memeorandum: Trump's personal attorneys remain largely on the sidelines as the president contends with impeachment inquiry (Carol Leonnig/Washington Post)

4:35 PM ET, December 3, 2019

Top Items:

Kamala Harris / Medium:

I am suspending my campaign today — Eleven months ago at the launch of our campaign in Oakland I told you all: “I am not perfect. But I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect. I will lead with integrity. I will speak the truth.”

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Kamala Harris cancels big-money fundraiser at New York law firm amid reports of campaign turmoil — The event was canceled due to what was described by the campaign as a “personal matter,” according to people familiar with the situation. — An invitation shows that the fundraiser …

Discussion: Power Line, The Federalist, Axios, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, TalkLeft, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, IJR, HuffPost, HotAir, The Gateway Pundit, PJ Media Home, The Guardian and Mediaite

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Good Riddance to Kamala Harris — Per Edward-Isaac Dovere, Kamala Harris is no longer running for president. This is excellent, welcome news — the cause for celebration. Good riddance! May Harris's failed attempt to find higher office destroy her career and sully her reputation for all time.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Federalist

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:

‘One of the hardest decisions of my life’: Kamala Harris ends once-promising campaign — Kamala Harris is ending her presidential campaign after months of failing to lift her candidacy from the bottom of the field — a premature departure for a California senator once heralded as a top-tier contender for the nomination.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The American Independent, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, Los Angeles Magazine, The Hill, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post and Sean Hannity

Chelsea Janes / Washington Post:

Sen. Kamala D. Harris is ending presidential bid — Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California is ending her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to multiple people with knowledge of the campaign's plans. — Harris had qualified for the December debate but was in single digits in both national and early-state polls.

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, Little Green Footballs, The Root and Fox News

New York Times:
Kamala Harris Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race

Discussion: Mother Jones, HuffPost, Politico, PJ Media Home, Big League Politics, The Resurgent, National Review, The Hill, VICE and The Stranger

YouTube: Expose — Kamala Harris exposes Republicans - leaving them unable …

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

Trump abused power of presidency, Dems conclude in impeachment report — President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rivals, House Democrats concluded in a highly anticipated report released Tuesday.

Discussion: Fox News, NBC News and The Hill

New York Times:

Impeachment Report Says Trump Solicited Foreign Election Interference — The House Intelligence Committee concluded that President Trump tried to “use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election.” — WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Tuesday released …

Discussion: The Wrap, KyivPost, Talking Points Memo and HuffPost

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Impeachment Investigators Got Rudy Giuliani's Phone Records—And They're Quite Revealing — Trump's lawyer was in talks with, among others, Devin Nunes and officials at OMB as the president pursued a political agenda in Ukraine. — Rudy Giuliani and one of his indicted Ukrainian associates exchanged …

Cmte Intelligence (D) RSS Articles:
House Intelligence Committee Releases Draft Report As Part of Impeachment Inquiry

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio … and The Last Refuge

Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:
Devin Nunes slaps CNN with $435 million defamation lawsuit

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Hill

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Devin Nunes Sues CNN For Defamation Following False Vienna Collusion Story

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

NBC News:
Democrats' impeachment report cites Trump obstruction and withholding aid, warns of ‘grave harm’

Discussion: MSNBC

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:
Impeachment report details ‘scheme’ by Trump to pressure Ukraine for his benefit

Discussion: Breitbart and KyivPost

Zachary Basu / Axios: Call records show Devin Nunes in contact with indicted Giuliani associate

CNBC:

Trump loses appeal to block Deutsche Bank, Capital One from handing his financial records to Congress — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Deutsche Bank and Capital One can hand over years of President Donald Trump's financial records in compliance with House Democrats' subpoenas.

Discussion: Associated Press, POLITICUSUSA, TalkLeft, Breitbart and Raw Story

David Enrich / New York Times:

Trump Loses Appeal on Deutsche Bank Subpoenas — A federal court ruling is a victory for House Democrats who are investigating President Trump's relationship with the German bank. — A federal appeals court said Tuesday that Deutsche Bank must turn over detailed documents …

Discussion: National Review, CNN and Gothamist

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: A December curveball?

