memeorandum: Trump Is 100% Vindicated On Wiretapping, and 7 Other Things You Should Know (John Nolte/Daily Wire)

8:50 PM ET, March 23, 2017

Top Items:

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump demands Friday vote on health care plan — President Donald Trump is demanding a vote Friday in the House on the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told GOP lawmakers. If the bill fails, Trump is prepared to move on and leave Obamacare in place, Mulvaney warned.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NPR, ACASignups.net, Mediaite, Politicus USA, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, New York Magazine and Occupy Democrats

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

At Trump's urging, House Republicans to vote on health-care bill Friday even as they still whip for votes — BREAKING NEWS: After a marathon series of negotiations involving President Trump and his top aides Thursday, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) will call a vote on the proposal at Trump's behest …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, New York Times, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Power Line, The Mahablog, Outside the Beltway and ACASignups.net

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:

Mike Lee's Obamacare Bombshell — Last night Phil Klein had a report that is much more significant than I think a lot of people have realized: … Lee's statement was followed by, and probably contributed to, last-minute efforts by the House leadership to tweak its health-care bill to win a vote scheduled for today.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, New York Magazine and Heat Street

Axios:

The new reality on Trump and the Freedom Caucus — House leadership has been hoping that President Trump would turn the screws on the Freedom Caucus. They'd love nothing more than for Trump to threaten Freedom Caucus members like Mark Meadows with primary challenges. In fact, they were banking on Trump doing that.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney:

Revised Republican health care bill is more costly, but doesn't insure more people — Massie: Trump a one-term president if health care passes — Recent revisions to the Republican health care bill means it would cost more, and still leave 24 million fewer people insured by 2026 …

Discussion: Mediaite

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

White House gets out ahead of health care blame game: 'We can't make people vote' — The White House continues to voice confidence that the embattled Obamacare repeal bill will pass the House — but wants to make sure you don't go blaming President Donald Trump if it doesn't.

Discussion: Axios

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Trump threatens to leave ObamaCare in place if repeal bill fails

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:
House won't vote on health care bill Thursday

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, CNBC, WPMT FOX43 and TheBlaze

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
What's Missing From This Photo of Politicians Deciding the Future of Women's Health?

Discussion: Vox, Occupy Democrats, Hullabaloo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hit & Run, RT, Washington Post and Jamie Dupree

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:
The White House may have skirted federal law to try and save its failing health care bill

Discussion: Politicus USA, Occupy Democrats and Washington Post

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Here's why House conservatives think only partial repeal of Obamacare regulations will punish the sick

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and RedState

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
GOP lawmakers leave Trump White House with no deal

Discussion: Politico, FOX6Now.com and New York Magazine

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:
No Deal on Health Care Bill After Conservative Meeting With Trump

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, Hot Air, The Daily Signal, Gothamist, Vox, Washington Post, New York Times, CNBC, The Atlantic, CBS New York, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, TheBlaze, RedState, rubber hose, Towleroad and Instapundit

Bloomberg:
Trump Talks Changes to Health Bill to Win Over Conservatives

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Asbury Park Press, Morning Call, Talking Points Memo, AOL and FOX2now.com

Fox News:

Potential ‘smoking gun’ showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says — Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself …

Discussion: Axios and TheBlaze

Mike Levine / ABC News:

Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., does not know “for sure” whether President Donald Trump or members of his transition team were even on the phone calls or other communications …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Political Wire, Business Insider and Mediaite

CNN:

Nunes apologizes to House Intel Committee, member says — “Basically what he has done is he has scuttled and put a cloud over his own investigation,” Cummings said — (CNN)House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes apologized to committee members Thursday, a Democrat on the panel told reporters …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Business Insider, New York Magazine, RT, Mediaite, NPR, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and IJR

Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:

Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme — The Washington Post's Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials.

John Nolte / Daily Wire:

Trump Is 100% Vindicated On Wiretapping, and 7 Other Things You Should Know — 1. Yes, Trump Is 100% Vindicated On Wiretapping — Yeppers, I said 100% vindicated, and those who disagree are either being stubbornly hyper-literal about the word “wiretap,” or the placing of a “physical wiretap …

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
Intelligence Chair Nunes apologizes for disclosing surveillance information to the White House

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
McCain: Nunes actions ‘very disturbing’

Discussion: Politico, RedState and U.S. House of …

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Nunes shows why he's incapable of running an investigation

Discussion: US News, The Atlantic, Politico, Lawfare, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, NBC News, Washington Times and Hit & Run

TIME:

Read President Trump's Interview With TIME on Truth and Falsehoods — President Trump spoke with TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer on March 22 for a cover story about the way he has handled truth and falsehood in his career. — This is a transcript of the exchange, with some minor edits.

