memeorandum: Foreign allies who gambled on Trump face big losses (Adam Taylor/Washington Post)

11:40 PM ET, October 3, 2019

Top Items:

Trump Ordered Ukraine Ambassador Removed After Complaints From Giuliani, Others — Marie Yovanovitch dismissed after Trump allies said she was blocking Biden probe and bad-mouthing president, people familiar with the matter say — WASHINGTON—President Trump ordered the removal of the ambassador …

Discussion: The Atlantic, HuffPost, Axios, The Lid, Washington Post, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos, KTLA, Raw Story and Mediaite

New York Times:

Trump Envoys Pushed Ukraine to Commit to Investigations — WASHINGTON — Two of President Trump's top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement for the country's new president in August that would have committed Ukraine to pursuing investigations sought by Mr. Trump into his political rivals, three people briefed on the effort said.

Discussion: Axios, CNN, Vanity Fair, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Mediaite

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:

‘Crazy to withhold security assistance’ to Ukraine for political purposes: Top US diplomat — In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine at the time writes to a group of other American diplomats that “I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

Discussion: Breitbart, The Week, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Hot Air, One America News Network and The American Conservative

Washington Post:

Giuliani was warned that Ukrainian claims of Bidens' misconduct were not credible, Trump's ex-envoy tells lawmakers — The former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine told House investigators on Thursday that he warned President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, National Review, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

CNN:

Source: Ukrainians, not US diplomats, wrote initial statement about investigations — Washington (CNN)A source familiar with the matter tells CNN that the Ukrainian government wrote a statement for public release committing to pursue investigations of corruption, not American diplomats.

Discussion: New York Times and Slate

U.S. House of Representatives Permanent …: Three Chairs Provide Update on Investigative Work, Volker Testimony & Text Messages

NBC News: Giuliani says State Dept vowed to investigate after he gave Ukraine docs to Pompeo

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
In May, Ukrainian oligarch said Giuliani was orchestrating a ‘clear conspiracy against Biden’

Discussion: Daily Kos, KTLA, Politico, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, The Ringer and The Daily Beast

CNN:

Trump raised Biden with Xi in June call housed in highly secure server — Washington (CNN)When President Donald Trump suggested — without prompting — that China should investigate Joe Biden and his son, he thrust another political grudge into what was already the world's most complicated and consequential relationship.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg, The Sun, Occupy Democrats, Balloon Juice, Mercury News, Denver Post, Raw Story, CANNONFIRE and Political Wire

Molly Beck / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ron Johnson OK with President Trump asking China to investigate 2020 political rival — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., speaks with members of the media after meeting with the Middleton Chamber of Commerce at Serendipity Labs in Madison on Thursday. Johnson Thursday said that there was nothing wrong …

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News and HuffPost

Zack Budryk / The Hill:

GOP senator says he doesn't remember signing 2016 letter urging ‘reform’ of Ukraine prosecutor's office — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters Thursday he did not recall signing a letter urging reforms in the office of the Ukrainian prosecutor President Trump has alleged former Vice …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

CNN:

Republican senators echoed Biden in urging Ukrainian president to reform prosecutor general's office — (CNN)A newly unearthed letter from 2016 shows that Republican senators pushed for reforms to Ukraine's prosecutor general's office and judiciary, echoing calls then-Vice President Joe Biden made at the time.

Discussion: HuffPost, Axios, KTLA, Splinter, Vox, Occupy Democrats, Law & Crime, Politico, Slate, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump campaign to drop bomb on Biden in early voting states

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, Associated Press, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Financial Times:
Donald Trump encourages China to investigate Bidens

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:
Trump Publicly Urges China to Investigate the Bidens

Discussion: Law & Crime, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Vanity Fair, Al Jazeera, The Root, The Moderate Voice, The Week, The Mahablog, Althouse, twitchy.com, Politico and Outside the Beltway

Andrew Kirell / The Daily Beast:
CNN Refuses to Air Trump Ad Pushing Biden-Ukraine Claims and Bashing Network Anchors

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Breitbart, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, POLITICUSUSA, The National Interest, Deadline, Townhall and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Calderone / Politico:
Trump wins the chyron war with Biden

Discussion: New York Times, PolitiFact, New York Post and Breitbart

Washington Post: Trump is now publicly abusing his oath of office

Aaron Rupar / Vox:
Irony is dead: The Trump sons are doing everything possible to make corruption a major 2020 issue

Discussion: One America News Network, Politico, The Atlantic, Reason and Forbes

New York Times:
CNN Rejects 2 Trump Campaign Ads, Citing Inaccuracies

Discussion: Politico, Vanity Fair, Popular Information, Breitbart, Mother Jones and Shareblue Media, more at Mediagazer »

Aaron Blake / Washington Post: Trump's request that China investigate the Bidens is his most brazen yet. It might also be the most problematic.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Just Committed More High Crimes on the White House Lawn

