memeorandum: Raffensperger: Trump could face investigation over election call (Quint Forgey/Politico)

11:40 AM ET, January 4, 2021

Top Items:

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:

Donald Trump Should Be Prosecuted for His Shakedown of Georgia's Brad Raffensperger — President Donald Trump likely broke both federal and state law in a Saturday phone call during which he encouraged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state's election results.

Discussion: NBC News, Politico, The Hill, CNN, Fox News, Real Clear Politics, The Nation, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Times, DNyuz, Reason, The American Independent, Just Security, Mediaite, Eschaton, The Week, The Dispatch, Bloomberg, Business Insider and NBC New York

David Frum / The Atlantic:

Trump Crosses a Bright-Red Line — In a bombshell conversation with Georgia's secretary of state yesterday, President Donald Trump made monkeys of every Republican official and every conservative talking head who professed to believe Trump's allegations of voter fraud.

Discussion: HuffPost, CNN, The Nation, The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, KDFX-TV, Mother Jones, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Reuters, DNyuz, DCReport.org, Common Dreams, The Guardian, Real America's Voice and Business Insider

Quint Forgey / Politico:

Raffensperger: Trump could face investigation over election call — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that it was unlikely his office would open an investigation into his weekend phone call with President Donald Trump, but suggested a criminal probe could still be launched by an Atlanta-area district attorney.

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Examiner, New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, National Review, Mediaite, Daily Kos, CNN and IJR

Marc Caputo / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: The backstory of Trump's Georgia call — DRIVING THE DAY — Good morning from Atlanta, Gateway to the South and the pulsing center of Tuesday's two U.S. Senate runoffs that will determine partisan control of the upper chamber and the success of Joe Biden's first term as president.

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Times, NBC News, The Daily Beast, Law & Crime, The Hill, Washington Post, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, ABC News and NPR

Newsmax:

Trump Ga. Transcript Shows Case for Vote Fraud, President Acted Properly — The Washington Post on Sunday released audio of a Saturday phone call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the two can be heard discussing election results.

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding, The Week and Mediaite

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

Trump Call to Georgia Official Might Violate State and Federal Law — The president's demand for action to overturn the result of the election in the state raised questions about whether he violated election fraud statutes, lawyers said, though a charge is unlikely.

Chandelis Duster / CNN:

Georgia GOP lieutenant governor says Trump call with secretary of state ‘inappropriate’ — Washington (CNN)Georgia's Republican lieutenant governor on Monday condemned President Donald Trump's phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, saying the President's effort to pressure …

Discussion: Reuters, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Week, Mediaite, Salon, The Guardian, Columbia Journalism Review and DNyuz, more at Mediagazer »

Nick Niedzwiadek / Politico:

‘Disgusting’: Perdue hammers Georgia secretary of state for recording Trump call — Sen. David Perdue tore into Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday for recording a phone call with President Donald Trump over the weekend, calling it “disgusting” to do so.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, Mercury News and CBS San Francisco

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Georgia's Raffensperger says he ‘never believed’ it appropriate to speak with Trump about election

Discussion: Axios, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, Raw Story and Towleroad Gay News

Washington Post:
Here's the full transcript and audio of the call between Trump and Raffensperger

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:
Brad Raffensperger Opens Up About Pressure From Trump in Leaked Call: I ‘Never Believed it Was Appropriate’ to Talk to Him, But He ‘Pushed’

Discussion: Washington Post, Disrn and Law & Crime

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump's Phone Call Is What Coup Fever Looks Like

Discussion: New York Daily News, National Review, TheGrio, DNyuz, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Power Line and Mediaite

Patricia Murphy / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Gov. Brian Kemp absent from GOP campaign trail in closing days

Discussion: The American Independent, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Quinn Scanlan / ABC News:
Trump ‘just plain wrong’ on fraud claims: Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger

Discussion: Washington Times and IJR

Teo Armus / Washington Post:
Georgia elections board member calls for probe into Trump's call seeking to pressure Raffensperger

Discussion: American Greatness, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Mock Paper Scissors, The Intellectualist, The Wrap, Raw Story, New York Times and The Week

Megan Henney / Fox News:
AOC slams Trump's call with Georgia secretary of state as an ‘impeachable offense’

Discussion: Arizona Republic, NBC News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Washington Post, Boston Herald, Just Security, The Sun, National Review, Bloomberg and DNyuz

Raheem Kassam / The National Pulse:
Trump Call Actually Reveals a President Deep into Detail, with Establishment Republicans Dismissive, Unwilling, and Rejecting Transparency

