memeorandum: State Department considers scrubbing democracy promotion from its mission (Josh Rogin/Washington Post)

12:20 PM ET, August 1, 2017

Top Items:

Jake Tapper / CNN:

White House officials tricked by email prankster — (CNN)A self-described “email prankster” in the UK fooled a number of White House officials into thinking he was other officials, including an episode where he convinced the White House official tasked with cyber security that he was Jared Kushner …

Associated Press:

Kelly flexes muscle his first day on the job at White House — https://apnews.com/290dfd4f9e364a29ba0e 4d7f6e7ad9aa — Link copied! — WASHINGTON (AP) — Raised voices could be heard through the thick door to the Oval Office as John Kelly — then secretary of Homeland Security — offered some tough talk to President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Axios, National Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post and The Week

The Daily Beast:

Trump's New Chief John Kelly Reaches Out to Top Dems to Save White House's Agenda … Fresh off a stinging health-care defeat and with internal chaos embroiling the Trump administration, White House aides are signaling newfound openness to working with congressional Democrats—or, at least …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Former Fox News Executive Said to Be Considered for White House Job — Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News and top lieutenant to the network's founder, Roger Ailes, has spoken with White House officials about taking a position on President Trump's communications team, according to several people briefed on the discussions.

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Vox, The Week, Morning Consult and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

NBC News:

What Really Happened to Anthony Scaramucci — WASHINGTON — Some of the same forces that propelled Anthony Scaramucci to power also hastened his just-as-fast descent, with the now-ex communications director resigning Monday in another sudden staff shakeup. — Two sources close …

Discussion: Washington Post, AOL, Bangor Daily News, CNBC, The Resurgent, NBC News, New York Times, Pacific Standard, The Federalist, IJR, Splinter, Politico, FiveThirtyEight and Vox

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Pro-Trump media is getting harder to ignore — Before the tweet left President Trump's fingers, alt-right digital media personality Mike Cernovich had already reported to his 323,000 followers that Reince Priebus was being replaced as chief of staff:

Discussion: IJR, AOL, Mediaite and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

John Podesta / Washington Post: The best advice I could have given to John Kelly: Don't do it!

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
Eric Trump: I Want Somebody To Start Fighting For My Father

Discussion: Daily Kos

Mike Allen / Axios:
5 tests for new WH Chief of Staff John Kelly

Discussion: Politico, Scared Monkeys, ABC News and neo-neocon

Blain Rethmeier / Washington Examiner: Take it from this former colleague: John Kelly will bring order to the White House chaos

Alex Pfeiffer / The Daily Caller:
EXCLUSIVE: Kellyanne Conway May Be The Next Communications Director

Discussion: Raw Story, AOL, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze and Shareblue

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
Anthony Scaramucci's Ouster May Show That John Kelly Has the Rare Ability to Rein In Trump

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
The Mooch's Wild, 11-Day Ride Through Trump's White House

Discussion: Vanity Fair, CNN, Washington Post, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, CNBC and Daily Kos

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Majority of voters believe White House is in chaos

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Deadline, IJR, NPR, CBS New York, Washington Free Beacon, NBC News, TheStreet and Politicus USA

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale — The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Boing Boing, Shareblue, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, Washington Times, Washingtonian, Political Wire, The Week, Mediaite and Politicus USA, more at Mediagazer »

Ashley Feinberg / Wired:

Kushner On Middle East Peace: “What Do We Offer That's Unique? I Don't Know.” — ON MONDAY, WHITE House senior advisor Jared Kushner spoke to a group of congressional interns as part of an ongoing, off-the-record summer lecture series. During the question-and-answer portion of the event …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Trump dictated son's misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer … On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump's advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump's oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign …

Jenna McLaughlin / Foreign Policy:
Kushner to Interns: Trump Team Too Disorganized to Collude With Russia

Discussion: Raw Story, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump's lawyer repeatedly denied Trump was involved in Trump Jr.'s statement. But he was.

Discussion: Shareblue, Talking Points Memo, TODAY.com, Daily Kos, The Week, Friendly Atheist, RedState, The Daily Caller, IJR, Politicus USA and Mediaite

Axios:
Report: Trump involvement in statement on son carries legal risks

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Jeff Flake / Politico:

My Party Is in Denial About Donald Trump — Who could blame the people who felt abandoned and ignored by the major parties for reaching in despair for a candidate who offered oversimplified answers to infinitely complex questions and managed to entertain them in the process?

Jennifer Senior / New York Times:
Republican Senator Jeff Flake Rails Against Trump, but to What End?

Discussion: Washington Times and Politico

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Flake: Republicans in denial about Trump

Discussion: RedState, Business Insider and Mediaite

The Daily Beast:

Corey Lewandowski Has Been Fired From The One America News Network … Corey Lewandowski has been fired. Again. — Three sources with knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that the former Trump campaign manager and current informal adviser to the president has been let go from …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, IJR, Raw Story and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

US detects ‘highly unusual’ North Korean submarine activity — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — An ejection test examines a missile's “cold-launch system,” which uses high pressure steam to propel a missile out of the launch canister — Washington (CNN)The US military has detected …

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, Just Security, The Atlantic, The Week, AOL and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Reuters:

North Korea can hit most of United States: U.S. officials — Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has shown that Pyongyang now may be able to reach most of the continental United States, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday.

Discussion: 38 North, The Daily Caller, The Diplomat and RT

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

State Department considers scrubbing democracy promotion from its mission — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Obama's Inner Circle Is Urging Deval Patrick to Run — BOSTON—Barack Obama is nudging him to run. His inner circle is actively encouraging it. Obamaworld's clear and away 2020 favorite is sitting right here, on the 38th floor of the John Hancock Building, in a nicely decorated office at Bain Capital.

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com, The Daily Caller, CBS Boston and Washington Free Beacon

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

Republicans ignore Trump's Obamacare taunts — Senate Republicans have no plans to revive their party-line attempts to repeal Obamacare this summer, despite President Donald Trump's increasing frustration over the chamber's failed attempts last week to gut the law.

Discussion: Political Wire

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post: GOP leaders say it's time for Senate to move on from health care

David Morgan / Reuters:

Senate Democrats offer Republicans help on tax reform - with conditions — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats offered to work with Republicans on a bipartisan tax reform package on Tuesday but only if it does not cut taxes for the wealthy, add to the federal deficit or allow Republicans to enact legislation on their own.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Naomi Jagoda / The Hill:
White House aide hopes to see tax reform done by November

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

J.K. Rowling apologizes for falsely accusing Trump of ignoring boy in wheelchair — It took three days, but J.K. Rowling says she's sorry. — The “Harry Potter” author apologized on Monday for a series of tweets that falsely accused President Donald Trump of refusing to shake the hand …