Top Items:
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency — President Donald J. Trump granted pardons to 73 individuals and commuted the sentences of an additional 70 individuals. — Todd Boulanger - President Trump granted a full pardon to Todd Boulanger.
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Daily Beast, NBC News, HuffPost, ProFootballTalk, Gizmodo, iPolitics, UPI, Bloomberg, The Week, The Independent, Reuters, CNN, TechCrunch, Axios, Metro.co.uk, Reason, Variety, Al Jazeera, The Wrap, CBS Baltimore, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Law & Crime, The Verge, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The Marshall Project and HBCU Gameday, more at Techmeme »
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Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
With hours left in office, Trump pardons Bannon. — President Trump has granted clemency to Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who was charged with defrauding people who supported building a border wall that Mr. Trump supported, White House officials said.
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNN, Breitbart, Los Angeles Times, Axios, The Week, The Independent, USA Today, The Wrap and Washington Times
Washington Post:
Trump grants clemency to 143 people in late-night pardon blast — President Trump on Tuesday granted clemency to 143 people, using a final act of presidential power to extend mercy to former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, well-connected celebrities and nonviolent drug offenders …
Discussion:
Common Dreams and Politico
New York Times:
With Hours Left in Office, Trump Grants Clemency to Bannon and Other Allies — The president continued using his power to help his supporters, including his former chief strategist and one of his top 2016 fund-raisers. — WASHINGTON — President Trump used his final hours in office …
Discussion:
Politico, Defense One, Foreign Policy, Business Insider, Breitbart, Deseret News, Japan Times, New York Post and KIFI-TV
Washington Post:
Trump pardons Steve Bannon after ugly falling out early in his presidency — President Trump has pardoned Stephen K. Bannon, the firebrand architect of his 2016 campaign who was charged last year with defrauding donors to a private fundraising effort for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border …
Discussion:
emptywheel
Andrew Restuccia / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Has Discussed Starting a New Party — President Trump has talked in recent days with associates about forming a new political party, according to people familiar with the matter, an effort to exert continued influence after he leaves the White House. — Mr. Trump discussed the matter …
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Ben Feuerherd / New York Post:
Brendan Hunt threatened AOC, Schumer and Pelosi in unhinged rants
Brendan Hunt threatened AOC, Schumer and Pelosi in unhinged rants
Discussion:
Raw Story and Law & Crime
Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Never Forget: Mitch McConnell Underwrote Trump's Big Lie
Never Forget: Mitch McConnell Underwrote Trump's Big Lie
Discussion:
Daily Kos, CNN, National Review and Vox
CNN:
Trump talked out of pardoning kids and Republican lawmakers — (CNN)President Donald Trump received an unsettling warning on his final Saturday night in the White House. — Huddled for a lengthy meeting with his legal advisers, Trump was warned the pardons he once hoped to bestow upon …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Shadowproof, POLITICUSUSA, New York Times, Big League Politics, Raw Story, HotAir and The Root
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Jim Small / Arizona Mirror:
Biggs and Gosar sought pardons for Capitol riot, but won't get them: report — Arizona Republican Congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar have asked President Donald Trump to preemptively pardon them for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but the president has no plans to do so, CNN reported Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Stranger, Raw Story and Associated Press
CNN:
Trump tells people he's decided to pardon Steve Bannon as one of his final acts in office — (CNN)President Donald Trump has decided to pardon his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, in a last-minute decision made only hours before he is scheduled to depart the White House for a final time.
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Week, UPROXX and CANNONFIRE
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Obituary for a Failed Presidency — One last Letter from Trump's Washington. — Susan B. Glasser's column will continue as Letter from Biden's Washington. Sign up for her newsletter to get her stories delivered to your in-box every week. — Precisely at noon on Wednesday …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Common Dreams, IJR, Business Insider and Power Line
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David Yaffe-Bellany / Bloomberg:
Trump Ends Where He Began, Fighting Release of His Tax Returns
Trump Ends Where He Began, Fighting Release of His Tax Returns
Discussion:
Washington Times, Voice of America, Politico and Washington Post
Ron Johnson / JSOnline:
Senator Ron Johnson calls editorial about him ‘unhinged and uninformed.’ The Editorial Board responds. — Senator Johnson objects to the Editorial Board's call for him to resign over his actions after the presidential election. … In an unhinged and uninformed editorial …
New York Times:
Fox News Fires a Key Player in Its Election Night Coverage — The politics editor who defended the network's accurate projection that Biden had won Arizona is out after a backlash from viewers, including President Trump. — Two senior leaders of Fox News's reporting division are exiting …
Discussion:
TVNewser and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
‘Are you QAnon?’: One Trump official's brush with an internet cult gone horribly wrong — The deadly insurrection in the nation's capital this month brought intense public scrutiny to the online conspiracy theory QAnon and shock about its pervasiveness, but one prominent Trump administration official …
Associated Press:
The Latest: 3 new Dem senators to be sworn in after Biden — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Joe Biden's presidential inauguration (all times local): — Three new Democratic senators are set to be sworn into office after President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration Wednesday.
