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Trump Tower Russia meeting: At least eight people in the room — CNN Special Report “The First Son: The Life of Donald Trump Jr.” airs Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. — Washington (CNN)The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort included at least eight people.
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Former Soviet Counter Intelligence Officer at Meeting With Donald Trump Jr. and Russian Lawyer — WASHINGTON — The Russian lawyer who met with the Trump team after a promise of compromising material on Hillary Clinton was accompanied by a Russian-American lobbyist — a former Soviet counter …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones, Vox, USA Today, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Axios, Washington Post, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, IJR, Booman Tribune, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Daily Mail, CNBC, NPR, TheBlaze, Just Security, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America, BillMoyers.com, Politicus USA, Business Insider, NBC News, Shakesville, Washington Free Beacon, Daily Kos and RedState, more at Mediagazer »


Trump Team Met Russian Accused of International Hacking Conspiracy … The alleged former Soviet intelligence officer who attended the now-infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and other top campaign officials last June was previously accused in federal and state courts of orchestrating an international hacking conspiracy.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Raw Story, Daily Kos, The Guardian, Joe.My.God., AOL, Business Insider, Just Security, Shakesville and IJR

Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting sure sounds like a Russian intelligence operation — Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is the director of the Intelligence and Defense Project at Harvard's Belfer Center. He served for three years as director of intelligence and counterintelligence at the Department of Energy …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, IJR, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.


Just Six Days After Trump Jr.'s Meeting, Guccifer 2.0 Emailed Me — But There Was One Key Difference — After 39 years of operating without an apparent conceptual understanding of “consequences,” this week Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out an email thread admitting to soliciting the help …
Discussion:
Vox, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and electionlawblog.org


Trump Blamed Loretta Lynch For Letting A Russian Lawyer Into The US. Here's How She Actually Got In. — Natalia Veselnitskaya was issued a visa in June 2016 — the same month that she met with top advisers of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. — In the days before her June 2016 meeting …
Discussion:
New York Times and Shakesville


Trump to Hire Lawyer Ty Cobb to Respond to Russia Probes — Cobb to join White House to oversee legal and media responses — Attorney is relative of baseball legend of same name — President Donald Trump plans to put a veteran Washington lawyer, Ty Cobb, in charge of overseeing …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, RedState, NBC News, New York Magazine, Political Wire and IJR


Trump put family first when I worked for him. It was disastrous.
Discussion:
Raw Story

Lynch distances herself from Russian lawyer after Trump attack
Discussion:
CNNMoney, Just Security, Business Insider, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Real Clear Politics and The Guardian

Russian American lobbyist was present at Trump Jr.'s meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer
Discussion:
Politico and Business Insider

Trump campaign adviser admits they'd have erased Russian emails if they'd broken the law
Discussion:
IJR and The Guardian

WH aides exposed to scrutiny over Russia meeting response
Discussion:
Shareblue, The National Interest, IJR, Power Line, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Mediaite and Politico



The Projection President — In Paris on Thursday, Donald Trump said, “A lot of people don't know” that “France is America's first and oldest ally.” That may be true. But commentators noted that when Trump uses the “a lot of people don't know” formulation, it's usually a sign that he didn't know himself.
Discussion:
BostonGlobe.com
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Spare me your Donald Jr. indignation … Politics is war. The objective is to win and take down the opponent. In an industry that does not operate in the black and white, it is often the grey territory in which campaigns work to achieve their goal. — In the middle of this fast-paced environment …
Discussion:
Instapundit


Startup That Got a Seat at White House Roundtable Is Part-Owned by Kushner Family — Venture-capital firm run by Kushner's brother partly owns OpenGov, whose CEO last month attended summit with Donald Trump, leaders of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft — Prominent technology-industry leaders …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Jewish Telegraphic Agency, more at Techmeme »

A 39-year-old man is mysteriously still a ‘kid’ — All children, except two, grow up: Peter Pan and Donald Trump Jr. — “He's a good boy,” President Trump said of his scandal-engulfed son, in remarks that started off the record and then became on the record, apparently because he liked them so much.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Atlantic

Nevada governor undecided on health bill, will meet with Pence — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval on Friday expressed deep reservations about Senate Republicans' latest Obamacare repeal bill, but he wouldn't go as far as to say he opposes the revised legislation.
Discussion:
The Nevada Independent and Axios
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Analysis: Trump will take health care credit or cast blame
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire and ABC News

Trump says he wants victories — but he isn't selling the GOP agenda to voters
Discussion:
Politico


Even the intellectual left is drawn to conspiracy theories about the right. Resist them. — How not to write about “radical” libertarians. — It's always hard in politics for people to take their opponents' views seriously, but it has become ever harder in Trump's America.
Discussion:
EconLog and Cafe Hayek
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Duke professor Georg Vanberg on ‘Democracy in Chains’
Discussion:
Cafe Hayek

Moral Vacuum in the House of Trump — Donald Trump's grandfather Friedrich emigrated to the United States when he was 16, in 1885. He ventured west to seek his riches and finally settled in Seattle, where he opened a restaurant that, according to family historian Gwenda Blair, likely included a section for a bordello.
Discussion:
the daily howler
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London acid attacks: 5 victims assaulted in 70 minutes — London (CNN)Five men were attacked with acid in London on Thursday night with one man suffering life-changing facial injuries in what police are treating as linked assaults. — The five attacks, which took place over 70 minutes …
Discussion:
BBC, Metro.co.uk, The Guardian, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, IJR, TheBlaze, AOL and Clayton Cramer


Jamie Dimon blows up at DC's dysfunction, says he's tired of ‘listening to the stupid s—’ — On the bank's earnings call, CEO Jamie Dimon answered a question about his view on Washington's impact on the economy. — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expressed frustration …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Axios and Political Wire


Private Email of Top U.S. Russia Intelligence Official Hacked — As concerns about cyberattacks grow, hackers are going after Russia wonks. — On Tuesday morning, a hacker going by the name Johnnie Walker sent a group email to an unknown number of recipients claiming to have a trove …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo


George W. Bush: Bill Clinton is a “brother with a different mother” — Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton shared a stage Thursday night at a leadership summit in Dallas to share what they've learned in their days before, during and after the presidency.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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The Lies of Donald Trump's Critics, and How They Shape His Many Personas — An in-depth analysis of the false allegations and misleading claims made against the 45th President since his inauguration. — 8K — Over the past two years, many thousands of broadcast hours and probably millions …


Lessons in disaster: A top Clinton adviser searches for meaning in a shocking loss — NEW HAVEN, Conn. — If all had gone as planned, and as most in Washington had expected, Jake Sullivan would be hard at work just steps from the Oval Office. — He was the elite of the Washington elite …


Pope tacks sign on his apartment door: ‘No Whining’ — 2 MIN READ — VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - If anyone had any doubts how Pope Francis feels about people who always complain, the answer is now tacked to the door of his frugal suite in a Vatican residence: “No Whining”.
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, RT and The Daily Caller


The Wasted Mind of Ben Sasse — The Nebraska senator has urgent, persuasive ideas for saving American politics. Why won't he act on them? — Ben Sasse is not OK with Donald Trump's tweets. On June 29, the president began yet another day by barfing out insults on Twitter, this time regarding MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski's face.
Discussion:
The Atlantic and No More Mister Nice Blog