memeorandum: Trump-Ukraine impeachment made simple: Smear Biden and you'll get your military aid (Tom Nichols/USA Today)

4:30 PM ET, November 13, 2019

Top Items:

Takeaways so far from House public impeachment hearings — WASHINGTON (AP) — The start of public impeachment hearings unfolding in Congress marks the first time the American public can watch and listen to the witnesses at the heart of the matter. — In several hours of testimony …

Discussion: Florida Politics, Associated Press and Breitbart

Rep. Devin Nunes / The Permanent Select Committee …:

Nunes Opening Statement for Kent and Taylor Hearing on Impeachment — f t # e — Opening Statement for Kent and Taylor Hearing on Impeachment — In a July open hearing of this committee following publication of the Mueller report, the Democrats engaged in a last-ditch effort to convince …

Discussion: The Federalist, Washington Post, American Greatness, National Review, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Politico

ABC News:

Testimony at 1st impeachment hearing: Trump asked about Ukraine ‘investigations’ — The historic first public impeachment hearing ended Wednesday with Democrats hoping to have made their case to millions of Americans watching on television that President Donald Trump's conduct has been so serious he deserves to be removed from office.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and The Week

CBS News:

Diplomat says aide heard Trump ask about “investigations” day after Ukraine call — live updates — Latest updates on the impeachment hearings — The House is holding the first public hearings of the impeachment probe, with two key diplomatic officials testifying before the Intelligence Committee.

Discussion: The Federalist, Politico, Roll Call, National File, TVNewser, Breitbart, Mother Jones, Law & Crime, Townhall, The Hill, CBS Baltimore and Mediaite

Associated Press:
The Latest: Kremlin weighs in on Trump impeachment hearings

Discussion: The Week

NBC News:
Taylor says staffer overheard Trump ask Sondland about ‘the investigations’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Redstate and Mother Jones

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Key Moments From the First Public Impeachment Hearing

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Stranger, Rolling Stone, The National Interest and Raw Story

Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Trump: I'm ‘too busy’ to watch impeachment hearings

Discussion: Mediaite, Fox News and Spectator USA

Bonchie / Redstate:
Impeachment Updates: Devin Nunes Comes Hard in His Opening Statement, Adam Schiff Makes a Ridiculous Claim

Discussion: NBC News and The Week

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
LIVE Watch Live And Read Our Analysis: The Trump Impeachment Hearings Hide, Video

Discussion: Althouse

Alayna Treene / Axios:
What to expect from impeachment

Discussion: One America News Network, Politico, CNN, The Hill, The Week, The Guardian and Hot Air

Politico:
House Intel panel announces additional witnesses for public impeachment hearings

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, Breitbart, Raw Story and Hullabaloo

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Most voters remain unmovable in impeachment views

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill, Right Wing Watch and Axios

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Deval Patrick Tells Democrats He Will Run in 2020 Presidential Race — Mr. Patrick, the former two-term governor of Massachusetts, called several leading Democrats and allies to say that he would announce a 2020 presidential bid later this week. — NEW ORLEANS — Former Gov. Deval Patrick …

Discussion: National Review, Axios, The Atlantic and Political Wire

Jeff Zeleny / CNN:

Deval Patrick tells allies he's running for president — (CNN)Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is telling friends and allies in phone calls on Wednesday that he has made a decision to run for president, two people familiar with the matter say. — Plans for the timing …

Discussion: The Hill and FiveThirtyEight

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: We know how the impeachment show ends, but we're still watching — DRIVING THE DAY — THE HOUSE'S IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS KIND OF LIKE WATCHING the newest season of “Jack Ryan” on Amazon Prime Video. Sure, the twists and turns are exciting.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, Washington Post, Defense One, Foreign Policy, One America News Network, Wall Street Journal and NBC News

John F. Harris / Politico:

What Impeachment Will Cost the GOP — On December 19, 1998, the day House Republicans impeached President Bill Clinton, he recorded his highest-ever score in Gallup's presidential approval poll: 73 percent favorable. — That was 24 percentage points higher than Clinton's …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Axios:

House Republicans might throw Rudy Giuliani under the bus to save Trump during impeachment — Top House Republican sources tell Axios that one impeachment survival strategy will be to try to distance President Trump from any Ukraine quid pro quo, with Rudy Giuliani potentially going under the bus.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Associated Press, Daily Kos, Gothamist and CNN

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP senator: Republicans don't have votes to dismiss impeachment articles

