memeorandum: Ex-Ukraine ambassador to Congress: Trump told State Department to remove her (Marisa Fernandez/Axios)

3:10 PM ET, October 11, 2019

Top Items:

Ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch tells Congress Trump pressured State Dept. to remove her — The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine whose abrupt ouster in May has become a topic of interest for House impeachment investigators said Friday that her departure came as a direct result …

Discussion: USA Today, Axios, CNN, The Atlantic, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, Washington Times and The Week

New York Times:

Trump Had Ukraine Envoy Removed on ‘False Claims,’ She Tells House Inquiry — Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine, she told impeachment investigators on Friday, despite a boss saying she had “done nothing wrong.” — WASHINGTON — Marie L. Yovanovitch …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Politico, UPI, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Mahablog, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice and Political Wire

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

Senior adviser to Pompeo resigns — Michael McKinley, a career diplomat and senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has resigned his position amid rising dissatisfaction and plummeting morale inside the State Department over what is seen as Pompeo's failure to support personnel ensnared in the Ukraine controversy.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, CNN, New York Post, The Week, Wall Street Journal and Raw Story

Washington Post:

At least four national security officials raised alarms about Ukraine policy before and after Trump call with Ukrainian president — At least four national security officials were so alarmed by the Trump administration's attempts to pressure Ukraine for political purposes that they raised concerns …

Discussion: The Week, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Vanity Fair, The New Civil Rights Movement, Boing Boing and Mediaite

Associated Press: Former Ambassador To Ukraine Says Trump Pressured State Department To Fire Her

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:
Ex-Ukraine ambassador to Congress: Trump told State Department to remove her

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week

Associated Press:
Diplomat removed after upholding protocol, ex-official says

Discussion: Bangor Daily News and The Daily Beast

Michael Calderone / Politico: Reporters call out the State Department for ‘lockdown’ on Ukraine

The Daily Beast:

More Potential Whistleblowers Are Contacting Congress — The first two officials who came forward about the president's pressure campaign on Ukraine seem to be just the beginning, according to Hill sources. — New potential whistleblowers are coming forward to the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry …

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit and Law & Crime

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Ukraine Smoke and Mirrors

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Kim Wehle / The Bulwark:
The ‘No Collusion’ Song Goes Silent

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Aaron Katersky / ABC News:

Rudy Giuliani's relationship with arrested men is subject of criminal investigation: Sources — The business relationship between President Donald Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the men charged Thursday in a campaign finance scheme is a subject of the ongoing criminal investigation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Political Wire, CNN, Shareblue Media, The New Civil Rights Movement, Mediaite, Fox News and Boing Boing

Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times:

Giuliani's Ukraine Team: In Search of Influence, Dirt and Money — The president's lawyer was paid by Lev Parnas, who with Igor Fruman worked on behalf of President Trump in Ukraine. — WASHINGTON — When Rudolph W. Giuliani set out to dredge up damaging information on President Trump's rivals in Ukraine …

Discussion: The Week, Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Just Security, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, Law & Crime and Vox

Dan Mangan / CNBC:

Federal appeals court upholds House subpoena for Trump's financial records — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld a subpoena for President Donald Trump's financial records from the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire and Althouse

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Trump loses appeal to stop House subpoena of his tax documents

Discussion: The Stranger and Common Dreams

Axios:
Appeals court upholds House subpoena for Trump's financial records

Discussion: Fox News and Associated Press

Samuel Osborne / The Independent:

Isis militants break out of prison in Syria after bombing by Turkey — Escape comes after Trump cleared way for Erdogan to launch offensive on Kurds — Five Isis militants have broken out of a prison in northern Syria after Turkish shelling nearby, a spokesman in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said.

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:
Fact check: Trump falsely claims ‘we have no soldiers in Syria’

Discussion: MPR News, Sputnik International, Washington Post, Althouse, Defense One and Reason

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
Trump Says U.S. Troops Have Quit Syria. It's Not True.

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Slate and Al Jazeera

Lara Seligman / Foreign Policy:
'Some of the Most Noble People I'd Ever Met'

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:

Pentagon officials deemed withholding of aid to Ukraine was illegal — WASHINGTON — The Pentagon was confused. Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine had been appropriated in late 2018 by Congress, intended to help fend off aggression by neighboring Russia.

