memeorandum: Hillary Clinton blasts Sanders, won't commit to backing him as party nominee (Allan Smith/NBC News)

11:05 AM ET, January 21, 2020

Top Items:

Hillary Clinton in Full: A Fiery New Documentary, Trump Regrets and Harsh Words for Bernie: “Nobody Likes Him” — With four-part Hulu series ‘Hillary’ set to premiere at Sundance, one of America's most groundbreaking (and polarizing) figures opens up about Monica Lewinsky, her marriage …

Cara Korte / CBS News:

Sanders apologizes to Biden for surrogate's op-ed alleging he has a “big corruption problem” — Des Moines, Iowa — Senator Bernie Sanders apologized to former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday for an op-ed written by one of his campaign surrogates that claimed Biden has a “big corruption problem.”

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Monthly, National Review, CNN, HuffPost, VICE, Sputnik News, Politico, Washington Times, Fox News, New York Times, Mediaite, Twitchy, The Hill, IJR, Townhall, Axios, The National Interest, Breitbart and The Guardian

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:

Hillary Clinton on Bernie Sanders: “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him” — Hillary Clinton makes her feelings clear about Sen. Bernie Sanders in a new documentary about her career, saying that “nobody likes him” and “nobody wants to work with him,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Matt Stevens / New York Times:

Hillary Clinton Says ‘Nobody Likes’ Bernie Sanders and Declines to Commit to Backing Him — Mrs. Clinton sharply criticized her former primary rival in a forthcoming documentary series, and stood by her comments in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. — Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Biden, Sanders, Social Security and Smears — Lying about a rival is bad, even if you don't like his past positions. — While the news media has been focused on the “spat” between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, something much more serious has been taking place between the Sanders campaign and Joe Biden.

Discussion: American Prospect

Allan Smith / NBC News: Hillary Clinton blasts Sanders, won't commit to backing him as party nominee

Will Weissert / ABC News:
Warren wants task force to investigate Trump administration

Discussion: The Hill

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton savages Bernie Sanders: ‘Nobody likes him’

Discussion: CNN and The Hill

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Sanders apologizes to Biden for supporter's op-ed alleging corruption

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, National Review and Mediaite

Sam Jones / Financial Times:

Swiss police suspect Davos plumbers of being Russian spies — Russian plumbers do not tend to summer in Davos. Even those with diplomatic passports. — Five months before world leaders began their pilgrimage to the annual World Economic Forum this week — among them US president Donald Trump …

Discussion: CNBC, The Week and New York Times

Pan Pylas / Associated Press:
Thunberg slams Davos elites on climate as Trump takes stage

Discussion: Associated Press

Washington Post: Trump crows about the U.S. economy at Davos as Senate impeachment trial begins back home

Edmund DeMarche / Fox News:
Trump addresses World Economic Forum in Davos, touts trade deals, US economy

Discussion: Breitbart, Politico, The Hill, One America News Network and The Week

Washington Post:

Trump's lawyers, Senate GOP allies work privately to ensure Bolton does not testify publicly — President Trump's legal defense team and Senate GOP allies are quietly gaming out contingency plans should Democrats win enough votes to force witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, One America News Network, Fox News, The Week, HuffPost, Associated Press and National Review

David Morgan / CBS News:
Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake on impeachment: Republicans are on trial with Trump

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill and War Room

Axios:
GAO report poses evidence test in Trump impeachment trial

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Hill and Washington Post

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:

Virginia Second Amendment rally proves the media hate gun owners — Reporters and editors at the largest news outlets overwhelmingly dislike and distrust the people demonstrating against Virginia's proposed gun restrictions. This is clear as day, and every journalist, center-left media critic …

Discussion: The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, New York Post, NB Blog and NBC News

Matt Vespa / Townhall:

The Liberal Media Totally Eats It With Their Fake News Coverage of VA's Pro-Gun Rights Rally — Virginia Citizen's Defense League had their Lobby Day yesterday. Thousands attended. It was probably the best turnout in years. And that's the keyword here, folks: years.

