Top Items:
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:
Politico, One America News Network and Raw Story
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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:
Vox, HuffPost, Occupy Democrats, Slate, Raw Story, KTLA, Law & Crime and Politico
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 …
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Just Committed More High Crimes on the White House Lawn — Donald Trump is being impeached for using his office to pressure foreign countries to investigate his political rivals. It is not clear Trump understands that, because he simply continues committing this offense in broad daylight.
Discussion:
Washington Post
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
In May, Ukrainian oligarch said Giuliani was orchestrating a ‘clear conspiracy against Biden’ — Months before an intelligence community whistleblower accused President Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani of digging for dirt on former vice president Joe Biden in Ukraine …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, KTLA, Mediaite and Inquirer.com
Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Trump keeps making it harder for supporters to defend him — As President Trump keeps talking, he makes it more and more difficult for his supporters to mount an actual defense of his underlying behavior. — Trump's pushback against impeachment efforts seemed to be gaining some traction …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Andrew Kirell / The Daily Beast:
CNN Refuses to Air Trump Ad Pushing Biden-Ukraine Claims and Bashing Network Anchors — The 30-second spot paints the president as a victim of Democrats and alleged “media lapdogs” like CNN. — In a move that is sure to ratchet up tension with the White House, cable news channel CNN …
Discussion:
New York Times, Axios, Politico, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Deadline, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Pence: I Participated in the Ukraine Plot But Only As a Patsy — Vice-President Mike Pence is knee-deep in the Ukraine scandal. He is floating the absurd defense that, while he did participate in Trump's plan to extort Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden, he was completely ignorant of what he was doing.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Vox, Lawyers, Guns & Money, NBC News, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, The Nation, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, Axios and Occupy Democrats
Aaron Rupar / Vox:
Irony is dead: The Trump sons are doing everything possible to make corruption a major 2020 issue
Irony is dead: The Trump sons are doing everything possible to make corruption a major 2020 issue
Discussion:
PolitiFact, The Atlantic and Politico
Michael Calderone / Politico:
Biden warns Fox News against running Trump ad
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Schiff calls Trump's call for China to investigate Bidens “repugnant”
Schiff calls Trump's call for China to investigate Bidens “repugnant”
Discussion:
New York Times, Vanity Fair and Political Wire
Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Donald Is Desperate — He will do and say whatever he can to avoid impeachment.
Donald Is Desperate — He will do and say whatever he can to avoid impeachment.
Discussion:
ABC News, Hullabaloo, JONATHAN TURLEY, CNN, CNBC and The Verge
The Daily Beast:
Biden Dirt File Has Private Email Between John Solomon and Rudy Allies
Biden Dirt File Has Private Email Between John Solomon and Rudy Allies
Discussion:
Associated Press, Politico, HuffPost, Hullabaloo, The Ringer, Washington Post, ABC News, One America News Network, Reuters, RedState and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »
Washington Post:
Live updates: Trump calls for China to investigate Bidens; former Ukraine envoy testifies on Capitol Hill
Live updates: Trump calls for China to investigate Bidens; former Ukraine envoy testifies on Capitol Hill
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Raw Story, CANNONFIRE, NPR, Axios, Balloon Juice and Mediaite
Bloomberg:
Ukraine's Ex-President Says Biden Never Asked to Close Cases
Ukraine's Ex-President Says Biden Never Asked to Close Cases
Discussion:
Fox News, Occupy Democrats, HuffPost, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, National Review and CNN
Fadel Allassan / Axios:
3 GOP senators called for Ukrainian government reform in 2016 letter
3 GOP senators called for Ukrainian government reform in 2016 letter
Discussion:
Raw Story and Washington Post
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:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, Law & Crime and Raw Story
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Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:
Trump Publicly Urges China to Investigate the Bidens — President Trump said he had not personally asked President Xi Jinping of China to examine the Bidens, “but it's certainly something we can start thinking about.” — The public statement came as the House begins an impeachment inquiry …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Law & Crime, Vanity Fair, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and The Week
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Read Trump's Lips, He Wants Foreign Help in 2020
Read Trump's Lips, He Wants Foreign Help in 2020
Discussion:
HuffPost, Vox and Hullabaloo
Associated Press:
Trump calls for China to investigate Bidens
Trump calls for China to investigate Bidens
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Deseret News and Associated Press
Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Trump publicly urges China, Ukraine to investigate Bidens amid impeachment inquiry
Trump publicly urges China, Ukraine to investigate Bidens amid impeachment inquiry
Discussion:
CNN, Fox News, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com
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:
The White House
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
How this scandal could get much worse for Trump — and Pence
How this scandal could get much worse for Trump — and Pence
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Vanity Fair, New York Times, The Week and American Military News
Washington Post:
Odd markings, ellipses fuel doubts about the ‘rough transcript’ of Trump's Ukraine call
Odd markings, ellipses fuel doubts about the ‘rough transcript’ of Trump's Ukraine call
Discussion:
emptywheel, Daily Kos and Althouse
Susan Page / USA Today:
Perilous times for President Trump: By 45%-38%, Americans support impeaching him over allegations related to Ukraine, poll finds — From the moment Donald Trump became a national political figure, he has been cloaked in controversy and shadowed by investigations.
