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Thursday, January 11, 2024

1/11 WAKE-UP CALL: DeSantis, Haley Call Each Other Liar


Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley repeatedly accused each other of lying in an acrimonious debate that mixed policy with insults as the two candidates battled to emerge as the top alternative to Donald Trump days before the campaign's first votes are cast. But with the former president absent once again from the debate stage, the rivals aimed most of their ammunition at each other, rather than the clear frontrunner in the race.

"We don't need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote, then to get an office and to do her donors' bidding," DeSantis said. Haley touted a website her campaign has created to document what she said were dozens of DeSantis falsehoods and at one point called him "so desperate."


The two rivals have engaged in an increasingly rancorous battle ahead of Monday's first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, with little time left to halt Trump's march toward the nomination. The former president had the support of 49% of Republicans in a nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, far ahead of Haley in second place at 12%.

The debate took place just hours after former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a fierce Trump critic, announced an end to his own presidential campaign after drawing little support from Republican voters.

➤HOT MIC..HALEY TO GET 'SMOKED': Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was caught on a hot mic Wednesday saying Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is "going to get smoked," minutes before announcing the suspension of his own 2024 White House bid. "She's not up to this," Christie said in a livestream of his announcement in New Hampshire. The former governor went on to say fellow GOP candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had called him, "petrified." 

DeSantis addressed the audio clip in a post Wednesday night on X, formerly Twitter, writing, "I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is 'going to get smoked.'"

➤HALEY CALLS TRUMP'S IMMUNITY DEFENSE 'RIDICULOUS': Nikki Haley derided the suggestion that former presidents enjoy total immunity from prosecution for offenses they were not impeached and removed from office over — a key argument Donald Trump’s legal team is making to toss out two of his indictments. “That’s ridiculous. That’s absolutely ridiculous. I mean, we need to use some common sense here. You can’t go and kill a political rival and then claim immunity [as] a president,” she said. “I think we have to start doing things that are right.” 


Trump’s legal team argued in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday that his attempts to stay in power after the 2020 election were part of his official duties.

➤BIDEN AND TRUMP TIED IN LATEST POLL: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are tied 35% to 35% at the beginning of the 2024 election season, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday. The numbers reflect a sad state of affairs for American voters. Nearly one-third of the poll respondents said they did not support either of the two likely party nominees. Independent voters are the most disgruntled. Forty-one percent of them said they would not vote at all given those two choices.

➤REPUBLICAN HARD-LINERS BALK:  House Speaker Mike Johnson's handshake agreement to fund the government has sparked outrage from fellow Republicans, as the clock ticks for Congress to avert a partial government shutdown. Over the weekend, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came to an agreement for federal spending caps for the next fiscal year. But the House’s most conservative members – who championed Johnson’s ascension to the speakership last year – expressed disappointment that the deal lacks the deep spending cuts they seek. Texas Rep. Chip Roy, of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, declined to rule out moving to oust Johnson from the speakership.

➤BLINKEN MEETS WITH PALESTINIAN PRERSIDENT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Wednesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , pursuing talks aimed at allowing Abbas' Palestinian Authority to play a key role in governing the Gaza Strip. Blinken's trip to the West Bank come after a day of talks with Israeli leaders who have shown little interest in heeding a global outcry for a two-state solution to the conflict. Also complicating matters: Many Palestinians view the authority, which administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as a corrupt puppet of Israel. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 23,000 Palestinians have died since Oct. 7, the day Hamas-led attacks killed more than 1,200 Israelis in border communities.


➤CONTEMPT FOR HUNTER: A House committee voted Wednesday to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for defying subpoenas, an official sanction that followed a dramatic and surprise appearance by the president's son on Capitol Hill. The fiery showdown − dismissed by some Republicans as a political stunt − at the House Oversight and Accountability Committee was the latest development in a long-running Republican-led drama over their investigation of Hunter Biden and his father. Republicans have accused President Joe Biden of influence peddling through his son’s overseas business deals, which the White House and president have called baseless lies

 

The Judiciary Committee voted 23-14 along party lines to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for defying their subpoena. The Oversight committee was expected to vote later on Wednesday.

➤TRUMP MUTED: Donald Trump won't be allowed to speak personally at his $370 million New York civil fraud trial's closing arguments Thursday after his attorney failed to confirm the former president would abide by conditions the judge imposed, the judge said. In an unusual move, an attorney for Trump told the court last week that his client planned to personally make a closing argument, in addition to arguments from the attorneys, according to emails Judge Arthur Engoron made public Wednesday. Engoron said he would allow the bombastic 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner to address the court if the he agreed to restrict his comments to the facts and the law of the case. When Trump's attorney failed to give that confirmation by Engoron's deadline, the judge said he assumed Trump hadn't agreed to his conditions.

➤HUNDREDS OUT AT GOOGLE: Alphabet's  Google said on Wednesday it is laying off hundreds of employees across multiple teams, with Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman also leaving the company, as the tech giant continues its push to cut costs. Google said it will lay off hundreds at its Voice Assistant unit, while a few hundred roles are being eliminated in the company's hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, with the majority in the augmented reality (AR) team being let go. Google bought health and fitness tracking company Fitbit for $2.1 billion in 2021 but has continued to roll out new versions of its Pixel Watch, a product that competes with some of Fitbit's devices and also the Apple Watch.

🏈ALABAMA’S NICK SABAN IS RETIRING: University of Alabama football head coach Nick Saban is retiring, the school announced. He ends his career with the most national title wins of any NCAA head coach, at seven championships in 17 seasons.  (One of those titles was won by Louisiana State when he was with the team in 2003.)

  • Hours after the announcement of Saban’s retirement, wide receiver Ryan Williams withdrew his commitment to Alabama. Williams, a star at Alabama’s Saraland High School, had pledged to join the Crimson Tide more than a year ago. 

🏈PETE CARROLL OUT AS SEAHAWKS COACH: Pete Carroll will no longer be head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, the team announced yesterday. The team said his role is “evolving” from head coach to adviser after 15 years on the job. The change came as a shocker because, as the team statement noted, Carroll is “the winningest coach in Seahawks history.”

➤ARCTIC BLAST IN THE FORECAST: Flood warnings and wind advisories were active from New Jersey up through Maine on Wednesday as a deadly winter storm continued to dump rain across the region, delaying traffic, closing schools and knocking out power to thousands of households. And that's just a teaser for what's to come: By Friday, cold air equivalent to true arctic air will reach the central U.S., with temps failing to climb above zero in many spots by Sunday, according to AccuWeather. Plus, a "bomb cyclone" blizzard could hit the Midwest next week, and the East Coast could see its first real snowstorm in years.



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