Top Items:
CBS News:
Possible pay-to-play scheme for ambassador role in Trump administration uncovered by CBS News — A CBS News investigation has uncovered a possible pay-for-play scheme involving the Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to the Bahamas.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and The Week
RELATED:
Brad Reed / Raw Story:
GOP demanded $500K donation from Trump Bahamas ambassador during his Senate confirmation hearings — Newly uncovered emails reveal that the Republican National Committee demanded that President Donald Trump's nominee for the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas donate $500,000 ahead of his Senate confirmation hearings.
NBC News:
Trump's impeachment ire turns on Pompeo amid diplomats' starring roles — Impeachment hearings have created a rift between the president and one of his staunchest allies in the administration. — WASHINGTON —The Ukraine impeachment inquiry has created the first rift between President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Political Wire and Patterico's Pontifications
RELATED:
Axios:
The schedule for this week's impeachment hearings — The House Intelligence Committee will begin its second week of public hearings in its impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, holding five hearings with eight witnesses over three days. — The big picture: Unlike last week's testimonies from Bill Taylor …
Discussion:
Politico
Devan Cole / CNN:
Republican congressman calls new details about Trump revealed in impeachment testimony ‘alarming’
Republican congressman calls new details about Trump revealed in impeachment testimony ‘alarming’
Rishika Dugyala / Politico:
Trump labels top Pence aide a ‘Never Trumper’
Trump labels top Pence aide a ‘Never Trumper’
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Raw Story, Associated Press, his vorpal sword, Slate, Axios, Mother Jones and The Hill
Desmond Butler / Associated Press:
AP Exclusive: US officials knew of Ukraine's Trump anxiety — WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite his denials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was feeling pressure from the Trump Administration to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden before his July phone call with President Donald Trump that has led to impeachment hearings.
Discussion:
Axios, Political Wire and Raw Story
Kendall Karson / ABC News:
70% of Americans say Trump's actions tied to Ukraine were wrong: POLL — An overwhelming 70% of Americans think President Donald Trump's request to a foreign leader to investigate his political rival, which sits at the heart of the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, was wrong, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
Discussion:
The American Independent, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, New York Post, Twitchy, Mediaite, The Week, Washington Times, 6abc, Political Wire and Althouse
RELATED:
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Trump says he'll ‘strongly consider’ Pelosi invite to testify in impeachment hearings
Trump says he'll ‘strongly consider’ Pelosi invite to testify in impeachment hearings
Discussion:
Associated Press
Mario Parker / Bloomberg:
Trump Says He Will Mull Testifying in Probe: Impeachment Update
Trump Says He Will Mull Testifying in Probe: Impeachment Update
Discussion:
ABC News
Ryan Goodman / Just Security:
Chart: Side-by-Side Comparison of Kurt Volker's vs Other Witnesses' Testimony in Impeachment Inquiry — Introduction by Ryan Goodman: — Ambassador Kurt Volker faces a serious credibility problem for having denied knowledge or involvement in President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani's efforts …
Discussion:
Raw Story
RELATED:
Murray Waas / Vox:
The wolves are coming for Kurt Volker
Kim Tong-hyung / Associated Press:
North Korea says it won't give Trump a summit for free — In this undated photo provided on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, poses with North Korean air force sharpshooters and soldiers for a photo at an unknown location in North Korea.
