memeorandum: Pence had no meetings with Russia during campaign, spokesman says (CNN)

3:00 PM ET, July 13, 2017

Top Items:

Dana Bash / CNN:

First on CNN: Graham, Cassidy unveil details of alternative health care plan — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)With the prospects for passing the current Senate Republican health care bill still in jeopardy, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and IJR

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:

The Health 202: Doctors make last-ditch effort to sink GOP health-care bill — THE PROGNOSIS — Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attends a new conference following party policy lunch meeting. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX) — It's looking increasingly …

Discussion: Vox, The Guardian, IJR, Mother Jones and Daily Wire

Haley Byrd / IJR:

Senate Republicans are Considering Alternative Scoring for Cruz Amendment Instead of Waiting for CBO — Republicans are considering using alternative scoring methods for a version of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) Consumer Freedom Option in order to proceed with their health care push next week rather …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dylan Scott / Vox:

Leaked outline shows Senate bill will allow bare-bones health plans — It will also keep some — but not all — of the Affordable Care Act taxes on the rich. — The Senate Republicans' revised health care bill will keep Obamacare's taxes on high-income Americans in place and allow the sales …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Politico

Caitlin Owens / Axios:

Draft GOP health bill will include Cruz provision — A controversial idea championed by Sen. Ted Cruz will be included in today's draft of the GOP health care bill, according to three sources familiar with the bill. It's similar to the provision Cruz worked on with Sen. Mike Lee …

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider and Daily Kos

Sarah Karlin-Smith / Politico:
Senate Republicans one vote away from Obamacare failure

Discussion: Axios, Vox, The Hill, TheBlaze, Washington Post, Business Insider and Political Insider blog

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:
Republican Senators Left Exposed in Health Care Ad Wars

Discussion: Reuters and New York Times

Jeffrey Young / HuffPost:
The New Senate Health Care Bill Is Still An Assault On The Safety Net

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic, Refinery29, Business Insider and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
TEXT: Cruz amendment would allow insurers to escape these nine Obamacare regulations

Discussion: Vox, ACASignups.net and Daily Wire

Axios:
The new things in the Senate health bill

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post and Forbes

David Nather / Axios:
Lindsey Graham's health care idea: Turn it over to the states

Discussion: Politico

Reuters:

Highlights of Reuters interview with Trump — 7 MIN READ — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here are highlights of the Reuters Oval Office interview with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday. — ON WHETHER HE WAS AWARE HIS SON DONALD TRUMP JR. WAS MEETING WITH A RUSSIAN LAWYER — “No. That I didn't know.

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, The Hill, Washington Post, Shakesville, Shareblue, CNBC, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire and Axios

Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:

Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began — It isn't clear whether Mr. Trump's associates had any connection to his presidential aspirations — WASHINGTON—Investigators are re-examining conversations detected by U.S. intelligence agencies in spring 2015 …

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Washington Post, Raw Story, Suburban Guerrilla …, Mediaite, CNBC, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Dark cloud hangs over Trump's visit to City of Lights — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — Bonjour! President Trump is in Paris today and Friday at the invitation of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, for the Bastille Day celebrations and to hold a one-on-one meeting.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, Reuters, Mediaite, The Guardian, Associated Press, Axios, Shareblue and The Root

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Team Trump Hunts for ‘Traitors’ While the President ‘Growls’ at the TV … Three days after the Donald Trump Jr. email revelations broke, the White House seems stuck in purgatory, with aides still deeply unsure about who leaked the damaging information, and the president still yelling at the TV.

Discussion: Telegraph, The Guardian, NBC News, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, New York Times, IJR and NPR

Rusty Surette / KBTX-TV:

Rep. Flores says President Trump's children should be removed from White House — A Republican U.S. Representative from the Brazos Valley believes the President's children should be removed from the White House. — Rep. Bill Flores, District 17, made the remarks on Wednesday …

Discussion: Vox, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Conspiracy or Coincidence? A Timeline Open to Interpretation

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, JustOneMinute, Washington Post, BillMoyers.com, Politico, The Colorado Independent, Just Security, AOL and Vox

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Trump Needs to Come Clean. Democrats Need to Be Careful.

Discussion: New York Times, American Prospect, Vox, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

Brian Beutler / New Republic:
What Did Republicans Know About the Russia Scandal? America Deserves an Answer.

Discussion: Raw Story, Salon, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
America needs to hear from Jared Kushner

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, Business Insider, AOL, Townhall.com and Mediaite

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com: This Time We Liberals Have Totally Got Trump. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Mark Katkov / NPR:

Justice Department Releases Sessions' Disclosure Form, A Day Late — Updated 11 a.m. — A day late, the Justice Department complied this morning with a federal court order and released part of a security clearance form dealing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' contacts with foreign governments.

Discussion: National Security, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, IJR, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog and Outside the Beltway

The Hill:

Exclusive: DOJ let Russian lawyer into US before she met with Trump team — The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump — 's inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under “extraordinary circumstances” before she embarked on a lobbying campaign …

Aaron Rupar / ThinkProgress:

Ordered by court to disclose his Russia contacts, Sessions releases blank sheet of paper — What's he hiding? — In response to a court order directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to disclose the part of his security clearance form detailing his Russia contacts, the Department of Justice released a mostly blank page of paper.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Just Security and Mother Jones

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Obama administration let Russian lawyer who met Trump Jr. into US after visa block

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Raw Story and TheBlaze

CNN:
Pence had no meetings with Russia during campaign, spokesman says

Discussion: RedState and Washington Post

Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml:
Why Did Loretta Lynch Grant Trump Jr's Russian Lawyer A Special Visa To Enter America?

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show and IJR

American Oversight:
Updated: DOJ Releases Redacted Page of Sessions's SF-86 to American Oversight

Discussion: Shareblue, The Atlantic and Daily Kos

Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed:

Leaked Documents Suggest Secretive Billionaire Trump Donors Are Milo's Patrons — The Mercer family helped Donald Trump become President — and they appear to be funding the controversial Yiannopoulos. — Secretive hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his family launched themselves …

more at Mediagazer »

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:

Sheldon Silver's Conviction Is Overturned — A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the 2015 corruption conviction of Sheldon Silver, the once-powerful New York State Assembly speaker who obtained nearly $4 million in illicit payments in return for taking official actions that benefited others …

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency and New York Magazine

CBO's Publications:

An Analysis of the President's 2018 Budget — Under the President's proposals, budget deficits from 2018 through 2027 would total nearly one-third less than those in CBO's baseline projections, ranging between 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent of GDP, down from 3.6 percent in 2017.

Discussion: Vox, New York Times, National Review, Washington Post and TheStreet

U.S. Department of Justice:

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against Over 412 Individuals Responsible for $1.3 Billion in Fraud Losses — Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History — Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Axios, Washington Free Beacon and STAT

Patrick Wilson / Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Corey Stewart to announce run Thursday for Tim Kaine's Senate seat — Receive daily news emails sent directly to your email inbox — A month after nearly toppling Ed Gillespie in the GOP race for governor with a campaign centered on the Confederate flag and restricting immigration …

Discussion: IJR, Hampton Roads Daily Press and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump's favorite new TV defender: Sebastian Gorka — In the more establishment-aligned parts of the White House, Sebastian Gorka is a figure of ridicule, with some staff believing he's an embarrassment when he represents the administration on TV. — But to Trump's nationalist base …

Craig Unger / New Republic:

Trump's Russian Laundromat — How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House. — In 1984, a Russian émigré named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City.

Discussion: Scripting News