memeorandum: Fulton County prosecutors signal plea deals may be offered to Trump co-defendants (Ella Lee/The Hill)

5:35 PM ET, September 29, 2023

Top Items:

Feinstein's Death Intensifies Fight for a Coveted California Senate Seat — Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged to pick a Black woman to fill the seat, but has also said he would not choose any of the current Democrats running for Senate. — The death of Senator Dianne Feinstein …

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Dianne Feinstein, California's longest-serving senator, dies at 90

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Washington Examiner, CNN, New York Times, ABC News, Variety, ZeroHedge News, Talking Points Memo, Roll Call, NBC 7 San Diego, NewsNation, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Raw Story and RedState

Politico:
Feinstein's death throws Senate judicial confirmations into new limbo

Discussion: Sacramento Bee, The Daily Beast, The Mahablog, Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Charlie Sykes / Morning Shots:
Comer's Fiasco — “Republicans are the party that says that government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it.”

Discussion: The Federalist, Adventus, Media Matters for America, BizPac Review and Atlanta Black Star

NBC News:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer in U.S. politics and the longest-serving woman in the Senate, dies at age 90

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, Washington Post, Politico, WJXX-TV, RedState, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Hackwhackers, The Forward, PennLive, Lawyers, Guns & Money, FOX40, Semafor, Outside the Beltway and Fox News

Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Biden honors outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, TASS, The White House, Washington Times, Rolling Stone, New York Times, CNN, Raw Story, The Bulwark, ABC News and Washington Examiner

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Dianne Feinstein, 90, Dies; Oldest Sitting Senator and Fixture of California Politics

Discussion: The Atlantic, NBC News, CBS News, FIRST DRAFT, National Review, KRON4, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, The Information, New York Magazine, TMZ.com, SFist, The Messenger and Grist

Emily Langer / Washington Post:
Dianne Feinstein, centrist stalwart of the Senate, dies at 90

Discussion: NBC News, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Los Angeles Times, TIME, Bloomberg, The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, Bangor Daily News, Inside Elections, The Cut, HuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Wisconsin Examiner, FOX40, The 19th, Politico, Insider, CBS News and The Forward

Annie Karni / New York Times:
Senator Dianne Feinstein Dies at 90

KGO / ABC7:
Senator Dianne Feinstein, an ‘icon for women in politics,’ dies at 90

CNBC:

House Republicans cancel planned recess as government shutdown appears more likely — House GOP leaders failed to pass a short-term spending bill with fewer than two days left to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown. — GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy pitched the bill …

Discussion: HotAir, CBS News, RedState, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Politico:

Playbook: Inside the grudge that paralyzed the House — Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — THE FRIDAY READ — “Nikki Haley Doesn't Want to Choose a Side,” by Michael Kruse: “The conventional wisdom is that this is a time for choosing, for all Republicans, and for her, too.

Discussion: Raw Story and Florida Politics

David Badash / Raw Story:

Far-right Republicans kill GOP bill to keep government running in ‘embarrassing failure’ for McCarthy: report — With a shutdown less than 36 hours away, far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives Friday afternoon voted against their party's own legislation to keep the federal government running.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and NBC News

New York Times:
How Trump Is Complicating McCarthy's Attempts to Avoid a Shutdown

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller and Forbes

Washington Post:
Live updates House fails to pass short-term funding bill as shutdown looms

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, The Messenger, Forbes, GovExec.com, New Jersey Globe, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Washington Times, CNN, UPI, The Guardian and Outside the Beltway

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
Amid GOP confusion, U.S. braces for ‘first-ever shutdown about nothing’

Discussion: New York Magazine, NBC News, Mountain State Spotlight, Raw Story, New Jersey Online and The Hill

NBC News:
Conservative rebels tank McCarthy's funding bill, raising odds of a shutdown

Discussion: MSNBC, Financial Times, Daily Montanan, Washington Times, New York Daily News, Fox News and BizPac Review

