memeorandum: Hillary Clinton: US does ‘not deserve’ Trump (Eli Watkins/CNN)

9:10 AM ET, March 13, 2018

Top Items:

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Despite Mueller's Push, House Republicans Declare No Evidence of Collusion — WASHINGTON — Even as the special counsel expands his inquiry and pursues criminal charges against at least four Trump associates, House Intelligence Committee Republicans said Monday they have found no evidence …

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:

The Walls Are Closing In on Trump … The Fox and Trump media enterprise today launched into a spasm of complete ecstasy as the House Intelligence Committee declared their investigation of Russian interference in our elections and their contacts with and collaboration with the Trump campaign over, done, solved.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, Politico and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: House Republicans Conclude Pretend Russia Investigation, Declare Trump Innocent

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo:
Papadopoulos says that Trump personally encouraged him to arrange meeting with Putin, new book reports

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:
House Republicans say no evidence of collusion as they end Russia probe

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Wall Street Journal, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Towleroad, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., The Root, VICE News, Politicus USA and Balloon Juice

Mother Jones:
George Papadopoulos Claimed Trump Encouraged His Efforts to Establish a Russian Back Channel

Discussion: Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Carolyn Kaster / Washington Examiner:
House Intel releases verdict in Russia probe: No collusion

Discussion: RedState, Power Line and ThinkProgress

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:
Former DNI James Clapper Allegedly Leaked to CNN, investigation revealed

Discussion: The Stream, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Wall Street Journal: Republicans on House Panel Find No Collusion Between Russia and Trump Campaign

Fox News:
House Intel finds ‘no evidence of collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia

Discussion: Fox News Insider and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:

Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo … President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replaced him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate negotiations with North Korea, White House officials said Tuesday.

Discussion: Political Wire, Mother Jones, NTK Network, Joe.My.God., Daily Kos, Mediaite, Roll Call, VICE News, News & Guts Media and FOX2now.com

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Tillerson casts poisoning as sign of more aggressive Russia — ABOARD A U.S. GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cast the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain as part of a “certain unleashing of activity” by Russia that the United States is struggling to understand.

BBC:
Russian spy: Highly likely Moscow behind attack, says Theresa May

Discussion: The Intercept, Vox, Daily Wire, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, RedState, Joe.My.God., Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Little Green Footballs

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

ICE spokesman resigns, citing fabrications by agency chief, Sessions, about Calif. immigrant arrests … The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as “false” and “misleading” statements made by top-ranking officials …

Dan Simon / CNN:

ICE spokesman in SF resigns and slams Trump administration officials — Trump, California battle over immigration — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — San Francisco (CNN)James Schwab, a spokesman for the San Francisco Division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has resigned …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Raw Story

Hamed Aleaziz / San Francisco Chronicle:

ICE spokesman quits over officials' claim of 800 eluding arrest — The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resigned after the agency's recent Northern California sweep, saying he couldn't continue to do his job after Trump administration officials …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Republicans abandon tax cut message in Pa. special election — Republicans have backed away from their signature tax cut bill in the final days of a closely-watched special House election in the Pittsburgh suburbs — even though it's the very accomplishment on which they had banked their midterm election hopes.

New York Times:

Democrats Can't Win if They Don't Run — Regardless of who wins the special House election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the Democratic candidate, Conor Lamb, has already accomplished something impressive by showing that his party ought to contest every election — no matter how daunting the odds.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, VICE News, Mother Jones, Splinter, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Beast and ABC News

Monmouth University Polling Institute:

Dem Gains in CD18 Special — Voters divided on steel tariffs, but negligible impact on vote — West Long Branch, NJ - Democrat Conor Lamb has taken a lead over Republican Rick Saccone in the special election for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District.

Vaughn Hillyard / NBC News:
Pennsylvania GOP candidate Rick Saccone claims his opponents ‘hate’ Trump, U.S., and God

Discussion: Political Wire and Joe.My.God.

