Top Items:
Associated Press:
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.
RELATED:
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Ambassador's cellphone call to Trump from Kyiv restaurant was a stunning breach of security, former officials say — A U.S. ambassador's cellphone call to President Trump from a restaurant in the capital of Ukraine last summer was a stunning breach of security, exposing the conversation …
Discussion:
New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Stranger, Tangle, The Week, The Atlantic, Politico, Vox, NBC News and POLITICUSUSA
Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:
10 Takeaways From Day One of Impeachment — After weeks of Republican complaints about the secret “Soviet-style” hearings, there was something deliciously ironic about watching Devin Nunes pivoting to complain that Wednesday's public impeachment hearing was a “televised theatrical performance.”
Discussion:
Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Mother Jones, NBC News and The Week
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Crazy for Trump: On the G.O.P. Plan to Keep Impeachment Partisan — The hearings open with diplomatic gravitas—and nutty conspiracy theories. — It didn't take long for the crazy to start. Even before the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump had been sworn …
Discussion:
The Hill, Progress Pond, New York Times and Washington Post
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:
The Atlantic and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »
Washington Post:
Live updates: Pelosi says testimony of diplomats ‘corroborated evidence of bribery’ by Trump
Live updates: Pelosi says testimony of diplomats ‘corroborated evidence of bribery’ by Trump
Discussion:
Political Wire
Noah Bookbinder / New York Times:
The Evidence of Wrongdoing by Trump Is Overwhelming
The Evidence of Wrongdoing by Trump Is Overwhelming
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Guardian and The Atlantic
Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Kellyanne Conway says ‘nothing new’ in impeachment hearing despite new revelations
Kellyanne Conway says ‘nothing new’ in impeachment hearing despite new revelations
Discussion:
The Hill
Matthias Williams / Reuters:
U.S. envoy Sondland did not link Biden probe to aid: Ukraine minister
U.S. envoy Sondland did not link Biden probe to aid: Ukraine minister
Discussion:
Breitbart
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:
Vox, The Hill, Law & Crime, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, The Week and TMZ.com
RELATED:
Los Angeles Times:
Santa Clarita shooting: At least 5 injured; suspect captured, officials say — At least five people were wounded in a shooting at Saugus High School when a gunman opened fire on the Santa Clarita campus early Thursday, authorities said. — At least five people were injured — two critically …
Discussion:
NBC News, KTLA, fox8.com, The Daily Beast, NPR, Talking Points Memo and New York Post
Renato Mariotti / Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, The Hill, The Week, ABC News and Breitbart
RELATED:
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why Democrats did much better than expected in the first hearing
Why Democrats did much better than expected in the first hearing
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Reason
Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
The impeachment hearings, on Earth and Earth-45
The impeachment hearings, on Earth and Earth-45
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, CNN and Slate
William Saletan / Slate:
The Seven Ways Wednesday's Hearing Clarified Trump's Real Motives
The Seven Ways Wednesday's Hearing Clarified Trump's Real Motives
Discussion:
Washington Post, Breitbart and Law & Crime
Axios:
Impeachment's dueling echo chambers
Impeachment's dueling echo chambers
Discussion:
Right Wing Watch, The Daily Northwestern and Politico
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:
NBC News, Fox News, Townhall, ABC News, The Guardian, NPR, One America News Network, Washington Times, Bloomberg, New York Times and Axios
RELATED:
Perry Bacon Jr / FiveThirtyEight:
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.
Discussion:
The Bulwark, CNN, The Atlantic, Washington Post, New York Post, CBS Boston, New York Times, The Hill and Althouse
Hannah Brown / Vox:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is running for president
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is running for president
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times and One America News Network
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:
BBC, National Review, New York Post, The Hill, Defense One, Raw Story, VICE, The Week, CNN, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal and Politico
RELATED:
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 …
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
National Review
RELATED:
Walter Olson / Cato Institute:
Supreme Court Won't Intervene In Connecticut Gunmaker Case, For Now
Supreme Court Won't Intervene In Connecticut Gunmaker Case, For Now
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Reason
Ann Marimow / Washington Post:
Congress can seek eight years of Trump's tax records, appeals court rules
Congress can seek eight years of Trump's tax records, appeals court rules
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Root, HuffPost, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Axios and Political Wire
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
National Review, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Associated Press
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
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
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 …
Discussion:
The Verge and Washington Post
Reed Richardson / Mediaite:
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 …
RELATED:
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:
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
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
Associated Press:
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 …
Discussion:
Political Wire and The Hill
Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
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 …
Discussion:
Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog and CNN
Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press and The Week
The Daily Beast:
Revealed: The Pro-Trump Playbook for Smearing U.S. Diplomats — Ukraine isn't the only place a U.S. official was sidelined after ethically dubious officials peddling conspiracy theories saw an in with Trump's personal attorney. — Foreign governments have settled on a new strategy …
The Economist:
Why Obama-Trump swing voters like heavy metal — Americans' musical tastes mirror their political divides — One reason America has become so polarised is that its two big parties are increasingly seen to represent tribes as well as policies. One study by Lilliana Mason of the University …
Blake Flayton / New York Times:
On the Frontlines of Progressive Anti-Semitism — I am a young, gay, left-wing Jew. Yet I am called an “apartheid-enabler,” a “baby killer” and a “colonial apologist.” — Mr. Flayton is a sophomore at George Washington University. — I have never done 23-and-me, nor have I “ancestry.com'd” myself.
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
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.