memeorandum: McConnell allows Senate power-sharing deal to advance after fight with Democrats over filibuster (CNN)

11:55 PM ET, January 25, 2021

Top Items:

Can Democrats exercise a mini-nuclear option against McConnell? — The standoff in the Senate continues: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is demanding that Democrats agree in advance to keep the legislative filibuster in place and is refusing to allow Senate business to proceed until they do.

Discussion: Axios

Washington Post:

Fight over the rules grinds the Senate to a halt, imperiling Biden's legislative agenda — When President Biden took office last week, he promised sweeping, bipartisan legislation to solve the coronavirus pandemic, fix the economy and overhaul immigration. — Just days later …

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Manchin emphatic he ‘will not vote’ to kill the filibuster — As the Senate sits in a standoff over the future of the filibuster, Joe Manchin doesn't know how he can be any clearer. — “If I haven't said it very plain, maybe Sen. McConnell hasn't understood, I want to basically say it for you.

Discussion: Axios, Vox, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Lindsay Wise / Wall Street Journal:

Senate Power-Sharing Deal Moves Ahead — McConnell says comments from Democratic senators assuaged his concerns about the filibuster being potentially eliminated — WASHINGTON—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he is ready to move ahead with a Senate power-sharing agreement …

Discussion: Politico and The Daily Caller

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Senate Filibuster Debate Roils Chamber — Before the Senate can get down to business, Senator Mitch McConnell wants Democrats to promise not to scrap the procedural weapon that can grind the chamber to a halt. Democrats are balking. — WASHINGTON — For months, as Democrats contemplated capturing control …

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, HotAir, theslot.jezebel.com, The Hill, The Federalist, Political Wire and Fox News

CNN:

McConnell allows Senate power-sharing deal to advance after fight with Democrats over filibuster — Sen. Durbin: We can't pass anything without bipartisanship — (CNN)Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday that he will allow the 50-50 Senate to officially organize …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, WGN-TV, Washington Times, Townhall and Mediaite

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Biden is betting on Senate compromise. So far, it's paying off.

Discussion: The Guardian, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner and Roll Call

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
As filibuster clash paralyzes Senate, Democratic frustration grows

Discussion: The Republic and DCReport.org

Patrick Reis / Rolling Stone:
Democrats' Choice: End the Filibuster or Watch McConnell Win (Again)

Discussion: Arizona Mirror

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:

Biden tells CNN Trump's impeachment trial ‘has to happen’ — (CNN)President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, telling CNN, “I think it has to happen.” — Biden made the comment during a brief …

Discussion: The Guardian, Business Insider, Fox News, New York Times, The Hill, Politico, Reuters, HuffPost, Sputnik News, Axios, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, TASS, The Sun, CNBC, New York Post, Boing Boing, Mediaite, UPI, The Week and Washington Post

Politico:
Trump sends a message to Senate Republicans ahead of his trial

Discussion: The Last Refuge and Raw Story

CNN:
John Roberts ducks the spotlight by skipping the second Trump impeachment trial

Discussion: Althouse, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Fox News

Susan Davis / NPR:
Sen. Patrick Leahy To Preside Over Trump's Senate Impeachment Trial

Discussion: New York Post, Axios, Vox, Common Dreams, RedState, Deadline, CBS News, CNBC, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, National Review and Raw Story

The Hill:
Leahy, not Roberts, to preside over impeachment trial

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, Above the Law, CNN, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Al Jazeera, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and New York Magazine

Libby Cathey / ABC News:
Biden's 1st 100 days live updates: WH commits to getting Harriet Tubman on $20 bill

Discussion: National Review, The Week, Fox News, The Hill, Bloomberg, IJR, The Guardian, Progress Pond, Washington Examiner, Florida Politics, Daily News, The Daily Caller, The Verge, CBS News and Vanity Fair

New York Times:

Apollo C.E.O. to Step Down After Firm Finds More Payments to Jeffrey Epstein — An inquiry's finding that Leon Black, the billionaire boss of Apollo Global Management, paid the convicted sex offender $150 million touched off an attempt to remove him. — The founders of Apollo Global Management …

Discussion: Mediaite, Gothamist, CNBC, New York Post and Raw Story

Miriam Gottfried / Wall Street Journal:

Apollo CEO Leon Black to Step Down Following Review of Jeffrey Epstein Ties — Independent probe finds Black wasn't involved in disgraced financier's criminal activities; Marc Rowan to take over top job by July 31 — Leon Black plans to step down as chief executive of Apollo Global Management Inc …

