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

11:20 AM ET, January 4, 2021

Top Items:

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, POLITICUSUSA, The Intellectualist, Associated Press, Reuters, Outside the Beltway, DNyuz, DCReport.org, Common Dreams, The Guardian, Real America's Voice and Business Insider

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, Fox News, Real Clear Politics, Washington Post, The Nation, POLITICUSUSA, Reason, DNyuz, The American Independent, Just Security, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Week, Bloomberg, Business Insider and NBC New York

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, NBC News, New York Times, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, ABC News, Los Angeles Times and NPR

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.

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: Washington Examiner, National Review, Washington Times, CNN, Washington Post, IJR and Raw Story

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, The Week, Mediaite, Salon, Columbia Journalism Review and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

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

Nick Niedzwiadek / Politico:
‘Disgusting’: Perdue hammers Georgia secretary of state for recording Trump call

Discussion: The Hill, CBS San Francisco and The Mahablog

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

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

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, The Wrap, The Guardian, New York Times, The Week and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: IJR and Raw Story

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 and Law & Crime

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

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

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Monthly and The Hill

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

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

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

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

CNN:
Trump's deranged phone call with Georgia secretary of state reveals a desperate man

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Axios, New York Times, ABC News and Business Insider

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 Daily Caller, Mediaite, IJR, Townhall, Political Wire, Business Insider and Laura Ingraham

Mike Allen / Axios:

The GOP battle lines drawn by Trump and McConnell will shape the next four years — The Republican battle lines being formed in President Trump's final days — his loyalists vs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's establishment — will shape American politics for the next four years.

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post and HotAir

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

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, The Hill, The Daily Caller and The Verge

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:
Google Workers Publicly Launch Union

Discussion: TechCrunch and DNyuz, more at Techmeme »

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.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Conservative News Today, Outside the Beltway, The Guardian, New York Times, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, Daily Kos, The Week, CNN, Business Insider, DNyuz, Task & Purpose, Balloon Juice, Politico, HuffPost, TheGrio, Mediaite, Raw Story and Axios

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

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

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 and The Week

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, Axios and New York Times

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 and Mock Paper Scissors

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

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:

U.K. judge rules Julian Assange should not be extradited to the U.S. — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must not be extradited to the U.S., where he's wanted on charges of violating the Espionage Act and hacking government computers, because of the high risk of suicide in U.S. custody, a British judge in London ruled Monday.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, New York Times, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, KDFX-TV, UPI, DNyuz, NewsNation Now, IJR and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

BBC:
Julian Assange: Wikileaks founder extradition to US blocked by UK judge

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Dot, Bloomberg, Wired, Breitbart, Law & Crime, The Guardian, National Review, KTLA, abc7NY, The Verge, Deadline and EUobserver

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

CNN:

Carl Bernstein: This is the ultimate smoking gun tape — Legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein reacts to audio obtained by the Washington Post of President Donald Trump pushing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn the election results in the state.Source: CNN

Discussion: Yahoo Entertainment, Raw Story, Business Insider, New York Magazine, HuffPost and CBS News