memeorandum: Mueller's team told Congress his acuity was not an issue. Some lawmakers privately worry it was. (Washington Post)

1:25 PM ET, July 27, 2019

Top Items:

Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset — Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset. — This doesn't mean he's a spy, but neither is it a flip accusation. Russia attacked our country in 2016. It is attacking us today. Its attacks will intensify in 2020. Yet each time we try to raise our defenses …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Hill, Bloomberg and Common Dreams, more at Techmeme »

Nicole Goodkind / Newsweek:

Mitch McConnell Received Donations from Voting Machine Lobbyists Before Blocking Election Security Bills — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell squashed two bills intended to ensure voting security on Thursday, just one day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned that Russians …

National Review:

No, McConnell Isn't ‘Moscow Mitch’ — As an act of political theater, the Democrats' recent attempt to cast Mitch McConnell in a bad light has been quite successful. The Internet is awash in headlines contending that he blocked election-security reforms despite warnings about ongoing Russian interference …

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast: Rand Paul Fights Sanctions on Russian Pipeline

Shane Croucher / Newsweek:
MoscowMitch Trends on Twitter as Mitch McConnell Blocks Election Security Bills Despite …

Discussion: Courier-Journal, ThinkProgress and Chicks On The Right

Washington Post:

Mueller's team told Congress his acuity was not an issue. Some lawmakers privately worry it was. — The whispers started in 2018, though where they originated remains unclear: Robert S. Mueller III, the taciturn Marine veteran leading an investigation of the president of the United States, might not be as sharp as he once was.

Discussion: The Guardian, American Enterprise Institute, Splinter and Daily Wire

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Lets Trump Proceed on Border Wall — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday gave President Trump a victory in his fight for a wall along the Mexican border by allowing the administration to begin using $2.5 billion in Pentagon money for the construction.

Discussion: Slate, SCOTUSblog, Outside the Beltway, twitchy.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR, Big League Politics, ABC News, Roll Call, Dienekes' Place, The Guardian, LifeZette, TheStreet, Townhall and Axios

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Supreme Court says Trump can proceed with plan to spend military funds for border wall construction

Discussion: Vox, Mother Jones, Breitbart, New York Post, The Hill, USA Today, BuzzFeed News, The Week, RAPPLER, WBMA-TV, CBS Los Angeles, RedState, The Crime Report and The Root

Associated Press:
High court allows use of Pentagon funds for border wall

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg, Fox News, Small Dead Animals, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Wire and TheBlaze

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Supreme Court gives Trump go-ahead on border wall

Discussion: PJ Media Home, The Week, Reason, Breitbart and twitchy.com

Lawrence Hurley / Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump use disputed funds for border wall

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Why the GOP retirements are a gut punch for the party — DRIVING THE DAY — WHILE WE WERE ALL watching ROBERT MUELLER and Democrats this week, here's what happened to House Republicans: Three popular and well-respected members of Congress decided they weren't going to run for reelection.

Debra Kahn / Politico:

California's Newsom wrestles with Trump tax return bill — SACRAMENTO — Gavin Newsom has spent the first six months of his governorship positioning himself as the West Coast anti-Trump while taking pains to distinguish himself from his legendary predecessor, Jerry Brown.

John DiStaso / WMUR:

Kuster, Pappas join growing call for formal US House inquiry into Trump impeachment — Kuster was first member of all-Democratic NH congressional delegation to take strong position; Pappas later joined about 100 House Democrats issuing call — HIDE TRANSCRIPT SHOW TRANSCRIPT — CONCORD, N.H. —

Discussion: CNN, KTLA and Vox

The Atlantic:
Why We're Moving Forward With Impeachment

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Viking Pundit

Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
Pelosi says she's ‘not trying to run out the clock’ on Trump impeachment

Discussion: Breitbart and RedState

Max Londberg / Cincinnati.com:

$250 million Sandmann lawsuit against Washington Post dismissed by federal judge — Ted Sandmann, father Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, on why he wants doxing legislation to criminalize revealing a minor's identity online — The $250 million lawsuit filed by Nick Sandmann …

Discussion: Fox News, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Richard Leiby / Washington Post:
Judge dismisses libel suit against Washington Post brought by Covington Catholic High School student

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Mediaite

New York Times:

The Roots of Boeing's 737 Max Crisis: A Regulator Relaxes Its Oversight — SEATTLE — In the days after the first crash of Boeing's 737 Max, engineers at the Federal Aviation Administration came to a troubling realization: They didn't fully understand the automated system that helped send …

Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar / Associated Press:

Despite calls to start over, US health system covers 90% — WASHINGTON (AP) — America's much-maligned health care system is covering 9 out of 10 people, a fact that hasn't stopped the 2020 presidential candidates from refighting battles about how to provide coverage, from Bernie Sanders' call …

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

Trump's Inhumanity Before a Victim of Rape — In his boundless self-absorption, this president is capable of anything. — Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Harvard professor and four-term United States senator from New York, famously observed, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

Arthur C. Brooks / Washington Post:

You're probably making incorrect assumptions about your opposing political party — “You know what they really want.” — As America slouches toward the 2020 presidential election, candidates and pundits will regularly tell you this about the other political side, followed by a list …

Matthew Lee / Associated Press:

Trump's ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran faces key test — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran is at a crossroads. — His administration is trying to decide whether to risk stoking international tensions even more by ending …

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:

Trump attacks Rep. Cummings's district, calling it a ‘disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess’ — President Trump ranted Saturday morning on Twitter about an African American lawmaker by disparaging the Baltimore district that Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) represents as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

Discussion: Baltimore Sun and CNN

Damian Paletta / Washington Post:

Trump suggests he could take steps to weaken U.S. dollar, fueling confusion — President Trump gave mixed signals this week as to whether he would intervene and try to weaken the U.S. dollar, telling aides Tuesday he had ruled out the idea but telling reporters on Friday he was still open to it.

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

The New Conservative Pyrite — “National conservatism” is another road to serfdom. — Friedrich Hayek, whose thoughts used to count for something among well-educated conservatives, made short work of nationalism as a guiding principle in politics. “It is this nationalistic bias …

Jonathan Montpetit / CBC News:

Video of man taunting mom, daughter with slurs prompts more worries about racial tensions in Quebec — WARNING: The following story and accompanying video contain graphic language — A white man accosted an Arabic-speaking woman and her two-year-old daughter earlier this week …