Top Items:
The Daily Beast:
U.S. Intel Walks Back Claim Russians Put Bounties on American Troops — It was a huge election-time story that prompted cries of treason. But according to a newly disclosed assessment, Donald Trump might have been right to call it a “hoax.” — It was a blockbuster story about Russia's return …
Discussion:
New York Times and Al Jazeera
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The White House:
FACT SHEET: Imposing Costs for Harmful Foreign Activities by the Russian Government
FACT SHEET: Imposing Costs for Harmful Foreign Activities by the Russian Government
Discussion:
Axios, U.S. Department …, The Hill, Insider, American Military News, TheBlaze, Breaking Defense, Рос …, New York Times and РБК, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Biden Imposes Sanctions on Russia, Restricts Buying New Debt
Biden Imposes Sanctions on Russia, Restricts Buying New Debt
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, KDFX-TV, The Sun, Insider, The Guardian, Raw Story, NPR, New York Post and The Week
Politico:
Biden sanctions Russia, expels diplomats over election interference
Biden sanctions Russia, expels diplomats over election interference
Discussion:
ABC News, Associated Press, National Review, Reuters, IJR and The Daily Caller
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Biden administration imposes significant economic sanctions on Russia over cyberspying, efforts to influence presidential election
Biden administration imposes significant economic sanctions on Russia over cyberspying, efforts to influence presidential election
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and The Times of Israel
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Democrats to introduce bill to expand Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices — WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats will introduce legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, alongside progressive activists pushing to transform the high court.
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Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
‘Frankly, I Think Everyone Is Baffled’: Searching For Clues In SCOTUS' Abortion Silence
‘Frankly, I Think Everyone Is Baffled’: Searching For Clues In SCOTUS' Abortion Silence
Discussion:
ABC News, Fox News, RedState, Page Array, Arkansas Online, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico and Washington Free Beacon
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Pelosi rips McConnell in new book: He's an ‘enabler of some of the worst stuff’
Pelosi rips McConnell in new book: He's an ‘enabler of some of the worst stuff’
Discussion:
IJR, POLITICUSUSA, The American Independent and Mediaite
Ryan Grim / The Intercept:
House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court
House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court
Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
Democratic Lawmakers to Present Plan to Expand Supreme Court
Democratic Lawmakers to Present Plan to Expand Supreme Court
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Guardian, National Review, Politico, HotAir and Washington Times
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Republicans slam ‘assault’ on Supreme Court by Dems' court-packing bill, say move will help GOP in elections
Republicans slam ‘assault’ on Supreme Court by Dems' court-packing bill, say move will help GOP in elections
Discussion:
RedState, Talking Points Memo, American Military News, We Love Trump, 77 WABC and Breitbart
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
A new bill would add 4 seats to the Supreme Court
A new bill would add 4 seats to the Supreme Court
Discussion:
CBS News, Boston Herald, Crooks and Liars and WRIC-TV
U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Treasury Escalates Sanctions Against the Russian Government's Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections — WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took sweeping action against 16 entities and 16 individuals who attempted to influence …
Discussion:
emptywheel, UPI, The Verge, Washington Times and Meduza.io
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Zachary Basu / Axios:
U.S. says Manafort associate passed sensitive polling data to Russian intelligence — The U.S. government has sanctioned Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant indicted in the Mueller investigation in 2018, for carrying out election influence operations on behalf of Russian intelligence services.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:
New Sanctions On Manafort Deputy Suggest Deeper Role Of Russian Intel In 2016
New Sanctions On Manafort Deputy Suggest Deeper Role Of Russian Intel In 2016
Discussion:
Election Law Blog
Robin Bravender / Insider:
We spoke with 21 of Matt Gaetz's high-school classmates. Some say they could have predicted the congressman's sex scandal. — Some of Matt Gaetz's former classmates spoke exclusively with Insider about his high school days. — Gaetz, now 38, had a reputation as a know-it-all who talked over his classmates and teachers.
