memeorandum: Finally, a Poll Trump Will Like: Clinton Is Even More Unpopular (John McCormick/Bloomberg)

1:35 PM ET, July 18, 2017

Top Items:

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:

Eighth person in Trump Tower meeting is identified — An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, Business Insider, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Political Wire and Shareblue

Wall Street Journal:

The Trumps and the Truth — The best defense against future revelations is radical transparency. — Even Donald Trump might agree that a major reason he won the 2016 election is because voters couldn't abide Hillary Clinton's legacy of scandal, deception and stonewalling.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Raw Story and Washington Free Beacon

Pamela Brown / CNN:

First on CNN: Special Counsel investigators seeking info from ‘eighth man’ at Trump Tower meeting — Washington (CNN)Special counsel investigators are seeking information from the still-publicly unidentified eighth person who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, RedState, Talking Points Memo, TheStreet, IJR, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Little Green Footballs

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

The Master of ‘Kompromat’ Believed to Be Behind Trump Jr.'s Meeting — MOSCOW — The salacious video, of a naked man in bed with two women, was one of the most prominent examples of “kompromat,” the Russian art of spreading damaging information to discredit a rival or an enemy, in recent Russian history.

Associated Press:
Whose side are you on? Separate lawyers defend Trump, aides

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Malia Zimmerman / Fox News:
Hillary Clinton sided with Russia on sanctions as Bill made $500G on Moscow speech

Discussion: Infowars and The Gateway Pundit

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump blindsided by implosion of GOP health care bill — President Donald Trump convened a strategy session over steak and succotash at the White House with senators Monday night, trying to plot an uphill path to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a GOP alternative.

Discussion: Raw Story, ABC News, Axios, Business Insider and Joe.My.God.

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

Health Care Overhaul Collapses as Two Republican Senators Defect — WASHINGTON — Two more Republican senators declared on Monday night that they would oppose the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, killing, for now, a seven-year-old promise to overturn President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement.

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:

Republicans Aren't Turning on Trump—They're Turning on Each Other — The House is mad at the Senate. The Senate is mad at the House. Various factions in the House and Senate are mad at each other or mad at their leaders. — Republican lawmakers have yet to turn on President Trump in any meaningful way.

Discussion: Fox News and Raw Story

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

GOP health care bill collapses — President Donald Trump's top legislative priority was dealt a potentially fatal blow Monday night as two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the party's health care overhaul. — Trump quickly called on Republicans to simply repeal Obamacare …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Vox, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Federalist, IJR, Washington Free Beacon and The Hill

Sam Baker / Axios:
The fallout: Admit defeat, move on to bigger defeat?

Discussion: Politico, Shareblue, RedState and CNN

Dylan Scott / Vox:
The last-ditch Obamacare repeal plan looks dead in the Senate

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, Cincinnati.com, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and ThinkProgress

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump blames Dems, ‘a few Republicans’ for collapse of healthcare bill

Discussion: Mediaite, Vox, RedState, ABC News, CNN, Fox News Insider, The Gateway Pundit, FOX News Radio and Joe.My.God.

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: After Senate bill falls apart, Republicans don't have the votes to repeal Obamacare

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Fox News, Media Matters for America, Wichita Eagle, Daily Kos, ABC News, The Federalist, Axios, Washington Free Beacon and Mediaite

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Old Truth Trips Up G.O.P. on Health Law: A Benefit Is Hard to Retract

Discussion: Shareblue and NBC News

Wall Street Journal:
GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell Abandons Health-Care Bill

Discussion: Forbes, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, RedState, ThinkProgress and Washington Monthly

Marina Fang / HuffPost:

Steve Bannon Reportedly Attacked Paul Ryan As ‘A Limp-D**k Motherf**ker’ — What? — Steve Bannon reportedly called House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) “a limp-dick motherf**ker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation,” referring to the think tank whose fiscal conservative policies the representative espouses.

