memeorandum: The GOP said Trump committed no crime. The GAO now rules he broke the law. (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

5:25 PM ET, January 16, 2020

Top Items:

FBI visits Robert Hyde's home and office after he's swept into Ukraine scheme — Impeachment investigators released texts earlier this week suggesting Hyde was tracking the movements of the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. — The FBI paid a visit to Republican congressional candidate …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Associated Press, MSNBC, Axios, Raw Story and The Week

Christopher Miller / BuzzFeed News:

Ukraine Is Investigating Whether Marie Yovanovitch Was Under Surveillance By Rudy Giuliani's Associates — KYIV — Ukrainian authorities said Thursday they had opened a criminal investigation into whether the former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance by associates …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, The American Independent, Foreign Policy, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, National Review, MSNBC and Business Insider

New York Times:

Lev Parnas, Key Player in Ukraine Affair, Completes Break With Trump and Giuliani — In an interview, he said the president knew everything about the effort to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election. — WASHINGTON — Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who played …

Isabelle Khurshudyan / Washington Post:
Ukraine opens probe into possible surveillance of U.S. Ambassador Yovanovitch

Discussion: Newsweek, The Hill, Slate, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones and Balloon Juice

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg:
Republicans Should Fear the Unknown on Trump Impeachment

Discussion: New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Redstate, VICE and The Week

New York Times:
Ukraine Investigates Trump Allies Amid Reports of Surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch

Discussion: Mother Jones, ABC News, VICE, CNBC, The Daily Caller, UPI, Daily Kos and The Week

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:
Democratic lawmaker says Nunes threatened to sue him over criticism

Discussion: Law & Crime, Washington Post and Raw Story

Reed Richardson / Mediaite:
Chris Cuomo, Kellyanne Conway Renew Rivalry in Epic Fight Over Impeachment: ‘You Want That Moment to Go Viral’

Discussion: Raw Story and The Week

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Lev Parnas's Comments To New York Times Conflict With CNN Report About ‘Secret Mission’ For Trump

Discussion: National Review, New York Times, Washington Post and Twitchy

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: 'He's Lying': Lev Parnas Says He'll Post a Photo With Trump Every Time President Claims Not to Know Him

Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA: Lev Parnas Just Took Down Attorney General William Barr

Adam Goldman / New York Times:

F.B.I. Arrests Suspected Members of Neo-Nazi Group Before Virginia Gun Rally — The three men had obtained guns and discussed traveling to Virginia for protests against new gun control measures, officials said. — WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. has arrested three men suspected of being members …

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, Daily Kos, American Military News, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, ABC News, The Daily Caller, National Observer, National Review, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Law & Crime and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

FBI arrests alleged members of white supremacist group ‘the Base’ — The FBI has arrested alleged members of a white supremacist group on federal gun charges and other alleged crimes, according to people familiar with the matter. — The charges, expected to be unsealed Thursday …

Bill Chappell / NPR: FBI Arrests 3 Alleged Members Of White Supremacist Group Ahead Of Richmond Rally

Washington Post:

White House hold on Ukraine aid violated federal law, congressional watchdog says — The White House violated federal law in its hold on security aid to Ukraine last year, according to a decision by a congressional watchdog released on Thursday and reviewed by The Washington Post.

Discussion: The Federalist, Paste, The Hill, Washington Monthly, VICE, Vox, TheBlaze and Patterico's Pontifications

Politico:

White House violated the law by freezing Ukraine aid, GAO says — The White House budget office violated the law when it froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. — President Donald Trump ordered the hold on the critical security assistance …

Discussion: Fox News, Associated Press, The Hill, One America News Network, Mother Jones, The American Spectator, Townhall, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Smoke Eater, American Military News, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams, emptywheel, Balloon Juice and The Week

CBS News:

Trump impeachment moves to Senate ahead of historic trial — Washington — After months of hearings and votes in the House, the impeachment case against President Trump is now in the hands of the Senate, where a trial to decide on the removal of a president set to get underway for just the third time in U.S. history.

Discussion: CNN, Redstate, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Mediaite, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Week, IJR, Twitchy, MSNBC, Mother Jones and Talking Points Memo

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The GOP said Trump committed no crime. The GAO now rules he broke the law.

