memeorandum: Bernie Sanders Had a Common Heart Procedure. So Why the Mystery? (Lawrence K. Altman/New York Times)

8:05 PM ET, October 4, 2019

Top Items:

CIA's top lawyer made criminal referral on whistleblower's complaint about Trump conduct — Experts are raising questions about why the Justice Department did not open an investigation. — WASHINGTON — Weeks before the whistleblower's complaint became public, the CIA's top lawyer …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Raw Story and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:

Trump, in August Call With GOP Senator, Denied Official's Claim on Ukraine Aid — President Trump denied that he had linked military aid to Ukraine with a commitment by Kyiv to investigate the 2016 presidential elections when pressed on the matter by a Republican senator in August, according to the lawmaker.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Vox, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Shareblue Media, Law & Crime, Axios, Hot Air, Lawfare, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Balloon Juice and The Hill

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ron Johnson says he was blocked by President Trump from telling Ukraine foreign aid was coming — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., speaks with members of the media before meeting with the Middleton Chamber of Commerce at Serendipity Labs in Madison, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Vox, The Verge, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, CNN, KTLA and The Week

Lawrence K. Altman / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders Had a Common Heart Procedure. So Why the Mystery? — Mr. Sanders has not disclosed health details like whether blood and electrocardiogram tests showed he had a heart attack, nor allowed reporters to interview his doctors. — WASHINGTON — “None of us know when a medical emergency …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Jacobin

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders Had Heart Attack, His Doctors Say as He Leaves Hospital — Senator Bernie Sanders had a heart attack this week, his presidential campaign said on Friday as he left a Las Vegas hospital. — Mr. Sanders, 78, had entered the hospital on Tuesday night after experiencing chest pain …

Discussion: Axios, The Wrap and New York Post

Adam Kelsey / ABC News:

Bernie Sanders' health incident diagnosed as heart attack — The health issue that led to Sen. Bernie Sanders' hospitalization on Tuesday night in Las Vegas has been diagnosed as a heart attack. — Sanders, 78, said in a statement released on Friday that he “felt great” and was looking forward to resuming his campaign.

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, Politico, Bloomberg, HuffPost, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Caitlin Yilek / Washington Examiner: Bernie Sanders had heart attack, his doctors say after release from hospital

Dennis Romero / NBC News:
Bernie Sanders had a heart attack this week, campaign says

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:
A heart attack caused Sen. Bernie Sanders to be hospitalized earlier this week, doctors say

Discussion: Political Wire

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:
Warren and Sanders, and Their Messages of Change, Dominate the Money Race

Discussion: Common Dreams, Breitbart and Daily Kos

Defense One:

U.S. Customs Officer Harasses Defense One Journalist at Dulles Airport — Repeating “You write propaganda, right?”, officer held passport until he received an affirmative answer. — A passport screening official held a Defense One journalist's passport until he received an affirmative answer …

Discussion: Fox News and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Volker Gives New Details on Giuliani's Role in Ukraine Policy — WASHINGTON — The former State Department special envoy for Ukraine told congressional investigators that Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, insisted that Ukraine specifically commit to investigate involvement …

Discussion: Washington Post, Common Dreams and Raw Story

BuzzFeed News:

The Former Special Envoy To Ukraine Told Congress That Trump's Biden Conspiracy “Has No Credibility To Me” — Former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker testified before members of Congress on Thursday. While the meeting was private and a full transcript has not been released, his prepared remarks were obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Breitbart, New York Post, Just Security, HuffPost, Axios, Politico and The Hill

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Owner of Firm Tied to Hunter Biden Will Be Subject of Ukraine Prosecutor's Review

Discussion: Just Security, New York Magazine, NPR, Lawfare, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal and Slate

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Testimony From Ukraine Envoy Kurt Volker Directly Contradicts Democrats' Impeachment Narrative

Discussion: RedState, The Hill, Townhall, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Last Refuge

Caitlin Yilek / Washington Examiner:

Rubio claims Trump suggested China launch investigation into Bidens to ‘provoke’ the media — Sen. Marco Rubio floated the possibility that President Trump called on China to investigate the Bidens for no other reason than to “provoke” the media. — “I don't know if that's a real request …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Hot Air, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:
Live updates: House committee chairmen send a subpoena to the White House

Discussion: Salt Lake Tribune, Political Wire, Progress Pond, Hullabaloo, The American Conservative, Denver Post and CNN

Ashley Parker / Washington Post: ‘Me! Me!’: An aggrieved Trump spins an alternate reality as impeachment probe escalates

Will Englund / Washington Post:
Ukraine's new chief prosecutor to ‘audit’ Biden case

Discussion: Fox News, Hullabaloo, Fortune, Bangor Daily News, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, The Week, New York Post, Shareblue Media, Splinter, New York Times and Mediaite

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Biden's ‘devastating’ fundraising haul a loud warning for once-unrivaled front-runner

Discussion: Politico

Alex Thompson / Politico:

Warren campaign fires senior staffer for ‘inappropriate behavior’ — Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign has fired its national organizing director, Rich McDaniel, after an investigation into allegations of what it called “inappropriate behavior.” — “Over the past two weeks …

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Breitbart, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and twitchy.com

Tom Burt / Microsoft on the Issues:

Recent cyberattacks require us all to be vigilant — Today we're sharing that we've recently seen significant cyber activity by a threat group we call Phosphorus, which we believe originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government. We're sharing this for two reasons.

