memeorandum: Trump's path to GOP nomination is strewn with obstacles (Dan Balz/Washington Post)

10:55 AM ET, January 29, 2023

Top Items:

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Trump kicks off his 2024 campaign: ‘We are at the brink of World War III’ — Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, U.S. foreign policy and undocumented immigrants Saturday as he kicked off his bid for a return to the White House with campaign stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Discussion: The Guardian, TIME, CBS News, Courthouse News Service, UPI, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, TASS, Washington Post, Washington Times and Just The News

CBS News:

Public sees Biden cooperating with documents investigation; job approval remains unchanged — CBS News poll — Slightly more Americans think the Biden administration is handling the classified documents investigation well than badly, with most saying President Biden has tried to cooperate with it.

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
EXCLUSIVE: Former CIA spy and GOP Congressman Will Hurd addresses rumors of 2024 presidential run

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Kristen Holmes / CNN:

Trump takes aim at DeSantis in first major campaign swing, says he's trying to ‘rewrite history’ on his Covid-19 record — Former President Donald Trump took aim at Ron DeSantis Saturday, claiming the Florida governor and his team are “trying to rewrite history” regarding their Covid-19 pandemic response …

Discussion: RedState, Reuters, Insider, TheBlaze, Associated Press, HotAir, Florida Politics and Bloomberg

Meridith McGraw / Politico:

Trump hits DeSantis: He's a Covid skeptic phony — COLUMBIA, S.C. — Since announcing in November, Donald Trump had an unconventional start to his third presidential campaign: He did not campaign at all. — That's now changing, and part of the reason the former president is holding …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, CNN, Associated Press, The Hill, One America News Network and New York Post

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Trump's path to GOP nomination is strewn with obstacles — Still, a wide field could so divide the race that Trump could take the nomination, as he did in 2016, by winning a plurality of primary voters — The past few months have been rough on former president Donald Trump, and the road ahead for him looks similarly rutted.

Discussion: Florida Politics, New York Post, ABC News and Insider

David Suissa / Jewish Journal:

No, President Biden, the Synagogue Attack Was Not Against the “Civilized World” … We attach ourselves to narratives because they comfort us. It's comforting to think that the terrorist who murdered seven Jews coming out of a Jerusalem synagogue was striking a blow against “the civilized world,” as President Joe Biden asserted.

Eduardo Medina / New York Times:

Paul Pelosi Attack Suspect Tells TV Station He Has No Remorse — The man accused of assaulting the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a disturbing surprise phone call to the station on Friday, the same day footage of the attack was made public.

Discussion: Washington Times, CBS News, The Gateway Pundit, Vox, Albuquerque Journal and Just The News

Amber Lee / KTVU-TV:
DePape in bizarre phone call to KTVU says he should have been ‘more prepared’

Discussion: CNN, IJR, The Hill, The Wrap, NewsNation, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, New York Post, TheBlaze, Fox News, Mediaite, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

The Covert Polish Repair Shop Patching Up Ukrainian Arms — Poland has set up a major repair operation aimed at returning damaged Ukrainian artillery and armor to the battlefield — WARSAW—In a sprawling factory complex surrounded by derelict buildings, hundreds of technicians …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Robert Tait / The Guardian:

Pro-western Petr Pavel sweeps to landslide win in race for Czech presidency — Champagne flows as former general defeats billionaire populist rival Andrej Babiš by largest margin in the country's history — Petr Pavel, a retired general and former senior Nato commander …

Discussion: Reuters, Just The News, Al Jazeera, The Western Journal, Associated Press, UPI, Politico, Bloomberg, MyNorthwest.com and TASS

Washington Post:
Retired Gen. Pavel defeats billionaire Babis in Czech election

Discussion: Progress Pond, The Global Gambit, New York Times, Al Jazeera and Associated Press

New York Times:

To Fix Its Problems in Ukraine, Russia Turns to the Architect of the War — President Vladimir V. Putin is on his third overall commander in Ukraine. But his military's fundamental issues have not been addressed, Western officials say. — WASHINGTON — Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov …

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:

Trump's Evolution in Social-Media Exile: More QAnon, More Extremes — The former president, now free to post again on Facebook and Twitter, has increasingly amplified far-right accounts on Truth Social. Experts on extremism worry that he will bring this approach to a far wider audience.

Discussion: Raw Story and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

At the Pentagon, push to send F-16s to Ukraine picks up steam — A contingent of military officials is quietly pushing the Pentagon to approve sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country defend itself from Russian missile and drone attacks, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

Discussion: HotAir, Breitbart, Reuters, Associated Press, Balloon Juice, TASS and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mark McGivern / Daily Record:

New trans prisoner storm looms for Nicola Sturgeon over transfer of violent stalker Tiffany Scott — Nicola Sturgeon faces another trans storm after a decision was made to house one of Scotland's most violent prisoners in a women's jail. The Record can reveal that volatile Tiffany Scott …

Discussion: Fox News and Breitbart

Jon Levine / New York Post:

Hunter Biden converted Delaware house with classified documents into home office — Hunter Biden apparently turned his father's Wilmington, Del. mansion into a high-powered and possibly compromised home office, wheeling and dealing with some of the same nations whose names have turned …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and RedState

Rebecca Robbins / New York Times:

How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System — AbbVie for years delayed competition for its blockbuster drug Humira, at the expense of patients and taxpayers. The monopoly is about to end. — In 2016, a blockbuster drug called Humira was poised to become a lot less valuable.