memeorandum: Senate Passes Ukraine, Israel Aid Bill After Fierce GOP Debate (Igor Bobic/HuffPost)

10:40 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 4 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: Rolling Stone, Talking Points Memo, NOTUS and RTÉ, more at Mediagazer »

Greg Sargent / New Republic:

An Infuriating Poll Finding About Trump Should Galvanize Democrats … You've probably heard that Donald Trump has “tightened his grip on the Republican Party,” or that he's “bent the party to his will.” Pundits repeat such formulations constantly, because, well, it's true …

Discussion: Reuters, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Benzinga and Off Message

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, Associated Press, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Political Wire, CNN, USA Today, The Guardian, NBC News, Chicago Tribune, NPR, CBS News, PJ Media and Bloomberg

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

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNN and Fox News

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

Discussion: MeidasTouch and CBS 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, Washington Examiner, NPR and Bloomberg

Greg Hyatt / NBC News:
Nikki Haley says Trump will raise taxes and be soft on Russia in a new ad

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, ABC News, Bloomberg and National Review

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, Washington Post, Democrats and Fox News

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

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

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

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

Discussion: NBC News, NC Newsline and Semafor

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 and The Times of Israel

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

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, Twitchy, Pravda EN, Press Herald, PBS NewsHour and The Atlantic

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, American Greatness, Pravda EN, The Times of Israel and Punchbowl News

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

Discussion: Politico and Political Wire

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

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, American Greatness, WGN-TV, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, RedState, Forbes, The Post Millennial, Pravda EN, Sputnik News and Chicago Tribune

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, Digby's Hullabaloo, 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

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

Discussion: Off Message, Pravda EN, nationalinterest.org, The Atlantic, 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, 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, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

ABC News:

Lakewood Church shooting: AR-15 had ‘Palestine’ sticker, antisemitic writings recovered, police say — The suspect died and two were hurt in the shooting at Joel Osteen's church. — Law enforcement surround the area after a shooting incident at television evangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Feb. 11, 2024.

Discussion: Exposing the role …, KHOU-TV, 570 KVI, KXAN-TV, Newsbusters, Breitbart, Pravda EN, New York Post, The News Beyond Detroit, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Houston Public Media, Raw Story, ABC7, 6abc and The Atlantic

CNN:
Police have identified the woman who opened fire in a Houston megachurch. Here's what we know

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

Associated Press:

Russia puts Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on a wanted list — 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 as tensions between Russia and the West soar amid the war in Ukraine.

Discussion: Reason, Al Jazeera, Politico, Associated Press, Reuters, Pravda EN and Sputnik News

Christopher Roach / American Greatness:

Putin Interview Refutes His Portrayal as a Cartoon Villain … Tucker Carlson's interview of Vladimir Putin was quite the scoop for the controversial former Fox News commentator. The war in Ukraine has cost the United States tens of billions of dollars while costing the Russian and Ukrainian people hundreds of thousands of lives.