memeorandum: Trump Attorneys Lay Out Arguments Against Obstruction-of-Justice Probe to Mueller (Wall Street Journal)

6:00 PM ET, August 31, 2017

Top Items:

Trump Attorneys Lay Out Arguments Against Obstruction-of-Justice Probe to Mueller — In meetings and memos, lawyers argue president didn't obstruct justice by firing former FBI Chief Comey — WASHINGTON—Lawyers for Donald Trump have met several times with Special Counsel Robert Mueller …

Discussion: Axios, Business Insider, Raw Story and Politicus USA

NBC News:

Manafort Notes From Russian Meet Contain Cryptic Reference to ‘Donations’ — WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort's notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included the word “donations,” near a reference to the Republican National Committee …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Vox, Politicus USA and IJR

Associated Press:
Source: Grand jury hears from lobbyist in Trump Tower confab

Discussion: Shakesville, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and Financial Times

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Trump expected to halt Obama's program but allow some Dreamers to stay temporarily — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to end an Obama-era program that shielded young people from deportation, but he will likely let the immigrants known as Dreamers stay in the United States until …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Breitbart, Axios, Vox, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Splinter, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera English and CBS San Francisco

Fox News:

Trump expected to announce end to Obama-era DACA, official says — President Trump, as early as Friday, is expected to announce plans to end the Obama administration program that gave a deportation reprieve to hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants, a senior administration official told Fox News.

Discussion: Vox, Politico, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times, Red Alert Politics, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God. and CBS San Francisco

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Poll: Most Oppose Trump's Pardon for Ex-Sheriff Arpaio, Booting ‘Dreamers’

Discussion: Vox, Liberal Values, Balloon Juice and Axios

Rafael Bernal / The Hill:
Trump to end DACA: report

Discussion: Raw Story

Noor Al-Sibai / Raw Story:
Trump to end Obama-era Dreamers program ‘as early as tomorrow’: report

Discussion: Rewire, Mediaite, Shakesville and Daily Kos

Reuters:
Trump expected to rescind Obama Dreamer policy: senior official

Discussion: Raw Story

Bloomberg:

Kushners' China Deal Flop Was Part of Much Bigger Hunt for Cash — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and top adviser, wakes up each morning to a growing problem that will not go away. His family's real estate business, Kushner Cos., owes hundreds of millions of dollars on a 41-story office building on Fifth Avenue.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Real Deal New York, Curbed NY - All and Axios

The Daily Beast:

The CEO of Laura Ingraham's LifeZette Won't Stop Talking About His Employees' ‘Boobs and Butts’ … LifeZette, the politics and culture website founded by prominent ally of President Donald Trump and longtime talk-radio host Laura Ingraham, is in trouble. — Traffic to the site …

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

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

Freedom Caucus leader warns: Don't attach Harvey aid to debt-ceiling increase — The leader of an influential group of House conservatives warned GOP leaders Thursday not to attach aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey to an increase in the federal debt limit, a stance that could constrain Speaker Paul D. Ryan …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, TheStreet, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Axios, Weekly Standard and Real Clear Politics

Niv Elis / The Hill:
Conservative leader: Don't tie Harvey relief to debt ceiling

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Harvey upends shutdown fight

Discussion: Axios and New York Magazine

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

RNC chief of staff resigns amid rash of departures — Sara Armstrong, the top staffer at the Republican National Committee, is departing, according to three people familiar with the move — the latest in a string of exits from the committee. — Armstrong, the RNC's chief of staff …

Discussion: The Hill, The Atlantic, CNN, RedState, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Kaili Joy Gray / Shareblue:

This is the best photo Trump could find for “witnessing” hurricane devastation “first hand” — Donald Trump said he witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Harvey “first hand.” — He did not. — He did not even come close. — His Tuesday trip to Texas took him to Corpus Christi, several hundred miles away from Houston.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Bloomberg, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and Fox News Insider

Anthea Butler / New York Times:
The Cheap Prosperity Gospel of Trump and Osteen

Discussion: Religion News Service

Charles M. Blow / New York Times: Trump Raises an Army

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Trump is slashing Obamacare's advertising budget by 90% — The White House will also cut the in-person outreach program by $23 million. — The Trump administration plans to deeply cut Obamacare outreach and advertising, officials announced Thursday. They will reduce Obamacare advertising …

Discussion: Political Wire and ACASignups.net

David Nather / Axios:
HHS cuts ACA advertising budget by 90%

Discussion: Politico

Governor of Ohio, John R. Kasich:
Blueprint for Stronger Health Insurance Markets

Discussion: Weekly Standard, ABC News, ACASignups.net, Balloon Juice and Axios

Sylvan Lane / The Hill:

Mnuchin: Treasury could scrap plans to replace Jackson on $20 bill — said Thursday that the Treasury Department could scrap plans finalized under President Barack Obama — to replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman.

