First Draft on Politics: Farewell to Obama

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Wednesday, January 11, 2017 [The New York Times] [NYTimes.com/Politics »] [The New York Times] Wednesday, January 11, 2017 [President Obama had a teary moment during his final speech as the nation’s leader on Tuesday night in Chicago.] President Obama had a teary moment during his final speech as the nation’s leader on Tuesday night in Chicago. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Wednesday morning. • President Obama says farewell. Mr. Obama delivered [a nostalgic and hopeful farewell address] on Tuesday evening in Chicago. He warned the divided country that he led for eight years and his successor not to shrink from the challenges of economic inequality, racial strife, political isolation and voter apathy that still threaten the American ideal of democracy. • Intelligence officials briefed Donald Trump on unsubstantiated reports of potentially damaging information. The chiefs of America’s intelligence agencies last week presented Mr. Obama and President-elect Donald J. Trump with [a summary of unsubstantiated reports] that Russia had collected compromising and salacious personal information about Mr. Trump. The summary is based on memos generated by political operatives seeking to derail Mr. Trump’s candidacy. • Jeff Sessions vows to be independent. Mr. Sessions, Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, [pledged on Tuesday to “say no”] if Mr. Trump tried to go beyond the law, and he spoke out against torture and a ban on Muslim immigration. After his nine hours of testimony, Mr. Sessions appears headed for confirmation. Separately, Gen. John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, [easily maneuvered through his own hearing]. • Mr. Trump wants Congress to get on with repealing Obamacare. The president-elect [demanded on Tuesday that Congress immediately repeal] the Affordable Care Act and pass another health law “very quickly” thereafter. In an interview, he issued a nearly impossible request: replace a health law that took nearly two years to pass with one that Republicans would have only weeks to shape. — NICHOLAS FANDOS  Got a confidential news tip? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn more »]  What We’re Watching • On Capitol Hill, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear from Rex W. Tillerson, Mr. Trump’s pick for secretary of state. The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will scrutinize the nominee for secretary of transportation, Elaine L. Chao. Several other hearings initially scheduled for Wednesday [have been delayed]. • Mr. Trump is scheduled to hold a much-anticipated news conference in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning. It will be his first formal news conference since well before the election. How will Mr. Trump answer questions about Russia’s election meddling, replacing Obamacare and his relationship with his business? • After the hearings end, the Senate will begin a marathon session known as a vote-a-rama. It will probably end in the early hours of Thursday with the passage of a budget resolution that would help clear the way for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  ADVERTISEMENT  [Senator Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday to become attorney general.] Senator Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday to become attorney general. Al Drago/The New York Times [Taking Stock of the Sessions Hearing] Confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald J. Trump’s cabinet kicked off on Tuesday when Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, his nominee for attorney general, went before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Sessions, a Republican, spent all day at the witness table. Here are some of the main observations from the meeting: It’s all but locked up. Barring some bombshell revelation, Senate Democrats do not have the votes to block him, and they showed little interest in trying to drum up Republican support to do so. The backing of moderate Republican senators like Susan Collins of Maine and of Democrats like Joe Manchin III of West Virginia seems to all but assure Mr. Sessions’s confirmation. It’s not 1986 anymore. The Sessions team had been prepared for questions about racially charged comments the nominee was accused of making in the 1980s, remarks that helped sink his selection for the federal bench in 1986. On Tuesday, Republicans mounted a coordinated pre-emptive strike against criticism that Mr. Sessions harbored racist views. But Democrats did not make race a priority, opting not to vilify a colleague who is generally well liked. Instead, they used the hearing to establish the legal boundaries of the Trump administration. And they largely succeeded, as Mr. Sessions said he would reject a ban on Muslim immigration, for instance, and declared waterboarding “absolutely” illegal. [Read more »] [President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday at Trump Tower in Manhattan.] Kevin Hagen for The New York Times [Trump Received Unsubstantiated Report of Russian Material on Him] By SCOTT SHANE, ADAM GOLDMAN AND MATTHEW ROSENBERG The information was considered so potentially explosive that the intelligence agencies decided that the president and the president-elect needed to be told about it. [Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, left, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, right, in Moscow in December 2015.] Pool photo by Mikhail Klimentyev [Trump’s National Security Pick Sees Ally in Fight Against Islamists: Russia] By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, MARK MAZZETTI AND ADAM GOLDMAN The pro-Moscow leaning of Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn stands in striking opposition to the judgments of the intelligence agencies he would help to oversee. [James B. Comey, director of the F.B.I.; James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence; and John O. Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at a Senate Intelligence committee hearing on Tuesday.] Al Drago/The New York Times [Russian Hackers Gained ‘Limited’ Access to R.N.C., Comey Says] By DAVID E. SANGER AND MATT FLEGENHEIMER James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, outlined the hacking of Republican computers to a panel of the Senate Intelligence Committee. [Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he met with President-elect Donald J. Trump.] Sam Hodgson for The New York Times [Anti-Vaccine Activist Says Trump Wants Him to Lead Immunization Panel] By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, MAGGIE HABERMAN AND PAM BELLUCK Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Mr. Trump had asked him to lead the commission, though a spokeswoman for the president-elect said no final decisions had been made. What We’re Reading • With Mr. Trump and his pro-business policy agenda just a few days away from the White House, [companies of all sorts are engaged] in “one of the most pitched lobbying efforts in Washington in years,” The Wall Street Journal reports. • Generous financial support of a pro-Trump political action committee called Making America Great Again LLC by Linda Bean, a grandaughter and heir to the founder of L.L. Bean, has led [some customers to vow to boycott t]he company, according to The Boston Globe. • NPR has [put together a scorecard] for assessing Mr. Obama’s successes and failures during eight years in office.  [Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, spoke during his confirmation hearing Tuesday to become the next attorney general.] [Jeff Sessions Says He Would Be Independent and Stand Up to Trump] By ERIC LICHTBLAU AND MATT APUZZO During a Senate hearing, the senator who is in line to become attorney general promised to aggressively enforce even laws with which he disagreed. [President-elect Donald J. Trump with Betsy DeVos, his nominee for secretary of education, during an event last month in Grand Rapids, Mich.] [Republicans, Facing Pressure, Delay Hearings for 4 Cabinet Nominees] By JENNIFER STEINHAUER AND STEVE EDER A group supporting members of the party accused the nonpartisan agency charged with unraveling potential conflicts of interest of politicizing the process. [Gen. John F. Kelly was sworn on Tuesday at his confirmation hearing in Washington to become the secretary of homeland security.] [John Kelly, Homeland Security Nominee, Cruises Through Hearing] By RON NIXON AND EMMARIE HUETTEMAN The retired general drew bipartisan support after offering views on immigration and border security differing from those expressed by the president-elect. [President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday at Trump Tower in Manhattan.] [Trump Tells Congress to Repeal and Replace Obamacare ‘Very Quickly’] By MAGGIE HABERMAN AND ROBERT PEAR The president-elect said he wanted to replace the Affordable Care Act as soon as it was repealed, but some Republicans want more time to consider an alternative. Economic Scene [A waiting room at a temporary detention center run by Corrections Corporation of America for ICE in Houston.] [Prisons Run by C.E.O.s? Privatization Could Carry a Heavy Price] By EDUARDO PORTER Taking services out of the public sector is being portrayed as a surefire way to make better use of public money, but a body of economics suggests that belief is false. [Rex W. Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, is preparing for a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.] [Rex Tillerson, Required to Shed Exxon Shares, Wants to Defer Taxes] By JESSE DRUCKER Experts say the oil company’s plan for Mr. Tillerson, its former chief executive and nominee for secretary of state, may run into trouble with the I.R.S. [John Carney will lead a new finance and economics section at Breitbart.] [Breitbart News Hires Veteran Wall Street Journal Reporter] By SYDNEY EMBER The right-wing news and opinion website hopes the new finance section, to be led by John Carney, will help to broaden its audience.  Doug Mills/The New York Times [Obama’s Farewell Address: ‘Yes, We Did’] By MARK LANDLER AND MICHAEL D. SHEAR The president’s final speech was marked by nostalgia and hope, though he warned that racial, political and economic challenges still lay ahead. [President Obama delivered his farewell address in Chicago on Tuesday.] Doug Mills/The New York Times [The President’s Goodbye Speech, in Full] Read the transcript and watch live video of Mr. Obama’s final address at McCormick Place in Chicago. [Bill O’Reilly in April 2015. Juliet Huddy had accused Mr. O’Reilly of pursuing a sexual relationship with her in 2011, at a time he exerted significant influence over her career.] Krista Schlueter for The New York Times [Fox News Settled Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Bill O’Reilly, Documents Show] By EMILY STEEL AND MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT When Juliet Huddy rebuffed advances by Mr. O’Reilly, he tried to derail her career, according to a draft of a letter from her lawyers obtained by The New York Times. [James E. Cartwright, a retired Marine general, arriving at Federal District Court in Washington in October.] Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press [Prosecutors Seek 2 Years in Jail for James Cartwright in Leak Case] By CHARLIE SAVAGE The prosecutors said the sentence would be a deterrent in the case of the former general who lied to F.B.I. agents about discussing Iran’s nuclear program with reporters. [James N. Mattis, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, arrived for a meeting on Capitol Hill last week.] Al Drago/The New York Times [Experts Back James Mattis, Defense Nominee, as ‘Stabilizing’ Force] By MICHAEL R. GORDON Two specialists in military policy said at a Senate hearing that an exception should be made so that Mr. Mattis, a retired four-star general, could assume the top Pentagon post. [Jeffrey Bewkes, left, chief executive of Time Warner, with Randall L. Stephenson, the chief executive of AT&T, before a Senate hearing last month on a proposed merger of the two companies.] Evan Vucci/Associated Press [Obama’s Work to Limit Mergers May Stop With Trump Administration] By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM Although President-elect Donald J. Trump has railed against some deals in the media industry, conservatives and liberals say they see no proof he will worry about the rise of megacompanies. FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK] [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics] Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »] | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Subscriptions] | [Change Your Email] | [Privacy Policy] | [Contact] | [Advertise] Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018