memeorandum: Medicaid works — let's keep it that way (David Perry/CNN)

5:35 PM ET, June 20, 2017

Top Items:

Trump's handling of Russia investigations weighs on approval ratings — President Trump's job approval rating has dipped in recent weeks, pushed down by negative reaction to his handling of the Russia investigations, and he's seen some slippage among Republicans as well.

Discussion: RedState, ABC News, Washington Post, Bipartisan Report, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, IJR, Raw Story, Vox, Scared Monkeys, Politico, The Week, Axios, Talking Points Memo and Washington Times

David Brooks / New York Times:

Let's Not Get Carried Away — I was the op-ed editor at The Wall Street Journal at the peak of the Whitewater scandal. We ran a series of investigative pieces “raising serious questions” (as we say in the scandal business) about the nefarious things the Clintons were thought to have done back in Arkansas.

Discussion: RedState, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Shakesville, Balloon Juice and Althouse

Rosie Gray / The Atlantic:

The White House Press Briefing Is Slowly Dying — Over the course of the Trump administration, the White House's daily press briefings have been pared progressively further back; they are now shorter, less frequent, and routinely held off-camera. — The daily briefing is a venerable …

Gabrielle Levy / Associated Press:
Sean Spicer Out as Press Secretary

Discussion: Washington Post, IrishCentral, Breitbart, The Root, Vox, Mashable, AOL, Axios, Refinery29, The New Civil Rights Movement, Washington Free Beacon, Bipartisan Report, Mediaite, Politico, Mother Jones, Business Insider and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Spicer says he doesn't know if Trump believes Russia interfered in 2016 election

Discussion: The Atlantic and Media Matters for America

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
Off-camera, no audio broadcast: White House keeps undermining press briefing

Discussion: HuffPost, AOL, Washington Post and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney: Why you should care about increasing secrecy in White House and Senate

Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:

Senate Republicans Haven't Seen Their Health Bill Either — Collins, Flake and Toomey not ready to offer support for plan — McCain says he hasn't ‘met any American’ who has seen the bill — Senate Republicans may be asked to vote on a controversial health-care bill next week …

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, CNBC and The Week

Rachel Roubein / The Hill:
RSC warns Senate: Healthcare changes may ‘jeopardize’ bill

Discussion: Vox, Politico, The Federalist, Axios and TheBlaze

David Perry / CNN:
Medicaid works — let's keep it that way

Discussion: Axios, Vox and Washington Post

Aaron Rupar / ThinkProgress:
WATCH: McConnell signals Senate GOP will jam through Trumpcare after a few hours of debate

Discussion: IJR, Washington Post, The Hill, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Shakesville, Gizmodo and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Washington Post:
New sanctions on Russia and Iran hit House roadblock

Discussion: Politico, U.S. Department … and RT

New York Times:

Georgia's Special Election Comes to a Nail-Biting Finish — ATLANTA — Tuesday's runoff between Karen Handel and Jon Ossoff in Georgia's Sixth Congressional District will decide what has become the most expensive House campaign in history — and quite possibly the most consequential special election since Watergate.

Discussion: Fusion and Washington Times

Elena Schneider / Politico:
Georgia special election: 7 things to watch

Discussion: ABC News, The Atlantic, Political Insider blog, Daily Kos, NPR, USA Today, AOL and Daily Wire

Ben Jacobs / The Guardian:
Georgia special election candidate says journalism has fueled ‘lack of civility’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Infowars, Refinery29 and France 24

Eamon Javers / CNBC:

Tim Cook told Trump tech employees are ‘nervous’ about immigration — Tech employees are “nervous” about the Trump administration's approach on immigration, Tim Cook says. — Behind the scenes at the White House tech CEO meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook told President Donald Trump …

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, GeekWire, IJR, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story, Politicus USA, The Week and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Brent Lang / Variety:

Shocker! Daniel Day-Lewis Quits Acting (EXCLUSIVE) — Senior Film and Media Editor @BrentALang — Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, widely considered one of the preeminent actors of his generation, is retiring from acting, Variety has learned. — The 60-year-old star …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, TMZ.com and Mashable

Bloomberg:

China Invites Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to Visit Beijing — Latest sign of first family's influence on foreign policy — Trip later this year could pave way for president's visit — China has invited President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law to visit later this year …

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, The Hill, Hullabaloo, AOL, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Melanie Eversley / USA Today:
Tour group says no more Americans to North Korea after Warmbier's death

Discussion: The White House, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera English, mccain.senate.gov, NBC News, CNN, Mediaite, Axios, Washington Post, AOL, Forbes, Bipartisan Report, Scared Monkeys, The Week and ABC News

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Trump: China's effort “has not worked out” on North Korea

Discussion: Politico

Zachary Hansen / Arizona Republic:

