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11:50 PM ET, December 23, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Trump Gives Clemency to More Allies, Including Manafort, Stone and Charles Kushner  —  It was the second wave of pardons and commutations by the president in two days, showing his willingness to use his power aggressively on behalf of loyalists.  —  President Trump doled out clemency …
RELATED:
CNN:
Trump issues 26 new pardons, including ones for Stone, Manafort and Charles Kushner  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening announced 26 new pardons, including ones for longtime ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's father, Charles.
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency  —  Today, President Donald J. Trump granted Full Pardons to 26 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional 3 individuals.  —  James Kassouf — President Trump granted a full pardon to James Kassouf.
Emma Austin / Courier-Journal:
President Trump grants pardon for Louisville activist Christopher 2X  —  A prominent Louisville activist has been granted a full pardon by President Donald Trump, according to a press release from the White House.  —  Christopher 2X, who runs a nonprofit in Louisville dedicated …
Discussion: Reason
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner  —  President Trump granted full pardons to 26 more people on Wednesday night, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime associate Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Politico:
‘Complete clusterf—’: Trump leaves Washington in limbo  —  President Donald Trump has once again thrown Washington into chaos, making uneven demands that have left lawmakers baffled and Americans coping with a global pandemic uncertain when they'll be getting long-promised financial help.
RELATED:
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans just voted to defund the police  —  President Trump and Republicans campaigned in 2020 by scaring Americans into thinking Democrats would “defund the police” and unleash a crime spree.  —  This helped Republicans keep control of the Senate (for now) and grow their numbers in the House.
Discussion: Wall Street Journal and KTVZ-TV
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Trump is trashing the government on his way out. Biden is confident he can fix it.
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump detonates a truth bomb in the Georgia Senate races
Washington Post:
Trump's last-minute outburst throws pandemic relief effort into chaos
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Giuliani told to preserve all records as lawyers for Dominion warn legal action is ‘imminent’  —  (CNN)A defamation law firm representing Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani instructing …
RELATED:
The Daily Beast:
‘This Is Just What Jared Does’: Kushner Bails on Trump's Mission to Destroy the 2020 Election  —  The president's son-in-law has developed a reputation in Trumpland for being conspicuously absent when things turn rocky.  —  As President Donald Trump tries to nullify the 2020 election …
Discussion: Election Law Blog
RELATED:
New York Times:
A President Unhappy, Unleashed and Unpredictable  —  President Trump remains the most powerful man in the world, but powerless to achieve what he most wants: to avoid leaving office as a loser.  —  With four weeks left in President Trump's term, he is at perhaps his most unleashed — and …
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
What happened to Maria Bartiromo?  The Trump election fraud story has the TV news biz asking  —  When a public company makes news, a chief executive can expect a text or call from Maria Bartiromo.  —  The veteran business journalist, now an anchor at Fox News, made her bones by getting sit-downs …
RELATED:
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
What happened to Maria Bartiromo?
Isaac Arnsdorf / ProPublica:
Inside Trump and Barr's Last-Minute Killing Spree  —  Private executioners paid in cash.  Middle-of-the-night killings.  False or incomplete justifications.  ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.
Discussion: The Hill and American Prospect
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: A deputy to Eric Trump helped build a campaign shell company to protect the president from grift.  But the secretive operation morphed into a mystery — even for top Trump campaign staffers. … - One of Eric Trump's top deputies played an important role overseeing …
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: No one knows how this ends  —  SO HOW DOES THIS END?  That's a damn good question.  —  NO ONE KNOWS.  Some say President DONALD TRUMP is in burn-it-down mode and is more than willing to veto the Covid relief/funding package, ending his presidency in a lengthy shutdown, with bluster and crisis.
RELATED:
NBC New York:
Andrew Yang Files Paperwork to Run for New York City Mayor  —  Businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has filed paperwork to run for mayor of New York City, the city's Campaign Finance Board confirmed on Wednesday.  —  Yang's filing has the potential to immediately upend …
RELATED:
Paul Campos / New York Magazine:
Pence Should Remove Trump From Office on Sunday  —  In what are supposed to be the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump has been discussing invoking martial law to overturn the results of the 2020 election and seizing supposedly fraudulent voting machines that — according …
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money
CNN:
Tensions intensify between Biden and Pentagon over stalled transition briefings  —  (CNN)President-elect Joe Biden's transition team on Wednesday disputed suggestions from Pentagon officials who questioned the accuracy of Biden's assertion a day earlier that the Department of Defense has refused …
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
John Eligon / New York Times:
Black Doctor Dies of Covid-19 After Complaining of Racist Treatment  —  “He made me feel like a drug addict,” Dr. Susan Moore said, accusing a white doctor of downplaying her complaints of pain and suggesting she should be discharged.  —  Lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen tube hugging her nostrils …
Discussion: Raw Story
Yascha Mounk / Persuasion:
Why I'm Losing Trust in the Institutions  —  The CDC came scarily close to adopting a plan that would, according to its own models, have killed thousands of Americans.  —  1 hr ago  —  Who should be first in line to get the vaccine against Covid-19?  —  These kinds of decisions are never easy …
David Tarrant / Dallas Morning News:
Fort Worth pastor who urged ‘faith over fear’ in the pandemic mourns parents who died of COVID complications  —  The pastor of 2nd Mile Church in north Fort Worth, where his parents were members, said he was surprised by the sudden surge in COVID cases in recent weeks in Tarrant County.
Discussion: Crooks and Liars and WEB OF EVIL
Politico:
New cracks emerge among Democrats over Biden's Pentagon pick  —  President-elect Joe Biden's historic choice for secretary of defense is running into hurdles on Capitol Hill, as key Democrats express concerns publicly and privately about whether installing a retired four-star general at the helm …
Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
Trump vetoes defense bill, teeing up holiday override votes in Congress  —  President Trump made good Wednesday on his repeated threats to veto a $741 billion defense spending bill, setting up what is expected to be the first successful veto override of his presidency during his last weeks in office.
David Sirota Andrew Perez / Jacobin:
Where in the World Is Kamala Harris?  —  Vice president-elect Kamala Harris made headlines earlier this year pushing $2,000 checks for all American.  But suddenly, despite being desperately needed right now, she's nowhere to be found on the issue.  —  Our new issue, “Failure Is an Option,” is out now.
Washington Post:
In Iraq, Trump's Blackwater pardons meet with cynicism, fatigue  —  BAGHDAD — The 2007 unprovoked killing of Iraqi civilians by Blackwater security contractors is remembered here as one of the most emblematic chapters of America's ruinous invasion.  —  Yet the news Wednesday that President Trump …
Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:
GOP Voters Say They'd Back Trump Over Congressional Republicans  —  Republican Trump voters are more likely to identify with the president than their political party, a new survey finds.  —  GOP voters remain far likelier to align themselves with President Donald Trump than they are to side …
Betsy Klein / CNN:
White House coronavirus task force no longer proactively sending reports to states  —  (CNN)The White House coronavirus task force has informed states that it will no longer proactively send its weekly state reports with tailored data and recommendations, according to multiple state officials.
Discussion: Raw Story
 
 
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 More Items: 
Helen Raleigh / The Federalist:
Meet The Black ‘Trumpsters’ Who Helped Fire Up Minority Voters In 2020
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
DOJ officials in ‘ongoing discussions’ about Hunter Biden special counsel, some say it's ‘warranted’: sources
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Drew Armstrong / Bloomberg:
The World's Most Loathed Industry Gave Us a Vaccine in Record Time
Foreign Policy:
Pompeo Weighs Genocide Designation for China
Discussion: National Review
Politico:
The secret Biden power broker
Maryam Rahmanian / Wall Street Journal:
One Iranian Woman's Year in the Shadow of U.S. Sanctions and Covid-19
Roger Sollenberger / Salon:
NY Attorney General subpoenas pro-Trump troll Jacob Wohl for voter suppression scheme
Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:
The Long March Back  —  A prudent, controlled burn of the GOP's dead weight would be wiser than an unmitigated act of arson.
 Earlier Items: 
Casey Michel / New Republic:
How to Make Kleptocrats Fear America Again
Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Declares Political Center Alive and Well
Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Georgia elections chief seeks to end no-excuse absentee voting
Discussion: Fox News and Washington Times
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump's Very Swampy Pardon of a Ben Carson Crony
Discussion: WPXI-TV
Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:
Kelly Loeffler's Letter Helped Set Stage for Husband's $10 Billion Deal
Discussion: Raw Story and The Intellectualist
Tom Knowles / The Times:
Octopuses are ocean thugs that punch fish
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount Global's board is considering replacing CEO Bob Bakish with an “Office of the CEO” made up of division heads on an interim basis

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The New York Times is broken, shown by its entitled, petulant reaction to Politico's report on its tense relationship with Biden

Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Sources: Amazon Prime Video has a framework deal for NBA broadcast rights for at least a decade, starting in 2025-26; ESPN/ABC is expected to keep the finals

 
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