memeorandum: The Latest: China celebrates 70 years of Communist rule (Associated Press)

10:10 AM ET, October 1, 2019

Top Items:

Attorney General Barr personally asked foreign officials to aid inquiry into CIA, FBI activities in 2016 — Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes …

New York Times:

Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry's Origins — The discussion was another instance of the president using American diplomacy for potential personal gain. — WASHINGTON — President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent telephone call …

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

Trump may have lied to Mueller, House Democrats say — Lawyers for the House of Representatives revealed on Monday that they have reason to believe that the grand-jury redactions in special counsel Robert Mueller's report show that President Donald Trump lied about his knowledge of his campaign's contacts with WikiLeaks.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Daily Kos, Axios, Viking Pundit and POLITICUSUSA

David Remnick / New Yorker:

The Floodgates Open on Trump — Shortly after eight this morning, the President of the United States, making maximal use of his “executive time,” wielded his smartphone to issue a legal threat against the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. It is worth reading the missive from @realDonaldTrump in full:

Discussion: Washington Post, Althouse, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Denver Post and New York Times

Washington Post:

Trump amps up attacks on whistleblower as some Republicans call for more strategic response to impeachment — President Trump continued to escalate his scorched-earth campaign against a whistleblower who accused him of pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Occupy Democrats, Vox, Daily Kos and Axios

Wall Street Journal:
Pompeo Took Part in Ukraine Call, Official Says

Discussion: Shareblue Media, ABC News, Fox News, CNN, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Associated Press, BuzzFeed News, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, National Review, The Last Refuge, Raw Story and CNBC

Ryan Saavedra / The Daily Wire:
BREAKING: Letter From Australian Official Emerges That Casts Doubt On Report From New York Times

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit and Talking Points Memo

NBC News:
Pompeo was on Trump-Ukraine call at center of impeachment inquiry

Discussion: Splinter, Vox and Axios

Julie Bykowicz / Wall Street Journal:

Bernie Sanders's Campaign Gets Summer Funding Boost — Political candidates often find the third quarter the most difficult time of year to raise money because donors go on vacation — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $25.3 million in the past three months for his Democratic presidential bid …

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:
Democrats' Plans to Tax Wealth Would Reshape U.S. Economy

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Soo Rin Kim / ABC News:
Sanders sets high bar with $25.3 million Q3 haul, Buttigieg falls short of his Q2

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
Bernie Sanders announces massive $25.3 million third quarter fundraising haul

Discussion: Raw Story, Common Dreams and Politico

Rick Klein / ABC News: The Note: Trump complicates own defenses on impeachment

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg: Pete Buttigieg Pitches Himself to Moderates as the Biden Alternative

Washington Post:
Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $25.3 million in third quarter, campaign says

Discussion: Breitbart

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Warren Versus the Petty Plutocrats

Discussion: The Federalist and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Casey Newton / The Verge:

In leaked audio, Mark Zuckerberg rallies Facebook against critics and the US government — In two hours of leaked audio, Mark Zuckerberg rallies Facebook employees against critics, competitors, and the US government. — July should have been a relief for Facebook.

Discussion: Axios, Fox News and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »

John Harwood / CNBC:

GOP defenses for Trump's Ukraine call quickly collapse under scrutiny — Trump, his aides and select allies in Congress have feverishly sought to redirect a whistleblower's complaints toward Democratic adversaries. — Yet even cursory scrutiny of evidence that has emerged so far knocks …

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Trump's Claims About Biden Aren't ‘Unsupported.’ They're Lies. — The president's accusations turn reality on its head and the media should say so. — On Sept. 24, 2015, Geoffrey Pyatt, then the American ambassador to Ukraine, spoke in Odessa about the scourge of corruption.

Discussion: NB Blog, Daily Kos and IJR

Gregg Re / Fox News:
Joe, Hunter Biden seen golfing with Ukraine gas company exec back in 2014, photo shows

Discussion: RedState, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, National Review and American Greatness

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Who's Afraid of Rudy Giuliani?

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Washington Post, Vanity Fair and NB Blog

Kelsey Jukam / courthousenews.com:

Devin Nunes Sues Reporter, Hearst for Article About Family's Iowa Dairy — (CN) - California Representative Devin Nunes asked a federal court in Iowa Monday to award him $75 million in damages in a defamation and common law conspiracy suit against reporter Ryan Lizza and Hearst Magazines.

