memeorandum: State lawmakers acknowledge lobbyists helped craft their op-eds attacking Medicare-for-all (Jeff Stein/Washington Post)

12:30 PM ET, December 2, 2019

Top Items:

Molly Jong-Fast / The Daily Beast:

Lisa Page Speaks: 'There's No Fathomable Way I Have Committed Any Crime at All' — STRIKING BACK — The former FBI lawyer and ongoing Trump target breaks two years of silence in this exclusive interview. And she has quite a lot to say. — It's not often that you interview a subject who has no interest in being famous.

Simon Shuster / TIME:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Speaks Out on Trump, Putin and a Divided Europe — 'I don't trust anyone at all'

Discussion: NBC News, National Review, Politico, Fox News, Political Wire, Breitbart, Daily Kos, Law & Crime, The Independent, The American Independent, IJR, Mediaite, Raw Story, Contemptor and War Room

Washington Post:

Ukraine's Zelensky is making headway against corruption. But the fight risks angering Trump. — KYIV, Ukraine — By the end of this month, more than 500 Ukrainian prosecutors will be out of their jobs as part of sweeping professional reviews under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock drops out of presidential race — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who pitched himself to Democratic voters as a campaign finance reformer who could win in red states, is ending his bid for the party's presidential nomination. — “While there were many obstacles …

Discussion: Breitbart, Associated Press, The Hill, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Axios, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ella Nilsen / Vox: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has dropped out of the 2020 race, and says he won't run for Senate

Niall Stanage / The Hill: The Memo: Trump faces uphill 2020 climb

New York Times:
Steve Bullock Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race

Discussion: UPI

Steve Bullock / Medium:
Thank you. — Today, I announced that I'm suspending my campaign for President.

Discussion: Townhall, CNN, Vanity Fair, NBC News, Slate, New York Post, The Daily Caller, UPI and The Guardian

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

State lawmakers acknowledge lobbyists helped craft their op-eds attacking Medicare-for-all — Emails show opponents are mobilizing at local level to try turn Americans away from big health care changes. — Lobbyists either helped draft or made extensive revisions to opinion columns published …

Discussion: Political Wire

CBS News:

300+ Trump ads taken down by Google, YouTube — 60 Minutes finds over 300 video ads for President Trump were taken down, mostly over the summer, for violating company policy — How to handle political ads on social media has become a growing concern as the 2020 U.S. presidential election approaches.

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home, IJR, Washington Times, Political Wire, Townhall, Sean Hannity and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Rachel M. Cohen / The Intercept:

Nancy Pelosi Pushes the House to Pass USMCA, but Neglects a Bill With Broad Support to Strengthen Unions — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made no secret of her desire to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement by the end of the year, telling reporters recently that it would be her goal for the House to vote on it before Christmas.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

The bad-faith impeachment — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are trying to remove President Trump from office “prayerfully,” and “sadly,” and “with a heavy heart.” In fact, as anyone who has been watching knows, many Democrats have been itching to impeach Trump since the day he took office.

Liz Peek / Fox News:

Trump is gaining black voters — that's terrible news for Democrats — Democrats are frantic. For decades, they have taken the black vote for granted. Today, there are signs that empty promises and radical leftist social policies are leaving black voters behind.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Buttigieg targets black voters with new South Carolina ad

Discussion: Associated Press

Cheyenne Haslett / ABC News:
Young voter asks Elizabeth Warren emotional question about acceptance

Discussion: The Hill and Blue Virginia

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

What Trump has actually done in his first 3 years — A big tax cut, unprecedented environmental degradation, Wall Street unleashed, and a whole lot of judges. — The scandals, the leaks, the outrages, and the bizarre tweets of the last three years can distract from an important fact …

Kate Bennett / CNN:

‘Free, Melania’ offers new details about the life of a private first lady — Adapted from Kate Bennett's “Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography” set for release Tuesday. — Washington (CNN)First lady Melania Trump, like those before her, has battled the vast juxtaposition between public perception and private citizen.

