memeorandum: Justice Dept. Drops Investigation of Retired U.S. General (New York Times)

8:40 PM ET, January 30, 2023

Top Items:

Manhattan Prosecutors Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury — The Manhattan district attorney's decision represents a dramatic escalation of the inquiry, and potentially sets the case on a path toward criminal charges against the former president. — The Manhattan district attorney's office …

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Forbes, Washington Post, National Review, The Hill, Mediaite, CNBC, Insider, The Root, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, The Gateway Pundit and HuffPost

Kara Scannell / CNN:

Ex-publisher of National Enquirer set to meet with prosecutors investigating Trump — David Pecker, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, is expected to meet with Manhattan prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump, people familiar with the matter said, indicating the probe is escalating.

Discussion: New York Post, ABC News, Mediaite, Raw Story, Just The News and Twitchy

Associated Press:

Reports: New grand jury in NY examining Trump hush money — Manhattan prosecutors investigating Donald Trump have convened a new grand jury to hear evidence in a years-old probe into payments made to keep the porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with the former president, according to multiple news reports.

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Bloomberg, Raw Story and NPR

Jeff Gerth / Columbia Journalism Review:

The press versus the president, part one — INTRODUCTION: ‘I realized early on I had two jobs’ — The end of the long inquiry into whether Donald Trump was colluding with Russia came in July 2019, when Robert Mueller III, the special counsel, took seven, sometimes painful, hours to essentially say no.

Discussion: Just The News and The Philadelphia Inquirer

Jeff Gerth / Columbia Journalism Review: The press versus the president, part two

Jeff Gerth / Columbia Journalism Review:
The press versus the president, part four

Discussion: Helen of desTroy Archive

Orlando Sentinel:

Florida leaders push to allow concealed guns without permits, training — TALLAHASSEE — Calling the right to bear arms “central to our freedom,” House Speaker Paul Renner on Monday unveiled a bill removing Florida requirements for a permit and training to carry concealed guns, an idea endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, HotAir, USA Today, Breitbart, Fox News, Associated Press, Florida News, Florida Politics, The Capitolist, WFLA-TV, Florida's Voice, Raw Story, TheBlaze, IJR and Political Wire

Daniel Han / Politico:
Federal judge blocks more of New Jersey's new gun carry law

Discussion: The Hill

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Awful new details about the Durham probe demand a serious response — Senate Democrats, prepare to investigate the investigations of the investigators. — If this sounds likely to be mind-numbingly complicated, well, yes, it is. But there's only one way to tackle this difficulty: head-on.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill, Washington Times, Punchbowl News and Fox News

David Firestone / New York Times:
Bill Barr's Image Rehab Is Kaput

Discussion: Raw Story, Bette Dangerous, Washington Post, The Federalist and Breitbart

Danielle Kurtzleben / NPR:

Recent infighting raises the question: How conservative is the GOP? — A few weeks ago, Americans — or, the subset who get excited about these things — were glued to C-SPAN as the House voted 15 times for a speaker. — It was a show of a deep but hard-to-describe division in the party.

Discussion: The Spectator World, New York Times and Washington Post

Politico:
Schumer plots debt ceiling course against McCarthy: 'We'll win'

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Politico, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, E&E, CBS News, New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Politico, Fox News and Politico

Ursula Perano / The Daily Beast:
Republicans Are Desperate to Cut Spending. They Can't Agree on What.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Nation, Raw Story and The Hill

Madeline Halpert / BBC:

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has applied for US visa — Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month US tourist visa, his lawyer has told the BBC. — Mr Bolsonaro has been staying in Florida since 30 December. — The former president plans to stay …

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Fox News and Al Jazeera

Joshua Chaffin / Financial Times:

Jair Bolsonaro seeks six-month US tourist visa to extend Florida stay — Former Brazilian president is facing multiple investigations at home — Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, has applied for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the US as his legal standing in his home country grows perilous.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Just The News, Semafor and Political Wire

Bloomberg:

Trump Sues Journalist Bob Woodward for Releasing Interview Recordings — Former President Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward for releasing recordings of interviews that he gave to the journalist in 2019 and 2020, claiming he never agreed to those tapes being shared with the public.

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, Politico, CNBC, The Hill, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, Deadline, New Republic, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit and Just The News, more at Mediagazer »

Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:

Some Democrats are worried about Harris's political prospects — At a pivotal point in Biden's term, many party activists are not sure the vice president has shown she is up to winning the top job — As a longtime leader of the Cobb County Democrats, Jacquelyn Bettapadur has become highly attuned …

Discussion: RedState, National Review and IJR

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Southern Democrats rally for Atlanta 2024 convention

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Political Wire

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Matt and Mercedes Schlapp Off the Air at Fox News After Groping Allegation — American Conservative Union chief Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes have been off the air at Fox News since he was accused of groping a political campaign staffer. — The Daily Beast first reported on Jan. 6 …

Discussion: Insider

Politico:

Secret hold restricts DOJ's bid to access phone of Trump ally Rep. Scott Perry — A federal appeals court panel has put a secret hold on the Justice Department's effort to access the phone of Rep. Scott Perry as part of a broader probe of efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election.

