memeorandum: China, Germany defend business with Iran in face of U.S. threats (Reuters)

12:15 PM ET, August 8, 2018

Top Items:

Ohio Special Election Results: 12th Congressional District — CandidatePartyVotesPct. — Dem. — 14,211 — Rep. — 6,114 — Green — 20,481 votes, <1% reporting (0 of 591 precincts) — What to watch: Voters in Ohio's 12th District are choosing a replacement for Representative Pat Tiberi …

New York Times:

5 Takeaways From Tuesday's Election Results — Republicans had a brush with trouble in Ohio, where a result had still not been declared in a special election to fill a House vacancy. Elsewhere, an activist sweep on the left failed to materialize. — Suburbanites are more fired up than rural voters

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New Republic, ABC News, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Republicans' dueling political pictures — DRIVING THE DAY — GOOD MORNING from COLUMBUS, OHIO. — HOUSE REPUBLICANS, who appear to be the narrow winners of last night's special election here, face a conflicting political picture. Here's the picture many of them want to see …

Discussion: New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Associated Press

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Democratic Party's liberal insurgency hits a wall in Midwest primaries — The Democratic Party's left-wing insurgency found its limits Tuesday night, with voters favoring establishment candidates over more liberal challengers in almost every closely watched race across several states.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Week, Althouse, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Hullabaloo and CNN

Kira Lerner / ThinkProgress:
Kobach says voter fraud could be the reason he wins GOP nomination

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:
Socialist star Ocasio-Cortez strikes out: All endorsed candidates lose Tuesday primaries

Discussion: New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, Chicks On The Right, Conservative News Today, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Instapundit, Conservative Review, Power Line and The Intercept

New York Times:
Ohio Special Election Too Close to Call, as Republican Holds Slim Lead

Discussion: Conservative Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Post, Vox, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Daily Kos

Wichita Eagle: Colyer, Kobach wait as Republican governor's race hinges on Johnson County results

Washington Post:
Kobach, Colyer in dead heat as Kansas GOP primary for governor hinges on count from suburbs

Discussion: Axios

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
Missouri Voters Reject Anti-Union Law in a Victory for Labor

Discussion: ThinkProgress, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Nation, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, NPR, BloombergQuint and Vox

Kansas City Star:
541 votes separate Republicans Colyer, Kobach as Johnson County keeps counting

Discussion: New York Times and Outside the Beltway

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins arrested over insider trading charges — Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., has been arrested on insider trading charges lodged by the Justice Department, law enforcement officials said Wednesday morning. — The indictment obtained from a federal grand jury …

Discussion: Breitbart, Jamie Dupree - AJC, twitchy.com, Splinter, Congressman Chris Collins, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

New York Times:

New York Congressman Chris Collins Is Charged With Insider Trading — Representative Chris Collins, a New York Republican who was one of President Trump's earliest and most vocal supporters, was charged with insider trading on Wednesday. He was accused of having sold his stock …

Discussion: Above the Law

NBC News:

New York Rep. Chris Collins indicted on insider trading charges — The case is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on which the elder Collins served on the board. — Chris Collins, a Republican congressman from upstate New York, surrendered to the FBI …

Discussion: Vox, USA Today, Mother Jones, MSNBC, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Second Nexus, TheBlaze, Chicks On The Right, Balloon Juice and Gothamist

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
GOP Rep. Collins indicted, charged with securities fraud

Discussion: ABC News

Kansas City Star:

Kansas Dems choose Sharice Davids to challenge Rep. Kevin Yoder for seat in Congress — Sharice Davids could make history in November after Kansas Democrats selected the Johnson County attorney as their nominee for a race that could help decide control of the U.S. House.

Discussion: Vox and Balloon Juice

John Hanna / Associated Press: Democrats pick gay, Native American nominee in Kansas 3rd

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:
Rashida Tlaib, With Primary Win, Is Poised to Become First Muslim Woman in Congress

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Week, Broadly, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Common Dreams and MSNBC

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
Winners and losers from Tuesday's elections

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Isaac Arnsdorf / ProPublica:

The Shadow Rulers of the VA — Last February, shortly after Peter O'Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O'Rourke replied.

Discussion: New Republic, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Splinter, The Week and CNBC

Wall Street Journal:

'It's Fantastic!' Trump Warms to Rosenstein — Nearly fired by the president, the No. 2 Justice official—the man in charge of the Mueller probe—builds a rapport — Before President Trump headed to meet Vladimir Putin last month, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein requested a meeting in the Oval Office.

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

Why it's time for Trump to play his ace in the hole — You return from a great vacation and POW — reality hits like a punch in the nose. And that's not counting the hassle of New York airports and traffic. — The pain begins when you remember that the hapless Jeff Sessions is still the attorney general of the United States.

