Top Items:
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Giuliani told to preserve all records as lawyers for Dominion warn legal action is ‘imminent’ — (CNN)A defamation law firm representing Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani instructing …
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New York Times:
A President Unhappy, Unleashed and Unpredictable — President Trump remains the most powerful man in the world, but powerless to achieve what he most wants: to avoid leaving office as a loser. — With four weeks left in President Trump's term, he is at perhaps his most unleashed — and …
The Daily Beast:
‘This Is Just What Jared Does’: Kushner Bails on Trump's Mission to Destroy the 2020 Election — The president's son-in-law has developed a reputation in Trumpland for being conspicuously absent when things turn rocky. — As President Donald Trump tries to nullify the 2020 election …
Discussion:
Election Law Blog
Politico:
Trump White House staffers receive conflicting messages about their departure — Conflicting internal memos created confusion inside the White House on Wednesday about when staffers in the Executive Office of the President should begin preparing to leave work ahead of the transition next month.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, HotAir, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Voting machine company executive sues Trump allies for defamation — Dominion CEO debunks ‘bizarre allegations’ pushed by Trump team — Washington (CNN)An executive for a voting machine company that has been the target of conspiracy theories in the aftermath of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss …
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Forbes, NPR, Summit News and the way of improvement …
Politico:
‘Complete clusterf—’: Trump leaves Washington in limbo — President Donald Trump has once again thrown Washington into chaos, making uneven demands that have left lawmakers baffled and Americans coping with a global pandemic uncertain when they'll be getting long-promised financial help.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Reuters, Task & Purpose, Raw Story, NPR, Bloomberg, WINK NEWS and Associated Press
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Washington Post:
Trump's last-minute outburst throws pandemic relief effort into chaos
Trump's last-minute outburst throws pandemic relief effort into chaos
Discussion:
Bloomberg, ABC News, Fox News, Slate, HotAir, IJR, New York Times and National Review
Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:
Democrats dare GOP to block $2,000 stimulus checks in Christmas Eve vote
Democrats dare GOP to block $2,000 stimulus checks in Christmas Eve vote
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Washington Post and BuzzFeed News
John Nichols / The Nation:
Ebenezer McConnell — On the chance that the heartless majority leader is not confronted …
Ebenezer McConnell — On the chance that the heartless majority leader is not confronted …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Fox News, RedState and Common Dreams
Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
Trump vetoes defense bill, teeing up holiday override votes in Congress — President Trump made good Wednesday on his repeated threats to veto a $741 billion defense spending bill, setting up what is expected to be the first successful veto override of his presidency during his last weeks in office.
Discussion:
HotAir, Associated Press, CBS News, The Hill, TheBlaze, The Week, The Sun, The Gateway Pundit and The American Independent
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Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:
GOP Voters Say They'd Back Trump Over Congressional Republicans — Republican Trump voters are more likely to identify with the president than their political party, a new survey finds. — GOP voters remain far likelier to align themselves with President Donald Trump than they are to side …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and The American Independent
CNN:
Trump vetoes massive defense bill despite overwhelming GOP support
Trump vetoes massive defense bill despite overwhelming GOP support
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Florida Politics, Mother Jones and The Verge
Claudia Grisales / NPR:
Trump Vetoes Defense Bill, Setting Up Congressional Vote To Potentially Override Him
Trump Vetoes Defense Bill, Setting Up Congressional Vote To Potentially Override Him
Discussion:
Fox News, Vox, USA Today, Reuters, ABC News, CNN, New York Times, Axios, Big League Politics, Forbes, Florida Phoenix, The Intellectualist, Al Jazeera, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Florida Politics, The Daily Caller and Raw Story
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
What happened to Maria Bartiromo? The Trump election fraud story has the TV news biz asking — When a public company makes news, a chief executive can expect a text or call from Maria Bartiromo. — The veteran business journalist, now an anchor at Fox News, made her bones by getting sit-downs …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Raw Story
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Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
Maria Bartiromo Duped Into On-Air Interview With Animal Rights Activist Posing as CEO of Pork Giant — Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo interviewed an animal rights activist posing as the CEO of food processing company Smithfield for an entire segment on Wednesday morning.
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: A deputy to Eric Trump helped build a campaign shell company to protect the president from grift. But the secretive operation morphed into a mystery — even for top Trump campaign staffers. … - One of Eric Trump's top deputies played an important role overseeing …
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Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: No one knows how this ends — SO HOW DOES THIS END? That's a damn good question. — NO ONE KNOWS. Some say President DONALD TRUMP is in burn-it-down mode and is more than willing to veto the Covid relief/funding package, ending his presidency in a lengthy shutdown, with bluster and crisis.
