'Bribes for pardons'

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Wednesday, December 2

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TRUMP CONSIDERING PARDONS FOR KIDS, GIULIANI President Donald Trump has reportedly discussed pardoning his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, as well as Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, before any of them have been charged with crimes. Trump reportedly told advisers he fears President-elect Joe Biden would target them for prosecution. [HuffPost]

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JUSTICE DEPT. PROBING WHITE HOUSE 'BRIBERY FOR PARDON' SCHEME The Justice Department spent months investigating a “bribery-for-pardon scheme” as Trump was running for reelection. In a 20-page heavily redacted opinion U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that attorney-client privilege didn’t protect certain communications if they were alleged to be part of a “bribery-for-pardon scheme.” [HuffPost]

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BARR SILENT FOR WEEKS AS CONSPIRACY THEORIES SPREAD Attorney General William Barr, who has served as Trump’s right-hand man and protector, waited nearly an entire month after the 2020 presidential election to publicly state the obvious: Trump doesn’t have evidence for his conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday. [HuffPost]

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ELECTION OFFICIAL DENOUNCES TRUMP: STOP INCITING VIOLENCE Georgia’s voting systems manager Gabriel Sterling fervently denounced the threats and harassment directed at election workers, imploring Trump to stop provoking such behavior and to condemn it instead. “It has to stop,” said Sterling, who is a Republican. “Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. ... We need you to step up, and if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some.” [HuffPost]

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U.K. CLEARS PFIZER VACCINE; SHOTS START NEXT WEEK The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the U.K. and will be made available starting next week, allowing Britains to get the shot developed by a U.S.-based drugmaker before Americans. Studies have shown the shot to be 95% effective and it works in all age groups. No safety concerns arose from clinical trials. [HuffPost]

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ROMNEY: NEED FOR COVID-19 RELIEF IS A 'CRISIS' Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) spoke on Tuesday as part of a bipartisan group of senators proposing a COVID-19 relief bill, arguing that even he, a self-described “deficit hawk,” saw the need to assist Americans living through a global pandemic. “COVID has created a crisis, and in a crisis, people expect Congress to act,” he said. “This group has come together to propose action that could respond to this crisis,” he added, saying it would be “simply unacceptable” not to do so. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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BARR SHIELDS HIS PROBE INTO THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION Barr has given extra protection to the prosecutor he appointed to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, giving him the authority of a special counsel to complete his work without being easily fired. Barr said U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation has been narrowing to focus more on the conduct of FBI agents who worked on the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane. [AP]

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JUDGE REJECTS TRUMP RULES LIMITING FOREIGN WORKER VISAS A federal judge struck down two Trump administration rules designed to drastically curtail the number of visas issued each year to skilled foreign workers. The changes applying to the H-1B visa program announced in October include imposing salary requirements on companies employing skilled overseas workers and limits on specialty occupations. [AP]

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TRUMP'S 'SAVE AMERICA' PAC IS A BAIT-AND-SWITCH SCAM Trump has raised many tens of millions of dollars with the promise of overturning his election loss, but his donors are actually pouring money into a fund he could use for Big Macs, golf equipment and, if he wants, even more hush money payments. Unlike political campaign and party committees, Trump’s “Save America” is a so-called leadership PAC with far less stringent rules regulating its spending. [HuffPost]

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A FORMER PRINCIPAL HAS SOME THOUGHTS FOR BIDEN Before he ousted longtime Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel in a stunning primary win earlier this year, Rep.-elect Jamaal Bowman was a public middle school principal in New York City. Now, as he prepares to enter the House, Bowman hopes to push Biden to choose a secretary of education who would understand the struggles faced by public school educators. [HuffPost]

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OBAMA: 'DEFUND THE POLICE' ALIENATES VOTERS Former President Barack Obama drew criticism from progressive Democrats this week for suggesting that “snappy” slogans like “defund the police” are alienating voters and making it harder from a political standpoint to enact “changes you want done.” Obama’s remarks — particularly his use of the term “slogan” — were lambasted by several progressive Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker and Cori Bush. [HuffPost]

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GREGORY MEEKS TAPPED FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHAIR Top House Democrats tapped Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, effectively ending a surprisingly competitive race for the chief foreign policy job in the lower chamber that highlighted shifts in thinking on global affairs within the party. Meeks is running against Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). The full Democratic caucus will choose the winner on Thursday. [HuffPost]

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