memeorandum: ‘He is a monkey’: Federal appeals court appears doubtful that a monkey who took a selfie can sue (Maura Dolan/Los Angeles Times)

10:50 AM ET, July 13, 2017

Top Items:

Highlights of Reuters interview with Trump — 7 MIN READ — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here are highlights of the Reuters Oval Office interview with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday. — ON WHETHER HE WAS AWARE HIS SON DONALD TRUMP JR. WAS MEETING WITH A RUSSIAN LAWYER — “No. That I didn't know.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, Politico, Shakesville, CNBC, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and Shareblue

Shane Harris / WSJ:

Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began — U.S. intelligence starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed meetings with Trump associates — WASHINGTON—U.S. intelligence agencies starting …

Discussion: Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Suburban Guerrilla …, Mediaite, Raw Story, CNBC, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Wall Street Journal

Steve Holland / Reuters:

Exclusive: Trump says he was unaware of son's meeting with Russian lawyer — 2 MIN READ — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was unaware of his son Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting last year with a Russian lawyer at the heart of a White House controversy …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, ABC News, Mediaite, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire, NPR, IJR, The Atlantic, Financial Review and Politico

The Hill:

Exclusive: DOJ let Russian lawyer into US before she met with Trump team — The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump — 's inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under “extraordinary circumstances” before she embarked on a lobbying campaign …

Discussion: Breitbart, IJR, Scared Monkeys, Al Jazeera English, MichelleMalkin.com, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Clayton Cramer, Politico, NBC News, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic, ABC News and AOL

Katie Zavadski / The Daily Beast:

Was Donald Trump Jr.'s Russian Connect in U.S. Illegally? … Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. in New York last summer, said she was denied a U.S. visa in 2015. — She then asked federal prosecutors for permission to enter the U.S. to work on behalf of a client in a Manhattan.

Discussion: Raw Story, TheBlaze, RedState and The Gateway Pundit

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Conspiracy or Coincidence? A Timeline Open to Interpretation — WASHINGTON — At 6:14 p.m. on June 7, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. clicked the send button on an email to confirm a meeting with a woman described as a “Russian government attorney” who would give him “information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.”

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Politico, Just Security, Washington Post and Business Insider

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Dark cloud hangs over Trump's visit to City of Lights — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — Bonjour! President Trump is in Paris today and Friday at the invitation of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, for the Bastille Day celebrations and to hold a one-on-one meeting.

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, CBN.com, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, Politico and Associated Press

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Team Trump Hunts for ‘Traitors’ While the President ‘Growls’ at the TV

Discussion: The Guardian, Daily Kos, IJR, New York Times, AOL, Business Insider and Talking Points Memo

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Inside the link between the Russian lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump dossier

Discussion: American Prospect, Vox, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Committee on the Judiciary, New York Times, JustOneMinute, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Slate and Media Matters for America

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Senator: Kushner's Meeting With Russian Lawyer Was ‘Known’ In April

Discussion: Politico

Andrew Egger / Weekly Standard:
Pence Spokesman Tries to Avoid Russia Questions

Discussion: Raw Story, CNN, ABC News and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:
Dem senator calls for Kushner to resign from White House

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Politico and Agence France-Presse

Billy House / Bloomberg:
Democrats Ask DOJ About Settlement Involving Trump-Linked Lawyer

Discussion: Political Wire

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:

Republican Senators Left Exposed in Health Care Ad Wars — By now, we know that Republicans in the Senate are having a tough time coming to agreement on a health care bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took the drastic step this week of cancelling at least the first two weeks …

Discussion: Reuters and New York Times

Caitlin Owens / Axios:

Draft GOP health bill will include Cruz provision — A controversial idea championed by Sen. Ted Cruz will be included in today's draft of the GOP health care bill, according to three sources familiar with the bill. It's similar to the provision Cruz worked on with Sen. Mike Lee …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Business Insider

Sarah Karlin-Smith / Politico: Senate GOP's new health care bill expected to include controversial Cruz amendment

Sam Baker / Axios: Here comes the brand new Senate health bill

Matt Fuller / HuffPost:
Republicans Stare Down Failure On Health Care With No Real Plan B

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Media Matters for America and Business Insider

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:
Senate moderates sidelined in new Obamacare repeal bill

Discussion: Political Insider blog, Alaska Dispatch News and Political Wire

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump: ‘I will be very angry’ if GOP senators don't pass a health-care bill

Discussion: New York Magazine

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Republicans Still Can't Design a Workable Health-Care Plan

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times, HuffPost, Mother Jones, Politico and ThinkProgress

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:
Changes in Senate Health Care Bill Coming But Medicaid Cuts Remain

Discussion: Daily Kos

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump crafting plan to slash legal immigration — Donald Trump and his aides are quietly working with two conservative senators to dramatically scale back legal immigration — a move that would mark a fulfillment of one of the president's biggest campaign promises.

Discussion: Axios, Political Insider blog, BillMoyers.com, Breitbart, New York Magazine and ImmigrationProf Blog

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Trump's lawyers try to control unruly White House

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Trump lawyers want wall between Kushner, president

Discussion: Weekly Standard, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, IJR, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Outside the Beltway

Adam Pribila / IJR:
Roger Stone Alleges That He Knows Who Is Behind the White House Leaks

Discussion: sandiegouniontribune.com and RedState

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:

Sheldon Silver's Conviction Is Overturned — A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the 2015 corruption conviction of Sheldon Silver, the once-powerful New York State Assembly speaker who obtained nearly $4 million in illicit payments in return for taking official actions that benefited others …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Lia Eustachewich / New York Post: Sheldon Silver's corruption conviction is overturned

James Doubek / NPR:

Justice Department Defies Court Deadline To Release Sessions' Contacts With Russians — In defiance of a court order, the Justice Department is refusing to release part of a security form dealing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' contacts with the Russian government.

Discussion: National Security, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog and Outside the Beltway

Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times:

‘He is a monkey’: Federal appeals court appears doubtful that a monkey who took a selfie can sue — An Indonesian macaque named Naruto allegedly grabbed a photographer's camera and snapped a self-portrait in 2011. (Wikimedia) — A federal appeals court appeared highly skeptical Wednesday …

Discussion: Above the Law

Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:

Monkey selfie photographer says he's broke: 'I'm thinking of dog walking' — David Slater has been fighting for years over who has the copyright to photos taken by monkeys using his camera, and says he's struggling as a result … A US appeals court has debated whether or not a monkey …

Discussion: Althouse

Hadas Gold / Politico:

HuffPost goes out in search of Middle America — Having made its name as a home for liberals and the blog posts of coastal elites, the recently renamed HuffPost is seeking to reinforce its new, less partisan image with a seven-week bus tour through Middle America to “listen and learn …

Discussion: Daily Wire and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Lydia Polgreen / HuffPost: We're hitting the road on a 23-city tour to hear concerns from across the nation.

Mick Mulvaney / Wall Street Journal:

Introducing MAGAnomics — The Trump agenda for achieving 3% economic growth. — If the Trump administration has one overarching goal, it's to Make America Great Again. But what does this mean? It means we are promoting MAGAnomics—and that means sustained 3% economic growth.

Discussion: Business Insider

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:

Exclusive: Video shows Trump with associates tied to email controversy — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Video obtained exclusively by CNN offers a new look inside the web of relationships now at the center of allegations of collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Business Insider and Political Wire