memeorandum: Trump pollster: Sanders would have won general election (Jacqueline Thomsen/The Hill)

8:20 AM ET, October 31, 2017

Top Items:

Upstairs at home, with the TV on, Trump fumes over Russia indictments — President Trump woke before dawn on Monday and burrowed in at the White House residence to wait for the Russia bombshell he knew was coming. — Separated from most of his West Wing staff — who fretted …

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, New York Magazine, Axios, Mashable, Raw Story, CNN, The Week, The Daily Caller, Politicus USA, Eschaton and Talking Points Memo

Marcy Wheeler / The Intercept:

Monday's Indictment is Very, Very Bad News For Attorney General Jeff Sessions — The biggest news of Mueller Monday — the roll out of a money laundering indictment against Trump's former campaign adviser, Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates, and the unsealing of a false statements plea deal …

The Daily Beast:

Steve Bannon Tells Trump To Bring In New Lawyers as He Looks For Ways to Kneecap Mueller … Steve Bannon spoke on the phone with his old boss, Donald Trump, on Monday and offered a message: get yourself some new lawyers. — The former White House chief strategist has grown increasingly concerned …

Discussion: Raw Story

Lawfare:

Robert Mueller's Show of Strength: A Quick and Dirty Analysis — The first big takeaway from Monday morning's flurry of charging and plea documents with respect to Paul Manafort Jr., Richard Gates III and George Papadopoulos is this: The president of the United States had as his campaign chairman …

Associated Press:

Trump fumes as Mueller probe enters new phase with charges — WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Muller's charges Monday against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and two other aides marked a new phase in his sprawling investigation into Russia and President Donald Trump …

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Trump Campaign Got Early Word Russia Had Democrats' Emails — WASHINGTON — The indictment of a 30-year-old campaign aide — so green that he listed Model United Nations in his qualifications — shifted the narrative on Monday of the Trump campaign's interactions with Russia …

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Mediaite, The Atlantic, Weekly Standard, RedState, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and Politico

NBC News:

Sources: Podesta Group, Mercury Are Companies ‘A’ and ‘B’ in Indictment — WASHINGTON — The lobbying firms the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs are the unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Mediaite and The Atlantic

Anna Palmer / Politico:

Tony Podesta stepping down from lobbying giant amid Mueller probe — Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Manafort Indictment: Not Much There, and a Boon for Trump — Do not be fooled by the “Conspiracy against the United States” heading. — The Paul Manafort indictment is much ado about nothing . . . except as a vehicle to squeeze Manafort, which is special counsel Robert Mueller's objective …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, bizpacreview.com, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Popehat, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, Lawfare, ThinkProgress, Power Line, Althouse, Washington Post, JustOneMinute and Politico

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Inside the White House as the first Russia indictments came out — Just minutes before the senior-most White House staff walked into Roosevelt Room for their morning meeting with Chief of Staff John Kelly, their phones lit up with news alerts of the first indictments in the Mueller probe.

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Politico and Business Insider

Ezra Klein / Vox:
It sure looks like there was collusion between the Trump operation and Russia

Discussion: USA Today, Weekly Standard, National Review and New York Times

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Special counsel's office: Papadopoulos ‘small part’ of ‘large scale investigation’

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, Raw Story, Just Security, Politico, Axios and RedState

CNN:
Trump ‘seething’ as Mueller probe reaches former aides

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Republican Judiciary chairman: Trump should let Mueller do his job

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Politicus USA

John Cassidy / New Yorker:
Robert Mueller Is Just Beginning to Put the Pressure On

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times and Bloomberg

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Both Campaigns Sought Russian Dirt. Clinton's Way Was Legal.

Discussion: CNN, Booman Tribune, Lawfare, Politico, The Daily Beast and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times:
Paul Manafort's Ambition Set the Stage for His Downfall

Discussion: The Guardian, CNN and Media Matters for America

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:
Pat Robertson Says Trump Should Issue ‘Blanket Pardon’ for Indictments: 'He's Got to Shut This Down'

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story and Right Wing Watch

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
How bad will Mueller probe get for Trump? The Papadopoulos plea may be a big tell.

