memeorandum: Clinton criticizes Trump's ‘rocket man’ nickname for North Korean leader (Jesse Byrnes/The Hill)

9:20 AM ET, September 20, 2017

Top Items:

Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson Bill Would Reduce Federal Funding to States by $215 Billion — New analysis from Avalere finds that the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ) bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would lead to a reduction in federal funding to states …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Jeff Stein / Vox:

GOP senators are rushing to pass Graham-Cassidy. We asked 9 to explain what it does. — Republican senators are struggling to articulate why they are rushing to pass their last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare over the next 10 days before running into their September 30 deadline.

Discussion: National Review, Business Insider, BostonGlobe.com, ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, The Nation, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Los Angeles Times

Sarah Frostenson / Politico:

Graham-Cassidy health care bill: What you need to know — Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have drafted the latest Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare. The bill would overhaul or eliminate major sections of the health care law, including its subsidized insurance coverage and Medicaid expansion.

Discussion: Raw Story

Dylan Scott / Vox:

Jimmy Kimmel: new Obamacare repeal bill flunks the Jimmy Kimmel Test — “This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face.” — Jimmy Kimmel became an unlikely figure in the Republican health care debate a few months ago when he reached an accord of sorts with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) …

Discussion: Axios, Shareblue and Mediaite

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Repeal first, ask questions later

Discussion: ABC News, Mother Jones, New York Times, FierceHealthcare, Politico, Los Angeles Times, Informed Comment, VTDigger, CNBC, Gothamist, Washington Post, USA Today and Business Insider

Emily Yahr / Washington Post:
Jimmy Kimmel gets heated about health-care bill, says Sen. Bill Cassidy ‘lied right to my face’

Discussion: twitchy.com, The Hill, The Week, CNN, Townhall.com, ACA Signups and Business Insider

Axios:
What's missing from the latest ACA repeal bill

Discussion: Vox and Politico

Matt Fuller / HuffPost:
Senators Who Had Voted Against Obamacare Repeal Are Now Wavering

Discussion: Washington Times, Vox, CNN, TheStreet, Refinery29, RedState and New York Magazine

Miranda Green / CNN:
Why Rand Paul opposes the GOP Obamacare repeal bill

Discussion: The Week, Shareblue, CNNMoney, The Daily Signal, Weekly Standard and IJR

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Senate likely to start voting on GOP health plan next Wednesday

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Week, Politicus USA and Political Wire

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Clinton criticizes Trump's ‘rocket man’ nickname for North Korean leader … late Tuesday tore into President Trump's “very dark” and “dangerous” speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier in the day, arguing he took the wrong tact in condemning North Korea's nuclear pursuits.

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Towleroad, The Week, TheBlaze, Still4Hill, IJR, Raw Story and Mediaite

Rich Lowry / National Review:

‘Holy Sh**’: Trump at the U.N. — A Jacksonian speech in Turtle Bay — As someone said on Twitter, never before has been there so much murmuring of “holy sh**” in so many different languages. Donald Trump's speech at the United Nations was a sometimes awkward marriage …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Washington Times, Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, The Week, Vox, JustOneMinute and New Republic

Politico:

Full text: Trump's 2017 U.N. speech transcript — President Donald Trump's statement to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, 2017, as prepared for delivery. — Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, world leaders, and distinguished delegates: Welcome to New York.

Discussion: Axios, Real Clear Politics, Just Security, CNN, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Power Line, VDARE, TheBlaze, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR, IJR, Althouse, TalkLeft, Balloon Juice, twitchy.com and Scripting News

Morgan Winsor / ABC News:
Nikki Haley defends Trump's ‘Rocket man’ speech to United Nations: He ‘was being honest’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
Trump Uses Putin's Arguments to Undermine the World

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Max Boot / USA Today:
At U.N., Trump's ‘me first’ doctrine abandons Truman's postwar ‘security for all’

Discussion: Foreign Policy, The Week, Washington Post and Politico

USA Today:
At the United Nations, Trump tries to out-bluff ‘rocket man’

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, Power Line and IJR

Wall Street Journal:

Special Counsel's Office Interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — Interview could be a sign that Rosenstein isn't seen as a central witness, as he hasn't withdrawn himself from his oversight role — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Weekly Standard, Raw Story and The Week

CNN:

Exclusive: Mueller team's focus on Manafort spans 11 years — Washington (CNN)Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team is reaching back more than a decade in its investigation of Paul Manafort, a sign of the pressure Mueller is placing on President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman.

