memeorandum: Trump remains bunkered in the White House as the world spins on (CNN)

10:45 PM ET, November 17, 2020

Top Items:

Beth LeBlanc / Detroit News:

Wayne Co. canvassers deadlock on certifying Nov. 3 election results — The Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 Tuesday along party lines on whether the county's Nov. 3 election results should be certified as at least four state and federal lawsuits sought to stop the process.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall, Axios, UPI, RedState, The Daily Caller, Big League Politics, The Post Millennial, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Board in key Michigan county fails, then agrees, to certify vote totals by deadline — DETROIT — The Wayne County Board of Canvassers unanimously certified its ballot count Tuesday evening, reversing itself just hours after Republicans on the board blocked the typically uneventful task …

Discussion: CBS News, Politico, Alternet.org, Raw Story, Associated Press and POLITICUSUSA

Clara Hendrickson / Detroit Free Press:

GOP members of Wayne County Board of Canvassers vote against certifying election results — The two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers cast an unprecedented vote Tuesday against certifying the county's November election results for the county's 43 jurisdictions …

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, The Hill, Bloomberg, Associated Press, The Week, Washington Times, The Last Refuge and Political Wire

MIGOP:

Cox Statement on Wayne County Board of Canvassers Meeting — Cox Statement on Wayne County Board of Canvassers Meeting — The following statement is from Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox, regarding the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting today where they failed to certify the election results in Wayne County.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, Raw Story and Democracy Docket

Ed White / Associated Press:
Michigan county fails to certify vote, stalling outcome

Discussion: Raw Story

Jacques Billeaud / Associated Press:
GOP seeks to postpone Maricopa County election certification

Discussion: The Hill

New York Times:

Giuliani Is Said to Seek $20,000 a Day Payment for Trump Legal Work — Last week, the president put the former New York mayor in charge of the court challenges to his loss in the election. Since then they have suffered nothing but setbacks. — Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has helped oversee …

Discussion: The American Independent, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Raw Story, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Associated Press, The Hill, Law & Crime, CNN, Alternet.org, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Flare, CNBC and Crooks and Liars

Washington Post:

In reversal, GOP officials in key Michigan county certify ballot count after striking a compromise with Democrats — Please note: The Washington Post is providing this important election information free to all readers. Get election results and other major news delivered to your inbox by signing up for breaking news email alerts.

Discussion: NPR, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime and The Hill

Kate Brumback / Associated Press:

Second Georgia county finds previously uncounted votes — ATLANTA (AP) — A second Georgia county has uncovered a trove of votes not previously included in the election results, but it doesn't change the overall outcome of the presidential race, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday.

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, CNN and The Gateway Pundit

WSB-TV:
Another Georgia county has uncovered 2,700 missing votes, Secretary of State's office says

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Daily Signal, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, RedState, UPI, National Review, The Western Journal and Snopes.com

Wall Street Journal:
Rage Against the Voting Machine

Discussion: New York Times, Israpundit, Vox and Slate

David Clemons / WaltonTribune.com:
Votes added in recount

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Jonathan Oosting / Bridge Magazine:

Joe Biden won, Michigan elector coup ‘not going to happen,’ GOP leader says — LANSING — Democrat Joe Biden is the president-elect, and while Michigan's Republican-led Legislature is investigating the election, it will not award the state's 16 electors to GOP President Donald Trump …

Discussion: VICE, New York Times, POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Georgia secretary of state had witnesses on call when Lindsey Graham plotted to ‘throw out’ ballots — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that at least two members of his staff witnessed Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) apparent effort to suppress the counting of legal votes in the state.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, CANNONFIRE, Law & Crime, mahablog.com and The Hill

Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:
Lindsey Graham says he spoke to Arizona and Nevada officials about election results

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Forbes, Raw Story, The Hill, The Daily Beast and Vanity Fair

Bloomberg:
Trump Attacks on Voting by Mail Cost Him in Georgia, GOP Official Says

Discussion: Forbes, Raw Story, CNBC, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Week, Political Wire and Mercury News

Alexa Corse / Wall Street Journal:
Georgia's GOP Secretary of State at Odds With GOP Senator Graham Over Counting Ballots

CNN:

Trump fires director of Homeland Security agency who had rejected President's election conspiracy theories — (CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the Department of Homeland Security official who had rejected Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud.

NBC News:
Trump fires head of election cybersecurity who debunked conspiracy theories

Discussion: Wired, The Guardian, The Hill, Politico, NPR, Bloomberg, Roll Call, Al Jazeera, Common Dreams, Mashable and Associated Press

Washington Post:
Trump fires top DHS official who refuted his claims that the election was rigged

Discussion: abc7NY

Kevin Johnson / USA Today:
Trump ousts Homeland Security cyber chief Chris Krebs, who called election secure

Discussion: Associated Press, CBS News, Raw Story and NPR

ABC News:

Infighting and an attempted ‘coup’: Trump team erupts into chaos as Giuliani takes over legal efforts — Giuliani filed to appear in court on behalf of the campaign Tuesday. — Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Law & Crime, Political Wire, HotAir and Eschaton

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

What Obama gets right — and very wrong — about the media — Everybody's a media critic these days — and Barack Obama is an astute one. But for those who remember certain aspects of his presidency, he's got a bit of a credibility problem. — He's certainly right when he frets that America …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Western Journal, Mediaite, New Republic, Deadline, The Week and Columbia Journalism Review

NBC News:
President-elect Biden wary of Trump-focused investigations, sources say

Discussion: U.S. Representative …, New York Times, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, Common Dreams, The Week, Mediaite, Washington Post, Alternet.org, Patterico's Pontifications, NBC Chicago, NBC New York, National Review, HotAir, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, emptywheel and Reuters

Michael Conway / NBC News:
Why Biden should pardon Trump — and we Democrats should want him to

Discussion: Axios and No More Mister Nice Blog

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejects Trump campaign claim of problems with ballot observers — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Trump campaign's claim that Philadelphia violated state election law in the way it handled observers at a city ballot counting center.

