memeorandum: Sanders: Middle-class tax cuts in GOP bill a ‘very good thing’ that should have been permanent (Julia Manchester/The Hill)

9:35 PM ET, December 24, 2017

Top Items:

Suspicious Package Addressed to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Contained Horse Manure: Officials — Multiple law enforcement sources tell NBC investigations that officers unwrapped the box to discover it was filled with manure — A Los Angeles Department bomb squad responded …

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider, Splinter and The Week

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:

A package for Steven Mnuchin caused a bomb scare. It turned out to be filled with horse manure. — A suspicious package that appeared Saturday night in the swanky Los Angeles neighborhood of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin prompted lengthy street closures and a sizable response by local …

Discussion: CBS Los Angeles and CBS News

Nicole Hensley / New York Daily News:
Gift-wrapped horse poop sends bomb squad to Steven Mnuchin's Bel Air mansion

Discussion: Axios and Mediaite

The Daily Beast: Bomb Squad Responds After Gift-Wrapped Horse Manure Sent to Steve Mnuchin's Home

Mwenzke / KTLA:
LAPD Confirms Someone Sent Horse Manure in Holiday Gift Wrap to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

Discussion: New York Post and thecut

abc7.com:
Manure-filled package sent to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sends bomb squad to Bel Air

Discussion: IJR and ABC News

Cristina Maza / Newsweek:

HOW TRUMP AND THE NAZIS STOLE CHRISTMAS TO PROMOTE WHITE NATIONALISM — President Donald Trump wants Americans to think he re-invented Christmas. — “We can say merry Christmas again,” he has said on numerous occasions both during his campaign for president and his presidency.

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

Matt Vespa / Townhall.com: Are You Kidding Me? Liberal Rag Says Hallmark Channel Is A Bastion For Trumpian White Nationalism

New York Times:

Black Turnout in Alabama Complicates Debate on Voting Laws — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Even before a defiant Roy S. Moore stood at a lectern this month and refused to concede the Alabama Senate race, one political reality was clear: An extraordinary turnout among black voters had helped push Doug Jones …

Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:

‘Trump fears them’: Former officials defend FBI leaders swept up in the Trump-Russia firestorm — The FBI's top lawyer, James Baker, was abruptly reassigned within the bureau last week. — Though the move was not unexpected, national-security experts and former intelligence officials …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and AOL

Michael Kranish / Washington Post:
No longer a ‘lonely battle’: How the campaign against the Mueller probe has taken hold

Discussion: Splinter, Axios and Vox

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Trump ratchets up feud with FBI

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

In a pro-Trump town, they never stopped saying ‘Merry Christmas’ — LINDEN, Tenn. — In this rural Trump-supporting town, home to barely 1,000 people and at least 10 Christian churches, the word “holiday” doesn't seem to exist. — Outside the county courthouse there's an evergreen tree covered …

Wall Street Journal:

In Saudi Corruption Crackdown, Big Targets Are Going Free — The release suggests several high-profile suspects are agreeing to settlements — The Saudi government in recent days has released at least two dozen high-profile suspects held in a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption …

Discussion: Axios

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
American ISIS Suspect Held in Iraq Has Right to Lawyer, Judge Rules

Discussion: Axios, NPR and Just Security

The Guardian:

FBI investigates Russian-linked Cyprus bank accused of money laundering — Request for financial information may be connected to inquiries into possible conspiracy between Trump and Kremlin … The FBI has asked officials in Cyprus for financial information about a defunct bank that was used …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

Democrats Leave Few Seats Unchallenged in Quest for House Control — WASHINGTON — Representative Pete Sessions, a veteran Republican, was re-elected to his affluent Dallas-area House seat in 2016 with 71 percent of the vote, the remaining 29 percent split between the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.

CBS News:

President Trump finishes out the year at Mar-a-Lago, tax reform accomplished — President Trump kicked off his holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago Friday night at a dinner where he told friends, “You all just got a lot richer,” referencing the sweeping tax overhaul he signed into law hours earlier.

Mark Moore / New York Post:
Trump tells Mar-a-Lago guests: ‘You all just got a lot richer’

Discussion: IJR and Althouse

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Sanders: Middle-class tax cuts in GOP bill a ‘very good thing’ that should have been permanent … Sen. Bernie Sanders — (I-Vt.) on Sunday agreed the tax cuts for the middle class in the GOP tax bill are a “very good thing” — but added they should have been made permanent.

Discussion: IJR, Mediaite, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

John Frank / Denver Post:

Colorado's growing political divide leaves rural communities feeling forgotten and voiceless — A political transformation in Colorado is exacerbating the tension in elections and at the Capitol … ILIFF — Under a hard gray sky, Andrew Hernandez guides his combine through the cornfield …

John Sharp / al.com:

The color purple: How millennials and Gen X after electing Doug Jones could change a red state — Beth Clayton believes that she saw her home state's political future in the exit polls from the Dec. 12 Senate election. And it's not an Alabama that anyone has known lately.

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Flake on chaos of Trump campaign: ‘Was that campaign even capable of colluding with anybody?’ … Frequent Trump administration critic Sen. Jeff Flake — (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said he's unsure if the Trump campaign was “capable of colluding with anybody.” — “I mean, I look at that last campaign …

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:
Flake: If Trump fired Mueller, it would be a ‘big problem’

Discussion: Axios

Adam Lusher / The Independent:

At least 10,000 people died in Tiananmen Square massacre, secret British cable from the time alleged — Secret document suggested death toll was much higher than later reported, while claiming wounded students were bayoneted as they begged for their lives and the burnt remains of victims were ‘hosed down the drains’

Discussion: Axios and The Daily Caller