Discussion: Reuters, Sputnik News and The Daily Caller

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Rupert Murdoch, Accepting Award, Condemns ‘Awful Woke Orthodoxy’ — Mr. Murdoch of News Corp, who spoke in a video, has been relatively quiet publicly in recent years. He called conformity on social media “a straitjacket on sensibility.” — The media mogul Rupert Murdoch denounced an …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Mahablog, The Week, Mediaite, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Fox News, The Wrap, The American Independent, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Raw Story, HuffPost and Instapundit, more at Mediagazer »

MSN:
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley wrote a column in defense of militia members in the wake of Oklahoma City bombing when he was 15

Discussion: New York Magazine, Vox, Butterflies and Wheels, Daily Kos and The Independent

New York Times:

As Trump Seeks to Remain a Political Force, New Targets Emerge — As Donald Trump surveys the political landscape, there is a sudden Senate opening in Ohio, an ally's bid for Arkansas governor, and some scores to settle elsewhere. — Former President Donald J. Trump …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, HuffPost, CBS News, Greensburg Tribune-Review, POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo, CBS San Francisco, Raw Story and theslot.jezebel.com

Monmouth University Polling Institute:

Majority Support Trump Impeachment — Belief that voter fraud led to Biden win persists among 1 in 3 — West Long Branch, NJ - A clear majority of Americans support the second impeachment of former president Donald Trump. A majority also wants the Senate to convict him and bar …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, IJR, Politico and Fox News

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:

Feds Arrest Man Who Wore His High School Varsity Jacket To The Capitol Siege — “We all stormed the us capital and tried to take over the government,” he wrote. “We failed but f**k it.” — Federal authorities have charged a New York man in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol …

Discussion: Raw Story

Collin Anderson / Washington Free Beacon:

Meet the Woman Behind Salon's Sloppy Tom Cotton Piece — Something funny happened when Sen. Tom Cotton's (R., Ark.) aides received a request for comment from intrepid Salon reporter Roger Sollenberger. — Cotton's team, which shared the email correspondence with the Washington Free Beacon …

Discussion: National Review, Business Insider, Townhall and Twitchy

Zach Despart / Houston Chronicle:

Harris County judge dismisses vaccine theft charge against doctor, blasts DA for bringing the case — Dr. Hasan Gokal was fired by Harris County Public Health and charged with misdemeanor theft after he admitted taking leftover doses of COVID-19 vaccine and administering them to nine people.

Deanna Paul / Wall Street Journal:

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Unlikely to Run for Fourth Term — The Democrat has raised little money and hasn't campaigned ahead of a June Democratic primary — In the past year, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has raised only a few thousand dollars for his re-election.

Discussion: Raw Story

Dan Diamond / Washington Post:

Biden to tap nurse as acting surgeon general — Susan Orsega would be among the first nurses to serve in the role of 'the nation's doctor' — The Biden administration has selected nurse Susan Orsega to serve as the nation's acting surgeon general, said two people with knowledge of her selection …

Discussion: The Hill

Ian Richardson / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Senate leaders change virtual meeting policy after ‘pornographic’ Zoom incident — Republicans in the Iowa Senate said they have changed their policy for participants in virtual subcommittee meetings after an incident that was “pornographic in nature” during a Monday morning hearing.

Pilar Melendez / The Daily Beast:

Right-Wing Activist Banned From Airline for Not Wearing Mask Is Charged in Capitol Riots — Brandon Straka founded the “WalkAway Campaign,” urging liberals to ditch the Democratic Party. — A right-wing activist known for his unwavering support for former President Trump has been charged for participation in the Capitol riots.

KETV:
Omaha FBI agents arrest founder of WalkAway Campaign for actions during U.S. Capitol attack

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CONAN Daily, wusa9.com, The Gateway Pundit and Big League Politics

Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:

Woman Accused of Stealing Laptop from Nancy Pelosi's Office May Lose Internet Access as Feds Allege Deepening Cover-Up — The woman alleged to have stolen a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the U.S. Capitol insurrection may have encouraged others to destroy evidence …

Discussion: Raw Story

FiveThirtyEight:

Our Radicalized Republic — Four years ago, Lilliana Mason learned something she really, really hoped wasn't true. A political scientist who studies Americans' attitudes about politics and each other, she had long known that the citizens of this country were growing increasingly resentful …

Adam Andrzejewski / Forbes:

Dr. Anthony Fauci: The Highest Paid Employee In The Entire U.S. Federal Government — Dr. Anthony Fauci made $417,608 in 2019, the latest year for which federal salaries are available. That made him not only the highest paid doctor in the federal government, but the highest paid out of all four million federal employees.

