memeorandum: Travis County judge apologizes for saying Gov. Greg Abbott “hates trees because one fell on him” (Davis Rich/The Texas Tribune)

12:10 PM ET, September 28, 2019

Top Items:

Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn't concerned about Moscow's interference in U.S. election — President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow's interference in the U.S. election because the United States did the same …

Discussion: The Guardian, CNN, Palmer Report, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, emptywheel, POLITICUSUSA, KTLA, Progress Pond, Axios, Little Green Footballs, Mediaite, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

N.R.A.'s LaPierre Asks Trump to ‘Stop the Games’ Over Gun Legislation in Discussion About Its Support — President Trump met in the White House on Friday with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and discussed prospective gun legislation and whether the N.R …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Mediaite, Daily Kos, twitchy.com, Raw Story, Axios, Hot Air, Political Wire, Patterico's Pontifications and NPR

CNN:

White House restricted access to Trump's calls with Putin and Saudi crown prince — Washington (CNN)White House efforts to limit access to President Donald Trump's conversations with foreign leaders extended to phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian leader Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Axios, Palmer Report, Raw Story, The Guardian, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Daily Kos, New York Post, Splinter, Washington Post and Bloomberg

Los Angeles Times:

Trump, caught off guard, struggles to fight impeachment storm — As soon as President Trump learned he was facing an impeachment investigation on Tuesday, he upended his meetings with world leaders near the United Nations and rushed to his soaring skyscraper a few blocks away in midtown Manhattan.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Associated Press, Daily Kos, Politico and PRI

Julian Borger / The Guardian:

Trump's Ukraine call sparks new questions over intelligence chief's firing — The president removed Dan Coats days after his conversation with Zelenskiy and insisted that Coats's deputy not get the job — Three days after his now infamous phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy …

Discussion: Alternet.org, The Atlantic, Chicago Sun-Times, Mediaite and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Neil Vigdor / New York Times:
Mark Amodei Is First House Republican to Support Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Grant Stern / Occupy Democrats:
The NRA asked Trump to “stop the games” over gun reform in exchange for their “support”

Discussion: Townhall, Shareblue Media and Raw Story

Humberto Sanchez / The Nevada Independent:
Amodei on Trump impeachment inquiry: 'Let's put it through the process and see what happens'

Discussion: Townhall, Fox News, The Week, Raw Story, Breitbart, Congressman Mark Amodei, New York Post, Politico, Reno Gazette-Journal and Bloomberg

Associated Press:
The Latest: McConnell: If House acts, Senate must have trial

Discussion: Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, CNN, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com

CNN:
Democrats say White House stonewalling won't drag out inquiry and will boost case for impeachment

Discussion: Political Wire and Denver Post

New York Times:
White House Classified Computer System Is Used to Hold Transcripts of Sensitive Calls

Discussion: Splinter, The Week, Slate, Power Line, Al Jazeera, KTLA, CNN, Financial Times, The Guardian and Daily Kos

Andrew Howard / The Arizona State Press:

McCain Institute head Kurt Volker steps down as US diplomat — Volker's resignation comes amid reports that he was involved in the Trump-Ukraine investigation

Discussion: Slate, CNN, Raw Story, ABC News, CNBC, New York Times, Politico, Reuters, American Oversight, CNSNews, Fox News, The Clarion Ledger, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Vox, Townhall, Axios, Daily Kos, Mediaite, New York Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian and twitchy.com

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Kurt Volker, Trump's Envoy for Ukraine, Resigns — WASHINGTON — Kurt D. Volker, the State Department's special envoy for Ukraine, who got caught in the middle of the pressure campaign by President Trump and his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to find damaging information about Democrats, resigned his post on Friday.

Discussion: The Week

Keith Gessen / Columbia Journalism Review: How I missed the Ukraine story

Washington Post:
Giuliani cancels paid appearance next week at Kremlin-backed conference

Discussion: HuffPost, Political Wire, Slate, Mother Jones, Alternet.org, Palmer Report, NPR, CNN, New York Times, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: The Ukraine Scandal Is a Fitting Symbol of Trump's Presidency. It May Finally Be His Downfall.

