memeorandum: Trump's allies and lawyers see hope that Mueller's work is wrapping up (Politico)

10:25 AM ET, July 14, 2018

Top Items:

House conservatives prep push to impeach Rosenstein — House conservatives are preparing a new push to oust Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to three conservative Capitol Hill sources — putting the finishing touches on an impeachment filing even as Rosenstein announced …

Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:

‘Warning Lights Are Blinking Red,’ Top Intelligence Officer Says of Russian Attacks — WASHINGTON — The nation's top intelligence officer said on Friday that the persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today was akin to the warnings the United States had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Discussion: Politico, Chicago Tribune, Vox, CNN, New Republic, Mediaite, U.S. Department of Justice, Defense One, 1A and The American Conservative

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Thanks to Robert Mueller, Trump and Putin Now Have a Summit Agenda — Donald Trump has always been brazen about his affection for Vladimir Putin, a condition which Merriam-Webster defines as “acting or done in a very open and shocking way without shame or embarrassment.”

David French / National Review:

Mueller's Latest Indictments Show That ‘Witches’ Are Very Real — Four vital takeaways from today's charges — Earlier today the Grand Jury for the District of Columbia charged twelve Russian intelligence officers with conspiring “to gain unauthorized access (to 'hack') …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Other McCain, LifeZette, Front Page Magazine, The Atlantic, American Greatness, The Guardian, Politico, The New Civil Rights Movement, FiveThirtyEight and Al Jazeera English

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

After being told of Russia indictments, Trump still aspired to be friends with Putin — HELSINKI — Before he embarked on a week of transatlantic diplomacy, President Trump sat down with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who previewed for the boss an explosive development …

Discussion: ABC News

Just Security:

Six Big Takeaways from Mueller's Indictment of Russian Intel Officers — Special Counsel Robert Mueller released an indictment today of 12 Russian intelligence officers, accusing them of hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

Discussion: New York Times, Arizona Republic, Gizmodo, LifeZette, themarketswork, CNN and The Last Refuge

Kevin Poulsen / The Daily Beast:

Russian Hackers Kept DNC Backdoor Longer Than Anyone Knew … The indictment Friday of 12 Russian military officers for the election hacks against the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign lends a surprising new detail to the 2016 election interference timeline: The Kremlin's hackers apparently still maintained …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Conservative News Today and The Atlantic

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Trump blames Obama for Russian election meddling

Discussion: Axios, One America News Network and Mediaite

David Von Drehle / Washington Post: Mueller stood up to Putin. Now it's Trump's turn.

Jonathan Turley / The Hill: Ignore the spin — still no evidence of Trump collusion

Lawfare:
Russia Indictment 2.0: What to Make of Mueller's Hacking Indictment

Discussion: Associated Press, Sputnik International and The Hill

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
Conservatives moving to impeach Rosenstein soon: report

Discussion: The Right Scoop, POLITICUSUSA, Axios and Breitbart

Washington Post:
How the Russians hacked the DNC and passed its emails to WikiLeaks

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Outside the Beltway

Washington Post:
Charges against Russian intelligence officers intensify spotlight on Trump adviser Roger Stone

Discussion: The Intercept, The Daily Beast, NBC News, HuffPost, Raw Story, Vox and Talking Points Memo

emptywheel:
The Russian Hack — As I laid out last week, I provided information …

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos, Baltimore Sun, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Vox, ThinkProgress, Motherboard and Washington Post

Politico:
Trump's allies and lawyers see hope that Mueller's work is wrapping up

Discussion: Political Wire, ABC News, twitchy.com and Breitbart

Ali Dukakis / ABC News:
Roger Stone says he's the ‘US person’ mentioned in Mueller indictment

Discussion: CNN, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times: G.R.U., Russian Spy Agency Cited by Mueller, Casts a Long Shadow

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
‘Evil Has Won’ — Pro-American Germans feel betrayed.

Discussion: Althouse and Raw Story

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
Trump Invited the Russians to Hack Clinton. Were They Listening?

