memeorandum: Behind closed doors, House GOP “shellshocked” by Comey (Jonathan Swan/Axios)

2:30 PM ET, May 17, 2017

Top Items:

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

First Republican raises impeachment for Trump — (R-Mich.) on Wednesday said reports that President Trump pressed ousted FBI Director James Comey to end an investigation would merit impeachment if true, becoming the first Republican lawmaker to broach the idea.

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The Week, The Atlantic and Shareblue

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

White House on edge: ‘We are kind of helpless’ — It was, in the words of one senior White House official, the worst day of Trump's presidency. — White House officials spent early Tuesday wondering who was leaking details of President Donald Trump's classified conversations with Russian officials …

Discussion: Axios, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Raw Story, The Week and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation — WASHINGTON — President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump's former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February …

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Politico, Townhall.com, The Atlantic, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, HuffPost, ThinkProgress, Shareblue, CNN, Vox, The Hill, CBS News, Salon, The Guardian, New York Post, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Media Matters for America, The Federalist, Bloomberg, Mediaite, Raw Story, Refinery29, Hullabaloo, Just Security, New York Magazine, IJR, Indy Week, Fox News Insider, Common Dreams, AOL, TheStreet, NBC News, CNNMoney, The Daily Beast, NPR, USA Today, Weekly Standard, RT, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, Washington Examiner, Fox News, CNBC, Washington Times, TheBlaze, National Review, Axios, The Week, CBS New York, No More Mister Nice Blog, The National Interest, Feeds, CBS Boston, Politicus USA, BuzzFeed, Take Care Blog, Washington Free Beacon, DCReport.org, SiliconBeat, Real Clear Politics, Althouse, Right Wing Watch, Financial Times, Informed Comment, Snopes.com and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

USA Today:

Pretend Clinton did what Trump has done — Republicans in Congress and conservative media would be clamoring for investigations, if not impeachment: Our view — Imagine what would have happened had a President Hillary Clinton abruptly fired the man overseeing an investigation of her campaign's ties to a hostile foreign government.

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Indy Week, CNBC, Fox News Insider, The Week and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Trump Has Really Screwed Himself This Time — He suggested he taped conversations with James Comey. Now, a memo by the former FBI director reveals damaging details about those conversations. — Last Friday, several days after firing FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump tweeted something …

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, AOL, Fox News Insider, The Hill and Axios

New York Times:
The Criminal President? — After the revelations of the past 24 hours …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Washington Post

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
The Trump Presidency Falls Apart

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Week and Daily Kos

The Daily Beast:
Trump Officials on Comey Memo: 'Don't See How Trump Isn't Completely F*cked'

Mike Allen / Axios:
“Comey's revenge” may be far from over

Discussion: CNN, Fox News Insider, Booman Tribune, The Week, Washington Post and Just Security

Washington Examiner:
GOP fears Trump will take the Republican Party down with him

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Senate Intelligence Committee leaders demand Comey memos

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, ABC News, The Guardian, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR, AOL, Vox, Mediaite, CNN, The Daily Caller, Indy Week, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and The National Interest

Reuters:
Embroiled in controversies, Trump seeks boost on foreign trip

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Week and twitchy.com

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
Trump claims ‘no politician in history’ has been ‘treated worse or more unfairly’

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times and Talking Points Memo

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The guy who predicted Comey's memos thinks the former FBI director may be trying to take down Trump

Discussion: Raw Story, Political Wire, Politico, New York Magazine and The Atlantic

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Comey Memo Fallout: Senate Committee Invites Comey to Testify

Discussion: Raw Story, Gizmodo and The Week

Jordain Carney / The Hill: Senate Intel panel asks Comey to testify publicly

Tara Golshan / Vox:
GOP Rep. Justin Amash on Comey memo: if true, there are grounds for impeachment

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Post and Media Matters for America

Fox News:
Gregg Jarrett: Comey's revenge is a gun without powder

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and The Gateway Pundit

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:
Jack Welch: Impeachment of Trump would ‘blow the market away’

Discussion: Washington Post

Evan Perez / CNN: Comey and the art of the well-timed leak

Bob Brigham / Raw Story:
Republican Darrell Issa gives reporter the silent treatment — and the finger — for asking about Comey memos

Discussion: ABC News, Daily Kos, RedState, Political Wire and Politicus USA

David Remnick / New Yorker:
Is the Comey Memo the Beginning of the End for Trump?