Michael Scherer / TIME:
Can President Trump Handle the Truth?

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNBC and Hullabaloo

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
9 bonkers things Donald Trump said in his new exclusive interview with Time

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice and The Atlantic

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's Defense of His Lies: 'I'm President and You're Not'

Discussion: Washington Post

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nomination — As the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing from witnesses for and against Judge Neil Gorsuch, his Supreme Court nomination was delivered a critical blow: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced he would oppose Gorsuch …

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Democrats are going to filibuster Gorsuch. It's the right thing to do.

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Bloomberg, Business Insider and The Daily Signal

Rick Perry / Houston Chronicle:

Did A&M shun due process in the name of ‘diversity’? — As Texas' first Aggie governor and as someone who was twice elected Yell Leader of Texas A&M University, I am deeply troubled by the recent conduct of A&M's administration and Student Government Association (SGA) during the Aggie student-body president elections for 2017-2018.

Discussion: The Texas Tribune, Occupy Democrats, New York Times, NBC News, IJR, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and Raw Story

The Texas Tribune:
Former Gov. Perry questions legitimacy of Texas A&M student body election

Discussion: Shareblue, Washington Post and The Guardian

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:

Senator Apologizes After Joke About Losing His Mammograms In GOP Bill — As the House struggles to agree on a path forward on its bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, GOP leaders may cave to a demand from hardline conservatives to scrap Obamacare's Essential Health Benefits rule …

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, Center on Budget …, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Occupy Democrats, Mashable, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money and CNN

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:
What the GOP's plan to kill essential health benefits means

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Daily Wire, Politico and Common Dreams

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Hunter under criminal investigation for alleged campaign finance violations — Rep. Duncan Hunter is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department over alleged campaign finance violations, the House Ethics Committee announced Thursday. — The California Republican spent tens …

Discussion: ABC News, sandiegouniontribune.com, Mediaite and Political Wire

House Committee on Ethics:
Statement of the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics Regarding Representative Duncan Hunter

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and Morning Consult

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:

4-Year-Old Brings Shell Casing to Preschool. Principal Suspends Him for 7 Days, Calls Child Services. — An Illinois preschool is teaching a 4-year-old boy quite the lesson. Officials suspended him for a full week—and also called the Department of Children and Family Services on his parents.

Discussion: FOX2now.com, Facebook, Daily Wire and Heat Street

Jerusalem Post:

‘Dual US-Israeli citizen behind most JCC bomb threat calls’ — Israeli authorities have arrested an 19-year-old suspect on suspicion of instigating a series of threats to Jewish communities in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand over the past six months.

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post, The Times of Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, ABC News, CBS New York, Haaretz, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, IJR, RT, The Atlantic, Raw Story, twitchy.com, Tablet Magazine and Mediaite

Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:

John Mayer Knows He Messed Up. He Wants Another Chance. — LOS ANGELES — John Mayer can explain where he's been. In fact, once he gets going, he probably won't stop, given the amount of time he has spent in private processing his recent self-imposed irrelevance — the “lean years,” as he calls them.

James Hibberd / EW.com:

Rotten Tomatoes is ‘the destruction of our business,’ says director — Director and producing mogul Brett Ratner says film critic aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes is a destructive force in Hollywood. — Speaking at the Sun Valley Film Festival last weekend, the Rush Hour director wanted …

Discussion: Mashable

Eli Stokols / Politico:

RNC paid intel firm for Clinton dirt — As the general election was taking shape last summer, the Republican National Committee initiated a series of payments to a low-profile firm started by retired Central Intelligence Agency officers that worked closely with an ex-Russian spy.

Discussion: Mediaite

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The health care bill could be Donald Trump's Iraq War — Sold on lies, poorly planned, deadly to thousands, and a catastrophe for its authors. — If it passes, the American Health Care Act will be Donald Trump and Paul Ryan's Iraq War. It's been sold with lies.

Discussion: STAT, Common Dreams and Politico