memeorandum: Skinny repeal: the last-ditch idea to save the Senate health care bill (Dylan Scott/Vox)

4:55 PM ET, July 25, 2017

Top Items:

Jeff Sessions Is Growing ‘Pissed’ at Trump, His Allies Say. And He Doesn't Plan to Quit. … Attorney General Jeff Sessions has no plans to leave office as friends say he's grown angry with President Donald Trump following a series of attacks meant to marginalize his power and, potentially, encourage his resignation.

Discussion: neo-neocon, IJR, Raw Story, AOL, Politicus USA, The American Conservative, Mediaite, Above the Law and Washington Post

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Won't Say if He Will Fire Sessions — 'I'm very disappointed in Jeff Sessions,' president says in interview — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump expressed his disappointment in Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday and questioned the importance of Mr. Sessions's early endorsement …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, CNBC, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, IJR and Political Wire

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:

Cabinet Level Revolt Over Trump's Treatment of Jeff Sessions. “A Clusterf**k” One Secretary Calls It. — “If he can get treated that way, what about the rest of us?” one of the President's Cabinet secretaries asked me with both shock and anger in his voice.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Monthly

Adam Shaw / Breitbart:

Trump's Attack on Sessions over Clinton Prosecution Highlights His Own ‘Weak’ Stance — President Trump's decision Tuesday to attack Attorney General Jeff Sessions over Sessions' “position” on Hillary Clinton's various scandals only serves to highlight Trump's own hypocrisy on the issue …

Lesley Clark / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Trump messes with Sessions, and Senate Republicans are not pleased

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, WWAY-TV, Business Insider, Vox, Politico, ThinkProgress, CNNMoney, Above the Law, Lawyers, Guns & Money, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Axios, The American Conservative, Althouse, New York Magazine and NBC News

Betsy Klein / CNN:
Trump slams Sessions, rips DOJ in Twitter outburst

Mike Allen / Axios:
Trump in phone call: “What would happen if I fired Sessions?”

Discussion: Washington Times, RedState, Outside the Beltway, Shakesville, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Business Insider

Andrew Prokop / Vox:
Why President Trump suddenly hates his attorney general

Discussion: Politico, DCReport.org, IJR and The Guardian

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
The Strange, Slow-Motion Defenestration of Jeff Sessions

Discussion: ABC News, Shareblue, Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Republicans vote to move ahead on Obamacare repeal — Senate Republicans voted Tuesday voted to open debate on repealing Obamacare, dramatically reviving an effort that many GOP lawmakers left for dead just a few days ago. — The vote is a huge political win and turnaround …

Discussion: Vox, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Axios, The Hill, The Atlantic, Scared Monkeys, Hullabaloo and Mother Jones

NBC News:

Senate Passes Key Vote to Move Forward on Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — With Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote, Republicans moved forward on health care reform Tuesday afternoon as the Senate successfully passed a key motion to proceed to debate on the House-passed bill.

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post, Hit & Run, CNBC, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon, ThinkProgress, CNN, Refinery29, NBC News, Jezebel, New York Times, Talking Points Memo and Washington Times

Dylan Scott / Vox:

Skinny repeal: the last-ditch idea to save the Senate health care bill — “Skinny repeal” is the latest ploy from GOP leaders. — Sources suggest that Senate Republicans are weighing a last-ditch idea to pass some kind of health care bill in the coming days: a narrowly focused Obamacare repeal bill.

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Axios, New York Times, Politicus USA, The Week, Daily Wire, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Talking Points Memo

Madeline Conway / Politico:
Trump calls Senate health care vote a ‘big step’ at White House press conference

Discussion: Vox, ABC News and New York Magazine

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo: BREAKING: O'Care Repeal Survives In Senate, But GOP Still Has No Plan

Jack Torry / The Columbus Dispatch:
Portman will vote to proceed on Senate healath-care vote

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

CNN:
Republican senators poised to vote today on health care. What you need to know

Discussion: New York Times, Media Matters for America, Vox, CBS New York, IJR, Axios and Business Insider

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate GOP appears to have votes to win initial healthcare motion

Discussion: RedState

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
What we know about the Senate health-care vote right now

Discussion: JustOneMinute, RedState and Washington Free Beacon

CNN:
Senate advances health care bill as McCain makes dramatic return, Pence breaks tie

Discussion: Why Evolution Is True and neo-neocon

Dylan Scott / Vox:
Senate Republicans don't know what's in their health bill or what it would do. They're voting anyway.