New York Times:
Is the White House Scared Yet?

Discussion: Politico, Just Security, Daily Kos, Washington Post, NPR, 105.9 FM and AM 630, ThinkProgress, CNN, Raw Story, New York Magazine, NBC News and Fox News

J.J. Gallagher / ABC News:
Trump ex-adviser ‘probably’ discussed Russia with staffer charged in Mueller probe

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and Axios

Associated Press:
Trump campaign aide steps to center of Russia probe

Discussion: Politico and Political Wire

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Mueller team won battle to force testimony from lawyer for Manafort and Gates

Discussion: Business Insider and Axios

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
'Putin's Niece' Catfished Trump Aide, Offered Kremlin Meeting

Discussion: Chicago Reader, emptywheel and Balloon Juice

miamiherald:
Firm in Mueller indictment got RNC funds for work on Trump campaign

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, Media Matters for America, CBS Miami, The Atlantic, The Guardian, ABC News, Business Insider, CNN and Talking Points Memo

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
The Open Secrets Of The Russia Story

Discussion: The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Just Security, CNBC, ABC News, Hullabaloo and KFOR-TV

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Netflix Cancels ‘House Of Cards’, Says It's “Deeply Troubled” Over Kevin Spacey Claims — UPDATED with Netflix statement: As allegations of unwanted sexual advances in 1986 by Kevin Spacey against then-14-year-old Anthony Rapp have emerged, Netflix today decided to pull the plug …

Discussion: Breitbart, Hollywood Reporter, RedState, The Root, VICE, TVLine, Shot in the Dark, Mediaite, Instapundit, Washington Free Beacon, Patterico's Pontifications and Scared Monkeys

Maureen Callahan / New York Post:
Kevin Spacey is another ‘everyone knew’ — who else does Hollywood know about?

Discussion: The Daily Caller, IJR, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and TMZ.com

Daniel Holloway / Variety:
‘House of Cards’ Canceled; Netflix ‘Deeply Troubled’ by Spacey Assault Claim

Discussion: Engadget, AOL, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Verge and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:

Facebook estimates 126 million people were served content from Russia-linked pages — Facebook will inform lawmakers this week that roughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet …

Discussion: CNN, The Week, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
Russian content on Facebook may have reached 126 million users — far more than first disclosed, company testimony says

Discussion: Mother Jones

Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:
Twitter will tell Congress that Russia's election meddling was worse than we first thought

Discussion: Reuters and IJR

Dave Lawler / Axios:

Kelly wants investigation into allegations surrounding Clinton — In a Fox News interview, John Kelly said he thought an investigation was needed into funding from Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC for the research behind the Trump/Russia dossier, and Clinton's involvement in the Uranium One deal.

Discussion: ABC News and Vanity Fair

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:
Kelly defends Confederate statues: 'History's history'

Discussion: Politico

Hot Air:

Did George Papadopoulos Wear A Wire For Mueller? — I noted in the Papadopoulos post this morning that his plea deal says he's cooperating with Mueller's investigation. Brad Heath of USA Today made a nifty catch, though, about the possible extent of that cooperation.

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, Mother Jones and Balloon Juice

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Trump pollster: Sanders would have won general election — The pollster for President Trump's campaign says that he believes Sen. Bernie Sanders — (I-Vt.) would have defeated Trump in the general election had he secured the Democratic nomination. — Tony Fabrizio said at a Harvard …

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:

Key GOP Senator Susan Collins Lays Out Her Demands for Tax Bill — Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Monday she's opposed to two tax breaks for the wealthy that her party leaders are pushing for, indicating that her vote won't be easy to win on President Donald Trump's top legislative priority.

Discussion: Axios, The Week and Business Insider

Bloomberg:
House Panel's Talk of Phased-in Tax Cut Counters Trump's Wishes

Discussion: Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Axios

Peter Dreier / Los Angeles Times:

Trump is ‘very intelligent.’ Just ask him — During an impromptu news conference outside the White House last Wednesday, a reporter asked Donald Trump whether he should be more civil. — “Well, I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am,” the president said, and then quickly switched the topic from his manners to his mind.