Corey Lewandowski said he had spoken to Donald Trump “dozens, if not more than 100 times since he has left the White House and I have never had that conversation about him being reinstated,” The Guardian reports.
Said Lewandowski: “I know of no provision under the constitution that allows it to occur, nor do I know of any provision under the constitution that allows an individual who lost an election to come back in if a recount is dubbed inaccurate.”
Washington Post: “Russia’s premier business conference featured a panelist, Katerina Tikhonova, who was identified as the deputy director for the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University. One significant detail was left out: She’s widely acknowledged outside official circles as President Vladimir Putin’s daughter.”
“The Russian leader has never publicly identified his children other than to say he has two daughters. That makes for an odd wink-and-nod scenario every time they appear. Everyone knows they are Putin’s children, but few dare say so and go against Kremlin policy. This dance could become increasingly tricky, however. Tikhonova and Putin’s other media-cited daughter, genetics researcher Maria Vorontsova, have gradually boosted their public profiles.”
Salt Lake Tribune: “If almost half of U.S. members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the ‘big lie’ about the 2020 presidential election and almost a quarter of them subscribe to the QAnon conspiracy theory, what does that say about their ability to discern truth? In these cases, it may be about nothing more than allegiance to partisan politics or agenda-driven sources.”
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New York Times: “The relationship between American businesses and their employees is undergoing a profound shift: For the first time in a generation, workers are gaining the upper hand.”
“Up and down the wage scale, companies are becoming more willing to pay a little more, to train workers, to take chances on people without traditional qualifications, and to show greater flexibility in where and how people work. The erosion of employer power … could persist for years.”
Washington Post: “It can feel abstract: A group of organized but faceless criminals hijacking corporate computer systems and demanding millions of dollars in exchange for their safe return. But the impact of these ransomware attacks is increasingly, unavoidably, real for everyday people.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned that the U.S. power grid is vulnerable to attacks and could be completely shut down by the nation’s adversaries, CNN reports.
Said Granholm: “There are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally. It’s happening all the time. This is why the private sector and the public sector have to work together.”
Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said he was “disappointed” in Donald Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Ted Budd (R) for U.S. Senate, calling the congressman “a Washington insider who has done more to oppose the Trump agenda than anyone in the race,” the Charlotte Observer reports.
Said McCrory: “The president got some bad advice and you could tell by the immediate reaction of the audience, which was no reaction to the individual he endorsed. They selected a Washington insider and I assume a Washington insider around the president made this very poor decision.”
Former President Trump said it is “too soon to tell” if he would tap former Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate if he launches a bid for the White House again in 2024, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Well I don’t know, it’s really too soon to tell. But certainly we had a very good relationship I was disappointed with Mike on one thing as he understands and some other people understand, but overall, I had a very good relationship with Mike and he’s a very fine person and a fine man.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) writes in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he will vote against a sweeping election reform overhaul bill, putting the fate of the legislation in jeopardy in the evenly split Senate.
Said Manchin: “I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy… The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen.”
New York Times: “A review of the 2020 election, conducted by several prominent Democratic advocacy groups, has concluded that the party is at risk of losing ground with Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters unless it does a better job presenting an economic agenda and countering Republican efforts to spread misinformation and tie all Democratic candidates to the far left.”
“The document is all the more striking because it is addressed to a victorious party: Despite their successes, Democrats had hoped to achieve more robust control of both chambers of Congress, rather than the ultra-precarious margins they enjoy.”
“Donald Trump and his Republican allies have spent the past few weeks trying to rewrite or distort the history of the pandemic, attempting with renewed vigor to villainize Anthony Fauci while lionizing the former president for what they portray as heroic foresight and underappreciated efforts to combat the deadly virus,” the Washington Post reports.
Gen. Charles Flynn — the younger brother of former National Security Advisor and coup-endorser Michael Flynn — assumed command of the U.S. Army’s forces in the Pacific, Stars and Stripes reports.
Politico: “Kemp’s standing with the rank-and-file has, improbably, improved, according to interviews with more than 30 party officials, strategists and activists here. And in his partial rehabilitation — the product of a relentless focus on so-called election integrity issues and culture war staples to excite the base — Kemp may serve as a model for dozens of Republicans elsewhere who have incurred Trump’s public wrath and are seeking to regain their standing with Republicans at home.”
“Kemp’s fate looms especially large in Georgia, a swing state where Trump not only was defeated by Joe Biden but saw Republicans lose both U.S. Senate seats in the state’s runoff elections in January. Fearful that Trump’s frequent criticism of Kemp could lead to a damaging primary and depress Republican turnout in a close general election — potentially a rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams — several Georgia-based Republicans and Republicans with ties to the state have privately appealed to Trump to hold back.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who was just elected to the House GOP leadership, announced in an Instagram post that she’s pregnant with her first child.
“Former president Donald Trump jumped into a competitive Senate primary on Saturday night in North Carolina, endorsing Rep. Ted Budd for a hotly contested seat in the 2022 election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s surprise endorsement — which he said he told the congressman about 15 minutes before taking the stage at a convention center here — came minutes after his daughter-in-law Lara Trump said she was not going to be running for the seat in North Carolina.”
Politico: “Trump’s endorsement is a major boost for Budd, who is running against former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker in the Senate primary.”
“Never before in U.S. history has a former president returned to the campaign trail to claim that his election loss was fraudulent,” Politico reports.
“But in his informal reemergence on the political scene before the GOP faithful at the North Carolina GOP convention in Greenville, Donald Trump did just that, insisting — falsely — that the 2020 race was stolen and corrupt.”
Said Trump: “The evidence is too voluminous to even mention… It was a third world election like we’ve never seen before.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) was booed by supporters of former President Donald Trump at the state party’s annual convention.
Kemp spoke for about 30 seconds before it was quiet enough to hear him again.
“About 31 million Americans now have health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, the White House announced Saturday, setting a record since the law, colloquially known as ‘Obamacare,’ was enacted in 2010 under President Barack Obama,” the Washington Post reports.
To commemorate the milestone, President Biden spoke with Obama in Zoom conversation that was taped and released by the White House.
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.
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