memeorandum: Biden to announce $5 billion in new infrastructure projects (Joann Muller/Axios)

5:40 AM ET, January 25, 2024

Top Items:

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

As Supreme Court weighs Trump's eligibility, the ‘10th justice’ stays mum — The solicitor general would typically file arguments on an issue of this magnitude — but the upcoming Trump case is a political lightning rod. — As the Supreme Court prepares to hold arguments next month …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Bulwark and Fox News

Ian Ward / Politico:

The Tired Monotony of a Trump Rally in 2024 — ATKINSON, New Hampshire — The line snaked along the driveway, hundreds of people long. The weather was dreadful in southern New Hampshire — ice and the slush and the subfreezing temperatures — but Donald Trump's faithful didn't care.

Discussion: New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Washington Post

HuffPost:

Trump Privately Pressuring GOP Senators To ‘Kill’ Border Deal To Deny Biden A Win — The former president is telling Republicans he “doesn't want Biden to have a victory” in 2024, said a source familiar with the bipartisan negotiations. — LOADING — WASHINGTON - Donald Trump …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Joe Gould / Politico:

Trump wants to send troops to the inner cities. A top senator wants to rein him in. — Sen. Richard Blumenthal is contacting other lawmakers in his bid to overhaul the Insurrection Act. — A top Democratic senator is renewing his effort to rein in Donald Trump's — or any other future president's …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Collins, leading Senate GOP centrist, won't endorse Trump in 2024 — Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key figure in getting bills passed through Congress, says she will not endorse former President Trump, even if he becomes the Republican Party's nominee for president.

Discussion: Salon, Mediaite, Axios, USA Today, Right Wing Watch, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Messenger, The Dispatch, The Maine Wire, Political Wire, New Yorker, The Guardian and NewsNation

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump Shares His New Hampshire Victory With an Accused Sexual Predator

Discussion: Raw Story and HuffPost

Washington Post:
After two Trump wins, congressional Republicans again fall in line

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast, KRDO, NBC News, The UnPopulist, ABC News, Fox News, KXAN-TV, Political Wire, HuffPost, Breitbart, Raw Story, The Hill, The Messenger and Public Notice

Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Pelosi sounds warning over Trump's attacks on ObamaCare

Discussion: UPI, KFF Health News and Breitbart

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Billionaire Reid Hoffman pauses Nikki Haley funding after her New Hampshire loss to Trump, source says

Discussion: CNN, Mock Paper Scissors, Breitbart, RedState, The National Pulse+, Newsbusters, Alaska Public Media, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, The Messenger, Political Wire, New Statesman and CBS News

New York Times:
5 Takeaways From the New Hampshire Primary

Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Wall Street's bargain with Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, The Japan Times, Raw Story and Politico

Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:

64K women and girls became pregnant due to rape in states with abortion bans, study estimates — The research letter, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, estimated that nearly 520,000 rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies across 14 states. — More than 64,000 women and girls became pregnant …

Discussion: UPI, Plain Dealer, The Hill and New Scientist

Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:

Raped, pregnant and in an abortion ban state? Researchers gauge how often it happens — As an abortion provider in Montana, Dr. Samuel Dickman has seen patients routinely who tell him they became pregnant after a rape. His sense was the patients who were telling him were only a fraction of the true number.

Discussion: Axios, New York Post, HuffPost, Abortion, Every Day, Digby's Hullabaloo and The Messenger

Kelby Vera / HuffPost:

Alina Habba Spotted At Trump Victory Party After Delaying Defamation Trial Over Illness — The former president's legal team requested a trial delay, saying Habba had been exposed to COVID and had a fever. She attended the party one day later. — LOADING

Discussion: Mediaite, The Messenger, Raw Story and Business Insider

Joann Muller / Axios:

Biden to announce $5 billion in new infrastructure projects — President Biden will announce $5 billion in funding for major transportation projects during a visit Thursday to Superior, Wisconsin — part of an effort to tout his administration's investments in long-overdue infrastructure projects.

