memeorandum: Awkward moment as House Republican leaders clash over Trump speaking at CPAC (Benjamin Siegel/ABC News)

5:50 PM ET, February 24, 2021

Top Items:

My story of working with Governor Cuomo — “Let's play strip poker.” — I should have been shocked by the Governor's crude comment, but I wasn't. — We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched.

Alex Pareene / New Republic:

The Andrew Cuomo Show Has Lost the Plot — Halfway through a recent New York Times story about Governor Andrew Cuomo's long (but perhaps not widely known) history of governance-by-bullying, an ally tried to defend his signature political style. He didn't say that Cuomo's behavior was ethical, or reasonable, or even responsible.

Discussion: RedState, Reason, YouGov and Washington Examiner

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

Ex-Aide Details Sexual Harassment Claims Against Gov. Cuomo — Lindsey Boylan accused the New York governor of kissing her in his office in 2018. She left her job as a special adviser to him soon after. — ALBANY, N.Y. — A former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo published a lengthy essay …

Discussion: Fox News and Twitchy

Karen Hinton / New York Daily News:
How to counter penis politics: What it's like to work for Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio

Discussion: NBC New York and Mediaite

Erin Durkin / Politico:
Former aide charges Cuomo kissed, sexually harassed her

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News and Breitbart

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: The most and least popular leaders in Washington

Discussion: Fox News, New York Magazine and Washington Post

Grace Panetta / Insider:
Former Cuomo staffer details her sexual-harassment allegations against the New York governor in a new essay

Discussion: Fox News, East Bay Times, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze and Twitchy

Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:

South Dakota AG pushed by critics to resign over new evidence in fatal car incident: ‘He knew what he hit and he lied’ — Days after South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg fatally struck a man while driving in September, detectives told the Republican official they had found a pair …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, The Hill, OutKick, HotAir, Talking Points Memo, Above the Law, Grand Forks Herald, Law & Crime, CBS News and Argus Leader

Argus Leader:
‘His face was in your windshield, Jason.’ Ravnsborg videos provide more details about fatal crash

Discussion: East Bay Times

Washington Post:

Live updates: USPS head Louis DeJoy tells House panel his strategic plan may include slowing first-class mail — The Postal Service is battling financial and service crises caused by years of mail declines worsened by the coronavirus pandemic — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told …

Discussion: USA Today, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, NBC News, The Hill, Big League Politics, NPR, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, ABC News, GovExec.com, Daily Kos, CNBC, House Committee … and Roll Call

David Dayen / American Prospect:
First 100: Top House Democrat Working With Louis DeJoy on Reform Legislation, For Some Reason

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Axios and Forbes

MSNBC: ‘The Absolute Worst’: Trump appointee Louis DeJoy continuing to dismantle Postal Service

Politico:

McConnell throws cold water on Dems' proposed 1/6 Commission — Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid to create a broad bipartisan review of the Jan. 6 insurrection is in peril after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed the proposal on Wednesday as “partisan by design.”

Discussion: NPR, The Hill, CNN, Washington Post, Fox News, Forbes, Raw Story, Daily Kos, IJR, TheBlaze, Townhall, The Daily Boulder and France 24

Christian Vanderbrouk / The Bulwark:

MAGA's Moment of Weakness — Trump and his allies have been defeated, humiliated, and betrayed. It's time to sweep the leg. — “We're going to win so much, you're going to be so sick and tired of winning, you're going to come to me and go 'Please, please, we can't win anymore.' You'll say 'Please …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, CNN, HotAir, New York Post, Forbes, New York Magazine and New York Times

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: What senators still want to know about Jan. 6 attack from defense and FBI leaders

Discussion: Politico, CNN, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, The Week and Raw Story

Michael Powell / New York Times:

Inside a Battle Over Race, Class and Power at Smith College — A student said she was racially profiled while eating in a college dorm. An investigation found no evidence of bias. But the incident will not fade away. — NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — In midsummer of 2018, Oumou Kanoute …

Kara Scannell / CNN:

Steve Bannon investigation gains steam as Manhattan prosecutors subpoena financial records — CNN legal analyst explains why the Steve Bannon pardon is problematic — New York (CNN)The Manhattan district attorney's office has subpoenaed financial records related to Steve Bannon's crowd …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Forbes, Raw Story, The Guardian and Daily Kos

