President-elect Biden said that the Russia-tied cyberattack, which formerly was known to go back to as early as March, began “at least last year,” Axios reports.
“An administration source verified the earlier breach date — compounding the work and expense involved in rooting out the intruders, discovering what was lost and fixing for the future.”
Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock’s ex-wife told Atlanta police officers that her husband was a ‘great actor’ after he denied her claims that he ran over her foot with his car, according to body cam footage of the March 2020 incident that aired late Tuesday on Fox News.”
Stacey Abrams tweets that 57,429 Georgians who already cast a ballot in the January 5th Senate runoffs did not vote at all in the presidential election.
And “half or more” are people of color.
“House Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by House Democrats to approve $2,000 stimulus payments for millions of Americans. Democrats were seeking to advance the measure after President Trump demanded it on Tuesday night, breaking with many in the Republican party,” the Washington Post reports.
“House Democratic leadership attempted to advance the measure by ‘unanimous consent‘ but the effort was blocked by Republican leadership.
Jonathan Chait: “The official White House statement justifying the pardon of Paul Manafort explains that his prosecution ‘was premised on the Russian collusion hoax.’ But Trump’s pardon — a ploy so well signaled its inevitability was clear even before he stepped into the Oval Office and that he has floated for years to keep Manafort quiet — is the final proof the Russia investigation was not a hoax but a scandal Trump used his powers to thwart.”
“Trump has already pardoned Michael Flynn and commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, both of whom lied to investigators to protect him. The Manafort pardon is the final piece of his Russiagate cover-up.”
Elie Honig: “Every significant Mueller defendant who refused to cooperate (or started but then stopped) has now been pardoned.”
“Only Rick Gates and Michael Cohen — both of whom testified publicly, in court or Congress — have not been pardoned.”
“Pardoning Manafort would be seen as a political disaster for the President. There may come a day down the road, after the politics have changed that you’d want to consider an application of him like everybody else, but now would be a disaster.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by CNN in early 2019.
New York Times: “Mr. Parscale, President Trump’s former campaign manager, said he was trying to move on from that bleak Sunday in late September when he made the national newscasts, after police were called to his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. His wife told officers he was inside the house, ranting, acting erratically, with a loaded and cocked gun.”
“Now he is turning to real estate and plans to buy houses and flip them, he said in an interview this month, something he said he was good at. He is also restarting his political consulting firm, Parscale Strategy, and trying to kick off a start-up called Nucleus, to process and analyze data for conservative politicians.”
Wall Street Journal: “Current and former officials say Mr. Rosen has a good relationship with the president, who they say may expect his new acting attorney general to do things Mr. Barr was unwilling to do.”
A new USA Today/Suffolk University Poll finds 50% of Americans now predict history will judge Donald Trump as a “failed” president.
The remaining are divided: 16% predict he will be seen as a great president, 13% as a good president and 16% as a fair president.
Nonetheless, most Republicans are ready to vote for Trump again. If he is the party’s nominee in 2024, 71% of Republicans say they would support him, and another 16% say they would consider it. Just 10% say they wouldn’t.
In his first radio interview since being pardoned, Roger spoke told WABC that he plans to sue Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N-NY) for defamation.
He also made the case for President Trump to pardon Julian Assange.
“This is rotten to the core.”
— Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), quoted by the Washington Post, on President Trump pardoning Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.
“Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas from public health experts that they stay home to avoid fueling the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 nationwide,” the AP reports.
“Many people at airports this week thought long and hard about whether to go somewhere and found a way to rationalize it.”
The U.S. reported 228,000 new cases and 3,359 new deaths yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Kevin Liptak: “No one expected him to fade quietly into retirement. And no one, at this point, is particularly obliged to pay attention — a fact Trump seems very aware of as he desperately seeks to grasp hold of the spotlight for however long it will shine, even as his staff is provided instructions for boxing up their desks and cleaning out their microwaves.”
“The effect is a president more erratic than ever. Though he has all but disappeared from public view, Trump is wielding what executive powers he has left to rancorous effect, ensuring his presence is felt even as he holes up in virtual isolation. Instead of off-the-cuff rallies or shouting underneath his helicopter, Trump is holding forth in pre-produced videos and, as always, tweeting.”
“Negotiators from the European Union and Britain worked through the night and into Christmas Eve to put the finishing touches on a trade deal that should avert a chaotic economic break between the two sides next week,” the AP reports.
“The Trump administration has formally notified Congress that it intends to sell nearly $500 million in precision bombs to Saudi Arabia, a transaction that is likely to fuel criticism from lawmakers who object to arming the Persian Gulf nation over its record of human rights abuses and stifling dissent and role in the war in Yemen,” the Washington Post reports.
“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 of the Pentagon further erodes civilian oversight of the military,” Politico reports.
“Rep. Seth Moulton, an influential member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday became the most prominent House Democrat to say he will not vote to grant retired Gen. Lloyd Austin a waiver to the law barring recently retired military officers from serving as defense secretary.”
“More than 1 million Americans have received Covid shots, but the government isn’t likely to make good on the goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of this month,” Politico reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.