New York Times:

Iranian Hackers Targeted Trump's Re-election Campaign — SAN FRANCISCO — Iranian hackers targeted President Trump's re-election campaign, two people with knowledge of the attacks said on Friday, in a sign of how cyberattacks could become a fixture of the 2020 presidential election.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Reuters, Political Wire, Fortune and The National Interest

Washington Post:

Trump's calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some ‘genuinely horrified’ — In one of his first calls with a head of state, President Trump fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the man who ordered interference in America's 2016 election that he was a great leader …

JM Rieger / Washington Post:

‘Coup’ talk is proliferating on Fox as impeachment inquiry ramps up — Considering removing a president from office via procedures outlined in the Constitution is not the same as a coup, defined as a violent overthrow of the government. That hasn't stopped at least 15 Fox News personalities …

Discussion: Axios, Associated Press and Political Wire

Harry Enten / CNN:
Trump's impeachment polling is historically unprecedented

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and JustOneMinute

Alan Rappeport / New York Times:

Treasury Inspector General to Review Handling of Trump's Tax Returns — WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department's inspector general is investigating how Treasury handled a congressional request for President Trump's tax returns, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to turn over.

Discussion: HuffPost, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Brian Faler / Politico:
Treasury IG probing department's refusal to give Democrats Trump's tax returns

Discussion: Associated Press

Deadspin:

Inside TheMaven's Plan To Turn Sports Illustrated Into A Rickety Content Mill — Now that Sports Illustrated's three owners, Meredith Corp., Authentic Brands Group, and TheMaven, have completed the callous layoff of half of Sports Illustrated's newsroom and finalized a deal that gives control …

Discussion: The Ringer and The Nation, more at Mediagazer »

David Frum / The Atlantic:

Mike Pence Failed in His Most Important Duty — In the throes of Watergate, Vice President Spiro Agnew was caught up in an unrelated corruption scandal. He pleaded guilty and resigned his office on October 10, 1973. — To that point, Agnew had served as a useful insurance policy for Richard Nixon …

Discussion: Common Dreams, HuffPost, Raw Story, Arizona Republic and Esquire

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
When a Vice President Becomes a Threat

Discussion: CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, Vox, Townhall, Deseret News and Hullabaloo

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:

Why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should resign — He's been an unmitigated disaster at everything except catering to President Trump — Mike Pompeo came into the secretary of state position with a relatively simple assignment: be better than the most incompetent secretary of state in history.

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Foreign Policy, Vox and Hullabaloo

TIME:
How Mike Pompeo Is Taking Center Stage In Trump's Impeachment Drama

Discussion: KOIN-TV, American Prospect and Washington Post

James LaPorta / Newsweek:

Ex-Marine who claimed sexual involvement with Elizabeth Warren lied about military service, Corps says — An ex-U.S. Marine infantryman, who claims to be a combat veteran of the Afghanistan war, is involved in a far-right plot to smear Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts …

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service Record

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Root and HuffPost

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

Trump Is Begging to Be Impeached. Give Him What He Wants — Immediately. — Remember that sultry July day during the 2016 campaign when Donald Trump went in front of the television cameras and asked the Russian government to intervene in the looming presidential election on his behalf?

Discussion: Althouse

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

How Gordon Sondland, a wealthy hotelier turned ambassador, became the latest key player in the Ukraine inquiry — Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had barely been on the job for a year when he found himself knee-deep in negotiations with the Ukrainian president …

Discussion: NBC News, NPR, Slate, Politico, The Intercept and The Guardian

Nico Hines / The Daily Beast:

Email Leak Exposes Trump Tower Russian's Dirty Lobbying Operations — According to leaked emails from Natalia Veselniskaya, Russia's disinformation campaign may have broken U.S. law and exposed details of a witness who later fell from a window. — LONDON—The identity of the U.S. government's star witness …

Discussion: Raw Story and CANNONFIRE

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

‘Fake news’: Email reveals lapse by Fox News's Chris Wallace — Journalists commonly take leave of their senses when they communicate with sources via email. They toss out insincere compliments, they make vague and unseemly promises, they disengage from all those refresher sessions on journalistic ethics.

Discussion: Mediaite

TIME:

Exclusive: Trump Shows ‘No Interest’ in New North Korea Missile Threat, Prepares Diplomatic Offer — As new examples emerge of President Donald Trump taking aim at political rivals in his conversations with foreign leaders, worried national security officials are warning that when it comes …

Discussion: CNN, Common Dreams, Raw Story, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and CANNONFIRE

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Stephen Miller blamed impeachment on Deep State - Bannon says that's for ‘nut cases’ — The former White House strategist, and a leading voice of the alt-right, was once key in the propagation of the conspiracy theory — Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller recently claimed …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, The Ring of Fire Network and Raw Story

Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:

It's Time For Everyone To Join The Impeachment Fight — The idea behind the push for impeachment was that forcing Republicans to vote on the propriety of President Trump's conduct, after a sustained airing of his abuses of power, would be a political nightmare for them …

Discussion: HuffPost, Slate, Taylor Marsh, Townhall and Washington Post

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

New York Times Kavanaugh book bombs, just 3,120 sold, Amazon rank #6,795 — The latest book on Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a critical biography from two New York Times reporters that made new sexual assault charges that were immediately undermined, has suffered an epic sales crash, according to publishing insiders.

Discussion: American Greatness and twitchy.com