memeorandum: Pence says he ‘cannot in good conscience’ endorse Trump (Veronica Stracqualursi/CNN)

8:40 PM ET, March 15, 2024

Top Items:

Lydia O'Connor / HuffPost:

Mike Pence Says He Won't Endorse Donald Trump For President — This should come as “no surprise,” Trump's former vice president said. — Former Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Friday that he will not be endorsing Donald Trump for president. — “It should come as no surprise …

Washington Post:

Pence says he will not endorse Trump in 2024 — The former vice president who served under Trump but has been critical of the former president after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in which Pence was targeted, said Trump's agenda doesn't align with conservatives.

Discussion: Fox News, Mock Paper Scissors, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:

Pence says he ‘cannot in good conscience’ endorse Trump — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, arguing that Trump is pursuing an agenda that is “at odds with the conservative agenda.”

Discussion: NBC News, Outside the Beltway and UPI

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

I Listened to Trump's Rambling, Unhinged, Vituperative Georgia Rally—and So Should You — The ex-President is building a whole new edifice of lies for 2024. — I'm sure you had better things to do on Saturday evening than watch Donald Trump rant for nearly two hours to an audience of cheering fans in Rome, Georgia.

Discussion: The Bulwark, alicublog, The Daily Beast, Digby's Hullabaloo, PolitiFact, Talking Points Memo and Althouse

Danielle Kurtzleben / NPR:
Mike Pence ran with Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. In 2024, he won't even endorse him

Discussion: The Sun

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:

Trump hush money trial postponed until mid-April, judge rules — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had said he would support the trial being delayed 30 days, while Trump's legal team requested that it be postponed for 90 days. — The trial in the New York hush money case …

Discussion: CBS News, Associated Press, National Review, Bloomberg, DNyuz, UPI, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Washington Post:
Trump hush money trial: 15,000 more pages of potential evidence coming

Discussion: USA Today, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Bloomberg, NewsNation, Althouse, DNyuz, Los Angeles Times and Business Insider

Associated Press:
Judge delays Trump's hush-money criminal trial 30 days, citing last-minute evidence dump

Discussion: Washington Examiner, MeidasTouch, Associated Press, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Mediaite, Deadline, Forbes, Raw Story, Law & Crime, The Daily Caller, DNyuz, ABC News, Vanity Fair, Washington Post and NPR

Luc Cohen / Reuters:
Trump hush money trial delayed until at least April, judge rules

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Beast, The Hill, El País and New York Post

emptywheel:
Eight Possible Explanations — Many Bad, Some Good — for SDNY's Delay in Turning Over Cohen Files

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Samantha Chery / Washington Post:

Ginsburg family blasts plan to give RBG Award to Musk, Murdoch, others — The family of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and some of the Supreme Court justice's former colleagues have denounced this year's slate of honorees for an award that a philanthropic foundation bestows in the name of the liberal icon.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Mother Jones:

Justice Ginsburg's Family Decries Bestowing RBG Award on Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch — The awards are being handed out by a foundation chaired by a Trump donor. — On Wednesday, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation announced the 2024 recipients of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award.

Discussion: New York Times, Axios and Dwight D. Opperman Foundation

Samantha Chery / Washington Post:
And the RBG Award goes to ... Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch?

Discussion: Mediaite, The Forward and WSET-TV

New York Times:

Live Updates: Judge Says Fani Willis Can Stay on Trump Case If Ex-Boyfriend Withdraws — The Atlanta district attorney's romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor she hired to oversee the case created an “appearance of impropriety,” the judge said, ruling that the prosecution can't proceed unless he leaves or she steps aside.

Discussion: WAGA-TV, HotAir, Trending Politics Conservative, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, NewsNation, DNyuz, The Root, The Hill, RedState, BizPac Review, Washington Free Beacon, UPI, Althouse, Power Line and Lawyers, Guns & Money

WSB-TV:
Nathan Wade resigns from Trump Georgia case following judge's ruling

Washington Post:
Fani Willis can stay on Trump Georgia case, but only if Wade steps aside, judge says

NBC News:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis case against Trump can continue if she or special prosecutor Wade remove themselves, judge rules

Associated Press:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis must step aside or remove special prosecutor in Trump case, judge says

Greg Sargent / New Republic:

Mike Johnson Suddenly Seems Ready to Stick a Shiv in MAGA — Poor Mike Johnson is in quite a bind. The House speaker simply doesn't have a governing majority: It is borderline impossible to pass anything with only Republican votes, because the hard-right MAGA bloc wants to thwart governing at all costs.

