memeorandum: Republicans' best play amid health bill chaos is failure (Andy Slavitt/USA Today)

9:10 AM ET, July 10, 2017

Top Items:

Trump's Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton — President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign …

Joshua Green / New York Magazine:

Steve Bannon Is Out of Trump's Doghouse and Leading the Charge Against Mueller — Why does Trump double-down every time it seems like he should retreat? Because Steve Bannon is back in his boss's good graces. — On May 22, just as a strange photo of President Trump, Saudi king Salman …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

John Solomon / The Hill:

Comey's private memos on Trump conversations contained classified material — More than half of the memos former FBI chief James Comey wrote as personal recollections of his conversations with President Trump about the Russia investigation have been determined to contain classified information …

Discussion: Power Line, Politico, Axios, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit and RedState

Michael Walsh / New York Post:

The Times ‘exposé’ on Donald Trump Jr. is a big yawn — The news was delivered by the New York Times in the breathless tones that might announce a cure for cancer or the discovery of life on Mars: — “President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Donald Trump Jr.'s ‘Denials’ of Russian Collusion Are Actually Confessions — Many figures in Donald Trump's orbit have been caught denying contacts with Russia that have later surfaced. What's unusual about the lies that Donald Trump Jr. tells is that they aren't even exculpatory.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Politico and New York Times

David Remnick / New Yorker:

The Truth Behind Donald Trump, Jr.,'s Meeting with a Russian Lawyer — Don't get ahead of the reporting. That's one of the first lessons you're supposed to learn as a novitiate in the church of journalism. Don't assert what is not yet established by the facts. The consequences can be dire.

Discussion: Washington Post

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Fire peers out from Trump-Russia smoke — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — A drip-drip that triggers a siren: Donald Trump Jr. admits meeting with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin who promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Discussion: RedState and The Week

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:

Donald Trump Jr.'s stunning admission to the New York Times — Donald Trump Jr. has made a potentially damaging New York Times report much, much worse. — The Times on Sunday reported that the president's eldest son was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before meeting …

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite, CNBC, The Week, Business Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice and Raw Story

Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Ex-Bush ethics lawyer on Trump Jr: ‘This borders on treason’

Discussion: Political Wire

Liam Stack / New York Times:
Donald Trump Jr.'s Two Different Explanations for Russian Meeting

Discussion: CBS Miami and Political Wire

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Putin Meets His Progeny

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, Vox and Washington Free Beacon

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
Donald Trump Jr. met with Russian lawyer during presidential campaign after being promised …

Discussion: Axios, BuzzFeed, ABC News, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Political Wire, twitchy.com, Fox News Insider and MichelleMalkin.com

David Frum / The Atlantic: Will Congress Hold Russia Accountable for the Behavior Trump Excuses?

Alexander C. Kaufman / HuffPost:
Reince Priebus Accuses Democratic Operatives Of Setting Up Russia Meeting With Trump Jr.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and IJR

Kevin Dolak / ABC News:
Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner met with Russian lawyer during 2016 campaign: source

Discussion: CNN, WREG-TV, Daily Wire, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Business Insider, Washington Monthly, Associated Press, National Review and Outside the Beltway

David Wallace-Wells / New York Magazine:

When Will the Planet Be Too Hot For Humans? Much, Much Sooner Than You Imagine. — Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. … It is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated …

Discussion: Washington Post

Andy Slavitt / USA Today:

Republicans' best play amid health bill chaos is failure — This is a mess of the party's own making and a Congress far more in touch with 2016 politics than 2017 governing. — The Republican plan to undo the Affordable Care Act has spun out of control. GOP senators are frustrated …

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com, Salon and Reuters

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Senate GOP returns from break no closer to Obamacare deal

Discussion: Raw Story

Karol Markowicz / Reuters:

Why Democrats are still losing the war of ideas — MORE FROM: … Last week, a Politico/Morning Consult poll on President Trump's proposed travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries revealed a somewhat surprising discovery: 60 percent of voters agreed with Trump's proposed ban.

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Obama returns to political fray for a Democratic Party cause — Former president Barack Obama will formally reenter the political fray this week less than six months after leaving office, headlining a fundraiser for a group that could prove critical to the Democratic Party's rebuilding efforts.

Discussion: Political Wire and Politico

Lawrence Summers / Financial Times:

Donald Trump's alarming G20 performance — A company would have replaced a CEO with behaviour as erratic as that of the president — Read next — Confusing civility with comity is a grave mistake in human or international relations. Yes, the G20 summit did agree on a common communiqué after the leaders' meeting.

Maya Salam / New York Times:

Australian Journalist's Trump Teardown Goes Viral Amid Interest in G-20 — In an Australian news broadcast that seems to have resonated with Americans, a political journalist delivered a scathing evaluation of President Trump's performance last week at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, AOL, Philly.com, Refinery29, The Hill and Occupy Democrats

Red Painter / Crooks and Liars:
BRUTAL: Australian Journalist Sums Up Trump's G20 Visit In 2 Minutes

Discussion: Daily Kos, The American Conservative, The Guardian, Discourse.net, Mediaite, NEWS.com.au and Mashable

CBS News:

McCain says Putin “got away with” interference in U.S. election — Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, said Sunday on “Face the Nation” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “got away with” trying to change the result of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and that there has been “no penalty” for those attempts.