memeorandum: The Senate GOP's New Health Care Bill Is Just Obamacare, But Less Of It (Peter Suderman/Hit & Run)

3:15 PM ET, June 22, 2017

Top Items:

Caitlin Owens / Axios:

The conservative health care problem — Even before the Senate health care bill is released, conservatives already want to amend it. Sen. Ted Cruz may try to amend the bill to let insurers sell health plans that don't comply with Affordable Care Act rules — but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Business Insider, Gizmodo and The Guardian

Peter Suderman / Hit & Run:

The Senate GOP's New Health Care Bill Is Just Obamacare, But Less Of It — When congressional Republicans began drafting health care legislation at the beginning of the year, critics worried that the result would not be the repeal and replace of Obamacare that the GOP had long promised.

Discussion: New York Times, Power Line, Washington Post, Axios, Daily Wire, Glenn Beck, Heat Street, Media Matters for America, The FADER, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, ThinkProgress and Fusion

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Trump's ‘poor’ choice of words raises eyebrows — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — Time to show their work: Senate Republicans share their health care draft this morning after negotiating it behind closed doors. The bill is expected to roll back Medicaid expansions but more gradually …

Discussion: Politico

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Here comes the Senate GOP's health bill. It's a cruel and cynical shell game. — THE MORNING PLUM: — President Trump has privately described the GOP repeal-and-replace bill that recently passed the House as “mean,” and he said he hopes the Senate version has more “heart.”

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Examiner, The Atlantic, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, Shareblue, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and New York Times

CNN:

Senate finally unveils secret health care bill — Washington (CNN)The closely guarded Senate health care bill written entirely behind closed doors finally became public Thursday in a do-or-die moment for the Republican Party's winding efforts to repeal Obamacare.

Discussion: Business Insider, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, The Root, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Refinery29, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, TheBlaze, Joe.My.God. and Politicus USA

Brian Beutler / New Republic:
The Media Bias Toward “New” News Helped the GOP Hide Its Secret Health Care Plan

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Washington Post

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
The Better Care Reconciliation Act: the Senate bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, explained

Discussion: Center on Budget …, Washington Post and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP senator: I would not call this ‘ObamaCare repeal’

Discussion: RedState

David Nather / Axios:
The Senate health bill is out. Here's your speed read

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, STAT, KTLA, The Week and fox13now.com

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The Senate version of Trumpcare may phase out Medicaid — entirely

Discussion: Vox, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Week, Rasmussen Reports, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bloomberg Government and Axios

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
Senate health bill met with protests, mixed reactions

Discussion: Axios and Politico

Bloomberg:

Trump Said to Not Have Recordings of Conversations With Comey — President Donald Trump doesn't have recordings of his conversations with then-FBI Director James Comey, according to a person familiar with the matter, capping weeks of speculation about whether such tapes exist.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Little Green Footballs, Political Wire, Axios, Business Insider, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, IJR and The Guardian

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Gingrich: Trump was trying to ‘rattle’ Comey with tapes claim — Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said he thinks President Trump was trying to “rattle” former FBI Director James Comey by suggesting there might be recordings of their conversations. — “I think he was, in his way …

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

Adam Kelsey / ABC News:
Trump: ‘I did not make, and do not have’ Comey tapes

Discussion: Breitbart, Toronto Star, Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze and Joe.My.God.

CNN:

Intel chiefs tell investigators Trump suggested they refute collusion with Russians — Coats and Rogers said interactions with Trump about the Russia investigation were odd, uncomfortable — (CNN)Two of the nation's top intelligence officials told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Vox, RedState, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Axios, Shakesville, Bipartisan Report, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Joe.My.God., The Week, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, The Hill and Washington Times

BBC:

Exploding cream dispenser kills French fitness blogger — A well-known lifestyle blogger in France has been killed by an exploding whipped cream dispenser. — Rebecca Burger's death was announced on Facebook in what her family called a “domestic accident”.

Discussion: Fox News, NBC News, Fox 59, WTVR-TV, KTLA, Boing Boing, KFOR-TV, The Daily Caller and WPMT FOX43

Amber Ferguson / Washington Post:
Whipped cream dispenser explodes, killing French Instagram fitness model

Discussion: The Guardian

New York Times:

Kamala Harris Was Silenced. Then She Silenced Us. — Last week, Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, made headlines when Republican senators interrupted her at a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee while she interrogated Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Discussion: Friendly Atheist and Washington Free Beacon

Robert Fife / Globe and Mail:

Canadian elite special forces sniper makes record-breaking kill shot in Iraq — OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF — The Globe and Mail (includes correction) — A sniper with Canada's elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.

