memeorandum: Trump endorses new RNC chair and Lara Trump as co-chair (Alex Isenstadt/Politico)

9:55 AM ET, February 13, 2024

Top Items:

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump endorses new RNC chair and Lara Trump as co-chair — The ex-president is backing Michael Whatley, the chair of the North Carolina GOP, to take over for Ronna McDaniel. — Former President Donald Trump will support North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel …

Politico:

All four of Trump's criminal cases reach inflection points this week — Judges will face choices that affect when, and whether, Trump stands trial. — Donald Trump's muddled calendar of criminal cases may get a lot clearer this week. — Each of Trump's four criminal cases is set to reach …

Discussion: NOTUS, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Benzinga, National Review, The Guardian, Forbes, RTÉ and USA Today, more at Mediagazer »

Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
Trump Is Losing It — It is unclear whether Donald Trump has forgotten the precise nature …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Pravda EN, Raw Story, BizPac Review, Politico, Euronews, Axios, New York Post, Foreign Policy, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Breitbart, CNN, USA Today, The Guardian, NBC News, NPR, CBS News, PJ Media, Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg and New Republic

Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Rep. Elise Stefanik files complaint against New York attorney general over Trump case

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNN and Fox News

Anjali Huynh / New York Times:
Haley Blasts Trump's Insinuations About Her Husband's Service

Discussion: nationalinterest.org, Raw Story, The Hill, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, NPR, Washington Examiner and Bloomberg

Politico:
‘Everyone should be scared as hell’: Democrats call for Trump-proofing NATO

Discussion: MeidasTouch and CBS News

Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Trump seeks Supreme Court intervention in election interference case

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump endorses NC's Whatley for RNC chair, Lara Trump for co-chair

Discussion: HuffPost, Democrats and Fox News

New York Times:
Donald J. Trump endorses his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for R.N.C. co-chair.

Discussion: Deseret News, ABC News, Raw Story, Washington Post and Rolling Stone

Washington Post:
Trump plans to attend Georgia hearing on misconduct allegations against prosecutors

New York Times:
G.O.P. Officials, Once Critical, Stand by Trump After NATO Comments

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Joint chiefs head says U.S. ‘credibility is at stake’ following Trump's NATO remarks

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, CNN, New York Post, The Hill, Axios, Pravda EN, RTÉ, RedState, Breitbart, Business Insider, Al Jazeera, CBS News, The Times of Israel, New York Times and NBC Bay Area

Ian Millhiser / Vox:
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to sabotage Trump's most important criminal trial

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, NBC News and Persuasion

emptywheel:
Call and Response: Putin Demanded Greater Russia and Trump Agreed

Discussion: Pravda EN, Salon and The Mahablog

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
‘Wow!’ Morning Joe Crew Stunned By Montage of Trump Repeated Gaffes from Weekend Rallies

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and New Republic

Lauren Sforza / The Hill:
Haley: ‘Rogue golf ball’ is closest Trump has come to combat

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, CNN, nationalinterest.org, RedState, Breitbart, ABC News, USA Today, Mediaite and Forbes

Associated Press:

Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after rare all-night session — The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing political divisions …

Mychael Schnell / The Hill:

Speaker Johnson fires warning shot as Senate prepares to vote on Ukraine aid — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) fired a warning shot at the Senate's foreign aid package Monday night, criticizing the $95.3 billion supplemental as the upper chamber inches closer to a final vote on the legislation.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Breitbart, Sputnik News, Pravda EN, Twitchy, PBS NewsHour, Press Herald, The Atlantic, Daily Kos and Politico

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:

Senate Passes Ukraine, Israel Aid Bill After Fierce GOP Debate — But it's not clear if House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will allow a vote on it in the lower chamber. — LOADING — WASHINGTON ― The Senate on Tuesday passed legislation providing U.S. aid to Ukraine …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Bulwark, Pravda EN, PoliticusUSA and Reuters

Kaia Hubbard / CBS News:
Senate approves Ukraine, Israel foreign aid package

Discussion: Associated Press, Vanity Fair, The Guardian and WGN-TV

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate pushes Ukraine funding forward despite conservative delay tactics

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Pravda EN, The Times of Israel, Punchbowl News and Mercury News

Punchbowl News:
2/13/24 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM

Discussion: Political Wire

Jordy Meiselas / MeidasTouch:
Speaker Johnson Rejects Senate Foreign Aid Bill

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, American Greatness, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, Forbes, RedState, The Post Millennial, Pravda EN, Sputnik News and Chicago Tribune

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Biden's border bind, in one chart

Discussion: NBC News, NC Newsline, Semafor and National Review

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Inside the GOP plan to stoke fear on Biden's age … - The GOP planning includes hearings and possibly even subpoenas for documents and recordings. … These sources think that any fight will make the White House look bad — and keep a huge Biden vulnerability in the headlines.

