The groundhog saw its shadow, predicting (at least) 6 more weeks of hyper-partisanship, wanton obstruction, laughable falsehoods, transparent misdirections, troubling attacks on America’s institutions, and a never-ending, obsession-inducing news-cycle that consistently manages to drop the American jaw to levels lower than we thought possible. And now the story continues with The Memo. You can view a clean version here or read it with the help of some explanatory annotations from WaPo. If the goal of releasing the memo was to get everyone talking about the memo, its release was a resounding success. Any impact beyond that will have less to do with its contents and more to do with how the big reveal is used by key players.

+ The Atlantic’s David Graham has a good overview of what’s in the memo (and what isn’t).

+ James Comey: That’s it?

+ John McCain, undergoing treatment for brain cancer, issued a statement: “The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests — no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s … Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded.”

+ To understand the memo, you have to know a little about Carter Page.

+ To avoid any risk of burying the lede, let’s get to the memo reaction that matters the most. When reporters asked whether he has considered firing Rod Rosenstein and whether he still has confidence in him after reading the memo, Trump answered: “You figure that one out.” He added: “I think it’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country … ” (Editor’s note: Agreed.)