Discussion: emptywheel, Fox News, electionlawblog.org, The Federalist, BloombergQuint, Vox, New Republic, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post and Gizmodo

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
A Swing-State Election Vendor Repeatedly Denied Being Hacked by Russians. The New Mueller Indictment Says Otherwise.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, VICE News, Breitbart and Hit & Run

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller officially repudiate a major Trump conspiracy theory

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly, The First Street Journal, Political Wire, Towleroad Gay News and Joe.My.God.

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Indicting 12 Russian Hackers Could Be Mueller's Biggest Move Yet

Discussion: The Moscow Project, Radio Free Europe and Mediaite

CBS News:

Maryland told its voter registration vendor financed by Russian oligarch — Top Maryland officials say the FBI told them this week that the state's voter registration platform was purchased by a Russian oligarch in 2015, without state officials knowing. The FBI did not indicate a breach occurred …

Jayne Miller / WBAL: Maryland voter registration system runs on software owned by Russian-financed firm, I-Team learns

Ovetta Wiggins / Washington Post:
Election system firm with Maryland contract has ties to Russian oligarch, FBI tells state

Discussion: Axios

Daniel Dale / Toronto Star:

Trump has said 1,340,330 words as president. They're getting more dishonest, a Star study shows — WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump's words are getting more dishonest over time, the Star has found in the first detailed statistical analysis of his inaccurate statements in office.

Discussion: Political Wire

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

From Truman to Trump, Queen Elizabeth Has Met 12 U.S. Presidents — WINDSOR, England — As a princess and the heir to Britain's throne, she visited President Harry S. Truman in Washington and gave him a gift from her ailing father, King George VI. Later, as Queen Elizabeth II …

Discussion: Althouse and Bustle

Jennifer Hassan / Washington Post:
‘Did Donald Trump just WALK IN FRONT OF THE QUEEN?’

Discussion: twitchy.com and Telegraph

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

America First, America Hated, America Alone — Trump intends to bring about the collapse of the liberal international order, in its commitment to open societies and its institutions. — Some near-forgotten anniversaries are worth commemorating. One hundred years ago — Bastille Day …

Discussion: Reuters

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Should Democrats Have Saved Their Filibuster for the New Court Fight? — WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to the vote on Judge Neil M. Gorsuch's confirmation to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2017, Senator Susan Collins approached Senator Michael Bennet on the Senate floor with an urgent plea.

Garrett M. Graff / New York Times:

The Real F.B.I. Election Culprit — Hint: It's not Peter Strzok. — Mr. Graff is a journalist and historian. — In his testimony before two House committees on Thursday, the F.B.I. agent Peter Strzok testified that he could have altered the 2016 election — but didn't.

Connor Wolf / LifeZette:
Is Lisa Page Spilling the Beans on Former FBI Lover Peter Strzok?

Discussion: American Greatness, Vox and RT

Avery Anapol / The Hill:

Trump falsely claims CNN did not cover him refusing question from Acosta at UK press conference — on Saturday falsely claimed that CNN did not report on his snub of the network's White House correspondent Jim Acosta at an international news conference the previous day.

Discussion: Political Wire, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Mediaite and Mashable

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Trump's ambassador lobbied Britain on behalf of jailed right-wing activist Tommy Robinson — LONDON (Reuters) - Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, complained to the British ambassador in Washington D.C. about the treatment of an English right-wing activist …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:

Where Did Donald Trump Get Two Hundred Million Dollars to Buy His Money-Losing Scottish Golf Club? — Between meeting the Queen of England and Vladimir Putin, President Trump will spend this weekend at Turnberry, the golf course he bought in 2014 and rechristened Trump Turnberry.

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg and Mother Jones

Former U.S. Senator Al Franken:

When Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senators will have an opportunity to examine his record, his judicial philosophy, and his qualifications for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. — I wish I could be there. Because I have some questions I'd love to see him answer.

Discussion: twitchy.com