memeorandum: Winning the transition — BOARDMAN, Ohio — As if to drive home … (Salena Zito/Washington Examiner)

7:25 AM ET, December 12, 2016

Top Items:

Spencer Ackerman / The Guardian:

Intelligence figures fear Trump reprisals over assessment of Russia election role — Legislators overseeing the CIA and other intelligence agencies have told the Guardian they will be vigilant about reprisals from Donald Trump over an internal assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to ensure Trump's victory.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, New Century Times, Washington Post, Reuters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Political Wire

New York Times:

C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence — WASHINGTON — American spy and law enforcement agencies were united in the belief, in the weeks before the presidential election, that the Russian government had deployed computer hackers to sow chaos during the campaign.

Bill Flanagan / CBS News:

John McCain doesn't know what to make of Trump's Russia hacking response — Responding to intelligence officials' report that Russia tried to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, CBS Miami and The Daily Caller

Cyra Master / The Hill:

Palin: ‘I can keep an eye’ on Russia — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted Sunday about a secret CIA report that determined Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump — win. — “Russia's getting out of hand? So says the defeated,” Palin tweeted, appearing to question the CIA report.

Discussion: Raw Story

Maxwell Tani / Business Insider:
TRUMP: I'm a ‘smart person,’ don't need intelligence briefings every single day

Discussion: TheBlaze, Mashable, Refinery29 and alan.com

David / Latest from Crooks and Liars:
Trump Says Democrats Made Up Russian Hacking As An ‘Excuse’ For His ‘Major Landslide Victory’

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Brent Johnson / New Jersey Online:

Christie turned down several jobs in Trump administration, sources say — TRENTON — President-elect Donald Trump offered Gov. Chris Christie numerous positions in his incoming administration, but the New Jersey governor turned them down, two sources with knowledge of Trump's transition efforts told NJ Advance Media.

Discussion: AOL, Business Insider, The Week, Mediaite and Political Wire

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:

Former ambassador to Russia: Putin wanted ‘revenge’ against Clinton — Russia interfered in the U.S. elections to get revenge against Hillary Clinton — , a former U.S. ambassador to the Kremlin said Sunday. — Michael McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014 …

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller and RedState

Theodoric Meyer / Politico:
Priebus denies report RNC was hacked

Discussion: RedState, The Atlantic, CNN, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, New York Times, ABC News and LewRockwell

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:

Bernstein says Trump's lies worse than Nixon's — Carl Bernstein, whose reporting broke open the Watergate scandal that led to former President Nixon's resignation, said Sunday that Nixon's lies were nothing compared to Donald Trump — “Trump lives and thrives in a fact-free environment.

Salena Zito / Washington Examiner:

Winning the transition — BOARDMAN, Ohio — As if to drive home the point, a Trump campaign sign defiantly reminds passersby he won the presidency last month in this Mahoning Valley suburb of Youngstown, a once-dominant manufacturing town in the famed Steel Valley.

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Rand Paul threatens to block Bolton nomination — Sen. Rand Paul is threatening to block President-elect Donald Trump's likely pick of John Bolton as the No. 2 in the State Department. — The Kentucky Republican, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could stop …

Discussion: ABC News and The Week

Fox News:
Exclusive: Donald Trump on Cabinet picks, transition process

Discussion: American Prospect, USA Today, Hot Air, Mashable, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Politicus USA and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:
Chris Wallace Asks Trump: Why Pick Business Exec. Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State?

Discussion: The Week and alan.com

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Trump says ‘nobody really knows’ if climate change is real — President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that “nobody really knows” whether climate change is real and that he is “studying” whether the United States should withdraw from the global warming agreement struck in Paris a year ago.

Discussion: Political Wire

Steve Coll / New Yorker:

Rex Tillerson, from a Corporate Oil Sovereign to the State Department — The news that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, as his Secretary of State is astonishing on many levels.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, NBC News, emptywheel, Politico and New York Times

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Twitter Reinstates White Nationalist Leader Richard Spencer — According to Twitter, Spencer was suspended on a technicality: violating a multiple accounts statute. The suspension reversal highlights Twitter's struggles with policy enforcement in a post-Trump era.

Discussion: Vox, Mashable and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »

Kara Swisher / Recode:

Tim Cook, Larry Page, Sheryl Sandberg — and maybe even Jeff Bezos — are going to Trump's tech summit next week — The gathering will take place Wednesday in New York. — Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are among the small group of top tech leaders …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Bloomberg and Business Insider