memeorandum: Ryan: Don't tie Planned Parenthood to government funding fight (Sylvan Lane/The Hill)

11:05 PM ET, March 28, 2017

Top Items:

Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia — The Trump administration sought to block former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying to Congress in the House investigation of links between Russian officials and Donald Trump's presidential campaign …

Rep. Devin Nunes / National Review:

Devin Nunes Should Step Down as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — Nunes's unforced errors have undermined public faith. — Let's begin with two assertions, both of which should be inarguable. First, no one in Washington is entitled to any position of power or responsibility.

Discussion: Reuters, Hot Air and NewsHounds blog

Scott Wong / The Hill:

First GOP lawmaker calls for Nunes to recuse himself — Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) on Tuesday told The Hill that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) should “absolutely” recuse himself from his panel's investigation into Russia's meddling in last year's election.

Discussion: Shareblue, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Washington Times

Tim Mak / The Daily Beast:

Devin Nunes Could Be Facing an Ethics Probe for Spilling Secrets — The controversy surrounding House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes may just be getting started. Nunes could soon be staring down the barrel of a House Ethics Committee investigation, lawyers familiar with the House's rules tell The Daily Beast.

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Dem: White House in ‘fantasy land’ on Yates testimony … A Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday he was unconvinced by the White House's insistence that it wants former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Now we know why Trump panicked about Russia probe

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, IJR, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Booman Tribune, Hot Air, Progress Pond, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Weekly Standard, AOL and Business Insider

Washington Post:
Read the letters on Sally Yates's potential congressional testimony on Russia

Discussion: New York Magazine, Occupy Democrats, The Guardian, Axios and Towleroad

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
Devin Nunes Has Absolutely No Reason To Recuse Himself

Discussion: Politico, Weekly Standard, Instapundit, RedState and KQED News

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
How the White House and Republicans Blew Up the House Russia Investigation

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Mother Jones, Yahoo and Political Wire

Manu Raju / CNN:
Amid turmoil, House Intel Committee scraps meetings this week

Discussion: MSNBC, The Federalist, Washington Post, Towleroad, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Shakesville, Political Wire, New York Magazine and New York Times

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The White House's Sally Yates problem

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Politico, Daily Kos, Fox News Insider and Talking Points Memo

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

Embattled DNC Asks All Staffers For Resignation Letters — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has launched a major overhaul of the party's organization, which has been stung by recent crises — and the DNC has requested resignation letters from all current staffers.

Discussion: Power Line, TheBlaze, Business Insider, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Occupy Democrats, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Matt Vespa / Townhall.com:
Cleaning House: DNC Chair Perez Orders All Staffers To Resign

Discussion: Geller Report and SARAH PALIN

Media Matters for America:

Bill O'Reilly: I “Didn't Hear A Word” Rep. Maxine Waters Said Because Of Her “James Brown Wig” — BILL O'REILLY: I didn't hear a word [Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)] said. I was looking at the James Brown wig. If we have a picture of James, it's the same wig. — STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): It's the same one.

Discussion: Shareblue, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, The Slot, Washington Post, Salon, Hullabaloo, Media Matters for America, Politicus USA, Shakesville and Towleroad

Lindsey Ellefson / Mediaite:
Calls For Bill O'Reilly to Be Fired Intensify After Maxine Waters Comment

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Shareblue, Business Insider, Raw Story, TheBlaze and IJR

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
Bill O'Reilly apologizes after making racially charged joke about congresswoman

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

Oren Dorell / USA Today:

Trump's business network reached alleged Russian mobsters — To expand his real estate developments over the years, Donald Trump, his company and partners repeatedly turned to wealthy Russians and oligarchs from former Soviet republics — several allegedly connected to organized crime …

Discussion: WhoWhatWhy, Balloon Juice, Occupy Democrats, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and CANNONFIRE

The White House:

S.J.Res. 34 - Disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's Rule on Privacy of Customers of Broadband Services — The Administration strongly supports House passage of S.J.Res. 34, which would nullify the Federal Communications Commission's final rule titled “Protecting the Privacy …

Discussion: CNNMoney, New York Times, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, The FADER, NPR, Axios, Mashable and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: Congress just cleared the way for internet providers to sell your web browsing history

Alex Byers / Politico:
House votes to revoke broadband privacy rules

Discussion: Shareblue

Ilya Marritz / WNYC News:

Paul Manafort's Puzzling New York Real Estate Purchases — Paul J. Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager facing multiple investigations for his political and financial ties to Russia, has engaged in a series of puzzling real estate deals in New York City over the past 11 years.

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, NBC News, Shareblue, New York Magazine, Curbed NY - All, Raw Story, Gothamist and Political Wire

NBC News: Manafort-Linked Accounts on Cyprus Raised Red Flag

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

April Ryan on Sean Spicer's insulting behavior: 'I'll be back' — Thanks to the dysfunction stemming from his boss, White House press secretary Sean Spicer is getting heavy exposure to the public via televised daily sessions in the briefing room. And the more we see of him, the nastier he appears.

