Top Items:
Katie Benner / New York Times:
Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General — Trying to find another avenue to push his baseless election claims, Donald Trump considered installing a loyalist. — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's top leaders listened in stunned silence this month …
Discussion:
USA Today, Talking Points Memo, The Independent, Law & Crime, The Week, The Guardian, Hackwhackers, Mother Jones, BillMoyers.com, Slate, CNN, HuffPost, emptywheel, Mock Paper Scissors, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill, Raw Story and Mediaite
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Washington Post:
Trump entertained plan to install an attorney general who would help him pursue baseless election fraud claims — Then-President Donald Trump in early January entertained a plan to replace the acting attorney general with a different Justice Department lawyer who was more amenable to pursuing …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Week, HotAir, East Bay Times, emptywheel, CNN, Raw Story and Mediaite
George T. Conway III / Washington Post:
Former president, private citizen and, perhaps, criminal defendant: … The question came out of the blue and has haunted me ever since. It was Jan. 17, 2017, three days before Donald Trump's swearing-in, and my wife and I sat with him in the near-empty main cabin aboard …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, Raw Story and Lawfare
Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:
Kevin McCarthy: ‘Everybody Across This Country’ Is To Blame For Capitol Attack — Donald Trump is responsible for the Jan. 6 riot, but so are you, according to the House Republican leader. — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) attracted attention last week when he said in a floor speech …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money and New York Post
Roger Sollenberger / Salon:
Sen. Tom Cotton campaigned on his “experience as an Army Ranger” — but he didn't have any — Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has accrued a resume tailor-made for a Republican politician: He leapt from a small-town Arkansas cattle farm to Harvard University and then Harvard Law School …
New York Times:
Navalny Protests: Live Updates as Mass Rallies Sweep Across Russia — The poisoning and arrest of Aleksei A. Navalny set off nationwide protests, beginning in the Far East, where people braved temperatures of minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Thousands gathered in central Moscow …
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Georgi Kantchev / Wall Street Journal:
Russia Detains Hundreds as Protesters Rally for Jailed Opposition Leader Navalny
Russia Detains Hundreds as Protesters Rally for Jailed Opposition Leader Navalny
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian, National Review, Associated Press, NBC Los Angeles, TheJournal.ie and Reuters
Archie Bland / The Guardian:
Rolling Stone seeks ‘thought leaders’ willing to pay $2,000 to write for them — Emails from ‘best-known entertainment media outlet’ invite ‘Culture Council’ to pay for chance to publish on website — Rolling Stone magazine is offering “thought leaders” the chance to write for its website …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Giuliani concedes that an associate did ask for $20,000 a day to help Trump post-election. — Rudolph W. Giuliani, former President Donald J. Trump's personal lawyer, conceded on Friday night that an associate had sent an email to campaign officials asking that Mr. Giuliani be paid $20,000 …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Biden administration ousts Victoria Coates, who was falsely accused of being ‘Anonymous’ — Victoria Coates, who was hired as the president of the government-funded Middle East Broadcasting Networks in the waning days of Donald Trump's presidency, has been fired by the Biden administration, she told POLITICO.
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David Folkenflik / NPR:
USAGM Chief Fires Trump Allies Over Radio Free Europe And Other Networks
USAGM Chief Fires Trump Allies Over Radio Free Europe And Other Networks
Discussion:
New York Times
Jane Mayer / New Yorker:
Why McConnell Dumped Trump — After the Capitol assault—and after losing his perch as Majority Leader—the senator finally denounced the outgoing President. Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest? — On the afternoon of January 6th …
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
How Alvin the Beagle Helped Usher in a Democratic Senate — Senator Raphael Warnock was sworn in this week as Georgia's first Black senator, and he arrived with a canny canine assist. — The dog had a lot of work to do. — He was co-starring in a political ad that had to showcase the candidate's good-natured warmth.
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Larry King, Breezy Interviewer of the Famous and Infamous, Dies at 87 — Over five decades, he chatted with an estimated 50,000 people from all walks of life, from presidents and pundits to swindlers and U.F.O. “experts.” — Larry King, who shot the breeze with presidents and psychics …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, UPROXX and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »
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Steve Karnowski / Associated Press:
MyPillow Guy among the Trump acolytes picking up the torch — MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When Mike Lindell, better known to TV viewers as the MyPillow Guy, went to the White House last week to try to persuade President Donald Trump to keep pushing bogus theories about the election, he came away disappointed.
