memeorandum: Grassley threatens subpoena for Trump Jr., Manafort if they don't testify (Manu Raju/CNN)

6:10 PM ET, July 20, 2017

Top Items:

Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions — Special counsel examines dealings of Kushner, Manafort, Trump — Trump has warned Mueller against going beyond Russia in probe — The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia …

Bloomberg:

Here's the Chain Reaction Trump Could Set Off by Trying to Fire Mueller — Warning on Russia investigation renews speculation of firing — Dismissing Mueller ‘not politically survivable,’ Democrat says — President Donald Trump's interview with the New York Times on Wednesday …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Big Picture

CNN:

GOP senators dismayed at Trump's criticism of DOJ officials — Sessions: I plan to continue as attorney general — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)A group of Republican senators criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday, a day after the President rebuked top law enforcement officials …

CNN:

Trump's blast of Sessions has ‘chilling’ effect inside West Wing — Trump: ‘I love getting even with people’ (1992) — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)For President Donald Trump, loyalty in Washington is a one-way street. — Trump's trashing of several of his administration's …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, JONATHAN TURLEY, Above the Law, The Gateway Pundit, Feeds, The Resurgent, Washington Post, CBS New York and RedState

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Donald Trump: L'état, C'est Moi — In his bizarre New York Times interview, Donald Trump expresses his characteristic assortment of fever-dream assertions. The president believes Hillary Clinton “was totally opposed to any sanctions for Russia,” that a properly amortized health-insurance plan …

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, The Week, Business Insider, National Review and Salon

Bwittes / Lawfare:
The President vs. Federal Law Enforcement: Trump Attacks Everyone

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, The Atlantic, Hit & Run, AOL, IJR, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Axios, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Daily Wire and Raw Story

New York Times:
Excerpts From The Times's Interview With Trump

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Washington Post, ABC News, CNN, NBC News, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Shareblue, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, East Bay Times, ThinkProgress, Media Matters for America, Axios, Common Dreams, Business Insider, Salon, The Week, The Root, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Washington Free Beacon, Talking Points Memo, Lawfare, CityLab, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Daily Wire, Refinery29, Fusion, IJR, Vox, The Mahablog, AOL, TheStreet, Daily Kos, Just Security, Political Wire, First Draft, PinkNews, The National Interest, Mashable, The Slot, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight, Shakesville, Joe.My.God., Weekly Standard, New York Times, Conservative News Today, JustOneMinute, The American Conservative, CNBC, BuzzFeed, Little Green Footballs, NPR, RedState, The Last Refuge, New York Magazine, Infowars, Politicus USA and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Matthew Chapman / Shareblue:
Now Trump thinks health insurance costs $12 a year

Discussion: Raw Story, Forbes, Washington Post, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog … and IJR

New York Times:

Inspiring Little Fear in Senators, Trump Struggles to Sell Health Bill — WASHINGTON — President Trump thought he could sell balky Republican senators like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin on the Senate health care bill through pleasantries, cajoling and, ultimately, some Oval Office muscle.

Discussion: Take Care Blog, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Politicus USA, The Week and twitchy.com

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Republicans lament an agenda in ‘quicksand’ — Sen. David Perdue persuaded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week to scrap two weeks of August recess to advance President Donald Trump's agenda. But since then, the GOP's Obamacare repeal effort has almost entirely collapsed …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Talking Points Memo

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Senate GOP's latest health care push sputters

Discussion: Vox, ThinkProgress and Washington Examiner

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Dean Heller is keeping his options open on health care

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:
Key Trumpcare Holdout Says He's A Yes If Guaranteed A Vote On His Amendment

Discussion: IJR and Balloon Juice

Matt Fuller / HuffPost:
Senate Republicans Report New Life On Their Health Care Bill

Discussion: Vox, The Hill, The Nation and Talking Points Memo

TMZ.com:

Linkin Park Singer Chester Bennington Dead, Commits Suicide by Hanging (UPDATE) — 12:32 PM PT — Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Bennington was home alone at the time of the suicide. We're told his family was out of town and he was found upstairs by an employee.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, AOL, New York Times, The Atlantic, Snopes.com, Refinery29, Raw Story, Daily Wire, CBS San Francisco, Fox 59, myfox8.com, FOX6Now.com and Mashable

Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:

Team Trump Used Obamacare Money to Run PR Effort Against It … The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it. — The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push …

Discussion: Business Insider, Bloomberg, Daily Kos, Shakesville, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Axios, IJR and New York Times

CBO's Publications:

H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017: An Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute — CBO and JCT estimate that enacting this legislation would reduce federal deficits by $420 billion over the coming decade and increase the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to the number under current law.

