memeorandum: Trump says he had ‘absolute right’ to share info with Russia (Adam Kelsey/ABC News)

12:45 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, Politico, Newsmax, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, ThinkProgress, Shareblue, Power Line, The Hill, New York Times, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Commentary Magazine, CNBC, Townhall.com, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The American Mirror, CNN, Media Matters for America, Tennessean.com, KQED News, The Guardian, Sputnik International, Fox News, The Week, France 24, Just Security, Wall Street Journal, AOL, National Review, The Root, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, The Resurgent, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Political Insider blog, Mashable, BillMoyers.com, WGN-TV, The Verge, Outside the Beltway, Reuters, IJR, Fox News Insider, Associated Press, Daily Mail, Hullabaloo, Politicus USA, The Gateway Pundit, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air, The Times of Israel, CBS New York, Washington Times, emptywheel, Roll Call, NPR, twitchy.com, Taylor Marsh, Informed Comment, ABC News, TheStreet and CBS Philly

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: Raw Story, Daily Kos and Mediaite

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, RedState, Gizmodo, AOL, Axios, The Guardian, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Week and CNBC

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, Instapundit, Gizmodo, Althouse, Sputnik International, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Media Matters for America, WREG-TV, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times, AOL, Vox and The Atlantic

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, CNBC, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Just Security, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, Mashable, Fox News Insider and The Week

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

Discussion: IJR

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

Discussion: Daily Kos

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
European official: Country might stop sharing intel with US

Discussion: RedState

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

Discussion: New York Times, Vox and WTVR-TV

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

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, Vox and The Week

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

Discussion: The Hill, Shareblue and The Week

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, New York Times, AOL, Media Matters for America, Daily Mail, France 24 and Raw Story

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

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

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, CNBC, Axios, CNN, Shakesville, Mediaite, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, National Review, Vox, The Week, New York Magazine, Real Clear Politics, Power Line, IJR and CBS New York

Ben Schreckinger / Politico: Trump's Fans Shrug Off Oval Office Leak

Adam Kelsey / ABC News:
Trump says he had ‘absolute right’ to share info with Russia

Discussion: Vox, Politicus USA, Shareblue, Associated Press and Washington Post

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

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

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

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Media Matters for America, CNBC, Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, Axios, The Week and twitchy.com

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, Axios, CNBC, Politico, Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, KQED News, New York Magazine, CNN, Sputnik International, The Resurgent, NBC News, Bloomberg, TheBlaze, Raw Story, The Guardian, IJR and Scared Monkeys

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: Breitbart, 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: TheBlaze, DCist, IJR, AOL, Scared Monkeys, Raw Story, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, The Daily Caller 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 and Mediaite

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, AOL, Politico, Booman Tribune, Shakesville 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: Politico, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Politicus USA and Daily Kos

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Merrick Garland not interested in FBI job, friends say — Judge Merrick Garland, whose nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama was blocked by Senate Republicans, has no interest in being the new FBI director, according to associates. — Garland, the chief judge …

Discussion: Political Wire

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

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

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

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.