memeorandum: Top White House aides planning impeachment response effort (NBC News)

8:10 PM ET, September 29, 2019

Top Items:

Biden Campaign Demands TV News Execs Stop Booking Giuliani — In a Sunday letter, the former vice president's aides say that it is editorially irresponsible to book the president's personal lawyer. — Joe Biden's presidential campaign made an extraordinary request to executives …

Discussion: Fox News, Mother Jones, HuffPost, Axios, Slate, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Guardian, Variety, The Last Refuge, Politico and Mediaite

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Trump-Supporting Lawyers diGenova and Toensing Teamed Up With Giuliani to Dig Up Ukraine Dirt on Biden: Report — According to a top U.S. official, all three were working off the books apart from the administration, Fox News reported on Sunday morning. — In a bombshell report Sunday morning …

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Politico and Vanity Fair, more at Mediagazer »

Reuters:

Trump-Putin phone calls in Democrats' sights: Schiff — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress is determined to get access to Donald Trump's calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders, the chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said on Sunday …

Discussion: News Agency UNIAN

Los Angeles Times:

Former Ukraine prosecutor says he saw no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden — Ukraine's top law enforcement official repeatedly rebuffed President Trump's personal lawyer's demands to investigate Joe Biden and his son, insisting he had seen no evidence of wrongdoing that he could pursue despite Trump's allegations.

Discussion: Fox News, HuffPost, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Allan Smith / NBC News:

‘Enough’: Trump's ex-homeland security adviser ‘disturbed,’ ‘frustrated’ by Ukraine allegations, says president must let 2016 go — “If he continues to focus on that white whale, it's going to bring him down,” Bossert said. “Enough. The investigation's over.”

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Biden Campaign Urges TV Networks to Stop Booking Giuliani — Advisers to the former vice president wrote to executives at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News to “demand” that Mr. Giuliani not be invited on the air to discuss Ukraine and President Trump. — Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s presidential …

Discussion: Townhall, POLITICUSUSA and The Daily Caller

Lucien Bruggeman / ABC News:

Rudy Giuliani fires back at former White House aide who accused him of spreading ‘completely false’ theory — Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, defended himself Sunday on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” from accusations lodged by a former White House official …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart, The Week, New York Post, Daily Kos, Vox, Occupy Democrats, Axios, HuffPost and Mediaite

Kat Tenbarge / Business Insider:

Trump reportedly worked with 2 ‘off the books’ lawyers to pressure Ukraine for damaging information about Joe Biden, in addition to Giuliani — Fox News' Chris Wallace reported Sunday morning that President Donald Trump has worked with two personal lawyers, in addition to former …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Scott Pelley / CBS News:

The impeachment inquiry: “We could not ignore what the president did.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff talk with Scott Pelley about the impeachment inquiry of President Trump — Tonight, “60 Minutes” …

Steve Coll / New Yorker: The Integrity of the Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times: Former Trump Security Adviser Says He's ‘Deeply Disturbed’ by Ukraine Call

NBC News: Full Schiff: ‘Real risk in not moving forward’ on impeachment

Zachary Basu / Axios:
Schiff says House Intel has reached agreement for whistleblower testimony

Discussion: Politico and Breitbart

Justine Coleman / The Hill:
Biden campaign demands news channels stop booking Giuliani

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Chris Francescani / ABC News:
‘A bad day and a bad week for this president’: Former Trump official

Discussion: emptywheel, Slate, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Mediaite

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Stephen Miller says Trump is ‘real whistleblower’ and calls complaint ‘partisan hit job’ in contentious interview

Discussion: Splinter, Politico and CNN

Rishika Dugyala / Politico:
Giuliani says Trump ‘framed by the Democrats’

Discussion: Breitbart

Zachary Basu / Axios: Ex-Trump adviser: The best way to self-impeach is to hire Rudy Giuliani

Ronn Blitzer / Fox News:
Giuliani was not working alone in Biden Ukraine probe

Discussion: Palmer Report, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Politico, HuffPost, Splinter and New York Post

CBS News:

CBS News poll: Majority of Americans and Democrats approve of Trump impeachment inquiry — More than half of Americans — and an overwhelming number of Democrats — say they approve of the fact that Congress has opened an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Discussion: CNN, Axios, Mediaite, DemCast, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week and Rolling Stone

Kendall Karson / ABC News:
Only 17% of Americans surprised by Trump's actions tied to Ukraine: POLL

Discussion: Washington Post, Ipsos, POLITICUSUSA, Slate, NB Blog, Pirate's Cove and Axios

NBC News:

Top White House aides planning impeachment response effort — “We're not going to get caught flat-footed, and we're not going to take it lying down,” said one person familiar with the plan. — WASHINGTON — Top White House aides plan to present President Donald Trump with a wide-ranging response strategy …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

USA Today:

Is Donald Trump's Justice Department part of the Ukraine scandal cover-up? — A campaign finance violation isn't the only federal crime suggested by what we know. Why would Justice walk away with so much left on the table? — CONNECT — Despite compelling evidence implicating President Donald Trump …

USA Today:

Nancy Pelosi has put the Trump impeachment inquiry on a fast track. Here's the plan, timeline and key players — WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she wants to move “expeditiously” on the impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump abused his power by pushing Ukraine …

Zack Budryk / The Hill:

Trump retweets bot that replaces key words in his tweets with ‘shark’ — Amid a flurry of retweets commending conservative radio host Mark Levin's clash Sunday morning with Fox News's Ed Henry, President Trump retweeted a bot that substitutes the word “shark” for key words in his tweets and retweets.

Discussion: Slate

Gregory W. Meeks / Washington Post:

Dear anonymous op-ed writer: Your plan didn't work — Gregory W. Meeks, a Democrat, represents New York's 5th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. — Dear anonymous: — This month marks a year since you published an op-ed in the New York Times claiming that within …

Elizabeth Vaughn / RedState:

Nancy Pelosi's December 2018 Rule Changes Block Republicans From Participating In Impeachment Process — In December 2018, the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was busy making changes in the House rules for the incoming 116th Congress. She was actually setting the stage …

Discussion: The Last Refuge, The Mahablog, The New Neo and ABC News

New York Times:

The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong? — Online predators create and share the illegal material, which is increasingly cloaked by technology. Tech companies, the government and the authorities are no match. — Last year, tech companies reported …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Andrea Jefferson / Political Flare:

How Melania Obtained Her ‘Einstein Visa’ Under Scrutiny After She Lied About Having University Degree — Back in 2000, Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model dating Donald Trump, began petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with “extraordinary ability.”