Discussion: CBS News, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Forbes, CNBC, Greensburg Tribune-Review, Politico, CNN, The Daily Caller, The Hill and New York Post

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
House asks justices to put off case over Russia grand jury

Discussion: CBS News, Politico, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Jacobin, SCOTUSblog, Bloomberg, CNBC, Roll Call, CNN, Law & Crime, Washington Times and UPI

Jeremy Roebuck / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Pa. Supreme Court rejects Trump campaign claim that Republicans lacked access to Philly vote count

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Common Dreams, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, Bloomberg, The Week and Reason

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint — Blood samples from recovered patients suggest a powerful, long-lasting immune response, researchers reported. — How long might immunity to the coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study …

Discussion: bioRxiv, Washington Examiner, HotAir, TheBlaze, New York Post and The Week

Tyler Van Dyke / Washington Examiner:

Chuck Grassley tests positive for COVID-19 — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced Tuesday evening that he tested positive for COVID-19. — Grassley, 87, announced earlier in the day that he was quarantining after finding out that he had been exposed to the coronavirus.

Discussion: Associated Press, USA Today, Politico, New York Times, Fox News, Washington Post, Business Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and Raw Story

Dartunorro Clark / NBC News:
Chuck Grassley, second-oldest senator, tests positive for Covid-19

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, BuzzFeed News, Breitbart, New York Post, The Guardian, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Townhall

Stephen Gruber-Miller / Des Moines Register:
Chuck Grassley, the Senate's oldest Republican, tests positive for coronavirus

Discussion: CNN, CNBC, Axios, CBS News and TheBlaze

Jake Bleiberg / Associated Press:

AP Sources: FBI is investigating Texas attorney general — DALLAS (AP) — The FBI is investigating allegations that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton broke the law in using his office to benefit a wealthy donor, according to two people with knowledge of the probe.

Discussion: The Texas Tribune, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Raw Story and Political Wire

Breaking911:

Pair Charged With Voter Fraud Allegedly Submitted THOUSANDS of Fraudulent Applications on Behalf of Homeless People — CALIFORNIA — Two men have been charged in a 41-count criminal complaint for allegedly submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications on behalf of homeless people …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

NBC Los Angeles:
Pair Charged With Voter Fraud Allegedly Submitted Thousands of Fraudulent Applications on Behalf of Homeless People

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Post, Law & Crime, Raw Story, KTLA and The Post Millennial

CNN:

Trump remains bunkered in the White House as the world spins on — (CNN)President Donald Trump's agenda listed “no public events” on Tuesday — the 10th time since the election that those words have appeared on his daily schedule. — He has answered no questions from reporters …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, BuzzFeed News, Reuters, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, Al Jazeera, Raw Story and Political Wire

David Wildstein / New Jersey Globe:

Malinowski defeats Kean in close race — The New Jersey Globe is now projecting that Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) has been re-elected to a second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. — In a race that has become excruciatingly tight since election night, Republican Thomas Kean …

Clayton Guse / New York Daily News:

‘An end to the New York way of life’: MTA proposes catastrophic service cuts amid COVID-19 budget crunch — A 40% cut in weekday subway service and layoffs of more than 9,000 transit workers are on the table as MTA honchos battle a COVID-19 financial catastrophe, the Daily News has learned.

WAGA-TV:

FOX 5 Poll: Senate runoff extremely tight, Gov. Kemp's approval rating slips — ATLANTA - A new exclusive InsiderAdvantage/FOX5 Atlanta Poll released on Tuesday takes a look at Georgia's Senate races, Gov. Brian Kemp's approval rating, and if Georgians believe the last election was fair.

US Food and Drug Administration:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes First COVID-19 Test for Self-Testing at Home — For Immediate Release: — Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home and that provides rapid results.

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

QAnon Mom Arrested For Murder of Fringe Legal Theorist — Neely Petrie-Blanchard allegedly shot the amateur legal expert who she'd turned to to reclaim custody of her kid. — A once murky alliance forged in a world of internet conspiracy theories appears to have ended in murder this past Sunday …

Discussion: Raw Story

Garance Burke / Associated Press:

Financially troubled startup helped power Trump campaign — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign was powered by a cellphone app that allowed staff to monitor the movements of his millions of supporters, and offered intimate access to their social networks.

Discussion: Raw Story and Greensburg Tribune-Review

Ben Jacobs / New York Magazine:

Why ‘Socialism’ Killed Democrats in Florida — “It was a McCarthyism type of pounding,” said Congresswoman Donna Shalala, looking back on the election she narrowly lost this month. Shalala had spent eight years serving in the Cabinet of Bill Clinton, the paragon of Democratic moderates …

Laura Snapes / The Guardian:

Dolly Parton partly funded Moderna Covid vaccine research — The country music icon's $1m donation supported the latest breakthrough by Moderna and several research papers — It's truly the greatest gift of all: a $1m donation by Dolly Parton to coronavirus vaccine research supported …

Discussion: Vulture, Slate, The Week, Vanity Fair, UPI and Stereogum

Allan Smith / NBC News:

McConnell says there will be ‘orderly transfer’ of power … Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said there will be an “orderly transfer” between administrations on Jan. 20, though he did not mention President-elect Joe Biden or President Donald Trump, who is refusing to concede, by name.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Talking Points Memo