memeorandum: Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, tells family she has a ‘clean conscience’ (Mark Osborne/ABC News)

12:10 PM ET, October 4, 2017

Top Items:

Tillerson's Fury at Trump Required an Intervention From Pence — WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House, according to multiple senior administration officials who were aware of the situation at the time.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Furious Republicans are working hard to make Trump's Russia scandal disappear — THE MORNING PLUM: — The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon to provide a “progress report” on its investigation into Russian sabotage …

Discussion: Politico, IJR and Mediaite

CBS News:
Rex Tillerson refutes report that he was on verge of resigning over the summer

Discussion: RedState, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Business Insider, Deadline, Romper, Joe.My.God. and Daily Kos

Nik Steinberg / Politico:
Rex Tillerson Is Running the State Department Into the Ground

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Tillerson: I have ‘never’ considered resigning

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo and IJR

David Reid / CNBC:
Tillerson reportedly described Trump as a ‘moron’ and was set to resign in July

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Axios, IJR, Mashable, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, Boing Boing and Romper

Jeffrey Lewis / Foreign Policy:
Donald Trump Threatened North Korea After Completely Imaginary Negotiations

Discussion: New York Times, Just Security, CNBC, War on the Rocks, The Atlantic, Weekly Standard and Outside the Beltway

Brian Ross / ABC News:

Portrait emerging of Las Vegas shooter as man ‘descending into madness’ — In the months before his deadly rampage, 64-year old Stephen Paddock was a man “descending into madness,” according to a person briefed on new findings in the investigation. — New details are emerging …

Discussion: Associated Press

Yahoo! News:

‘He sent her away’: Sisters of Las Vegas gunman's Australian girlfriend break their silence — Marilou Danley's sisters have said they believe she was “sent away” so she could not interfere with her boyfriend's plan to open-fire on thousands of people in the Las Vegas massacre.

Discussion: Raw Story, Conservative News Today and The Daily Caller

Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times:

At his local Starbucks, Las Vegas shooter remembered for berating his girlfriend — The workers behind the counter at the Starbucks inside the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite, Nev., winced whenever Stephen Paddock and his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, lined up for their usual beverages.

Discussion: Shakesville, NBC News, The Week, Raw Story and FOX6Now.com

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

If Only Stephen Paddock Were a Muslim — If only Stephen Paddock had been a Muslim ... If only he had shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas ... If only he had been a member of ISIS ... If only we had a picture of him posing with a Quran in one hand and his semiautomatic rifle in another ...

Discussion: Althouse, Political Wire and National Review

Avi Selk / Washington Post:

What a macho, gun-packing Instagram star did when he was caught in the Las Vegas shooting … Guns and women got Dan Bilzerian where he is today — the so-called “King of Instagram,” with nearly 23 million followers, a mansion full of guns and a hot tub full of women.

Discussion: IJR

David Smith / The Guardian:

Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend returns to US as police reveal details of his planning — Authorities investigating the Las Vegas mass shooting, the deadliest in modern US history, are preparing to question the girlfriend of gunman Stephen Paddock who has flown back to America after being named …

Discussion: BillMoyers.com, Daily Wire, KXAN-TV, Shot in the Dark, NBC News and Power Line

Wesley Lowery / Washington Post:

Two strangers bond over country music and beer. Then the gunshots started. — Up-and-coming country star Luke Combs had just started his set on the smaller of the two festival stages when Kody Robertson, an auto parts salesman from Columbus, Ohio, squeezed in at the end of the bar next to Michelle Vo …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and IJR

NBC News:

Marilou Danley, Girlfriend of Las Vegas Gunman, Back in the U.S. for Grilling — The girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock is back in the U.S. and facing a grilling Wednesday by investigators seeking a motive for the worst mass murder in the nation's modern history.

