memeorandum: $2.3 million settlement reached in death of former Marine at Tomah VA (Ed Treleven/madison.com)

3:45 PM ET, October 29, 2017

Top Items:

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Trump's Approval Rating Drops to Lowest Level Yet in New NBC News/WSJ Poll — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has declined to the lowest point of his presidency, and nearly half of voters want their vote in the 2018 midterms to be a message for more Democrats …

Discussion: USA Today, The Hill, Politicus USA, Politico, NBC News, Axios and Political Wire

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Approval Rating Falls to Lowest Level Since Taking Office — Poll finds 38% approve of the job the president has done, a five-point drop from September — President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he took office, with Americans disapproving …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

BuzzFeed:

FBI Probe Of Paul Manafort Focuses On 13 “Suspicious” Wire Transfers — BuzzFeed News has learned of a series of wire transfers, made by companies linked to Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, that federal officials deemed suspicious. Many of the wires went …

Discussion: Axios, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, TalkLeft, Washington Examiner, Political Wire and The Independent

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

The ‘dossier’ and the uranium deal: A guide to the latest allegations — As a service to readers bound to be confused by an increasingly complex story, here's a brief guide to the latest developments in the tangled allegations involving Russia, President Trump and Hillary Clinton. — The Dossier

Discussion: Axios, CNN, New York Post, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, Outside the Beltway, NPR and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Scott / Vox:
Ahead of possible Mueller indictments, Donald Trump is attacking Hillary Clinton

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media, New York Times, ABC News, Raw Story and Politico

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Obama's Campaign Paid $972,000 To Law Firm That Secretly Paid Fusion GPS In 2016

Discussion: Washington Post, MichelleMalkin.com, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, The Daily Caller, ABC News, NewsBusters, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, TheBlaze and The Last Tradition

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

2 Navy SEALs Under Suspicion in Strangling of Green Beret in Mali — WASHINGTON — Navy criminal authorities are investigating whether two members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 strangled to death an Army Green Beret on assignment in Mali in June, military officials say.

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Puerto Rico governor wants Whitefish contract cancelled ‘immediately’ — Puerto Rico's governor is calling for a controversial contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings to be terminated immediately. — Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Sunday asked the Governing Board of the Electric Power Authority …

Discussion: RedState, ABC News, NPR, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Andrew Scurria / Wall Street Journal:

Puerto Rico Governor Shreds $300 Million Power Contract — Governor cancels disaster recovery deal after FEMA flags ‘significant concerns’ — Puerto Rico's governor said Sunday he would cancel a controversial $300 million construction contract with a little known-Montana energy firm …

Discussion: New York Magazine and ThinkProgress

Lori Aratani / Washington Post:

Historic Alexandria church decides to remove plaques honoring Washington, Lee — Leaders of a historic Episcopal church in Alexandria have decided to remove a pair of plaques from its sanctuary that memorialize two of their most prominent parishioners: George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

Discussion: The Guardian

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

How Churches Die — There's a saying attributed variously to Robert Conquest or John O'Sullivan that “any institution that is not explicitly right-wing will become left-wing over time.” A good case in point is the Episcopal Church, which was once known as “the Republican Party at prayer …

Discussion: Townhall.com, The American Conservative and The Resurgent

Ryan Parker / Hollywood Reporter:

Roger Stone Banned From Twitter After Threatening CNN Anchors — Although Stone's account is gone, some of his tweets were embedded by news outlets in stories, so the text remains. — Roger Stone has been banned from Twitter permanently after a vulgar meltdown Friday aimed at CNN reporters …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Slate, TheBlaze, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:
Roger Stone vows legal action over Twitter suspension

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Deadline, Recode, Political Wire and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed:
Roger Stone Banned From Twitter After Railing Against CNN Anchor

Discussion: HuffPost, Little Green Footballs, Washington Post, Mashable and TheBlaze

Washington Post:

The Post's endorsements in Virginia — THE RESULTS of Virginia's gubernatorial primaries this spring, in which Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie each beat more extreme party challengers, looked promising for the commonwealth's voters, whose record of electing …

Washington Post: What Va. voters can agree on: These guys and Trump are from different planets

Annie Karni / Politico:

Kushner took unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner returned home Saturday from an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia — his third trip to the country this year. — Kushner left Washington, D.C., via commercial airline …

TMZ.com:

MLB's Bruce Maxwell Arrested For Aggravated Assault, Allegedly Pointed Gun At Woman — Oakland A's catcher Bruce Maxwell was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after cops say he pulled a gun on a woman ... TMZ Sports has learned. — Scottsdale PD tells us Maxwell, 26 …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Tradition, IJR, TheBlaze and AOL

Annie Gowen / Washington Post:

Trumps set to launch two real estate projects in India, despite conflict-of-interest concerns — KOLKATA, India — President Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., is expected to launch two residential projects in India for the Trump Organization in the coming weeks, continuing the family's promotion …

Discussion: Political Wire

John Bowden / The Hill: Trump sons to launch real estate project in India

Josh Meyer / Politico:

Facebook struggles to contain Russia narrative — Facebook has been happy to keep congressional investigators focused on the Russian-bought online ads that helped sway voters in last year's election — despite the many other ways that fake messages and bogus accounts spread on the dark side of social media.

Ali Breland / The Hill: Dems want more details on Russian social media content

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Home Builders Will Oppose Republican Tax Bill — National Association of Home Builders concerned about mortgage-interest deduction; Republicans say will retain an itemized deduction for property taxes — WASHINGTON—An influential home builders group will oppose the House Republicans' forthcoming tax bill …

Discussion: Axios

Los Angeles Times:

When men with power go too far: After years of whispers, women speak out about harassment in California's Capitol — It started with a dinner invitation from a former assemblyman more than twice her age. He had offered his services as a mentor, but his hand reaching for her knee under the table revealed other intentions.

Discussion: New York Times