Top Items:
Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
Sondland Told House Panels Trump's Ukraine Pressure Was Quid Pro Quo — U.S. envoy to EU told House committees that he believed White House meeting was conditioned on Ukraine opening investigations, his lawyer says — WASHINGTON—A top U.S. diplomat told House committees last week …
Discussion:
Political Wire, The Hill and Mediaite
RELATED:
Vivian Salama / Wall Street Journal:
Official to Testify Pompeo Blocked Show of Support for Ousted Ambassador — Philip Reeker is latest State Department witness called in impeachment inquiry — WASHINGTON—A senior State Department official was set to tell House impeachment investigators Saturday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo …
Discussion:
Vox, CNN and Diplopundit
Washington Post:
Diplomat says top leadership of the State Department rejected his entreaties to publicly support ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine — Philip Reeker, the diplomat in charge of U.S. policy for Europe, is telling House impeachment investigators on Saturday that the top leadership …
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
‘I feel bad that I left’: John Kelly warned Trump he would be impeached — SEA ISLAND, Georgia — John Kelly warned President Trump that hiring a “yes man” to succeed him as White House chief of staff would lead to impeachment and, in hindsight, regrets his decision to resign.
Discussion:
The Guardian, New York Times, Fox News, Axios, Politico, Townhall, LifeZette, Rolling Stone, Slate, Washington Press, Breitbart, Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg, KTLA, New York Post, Progress Pond and Mediaite
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Tristan Greene / The Next Web:
White House cybersecurity chief quits, says leadership is inviting an attack — White House computer security Chief Dimitrios Vistakis gave the White House one helluva resignation notice earlier this week when he quit over practices he dubbed “absurd” including the systemic purging of cybersecurity staff.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Wired and Axios
Caroline Kelly / CNN:
John Kelly says he told Trump, 'don't hire a 'yes man" or ‘you will be impeached’ — (CNN)Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said that before he left the White House last year, he warned President Donald Trump not to hire a replacement who wouldn't tell him the truth or that he would be impeached …
Discussion:
Political Wire, The Hill and Politico
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
‘Catastrophically bad idea’: John Kelly criticizes Trump's Syria pullout — SEA ISLAND, Georgia — John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff, is calling President Trump's decision to remove American troops from northern Syria a “catastrophically bad idea” that is harming U.S. national security …
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story and Political Wire
Gabby Orr / Politico:
‘You can quickly get turned into a pretzel’: How a top Trump fighter escaped the spotlight in a critical month
‘You can quickly get turned into a pretzel’: How a top Trump fighter escaped the spotlight in a critical month
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Trump accuses Obama of treason for ‘spying’ on his 2016 campaign
Trump accuses Obama of treason for ‘spying’ on his 2016 campaign
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite
Washington Post:
In impeachment inquiry, Republican lawmakers ask questions about whistleblower, loyalty to Trump and conspiracy theories — Republican lawmakers have used the congressional impeachment inquiry to gather information on a CIA employee who filed a whistleblower complaint, press witnesses …
Discussion:
Political Wire
BuzzFeed News:
There's A Village In Ukraine Where Rudy Giuliani Is The Honorary Mayor. That's Not The Weird Part Of This Story. — ANATEVKA, Ukraine — Less than 20 miles outside of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, there's a little village inspired by Fiddler on the Roof that is playing an outsize role …
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Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
London trip photos show Giuliani with indicted associate at Yankees' game, Ukrainian charity event — Rudy Giuliani (center) speaks with New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone prior to a game between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in London in June 2019. Lev Parnas, a now-indicted associate …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Josh Partlow / Washington Post:
Company with ties to Trump's brother Robert awarded $33 million government contract — A company in which President Trump's brother has a financial stake received a $33 million contract from the U.S. Marshals Service earlier this year, an award that has drawn protests from two other bidders …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, Washington Press, The Hill and Axios
New York Times:
Rachel Maddow Confronts Her NBC News Bosses Live, on the Air — The MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow publicly confronted the leadership of her own network on Friday night, declaring live on air that she and other NBC News employees had deep concerns about whether the organization …
Discussion:
MSNBC, Vanity Fair, Slate and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Dan Spinelli / Mother Jones:
Trump's Impeachment Woes Grow In Latest Twitter Rant — Somebody is thinking about impeachment this morning. — President Donald Trump's latest weekend tweetstorm took aim at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) …
NBC News:
U.S. military convoy crosses border into northeastern Syria — Several of the vehicles were flying large American flags and were accompanied overhead by attack helicopters, eyewitnesses said. — ERBIL, Iraq — A convoy of U.S. military vehicles has crossed the border from Iraq …
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Political Wire, KVOA-TV and Voice of America
RELATED:
New York Times:
Thanks, Whistle-Blower, Your Work Is Done — White House transcript Statements by officials — Statements by officials Not proven yet — White House transcript Statements by officials — “Where is the Whistleblower, and why did he or she write such a fictitious and incorrect account …
Discussion:
Washington Post
New York Times:
Symbol of '80s Greed Stands to Profit From Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas — RENO, Nev. — In the 1980s, Michael Milken embodied Wall Street greed. A swashbuckling financier, he was charged with playing a central role in a vast insider-trading scheme and was sent to prison for violating federal securities and tax laws.