Discussion: Law & Crime

Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:

Trump's Favorite Democrat Will Not Budge on Impeachment — “It is not something to be taken lightly. You're disenfranchising voters, you're removing an executive from office,” Van Drew said. — In a U.S. Capitol hallway on the day that Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry …

Discussion: Washington Post

QU Poll:
Release Detail — September 30, 2019 - Support For Impeachment …

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, The Guardian, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, Hot Air, National Review, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, Political Wire, Axios, Vox and The National Interest

Miami Herald:

‘He conned us from day one’: Giuliani's Ukraine ally leaves trail of South Florida debts — Over the summer, Dianne and Michael Pues got an ominous phone call from the business partner of a Ukrainian-American entrepreneur who owes the couple more than $500,000 over a movie deal gone bad.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed News and KTLA

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

There's another whistleblower complaint. It's about Trump's tax returns. — Hey, have you heard about this whistleblower complaint? — An unnamed civil servant is alleging serious interference in government business. If the allegations are true, they could be a game-changer.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media and Political Wire

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Intelligence Inspector General to GOP: You Know Nothing of My Work — Last Thursday, Sean Davis of the conservative news site The Federalist broke an explosive revelation. The Intelligence Community had secretly changed a requirement in its whistle-blower statute to allow whistle-blowers …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Salon and ABC News

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:
Fact check: Were whistleblower rules changed before Ukraine complaint?

Discussion: The Federalist, HuffPost, American Greatness, Raw Story, The Resurgent and Axios

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Trump's false claim that the rules for whistleblowers were recently changed

Discussion: Raw Story, The Federalist, CNN, Fox News, Media Matters for America and Law & Crime

Charles Bethea / New Yorker:

Mark Meadows and the Undisclosed Dinosaur Property — A fight among fossil hunters, a dubious documentary, and the conservative congressman from North Carolina. — Three years ago, the North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows sold a hundred-and-thirty-four-acre property in Dinosaur, Colorado.

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

The GOP's Texas problem — The retirement of six House Republicans from Texas at the end of this term shows their pessimism about winning back the House majority in 2020, GOP strategists tell Axios — and foreshadows bigger Republican fears in the nation's second most populous state.

Discussion: The Texas Tribune, Political Wire and Off the Kuff

Mike Ives / New York Times:

Hong Kong Police Shoot a Protester With a Live Bullet for the First Time — HONG KONG — The Hong Kong police on Tuesday shot a demonstrator with a live round for the first time during the city's monthslong protest movement, three pro-democracy lawmakers said, escalating the territory's political crisis …

Discussion: Axios

Associated Press:
The Latest: China celebrates 70 years of Communist rule

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters and Axios

The Guardian:
Hong Kong protester shot in chest as China National Day demos intensify - live

Discussion: South China Morning Post, Foreign Policy and New York Times

David Enrich / New York Times:

Me and My Whistleblower — Deutsche Bank. North Korea. The Intelligence Committee's investigation of the president. Again and again, one man has taken his trove of secret documents — and uncanny nose for scandal — to the center of the news. — One sunny Wednesday in February …

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump cranks up grievance machine — Donald Trump's campaign aides expected months ago that Democrats would try to impeach the president — and he needed a way to exploit it. — So this summer, Trump 2020 officials spliced news clips of Democrats discussing impeachment into a 90-second video montage …

Discussion: Raw Story, Associated Press and LifeZette

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Trump team scrambles to formulate an impeachment plan

Discussion: The Root and Talking Points Memo

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Voter registration surges in Georgia ahead of 2020 elections — New voters have registered in droves in Georgia since last year's midterms, expanding the electorate ahead of the 2020 presidential election year when the state is expected to be a key political battleground.

Discussion: Political Wire

Maura Judkis / Washington Post:

How the sexy peach emoji joined the resistance — If you want to understand how the peach emoji has come to represent both the potential impeachment of President Trump and a butt, you must first look to the ancient Sumerians. — Cuneiform, their early system of writing …

Gina Kolata / New York Times:

Eat Less Red Meat, Scientists Said. Now Some Believe That Was Bad Advice. — The evidence is too weak to justify telling individuals to eat less beef and pork, according to new research. The findings “erode public trust,” critics said. — Public health officials for years have urged Americans …

Discussion: twitchy.com, New York Post, The Nutrition Source, Splinter and Mother Jones

James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:

Hillary Clinton and Ukraine — A letter released Monday raises questions beyond the Bidens. — The Biden clan still needs to explain why a vice president's son was enjoying a $50,000-per-month gig for which his principal qualification appears to have been his last name.

Discussion: Breitbart, Instapundit and Politico

Asma Khalid / NPR:

How White Liberals Became ‘Woke,’ Radically Changing Their Outlook On Race — Jeromy Brown, a 46-year-old teacher in Iowa, considers President Trump a white supremacist. — “If the shoe fits, then say it, and the shoe fits him,” Brown said, while waiting in a “selfie line” at an Elizabeth Warren rally in August.