memeorandum: Trump AG pick Matt Gaetz says he's withdrawing (Kevin Breuninger/CNBC)

1:15 PM ET, November 21, 2024

Top Items:

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times:

Police Report Offers Graphic Details of Sexual Assault Claim Against Hegseth — President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for defense secretary was never charged with a crime and vehemently denied to the police that a sexual encounter was coerced. — A police report released Wednesday night …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Axios, HuffPost and Mediaite

CNN:

Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump's defense secretary nominee — A California woman told police that Trump Cabinet pick Pete Hegseth physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, UPI, Raw Story, New York Daily News, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and USA Today

Mediaite:
NEW: Mediaite Obtains Full Police Report on Pete Hegseth Sexual Assault Allegation

Discussion: emptywheel, New Republic, Raw Story and Rolling Stone

Patrick Smith / NBC News:
Police report details alleged sexual assault by Trump's defense pick Pete Hegseth

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, BizPac Review, CBS News, Task & Purpose, Rolling Stone and Wall Street Journal

Stephen Robinson / Public Notice:

Senate Republicans won't save us — 🚀 Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers. If you aren't one, please click the button below to sign up and support our independent journalism. 🚀 — 🏞️ Subscribe to Public Notice 🏞️

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill and The Guardian

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP warns Gaetz hearings will be ‘Kavanaugh on steroids’ — Senate Republicans are warning confirmation proceedings for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will be like “Kavanaugh on steroids,” referring to the contentious hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Discussion: HotAir, Business Insider, Punchbowl News, The Bulwark, The Guardian, Roll Call, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Washington Times and New York Times

Politico:
Keep your eyes on these Senate Republicans. They could upend Pete Hegseth's confirmation.

Discussion: Forbes

Jonathan Martin / Politico: Here Are the GOP Senators Best Positioned to Take on Trump

Juliann Ventura / The Hill:
Senate Democrat: Trump wants to ‘subjugate’ GOP senators with Gaetz appointment

Discussion: New York Daily News, UPI and Trending Politics …

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:

Gaetz withdraws as Trump's pick for attorney general — Matt Gaetz withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general following continued scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on the former congressman's ability to be confirmed …

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Trump AG pick Matt Gaetz says he's withdrawing … Matt Gaetz said Thursday he is withdrawing his name form consideration as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general. — “I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback …

Discussion: The Hill, ABC News, TMZ.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Florida Politics, IJR and WHEC.com

Washington Post:

Matt Gaetz withdraws bid to be attorney general in Trump administration — Former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) announced in a social media post Thursday that he was withdrawing his bid to be attorney general for President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, saying his confirmation was “unfairly becoming a distraction.”

Discussion: NBC News, ABC News, Politico, CBS News, Axios, Washington Examiner, UPI, The Guardian, The Independent, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, The Hill and Scripps News

Dave Lawler / Axios:

Charted: Harris' popular vote gap with Biden … - Harris won far fewer voters than Biden in New York City, Chicago and L.A., and ran behind Biden in blue areas generally, a New York Times analysis shows. … But both were also unusually high-turnout elections.

Discussion: News Talk 105.9 WMAL and New York Times

Grace Harrington / The Daily Beast:

Pollster Nate Silver Calls on Biden to Resign Immediately — YOU'RE FIRED — Silver said Kamala Harris should assume the presidency after criticism over Biden's trip to Brazil. — Pollster Nate Silver called for President Joe Biden to step down and let Kamala Harris assume office …

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

Comer to create DOGE subcommittee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene to work with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy — Ramaswamy tells Fox News Digital he and his team have already met with Comer and Greene and they ‘look forward to working together’ — EXCLUSIVE: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, NBC News, Roll Call, Mediaite, Quartz and Forbes

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tapped to work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as new DOGE subcommittee chair

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, Bloomberg and Raw Story

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGE

ICC news:

Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel's challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant — Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court ('Court') …

John Towfighi / CNN:

Linda McMahon, Trump's Education pick, was sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children — A recent lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Department of Education, knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment …

Discussion: Hollywood Life, Fox News, Washington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Examiner, Trending Politics …, Metro.co.uk, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Washington Times, Associated Press, Front Office Sports, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

Brendan Morrow / USA Today:

Jussie Smollett conviction in hate crime hoax overturned by Illinois Supreme Court — The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned actor Jussie Smollett's conviction for staging a fake hate crime against himself. — In a decision issued Thursday, the court overturned the “Empire” …