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George T. Conway III / The Atlantic:
Unfit for Office — On a third-down play last season, the Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith stood in shotgun formation, five yards behind the line of scrimmage. As he called his signals, a Houston Texans cornerback, Kareem Jackson, suddenly sprinted forward from a position four yards behind the defensive line.
Discussion:
Axios, Mediaite, Law & Crime and Raw Story
Jim Geraghty / National Review:
When the Story Is Written, the Whistleblower Will Just Be an Afterthought — How Much Does the Whistleblower Really Matter? — Here's an assessment sure to be unpopular: When the story of the impeachment effort against President Trump is written, the whistleblower will be an afterthought …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Liberty Unyielding and RedState
RELATED:
Grace Segers / CBS News:
Trump suggests Ukraine and China should investigate the Bidens - live updates
Trump suggests Ukraine and China should investigate the Bidens - live updates
Discussion:
HuffPost, NB Blog, Breitbart, Fox News, FOX News Radio and The Daily Caller
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Trump's video taken off Twitter after band Nickelback complains — US president receives copyright censure over video that took aim at political rival Joe Biden — A video posted by Donald Trump has been removed from Twitter following a copyright claim by the rock band Nickelback.
Discussion:
ABC News, CNN, Trending Politics, Fortune, Deseret News, Gizmodo, Slate, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, David Harris Jr, The Daily Caller, RedState, Splinter, NB Blog, The Verge and Shareblue Media
BuzzFeed News:
The New Way To Hack Democracy: The Political Operatives Who Fake Voter Outrage With Millions Of Made-Up Comments — Sarah Reeves sat on her couch in Eugene, Oregon, staring at her laptop screen in furious disbelief. She was reading the website of a government agency, where her mother appeared …
Discussion:
Politico
Steven Lemongello / Orlando Sentinel:
Watch: Trump arrives to The Villages today amid impeachment probe — THE VILLAGES - The official subject of President Trump's visit to The Villages this afternoon is Medicare. — But his first large event before a friendly crowd since Congress began impeachment hearings last week could make it hard for him to resist sounding off.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:
Book Alleging Biden Corruption in Ukraine Lifted Passages From Wikipedia — In more than a dozen instances, Peter Schweizer's book “Secret Empires” appears to have copied complete sentences or large parts of them from other sources. — A book that has fueled corruption allegations …
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
For the last time, Trump's every move is brilliant and calculated — “There are different ways to bake the cake, depending on what sort of cake you want. Different flavoring, different temperatures, different ingredients yield different types of cake, and the president as the master baker …
Lee Drutman / FiveThirtyEight:
If Republicans Ever Turn On Trump, It'll Happen All At Once — In the House, Democrats are inching ever closer to impeaching President Trump. Some are even pushing for drafting articles of impeachment by Thanksgiving and, potentially, sending proceedings to the Senate by early next year.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Alex Moe / NBC News:
McCarthy calls for Pelosi to suspend impeachment inquiry — The speaker has “given no clear indication as to how your impeachment inquiry will proceed — including whether key historical precedents or basic standards of due process will be observed,” he wrote.
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Trump's removal would require Republican dissidents. But those who speak out become targets of viral disinformation. — In the conspiracy-obsessed echo chambers of conservative talk radio and far-right websites, Sen. Mitt Romney has some explaining to do — answering for ties …
BuzzFeed News:
Attorney General Bill Barr Will Ask Zuckerberg To Halt Plans For End-To-End Encryption Across Facebook's Apps — Attorney General Bill Barr, along with officials from the United Kingdom and Australia, is set to publish an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, asking the company …
Discussion:
Vox, New York Times, 9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »