memeorandum: McMaster: “The Story That Came Out Tonight As Reported Is False” (Ian Schwartz/RealClearPolitics)

11:45 AM ET, May 16, 2017

Top Items:

Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador — President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Shareblue, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Politico, Newsmax, The Hill, Bloomberg, Power Line, Axios, Townhall.com, Raw Story, CNBC, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Tennessean.com, Fox News, Media Matters for America, Just Security, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, CNN, National Review, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Washington Free Beacon, The American Mirror, The Root, Political Insider blog, USA Today, The Resurgent, Sputnik International, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider, NBC News, BillMoyers.com, WGN-TV, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, Hullabaloo, Associated Press, Hot Air, IJR, Politicus USA, Daily Mail, Washington Times, CBS New York, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Times of Israel, emptywheel, Roll Call, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, twitchy.com, Informed Comment, AOL, France 24, TheStreet, ABC News, PRI, CBS Philly, RedState, Little Green Footballs and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

David Brooks / New York Times:

When the World Is Led by a Child — At certain times Donald Trump has seemed like a budding authoritarian, a corrupt Nixon, a rabble-rousing populist or a big business corporatist. — But as Trump has settled into his White House role, he has given a series of long interviews …

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Daily Kos

JGoldsmith / Lawfare:

Bombshell: Initial Thoughts on the Washington Post's Game-Changing Story — Donald Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak / Russian Foreign Ministry — The Washington Post this afternoon published a stunning story reporting …

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Raw Story, RedState, Gizmodo, AOL, The Guardian, Mediaite, The Week and Vox

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

Trump acknowledges ‘facts’ shared with Russian envoys during White House meeting — President Trump appeared to acknowledge Tuesday that he revealed highly classified information to Russia — a stunning confirmation of a Washington Post story and a move that contradicted his own White House team after it scrambled to deny the report.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, Instapundit, Gizmodo, Media Matters for America, Sputnik International, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, WREG-TV, Vox, Althouse and twitchy.com

The Daily Beast:

White House Staff ‘Hiding’ As Russia Chaos Engulfs West Wing … White House and administration officials are reeling at reports that President Donald Trump reportedly shared classified information with Russia's top diplomats during an Oval Office meeting last week.

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine and Shareblue

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

GOP senator: Senate panel needs briefing on whether Trump shared info — (Maine) says the White House needs to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee over allegations that President Trump shared classified information with top Russian officials. — “Although the President has the legal authority …

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Politico, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, The Times of Israel and The Week

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Law Can't Stop Trump. Only Impeachment Can. — Shortly after the Washington Post's devastating report that President Trump “revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador” and “jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State,” Republicans in Congress began to weigh in.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Mashable, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, Politico, Fox News Insider, The Week and Politicus USA

Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
The Terrible Cost of Trump's Disclosures

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Vox, Washington Post, Politico, The Guardian, CNN, CNBC, Media Matters for America, New York Times, Daily Mail and Raw Story

Katya Golubkova / Reuters:
Russia's response to Trump leak reports: don't read U.S. newspapers

Discussion: IJR

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Why the latest White House crisis is a really big deal

Discussion: Vox, New York Times and Washington Post

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Trump's Best Defense on Russia Is Incompetence

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC and Talking Points Memo

BuzzFeed:
Trump Revealed Highly Classified Information To Russians During White House Visit

Ian Schwartz / RealClearPolitics:
McMaster: “The Story That Came Out Tonight As Reported Is False”

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Axios, Politico, The Atlantic, Media Matters for America, CNN, NBC News, Raw Story, Bloomberg, The Resurgent, TheBlaze, CNBC, The Guardian, IJR, Power Line, New York Magazine and Scared Monkeys

New York Times:
Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, Indy Week, Axios, Vox, Washington Post, CNBC, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic, The Week, Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon

Kristina Wong / Breitbart:
Deep State Leaks Highly Classified Info to Washington Post to Smear President Trump

