memeorandum: Sen. Whitehouse: Comey may confirm FBI Russia investigation on Wednesday (Seung Min Kim/Politico)

9:30 AM ET, March 15, 2017

Top Items:

Report: Trump's 2005 Taxes Revealed — Donald Trump earned more than $150 million in the year 2005—and paid just a small percentage of that in regular federal income taxes. Daily Beast contributor David Cay Johnston has obtained what appear to be the first two pages of Trump's 2005 federal …

Discussion: zerohedge.com/fullrss2 …, New York Times, Business Insider, National Review, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, NPR, The Root, Hit & Run, Refinery29, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, RedState, Axios, Daily Wire and The Last Tradition, more at Mediagazer »

David Cay Johnston / DCReport:

DCREPORT EXCLUSIVE: Trump Earned $153 Million In 2005; He Paid $36.6 Million In Taxes — Ten Years After His Casino Business Failed, He Was Still Writing Off Losses — In 2005, Donald J. Trump married model Melanija Knavs, his third wife. That year, the real-estate mogul …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, IJR, Mother Jones and Mediaite

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

This 2005 Donald Trump tax return is a total nothingburger — MSNBC host Rachel Maddow spent hours touting a massive scoop: She — or more accurately veteran investigative reporter David Cay Johnston — had gotten her hands on President Donald Trump's 2005 federal tax return.

Discussion: twitchy.com, The Hill, Hot Air, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, MichelleMalkin.com and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Henry C. Jackson / Politico:

Trump made $150 million in 2005 and paid $38 million in federal taxes — The White House said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes in 2005 — on $150 million in earnings — offering a small glimpse at the president's personal finances, which Trump has so far kept almost entirely private.

Discussion: ABC News, Townhall.com, Scared Monkeys, Axios and CANNONFIRE

Naomi Jagoda / The Hill:

WH releases Trump tax info ahead of MSNBC report — The White House on Tuesday night preemptively released some details of President Trump's income and taxes he paid in 2005 as MSNBC teased leaked documents ahead of an evening broadcast. — Trump reported $150 million in income …

Discussion: Politico, The Gateway Pundit and Hot Air

Jay Yarow / CNBC:

Op-Ed: Donald Trump just got a nice victory, thanks, of all people, to Rachel Maddow — On her Tuesday show, Rachel Maddow teased a scoop: She had Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns. It was the first time his federal returns would be released. — Small digression: MSNBC's Maddow didn't have them.

Discussion: Daily Wire, Mediaite, The Week, The Guardian, The Big Lead and BizPac Review

Associated Press:

TRUMP EARNED $153M AND PAID $36.5M IN TAXES IN 2005 — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump earned $153 million and paid $36.5 million in income taxes in 2005, paying a roughly 25 percent effective tax rate thanks to a tax he has since sought to eliminate, according to highly sought-after tax documents disclosed Tuesday night.

Discussion: Breitbart and Daily Wire

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Big Trump tax returns “Scoop” flopped, bigly. — Rachel Maddow has a history of claiming big scoops which then flop. — There was the debunked 2012 big scoop about supposed GOP wrongdoing in Michigan. And the 2014 big scoop that the Koch Brothers were behind Florida groups pushing drug testing …

Discussion: Vox, The Gateway Pundit, The FADER, Townhall.com, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Resurgent, CNBC, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Showbiz411, Raw Story, AOL, KXAN-TV, Washington Free Beacon and The Last Tradition

Willa Paskin / Slate:
Rachel Maddow Turned a Scoop on Donald Trump's Taxes Into a Cynical, Self-Defeating Spectacle

Discussion: RedState, The Week, CNNMoney, BizPac Review, The Hill, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Vox and New York's PIX11

Ben Kew / Breitbart:
Epic Fail: Rachel Maddow Mocked After Dragging Out Trump Tax ‘Scoop’

Discussion: Telegraph, Vox, RedState, Mediaite, BizPac Review and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:
Trump Wrote Off $100 Million in Losses in 2005, Leaked Forms Show

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Business Insider, NBC News and Death and Taxes

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Trump Calls 2005 Tax Return Release ‘Fake News’

Discussion: Axios, The Week and Mediaite

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Oops! MSNBC Reveals Trump Paid 25% Tax Rate - Socialist Bernie Sanders Paid 13% Tax Rate

Discussion: The American Mirror, Daily Wire and Geller Report

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
It turns out Donald Trump didn't avoid income taxes for 18 years, after all

