memeorandum: Health care on a scalpel's edge (Jonathan Swan/Axios)

7:30 PM ET, July 16, 2017

Top Items:

U.S. Secret Service rejects suggestion it vetted Trump son's meeting — 4 MIN READ — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.

Discussion: ABC News, New York Magazine, IJR, Shareblue, Mediaite, AOL, Talking Points Memo and Business Insider

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

Did Donald Trump's lawyer accidentally make a huge confession about the meeting with the Russian lawyer? — Jay Sekulow suggested the Secret Service vetted the meeting, but Donald Trump Jr. was not being protected at that time. — Jay Sekulow, one of President Donald Trump's attorneys …

Discussion: Business Insider and IJR

Mark Moore / New York Post:

Secret Service: We didn't clear Don Jr.'s Russian lawyer — The US Secret Service on Sunday rejected claims by President Trump's attorney that the agency cleared a Russian lawyer who said she had damaging information about Hillary Clinton to attend a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. last summer.

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Secret Service responds to Trump lawyer: Russian lawyer meeting not screened — The Secret Service responded on Sunday to President Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow's claim that Donald Trump — Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign would not have happened if the Secret Service had considered it “nefarious.”

Discussion: Raw Story and RedState

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:

Trump Lawyer Blames Secret Service For Not Preemptively Stopping Jr.'s Meeting — Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump's legal team, on Sunday aired a new defense for Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised him damaging information on Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: IJR, Shareblue, ThinkProgress and Hullabaloo

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Team Trump Excuses for the Don Jr. Meeting Go from Bad to Worse

Discussion: Raw Story

Alicia Cohn / The Hill:
Trump lawyer: Secret Service wouldn't have let Trump Jr. take ‘nefarious’ meeting

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Kevin Dolak / ABC News:
Trump campaign paid Donald Trump Jr.'s lawyer weeks before Russian meeting was revealed

Discussion: Axios, Mediaite and Politico

Amber Athey / The Daily Caller:
Rep. Schiff: Democrat Collusion With Ukraine ‘Problematic’ [VIDEO]

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post: Trump campaign paid firm of lawyer representing Trump Jr. before emails were made public

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:

Tom Price Says Insurers Should ‘Dust Off How They Did Business Before Obamacare’ — Worked before, right? — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price suggested Sunday that the nation's health insurance system ought to operate as it did before the Affordable Care Act was passed.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Health care on a scalpel's edge — Don Jr.'s Russia scandal may have one little upside for the White House: Two sources close to the health care negotiations told me they're pleased it has distracted the “resistance” movement and moved much of the media spotlight away from McConnell & co.'s negotiations.

Discussion: ABC News

Saisha Talwar / ABC News:
8 to 10 Republican senators concerned about GOP bill: Collins

Discussion: Politico

Robert Pear / New York Times:
McCain's Surgery Will Delay Senate Votes on Health Care Bill

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider and Common Dreams

Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:
Obamacare repeal bills could put coverage out of reach for millions of sick Americans

Discussion: RedState

Michelle Cottle / The Atlantic:
Mitch McConnell's Heavy Health-Care Lift

Discussion: Axios, ThinkProgress and Infowars

New York Times: Governors Give Chilly Reception to Health Bill Push

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Carville: It would be ‘very, very difficult’ for Dems to retake Senate in 2018 — Democratic operative James Carville is expressing doubt that his party will take back the Senate in 2018, saying Saturday that it would be “very, very difficult,” to do so. — “I think right now most Democrats …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Caitlyn Jenner weighs run for Senate

Discussion: USA Today, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, IJR, RedState and Joe.My.God.

Pam Key / Breitbart:
Carville: ‘No One’ Is in Charge of the Democratic Party

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans prefer Obamacare to Republican replacements — Republicans racing to pass a bill that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) certainly understand that their efforts aren't polling well. In survey after survey, a majority of respondents view …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Washington Free Beacon and The Guardian

Mark Murray / NBC News:
Trump's Approval Stands at 50 Percent in the Counties That Fueled His Win

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:
Poll finds Trump standing weakened since springtime

Discussion: New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, New York Times and Axios

Washington Post:
Trump approval declines since spring

Discussion: AOL, Business Insider, The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit

Tre'vell Anderson / Los Angeles Times:

George A. Romero, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ creator, dies at 77 — Legendary horror movie director George A. Romero, pictured here in 2008, died Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) — Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, father of the modern movie zombie and creator of the groundbreaking …

Discussion: Mashable, The Verge, New York's PIX11, AOL, KTLA and myfox8.com

Gary Langer / ABC News:

6 months in, a record low for Trump, with troubles from Russia to health care (POLL) — Americans give President Donald Trump the lowest six-month approval rating of any president in polls dating back 70 years, punctuated by questions about his competence on the world stage, his effectiveness …

Discussion: Shareblue, Common Dreams, NBC News, IJR, Mediaite, RedState, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, Balloon Juice and The Guardian

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

White House unveils ‘Made in America’ week, though many Trump products are made overseas — PISCATAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — President Trump, whose company outsources the manufacturing of many of its products to overseas factories, is unveiling “Made in America” week at the White House to promote products made in the United States.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Conservative News Today

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

UAE hacked Qatari government sites, sparking regional upheaval, according to U.S. intelligence officials — The United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of Qatari government news and social media sites in order to post incendiary false quotes attributed to Qatar's emir …

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump hasn't forgiven Sessions for Russia recusal — Attorney General Jeff Sessions' administration allies were hoping President Trump could, as he himself might say, see his way clear to letting it go. But that's not happening. — Trump's initial fury about Sessions' recusal …

Alexa Corse / Wall Street Journal:

South Carolina May Prove a Microcosm of U.S. Election Hacking Efforts — There were nearly 150,000 attempts to penetrate the voter-registration system on Election Day 2016, State Election Commission says — To understand the scale of the hacking attempts against election systems …

Discussion: New York Times