memeorandum: House Republicans floundering on Obamacare repeal (John Bresnahan/Politico)

8:10 PM ET, May 2, 2017

Top Items:

Ivanka Trump Has the President's Ear. Here's Her Agenda. — A month before Donald J. Trump was elected president, he and his aides watched his daughter's coolly composed surface crack open. — Inside Trump Tower, the candidate was preparing for a debate when an aide rushed in with news …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Althouse, Politicus USA, Racked, The Week, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Raw Story, Axios, AOL and Eschaton

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:

White House aims for Thursday signing of religious liberty executive order — President Donald Trump has invited conservative leaders to the White House on Thursday for what they expect will be the ceremonial signing of a long-awaited—and highly controversial—executive order on religious liberty …

Discussion: Political Wire, Axios, LifeNews.com, CNBC, Politicus USA, Joe.My.God. and Political Insider blog

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
Trump set to sign religious liberty order: report

Discussion: RedState

Robert Bluey / Heritage Foundation:

Statement From the Chairman of Heritage's Board of Trustees — Vice President, Publishing & Editor in Chief, Daily Signal … The Heritage Foundation's Board of Trustees, by a unanimous vote, has asked for and received the resignation of Jim DeMint as president and CEO of the organization.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, NPR, Mediaite, The Week, Shareblue, The Daily Caller, New York Post and TheBlaze

Nancy Cook / Politico:

The real reason Jim DeMint got the boot — Jim DeMint's ouster from The Heritage Foundation came as a shock to the hundreds of scholars and staffers who've seen the organization's political influence grow thanks to DeMint's controversial decision to align the leading conservative think tank closely with Donald Trump.

Discussion: Political Wire and twitchy.com

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
Coup Against Jim DeMint Threatens To Tear Apart Heritage Foundation

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, RedState and The Atlantic

CNN:

Sources: Former Acting AG Yates to contradict administration about Flynn at hearing — Washington (CNN)Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is prepared to testify before a Senate panel next week that she gave a forceful warning to the White House regarding then-National Security Advisor …

Discussion: Business Insider, Political Wire, Politicus USA, Raw Story and Shareblue

Tommy Christopher / Shareblue: Rep. Cummings busts Pence: “I warned the vice president directly” about Michael Flynn

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Fred Upton's cynical reversal on repealing Obamacare shows why people distrust Republicans — If you want to gain an understanding of why it's so difficult for many people to trust Republicans on healthcare, look no further than the cynical decision of Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Bloomberg, Washington Post, National Review, Vox and Hot Air

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Former GOP chairman ‘cannot support’ new healthcare bill

Discussion: Politico, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Axios, CNBC, New York Times, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Shareblue and Vox

John Bresnahan / Politico:
House Republicans floundering on Obamacare repeal

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, Speaker.gov and Daily Kos

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
Trumpcare's long odds in the Senate, explained by a Republican senator

Discussion: Politico and Hit & Run

Mark Graham / Decider:

Stephen Colbert's Shocking Attack On Trump Concludes With A Homophobic Slur … Once the clock struck midnight on Donald Trump's 100 days in office, Stephen Colbert's claws came out. He delivered his most vicious attack on the President to date during the monologue of Monday night's …

Discussion: Power Line

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Stephen Colbert Demolishes Trump for Insulting ‘Face The Nation’ Host John Dickerson … President Donald Trump insulted Face The Nation host John Dickerson and Stephen Colbert is pissed. — As the Late Show host explained in his monologue on Monday, during his CBS colleague's Sunday morning interview …

Discussion: Hot Air, twitchy.com, AOL, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, BizPac Review, Instapundit, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, Patterico's Pontifications and New York Times

Dan Merica / CNN:

Clinton: ‘If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president’ — New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she takes personal responsibility for her 2016 loss, but also pointed to the timing of a letter from FBI Director James Comey and Russian interference as factors.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Balloon Juice and TheBlaze

Associated Press:
Full public FBI reveal is rare for Trump-Russia type probes

Discussion: Washington Post and ABC News

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Clinton: ‘I was on the way to winning’ until Comey, Russia intervened

Discussion: ABC News

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Justice Department will not charge Baton Rouge officers in fatal shooting of Alton Sterling — The Justice Department has decided not to bring charges against the officers involved in the death of Alton Sterling, whose videotaped shooting by police in Baton Rouge last summer prompted unrest across the city …

Discussion: New York Times, RedState, New Orleans Times-Picayune, New York Magazine, Business Insider, The Root and The FADER

CNN:
Ex-officer Michael Slager to plead guilty after killing unarmed black man

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air and The Week

YouTube:

Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Details of His Son's Birth & Heart Disease … Jimmy and his wife Molly welcomed their second child together, William “Billy” Kimmel. At three days old, Billy had successful open heart surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and is now home with his family.