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Colin Kalmbacher / Law & Crime:
Texas Supreme Court Silently Denies Alex Jones All Forms of Relief: Sandy Hook Families and Others Can Now Sue Conspiracy Theorist and InfoWars into the Ground — An empire built on conjecture, conspiracy and a series of fake homeopathic cures for various ailments stands to be sued into oblivion …
Discussion:
Austin American-Statesman, The Hill, Forbes, Political Wire and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
Amy S. Rosenberg / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
In Cape May County, questions over a local chapter of the Oath Keepers — CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. — The question posed at the Cape May County commissioners meeting Jan. 12 over Zoom by a lone member of the public took Commissioner Gerald Thornton by surprise.
Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:
An old arrest can follow you forever online. Some newspapers want to fix that. — The Boston Globe has joined a handful of newsrooms around the country doing something once unthinkable: changing old articles because they are ruining a person's life. — The newspaper on Friday launched …
Discussion:
The Boston Globe, more at Mediagazer »
Alex Pareene / New Republic:
Democrats Can Preach “Unity” and Still Kill the Filibuster … “His position has not changed,” White House press secretary Jenn Psaki said Friday when asked whether the president thought the Senate should stop requiring supermajorities to pass most legislation—a practice commonly but mostly inaccurately referred to as the filibuster.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Yahoo News, Chicago Sun-Times and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon Seeks to Postpone Alabama Unionization Vote — Tech company pushes for in-person union ballot in place of mail-in option allowed due to pandemic — Amazon.com Inc. is seeking to postpone a unionization vote at a warehouse in Alabama and is asking federal labor authorities to reconsider …
Meryl Kornfield / Washington Post:
Criticized by science community and Trump, Deborah Birx said she ‘always’ considered quitting — Facing criticism from the administration she worked for and some in the scientific community, Deborah Birx, coordinator of the Trump White House's coronavirus response, “always” considered quitting her job …
Discussion:
Politico
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Emily Tillett / CBS News:
Trump COVID task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says she “always” considered quitting
Trump COVID task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says she “always” considered quitting
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Forbes, Mediaite, The Guardian, Business Insider, CNN, HuffPost, The Independent, NBC News, The Hill, IJR and Washington Examiner
Charles Bethea / New Yorker:
A Trump Holdout in Atlanta — L. Lin Wood, a Georgia defamation attorney who cried when Nixon resigned, still believes that the former President won the election, and he wants Mike Pence to be charged with treason. — Two weeks before Joe Biden's Inauguration, L. Lin Wood answered his telephone.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft President Brad Smith explains how political contributions really work — Brad Smith, Microsoft's president, said the company needs the Microsoft Political Action Committee. — The company is looking at whether to stop giving money to politicians who opposed the vote …
Discussion:
Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Stimulus Checks Emerge as Tool to Fill Gaps in Targeted Aid Programs — As Congress weighs another round of direct payments to households, advocates see a continuing role for periodic cash from Washington — WASHINGTON—Lawmakers approved stimulus checks last March as an intentionally scattershot move …
Margaret Talev / Axios:
Focus group: Former Trump voters say he should never hold office again — “Relief” is the top emotion some swing voters who used to support Donald Trump say they felt as they watched President Biden's swearing-in, followed by “hope.” — Why it matters: For voters on the bubble between parties …
Discussion:
American Thinker, Boston Herald, The Guardian and Raw Story
Mike Sabo / The American Mind:
The 1776 Commission Report Reinvigorates the American Mind — Despite hostility from the Biden Administration, the report stands as a guiding light for future generations. — Editors' Note — Former President Trump's 1776 Commission has issued a report that summarizes …
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Republicans Have Decided Not to Rethink Anything — For a few days, the Republican party appeared to be undergoing a crisis of confidence, if not an outright crack-up. First, Donald Trump lost an election, then tried to negate the outcome throughout a series of threats and increasingly absurd lawsuits …
Discussion:
Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, Raw Story, Newsweek, CNN, Bloomberg, CBS News, Crooks and Liars, Salon, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit and The Independent
Kevin R. Brock / The Hill:
Should the FBI investigate Trump's claims of voter fraud? — An FBI investigation of whether fraudulent votes were cast in the 2020 election might be the only way to help placate a bitterly divided nation. — Joe Biden is president and that won't be overturned.
Washington Post:
Biden sticks to vaccine goals nearly met by his predecessor — The accelerating pace of inoculations suggests he inherited a program poised to meet his target of 100 million doses in 100 days — When President Biden announced in early December that his administration would aim …
Discussion:
CNN
Will Wilkinson / Model Citizen:
A New Era of Unity — Interested in penetrating, good-faith discourse and not misinterpreting jokes? Here's a great newsletter option for you! — 7 hr ago — In light of recent events, I've decided to spend more time with my family. — Seriously, though, can you spend …