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

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 …

Why Deval Patrick Is Making A Late Bid For The Democratic Nomination  —  It may seem strange that former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is entering the presidential race, as he will reportedly announce on Thursday.  It's really late.  The field still has 16 “major” candidates.

Impeachment Is Not a Fair Fight, and on Day One It Showed  —  If it looked like House Republicans were throwing a lot of mud at the wall to see what might stick during the first day of public impeachment hearings, that's because they had settled into a strategy many defense attorneys adopt …

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.

Trump lawyers poised to take tax returns fight to Supreme Court  —  The fight over access to President Donald Trump's tax returns is expected to reach the Supreme Court on Thursday via one of two fast-track requests the president plans in a last-ditch bid to keep his financial records secret …

Michael Bloomberg Has a History of Demeaning Comments About Women  —  As he prepares a presidential run, Mr. Bloomberg's crude remarks are likely to draw scrutiny.  His team issued a statement saying that some of them were “disrespectful and wrong.”  —  It was a cheeky birthday gift …

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.

Nixon WH Lawyer John Dean: First Day of Trump Hearings Yielded More Damning Testimony Than All of Watergate  —  Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean characterized the first day of public impeachment testimony against President Donald Trump as both thorough and damning, saying House Democrats …

Warren Wealth Tax Could Slow Economy, Early Analysis Finds  —  A preliminary projection of Senator Elizabeth Warren's proposed wealth tax said a drop in investment by the richest Americans would crimp growth.  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren's proposed wealth tax would slow …

Impeachment's dueling echo chambers  —  The story of the first day of public impeachment hearings varied dramatically Wednesday based on where consumers get their news.  —  Why it matters: The absence of shared facts and narratives on TV and online will make it hard for either party to make its case stick.

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.

Facebook fetes Kavanaugh  —  Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has kept a relatively low-profile since the Senate narrowly confirmed him last year amidst serious allegations of sexual assault.  That will change tonight when Kavanaugh is the keynote speaker at the annual convention …

AP-NORC/USA Facts poll: Americans struggle to ID true facts  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sharply divided country, here's something many Americans agree on: It's hard to know what's a true and honest fact.  —  A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research …

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 …

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 …

Trump's Best Defense on Impeachment Undermines His Case for Re-Election  —  Insubordinate bureaucrats may save him from being removed from office, but they also show him to be a weak president.  —  The best defense of President Donald Trump on the first day of the House's public impeachment hearings came …

Rush Limbaugh Mocks Bill Taylor, George Kent as ‘Self-Important Nerds’ Who ‘Believe in Their Own Superiority’  —  As the impeachment hearing was underway today, Rush Limbaugh said that both Bill Taylor and George Kent are “self-important nerds” who are only upset because the president wouldn't do foreign policy their way.

POLITICO Playbook: What Democrats and Republicans are telling us about Wednesday's impeachment show  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  DAY ONE IS OVER, and it's hard to encapsulate six hours of hearings in a single headline.  We spent the evening in the Capitol chatting up lawmakers, aides and reporters …