Discussion: Political Wire

Daniel Bates / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump the foul-mouthed germophobe fired Chris Christie because New Jersey governor arranged for Obama to call his phone NOT The Donald's on election night — A new book reveals how Trump fell out with his then transition boss Chris Christie over whose cellphone to use on election night

Discussion: IJR, Business Insider, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, AOL, Washington Free Beacon, Conservative News Today, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Axios and Mediaite

The Daily Beast:
Trump's Campaign Conceded in a Memo That Comey Was Having Major Impact

Discussion: Mother Jones

Axios:
Go inside Trumpworld with “Devil's Bargain” book

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Mediaite and Raw Story

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

House GOP unveils budget plan that attaches major spending cuts to coming tax overhaul bill — House Republicans unveiled a 2018 budget plan Tuesday that would pave the way for ambitious tax reform legislation — but only alongside a package of politically sensitive spending cuts that threaten …

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, CNBC, ABC News, New York Magazine, CNN, The Atlantic, Vox and 1A

Niv Elis / The Hill:
Conservative caucus withholding support from Republican budget

Discussion: RedState

BuzzFeed:
Trump Properties Are Already Profiting Off Republican Campaigns

Discussion: Shareblue

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Trump Just Came Very Close to Killing the Iran Deal — At the last minute, the president nearly told Tillerson not to certify Iranian compliance. — Under President Barack Obama this kind of thing was routine. Since the Iran nuclear deal was reached in 2015, every few months …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Axios, Washington Post, IJR, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly — WASHINGTON — President Trump agreed on Monday to certify again that Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement that he has strongly criticized, but only after hours of arguing with his top national security advisers …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Politico, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The American Conservative, New York Magazine, The Guardian, National Review, Mother Jones, Power Line, The National Interest, Instapundit and middleeastmonitor.com

John McCormick / Bloomberg:

Finally, a Poll Trump Will Like: Clinton Is Even More Unpopular — Views on Democratic nominee harden since exit from spotlight — Obama now as popular as he was in first year in White House — For a president with historically low poll numbers, Donald Trump can at least find solace in this: Hillary Clinton is doing worse.

Discussion: Politicus USA, Business Insider, IJR, AOL, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, TheBlaze, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Kamala Harris slams Sessions on criminal justice — Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions — for his tough-on-crime policies during an event early Tuesday focused on the rising rate of women in the nation's prisons. — Harris, a key speaker at Women Unshackled …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Jonathan Martin / New York Times: As Party Drifts Left, Pragmatic Democratic Governors Have Eye on White House

Amie Parnes / The Hill: Dem donors buzzing about Kamala Harris

Ben Strauss / Politico:

Is the President Fit? — Few props have been more indispensable to Donald Trump's presidency than the golf cart. He drives them on his frequent weekend trips to the links (invariably at Trump-owned clubs, where he rolls onto the greens, too—normally a no-no).

Discussion: Althouse, USA Today and Shakesville

Michael Rothfeld / Wall Street Journal:

New York Seeks Bank Records of Former Trump Associate Paul Manafort — Loans issued by a bank run by former campaign adviser Steve Calk are focus of subpoena — New York prosecutors have demanded records relating to up to $16 million in loans that a bank run by a former campaign adviser …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shakesville and Political Wire

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Is the presidency good for Trump's business? Not necessarily at this golf course. — At President Trump's golf club in Southern California, there is a driving range on a cliff, with a stunning view of the blue Pacific. There's room for 24 golfers. — But, on a recent afternoon, there was only one.

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Jamison / Washington Post:
Coast Guard wants to kick boats off Potomac River when president is golfing

Discussion: Shareblue

NBC News:

NBC News Poll: American Fears of War Grow — An overwhelming majority of Americans — 76 percent — are worried that the United States will become engaged in a major war in the next four years, according to a new NBC News| SurveyMonkey National Security Poll out Tuesday.

Discussion: ABC News, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Political Wire