Discussion: Raw Story

Elisabeth Egan / New York Times:
6 Takeaways From Melania Trump's Unauthorized Biography

Discussion: The Root

Politico:

Georgia governor set to buck Trump on Senate appointment — In defiance of Trump, Brian Kemp has begun informing fellow Republicans that he will appoint business exec Kelly Loeffler to the soon-to-be-vacant seat. — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been getting pressure about his prospective Senate pick.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review and The Dispatch

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Washington's December nightmare

Discussion: New York Times

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

What to do about the Kremlin's propagandists — Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) once before walked back an assertion that maybe Ukraine was responsible for meddling in the 2016 election. That has not deterred him from repeating the Kremlin's propaganda. Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he was at it again.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, The Independent and Balloon Juice

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Not enough Pinocchios for Trump's CrowdStrike obsession

Discussion: Raw Story, HuffPost and Axios

Angus King / USA Today:

Ukraine scandal: I know why Trump top dogs — Mulvaney, Pompeo, Perry & Bolton — won't bark — Because it would be so easy for these people to clear the president, it's hard to escape the conclusion that their silence is part of a cover-up. — One of Sherlock Holmes' most famous cases …

Discussion: Raw Story

R.J. Lyman / The Bulwark:

This Is the Single Best Argument For Why Trump Should Be Impeached and Removed — He tried to meddle in the 2020 election. It's crazy to say that you have to let him participate in the 2020 election in order to render a verdict on his attempt to cheat in it.

Helen Raleigh / The Federalist:

Unprecedented Leaks Underscore Deep Discontent Inside China — While the world was still digesting the Xinjiang Papers, two more China-related intelligence information bombs were dropped the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Discussion: Washington Post and Instapundit

Ken Moritsugu / Associated Press: China to suspend US Navy visits to Hong Kong over new law

Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:

Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi's India — The Prime Minister's Hindu-nationalist government has cast two hundred million Muslims as internal enemies. — On August 11th, two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent soldiers in to pacify the Indian state of Kashmir …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

White House won't take part in first House Judiciary impeachment hearing — The White House informed House Democrats on Sunday that it will not participate in the Judiciary Committee's first impeachment hearing, excoriating Democrats' impeachment inquiry as a “baseless” and “partisan” …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Common Dreams, New York Times, HuffPost, UPI, Redstate, Breitbart, The Last Refuge, Reuters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Hill, Axios, Mediaite and Townhall

Mike Allen / Axios:
The House GOP's next impeachment move

Discussion: ABC News, Political Wire and Raw Story

Joe Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Four Were Hanged In 1865 Democrat Coup Involving Lincoln's Assassination - None from 2016 Democrat Coup to Take Out Trump — Democrats running the House are planning today to release their bogus report on fake and made up crimes supposedly committed by President Trump that would warrant impeaching President Trump.

David Freedlander / Politico:

How Bloomberg Could Win. Again. — Michael Bloomberg has begun his improbable bid for the presidency with a rollout you could call unconventional, to be charitable. The big splash was news of his $37 million television ad buy; then there was an overstuffed campaign bio-spot …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Associated Press:

Legal reckoning: New abuse suits could cost church over $4B — 1 of 9 — NEW YORK (AP) — At the end of another long day trying to sign up new clients accusing the Roman Catholic Church of sexual abuse, lawyer Adam Slater gazes out the window of his high-rise Manhattan office …

Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:

Newsweek Demotes Editor After Firing Reporter for Inaccurate Trump Thanksgiving Story — A second employee has been penalized for a story suggesting the president spent Thanksgiving tweeting and playing golf — A Newsweek editor has been demoted following the publication of a story published …

more at Mediagazer »

Bob Bauer / New York Times:

Trump Is the Founders' Worst Nightmare — The very conduct that necessitates presidential impeachment also supplies the means for the demagogue to escape it. — Mr. Bauer served as a White House counsel under President Barack Obama. — Donald Trump's Republican congressional allies …

Johan Ahlander / Reuters:

Two members leave Nobel literature committee, criticizing Swedish Academy — STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two external members of the Nobel literature prize committee quit on Monday after criticizing the scandal-hit Swedish Academy. — The 233-year-old Academy was forced to introduce several …

CBS News:

Facebook CEO on political ads: People should “judge for themselves the character of politicians” — Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is doubling down on his company's decision to not take down political ads that contain false information. — “What I believe is that in a democracy …

Discussion: IJR and Louder With Crowder

Leah Litman / The Atlantic:

The Guns Case Is About Much More Than Guns — Sometimes the worst decision the Supreme Court can make is to decide a case at all. The Court appears poised to make this mistake in its zeal to expansively interpret the Second Amendment, and in the process will make a further error …