Discussion:
HillReporter.com, HotAir and Raw Story
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The Daily Beast:
Matt Gaetz's Wingman Paid Dozens of Young Women—and a 17-Year-Old — VEN-UH-OH … Venmo payment records reveal a vast network of young women received money from Rep. Matt Gaetz's associate, the accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg. — As new details emerge about Rep. Matt Gaetz's role …
Discussion:
Mediaite, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, Insider, The Week, Florida Politics, Raw Story, Fortune, The Wrap, Mic, The Intellectualist and IJR
Benjamin Din / Politico:
Rep. Matt Gaetz announces ad buy to ‘fight back’ against CNN, allegations
Rep. Matt Gaetz announces ad buy to ‘fight back’ against CNN, allegations
Discussion:
Insider, Mock Paper Scissors, The Hill, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Florida Politics
Kathy Frankovic / YouGov:
Decision to pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine causes public confidence in vaccine to sink — Economist/YouGov Poll Politics & current affairs — Fieldwork for the latest Economist/YouGov poll on vaccine safety perceptions was in the midst of being conducted when the Centers for Disease Control …
Discussion:
CNN, Political Wire, The Blue State Conservative, CBS News and Washington Post
RELATED:
Miles Parks / NPR:
The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It — CNN. ABC News. The New York Times. Fox News. — Those are the publishers of four of the five most popular Facebook posts of articles about the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine this week.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Media Matters for America and HotAir, more at Mediagazer »
The Cook Political Report:
Introducing the 2021 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index — The Cook Political Report is pleased to introduce the post-2020 edition of the Partisan Voter Index (PVI) for all 50 states and 435 congressional districts. Although these district boundaries won't be in place …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
CDC Identifies Small Group of Covid-19 Infections Among Fully Vaccinated Patients — Incidence is rare, occurring in only 0.008% of cases and in line with expectations — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified a small cohort of approximately 5,800 cases …
Discussion:
Mediaite and Political Wire
Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
Tucker Carlson Is Giving ‘Red Pills’ To Millions. White Nationalists Are Thrilled. — After the Fox News host doubled down on the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, white nationalists were excited at what it could mean for their movement. — After Fox News host Tucker Carlson doubled …
Discussion:
wgbh.org, Washington Post, New Republic and The Intellectualist
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Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Biden Finally Got to Say No to the Generals — Critics be damned, the President is ending the Forever War waged by Bush, Obama, and Trump in Afghanistan. — On Wednesday, Joe Biden announced the close of the two-decade-long American war in Afghanistan, giving the U.S. military a deadline …
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Dan Primack / Axios:
J.D. Vance tells associates he plans to run for Senate in Ohio — J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” has told friends and colleagues that he plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Washington Post:
17 requests for backup in 78 minutes — A reconstruction shows how failures of planning and preparation left police at the Capitol severely disadvantaged on Jan. 6 — At 1:13 p.m. on Jan. 6, a D.C. police commander facing a swelling crowd of protesters on the west side of the U.S. Capitol …
Jaclyn Peiser / Washington Post:
Accused Capitol rioter planned an escape to Switzerland, prosecutors said. Now he'll stay in jail. — When Jeffrey Sabol returned to his Colorado home after allegedly storming the U.S. Capitol and assaulting two police officers on Jan. 6, he fried his electronic devices in the microwave …
Discussion:
CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Insider and Raw Story
Philip Wegmann / Real Clear Politics:
Christie to GOP Study Group: Call Biden Out as ‘a Liar’ — Republicans are bloodied and beaten, and maybe just a little too bashful for their own good. At least, so says Chris Christie. — Knocked back on their heels and forced to answer for every outrageous thing Donald Trump did …
Discussion:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Politico, Vox and Mediaite
April Ryan / TheGrio:
Vice President Kamala Harris weighs in on gun vs. Taser debate in Daunte Wright shooting — EXCLUSIVE: In an exclusive interview with theGrio, VP Kamala Harris calls for “full accountability” in the Chauvin case and said Wright “should still be alive today.” — Loading the player...
Discussion:
Snopes.com
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Susan Page / Politico:
Inside Nancy Pelosi's War With AOC and the Squad — Adapted from Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power, to be published by Twelve Books on April 20. — “Nancy doesn't have much patience for people who don't know what they don't know.” — That was what a senior congressional …
Discussion:
CNN, Insider, IJR and National Review
Washington Free Beacon:
Kristen Clarke, Bigot and Liar — Having sworn to answer all questions truthfully, in an appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division offered a series of answers that strained credulity and veered into outright falsehood.
Discussion:
National Review, C-SPAN.org, Daily Kos and Slate
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
‘YOU SON OF A B*TCH!’ Geraldo Rivera, Dan Bongino Get in Shouting Match Over Police, Protests — Geraldo Rivera and Dan Bongino faced off for a second time this week on Sean Hannity's show and ended up getting into an even bigger shouting match over policing.
Discussion:
New York Post, RedState, HillReporter.com, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast and Insider
Sarah Chaney Cambon / Wall Street Journal:
Jobless Claims Fell to a New Pandemic Low Last Week — Applications for unemployment benefits have declined this year but are still historically high — Unemployment claims declined to the lowest level since the pandemic struck last spring, adding to signs the U.S. economic revival is picking up speed.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The Week
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Pennsylvania GOP launches ‘super MAGA Trump’ primary — PHILADELPHIA — The likely GOP candidates in Pennsylvania's open Senate race come in three familiar flavors: anti-Trump, Trumpy and Trumpiest. — Though President Donald Trump lost Pennsylvania in 2020 and will have been out of office …
Discussion:
Political Wire
CNN:
Biden resists raising refugee cap over political optics, sources say — (CNN)President Joe Biden has resisted signing off on raising the Trump-era refugee cap because of political optics, sources have told CNN. — The President's hesitation comes as the administration faces heat …
Discussion:
Washington Post, KDFX-TV and Eschaton
Kimmy Yam / NBC News:
Macaulay Culkin's past comments and how white parents might ‘other’ their multiracial children — As fans celebrate the birth of Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song's son, comments Culkin made in a past podcast interview are drawing criticism among Asian Americans.