memeorandum: Klobuchar, Sanders slam Bloomberg over multimillion-dollar ad buy (Fox News)

7:35 PM ET, November 22, 2019

Top Items:

Russia Inquiry Review Is Said to Criticize F.B.I. but Rebuff Claims of Biased Acts — A watchdog report will portray the pursuit of a wiretap of an ex-Trump adviser as sloppy, but it also debunks some accusations by Trump allies of F.B.I. wrongdoing. — WASHINGTON — A highly anticipated report …

Washington Post:

Justice Dept. watchdog finds political bias did not taint top officials running the FBI's Russia probe but documents other errors — The Justice Department's internal watchdog is expected to find in a forthcoming report that political bias did not taint top officials running the FBI investigation …

Discussion: Townhall, Law & Crime and Raw Story

New York Times:

Charges of Ukrainian Meddling? A Russian Operation, U.S. Intelligence Says — Moscow has run a yearslong operation to blame Ukraine for its own 2016 election interference. Republicans have used similar talking points to defend President Trump in impeachment proceedings.

Discussion: Associated Press, Axios, Mother Jones, The Intercept, Washington Times, FactCheck.org, The Week, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, Political Wire, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Outside the Beltway

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

The Awful Truth About Impeachment — Facts be damned is Trump's approach, and it's working. — After five days, twelve witnesses, lots of shouting, and dozens of angry tweets from the President, the House Intelligence Committee's public impeachment hearings into Donald Trump's Ukraine affair ended …

Discussion: Washington Post, RealClearPolitics and The Nation

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Defenders Have No Defense — Witnesses were uneven, but even his closest allies don't try to deny he did what he's accused of doing. — Look, the case has been made. Almost everything in the impeachment hearings this week fleshed out and backed up the charge that President Trump muscled Ukraine for political gain.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Keep in mind these points about a historic week

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Tom Nichols / USA Today: Hill, Holmes impeachment hearing: Experts beat crackpots on Trump, Russia and Ukraine

Eric Bradner / CNN:

Biden: Lindsey Graham will ‘regret his whole life’ doing Trump's bidding on Ukraine — Watch “CNN Tonight” at 10 p.m. ET to see Don Lemon's full interview with former Vice President Joe Biden. — Abbeville, South Carolina (CNN)Joe Biden said he is “embarrassed” for South Carolina …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, HuffPost and TheBlaze

John Solomon Reports:
Responding to Lt. Col. Vindman about my Ukraine columns ... with the facts

Discussion: BizPac Review, Twitchy and Breitbart

CNN:
Trump makes at least 18 false claims in ranting Fox & Friends interview

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Daily Kos

Marc Caputo / Politico:
Biden camp: Graham ‘forfeited his conscience’ over Ukraine

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze and Axios

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:

‘A lot of things are the matter with me’: The best lines from Trump's Fox interview — President Donald Trump called in to “Fox & Friends” on Friday for a nearly hour-long interview that he agreed after was a form of “stress relief.” — As House Democrats close in on an impeachment vote …

Discussion: One America News Network, Mediaite and Breitbart

Toluse Olorunnipa / Washington Post: In rollicking 53-minute conversation, Trump embraces conspiracies, spreads falsehoods and insults opponents

David Lynch / Washington Post:
Trump says he might veto legislation that aims to protect human rights in Hong Kong because bill …

Discussion: Reason and Foreign Policy

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: Trump riffs for an hour, Bloomberg's big buy

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's GOP defenders cannot be shamed. It's time to try this instead. — If there is one widely shared conclusion about the impeachment hearings that have just concluded, it's that President Trump's GOP defenders were never “gettable.” — This idea has been repeated countless times in recent days …

Discussion: Slate, The Atlantic and New York Times

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Read This — I read through this a number of times before deciding to publish it. But I strongly, strongly recommend it to you. The author of the email is a former federal prosecutor. When I first read it I confess I found it all a bit loopy or improbable.

Discussion: CNN, The Mahablog, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Trump opens up Camp David as an ‘adult playground’ to woo GOP lawmakers during impeachment — President Trump, partial to gold and marble elegance, never took a shine to rustic Camp David. So acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney pitched him on an unusual idea at the start of the House impeachment inquiry …

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
In Trump impeachment trial, Senate Republicans could turn tables on Dems

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Signal and Politico

Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:
Trump Attacks Impeachment Inquiry and Accuses a Witness of Lying

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Crooked Media and HuffPost

YouTube:

ADL International Leadership Award Presented to Sacha Baron Cohen at Never Is Now 2019 … Sacha Baron Cohen is the well-deserved recipient of ADL's International Leadership Award, which goes to exceptional individuals who combine professional success with a profound personal commitment …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and TechCrunch

Sacha Baron Cohen / The Guardian:
Read Sacha Baron Cohen's scathing attack on Facebook in full: ‘greatest propaganda machine in history’

Discussion: Reason, Mashable and Algemeiner.com

Sydney Morning Herald:

Defecting Chinese spy offers information trove to Australian government — A Chinese spy has risked his life to defect to Australia and is now offering a trove of unprecedented inside intelligence on how China conducts its interference operations abroad. — Wang “William” Liqiang …

Discussion: PoliticalShort and TechCrunch

Geoff Bennett / NBC News:

Yovanovitch's lawyers rate Trump's embassy portrait claim Pinocchio worthy — Lawyers for former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch say President Donald Trump's claim that she refused to hang his picture in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine is false. — “The Embassy in Kyiv hung …

Discussion: CBS News, Occupy Democrats and Talking Points Memo

Michael Calderone / Politico: Jake Tapper: Trump is trying to ‘gaslight the country’

Katie Benner / New York Times:

Barr's Legal Views Come Under Fire From Conservative-Leaning Lawyers — A speech by Mr. Barr last week, in which he argued that Mr. Trump had never overstepped his authority, so alarmed a group of lawyers that they felt compelled to push back publicly. — WASHINGTON — A group …

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

South Bend black leader endorses Biden, rebukes Buttigieg — The longest-serving African American man on the South Bend, Ind., Common Council is endorsing Joe Biden for president, a rejection of Pete Buttigieg that highlights the South Bend mayor's struggles with black voters.

