memeorandum: Inside CBS News, Staffers Voice Disgust, Anger, Relief and Anxiety After Trump Settlement (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)

9:10 PM ET, July 2, 2025

Top Items:

The Reconciliation Timeline Is Slipping as Trump Struggles to Flip Votes — The president told one group of House Republicans Wednesday that Congress shouldn't touch three things if they want to win elections: Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. — Copy

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News, PoliticusUSA, New York Magazine, al.com, HuffPost, Meidas+ and NewsMax.com

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:

Thomas Massie on why fellow Republicans keep folding: 'They're just afraid of Trump' — Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the lone House Republican who has consistently opposed Trump's deficit-raising “big, beautiful bill,” said he sleeps well at night. — “I have raised $400,000 from 4,500 donors …

Discussion: The Hill, home-page, Raw Story, Townhall and The Gateway Pundit

Charlie Sykes / To the Contrary:

The Conscience of Lisa Murkowski — Today's newsletter is farrago of cruelty, cowardice, betrayal, and hypocrisy. … — Lisa Murkowski. — Or not. — This morning, I'm tempted to write that Lisa Murkowski is simply the worst. But, of course this is unfair, because there is so much competition for that distinction.

Discussion: The Hill, The Independent, USA Today, New York Times and CNBC

Politico:

House left in limbo as megabill talks continue — Republican holdouts on the Senate-passed version of the party's “big, beautiful bill” are huddling with House GOP leaders, who are holding open a vote to move the legislation forward as they negotiate. The procedural vote remained stuck more than 90 minutes after it was first called.

Discussion: The Senate Democratic Caucus, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com, The Hill, CNBC and Raw Story

Roll Call:
Vibe shift in House as Trump, GOP leaders begin to flip votes

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation, CBS News, The Hill and NOTUS

New York Times:
Tax Cuts Now, Benefit Cuts Later: The Timeline in the Republican Megabill

Discussion: Vox and CNN

NBC News:
Republicans scramble to corral support for Trump megabill ahead of House vote

Toluse Olorunnipa / Washington Post:
Biden's climate law boosted red states. Their lawmakers are now gutting it.

Discussion: E2

Axios:
GOP revolt delays House vote on Trump's “big, beautiful bill”

Discussion: MeidasTouch News, Rolling Stone, CBS News and PoliticusUSA

Meredith Lee Hill / Politico: Oz works to assuage GOP members on Medicaid relief fund

Politico:
Megabill hits an unexpected procedural snag

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story and NewsMax.com

Catie Edmondson / New York Times:
The $3 Trillion Question at the Capitol: Will Conservatives Cave (Again)?

Discussion: The Intercept, Morning Brew, Roll Call, Washington Examiner and The Hill

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Inside CBS News, Staffers Voice Disgust, Anger, Relief and Anxiety After Trump Settlement — The network's employees are angry about the $16 million ‘60 Minutes’ settlement, relieved at the lack of an apology, and nervous for what comes next under Skydance ownership.

Discussion: NPR, Associated Press, Deadline, The Hill, Variety, The Indian Express, Raw Story, Daily Kos, New York Sun, twitchy.com and Al Jazeera, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News:

Paramount, CBS forced to pay eight figures, change editorial policy in settlement with President Trump — Result of the agreement on lawsuit could reach north of $30 million with $16 million upfront — FIRST ON FOX - Paramount Global and CBS agreed on Tuesday to pay President Donald Trump …

New York Times:
Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount agrees to pay $16 million to settle Trump's CBS ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit

Discussion: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Politico, Variety, The Dispatch, Business Insider, Meidas+, Deseret News and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Paramount betrays ‘60 Minutes’ and the rest of us

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

New York Times:

Trump Says U.S. Has Reached Trade Deal With Vietnam — The president said he had agreed to initial trade terms with Vietnam, the second country to strike a limited deal after Mr. Trump threatened steep tariffs. — President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States had reached …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Breitbart, Fox Business, WBIR-TV, The Indian Express, NewsMax.com, Washington Times, Newsweek, One America News Network, USA Today, AppleInsider, The Hill, Al Jazeera and Semafor

Josh Boak / Associated Press:
Analysis shows Trump's tariffs would cost US employers $82.3 billion

Discussion: The Hill and JPMorganChase

Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump announces trade deal with Vietnam

Discussion: CNBC, Bloomberg, WBIR-TV, Raw Story, NPR, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, Newsweek, New York Post, The Daily Caller, RedState, Axios, UPI, New Republic, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Human Events, Not the Bee and NewsMax.com

Politico:

Kilmar Abrego Garcia describes ‘severe beatings’ and ‘psychological torture’ in Salvadoran prison … The Salvadoran prison where Abrego was initially housed, known as the Anti-Terrorism Confinement Center or by its Spanish-language acronym CECOT, is reputed to be rife with gang violence and human rights abuses.

Discussion: The Independent

Mike Masnick / Techdirt: Trump's Immigration Enforcement: Free The Criminals, Jail The Innocent

Alex Harring / CNBC:

The private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, badly missing expectations for a 100,000 increase, ADP says … Private sector hiring unexpectedly contracted in June, payrolls processing firm ADP said Wednesday, in a possible sign that the economy may not be as sturdy as investors believe …

Discussion: New Republic, Reuters, Raw Story, Breitbart, Mercury News, New Jersey Online, Washington Times, The Hill, NewsMax.com, Daily Kos, UPI and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg: US Private Payrolls Fall for First Time in Two Years in ADP Data

Washington Post:

Federal judge bars Trump administration from expelling asylum seekers — The judge ruled that the president cannot create an “alternative immigration system” that tramples on existing federal law. — Summary241 — A federal judge in the District of Columbia barred the Trump administration Wednesday …

Discussion: CNN, CBS News and Not the Bee

Hamed Aleaziz / New York Times:
Illegal Border Crossings Plunge to Lowest Level in Decades

Discussion: Associated Press, HotAir, NPR, Roll Call, IJR, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, CBS News and Newsweek

Politico:
Judge blocks ‘sweeping’ asylum crackdown after Trump declared ‘invasion’ at southern border

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NewsNation, Fox News, All Rise News, Rolling Stone, New Republic, Breitbart, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Washington Times, The Daily Caller and Reuters

New York Times:

Justice Dept. Explores Using Criminal Charges Against Election Officials — Such a path could drastically raise the stakes for federal investigations of state or county officials, bringing the department and the threat of criminalization into the election system.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Raw Story and The Independent

Zach Montague / New York Times:

Judge Rejects Trump's Attempt to Stop Migrant Asylum Claims — Judge Rejects Trump's Attempt to Stop Asylum Claims at Border — What Has Trump Said About Undocumented Farmers and Hotel Workers? — 4 MIN READ — Somebody Explain Why Everybody Loves Phil Rosenthal

Discussion: RedState and NewsMax.com

Todd Richmond / Associated Press:

Wisconsin Supreme Court's liberal majority strikes down 176-year-old abortion ban — The Wisconsin Supreme Court's liberal majority struck down the state's 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by a newer state law that criminalizes abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.

Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down 1849 Abortion Ban

Discussion: Washington Post and WisPolitics

Kara Carlson / Bloomberg:

Tesla Sales Fall 13%, Putting Carmaker on Course for Annual Drop — Tesla Inc. shares jumped after the carmaker posted a less drastic decline in vehicle sales than the most pessimistic analysts feared. — The company delivered 384,122 vehicles during the last three months, down 13% from a year earlier.

Discussion: CNN, Scripps News, CNBC, TechCrunch, Semafor, Reuters, Associated Press, The Verge and Forbes

Jack Ewing / New York Times:
Tesla Sales Fall as Elon Musk Focuses on Self-Driving Cars

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Futurism, Associated Press, The Hill and The Information

New York Times:

What we know about the jury's deliberations. — To summarize a whirlwind moment in court: Sean Combs was acquitted of the most serious counts against him, including sex trafficking. The jury was not convinced that the women who testified were coerced into the sex marathons with male escorts at the heart of the case.

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, New York Magazine, Townhall, New York Post, HotAir, Variety, Page Six and Megyn Kelly

Melissa Gira Grant / New Republic:

The Grand Opening of an American Concentration Camp — What were you doing the day the president attended the opening of an American concentration camp in the Everglades? Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Republican officials because of the predators living in the surrounding swampland …

Discussion: Miami Herald, America, America, The Dean's Report, Naples Daily News, Fox News, Raw Story and Salon

Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:
Welcome to the Age of Disappearance

Discussion: American Immigration Council

Associated Press:

US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza — American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.

Financial Times:

Ukraine summons top US diplomat after Washington halts some arms supplies — Reduction in weapons shipments makes Kyiv more vulnerable to Russia's escalating attacks — Christopher Miller and Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv and James Politi in Washington — Ukraine summoned a top diplomat …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Associated Press, Atlantic Council, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Washington Post, Washington Times, Bloomberg, CBS News, HuffPost, NewsMax.com, UPI, The Post Millennial and National Review

Jake Sullivan / New York Times:
The Tragedy of Halting Weapons to Ukraine

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian, Atlantic Council, The War Zone and Blaze Media

Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Lawfare Against the Free Press — He suggests prosecuting CNN, while pressuring a settlement out of CBS. — Click for Sound — President Trump has taunted the media for years, and some of his jibes are deserved given the groupthink in most newsrooms.

Discussion: PBS NewsHour, Spectrum News NY1, Reason, MSNBC and The Post Millennial, more at Techmeme »

Russ Buettner / New York Times:

Trump's Finances Were Shaky. Then He Began to Capitalize on His Comeback. … An attendee posed with a cutout of President Trump at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas at the end of May.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times — Last spring, even as Donald J. Trump's march back toward …

Discussion: The Independent and Raw Story

Ross O'Keefe / Washington Examiner:

Intern for House Republican Ron Estes fatally shot in DC — A 21-year-old intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) was killed in a shooting in Washington, D.C., on Monday night. — The intern, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, joined Estes's office in June. He is a resident of Granby, Massachusetts, and is attending college at UMass Amherst.

Discussion: mpdc.dc.gov, Roll Call, Breitbart, UPI, The Post Millennial, Washington Times and Blaze Media

Spencer Ackerman / Zeteo:

My Fellow New York Jews and I Know Zohran Mamdani Does Not Threaten Us — It's time we all speak out against Jewish self-victimization and not fall into the trap of Islamophobic tropes. — ∙ Paid — At least the capitalists can say what about a Zohran Mamdani mayoralty threatens them.

Discussion: The Independent, The Forward and Los Angeles Times