memeorandum: Did Obama Abuse Raw Intelligence? (Peter Hoekstra/Wall Street Journal)

9:40 AM ET, March 24, 2017

Top Items:

A Brave Front, but Regrets? On Health Bill, Trump Has a Few — WASHINGTON — President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt.

Discussion: Vox, Business Insider, Salon, No More Mister Nice Blog, Axios, NPR, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, New York Magazine and Reuters

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Why Steve Bannon Might Be the Winner of the GOP's Health-Care Civil War — With hours to go before the House is set to (finally) vote on Paul Ryan's health-care bill, the Trump administration is putting a full-court press on recalcitrant Republicans to rally votes.

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:

What the G.O.P. Doesn't Get About Who Pays for Health Care — A few years ago, a relative of mine, an electrician who made a good living laying cable alongside highways, told me that his economic future depended on one thing: his back. He saw what happened to older guys …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Vox

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:
The White House may have skirted federal law to try and save its failing health care bill

Discussion: Politicus USA, NBC News, Occupy Democrats, CNBC, Fox News Insider, The Slot, ACASignups.net and The Guardian

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
The Republican health care plan is totally nuts

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Los Angeles Times

Fox News:

Potential ‘smoking gun’ showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says — Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself …

Discussion: Power Line, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, BizPac Review, Scared Monkeys, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, Hot Air, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, The Last Tradition and SARAH PALIN

Mike Levine / ABC News:

Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., does not know “for sure” whether President Donald Trump or members of his transition team were even on the phone calls or other communications …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, RT, Business Insider, Politico, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, RedState, CNN, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Schiff: New evidence shows possible Trump-Russia collusion — Schiff: New Trump-Russia collusion evidence — Washington (CNN)The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is claiming that he has been presented with new information on collusion between associates of President Donald …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Political Wire

Peter Hoekstra / Wall Street Journal:

Did Obama Abuse Raw Intelligence? — I couldn't have seen those transcripts when I led the House intel committee. — By — It was remarkable when Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed Wednesday that Trump campaign officials were caught up in the inadvertent collection of intelligence.

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Post

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: The health care ultimatum — The big story: So there is a law of political physics that applies to Donald Trump after all. Actually, this one is basic math, in that House leaders and the White House have never had the majority they assumed they could get, as we approach today's showdown.

Discussion: Business Insider, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:
Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Balloon Juice

New York Times:
Rep. Nunes Is a Lapdog in a Watchdog Role

Discussion: MSNBC

Washington Post:
Shut down Nunes's investigation — and investigate him for leaking

Discussion: Politicus USA, Raw Story, The Atlantic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing Watch, Hit & Run, Common Dreams, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America and CNBC

Bill Gertz / Washington Free Beacon: Intelligence Reports Reveal Improper Political Surveillance of Trump, Transition Team

Axios:

The state of Trumpcare: Failure is an option — Here's the reality that President Trump and Republican leaders are facing: They want to repeal Obamacare, but not the popular parts of Obamacare. But to the most conservative Republicans, and their supporters, repeal means repeal …

Discussion: Forbes and Vox

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
A postponed health-care vote, a big GOP embarrassment and no good options ahead

Discussion: Occupy Democrats and Politico

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The Republican health-care proposal is breathtakingly unpopular

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, AOL, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Informed Comment, The Guardian, Slate, US News, Common Dreams, Daily Wire and Hot Air

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Trump threatens to leave ObamaCare in place if repeal bill fails

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Political Wire

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Trump delivers ultimatum to House Republicans: Pass health-care measure on Friday or he'll move on

Discussion: Politico, The Atlantic, alicublog, Booman Tribune, Power Line, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, New York Times, ACASignups.net, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Mahablog, Bloomberg and Outside the Beltway

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Here's why House conservatives think only partial repeal of Obamacare regulations will punish the sick

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Heat Street and Talking Points Memo

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney:
Revised Republican health care bill is more costly, but doesn't insure more people

Discussion: CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Mediaite, WPMT FOX43 and TheBlaze

Axios:
The new reality on Trump and the Freedom Caucus

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
What's Missing From This Photo of Politicians Deciding the Future of Women's Health?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Fox News, Vox, theGrio, The Guardian, Occupy Democrats, Hullabaloo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Mashable, Jamie Dupree, Washington Post, RT and Hit & Run

Nicholas Bagley / The Incidental Economist:

Confusion over essential health benefits — Last night, House Republicans released the text of the final manager's amendment to the American Health Care Act, including changes to the rules governing the essential health benefits. With these tweaks, the House hopes to pass the bill today.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Mother Jones

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Scammers, the Scammed and America's Fate — Many people are horrified, and rightly so, by what passes for leadership in today's Washington. And it's important to keep the horror of our political situation up front, to keep highlighting the lies, the cruelty, the bad judgment.

Media Matters for America:

The Life Cycle Of A Donald Trump Lie — On March 4, President Donald Trump declared himself the victim of a scandal on the level of the the Watergate crimes that brought down President Richard Nixon. In an early-morning tweetstorm apparently triggered by reading a Breitbart article …

Discussion: PolitiFact, CNBC, Hullabaloo, Mashable and The Atlantic

Lionel Barber / Financial Times:

Juncker warns Trump that anti-EU stance risks triggering Balkan war — European Commission president delivered admonition to vice-president Mike Pence — Read next … Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, has delivered a blunt warning to Donald Trump against encouraging countries …

Discussion: CNBC and Business Insider

Heritage Action for America:

“NO” ON AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT (H.R. 1628) — At some point, the House is expected to vote on the American Health Care Act (H.R. 1628), which would partially repeal and replace various components of Obamacare. The proposed legislation repeals a number of Obamacare provisions …

Discussion: The Daily Signal, Talking Points Memo and FOX6Now.com

Katie J.M. Baker / BuzzFeed:

A Former Student Says UC Berkeley's Star Philosophy Professor Groped Her And Watched Porn At Work — A lawsuit alleges UC Berkeley professor John R. Searle sexually harassed, assaulted, and retaliated against a former student and employee — and that the university did nothing to stop him.

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

McCain Responds to Filibuster Threat: 'We're Going to Confirm Gorsuch' — Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday morning that he will try to lead fellow Senate Democrats to block an up-or-down vote on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Democrats Plan to Filibuster to Thwart Gorsuch Nomination

Discussion: The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, SCOTUSblog, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, DCReport, CNN, USA Today, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Politico and Reuters

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

A conservative news crack-up? Things just got real for some partisan personalities. — These should be high times for conservative news outlets, what with like-minded officials and operatives in control of virtually every important office in Washington. — And yet the news …

more at Mediagazer »

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

In Wake of Rockville Rape, School Superintendent Accuses Parents of Racism — In the wake of an alleged brutal rape at Rockville High School in Maryland by two illegal aliens last week, Montgomery County Superintendent Dr. Jack Smith is accusing parents of racism and xenophobia.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Fox News Insider and Washington Post

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com: Liberals Prefer Illegal Aliens Over Your Kids

New York Times:

Toll of London Attack Is Global for an Assailant Born in Britain — LONDON — The roster of the dead and wounded spanned the globe: a veteran Scotland Yard constable, a Mormon couple from Utah, South Korean tourists, French high schoolers and Romanian lovers.