memeorandum: Why Is Congress Conducting Its Russia Investigation in Secret? (Ryan Lizza/New Yorker)

4:50 PM ET, September 20, 2017

Top Items:

Jeff Stein / Vox:

GOP senators are rushing to pass Graham-Cassidy. We asked 9 to explain what it does. — Republican senators are struggling to articulate why they are rushing to pass their last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare over the next 10 days before running into their September 30 deadline.

Discussion: ABC News, Slate, National Review, Daily Kos, Jezebel, ACA Signups, The Week, Politicus USA, ThinkProgress, Axios and Bloomberg

Avalere Health:

Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson Bill Would Reduce Federal Funding to States by $215 Billion — New analysis from Avalere finds that the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ) bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would lead to a reduction in federal funding to states …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Washington Post, Vox, The Federalist, National Review, CNN, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice, Politico and Common Dreams

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

I've covered the GOP repeal plans since day one. Graham-Cassidy is the most radical. — Other Republican plans create a poorly funded version of Obamacare. This one blows up the law entirely. — I have spent the bulk of 2017 writing about the different Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Discussion: ACA Signups and Refinery29

Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:

Bill Cassidy Responds To Jimmy Kimmel By Doubling Down On The Dishonesty — A new study details huge spending cuts and likely coverage losses. — Hours after a brutal takedown at the hands of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) went on television Wednesday to respond.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, Vox, Little Green Footballs, Mother Jones, Washington Post, The Guardian, FierceHealthcare, Daily Kos, Business Insider and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jason Noble / Des Moines Register:
Chuck Grassley: Fulfilling campaign promise just as important as ‘substance’ of health bill

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Senate girds for final Obamacare repeal vote

Discussion: Axios, The Week, Daily Kos and Vox

Sara R. Collins / The Commonwealth Fund:
What Are the Potential Effects of the Graham-Cassidy ACA Repeal-and-Replace Bill? Past Estimates Provide Some Clues

Discussion: Center for American …, ThinkProgress, NBC News, Health Affairs Blog, Washington Post and New York Magazine

Josh Barro / Business Insider:
The new healthcare bill includes an ‘Alaska Purchase’ to woo a key senator

Discussion: Daily Kos

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Repeal first, ask questions later

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, ABC News, The Atlantic, Daily Kos, FierceHealthcare, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Informed Comment, Los Angeles Times and VTDigger

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
How well does Jimmy Kimmel understand the GOP health-care bill?

Discussion: Center For Children …, Common Dreams, Politicus USA and twitchy.com

Katie Jennings / Politico:
Christie says he opposes Graham-Cassidy bill

Discussion: Vox, Political Wire, The Week, HuffPost and Washington Post

Sarah Frostenson / Politico:
Graham-Cassidy health care bill: What you need to know

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story and JustOneMinute

John Harwood / CNBC: Many GOP senators would shortchange their states by backing the latest Obamacare repeal bill

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump: Rand Paul ‘negative force’ on fixing health care

Discussion: CNN, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, Deadline and IJR

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Republicans rip Rand for rejecting Obamacare repeal

Discussion: The Week, Shakesville, Vox, Axios, Politicus USA and Political Wire

Dylan Scott / Vox:
Jimmy Kimmel: new Obamacare repeal bill flunks the Jimmy Kimmel Test

Discussion: Daily Wire, Politico, Occupy Democrats, The Week, Mediaite, Axios and Shareblue

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Mueller Seeks White House Documents Related to Trump's Actions as President — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, is interested in Mr. Trump's firing of his F.B.I. director and national security adviser and other events. — September 20, 2017 — Republican Leaders Defy Bipartisan Opposition to Health Law Repeal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Axios, Occupy Democrats, The Week, Politicus USA, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story and CNN

Wall Street Journal:

All Mr. Comey's Wiretaps — Congress needs to learn how the FBI meddled in the 2016 campaign. — When Donald Trump claimed in March that he'd had his “wires tapped” prior to the election, the press and Obama officials dismissed the accusation as a fantasy.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Wire

Washington Post: Mueller casts broad net in requesting extensive records from Trump White House

The Daily Beast:

Russians Appear to Use Facebook to Push Pro-Trump ‘Flash Mobs’ in Florida … Suspected Russia propagandists on Facebook tried to organize more than a dozen pro-Trump rallies in Florida during last year's election, The Daily Beast has learned. — The demonstrations—at least …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, The Verge, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Politicus USA and Mother Jones, more at Mediagazer »

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Trump Is Using Targeted Facebook Ads To Reassure Supporters He Will Build The Border Wall