Alex Marquardt / CNN:

‘Top Secret’ Saudi documents show Khashoggi assassins used company seized by Saudi crown prince — Washington (CNN)The two private jets used by a Saudi Arabian assassination squad that killed and allegedly dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were owned by a company that less than a year prior …

Discussion: The Guardian and The Daily Caller

Reuters:
U.S. report on Khashoggi death expected to single out Saudi crown prince: sources

Discussion: Bloomberg, The New Arab, Hackwhackers, Raw Story and The Hill

New York Times:

New analyses show Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine works well. — Johnson and Johnson's vaccine has a lower efficacy rate than the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which are both around 95 percent. … But in South Africa, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is so far the clear winner.

Discussion: NPR, HotAir, National Review, Virginia Mercury, Townhall, Mother Jones and CBS News

Washington Post:
FDA review confirms safety and efficacy of single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, especially against severe cases

Discussion: Politico, Vox, Reason, Wall Street Journal, Task & Purpose, Al Jazeera, Townhall, The Week, UPI, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS News, The Verge, The Guardian, The Hill, Washington Examiner, HotAir and New York Post

Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:

Awkward moment as House Republican leaders clash over Trump speaking at CPAC — Liz Cheney contradicted Kevin McCarthy on whether Trump has a role with the GOP. — Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. — J. Scott Applewhite/AP — Former President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, Washington Post, Insider, USA Today, New York Times, Crooks and Liars, The Hill, Roll Call, The American Independent and Becker News

Claire Williams / Morning Consult:

With Congressional Stimulus Fight Looming, 76% of Voters Back $1.9 Trillion Plan, Including 60% of Republicans — 89% of Democrats said they support the proposed COVID-19 aid package — 7 in 10 independents support the stimulus proposal, compared to over 1 in 5 who oppose it.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Insider, The American Independent, The Hill and Politico

Mitt Romney / Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Stimulus Bill Is a $1.9 Trillion Clunker

Discussion: USA Today, Fox News, National Review, Sara A. Carter, The Daily Caller, Insider, Raw Story and Deseret News

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Key Biden aide said pandemic was ‘best thing that ever happened to him’, book says — Anita Dunn said privately what aides ‘would never say in public’ — Cautious campaigning won Covid battle with Trump — A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Blue State Conservative

Rob Crilly / Washington Examiner:
Coronavirus was ‘best thing that ever happened’ to Biden, key aide says in book

Discussion: RedState and Disrn

Ben Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Bruce Springsteen's Drunken-Driving Charges Dropped by Prosecutors — Musician's blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit, federal prosecutors say; Springsteen pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol in a closed area — Federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Wednesday …

Wall Street Journal:

Texas Electric Bills Were $28 Billion Higher Under Deregulation — Competition in the electricity-supply business promised reliable power at a more affordable cost — Texas's deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week.

Discussion: HuffPost, Earther, Kevin Drum and The Hill

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup's latest update on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identification finds 5.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT. The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup's previous update based on 2017 data.

Discussion: USA Today, NBC News, The 19th, ABC13, KTAB, HotAir, Reason, Mic, Washington Blade, PinkNews, LGBTQ Nation, Althouse, National Review, The Hill and Washington Examiner

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Rep. Stephanie Murphy ‘seriously considering’ bid to unseat Rubio — Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy is seriously considering a bid to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio's 2022 reelection, announcing Wednesday that she's launching a statewide listening tour and has hired a top Democratic operative to manage the effort.

Sarah Rainsford / BBC:

Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of ‘prisoner of conscience’ status — Amnesty International has stripped the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny of his “prisoner of conscience” status after it says it was “bombarded” with complaints highlighting xenophobic comments that he has made in the past and not renounced.

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Examiner, RT, Natalia Explains … and spiked

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:

Putting the GOP “Civil War” in Perspective — The degree to which folks continue to view American politics through the Trump prism is both understandable and frustrating. On the one hand, despite losing the election, the former president has remained an omnipresent figure in our daily lives.

