Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump Discussed Naming Campaign Lawyer as Special Counsel on Election Fraud — In a meeting at the White House on Friday, the president weighed appointing Sidney Powell, who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, to probe voter fraud. — President Trump on Friday …
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Daily Beast, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, The Week, Mother Jones and Political Wire
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Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump campaign told to preserve all documents related to Sidney Powell and Dominion Voting Systems — (CNN)President Donald Trump's campaign legal team sent a memo to dozens of staffers Saturday instructing them to preserve all documents related to Dominion Voting Systems and Sidney Powell …
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Officials increasingly alarmed about Trump's power grab — Senior Trump administration officials are increasingly alarmed that President Trump might unleash — and abuse — the power of government in an effort to overturn the clear result of the election. — Why it matters …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Mediaite
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Russia is behind the broad, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the U.S. government and private sector, Pompeo says — Russia is behind the massive, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the federal government and private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Axios, Vanity Fair, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, The Constitutionalist, Washington Monthly, The Guardian and HotAir, more at Techmeme »
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Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Pompeo says Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind cyberattack on US — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the gravest cyberattack against the United States on record, the first administration official to publicly tie the Kremlin to the widespread intrusion …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Steve Kenny / New York Times:
Pompeo Says Russia Was Behind Cyberattack on U.S.
Pompeo Says Russia Was Behind Cyberattack on U.S.
Discussion:
NPR, Slate, Balloon Juice, Meduza.io, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, TOP SECRET UMBRA, The Guardian, The Week and Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »
Michael R. Pompeo / United States Department of State:
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Mark Levin of The Mark Levin Show
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Mark Levin of The Mark Levin Show
Discussion:
Business Insider, CNN, Alternet.org and New York Post
Evan Semones / Politico:
Trump downplays cyberattack on U.S., breaks with Pompeo on Russia's role
Trump downplays cyberattack on U.S., breaks with Pompeo on Russia's role
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, NBC New York, CBS News and Axios
Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Pompeo: Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind massive cyberattack
Pompeo: Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind massive cyberattack
Discussion:
Just The News and Washington Examiner
Alicia Victoria Lozano / NBC News:
Secretary of State Pompeo says hack was ‘pretty clearly’ Russian
Secretary of State Pompeo says hack was ‘pretty clearly’ Russian
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Week, Forbes, Business Insider and Radio Free Europe/Radio …
Washington Post:
Even as Trump vows to keep fighting, his aides are quietly starting to move on — Vice President Pence has begun looking for a new home in the Washington suburbs, and he's planning a valedictory foreign trip to begin the day Congress counts the electoral college votes.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Washington Times, Juanita Jean's, JONATHAN TURLEY and Political Wire
Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Scoop: Lance Bottoms rejected Biden's SBA offer — Joe Biden implored Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to accept a job heading the Small Business Administration earlier this week, a lesser position she rejected after he characterized it as “only the first step” for her during his presidency …
New York Times:
U.K. Imposes Harsher Lockdown on London, Citing New Version of Virus — Scientists in Britain say the new variant is spreading faster than previous ones, but does not appear to make people sicker. — LONDON — Alarmed by a what he called a faster-spreading variant of the coronavirus …
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Yasmeen Abutaleb / Washington Post:
The inside story of how Trump's denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic's dark winter — National reporter focusing on health policy — Reporter covering the White House White House Bureau Chief — As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November …
Brian Bakst / MPR News:
Minn. Sen. Jerry Relph dies of COVID-19 complications — Brian Bakst and Kirsti MarohnSt. — Jerry Relph, a first-term state senator from St. Cloud, died Friday of complications of COVID-19, his family and the Senate majority leader confirmed. — “Jerry dedicated his life to service …
