memeorandum: WATCH | Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is being investigated by the Office of U.S. Special Counsel … (Circa)

12:25 AM ET, June 28, 2017

Top Items:

On Senate Health Bill, Trump Falters in the Closer's Role — WASHINGTON — President Trump began his all-hands meeting with Republican senators at the White House on Tuesday by saying they were “very close” to passing a health care bill, just as efforts to fast-track a vote this week collapsed.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Atlantic, IJR and Political Wire

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Senate GOP seethes at Trump impulsiveness — Top GOP officials and senators say White House chaos and impulsiveness are crippling efforts to expand the Republican Senate majority in 2018, unraveling long-laid plans and needlessly jeopardizing incumbents. — There's a widespread sense …

Discussion: Political Wire

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Inside the GOP's surprise health care flop — Senate Republicans had no inkling of what they were walking into on Tuesday afternoon as they filed into the Mike Mansfield room on the Capitol's second floor. — Mitch McConnell's 51 colleagues, from his most junior members to his closest lieutenants …

Discussion: Washington Post and Axios

Alexander Burns / New York Times:

How Governors From Both Parties Plotted to Derail the Senate Health Bill — WASHINGTON — A once-quiet effort by governors to block the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act reached its climax in Washington on Tuesday, as state executives from both parties — who have conspired privately for months …

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: Politico, Vox, CNN, Liberal Values, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABC News, ThinkProgress, Politicus USA, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

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: Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, New York Magazine, Axios, TheStreet, Politicus USA, Political Wire, Washington Post and Vox

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

Discussion: RedState and Political Wire

Washington Post: Who's afraid of Trump? Not enough Republicans — at least for now.

Caitlin Owens / Axios: The new health care deadline: Get a deal by Friday

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Pro-Trump group pulls ads criticizing Heller over Obamacare

Discussion: ThinkProgress

New York Times:
Vote Delayed as G.O.P. Struggles to Marshal Support for Health Care Bill

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Refinery29, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Fusion, Mashable, Chicagoist, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

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

Discussion: CNN, The Nation, ABC News, The Nevada Independent, BuzzFeed, Daily Kos, Washington Post and The Week

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Senate GOP yanks Obamacare repeal bill

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

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.

John Bowden / The Hill:
Trump golf clubs displaying fake Time magazine cover

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story and Occupy Democrats

New York Times:

Trump Campaign Chief's Firm Got $17 Million From Pro-Russia Party — Paul Manafort, who was forced out as President Trump's campaign chairman last summer after five months of infighting and criticism about his business dealings with pro-Russian interests, disclosed on Tuesday that his consulting firm …

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort files as foreign agent for Ukraine work — A consulting firm led by Paul Manafort, who chaired Donald Trump's presidential campaign for several months last year, retroactively filed forms Tuesday showing that his firm received $17.1 million …

Discussion: ABC News, Axios, Politico, The Week, Little Green Footballs, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Emily Smith / New York Post:

CNN faced $100M lawsuit over botched Russia story — The specter of a $100 million libel suit scared CNN into retracting a poorly reported story that slimed an ally of President Trump's — and forcing out the staffers responsible for it, The Post has learned. — SEE ALSO

Discussion: Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Mediaite, NewsBusters, NPR, The Resurgent, Axios, Washington Post, The Last Tradition, AOL, Vox Popoli and Washington Free Beacon

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump blasts media after CNN retraction: ‘They are all Fake News!’

George Prayias / The Rush Limbaugh Show:
Could Donald Trump Be the End of CNN?

Discussion: Politico, Althouse, IJR, TheBlaze, Daily Wire, Breitbart, Townhall.com, Washington Post, FOX6Now.com and John Hawkins' Right Wing News, more at Mediagazer »

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:
White House: CNN ‘a Disgrace to All of Media, to All of Journalism’

Discussion: Power Line, Mediaite, Daily Wire, Fox News Insider, Mother Jones, MILO NEWS and IJR

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

Sarah Palin Suing New York Times For Defamation — Sarah Palin is suing The New York Times for defamation, according to documents filed on Tuesday obtained by The Daily Caller. — The lawsuit has to do with an editorial the NYT ran on June 14 that falsely smeared Palin as inciting …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

New York Post:

Sarah Palin sues NY Times for tying political ad to mass shooting … Former Governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is suing the New York Times for defamation over a recent editorial tying one of her political action committee ads to a 2011 mass shooting …

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times, NBC News, MILO NEWS, RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Week, Washington Free Beacon, TheBlaze and IJR

Circa:

WATCH | Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is being investigated by the Office of U.S. Special Counsel for violating The Hatch Act that prohibits FBI agents from campaigning in partisan races. — The Office of U.S. Special Counsel, the government's main whistleblower agency …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

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

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow's family has been paid millions from charities they control

Discussion: Media Matters for America

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: AOL, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Free Beacon

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: Townhall.com, Mother Jones, Booman Tribune and Vox

Mike Wilson / Dallas Morning News:

How news organizations, including this one, unintentionally misinformed the public on guns — Steve Doud, a subscriber from Plano, emailed me to say he'd read something in the June 21 Dallas Morning News that couldn't possibly be true. — An eight-paragraph Washington Post article …

Angela Hart / Sacramento Bee:

How Donald Trump is killing romance — In the treacherous, amusing and sometimes rewarding world of online dating, Donald Trump has become the newest way to find - or reject - a romantic match. — “Did you vote for or do you support Trump? Then I'm not your man.

Discussion: RedState and Raw Story

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: Shareblue, AOL, Raw Story and Mediaite

Telegraph:

Man hit by bus as he crosses road - before dusting himself down and walking into pub — CCTV footage shows man hit by bus in Reading — A man was knocked down by an out-of-control bus - before miraculously getting up and walking into a pub. — Simon Smith said he is lucky to be alive …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Nadia Khomami / The Guardian:
‘I get knocked down’: man hit by bus gets back up again and heads to pub

Discussion: RedState and TheBlaze

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: Mother Jones, USA Today, Vox, The Guardian, Refinery29, Mashable, The FADER, Washington Post, East Bay Times, SFist, AOL and Fusion

The White House:

Statement from the Press Secretary — The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children. The activities are similar to preparations the regime …

Discussion: IJR, The National Interest and The Last Refuge

Leah McElrath / Shareblue:

My father is one of the vulnerable seniors most at risk from GOP's cruel Medicaid cuts — Tell your story and act on behalf of those you love who are unable to act for themselves. — More than 1.4 million Americans are receiving nursing home or other long-term care paid for by Medicaid.