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review and FOX News Radio

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
McConnell discounts quick dismissal of Trump impeachment articles: 'We'll have to have a trial'

Discussion: National Review and The Daily Caller

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The impossibility of separating Giuliani from Trump — There's a concept in pop culture called “retconning,” short for retroactive continuity. The idea is that people working on continuations of existing stories — such as the people making a new “Star Wars” film, for example …

Discussion: Lawfare, PBS NewsHour, The Hill and CNN

NBC News:
The impeachment hearings could turn out to be more unpredictable than you think

Discussion: USA Today, National Journal, Fox News, Townhall, National Review and The Hill

Rudy Giuliani / Wall Street Journal:
The Case for the Impeachment Defense

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, The National Interest, IJR, Fox News, HuffPost, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite and Axios

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
New testimony ties Trump more directly to Ukraine pressure campaign

Discussion: The Stranger and New York Times

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

University of Florida's student president faces impeachment after bringing Donald Trump Jr. to campus for $50,000 — After the University of Florida's student body president helped bring Donald Trump Jr. and Trump campaign adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle to campus last month to the tune of $50,000 …

Discussion: Washington Times, IJR and Raw Story

Megan Reeves / Tampa Bay Times:
UF student president faces impeachment over Trump Jr. visit

Discussion: New York Post

Sui-Lee Wee / New York Times:

Plague Is Diagnosed in China, Prompting Fears of an Outbreak — Two cases of pneumonic plague, a fatal and highly infectious illness related to bubonic plague, were diagnosed in Beijing. — 阅读.体中文.閱讀.體中文.

Discussion: Foreign Policy and Slate

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

Chad Wolf sworn in as acting Department of Homeland Security chief, fifth under Trump — Chad Wolf was sworn in Wednesday as the new acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the fifth person to hold the top job under President Trump, a period of unusually high leadership turnover …

Discussion: Axios and Wall Street Journal

CNN:
Cuccinelli expected to be elevated to acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security

Discussion: Vox, Axios and The Hill

Taffy Brodesser-Akner / New York Times:

This Tom Hanks Story Will Help You Feel Less Bad — Hanks is playing Mister Rogers in a new movie and is just as nice as you think he is. Please read this article anyway. — Here is a list of stories about Tom Hanks I've heard over the last few miserable months, as it appeared that politeness …

Discussion: Page Six

David Brown / Politico:

Trump says U.S. left troops in Syria ‘only for the oil,’ appearing to contradict Pentagon — President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the U.S. mission in Syria is focused solely on protecting oil fields, which appears to contradict the Pentagon's contention that fighting ISIS is the priority.

Discussion: One America News Network

CNN:
Trump invites GOP senators for unusual meeting with Erdoğan to ‘clear the air’

Discussion: New York Post

Dan Cobb / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

AJC POLL: Trump faces tough re-election fight in Georgia — A majority of Georgians disapprove of President Donald Trump's performance in the White House and he appears to be facing a hard fight against each of the five top Democratic candidates seeking to replace him, according to an exclusive Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Resurgent, Bloomberg and Political Wire

Tom Nichols / USA Today:

Trump-Ukraine impeachment made simple: Smear Biden and you'll get your military aid — Public servants are protecting us, but don't invest much hope in Republicans — even those who have already blown the canopy to eject from the burning GOP. — As Congress moves into the public phase …

Ryan Lizza / Politico:

The impeachment calculus Democrats don't want to talk about — Sen. Brian Schatz, the Democrat from Hawaii, is well-known for a jokey Twitter feed popular with the #Resistance. When I talked to him last night as he was walking into the Senate on the eve of the first impeachment hearings in 21 years, he was in a more serious mood.

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story and New York Times

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:

Democrats' impeachment lawyer cut his teeth prosecuting mobsters, Wall Street cheats — The Democrats' lead impeachment hearing lawyer made his bones as a prosecutor by sending mobsters, stock swindlers and a multimillion-dollar inside trader to prison, cases in which colleagues said he mixed brains and “swagger” to win convictions.

Discussion: Slate

Carlos Lozada / Washington Post:

Profiles in Thinking About Courage: inside ‘A Warning’ by Anonymous — By Anonymous. Twelve. 259 pp. $30 — There is a good reason the anonymous Trump administration official who published an opinion essay in the New York Times last year describing an internal resistance to the president has managed to remain anonymous.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Katia Dmitrieva / Bloomberg:

U.S. October Budget Gap Widens to $134.5 Billion From Year Ago — Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast. — The U.S. budget deficit widened in October, the first month of the fiscal year …