Top Items:
ABC News:
‘Take her out’: Recording appears to capture Trump at private dinner saying he wants Ukraine ambassador fired — Trump apparently heard discussing firing Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. — A recording reviewed by ABC News appears to capture President Donald Trump telling associates …
Discussion:
NBC News, Politico, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Vox, VICE, Fox News, Spectator USA, Digby's Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Times, Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, The Hill, Twitchy, Common Dreams, Power Line, The American Independent, The Mahablog, The Week, The Daily Caller, National Review, The Nation, Contemptor, HuffPost, Mediaite, Law & Crime, Eschaton, Little Green Footballs, Political Wire, The Guardian and Fortune, more at Mediagazer »
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NPR:
Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo — Mary Louise Kelly: Secretary of State, good to see you. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Good to be with you. Thanks for having me on the show. — Let's start with Iran. What is the plan?
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Fox News, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, emptywheel, Raw Story and Law & Crime
Jason Breslow / NPR:
Pompeo Won't Say Whether He Owes Yovanovitch An Apology. 'I've Done What's Right' — With the State Department facing continued questions over the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch before she was recalled as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not say on Friday whether he owed the career diplomat an apology.
Discussion:
NBC News
New York Times:
Lev Parnas Says He Has Tape of Trump Calling for Ambassador's Firing — The former associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani said through his lawyer that he had given the tape to the House Intelligence Committee for use in the impeachment inquiry. — WASHINGTON — A former associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani …
Politico:
Meet the Cannabis Lawyer Beating Trump at His Own Game — He's defended narcos, mobsters, hit men and at least one fugitive hedge funder, squaring off against seasoned New York prosecutors for decades. He's a reptile enthusiast and schedules calls with reporters at 4:20 p.m.—a nod to his work in cannabis law.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Betsy Swan / The Daily Beast:
Rudy Pal Igor Fruman Taped Trump Trying to Fire Ukraine Ambassador: Lawyer — The tape may contradict Trump's claim that he does not know the two Giuliani associates who worked to have the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine be removed. — A recently-indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani taped …
Discussion:
emptywheel, Vox, Politico and Axios
CNN:
Trump captured on tape demanding firing of ambassador to Ukraine, attorney says
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Raw Story, Mother Jones and Mediaite
NPR:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: ‘I Have Defended Every State Department Official’
Discussion:
Axios, Law & Crime and Raw Story
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Damning new audio of Trump illuminates the Ukraine scandal's back alleys
Discussion:
Raw Story and New York Times
Wall Street Journal:
Prosecutors Have Evidence Bezos' Girlfriend Gave Texts to Brother Who Leaked to National Enquirer — Text messages are among materials under review in probe examining whether publisher tried to extort Amazon chief — Manhattan federal prosecutors have evidence indicating Jeff Bezos …
Discussion:
The Hill and New York Times
George Conway / Washington Post:
There's a critical witness impeachment is missing — There is an important missing witness in the impeachment of President Trump, and his last name, for all the fulminations of the president's defenders, isn't Biden. — No, that witness is Trump himself — and the best case for calling …
Discussion:
Law & Crime and Raw Story
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Lindsey Graham will oppose subpoena of Hunter Biden — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he will vote against a motion to subpoena Hunter Biden if a majority of colleagues agree next week that additional witnesses and documents need to be summoned for President Trump's impeachment trial.
Discussion:
Politico, ABC News, Associated Press, Breitbart, National Review, Newsweek and The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Trump's defense team to target Bidens in counterpunch to impeachment charges
Discussion:
Vanity Fair and Daily Kos
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
‘Imminent threat’: Democrats make final case to remove Trump
Discussion:
Associated Press, ABC News, Breitbart and Redstate
Robert Burns / Associated Press:
Pentagon: 34 US troops had brain injuries from Iran's strike — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Friday that 34 U.S. troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries suffered in this month's Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi air base, and that half of the troops have returned to their military duties.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Raw Story
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Paul Szoldra / Task & Purpose:
VFW demands apology after Trump claims traumatic brain injuries are not ‘very serious’
Connor O'Brien / Politico:
34 troops diagnosed with brain injuries days after Trump dismissed them as ‘headaches’
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“He Really Thinks His Call Was Perfect. It Wasn't”: Trump at Odds With GOP, Kushner, His Campaign as Impeachment Bites — Angry at Kushner for the Time magazine cover and at GOP allies for their lukewarm impeachment defense, the president is veering off his campaign message. And advisers are worried.
