Axios

Three sources close to the contenders who have interviewed to fill former FBI Director James Comey's vacated role at the helm of the FBI tell Reuters the interview process so far has been chaotic. Two other highlights from inside the interviews:

• One of the sources said "Trump spoke mostly about himself and seemed distracted" in one interview.
• All three sources said the interviews were "light on questions about substantive issues facing the agency," as Reuters wrote.

Why it matters: It's three weeks out from when Trump fired Comey.

The White House declined to comment.

NBC's Megyn Kelly previewed Friday night her exclusive interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who responded to allegations of Russian interference during the 2016 U.S election:

"Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in Asia...even in America, Latin America ... They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States, who very skillfully and professionally, shifted the blame, as we say, on to Russia. Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle. By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia. Could you imagine something like that? I can."

Why it matters: Putin is casting out hypotheses about where the hackers are from, but none of his theories point to Russia or its hacking capabilities. He also suggested to Kelly that the CIA could be involved.

The special counsel probe into Trump-Russia links is now investigating Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, per an AP report. It's taking an oversight role of an ongoing investigation into Manafort. The special counsel is also expanding the probe to investigate Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Reuters first reported. Mueller is assuming control of the grand jury investigation into Flynn's paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman and his contacts with Russian officials.

The investigation may also expand to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the matter of firing FBI Director James Comey, per the AP.

Why it matters: Including Manafort shows special counsel Robert Mueller is "assuming a broad mandate," the AP said.

Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News Channel's America's Newsroom he has "reason to believe" someone requested his conversation with a foreigner be unmasked, so he has asked the NSA, FBI, and CIA to tell him what has happened with his surveilled conversations.

• Why it matters: Graham said he wants to know if Obama Administration officials were "politicizing" any of the 1,950 conversations of Americans that have been collected inadvertently while surveilling foreigners. And he wants to know who made the requests.
• Context: This is not the first time Graham has dug in on unmasking — he's grilled James Comey, who at the time was the FBI Director. Trey Gowdy has also asked Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan about who can request unmasking. The House Intel Committee subpoenaed unmasking requests from former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Brennan, and former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power earlier this week.

The White House has started sending copies of a 6,700-page report from 2014, that outlines the CIA's interrogation and torture techniques, to Congress, reports The New York Times. So far, the CIA, the office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the CIA's inspector general have all returned their copies.

Why this matters: The report could be locked away in the Senate, meaning it wouldn't be available to the public.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) offered a cynical view Thursday of the Senate's outlook on the GOP's health care bill, stating that he doesn't think they'll reach a deal on the House-passed plan when the Senate returns from a recess next week, per the WSJ.

"It's unlikely that we will get a health-care deal," Burr told North Carolina news station WXII 12 News. He added that that the bill was "dead on arrival," and said "I don't see a comprehensive health-care plan this year."

Why it matters: It's just an opinion from one senator, but Burr is no stranger to health care. He and Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote one of the early Republican plans to replace the Affordable Care Act. So it's a pretty good sign of pessimism within the ranks.

"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough repeatedly called Steve Bannon "President Bannon" on his show Friday: "TIME magazine was right: Steve Bannon is the president of the United States."

"He has gone in. Donald Trump doesn't know anything about policy. Donald Trump doesn't know anything about politics. Donald Trump doesn't know anything about anything. He can get up and give a good speech. You listen to him talk about any topic and he wanders from sentence to sentence to sentence. So Steve Bannon is now the President of the United States. And that was more clear yesterday than ever before."

Scarborough also suggested that "President Bannon" was the source behind the negative leaks on Jared Kushner and his ties to Russia, noting that Bannon bragged about having damaging information on Trump's son-in-law in the days leading up to the reports that Kushner was being looked at by the FBI.