memeorandum: Trump Pushes Forward in 2024 Run Amid Indictments and Colorado Ruling (Michael C. Bender/New York Times)

12:30 PM ET, December 23, 2023

Top Items:

Melanie Mason / Politico:

Newsom pans efforts to block Trump from California ballot — A number of California politicians rushed to fast-track efforts to deem Trump ineligible for the presidency after the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling. — LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom has a message for California politicians eager …

Discussion: The Messenger, Washington Examiner, National Review, New York Post, The Hill, NBC News, One America News Network and New York Times

Lauren Irwin / The Hill:

Canada's Trudeau says a second Trump presidency could harm climate goals — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an interview that if former President Trump were reelected, it could cause harm for climate goals. — Trudeau expressed to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) …

Discussion: CBC News, Reuters, NBC News and Los Angeles Times

New York Times:

Democrats in Key States Worry Biden Could Be a Drag on Their Races — Candidates for the Senate and House have expressed concern that the president has not done enough to build an operation or excite voters. — Democrats in battleground states are growing increasingly anxious …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, Political Wire, Washington Times, PJ Media, Talking Points Memo and Washington Examiner

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Won't Hear Case on Trump's Immunity Defense for Now — Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump, had urged the justices to move with extraordinary speed, bypassing a federal appeals court. — The Supreme Court declined on Friday to decide …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vanity Fair, NPR, Raw Story, South Dakota Searchlight, Outside the Beltway, SCOTUSblog, Vox, El País, CNN, BizPac Review, Associated Press and Election Law Blog

Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:

Supreme Court sidesteps decision on Trump presidential immunity claim in federal election interference case — Trump is claiming broad immunity for actions he took in office, including efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results for which he faces criminal prosecution.

Michael C. Bender / New York Times:

Trump Pushes Forward in 2024 Run Amid Indictments and Colorado Ruling — This week's debate over his very eligibility for office served as a stark reminder that anyone else facing such a wide array of legal problems would have left the political stage long ago. — In another era, a politician would have walked away.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Althouse, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money and HuffPost

Kierra Frazier / Politico:

Trump vows a peaceful transfer of power if reelected — Trump insisted that he peacefully turned over power to Biden in 2021, though he's been indicted for his role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. — If reelected president in 2024, Donald Trump vowed Friday …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Washington Examiner, RedState, Washington Times, New York Magazine, Raw Story and The Messenger

Lara Seligman / Politico:

Trump hints at possible picks for Pentagon chief in a second term — The GOP frontrunner brought up Christopher Miller, who once said he couldn't wait to leave DOD. — Former President Donald Trump on Friday dropped hints about who he would pick to lead the Pentagon if he wins a second term.

Discussion: RedState, New York Times and The Messenger

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:
Former President Donald Trump On President Biden, Support for Israel, The War In Ukraine, Campaign 2024, and What a Second Trump Term Would Look Like

Discussion: The Messenger, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, NBC News, New York Times, BizPac Review, ABC News, New York Post, Daily Kos, Bloomberg, HuffPost, PoliticusUSA, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and Mock Paper Scissors

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump: 'I'm not a student of Hitler'

Discussion: The Messenger, Althouse, Metro.co.uk, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Newsday and Washington Examiner

Jocelyn Benson / The Daily Beast:

I'm Michigan's Chief Election Official. Trump's Still a Threat to Democracy, So Let's Be Prepared. — The new report about Trump's attempt to interfere with my state's election certification doesn't surprise me. We must stay vigilant over the danger he'll bring in 2024.

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Times, Michigan Advance, Fox News, New York Daily News, BizPac Review, CBS News, USA Today, Digby's Hullabaloo, Letters from an American, NBC News and Breitbart

Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:
Trump's 2020 Bullying of Michigan Election Officials Is Blatant Authoritarianism

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, Reuters, The Guardian, NBC News, Press Herald, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, PBS NewsHour, HuffPost, Politico and ABC News

Jess Bidgood / The Boston Globe:
'He's the only one that's speaking the truth': Trump's fans trust nothing — except him

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story and Political Wire

New York Times:

Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine — Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest in striking a deal to halt the war — so long as it could still declare victory. — Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest …

Discussion: USA Today, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

Federal judge denies request to block Massachusetts assault weapons ban — A federal judge in Massachusetts shut down an attempt to block the state's assault weapons ban Friday, arguing that the law does not break with recent Supreme Court precedent that has severely shaken gun control legislation.

Discussion: Mass.gov

CBS News:

Trump asking allies about possibility of Nikki Haley for vice president — Former President Donald Trump has been asking allies and advisers for their thoughts about Nikki Haley as a potential vice presidential candidate, two sources familiar with the conversations tell CBS News.

Discussion: The Guardian, BizPac Review, RedState, The Messenger, New York Post and Raw Story

Politico:
Trump allies and MAGA luminaries move to kill off the Haley-for-VP buzz

Discussion: Business Insider, Raw Story, USA Today and PJ Media

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
When her family needed money, Nikki Haley found a lucrative path

Discussion: Raw Story

Journal Sentinel:

Wisconsin Supreme Court rules legislative maps unconstitutional, orders new boundaries for 2024 vote — Molly Beck Jessie OpoienMilwaukee Journal Sentinel — MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Republican-controlled state Legislature to draw new legislative boundaries ahead …

The Hill:

We cannot turn our back on the Endangered Species Act after 50 years of preventing extinction — Fifty years ago, Republicans and Democrats in both chambers came together in an inspirational show of bipartisanship to pass one of our nation's most respected and successful conservation laws: the Endangered Species Act.

Discussion: The Daily Caller