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
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, the way of improvement …, Summit News and NPR
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
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 Examiner, The Hill, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Task & Purpose and The Signorile Report
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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, Business Insider, RedState, Common Dreams and Associated Press
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
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 Gateway Pundit, The American Independent, The Sun and The Week
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Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:
GOP Voters Say They'd Back Trump Over Congressional Republicans
GOP Voters Say They'd Back Trump Over Congressional Republicans
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and The American Independent
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.
New York Times:
Trump Gives Clemency to More Allies, Including Manafort, Stone and Charles Kushner — It was the second wave of pardons and commutations by the president in two days, showing his willingness to use his power aggressively on behalf of loyalists. — President Trump doled out clemency …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Mock Paper Scissors, Alternet.org, Vox, Outside the Beltway and The White House
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Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner — President Trump granted full pardons to 26 more people on Wednesday night, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime associate Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian, Law & Crime, Townhall and Washington Post
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 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
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 …
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, City & State NY, Fox News, Breitbart, 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
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 …
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, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, 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, KTVZ-TV, 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
Isaac Arnsdorf / ProPublica:
Inside Trump and Barr's Last-Minute Killing Spree — Private executioners paid in cash. Middle-of-the-night killings. False or incomplete justifications. ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.
Discussion:
The Hill and American Prospect
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.
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 …
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
Betsy Klein / CNN:
White House coronavirus task force no longer proactively sending reports to states — (CNN)The White House coronavirus task force has informed states that it will no longer proactively send its weekly state reports with tailored data and recommendations, according to multiple state officials.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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 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
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.)
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.
Drew Armstrong / Bloomberg:
The World's Most Loathed Industry Gave Us a Vaccine in Record Time — At least one thing went right in 2020: Pharmaceutical companies came through. Thank you, science. — At the end of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic started, the two best-known faces of the pharmaceutical business …
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump's Very Swampy Pardon of a Ben Carson Crony — Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters. — President Donald Trump's recent spate of pardons has justifiably provoked outrage.
Discussion:
WPXI-TV