The Latest: McConnell: If House acts, Senate must have trial  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that if the House goes ahead and impeaches President Donald Trump …

Democrats are taking a big impeachment risk.  It's not what you think.  —  House Democrats appear to be coalescing behind a strategy of narrowly focusing their impeachment inquiry on the latest explosive revelations involving President Trump's corrupt pressure on the Ukrainian president to interfere in a U.S. election on his behalf.

Seven important and awful signs for Trump  —  The whistleblower complaint is so damning President Trump and his minions tried to conceal it from Congress and the public.  It is so damning that a long list of Senate Republicans claimed not to have read it or refused comment.

Revenge of the Intelligence Nerds  —  Trump has long worried that America's intelligence professionals would try to undermine him from the shadows.  All they had to do was play by the rules.  —  On his first day in office, in January 2017, Donald Trump paid a visit to the CIA.

NRA Was ‘Foreign Asset’ To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals  —  The National Rifle Association acted as a “foreign asset” for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.

Joseph Wilson, Who Challenged Iraq War Narrative, Dies at 69  —  He contradicted a statement in President George W. Bush's State of the Union address.  A week later, his wife at the time, Valerie Plame, was outed as a C.I.A. agent.  —  Joseph C. Wilson, the long-serving American diplomat whose clash …

Giuliani set to make paid appearance next week at Kremlin-backed conference that includes Putin  —  Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose actions as President Trump's personal lawyer have helped set in motion an impeachment inquiry, is set to appear as a paid speaker at a Kremlin-backed conference …

The Inscrutable Mike Pence  —  PIETY AND POWER  —  Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House  —  After losing his first campaign for Congress, a penitent Mike Pence swore off the dark side of politics.  In a confessional essay in 1991, he wrote that “negative campaigning is wrong” and set out rules for himself for the future.

First on CNN: White House says lawyers directed moving Ukraine transcript to highly secure system  —  Washington (CNN)The White House is acknowledging for the first time that officials did direct the Ukraine call transcript be filed in a separate classified system.

Kamala Harris Calls For Formal Impeachment Inquiry Into Brett Kavanaugh  —  The presidential hopeful wrote that we must “get to work holding our leaders accountable” in the wake of a new sexual misconduct claim against the Supreme Court justice.  —  Presidential contender Sen. Kamala Harris …

Chris Wallace Clashes With Fox News Colleague Over Trump Defenders' ‘Deeply Misleading’ Spin on Ukraine  —  The ‘Fox News Sunday’ host clashed with colleague Sandra Smith after she echoed White House talking points on the whistleblower complaint.  —  The first question Fox News host Sandra Smith asked …

Nancy Pelosi: An Extremely Stable Genius  —  When asked if it was possible that impeachment might backfire, the Speaker of the House insisted that politics has nothing to do with it.  “It doesn't matter,” she said.  “He has given us no choice.”  Before we begin to grapple with the gravity …

Impeach him, anyway  —  Protesters demanding the impeachment of Donald Trump in New York on June 7, 2018.  Erik McGregor/LightRocket/Getty Images  —  The case for impeachment, even if it can't oust Trump.  —  In Federalist 65, Alexander Hamilton considers the problem of impeachment.

Cosmo Asks Bernie Sanders the Questions Young Women Want Answered  —  It's a high-stakes election with a large pool of would-be presidents, and young women might just be the deciding vote on our future  —  To help you choose—and to get the candidates to address what matters most to YOU—

Audio of private meeting shows oil industry ripping into Trump administration  —  At a closed-door meeting this summer, oil and gas industry lawyers criticized the Trump administration's failure to recruit enough qualified people to secure policy victories that would outlast this presidency, according to a recording of the gathering.

Geraldo Rivera Says He'd Like to Beat Up ‘Rotten Snitch’ Whistleblower for Trump  —  Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera stated he'd like to beat up the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint helped kick-start an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

We're Getting Ripped Off  —  In 2019, the average price of health insurance rose above $20,000 for families that obtain their coverage through work.  That's according to the latest survey of employer benefits from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that premiums increased by 5 percent for the second year in a row.

Amodei on Trump impeachment inquiry: 'Let's put it through the process and see what happens'  —  Mark Amodei, R-Nev., talks during an editorial board meeting with The Nevada Independent on Monday, Aug. 6, 2018.  (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)  —  Rep. Mark Amodei supports the House's inquiry …

Impeachment Will Take Trump to a New Frontier of Haterdom  —  As the most dire political crisis of his presidency unfolded this week, Donald Trump seemed to wallow even more than usual in his own victimhood.  —  On Twitter—the premier platform for presidential wallowing—he ranted (again …