memeorandum: Someone in the White House is working overtime to drive … (Michael Warren/Weekly Standard)

9:15 AM ET, August 7, 2017

Top Items:

Rod Rosenstein addresses efforts to stop White House leaks — This is a rush transcript from “Fox News Sunday,” August 6, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. — CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: I'm Chris Wallace. — The Russia investigation hits up as the Trump White House deals with a barrage of leaks.

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, The Daily Beast, Just Security, Althouse, RT, The Week and The Gateway Pundit

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

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

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, Raw Story and The Washington Journal

Greg P. / twitchy.com: If the nursing home rule libs are so angry about was so important, why did Obama wait until Sept. 2016 to implement it?

Paul Rosenberg / Salon:

Trump's malignant pattern: He woos people, rips them off and then abandons them — and he won't stop — Trump has followed the same manipulative script over and over again, in politics as in business. We're the marks — Donald Trump's astonishing New York Times interview from July 19 …

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.

Discussion: 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

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.

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.

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 …

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Mike Pence Rejects Report That He Is Positioning for 2020 — Vice President Mike Pence declared his loyalty to President Trump on Sunday and denounced a New York Times article suggesting that he was positioning himself to run for president in 2020 if Mr. Trump does not seek a second term.

Discussion: American Prospect, RT, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, RedState, twitchy.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Washington Journal, NBC News, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, Shareblue, The Hill, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., No More Mister Nice Blog and USA Politics Today

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Maxine Waters: We shouldn't be concerned about Pence, Trump should be

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Tradition, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, ABC News and Business Insider

Gizmodo:

Airbnb Won't Put a Roof Over the Heads of Nazis — This Saturday, Virginia's Lee Park is slated to be the meeting place of the Unite The Right rally, a much-publicized gathering of far-right personalities and their sycophants. With less than a week to go, Airbnb has taken active measures …

Discussion: Occidental Dissent and Vox Popoli

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Former DNC chair criticizes ‘whiny’ left … Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean ripped what he called the “whiny” portion of the Democratic Party on Saturday in response to criticism of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) by a number of progressives.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week and Balloon Juice

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

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

Adam Behsudi / Politico:

Trump's Trade Pullout Roils Rural America — EAGLE GROVE, Iowa — On a cloud-swept landscape dotted with grain elevators, a meat producer called Prestage Farms is building a 700,000-square-foot processing plant. The gleaming new factory is both the great hope of Wright County …

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Trump's unprecedented hands-on messaging carries risks — https://apnews.com/231fdb0c5ebc438785c1 b30f8bfef034 — Link copied! — NEW YORK (AP) — For the third time in six months, President Donald Trump is on the hunt for a new communications director. But in practice, the job is filled.