Charles Hurt / Washington Times:
Shut up, Jimmy Kimmel, you elitist creep

Discussion: NPR, Media Matters for America, Media Matters for America and The Daily Caller

Jesse Singal / New York Magazine:

This Is What a Modern-Day Witch Hunt Looks Like — In late March, Hypatia, a feminist-philosophy journal, published an article titled “In Defense of Transracialism” by Rebecca Tuvel, an assistant professor of philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, as part of its spring 2017 issue.

Discussion: Daily Nous

Art Tavana / Playboy:

Tomi Lahren Exclusively Talks To Playboy After Her Blaze Fallout — Tomi Lahren came of age at the altar of Fox News, a product of the YouTube generation who's been endowed with a Facebook platform and Instagram looks. She was born at the start of the Clinton years—around …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Red Alert Politics, CNNMoney, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Adviser Jared Kushner Didn't Disclose Startup Stake — Investments show ties to Goldman Sachs, George Soros and Peter Thiel as well as a number of loans — Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, didn't identify on his government financial disclosure form …

Discussion: Breitbart, Slate, The Hill, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Real Deal New York, Business Insider, IJR, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Shareblue, RedState, The Week and Axios

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Trump tries to claim border wall win in budget deal — President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that the government funding deal reached on Capitol Hill over the weekend includes a “down payment on the border wall,” even though the legislation specifically does not allocate money for such a wall.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Root and Common Dreams

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
White House scrambles to rebrand spending bill as Trump ‘win’

Discussion: Hot Air, Townhall.com, Real Clear Politics, KTLA, Vox, IJR and Power Line

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

McConnell shoots down Trump's call to end the filibuster — (R-Ky.) is shooting down President Trump's push for Republicans to change the Senate's rules for blocking legislation. — Asked if Republicans would nix the 60-vote filibuster to allow legislation to pass by a simple majority …

Discussion: TheBlaze, New York Magazine, The Week and Joe.My.God.

Louis Nelson / Politico:
GOP senators reject Trump's call to end the filibuster

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and TheBlaze

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:

Video captures fistfight between passengers on flight to Los Angeles — (CNN)One minute passengers were settling into their seats for the 11-hour flight from Tokyo, Japan, to Los Angeles. — The next they were scrambling out of the way as a male passenger became irate and began throwing punches …

Discussion: The Root, AOL, CBS Los Angeles and CBS Denver

Japan Today:
American passenger arrested for assaulting ANA employee

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Mail, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Fox News, Boing Boing, TheBlaze and Fox News Insider

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:

A Woman Is On Trial For Laughing During A Congressional Hearing — Activist was arrested by a rookie cop after laughing at a claim that Jeff Sessions treated “all Americans equally.” … WASHINGTON The U.S. Capitol Police officer who decided to arrest an activist because she briefly laughed …

Discussion: Vox, The FADER, Hit & Run, Raw Story and The Week

Sarah Jones / New Republic:

Bret Stephens Isn't the Only Problem at the New York Times Op-Ed Page — From Friedman to Bruni, the paper of record's columnists are abysmal. — At this point the case against the New York Times's decision to give Bret Stephens an op-ed column is well-known.

Discussion: Breitbart, Newsweek, Business Insider, National Review, Climate Depot, Los Angeles Times, Media Matters for America, Boing Boing, Axios, Philly.com and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Bob Nightengale / USA Today:

Orioles' Adam Jones berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park — BOSTON — Baltimore Orioles All-Star center fielder Adam Jones was berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park while a bag of peanuts was thrown at him Monday night, calling it one of the worst cases of fan abuse he has heard in his career.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Shakesville, Deadspin, NBC News, Associated Press, CBS Chicago, Mediaite, The Root, TMZ.com and CBS Philly

Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:

Facebook's Female Engineers Claim Gender Bias — Analysis found female engineers received 35% more rejections of their code than men — Last year, a longtime engineer at Facebook Inc. FB .21% gathered data that revealed a controversial finding: Code written by women was rejected …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mashable, The Verge and Axios, more at Techmeme »

ABC News:

President Trump to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin — Coming up in the next {{countdown}} {{countdownlbl}} — Coming up next: — {{nextVideo.title}} — {{nextVideo.description}} — Skip to this video now — Related Extras Related Videos Video Transcript

Discussion: Politico

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump praise for Kim Jong Un baffles South Koreans

Discussion: ABC News, The Daily Caller, RedState and Geller Report

James Ball / BuzzFeed:

UK Defence Ministry Casts Doubt On Trump Aide's Military Service Claims — Sebastian Gorka, an aide to President Donald Trump, has claimed roles relating to counter-terror, Northern Ireland, and in investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia — but the UK Ministry of Defence can't find evidence for any of it.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

CNN:

GOP candidate's husband shares image urging voters to ‘free the black slaves from the Democratic plantation’ — (CNN)The husband of Republican congressional candidate Karen Handel shared an image on his Twitter timeline Tuesday that urged voters to support his wife in order to “free the black slaves from the Democratic plantation.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo