memeorandum: Koch network ramps up political spending while trying to push Trump team (Kevin Robillard/Politico)

9:20 PM ET, June 24, 2017

Top Items:

Big cases, retirement rumors as Supreme Court nears finish … WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court enters its final week of work before a long summer hiatus with action expected on the Trump administration's travel ban and a decision due in a separation of church and state case that arises from a Missouri church playground.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Mark Berman / Washington Post: Schumer: ‘Unseemly’ to confirm Gorsuch amid FBI probe of Trump campaign

Kerry Picket / The Daily Caller:
Grassley: Schumer Knew Trump Was Not Under Investigation When He Publicly Claimed Otherwise [VIDEO]

Discussion: Power Line

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Kennedy considering retiring from Supreme Court: reports

Discussion: SARAH PALIN and RedState

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
Anthony Kennedy retirement watch at a fever pitch

Discussion: The Week and Political Wire

Rob Tornoe / Philly.com:

CNN deletes, retracts story linking Trump and Russia — On Thursday evening, CNN investigative reporter Thomas Frank published a potentially explosive report involving an investigation of a Russian investment fund with potential ties to several associates of President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Instapundit and Infowars

CNN:

Editor's Note — On June 22, 2017, CNN.com published a story connecting Anthony Scaramucci with investigations into the Russian Direct Investment Fund. — That story did not meet CNN's editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci.

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, IJR, Talking Points Memo, Instapundit and The Last Tradition, more at Mediagazer »

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:
Very Fake News: CNN Pushes Refurbished Russia Conspiracy, Inaccurately Claims Investment Fund Under Investigation

Discussion: CNN

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart: Very Fake News: After Breitbart Investigation, CNN Retracts Conspiracy Theory Hit Piece Attacking …

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Senate GOP expected to add new penalties for the uninsured into their health bill — Senate Republicans are expected to revise their health bill early next week, adding in a provision that could lock Americans out of the individual market for six months if they fail to maintain continuous insurance coverage.

Discussion: New York Times, Politicus USA, VTDigger and The Daily Caller

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation:

Premiums and Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act vs. the Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act: Interactive Maps — This map compares county-level projections of premiums and tax credits for marketplace enrollees under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2020 with estimates …

Discussion: Balkinization

Kamala D. Harris / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed Kamala Harris: I can help you understand Trumpcare, but I can't defeat it alone

Discussion: Raw Story

United States Senator Mike Lee:

The Missing Ingredient in BCRA: Humility — No, the Senate healthcare bill released yesterday does not repeal Obamacare. It doesn't even significantly reform American healthcare. — It cuts taxes. It bails out insurance companies. It props up Obamacare through the next election.

Discussion: CNN, Weekly Standard and RedState

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:

In Health Care Attacks, Democrats Risk Inciting Further Violence — Democrats have settled on a grisly theme in their attacks on the Republicans' new legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare: death. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted on Thursday: “I've read the Republican ‘health care’ bill.

Discussion: USA Today, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, IJR, TheBlaze, AOL, SARAH PALIN, Washington Free Beacon and Politicus USA

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Trump joins the effort to pass a health-care bill, but another GOP senator is opposed

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill and RedState

CBS News:

Bernie and Jane Sanders, under FBI investigation for bank fraud, hire lawyers — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife, Jane Sanders have hired prominent defense attorneys amid an FBI investigation into a loan Jane Sanders obtained to expand Burlington College while she was its president, CBS News confirms.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Scared Monkeys, The Last Refuge, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, IJR, The Last Tradition, twitchy.com and ZeroPointNow

New York Times:

Why Grenfell Tower Burned: Regulators Put Cost Before Safety — LONDON — The doorbell woke Yassin Adam just before 1 a.m. A neighbor was frantically alerting others on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower about a fire in his apartment. “My fridge blew up,” the man shouted.

Discussion: Gizmodo and The Guardian

Jeff Brady / NPR:
Some U.S. States Relax Restrictions On Cladding Suspected In Grenfell Tower Fire

Discussion: The Atlantic

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

An epidemic of lawlessness — Yesterday's Washington Post carried the Russia story of the day. Post reporters Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima and Adam Entous purport to deliver the goods on “Obama's secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin's election assault.”

Discussion: National Review, Washington Examiner, Hullabaloo and neo-neocon

Eugene Scott / CNN:
Trump: Obama ‘did nothing’ about Russia election meddling

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, NPR, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, TheBlaze, IJR, The Week and Washington Monthly

Sam Levine / HuffPost:
Trump Adviser Who Called For Killing Hillary Clinton Gets Front-Row Seat At White House

Discussion: Salon, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, CNN, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Beyond opposing Trump, Democrats keep searching for a message — The loss in last week's special congressional election in Georgia produced predictable hand-wringing and finger-pointing inside the Democratic Party. It also raised anew a question that has troubled the party through a period in which they have lost ground political.

Discussion: IJR

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Dems push leaders to talk less about Russia

Discussion: TheBlaze, Power Line, The Last Tradition, Scared Monkeys and The Lid

John Shinal / CNBC:

Mark Zuckerberg's snub of White House could backfire as Europe goes after US Internet giants — Mark Zuckerberg went to Chicago this week to say that Facebook's new mission was to “bring people closer together” and “strengthen the social fabric.” — Zuckerberg skipped a White House meeting …

Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times:

California won't be passing a single-payer healthcare system any time soon — the plan is dead for this year — A high-profile effort to establish a single-payer healthcare system in California sputtered on Friday when Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) decided to shelve the proposal.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mercury News

Sacramento Bee:
‘Woefully incomplete’ universal health bill dead for the year in California

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Greatness and Pew Research Center

NBC News:

Trump White House Has Taken Little Action To Stop Next Election Hack — The Trump administration has taken little meaningful action to prevent Russian hacking, leaking and disruption in the next national election in 2018, despite warnings from intelligence officials that it will happen again, officials and experts told NBC News.

Discussion: The Week, NBC News, New York Magazine, Washington Times and CNN

Katie Bo Williams / The Hill:
Frustrated Dems say Obama botched Russia response

Discussion: Politico, The Week, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, Politicus USA and KTLA

Oshrat Carmiel / Bloomberg:

A Second, Even Bigger Foreclosure Reaches NYC Billionaires' Row — Default might be most expensive for a New York condo: broker — Auction is the second scheduled in a month for a One57 unit — Another luxury condo at Manhattan's One57 is scheduled for a foreclosure auction …

Discussion: Gothamist

Bruce Bartlett / Politico:

‘Trump Is What Happens When a Political Party Abandons Ideas’ — Almost two years ago, I wrote an article for Politico endorsing Donald Trump for president. It was a tongue-in-cheek effort—I “supported” Trump only because I thought he would lose to Hillary Clinton, disastrously …

Discussion: Liberal Values and Raw Story

Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:

Why ‘Mattis in charge’ is a formula for disaster — “It's all under control: Mattis is in charge.” That, or words to that effect, is what U.S. national security officials have been telling European allies in recent days. Don't worry. There won't be any surprises.

David Rank / Washington Post: Why I resigned from the Foreign Service after 27 years