memeorandum: Donald Trump Casts a Shadow Over Nicole Malliotakis's NYC Mayoral Bid (Mara Gay/Wall Street Journal)

12:20 PM ET, September 18, 2017

Top Items:

Trump Lawyers Clash Over How Much to Cooperate With Russia Inquiry — WASHINGTON — President Trump's legal team is wrestling with how much to cooperate with the special counsel looking into Russian election interference, an internal debate that led to an angry confrontation last week between …

Discussion: The Hill, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue, Mediaite, Washington Post, Daily Kos, NBC News, IJR, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Weekly Standard, New York Magazine, The Week and Political Wire

Fred Barbash / Washington Post:

Trump lawyers spill beans thanks to terrible choice of restaurant — next door to the New York Times — It is every Washington reporter's dream to sit down at a restaurant, overhear secret stuff, and get a scoop. It rarely happens. — Still, everyone in town important enough …

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

Renato Mariotti / Politico:

How to Read Bob Mueller's Hand — What is Robert Mueller up to? — Although the scope of the special counsel's investigation is vast, public reporting of his activities indicate the direction his investigation is taking and gives us a good sense of the types of charges that could result.

Max Abelson / Bloomberg:

Obama Goes From White House to Wall Street in Less Than One Year — Ex-president speaks to Carlyle, Cantor, Northern Trust — ‘If someone is willing to pay him to give a speech, God bless’ — Follow @bpolitics for all the latest news, and sign up for our daily Balance of Power newsletter.

Discussion: Daily Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Free Beacon

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Sean Spicer's yucky cameo at the Emmys — Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer got a turn on one of Hollywood's glitziest stages Sunday night. And he used it to laugh about the falsehoods he told the American people in an attempt to rehabilitate his image. — I'm all for a good laugh.

Discussion: The Root, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Variety, New York Times, Althouse and Mashable

Christina Cauterucci / Slate:
Sean Spicer's Emmy Awards Cameo Was a Sickening, Cynical Laugh Grab

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and New York Times

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Why did the Emmys help Sean Spicer rebrand?

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNN, The Guardian, Business Insider, Jezebel and Page Six, more at Mediagazer »

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Before tackling single-payer, save Obamacare — Before supporters of universal health coverage get all wrapped up debating a single-payer system, they need to focus on a dire threat to the Affordable Care Act likely to come up for a vote in the Senate before the end of the month.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Sean Moran / Breitbart:
Exclusive — Lindsey Graham Drives Obamacare Repeal Bill on Breitbart Radio: Melt Phone Lines …

Discussion: Axios and New York Magazine

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:
The Health 202: The new GOP Obamacare repeal effort faces the same old math

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, CBS News and Common Dreams

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
How Graham-Cassidy redistributes federal money

Discussion: Health Insurance … and ACA Signups

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Shrink at least 4 national monuments and modify a half-dozen others, Zinke tells Trump — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that President Trump modify 10 national monuments created by his immediate predecessors, including shrinking the boundaries of at least four western sites …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, The Week and East Bay Times

Jim Carlton / Wall Street Journal:
Interior Report Recommends Cuts or Changes to Seven National Land Monuments

Discussion: Washington Times

Anna Fifield / Washington Post:

Trump's claim there were long gas lines in North Korea has residents puzzled — TOKYO — In his latest Twitter outburst against North Korea, President Trump said that “long gas lines [are] forming in North Korea,” adding an exclamatory “Too bad!” (In the same tweet, he bestowed a new nickname on Kim Jong Un: “Rocket Man.")

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNBC, RT, NPR, CNN, The Guardian, New York Times, Just Security, ABC News, IJR, Washington Monthly, Informed Comment, CBS Dallas, Washington Times and RedState

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
N. Korea: We'll speed up nuclear plans if more sanctions imposed

Discussion: RedState and IJR

Sewell Chan / New York Times:

Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Officer Who Helped Avert Nuclear War, Is Dead at 77 — Early on the morning of Sept. 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov helped prevent the outbreak of nuclear war. — A 44-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces, he had begun his shift as the duty officer …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

RT:
‘I was just doing my job’: Soviet officer who averted nuclear war dies at age 77

Discussion: Gizmodo

Leah Singer / USA Today:

I moved from a blue state to a red state and it changed my life — Money ranked 100 cities to live in 2017. We based it off 170,000 data points. Here are the top 10. Time … 2631 — 35 — 46 — TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — I used to say I'd never move to a red state. And then I did.

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Rolling Stone, Once a Counterculture Bible, Will Be Put Up for Sale — From a loft in San Francisco in 1967, a 21-year-old named Jann S. Wenner started a magazine that would become the counterculture bible for baby boomers. Rolling Stone defined cool, cultivated literary icons …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, NBC News, Althouse, Mashable, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Consequence of Sound, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

House Democrats Break Campaign Fundraising Record — WASHINGTON — The campaign arm of House Democrats has posted its highest off-year August fundraising haul ever, the group told NBC News. — While their Republican counterparts haven't yet released their August results …

Discussion: Politicus USA, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

CNNMoney:

Meghan McCain in talks to join 'The View" — Meghan McCain is in late-stage talks to join ABC's “The View,” three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. — McCain, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, announced last week that she was leaving Fox News.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

For those in the Party of Trump, the Republicans — not the president — are to blame — OXFORD, N.C. — During one of their usual morning gatherings at the Bojangles' restaurant in this rural town near the Virginia border, a group of retirees from a local Baptist church shook their heads …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Both parties to move on Facebook and other tech giants — Members of Congress in both parties have begun exploring possible legislative action against Facebook and other tech giants, setting the stage for a potentially massive battle in the midterm election year of 2018.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Facebook Knows More About Russia's Election Meddling. Shouldn't We?

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Instapundit

Bloomberg:

Equifax Stock Sales Are the Focus of U.S. Criminal Probe — U.S. attorney in Atlanta said to be leading investigation — Managers unaware of breach when they sold stock, company said — The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into whether top officials …

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Week

Ali Vitali / NBC News:

The White House Women Who've Got Trump's Back — WASHINGTON — For Sarah Huckabee Sanders, chaos in President Donald Trump's White House has proven to be a ladder. — Not that she would call it that. — Just days after she replaced Sean Spicer as press secretary in July …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Charles M. Blow / New York Times: Is Trump a White Supremacist?

Susan Hogan / Washington Post:

St. Louis officers chant ‘whose streets, our streets’ while arresting protesters — St. Louis police arrested more than 80 people Sunday after a peaceful protest turned violent as night fell. In a concentrated area downtown, some protesters smashed windows and overturned trash cans …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Associated Press, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, RT, The Root, CityLab and News Blog, Riverfront Times

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com:

The Fake Outrage Over Breastgate Shows Why We Must Not Play Liberals' New Rules Game — The Brooke Baldwin mammary mess is just another example of how liberals leverage their ability to create new rules out of thin air as a means of asserting their power over us normals.

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

How Party Bosses, Not Voters, Pick Politicians in New York — It was hardly a secret that Herman D. Farrell Jr. had planned to retire. The governor feted him at a goodbye breakfast in June. Colleagues sent the 85-year-old assemblyman off to shouts of “for he's a jolly good fellow.”