memeorandum: Paranoia grips Capitol Hill as harassment scandal spreads (Rachael Bade/Politico)

11:25 PM ET, December 17, 2017

Top Items:

Sen. John McCain returns to Arizona, will miss vote on GOP tax bill — Republican Sen. John McCain is returning to Arizona after spending several days in a Maryland hospital recovering from side effects from chemotherapy treatment for brain cancer, CBS News has learned.

Discussion: Arizona Republic, RedState, CNN, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Politico, New York Times, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, Democrats.com, Axios, twitchy.com, IJR, AOL and The Guardian

David Sirota / International Business Times:

Tax Bill: John Cornyn Says Tax Cut Potentially Benefiting Bob Corker Was Part Of Effort To Secure Votes For Passage — Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the majority whip, on Sunday said a tax provision, which could personally enrich key Republican lawmakers, was added to the final tax bill as part of an effort to …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and ABC News

Emily Stewart / Vox:

John Cornyn doesn't have a good answer on tax bill loophole that means millions for Corker and Trump — “What we've tried to do is cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed.” — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Sunday said the decision to include a provision in the Republican tax plan …

Discussion: CNBC, Politicus USA, Tennessean.com, NewsBusters, Common Dreams, The Hill, Fox News and International Business Times

Bloomberg:

Trump, Real Estate Investors Get Last-Minute Perk in Tax Bill — Late revision supplies break based on investments in property — Corker, who dropped opposition, says he wasn't aware of change — Lawmakers scrambling to lock up Republican support for the tax reform bill added …

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
McCain returns to Arizona, won't vote on GOP tax bill: report

Discussion: CBS News

New York Times:
The Winners and Losers in the Tax Bill

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Mike Allen / Axios:

Trump: “My people are very upset” about Mueller obtaining emails — Officials of President Trump's transition team plan to ask Special Counsel Robert Mueller to return “many tens of thousands” of transition emails they contend were unlawfully provided to him.

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, Raw Story, New York Magazine, CNN, Power Line, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Hullabaloo, The Right Scoop and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Image of Cooperation Between White House and Mueller Starts to Fracture — WASHINGTON — For much of the seven months since Robert S. Mueller III was appointed special counsel, President Trump's lawyers have stressed their cooperation with him, believing that the more they work with his investigation …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller and Balloon Juice

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump says he won't fire Mueller, as campaign to discredit Russia probe heats up

Discussion: Bloomberg, RealClearPolitics, CNN, Politico, NBC News, Fox News Insider, The Guardian, AOL and bizpacreview.com

Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Mueller team defends obtaining Trump transition emails

Discussion: AOL and RedState

Aída Chávez / The Intercept:
Former Nixon White House Counsel: Trump Might Have Obstructed Justice to Prevent Russia Investigation

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Martin Matishak / Politico:
Firing Mueller ‘obviously’ up to Trump, Mnuchin says

Discussion: CNN

Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:

Sarah Palin's oldest son, Track, arrested on domestic violence charges — Track Palin is shown at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September 2008. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images) — Track Palin, the oldest son of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin …

Discussion: New York Post

Vladimir Isachenkov / Associated Press:

Kremlin says Putin thanked Trump for CIA tip on bombings — MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned U.S. President Donald Trump Sunday to thank him for a CIA tip that helped thwart a series of bombings in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin said.

Discussion: TASS, Axios, New York Magazine and The Daily Caller

Poolreports / Public Pool:
Subject: Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Call with President Vladimir Putin

Discussion: IJR

David Filipov / Washington Post:
Putin thanks Trump for CIA intel that foiled a planned terrorist attack in Russia

Discussion: Power Line, Bloomberg, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit and TheBlaze

Washington Post: Putin phoned Trump to thank him for CIA intel that foiled a planned terrorist attack in Russia, the Kremlin says

CNN:

Power outage cripples Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport — (CNN)A power outage at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world's busiest airport, is leaving thousands of passengers stranded and planes grounded indefinitely. — The Federal Aviation Administration issued …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ABC News, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, CBS New York and New York Magazine

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Ex-Obama transportation chief on Atlanta airport power outage: ‘Total and abject failure’

Discussion: The Guardian and Raw Story

Cornel West / The Guardian:

Ta-Nehisi Coates is the neoliberal face of the black freedom struggle — The disagreement between Coates and me is clear: his view of black America is narrow and dangerously misleading — a-Nehisi Coates' We Were Eight Years in Power, a book about Barack Obama's presidency and the tenacity …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Paranoia grips Capitol Hill as harassment scandal spreads — The details change almost daily, but the rumor won't die: A credible news organization is preparing to unmask at least 20 lawmakers in both parties for sexual misconduct. — Speculation about this theoretical megastory is spreading …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding — A congressional delegation led by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) presents frozen steaks to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on April 10 in Beijing. The gift was meant to underscore the importance of opening Chinese markets to U.S. beef imports.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Benny Johnson / The Daily Caller:

Linda Sarsour Accused Of Enabling Sexual Assault Against Woman Who Worked For Her — The inspiration behind the Women's March on DC, Linda Sarsour, has been accused of enabling the alleged sexual assault and harassment of a woman who worked for the feminist activist, according to the victim …

Discussion: IJR and The Gateway Pundit

Daniel Politi / Slate:

Fox News Host Suggests “We Have a Coup on Our Hands in America” — Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested that the FBI investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election has maybe transformed into a “coup” against President Donald trump.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress and New York Magazine

Josh Feldman / Mediaite: CNN's Stelter Goes Off on ‘Friends of Trump’ at Fox News: ‘Talking Like Propagandists’

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Mark Hamill strikes back at Cruz: Thanks for ‘smarm-spaining’ net neutrality to me — Mark Hamill struck back at Sen. Ted Cruz — (R-Texas) after Cruz tried to use the actor's “Star Wars” movies to defend net neutrality. — “Luke, I know Hollywood can be confusing …

Discussion: Politico, RedState, The Daily Beast and IJR

New York Times:

E.P.A. Employees Spoke Out. Then Came Scrutiny of Their Email. — WASHINGTON — One Environmental Protection Agency employee spoke up at a private lunch held near the agency headquarters, saying she feared the nation might be headed toward an “environmental catastrophe.”

more at Mediagazer »