Discussion: NBC News, NB Blog, Twitchy and Dana Loesch

Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Richmond woman charged with wearing mask in public following gun-rights rally

Discussion: National Review, Big League Politics, Washington Free Beacon and Power Line

Sacramento Bee:

Devin Nunes' Ukraine lies are a betrayal. Voters in his district deserve better — Kiev, Ukraine, is nearly 6,200 miles from Tulare, Calif. That's a long way from home for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, who now faces explosive allegations that he and his staff contacted shadowy Ukrainian figures …

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, Washington Post and New York Times

Kim Wehle / The Bulwark:
The New Evidence Against Trump Since He Was Impeached

Discussion: Raw Story and New York Times

Politico:
MAGA stops, TV and the pope: How Pence plans to sidestep impeachment

Discussion: Raw Story and Law & Crime

Caroline Kelly / CNN:

Dershowitz on impeachment reversal: ‘I am much more correct right now’ — Cooper presses Dershowitz over changing impeachment view — (CNN)Constitutional lawyer and Trump impeachment legal team member Alan Dershowitz said Monday that he is “much more correct right now” …

Discussion: ABC News and Axios

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
How Donald Trump's Unlikely Legal Team Will Try to Defend Him

Discussion: The Atlantic and Lawfare

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
‘Constitutional Nonsense’: Trump's Impeachment Defense Defies Legal Consensus

Discussion: Althouse, Just Security, Washington Post, Raw Story and Mediaite

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Pelosi Statement on McConnell Cover-Up Resolution — Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement on Leader McConnell's resolution on rules for the impeachment trial of the President, which will operate on a greatly compressed schedule and rejects the need for witnesses and documents:

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
McConnell Impeachment Rules Modify Clinton Precedent

Discussion: CNN and IJR

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

Exclusive: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained - sources — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt backups of their devices in the company's iCloud service after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations …

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Susannah Luthi / Politico:

Supreme Court won't hear Obamacare case before election — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Democrats' plea to consider a high-stakes legal challenge that could kill Obamacare, punting a resolution in the politically fraught case until after the presidential election.

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post and Associated Press

The Hill:

White House appoints GOP House members to advise Trump's impeachment team — The White House announced Monday that President Trump appointed several prominent Republican House members to advise his impeachment defense team ahead of the Senate trial set to begin this week.

Discussion: Redstate, Letters from an American, TheBlaze, Fox News, Townhall, Associated Press and Digby's Hullabaloo

New York Times:
McConnell Unveils Rules for Trump Impeachment Trial

Discussion: Twitchy, New Republic, NPR, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, POLITICUSUSA and New York Post

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

A big tell in Trump's own legal brief exposes McConnell's coverup — Now that Mitch McConnell has rolled out the rules for President Trump's impeachment trial, the full dimensions of the Senate Majority Leader's efforts to cover up Trump's bottomless corruption are coming into view.

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Trump Third Year Sets New Standard for Party Polarization — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eighty-two percentage points separated Republicans' (89%) and Democrats' (7%) average job approval ratings of President Donald Trump during his third year in office. This is the largest degree of political polarization …

Discussion: The Hill

Laura Olson / Morning Call:

Pat Toomey's Senate ‘candy desk’ may prevent hangry lawmakers during impeachment — The last time the U.S. Senate was considering impeachment of a president, Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum found himself in a sticky situation over some Hershey's bars. — The Republican lawmaker …

The Boston Globe:

Sanders, Biden lead tight pack of front-runners in Suffolk/Globe New Hampshire poll — Senator Bernie Sanders has the slimmest of leads among a knot of four top presidential contenders, with Senator Elizabeth Warren dropping to the rear of the top tier amid significantly weaker support among men …

Discussion: Political Wire

Caroline Court / The Federalist:

How A Feminist Juror's Lies Could Get Harvey Weinstein's Conviction Tossed Out — It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that a prospective juror clearly lied and misled both the parties and the court to be on Harvey Weinstein's jury. — Regardless of what you think about Harvey Weinstein …

Brett Neely / NPR:

NPR Poll: Majority Of Americans Believe Trump Encourages Election Interference — Weeks before the first votes of the 2020 presidential election, Americans report a high level of concern about how secure that election will be and worry about the perils of disinformation, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.

The White House:

Statement from the Press Secretary Announcing Congressional Members of the President's Impeachment Team — Today, President Donald J. Trump announced that the following Members of the House of Representatives will serve as part of his team working to combat this hyper-partisan and baseless impeachment.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, IJR and Axios

Daniel Nichanian / The Appeal:

When New Jersey Next Redistricts, It Will Count Incarcerated People Where They Lived — A new law ends prison gerrymandering in legislative redistricting. New Jersey will continue to disenfranchise incarcerated people. — Most states draw political maps by counting incarcerated people …