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:
The Guardian, New York Times, Townhall, National Review, The Daily Caller, The Last Refuge, The Gateway Pundit, Military Times, RedState, Insider, Al Jazeera, Twitchy, Reuters and Politico
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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:
CNBC, Washington Post, Insider, Daily Kos, We Love Trump, HillReporter.com, Law & Crime, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, UPI, The Verge, emptywheel, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Рос … and Meduza.io, more at Techmeme »
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The government finally connects the line from Trump's campaign to Russian intelligence — So much for the ‘Russia hoax’ hoax — From the first moments that the report on Russian interference in the 2016 election compiled by former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team became public two years ago …
Discussion:
Politico
Justin Hendrix / Just Security:
US Treasury Provides Missing Link: Manafort's Partner Gave Campaign Polling Data to Kremlin in 2016 — The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday that Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate and ex-employee of Paul Manafort, “provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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
CNN:
Six key takeaways from Biden's Russia sanctions announcement — Washington (CNN)The Biden administration slapped sweeping sanctions on Russia Thursday over Moscow's alleged interference in the 2020 election, the massive SolarWinds hack and the ongoing occupation of Crimea …
Discussion:
KDFX-TV, The Daily Caller, Associated Press and Los Angeles Times
The Intellectualist:
Analysis: Latest Russian Sanctions Report Confirms Trump Campaign Colluded With Russia
Analysis: Latest Russian Sanctions Report Confirms Trump Campaign Colluded With Russia
Discussion:
Townhall
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
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
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Pelosi says she won't bring bill to expand Supreme Court to the floor — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she has “no plans” to bring a Democratic-led bill to expand the Supreme Court to the House floor for a vote, while saying such an idea is “not out of the question.”
Discussion:
New York Post, Washington Post, Breitbart, RedState, The Federalist, The Daily Caller and IJR
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Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Democrats to introduce bill to expand Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices
Democrats to introduce bill to expand Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Fox News, Insider, RedState, POLITICUSUSA, IJR, TheGrio, Charlie Kirk, OutKick, The Intercept, No More Mister Nice Blog, We Love Trump, Townhall, Real America's Voice News, HotAir, Politico, Breitbart, The Sun, Washington Times, CD Media, Althouse, TheBlaze, The RFAngle, The Week, Current, Mediaite, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit
Sarah Ferris / Politico:
Pelosi dismisses progressive ‘court packing’ legislation
Pelosi dismisses progressive ‘court packing’ legislation
Discussion:
HuffPost, Fox News, The Hill, CNN, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, CBS News, HotAir, Liberty Unyielding and Forbes
Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Biden administration asks Supreme Court not to hear challenge to all-male military draft
Biden administration asks Supreme Court not to hear challenge to all-male military draft
Discussion:
National Review and Wall Street Journal
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:
Insider, Occupy Democrats, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, IJR, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and The American Independent
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:
Washington Examiner, Vox, CBS News, CNN, New York Post, TheBlaze, Forbes, HotAir, The Blue State Conservative, New York Times and Political Wire
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Miles Parks / NPR:
The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It
The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Boston Globe, HotAir and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
The media knows much less than it thinks
The media knows much less than it thinks
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, WV MetroNews and The National Interest
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:
Outside the Beltway, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Political Wire
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
Pfizer CEO says third Covid vaccine dose likely needed within 12 months — Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. — He also said it's possible people will need to get vaccinated against the virus annually.
Discussion:
Axios, Washington Examiner and NBC New York
Scott Wong / The Hill:
McCarthy and Biden haven't spoken since election — President Biden has phoned Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and hosted top GOP House and Senate committee leaders and rank-and-file Republicans at the White House. — But there's one key Republican Biden hasn't reached …
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Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
McCarthy Says He's Spoken To Gaetz, Plans To Take Action If He's Charged
McCarthy Says He's Spoken To Gaetz, Plans To Take Action If He's Charged
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Forbes and The Intellectualist
Quint Forgey / Politico:
McCarthy: I've met with Gaetz, he professed innocence
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:
New York Post, National Review, Townhall, HotAir, CNN, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and Twitchy
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Tucker Carlson villainizes journalists on his top-rated show. Then the threats pour in. — As the Fox host's popularity grows, he has found fodder in lesser-known media figures whom he presents as symbols of liberalism-run-amok. — Brandy Zadrozny, a reporter for NBC News who covers online extremism …
Discussion:
Twitchy
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Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
Tucker Carlson Is Giving ‘Red Pills’ To Millions. White Nationalists Are Thrilled.
Tucker Carlson Is Giving ‘Red Pills’ To Millions. White Nationalists Are Thrilled.
Discussion:
wgbh.org, Washington Post and New Republic
McCaffrey Blauner / The Daily Beast:
Jim Jordan Told to ‘Shut Your Mouth’ After Ranting Endlessly at Fauci — SPARE US — During a meeting of the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee on Thursday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) had to intervene in a shouting match between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Dr. Anthony Fauci by telling Jordan to “shut your mouth.”
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Mediaite and Patterico's Pontifications
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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 …
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
VICE, Insider, TheBlaze and The Daily Caller
Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:
Introducing Substack Local, for a new generation of local news — Today, we're announcing Substack Local, a US$1,000,000 initiative to foster and develop the local news ecosystem by helping independent writers build local news publications based on the subscription model.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, Nieman Lab, TechCrunch and American Press Institute, more at Mediagazer »
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 …
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story and The Intellectualist
Steve Hayes / The Dispatch:
'We Just Can't Do This Anymore' — Business owners who want to hire workers are finding it impossible to compete with the pandemic relief packages' enhanced unemployment payments. — 4 hr ago — WATERVILLE, Ohio—On a typical pre-pandemic Monday morning, Dale's Diner would be buzzing.
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:
Insider, Washington Examiner, CNN, National Review and IJR
WCNC-TV:
A Union County basketball coach was shot and killed in Alamance County. Deputies say he was in a shootout with the Sinaloa cartel — Barney Harris, the men's basketball coach at Union Academy, was killed in a shootout with a Mexican drug cartel in Alamance County, North Carolina, deputies said.
Discussion:
WSOC-TV, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The Daily Beast, The Root and The Gateway Pundit
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, Alternet.org, Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and New York Post
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, alicublog and The Gateway Pundit
Politico:
GOP uses threats hearing to air political, personal grievances — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee used the panel's first public hearing in five years on the United States' most dire global threats to air a range of domestic grievances to intelligence and law enforcement leaders Thursday …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Times, Center for Security Policy and Forbes
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, Mediaite, Breitbart, Alternet.org, Politico and Vox
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Biden Sparks Greater Party, Education Gaps Than Predecessors — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden's job approval ratings during his first two full months in office show greater divisions by party and educational attainment than those of his recent predecessors.
Discussion:
CNBC, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA and Washington Examiner
Brian Flood / Fox News:
CBS News' mysterious ‘retired newsman’ support adds to chaos surrounding ‘60 Minutes’ report on DeSantis — 'Tossing in a vague reference to a ‘retired newsman’ is a weak attempt to find support for what was a journalistic blunder," Jeffrey McCall said — ‘60 Minutes’ reads comments from viewers about disputed DeSantis report