Tamar Hallerman / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

BREAKING: First Trump RICO defendant takes plea agreement — X — Bail bondsman Scott Hall on Friday became the first defendant in the Fulton County election interference case to take a plea agreement with prosecutors. — During an impromptu hearing before Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee …

Discussion: CNN, The Messenger, CBS News, The Daily Beast, ABC News, Forbes, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, PoliticusUSA, Semafor and Crooks and Liars

The Hill:

Judge denies Jeffrey Clark's attempt to move Georgia case to federal court — A judge denied former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark's attempt to move his Georgia charges to federal court Friday, dealing another significant blow to the early defense strategy being pursued …

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, NBC News, USA Today, CBS News, CNN, The Messenger, Raw Story, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, abc7NY and TIMCAST

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

First co-defendant in Trump Georgia election case pleads guilty — Scott Hall, one of 18 co-defendants of former President Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case, pleaded guilty to the charges against him. — Hall, a bail bondsman, is the first defendant in the case to plead guilty in the case.

Discussion: The Hill, Reuters, NBC News, USA Today, HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Mediaite, Rolling Stone and The Daily Caller

Public Notice:

How Trump's fraudulent business practices finally came back to bite him — The New York ruling that's big trouble for the Trump Organization, unpacked. … While we all wait for Trump's criminal trials to start, let us enjoy the absolute hammering Trump and his sons just received …

Discussion: NPR

Politico:

Trump floats plan to attend New York trial on business fraud — The surprise move would bring Trump face-to-face with a Manhattan judge he has repeatedly derided. — Former President Donald Trump plans to show up in person for at least the first week of a civil trial set to open in New York …

Discussion: The Messenger, Political Wire and Wall Street Journal

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC: Trump blasts New York civil fraud trial to raise 2024 campaign cash before key deadline

Washington Post:
Court ruling puts Trump's New York empire at stake

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Real Deal and The Daily Beast

Associated Press:

Man tied to suspected shooter in Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing arrested in Las Vegas, AP sources say — One of the last living witnesses to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur has been arrested in the Las Vegas-area, a long-awaited breakthrough in a case that has frustrated investigators …

Diana Falzone / Mediaite:

EXCLUSIVE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Planning to Announce Independent Run — 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce he will run as an independent on October 9 in Pennsylvania, Mediaite has learned. — Kennedy's campaign machine is now planning “attack ads” …

Discussion: The Post Millennial, The Messenger, The Guardian, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Ian Mohr / Page Six:

Melania Trump ‘quietly’ renegotiated prenup with Donald ahead of potential second presidential term, legal woes: sources — Sources tell Page Six that Melania Trump has “quietly” renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with Donald Trump in advance of his potentially serving a second term in the White House.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, BizPac Review, Jezebel, Marin Independent Journal, The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:

Supreme Court to decide landmark Texas, Fla. social media cases and more — The Supreme Court on Friday said it would wade into the future of free speech online and decide whether laws passed in Texas and Florida can restrict social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts.

Reuters:

Trump's campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses — Donald Trump's political operation has helped pay the legal expenses of more than a dozen people contacted by prosecutors investigating the former president, tying up millions of dollars that otherwise could be used for his 2024 White House bid.

Discussion: Raw Story

Brian Faler / Politico:

IRS consultant charged in massive leak of taxpayer data — DOJ said Charles Littlejohn stole the files while working as a government contractor and gave them to the news organization. — A consultant for the IRS has been charged with leaking the private tax information of thousands …

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, WJXX-TV, Washington Times and Los Angeles Times

Ella Lee / The Hill:

Fulton County prosecutors signal plea deals may be offered to Trump co-defendants — Fulton County, Ga., prosecutors in the sprawling racketeering case against former President Trump and 18 co-defendants indicated Friday that plea deals may be made available to some defendants soon.

Anne Flaherty / ABC News:

White House estimates 3.5M federal workers will go without pay in government shutdown — Two million of them will be military. — The White House estimates that 3.5 million federal workers will have to go without pay if the government shuts down. Roughly 2 million of them will be military.