memeorandum: House Republicans Conclude Pretend Russia Investigation, Declare Trump Innocent (Jonathan Chait/New York Magazine)

9:00 AM ET, March 13, 2018

Top Items:

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Despite Mueller's Push, House Republicans Declare No Evidence of Collusion — WASHINGTON — Even as the special counsel expands his inquiry and pursues criminal charges against at least four Trump associates, House Intelligence Committee Republicans said Monday they have found no evidence …

CNN:

House Republicans say no evidence of collusion as they end Russia probe — (CNN)Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced Monday they found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and that they are shutting down their yearlong investigation.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Wall Street Journal, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., The Root, VICE News, Politicus USA and Balloon Juice

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:

The Walls Are Closing In on Trump … The Fox and Trump media enterprise today launched into a spasm of complete ecstasy as the House Intelligence Committee declared their investigation of Russian interference in our elections and their contacts with and collaboration with the Trump campaign over, done, solved.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, Politico and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: House Republicans Conclude Pretend Russia Investigation, Declare Trump Innocent

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo:
Papadopoulos says that Trump personally encouraged him to arrange meeting with Putin, new book reports

Discussion: Raw Story

Mother Jones:
George Papadopoulos Claimed Trump Encouraged His Efforts to Establish a Russian Back Channel

Discussion: Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Wall Street Journal: Republicans on House Panel Find No Collusion Between Russia and Trump Campaign

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:
Former DNI James Clapper Allegedly Leaked to CNN, investigation revealed

Discussion: The Stream, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

The Hill:
House GOP ending Russia probe, says no collusion found

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Townhall.com, Common Dreams and Mother Jones

Fox News:
House Intel finds ‘no evidence of collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and ThinkProgress

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Republicans abandon tax cut message in Pa. special election — Republicans have backed away from their signature tax cut bill in the final days of a closely-watched special House election in the Pittsburgh suburbs — even though it's the very accomplishment on which they had banked their midterm election hopes.

New York Times:

Democrats Can't Win if They Don't Run — Regardless of who wins the special House election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the Democratic candidate, Conor Lamb, has already accomplished something impressive by showing that his party ought to contest every election — no matter how daunting the odds.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, VICE News, Mother Jones, Splinter, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Beast and ABC News

Monmouth University Polling Institute:
Dem Gains in CD18 Special

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politico, CNBC, ABC News, Rewire.News, New York Times, The Daily Beast, News & Guts Media, Outside the Beltway, Politicus USA, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, Vox, Washington Times, Raw Story, Axios and Joe.My.God.

Vaughn Hillyard / NBC News:
Pennsylvania GOP candidate Rick Saccone claims his opponents ‘hate’ Trump, U.S., and God

Discussion: Political Wire and Joe.My.God.

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Pennsylvania GOP chairman says Tuesday special election is in ‘Democrat district’

Discussion: Washington Post, RRH Elections, Roll Call, Fox News, NBC News, NPR, CNN, Victory Girls Blog, Booman Tribune, The Daily Beast, TYT Network, Washington Monthly, FiveThirtyEight and Political Wire

Alex Roarty / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Inside the DCCC's stealth effort to help Conor Lamb

Discussion: Politico and Real Clear Politics

Washington Post: Stakes high for GOP in special House election in Trump slice of Pennsylvania

Dan Simon / CNN:

ICE spokesman in SF resigns and slams Trump administration officials — Trump, California battle over immigration — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — San Francisco (CNN)James Schwab, a spokesman for the San Francisco Division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has resigned …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Raw Story

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

ICE spokesman resigns, citing fabrications by agency chief, Sessions, about Calif. immigrant arrests … The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as “false” and “misleading” statements made by top-ranking officials …

Hamed Aleaziz / San Francisco Chronicle:

ICE spokesman quits over officials' claim of 800 eluding arrest — The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resigned after the agency's recent Northern California sweep, saying he couldn't continue to do his job after Trump administration officials …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Washington Post:

Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo … President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replaced him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate negotiations with North Korea, White House officials said Tuesday.