Discussion: PJ Media Home, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

New York Times:
G.A.O. Report Says Trump Administration Broke Law in Withholding Ukraine Aid

Discussion: TalkLeft, HillReporter.com and Raw Story

Dwight Garner / New York Times:

A Meticulous Account of Trump's Tenure Reads Like a Comic Horror Story — The essence of irony, Henry Fowler wrote in “A Dictionary of Modern English Usage,” is that it “postulates a double audience” — one that's in on the joke, and another that isn't. The title of Philip Rucker …

Discussion: Political Wire

Associated Press:

The Latest: Pelosi says Trump has options for State of Union — The Latest on President Donald Trump's impeachment (all times local): — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump can keep his Feb. 4 appointment with Congress to deliver his State of the Union address or he can ask …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Associated Press and KTLA

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
About that oath of ‘impartiality’ senators just took

Discussion: The Hill, Axios, Politico, Daily Kos, Political Wire, Raw Story and NBC News

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
GOP senator's vicious outburst shows the corruption of Trump's defenders

Discussion: The American Independent, Twitchy and POLITICUSUSA

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Susan Collins's willful blindness already looks awful

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Editorial Board and Outside the Beltway

Adam Goldman / New York Times:

Justice Dept. Investigating Years-Old Leaks and Appears Focused on Comey — An inquiry into years-old disclosures of classified information is highly unusual and leaves law enforcement officials open to accusations of politicizing their work. — WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Washington …

Amanda Golden / NBC News:

Two New Hampshire state reps switch their support to Amy Klobuchar — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar expanded her support base in the Granite State on Thursday when she picked up endorsements from two state representatives who previously supported Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren …

Discussion: WMUR, The Hill, Washington Free Beacon and Roll Call

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
Why we shouldn't stop talking about the Sanders-Warren fight

Discussion: ABC News, FiveThirtyEight and National Review

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed: Elizabeth Warren brushed off Bernie Sanders and taught a master class in handling sexism

Discussion: Twitchy

CBS News:

D.C. Fire Department recruits might be making “white power” hand gesture in photo — Washington — A photo of fire department recruits possibly using a racist hand gesture is being investigated by District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services. CBS Washington, D.C. affiliate WUSA-TV reports …

Discussion: Townhall, The Root and Twitchy

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner: Here we go again: CBS News falsely accuses firefighters of flashing ‘white power’ symbol

Brian Bennett / TIME:

Inside Jared Kushner's Unusual White House Role — Jared Kushner's White House office is a shrine to his own influence. Gold-framed accolades from his father-in-law hang on the walls, written in thick black Sharpie in President Donald Trump's spiky hand. To Jared, Great job on Mexico.

Discussion: The Hill and Mediaite

Jessica Moulite / The Root:

Exclusive: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Reveals Beautiful Bald Head and Discusses Alopecia for the First Time — We'd like to have A Word with you. In The Root's op-ed video series, thought leaders across various disciplines give their perspectives on the important issues you should know about.

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, The Guardian, The Independent and CBS Boston

Andrew Cohen / Slate:

This Trump Supreme Court Short-Lister Says God Can Instruct Juries on Guilt and Innocence — Judge William Pryor of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a jurist from Alabama with a long record in law enforcement, has twice now been high on President Donald Trump's short list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ken Dilanian / NBC News:

FBI will now notify state election officials when any part of their election systems is hacked — Sen. Bill Nelson said in 2018 he'd learned Russians hacked some Florida voting systems, but was accused of making it up. In fact, one system was breached. — WASHINGTON — The FBI …

Discussion: Axios

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
AP sources: FBI to keep states in loop on election breaches

Discussion: The Hill

Jennifer Smith / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein had burst capillaries in his eyeballs after he died which pathologist tells Dr. Oz suggests he was STRANGLED and did not hang himself — Dr. Baden shared never-before-seen photos of Epstein's eyeballs and the burst capillaries in his eye sockets

Discussion: Big League Politics, Breitbart and TheBlaze

Brad Polumbo / Washington Examiner:

Martha McSally takes a cheap shot at CNN reporter — Everybody knows CNN has a liberal bias. But it's still not appropriate for a sitting Republican senator to bash one of its reporters when he asks a perfectly legitimate question. — That's what happened Thursday afternoon.

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, Big League Politics, The Federalist and Mediaite

Shamira Ibrahim / New York Times:

‘The View’ Has a Meghan McCain Problem — The daytime co-hosts' heated bipartisan debates are played down as disagreement among friends. But the strain for “civility” is tiring. — Ms. Ibrahim is a culture writer and reporter. — During an episode of “The View” earlier this month …

Discussion: The Federalist, Raw Story, NB Blog, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Twitchy and The Hill

Nick Reynolds / Casper Star-Tribune:

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney announces she will not run for Senate — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney announced Thursday she will not be making a bid for the U.S. Senate, initiating a reelection campaign some predict could one day lead to her becoming speaker of the house.

Discussion: Politico, The American Independent, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Fox News and Roll Call

David Steinberg / TheBlaze:

Finally. The Feds — including ICE — appear to be investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar. — At least three departments are reviewing what could be the worst-ever crime spree by an elected US official — On Oct. 30, I reported that the Department of Justice had assigned an FBI Special Agent in Charge …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

“It's Quite an Upheaval”: In an Ongoing Makeover of the Times Opinion Babel, the Old Editorial Voice of God Is Being Rationed — Even as controversies (Bret Stephens) explode like bombs, Opinion chief James Bennet, the second-most powerful journalist at the Times, pursues his cacophonous plans.