President-elect Joe Biden is considering New York finance executive Diana Taylor for a key role in the administration, possibly to lead the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank or the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, NBC News reports.
Taylor also just happens to be the longtime partner of Michael Bloomberg.
First Read: “After terrorists hijacked airliners, slammed them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and killed nearly 3,000 Americans, Congress created an independent bipartisan 9/11 Commission to definitively answer what happened—– and how to prevent it from ever happening again.”
“Our question this morning: Is Congress going to create a 9/11-like commission to study what went wrong with the United States’ handling of the coronavirus — after more than 300,000 and counting deaths, an erosion in trust in our government and allegations of political interference and manipulation?”
A new Gallup poll finds that just 31% of Americans give the CDC good marks on communicating a clear plan to deal with Covid — an even poorer level of confidence than the 33% who say the same of President Trump.
“Dominion Voting Systems sent a blistering letter to the right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell, demanding that she publicly retract her ‘wild, knowingly baseless and false accusations’ about the company’s voting machines, which have repeatedly found themselves at the heart of conspiracy theories surrounding the election,” the New York Times reports.
“The letter, a preparatory step to formal legal action, accused Ms. Powell of engaging in ‘reckless disinformation’ about Dominion’s machines at news conferences, rallies in support of President Trump and on conservative media outlets like Fox News, Newsmax and Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.”
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“I’m very, very concerned that if you solicit votes from typically non-voters, that you will affect and change the outcome.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), in a Fox Business interview.
“Negotiators on Capitol Hill and at the White House have still not wrapped up talks over a nearly $1 trillion coronavirus relief package ahead of a Friday deadline, as Republicans and Democrats spar over tens of billions of dollars in government spending,” Politico reports.
“A weekend session in Congress is becoming increasingly likely, and top aides are discussing a bill to keep the government funded until Sunday to allow for further talks and drafting of the rescue package.”
“Nearly 75,000 new voters registered in Georgia since before the presidential election, enough to make a difference in the U.S. Senate runoffs if they turn out,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“They’re overwhelmingly young, with 57% of them under 35 years old. Some are new Georgia residents; others just turned 18. None has a voting record in the state.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday that opposition politician Alexey Navalny “is enjoying the support of the US special services,” adding that if Russian special services had wanted to kill him they would have “finished it,” CNN reports.
“Navalny was poisoned with the toxin Novichok in August and nearly died. After initial treatment in Omsk, Siberia, he was taken to a clinic in Berlin. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in his poisoning.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) told the Los Angeles Times that doubts about her cognitive abilities are not fair.
Asked if she’d thought about stepping aside because of a decline in her short-term memory, she responded: “No, I haven’t.”
She went on: “I don’t feel my cognitive abilities have diminished… No, not really. Do I forget something sometimes? Quite possibly.”
The U.S. on Wednesday reported record numbers for Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, CNN reports.
The death toll yesterday was 3,656.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held unannounced talks with Taliban peace negotiators in the Persian Gulf to urge a reduction in violence across Afghanistan, even as senior American officials in Kabul warned that stepped-up Taliban attacks endanger the militant group’s nascent peace negotiations with the Afghan government, the AP reports.
Jennifer Horn, former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, writes in USA Today that she is leaving the party.
“The GOP has become so destructive an institution — by embracing racism, accepting hatred and cruelty as the foundation for policy, and by advocating for and advancing the overthrow of democracy in America — that it has become wholly incompatible with the constitutional pillars of our country.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball continues to rate both U.S. Senate races in Georgia as Toss-ups.
“This type of double-barreled Senate election occurs with some regularity. Since 2000, five biennial election cycles have seen scenarios where both of a state’s Senate seats were up, while six cycles haven’t.”
“But control of the chamber has never hinged on a double-barreled runoff.”
Politico: Georgia Senate battles rage far from Atlanta.
“French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, following a week when he has met with numerous European leaders,” the AP reports.
“The French and Spanish prime ministers are among those self-isolating because they had recent contact with him.”
Politico: “As vice president, Pence has the awkward but unavoidable duty of presiding over the session of Congress that will formalize Biden’s Electoral College victory — a development that is likely to expose him and other Republicans to the wrath of GOP voters who believe President Donald Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen from him.”
“But Pence could dodge their ire by leaving Washington immediately for the Middle East and Europe. According to three U.S. officials familiar with the planning, the vice president is eyeing a foreign trip that would take him overseas for nearly a week, starting on Jan. 6.”
“The 2022 US Senate race in North Carolina could provide an early test of whether the Republican Party will continue to embrace President Donald Trump after his loss, potentially featuring Lara Trump, the President’s daughter-in-law, against a field of current and former Republican officials unwilling to step aside,” Politico reports.
“Her public interest in the seat has not scared off a number of Senate Republican aspirants, who are driven in part by the alluring prospect of running for an open seat in the first midterm election of a Democratic president, which usually favors the opposing party.”
“Democrats in Texas and New Hampshire are forming committees to examine the party’s failings in last month’s election. Less formal autopsies are underway in states across the country,” Politico reports.
“But the party that lost the presidential election isn’t soul-searching at all. For the final act of his showman-like presidency, Donald Trump has convinced the Republican Party that despite losing the White House by 7 million votes — and despite seeing five states flip in 2020 — things could hardly be better inside the GOP.”
“President Trump’s neighbors in Florida are seeking to enforce a decades-old compact that says Mar-a-Lago, his private social club, cannot be used as a full-time residence — as Mr. Trump has suggested he plans to do after he leaves the White House,” the New York Times reports.
“Neighbors of Mar-a-Lago sent a letter to the Town of Palm Beach and the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday complaining that Mr. Trump has violated the 1993 agreement he made with the town that allowed him to convert the property to a moneymaking club.”
“House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler intends to reissue a subpoena for former White House Counsel Don McGahn’s testimony next year, confirming that Democrats intend to press ahead with its long legal battle to compel testimony from a star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation of President Trump,” 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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.