Discussion:
Althouse
Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:
Maria Butina Receives Hero's Welcome in Moscow — Maria Butina is out of jail and Moscow is celebrating the convicted “spotter” for Russian intelligence. — Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty late last year to conspiring to act on behalf of the Russian government as a clandestine foreign agent …
Discussion:
ICE, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and BBC
Nihal Krishan / Washington Examiner:
Two years in, Trump tax cuts not on course to pay for themselves — After two years, President Trump's tax cuts are not on track to pay for themselves, the latest Treasury data released Friday suggest. — Total federal government revenues ended up lower in 2019 than was projected before the passage of the GOP tax overhaul in 2017.
RELATED:
Thomas Franck / CNBC:
Federal deficit increases 26% to $984 billion for fiscal 2019, highest in 7 years
Federal deficit increases 26% to $984 billion for fiscal 2019, highest in 7 years
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, HuffPost and Washington Post
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
How Warren Went From Wonky Blogger to Democratic Frontrunner — Her path from blogger to, potentially, the White House is the purest illustration of how Bush-era Democratic insurgents have taken positions of power in the time of Trump. — A 70-year-old, twice-elected Senator …
CNN:
Trump ordered Mattis to ‘screw Amazon’ on Pentagon contract, according to new book — (CNN) A new biography of former Defense Secretary James Mattis reports President Donald Trump personally got involved in who would win a major $10 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Hill and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »
Rick Wilson / gen.medium.com:
Is William Barr the Head of DOJ or QAnon? — John Durham's investigation of the Russia probe as a criminal matter is further proof that the Justice Department is a tool for Trump now — I warned you William Barr was the most dangerous man in America. — I warned you he would burn Washington to the ground.
Discussion:
Washington Post, NPR and Fox News
Nell Irvin Painter / New York Times:
A Racist Attack Shows How Whiteness Evolves — An assault at a New Jersey high school football game had an unexpected cast of characters. — Dr. Painter is the author of “The History of White People.” — Two 17-year-old boys accused of harassing four African-American middle schoolgirls …
Discussion:
The American Conservative
Devoun Cetoute / Miami Herald:
Florida woman sets person on fire in Taco Bell, and then may have gone on arson spree, cops say — A Tallahassee woman may have went on a arson spree Wednesday and Thursday, starting at a Taco Bell where a woman was set on fire, cops say. — On Wednesday, Mia Williams …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit
Wall Street Journal:
This Impeachment Subverts the Constitution — It's nakedly political and procedurally defective, and so far there's no public evidence of high crimes. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed committees investigating President Trump to “proceed under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry,” …
Discussion:
warroom.org
Lindsay Wise / Wall Street Journal:
Pompeo Discusses Senate Race in Kansas with Koch — Secretary of State talked to billionaire Charles Koch during a visit to Wichita — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the U.S. Senate race in Kansas with billionaire Charles Koch and a top official from his namesake company during …