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

10:40 PM ET, October 22, 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, New York Times, CBS News, The Atlantic, Slate, Talking Points Memo, Occupy Democrats, Florida Politics, Mediaite and twitchy.com

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

New York Times:

Ukraine Envoy Testifies Trump Linked Military Aid to Investigations — In closed-door testimony, a Democratic lawmaker said, William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, drew a “direct line” between President Trump's withholding of security aid and his demand for investigations.

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Breitbart, The Mahablog, The Week and Mediaite

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 …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Top U.S. envoy ties Trump directly to Ukraine quid pro quo — The top U.S. envoy to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that President Donald Trump sought to withhold critical military aid to Ukraine and refuse a White House meeting with the country's president unless …

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

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

Discussion: KTLA, Associated Press and The Daily Beast

Peter Baker / New York Times: An Envoy's Damning Account of Trump's Ukraine Pressure and Its Consequences

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

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

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, Politico, NBC News, Contemptor, Fox News, Taylor Marsh, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Raw Story, The Week 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: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, HuffPost, Daily Kos, Raw Story, NB Blog, Hot Air, Breitbart, NBC News, CNBC, The Guardian, Townhall, Axios and New York Post

Michael Calderone / Politico:

White House to cancel Times, Post subscriptions after Trump's ‘Hannity’ comments — The White House said Tuesday it will not be renewing subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post, two papers the president frequently attacks as “fake” and which he suggested canceling the previous night in a TV appearance.

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

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: Political Wire, Talking Points Memo 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: Vanity Fair, Raw Story and Law & Crime

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

Discussion: Political Wire

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

Bloomberg:
Trump Floats Mulvaney Replacements Including Mnuchin and Conway

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

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story: Trump considering Kellyanne Conway as his next chief of staff after Mick Mulvaney's quid pro quo disaster: Bloomberg

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Steve Bannon launches radio show and podcast on impeachment

Discussion: Washington Post

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: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NBC News and National Review

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

Discussion: National Review, The Federalist and Breitbart

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, ‘Is There Anybody Else?’

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, CNN, The Hill, The Guardian, FiveThirtyEight, The Week, Hot Air, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Fox News, twitchy.com and Politico

NBC News:

Graham and Fox News expert showed Trump a map to change his mind about Syria withdrawal — It wasn't the first time Trump has been shown a map detailing economic assets to convince him not to order U.S. troops home, officials said. — WASHINGTON — In the days after President Donald Trump paved …

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

Politico:
We're talking about the president's racial rhetoric again

Discussion: CANVAS, Associated Press, Washington Post and The Week

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Rallies Aren't a Sideshow. They Are the Campaign.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

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: Contemptor

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

Discussion: Politico

Avery G. Wilks / The State:
SC Senate Republicans strip exceptions for rape, incest out of heartbeat abortion ban

Discussion: WIS-TV, HuffPost, Vox and PennLive

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, Townhall, Breitbart, Politico, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Associated Press, twitchy.com, HuffPost, Mediaite, Roll Call, KTLA, Talking Points Memo and CNBC

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:
Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Going to Be ‘Very, Very Hard’ to Beat if He's Not Impeached

Discussion: KGW-TV

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

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, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

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

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

Kristine Phillips / USA Today:
Donor who gave $900,000 to Trump's inaugural committee to plead guilty to foreign lobbying, other charges

Discussion: Law & Crime

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

Discussion: Mother Jones, HuffPost 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

New York Times:

Boris Johnson Loses a Critical Brexit Vote, Throwing the Process Into Disarray — Lawmakers voted down a measure to compress the timetable to debate the new withdrawal deal, in a rebuke to the prime minister — LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a damaging setback Tuesday …

Ryan Heath / Politico:
Britain takes another Brexit baby step

Discussion: Politico, One America News Network and Lawfare

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, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home, RedState and National Review

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

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and NB Blog

Tom Metcalf / Bloomberg:

WeWork Needed a Bailout—But Adam Neumann Still Leaves a Billionaire — SoftBank rescue values office-sharing firm at about $8 billion — Founder Neumann is expected to sell about $1 billion of stock — WeWork's value has tumbled, about 2,000 employees are being cut and many investors …

Discussion: Vox and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Geneva Sands / CNN:

Kirstjen Nielsen says she left DHS because ‘saying no’ wasn't enough — Washington (CNN)Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday said she left office because “saying no” and refusing to do things that others in the administration wanted was “not going to be enough.”

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:
Nielsen on leaving Trump administration: ‘Saying no and refusing to do it myself was not going to be enough’

Discussion: NBC News and Axios

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:

Trump's sick trivialization of lynching — and two senators' outrageous justifications — President Trump had long been a cancer on the presidency and American society. By invoking lynching, the tool of white supremacy to subjugate African Americans since their liberation …