Ashok Selvam / Eater Chicago:
Stephanie Izard Apologizes For a Poorly Received Representation of a Korean Dish — A photo posted Thursday using Izard's social media handle showed a “bibimbap” without any cultural context, igniting a conversation on cultural appropriation — A fellow Chicago chef is once again accusing …
Wall Street Journal:
Amid Vaccine Rollout and Historic Hack, Trump Remains Focused on Reversing Election — The president has been largely out of sight, paying little public attention to any events other than his efforts to overturn Joe Biden's victory — WASHINGTON—In a week that began with the Electoral …
Discussion:
CNN, Conservative News Today and Mediaite
Molly Jong-Fast / Vogue:
No, This Pandemic Is Not Over. Please Don't Act Like It Is. — The other night, I made my stepmother cry. I've never done that before, but this time I felt as if I had to. My brother had told me about my father and stepmother's holiday plan, which included staying with relatives …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and IJR
John S Gardner / The Guardian:
From A Very Stable Genius to After Trump: 2020 in US politics books … A long time ago, in 1883, a future president (Woodrow Wilson, a subject of this year's reckonings) studied political science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in a classroom in which was inscribed the slogan …
Raw Story:
BUSTED? Why the numbers behind Mitch McConnell's re-election don't add up — On a Thursday in August in Louisville, months before the 2020 election, a parade of cars filled with Kentucky Teamster representatives and labor groups, showed their fury at Mitch McConnell's constant blocking of critical COVID aid.
Discussion:
HotAir
New York Times:
No ‘Negative’ News: How China Censored the Coronavirus — Thousands of internal directives and reports reveal how Chinese officials stage-managed what appeared online in the early days of the outbreak. — 阅读.体中 文.閱讀.體 中文.
Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
US plans to shutter remaining consulates in Russia — (CNN)The Trump administration has informed lawmakers of its plan to shutter its two remaining consulates in Russia. — In a notification dated December 10, the US State Department told Congress it intends to close the consulate …
Discussion:
NPR, One America News Network, East Bay Times, Bloomberg and Political Wire
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Auguste Meyrat / The American Mind:
Keep Texas Red — Here's how. — Texas is still a red state, but the it's not the Republican stronghold it used to be. Whereas Republican candidates earned well over 60% of votes in states like Oklahoma and Alabama in 2020, they earned a little over 50% in Texas—a result more resembling Florida than anything else.
Politico:
Congress in frantic race to strike stimulus deal — Negotiations on a nearly $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill have come down to a single major sticking point, but neither side is giving in as Congress speeds to clinch a deal before a government funding deadline on Sunday night.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Guardian, Denver Post, ABC30, National Review, Bloomberg, CNN and One America News Network
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: Lawmakers ask FBI and Federal Election Commission to investigate Jared Kushner-backed Trump campaign company after Insider's reporting … - Two lawmakers demanded that the FBI and the Federal Election Commission open an investigation into whether the Trump campaign violated federal law …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Vanity Fair, The Sun and The Daily Beast
Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Hacked networks will need to be burned ‘down to the ground’ — It's going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington's worst cyberespionage failure on record.
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
In Last Rush, Trump Grants Mining and Energy Firms Access to Public Lands — The outgoing administration is pushing through approval of corporate projects over the opposition of environmental groups and tribal communities. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to approve …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Associated Press:
General sorry for ‘miscommunication’ over vaccine shipments — The Army general in charge of getting COVID-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution. — “I failed.
Discussion:
Axios, Associated Press and Alternet.org
Bill Zeiser / RealClearPolicy:
Either the US Leads on Crypto, or China Will — Even casual viewers of cable news are familiar with commercials featuring actor William Devane - usually golfing or horseback riding - exhorting them to invest in precious metals. Lately, Devane has been joined in this pursuit …
Steven Sloan / Associated Press:
Analysis: For Republicans, profanity is suddenly scandalous — WASHINGTON (AP) — The definition of a scandal changes quickly in Washington. — Over the course of four years, the nation's capital has careened from crisis to crisis. There was the travel ban, the investigation …
Discussion:
The Nation, NBC News and Crooks and Liars