memeorandum: Twitter accepts Elon Musk's buyout deal (Lauren Feiner/CNBC)

11:00 PM ET, April 25, 2022

Top Items:

Elon Musk to Acquire Twitter — Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion.

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

Trump will not return to Twitter even as Elon Musk purchases platform, will begin using his own TRUTH Social — Trump said a Musk Twitter takeover would be a positive development, but he will stay with his own platform — Twitter reportedly nearing deal to accept Elon Musk's offer

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Twitter accepts Elon Musk's buyout deal — KEY POINTS — Twitter's board accepted billionaire Elon Musk's offer to buy the social media company and take it private, the company confirmed. — The announcement ends a weeks-long saga Musk kicked off when he offered to buy the company at $54.20 per share, his “best and final.”

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNBC, The Daily Beast, CNN, Washington Examiner, Media Matters for America, TechCrunch, New York Times, Axios, Press Watch, Washington Post, The Hill, Bloomberg, Fox News, The Daily Beast, RedState, Breitbart, Townhall, Just FYI, Making It All Click, New York Post, CBS Philly, CBS News, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Fox News, Poynter, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Western Journal, RedState, Los Angeles Times, TheBlaze, Klarsynt med Sten Bäckström, Assorted, KRQE-TV, New York Times, Media Matters for America, TechCrunch, Fox News, Bloomberg, Fortune, Financial Times, Insider, The Verge, The Drive, The US Sun, WTOP News, globalnews.ca, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Big League Politics, Twitchy, The Daily Wire, Florida Politics, Denver Post, Power Line, Common Dreams, New York Post, UPI, The US Sun, Forbes, The Daily Wire, The Western Journal, RedState, Euractiv, Fortune, Politics with Ben Mackillop, Reason, Breitbart, Slate, NOQ Report, CBS Baltimore, Metro.co.uk, Engadget, Mercury News, Sportico, Breitbart, Slashdot, Protocol, New Jersey Online, CBS San Francisco, Washington Examiner, Fortune, nationalinterest.org, The US Sun, Wall Street Journal and CNSNews, more at Mediagazer »

Kanishka Singh / Reuters:

Human rights groups raise hate speech concerns after Musk's takeover of Twitter — Human rights groups on Monday raised concerns about hate speech on Twitter (TWTR.N) and the power that its takeover by Elon Musk would give the billionaire after the self-described “free speech absolutist” …

Discussion: New York Post, RedState, Chicago Sun-Times and Twitchy

Tim Miller / The Bulwark:

Musk Twitter Could Be a Disaster For MAGA Grifters and Republican Ostriches — With the news that the sale is final, it's time to embrace the schadenfreude. — Liberals on Twitter are not happy about their new overlord. — They are Godwinly concerned that Musk Twitter might signal the end of the American Weimar.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, RedState, The Verge and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Variety:

FX and The New York Times Announce Elon Musk Exposé Documentary (TV News Roundup) — Right on the heels of the news that Elon Musk is nearing a deal to buy Twitter, a television documentary about the polarizing businessman has been announced to premiere this May.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, Deadline and Mediaite

Evelyn Douek / The Atlantic:

Running Twitter Is Going to Disappoint Elon Musk — A fun thing about content moderation—the practice of social-media platforms deciding what we can and cannot say in some of the world's most important online spaces—is that almost everyone thinks that it's broken, albeit in different ways.

Discussion: KTVX-TV, The US Sun, National Review and TheBlaze, more at Techmeme »

Media Matters for America:
Elon Musk's own Twitter use is the biggest sign he's unfit to steer the ship

Discussion: Politico, Steve Bannon's War Room and Margins

Jordan Boyd / The Federalist:
The Best Thing Elon Musk Could Do With Twitter Is Annihilate It

Discussion: Washington Examiner, RedState, The Anarchist Peace, C's Newsletter, Red Hot Political and Mindscapes

Kate Conger / New York Times:
Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Takeover Becomes Reality

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, The Daily Beast, The Verge, HotAir, The Dossier, New York Post, Mediaite, Mashable, The Western Journal and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
Marjorie Taylor Greene Predicts Elon Musk Will Reinstate Her Twitter Account

Discussion: Fortune

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Biden officials worry Musk will allow Trump to return to Twitter

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Verge, The US Sun, Deadline, The Hill, Mediaite and Voice of America

CNN:

CNN Exclusive: Mark Meadows' 2,319 text messages reveal Trump's inner circle communications before and after January 6 — Washington (CNN)CNN has obtained 2,319 text messages that former President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election …

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

‘Exhilarated’ McConnell said Jan. 6 ‘discredited’ Trump, book says — Hours after a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in a bid to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described himself as “exhilarated” about the potential damage to then-president Donald Trump.

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, Insider, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Mediaite and Forbes

Brent D. Griffiths / Insider: Trump pushed Lindsey Graham to tell reporters about how good he is at golf: book

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Mitch McConnell's Nightmare Scenario

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Washington Post:
GOP texts cast renewed spotlight on post-2020 election efforts

Discussion: CBS News, Raw Story, CNN, World Socialist Web Site and The Hill

CNN:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's comments in since-deleted videos contradict testimony on close ties to Capitol rioter — 'I'm not answering that': Marjorie Taylor Greene testifies at hearing challenging her congressional candidacy — (CNN)Since-deleted videos from Georgia …

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Aaron Rupar / Public Notice: Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't remember anything and you can't prove she does

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The Jolt: Takeaways from the brawl between Brian Kemp and David Perdue

Discussion: Daily Kos, HuffPost, HotAir, BizPac Review, Washington Examiner and CNN

Emily Brooks / The Hill:

McCarthy warns of impeachment for Biden border official — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) warned that impeachment could be on the table for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a trip to the southern border with other GOP lawmakers.