Discussion: Political Wire, Politico, Joe.My.God., Jamie Dupree - AJC, TheStreet, Sputnik International, Daily Kos, FOX 61, KXAN-TV, Mediaite, WFLA-TV, Roll Call, KFOR-TV and WTOP

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

Roger Stone claimed contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2016, according to two associates … In the spring of 2016, longtime political operative Roger Stone had a phone conversation that would later seem prophetic, according to the person on the other end of the line.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Mediaite

Kate Briquelet / The Daily Beast:

EXCLUSIVE: Stormy Daniels' Pal on Trump: ‘He Would Call All the Time’ … Stormy Daniels turned on the speakerphone when President Trump called. — So says Keith Munyan, one of the four people Stormy Daniels included in the nondisclosure agreement she signed with Donald Trump's lawyer.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Dallas Morning News:

Texas notary's failure to sign Stormy Daniels' hush agreement is under investigation — Updated at 4:38 p.m. to include comment from Daniels' attorney Michael J. Avenatti. — Texas officials are investigating whether a Dallas-area notary properly signed off on Stormy Daniels' agreement …

Discussion: Fortune, The Hill, HeraldScotland, Talking Points Memo, Daily Wire, fox8.com, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Guardian, New York Times, IJR, Raw Story and NBC News

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Is The Stormy Story More Damaging Than We Thought?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Hullabaloo

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:

VIDEO: Hillary slips down stairs in India — despite two men holding her up — Even though Hillary Clinton had help going down a set of stairs in India today, she still nearly fell down. — While visiting Jahaz Mahal in Dhar's Mandu, Clinton was attempting to descend about 15 stairs.

Discussion: NTK Network, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and Grabien News

Weekly Standard:
Hillary Reminds America Why She Lost

Discussion: YouTube and The Federalist

Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller: Watch: Hillary Nearly Falls Down Stairs Twice In India

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Tillerson casts poisoning as sign of more aggressive Russia — ABOARD A U.S. GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cast the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain as part of a “certain unleashing of activity” by Russia that the United States is struggling to understand.

Rex W. Tillerson / US Department of State:
Attributing Responsibility for the Nerve Agent Attack in the U.K.

Discussion: The Guardian, HeraldScotland and Mediaite

BBC:
Russian spy: Highly likely Moscow behind attack, says Theresa May

Discussion: The Intercept, Vox, Daily Wire, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, RedState, Joe.My.God., Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Little Green Footballs

Will Englund / Washington Post:
What a brave Russian scientist told me about Novichok, the nerve agent identified in the spy attack

Discussion: Politico

CBS News:

Approval of Trump's handling of North Korea increases - CBS News poll — Americans increasingly approve of President Trump's handling of the North Korea situation, following the announcement of a planned meeting with Kim Jong Un. Republicans in particular have become more confident …

Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Japan Fears Being Left Behind by Trump's Talks With Kim Jong-un

Discussion: Spiked, The Daily Beast and The Atlantic

USA Today:

Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, says Robert Mueller is ‘not an unguided missile’ — Special Counsel Robert Muller may delay the obstruction of justice portion of the 2016 election probe, potentially shifting focus to other parts of the case like collusion for the time being.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media, Mediaite and News & Guts Media

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Top Arab spy and prince's conduit to the Kremlin were at the Seychelles meeting between Trump donor Erik Prince and Russian oligarch which Mueller is probing — Erik Prince, the billionaire Blackwater founder and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker close to the Kremlin met in the Seychelles in January 2017

Discussion: RedState

CNN:

FBI tried to contact ‘sex coaches’ in Thai jail — Jailed seductress promises US-Russia secrets — Bangkok, Thailand (CNN)FBI agents have tried to meet a pair of self-styled “sex coaches” detained in a Bangkok jail who claim to have evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, a senior Thai official told CNN.

Discussion: Raw Story