Discussion: Washington Post and Wall Street Journal

Axios: Appeals court orders Trump's banks to turn financial records over to Congress

Allan Smith / NBC News:
Trump loses appeal to block Deutsche Bank, Capital One from handing over his financial records to Congress

Discussion: The Underground Bunker

Washington Post:

The Mueller Report Illustrated: Chapter 1 — ‘This Russia thing is far from over’ The president fires the FBI director Mueller's arrival pushes Trump to the brink Trump turns to a loyal ally for help 'Maybe I'll have to get rid of him' The president goes after Mueller's witnesses

Washington Post:
Barr doesn't accept key inspector general finding about FBI's Russia investigation

Washington Post:
Mueller Report Illustrated

Discussion: Sean Hannity

Rosalind Helderman / Washington Post:
How the Ukraine pressure campaign began as an effort to undercut the Mueller investigation

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CBS News, The Editorial Board, KyivPost and Raw Story

Jennifer Hassan / Washington Post:

Trump says he doesn't know Britain's Prince Andrew. They had a breakfast meeting in June. — LONDON — President Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday that he “doesn't know” Britain's Prince Andrew, despite photos of the two taking a walk side by side in June, smiling at Westminster Abbey during …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and SPIN

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:
Trump Denies Knowing Prince Andrew, Despite Numerous Photos of Them Together

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast and VICE

Iliana Magra / New York Times:
'I Don't Know Prince Andrew,' Trump Says. Photos Say Otherwise.

Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story

Frank Thorp V / NBC News:

State Dept. undersecretary: ‘I am not’ aware of any efforts by Ukraine to meddle in 2016 election — Senior State Department official David Hale said Tuesday that he didn't know of any evidence that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. — Asked at a Senate Foreign Relations hearing whether …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, The Hill, HotAir and Washington Post

CNN:
Graham says he's ‘1,000% confident’ Russia meddled in 2016 US election — not Ukraine

Discussion: The Root and Political Wire

NBC News:
State Dept. undersecretary counters GOP claims Ukraine meddled in 2016

Discussion: Washington Post, Law & Crime and MSNBC

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Ukraine Knew of Aid Freeze in July, Says Ex-Top Official in Kyiv — Ukraine's government learned of the military aid freeze during the Trump administration's pressure campaign — and tried to keep that knowledge from going public, says an ex-deputy foreign minister.

Discussion: Washington Post, The American Independent, Axios, Daily Kos, The Hill, National Review, Talking Points Memo, KyivPost, FactCheck.org, Law & Crime, Hullabaloo and HuffPost

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: How both parties are thinking about impeachment's next phase

Discussion: Washington Post, Esquire, Breitbart and CNBC

Julia Ioffe / GQ:

Trump Is Waging War on America's Diplomats — And the impeachment inquiry is only making things worse. With new figures and fresh horror stories, Julia Ioffe reports on how the president is politicizing our embassies, alienating our allies, and decimating the ranks of the foreign service.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

San Diego Union-Tribune:

Rep. Hunter enters plea in federal campaign finance case, telling judge, ‘Guilty’ — Admission comes after East County Republican accused prosecutors of engaging in political witch hunt — Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Republican congressman and former U.S. Marine who with his namesake father …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter pleads guilty to misusing campaign funds: ‘I made mistakes’

Discussion: Associated Press and Law & Crime

Elena Schneider / Politico:

Buttigieg blows up his strategy to win black voters — ALLENDALE, S.C. — When Pete Buttigieg goes to Iowa or New Hampshire, he's a Democratic presidential frontrunner who packs campaign venues. But when Buttigieg goes to South Carolina, he's far from the top — and his campaign is shaking …

Discussion: Vox, Axios, Spectator USA, CNN, Breitbart, The Hill and Washington Post

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:
What Pete Buttigieg really said about being gay, prejudice and blacks

Discussion: Daily Kos, Issues & Insights, HuffPost and NBC News

New York Times:

China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West — Beijing's pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent. — TUMXUK, China — In a dusty city in the Xinjiang region on China's western frontier, the authorities are testing the rules of science.

Discussion: New York Post, Foreign Policy, The Stranger and National Review, more at Techmeme »

Politico:

Now playing in London: The Donald and Emmanuel Show — LONDON — It was a verbal version of their infamous handshake wrestle: Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron locked in an epic blab-fest — more than 40 minutes of mansplaining, rhetorical jousting, glares, glowers, shrugs, smirks and smiles.

Discussion: Associated Press and Axios

Washington Post:
Trump calls French president's criticism of NATO ‘nasty’ and ‘disrespectful’

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Raw Story and Fox News

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Laura Ingraham Still Charging Fans for a Podcast That Apparently No Longer Exists — The Fox News star left radio for a podcast. And now that's quietly been ditched as well. But fans can still pay $49.95 per year for commercial-free access to it. — Before hosting a Fox News primetime show …

Discussion: Raw Story

Chris White / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton was Jeffrey Epstein's closest ‘celebrity mate’ and a frequent guest at his New Mexico ranch with wife Hillary, staying at the pedophile's cowboy-themed village, say estate workers — Bill and Hillary Clinton would stay at Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch frequently …

Discussion: Big League Politics

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Laughable new GOP report: Yes, Trump did it. But his motives were pure! — Boiled down to its essence, the Ukraine scandal is really a tale about a president who has subverted the interests of the nation to his own by putting our foreign policy at the disposal of his naked personal and political needs.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, New York Times and Raw Story