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ABC News:
Biden inauguration live updates: Biden departs for Washington ahead of inauguration
Biden inauguration live updates: Biden departs for Washington ahead of inauguration
Discussion:
Fox News, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Crooks and Liars, The Week and Twitchy
Washingtonian:
Conspiracy Theorists Target Comet Ping Pong on Trump's Last Night in Office — The Trump era in DC ends in a very similar fashion to the way it began — In a fitting finale to the Trump years in hometown DC, a group of homophobic conspiracy theorists gathered to shout slogans outside Chevy …
Kevin Quealy / New York Times:
The Complete List of Trump's Twitter Insults (2015-2021) — As a political figure, Donald J. Trump used Twitter to praise, to cajole, to entertain, to lobby, to establish his version of events — and, perhaps most notably, to amplify his scorn. This list documents the verbal attacks …
Discussion:
HuffPost
CNN:
Some Trump supporters think he's about to declare martial law — and they're excited. — (CNN Business)Sometime Monday, some of the remaining dead-enders convinced that President Trump will remain in office for at least the next four years got a sign. A Telegram account falsely purporting …
Discussion:
Infidel753 and Raw Story
Jordan Fischer / wusa9.com:
Capitol rioter arrested after sending ‘selfie’ to girlfriend's brother - a federal agent — The DOJ says Thomas Fee, of Freeport, New York, sent a photo of himself in the Capitol Rotunda to a special agent for the State Department. — WASHINGTON — A New York man has now been charged …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The Hill
New York Times:
Justice Dept. Ends Stock Trade Inquiry Into Richard Burr Without Charges — Law enforcement officials told the senator that they would not pursue charges over his dumping of hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock after Senate coronavirus briefings early in the pandemic.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story, Axios, The Daily Caller, The Week, Politico, KIFI-TV, The Hill, Breitbart, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA and TheBlaze
Ben Collins / NBC News:
Increasingly militant ‘Parler refugees’ and anxious QAnon adherents prep for doomsday — Liesa Norris received a panicked phone call on Monday from her brother. He told her to buy a ham radio. — The radio, he explained, would be one of the few ways they could communicate once President Donald …
Carl Zimmer / New York Times:
New California Variant May Be Driving Virus Surge There, Study Suggests — Researchers found that the variant originated in California and showed up in more than half of samples tested last week by researchers in Los Angeles. — In late December, scientists in California began searching coronavirus samples …
Discussion:
National Review
Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times:
3 Beverly Hills residents, including a doctor, arrested in U.S. Capitol attack — Three Beverly Hills residents have been arrested on federal charges alleging they were part of the mob that stormed into the Capitol earlier this month. — Gina Bisignano, 52, was taken into custody …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Orange County Register, The Daily Beast, KTLA and NBC Los Angeles
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New York Times:
The Financial Minefield Awaiting an Ex-President Trump — Baseless election fraud claims and the Capitol riot have compounded already-looming threats to his bottom line. And the cash lifelines he once relied on are gone. — Not long after he strides across the White House grounds Wednesday morning …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Washington Post:
Trump's final day: A diminished and aggrieved president stays out of public view before exit — President Trump spent his final full day in office Tuesday the same way he spent many of his 1,460 prior days as president: brooding over imagined injustices, plotting retribution against perceived enemies …
Discussion:
The Week
Tina Nguyen / Politico:
A big chunk of Trump's 1776 report appears lifted from an author's prior work — President Donald Trump's 1776 Commission was supposed to be the definitive “patriotic” rejoinder to the academic left for what conservatives view as a slanderous rendering of U.S. history.
Discussion:
Jacobin, Townhall, Slate, Washington Examiner, National Review, Washington Post, Butterflies and Wheels, Common Dreams and Raw Story
nrdc.org:
Court Strikes Down Dirty Power Scheme — In a resounding win for climate and public health, a federal appeals court struck down the Trump administration's replacement of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan today, calling its do-nothing rule a clear violation of the Clean Air Act.
Axios:
Biden will issue executive order to rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit — President-elect Biden will issue an executive order on Wednesday to rescind permits for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as one of his first acts on his first day in office. — Why it matters …
Discussion:
Politico and The American Independent
Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath / Axios:
On Day One, Biden will move to rejoin Paris Climate Agreement — President-elect Biden on Wednesday will begin the formal process for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, making good on a highly touted campaign promise. — Catch up fast: President Trump first announced his intention …
Discussion:
Politico, Reuters and The Independent
HuffPost:
Sen. Gary Peters Emerges As Key Prospect To Run DSCC — The low-key Midwesterner would be tasked with helping Democrats expand their majority in 2022. — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is considering tapping Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.) to run the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee …
Discussion:
Axios
RELATED:
Hans Nichols / Axios:
Incoming White House plans extraordinary steps to protect Biden from COVID-19 — The incoming administration is planning extraordinary steps to protect its most prized commodity, Joe Biden, including requiring daily employee COVID tests and N95 masks at all times, according to new guidance sent to some incoming employees Tuesday.
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Hill
David Wickert / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
‘Kraken’ back on its leash: Georgia election lawsuit withdrawn — The “kraken” is back on its leash and licking its wounds. — After vowing to “unleash the kraken” — a mythical beast — on alleged election fraud and to overturn the presidential election in Georgia, attorney Sidney Powell quietly withdrew the lawsuit Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, RedState and The Gateway Pundit