memeorandum: Lindsey Graham's on a lonely quest to repeal and replace Obamacare (Emma Dumain/McClatchy Washington Bureau)

6:55 AM ET, September 8, 2017

Top Items:

Anders Melin / Bloomberg:

Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed — Three Equifax Inc. senior executives sold shares worth almost $1.8 million in the days after the company discovered a security breach that may have compromised information on about 143 million U.S. consumers.

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, Mashable, Gizmodo and CTVNews, more at Techmeme »

Ines Gutzmer / Cybersecurity Incident & …:

Cybersecurity Incident & Important Consumer Information — Equifax Announces Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Information — No Evidence of Unauthorized Access to Core Consumer or Commercial Credit Reporting Databases — Company to Offer Free Identity Theft Protection and Credit File Monitoring to All U.S. Consumers

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
Equifax Says Cyberattack May Have Affected 143 Million Customers

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, CBS Los Angeles, FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV, Mashable, Gizmodo and KFOR-TV

Washington Post:

Gingrich or Santorum as speaker? House conservatives plot mischief for the fall … Several influential House conservatives are privately plotting ways to use the legislative calendar this fall to push their hard-line agenda — including quiet discussions about possibly mounting a leadership challenge to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, CNN, Conservative News Today, NY State of Politics, Politicus USA, AOL and NBC News

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

The debt ceiling deal is a template for how Trump can get things done — Ignore Ryan and McConnell and make deals with Dems. — Having struggled mightily to get things done in Congress, Donald Trump did something new on Wednesday — direct talks with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Washington Post:

Trump, Schumer agree to pursue plan to repeal the debt ceiling — President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, New York Times, Business Insider, CNBC, Politico, IJR, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Daily Wire, Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Energized Trump Sees Bipartisan Path, at Least for Now

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, Mediaite, Business Insider, NBC News, CNN, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Shareblue, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Raw Story, IJR, RedState, CNBC, FOX6Now.com, twitchy.com, The Nation, Washington Free Beacon and Mother Jones

Robert Costa / Washington Post: Republicans jolted by, and Democrats wary of, Trump's overtures to opposing party

CNN:

Exclusive: Mueller seeks interviews with WH staff over Trump Tower meeting statement — Washington (CNN)Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has approached the White House about interviewing staffers who were aboard Air Force One when the initial misleading statement about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Politico, New York Magazine, Shareblue, Raw Story and Political Wire

Ali Watkins / Politico:
Notes from meeting with Russians said not to be damaging to Trump family

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story: WATCH: Jake Tapper walks through the many lies Donald Trump Jr. told about the Russian meeting

CNN:
Sources: Trump Jr. said he did not recall WH involvement in response to meeting

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Media Matters for America, Shareblue, Business Insider, Politico, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Towleroad, IJR, KTLA, Mediaite and Washington Post

Eric Holthaus / Grist:

Here's why Irma is a monster hurricane, in one GIF. — The last Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States was Andrew, which lashed South Florida with wind gusts of up to 177 miles per hour in 1992. It caused immense devastation and forever changed Florida's approach to hurricanes.

Discussion: Orlando Weekly and New York Times

CNN:
Hurricane Irma: Live updates

Discussion: New York Times, FOX6Now.com, KTLA, KFOR-TV, Axios, Gizmodo and The Verge

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Hurricane Jose upgraded to Category 3 storm

Discussion: Fox News, RedState, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, CNN, IJR and KTLA

Washington Post:
Tropical triple threat: Hurricanes Jose and Katia could join Irma striking land this weekend

Discussion: ROMPER, The Guardian and CNN

Washington Post:
The tiny islands ravaged by Irma are in trouble as Hurricane Jose looms

Discussion: myfox8.com, WTVR-TV, The Independent, ROMPER, East Bay Times, Mashable, Friendly Atheist, The Guardian and Faithwire

Laura Olson / Morning Call:

