memeorandum: Dan Coats says he wishes Trump took a different approach in Helsinki (Stef W. Kight/Axios)

8:40 PM ET, July 19, 2018

Top Items:

Ilya Arkhipov / Bloomberg:

Putin Tells Diplomats He Made Trump a New Offer on Ukraine at Their Summit — Russian leader suggested referendum in separatist regions — Putin said to agree to let Trump mull plan before going public — Vladimir Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to Donald Trump …

Discussion: Vox, CNN, Politico, Washington Post, Breitbart, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Contemptor, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Hullabaloo and The Daily Beast

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

“No Way to Run a Superpower”: the Trump-Putin Summit and the Death of American Foreign Policy — In the days since the Monday meeting in Helsinki, there's been an understandable frenzy over President Trump's post-summit press conference, given that he sided with the Russian President …

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Justice Department plans to alert public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy — The Justice Department plans to alert the public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy, under a new policy designed to counter hacking and disinformation campaigns such as the one Russia undertook …

CBS News:

CBS News poll: Most Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Putin summit — Only a third of Americans (32 percent) approve of the way Donald Trump handled his summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a CBS News poll shows. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans approve.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic, IJR, CNN, The Daily Caller, CNBC and New Republic

Washington Post:

'That's going to be special': Tensions rise as Trump invites Putin to Washington — The White House announced Thursday that Vladimir Putin has been invited to Washington this fall, even as leaders in Washington tried to fully understand what happened when President Trump and the Russian leader met earlier this week in Helsinki.

Discussion: ABC News, Shareblue Media, Vox, Just Security, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, RedState, Politico, TheBlaze, Breitbart, CNBC and TheJournal.ie

Axios:

Poll: Huge GOP majority backs Trump's Putin performance — Republicans overwhelmingly approve of President Trump's handling of his press conference in Helsinki when he seemed not to side with U.S. intelligence agencies instead of Russian President Vladimir Putin over election meddling, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.

Discussion: HuffPost, ABC News, Mediaite, Politico, New York Times, Sputnik International, Washington Post, Breitbart, Hullabaloo, Conservative News Today, The Daily Banter, American Greatness, AOL and Washington Times

ABC News:
White House: Trump asked national security adviser to invite Putin to Washington for fall meeting, discussions underway

Discussion: Townhall, RedState, Vox, CNN, HuffPost, Task & Purpose, The Week, NBC News, Daily Wire and Mediaite

Brian Bennett / TIME:
Trump Wanted a Summit With Putin. He Got Way More Than He Bargained For

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, NBC News, RT, Breitbart, CNN, Washington Post, Bustle, TheJournal.ie, WGN-TV, 1A, abc11.com, The Daily Caller, HuffPost and Mashable

Mark Landler / New York Times:
Trump to Invite Putin to Washington as Top Advisers Seek Details of Their Summit Talks

Discussion: Washington Post, Boing Boing, RedState, Joe.My.God., What The Fuck …, CNN, Mediaite and Balloon Juice

Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Resign, Mike Pompeo. Resign, John Bolton.

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
Nation's top intel official Coats says he wishes Trump hadn't met alone with Putin

Discussion: NPR and Breitbart

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner: Intel chief Dan Coats sees ‘risk’ Russia will carry out assassinations in US

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump: I'll be Vladimir Putin's ‘worst enemy’ if US-Russia relationship 'doesn't work out'

Discussion: Conservative Review, CNN, The Atlantic, Axios, FOX2now.com, MSNBC, Daily Wire and Mediaite

Stef W. Kight / Axios:
Dan Coats says he wishes Trump took a different approach in Helsinki

Discussion: ABC News, Breitbart and Washington Post

Bloomberg: Trump Invited Putin to Washington for Fall Summit, Sanders Says

Nancy A. Youssef / Wall Street Journal: Senior Army General Says He Is in the Dark About Trump-Putin Summit

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
We should have a debate over whether treason is being committed by the White House. Yes, I just typed those words.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, Slate, ThinkProgress and Politico

BuzzFeed News:

Congratulations, Mr. President: Zuckerberg Secretly Called Trump After The Election — In the days following Donald Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg placed a secret, previously unreported call to the president-elect during which, sources tell BuzzFeed News …

Discussion: Bustle, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Collier / BuzzFeed News:

The Russians Who Hacked The DNC Have Targeted At Least Three 2018 Campaigns, Microsoft Says — The same Russian intelligence agency charged with hacking Democrats' emails in 2016 has targeted at least three candidates running for election in 2018, a Microsoft executive said.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Gizmodo, The Verge and Cyberscoop, more at Techmeme »

Martin Matishak / Politico:

House Republicans defeat attempt to subpoena Trump interpreter — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday defeated an attempt by panel Democrats to subpoena the interpreter who worked for President Donald Trump during his summit Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Discussion: Esquire, The Cook Political Report, ThinkProgress, One America News Network, Breitbart, Washington Monthly, National Review, Conservative News Today, Political Wire, The Mahablog, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post and The Hill

Kate Irby / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Nunes used political dollars for $15K in Celtics tickets, winery tours and Vegas trips — WASHINGTON — Rep. Devin Nunes used political donations to pay for nearly $15,000 in tickets to Boston Celtics basketball games as well as winery tours and lavish trips to Las Vegas …

Discussion: Campaign Legal Center, Hit & Run, Splinter, Washington Post, HuffPost, Roll Call, AOL and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

A New Talking Point From the Pro-Trump Fringe — On Wednesday morning, in the midst of yet another contentious news cycle dominated by coverage of Russian election meddling, I tweeted a kind of thought experiment: “If Trump & co. just pivoted to 'Aren't you glad Russia helped us defeat Hillary Clinton? …

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Does the mainstream media regret using all those emails allegedly stolen by Russians?

