memeorandum: Paul Manafort's Book Deal May Breach His Plea Agreement (Ambassador Daniel Fried/Just Security)

3:45 PM ET, January 10, 2022

Top Items:

West Virginia's coal miners just made Joe Manchin's life a lot harder — For months, Sen. Joe Manchin III has sold his opposition to the Build Back Better proposal as driven uniformly by a brave and hardheaded assessment of the national interest. He has warned that BBB will fuel inflation …

Jeff Goodell / Rolling Stone:

Manchin's Coal Corruption Is So Much Worse Than You Knew — The senator from West Virginia is bought and paid for by Big Coal. With his help the dying industry is pulling one final heist — and the entire planet may pay the price — One of the hardest things to grasp about the climate crisis is the connectedness of all things.

Steven Greenhouse / The Guardian:

Bernie Sanders says Democrats are failing: ‘The party has turned its back on the working class’ — In an exclusive interview, the senator says it's time to ‘step up and take on the greed of the ruling class in America’ — enator Bernie Sanders has called on Democrats to make …

Discussion: Washington Post and FiveThirtyEight

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Manchin's Choice on Build Back Better: Mine Workers or Mine Owners

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, The Western Journal, HotAir, Vox and CBS News

Washington Post:

More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. — The Washington Post has compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents

Discussion: Supercreator

Mariana Alfaro / Washington Post:

Trump calls GOP senator a ‘jerk’ after he rejects former president's false claims of widespread election fraud — Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said on Sunday that the 2020 election was “as fair as we have seen.” — Former president Donald Trump lashed out Monday at Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, Insider, CNN, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Todd Starnes and Patterico's Pontifications

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Trump rips GOP senator who called 2020 election ‘fair’

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Alternet.org, CNN and POLITICUSUSA

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Trump Buries ‘Woke’ GOP Senator Mike Rounds for Acknowledging Former President Lost in 2020: ‘I Will Never Endorse This Jerk Again’

Discussion: HuffPost, HotAir, ABC News, IJR and National Review

Gabriel Pogrund / The Sunday Times:
Alan Dershowitz asked Donald Trump to grant Ghislaine Maxwell a pre-emptive pardon

Discussion: Washington Examiner, New York Post, Insider and Mediaite

Tim Miller / The Bulwark:

I Spent Insurrection Week Listening to Steve Bannon — For three hours every day, the Republican coup plotters who inspired the domestic terror attack at the U.S. Capitol last year gather to discuss their next move. On their January 6th anniversary program, the Dead Cops Society beseeched …

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Symone Sanders, a Top Strategist for Biden and Harris, Is Joining MSNBC — Ms. Sanders, 32, will host a weekend show on the cable network, one of the first big programming moves by MSNBC's president, Rashida Jones. — Symone D. Sanders, the former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Insider, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Wrap and The Daily Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Max Tani / Politico:
Symone Sanders lands at MSNBC

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, TheGrio, New York Post, National Review, WTOP News and Twitchy

Summer Concepcion / Talking Points Memo:

McCarthy Again Threatens To Strip Dems Of Committee Seats If He Becomes Speaker — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in an interview with right-wing outlet Breitbart News doubled down on his threat to remove Democrats from their committee assignments if he becomes House speaker following the midterm elections.

Steve Benen / MSNBC:
So much for ‘nothing to hide’: Jim Jordan balks at Jan. 6 probe

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, The Hill, Axios, The Western Journal, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Raw Story, New York Post, NBC News, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, The Federalist, CBS News, CNN, Washington Times and IJR

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:
Exclusive — Kevin McCarthy Plans to Strip Ilhan Omar off Foreign Affairs, Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off Intelligence Committee

Discussion: The Hill, Insider and The Daily Wire

Hayes Brown / MSNBC:

Mitch McConnell's Electoral Count Act offer is a poison pill for voting rights — Fate of voting rights legislation rests on pressure from ‘spotlight of history’ — The Electoral Count Act, the law governing how Congress certifies presidential elections, is filled with gaps and ambiguities.

Discussion: Mother Jones and Raw Story

Mychael Schnell / The Hill:
McConnell's office knocks Democrats over 'the left's Big Lie'

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Politico and The Daily Caller

Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:

Greg Gutfeld has risen to the top at Fox News — and that's no joke — NEW YORK — Greg Gutfeld is picking through a long, narrow closet. He wrenches a painting from the depth of the clutter. A painting of himself. That familiar arched right eyebrow. That sideways grin.

Zeke Miller / Associated Press:

Home COVID tests to be covered by insurers starting Saturday — WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Robert Durst, Real Estate Scion Convicted as a Killer, Dies at 78 — He was a suspect in three lurid murders and became a fugitive. In September, he was found guilty in the fatal shooting of a confidante and sentenced to life in prison. — Robert A. Durst, the scion …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Insider, Los Angeles Times, KXAN-TV, Us Weekly, abc7NY, The Daily Wire, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Deadline, Fox News, NBC New York, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, Deseret News and WCCB Charlotte's CWWCCB …

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:

Anti-Vax Leader Urges Followers to Drink Their Own Urine to Fight COVID — ‘EVERYTHING WE NEED’ — Anti-COVID-19 “Vaccine Police” leader Christopher Key has a new quarter-baked conspiracy theory for his anti-vax followers to use to cure themselves of COVID-19: Drink their own urine.