Eric Boehm / Hit & Run:

Trump's Trade War Kills Another 126 Jobs — The latest casualties from President Donald Trump's trade war are 126 jobs at a plant where televisions are built. — Element Electronics announced Monday that it would close its facility in Winnsboro, South Carolina.

Discussion: The State

Bloomberg:
China Announces Date to Match $16 Billion U.S. Tariffs

Discussion: The Week, BloombergQuint and Reuters

CNN:

Corey Stewart praised southern secession in 2017 campaign appearance — Senate candidate takes personal shot at Cuomo — (CNN)Corey Stewart, the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat for Virginia, praised in a speech last year Virginia's decision in 1861 to secede from the Union …

Discussion: Political Wire

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Trump surges to fore of Manafort trial — President Donald Trump says that the criminal trial of his former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, has nothing to do with him. — But jurors in a Virginia courtroom heard his name repeatedly on Tuesday. — Trump's name, his 2016 campaign …

Discussion: ABC News and One America News Network

New York Times: Top Trump Campaign Aides Are Portrayed as Corrupt at Manafort Trial

Alex Pareene / The Daily Beast:

Donald Trump Talks About a War on the Press. Andrew Cuomo Is Waging One. … On July 19, Zack Fink, the Albany reporter for New York City's local cable news channel, NY1, asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the glaring lack of legitimate small donors to his reelection campaign.

Discussion: New York Times

Sharon Coolidge / Cincinnati.com:

Chief ‘extremely concerned’ after officer uses Taser on 11-year-old girl at Kroger — A Cincinnati police officer used a Taser to stun an 11-year-old girl suspected of stealing from a Kroger on Monday, according to police. — Police Chief Eliot Isaac has opened an investigation …

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Root

Sharon Coolidge / USA Today:
Police use Taser on 11-year-old girl accused of stealing from supermarket

Discussion: Raw Story

Abbas Al Lawati / BloombergQuint:

Saudi Arabia Carries Out Rare Crucifixion for Murder, Theft — (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia executed and crucified a Myanmar man in the holy city of Mecca on Wednesday in a rare form of punishment reserved for the most egregious crimes. — Elias Abulkalaam Jamaleddeen was accused of breaking …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Simeon Kerr / Financial Times: Saudi Arabia sells off Canadian assets as dispute escalates

NBC News:

Trump's D.C. hotel, a clubhouse for his fans, may also be a 5-star conflict of interest — An NBC News analysis of FEC filings and social media shows GOP groups, foreign countries and federal agencies have spent big at the luxury hotel. — WASHINGTON — The Trump International Hotel …

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Obstruction questions still on table for Mueller-Trump interview, Giuliani says — President Donald Trump's lawyers plan to send a letter to special counsel Robert Mueller later this week signaling they remain open to allowing the president to sit for an interview and be questioned …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo and IJR

Joseph A. Wulfsohn / Mediaite: Colbert Refers to National Review's Jonah Goldberg as One of 'Trump's Allies' (He's Not)

Alvin Chang / Vox:

We analyzed every QAnon post on Reddit. Here's who QAnon supporters actually are. — The QAnon subreddit, analyzed with data. — Late on a recent Thursday night, a Reddit user posted a comment in a forum (or subreddit) devoted to the game Magic: The Gathering about how the company …

Henry Olsen / American Greatness:

Ohio Squeaker Shows GOP Has A Lot To Learn About Winning — Republicans and Trump supporters needed some good political news, and they got it Tuesday night in the special election for Ohio's 12th Congressional District. — Republican Troy Balderson's narrow, one-point win doesn't mean a “red wave” is swelling.

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

At War: War Without End — War Without End — The Pentagon's failed campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan left a generation of soldiers with little to fight for but one another. — By C. J. CHIVERS — Listen to ‘The Daily’: Paul Ryan's Exit — As speaker of the House, the Republican lawmaker should be at the peak of his powers.

Discussion: Axios

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

Troy Balderson claims victory in Ohio special election — Republicans eked out a win by less than 2,000 votes in the Ohio special election. — Data: Associated Press; Chart: Axios Visuals — Why it matters: Troy Balderson may have beat Democrat Danny O'Connor (who's not conceding yet) …

Discussion: NPR, National Review, WOSU Radio, Politico and Breitbart

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:

Tuesday Night Is a Bad Sign for GOP Chances in the House — On its face, Tuesday night seemed uneventful, or even good news for the Republican Party. Aside from a few primaries here and there, the main event was the House special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District.

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Rand Paul delivers Putin letter from Trump — (Ky.) said on Wednesday that he delivered a letter from President Trump — to Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of his week-long trip to Moscow. — “The letter emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including …

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Times and RT

J.R. Hennessy / The Outline:

Why is The New York Times so interested in Australia? — An Australian explains. — Power — An Australian explains. — The news that derided New York Times opinion columnist and “intellectual dark web” cheerleader Bari Weiss is to be shipped off to Australia like a 19th-century bread thief …