Discussion: Vox

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic: We value your privacy

Greg P. / twitchy.com:

Weird. Mueller released an evidence list for the upcoming Manafort trial and Bernie Sanders' chief strategist, Tad Devine, is all over it — Well, look at this. Tad Devine's name — chief strategist for one Bernie Sanders — is all over this evidence list released by Robert Mueller for the upcoming Paul Manafort trial:

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Special counsel has nearly 500 pieces of evidence for Paul Manafort trial

Discussion: National Review, Raw Story and Daily Wire

John Bowden / The Hill:
Mueller releases list of more than 500 pieces of evidence against Manafort

Discussion: ABC News, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God. and Politico

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Trump judicial nominee pulled over racially charged writings — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pulled the nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from the Senate floor after it became clear Thursday that a number of Republicans would oppose …

Discussion: Axios, Townhall, ABC News, Vox, HuffPost, New Republic and New York Times

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
White House withdraws judicial nominee Ryan Bounds, after GOP realizes he didn't have votes for confirmation

Discussion: TheBlaze, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, NPR and Above the Law

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
McConnell-aligned group scraps ad campaign hitting Manchin

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Mara Siegler / Page Six:

Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro get into explosive argument backstage at ‘The View’ — Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro got into an explosive argument backstage at “The View” on Thursday — after an intense on-the-air exchange got even more heated behind-the-scenes, sources exclusively tell Page Six.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Contemptor, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Trump lays into the Federal Reserve, says he's ‘not thrilled’ about interest rate hikes — President Donald Trump, in a rare statement for Oval Office holders, criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates. — He said he's “not thrilled” with rate hikes and worries …

Discussion: MarketWatch, Breitbart, Hit & Run, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire, Vox, BloombergQuint, CNNMoney, Politico, NBC News, Washington Free Beacon, New York Times, The Week, Axios and NPR

Louise Matsakis / Wired:

How a Facebook Group for Sexual Assault Survivors Became a Tool for Harassment — LAST YEAR, AS thousands of women shared their stories of sexual assault and harassment with the hashtag #MeToo, Amanda, a 30-year-old from Oregon, was looking for a supportive place to share her own experiences.

more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Three Top FBI Cybersecurity Officials to Retire — Three of the top cybersecurity officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation are retiring from government service—departures that come as cyberattacks are a major concern for the country's security agencies.

Discussion: Cyberscoop

Marissa Martinelli / Slate:

Sacha Baron Cohen's Art-Gallery Dupe Regrets Nothing (Except Her Dress) — In the outrageous first episode of Who Is America?, Sacha Baron Cohen revealed that, with only a nudge, politicians like Rep. Joe Wilson and former United States Sen. Trent Lott will endorse arming toddlers.

New York Times:

A Democratic Blue Wave? Don't Forget the Republicans' Big Hill — One seems like an unstoppable force, but a G.O.P. structural advantage may represent an immovable object. — Democrats are optimistic about riding a so-called blue wave to control of the House this November, and it's easy to see why.

Sarah Smarsh / New York Times:

Liberal Blind Spots Are Hiding the Truth About ‘Trump Country’ — For one thing, it's not Trump country. Most struggling whites I know here live a life of quiet desperation mad at their white bosses, not resentment toward their co-workers or neighbors of color.

Deborah Yetter / Courier-Journal:

Bevin will reverse cuts to Medicaid dental, vision services, state says — In a surprise reversal, Kentucky officials have announced the state will rescind Medicaid cuts that eliminated dental, vision and non-emergency transportation services for nearly 400,000 Kentuckians.

Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:

Steve King Is A White Supremacist, And The GOP Doesn't Care — Among other white supremacist views, the congressman refused to apologize for promoting a neo-Nazi on Twitter. Republicans continue to look the other way. — On June 12, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted: “Europe is waking up …

John Solomon / The Hill:

One FBI text message in Russia probe that should alarm every American — Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the reported FBI lovebirds, are the poster children for the next “Don't Text and Investigate” public service ads airing soon at an FBI office near you. — Their extraordinary texting affair …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Rick Noack / Washington Post:

Austrian state wants to force meat-consuming Jews and Muslims to register, drawing Nazi comparisons — BERLIN — Nazi comparisons have become such frequent occurrences almost anywhere in the world that they rarely draw attention these days. But in Adolf Hitler's birth country, Austria …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Zahra Hirji / BuzzFeed News:

The Government Lost Control At A Former Nuclear Weapons Plant. Now 42 Workers Are Paying The Price. — “This is 2018. We shouldn't still be contaminating people with plutonium,” said a worker at the Hanford site in eastern Washington. — As November turned to December …

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

Trump's Ties — For the better part of two years now, reporters have been trying to find the issue or offense that could fracture Donald Trump's base of support. They have traveled to “Trump country” for regular updates from working-class whites and other key Trump constituents …

Kristine Phillips / Washington Post:

Duterte's drug war killed thousands, and Filipinos still loved him. Then he called God ‘stupid.’ — President Rodrigo Duterte slams his hand lightly on the podium, as if to show exasperation. Speaking in his usual casual tone, he unloads an expletive-laden tirade over what he sees as a bizarre story rife with stupidity.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Sharon Otterman / New York Times:

Man Says Cardinal McCarrick, His ‘Uncle Ted,’ Sexually Abused Him for Years — James was 11 years old when Father Theodore E. McCarrick came into his bedroom in Northern New Jersey, looking for the bathroom. Father McCarrick, then 39 and a rising star in the Roman Catholic church …

Discussion: The American Conservative