memeorandum: Trump: My Crimes Can't Be Investigated While I'm President (Bess Levin/Vanity Fair)

11:35 AM ET, September 20, 2019

Top Items:

Whistleblower complaint about President Trump involves Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter — A whistleblower complaint about President Trump made by an intelligence official centers on Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter, which has set off …

New York Times:

‘Urgent Concern’ About the President — A whistle-blower's report has alarmed the intelligence agencies' watchdog. Why won't the administration share it with Congress? — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Week, Politico, The Daily Caller, Foreign Policy, Talking Points Memo and Fox News

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg:

How Long Will Republicans Tolerate Trump's Lawlessness? — There's only so much Democrats can do about the president's increasingly bold misconduct. — I was going to write today about how House Democrats are handling the impeachment question. But the truth is, it's largely irrelevant.

Anna Nemtsova / The Daily Beast:

Ukrainian Official: We're Ready to Investigate Biden's Son—if Trump Asks Officially — Ukraine officials see no indication Biden or his son broke their laws. If Trump wants them investigated in Kyiv, his government will need to say why and what for. — KYIV—Ukraine is ready to investigate …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Resurgent, Law & Crime, CNN and Mediaite

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

‘Of course I did’: Giuliani acknowledges asking Ukraine to investigate Biden — Rudy Giuliani acknowledged on Thursday that he had asked top Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, an admission that comes as Capitol Hill Democrats investigate whether President Donald Trump …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, BizPac Review, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Althouse and Occupy Democrats

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Why Ukraine being the focus of Trump's whistleblower complaint is particularly ominous — As of Wednesday night, everyone was speculating about which foreign country President Trump might have made a “promise” to — a commitment that prompted a U.S. intelligence community whistleblower to lodge a mysterious complaint.

Discussion: Raw Story, ABC News, Alternet.org and Daily Kos

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Hannity: ‘I Was Happy’ That Whistleblower Complaint Is About Ukraine — “Maybe they are going to tell us, oh, why they really gave into Joe Biden's pressure basically leveraging a billion of our taxpayer dollars.” — At the same time that President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani was on CNN denying …

Discussion: Raw Story and CNN

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
As whistleblower scandal deepens, Trump bets on the coverup working

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Daily Caller News Foundation and Raw Story

Politico: POLITICO Playbook: How Trump has handcuffed Washington

The Daily Beast:
Trump Whistleblower Saga Threatens to Blow Up 2020 Campaign

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Raw Story, U.S. Political News … and The Week

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Giuliani admits to asking Ukraine about Joe Biden after denying it 30 seconds earlier

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media and Breitbart

Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Rudy Giuliani denies asking Ukraine to investigate Biden — before admitting it

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week and Alternet.org

Mayor Bill de Blasio / NBC News:

Why I'm ending my 2020 presidential campaign — and what I promise to do next — My presidential campaign may be over, but I am going to keep fighting for working people — and ensuring that New York City remains the vanguard of progressivism. — There is a framed picture hanging …

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Reason, PJ Media Home, VICE, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheJournal.ie, Slate, Breitbart, Rolling Stone, CBS New York and Towleroad Gay News

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio drops 2020 bid

Discussion: CNBC, FOX31 Denver and Florida Politics

Zach Montellaro / Politico: DNC set to squeeze Dem debate stage again

Brooklyn Eagle: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio drops 2020 presidential bid

Jeffery C. Mays / New York Times:
De Blasio Quits Presidential Race; Trump Gloats

Discussion: Althouse

Alexandra Svokos / ABC News:
Bill de Blasio ends 2020 presidential campaign

Discussion: Politico, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Political Wire and U.S. Political News …

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:

Kavanaugh and the Crisis of Legitimacy — It is impossible to separate the latest attack on Justice Brett Kavanaugh from the political strategy of the Democratic Party. On September 16, two days after the New York Times “Sunday Review” section told of another allegation …

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Why They'll Never Stop Targeting Kavanaugh — The continuing assault reflects both a fixation and an effort to deprive the court of its legitimacy. — Here are the reasons, in no certain order, that the accusations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh will never stop and his foes on the progressive left never let up.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:

NYT reporters haven't kept their story straight about Brett Kavanaugh asking them to lie — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh supposedly asked New York Times reporters to lie to their readers. At least, that is the story certain journalists have repeated, following Times reporters Robin Pogrebin …

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Younger Black Voters to Their Parents: Break Up With Joe Biden, I'm Bored — An organic effort by black millennials and Gen Z-ers to influence their older family members may be key to overtaking Mr. Biden in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: Washington Blade

New York Times:

Why Republicans Play Dirty — They fear that if they stick to the rules, they will lose everything. Their behavior is a threat to democratic stability. — Mr. Levitsky and Mr. Ziblatt are political scientists and the authors of “How Democracies Die.” — The greatest threat …

Washington Post:

HUD Secretary Ben Carson makes dismissive comments about transgender people, angering agency staff — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson expressed concern about “big, hairy men” trying to infiltrate women's homeless shelters during an internal meeting, according to three people present …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, VICE, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, The Root, Splinter, WTKR-TV, Towleroad Gay News, The Guardian, Out Magazine, Alternet.org, Mediaite and Raw Story

Michael Gold / New York Times:

Trump Lawyers Argue He Cannot Be Criminally Investigated — The president's legal team is trying to block a subpoena seeking his tax returns, claiming that any criminal investigation of Mr. Trump is unconstitutional. — Lawyers for President Trump argued in a lawsuit filed on Thursday …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Axios, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Bess Levin / Vanity Fair:
Trump: My Crimes Can't Be Investigated While I'm President

Discussion: Hullabaloo, VICE, Fox News and Bloomberg

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

How Trump's Florida ‘field general’ got kneecapped — In the homestretch of the 2018 campaign for Florida governor, Donald Trump walked into the hold room before a big rally, looked GOP nominee Ron DeSantis in the eye and pointed to a nearby political operative.

Discussion: Raw Story

Kareem Fahim / Washington Post:

Twitter suspends account of former top Saudi aide implicated in Khashoggi killing — ISTANBUL — Twitter said Friday it has suspended an account belonging to Saud al-Qahtani, a former adviser to Saudi Arabia's royal court who was implicated by Saudi, American and Turkish officials in an operation …

Discussion: Twitter, CNN and ABC News, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

For Trump, a Time of Indecision — WASHINGTON — Speaking to a Fox News reporter near the Mexican border on Wednesday, President Trump seemed taken aback when asked if the White House were preparing to roll out gun control proposals the next day, a timeline administration officials had suggested was likely.

Discussion: Raw Story

NBC News:

Trump admin ignored its own evidence of climate change's impact on migration from Central America — An internal report obtained by NBC News showed migration surged from those areas where climate change is hurting crops and farmers. — GUATEMALA CITY — Research compiled one year ago …

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

“It Won't End Well”: Trump and His Obscure New National-Security Chief — Flattery will get you everywhere with Donald Trump. The President demonstrated this powerfully on Wednesday, when he named the State Department's little-known hostage negotiator, Robert O'Brien …

Wall Street Journal:

Kamala Harris's Iowa Strategy Is Well-Worn—and Risky — Every cycle some presidential candidates focus all their attention on Iowa, to mixed results — Kamala Harris 's campaign says she is focusing her efforts on Iowa in the hopes of reviving her struggling campaign.

Discussion: Political Wire

Burgess Everett / Politico:

The Senate surrenders legislating on guns to Trump — The Senate is essentially outsourcing its legislative duties to a divided White House and the whims of President Donald Trump, as it makes its first sustained attempt at overhauling gun laws in years. — It's a clear reaction from senators …

Discussion: Political Wire

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

Democrats target over 26,000 local races to unseat Republicans — Contest Every Race, a new coalition of Democratic groups, is launching a seven-figure campaign to challenge Republican incumbents in 26,849 down-ballot local races, Axios has learned. — Why it matters: 2020 is more than just the presidential election.

David Brooks / New York Times:

A Brief History of the Warren Presidency — A look back at American politics from the year 2050. — A crisis of legitimacy swept across American politics in the second decade of the 21st century. Many people had the general conviction that the old order was corrupt and incompetent.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Pankaj Mishra / The Guardian:

The west's self-proclaimed custodians of democracy failed to notice it rotting away — British and American elites failed to anticipate the triumph of homegrown demagogues - because they imagined the only threats to democracy lurked abroad — Anglo-American lamentations about the state …

Christina Zhao / Newsweek:

GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw Tries to Hide in Elevator While Confronted by Combat Veterans Over His Support for Trump: ‘Do Your Duty’ — Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw unsuccessfully tried to lose two combat veterans by ducking into a private elevator as they confronted him about his support …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Splinter, twitchy.com and Raw Story

Carl Zimmer / New York Times:

Birds Are Vanishing From North America — The number of birds in the United States and Canada has declined by 3 billion, or 29 percent, over the past half-century, scientists find. — The skies are emptying out. — The number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29 percent since 1970 …

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Alternet.org, Deseret News, Earther, The Atlantic, Science, The Week, Mother Jones and NPR

NBC News:

Pentagon is last holdout as Stephen Miller tries to slash number of refugees allowed in U.S. — The Pentagon is the lone voice inside the Trump admin defending the U.S. refugee program. — WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is fighting against proposals by White House officials to drastically cut …

Discussion: Political Wire

Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:

Michel Barnier rebuffs UK request to sort out backstop later — The EU said a workable solution to the backstop was ‘essential’ as part of a withdrawal deal, not after. — EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier Friday rebuffed a request from the U.K. to agree a withdrawal deal and sort the Irish backstop out at a later date.

Discussion: One America News Network

ProPublica:

MIT Media Lab Kept Regulators in the Dark, Dumped Chemicals in Excess of Legal Limit — Documents and interviews show the Media Lab, already under fire for accepting contributions from Jeffrey Epstein, is being investigated for an apparent violation of state environmental regulations.