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

U.S. military poised to secure new access to key Philippine bases — The expansion is part of a broader push in the Indo-Pacific to buttress U.S. force posture, reinforce alliances and deter China — The U.S. military is poised to secure expanded access to key bases in the Philippines …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Leonard Downie Jr / Washington Post:

Newsrooms that move beyond ‘objectivity’ can build trust — Leonard Downie Jr., a former executive editor of The Washington Post, is a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. — Amid all the profound challenges and changes roiling …

Discussion: National Review and USA Today

Jacob Magid / The Times of Israel:

Abbas assures US security ties with Israel only partially cut, can be restored — PA president tells CIA chief announced freeze aimed at pushing Netanyahu to moderate settlement expansion, said to fear condemning Jerusalem attack would be ‘political suicide’

Discussion: Jerusalem Post

Bloomberg:

Trump Used Records Requests to Hinder IRS Release of His Tax Returns — Donald Trump demanded reams of information from the Internal Revenue Service as it was preparing to turn over his personal tax returns to a congressional committee, papering the agency with a deluge of Freedom …

New York Times:

Justice Dept. Drops Investigation of Retired U.S. General — John R. Allen, a retired four-star Marine general who was the president of the Brookings Institution, had been accused of secretly lobbying for the government of Qatar. — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has informed John R. Allen …

Bloomberg:

West Virginia's Republican Governor Is ‘Leaning’ Toward a Senate Run — West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, expressed a keen interest in running for the state's Senate seat now held by moderate Democrat Joe Manchin. — Justice, 71, a former Democrat who announced …

Javier Manjarres / The Floridian:

Florida Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against DeSantis Administration over Illegal Immigrant Flights — TALLAHASSEE — A Leon County circuit judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that the Florida Department of Transportation and a contractor did not fully comply with public-records requests …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, The Daily Caller, Ace of Spades HQ and RedState

Ben Wilson / Washington Free Beacon:

Lib NBA Star Stephen Curry Opposes Affordable Housing Near His $30 Million Mansion — NBA superstar and Biden-supporter Stephen Curry is opposing the proposed construction of a low-income multifamily unit proposed for construction next to his $30 million mansion, saying he has “major concerns” for his “privacy” and “safety.”

Discussion: New York Post, Twitchy and The Daily Caller

Financial Times:

Global fixer of corrupt energy deals sentenced to year in US prison — Unaoil's Saman Ahsani helped build an empire of bribery involving 27 companies — A British-Iranian consultant whose company fixed billions of dollars of corrupt energy deals was sentenced to just over a year in US prison on Monday …

Katie Lobosco / CNN:

Century-old train tunnels in Baltimore and New York to get funding from Biden's infrastructure law — Long-needed improvements are coming to train travel along the nation's busy Northeast Corridor, thanks in part to the federal infrastructure funding package that President Joe Biden signed into law in the fall of 2021.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, ABC News, NewsNation, Associated Press, The White House, Roll Call, CNBC, UPI, Washington Post, Bloomberg and The Hill

New York Times:

U.S. Plans to End Public Health Emergency for Covid in May — The end of the emergency will bring about a complex set of policy changes, and it signals a new chapter in the government's pandemic response. — WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire …

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, HuffPost, NPR, CNN, The Hill, Washington Post, USA Today, New York Daily News and Just The News

Megan Garber / The Atlantic:

We've Lost the Plot — Our constant need for entertainment has blurred the line between fiction and reality—on television, in American politics, and in our everyday lives. … “DO A DANCE” — the trend started, as so many do, on TikTok. Amazon customers, watching packages arrive …

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:

TikTok's Chief to Testify Before Congress in March — Republicans are expected to use hearing to highlight security and privacy concerns over video app — How TikTok Could Become a U.S. Company — Created with sketchtool. … 1x — TikTok's chief executive has agreed to appear …

Alan Blinder / New York Times:

Trump Courses Will Host Three Tournaments for Saudi-Backed LIV Golf — As the league announced more details of a 14-stop second season, former President Donald J. Trump's courses remained central to the schedule, deepening his ties to Riyadh. — Former President Donald J. Trump's golf courses …

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Examiner and The Hill

Raw Story:

Epidemic alert: Two more Republican members of Congress ripped off by thieves — Thieves recently stole thousands of dollars from the campaigns of two Republican members of Congress — the latest examples of what's fast becoming an epidemic of fraudsters plaguing federal political committees.

Discussion: The Daily Caller