memeorandum: I was asked to help ICE at my government job. I couldn't do that. So I quit. (Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts/Washington Post)

4:05 PM ET, February 17, 2018

Top Items:

Trump's Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader — WASHINGTON — After more than a dozen Russians and three companies were indicted on Friday for interfering in the 2016 elections, President Trump's first reaction was to claim personal vindication …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, KTLA, RedState, Politico, The Week, CNBC, FiveThirtyEight, NBC News, Al Jazeera English, IJR, CNN and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Sophie Tatum / CNN:

McMaster: Evidence of Russian meddling is ‘now really incontrovertible’ — McMaster responds to Russian indictments — Washington (CNN)Evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election is “now really incontrovertible,” White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Saturday.

Discussion: Business Insider, CNNMoney, Mediaite, Law & Crime, Outside the Beltway, Fox News Insider, Daily Kos, LGBTQ Nation, NBC News, The Daily Caller, Towleroad, Political Wire, The Week, AOL, IJR, BuzzFeed, Slate and TASS, more at Mediagazer »

Bob Bauer / Just Security:

The Charging Mystery in the Russia Indictments—And Its Indication of What Comes Next in the Mueller Investigation — The special counsel's indictment of Russian individuals and organizations brought campaign finance law for the first time into formal charges in the case. But this development came with a mystery.

Associated Press:

The Latest: Ex-Russian diplomat calls US charges ‘fantasies’ — MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the Russian response to U.S. indictments (all times local): — Russia's former ambassador to the United States is dismissing detailed allegations of attempted Russian interference …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, IJR, ABC News and BloombergQuint

Politico:
‘Something was weird’: Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida

Discussion: Political Wire, WBBH-TV and No More Mister Nice Blog

New York Times:
To Stir Discord in 2016, Russians Turned Most Often to Facebook

Discussion: Joe.My.God., NPR and CNN

Fiona Maxwell / Politico:
McMaster: ‘Incontrovertible’ evidence of Russian interference in election

Discussion: New York Magazine

David Remnick / New Yorker:
Mueller's Indictment Ends Trump's Myth of the Russia “Hoax”

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:
The rise of 'Putin's chef,' the Russian oligarch accused of manipulating the U.S. election

Discussion: New York Times, Power Line, Business Insider, The Guardian, Breitbart, VICE News, The Atlantic, Woke Sloth, DFRLab, Vox, Washington Press, Politico and Patterico's Pontifications

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:
McMaster: Russian meddling in U.S. elections is beyond dispute

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
What Trump still doesn't get about Russian interference in the election

Discussion: Des Moines Register, New York Times and Law & Crime

CNN:

CNN announces town hall with students, parents affected by Florida school shooting — Parkland student makes demand to lawmakers — “Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action” will air live on Wednesday, February 21 at 9 p.m., ET. — (CNN)The school shooting in Florida …

Alexander Burns / New York Times:

Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons — A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians.

Discussion: Raw Story

Los Angeles Times:

Horrified Florida students beg the adults: Please, do something about guns … The kids in South Florida are fed up. With the adults. — After a mass shooting left 17 students and faculty dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland …

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The students at Florida's Douglas High are amazing communicators. That could save lives.

Discussion: Politico, New Yorker, ThinkProgress and CNN

Mary Ellen Klas / miamiherald:
Lawmakers agree to destroy site of school carnage: ‘This building has to come down’

Discussion: IJR, Florida Politics, Daily Wire and Sun-Sentinel

Mike Allen / Axios:

We know nothing; Mueller knows all — Robert Mueller's meaty indictment, accusing 13 Russians (including an oligarch known as “Putin's cook") of “information warfare against the United States of America,” shows the special counsel has been doing deep, serious investigative work — totally under the radar, and with zero leaks.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly and New York Times

emptywheel:

What Did Mueller Achieve with the Internet Research Agency Indictment? — Back during Nunes Week, Trey Gowdy described the importance of Robert Mueller's investigation by stating that we were only seeing half of what he was doing. The other half of his work, Gowdy said, was the counterintelligence side …

Discussion: New York Times, Law & Crime, The Atlantic, The Daily Signal and Vox

Lawfare:
Russian Influence Campaign: What's in the Latest Mueller Indictment

Discussion: Reuters, France 24, CNBC, FOX40, Washington Monthly, IJR, The Last Refuge, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Press and Mother Jones

Brandon Carter / The Hill:

Kushner requests more intel info than almost all White House staff: report — 's son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner — has reportedly requested more intelligence information than almost every other White House official. — The Washington Post reports that Kushner …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Shane Harris / Washington Post:

New White House security clearance policy could put 'bull's eye' on Kushner … White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced Friday that beginning next week, the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-secret information …

Discussion: Axios, Vox, Hullabaloo, New York Magazine, Joe.My.God., Eschaton, CNN, VICE News, New York Times, KTLA, Politico and The Week

Joe Trinacria / Pushback:

Larry Krasner Sues Big Pharma, Drops All Marijuana Possession Charges — With a little over a month in office, Philly's new DA is already further reforming the city's drug policy. — On the same day a Philly.com op-ed was published in which Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Paul P. Murphy / CNN:

Exclusive: Group chat messages show school shooter obsessed with race, violence and guns — (CNN)In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns.

Discussion: Washington Press, Dispatches From the …, IJR, Joe.My.God. and RedState

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

The NRA donated $10,000 to help train the Parkland shooting suspect to use a rifle — He practiced on indoor ranges shooting at targets the size of coin. — Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who charged with murdering 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, honed his marksmanship skills in a school program supported by the NRA.

Discussion: RedState, Task & Purpose, The Daily Caller, Law & Crime and twitchy.com

CNN:
Trump visits Florida hospital, sheriff's office after Parkland shooting

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, WHNT-TV, KFOR-TV, fox13now.com, Hollywood Life, Florida Politics, fox8.com, WTVR-TV, KTLA, WREG-TV, myfox8.com and Sun-Sentinel

Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts / Washington Post:

I was asked to help ICE at my government job. I couldn't do that. So I quit. — I loved my work at the Labor Department, but I can't be a part of breaking up families. — My job as a legal secretary for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry was not an easy one.

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort — Prosecutors say they've found ‘additional criminal conduct’ by the former Trump campaign chairman. — Special counsel Robert Mueller's office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman …

Discussion: ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Press, Raw Story, The Right Scoop, Political Wire, TheBlaze and The Daily Beast

Josh Delk / The Hill:
Mueller adds bank fraud to Manafort's list of alleged criminal conduct

Discussion: RedState

Sam Amick / USA Today:

Kevin Durant on Laura Ingraham's commentary: ‘To me, it was racist’ — LOS ANGELES - The timing was perfect. — While the social media stratosphere was still buzzing on Friday about Laura Ingraham's offensive segment on Fox News, where the host told LeBron James and Kevin Durant to …