In the early days of the Trump administration, a memo of uncertain origin circulated at the highest levels of the White House laying out a conspiracy theory about "coordinated attacks" on President Trump's foreign policy agenda from a group of former Obama administration officials, according to a memo obtained by The New Yorker's Adam Entous and Ronan Farrow. The memo, which "reads like a U.S. military-intelligence officer's analysis of a foreign-insurgent network," they wrote, posited that "the communications infrastructure ... used to sell ObamaCare and the Iran Deal to the public ('Echo Chamber') has been shifted from the White House into the private sector."

The unsigned, undated memo dubbed the alleged cabal the Echo Chamber, and while "Trump Administration officials familiar with it offered conflicting accounts of who authored it and whether it originated inside or outside the White House," its content, language, and themes bear remarkable resemblance to internal documents from the Israeli private-intelligence firm Black Cube, Entous and Farrow report.

In May, Farrow and Britain's The Observer uncovered a Black Cube campaign targeting the alleged ring leaders of the "Echo Chamber," Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl, plus their families. Black Cube told The New Yorker it "does not get involved in politics" and "is not aware of the documents mentioned in this article, neither their contents."

Rhodes and Kahl called the "Echo Chamber" memo absurd and denied there was any coordinated campaign to undermine Trump. It's "a bizarre effort to validate 'deep state' conspiracy theories," Rhodes told The New Yorker. Entous and Farrow suggest the memo was pushed by Stephen Bannon's White House faction. Incidentally, Iranian-born British entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz, one of Black Cube's early driving forces — according to a 2013 Israeli lawsuit uncovered by The Times of Israel — was the largest shareholder in SCL Group, the parent company of Bannon's defunct Cambridge Analytica, from 2005 to 2015. And that, honestly, would make for a much more interesting conspiracy theory. Peter Weber

A new major federally funded study released Saturday at The American Heart Association's annual scientific conference found that stents and coronary bypass surgery are no more effective than drug treatment and better health habits in preventing heart attacks.

The study's results primarily pertain to people who have narrowed coronary arteries, but are not actually suffering acute symptoms. Typically in those cases, doctors will implement a stent or perform bypass surgery to redirect blood around a blockage even when patients don't show any symptoms or any feel discomfort when the exert themselves, The Wall Street Journal reports. But, per the new study, they aren't actually more successful than cholesterol-lowering drugs and other changes in health habits.

"You won't prolong life," Judith Hochman, the chair of the study said.

Stents and surgery do, however, work better for relieving symptoms related frequent chest pain, the study found.

The results of the study, while likely to increase debate between preventative and interventional cardiologists, do provide further evidence that caution is a-okay in many circumstances. "This shows the safety of not panicking when you see a positive stress test," said Jay Giri, a practicing interventional cardiologist. Read more at The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal. Tim O'Donnell

An anonymous member of the Chinese political establishment leaked over 400 pages of internal documents to The New York Times, which provide an "unprecedented inside view" into Beijing's crackdown on China's Muslim population.

The Times notes that the most detailed discussion on the "indoctrination camps" in Xianjing, where as many as 1 million members of ethnic groups that practice Islam are being held, are found in a directive that outlines how party officials should handle minority students returning home in the summer of 2017 to find that their family members had been sent to Xianjing. Officials were advised to tell the students their relatives were "in treatment" after exposure to radical Islam, and respond with increasingly firm replies when pressed on their matter, highlighting the narrative the government had carved out to justify the internment.

"If they don't undergo study and training, they'll never thoroughly and fully understand the dangers of religious extremism," one of the answers said. "No matter what age, anyone who has been infected by religious extremism must undergo study."

A series of internal speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping also stood out in the document. Xi said officials should show "absolutely no mercy" and use the "organs of dictatorship" to root out Islamic extremism in the country. He was careful, however, to say there should be no discrimination against certain ethnic groups like the Uighurs, and that Islam should not be restricted as a religion. Many people argue that both of these things have come to fruition regardless. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell

Things haven't been going smoothly for Sen. Kamala Harris' (D-Calif.) presidential campaign lately, but the Democratic hopeful is expected to receive a boost Saturday with an endorsement from the United Farm Workers, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

It's considered a major endorsement from a powerful California-based union established by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta (who personally endorsed Harris this year), and Gilbert Padilla. Home state ties were likely a factor for Harris in this instance, but a win is a win.