Jaclyn Peiser / Washington Post:

An Indiana GOP state senator said teachers ‘need to be impartial’ during lessons about Nazism and fascism — On Wednesday, during an Indiana state Senate committee hearing about a proposed bill that would ban “divisive concepts” in school classrooms, Republican Sen. Scott Baldwin …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Hill and HuffPost

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Republicans are waging a war on schools. When will Democrats fight back?

Discussion: Raw Story and The Capitolist

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

Why More Americans Are Saying They're ‘Vaxxed and Done’ — Sign up for Derek's newsletter here. — To understand how ideologically scrambling the Omicron wave has been, consider this: Some 2022 Democrats are sounding like 2020 Republicans. In spring 2020, many Republicans …

Discussion: Washington Post, Sacramento Bee and Politico

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

Ted Cruz's Humiliation Isn't the Worst Part — Tucker “Patriot Purge” Carlson and the deeper meaning of their clash over Jan. 6th terminology. — By now, you've heard about the clip of Ted Cruz groveling for Tucker Carlson's approval on Fox News. Every last member of the punditocracy …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, Raw Story and The Moderate Voice

Tom Jones / Poynter:
More evidence of Fox News' stranglehold on the Republican Party

Discussion: HuffPost, Daily Kos and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

Speaker: Nashville US House seat to split in redistricting — NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republicans plan to carve fast-growing Nashville into multiple congressional seats, making it potentially easier for the state's Republican-dominated congressional delegation to flip …

Discussion: The Hill

New York Times:

Updates: At Least 19 Dead, Including 9 Children, in Bronx Apartment Fire — Crews entering the building found victims on every floor. Heavy smoke likely prevented victims from escaping. — Here's what you need to know: — ‘The numbers are horrific,’ Mayor Eric Adams said after the city's deadliest fire in decades.

Discussion: New York Daily News, Gizmodo, Fox News, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Slate, CBS New York and Todd Starnes

ABC News:
At least 19 dead, including 9 children, after dozens injured in NYC fire: Officials

Discussion: Politico, abc7NY, Insider, The Daily Wire, Bulletin, CBS San Francisco, KTLA and ABC7

Ambassador Daniel Fried / Just Security:

Paul Manafort's Book Deal May Breach His Plea Agreement — News that Paul Manafort has written a book (scheduled to be published later this summer) is not surprising: he had texted about doing so during the Special Counsel investigation. As a result, the government anticipated …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Insider, The Hill and Raw Story

Anatoly Kurmanaev / New York Times:

Haitian Prime Minister Had Close Links With Murder Suspect — New evidence suggests the man who took over from Haiti's murdered president had close links to a prime suspect in the assassination — and that the two stayed in contact even after the crime. — PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti …

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Trump's potential liability for Capitol riot faces major test in court — (CNN)A federal judge in Washington, DC, is set to consider, for the first time, whether former President Donald Trump is immune from liability related to his supporters attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Discussion: Bloomberg, ABC News, Washington Post, Democrats, Fox News, Raw Story and New York Times

Craig Mauger / Detroit News:

U.S. House Jan. 6 committee got Michigan Republicans' claimed electors certificate — Lansing — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office provided the U.S. House committee that's investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection a certificate, signed by 16 Republicans, falsely claiming Donald Trump won Michigan's electoral votes.

Discussion: Raw Story

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Rochelle Walensky is not good at this — We learned Friday that Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has sought the counsel of a prominent media consultant amid struggles to craft a coherent and consistent message on the coronavirus.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Newsweek, The Daily Caller, The Federalist and Townhall

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

Treasury warns of ‘enormous challenges’ this tax-filing season that could delay refunds — Officials predict a number of services could be delayed because of issues related to the pandemic and budget constraints. The tax filing deadline this year is April 18.

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, New York Times, CBS News, New York Post and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Melissa Korn / Wall Street Journal:

Yale, Georgetown, Other Top Schools Illegally Collude to Limit Student Financial Aid, Lawsuit Alleges — A new federal suit adds to continuing efforts to change college admissions practices — Sixteen major U.S. universities, including Yale University, Georgetown University and Northwestern University …

Discussion: Insider, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, Forbes and Yale Daily News

Mona Charen / The Bulwark:

Are Democrats Trying to Lose Elections? — Would you have predicted that the first big political blunder of 2022 would be committed by the freshly-inaugurated mayor of New York? Would you have thought that Eric Adams, the African-American former cop, political moderate …

Discussion: BizPac Review, The New Christendom Daily, Washington Examiner, ABC7, Insider and WhyAmerica?

New York Times:

Live Updates: Russia Plays Down Threat to Ukraine After Meetings with U.S. — Here's what you need to know: — Russia tells U.S. it has no plans to invade Ukraine, and agrees to keep talking. — GENEVA — With Russian troops massing along Ukraine's borders, American and Russian diplomats …