memeorandum: Electors under siege (Kyle Cheney/Politico)

6:45 PM ET, December 18, 2016

Top Items:

Luke Harding / The Guardian:

Leak reveals Rex Tillerson is director of Bahamas-based US-Russian oil company — Rex Tillerson, the businessman nominated by Donald Trump to be the next US secretary of state, is the long-time director of a US-Russian oil firm based in the tax haven of the Bahamas, leaked documents show.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, alan.com, Common Dreams, Occupy Democrats, Jezebel and Observer

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:
Poll Finds Americans Believe Trump Will Bring Change but Are Divided Over What Kind

Discussion: AOL

Elana Schor / Politico: ExxonMobil helped defeat Russia sanctions bill

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Pa. electors get police protection: ‘This is stupid’ — Facing a wave of calls, Pennsylvania electors sounding unshakable — President-elect Donald Trump during a “thank you” rally in Alabama tonight. — President-elect Donald Trump — HARRISBURG — Thousands of emails land in their inboxes every day.

Discussion: Raw Story, BizPac Review and The Gateway Pundit

John Sides / Washington Post:

A new poll shows an astonishing 52% of Republicans incorrectly think Trump won the popular vote — Amid the speculation on whether the electoral college will refuse to make Donald Trump president, many Trump opponents are pinning their hopes on one glaring fact: Hillary Clinton's sizable win in the popular vote.

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, New York Magazine, Scripting News, Mediaite and Political Wire

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Five things to watch when the Electoral College votes Monday — The 538 members of the Electoral College will meet in their state capitols Monday, almost assuredly sealing President-elect Donald Trump — 's victory. — Trump won 306 electoral votes on Election Day …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Vox

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Donald Trump lost the popular vote by 2.8 million. Most Republicans are convinced he won.

Discussion: New York Times and alan.com

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Electors under siege

Discussion: Power Line, ABC News, New York Magazine, Law News, Hot Air, The Point, Political Wire, Vox Popoli, Business Insider, Independent Journal Review, Washington Post and Common Dreams

Ian Kullgren / Politico:

Priebus: Trump not yet ready to accept Russian election tampering — President-elect Donald Trump isn't ready to accept the conclusion that Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election until intelligence agencies release some sort of joint report, his incoming White House chief of staff said Sunday.

Discussion: CNN, AOL and Daily Kos

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Bipartisan Letter Seeks Single Inquiry Into Russian Hacking Claims — Four senators, including Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, called for a select committee to investigate Russian hacking of the American election process. — Robert Gates said the Russian hacking was designed to hurt Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: Political Wire and Vox

Margaret Chadbourn / ABC News:

Senior GOP Lawmaker Calls for Investigation of CIA Director Over Media Leaks on Russian Hacking — A senior Republican congressman called for an investigation into whether the head of the CIA leaked to the media while withholding from Congress the agency's findings that Russians used hacking …

Discussion: Daily Mail, alan.com and Politico

Fox News:
Priebus: Trump ready to accept Russia hacking report, if CIA, FBI get on same page

Discussion: Washington Post and The Right Scoop

Carimah Townes / ThinkProgress:

White nationalists target Jews in small Montana town — A call to action in the Daily Stormer describes Jews as a “vicious, evil race of hate-filled psychopaths.” — A white-supremacist call to action to “troll” Jewish people in Whitefish, Montana—home of white nationalist Richard Spencer's mother …

Discussion: The Talking Dog, Jezebel, Occupy Democrats and Daily Stormer

Keila Szpaller / Missoulian:

White supremacist website calls for action in Montana — A white supremacist website called The Daily Stormer has posted a call to “TAKE ACTION” against Jewish people in Whitefish, providing personal contact information and urging a “troll storm” against them.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript 12-18-16: Donna Brazile — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR ‘THIS WEEK’ on December 18, 2016 and it will be updated. — MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: Let's take that straight to Donna Brazile, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, which took the brunt of Russia's cyber hack.

Discussion: Althouse, AOL, Politicus USA and Politico

Nicki Rossoll / ABC News:
DNC Chair Contradicts Obama: Russian Hackers Came After Us ‘Until End of Election’

Discussion: The Week

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Dem boss demands bipartisan congressional investigation into Russian hacks

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Ryan Felton / The Guardian:

Michigan unemployment agency made 20,000 false fraud accusations - report — Automated system erroneously accused claimants in 93% of cases, state review finds: 'It's balancing the books on the backs of the poorest,' lawyer says — A Michigan government agency wrongly accused individuals …

Eugene Scott / CNN:

Lynch says reaction to Bill Clinton meeting was ‘painful’ — Washington (CNN)Attorney General Loretta Lynch says she regrets not recognizing that her meeting with Bill Clinton over the summer would turn out to be problematic, saying it was “painful” that it called into question the integrity of the Justice Department.