Congressman Charlie Dent will not seek re-election in 2018 — Congressman Charlie Dent speaks during an open house and tour of Custom Diesel Service, LLC. in Allentown on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. /// (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) mc-biz-diesel-repair-shop-financing (HARRY FISHER / THE MORNING CALL)

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Rep. Charlie Dent, outspoken GOP moderate, will not seek reelection

Discussion: Mediaite

G Salisbury / City & State PA:
Congressman Dent will not stand for reelection

Discussion: Morning Call and PoliticsPA

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
GOP moderate Charlie Dent won't seek reelection to House in 2018

Discussion: Politicus USA

Jose Lambiet / miamiherald:

Broward GOP uncovers a nasty secret about its young party secretary — The Broward County Republicans are in turmoil today after revelations that a freshly elected member of their executive board is a man who once was charged with attempted murder in the savage claw-hammer beating …

NBC News:

Homeland Security Plans Massive Roundups of Undocumented Immigrants — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security is planning nationwide raids to target 8,400 undocumented immigrants later this month, according to three law enforcement officials and an internal document …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, Business Insider and Raw Story

Josh Delk / The Hill:
ICE denies plan for nationwide immigration raids

Discussion: New York Magazine and RedState

Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:

Trump lawyer Ty Cobb, fooled by ‘email prankster,’ asks for ‘drone’ in private emails slamming reporter — White House special counsel Ty Cobb engaged in a lengthy email exchange with a prankster posing as White House social media director Dan Scavino, during which Cobb asked whether there was …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Raw Story

CBS News:

Steve Bannon says Catholic Church has “economic interest” in “unlimited illegal immigration” — In his first extensive interview since leaving the Trump administration, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is speaking out about President Trump's decision to end the DACA program.

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, CBS Los Angeles, Business Insider, IJR, Raw Story, TheBlaze, Talking Points Memo and AOL

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed: Why Steve Bannon's Next Act Revolves Around Alabama And The Religious Right

New York Times:

Devastation in the Caribbean as Irma Heads Toward Miami — SAN JUAN, P.R. — One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded crescendoed over the Caribbean on Thursday, crumpling islands better known as beach paradises into half-habitable emergency zones and sideswiping Puerto Rico before churning north.

Discussion: NPR, Reuters and ThinkProgress

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Facebook's role in Trump's win is clear. No matter what Mark Zuckerberg says. — What a ridiculous notion, Mark Zuckerberg scoffed shortly after the election, that his social-media company — innocent, well-intentioned Facebook — could have helped Donald Trump's win.

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

David Ferguson / Raw Story:
‘Fines or prison or both’: Dem senator implies Don Trump Jr. is criminally liable for lying to Congress

Discussion: The Daily Caller, IJR and Talking Points Memo

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

In major Supreme Court case, Justice Dept. sides with baker who refused to make wedding cake for gay couple — In a major upcoming Supreme Court case that weighs equal rights with religious liberty, the Trump administration on Thursday sided with a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Trump Administration Sides With Baker In Same-Sex Wedding Cake Case

Discussion: Hit & Run

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Koch Brothers Will Push Congress to Protect DREAMers … The political network of libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch is poised to back a bill protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation. — Spokespeople for the Koch network confirmed to The Daily Beast …

Discussion: Business Insider, Metro, Balloon Juice and Axios

Scott Shane / New York Times:

The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election — Sometimes an international offensive begins with a few shots that draw little notice. So it was last year when Melvin Redick of Harrisburg, Pa., a friendly-looking American with a backward baseball cap and a young daughter …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, RedState, Little Green Footballs, New York Magazine and RT

Emma Dumain / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Lindsey Graham's on a lonely quest to repeal and replace Obamacare — WASHINGTON — The buzz at the Capitol this week has been all about budgets, hurricanes and immigrants, and next week's big topics are likely to involve defense and national security. Virtually no one is talking about Obamacare anymore.