The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 4:

• Annie Linskey of The Wall Street Journal notes that even former President Barack Obama is concerned about President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects. Linskey writes, “a round of dismal polls is increasing jitters among Democrats, including some in the West Wing, who are worried that voters’ negative views on the president are going unchallenged. Those Democrats are growing impatient for a full-fledged campaign to start. Those with concerns include former President Barack Obama, who knows this is going to be a close race’ and ‘feels that Democrats very well could lose’ the 2024 election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Obama worries that ‘the alternative is pretty dangerous for democracy,’ the person said.” You can read the full article here: https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/bidens-agenda-hangs-in-balance-as-tough-election-year-approaches-43d24633
• According to new polling data from Morning Consult, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump now leads President Joe Biden in all seven swing states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in the 2024 presidential election. You can read more here: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-now-leads-biden-in-all-seven-swing-states-poll/
• According to a report from Michael Kranish of The Washington Post, James Biden—the younger brother of President Joe Biden—was secretly recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after his consulting firm, Lion Hall, received a $100,000 payment from a Mississippi-based attorney, Richard Scruggs, for advice on passing tobacco legislation. Though James Biden was never accused of any wrongdoing or of selling influence, Scruggs conceded: “I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother.” Scruggs was eventually sent to prison on bribery charges in an unrelated incident. You can read Kranish’s article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/17/james-bidens-dealmaking-caught-fbi-tapes-unrelated-bribery-probe/
• While speaking at a campaign rally in Durham, New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said: “If you want to see a bird cemetery, go under a windmill.”
• Reporting from the U.S. Southern border, Fox News journalist Bill Melugin revealed that authorities in Eagle Pass, Texas are “suspending railway operations…they’re shutting down international commerce in order to help speed up processing of migrants.”