memeorandum: Trump aides begin looking for the exits (Nancy Cook/Politico)

2:50 PM ET, September 22, 2017

Top Items:

Joe Lawlorstaff / Press Herald:

Sen. Collins says she's leaning against voting for Graham-Cassidy health care bill — The Republican from Maine listed serious deficiences in her party's latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote “no” …

Discussion: CNN, Political Wire, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, KTLA and The Week

Future Development Reads:

How will the Graham-Cassidy proposal affect the number of people with health insurance coverage? — Editor's Note: … On September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Politico:

Trump publicly backs healthcare effort, privately harbors doubts — While the president appears all in some in the White House wonder about Graham-Cassidy's contents and its chances. — In public, President Donald Trump is all-in on the Senate's final chance to repeal Obamacare.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ABC News, Axios, Shareblue, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Shakesville, Daily Kos and The Week

mccain.senate.gov:

SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON HEALTH CARE REFORM — Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today on health care reform: — “As I have repeatedly stressed, health care reform legislation ought to be the product of regular order in the Senate.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Common Dreams, ACA Signups, NPR, Political Wire, CBS San Francisco, AOL and National Review

Associated Press:

The Latest: Collins ‘leaning against’ GOP health care bill — https://apnews.com/41a6c9068d454a15a47e c728fa51a4fc — Link copied! — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Latest on health care legislation (all times local): — Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she's “leaning against” …

Discussion: Political Wire, Hit & Run and FierceHealthcare

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Cruelty, Incompetence and Lies — Graham-Cassidy, the health bill the Senate may vote on next week, is stunningly cruel. It's also incompetently drafted: The bill's sponsors clearly had no idea what they were doing when they put it together. Furthermore, their efforts to sell the bill involve obvious, blatant lies.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Raw Story, Vox, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, The Week, The Atlantic, Whatever Source Derived, AOL, Business Insider and CNN

Megan Messerly / The Nevada Independent:

Sandoval doubles down on criticism of Heller-sponsored measure; state analysis highlights up to $2 billion loss — Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday that the flexibility fellow Republican Sen. Dean Heller promised will be good for Nevada in a health-care bill he's sponsoring is a “false choice” …

Discussion: Washington Post and Political Wire

CNN:
Axelrod: I cried when they passed Obamacare

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Kyle Feldscher / Washington Examiner:
Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright: John McCain will make a ‘good choice’ …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Week, Business Insider, Conservative News Today, Daily Wire, Fox News Insider and Washington Free Beacon

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
The key states that would lose funding under Graham-Cassidy

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, National Review, The Daily Caller, ABC News, New York Magazine and baker

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

How Tom Price decided chartered, private jets were a good use of taxpayer money — After Tom Price was sworn in as health and human services secretary, the Georgia Republican faced an inconvenience known to millions of Americans: His flight was delayed, an aide said, and he was forced to spend hours at an airport.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vox, Shareblue, The Resurgent, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, IJR, Daily Kos, Politico, Hullabaloo and Mother Jones

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

Inspector general to investigate Price's travel on private charter planes — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price will face an inspector general's investigation into his reported use of chartered jets for at least two dozen flights in recent months at taxpayer expense.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo and Politico

Dan Diamond / Politico:
OIG: Investigation of Tom Price's charter travel is ‘underway’

Discussion: Daily Kos, Axios, The Week, Media Matters for America, New York Magazine, Mediaite and Politicus USA

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

A Dizzying Week of Trump-Russia Revelations — The possible outcomes of the Russia investigation have always been wildly divergent. On one end of the spectrum, it is possible that the Russian government penetrated deep inside the Trump campaign—perhaps with the candidate's knowledge …

Discussion: Salon, Hullabaloo and Mother Jones

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Trump says this is all a hoax. Mueller, Congress and Facebook disagree.