The union's executive board reportedly voted "overwhelmingly" to back the senator. UFW President Teresa Romero cited Harris' efforts to help farm workers secure overtime pay, as well as her time spent marching with the group during demonstrations, and advocating for immigrant rights as major reasons why they're throwing their weight behind her.

It's unclear if this will boost Harris' numbers even in California where she's lagging behind Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden. Things look even worse nationally for her, as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has vaulted into fourth place. Besides faltering in the polls, the campaign is also dealing with some internal strife. Perhaps the most recent endorsement will brighten the mood. Read more at The San Francisco Chronicle. Tim O'Donnell

You've probably seen the Myles Garrett helmet swing by now.

The Cleveland Browns defensive end was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after he ripped off the helmet of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and then proceeded to hit Rudolph over the head with it at the end of the teams' contest Thursday night. Garrett was ejected from the game, and the league came down with the hammer Friday. Fans won't see Garrett until next season, at the earliest.

Football is a violent sport, but Garrett's misconduct occurred after the whistle, which is what makes it stand out. It was also surprising because of the culprit himself. Garrett, a former No. 1 overall draft pick and Defensive Player of the Year candidate, writes poetry, likes dinosaurs, and is considered an all around nice guy. Of course, that doesn't mean he's beyond losing his composure like he did Thursday. But his over-the-top reaction may have also been a result of his determination to shed his reputation and establish himself as someone not to be trifled with.

Garrett's former defensive line coach for the Browns, Clyde Simmons, told The Ringer in 2018 that Garrett was learning how to be more intimidating on the field aside from just his dominant skillset. "At some point you have to stand up and say, 'I'm not taking that crap. I'll be here all day," Simmons said at the time.

That's not to say that Garrett's actions were okayed by the Browns or that he long ago determined he would hit someone in the head with their own helmet, but it does show that he was encouraged to intensify his demeanor. Read more at The Ringer. Tim O'Donnell

It's helpful to be able to read your boss if you want something done at work.

Current and former Trump administration officials told The Wall Street Journal that President Trump was pretty adamant that he did not want to provide Ukraine with the U.S.-made Javelin antitank missiles Kyiv requested in 2017 in the hopes of defending itself against Russia. Trump's hostility reportedly stemmed from the fact that he long considered Ukraine a "corrupt country" and that he wanted European countries to do more to protect their neighbors, rather than have countries like Ukraine lean so heavily on the U.S.

But then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and then-Defense Secretary James Mattis told Kyiv not to worry. They promised that Washington would grant the request for the missiles once Trump was in a better mood, one foreign official briefed on the matter told the Journal. Lo and behold, the Trump administration passed its tax-reform bill in December 2017, which energized the president. The next day, Trump signed off on the missile deal, though the Journal notes that his largely negative view of Ukraine remained in tact. Read more about how Trump's opinion of Ukraine was shaped over time at The Wall Street Journal. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump pardoned two U.S. service members accused of war crimes Friday and restored the rank of a third who was charged with posing for a picture with the corpse of an enemy combatant in Iraq, but was acquitted of murder.

One of the men Trump pardoned, Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, is currently in the sixth year of a 19-year sentence for ordering his soldiers to open fire on three unarmed men in Afghanistan, killing two of them. Meanwhile, Army Maj. Matthew Golsteyn was awaiting trial for allegedly murdering a suspected Afghan bombmaker in 2010 before Trump granted clemency, and Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher, a 15-year Navy SEAL, will have his rank restored after he was docked for the photograph.

Some Pentagon and military officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper had previously reportedly urged Trump not to intervene in the cases, or at least consider holding off, but he didn't take that advice. But while his decision may be controversial, it is within his powers to grant clemency, as the Defense Department acknowledged Friday evening. "The Department of Defense has confidence in the military justice system," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said. "The president is part of the military justice system as the commander-in-chief and has the authority to weigh in on matters of this nature." Read more at NPR and Fox News. Tim O'Donnell