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1:10 AM ET, October 23, 2019

Top Items:

Opening statement of Ambassador William B. Taylor — William B. Taylor, the senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified before impeachment investigators Tuesday. Read the story here. — Don't see the document? Click here to download the pdf.

Discussion: Bloomberg, CBS News, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Slate, twitchy.com, Florida Politics and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Here's the quid pro quo proof, Lindsey Graham — SEN. LINDSEY O. Graham, one of President Trump's most ardent defenders in the Ukraine affair, has said he sees no evidence of wrongdoing in the president's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Mr. Trump pressed …

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:

An Envoy's Damning Account of Trump's Ukraine Pressure and Its Consequences — William B. Taylor Jr. laid out in visceral terms the potentially life-or-death stakes of what he saw as an illegitimate scheme to pressure Kiev for political help by suspending American security aid.

John Podhoretz / Commentary:

Trump Will Be Impeached — Remember when I said last week that October 17 was the worst day of the Trump presidency? Well, October 22 and has now come along to break the record. This is the day that, I think, has ensured Donald Trump's impeachment. Not his removal. But impeachment will be bad enough.

Washington Post:

Trump made Ukraine aid contingent on public pledge to investigate Bidens and 2016 election, U.S. envoy says he was told — America's top diplomat in Ukraine delivered a forceful blow to President Trump's account of his “perfect” dealings with that nation, telling lawmakers Tuesday …

Michael Warren / CNN:
5 explosive lines from Bill Taylor's statement

Discussion: Shareblue Media and RedState

New York Times:
Ukraine Envoy Testifies Trump Linked Military Aid to Investigations

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, The American Conservative, The Mahablog, Breitbart, Mother Jones, The Week and Mediaite

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times: 6 Key Revelations of Taylor's Opening Statement to Impeachment Investigators

VICE:
Bill Taylor's Testimony Paints a ‘Damning’ Picture of Trump's Ukraine Quid Pro Quo

Discussion: Washington Post, Law & Crime and Occupy Democrats

Mike Lillis / The Hill: Democrat: Top diplomat's testimony on Ukraine is ‘sea change’ in impeachment probe

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Top U.S. envoy ties Trump directly to Ukraine quid pro quo

Discussion: Associated Press, CNN, The Daily Beast, Axios, Vanity Fair, The Hill, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed News, Daily Kos, Hot Air, POLITICUSUSA, Slate, Occupy Democrats, The Guardian, twitchy.com, IJR and The Week

Associated Press:
Key takeaways from ambassador's testimony on Ukraine

Discussion: KTLA and Associated Press

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
As key witness steps forward, Trump's embrace of autocrats draws more scrutiny

Discussion: Foreign Policy, New York Post, Progress Pond and Daily Kos

BuzzFeed News:

Federal Investigators Are Probing Suspicious Financial Transactions By Two Giuliani Associates Who Ran A Back-Channel Campaign — A federal grand jury investigating activities surrounding Rudy Giuliani's back-channel campaign in Ukraine has demanded legal documents that include records …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates — When two business associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, were arrested this month on charges that they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections, federal prosecutors working on a different case in Chicago took note.

Discussion: The Week, The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:
“MICHAEL COHEN IS NOW EVEN MORE VALUABLE THAN BEFORE”: THE PRESIDENT'S FORMER ATTORNEY OFFERS DIRT …

Discussion: Law & Crime

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Indicted Giuliani associate Igor Fruman taps Manafort attorney

Discussion: Political Wire

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Anonymous author of Trump ‘resistance’ op-ed to publish a tell-all book — The author of an anonymous column in the New York Times in 2018, who was identified as a senior Trump administration official acting as part of the “resistance” inside the government, has written a tell-all book to be published next month.

Discussion: Arizona Republic, PJ Media Home, Fox News, NB Blog, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Raw Story, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Contemptor, NBC News, The Week, ABC News, Breitbart and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Jake Tapper / CNN:

Anonymous Trump official who wrote New York Times op-ed has a book coming out — (CNN)The anonymous senior Trump administration official whose 2018 New York Times op-ed was called treasonous by President Donald Trump has written a new book about Trump titled “A Warning” that will be published next month, CNN has learned.

Discussion: NPR, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, NB Blog, Daily Kos, HuffPost, Raw Story, Hot Air, CNBC, New York Times, The Guardian, Townhall, New York Post and Axios

Michael Calderone / Politico:
White House to cancel Times, Post subscriptions after Trump's ‘Hannity’ comments

Discussion: Axios, HuffPost, LifeZette, Breitbart, The Hill, The Wrap, Disrn, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Deadline and New York Post

The Harvard Crimson:

A Note To Readers — To our readers: — Last month, The Crimson covered a rally organized by campus group Act on a Dream that called for the abolition of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During the course of our reporting, Crimson reporters requested comment from ICE …

Discussion: Washington Times

Ruoqi Zhang / The Harvard Crimson:
Harvard Student Groups Condemn The Crimson's Coverage of Abolish ICE Rally