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill, Health Affairs Blog, New York Magazine, IJR, Daily Kos, CNBC, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Nevada Independent, ACASignups.net, Washington Times and Political Wire

Bloomberg:
GOP Health Bill's $13,000 Deductibles Would Be Illegal, CBO Says

Discussion: NPR

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Trumpcare still isn't dead

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Lawyers, Guns & Money

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

During ‘Made in America Week,’ President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club applies to hire 70 foreign workers — President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida has asked permission to hire 70 foreign workers this fall, attesting — in the middle of the White House's “Made in America Week” …

Jeremy Singer-Vine / BuzzFeed: More Foreign Workers Requested By Trump's Mar-A-Lago

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

Interior Dept. ordered Glacier park chief, other climate expert pulled from Zuckerberg tour — Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg flew to Glacier National Park on Saturday to tour the melting ice fields that have become the poster child for climate change's effects on Montana's northern Rockies.

Chris Conte / WTVF-TV:

White County Inmates Given Reduced Jail Time If They Get A Vasectomy — Inmates in White County, Tennessee have been given credit for their jail time if they voluntarily agree to have a vasectomy or birth control implant, a popular new program that is being called “unconstitutional” by the ACLU.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Business Insider, Above the Law, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, The Root and Fusion

Erin Durkin / New York Daily News:

NYC law that makes dog-sitting illegal without kennel license triggers rage from pet lovers — Pet lovers are barking mad over a little-known city rule that makes dog-sitting illegal in New York. — Health Department rules ban anyone from taking money to care for an animal outside a licensed kennel …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Gothamist, Washington Free Beacon and Daily Wire

Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times:

Column Bill Nye on the terrifying ascendancy of American ‘dingbatitude’ — From the Emmy-winning “science guy on” the PBS children's television program to the lab-coat crusader who “saves the world” on Netflix, Bill Nye is a longtime science-is-entertaining educator, a onetime mechanical engineer and a perpetual science lover.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, IJR and Washington Free Beacon

Mandy Mayfield / Washington Examiner:
Bill Nye: Older people need to ‘die’ out before climate science can advance

Discussion: NPR, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Daily Caller, MichelleMalkin.com and twitchy.com

New York Times:

Kamala Harris and Rand Paul: To Shrink Jails, Let's Reform Bail — Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old New Yorker, was arrested on charges of stealing a backpack in 2010. To ensure he would show up for trial, and because of a previous offense, the judge set bail at $3,000. But his family could not afford to pay.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jamiles Lartey / The Guardian:
New legislation encourages states to end discriminatory ‘money bail’ practice

Discussion: Common Dreams

Washington Post:

Two of six African teens who went missing from robotics competition are in Canada, D.C. police say … Two of the six teenage members of the Burundi robotics team who went missing from Washington this week have crossed into Canada and are safe, D.C. police said on Thursday.

Discussion: Axios, NPR and Conservative News Today

Lucia I. Suarez Sang / Fox News:
Two members of missing Burundi robotics team spotted crossing into Canada, police say

Discussion: New York Times and The Gateway Pundit

Cindy Boren / Washington Post:

An apologetic O.J. Simpson is granted parole, to be released in October — After nearly nine years in prison, O.J. Simpson was granted his freedom Thursday by four members of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners and will leave prison on or after Oct. 1.

Discussion: IJR and The Week

Los Angeles Times:
O.J. Simpson is granted parole after serving 9 years for Vegas robbery

Discussion: The Resurgent, Althouse and Reuters

Steve Phillips / New York Times:

The Democratic Party's Billion-Dollar Mistake — The Democratic Party is at risk of repeating the billion-dollar blunder that helped create its devastating losses of 2016. With its obsessive focus on wooing voters who supported Donald Trump, it is neglecting the cornerstone of its coalition …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Dems see huge field emerging to take on Trump

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and RedState

Matt Dixon / Politico:

Billionaire GOP donor out of politics calls Trump ‘abortion of a human’ — TALLAHASSEE — Billionaire health care mogul and GOP megadonor Mike Fernandez has one message to Republicans who don't stand up to President Donald Trump: Grow a pair. — “All the Republicans who hide behind the flag …

Discussion: Raw Story

Samantha Swindler / Oregonian:

IQ costs Oregon parents their kids, but is that fair? (Column) — Gallery: Redmond couple fights for custody of their children — The nursery in Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler's home is filled with unread children's books and unworn baby clothes. A Winnie the Pooh blanket lies untouched inside …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Raw Story and Jezebel

Pew Research Center:

Since Trump's Election, Increased Attention to Politics - Especially Among Women — Most find it stressful to talk politics with those who differ on Trump — Following an election that had one of the largest gender gaps in history, women are more likely than men to say they are paying increased attention to politics.

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios and IJR

CorpComm AG / Newsroom:

Massive blow to criminal Dark Web activities after globally coordinated operation — Takedown of AlphaBay and Hansa will lead to hundreds of new investigations in Europe — Months of preparation and coordination have resulted today, 20 July 2017, in the takedown of two of the largest criminal Dark Web markets, AlphaBay and Hansa.

Discussion: U.S. Department of Justice, Motherboard, Hit & Run, Mashable, The Daily Caller, NPR, The Verge and Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »

Melanie Zanona / The Hill:

GOP signals infrastructure bill must wait — The timing and fate of President Trump's infrastructure plan may depend on whether the GOP enacts major tax reform — a task that could prove challenging amid the struggle to pass a healthcare bill. — Republicans are signaling …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Political Wire