memeorandum: Pro-Trump Californians hope his victory can fuel a GOP revival in the Golden State (Seema Mehta/Los Angeles Times)

4:30 PM ET, January 8, 2017

Top Items:

Reince Priebus: 'There's No Reason' To Do Background Checks On Trump's Cabinet Picks — Reince Priebus, chief of staff to Donald Trump, argued on Sunday that there was “no reason” to complete background checks on the president-elect's cabinet appointments. — The Office of Government Ethics warned …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

McConnell: We won't delay hearings — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rebuffed Democratic calls to slow down rapid confirmation of Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, even after a nonpartisan federal watchdog raised “great” concerns about moving ahead with hearings for nominees whose ethics reviews have not been completed.

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Wire and Hot Air

Associated Press:

The Latest: Senate GOP Leader Says Dems Need to ‘Grow Up’ — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST): — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Democrats need to “grow up” and “get past” the election. — The Kentucky Republican is objecting to concerns raised …

Discussion: Politico

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Trump's Cabinet picks undergo grueling prep for hearings

Discussion: Washington Post

The Hill:
Dems launch early '18 attacks on GOP Senate targets

Discussion: Political Wire

Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Ethics Office Warns Confirmations For Trump Nominees Are Moving Too Fast

Discussion: Raw Story

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
Warren: No confirmation hearings until ethics concerns addressed

Discussion: Raw Story, Bloomberg, Booman Tribune, Shareblue, The Week, RedState, Politicus USA, Washington Post and Politico

William J. Burns / New York Times:

How We Fool Ourselves on Russia — In the quarter-century since the end of the Cold War, profound grievances, misperceptions and disappointments have often defined the relationship between the United States and Russia. I lived through this turbulence during my years as a diplomat in Moscow …

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Obama: I didn't underestimate the threats from Vladimir Putin — President Obama said in an interview that he did not misjudge the potential threats of Vladimir Putin, despite the U.S. intelligence report that the Russian president personally ordered an “influence campaign” to meddle in the U.S. presidential elections.

Discussion: NBC News, Mediaite and The Week

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Obama: I didn't underestimate Putin

Discussion: Political Wire

Nicki Rossoll / ABC News:

President Obama Says He and Donald Trump ‘Are Sort of Opposites’ — President Obama said he thinks it's fair to say that he and President-elect Donald Trump “are sort of opposites in some ways,” but he admitted there is one thing they have in common: confidence.

Discussion: AOL

Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times:
Pro-Trump Californians hope his victory can fuel a GOP revival in the Golden State

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Tapper Grills Conway: If WikiLeaks Didn't Influence the Election, Why Did Trump Invoke Them So Much? — CNN's Jake Tapper had Kellyanne Conway on State of the Union, where he asked the Donald Trump adviser about the President-elect's response to the intelligence that Russia meddled with the 2016 election

Discussion: The Week

Maayan Lubell / Reuters:

Netanyahu tried to negotiate a good press in return for benefits-media — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under police investigation for suspected corruption, was caught on tape negotiating mutual benefits with an arch-foe, the owner of one of Israel's largest-selling newspapers, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Haaretz:
Netanyahu Caught on Tape Negotiating Mutual Benefits With Businessman

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Obama says he thinks ObamaCare will survive — President Obama said he thinks ObamaCare, his signature healthcare legislation, will survive. — “I think it will,” he said in an interview on ABC's “This Week.” “It may be called something else. And as I said, I don't mind.”

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Nicki Rossoll / ABC News:
President Obama Says ‘Obamacare’ Will Survive Beyond His Presidency

Discussion: BizPac Review, The Daily Caller and alan.com

Burgess Everett / Politico:
GOP resistance grows to Obamacare repeal without replacement

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Jamie Dupree and Hot Air

Pagan Kennedy / New York Times:

How to Destroy the Business Model of Breitbart and Fake News — One day in late November, an earth and environmental science professor named Nathan Phillips visited Breitbart News for the first time. Mr. Phillips had heard about the hateful headlines on the site — like …

Discussion: Occidental Dissent

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:

Celebrities give Obama emotional farewell in video — Celebrities, activists and others gave an emotional goodbye to President Obama in a new video by the White House titled “Yes We Can: Your Most Memorable Moments from the Obama Presidency.” — The video features figures including Leonardo DiCaprio …

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com, The Gateway Pundit and Scared Monkeys

Mike Miller / IJR:
Hollywood Celebrities Share Their ‘Obama Moments’ in Emotional Farewell Video to the President

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Infowars and Scared Monkeys

Peter Beaumont / The Guardian:

Four soldiers dead in Jerusalem truck attack — Four people killed and a dozen injured with bodies ‘strewn on the street’ after attack on promenade overlooking Old City … Four Israeli officer cadets were killed in Jerusalem on Sunday and a dozen wounded when a Palestinian attacker driving a truck ploughed into them deliberately.

Discussion: New York Times, The Times of Israel, New York Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, Sputnik International, The Geller Report, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Associated Press, The Week and Mediaite

Judah Ari Gross / The Times of Israel:
4 killed as driver plows truck into troops in Jerusalem terror attack

Discussion: Israel Matzav and The Daily Caller

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

Graham: Republicans happy about Russian meddling are political hacks — (R-S.C.) on Sunday ripped Republicans who are “gleeful” about Russia's meddling in the U.S. election, saying anyone who isn't condemning the meddling is “a political hack.” — “Most Republicans are condemning what Russia did.

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Spicer: Media doesn't treat Trump with respect, cheers on Democrats — The media doesn't treat President-elect Donald Trump — with the proper respect, the man set to be the next White House spokesman says in an interview with The Hill. — Sean Spicer, the longtime GOP operative …

Discussion: Politicus USA

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

Democrats wage anti-Trump offensive for their own gain — MORE FROM: — This is a first: Donald Trump is guilty of an understatement, of making a molehill out of a mountain. He called the Washington furor over Russian hacking a “witch hunt” when it is actually far more sinister and dangerous.