memeorandum: Mike Pence Rejects Report That He Is Positioning for 2020 (Peter Baker/New York Times)

8:20 AM ET, August 7, 2017

Top Items:

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Fight over Trump wall could lead to shutdown — Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, says the Trump administration has clear expectations for the fall: “We get tax reform and we also complete funding of the government which includes rebuilding of the military and securing our border.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Axios Sneak Peek — An extra quick Sneak Peek today, with Congress on recess and the President on a working vacation for two weeks at his New Jersey golf club. As always, I'd love your tips and feedback: jonathan@axios.com. And please urge your friends and colleagues to join the conversation by signing up for Sneak Peek.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:

Someone in the White House is working overtime to drive a wedge between the president and his national security adviser. — The war on White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster continues, with allies of Steve Bannon using sympathetic media outlets to push a narrative that McMaster …

Discussion: Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Kelsey Snell / Washington Post:
Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe

Discussion: New York Times and Balloon Juice

Donald Trump / ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript 8-6-17: Kellyanne Conway, Thom Tillis, Chris Coons

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, IJR and The Week

Gardiner Harris / New York Times:

Diplomats Question Tactics of Tillerson, the Executive Turned Secretary of State — WASHINGTON — Several times a week the State Department sends a greeting to a foreign country on the occasion of its national day. By tradition, the salutations have been written by low-level diplomats and routinely approved by their superiors.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Maxine Waters: We shouldn't be concerned about Pence, Trump should be … Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) played up reports that Vice President Pence is eyeing a 2020 presidential run on Sunday, warning that President Trump should be concerned about his second-in-command.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, New York Magazine, The Last Tradition, The Guardian, The Washington Journal and NBC News

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Chance to be governor lures members from House — Fully half of the 18 members leaving the House next year jumped in order to run for governor in their states, looking to trade in legislative gridlock for executive orders — and the chance to play a dominating role in redrawing their colleagues' districts in four years.

Aaron Lorenzo / Politico:

Tax writers see peril in Trump's Obamacare persistence — Republicans acknowledge that the aggressive timeline they have set up for overhauling the tax code this fall leaves them little room for error. — There could be one problem with that: Obamacare isn't going away.

Wall Street Journal:

Congressional Recess, Full Plate Keep the Heat on GOP Lawmakers — Pressure from constituents over health care could make it hard to focus on a tax overhaul — Congressional Republicans plan to use the next four weeks away from Washington making a public case for a sweeping rewrite of the tax code …

Alison R. Parker / Shareblue:

“Why on Earth??” GOP senator ripped apart for health care vote at first town hall in a year — Sen. Cory Gardner recently held a public town hall for the first time in over a year. And the angry response from his constituents over his vote to repeal Obamacare makes it clear why he avoided them for so long.

Discussion: The Washington Journal

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Fight over right to sue nursing homes heats up — Consumer groups are making a last ditch effort to stop the Trump administration from stripping nursing home residents and their families of the right to take facilities to court over alleged abuse, neglect or sexual assault.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, twitchy.com, Raw Story and The Washington Journal

Tim Craig / Washington Post:

With rising homicides in big cities, Republican governors intensify police patrols — Sgt. Brad Sevier conducts a traffic stop along Interstate 70 in St. Louis. “I don't see how it can be detrimental having more law enforcement in an area that really needs more policing,” he said.

Discussion: Power Line

James S. Robbins / USA Today:

We need answers in Democrats' congressional IT drama — Something shady is going on and former Democratic National Committee chief Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz doesn't want to talk about it. — If a Russian-born IT specialist with longstanding ties to former Republican National Committee …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Will Bunch / Philly.com:

How can Kelly save Trump when he was a human-rights disaster at Homeland Security? — Many are poor, most are tired, and all of them are yearning to breathe free as they disembark from buses at Montreal's old colossus, the faded Olympic Stadium. The vast concrete sanctuary is another rock-hard …

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Many Politicians Lie. But Trump Has Elevated the Art of Fabrication. — WASHINGTON — Whit Ayres, a Republican political consultant here, likes to tell his clients that there are “three keys to credibility.” — “One, never defend the indefensible,” he says. “Two, never deny the undeniable.