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review and The Bulwark

ProPublica:

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company's Business — Amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign, Facebook ultimately sided with Turkey's demand to block the page of a mostly Kurdish militia. “I am fine with this,” Sandberg wrote.

Discussion: New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

A possible Tanden replacement privately touts her own Senate support — A leading fallback option to head Joe Biden's Office of Management and Budget has privately touted her own possible support in the Senate even as she encourages the confirmation of her embattled friend, Neera Tanden, to the post.

Discussion: Fox News, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Washington Post and GovExec.com

Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:

Fanne Foxe, ‘Argentine Firecracker’ at center of D.C. sex scandal, dies at 84 — At about 2 a.m. Oct. 7, 1974, U.S. Park Police pulled over a silver-blue Lincoln Continental that had been swerving and speeding without headlights on near the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Discussion: New York Times

Josh Boswell / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden was living with his brother Beau's widow Hallie while sending raunchy texts and FaceTiming in the shower with her married SISTER as they declared their love and she called him her ‘prince’ — Hunter Biden began dating his late brother Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, shortly after Beau died of brain cancer in 2015

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

McDonald's Secretive Intel Team Spies on ‘Fight for $15’ Workers, Internal Documents Show — McDonald's collects ‘strategic intelligence’ on workers advocating for a $15 minimum wage, including ‘how and where will FF$15 attack the brand.’ — For years, McDonald's has internally labeled activists …

Discussion: Popular Information, Daily Kos and USA Today

Rachel Lerman / Washington Post:

Major Trump backer Rebekah Mercer orchestrates Parler's second act — Mercer, whose family also invested in right-wing news site Breitbart, controls two of the three board seats at the company — When social media website Parler's founding CEO John Matze was pushed out last month …

Washington Post:

Life amid the ruins of QAnon: ‘I wanted my family back’ — An epidemic of conspiracy theories, fanned by social media and self-serving politicians, is tearing families apart. … She bought ammunition, camping gear, a water purifier and boxes of canned food.

Discussion: Raw Story

Juliana Menasce Horowitz / Pew Research Center:

More Americans now say academic concerns should be a top factor in deciding to reopen K-12 schools — Amid new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to safely reopen K-12 schools for in-person instruction, Americans are increasingly concerned about the effect of virtual learning on academic progress.

Discussion: HotAir and Mercury News

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Tiger's crash trumps the news cycle, but is his career over? — Tiger Woods suffered what could be career-ending leg injuries following a horrific car crash in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. — a stunning incident that dominated the news cycle Tuesday, on a level not seen since …

Discussion: CBS News, Breitbart and NPR

Kylie Atwood / CNN:

CIA launches task force to probe invisible attacks on US diplomats and spies as one victim finds some relief — (CNN)More than three years after former senior US intelligence officer Marc Polymeropoulos suffered a mysterious attack in Moscow that changed his life forever, he finally has a diagnosis …

Hilary Sargent / The Informant:

Christopher Cantwell gets 41 months — The gun-worshiping New Hampshire neo-Nazi podcaster was sentenced for trying to extort a rival. — 1 hr ago — Christopher Cantwell, the New Hampshire neo-Nazi podcaster found guilty of extortion and threats directed at another neo-Nazi …

Holley Ford / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth:

Sen. Ted Cruz Piñatas Created at Dallas Party Store — First. it was former President Donald Trump, then U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. — Now, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has his own piñata courtesy of a Dallas party store. — Last week, Cruz sparked widespread outrage for flying …

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, The Hill, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

American Greatness:

Why Do the Election's Defenders Require My Agreement? — The purpose of voting today is to give a democratic veneer to an undemocratic regime—not to give the people a say in the direction of their government. … Sullivan is vociferously anti-Trump, so I expected us to disagree—which, naturally, we did.

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Scoop: Netanyahu asked Biden to keep Trump's sanctions on International Criminal Court — Netanyahu asked Biden in their first phone call last week to keep sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in place, Israeli officials tell me.

Zach Everson / Slate:

How Screwed Is the Trump Hotel D.C.? — For three years, the lobby of the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. was the hedonistic center of the MAGA-verse. The room glittered with chandeliers and the flashes of sabers slicing open champagne bottles (prefaced by the ringing of a bell to draw eyeballs to the spectacle).

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Intellectualist and Raw Story