Discussion: Rewire, The Week, Salon, Hullabaloo and Common Dreams

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

Scaramucci threatens to ‘fire everybody’ to stop White House leaks — President Donald Trump's newly appointed communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, said Tuesday that he is prepared to “fire everybody” in the White House communications shop in order to put an end to embarrassing internal leaks.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNNMoney, Breitbart, RedState, Axios, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, IJR, Daily Kos, Raw Story, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Week, Washington Times, AOL and Washington Free Beacon

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House press aide resigns amid shakeup — White House press aide Michael Short resigned on Tuesday, capping off hours of drama over whether he would be fired by President Trump's new communications director. — “I have resigned, effective immediately,” Short said in a brief text message.

Discussion: IJR

Bloomberg: Scaramucci Seeks Federal Tax Break on SkyBridge Sale

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Conflicting reports emerge over firing of White House press aide

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, IJR and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Press aide resigns as White House purge begins: 'I'm going to fire everybody,' says Scaramucci

Discussion: The Guardian, Politico and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Senators on hot mic: Trump is ‘crazy,’ 'I'm worried' — At the end of a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday morning, Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) didn't switch off her microphone. Apparently speaking to Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the ranking Democrat of the committee …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Dallas Morning News, CNBC, IJR, Daily Wire, Refinery29, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, Business Insider, Politicus USA, Political Wire and The Week

Niv Elis / The Hill:
Senators mock Trump on hot mic

Discussion: RedState

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

The 29 most cringe-worthy lines from Donald Trump's hyper-political speech to the Boy Scouts — Washington (CNN)On Monday night, President Donald Trump jetted to West Virginia to address the annual Boy Scout Jamboree. And oh what a speech it was! — Trump ranged from the current health care bill …

Cristina Silva / Newsweek:

TRUMP BOY SCOUT SPEECH IS NAZI HITLER YOUTH RALLY, LEFT SAYS — President Donald Trump brought his bombastic politics to a Boy Scouts event Monday in West Virginia, drawing cheers from the children gathered at the event and prompting comparisons between his rousing rhetoric and Nazi youth rallies …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Instapundit, CNN, Daily Wire, Common Dreams, Washington Free Beacon, IJR and Mashable

Washington Post:
Trump's Boy Scouts speech broke with 80 years of presidential tradition

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show, ThinkProgress, IJR, Daily Kos, Jezebel, vice, Shakesville, PEN America, Mashable and The Week

BBC:
Trump boy scout Jamboree speech angers parents

Discussion: Mother Jones, New York Magazine, HuffPost, Breitbart, New York Times, Friendly Atheist, Daily Wire, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Raw Story, Business Insider and IJR

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue:
Angry parents pull their kids from Boy Scouts after Trump's vindictive, creepy speech

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, The Hill, Vox, RedState and IJR

Domenico Montanaro / NPR: Trump's Boy Scouts Speech And The Thin Line Between Openness And Recklessness

Sharon Begley / STAT:

Psychiatry group tells members they can defy ‘Goldwater rule’ and comment on Trump's mental health — leading psychiatry group has told its members they should not feel bound by a longstanding rule against commenting publicly on the mental state of public figures — even the president.

Discussion: NPR, The Atlantic, The Verge, Althouse, Common Dreams, IJR and Talking Points Memo

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Senate panel subpoenas Manafort as campaign aides provide Russia information — A Senate committee said Tuesday it sent Paul Manafort a subpoena compelling his testimony in its Russia probe, even as he and Jared Kushner were providing information to other congressional investigators …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Hill, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, The Root, The Week and Axios

Josh Delk / The Hill: Ivanka Trump retains defense lawyer for Russia investigation

Miriam Rozen / National Law Journal:
Ivanka Trump Has ‘Confidential’ Relationship with Kushner Lawyer Abbe Lowell

Discussion: Washington Times and Shareblue

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Boehner predicts Republicans will ‘never’ repeal and replace Obamacare — Former House speaker John A. Boehner, who has mostly avoided public commentary since leaving Congress two years ago, told a business gathering last week that Republicans are “not going to repeal and replace Obamacare” …

Discussion: ABC News, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, Business Insider, The Resurgent, IJR, Political Insider blog and Talking Points Memo

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:

The sad story of Charlie Gard shows there's no limit to right-wing political vampirism — A dying baby and his parents have been exploited by conservatives who want to strip Americans of health care — The sad story of Charlie Gard, a dying British baby who became a cause célèbre …

Discussion: The Guardian, LifeNews.com, The Federalist and Telegraph

Ted Barrett / CNN:

Senate won't let Trump make recess appointments — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Senators are planning to continue procedural moves to prevent the Senate from formally adjourning for recess next month in order to prevent President Donald Trump from making recess appointments …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Political Wire