memeorandum: Kari Lake locks down a key GOP establishment endorsement (Ally Mutnick/Politico)

11:00 AM ET, October 16, 2023

Top Items:

How Trump's Team Twisted His Bank Fraud Trial Into a Farce — The former president's lawyers may not be trying to win his New York trial—instead, they're dragging it out in hopes of solving his other political and legal problems. — Two weeks into Donald Trump's bank fraud trial in New York …

Discussion: Raw Story

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Trump faces reckoning as D.C. judge mulls gag order — At a court hearing Monday, a judge will consider special counsel Jack Smith's demand that Trump be formally ordered to stop attacking potential witnesses against him. — Can Donald Trump be gagged? — That's the question at the heart …

Discussion: CNBC, The Hill, The Messenger, UPI, ABC News, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Guardian, NPR, New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, Tampa Free Press and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Live updates Judge to hear argument over Trump gag order in Jan. 6 case — Special counsel Jack Smith's office is in federal court in D.C. today asking for a gag order that would bar former president Donald Trump from maligning the judge, prosecutors, witnesses and potential jurors in his election obstruction case.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times and Raw Story

Politico:

Playbook: How the attack on Israel has scrambled U.S. politics — Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — Q3 CASH-ON-HAND LEADERBOARD — JOE BIDEN $24,785,201 ... DONALD TRUMP $24,535,602 ... RON DeSANTIS $11,160,604 ... ROBERT KENNEDY JR. $8,713,134 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Punchbowl News and NPR

Nick Arama / RedState:

More on Disastrous Biden Interview: Scott Pelley Has to Help Him Finish Sentence, Says President ‘Tired’ — I wrote earlier about a couple of the teaser clips from the “60 Minutes” interview with Joe Biden. — Those were bad, but the complete interview was even worse.

Discussion: Townhall, The Hill, Fox News, Newsbusters, CNN, Twitchy, New York Post, Mediaite, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Power Line and CBS News

Scott Pelley / CBS News:

President Joe Biden: The 2023 60 Minutes interview transcript — Rarely does a president confront so much peril; the catastrophe in Israel—the war in Ukraine—and no help from a paralyzed Congress. Late Thursday, we met President Biden at the White House. It had been a rough week and we could see it on him.

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Louder With Crowder, Axios, New York Post, NBC 7 San Diego, The Forward, ThePrint, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, RedState, The Messenger, Insider and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Biden Warns Israel Not to Occupy Gaza

Kadia Goba / Semafor:

Moderate Democrats get behind temporary speaker fix — The News — With the House still paralyzed in the absence of a speaker, the idea of giving Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry more power to conduct normal business is picking up growing bipartisan support.

Discussion: The Bulwark and Raw Story

Annie Karni / New York Times:
There's Still No House Speaker. What Happens Now?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Digby's Hullabaloo and Fox News

Zachary Leeman / The Messenger:
Rep. Crenshaw Knocks Jim Jordan Speaker Supporters' ‘High-Pressure Campaign’: ‘Dumbest Thing You Can Do’

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Daily News, The Hill, HuffPost, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill:
Turner: If GOP can't elect Speaker then ‘deal will have to be done’ with Democrats

Discussion: HuffPost, NBC News, LifeNews.com, The Bulwark, UPI, Financial Times, CBS News, USA Today and Political Wire

CNN:
Senior House Republican says GOP members ready to block Jordan

Discussion: The Hill, The Messenger, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, The Mahablog, Mediaite, Fox News, Political Wire, Vanity Fair and Politico

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

Scholastic's “bigot button” — Scholastic, the popular publisher of children's books, is a big business. It is a publicly-traded company with a market capitalization of $1.15 billion. Its CEO, Peter Warwick, collected a total compensation of $3,300,361 in 2023, and at least four other executives were paid over $1.3 million.

The White House:

Statement from President Joe Biden — Jill and I were shocked and sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a six-year-old child and the attempted murder of the child's mother in their home yesterday in Illinois. — The child's Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek …

Discussion: USA Today, US Department of Justice, Politico, CBS News, National Review, UPI, Mediaite and The Messenger

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:

The GOP refusal to condemn Menendez speaks volumes — Public Notice just celebrated its second birthday. Click the button to take advantage of our special anniversary offer. — Click to redeem 2nd anniversary special — As a general rule of politics, it should be easy to condemn …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Oprah pitched a White House run with Mitt Romney, book reveals … - Romney tells Coppins he dismissed the idea, believing that such a campaign would inadvertently help Trump.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Political Wire

Ally Mutnick / Politico:

Kari Lake locks down a key GOP establishment endorsement — A member of the current Senate leadership is backing the failed gubernatoral candidate as she runs for Senate. — Kari Lake is making nice with the GOP establishment. — Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the chair …

Discussion: The Hill

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Senators flummoxed, ‘horrified’ by House leadership vacuum — Senators return to Washington this week feeling completely flummoxed by the turmoil in the House and with no clear idea of whether House Republicans will elect a Speaker anytime soon. — Republican senators have called …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Times and Reuters

ABC7:

Man targeted 6-year-old boy, mom in deadly Plainfield stabbing because they are Muslim: detectives — ‘You Muslims must die’: 71-year-old Joseph M. Czuba facing hate crime charges in death of Palestinian boy Wadea Al-Fayoume — PLAINFIELD, Ill. (WLS) — A man stabbed a child to death …