memeorandum: First on CNN: After lobbying from Trump, Orrin Hatch plans to run again (Manu Raju/CNN)

4:35 PM ET, March 9, 2017

Top Items:

Jim Acosta / CNN:

Trump to conservative leaders: If this plan fails, I'll blame Democrats — Washington (CNN)In an Oval Office meeting featuring several leaders of conservative groups already lining up against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, CNBC, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Common Dreams, twitchy.com, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Washington Examiner:

Trump says privately second healthcare bill ready as early as next week — President Trump told a closed-door meeting of grassroots conservative leaders on Wednesday to expect another, companion healthcare bill to hit the House as early as next week, according to sources present for the meeting.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump has a secret backup plan to kill Obamacare. It's actually brilliant. — THE MORNING PLUM: — The GOP drive to destroy Obamacare took another hit Thursday morning, when conservative Sen. Tom Cotton tweeted that the House GOP repeal-and-replace bill is probably dead on arrival in the Senate.

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Monthly, NBC News, Washington Examiner and The Federalist

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Republican Study Committee backs two Medicaid changes to Obamacare repeal bill

Discussion: ABC News, The Fiscal Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Hill, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Common Dreams

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Professor Paul Ryan's Healthcare Pitch: This Is the Bill

Discussion: IJR, Sputnik International, Mediaite and CBS Philly

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
GOP health-care plan: Two House panels approve legislation as Trump tweets reassurance

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, New York Times, Politico, Morning Consult, Mediaite, The Hill, NPR, Washington Monthly, Bleeding Heartland, ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon and TheBlaze

Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:
Trump's Backup Plan: Let Health-Care System Explode, Blame Democrats

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, Forbes and The Hill

Marie Le Conte / BuzzFeed:

Nigel Farage Just Visited The Ecuadorian Embassy In London — Asked by BuzzFeed News if he'd been visiting Julian Assange, the former UKIP leader said he couldn't remember what he'd been doing in the building. — Nigel Farage visited the Ecuadorian embassy in west London on Thursday …

Discussion: The Independent, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, The Week and New York Magazine

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:

President Mike Pence Doesn't Sound Quite So Bad, Some Top Democrats Say — “I'd sleep easier with almost any other human being as president than Donald Trump,” said a former Obama speechwriter. And they won't say so publicly, but several elected Democrats told BuzzFeed News they would much prefer …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, TheBlaze, The Week and The Daily Caller

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
Trump's ‘unofficial adviser’ Nigel Farage visits Julian Assange's home after CIA docs leaked

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times and Political Wire

Tom DiChristopher / CNBC:

EPA chief Scott Pruitt says carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming — EPA takes aim at CAFE standards: Scott Pruitt — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

Coral Davenport / New York Times:
E.P.A. Chief Doubts Consensus View of Climate Change

Discussion: Daily Kos

Bloomberg:
EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Discounts Carbon's Role in Warming Planet

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Daily Caller and The Week

Manu Raju / CNN:

First on CNN: After lobbying from Trump, Orrin Hatch plans to run again — (CNN)Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving GOP senator, told CNN he is planning to run for re-election next year, abandoning his plans to quit the chamber after four decades of service.

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Wire, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, AOL and Washington Times

Madeline Conway / Politico:

McConnell on Mexico paying for the border wall: ‘Uh, no’ — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday threw cold water on President Donald Trump's insistence that Mexico will pay for his proposed border wall. — “Uh, no,” McConnell said flatly, asked whether he thinks Mexico …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Business Insider and The Week

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
White House Pushes Back on McConnell: We're Getting Tax Reform Done By August

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

‘No Comment,’ Justice Dept. Says, Asked About a Trump Inquiry — WASHINGTON — With questions still swirling over President Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped on orders of President Barack Obama, the Justice Department on Thursday declined to confirm statements a day earlier …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Business Insider, Progress Pond and Raw Story

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Trump's Run of Dumb Luck — How quickly Washington forgets. It was only two weeks ago that the biggest story in the nation's capital was how President Donald Trump's aides were pressuring the FBI and allies in Congress to shoot down the stories whirling around about his associates' ties to Russia.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
FISA-gate: The Times Revises History in Real Time