Discussion: Raw Story, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Politico, CNN and Wall Street Journal

NBC News:
Trump's former Russia aide set to give revealing testimony on Giuliani, Sondland

Discussion: Washington Post and Boing Boing

Gregg T. Nunziata / Just Security: The Need for a Bipartisan Stand Against the White House Counsel Letter

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

McSally allies plead for air cover as Democratic groups pummel the Arizona senator — Sen. Martha McSally had incurred weeks of unchecked attacks from Democratic groups, and the Arizona Republican's allies are pleading for help. — Since early September, Advancing Arizona has targeted McSally …

Discussion: Political Wire

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump predicts senators will quash impeachment. His allies aren't so sure.

Discussion: The White House

Wall Street Journal:
GOP Senators' Concerns Muddy Path to Dismiss Possible Impeachment Charges

Discussion: Raw Story, Honest Graft, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
Republicans stumbling over question at heart of impeachment

Discussion: CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:

U.S. to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia to boost defenses against Iran — The Pentagon will deploy an additional 1,800 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, senior defense officials announced Friday, a modest increase in the U.S. military's presence in the Middle East meant to deter aggressive Iranian actions.

Discussion: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, Vox and Mother Jones

Wall Street Journal:
Pentagon to Deploy Around 2,000 Additional Troops to Saudi Arabia

Discussion: Mediaite and Common Dreams

Robert Burns / Associated Press:
Pentagon urges Turkey to halt incursion into Syria

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Defense One and UPI

Associated Press:
Iran says oil tanker struck by missiles off Saudi Arabia

Discussion: Politico, PJ Media Home, KTLA, American Military News, Liberty Unyielding, The Daily Caller, NPR and Washington Post

Rich McHugh / Vanity Fair:

“YOU ARE TO STAND DOWN”: RONAN FARROW'S PRODUCER ON HOW NBC KILLED ITS WEINSTEIN STORY — Rich McHugh recounts how top NBC brass, including news chairman Andrew Lack and news president Noah Oppenheim, bowed to Harvey Weinstein to quash the truth. — One year ago, I resigned from NBC News …

more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:
NBC News Chief Noah Oppenheim's Harvard Writings on Women and Sexual Assault Horrify Staffers

Discussion: TVNewser, Fox News, New York Times, Page Six, Mediaite and The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »

David Freedlander / New York Magazine:

How Trump-Country Democrat Rep. Max Rose Got to Impeachment — Because this is a story about Max Rose, it has to at some point find him at Jody's Club Forest, a Staten Island bar he famously frequents, drinking pitchers of Bud Light. And because Max Rose is who he is …

Discussion: Townhall, Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller

David R. Lurie / The Daily Beast:

Bill Barr, Trump's Hatchet Man, Is About to Become His Scapegoat — Trump's DOJ is arguing that Congress should never have heard Nixon's “smoking gun” tape and should be barred from reviewing any further evidence of Trump's criminality. — BEAST INSIDE — Since William Barr became …

Discussion: Raw Story

Rosie McCall / Newsweek:

Greta Thunberg snubbed for Nobel Peace Prize by committee run by Norway, one of the world's biggest oil and natural gas exporters — The Nobel Committee has surprised oddsmakers by not picking 16-year-old Greta Thunberg to win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. — The five-member Norwegian panel …

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding and twitchy.com

Karla Adam / Washington Post:
Why didn't Greta Thunberg win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Slate

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:

‘Stunning in ugliness & tone’: Trump denounced for attacking Somali refugees in Minnesota — For roughly six minutes Thursday night, President Trump predictably singled out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) during his campaign rally in her home district of Minneapolis.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, Axios, Slate, Occupy Democrats, Daily Kos, Sputnik International, Al Jazeera and HuffPost

Elizabeth Ralph / Politico:

“You spent a f—ing week on pneumonia-gate” — The news of Senator Bernie Sanders' heart attack has made headlines, sure. But compared to the relentless media reports about Hillary Clinton's near fainting-spell in 2016, brought on by pneumonia, the coverage of Sanders' health problems has been light.

Los Angeles Times:

Trump's children take in millions overseas as president slams Biden's son — Eric Trump sounded shocked that Hunter Biden hadn't drawn more criticism for his lucrative business deals in Ukraine and China while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president. — “Can you imagine if I took 3 cents from the Ukraine or 4 cents from China?”

Kendall Karson / ABC News:

2020 Presidential debate sites announced for general election — The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Friday the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Belmont University in Nashville will host the 2020 presidential debates ahead of next November's general election.

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and Axios

Rich Miller / Capitol Fax.com:

Sanguinetti bows out of congressional race — * From Evelyn Sanguinetti via a campaign spokesperson... It is with deep regret that I must announce that I have officially decided to end my campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Congress for the 6th Congressional District of Illinois.