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Matt Gaetz Says Storming Impeachment Hearings was Like ‘300’ — Congressman Matt Gaetz sure is feeling himself after leading the blitz of House Republicans into private impeachment hearings — delaying them for hours — and he's glowing about scoring brownie points with POTUS.
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UPI
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Here's why the Matt Gaetz sit-in stunt was particularly weird
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American Greatness, Congressman Matt Gaetz, The Week, The Hill, Daily Kos, The Mahablog and emptywheel

House Democrats look to take impeachment probe public as soon as mid-November
Discussion:
The Guardian, CNN, The Hill, The Atlantic, The Root and Balloon Juice

Republicans Stormed Into The Impeachment Investigation's Secure Room, And It Was Absolute Madness
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The Hill, The Intercept, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Law & Crime, Vox, Slate, The Atlantic, Shareblue Media, Deadline, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Just Security and Bloomberg, more at Mediagazer »


U.S. ambassador to E.U. ‘does not recall’ threatening Ukraine over funding, attorney says — House Democrats say testimony provided Tuesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, could prove devastating to President Trump, showing he had his E.U. ambassador attempt to extort Ukraine using taxpayer money.
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Why Did Republicans Storm the Capitol? They're Running Out of Options
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The Hill, HuffPost, Politico and Washington Post

Trump Pressed Ukraine's President to Act Out a Fake News Script, Live on CNN
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Washington Post, FactCheck.org and USA Today

No. 2 GOP senator: ‘Picture coming out of’ diplomat's testimony ‘not a good one’
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Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos and The Daily Beast

Trump and his defenders are inventing the reality they want
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Washington Examiner, The Hill and WTVR-TV


Rudy Giuliani is looking for a defense attorney, sources say — (CNN)Rudy Giuliani has been approaching defense attorneys for possible representation, according to three sources familiar with the matter. — The move by Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump's personal attorney …
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How two businessmen hustled to profit from access to Rudy Giuliani and the Trump administration — Washington (CNN)Long before they burst onto the national scene with their high-profile arrests at Dulles International Airport earlier this month, Soviet-born businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman …


Cornyn: Not a bad idea to get U.S. troops out of the way if Turkey planned to ‘ethnically cleanse the Kurds’ — The Texas Republican isn't happy about the abrupt U.S. withdrawal but lauded Trump's move, even if it left Kurdish allies unprotected. — WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn lauded …
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Axios, Contemptor and spiked
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Schiff's Secret Bombshells — If the testimony is so damning for Trump, why not make it public? — By The Editorial Board — Bombshell. The walls are closing in. Donald Trump's defense has collapsed. The quid pro quo has been proven, the case for impeachment is obvious …


Klobuchar qualifies for November debate — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) became the ninth candidate to qualify for the fifth Democratic presidential primary debate in November. — Klobuchar qualified after getting 3 percent support in a national poll conducted by Quinnipaic University that was released Thursday morning.
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Bloomberg, The Hill, Washington Times, Political Wire, Washington Post and PJ Media Home
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MSNBC announces four all-star female moderators for November debate
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HuffPost, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Amy Klobuchar qualifies for November Democratic debate
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Political Wire


Trump Education Official to Resign and Call for Mass Student-Loan Forgiveness — A. Wayne Johnson, appointed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, calls the student-loan system ‘fundamentally broken’ — WASHINGTON—A senior student-loan official in the Trump administration said he would resign Thursday …
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Washington Post and Raw Story


Rep. Katie Hill under investigation after allegations of inappropriate relationship with congressional aide — Rep. Katie Hill (D-Santa Clarita) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee after allegations that she engaged in an affair with a congressional aide were made public last week.
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House Committee on Ethics, Breitbart and Axios
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Rep Katie Hill Flees Reporters' Questions, Calls Police On Reporter
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HuffPost, Breitbart and New York Post