Discussion: Raw Story, CNN, The Lid, The Sun, DNyuz and Axios

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
The GOP Can't Stop Biden but They'll Murder Democracy Trying

Discussion: New York Times, HuffPost and Washington Monthly

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:
Ocasio-Cortez says Trump's Georgia call is an impeachable offense

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Signorile Report, Business Insider, Axios, Associated Press, Raw Story, IJR, UPI, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Florida Politics, The Daily Caller, WGN-TV and DNyuz

Tia Mitchell / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Democrats denounce Trump's call to Raffensperger as criminal, GOP mostly silent

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Washington Post, WGN-TV, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times, NewsNation Now, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and Strangely Blogged

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas:

Cotton Statement on Joint Session of Congress — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 734-0430 — Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) released the following statement on the joint session of Congress later this week:

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Axios, Breitbart, HotAir, The American Independent, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, New York Post, IJR, Townhall, Business Insider, Political Wire, National Review, Congressman Ken Buck and Laura Ingraham

Mike Allen / Axios:
The GOP battle lines drawn by Trump and McConnell will shape the next four years

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, Washington Post, The Hill, RedState, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Washington Monthly

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Mitch McConnell's Slipping Grip on the Republican Party

Discussion: Vox, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, ABC News, Florida Politics and Crooks and Liars

Talia Kaplan / Fox News:
Reps. Brooks and Jordan on GOP group challenging Electoral College results

Discussion: Washington Post and HotAir

Maria Hardiman / Voter Protection Program: Guide to January 6th Joint Session of Congress Released by Voter Protection Program

Jessica Yun / Yahoo Finance:

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma suspected missing — Speculation has swirled around Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's whereabouts after reports surfaced that the high-profile businessman has not made a public appearance in more than two months. — The Alibaba founder also failed to appear …

Discussion: Orange County Register, We Love Trump, New York Post and Reuters

Reuters: Jack Ma's disappearing act fuels speculation about billionaire's whereabouts

Charlie Campbell / TIME:
Where Is Alibaba Founder Jack Ma? What the Saga of One of the World's Richest Men Reveals About China Under Xi Jinping

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Forbes

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

Worse Than Treason — “We are what we pretend to be,” Kurt Vonnegut wrote in the opening of his 1962 novel, Mother Night, “and so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” Republicans in Congress are pretending to be seditionists—and so they have become, in fact, seditionists.

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Crooks and Liars and Business Insider

Washington Post:

All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory — Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld are the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense.

Kate Conger / New York Times:

Hundreds of Google Employees Unionize, Culminating Years of Activism — The creation of the union, a rarity in Silicon Valley, follows years of increasing outspokenness by Google workers. Executives have struggled to handle the change. — OAKLAND, Calif. — More than 225 Google engineers …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, VICE, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Verge and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:

Plane Sightings Fuel Rumors Trump Planning Escape to Scotland on Day Before Biden Inauguration — GOLF WAR — Something strange is happening on the west coast of Scotland. According to a report from the Sunday Post, a lot of unusual U.S. military activity has been recorded at one airport …

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Swindon / The Sunday Post:
Donald Trump could be planning Turnberry trip as Scots airport told to expect a high-flyer the day before Joe Biden's inauguration

Discussion: Towleroad Gay News, Mock Paper Scissors and Crooks and Liars

Washington Post:

Audio: Trump's full Jan. 2 call with Ga. secretary of state — As Georgia runoff looms, Republicans stick to election fraud claims — Audio: Trump berates Ga. secretary of state, urges him to ‘find’ votes — Republicans previously promised Trump would accept the election results

Discussion: The Wrap, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, We Love Trump, Towleroad Gay News, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, DNyuz, Breitbart, The Hill, IJR, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice, Vox, Juanita Jean's and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Olivia Beavers / Politico:

117th Congress kicks off with GOP civil war, calls for impeachment and plexiglass — With assists from Melanie, Heather, Burgess, Andrew, and Kyle — It's less than 24 hours into the 117th Congress and we've already seen Republicans break out into a civil war, Democrats renew calls …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Townhall, Bloomberg, National Review, New York Post, The National Interest, Crooks and Liars and ABC7

Marco Rubio / Fox News:

Georgia Senate runoffs — The fate of our nation is in Georgia's hands — If Georgians believe in our democracy and our nation's institutions, they will reject Warnock and Ossoff — Sen. Perdue says he and Sen. Loeffler are ‘last line of defense’ against socialist agenda

Discussion: DNyuz