Ari Fleischer / Fox News:
Dem drive to impeach Trump over Ukraine call is hysterical, hyperbolic and hypocritical

Discussion: LifeSiteNews

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Public opinion polls show shift toward impeaching Trump

Discussion: New York Post, Reuters and New York Times

CNN:
Sources: Special envoy to Ukraine resigns one day after whistleblower report released

Discussion: The Week, Palmer Report, ABC News, Axios and Vox

The Daily Beast:
Pompeo Grapples for Ways to Outlast Hurricane Rudy

Discussion: Raw Story and Contemptor

Tess Bonn / The Hill:
Support for Trump impeachment rises 12 points in new poll

Discussion: Breitbart, Alternet.org and Washington Post

Andrew Higgins / New York Times: ‘The New Berlin Wall’: Why Ukraine Is Central to the Scandal

Washington Post:
Democrats prepare to move quickly to build case for Trump's impeachment

Discussion: Palmer Report, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

The Boston Globe:

Forget impeachment. Donald Trump needs to resign — THE VISCERAL REACTION I had to the summary of President Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was that he should resign the presidency. So obvious and brazen was the abuse of presidential power …

Discussion: Palmer Report

Hearst Connecticut / Connecticut Post:

President Trump needs to step down — Even given the incredibly fast pace of news in the Trump era, the speed with which the Ukraine scandal has moved from vague complaint to impeachable offense has been stunning. Though we're still at the beginning of the process, there is already a mountain …

Discussion: Mediaite

Garry Kasparov / New York Daily News:
The dam is breaking: Trump's true character is revealed, more fully than ever

Discussion: Slate

Carlos Greer / Page Six:

Lindsey Graham loudly blabs about whistleblower controversy on commercial flight — Sen. Lindsey Graham on Friday gave a commercial flight a private preview of his appearance on CBS's “Face the Nation,” a source told Page Six, including calling the whistleblower controversy “Kavanaugh on steroids!”

Discussion: Political Wire

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: 'Don't overthink it' — DRIVING THE DAY — “DON'T OVERTHINK IT.” That's the mantra we keep hearing from many Democrats in D.C. So many members of the House majority are befuddled by the hyperventilating over messaging, confused at the pretzels some lawmakers twist themselves …

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story, HuffPost and Las Vegas Sun

Caitlin Byrd / Post and Courier: SC Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott dismiss whistleblower complaint as ‘hearsay’

Miami Herald:

Prosecutors: Army official at Mar-a-Lago uploaded suspected child porn to Russian website — A military official formerly in charge of all White House communications for the U.S. Army at Mar-a-Lago was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday after he made false statements …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jane Musgrave / Palm Beach Post:
Military officer at Mar-a-Lago disciplined for lying during child porn investigation

Discussion: Fox News

Bud Kennedy / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

11,000 college votes in '18 turned Tarrant County purple. Now campus voting may end — More than 11,000 votes were cast on local college campuses like UT Arlington and TCU last year — many for Democrats. — Now, county officials have no plans to offer college voting sites for the 2020 election.

Ivana Kottasová / CNN:

Boris Johnson has been referred to a police watchdog over his alleged relationship with an American businesswoman — (CNN)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been referred to a police watchdog over his alleged relationship with an American businesswoman when he was mayor of London.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Impeaching the Peach One — There are observers, including critics of President Trump, who are skeptical of the push for impeachment. Not because he hasn't earned the contempt and sanction of Congress, but because the politics are too risky. Will the public support an impeachment investigation …

Jeff Schogol / Task & Purpose:

The Pentagon is doing its damnedest to avoid being dragged into the Ukraine mess — A $250 million military assistance package to Ukraine was the spring that set in motion the possible impeachment of the president of the United States - and the Defense Department wants to be as far away from this quagmire as humanly possible.

Discussion: Raw Story and Center for American …