Trump's War on the ‘Deep State’ Turns Against Him — The impeachment inquiry is in some ways the culmination of a battle between the president and the government institutions he distrusted and disparaged. — WASHINGTON — Nameless, faceless and voiceless, the C.I.A. officer who first triggered …
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Liberty Unyielding and The Atlantic
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Italy Did Not Fuel U.S. Suspicion of Russian Meddling, Prime Minister Says — Casting holes in a Trump conspiracy theory, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte revealed details of two visits to Rome by Attorney General William P. Barr. — ROME — Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy …
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Talking Points Memo


If Republicans don't stand by Trump, they risk losing their base forever — The Republican Party risks exile for longer than it has endured in the modern era if, in the absence of incontrovertible evidence of actual “high crimes and misdemeanors,” it deserts President Trump during the campaign to remove him from office.
Discussion:
Bloomberg


Trump's ‘Mental Impairment Means He Cannot Think Strategically or in Abstract Terms,’ Claims Professor of Psychiatry — A psychiatry professor claimed President Donald Trump is so mentally impaired that he cannot think in abstract terms and can only view things in a one-dimensional way.


How America's far-left could help re-elect Donald Trump — If America's Democrats could adopt a rule on how not to lose elections, it should be to impose a gag on Hillary Clinton. As it is, Mrs Clinton may already have tweaked the course of the 2020 presidential race.


MLB looking into longtime umpire Rob Drake's tweet — Longtime major league umpire Rob Drake tweeted that he planned to buy an assault rifle “because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020”, according to a copy of the tweet obtained by ESPN.
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Washington Examiner, Slate, Sports Illustrated, Law & Crime, New York Post and Mediaite


Buttigieg jumps to second in Iowa State University/Civiqs poll — AMES, Iowa - Mayor Pete Buttigieg is building momentum in Iowa, according to the latest Iowa State University/Civiqs poll. Of likely caucus-goers, 20% said Buttigieg is their top choice among the field of Democratic presidential candidates.
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Political Wire


Biden allies intensify push for super PAC after lackluster fundraising quarter — Washington (CNN)A coalition of top Democratic strategists and donors are intensifying conversations about setting up an outside group to bolster Joe Biden's presidential candidacy, people familiar with the matter tell CNN …
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Biden is raising big money from big donors, so why is he behind?
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NBC News


UN expert: Iran continues to execute children, has 90 on death row — Javaid Rehman says 7 minors were put to death last year and 2 so far this year; killings come despite human rights law prohibiting death penalty for anyone under age 18 — UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran executed seven child offenders …


National Archives probes Wilbur Ross' use of private email — The National Archives and Records Administration has launched an investigation into Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' use of private email for official business, according to a letter made public this week.
Discussion:
The Hill


The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It. — The share of college students casting ballots doubled from 2014 to 2018, a potential boon to Democrats. But in Texas and elsewhere, Republicans are erecting roadblocks to the polls. — AUSTIN, Texas — At Austin Community College …


Trump's presidency is built on lies. Does he actually believe them? — The president's efforts in Ukraine break Watergate's record for presidential stupidity. What was the point? — A puffed-up Donald Trump on Wednesday peddled his latest Syrian retreat as if his ability …
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight


Watch AOC ask Mark Zuckerberg if she can run fake Facebook ads, too — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) came prepared with questions for Mark Zuckerberg when he appeared on Capitol Hill on October 23, 2019. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images — Zuckerberg's answer on whether Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …
Discussion:
C-SPAN.org, The Week, Axios, Washington Times and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »


Dropshipping journalism — No one working at Newsweek can tell me why it still exists — On March 20, Nancy Cooper, the editor in chief of Newsweek, sent an email to her editorial staff. The subject was “What is a Newsweek story?”—an odd question at an eighty-six-year-old newsmagazine once considered …


The Brexit Knot — Britain now faces a great political and constitutional crisis — Being a classicist, Boris Johnson would be familiar with the Gordian knot. But for anybody whose schoolroom memories need refreshing, the knot in question was put in place by Gordius, king of Phrygia.