memeorandum: Secretary Esper Holds an In-Flight Media Availability (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE)

4:50 AM ET, December 17, 2019

Top Items:

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

How far can the House go to stop a sham trial? — I am hardly alone in noticing that between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's “total coordination” with the White House and Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham's expression of open contempt for impeachment (I will NOT be fair!) …

Discussion: NBC News, The Mahablog, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, BizPac Review and The Bulwark

Jonathan J. Cooper / Associated Press:

McSally 'hasn't been convinced' Trump should be impeached — PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Sen. Martha McSally has not been convinced that President Donald Trump should be removed from office, her campaign manager said Monday after a recording surfaced of her suggesting to GOP activists that the president hadn't abused his power.

Edward B. Foley / Politico:

Here's One Surprising Way Congress Could Avoid an Impeachment Disaster — If the process plays out as everyone believes it will, impeachment will end with an acquittal in the Senate, and the House's efforts to protect the integrity of the 2020 election will have proved counterproductive …

Discussion: Bangor Daily News, Redstate and U.S. Senate

Politico:
Republicans scoff at Chuck Schumer's impeachment trial proposal

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News and Associated Press

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Impeachment moves to Senate. Get ready for a scramble — and a January surprise

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Laurence H. Tribe / Washington Post: Don't let Mitch McConnell conduct a Potemkin impeachment trial

Washington Post:
Centrist Democrats line up behind impeachment

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and HuffPost

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

On Tuesday, March for Impeachment — The anti-Trump majority needs to make itself seen. — Brian Kilmeade — the dark-haired guy on “Fox & Friends,” Fox News's morning show — was surprised. During the program on Monday, a correspondent reported that a Fox News poll showed that 50 percent …

Discussion: Mediaite, Redstate, CNN and Raw Story

USA Today:

USA TODAY Poll: Impeached or not, Trump leads his Democratic rivals for another term — Susan Page William Cummings Nicholas WuUSA TODAY — WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump, the first modern president to face impeachment during his first term in the White House, now leads …

Discussion: The Hill

QU Poll:

Release Detail — December 16, 2019 - Trump Job Approval And Economy Rating Hit Highs, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; On Ukraine: 52 Percent Say Trump Pursued Personal Interest — Within days of a historic impeachment vote in the House of Representatives …

Discussion: New York Times, HotAir, The Hill and The Gateway Pundit

Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times:

Giuliani Provides Details of What Trump Knew About Ambassador's Removal — Rudolph Giuliani said in an interview that he briefed the president “a couple of times” about Marie Yovanovitch, the envoy to Ukraine, setting her recall in motion. — WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani said on Monday …

Discussion: Mediaite

Adam Entous / New Yorker:

The Ukrainian Prosecutor Behind Trump's Impeachment — How the efforts of Yuriy Lutsenko and Rudy Giuliani to smear Joe Biden led to a Presidential crisis. — Of all the names featured in the private depositions and public testimonies of the Presidential impeachment inquiry …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Independent, Vanity Fair, Vox, Law & Crime, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story and Washington Post

Jacob Knutson / Axios:
Rudy Giuliani: “I needed Yovanovitch out of the way”

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Trump team weighs ambassador pick for Ukraine as ties fray

Discussion: News Agency UNIAN and Talking Points Memo

CNBC:

Vox Media to cut hundreds of freelance jobs ahead of changes in California gig economy laws — Hundreds of Vox Media freelancers will lose their jobs in the coming months. — Vox Media is preparing for a California law, Assembly Bill 5, which goes into effect in 2020 and forbids non-employees …

more at Mediagazer »

John Ness / SBNation.com:
Thank You, California — This is a bittersweet note of thanks …

Discussion: Golden State Of Mind, Mavs Moneyball and The Wrap

Washington Post:

Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges — A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion …

Discussion: Axios, Salt Lake Tribune, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Raw Story

Medium:

HISTORIANS' STATEMENT ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT TRUMP — President Trump's numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president. Among those most hurtful to the Constitution have been his attempts to coerce …

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, HuffPost, The Hill and Raw Story

Jamie Lovegrove / Post and Courier:

SC's U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham to vote in favor of impeaching Trump — WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham said Monday he plans to vote in favor of both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, concluding after weeks of deliberation that Trump's conduct was “unacceptable.”

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, KSLTV.com, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, DNyuz, CNN, VICE, New York Times, Roll Call, HotAir and The Hill

Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
Utah Rep. Ben McAdams will vote to impeach President Donald Trump

Discussion: Raw Story and Rep. Ben McAdams …

Washington Post:

Michael Flynn's sentencing set for Jan. 28 after judge rejects his attacks on the FBI, Justice Department — A federal judge on Monday rejected Michael Flynn's attacks against the FBI and the Justice Department, setting a long-delayed sentencing for President Trump's former national security adviser for Jan. 28.

Discussion: Raw Story

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:

Stacey Abrams group files emergency motion to stop Georgia voting roll purge — A voting rights group launched by former Georgia state lawmaker and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams filed an emergency motion Monday in an attempt to stop a planned purging of voter rolls.