Discussion: USA Today, Defense One, IJR, NPR, Business Insider, Daily Mail, AOL, CBS Sacramento and Clayton Cramer

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Trump Turns an Iowa Rally Into a Venting Session — CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — President Trump said on Wednesday that he was crafting legislation to bar new immigrants from receiving welfare for at least five years. He announced the proposal in a conquering-hero-returns speech in Iowa …

Discussion: CBS News, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, Mediaite, The Week, AOL and Joe.My.God.

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump: 'I just don't want a poor person' in top economic roles

Discussion: Daily Wire

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed:

“Pizzagate” Gunman Is Sentenced To Four Years In Prison — Edgar Maddison Welch, who brought loaded guns into a DC pizza restaurant in response to the “Pizzagate” internet conspiracy theory, was sentenced on Thursday to four years in prison. … Edgar Maddison Welch, the North Carolina man …

Discussion: Mediaite

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
‘Pizzagate’ Conspiracy Theorist Who Shot Up D.C. Restaurant Sentenced To 4 Years

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Joe.My.God.

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

MSNBC Gives Conservative Radio Host Hugh Hewitt a Show — The commentator is joining MSNBC's Saturday morning lineup, a move that is sure to raise eyebrows at the network and among the network's left-leaning fans. — MSNBC, which has been soaring lately in both ratings and in advertising prices …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Washington Free Beacon

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Hugh Hewitt to Host Show on MSNBC

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Conservative News Today, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Some House Democrats says it's time for Pelosi to go — (CNN)A small group of House Democrats are publicly saying it's time for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to step aside as the face of the party ahead of the 2018 midterms following Tuesday night's disappointing loss in a special election for a Georgia House seat.

Discussion: Politico, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, IrishCentral, The Daily Caller, The Hill and NBC News

Tara Golshan / Vox:
After 4 special election losses, panic is setting in on the left

Discussion: Axios and CNBC

Aarati Soman / Facebook:

Giving People More Control Over Their Facebook Profile Picture — Part of our goal in building global community is understanding the needs of people who use Facebook in specific countries and how we can better serve them. In India, we've heard that people want more control over their profile pictures …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Heather Kelly / CNNMoney:
Mark Zuckerberg explains why he just changed Facebook's mission

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

The Local:

Germany spied on the White House over years: report — Germany's foreign intelligence service long spied on numerous official and business targets in the United States, including the White House, Spiegel weekly reported Thursday. — The magazine said it had seen documents showing …

Associated Press:
Trump's tease of possible Comey tapes fits familiar pattern

Discussion: Politico

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:

WATCH: Morning Joe panel slams ‘dear leader’ Trump with horrifying 2-minute mashup of his Iowa lies — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A “Morning Joe” panel examined President Donald Trump's lie-filled rally in Iowa, where his supporters cheered each falsehood and jeered when he attacked the media.

Discussion: Washington Times

Chris Francescani / ABC News:

2 Cosby holdouts prevented guilty verdict, juror says — In an exclusive interview with ABC News, a juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case said that after dozens of hours of grueling deliberations in a tiny room, 10 of the 12 jurors agreed he was guilty on two counts.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight, The Root, Associated Press and Althouse

Human Rights Watch:

Yemen: UAE Backs Abusive Local Forces — Resolve ‘Disappearances’, Grant Access to Detention Sites — (Beirut) - The UAE supports Yemeni forces that have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused dozens of people during security operations, Human Rights Watch said today.

Discussion: Associated Press and Just Security

Robert Snell / Detroit News:

Genital mutilation scandal widens to include mothers — Detroit — Two mothers were indicted Wednesday and accused of participating in a widening conspiracy that ended with their daughters' genitalia allegedly mutilated by a doctor. — The indictment expanded the nation's …

Discussion: Heat Street and creepingsharia.wordpress.com

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:

A Cyberattack 'the World Isn't Ready For' — NEWARK — There have been times over the last two months when Golan Ben-Oni has felt like a voice in the wilderness. — On April 29, someone hit his employer, IDT Corporation, with two cyberweapons that had been stolen from the National Security Agency.