Discussion: Townhall, Fox News, Associated Press, CNN, Mediaite, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, The Boston Globe, The Hill, Axios, The Guardian, Lawyers, Guns & Money, CBS News, Mother Jones, Roll Call and New York Times

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Bolton Teases a City Eager to Hear His Story — John R. Bolton, President Trump's former national security adviser, said he was breaking his silence — on Twitter. But what he meant was that he was taking back control of his Twitter account. He kept quiet on Ukraine and impeachment.

Discussion: Big League Politics, The Daily Caller and Hullabaloo

Erin Banco / The Daily Beast: Bolton Allies Cut Out ‘Three Amigos’ for Direct Line to Kyiv

Fox News:

Klobuchar, Sanders slam Bloomberg over multimillion-dollar ad buy — HENNIKER, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar isn't pulling any punches when it comes to likely 2020 nomination rival Mike Bloomberg. — “I literally believe people want something different than another wealthy person in the White House.

Discussion: The Hill

Marc Caputo / Politico:
Bloomberg makes ‘massive’ ad buy

Discussion: The Hill, Joe.My.God., Political Wire, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Harry Siegel / New York Daily News:

‘1984’ arrives 35 years late: Republicans like Devin Nunes are intent on making 2 plus 2 equal whatever the hell they want it to — “It was a bright cold day,” begins George Orwell's “1984,” “and the clocks were striking 13.” — That came to mind as the impeachment drama reached its 11th hour …

Grant Stern / Occupy Democrats:
House Dem points out that Devin Nunes could be an impeachment inquiry witness

Discussion: Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Sky Palma / Raw Story:

‘Delete your account traitor’: GOPer Marsha Blackburn slammed for ugly smear of Lt. Col. Vindman — In a tweet fired off today, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) took a jab at one of the witnesses who testified at this week's hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, and she immediately …

Ellen Barry / New York Times:

The Jungle Prince of Delhi — For 40 years, journalists chronicled the eccentric royal family of Oudh, deposed aristocrats who lived in a ruined palace in the Indian capital. It was a tragic, astonishing story. But was it true? — NEW DELHI — On a spring afternoon in 2016 …

David Brennan / Newsweek:

Trump Said U.S. Is ‘Getting Raped’ by NATO, Has Pushed to Exit Alliance According to White House Insider — President Donald Trump's criticisms of NATO have been one of the most concerning elements of his presidency to date for career diplomats and Pentagon officials.

Gabby Orr / Politico:
'He cares about his grievances and his reelection, and that's it'

Discussion: Associated Press, NPR, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Salt Lake Tribune, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, Fox News, ABC News and The Hill

Brent Larkin / Plain Dealer:

Jim Jordan was imposed on us for egregiously partisan reasons. Now he's afflicting the nation. — CLEVELAND — Of all the regions in all the states in all the country, Jim Jordan got dragged into ours. There was no good reason to punish Greater Cleveland by making the person who's …

Discussion: Raw Story, Fox News and Washington Post

Jack Holmes / Esquire:

President Fox News Grandpa Had Himself a Morning on Fox & Friends — If you are in any way tethered to observable reality, you will have noticed that this was not a good week for Donald Trump, American president. — A parade of witnesses testified under oath

Discussion: Vox, POLITICUSUSA and Washington Post

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Shepard Smith, Former Fox News Anchor, Puts $500,000 Behind Free Press — A Committee to Protect Journalists event, where he also gave a speech, was the anchor's first public appearance since he abruptly left the network. — In his first public remarks since abruptly resigning from Fox News last month …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, IJR, BizPac Review, The Wrap, Talking Points Memo, USA Today, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Politico, Washington Times, Raw Story and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Kotch / Sludge:

Nation's Biggest Charity Is Funding Influential White Nationalist Group — A charitable nonprofit linked to Fidelity Investments has donated at least $100,000 to the New Century Foundation, the organization behind white nationalist publication American Renaissance, since mid-2015. — EDITED BY

Discussion: HuffPost

Seth Cousins / Washington Post:

I was a juror in Roger Stone's trial. I am proud of how we came to our decision. — Seth Cousins was juror Number 3 in the Roger Stone trial. — During the first half of November, I traveled a brief journey with 14 fellow Americans, all of them strangers to me.

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Chick-fil-A Caves to the Left, the Cartoon — I wrote here about Chick-fil-A caving in to liberal pressure by limiting its financial support to a small group of organizations that does not include, among others, the Salvation Army. This strikes me as an unforced error and a terrible business decision.

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Trump and His Corrupt Old Party — For Republicans, there is no bottom. — Formally, the House of Representatives is holding an inquiry into the question of whether Donald J. Trump should be impeached. In reality, we've known the answer to that question for a long time.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Daily Kos