Discussion: Politico, Vox, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and IJR

Paulina Firozi / The Hill:
Clinton defends April Ryan, Rep. Maxine Waters in speech

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, NBC News, Occupy Democrats, Politicus USA, twitchy.com, Mediaite, BizPac Review and Shareblue

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Border wall funding likely to be put on hold — President Trump's funding request for a border wall will likely be put on hold, Senate Republican leaders signaled Tuesday. — Sen. Roy Blunt — (R-Mo.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, announced at a leadership press conference …

Leah Barkoukis / Townhall.com:
GOP Senator: Funding For Border Wall Will Likely Have to Wait

Discussion: SARAH PALIN

New York Times:

Affordable Care Act Repeal Is Back on the Agenda, Republicans Say — WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders and the White House, under extreme pressure from conservative activists, have restarted negotiations on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, with House leaders declaring …

Discussion: USA Today, Vox, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Daily Signal, Daily Wire, Daily Kos, CNBC, Hot Air, RedState, IJR, Politico, Washington Times, Mediaite, Political Wire, Instapundit, TheBlaze, New York Times and Axios

Naomi Jagoda / The Hill:

Republicans vote to block resolutions on Trump's tax returns — The House and its tax-writing committee voted on Tuesday to block Democratic resolutions demanding President Trump's tax returns. — The votes were latest of many Democratic attempts to get Congress to request Trump's tax returns.

Discussion: Political Wire and Axios

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Donald Trump Claims U.S. Constitution Bars ‘Apprentice’ Star's Defamation Suit While in Office — The president believes the Supremacy Clause bars state lawsuits against a sitting president and looks to tackle an issue “not decided” by the Supreme Court in Bill Clinton v. Paula Jones.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and Raw Story

Eric Owens / The Daily Caller:

This $56,199-Per-Year Campus Offers ‘Self-Identified White Students’ A Safe Space To Feel Guilty — Loyola University Chicago offers a campus club “for self-identified White students” to admit their own racist feelings and to complain about the racism they perceive around themselves.

Discussion: Breitbart, Campus Reform and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Trump breaks the silent treatment with Schumer: ‘Hello, Chuck’ — As President Donald Trump welcomed more than half the Senate to the White House on Tuesday night in one of his first big splashes on the Washington social scene, he gave a shout to a recognizable Democratic face in the crowd.

Discussion: Axios

Sylvan Lane / The Hill:

Ryan: Don't tie Planned Parenthood to government funding fight — Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that Congress shouldn't try to defund Planned Parenthood in a measure to fund the government, but instead should use a separate healthcare reform bill.

Discussion: Politico and Mashable

Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:

White House staff will skip Correspondents' Dinner in ‘solidarity’ with President Trump — President Donald Trump's staff is following the commander in chief's lead and will skip next month's White House Correspondents' Dinner, the organization announced Tuesday.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Washington Times

Glenn Garner / Out Magazine:

BREAKING: Trump Administration Omits LGBTQ People from 2020 Census … The Trump Administration recently submitted a list of data categories it will collect for the 2020 Census and the American Community Survey (ACS). Although the Supreme Court, in 2013, struck down the Defense of Marriage Act …

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year — Spiders are quite literally all around us. A recent entomological survey of North Carolina homes turned up spiders in 100 percent of them, including 68 percent of bathrooms and more than three-quarters of bedrooms.

Discussion: AOL, The Verge, KFOR-TV, twitchy.com, Refinery29 and Mashable

Elana Schor / Politico:

Gorsuch needs a straight flush to beat filibuster — Senate Democrats on Tuesday left Judge Neil Gorsuch with two roads to the Supreme Court: winning over all of the party's remaining swing votes, or relying on the so-called nuclear option. — The five Democratic senators up for reelection next year …

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

Karen Pence is the vice president's ‘prayer warrior,’ gut check and shield — During the first of Vice President Pence's two unsuccessful races for Congress, he rode a single-speed bicycle more than 250 miles around his district, much of it accompanied by his wife, Karen, along for the journey.

Megan R. Wilson / The Hill:

Schock staffer was FBI informant, court filings reveal — The FBI wired a congressional staffer and turned him into a secret informant during its investigation into former Rep. Aaron Schock's (R-Ill.) alleged misuse of government and campaign funds, Schock's attorneys said Tuesday in federal court filings.

Discussion: Politico

Megan Cassidy / Arizona Republic:

Tesla ‘autopilot’ car hits Phoenix police motorcycle — A Phoenix police motorcycle was struck by a Tesla Model X reportedly operating on autopilot last week, police said. — The incident happened a few days before an accident involving an automated Uber vehicle in Tempe.

Discussion: BGR and The Daily Caller

Michael Weiss / The Daily Beast:

Jared Kushner Tempted by Russia's Bank of Spies — Not every bank lists a convicted spy serving 30 months in an Ohio prison as its active deputy representative in New York. But then, not every bank is headed by a former spy, much less one found to have spent time with Jared Kushner during a …