memeorandum: Russian spies likely intercepted ambassador's cell phone call with Trump (CNN)

5:20 PM ET, November 14, 2019

Top Items:

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

Rudy Giuliani says Trump will stay loyal to him but jokes that he has ‘insurance’ — Exclusive: The president's personal lawyer has emerged as a key figure in the impeachment inquiry, with speculation that Republicans will seek to paint him as a rogue actor

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Hullabaloo, Political Wire, Law & Crime, The Week, Mediaite, Raw Story and Hot Air

Associated Press:

AP source: 2nd US official heard Trump call with Sondland — WASHINGTON (AP) — A second U.S. Embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing a need for Ukrainian officials to pursue “investigations,” The Associated Press has learned.

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Washington Post, Raw Story, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Law & Crime, Lawyers, Guns & Money, NBC News, KTLA, Daily Kos, The Intercept and CBS News

CNN:

Russian spies likely intercepted ambassador's cell phone call with Trump — Washington (CNN)US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland's cell phone call to President Donald Trump from a restaurant in Ukraine this summer appears to be a shocking security breach that raises significant …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Political Wire, The Guardian and Washington Post

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
The 5 questions Gordon Sondland needs to answer

Discussion: Associated Press, Slate, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA and New York Times

Sharyl Attkisson / The Hill:
The president, not diplomats, sets ‘official foreign policy’

Discussion: HuffPost and Rolling Stone

Associated Press:
AP source: 2nd US embassy official overheard President Trump's call with Sondland about need for Ukraine investigations

Discussion: Raw Story and Shareblue Media

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why Democrats did much better than expected in the first hearing

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Reason

Los Angeles Times:

Santa Clarita shooting: 2 teens killed; attack came on suspect's birthday, officials say — One person was killed and at least four others were injured in a shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita early Thursday, authorities said. — Two students were killed …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, New York Post, KTLA, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Slate and MSNBC

NBC Southern California:

At Least Three Victims in Shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita — Students with arms raised were escorted by deputies from the school about 40 miles north of Los Angeles — There are at least three victims in a shooting Thursday morning at a high school in Santa Clarita, where the search continues for the shooter.

Discussion: KNSD-TV, Breitbart, KTLA, The Hill, USA Today, The Guardian, Law & Crime, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, The Week, New York Post and TMZ.com

Emily Shapiro / ABC News:
3 students killed in California school shooting, 16-year-old suspect in hospital in ‘grave condition’

Discussion: Boing Boing and TheBlaze

New York Times:
Santa Clarita Shooting Updates: Student Kills 2 at California High School

Discussion: National Review, Metro.co.uk, The Hill, Rolling Stone and KTLA

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Senate Confirms Wildly Problematic Trump Court Pick Steven Menashi — He's never tried a case. He condemned women's rights and diversity. He refused to answer senators' questions. Republicans confirmed him anyway. — WASHINGTON ― The Senate voted Thursday to make Steven Menashi …

Discussion: CNN, Common Dreams and Political Wire

Steve Benen / MSNBC: Senate GOP confirms highly controversial Trump judicial nominee

Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Senate confirms controversial Trump judicial nominee

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill and Slate

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Trump lawyers poised to take tax returns fight to Supreme Court

Discussion: One America News Network and National Review

Washington Post:
Senate confirms Menashi to U.S. Court of Appeals in New York

Discussion: Axios

Melissa Ratliff / WLEX:

Gov. Bevin concedes election following recanvass — FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — At a podium inside his office, Governor Matt Bevin conceded the election nine days after losing to Gov.-elect Andy Beshear. — The governor formally requested a recanvass following his loss to Attorney General Andy Beshear.

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Daniel Desrochers / Lexington Herald-Leader:
Matt Bevin concedes Kentucky governor race. 'We're going to have a change.'

Discussion: Political Wire and Balloon Juice

Joe Sonka / Courier-Journal:
Kentucky governors race recanvass: Bevin says he won't contest election outcome

Discussion: electionlawblog.org and 89.3 WFPL News Louisville

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin concedes to Dem Andy Beshear in reelection bid

Discussion: Associated Press, National Review and The Hill

Amber Ruch / KFVS-TV:
Gov. Bevin concedes gubernatorial election

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Gianluca Mezzofiore / CNN:

Italian council is flooded immediately after rejecting measures on climate change — (CNN)Veneto regional council, which is located on Venice's Grand Canal, was flooded for the first time in its history on Tuesday night — just after it rejected measures to combat climate change.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Verge, WTKR-TV, NPR, CityLab, New York Times, Common Dreams and Q13 FOX News

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Five Cellphones, Trump Straws, a Lot of Cash—What This Giuliani Crony Was Carrying When the FBI Arrested Him — Lev Parnas also had the business card of a top Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutor with whom Giuliani met this year. — BEAST INSIDE — When Rudy Giuliani crony Lev Parnas …

Discussion: Raw Story

YouTube:

Deval Patrick Announcement Video — In a spirit of profound gratitude for all the country has given to me, with a determination to build a better, more sustainable, more inclusive American Dream for everyone: — I am today announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.