Discussion: Salon, Euromaidan Press, The Hill, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Post, HuffPost and The National Pulse

Manu Raju / CNN:

Schumer discusses ‘long-shot scenario’ with Manchin: Last-ditch Senate run in West Virginia — Hear more from Sen. Joe Manchin and the fight for control of the US Senate on “Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju” at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET. — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently discussed …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, The Dispatch, Washington Free Beacon, Yahoo News and The Hill

Washington Post:
A majority of House Republicans retreat from their retreat

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos and USA Today

Matt Viser / Washington Post:
White House counsel urges House speaker to end GOP impeachment inquiry

Discussion: CNN, UPI, PBS NewsHour, The Hill and USA Today

Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Biden's team to Speaker Johnson: Your impeachment inquiry is over

CBS News:

Secret Service, Justice Dept locate person of interest in swatting attacks on DHS Secretary Mayorkas and other officials — Federal agents have located a person of interest in over 100 swatting calls, which included calls targeting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas …

Discussion: Raw Story

Abbie VanSickle / New York Times:

Supreme Court Narrowly Interprets Landmark Reduced Sentencing Law — The justices sided with the government in a case focused on who is eligible for shorter prison sentences under the bipartisan First Step Act passed in 2018. — The Supreme Court sided with the government on Friday …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Roll Call, Law & Crime and Washington Examiner

Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court denies ‘thousands’ of inmates a chance at shorter sentences

Discussion: Associated Press

Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times:

2 Orange school board conservatives ousted by recalls with LGBTQ+ policies at the center — Voters in the city of Orange appear to have ousted two conservative school board members who had spearheaded policies widely opposed by advocates for LGBTQ+ youth in a recall election viewed …

Casey Newton / Platformer:

How CrowdTangle predicted the future — Eight years after buying the data analysis tool CrowdTangle, and four years after it began exasperating the executives responsible for it, Meta said Thursday that it would shut down the tool on August 14. — CrowdTangle, a data analysis tool …

Discussion: Ars Technica

New York Times:

Kushner Developing Deals Overseas Even as His Father-in-Law Runs for President — Donald Trump's son-in-law, who was also a senior White House official, said he was close to finalizing real estate projects in Albania and Serbia. — Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald J. Trump …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Raw Story and Political Wire

Justin Horowitz / Media Matters for America:

Lara Trump says she wants to hire QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler to work for the RNC — Lara Trump, who was recently elected as co-chair to the Republican National Committee, said on March 14 that she is interested in hiring right-wing influencer, QAnon conspiracy theorist, and …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Democrats, The Post Millennial, RedState, Florida's Voice, The Daily Caller, ABC News, The National Pulse and Raw Story

Associated Press:

Brazil's military leaders told police Bolsonaro was involved in plan to reverse 2022 election result — Top Brazilian military leaders declared to police that former President Jair Bolsonaro presented them a plan to reverse the results of the 2022 election he lost, but they refused and warned …

Discussion: Reuters, Al Jazeera and Associated Press

Washington Post:

GOP backtracks on closing community centers and sidetracking early-vote program — Officials said Friday that the shift in announced plans was a result of the fast pace of the takeover of the Republican National Committee at the start of the week — The Republican Party's new chairman …

Discussion: Raw Story

Ximena Bustillo / NPR:
As Trump continues to remake RNC in his image, new memo outlines what that looks like

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill and National Review

Debra Kamin / New York Times:

Powerful Realtor Group Agrees to Slash Commissions to Settle Lawsuits — The National Association of Realtors will pay $418 million in damages and will amend several rules that housing experts say will drive down housing costs. — American homeowners could see a significant drop in the cost …

Reuters:

‘Squid Game’ actor O Yeong-su convicted of sexual harassment and given a suspended sentence — As he was leaving the court, O told reporters he planned to appeal against the decision. — SEOUL — South Korean actor O Yeong-su, who starred in the first season of the hit Netflix series …