memeorandum: Trump Aides Hire Lawyers for Probe Into Russian Election Hacking (Wall Street Journal)

5:10 PM ET, June 27, 2017

Top Items:

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

McConnell warns Trump, GOP on health bill failure — Mitch McConnell is delivering an urgent warning to staffers, Republican senators and even the president himself: If Obamacare repeal fails this week, the GOP will lose all leverage and be forced to work with Chuck Schumer.

Discussion: Axios, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Political Wire, TheStreet, Politicus USA and Daily Kos

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

How the Logic of Tribalism Is Driving the Health-Care Debate — I'm just thinking out loud here. But it seems to me this is one of those moments in American politics where no one can simply say what they really think or want. As Yuval noted yesterday, big chunks of the GOP-controlled Congress …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Townhall.com, Mother Jones and Vox

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Senate GOP yanks Obamacare repeal bill — Senate Republicans on Tuesday delayed their plans to vote on repealing Obamacare this week, amid strong resistance from moderate and conservative Republicans to even beginning debate on the GOP bill. — Republicans plan to re-write their health bill …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, New York Magazine, The Root, The FADER, Media Matters for America, Politicus USA, The Week and New York Times

Axios:

Senate delays health care vote until after recess — Senate Republican leaders have done an abrupt about-face on the health care bill: They're now planning to delay the vote to take up the bill until after the July 4 recess, according to two senior GOP aides.

Discussion: ABC News, ThinkProgress, Vox, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Politicus USA, Politico, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

New York Times:

Vote Delayed as Republicans Struggle to Marshal Support for Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — Facing intransigent Republican opposition, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told senators he will delay a vote on his legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act …

Discussion: Washington Post, Chicagoist, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Fusion, Mashable, Patterico's Pontifications, The Week, Vox, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Mitch McConnell Isn't Playing 13-Dimensional Chess — The Senate's version of the GOP health care bill, which Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled last week, hasn't had the smoothest rollout. Some 22 million more people would go uninsured under the Better Care Reconciliation Act by 2026 …

Discussion: New York Magazine, IJR, AOL, BostonGlobe.com and CNN

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump: Senate GOP ‘very close’ to agreement on health bill

Discussion: Political Wire and RedState

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:
Pressure Ramps Up On O'Care Repeal Holdouts As A Fifth Senator Bails

Discussion: Refinery29, Daily Kos, Axios and Politico

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Senate GOP isn't backing down from health care vote

Discussion: Politicus USA

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Pro-Trump group launches TV, radio ads against Heller over health bill

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Senate Republicans Put Off Health-Care Vote

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Post

CNN:
McConnell delays vote on health care bill until after July 4 recess

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Free Beacon and Mediaite

Diamond Naga Siu / Politico: Republican senators hit by calls from voters worried about Obamacare repeal bill

New York Times:
As Trump's Tactics Fall Short, Pence Takes Lead on Health Bill

Discussion: Political Wire

Peter Sullivan / The Hill: Cornyn: Key vote to advance health bill likely Wednesday

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

A Time Magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It's fake. — The framed copy of Time Magazine was hung up in at least four of President Trump's golf clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump.

Discussion: Deadline, Axios, USA Today, Occupy Democrats, twitchy.com, Gizmodo, IJR, The Week and Raw Story

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Trump blasts media after CNN retraction: ‘They are all Fake News!’ — President Trump on Tuesday blasted several publications after CNN retracted a story published last week tying a top Trump ally to a Russian investment bank. — “So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC?”

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:

CNN Journalists Resign: Latest Example of Media Recklessness on the Russia Threat — Three prominent CNN journalists resigned Monday night after the network was forced to retract and apologize for a story linking Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci to a Russian investment fund under congressional investigation.

Jon Swaine / The Guardian:

Trump lawyer's firm steered millions in donations to family members, files show — Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal Jay Sekulow approved plans to push people to give to his Christian nonprofit, which then paid big sums to his family … More than 15,000 Americans were losing …

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Above the Law, Raw Story, Friendly Atheist and Right Wing Watch

The Daily Beast:

White House Threatened Syria While Trump Yawned, Insiders Say … Hours before the White House issued an ominous warning to Syria's dictator against launching another chemical assault, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave the same message to Bashar Assad's patron in Moscow, The Daily Beast has learned.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Guardian, NPR, The Atlantic, Mediaite, Business Insider and Axios