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Reason

CNN:

Joe Biden said in 1998 that Clinton impeachment could be seen as ‘partisan lynching’ — McCarthy breaks with Trump over ‘lynching’ comment — (CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump's comparison of the ongoing impeachment inquiry to a …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Axios, Politico, HuffPost, Breitbart, Townhall, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, Mediaite, twitchy.com, Political Wire, Roll Call, KTLA, Talking Points Memo and CNBC

The Daily Beast:

Trump Whines That Senate Republicans Are Failing Him on Impeachment and Not Owning Nearly Enough Libs — The president and his advisers want Republicans in the Senate to stage their own hearings to counteract what's happening in the House. — President Trump, his advisers …

Discussion: Mediaite and Contemptor

Maggie Miller / The Hill:
Senate Republicans block two election security bills

Discussion: Politico

Tim Skubick / WLNS-TV:

Poll shows U.S. Senate race a toss-up — 6 News is releasing some exclusive statewide polling data tonight confirming that the race for one of the state's U.S. Senate seats is a dead heat. — That's bad news for the Democrats and good news for the Republicans.

Discussion: Political Wire

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

How Centrist Democrats Botched the 2020 Primary — A specter is haunting “pro-business Democrats” — the specter of change they can't believe in. — With just over three months until Iowa gets caucusing, Elizabeth Warren is their party's front-runner. She's running neck and neck …

Discussion: Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNN, The Hill, New York Times and The Week

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Leaked Video Shows Elizabeth Warren Backing Away From Bernie's Medicare for All Plan

Discussion: The Federalist, National Review and Breitbart

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Freshman Dem Katie Hill denies improper relationship with aide — Freshman Rep. Katie Hill is denying allegations that she had an improper relationship with a congressional staffer, and blamed the controversy on an “abusive husband” whom she is in the midst of divorcing.

Discussion: RedState, New York Post, CNN, Roll Call, Big League Politics, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Michelle Ye Hee Lee / Washington Post:
California Rep. Katie Hill (D) denies affair with staffer and calls accusations of sexual impropriety a ‘smear’

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

Politico:

We're talking about the president's racial rhetoric again — DONALD TRUMP, more than any modern-day president, has employed racially charged rhetoric. Whether he means it or not, it forces a day of news coverage, standing up his allies against his foes. And in this instance, for this day …

Discussion: CANVAS, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and CNN

NBC News:
Graham and Fox News expert showed Trump a map to change his mind about Syria withdrawal

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, Raw Story, Task & Purpose and Mediaite

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:

Trump's D.C. hotel abruptly cancels Christian aid group's Kurdish solidarity event — A Christian aid group that planned a gathering to honor and pray for the Kurdish people at President Trump's hotel in Washington were told by hotel staff this week that the event was canceled, according to two members of the aid group.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Marnie Cathcart / Justice Centre …:

BC Human Rights Tribunal rules in favour of female estheticians who refused to wax male genitalia — VANCOUVER: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF.ca) is pleased to announce that the BC Human Rights Tribunal has ruled in favour of home estheticians' right to refuse to handle male genitalia against their will.

Discussion: Louder With Crowder, PJ Media Home, RedState, National Review and The Daily Caller

Anna Slatz / The Post Millennial:
BREAKING: Jessica Yaniv loses cases against women who wouldn't “wax her balls”

Discussion: NB Blog and The Gateway Pundit

NBC News:

Feds charge California investor who donated $900K to Trump inaugural committee — Imaad Zuberi pleaded guilty to making nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions to various presidential election campaigns and other candidates for elected office. — A California venture capitalist …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Politico, ABC News and Occupy Democrats

U.S. Department of Justice:
Campaign Fundraiser Agrees to Plead Guilty to Falsifying Records to Conceal Work as Foreign Agent …

Discussion: HuffPost, Mother Jones and electionlawblog.org

New York Times:

In Hungary, a Freewheeling Trump Ambassador Undermines U.S. Diplomats — He brokered a White House meeting for Hungary's prime minister. He spends $320,000 on parties and takes positions at odds with American policy. He says he knows what President Trump wants.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Talking Points Memo

Bryan Bender / Politico:

‘The White House is not to be trusted right now’ — Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, “iced out” and blindsided by presidential decisions he disagreed with, grew increasingly wary of President Donald Trump's leadership, even losing his cool in private meetings and plotting to quit nearly half …

Discussion: Defense One

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Support for impeaching Trump soars among independents - Reuters/Ipsos poll — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Support for impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump surged among political independents and rose by three percentage points overall since last week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Hill

Bloomberg:

Trump Floats Mulvaney Replacements Including Mnuchin and Conway — Mulvaney's standing is unsteady following news conference — Removing Mnuchin from Treasury could disturb volatile markets — Donald Trump has for weeks been privately testing the idea of replacing his chief of staff …

Discussion: Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Occupy Democrats, The Hill, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo