memeorandum: L.A.'s newest congressman still hasn't taken his oath. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy wants to know why (Sarah D/Los Angeles Times)

9:25 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.

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: Weekly Standard, ABC News, Raw Story, Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog, ThinkProgress, Politicus USA, The Gateway Pundit, Vox and Washington Free Beacon

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

Jessica Taylor / NPR:

Just 17 Percent Of Americans Approve Of Republican Senate Health Care Bill — Americans broadly disapprove of the Senate GOP's health care bill, and they're unhappy with how Republicans are handling the efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a new NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll.

Discussion: The Week and VTDigger

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Don't be fooled: the Senate's Obamacare repeal effort remains very alive — The Senate health care bill, in its current form, is dead. — The Senate health care debate is not over. — Sound familiar? — Sign up for VoxCare — Vox's daily email explaining the biggest news in health care, edited by Sarah Kliff

Discussion: Politico and The Week

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Health care not dead yet — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — When in doubt, delay. There will be no vote on the Senate Republican health care bill this week, and more GOP senators came out against the bill after the announcement. — But don't count the bill as dead.

Frank Bruni / New York Times: The Misery of Mitch McConnell

Jessica Taylor / NPR: Trump Fails To Reach Beyond Base, As Independents' Disapproval Grows

Alexander Burns / New York Times:
How Governors From Both Parties Plotted to Derail the Senate Health Bill

Discussion: Liberal Values

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
‘Repeal and replace’ was once a unifier for the GOP. Now it's an albatross.

Discussion: Politico, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine and Outside the Beltway

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

Discussion: Fusion and New York Magazine

Sam Baker / Axios:
Where the Senate's health care bill goes from here

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
McConnell's Reputation as a Master Tactician Takes a Hit

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Refinery29, Patterico's Pontifications, Fusion, The Daily Caller and ABC News

Jim Newell / Slate:
The Bill Lives — GOP senators delay the health care vote …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Axios and Political Wire

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

Discussion: RedState and Political Wire

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Sarah Palin Sues New York Times, Claiming Editorial Defamed Her — Sarah Palin, former vice-presidential candidate, filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times Company on Tuesday, saying the newspaper had published a statement about her in a recent editorial that it “knew to be false.”

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR and Above the Law

New York Post:
Sarah Palin sues NY Times for tying political ad to mass shooting

Discussion: RedState, NBC News, MILO NEWS, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, Political Wire, TheBlaze and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:
Sarah Palin Suing New York Times For Defamation

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse and The Last Tradition

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: Mediaite and Political Wire

Washington Post:
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort files as foreign agent for Ukraine work

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

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.

Sarah D / Los Angeles Times:

L.A.'s newest congressman still hasn't taken his oath. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy wants to know why — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) wants to know why Rep.-elect Jimmy Gomez hasn't been sworn in, saying the seat's “elongated vacancy” is “an abdication” of his responsibilities.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

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, Conservative News Today, The Last Tradition, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Mediaite, NewsBusters, NPR, Washington Post, The Resurgent and Axios

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

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Brooks's prior attacks on Trump could hurt in Alabama Senate race — (R-Ala.) is locked in the race toward a contentious August primary to fill the Senate seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions — . But Brooks's previous attacks on President Trump could pose a problem …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jake Sherman / Politico:

TICK-TOCK on the GOP's health-care ‘flop’ — HOW TRUMP can turn it around — PRO-TRUMP group pulls ads — FAHRENTHOLD strikes again — SPOTTED last night in ASPEN — B'DAY: Ashley Hickey Marquis — DRIVING THE DAY — BULLETIN — WJLA: “Officials: Amtrak train hits, kills 2 CSX employees on tracks in D.C. …

Discussion: Morning Consult

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 …

Janosch Delcker / Politico:

Merkel to Trump: We provide you jobs — There is 10 times more German direct investment in the US than the other way around, German chancellor said. — BERLIN — Germany creates American jobs, Angela Merkel said Tuesday, in response to criticism from the White House over Germany exporting significantly more than it imports.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Reuters:

Helicopter attacks Venezuela court, Maduro denounces coup bid — A Venezuelan police helicopter strafed the Supreme Court and a government ministry on Tuesday, escalating the OPEC nation's political crisis in what President Nicolas Maduro called an attack by “terrorists” seeking a coup.

Discussion: RT, CNN, The Guardian, The Week and Fusion

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, The Week, AOL, Mediaite and Raw Story

Pam Fessler / NPR:

Making U.S. Elections More Secure Wouldn't Cost Much But No One Wants To Pay — What would it cost to protect the nation's voting systems from attack? About $400 million would go a long way, say cybersecurity experts. It's not a lot of money when it comes to national defense …

Axios:

Full-court diplomacy (even secret talks with North Korea) — Our Expert Voices conversation on North Korea — The United States has never arrayed all of our tools and advantages simultaneously and overwhelmingly to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Discussion: Politico

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.