Discussion:
Detroit News, New York Times, Fortune, Washington Examiner, COURIER, Conservative News Today, The Signorile Report, Business Insider, The Hill and HotAir
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Kadia Goba / Axios:
Scoop: Pistol-packing freshmen prompt Congress gun review
Scoop: Pistol-packing freshmen prompt Congress gun review
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Digby's Hullabaloo, Bulwark+ and Mock Paper Scissors
NBC New York:
Andrew Yang Files Paperwork to Run for New York City Mayor — Businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has filed paperwork to run for mayor of New York City, the city's Campaign Finance Board confirmed on Wednesday. — Yang's filing has the potential to immediately upend …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Fox News, Breitbart, City & State NY, The Verge and The Daily Caller
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Nolan Hicks / New York Post:
Andrew Yang files paperwork to run for NYC mayor
Andrew Yang files paperwork to run for NYC mayor
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Townhall, Forbes, The Daily Caller and Democrats for Education Reform
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
The U.S. has vaccinated just 1 million people out of a goal of 20 million for December — The CDC said just 1,008,025 shots had been administered as of Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET. — That's roughly 19 million doses shy of earlier projections for December.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, IJR and KTVZ-TV
Wall Street Journal:
Rocket Attack on U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Largest in a Decade, General Says — U.S. Central Command chief says he doesn't know if Iran directed the attack, adding, ‘We do not seek a war’ — WASHINGTON—The barrage of rockets launched at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Sunday was the largest attack …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Twitchy and New York Post
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Axios:
U.S. considering closing Iraqi embassy after rocket attack
U.S. considering closing Iraqi embassy after rocket attack
Discussion:
IJR, Mediaite and Political Wire
Yascha Mounk / Persuasion:
Why I'm Losing Trust in the Institutions — The CDC came scarily close to adopting a plan that would, according to its own models, have killed thousands of Americans. — 1 hr ago — Who should be first in line to get the vaccine against Covid-19? — These kinds of decisions are never easy …
Tom Knowles / The Times:
Octopuses are ocean thugs that punch fish — Despite its extraordinary intelligence, the life of an octopus is a solitary one. So perhaps it is no wonder that the mighty brained cephalopod engages in a little thuggery to relieve the boredom. — Scientists have discovered that, on occasions …
Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Declares Political Center Alive and Well — President-elect says there are enough GOP lawmakers prepared to meet him in middle that he can get things done in evenly divided Congress — President-elect Joe Biden wants you to know that reports of the death of America's political center are greatly exaggerated.
Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:
The Long March Back — A prudent, controlled burn of the GOP's dead weight would be wiser than an unmitigated act of arson. — Remember the whole “burn it down” debate? — Last summer it divided the anti-Trump right. (I'm not going to use “NeverTrump” because it's become a useless and often stupid label.)
Maryam Rahmanian / Wall Street Journal:
One Iranian Woman's Year in the Shadow of U.S. Sanctions and Covid-19 — International sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic have ravaged Iran and its economy this year. The double blow has especially hurt ordinary Iranians like Mahnaz Parhizkari, a 35-year-old mother living in Tehran.
Roger Sollenberger / Salon:
NY Attorney General subpoenas pro-Trump troll Jacob Wohl for voter suppression scheme — Wohl and Jack Burkman have been criminally indicted in Ohio and Michigan in connection with the robocall scheme — The New York Attorney General's office has issued subpoenas to right-wing trolls Jacob Wohl …
David Tarrant / Dallas Morning News:
Fort Worth pastor who urged ‘faith over fear’ in the pandemic mourns parents who died of COVID complications — The pastor of 2nd Mile Church in north Fort Worth, where his parents were members, said he was surprised by the sudden surge in COVID cases in recent weeks in Tarrant County.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and WEB OF EVIL
Politico:
The secret Biden power broker — Welcome to POLITICO's 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. — When President-elect JOE BIDEN tapped TED KAUFMAN to lead his transition last spring, Kaufman's first call was to MARK GITENSTEIN to enlist his help.
David Sirota Andrew Perez / Jacobin:
Where in the World Is Kamala Harris? — Vice president-elect Kamala Harris made headlines earlier this year pushing $2,000 checks for all American. But suddenly, despite being desperately needed right now, she's nowhere to be found on the issue. — Our new issue, “Failure Is an Option,” is out now.
Discussion:
Fox News, CBS Boston and Raw Story
Marc Ambinder / The Daily Beast:
Sources: Secret Service Has No Plan if Trump Refuses to Go — But they do have procedures for handling trespassers. — If there are any checklists or plans, procedures or guidelines for the Secret Service to follow in the event of an autogolpe—a Latin American-style crisis …
Discussion:
National Review, Vanity Fair, Hackwhackers, Raw Story, Alternet.org and Business Insider
Federal Bureau of Investigation:
Iranian Cyber Actors Responsible for Website Threatening U.S. Election Officials — The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) possess highly credible information indicating Iranian cyber actors almost certainly were responsible for the creation of a website called Enemies …
Discussion:
CNN, Big League Politics and Washington Post
CNN:
Tensions intensify between Biden and Pentagon over stalled transition briefings — (CNN)President-elect Joe Biden's transition team on Wednesday disputed suggestions from Pentagon officials who questioned the accuracy of Biden's assertion a day earlier that the Department of Defense has refused …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Casey Michel / New Republic:
How to Make Kleptocrats Fear America Again — Four years ago, the United States was widely viewed as the towering, swaggering leader of global anti-corruption efforts. While other countries struggled with money-laundering banks and corrupt oligarchs bent on placing profits above patriotism …