Discussion: Vox, Politico, Daily Kos, CNN, Mediaite, The Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, Daily Mail, Just Security, Washington Post, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Power Line, The Root, Media Matters for America, CNBC, Axios, The Week and Shareblue

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Shared Intelligence Secrets With Russians in Oval Office Meeting

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Jan M. Olsen / Associated Press:
THE LATEST: EUROPEAN COUNTRY MIGHT HALT US INTEL-SHARING

Discussion: The Week

Hallie Jackson / NBC News:
Behind the Scenes as Another Crisis Hits the Trump White House

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, CNN, Axios, AOL and The Week

Zachary Cohen / CNN:
Intel officials: Trump disclosure ‘carelessly’ threatened relationship with ally

Discussion: Mediaite and WTVR-TV

John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
Trump's Supposed Leak: The Worst Thing Yet?

Discussion: Washington Post and CNBC

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Pro-Trump media dismisses bombshell report the president shared classified info

Discussion: CNN, Axios, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Vox

Marina Marraco / WTTG-TV:

Family's private investigator: There is evidence Seth Rich had contact with WikiLeaks prior to death — WASHINGTON - It has been almost a year since Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered in the nation's capital. There have been no solid answers about why he was killed until now.

Discussion: Raw Story, AOL, IJR, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider and The Gateway Pundit

Malia Zimmerman / Fox News:

Seth Rich, slain DNC staffer, had contact with WikiLeaks, say multiple sources — The Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10 on a Washington, D.C., street just steps from his home had leaked thousands of internal emails to WikiLeaks, law enforcement sources told Fox News.

Discussion: twitchy.com, RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Hot Air, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Alex Campbell / BuzzFeed:
The Family Of A Murdered DNC Staffer Has Rejected A Report Linking His Death To WikiLeaks

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite and The Week

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:

I Know One of the Sources — I tend to take these stories about the President with a grain of salt. We have seen key details of a number of salacious stories retracted within 48 hours. The media hates the President so much that they'll run a negative story about him without very much provocation.

Discussion: Axios, Mediaite, The Week and Raw Story

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

A Preview of Our Interview with Sally Yates — Last Thursday morning, I sat down with Sally Yates, the former acting Attorney General, whom President Trump fired on January 30th, after she refused to defend his original executive order banning travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Discussion: Politico

Euan McKirdy / CNN:

Sally Yates: Russians had ‘real leverage’ over Michael Flynn — Watch Anderson Cooper's full, exclusive interview with Yates on CNN and CNN International Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET on “AC360.” — (CNN)Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said former national security adviser Michael Flynn was in a …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Booman Tribune and Political Insider blog

Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg:

McConnell Calls for ‘Less Drama’ From Trump's White House — Defers to Senate Intelligence panel on whether to expand probe — Tells Trump to pick nominee like Merrick Garland for FBI — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he'd like to see “less drama” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA and Daily Kos

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
McConnell: I recommended Merrick Garland for FBI director

Discussion: Axios

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Health Care Puts House in Play — PPP's new national poll finds that Republicans are facing significant backlash over the health care bill that's having the effect of firing up Democrats and putting them in position to make major gains in the House next year.

Discussion: The Week and Political Wire

David S. Cohen / New York Times:

How Trump Hurts the Spying Business — The man seated across from me had been a spy for the United States for several decades. Recruited by a C.I.A. officer, this man, at great risk to his and his family's lives, had provided critically important intelligence that formed the basis …

Michael Crowley / Politico:
Trump's trampling of political norms spurs strongman comparisons

Discussion: Sputnik International and The Week

NBC News:

Manafort Got $3.5M Mystery Mortgage, Paid No Tax — Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort took out a $3.5 million mortgage through a shell company just after leaving the campaign, but the mortgage document that explains how he would pay it back was never filed — and Manafort's company …

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire

John Bowden / The Hill:

Hannity calls for White House control of media at press briefings … Fox News host Sean Hannity is urging the Trump administration to “restructure” the daily White House press briefings and restrict the topics raised by reporters. — “First, the White House press team should regularly develop …

Discussion: Politico and RedState