Discussion: Fair Fight and The Gateway Pundit

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Federal judge allows Georgia voter registration purge

Discussion: Associated Press, Axios, The American Independent and Daily Kos

Charles Homans / New York Times:

How the Internet Came to Loathe Pete Buttigieg — Last month, after polls showed Pete Buttigieg vaulting unexpectedly to the lead in Iowa's Democratic caucus, he aired an ad introducing his plan for higher-education reform: a proposal to make public-college tuition free for households earning …

CNN:

CNN Poll: The nation remains divided on impeachment as House vote approaches — (CNN)The American public is about evenly split over whether President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with the House of Representatives poised …

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Screenplay About Barron Trump Sabotaging Dad's 2016 Presidential Campaign Makes Annual Black List — Barron Trump could be coming to the big screen soon, in a wild scripted ride that imagines President Donald Trump's 10-year-old son attempting to thwart his presidential ambitions.

Vincent Wood / The Independent:

Erdogan threatens to recognise killings of Native Americans as genocide in response to Armenia resolution — ‘It is a shameful moment in US history,’ says Turkish president — Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to recognise the killing of Native Americans at the hand …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Stamford Advocate:

A tweet gave a journalist a seizure. His case brings new meaning to the idea of ‘online assault.’ — Kurt Eichenwald sat down at the desk in his Dallas home office and logged onto Twitter. The prominent journalist and author was used to Internet invective - especially then …

Australian / Daily Mail:

Assange is currently being held at Belmarsh prison (pictured above) which has housed some of the UK's most notorious prisoners — The WikiLeaks founder is set to fight extradition to the US, where he faces 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

For party switch, Rep. NJ Jeff Van Drew owes voters an apology — and individual donors their money back — History is not going to remember Jeff Van Drew as a profile in courage. The freshman Democrat from Cape May won the New Jersey 2nd District seat in Congress as a part of the blue wave …

New York Times:

There Are Economic Warning Signs for Trump in the Midwest — The American economy has found its footing after a summer recession scare. But much of the Midwest is still stumbling. — President Trump campaigned in 2016 on a pledge to restore jobs — manufacturing jobs, specifically …

Discussion: Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Fox News

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Sanders surges ahead of Iowa caucuses — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is rising in the polls ahead of Thursday's pivotal debate in Los Angeles, reestablishing his standing in the top tier of Democratic contenders with the Iowa caucuses less than 50 days away.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Politico

Katie Sanders / PolitiFact:

Lie of the Year 2019: Donald Trump's claim whistleblower got Ukraine call ‘almost completely wrong’ — President Donald Trump started the morning of Sept. 20 dismissing headlines about someone who blew the whistle on a phone call he had with the president of Ukraine. The call, he tweeted, was “pitch perfect.”

Discussion: Florida Politics, DNyuz, Raw Story, Axios and Mediaite

New York Times:

Strict Vaccine Law Stumbles in N.J. Legislature — There were not enough votes in the State Senate to end religious exemptions to vaccine requirements for all students. — The New Jersey Legislature, seemingly on the verge of passing one of the strictest vaccine laws in the nation on Monday …

Discussion: New Jersey Online, DNyuz and The Hill

Sebastian Smith / Agence France-Presse:

Impeachment hurts but Teflon Trump thrives — US President Donald Trump faces impeachment but conflict is what he thrives on — Washington (AFP) - Impeachment is about the worst thing that can happen to a president — unless that president is Donald Trump.

Omri Nahmias / Jerusalem Post:

Pompeo slams Democrats' settlement fixation, calls claims foolish — US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that he supports Pompeo's letter, adding that the US has restored its historic and appropriate role in mediating the conflict. — WASHINGTON - Calling their arguments “foolish …

Willis Kliefoth / River News:

Potomac Conservancy denounces Tucker Carlson's claim that immigrants are making the Potomac dirtier — Statement from Hedrick Belin, Potomac Conservancy President — STATEMENT FROM HEDRICK BELIN, POTOMAC CONSERVANCY PRESIDENT — There's a time to speak truth against ignorance and to stand up for our values - and that time is now.

Discussion: Washington Post, DNyuz, CNN, The Monday Notice and PJ Media Home

Tucker Higgins / CNBC:

'Don't threaten me': Court records show Elizabeth Warren turned down lucrative job after hearing from consumer group — Legal papers show that years before Sen. Elizabeth Warren gained a national reputation as a zealous consumer advocate, a reputation that's now at the center of her bid …

Victor Skinner / The American Mirror:

SHOCK PHOTO: San Fran man defecates in grocery store aisle — It's no secret that San Francisco has literally become a crappy city to live in, with sidewalks littered with human feces left behind by the homeless, drug-addicted vagrants who call the sidewalks home.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit

Rasmussen Reports:

Voters Favor Jail, Firing for Rogue Officials Who Targeted Trump — Voters are ready to jail or fire senior law enforcement officials who illegally targeted President Trump, but most think they are unlikely to be punished. — The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone and online survey finds …

Discussion: Breitbart and Power Line

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:

Googled ‘Impeachment’ Lately? First Result Is a Bloomberg Ad — Michael R. Bloomberg is showing what a virtually bottomless advertising budget can do by buying his way into the hottest political conversations of the moment. — Type the word “impeachment” into Google …

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE:

Secretary Esper Holds an In-Flight Media Availability — STAFF: — so we'll do on the record for a little bit. Sorry about earlier, but the (inaudible) just a little bit more difficult than what we (inaudible) out of. So we'll do this and then have a (inaudible). — All right, sir? Go ahead.

Discussion: Bloomberg