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

8:50 PM ET, November 17, 2020

Top Items:

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, POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

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: Breitbart, The Post Millennial and The Gateway Pundit

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

Clara Hendrickson / Detroit Free Press:
GOP members of Wayne County Board of Canvassers vote against certifying election results

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, Townhall, Washington Times, Mediaite, Political Wire and Raw Story

Washington Post: Deadlocked board in key Michigan county fails to certify vote totals by deadline

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, mahablog.com, The Guardian, CNN, CANNONFIRE, Alternet.org and The Hill

Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:

Lindsey Graham says he spoke to Arizona and Nevada officials about election results — As he faces scrutiny for a conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the 2020 election, Sen. Lindsey Graham acknowledged that he has spoken to officials in two other battleground states.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Forbes, Raw Story and The Hill

Alexa Corse / Wall Street Journal:

Georgia's GOP Secretary of State at Odds With GOP Senator Graham Over Counting Ballots — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested he throw out certain legal ballots during the recount of the presidential race, an allegation that Mr. Graham denied.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Alternet.org, Al Jazeera, Raw Story, Law & Crime, Political Flare, The Atlanta Journal …, HotAir, Twitchy, Outside the Beltway and Washington Times

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
We need an investigation into Lindsey Graham's intervention in Georgia

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

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

David Morgan / Reuters:
As U.S. Senate battle intensifies in Georgia, allegations fly

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press, WAVY-TV, KUSI-TV, USA Today, The Week, The Daily Beast and Mercury News

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
A Disturbing Number of Republicans Support Trump's Coup Attempt

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Newsbusters

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

Wall Street Journal:

Rage Against the Voting Machine — Trump blames the result on Dominion's systems. Where's the evidence? — By The Editorial Board — President Trump has so far been unwilling to concede to Joe Biden, and his latest argument is that the voting machines must have been rigged. Where's the evidence?

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Examiner and Slate

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

Andrew Prokop / Vox:
How long can Trump keep disputing the election results?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Washington Times, WBBH-TV, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, The Nevada Independent, Bulwark+ and POLITICUSUSA

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Georgia manual recount won't replace official election results

Discussion: Forbes, WCMH-TV, The Post Millennial and The Hill

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, Political Wire, HotAir and Eschaton

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.

Discussion: Fox News, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, New York Post, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Just The News, POLITICUSUSA, Deadline, CyberScoop and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: The Guardian, Politico, Associated Press and abc7NY

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

Discussion: Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS News and NPR

NBC News:

President-elect Biden wary of Trump-focused investigations, sources say — WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has privately told advisers that he doesn't want his presidency to be consumed by investigations of his predecessor, according to five people familiar with the discussions …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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, TheBlaze, New York Post, Washington Examiner, HotAir 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, Fox News, Washington Post, Politico, New York Times, Business Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and Raw Story

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

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

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

Discussion: CNBC, Axios, CNN, Alternet.org and TheBlaze

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

Robin Bravender / Business Insider:
‘Uncharted territory’: 5 Secret Service experts say there's no playbook for dragging a defiant president from the White House if he doesn't concede by Inauguration Day

Discussion: The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and IJR

NBC Los Angeles:

Pair Charged With Voter Fraud Allegedly Submitted Thousands of Fraudulent Applications on Behalf of Homeless People — A man who tried to run for mayor in Hawthorne is among two people charged in a voter fraud case in which thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications …

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

Breaking911:
Pair Charged With Voter Fraud Allegedly Submitted THOUSANDS of Fraudulent Applications on Behalf of Homeless People

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Post Millennial

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.

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, Raw Story and Political Wire

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

A Popular Political Site Made a Sharp Right Turn. What Steered It? — Real Clear Politics has been catering to campaign obsessives since 2000. It pitches itself as a “trusted, go-to source” for unbiased polling. The Trump era changed its tone, and funding sources.

Discussion: Axios, Spectator USA and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Detailed Turnout Data Shows How Georgia Turned Blue — Democrats have long dreamed of turning Georgia blue, with young voters and nonwhite voters leading a progressive charge. Now, a blue Georgia is a reality, but with a winning coalition that might have stunned the party not that long ago.

Discussion: CNN, HotAir, Progress Pond, The Week, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ABC News, KNSD-TV, Slate and The Guardian

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, Stereogum and UPI

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:

Warnock: ‘Nobody Can Serve God and the Military’ — Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock said in a 2011 sermon that Americans cannot serve God while also serving in the U.S. military. — The newly unearthed comments threaten to complicate Warnock's candidacy in a tight Georgia Senate race …

Discussion: Reuters, Fox News, Breitbart, Power Line, The Federalist and Townhall

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 …

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 …