memeorandum: Trump visits Florida hospital, sheriff's office after Parkland shooting (CNN)

2:40 PM ET, February 17, 2018

Top Items:

Trump's Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader — WASHINGTON — After more than a dozen Russians and three companies were indicted on Friday for interfering in the 2016 elections, President Trump's first reaction was to claim personal vindication …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, NPR, KTLA, RedState, The Week and CNBC, more at Mediagazer »

Sophie Tatum / CNN:

McMaster: Evidence of Russian meddling is ‘now really incontrovertible’ — McMaster responds to Russian indictments — Washington (CNN)Evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election is “now really incontrovertible,” White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Saturday.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire, Daily Kos, LGBTQ Nation, The Week, The Daily Caller, Towleroad, IJR, AOL, Slate, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, The Daily Signal, Breitbart and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

The Latest: Ex-Russian diplomat calls US charges ‘fantasies’ — MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the Russian response to U.S. indictments (all times local): — Russia's former ambassador to the United States is dismissing detailed allegations of attempted Russian interference …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and IJR

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:

McMaster: Russian meddling in U.S. elections is beyond dispute — President Trump's national security adviser said Saturday that Russian inrterference in the 2016 U.S. elections is beyond dispute, marking a sharp reversal of the president's frequent dismissal of alleged Russian cyber-meddling as a “hoax.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Fiona Maxwell / Politico:
McMaster: ‘Incontrovertible’ evidence of Russian interference in election

Discussion: New York Magazine

Washington Post:
What Trump still doesn't get about Russian interference in the election

Discussion: Fox News Insider, NBC News and Politico

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:
Worries about Trump's legitimacy resurface with Russia indictment

Discussion: One America News Network, ABC News, Liberty Unyielding and The Hill

Bob Bauer / Just Security:

The Charging Mystery in the Russia Indictments—And Its Indication of What Comes Next in the Mueller Investigation — The special counsel's indictment of Russian individuals and organizations brought campaign finance law for the first time into formal charges in the case. But this development came with a mystery.

Lawfare:

Russian Influence Campaign: What's in the Latest Mueller Indictment — None of the defendants indicted Friday for their alleged influence operation against the U.S. political system is likely to ever see the inside of an American courtroom. None is in custody. None is likely to surrender to U.S. authorities.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Reuters, France 24, CNBC, Washington Monthly, FOX40, IJR, The Last Refuge, Washington Press and Mother Jones

Politico:
‘Something was weird’: Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida

Discussion: Political Wire, WBBH-TV and Weekly Standard

David Remnick / New Yorker:
Mueller's Indictment Ends Trump's Myth of the Russia “Hoax”

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:
The rise of 'Putin's chef,' the Russian oligarch accused of manipulating the U.S. election

Discussion: New York Times, Power Line, Business Insider, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Breitbart, VICE News, DFRLab, Woke Sloth, Vox and Washington Press

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
‘Go Donald!’: Inside the Russian shadow campaign to elect Trump

Discussion: The Stranger …, New York Times, Little Green Footballs, Politico and Outside the Beltway

Los Angeles Times:

Horrified Florida students beg the adults: Please, do something about guns … The kids in South Florida are fed up. With the adults. — After a mass shooting left 17 students and faculty dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland …

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

The students at Florida's Douglas High are amazing communicators. That could save lives. — Telegenic and media-savvy is one way to describe David Hogg, a lean and dark-haired senior at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. — But maybe a better way is this: Change agent.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and CNN

Mary Ellen Klas / miamiherald:
Lawmakers agree to destroy site of school carnage: ‘This building has to come down’

Discussion: IJR, Florida Politics, Daily Wire and Sun-Sentinel

CNN:
Trump visits Florida hospital, sheriff's office after Parkland shooting

Discussion: The Daily Caller, WHNT-TV, KFOR-TV, fox13now.com, Florida Politics, Hollywood Life, fox8.com, WTVR-TV, KTLA, WREG-TV, myfox8.com, Sun-Sentinel and The 74

Associated Press:
Shooting suspect was on school rifle team that got NRA grant

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Breitbart, Vox, Washington Press and Mother Jones

Associated Press:
The Latest: Trump visits hospital, meets shooting survivors

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Politico and New York Times

Mike Allen / Axios:

We know nothing; Mueller knows all — Robert Mueller's meaty indictment, accusing 13 Russians (including an oligarch known as “Putin's cook") of “information warfare against the United States of America,” shows the special counsel has been doing deep, serious investigative work — totally under the radar, and with zero leaks.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and New York Times

Shane Harris / Washington Post:

New White House security clearance policy could put 'bull's eye' on Kushner … White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced Friday that beginning next week, the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-secret information …

Discussion: Axios, Vox, New York Magazine, Joe.My.God., CNN, New York Times, VICE News, Eschaton, KTLA, Politico and The Week

Brandon Carter / The Hill:

Kushner requests more intel info than almost all White House staff: report — 's son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner — has reportedly requested more intelligence information than almost every other White House official. — The Washington Post reports that Kushner …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Joe Trinacria / Pushback:

Larry Krasner Sues Big Pharma, Drops All Marijuana Possession Charges — With a little over a month in office, Philly's new DA is already further reforming the city's drug policy. — On the same day a Philly.com op-ed was published in which Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Paul P. Murphy / CNN:

Exclusive: Group chat messages show school shooter obsessed with race, violence and guns — (CNN)In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns.

Discussion: Washington Press, Dispatches From the …, IJR, Joe.My.God. and RedState

Associated Press:
White nationalist appears to disavow connection with shooter

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Jacobite, Liberty Unyielding, twitchy.com, Power Line and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort — Prosecutors say they've found ‘additional criminal conduct’ by the former Trump campaign chairman. — Special counsel Robert Mueller's office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman …

Discussion: ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Press, Raw Story, The Right Scoop, Political Wire, TheBlaze and The Daily Beast

Josh Delk / The Hill:
Mueller adds bank fraud to Manafort's list of alleged criminal conduct

Discussion: RedState

Sam Amick / USA Today:

Kevin Durant on Laura Ingraham's commentary: ‘To me, it was racist’ — LOS ANGELES - The timing was perfect. — While the social media stratosphere was still buzzing on Friday about Laura Ingraham's offensive segment on Fox News, where the host told LeBron James and Kevin Durant to …