memeorandum: California Gov. Newsom to campaign in Iowa for Kamala Harris (Kathleen Ronayne/Associated Press)

2:25 PM ET, December 2, 2019

Top Items:

Simon Shuster / TIME:

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

Washington Post:
Ukraine's Zelensky is making headway against corruption. But the fight risks angering Trump.

Discussion: Vanity Fair and Talking Points Memo

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.

San Diego Union-Tribune:

Rep. Duncan Hunter to abandon ‘not guilty’ plea in campaign finance scandal — After years of denials and claims he was the target of a political witch hunt, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday morning to change his plea of not guilty to charges stemming …

Discussion: Axios, Political Wire and Raw Story

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Is Making the Al Capone Tax-Evasion Defense Against Impeachment — “The fact that they have long wanted to impeach the president suggests those Democrats view the Trump-Ukraine matter as just the latest, and perhaps the best, chance to get the president,” argues fiercely pro-Trump columnist Byron York today.

Discussion: Raw Story

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.

Rachel M. Cohen / The Intercept: Nancy Pelosi Pushes the House to Pass USMCA, but Neglects a Bill With Broad Support to Strengthen Unions

Eric Wolff / Politico:
Pelosi to climate conference: 'We're still in' Paris agreement

Discussion: Breitbart

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump campaign to blacklist Bloomberg News — President Trump's 2020 campaign announced Monday it will no longer allow reporters from Bloomberg News to obtain credentials to cover Trump campaign events. — The big picture: Campaign manager Brad Parscale described the decision …

Discussion: Mediaite, NBC News, Politico, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, TVNewser and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Trump campaign says it will no longer credential Bloomberg News reporters over outlet's 2020 policy

Discussion: NB Blog

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 Daily Kos

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
John Kennedy vs. Vladimir Putin: How Trump defenders' Ukraine talking points compare to what Russians say

Discussion: One America News Network, The Hill, The American Independent, KyivPost, Balloon Juice and Mediaite

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

Discussion: Raw Story, HuffPost and Axios

Associated Press:

The Latest: Justices weighing dismissal of guns case — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court arguments about a New York City gun ordinance (all times local): — The Supreme Court is trying to figure out whether to dismiss its first case about guns rights in nearly 10 years.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic: Will John Roberts Constrain Trump?

Leah Litman / The Atlantic: The Guns Case Is About Much More Than Guns

Kathleen Ronayne / Associated Press:

California Gov. Newsom to campaign in Iowa for Kamala Harris — SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Iowa to campaign for Sen. Kamala Harris as she tries to rebound amid a critical stretch in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: Political Wire

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

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill and Blue Virginia

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

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

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: Breitbart, The Hill, NB Blog, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Washington Times, Townhall, Sean Hannity and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Ross Barkan / Medium:

The Fascism to Come — In 2016, not long after Donald Trump's black swan victory, I wrote a column in the Daily News asking people to stop comparing the reality TV demagogue to Adolf Hitler. My argument was rather simple: Trump is abhorrent, but to liken him to a murderous Nazi minimized …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Raw Story

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Trump team positions Pence as the antidote to anti-Trump animus

Discussion: USA Today, Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, IMPORTANTVILLE and Raw Story

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: Medium, Associated Press, The Hill, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Slate, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Axios, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mark Murray / NBC News:
For Democratic presidential hopefuls, the early bids have caught the worms

Discussion: ABC News and The Daily Caller

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: Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, National Review and The Dispatch

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Washington's December nightmare

Discussion: New York Times

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

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 …

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 …

Discussion: IJR

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed News:

Meet The Chinese Diplomat Who Got Promoted For Trolling The US On Twitter — BEIJING, China — The most interesting diplomat in the world these days may well be Zhao Lijian, the combative, bombastic, frankly Trumpy voice of the People's Republic of China on Twitter.

Chris Kobiella / Rolling Stone:

False Idol — Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump — On the morning of September 29th, six weeks before the 2016 election, Donald Trump was in a conference room at Trump Tower in New York talking to leaders of the religious right about sex-reassignment surgery.

Discussion: Raw Story

Dave Merritt / The Guardian:

‘Jack would be livid his death has been used to further an agenda of hate’ — The father of Jack Merritt, who died on Friday at London Bridge, writes that the attack has been used to reinforce the worldview his son fought against — Jack was proud. Jack was absorbingly intelligent.

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 …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

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 …

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.

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

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.