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Pennsylvania GOP chairman says Tuesday special election is in ‘Democrat district’

Discussion: Washington Post, RRH Elections, Roll Call, Fox News, NBC News, NPR, CNN, Victory Girls Blog, The Daily Beast, TYT Network, Booman Tribune, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Monthly and Political Wire

Alex Roarty / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Inside the DCCC's stealth effort to help Conor Lamb

Discussion: Politico and Real Clear Politics

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

Roger Stone claimed contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2016, according to two associates … In the spring of 2016, longtime political operative Roger Stone had a phone conversation that would later seem prophetic, according to the person on the other end of the line.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Mediaite

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:

VIDEO: Hillary slips down stairs in India — despite two men holding her up — Even though Hillary Clinton had help going down a set of stairs in India today, she still nearly fell down. — While visiting Jahaz Mahal in Dhar's Mandu, Clinton was attempting to descend about 15 stairs.

Discussion: NTK Network, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and Grabien News

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Hillary Clinton: US does ‘not deserve’ Trump

Discussion: Axios, Political Wire, JustOneMinute, twitchy.com, Mediaite, The Federalist and Washington Post

Weekly Standard:
Hillary Reminds America Why She Lost

Discussion: YouTube and The Federalist

Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller: Watch: Hillary Nearly Falls Down Stairs Twice In India

Kate Briquelet / The Daily Beast:

EXCLUSIVE: Stormy Daniels' Pal on Trump: ‘He Would Call All the Time’ … Stormy Daniels turned on the speakerphone when President Trump called. — So says Keith Munyan, one of the four people Stormy Daniels included in the nondisclosure agreement she signed with Donald Trump's lawyer.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Dallas Morning News:
Texas notary's failure to sign Stormy Daniels' hush agreement is under investigation

Discussion: Fortune, The Hill, HeraldScotland, Talking Points Memo, Daily Wire, fox8.com, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Guardian, IJR, Raw Story, New York Times and Shareblue Media

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Is The Stormy Story More Damaging Than We Thought?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Hullabaloo

CBS News:

Approval of Trump's handling of North Korea increases - CBS News poll — Americans increasingly approve of President Trump's handling of the North Korea situation, following the announcement of a planned meeting with Kim Jong Un. Republicans in particular have become more confident …

Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Japan Fears Being Left Behind by Trump's Talks With Kim Jong-un

Discussion: Spiked, The Daily Beast and The Atlantic

USA Today:

Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, says Robert Mueller is ‘not an unguided missile’ — Special Counsel Robert Muller may delay the obstruction of justice portion of the 2016 election probe, potentially shifting focus to other parts of the case like collusion for the time being.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media, Mediaite and News & Guts Media

Rex W. Tillerson / US Department of State:

Attributing Responsibility for the Nerve Agent Attack in the U.K. — Press Statement Secretary of State Washington, DC — The United States was in touch with our Allies in the United Kingdom ahead of today's announcement, including in a call between Secretary Tillerson and Foreign Secretary Johnson this morning.

Discussion: The Guardian, HeraldScotland and Mediaite

Will Englund / Washington Post:
What a brave Russian scientist told me about Novichok, the nerve agent identified in the spy attack

Discussion: Politico

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Top Arab spy and prince's conduit to the Kremlin were at the Seychelles meeting between Trump donor Erik Prince and Russian oligarch which Mueller is probing — Erik Prince, the billionaire Blackwater founder and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker close to the Kremlin met in the Seychelles in January 2017

Discussion: RedState

CNN:

FBI tried to contact ‘sex coaches’ in Thai jail — Jailed seductress promises US-Russia secrets — Bangkok, Thailand (CNN)FBI agents have tried to meet a pair of self-styled “sex coaches” detained in a Bangkok jail who claim to have evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, a senior Thai official told CNN.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ronald Brownstein / CNN:

Somebody should tell Democrats they've become the free trade party — Trump signs new steel, aluminum tariffs — (CNN)Nothing better illustrates the Democratic Party's inability to adapt to the changing nature of its political coalition than the party's paralysis in the fierce debate …