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, American Greatness and Washington Times

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Get Used to It: Biden Isn't Going Anywhere — The GOP fantasy crowd is so accustomed to conspiracy theories that they're betting the Democrats will switch candidates at the last minute. Have they actually paid attention to politics? — The Republican refrain goes something like this …

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Why I Am Now Deeply Worried for America — Until a few days ago, I was feeling fairly sanguine about America's prospects. Economically, we've had a year of strong growth and plunging inflation — and aside from committed Republicans, who see no good, hear no good and speak no good when a Democrat …

Discussion: RedState and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Politico:
Herbert Hoover stans fight back

Discussion: The Guardian and Fox News

Anders Hagstrom / Fox News:
Biden's upcoming physical exam will not include a cognitive test, White House says

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, BizPac Review, Sputnik News, Frontpage Mag, Breitbart, RedState, New York Post, Washington Examiner, The Post Millennial, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, IJR, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, KSLTV.com and Deadline

Charan Ranganath / New York Times:
A Neuroscientist Weighs In On Biden's Cognitive Abilities

Discussion: The Federalist, Pravda EN, HotAir, Althouse, Reason and Popular Information

Christian Paz / Vox:
Yes, Democrats, it's Biden or bust

Discussion: Off Message, The Atlantic, Pravda EN, nationalinterest.org, CNN and Notes from the Middleground

Ally Mutnick / Politico:

Senate GOP campaign arm endorses Kari Lake — Lake, a one-time anti-establishment MAGA darling, has worked to build relationships with Republicans in D.C. for her Senate bid. — Kari Lake's months of courting the Republican establishment in D.C. are paying off.

Discussion: Fox News, NBC News, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, The Hill and nationalinterest.org

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:

Senate Republicans' campaign arm endorses Lake — The Senate Republicans' campaign arm is formally endorsing Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race, putting an end to speculation over whether GOP leadership in the upper chamber would get behind the Republican front-runner.

Detroit Free Press:

GOP State Rep. Josh Schriver loses staff, committee post after sharing racist conspiracy — Arpan Lobo Clara HendricksonDetroit Free Press — State Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, lost his staff and his spot on a legislative committee as punishment for sharing a social media post amplifying a racist conspiracy theory.

Discussion: The Guardian, housedems.com, The Hill, New York Post, UPI, Political Wire and Michigan Advance

Ed White / The Independent:
Republican Michigan lawmaker loses staff and committee assignment after online racist post

Discussion: The Detroit News, The Post Millennial, Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:

The Legal Coup — In late 2020, a group of conservative movement attorneys set out to build a legal pathway by which Donald Trump could stay in power, having lost the election. — We've known about the outcome of their work for three years now: how it led to the violence of Jan. 6 …

Discussion: Raw Story and Election Law Blog

Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:
Two Weeks of Chaos — Donald Trump's months-long effort to overturn his defeat …

Discussion: Raw Story

Associated Press:

Russia puts the leader of NATO member Estonia on a wanted list over the removal of Soviet-era monuments — Estonia's prime minister has been put on a wanted list in Russia because of her efforts to remove Soviet-era World War II monuments in the Baltic nation, officials said Tuesday …

Discussion: Al Jazeera, Politico, Raw Story and Pravda EN

Cristiano Lima-Strong / Washington Post:

FTC's Bedoya says laws to keep teens off social media won't work — Happy Tuesday! If you missed my interview with the FTC's Alvaro Bedoya on Monday, check out a video from the event here. Send news tips to: cristiano.lima@washpost.com. — Below: Threads starts testing a “trending” …

Discussion: TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Police have identified the woman who opened fire in a Houston megachurch. Here's what we know — A woman who walked into a popular Texas megachurch Sunday afternoon with a long gun and a young child opened fire before she was killed by law enforcement officers on scene.