- Via the NYT: Ron Klain Expected to Step Down as Biden’s White House Chief of Staff. If it seems fast, note ” Mr. Klain takes pride that he has lasted longer than any other Democratic president’s first chief of staff in more than half a century.”
- And along those lines, via WaPo: Jeff Zients to be Biden’s next chief of staff.
- This stuff makes my head hurt (but is a likely preview of the next two years), via WaPo: How a Hunter Biden conspiracy theory grew, from lone tweet to a big megaphone.
- Via the Washington Examiner: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs says she’ll continue transporting migrants out of state. Despite the headline, one of these things is not like the other:
However, spokespeople for Hobbs said their new strategy would differ from Ducey’s, noting migrants would no longer be dropped off at major Democratic cities and expected to find their own way to their final destination.
“We’re sending migrants to cities they actually need to go to and be connected with their sponsors, and we are doing it in a more cost effective way by looking at all travel options, not just buses,” Hobbs’s press secretary Josselyn Berry said in a statement.
- Via ABC News: POLL: Most Americans think both Biden and Trump inappropriately handled classified documents. And they’re not wrong. Of course, one of them is fully cooperating and the other defied a subpoena and had to have his property raided to force compliance, so YMMV.
- Via the NYT: Despite Red Flags, G.O.P. Backed Candidate Now Charged in Shootings. The story isn’t all that well written. He lost a state legislative race in 2022 and the shootings happened after his loss. But he did have a criminal record and was clearly part of the fringe of the party. I would have loved the story to be more explicit about how and when state GOP officials could have known of his past, as while I would not absolve them of vetting responsibilities, it is wholly unclear to me from the piece what the process normally would look like or what the reporters could demonstrate should have been known. More likely than not this is just another example of a system that largely relies on self-selection and then the party backs its candidates over the opposition party.