Discussion: The Hill, The White House and Heartland Signal

Tim Grierson / Cracked.com:

Penn Jillette Wants to Talk It All Out — Penn Jillette has a large, framed French-language poster of Renaldo and Clara behind him. Most people wouldn't know what that is, but as a Bob Dylan fan, I do — it's his largely forgotten, widely panned 1978 film that he wrote, directed and starred in.

CNN:

Exclusive: House ethics probe of Gaetz seeks information from DOJ and woman who allegedly had sex with congressman as a minor — The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has reached out to the woman whom the congressman allegedly had sexual relations with when she was a 17-year-old minor …

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Examiner, CBS News, The Daily Beast, The Messenger, Political Wire, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, ABC News and New Republic

Myah Ward / Politico:

Democrats win challenge to North Carolina voter election law — A federal judge blocked a specific provision of the law's same-day voter registration requirements. — Joe Biden quietly scored a legal victory in North Carolina this week, in what could prove to be a consequential development in a closely divided state.

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

Arizona GOP chair resigns, alleges Kari Lake blackmail — The chairman of the Arizona Republican Party announced he will resign on Wednesday after leaked audio appeared to show him attempting to pay Senate candidate Kari Lake not to run for office in 2024. — Jeff DeWit said that the audio was “selectively edited.”

Discussion: NBC News, Mercury News, Forbes, One America News Network, New York Post, The National Pulse+, The Daily Caller, New Republic and IJR

Ben Giles / NPR:
After seeming to bribe Senate hopeful Kari Lake not to run, Arizona GOP Chair resigns

Adrian Carrasquillo / The Messenger:

The RNC Shuttered Most of the Hispanic Community Centers It Touted as Critical to Winning Over Latino Voters — JWPlayer — During the 2022 cycle, the Republican Party made a commitment to Latino voters that hadn't been seen before, touting nearly two dozen RNC Hispanic Community Centers …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

The White House:

Statement from NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson on Reported Strikes at UNRWA Facility in Southern Gaza — We are gravely concerned by reports today of strikes hitting a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facility — with subsequent reports of fires in the building—in a neighborhood …

Discussion: UPI

Bloomberg:

South Korean Lawmaker Attacked by Rock-Wielding Assailant — A South Korean ruling party lawmaker was struck in the head by a rock-wielding assailant on the streets of Seoul and rushed to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, her party said.

Discussion: Reuters

Andrew Schneider / Houston Public Media:

Governor Abbott signals potential defiance of Supreme Court's border ruling — Governor Greg Abbott issued a “Statement on Texas' Constitutional Right to Self-Defense,” following calls by numerous Republican lawmakers to resist the high court's order, including three state representatives from Houston.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Hill and RedState

US Food and Drug Administration:

FDA warns consumers not to purchase or use Neptune's Fix or any tianeptine product due to serious risks … [1/23/2024] FDA continues to receive severe adverse event reports after use of Neptune's Fix products, including seizures, loss of consciousness and death.

Discussion: UPI, The Hill, NBC News, WGN-TV and NewsNation

US Department of Justice:

Washington State “Proud Boy” Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Actions During and After Jan. 6 Capitol Breach — For Immediate Release — U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia — Defendant Told Judge “You could give me 100 years and I would still do it all over again.”

Discussion: Law & Crime, UPI, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, CBS News, New York Daily News, NBC News, Hackwhackers, KOIN-TV, Raw Story, The Hill, Axios and WUSA

Brooke Migdon / The Hill:

Ohio lawmakers override DeWine veto of gender-affirming care ban, transgender athlete restrictions — The Ohio Senate voted 23-9 Wednesday to override Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors and preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female school sports teams.

William Vaillancourt / The Daily Beast:

GOP Rep Only Regrets One Thing in ‘Marshall Law’ Text After Jan. 6 — CNN's Kaitlan Collins said it was “striking” to hear that, three years later, South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman still stands by it. — Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) has just one regret regarding a text message he sent …

Discussion: MeidasTouch and Raw Story

Reuters:

Hong Kong's top court overturns acquittal of human rights lawyer — Hong Kong's top court on Thursday overturned the acquittal of activist and human rights lawyer Chow Hang Tung of inciting others to join an unauthorised vigil to remember victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:

Trump's White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: Report — A Department of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office — White House pharmacists reportedly distributed uppers and downers like candy …