memeorandum: Zinke said he would never sell public land. But the Interior is considering it. (Darryl Fears/Washington Post)

4:35 PM ET, August 18, 2018

Top Items:

White House Counsel Has Cooperated Extensively With Mueller's Obstruction Inquiry — WASHINGTON — The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, has cooperated extensively in the special counsel investigation, sharing detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the inquiry …

Discussion: emptywheel, CNN, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Daily Caller News Foundation, Shareblue Media, Mediaite, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Hullabaloo, Political Wire and Viking Pundit

Linda Qiu / New York Times:

Truth-Testing Trump's 250-Plus Attacks on the Russia Inquiry — We assessed President Trump's claims about Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the ensuing federal investigation of his campaign. — The federal investigation into whether Russia actively sought to help Donald J. Trump win …

Discussion: The White House

Mike Allen / Axios:

Inside the security clearance revolt — Several wanted to fiddle with the punctuation, some wanted to add nice things about John Brennan; others thought it would be wiser to pare them back. — But in 12 hours, a couple of former CIA senior aides pulled off a first in American history.

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media, Mother Jones, CBS Chicago and Hullabaloo

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

Revoking Brennan's Security Clearance: The Right Thing, Even if for the Wrong Reason — It's right because he is irresponsible and untrustworthy and has politicized intelligence. — I do not share my friend David French's theoretical constitutional concerns about the president's revocation …

Discussion: Breitbart, Foreign Policy, NPR and 100PercentFedUp.com, more at Mediagazer »

Kori Schake / War on the Rocks:
McRaven's Rousing Protest: Are Civil-Military and Democratic Norms in Tension?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Defense One and KTLA

CBS Los Angeles:

ICE Detains Man Driving Pregnant Wife To Hospital To Deliver Baby — SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA) — A newborn is without his father Friday after immigration agents detained the man as he was taking his wife to deliver the baby. — “I feel very bad right now,” Maria del Carmen Venegas told CBS2 News …

Discussion: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, Daily Mail, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Splinter

The Daily Beast:

Alleged Russian Agent Marina Butina Moved to Virginia Jail, Unclear Why … Maria Butina, the Russian national accused of acting as a Kremlin agent in the United States, was abruptly moved from a jail in Washington to a lockup in Alexandria, Virginia, according to her lawyer.

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Netflix's ‘Classless’ Cancellation of Michelle Wolf's ‘The Break’ … Well, that was fast. On Friday, Netflix quietly pulled the plug on The Break with Michelle Wolf, one of the only “late-night” shows on “television” hosted by a female comedian, just three months after it premiered.

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, LifeZette, Hollywood Reporter, Breitbart, Don Surber, Mediaite, twitchy.com, The Verge, Instapundit and Mashable

Thom Geier / The Wrap:

Trump Blasts Social Media ‘Censorship’: ‘Discriminating Against Republican/Conservative Voices’ — “Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won't let that happen,” POTUS says in Saturday tweet-storm — President Trump on Saturday issued a tweet-storm following the removal …

Discussion: Vox, Townhall and Shareblue Media

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Twitter's Jack Dorsey: ‘We are not’ discriminating against any political viewpoint

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Axios and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Alan Cowell / New York Times:

Kofi Annan, Diplomat Who Redefined the U.N., Dies at 80 — Kofi Annan, a soft-spoken and patrician diplomat from Ghana, who became the seventh secretary general of the United Nations, projecting himself and his organization as the world's conscience and moral arbiter despite bloody debacles …

Associated Press:
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan dies at age 80

Discussion: The Western Journal, WAMU, PinkNews and Politico

Stanley Meisler / Washington Post:
Kofi Annan, former U.N. secretary general, dies at 80

Discussion: CNN, Outside the Beltway and The Week

Latest from the Office of the Spokesperson …:
Statement by the Secretary-General on the passing of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan …

Discussion: Fox News, Daily Caller News Foundation and France 24

Joshua Posaner / Politico:
Kofi Annan, former UN chief, dies aged 80

Discussion: The Elders, One America News Network, Joe.My.God. and The Guardian

Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:

National debt jumps $500 billion in less than six months — The U.S. national debt has increased by more than half a trillion dollars in less than six months, amid predictions that the U.S. is on the verge of returning to another explosion in government borrowing.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Hullabaloo

Patsy McGarry / The Irish Times:

Cardinal in Pennsylvania withdraws from World Meeting of Families in Dublin — Cardinal Donald Wuerl was to give a keynote address on families at RDS on Wednesday — A Cardinal who was heavily criticised for his handling of child sexual abuse allegations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report …

Discussion: The American Conservative and Washington Post

Washington Examiner:
For the church's and the nation's sake, Cardinal Wuerl must go

Discussion: RedState

Souad Mekhennet / Washington Post:

Austria's far-right government ordered a raid on its own intelligence service. Now allies are freezing the country out. — VIENNA — The raids came without warning, surprising even the intelligence operatives whose job is to never be caught off guard. — On the morning of Feb. 28 …

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Charter Spectrum plans to report local TV news, 24 hours a day, in Los Angeles — Local TV news has settled into a familiar routine: a pingpong of live shots with reporters standing near the scene of a crime, a wildfire or the wreckage of a deadly crash. Newscasts are peppered with helicopter views …

Los Angeles Times:

Trump backed ‘space force’ after months of lobbying by officials with ties to aerospace industry … When President Trump spoke to Marines at the Miramar Air Station in San Diego on March 13, he threw out an idea that he suggested had just come to him. — “You know, I was saying it the other day …

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:

AP Interview: Top Republican opens up about Russia probe — WASHINGTON (AP) — For much of the last two years, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr has been the Russia investigator who is seen but rarely heard on Capitol Hill. — In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press …

Discussion: Power Line

New York Times:

Tax Cuts Are a Hit With One Pivotal G.O.P. Group: Rich Donors — WASHINGTON — Republicans are struggling to make the $1.5 trillion Trump tax cuts a winning issue with voters in the midterm congressional elections, but the cuts are helping the party in another crucial way …

Discussion: Florida Politics

Quinta Jurecic / Lawfare:

Document: George Papadopoulos Sentencing Memo — The government has filed a sentencing memorandum in the case of George Papadopoulos, recommending a sentence of between zero to six months. The document is available in full below.