Discussion: The Verge and Shakesville

Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly:
Russian-Controlled Facebook Accounts Organized Trump Events

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Clinton book has sold more than 300,000 copies — https://apnews.com/d84bb58cfa234b3fb24e 009d6c31a497 — Link copied! — NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton's “What Happened” had a big debut. — Clinton's book about her stunning loss in 2016 to Donald Trump sold …

Discussion: Vox, Shakesville, CNBC, Political Wire and Washington Free Beacon

Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
John Kerry doesn't rule out 2020 White House run

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue:
Hillary Clinton just sold more copies of her book in one week than Trump's sold in two years

Discussion: IJR

CNN:

Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico with 155-mph winds — San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN)Hurricane Maria made landfall Wednesday morning in southeast Puerto Rico as a strong Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said. — Maria slammed the island with winds of 155 mph …

Washington Post:
Puerto Rico entirely without power as Hurricane Maria hammers island with force not seen in ‘modern history’

Discussion: Mother Jones, Aleteia.org, TalkLeft and Balloon Juice

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:

Price's private-jet travel breaks precedent — In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shareblue, CNN, Bloomberg, Instapundit, Washington Post, Political Wire, New York Magazine, IJR, Common Dreams, AOL, ThinkProgress, NBC News, KTLA, The Week, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story and Axios

Bobby Moynihan / CBS News:

Man captures dramatic rescue at Mexico school on video — At least 25 people were killed when the 7.1 Magnitude earthquake brought part of a school in the Mexican capital tumbling down onto students and teachers on Tuesday. At least 21 of them were children.

Discussion: NPR, Raw Story and CBS San Francisco

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:
Death toll in Mexico earthquake rises as citizens frantically look for the missing

Discussion: TalkLeft and CityLab

J.R. Taylor / National Enquirer:

Apology Regarding Judge Judy And Nicole Sheindlin — A statement from The National ENQUIRER — The National ENQUIRER and sister publication The National Examiner recently published articles which stated that Judge Judy Sheindlin suffered from “brain disease,” was “fighting” …

Discussion: Daily Wire and IJR

CNN:

Trump judicial nominee said transgender children are part of 'Satan's plan', defended ‘conversion therapy’ — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)In a pair of 2015 speeches, President Donald Trump's nominee for a federal judgeship in Texas described transgender children as evidence of “Satan's plan …

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, The Stranger … and Raw Story

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Trump rebounds after polling slide — President Donald Trump's summer swoon appears to be over. — After months of declining poll numbers, the president's approval ratings have stabilized — and even ticked up slightly — over the past month. — Following a low of 39 percent …

Discussion: Axios, IJR, Washington Times, Washington Post, Vox, Business Insider, The Week and AOL

Borys Kit / Hollywood Reporter:

Linda Hamilton Set to Return to ‘Terminator’ Franchise (Exclusive) — With James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger involved, it's a reunion more than 25 years in the making. — She'll be back. — After waving hasta la vista, baby, more than 25 years ago, Linda Hamilton is returning …

Discussion: The Verge, Mashable, IndieWire, ABC News, CBS San Francisco, Consequence of Sound, The Guardian, Gizmodo, The Blast and Engadget

Benjamin Haas / Politico:

The Electoral College Is a National Security Threat — In Federalist No. 68, his pseudonymous essay on “The Mode of Electing the President,” Alexander Hamilton wrote that the Electoral College could shield the United States “from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.”

Discussion: RedState, National Review, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze and twitchy.com

Seth Tupper / Rapid City Journal:

Firm drops Rep. DiSanto over Facebook post — State Rep. Lynne DiSanto, R-Box Elder, was criticized by the state Democratic Party and others Tuesday and lost her position at a real estate firm after she made a post to Facebook that joked about striking protesters with a vehicle.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Associated Press, RT, Talking Points Memo and Argus Leader

Adam Ciralsky / Vanity Fair:

Is Trump Mulling Peter Thiel for a Top Intelligence Advisory Post? — Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has been quietly advising the Trump administration for months. Now—as sources say he could be in line for a top intelligence oversight role—Steve Bannon, White House officials, friends …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Kim Hjelmgaard / USA Today:

There is meddling in Germany's election — not by Russia, but by U.S. right wing — Less than a week before Sunday's vote that is likely to hand German Chancellor Angela Merkel a fourth term, evidence of anticipated Russian meddling has yet to materialize, but U.S. right-wing groups have interfered, according to German researchers.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

Why Is Congress Conducting Its Russia Investigation in Secret? — Most of the witnesses being interviewed by the Senate and House committees investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election have been granted a remarkable courtesy. The norm in Washington is for testimony to be conducted …

Discussion: CNN