BuzzFeed:
White House Says Syria May Be Preparing Another Chemical Attack, Warns Assad Will “Pay A Heavy Price”

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:
CNN Battle with Sean Spicer Continues as He Shuts Out Jim Acosta

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Washington Post

Christopher Wallace / Fox News:

Obamas under fire from the left for never ending, sizzling ultra-luxury vacations — The Democratic base is growing increasingly frustrated with former President Barack Obama's actions after leaving office, including a seemingly endless tour of millionaire and billionaire luxury retreats …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Buzz Bissinger / Vanity Fair:

Cover Story: Serena Williams's Love Match — A STAR IS BORN Serena Williams, photographed in Highland Beach, Florida. — Last January, on the eve of the Australian Open, Serena Williams handed her fiancé, Alexis Ohanian, a paper bag containing six positive pregnancy tests.

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, East Bay Times, AOL, SFist, The FADER, Refinery29, The Guardian and Mashable

Washington Post:

Massive cyberattack hits Europe with widespread ransom demands … MOSCOW — A new wave of powerful cyberattacks hit Europe on Tuesday in a possible reprise of a widespread ransomware assault in May that affected 150 countries, as Ukraine reported ransom demands targeting the government …

Discussion: The Independent, ThinkProgress, Politico, BBC, The Verge, Business Insider, NPR and GeekWire, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:
New Cyberattack Goes Global, Hits WPP, Rosneft, Maersk

Discussion: Gizmodo

New York Times:
New Cyberattack Spreads in Europe, Russia and U.S.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Balloon Juice, more at Techmeme »

Megan McArdle / Bloomberg:

Seattle's Painful Lesson on the Road to a $15 Minimum Wage — The experiment has hurt low-wage workers, cutting their earnings by $125 a month. — In the summer of 2014, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a bill increasing the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour. “No city or state has gone this far.

Discussion: Breitbart, Fox News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheBlaze, Hit & Run, Weekly Standard and Power Line

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:
Maine tried to raise its minimum wage. Restaurant workers didn't want it.

Discussion: IJR, CityLab, The Week, The Daily Signal and The Daily Caller

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Chaffetz calls for $2,500 legislator housing stipend — Just days before he resigns from Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz — (R-Utah) said Monday that House and Senate lawmakers should receive a $2,500 per month housing allowance — something he explained would help ease housing costs …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, Politico, AOL, Washingtonian, Conservative News Today, The Daily Banter, The Week and Political Wire

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A Cautious Supreme Court Sets a Modern Record for Consensus — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court was shorthanded for most of the term that ended Monday, and it responded with caution, setting a modern record for consensus. — “Having eight was unusual and awkward,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Week

Richard L. Hasen / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed Gorsuch is the new Scalia, just like Trump promised

Discussion: The Hill, Slate, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

Emily Gee / Center for American ProgressCenter …:

Coverage Losses by State for the Senate Health Care Repeal Bill — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its score of the Senate's health care repeal plan, showing that the bill would eliminate coverage for 15 million Americans next year and for 22 million by 2026.

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
5 Points On The Brutal CBO Score Senate Republicans Must Overcome

Discussion: ABC News, Slate and TheBlaze

US EPA:

EPA, U.S. Army Move to Rescind 2015 “Waters of the U.S.” — The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Army, and Army Corps of Engineers (the agencies) are proposing a rule to rescind the Clean Water Rule and re-codify the regulatory text that existed prior to 2015 defining “waters of the United States” or WOTUS.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Eli Stokols / Wall Street Journal:
Trump, EPA Move to Rescind Obama Administration's Clean Water Rule

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

Trump praises female reporter's ‘nice smile’ on call to Irish PM … President Trump singled out a female journalist during a phone call with the new Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, on Tuesday, telling Varadkar, “She has a nice smile on her face. So I bet she treats you well.”

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Obama Choked on Russia Long Before the 2016 Election — It's no wonder Putin thought he could meddle in the U.S. He had gotten away with everything else he tried. — “I feel like we sort of choked.” That is the killer quote in an extraordinary Washington Post investigation …

Discussion: Washington Post, Shakesville, TheBlaze, The National Interest, Fox News, Breitbart, Shareblue, NBC News, Mediaite, RedState, Washington Free Beacon and CBS Miami

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

The inside story of how TMZ quietly became America's most potent pro-Trump media outlet — Current and former employees speak out about how the celeb gossip site has changed. — After the release of the infamous Access Hollywood video where Trump was caught bragging about sexual assault …