Discussion: Axios and KRQE-TV

Fox News:

Biden's White House senior adviser called ‘Squad’ members ‘f—ing idiots’: book — White House counselor Steve Ricchetti said the issue with progressives is 'they don't understand that they lost' — Fox News Flash top headlines for April 25 — A new book being published by a pair …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, IJR and The Blue State Conservative

Fox News:
Pelosi said Obama is ‘jealous’ of Biden, new book reveals

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner

Jolie McCullough / The Texas Tribune:

Melissa Lucio's execution halted by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — Acknowledging substantive questions about Lucio's guilt and the fairness of her conviction, the appeals court blocked her Wednesday execution so the case can be further investigated. — Copy link

Discussion: Innocence Project, Wall Street Journal, Snopes.com, WKRG-TV, USA Today, NPR and Common Dreams

Jolie McCullough / The Texas Tribune: Listen as Melissa Lucio learns her life has been spared

New York Times:

Judge Holds Trump in Contempt Over Documents in New York A.G.'s Inquiry — Former President Donald J. Trump was ordered to turn over materials sought by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and will be fined $10,000 per day until he does so. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Washington Post:

Supreme Court lets Thomas Jefferson High School admissions policy stand — The Supreme Court on Monday left in place an admissions system for a prestigious Northern Virginia science and technology high school that administrators said opened the magnet program to a wider socioeconomic range …

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, SCOTUSblog, Bloomberg and Blue Virginia

Washington Post:

U.S. restarts diplomatic activity inside Ukraine and pledges more aid — The nomination of Ambassador Bridget Brink follows a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — President Biden named a new ambassador to Ukraine on Monday after his top diplomat …

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, NPR, Fox News and nationalinterest.org

Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:
How US military aid will help Ukrainians during Donbas phase

Discussion: Politico and Daily Mail

Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Post:

Russia appears to confuse ‘The Sims’ for SIM cards in possible staged assassination attempt — Russian security services on Monday have been accused of staging a Ukrainian assassination attempt by releasing photos of confiscated copies of “The Sims” video games that some speculate were mistaken by Kremlin officers for SIM cards.

Jeremy Turley / InForum:

North Dakota Sen. Holmberg to resign after text exchanges with jailed child porn suspect — An investigation published by The Forum on April 15 revealed that Holmberg exchanged 72 text messages in August with Nicholas Morgan-Derosier, a Grand Forks County Jail inmate suspected of child porn and sex abuse crimes.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Annie Lowrey / The Atlantic:

$100 Million to Cut the Time Tax — A mother in Louisiana is struggling to pay her bills and decides to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, better known as food stamps. She starts to fill out the state's 26-page, 8,350-word application.

Harvard University:

Spring 2022 — A national poll released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that while 18-to-29-year-olds are on track to match 2018's record-breaking youth turnout in a midterm election this November and prefer Democratic control 55%-34% …

Discussion: HotAir, The Hill, Forbes, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, Uniic Media, Common Dreams, USA Today and Insider

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:

Joe Manchin's Approach to Biden's Presidency Is Paying Off in West Virginia — Over the past year, Manchin has seen the largest job approval rating improvement of any senator — 57% of West Virginia voters approve of Manchin's job performance, up from 40% during the first quarter of 2021.

Discussion: HotAir, USA Today, Breitbart, Insider, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, The Daily Wire and Mediaite

Joshua Rhett Miller / New York Post:

Hunter Biden urged brother's widow to get tested for HIV during their affair — Hunter Biden desperately insisted his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, get screened for HIV as their torrid affair cooled off in the summer of 2018, emails show. — Biden, 52, implored Hallie to be tested for HIV …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Western Journal, BizPac Review, Ace of Spades HQ and The Daily Wire

Matt Bai / Washington Post:

Why Elizabeth Warren is stirring up an intra-party feud — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) occupies a singular place in the Democratic Party: a former Harvard law professor with unshakable self-certainty, she lends the presumption of intellectual rigor to every argument she makes.

Discussion: Words & Deeds

Politico:

Judge threatens to stop Biden's Title 42 plan, right as he rushes to defend it — The White House had started preparing a more aggressive defense around its plan for lifting the Trump-era deportation policy known as Title 42, when a federal judge issued a Monday decision that likely changes …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, NBC News, New York Post, Washington Times, Common Dreams, ABC13 and The Daily Wire

Rose L. Thayer / Stars & Stripes:

Body of missing Texas National Guard soldier recovered — AUSTIN, Texas — The body of Spc. Bishop E. Evans was found Monday, three days after the Texas National Guard soldier jumped into the Rio Grande to rescue two migrants trying to cross from Mexico into the Texas city of Eagle Pass, the state's military department reported.

Discussion: NPR and TheBlaze

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:

McCarthy dodges questions about audio, Trump and Jan. 6 — A report said that McCarthy told fellow Republicans that he would call Trump and ask him to resign following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday continued …

Discussion: Associated Press and Daily Kos

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Why Starbucks has become a huge unionization target — and why the company is in a panic — On April 7, Madison Hall, a barista and union organizer at the Starbucks store on Long Beach's bustling 2nd Street commercial strip, was invited to a session the next day to “meet with and co-create with upper-level management,” Hall says.

Discussion: CBS News