Morning Must Reads: August 2

In the news: government shutdown looming, new details on the Benghazi attack, Snowden, "Fabulous Fab" conviction, the definition of "journalist," and the "Golden Boy" of Washington

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Mark Wilson / Getty Images

The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

  • “Hours before leaving on summer recess, Congress on Thursday hit a seemingly intractable impasse on government spending, increasing the prospects of a government shutdown in the fall and adding new urgency to fiscal negotiations between the White House and a bloc of Senate Republicans.” [NYT]
  • Dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground the night of the U.S. Benghazi embassy attack, according to CNN. Since January, some CIA operatives have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations to see if they have been leaking information to Congress or the press.
  • Edward Snowden is just Putin’s latest insult to to Obama.
  • Ramesh Ponnuru’s look at the 2016 Republican field.
  • President Obama nominated John Koskinen to be the next commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
  • SEC gets big win in “Fabulous Fab” conviction for misleading investors in a mortgage-linked deal.
  • Senators spar over definition of ‘journalist’ in seeking to protect them in new “shield law.”
  • Why Russia turned against the gays
  • The Senate confirmed John Berry to serve as the ambassador to Australia — the first out gay ambassador to a G-20 country — on a voice vote Thursday, along with three other out gay ambassadorial nominees.
  • Jason Linkins takes on the bully pulpit theory in “What If Ron Fournier Can’t Read?
  • New Republic calls Luke Russert the “Golden Boy” of Washington.