Josh Delk / The Hill:
Deputy AG interviewed by Mueller's office: report

Discussion: RedState

CNBC:

Trump using campaign, RNC funds to pay Russia probe legal bills: Reuters, citing sources — The U.S. Federal Election Commission allows the use of private campaign funds to pay legal bills arising from being a candidate or elected official. — Trump would be the first U.S. president …

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, IJR, The Atlantic, RedState and Eschaton

Shannon Pettypiece / Bloomberg:

For Trump Aides Caught in Russia Probe, Legal Bills and Paranoia — Communications adviser says he bought guns after threats — Probes cast ‘dark shadow’ over White House, Panetta says — Follow @bpolitics for all the latest news, and sign up for our daily Balance of Power newsletter.

Discussion: The Week

Reuters:
Trump using campaign, RNC funds to pay legal bills from Russia probe: sources

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Beast, KTLA, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, Axios, Mother Jones, Occupy Democrats, Political Wire and The Week

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
RNC covering more than $230,000 in Trump legal fees

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, New York Magazine, RT, Raw Story, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Business Insider and Fox News Insider

Matea Gold / Washington Post: RNC taps legal account to help pay for President Trump's lawyers in Russia probes

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:

Price's private-jet travel breaks precedent — In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.

Discussion: Washington Post, AOL, The Week, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story and Axios

Claire Atkinson / NBC News:

Networks Pass on Sean Spicer for Paid Contributor Role — The big five news organizations have passed on offering former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer a job as an exclusive paid contributor, network sources confirmed to NBC News Tuesday. — Since Spicer exited the White House …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, Axios, Mediaite and Political Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Death Toll From Mexico Earthquake Surpasses 200 — At one primary school that collapsed, 20 children died — MEXICO CITY—Soldiers, rescue workers and volunteers worked late into the night Tuesday, searching for the living and the dead beneath rubble left by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Kate Linthicum / Los Angeles Times:
At least 105 killed as powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico

Discussion: KTLA, Daily Wire and Deadspin

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Trump rebounds after polling slide — President Donald Trump's summer swoon appears to be over. — After months of declining poll numbers, the president's approval ratings have stabilized — and even ticked up slightly — over the past month. — Following a low of 39 percent …

Discussion: The Week

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Bannon orders Breitbart to step up negative coverage of Trump-backed candidate — What you need to know about Steve Bannon — Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday morning ordered top editors at Breitbart to step up its overwhelmingly negative coverage …

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

The US Government-In-Exile Has A New President — Clinton and Bloomberg share a stage in 2009. — Chris Hondros / Getty Images — The annual Manhattan conference hosted for a decade by the Clinton Global Initiative became a kind of shorthand for what some hated about the Clintons …

Discussion: Axios

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

The Real Political Correctness — It's people who criticize racism who are silenced, not those who embrace it. — The ideology that put Donald Trump in the White House is one of victimhood as much as it's one of resentment. As a candidate for president, Donald Trump …

more at Mediagazer »

Dana Ferguson / Argus Leader:

S.D. GOP whip shares meme endorsing vehicular assault on protesters — RAPID CITY — A Republican state lawmaker faced calls to apologize Tuesday after she shared an image on Facebook depicting protesters being hit by a vehicle under the caption, “All Lives Splatter.”

Discussion: Rapid City Journal and Talking Points Memo