Discussion:
IJR and Political Wire
RELATED:
Adam Taylor / Washington Post:
North Korea says it doesn't want Trump meeting if it's just something for him to brag about
North Korea says it doesn't want Trump meeting if it's just something for him to brag about
Discussion:
IJR, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg and PJ Media Home
Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:
Gordon Sondland Stepped In ‘and Things Went Really Off the Rails’ — “Erratic,” “very emotional,” and “lots of yelling.” Those are some of the words used to describe Sondland's performance in a White House meeting with top Ukrainian officials. — Ukrainian officials arrived at the White House …
Discussion:
Washington Post
RELATED:
John Wagner / Washington Post:
Live updates: Trump says he will ‘strongly consider’ testifying in writing in impeachment probe
Live updates: Trump says he will ‘strongly consider’ testifying in writing in impeachment probe
Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: Ok Boomer: We're more pragmatic than you think, say young voters in new study
Power Up: Ok Boomer: We're more pragmatic than you think, say young voters in new study
Discussion:
HuffPost, Political Wire, Axios and Wall Street Journal
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Republicans Shift Defense of Trump While He Attacks Another Witness
Republicans Shift Defense of Trump While He Attacks Another Witness
New York Times:
The Iran Cables: Secret Documents Show How Tehran Wields Power in Iraq — Hundreds of leaked intelligence reports shed light on a shadow war for regional influence — and the battles within the Islamic Republic's own spy divisions — In mid-October, with unrest swirling in Baghdad …
Discussion:
Axios
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes — Advisers say the president pulled back from proposed restrictions intended to curb teenage vaping after he was warned of the political fallout among voters. — WASHINGTON — It was a swift and bold reaction to a growing public health crisis affecting teenagers.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, National Review, IJR, Reason, CNN, The Hill, The Week and KTLA
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump pulls back from flavored vaping ban
Trump pulls back from flavored vaping ban
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Townhall, Slate, The Week and Axios
Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
How Soledad O'Brien Became CNN and the Mainstream Media's Most Outspoken Critic — For Soledad O'Brien, the presidency of Donald Trump has ripped the cover off a lot of things, including the fragility of American democracy, the cravenness of many of our elected officials, and …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Conservative Group Fires Michelle Malkin Over Support for Holocaust Denier — Malkin's firing from Young America's Foundation marks the latest battle between supporters of Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and more establishment conservative figures. — A conservative group cut ties …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Jewish Insider and The Hill
New York Times:
President Trump Bet Big This Election Year. Here's Why He Lost. — In Louisiana and Kentucky, Mr. Trump's political pleas appeared to energize Democrats and political moderates as much as his own base, sending turnout in cities and suburbs soaring. — WASHINGTON — When President Trump showed …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Daily Kos, Political Wire and Politico
RELATED:
Alexander Burns / New York Times:
How Moderates Are Seizing the Moment in the Democratic Primary
How Moderates Are Seizing the Moment in the Democratic Primary
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Stephanie Nebehay / Reuters:
U.S. has world's highest rate of children in detention: U.N. study — GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has the world's highest rate of children in detention, including more than 100,000 in immigration-related custody that violates international law, the author of a United Nations study said on Monday.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's Retribution Against the Washington Post Owner Is His Gravest Abuse of Power — The saga of President Trump's reprisals against Amazon has lurked on the margin of the news, largely overshadowed by the Ukraine scandal. Late Thursday night, Amazon revealed it had filed a protest …
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
New York Times editor says Trump has put his reporters' lives at risk — Dean Baquet decries abuse of journalists and defends not calling president racist — The executive editor of the New York Times has accused Donald Trump of putting his reporters' lives at risk by subjecting …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Political Wire, The Hill and Mediaite
Andrea González-Ramírez / GEN:
What It's Like to Be Young and Fired Up for Joe Biden — In Iowa, a handful of Gen Z and millennial voters brave the cold to rally for the 76-year-old former vice president — Alladin Dafalla is pretty certain he's all in on Joe Biden. — Sure, Dafalla admits the former vice president lacks …
RELATED:
Osita Nwanevu / New Republic:
Joe Biden's Frantic Defense of the Status Quo
Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
House staffers on a summer trip to Ukraine learned U.S. aid was frozen. Stunned, here's what they did next. — The untold story of how two congressional aides who track federal spending got wind something was wrong and touched off a scramble to find the truth.
Discussion:
The Hill
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Democrats don't want public to know origins of Ukraine probe like they didn't want public to know origins of Russia probe — Why are House Democrats stonewalling questions about the identity of the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower? — Start by taking them at their word.
Discussion:
emptywheel
New York Times:
‘No One Believes Anything’: Voters Worn Out by a Fog of Political News — Paying attention to the impeachment inquiry and other developments means having to figure out what is true, false or spin. Many Americans are throwing up their hands and tuning it all out.
CNN:
Prosecutors in Giuliani investigation interested in talking to Ukrainian energy company — (CNN)Federal prosecutors in New York who are investigating Rudy Giuliani are seeking to interview people with knowledge of Ukraine's state-run oil-and-gas company, Naftogaz, according to two people familiar …
Discussion:
Law & Crime and Raw Story
Cory A. Booker / New York Times:
Stop Being Dogmatic About Public Charter Schools — We can't dismiss good ideas because they don't fit into neat ideological boxes or don't personally affect some of the louder, more privileged voices in the party. — Mr. Booker is a Democratic senator from New Jersey and a presidential candidate.
Discussion:
Eduwonk