Nearly 50 flights canceled Tuesday as Phoenix nears 120-degree day … The extreme heat forecast for Phoenix on Tuesday now has caused the cancellation of nearly 50 American Airlines regional airline flights out of Sky Harbor International Airport. — According to a statement from American Airlines …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Fox News, CNN, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Verge, AOL and The Daily Caller

BBC: Phoenix flights cancelled because it's too hot for planes

Zachary Hansen / USA Today:
It's so hot in Phoenix, they can't fly planes

Discussion: NPR, ThinkProgress, Associated Press and The Week

Andrew Romano / Yahoo:

Eric Holder joins the anti-Trump resistance — and mulls a presidential campaign of his own … LOS ANGELES — More than two years after leaving the Obama administration, former Attorney General Eric Holder is reentering the political fray. — His goal: to lead the legal resistance …

Discussion: Mediaite, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Bipartisan Report, Washington Times and Political Wire

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed:

Secret Government Report: Chelsea Manning Leaks Caused No Real Harm — Prosecutors said WikiLeaks' disclosures about Iraq and Afghanistan posed a major threat to US national security. But it turns out the classified document they cited — newly obtained by BuzzFeed News — said almost the exact opposite.

Discussion: The Guardian, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

FBI Director nominee removed reference to case involving Russian government from law firm bio — Christopher Wray represented an American energy executive in 2006 who was being criminally investigated by the Russian government. — The detail, which was included on Wray's biography …

Discussion: WNYC News, The Root, Gothamist, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Axios and The Week

Los Angeles Times:

Bodyguard for well-known alt-right figure stabbed several times in Santa Monica — A man who works as a bodyguard for a nationally known figure popular among the alt-right was stabbed multiple times in Santa Monica on Saturday night following a dispute in a parking lot, police said.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Wire

Daily Mail:

Brussels central station suicide bomber shot down — A suspected suicide bomber has blown himself up in the Belgium capital's Central Station tonight — Shots rang out soon after 9pm as police and soldiers moved in ‘to neutralise a suspect threatening civilians’

Discussion: ABC News, The Gateway Pundit and TheBlaze

Lucas Tomlinson / Fox News:

Armed Russian jet comes within 5 feet of US recon jet — An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in the Baltic Sea on Monday, two U.S. officials told Fox News. — The Russian Su-27 jet had air-to-air missiles under its wings and approached …

Discussion: CNN, Daily Wire, Mediaite, Reuters, Axios, Fox News Insider, IJR, Business Insider and New York Times

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:

How the Democrats Lost Their Way on Immigration — the myth, which liberals like myself find tempting, is that only the right has changed. In June 2015, we tell ourselves, Donald Trump rode down his golden escalator and pretty soon nativism, long a feature of conservative politics, had engulfed it.

Discussion: Power Line and Viking Pundit

Caitlin Owens / Axios:

Senate Medicaid spending limits may lose moderate Republicans — A key moderate Senate Republican says she's uncomfortable with the emerging Senate health care plan, which is likely to cap Medicaid spending and shift it to a lower growth rate in 2025. “I think that's a problem.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

Cyd Zeigler / Outsports:

Former Patriots and Chiefs tackle Ryan O'Callaghan comes out as gay — O'Callaghan had always planned to commit suicide after football, until Kansas City Chiefs staffers stepped in. — Editor's note: This story contains conversation and description of suicide.

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Guardian, TMZ.com, Forbes and East Bay Times

Suzanna Caldwell / Alaska Dispatch News:

In a Bering Sea battle of killer whales vs. fishermen, the whales are winning — In the Bering Sea, near the edge the continental shelf, fishermen are trying to escape a predator that seems to outwit them at every turn, stripping their fishing lines and lurking behind their vessels.

Discussion: The Verge and The Week

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Jill Stein Isn't Sorry — Had a few thousand votes in key Midwestern states gone to Hillary Clinton instead of Jill Stein, many on the left believe, America might be having a very different conversation today. — Instead, Democrats are still fuming about the role the Green Party nominee …

Discussion: Shakesville and Raw Story

Todd Van Luling / HuffPost:

New Moby Video Depicts Donald Trump's Rise And A Violent Demise — Moby spoke with HuffPost about activism and becoming a reluctant mouthpiece for anti-Trump intel. — Moby believes it is “obvious” the world is “a millimeter away from collapse.” — That fearful idea may already be seared …

Discussion: Breitbart, Raw Story, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR and TheBlaze

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Franken: Impeaching Trump could lead to ‘zealot’ Pence — (D-Minn.) is cautioning his Democratic colleagues that if President Trump is impeached, Vice President Pence would become president and he “would be worse” on domestic issues. — “He's ideological, I consider him a zealot,” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times and Mediaite

Greg P. / twitchy.com:

BOMBSHELL: New independent report suggests murder of Seth Rich not random or a robbery, possible ‘hired killer’ — Breaking news out of Washington, D.C. where The Profiling Project — an “all-volunteer group of current and former George Washington University forensic psychology graduate students …

Discussion: Conservative News Today and The Gateway Pundit