memeorandum: ABC News Democratic debate live updates: Candidates head into spin room (ABC News)

3:13 AM ET, February 8, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Fires Impeachment Witnesses Gordon Sondland and Alexander Vindman in Post-Acquittal Purge — Emboldened by his victory and determined to strike back, the president removed Mr. Sondland as ambassador to the European Union after the White House earlier on Friday dismissed Colonel Vindman.

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Mother Jones, Axios, New Republic and New York Post

Eric Russell / Press Herald:

Sen. Collins says retribution against witnesses in impeachment process is inappropriate — Maine's Republican senator defended her votes to acquit Trump as Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against him, was escorted out of the White House. — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins …

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Kos and POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:

Impeachment Witness Alexander Vindman Fired From the White House — Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, whose testimony in the House inquiry infuriated President Trump and his allies, will be reassigned within the military, officials said. “I'm not happy with him,” Trump said. Colonel Vindman's brother was fired too.

CNN:

Trump fires two major impeachment figures — Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump fired two key impeachment witnesses Friday, dismissing Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, the top Ukraine expert at the National Security Council, and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

Discussion: NPR, Law & Crime, Reuters, Raw Story, East Bay Times, The Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams, PJ Media Home, POLITICUSUSA, Task & Purpose, Daily Kos, New York Post, The Guardian, Patterico's Pontifications and Washington Post

Politico:

Impeachment witnesses ousted amid fears of Trump revenge campaign — The purge of impeachment witnesses has begun. — Within hours of each other, President Donald Trump and the White House removed two of the most crucial witnesses against the president in the investigation that led to his impeachment for abuse of power.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, The Resurgent, The Hill, The Last Refuge, Associated Press, HuffPost, UPI, ABC News, Newsy, Axios, Vox, PJ Media Home, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Alex Pappas / Fox News:
Trump ousts key impeachment figures Sondland, Vindman days after Senate acquittal

Discussion: Redstate and Townhall

Washington Post:
Trump fires Gordon Sondland, the second impeachment witness to be removed from his post Friday

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Trump warns on impeachment payback: 'You'll see'

Discussion: Associated Press, Vanity Fair, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Breitbart and National Review

NBC News:
Vindman, who provided key impeachment testimony, ‘escorted’ from White House, attorney says

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Newsy and HuffPost

Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
Exclusive: Bill Taylor says attacks on Yovanovitch were ‘unconscionable’

Discussion: Raw Story

CBS Boston:

Exclusive NH Tracking Poll: Buttigieg Takes Lead Over Sanders In Tight New Hampshire Race — BOSTON (CBS) - Pete Buttigieg continued his rise in Friday night's exclusive WBZ/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll, for the first time taking a narrow lead that falls within the survey's 4.4% margin of error.

Discussion: BuzzFeed News and Washington Post

ABC News:

ABC News Democratic debate live updates: Candidates head into spin room — They made their case in the last days before the New Hampshire primary. — LIVE NOW — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Iowa's final results from the first contest of the presidential cycle remain unclear …

Discussion: Vox, Associated Press, PJ Media Home, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Hill, The Federalist, New York Post, The Daily Beast, HuffPost and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Mediagazer »

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren Has a Pete Buttigieg Problem — In Iowa and New Hampshire, it's Pete Buttigieg — not Bernie Sanders — who has complicated Ms. Warren's path, winning over college-educated white voters using a similar message of Democratic unity. — MERRIMACK N.H. — In the back row …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Guardian

Mark Murray / NBC News:

NBC News/Marist poll: Sanders, Buttigieg continue to lead in New Hampshire — Just days away from the first-in-the-nation primary, Sanders holds a narrow lead but Buttigieg has seen enthusiasm for his candidacy rise. — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg remain atop …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, One America News Network, Bloomberg and The Boston Globe

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Winners and losers from the New Hampshire Democratic debate — The Democratic presidential primary entered a new phase Friday night, with the Iowa results finally all in and the candidates debating in New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday's primary. — Below, some winners and losers. — Winners

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Bern Notice

Jamie Lovegrove / Post and Courier:

Steyer, Biden feud on debate stage over SC legislator's remarks about campaign payments — COLUMBIA — A dispute between South Carolina lawmakers over payments to one of them from a presidential campaign briefly became the center of attention during a nationally televised debate Friday night in New Hampshire.

Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
Klobuchar takes aim at Buttigieg in ABC News debate in New Hampshire

Discussion: New York Times

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Bernie Sanders showed us he's a very skilled politician

Discussion: ABC News and Breitbart

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:
So, Now What? — CONCORD, N.H. — Although controversy continues …

Discussion: Axios and CNBC

Sean Illing / Vox:

“We're losing our damn minds”: James Carville unloads on the Democratic Party — James Carville arrives for the annual JFK Profiles in Courage Award ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 20, 2018. Paul Marotta/Getty Images — Why the longtime Democratic strategist is “scared to death” of the 2020 election.

Discussion: PJ Media Home, The Daily Caller, CNN, NB Blog, Fox News, Mediaite, National Review and Twitchy

Ryan Teague Beckwith / Bloomberg:
Team Clinton Hits Sanders Ahead of New Hampshire Primary

Discussion: The Daily Caller and CNN

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

The nagging detail about job growth Trump probably won't like — The New York Times ran a report this morning on the latest jobs data, and the White House probably appreciated the political framing. … Well, sort of. As we discussed this morning, the latest report from the Bureau …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Vice President Pence defends deficit expansion under Trump as necessary for economic growth

Discussion: National Review and Mother Jones

New York Times:
Joe Biden Shakes Up Campaign Leadership, Elevating Anita Dunn

Discussion: Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and The Hill

Andrew Feinberg / The Independent:

Trump is now free to take revenge against those who wronged him during impeachment. Insiders told me it won't be pretty — 'I think of myself along with other people who've spoken out consistently against him as being incredibly vulnerable' — On May 2nd, 2011, Americans watched …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill: Collins says it would not be appropriate for Trump to retaliate against impeachment witnesses

Elizabeth Spiers / Washington Post:
Trump is the ultimate sore winner. Now he'll seek revenge.

Discussion: VTDigger, Law & Crime and The Daily Caller

Coral Davenport / New York Times:

Justice Department Drops Antitrust Probe Against Automakers That Sided With California on Emissions — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has dropped its antitrust inquiry into four automakers that had sided with California in its dispute with the Trump administration over reducing climate …

Discussion: The Verge and Newsy

Politico:
DOJ drops probe of carmakers that aligned with California on pollution

Discussion: Associated Press and The Hill

James B. Comey / Washington Post:

As usual, Trump called me a sleaze. But the audience reaction to his rant was more upsetting. — James B. Comey is a former director of the FBI and former deputy attorney general. — The most important thing that happened during President Trump's post-impeachment rant at the White House didn't happen at the lectern.

Discussion: Slate, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Last Refuge and The White House

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Another Scandal at the DNC — Because of other disasters afflicting the Democratic Party in recent days, this story, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, hasn't gotten a lot of attention. But it fits with other recent instances of Democratic Party incompetence and worse: “Leaders of 2020 DNC Host Committee fired.”

Nancy Pelosi / Washington Post:

McConnell and the GOP Senate are accomplices to Trump's wrongdoing — Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, is speaker of the House of Representatives. — For more than 200 years, our republic has endured, not only because of the wisdom of our Founders and the brilliance of our Constitution …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Hill

Parker Molloy / Media Matters for America: Chris Cillizza, impeachment, and a grotesque monument to modern media

VICE:

Docs: Shadow Inc. Directly Tied to Left-Wing Media Operation — A company called Shadow earned instant infamy this week when an app it created to tabulate the results of the Iowa caucuses led to a statewide meltdown that has thrown the Democratic presidential campaign into disarray.

Discussion: Margins and The Outline

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Here's a new abuse of power by Trump that should alarm you — The big danger emerging from President Trump's acquittal isn't just that he has learned his whole party is unprepared to constrain any future abuse of power he undertakes. It's that he has learned his party will …

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Age of Decadence — Cut the drama. The real story of the West in the 21st century is one of stalemate and stagnation. — An Opinion columnist and the author of the forthcoming book “The Decadent Society,” from which this essay is adapted. — Everyone knows that we live …

Matthew Cappucci / Washington Post:

Antarctica just hit 65 degrees, its warmest temperature ever recorded — It comes days after earth's warmest January on record. — Just days after the earth saw its warmest January on record, Antarctica has broken its warmest temperature ever recorded. A reading of 65 degrees was taken …

New York Times:

New York to Sue Trump Administration Over Global Entry Freeze — The lawsuit will challenge the federal government's decision to bar New Yorkers from enrolling in programs that allow travelers to skip lines at airports. — New York State officials said on Friday that they planned to sue …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Department of Homeland …