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Trump campaign warns debate commission the president may not participate if process is not ‘fair’ — Senior Trump campaign officials lobbied the nonpartisan presidential debate commission last month over the makeup of its board of directors and its moderator choices, pushing for a process they deemed as …
Discussion:
Associated Press
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Ezra Klein / New York Times:
Why Democrats Still Have to Appeal to the Center, but Republicans Don't — Polarization has changed the two parties — just not in the same way. — Mr. Klein is the author of “Why We're Polarized.” — American politics has been dominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties since the Civil War.
Discussion:
Mother Jones
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Mason Walker / Pew Research Center:
U.S. Media Polarization and the 2020 Election: A Nation Divided
Discussion:
courthousenews.com
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Joe Rogan's Bernie Endorsement Draws Outrage As Clip Surfaces Comparing Black Neighborhood to ‘Planet of the Apes’ — As social media blowback builds from some over Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' decision to promote a video of comic …
Discussion:
HuffPost, CNN, New York Times, New York Post, Slate, Vox, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and TheBlaze
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BBC:
Neo-Nazi Rinaldo Nazzaro running US militant group The Base from Russia — The American founder of US-based militant neo-Nazi group The Base is directing the organisation from Russia, a BBC investigation has found. — Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, who uses the aliases “Norman Spear” and “Roman Wolf” …
Discussion:
ABC News, Big League Politics, Gothamist, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, VICE, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Scott Clement / Washington Post:
Americans still divided on Trump's removal from office, but a strong economy is boosting his approval rating, Post-ABC poll finds — President Trump's approval rating has climbed to match the highest of his presidency, boosted by majority approval of his economic stewardship …
Discussion:
Althouse and Washington Times
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Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
66% call for witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial: Poll
Discussion:
New York Times, The B|E note, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, The Hill, The Banter and FiveThirtyEight
New York Times:
Coronavirus Live Updates: Death Toll Climbs as Infections Reach Europe — Shanghai Disneyland shut down, hospitals pleaded for help, France reported three cases and the youngest victim so far was identified as a 36-year-old man in central China. — RIGHT NOW Chinese health authorities reported …
Discussion:
CNBC, CBS Miami, STAT, Washington Post, Gothamist, Slate, Denver Post, Jezebel, Mediaite, Popular Science, ITV, The Week, WLNS-TV, Wired and Balloon Juice
Chris Cillizza / CNN:
Joe Biden goes to his secret weapon to close the deal in Iowa — In a new ad entitled “Threat” running across Iowa starting Friday, a female narrator makes the stakes of the Democratic primary plain: … On screen a series of polls are shown — all of which show Biden running ahead of Trump.
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Bob McManus / New York Post:
It looks like New York's getting the crime uptick politicians have been asking for — Robbery is up almost 30% in New York City since the first of the year. Is this a statistical blip, a trend — or a New Year's bail-reform gift from Albany, robbery now largely being a revolving-door offense in the Empire State?
Neil Vigdor / New York Times:
Vice Officers Fired Over Stormy Daniels's 2018 Arrest at Ohio Strip Club — The misdemeanor charges of illegal sexually oriented activity were dropped within 24 hours after the pornographic film actress was arrested in 2018. — Two vice officers were fired on Thursday by the city of Columbus …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Columbus Dispatch and Sputnik News
Eric Kleefeld / Media Matters for America:
Smear merchant John Solomon accidentally reveals role of his lawyers diGenova and Toensing — Perhaps his attorneys should have advised him to not say this — Right-wing columnist John Solomon has been one of the premier players in spreading the fake narratives about Ukraine …
Pranshu Verma / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
‘I will not vote’ for Trump, Jeff Van Drew vowed in a voicemail. Then he pledged ‘undying support’ for the president. — Three weeks before New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew cemented his defection to the Republican Party with a pledge of “undying support” for President Donald Trump, he sent a constituent a very different message.
Damon Linker / The Week:
Donald Trump and the moral decline of the pro-life movement — Donald Trump's decision to become the first president ever to attend the annual March for Life in Washington on Friday is a very big deal for both the Republican Party and the pro-life movement — though not in the way that either of them fully realizes.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Washington Examiner and Las Vegas Review-Journal
Richard L. Hasen / Washington Post:
The loser of November's election may not concede. Their voters won't, either. — It's all too easy to imagine scenarios where the results are contested. — When the polls closed on Nov. 5, 2019, the initial count showed the governor of Kentucky, Republican Matt Bevins, losing to his Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear.
Discussion:
New York Times
Commissioning Editor - Practical Law — 
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Editor, MA — 
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Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
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Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
