a road block …

Justin Raimondo / Los Angeles Times:

Op-Ed To fight Trump, journalists have dispensed with objectivity — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump discusses U.S.-Russia relations at a news conference in Doral, Fla. on July 27. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) — Why are the rules of journalism being rewritten this election year?

Devin Henry / The Hill:

Thirteen states sue over EPA methane rule — More than a dozen states have sued the Obama administration over a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule to limit methane emissions at oil and natural gas sites. — West Virginia, along with governments and agencies representing 12 other states …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

Boy's Crude Chant Draws Attention at Trump Rally — ASHBURN, Va. - Even by the standards of rowdy Donald Trump rallies, the sight of a boy repeatedly yelling “take the bitch down” about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stood out. — The preadolescent boy and his mother …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and TalkLeft

Ari Melber / NBC News:

Experts Say Trump's Muslim Ban Would Cripple Immigration System — Even the Premiere Access security line has a long wait at O'Hare Airport. Long lines snaked through the terminals as a TSA staffing shortage continues to plague travlers nationwide. Nancy Stone / TNS via Zuma Press

Discussion: Washington Post