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

8:50 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, Politico and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: Raw Story

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

Discussion: The Stream, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

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

Discussion: Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

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

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

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

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Townhall.com 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

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
Republicans find no evidence of collusion or Russian preference for Trump

Discussion: The Hill, Bangor Daily News, Common Dreams, Mediaite and Political Wire

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.

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.

Monmouth University Polling Institute:

Dem Gains in CD18 Special — Voters divided on steel tariffs, but negligible impact on vote — West Long Branch, NJ - Democrat Conor Lamb has taken a lead over Republican Rick Saccone in the special election for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District.

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.

New York Times:
Democrats Can't Win if They Don't Run

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, VICE News and Mother Jones

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

Discussion: Politico and Real Clear Politics

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, Victory Girls Blog, NPR, CNN, Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly, The Daily Beast, TYT Network, Political Wire and FiveThirtyEight

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

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. and Raw Story

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

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

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

Rex W. Tillerson / US Department of State:

Attributing Responsibility for the Nerve Agent Attack in the U.K. — Press Statement Secretary of State Washington, DC — The United States was in touch with our Allies in the United Kingdom ahead of today's announcement, including in a call between Secretary Tillerson and Foreign Secretary Johnson this morning.

Discussion: The Guardian, HeraldScotland and Mediaite

Josh Lederman / Associated Press: Tillerson casts poisoning as sign of more aggressive Russia

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

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

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

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

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Cramer: Larry Kudlow is the leading contender to replace Gary Cohn as Trump's top economic advisor — Larry Kudlow is the leading contender to replace Gary Cohn as National Economic Council director, CNBC's Jim Cramer reports. — Larry Kudlow is the leading contender …

Discussion: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and TVNewser

Susan Goldberg / National Geographic Magazine:

For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It — We asked a preeminent historian to investigate our coverage of people of color in the U.S. and abroad. Here's what he found. — It is November 2, 1930, and National Geographic has sent a reporter …

Discussion: Splinter, NPR, Axios, The Root, theGrio, Boing Boing and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Jesse J. Holland / Yahoo:
National Geographic acknowledges past racist coverage

Discussion: Power Line

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