Discussion: The Week and Political Wire

Tim Mak / The Daily Beast:
McCain: Trump Scandal Has Hit ‘Watergate Size’

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, The Hill, The Week, Axios and Mediaite

Josh Barro / Business Insider:
Here's why Comey couldn't just quit in February

Discussion: New York Magazine, Lean Left, Hot Air, AOL and Axios

Jeff Larson / ProPublica:

Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago — We tested internet security at four Trump properties. It's not good. — Two weeks ago, on a sparkling spring morning, we went trawling along Florida's coastal waterway. But not for fish. — We parked a 17-foot motor boat in a lagoon …

Gizmodo:
Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago. We Tested It.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The 25th Amendment Solution for Removing Trump — It was just three days and a lifetime ago that I wrote a column about Donald Trump's unfitness for the presidency that affected a world-weary tone. Nothing about this White House's chaos was surprising given the style of Trump's campaign, I argued.

Discussion: The Federalist, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Mother Jones, The Gateway Pundit and THE WARREN (HENRY) REPORT

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Behind closed doors, House GOP “shellshocked” by Comey — In the House Republicans' conference meeting on Capitol Hill this morning, the mood among members was subdued and somewhat anxious. One source described members as “shellshocked.” — Paul Ryan sought to project steadiness amid …

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
On Ross Douthat and the 25th Amendment

Discussion: Marginal REVOLUTION

Wall Street Journal:

Russian State-Run Bank Financed Deal Involving Trump Hotel Partner — A Russian-Canadian developer put money into a Donald Trump hotel project in Toronto after receiving hundreds of millions from a deal involving Russian state-run bank VEB.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, The Week and The Guardian

NBC News:

Trump Gave Russians Secrets News Orgs Are Being Asked To Withhold — Some of the intelligence President Trump provided to Russian officials is so secret that American news organizations are still being asked not to report it, two U.S. officials told NBC News.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and NBC News

Sarah Wildman / Vox:
Trump gave the Russians Israeli intelligence. That's a uniquely bad country to compromise.

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and The Hill

Andrew Roth / Washington Post:
Putin offers to provide Congress with details of Trump disclosures to Russian envoys

Discussion: Washington Times, CNN, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Just Security, The Nation, The Root, WGN-TV and Political Wire

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:

Jimmy Fallon Was on Top of the World. Then Came Trump. — Ambling onto the Art Deco set of “The Tonight Show” for his monologue rehearsal one Monday afternoon, Jimmy Fallon gave the crowd here at Studio 6B a warm, practiced welcome before trying out a new batch of jokes about the French election …

Discussion: IndieWire, The Daily Caller, AOL, Shakesville, Refinery29, Mashable and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Austin American-Statesman:

‘THIS IS CRAZY’: Austin man sues date for texting during movie — A man is suing a Round Rock woman for texting during a movie date at the Barton Creek Square theater, according to a petition filed in small claims court in Travis County. — Brandon Vezmar, 37, of Austin filed the claim Thursday against his date.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Refinery29, IndieWire, AOL and Mashable

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:

What Does Barack Obama Really Think of Donald Trump? 'He's Nothing But a Bullsh-ter' — She packs her own lunch, and he still isn't allowed to drive. Subscribe now for all about Michelle and Barack Obama's lives after moving out of the White House - only in PEOPLE

Discussion: IJR, The Daily Caller, AOL, Mediaite, Raw Story, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Refinery29, Infowars, Washington Free Beacon and The Week

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Story on DNC staffer's murder dominated conservative media — hours later it fell apart — It took only hours for one of the biggest stories in conservative media this week, which some outlets had chosen to focus on over news that President Trump disclosed classified information to senior Russian officials, to fall apart.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, DCist, Right Wing Watch, Raw Story, Washingtonian, The Week and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Once hoped for as a reset, Trump's foreign trip now bogged in White House crises — Washington (CNN)A White House reeling from parallel crises won't find respite anytime soon: President Donald Trump, joined by first lady Melania Trump, will embark Friday on his first foreign trip …

Discussion: Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump to unveil plans for an ‘Arab NATO’ in Saudi Arabia

Discussion: RedState and Shakesville

BuzzFeed:

Trump Waives Nuclear-Related Sanctions On Iran But Imposes New Ballistic Missile Sanctions — By renewing sanctions waivers, US officials tell BuzzFeed News the Trump administration has for the moment decided against blowing up Barack Obama's signature foreign policy achievement. — Reporting From

Discussion: Politico, US Department of State, Axios and The Week

Judah Ari Gross / The Times of Israel:

Former Israeli spymasters rip into Trump, say Israel must reassess intel sharing — Shabtai Shavit says the US president is like a ‘bull in a china shop’; notes, ‘If tomorrow I were asked to pass information to the CIA, I would do everything I could to not pass it to them’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Week