Discussion: emptywheel, Washington Post, Progress Pond, Daily Kos, Vox and The Week

Washington Post:

IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence — An Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted …

Discussion: RedState, CNN, New York Times, Slate, Breitbart, Spectator USA, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, HuffPost, Law & Crime, The Week, The Guardian, Raw Story and Political Wire

Axios:

Scoop: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry — The White House is planning to send Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter as soon as Friday arguing that President Trump and his team can ignore lawmakers' demands until she holds a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry …

Discussion: RedState, Fox News, House Republican Leader and Breitbart

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Sends Letter to Leader McCarthy Reiterating the Critical Importance of the Ongoing Impeachment Inquiry

Discussion: Breitbart

Alex Moe / NBC News:
McCarthy calls for Pelosi to suspend impeachment inquiry

Discussion: The Daily Caller, HuffPost and Daily Kos

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Republicans prep formal rebuke of Schiff to defend Trump

Discussion: HuffPost, Knoxville News-Sentinel and Breitbart

Theodoric Meyer / Politico:

Energy Secretary Rick Perry eyeing exit in November — Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to announce his resignation from the administration by the end of November, according to three people familiar with his plans. — Perry, who had been Texas' longest-serving governor …

Discussion: One America News Network, Splinter, Political Wire, New York Post and Raw Story

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel / CREW:

Rick Perry Created AI Office Within Energy Dept. Despite Wife's Investments — On September 6, Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced the creation of an Office for Artificial Intelligence and Technology within the Department of Energy. According to Perry's 2019 personal financial disclosure …

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News:

Donald Trump Is Stuck In A Human Centipede Of Boomer Memes — Since the beginning of the 2016 election cycle, some of President Donald Trump's supporters have claimed that the Republican is more cunning than he appears, playing “four-dimensional chess.” But what was never totally clear …

Discussion: Louder With Crowder

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal: Schiff's Shifty Timeline

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
The Mad King's Enablers

Discussion: Salon, CNN, Trending Politics and New York Times

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Trump keeps making it harder for supporters to defend him

Discussion: Raw Story

David Byler / Washington Post:

Why Elizabeth Warren is getting such good press — It seems like every day a new story breaks about how Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is climbing in the polls, releasing a new policy proposal, “winning” a primary debate or taking some other step toward becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Joe Biden is no longer a front-runner

Discussion: Hot Air

Alex Roarty / McClatchy Washington Bureau: As Warren rises, debate over her ability to beat Trump intensifies

NBC News:

Another GOP senator breaks from Trump to defend Ukraine whistleblower — “I stand with Chuck Grassley on this,” Ernst said, referring to Iowa's other Republican senator who defended the unnamed whistleblower. — Another Republican senator is speaking out in defense of the intelligence …

Discussion: Politico and Axios

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Did Donald Trump Just Self-Impeach? — In the ten days since the House of Representatives launched its impeachment inquiry, President Trump has spoken and tweeted thousands of words in public. He has called the investigation a “coup” and the press “deranged.”

Andrew Napolitano / Fox News:

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Trump's call with Ukraine president manifests criminal and impeachable behavior — The House of Representatives has begun to gather evidence in an effort to determine if President Trump has committed impeachable offenses. The Constitution defines an impeachable offense as …

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, HuffPost and Shareblue Media

David Brooks / New York Times:

Why Trump Voters Stick With Him — An imagined conversation with Flyover Man. — Urban Guy: I hope you read the rough transcript of that Trump phone call with the Ukrainian president. Trump clearly used public power to ask a foreign leader to dig up dirt on his political opponent.

Washington Post:

Bob Woodward interviewed the ‘She Said’ authors at a book event. Things got tense. Then there was heckling. — It seemed like the perfect combination of three Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists: The Washington Post's Bob Woodward interviewing the New York Times's Jodi Kantor …

Discussion: DCist, NBC News, Breitbart, Vox, HuffPost, Mediaite, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Post, The Wrap, The Daily Beast and Splinter

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

White House Floats Potential DOJ Investigation Into ‘Joe Biden and His Family’ — A tiny, largely unnoticed edit to a daily White House newsletter this week suggests the Trump administration is leaving open the possibility of siccing the Justice Department on Joe Biden.

Discussion: CNN and The White House

Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:

New Polling Makes It Clear: Support For Impeachment Is Up — What remains to be seen is whether that momentum will continue. — Public opinion in the U.S. has shifted significantly in favor of impeachment, according to a new wave of national polling. — Polls from CNN/SSRS, Monmouth …

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Ben Collins / NBC News:

Trump seized on a conspiracy theory called the ‘insurance policy.’ Now, it's at the center of an impeachment investigation. — Just months after Trump's inauguration, conspiracy theorists pushed a fanciful and unsubstantiated narrative in which the DNC framed Russia for election interference.