Discussion: CNN, Axios, ABC News, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, Sputnik International, RT, CNBC, Mashable, Deadline, IJR, Politicus USA, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Monitored Manafort After He Left Trump Campaign

Discussion: The Hill, JustOneMinute and Washington Post

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue:
As Russia probe closes in, Trump wakes up early to obsess about Hillary Clinton

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Washington Free Beacon and Raw Story

Bob Grip / WALA-TV:

Roy Moore leads Luther Strange in FOX10 News poll — If the Alabama GOP Senate runoff election were held today, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore would defeat incumbent Senator Luther Strange, according to an exclusive, FOX10 News/Strategy Research statewide poll, conducted Wednesday.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Poll finds Moore with eight-point lead on Strange in Alabama

Discussion: RedState

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Donald Trump Can't Lose

Discussion: CNN

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump aides begin looking for the exits — A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Donald Trump's first term is still months away. — Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea …

Discussion: theGrio, Raw Story and The Week

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Protesters disrupt James Comey's Howard University convocation speech — Former FBI director James Comey struggled on Friday to give the convocation address at Howard University, speaking over a group of about 20 students who sang and chanted continuously throughout the speech.

Discussion: ABC News, The Ticker and Washington Free Beacon

CNN:
The former FBI director spoke at Howard University. It did not go well.

Discussion: DCist, Daily Wire and TheBlaze

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Administration Finalizes New Restrictions to Replace Travel Ban — Targeted rules would affect about eight or nine countries, vary based on factors including cooperation with U.S. mandates — The Trump administration is preparing to replace its controversial travel ban …

Discussion: The Guardian, Weekly Standard, CNN, Politico, New York Magazine, KTLA, Business Insider, IJR and ImmigrationProf Blog

New York Times:
Trump's Travel Ban to Be Replaced by Restrictions Tailored to Certain Countries

Discussion: Mother Jones, Religion News Service, The Daily Caller, The Week and Axios

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed:

Sebastian Gorka Gave A Classified “Tirade” About Radical Islam — The former Trump aide delivered a two-and-a-half-hour speech to students at a US Army elite special operations center, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show. People who were there said it was a fiery speech …

Discussion: Axios

Phil McCausland / NBC News:

Kim Jong Un Calls President Trump ‘Dotard’ and ‘Frightened Dog’ — North Korea's leader called President Donald Trump “a frightened dog” and a “gangster fond of playing with fire” in an official statement released Thursday. — Kim Jong Un responded to Trump's United Nations speech in a dispatch written in the first person.

Discussion: The Atlantic, NBC News, Yonhap News Agency, PerezHilton, CNN, AOL, Business Insider, Conservative News Today, Daily Wire, CNBC, The Week, The Daily Caller, IJR and The Root

Joshua Stewart / sandiegouniontribune.com:
Rep. Hunter calls for preemptive strike against North Korea

Discussion: CNNMoney, Business Insider, New York Magazine and IJR

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Megyn Kelly: ‘It Is a Relief to Be Out of the Vitriolic Stew That Is Cable News Prime Time’ — Megyn Kelly will follow in the footsteps of David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon and Dr. Oz Monday morning when she steps on stage of NBC's Studio 6A as host of Megyn Kelly Today. — She's also stepping into a new phase of her career.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Gary Levin / USA Today:
‘Megyn Kelly Today’: 'It's not going to be the Trump channel,' she promises

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

James Hibberd / EW.com:

Bill Clinton's first novel to become a Showtime TV series in major deal — Clinton and James Patterson's upcoming thriller, The President Is Missing, getting series treatment — Bill Clinton has landed a major TV series deal. — The former president and bestselling author James Patterson …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

The insane news cycle of Trump's presidency in 1 chart — If it feels like the Trump presidency has been hit by non-stop scandals and crises from day one, it's probably because it has been. The Google News Lab looked at the search trends for stories about 40 of the biggest news events of Trump's presidency from Jan. 20 until Sept. 1.

Discussion: Mashable and Gothamist

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Republicans to Murkowski: Nice State You Have There. Shame If Something Should Happen to It. — Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel's column typically channels talking points from congressional Republicans, and today's effort is dedicated to putting the squeeze on Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski.

Discussion: The Federalist

Scott Schwebke / Orange County Register:

End-of-world prediction interrupts TV broadcasts in Orange County — Some Orange County residents were stunned Thursday, Sept. 21, when television programming was suddenly interrupted for about a minute with an ominous message predicting the end of the world.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Sputnik International, RT, CBS Los Angeles, Raw Story and The Last Tradition

Mark Davis / Seven Days:

School: Vermont Teacher Fired for Demonstrating Nazi Salute to Third Graders — A Georgia Elementary & Middle School substitute teacher was fired Thursday after demonstrating the Nazi salute for a group of third grade students, according to a district official.

Discussion: Raw Story and AOL