Discussion: IJR and Snopes.com

Wbastone / The Smoking Gun:

Roger Stone's Russian Hacking “Hero” — Trump loyalist communicated with “Guccifer 2.0,” target of FBI probe — In the months before Election Day, a longtime confidante and political consultant for Donald Trump was in contact with the Russian hacking group that U.S. intelligence officials …

Discussion: Raw Story, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
FBI has records of Trump trickster Roger Stone communicating with Russians behind DNC hacks: report

Discussion: Washington Monthly and CANNONFIRE

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:
Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media

Discussion: JustOneMinute and twitchy.com

BuzzFeed:

Steve Bannon Helped Preserve DACA But Democrats And Activists Aren't Celebrating — They're bracing for what's coming: millions of deportations and further crackdowns on both legal and illegal immigration. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration doesn't want to talk about it.

Discussion: RedState, Daily Wire and The Week

New York Times:

How Many People Are Affected by Obamacare Premium Increases? (Hint, It's Fewer Than You Think) — SCROLL TO START — Republicans cite rising insurance premiums as a primary reason for repealing the Affordable Care Act. But only a narrow slice of the market was actually affected by the increases.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and BostonGlobe.com

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Why Republicans Are Battling Republicans on Obamacare Repeal

Discussion: Washington Post, The Last Refuge, Daily Kos, RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Resurgent and Politico

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Ryan: This is the last chance to repeal Obamacare

Discussion: Political Wire

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

Russian ambassador denied meeting with Trump or campaign officials in October speech — (CNN)In an October speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, denied meeting with Donald Trump or campaign officials during the course of 2016 presidential election …

Circa:
Widespread frustration — U.S. officials, who spoke …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Fox News Insider, Liberty Unyielding, The Last Refuge and MARK-CM

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Sex Columnist Dan Savage Calls Melania Trump ‘Ugly on the Inside’ — Savage says first lady gets a pass from some liberals because of her looks, but “is as ugly on the inside as she is pretty on the outside” — Author and sex columnist Dan Savage says many liberals are giving first lady Melania …

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Wire, Mediaite, IJR, TheBlaze and Fox News Insider

Mark Molloy / Telegraph:

Burger-flipping robot replaces humans on first day at work — A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill. — Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Forbes, IJR and Hit & Run

New York Times:

C.I.A. Scrambles to Contain Damage From WikiLeaks Documents — WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. scrambled on Wednesday to assess and contain the damage from the release by WikiLeaks of thousands of documents that cataloged the agency's cyberspying capabilities, temporarily halting work on some projects …

Discussion: Vox, Fox News, BBC, emptywheel, The Guardian, Just Security, Refinery29, Fox News Insider, Mashable, The Week, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and Consumerist

John Bacon / USA Today:
WikiLeaks will give tech firms access to CIA hacking tools: Assange

Discussion: The Hill, Common Dreams, RedState and Engadget

Brookings Institution:

Expect the CBO to estimate large coverage losses from the GOP health care plan — Editor's Note: — This analysis is part of The Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy, which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Hot Air, Vox, Axios, Center For Children …, NPR and Daily Wire

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

At least five states join up to block revised Trump travel ban — At least five states are banding together in a legal drive to block key elements of President Donald Trump's second travel ban. — Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said his office is filing a motion asking …

Discussion: NPR, Daily Kos, The Week and Axios

Associated Press:

Former Trump aide Flynn says lobbying may have helped Turkey — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was fired from his prominent White House job last month, has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for $530,000 worth …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, New York Magazine and Fox News Insider

David Ovalle / miamiherald:

Hot story: Miami lawyer's pants erupt in flames during arson trial in court — A Miami defense lawyer's pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case. — Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client's car spontaneously combusted …

Discussion: Breitbart, AOL, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Above the Law, NBC News, The Big Lead, Daily Wire and Raw Story

John Harwood / CNBC:

The Republican health-care bill threatens Trump's voters — “To the victor belong the spoils,” candidate Donald Trump reminded 2016 voters. But the House Republican health bill turns that old maxim on its head. — Instead of broadly rewarding Trump's backers, the House bill hands huge benefits …

Discussion: Daily Kos