Discussion: Axios, Politico, twitchy.com and NY State of Politics

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin just put Harriet Tubman's role on the $20 bill in question

Discussion: New York Times, AOL, Mashable and Joe.My.God.

Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Mnuchin: We have a ‘very detailed’ tax plan ready

Discussion: New York Magazine

Arturo Garcia / Snopes.com:

Was Barack Obama President During Hurricane Katrina? — Twitter users tried to pin the blame for Katrina relief issues on Obama, though he wasn't even president when it hit New Orleans. … CLAIM — Barack Obama was president when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. — RATING — FALSE

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and IJR

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Who Will Fact-Check The Fact-Checkers? — [UPDATE: Snopes has inserted a semi-stealth revision to address (or discredit?) the critics. More at STEALTH below.] — Snopes strikes again! They have a vigorous rebuttal of the claim that — “Barack Obama was president when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005”.

Discussion: Mediaite

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

CONFIRMED: Comey Decided He Wasn't Going to Refer Hillary For Prosecution Long Before FBI Investigation Was Over — According to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Thursday afternoon, former FBI Director James Comey made the decision not to refer then Democrat presidential …

Discussion: Daily Wire and IJR

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
GOP senators: Comey drafted statement clearing Clinton before her interview

Discussion: Axios

Houston Chronicle:

Explosions reported at flooded Crosby chemical plant — A fire broke out at the Arkema plant in Crosby early Thursday, following chemical explosions overnight that sent plumes of black smoke into the air. — Arkema officials warned that more explosions are likely because there are eight additional box vans …

Discussion: Click2Houston.com, The Texas Tribune, Grist, E&E News, Shakesville, TheBlaze, Axios and The Daily Caller

David Sirota / International Business Times:
Texas Republicans Helped Chemical Plant That Exploded Lobby Against Safety Rules

Discussion: CNN, The Atlantic, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., The Verge, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, Gizmodo, VICE News and CNBC

Aimee Green / Oregonian:

Owners must surgically ‘debark’ loud dogs, court rules — Gallery: Owners must debark dogs, court rules — The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a southern Oregon couple must quiet their incessantly barking dogs by sending them to the vet to have their voices surgically squelched.

Discussion: Associated Press, TheBlaze and CBS Baltimore

Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
Oregon court: Couple must ‘debark’ dogs — cut their vocal cords — after neighbors complain

Discussion: The Daily Caller, WLS-AM 890 and CBS13

EndPlay / WSB-TV:

Officer to woman during traffic stop: ‘We only kill black people, right?’ — COBB COUNTY, Ga. - Exclusive dash-cam video obtained by Channel 2 Action News caught an officer's interaction with a woman who said she was afraid to move her hands during a traffic stop.

Discussion: New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Vox, Splinter, IJR, AOL, ThinkProgress, NBC News, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, The Root, Raw Story, theGrio, Mashable and TMZ.com

Heather Nauert / US Department of State:

Achieving Parity in Diplomatic Missions — Press Statement — Department Spokesperson — Washington, DC — The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia.

Discussion: Hoodline, NPR, Diplopundit, Business Insider and IJR

Louis Nelson / Politico:
U.S. retaliates against Russia by forcing diplomatic closures

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Axios and Financial Times

Dave Lawler / Axios: U.S. retaliates for Putin's move to cut U.S. embassy staff

TheBlaze:

A message from Glenn Beck: A heavy heart and the road ahead — What happened? My heart is heavy today. — You might have noticed that recently something has been bothering me. — Today, we said goodbye to just over 20 percent of the combined workforce of Mercury Radio Arts and TheBlaze …

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

John Amato / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Gov. Abbott Disses Trump: VP Pence Has Shown ‘Genuine Lord-Empowered Leadership’ — Governor Greg Abbott threw some shade on Trump's visit to Texas during Hurricane Harvey by introducing Mike Pence as “a man who's shown genuine Lord-empowered leadership as the Vice President of the United States.”

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Fox News:

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke resigns — Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke resigned from his position on Thursday. Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said that he received a resignation letter from Clarke but that no reason for the move was provided.

Discussion: RedState and The Resurgent

Aaron Rupar / ThinkProgress:

Missouri Republican calls for vandals of Confederate monument to be lynched — In a Facebook post published Wednesday, Missouri Rep. Warren Love (R) expressed hope that the people responsible for vandalizing a Confederate monument in Springfield National Cemetery will be found and lynched.