memeorandum: We Need a Special Counsel (Newsweek)

9:15 AM ET, December 17, 2020

Top Items:

Thomas P. Bossert / New York Times:

I Was the Homeland Security Adviser to Trump. We're Being Hacked. — The magnitude of this national security breach is hard to overstate. — Mr. Bossert was the homeland security adviser to President Trump and deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

CISA:

Joint Statement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — Over the course of the past several days, the FBI, CISA, and ODNI have become aware of a significant and ongoing cybersecurity campaign.

Discussion: The Sun and Slate

Politico:
How suspected Russian hackers outed their massive cyberattack

more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
Billions Spent on U.S. Defenses Failed to Detect Giant Russian Hack

Discussion: Washington Post, FDD, Defense One and Harvard University Gazette

Politico:

Pence prepares to confirm Trump's loss — and then leave town — On Jan. 6, Vice President Mike Pence will oversee final confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden's victory. — Then he'll likely skip town. — As vice president, Pence has the awkward but unavoidable duty of presiding …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and American Prospect

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Vice President Pence to receive televised vaccine shot

Discussion: Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, HotAir and Washington Examiner

Margaret Carlson / The Daily Beast:
Mike Pence's Mission Is Slavish Devotion Every Day Til Jan. 20

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:

'It's turned crazy': Inside the scramble for Trump pardons — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump may not be willing to accept his term is ending, but as the clock ticks down on his time in office, hundreds of his allies — including some of his closest business associates …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Sun, Pirate's Cove, Washington Examiner, New York Magazine, RedState, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Week, Bloomberg, National Review, Politico, Washington Post, HotAir and Political Wire

Axios:

O'Malley Dillon's line that GOP are “f-ckers” worries some Biden aides — Some advisers close to President-elect Joe Biden are frustrated over a Glamour magazine interview in which incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon referred to Republicans on Capitol Hill as “f*ckers.”

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, The Hill, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, HotAir, RedState, New York Magazine, Twitchy, Breitbart, Liberty Unyielding, Talking Points Memo, National Review, The Federalist and The Week

Ron Kampeas / Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
Trump names Rudy Giuliani's son and 2 other aides to Holocaust Museum Council

Discussion: New York Times and Forbes

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Mitch McConnell gives away the game: ‘Kelly and David are getting hammered’ — Pressure works. That's what we're learning from the news that congressional negotiators are moving toward a deal on an economic rescue package that includes stimulus checks for individuals.

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Sun, Raw Story, Business Insider and Reuters

E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
Joe Biden may be tougher than the GOP expects

Discussion: Bloomberg, IJR, Mic and The Sun

Emily Cochrane / New York Times:
Staring Down Deadline, Congress Nears $900 Billion Stimulus Deal

Discussion: Michigan Advance, The Dispatch and Washington Post

Marc Caputo / Politico:
'It's nonstop': Georgia Senate battles rage far from Atlanta

Discussion: Washington Post, Sabato's Crystal Ball and WTOP

Kyle Smith / National Review:

Jill Biden's Doctorate Is Garbage Because Her Dissertation Is Garbage — Her dissertation is not an addition to the sum total of human knowledge. — You can tell someone is smarting from an inferiority complex when he insists on being addressed as “Dr.” on the basis of holding an academic doctorate rather than being a physician.

Discussion: Arizona Mirror

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Obsessed Tucker Carlson Calls Jill Biden ‘Illiterate’ and ‘Our National Shame’ — This was the third straight night that Carlson devoted to insulting the soon-to-be first lady over her use of the “Dr.” title because she has a doctorate in education. — Fox News host Tucker Carlson obsessed …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Wrap

CNN:

Biden's search for an attorney general complicated by ‘competing questions’ — Washington (CNN)The deliberations among President-elect Joe Biden's tight circle of advisers about whom he should nominate as attorney general have emerged as some of the more complicated of the transition …

Discussion: New York Times, Issues & Insights, The Gateway Pundit, Mic and Washington Free Beacon

Newsweek:

We Need a Special Counsel — George Kent, a diplomat stationed at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, noted in 2015 that Hunter Biden's presence on the board of Ukrainian company Burisma undermined U.S. interests and made it “very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine.”

CNN:
Biden expected to get coronavirus vaccination early next week

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Hill, Politico, Business Insider, USA Today, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, MyNorthwest.com, UPI and New York Post

Jennifer Horn / USA Today:

Texas lawsuit was the last straw. I'm leaving the Republican Party: Former NH GOP chair — The GOP has ransacked our Constitution and attempted a coup. The Republican Party of Lincoln is no more. I'm switching my registration to independent. — My mother spent a lifetime trying to teach me to stand for what is right.

