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

12:20 PM 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: USA Today, Slate, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Vox, Axios, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Newsmax, Politico, Bloomberg, Shareblue, Power Line, The Hill, Townhall.com, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Washington Post, CNBC, Tennessean.com, Fox News, Media Matters for America, The Guardian, Just Security, The American Mirror, Wall Street Journal, The Week, France 24, National Review, Mother Jones, AOL, New York Magazine, CNN, The Root, Washington Free Beacon, The Resurgent, New York Times, Political Insider blog, Sputnik International, The Daily Caller, NBC News, BillMoyers.com, Fox News Insider, WGN-TV, Outside the Beltway, Mashable, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, Daily Mail, Politicus USA, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air, The Times of Israel, CBS New York, Washington Times, emptywheel, Roll Call, Reuters, twitchy.com, Taylor Marsh, Informed Comment, ABC News, TheStreet, CBS Philly and PRI

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: Washington Post, The Atlantic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, RedState, Gizmodo, AOL, Raw Story, 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: Mediaite, Politico, The Week, CNBC, CBS Baltimore, Gizmodo, Instapundit, Media Matters for America, Sputnik International, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, WREG-TV, AOL, 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, Politico, New York Magazine, Shareblue and The Atlantic

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

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Law Can't Stop Trump. Only Impeachment Can.

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

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Schumer demands transcript of Trump-Russia meeting

Discussion: Daily Kos

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

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Post and Talking Points Memo

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

Discussion: IJR

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

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Vox, Washington Post, Politico, The Guardian, CNN, CNBC, The Week, IJR, Media Matters for America, New York Times, AOL, Daily Mail, France 24, Raw Story and Axios

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

Discussion: Vox, New York Times and Washington Post

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

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

Discussion: The Hill and The Week

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Politico, Washington Post and The Week

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

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, CNN, IJR, AOL, The Week, Axios, Politico and Talking Points Memo

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

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

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

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post and CNBC

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

Discussion: Mediaite and WTVR-TV

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

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, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

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

Kyle Feldscher / Washington Examiner:
Murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich had sent 44,000 internal emails to WikiLeaks: Report

Discussion: Hot Air and Mediaite

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

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 and Raw Story

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

Annie Karni / Politico:

Trump aides eager to hitch ride on foreign trip — Goodbye Winter White House. Hello Desert White House. — President Donald Trump is scheduled to depart Friday on an 11-day, five-country tour that comes at a moment of major turmoil in his administration - and, as usual …

John Bowden / The Hill:
Hannity calls for White House control of media at press briefings

Discussion: RedState

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: Politico, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Politicus USA and Daily Kos

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

McConnell: I recommended Merrick Garland for FBI director — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has encouraged President Donald Trump to nominate Merrick Garland to lead the FBI, the Kentucky Republican said Tuesday. — “I have spoken with the president about it.

Discussion: Axios and New York Magazine

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Why would Majority Whip John Cornyn leave the Senate? Because it's a dead-end job.

Discussion: Off the Kuff

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: Mashable, Politicus USA, 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

Alex Tizon / The Atlantic:

My Family's Slave … T — he ashes filled a black plastic box about the size of a toaster. It weighed three and a half pounds. I put it in a canvas tote bag and packed it in my suitcase this past July for the transpacific flight to Manila. From there I would travel by car to a rural village.