Discussion: Breitbart, The National Pulse, The Federalist and The Daily Caller

Just Security:

“Fight for Trump”: Video Evidence of Incitement at the Capitol — How direct is the connection between what President Donald Trump communicated to his supporters and their actions in laying siege to the U.S. Capitol? Videos recorded by many individuals over the course of the day provide some answers.

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, The Independent, Tech Policy Press, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Jefferson Morley / Washington Post:

This D.C. neighborhood has quietly become a national model for resisting gentrification — How one D.C. neighborhood quietly became a national model for resisting gentrification — On Monday afternoon, June 1, the city of Washington was on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

Jan Wolfe / Reuters:

Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood fired by teen who faced off with Native American in viral video — BOSTON (Reuters) - A Kentucky teenager whose 2019 face-off with a Native American activist in Washington went viral has fired his lawyer, a man who played a key role in Donald Trump's attempts …

Discussion: Raw Story and HotAir

Jason Williams / Cincinnati.com:

Ohio's U.S. Sen. Rob Portman won't run for re-election; Republican cites ‘partisan gridlock’ — Republican Rob Portman will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2022, he told The Enquirer - a move that will unsettle politics in both Greater Cincinnati and Washington D.C.

Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:

100+ Politico Staffers Send Letter to Publisher Railing Against Publishing Ben Shapiro — The signees called out their top editor's response to internal critics, and reiterated that a firebrand like Shapiro does nothing to advance Politico's editorial values. — BEAST INSIDE

Discussion: Mediaite, Townhall, Twitchy and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Buck Throckmorton / Ace of Spades HQ:

What If Deplorables Start “De-Platforming” Leftists From Receiving Skilled Trade Services? — If Monster Tech can aggressively de-platform businesses and individuals for expressing forbidden opinions, then maybe it's time for skilled tradesmen to respond in kind against the woke left.

Discussion: Power Line

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Former Voice of America overseer hired two law firms to $4 million no-bid contracts. — The former head of Voice of America's parent agency hired two law firms to open-ended, no-bid contracts, including one specifying that top lawyers would earn $1,470 per hour, according to documents and people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: The Hill and USAGM

David Gilbert / VICE:

QAnon Thinks Trump Will Become President Again on March 4 — QAnon has started to merge with even more extreme conspiracy theories, including the “sovereign citizen” movement. — DG — Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States on March 4, 2021.

Discussion: Rolling Stone and Raw Story

Ashley Gold / Axios:

Scoop: Google won't donate to members of Congress who voted against election results — Google will not make contributions from its political action committee this cycle to any member of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the presidential election, following the deadly Capitol riot.

more at Techmeme »

Christian Vanderbrouk / The Bulwark:

Meet Trump's Pro-Insurrection “Intellectuals” — We should have known January 6 was coming, because Trumpism's “intellectual” wing called for it, for weeks. — Last December, Ross Douthat suggested that “there are two Republican Parties.” One of them governs dutifully, “certifying elections …

Discussion: Bulwark+, HotAir and Raw Story

CREW:

National Park Service spent 4,000 hours working on Trump's RNC fireworks show — Nikhel Sus, Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel, and Walker Davis … National Park Service employees spent nearly 4,000 hours working on the Republican National Convention's massive pro-Trump fireworks show at the National Mall …

Max Boot / Washington Post:

It's not just Trump on trial. It's the whole Republican Party. — When the impeachment proceedings begin in the Senate, it will not be just Donald Trump in the dock. The entire Republican Party will be on trial. And there is every reason to believe that the GOP will fail this test …

Discussion: CNN, KHNL, The American Independent, Associated Press, New York Magazine and Raw Story

Armin Rosen / Tablet Magazine:

Journalists Mobilize Against Free Speech — A new generation of media crusaders clamors for government control over what you see, hear, and read—and for banning their competition

Cory Stieg / CNBC:

Dr. Fauci: Double-masking makes ‘common sense’ and is likely more effective — Dr. Fauci says it's ‘common sense’ to wear two masks instead of one — Could wearing two face masks at once during the pandemic provide more protection than just wearing one? According to White House advisor …

Discussion: NBC News, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Fox News and Deseret News

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:

Rudy Giuliani Sued by Dominion Voting Systems Over False Election Claims — The suit against Mr. Giuliani, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump who pushed to overturn the election results, accuses him of carrying out “a viral disinformation campaign.”

U.S. Department of Justice Office …:

Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Announces Initiation of Investigation — Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today that: — The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an investigation into whether any former …