Discussion: The Hill, Conservative News Today and The Texas Tribune

David Siders / Politico:
'Everything's great': GOP ditches election post-mortems

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, Raw Story, Bulwark+ and Daily Kos

New York Times:

Alaska Health Worker Had a Serious Allergic Reaction After Pfizer's Vaccine — The person had no history of allergies. Two similar reactions happened last week in Britain. — WASHINGTON — A health care worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction after getting Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine …

Discussion: STAT, CBS News, The Week, Washington Post, Meduza.io, Breitbart, The Western Journal, The Daily Caller, The Sun, Townhall and New York Post

Sarah Owermohle / Politico:
FDA says Pfizer vaccine vials hold extra doses, expanding supply

Discussion: NPR, The Sun, New York Post, New York Magazine, Axios, Washington Examiner, The Week and Forbes

Katie Thomas / New York Times: Hospitals Discover a Surprise in Their Vaccine Deliveries: Extra Doses

Fenit Nirappil / Washington Post:
FDA says Pfizer coronavirus vaccine contains extra doses, expanding nation's supply

Discussion: STAT, UPI and WTOP

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

We've finally identified the source of fraud in the 2020 election. It's Ron Johnson. — Finally, significant fraud has been identified in the 2020 election. It is being perpetrated by Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin. — President Trump lost the election. He lost the recounts.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, Vox, USA Today, New York Post, The Daily Signal, Washington Times, Associated Press, Florida Politics, The Federalist, NBC News, ABC News, Crooks and Liars, Los Angeles Times, NBC Boston and The Babylon Bee

Douglas Braff / Sara A. Carter:
Rand Paul: ‘The fraud happened. The election in many ways was stolen’

Discussion: Courier-Journal, Washington Post, The Week, Conservative News Today, Mediaite, The Hill and Bloomberg

Washington Post:

Interior Secretary Bernhardt tests positive for covid-19 — Two other top Interior officials contracted the virus last month — Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt, 51, tested positive for covid-19 Wednesday, the department spokesman confirmed after an inquiry from The Post.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, USA Today, The Hill, NBC4 Washington, The Week, Associated Press, Axios and New York Post

Nikki Haley / Washington Post:

Biden shouldn't reject all Trump's foreign policies. Here are three he should keep. — Nikki Haley was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019. — At the United Nations, I often found that many countries agreed with U.S. policies …

Discussion: Fox News and HotAir

Michelle Ruiz / Vogue:

How Savannah Guthrie and Kristen Welker Won the 2020 Election Coverage — FIVE MINUTES before NBC called the 2020 election for Joe Biden, Kristen Welker was sprinting. After rising at 4 a.m. and coanchoring Weekend Today in New York, the White House correspondent darted into a car …

Washington Examiner:

Raphael Warnock's embrace of anti-Semite Farrakhan is disqualifying for Senate service — It was once said of a famously vulnerable Senate candidate that, with respect to the opposition research that could be used against her in a campaign, “there's a haystack of needles.”

Dave Boucher / Detroit Free Press:

New Supreme Court filing includes blatantly wrong information about Michigan — A long-shot legal effort relying on conspiracy theories and inaccurate analyses to argue President Donald Trump actually won Michigan included additional blatantly false information in a new filing with the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

Discussion: Law & Crime and Business Insider

Robert Burns / Associated Press:

US Joint Chiefs chairman meets with Taliban on peace talks — KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. general held unannounced talks with Taliban peace negotiators in the Persian Gulf to urge a reduction in violence across Afghanistan, even as senior American officials in Kabul warned …

Discussion: Defense One, Wall Street Journal and Political Wire

James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:

The Swalwell Timeline — Did a communist spy know the congressman was about to assume oversight of the CIA? — Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) hasn't been willing to say much about his relationship with an alleged spy for the Chinese Communist Party, citing a need to protect classified information.

Discussion: The Federalist, Townhall and professorbainbridge.com

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

A Glitch in Trump's Plan to Live at Mar-a-Lago: A Pact He Signed Says He Can't — Neighbors of the president say he has violated the 1993 agreement he made with Palm Beach that allowed him to convert a private residence into a moneymaking club. — President Trump's neighbors in Florida …

Discussion: Palm Beach Post, The Sun, Reason, Mercury News, The Week, Mic, Raw Story, Political Wire, Conservative News Today, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Vanity Fair, Crooks and Liars and Law & Crime

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:

Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary is something Frank Kameny could have only dreamed of — President-elect Joe Biden's nomination of Pete Buttigieg as the next transportation secretary made me think of the man who fought for the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Ind., but would never meet him.

Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:

Trump's Latino gains suggest a key progressive theory of politics is wrong — White backlash or education polarization? — 1 hr ago — Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson in their widely-cited Trump book write, for example, that: “To advance an unpopular plutocratic agenda …

Washington Post:

Biden order to halt border wall project would save U.S. $2.6 billion, Pentagon estimates show — The U.S. government would save about $2.6 billion if President-elect Joe Biden halts construction on the border wall project on his first day in office, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates reviewed by The Washington Post.

Discussion: Boing Boing, American Military News and Political Wire

Allison Quinn / The Daily Beast:

Rep. Joe Wilson Announces COVID Diagnosis After Speaking on House Floor — KEEP YOUR MASK ON — Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 late Wednesday, just hours after he delivered a speech on the House floor. “Earlier this evening I learned …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

People Thought Covid-19 Was Relatively Harmless for Younger Adults. They Were Wrong. — New research shows that July may have been the deadliest month for young adults in modern American history. — Dr. Faust is a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine.

Discussion: Strangely Blogged