Discussion: Fox News, Fortune, Politico, The Boston Globe, Fox Business, NPR, The Root, NBC News, The Guardian, One America News Network, Washington Times, Townhall, ABC News, Bloomberg, The Week and Axios

Marc Caputo / Politico:
How Deval Patrick could torpedo Joe Biden

Discussion: Vox, One America News Network, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News, Washington Post and New York Times

Perry Bacon Jr / FiveThirtyEight:
Why Deval Patrick Is Making A Late Bid For The Democratic Nomination

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Slate, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, The Bulwark, The Hill, CBS Boston, New York Times and Althouse

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Fox's prime time stars are telling Trump that the impeachment hearings are a ‘disaster’ for Democrats — New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here. — I wanted to know what President Trump …

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, NBC News and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:
10 Takeaways From Day One of Impeachment

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Slate, Shareblue Media and Tangle

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Crazy for Trump: On the G.O.P. Plan to Keep Impeachment Partisan

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Yahoo News, The Hill, Mother Jones, New York Times and Washington Post

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Erdogan upends Oval meeting to play anti-Kurd film on iPad — An Oval Office meeting yesterday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a dark turn when Erdoğan pulled out his iPad and made the group watch a propaganda video that depicted Kurds as terrorists …

Discussion: Bloomberg, BBC, Politico, The Hill, Commentary, Fox News, CNN, TheBlaze, New York Post, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Defense One, National Review, Raw Story, VICE, The Week, Daily Kos, Ted Cruz, Mediaite and Wall Street Journal

NBC News:

Trump admin preparing to take over private land in Texas for border wall — The Trump administration is preparing court filings to begin taking over private land in Texas to build a border wall as early as this week, say officials. — The Trump administration is preparing court filings …

Discussion: Political Wire

Sabrina Rodriguez / Politico:

Pelosi: USMCA deal is ‘imminent’ — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated on Thursday that a deal between House lawmakers and the Trump administration on the USMCA could be announced within the coming days. — “I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill and Blue Virginia

Washington Post: Live updates: A second State Department official overheard Trump's call with E.U. envoy discussing …

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Bloomberg's Team Calls His Crude Remarks on Women ‘Wrong’ — As Michael Bloomberg prepares a presidential run, his history of crude remarks is likely to draw scrutiny. His team said some were “disrespectful.” — It was a cheeky birthday gift for a hard-charging boss …

Discussion: IJR, Mediaite, The Hill, National Review, The Daily Caller and Associated Press

Morning Call:

Most Pennsylvania voters have dim view of Trump, new poll shows. His Democratic foes have work to do, too — One year before Pennsylvania voters will head to the polls in a critical swing state, a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows nearly six in 10 don't believe President Donald Trump should be re-elected.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire

Branko Marcetic / In These Times:
MSNBC Is the Most Influential Network Among Liberals—And It's Ignoring Bernie Sanders

Discussion: Common Dreams

Charlie Nash / Mediaite:

Steve King Goes Full Steve King: Posts Photos of George Soros' Son Falsely Claiming He's Whistleblower (UPDATED) — Rep. Steve King (R-IA) posted photos of the son of left-wing billionaire George Soros on Thursday, absurdly accusing him of being the White House whistleblower.

Discussion: Mother Jones, New York Times, Occupy Democrats, Iowa Starting Line, Political Wire, The Daily Beast and @politifact

WKRC:

Ohio House passes bill allowing student answers to be scientifically wrong due to religion — COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKRC) - Ohio lawmakers are weighing in on how public schools can teach things like evolution. The Ohio House on Wednesday passed the “Student Religious Liberties Act. ”

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

CNN:

Exclusive: Trump DC hotel sales pitch boasts of millions to be made from foreign governments — The hotel's biggest selling point though, according to a copy of the brochure seen by CNN, is the one thing that the Trump family insists it didn't take advantage of: profiting off foreign governments.

Discussion: The Hill, The Guardian and Raw Story

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Rand Paul may force vote to bring Hunter Biden as witness in impeachment trial — Sen. Rand Paul could force a vote on the Senate floor that would bring Hunter Biden or other White House-favored impeachment witnesses to an impeachment trial. — Paul said on Thursday he's considering forcing votes …

Discussion: Townhall, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

ProPublica:

A Trump Tax Break To Help The Poor Went To a Rich GOP Donor's Superyacht Marina — Wealthy donors Wayne Huizenga Jr. and Jeff Vinik lobbied then-Gov. Rick Scott for the lucrative tax break — and won it. Poorer communities lost out. … The Rybovich superyacht marina lies on the West Palm Beach …

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel, Florida Politics and Boing Boing

Bill Oakley / Washington Post:

One of the defenses of Trump is — literally — a TV-cartoon joke — A former ‘Simpsons’ writer on the ‘Sideshow Bob defense.’ … — Sideshow Bob, “The Simpsons,” Season Six, Episode Five, 1994 — This rhetorical absurdity, originally intended as joke on a TV cartoon, is now being trotted out in all seriousness by the GOP.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

RNC plunges into Louisiana gov's race amid signs of trouble — The Republican National Committee is pouring another $1 million into the Louisiana governor's race ahead of Saturday's runoff — a move that comes amid mounting GOP concerns about losing a second major election in a conservative state in as many weeks.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball, The Hill, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo