memeorandum: Missing piece to the Ukraine puzzle: State Department's overture to Rudy Giuliani (John Solomon/The Hill)

2:40 PM ET, September 21, 2019

Top Items:

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

If This Isn't Impeachable, Nothing Is — The president of the United States reportedly sought the help of a foreign government against an American citizen who might challenge him for his office. This is the single most important revelation in a scoop by The Wall Street Journal …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Fox News, Breitbart, Splinter, Rolling Stone, Common Dreams, The Independent, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Trump has done plenty to warrant impeachment. But the Ukraine allegations are over the top. — George T. Conway III is a lawyer in New York. Neal Katyal, a law professor at Georgetown University, previously served as the acting solicitor general of the United States.

Discussion: Raw Story, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, U.S. Political News …, Political Flare, Mediaite and The New Civil Rights Movement

John Solomon / The Hill:

Missing piece to the Ukraine puzzle: State Department's overture to Rudy Giuliani — When I was a young journalist decades ago, training to cover Washington, one of my mentors offered sage advice: When it comes to U.S. intelligence and diplomacy, things often aren't what they first seem.

Discussion: RedState, Deadline, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Refuge, Althouse, Al Jazeera, New York Post, Breitbart, U.S. Political News … and Washington Post

Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times:

Behind the Whistle-Blower Case, a Long-Held Trump Grudge Toward Ukraine — WASHINGTON — For months this spring and summer, Ukraine's newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, tried to deflect pressure from President Trump and his allies to pursue investigations into former Vice President …

Discussion: Politico, Alternet.org, Daily Kos, U.S. Political News …, The Colorado Independent, Axios and Raw Story

CNN:
Trump's interest in Ukraine ramped up as Giuliani pressed on Biden claims

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Washington Post and U.S. Political News …

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Ukraine, if you're listening . . .: How Trump tries to quell controversies by saying …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, CNN and Hot Air

Washington Post:
How Trump and Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate the president's rivals

Discussion: Politico, PRI, Slate, Bloomberg, Mediaite, U.S. Political News …, POLITICUSUSA, Axios, Raw Story and VICE

Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Deny, divert, discredit: Trump turns to his scandal playbook once again

Discussion: illegal immigration …, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

David French / National Review:
There's an Obvious Problem with Rudy Giuliani's Spin on Ukraine

Discussion: Fox News, RedState, New York Times, Politico and Power Line

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

Cory Booker memo: May not be in race ‘much longer’ if he can't raise millions in days — The Democratic presidential candidate's campaign manager warned the NJ senator won't stick around without a viable chance to win. — WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker must raise nearly $2 million …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, twitchy.com, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, New York Post and Raw Story

Cory Booker / Medium:

Now or Never: Radical Transparency about the Next 10 Days of This Race — From: Addisu Demissie, Campaign Manager, Cory ‍2020 — Cory Booker decided to run for president because he believes that the only way to beat Donald Trump and heal our country is to bring people together — and he's the best person to do that.

Discussion: Fox News, The Guardian and Axios

Pat Rynard / Iowa Starting Line:
Campaigns Prep Early For Steak Fry Spectacle

Discussion: twitchy.com, New York Times, The Cook Political Report and Daily Kos

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Booker campaign warns end is near without fundraising surge

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

Bernie Sanders Calls for Eliminating Americans' Medical Debt — On top of his “Medicare for all” proposal, Mr. Sanders's new plan would wipe out an estimated $81 billion in existing medical debt and ignore such debt in credit scores. — WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders has long wanted to remake …

Discussion: Axios, New York Post and twitchy.com

Dylan Scott / Vox:

Bernie Sanders's plan to eliminate medical debt, explained — Bernie Sanders wants to eliminate $81 billion in medical debt and set up a public credit registry. — Americans go bankrupt every year because of unpaid medical bills. — Now Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Steve Leblanc / Associated Press:

Rep. Joe Kennedy formally announces US Senate campaign — BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III formally declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Saturday, becoming the first member of the Kennedy political dynasty to bid for the upper chamber of Congress since Edward M. Kennedy in 1962.

Discussion: Axios

Washington Post:
Rep. Kennedy announces Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Markey

Discussion: Politico, The Week and One America News Network

Jeff Schogol / Task & Purpose:

DoD deletes tweet that joked about blowing up millennials trying to storm Area 51 — Exclusive Hot Mic From ‘Storm Area 51’ — Sometimes a joke just doesn't work. — For example, the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service tweeted and subsequently deleted a Gilbert Gottfried-esque misfire …

Lloyd Green / The Guardian:

Crossfire Hurricane review: tale of Trump and the FBI is a gas gas gas — Josh Campbell worked for James Comey - his book is a must-read indictment of the ‘mob boss’ in the White House — Few people had better seats than Josh Campbell for the drama that has shaped the Trump presidency.

Kel McClanahan / Just Security:

Intel Whistleblower Complaint Q&A Part 2: Constitutional Boogaloo — On Sept. 17, I did a deep dive into the legal issues raised by the Intelligence Community whistleblower complaint being withheld from the congressional intelligence committees by acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire.

Discussion: National Review, Daily Kos and New York Times

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Can President Trump Be Held Accountable for the Whistle-Blower Complaint?

Discussion: New York Times, Vox and Fox News

Washington Post:
Republicans echo Trump in suggesting whistleblower complaint is politically motivated

Discussion: IJR, Mercury News and Fox News

Myron Ebell / Washington Examiner:

Environmental apocalypse predictions have failed for half a century — Climate change activism is warming up this week with climate strikes, a U.N. summit, plus extra media coverage. Naturally, the apocalyptic rhetoric is warming up, too. To take only two examples among many …

Discussion: Breitbart and Washington Free Beacon

Alexander Burns / New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren Lost Her Dream Job but Gained a Path to 2020 — She had a plan to take on big banks. In the fight to get it done, she honed the approach to politics that defines her presidential campaign. — Elizabeth Warren did not want a goodbye party.

William Saletan / Slate:

Democratic Candidates Are Misrepresenting Michael Brown's Death — Last week, in a Democratic presidential debate, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro read a list of black Americans killed by police violence. Alongside Laquan McDonald, Walter Scott …

Washington Post:

U.S. to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia after attacks on oil facilities — President Trump has approved the deployment of additional U.S. troops and air defense assets to Saudi Arabia, in a muted military response to last week's attack on Saudi oil facilities.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Week, naked capitalism, New York Times and LewRockwell