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider, SARAH PALIN, NBC News, Conservative News Today, AOL, Scared Monkeys, TMZ.com, The Last Refuge, CANNONFIRE and Daily Wire

Washington Post:
New details emerge about Marilou Danley, girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Week, NPR, Mother Jones, Snopes.com, NBC News, neo-neocon, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Mark Osborne / ABC News:
Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, tells family she has a ‘clean conscience’

Discussion: The Daily Caller, AOL and Conservative News Today

CNN:
Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend ‘sent away’ before his massacre

Discussion: Townhall.com, IJR, Guns.com, Washington Post, FOX6Now.com, WPMT FOX43, TheBlaze, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, WTVR-TV, Reuters and Daily Wire

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Rep. Lewis: ‘No amount of blood’ will push Congress on gun control

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, The Trace and Bloomberg

New York Times:
Meticulous Planning by Las Vegas Gunman Before He Opened Fire

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, The Guardian, Daily Wire, New York Daily News, Guns.com, Democrats.com, Hit & Run and Business Insider

Washington Post:
Police say Las Vegas gunman planned ‘extensively,’ used cameras to monitor police as they approached

Discussion: The Week, NPR, Daily Breeze, Power Line, IJR, CityLab, Refinery29, ABC News, Raw Story, AOL, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Q13 FOX News, San Bernardino Sun and Daily Wire

Politico:
The gun lobby: See how much your representative gets

Discussion: Daily Kos and twitchy.com

Fox News Insider:
Martha MacCallum to Interview Steve Scalise on His Return to Work, Las Vegas Attack

Discussion: RedState, Washington Times, Conservative News Today, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Joe.My.God.

ProPublica:

Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Were Close to Being Charged With Felony Fraud — New York prosecutors were preparing a case. Then the D.A. overruled his staff after a visit from a top donor: Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz. — In the spring of 2012, Donald Trump's two eldest children …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, AOL, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, Raw Story and The Week

Justin Sink / Bloomberg:

Trump Suggests Puerto Rico's Debt May Need to Be ‘Wiped Out’ — ‘We are going to work something out,’ president says on Fox — Trump visited island earlier Tuesday to survey storm damage — President Donald Trump suggested that the government debt accumulated by bankrupt Puerto Rico …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Toronto Star, The Resurgent, Business Insider, twitchy.com and Politico

Associated Press:

AP-NORC Poll: Few approve of Trump's Puerto Rico response — Americans are more likely to approve than disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling hurricane relief in Florida and Texas, but it's a different story when it comes to Puerto Rico. — According to a new poll …

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, Politico, The Week and Deadline

Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times:
Trump Vows to Wipe Out Puerto Rico's Debt. Can He Do That?

Discussion: IJR, The Hill, The Week and miamiherald

Washington Post: A tale of two Puerto Ricos: What Trump saw — and what he didn't

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
Trump's Puerto Rico event was way worse than his tweets

Discussion: Gothamist, Associated Press, Daily Kos, CANNONFIRE, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Week, The Atlantic, Vox and Oxfam America

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Says US Will Have To ‘Wipe’ Out Puerto Rico's Debt (VIDEO)

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, Washington Times and Bloomberg

CNN:

Exclusive: Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin — (CNN)A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Washington Times, The Atlantic, Engadget, CNBC, twitchy.com, FOX6Now.com, Shareblue, Mashable and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:
Hill investigators to tell public what they've learned about Russia's interference and what happens next

Discussion: Dispatches From the … and Joe.My.God.

Statesman Journal:

Ex-Trump adviser Paul Manafort conspired to mislead bankruptcy court, son-in-law charges — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued two new subpoena in the investigation into President Trump's campaign ties to Russia. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@FantasticMrNate) reports. Buzz60 — CONNECT

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:

Cummings questions White House about Conway's private jet travels — The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee wants the White House to provide details of private jet flights that counselor Kellyanne Conway took with former HHS Secretary Tom Price, who resigned last week in the wake …

Discussion: ABC News

Joe Perticone / Business Insider:
John Kelly is blocking a pro-Russia congressman from talking to Trump

Discussion: The Hill, Foreign Policy, The Week, RedState, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Equifax Breach Caused by Lone Employee's Error, Former C.E.O. Says — WASHINGTON — The Equifax data breach, which exposed the sensitive personal information of nearly 146 million Americans, happened because of a mistake by a single employee, the credit reporting company's former chief executive told members of Congress on Tuesday.

Discussion: RedState and Associated Press

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
6 Fresh Horrors From the Equifax CEO's Congressional Hearing

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ABC News, Krebs on Security, FOX6Now.com, The Hill, Politico, ThinkProgress, TheStreet, Engadget, Gizmodo, The Verge, Instapundit, SARAH PALIN and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:

Ginsburg Slaps Gorsuch in Gerrymandering Case — Toward the end of the Supreme Court's argument in Gill v. Whitford, about the future of partisan gerrymandering, there was a revealing moment about the place of the newest Justice in the esteem of at least one of his peers.