Josh Dickey / The Wrap:

Ellen DeGeneres Has Moved to Great Britain, Lists Montecito Estate: ‘Never Coming Back’ to the United States | Exclusive — The “kicked out of show business” comedian made the move after the election of Donald Trump — Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi have moved to rural England …

Discussion: Breitbart, Fox News, Daily Mail, Global News, Hollywood Life, Vanity Fair, Trending Politics …, Metro.co.uk, Instapundit, Los Angeles Times and Consequence

TMZ.com:
Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi Move to England After Trump Election Win

Discussion: Mercury News, LGBTQ Nation, The Daily Caller, Hollywood Life, Daily Mail, Twitchy, One America News Network, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Times

Greg Sargent / New Republic:

A Trump Judge Just Nixed Overtime Pay for Millions—and Media Yawned — You probably missed it, because it created barely a ripple in the media, but last Friday, a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump struck down one of President Biden's most pro-worker policies: his effort to ensure …

Erin Reed / Erin In The Morning:

Congresswoman McBride Announces She Will Comply With Rules Declaring Her a Man — Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber. — For the third consecutive day, the Republican Party has been consumed …

Simon Shuster / Time:

How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker — Hang on a minute. Whom did we just elect? The Republican ticket had two names at the top: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. But parts of this delirious November created the impression that someone else has taken hold of our collective destiny.

Discussion: CBS News

Mike Masnick / MSNBC:
The blurred line between X and the Trump administration

Discussion: Techdirt

Amy Yurkanin / ProPublica:

Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths — In a letter, the state's public health commissioner said the action was taken because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee …

Noah Hurowitz / The Intercept:

The House Just Blessed Trump's Authoritarian Playbook by Passing Nonprofit-Killer Bill — Democratic support for the bill dwindled as critics warned it would let Donald Trump crack down on political foes. — A bill that would give President-elect Donald Trump broad powers to target …

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, ScheerPost.com, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Slate, Mother Jones, Los Angeles Times and Jewish Insider

Dara Lind / New York Times:

Don't Do Trump's Work for Him on Mass Deportations — If you didn't think they were serious before, you certainly ought to know better now. — Donald Trump's team has construed his victory as a mandate for carrying out what it has described as mass deportations.

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, Townhall, Immigration Reform Law …, New Republic and Scripps News

NBC News:

'Like nothing you've seen': Trump team readies a flurry of executive actions for Day 1 — Expect action on illegal immigration and more socially conservative health care policies for members of the military. — WASHINGTON — Within hours of taking office as president …

Discussion: Semafor and The Independent

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

November 20, 2024 — Remember how American voters so hated Project 2025, the playbook for a second Trump term written by the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing institutions, that Trump said he had nothing to do with it, and then one of its key architects, Russell Vought …

Discussion: Washington Post, Democrats, New Republic, CBS News and The American Conservative

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Trump Tells Republicans to ‘Kill’ Reporter Shield Bill Passed Unanimously by House — The bill, known as the PRESS Act, would codify protections against federal investigators seizing reporters' records. It is now less likely the legislation would clear the Senate before the current session ends.

Discussion: The Intercept, Rolling Stone, Daily Caller News Foundation and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »

Kyle Harris / Denverite:

How Denver's mayor is responding to Trump's threats to defund sanctuary cities — “We're not going to sell out those values to anyone. We're not going to be bullied into changing them.” — Listen to our interview with Mayor Mike Johnston — Denver has built a reputation as a city …

Discussion: HotAir, RedState and The Gateway Pundit

Office of Foreign Assets Control:

Russia-related Designations and Updates; Issuance of Russia-related General Licenses and Frequently Asked Questions; Publication of Russia-related OFAC Alert — Treasury Sanctions Gazprombank and Takes Additional Steps to Curtail Russia's Use of the International Financial System

Discussion: The Hill

Dylan Byers / Puck:

Mika & Joe's Excellent Adventure — News and notes on the real ulterior motive behind the Mar-a-Lago pilgrimage. Plus, all the nail-biting and agita unleashed at 30 Rock in the wake of the Comcast spinco news. — On Monday morning, MSNBC's connubial co-hosts Joe Scarborough …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, BizPac Review, Daily Mail and Mediaite

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Federal Inquiry Traced Payments From Gaetz to Women — A document prepared by federal investigators bolsters claims by women who say they were hired for sex by Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for attorney general, who denies wrongdoing.