memeorandum: Scoop: Kevin McCarthy goes on offense in speaker battle (Axios)

9:40 AM ET, December 19, 2022

Top Items:

Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction. — Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York, says he's the “embodiment of the American dream.” But he seems to have misrepresented a number of his career highlights. — George Santos, whose election …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Elon Musk blamed a Twitter account for a stalker. Police see no link. — The Twitter owner threatened legal action, changed the platform's rules and suspended journalists' accounts after a confrontation involving his security team at a gas station. But the incident's timing and location cast doubt on a link to the @ElonJet account.

Discussion: Althouse, Mediaite and Rolling Stone, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

How Trump jettisoned restraints at Mar-a-Lago and prompted legal peril — The inside story of how Trump transplanted the chaos and norm flouting of his White House into his post-presidential life, leading to a criminal investigation into his handling of classified documents that presents potential legal peril

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story, Digby's Hullabaloo, HuffPost and PoliticusUSA

Adam Wren / Politico:

'He's Got a Huge Problem' — PHOENIX — A few weeks before Election Day, Mike Pence stood in the arid Arizona heat to give a boost to someone who was at that moment locked in a fight for a Senate seat. — Pence had been invited by David McIntosh — the president of the conservative Club for Growth and …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and The Guardian

Emma Hurt / Axios:

Scoop: Stacey Abrams campaign in debt after blowout loss — After raising more than $100 million in her second bid to be Georgia governor, the Stacey Abrams campaign owes more than $1 million in debt to vendors, two-time campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo confirmed to Axios.

Discussion: National Review

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Trump Faces a Week of Headaches on Jan. 6 and His Taxes — The House panel investigating the Capitol attack is set to release its report and may back criminal charges against the former president, while a separate committee could decide to release his tax returns.

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Associated Press, ABC News, Letters from an American, The Guardian and Bloomberg

NBC News:

Jan. 6 committee finalizes criminal referral plan for Trump — WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee met Sunday to finalize its plans to issue at least three criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump, NBC News has learned exclusively. — The committee, gathering publicly Monday …

Washington Post:
Jan. 6 committee to vote on referring Trump for criminal charges

Discussion: NBC News, ABC News, UPI, The Guardian, CNN, Slate and Wall Street Journal

Axios:
Scoop: GOP shadow committee re-emerges for Jan. 6 report

Discussion: Washington Examiner, RedState, Vanity Fair, The Hill, NBC News and Raw Story

Axios:

Scoop: Kevin McCarthy goes on offense in speaker battle … - “Kevin gave them an opportunity to negotiate in good faith,” a McCarthy adviser told me. — “Now there's going to be more of an effort to expose the craziness of what they're doing.” … - Now, fears are rising …

CNN:

Veteran CNN investigative journalist Drew Griffin dead at 60 — Drew Griffin, CNN's award-winning Senior Investigative Correspondent, known for getting even the cagiest of interview subjects to engage in a story, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, his family said. He was 60.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Twitter Help Center:

Promotion of alternative social platforms policy — Twitter is where the public conversation is happening, and where people from all over the globe come to promote their businesses, art, ideas, and more. We know that many of our users may be active on other social media platforms; however …

NBC News:

Twitter bans promotion of accounts on other social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social — Twitter will no longer allow users to promote their accounts on at least seven other major social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social, it announced Sunday.

Caitlin Dickson / Yahoo News:

Report reveals offensive items for sale on major e-commerce sites — A new report released Monday highlights how major e-commerce platforms continue to profit from selling T-shirts and other items with racist, antisemitic or otherwise offensive slogans — in many cases in direct violation of companies' policies.

Politico:

‘THE central issue’: How the fall of Roe v. Wade shook the 2022 election — On May 4, less than 48 hours after a draft opinion was published showing the Supreme Court was poised to end the federal right to abortion, a group of eight strangers gathered around a conference table in the Detroit suburbs to talk about the news.

Emily Atkinson / The Independent:

Russian actress and poet Vera Polozkova brands Putin the ‘main maniac of 21st century’ — Speaking from exile, Ms Polozkova said Russia ‘now exists as a totalitarian sect’ — Related video: Top Ukrainian general says country is preparing for Russian invasion from the north