Discussion: The Guardian, Business Insider, AOL, The Atlantic, ABC News, NBC News and The Daily Caller

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005, the White House says

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, BizPac Review, NBC News, Power Line and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Tax Records Leaked to MSNBC, White House Confirms

Discussion: RedState

Wall Street Journal:

GOP Senators Say House Health Bill Won't Pass Without Changes — Concerns mounted after independent report showed millions would be uninsured — WASHINGTON—Republican senators, alarmed by a nonpartisan report showing millions would lose insurance under the GOP health-care plan …

Discussion: New York Times, Axios and Political Wire

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Cruz: WH plan for ‘third prong’ health legislation won't work in Senate — (R-Texas) said Tuesday that the White House plan to pass additional healthcare reforms after lawmakers repeal and replace ObamaCare won't work in the Senate. — “Anything placed in so-called bucket three will never pass,” Cruz told reporters.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Voters wary of GOP health care bill

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week and The Daily Caller

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump loyalists sound alarm over ‘RyanCare,’ endangering health bill

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Political Wire, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, The Week, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, The Root, Media Matters for America, The Last Tradition, RedState and Talking Points Memo

John Wagner / Washington Post:
The cost of failure on health care? It may be the rest of Trump's agenda.

Discussion: The Atlantic

Fox News:
Eric Bolling: RyanCare is still ObamaCare. Here are five ways to start over

Discussion: Politico

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

‘People are scared’: Paranoia seizes Trump's White House — A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies—inside their own government. — In interviews, nearly a dozen White House aides and federal agency staffers described …

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story and The Week

Eliana Johnson / Politico:

Trump rejects push to oust NSC aide — President Donald Trump has overruled a decision by his national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to sideline a key intelligence operative who fell out of favor with some at the Central Intelligence Agency, two sources told POLITICO.

CNN:

Senator: Comey to say whether FBI probing Russia, Trump campaign by Wednesday — Senator: Comey to go public on Russia probe — (CNN)Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Tuesday that FBI Director James Comey promised to tell him Wednesday whether the FBI is investigating ties between Russia and the campaign of President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Mediaite

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Sen. Whitehouse: Comey may confirm FBI Russia investigation on Wednesday

Discussion: New York Magazine

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:
Trump Spokesman Is ‘Very Confident’ Wiretapping Evidence Will Emerge

Discussion: Political Wire

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:

Steve Bannon and the Making of an Economic Nationalist — The controversial White House counselor says his father's 2008 financial trauma helped crystallize his antiglobalist views and led to a political hardening; 'I'm going to be totally wiped out' — Steve Bannon has played a lead role in honing Donald Trump's message.

Discussion: New York Times, Mother Jones and Hullabaloo

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

The Lessons of Obamacare — What Republicans should have learned, but haven't. — On January 6, President Barack Obama sat down with us for one of his final interviews before leaving the White House. The subject was the Affordable Care Act — the legislation that has come to carry his name and define his legacy.

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Close Trump friend says ditch Paul Ryan's plan and embrace universal health care

Discussion: Politico, The Week, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Newsmax, Mother Jones, Mediaite, Hot Air, TheBlaze and twitchy.com

New York Times:

Neil Gorsuch Has Web of Ties to Secretive Billionaire — WASHINGTON — The publicity-shy billionaire Philip F. Anschutz inherited an oil and gas firm and built it into an empire that has sprawled into telecommunications, railroads, real estate, resorts, sports teams, stadiums …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Washington Post, The Hill, Daily Kos, ACS Blog, New York Magazine, Constitution Daily and AOL

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

O'Malley tests 2020 waters with Iowa poll — Donald Trump is only in his second month in the White House, but already one Democrat is polling his party's Iowa caucus-goers ahead of a possible 2020 run for the presidency. — The leadership PAC of former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley commissioned …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Week

Daily Express:

Dutch election polls LIVE: Updates as Geert Wilders takes on Mark Rutte in Netherlands — AS Geert Wilders' election campaign enters its very final hours, here are all the latest updates, polls and breaking news from the Netherlands. — Up to 13 million Dutch people are getting ready …

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:

WEATHER SERVICE DECIDED LAST MINUTE NOT TO CUT SNOW FORECAST — WASHINGTON (AP) — Before the first snow fell, federal meteorologists realized there was a good chance the late-winter storm wasn't going to produce giant snow totals in big Northeast cities as predicted.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway