memeorandum: Trump at private breakfast: 'Who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that's close to a spy' (Eli Stokols/Los Angeles Times)

5:00 PM ET, September 26, 2019

Top Items:

Whistle-Blower Is a C.I.A. Officer Who Was Detailed to the White House — His complaint suggested he was an analyst by training with an understanding of Ukrainian politics. — WASHINGTON — The whistle-blower who revealed that President Trump sought foreign help for his re-election …

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Trump Attacks Whistle-Blower's Sources and Alludes to Punishment for Spies — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday morning told a crowd of staff from the United States Mission to the United Nations that he wants to know who provided information to a whistle-blower about his phone call …

Eli Stokols / Los Angeles Times:

Trump at private breakfast: 'Who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that's close to a spy' — President Trump expressed disgust Thursday morning with the explosive whistleblower complaint, slamming the intelligence officer and the White House aides who helped him or her as “almost a spy” and suggested it was treason.

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:

Rudy Giuliani: ‘You Should Be Happy for Your Country That I Uncovered This’ — When I last saw Rudy Giuliani for lunch, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington four weeks ago, his most pressing concern was that he had been locked out of his Instagram account.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Axios, The Independent, Washington Post and Lawyers, Guns & Money

YouTube:

Listen: Trump slams whistleblower at private event — In this audio clip excerpt, President Trump expressed disgust Thursday morning with the explosive whistleblower complaint, slamming the intelligence officer ...

Discussion: Daily Kos

Michael Warren / CNN:

Giuliani denies charges in whistleblower complaint, says details are ‘total nonsense’ — Dana Bash: The allegation is that this is a coverup — Washington (CNN)Rudy Giuliani tells CNN he has “no knowledge of any of that crap” in the newly released complaint from an American intelligence community whistleblower.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, NBC News, The Week, Daily Kos, WHOTV, Raw Story, Palmer Report, Political Wire, News Agency UNIAN, New York Post, Above the Law, Hullabaloo, The Independent, HuffPost, Occupy Democrats, Lawfare and Washington Post

New York Times:

Full Document: The Whistle-Blower Complaint — The President also praised Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Mr. Yuriy Lutsenko, and suggested that Mr. Zelenskyy might want to keep him in his position. (Note: Starting in March 2019, Mr. Lutsenko made a series of public allegations …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Slate, Rolling Stone, CBS News, Reason, IJR and Outside the Beltway

CNN:

Lewandowski may lead White House impeachment team — (CNN)Corey Lewandowski, the political operative who helped elect Donald Trump, has had conversations with White House officials in recent days about potentially taking a position inside the administration to help the President confront a looming impeachment fight.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Mahablog, Daily Kos, New York Times, KFOR-TV, Splinter, The Week, Washington Post, Slate and Mediaite

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

$50,000 reward offered to out Trump whistleblower — Two Trump supporters are offering a $50,000 reward for information about the national security whistleblower at the center of the Ukraine phone affair. — Controversial conservatives Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl said they would pay the money for …

Discussion: Townhall, New York Post and Mother Jones

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

White House ‘lockdown’ of transcript would be highly unusual — The future of American politics may once again depend on the handling of classified information on computer servers. — Only now, it's not a secretary of state's rogue email system at issue — it's the president's own highly …

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Post, Slate and The Week

Paul Szoldra / Task & Purpose:
Critics blast New York Times for outing whistleblower as CIA officer and giving clues to his identity

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Ron Johnson troubled by whistleblower allegation of records ‘lock down’

Discussion: Axios, Vanity Fair, Raw Story and The Week

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Complaint From So-Called ‘Whistleblower’ Is Riddled With Gossip, Blatant Falsehoods

Discussion: Washington Post

New York Times:
Whistle-Blower Is Said to Allege Concerns About White House Handling of Ukraine Call

Discussion: Rolling Stone, New Yorker, Politico, Salon, Slate, Washington Post, CNN, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Foreign Policy, Raw Story and Vox

Molly Ball / TIME:
How Donald Trump Triggered an Unprecedented Impeachment Fight

Discussion: HuffPost

Kate Brannen / Just Security:
Whistleblower Says White House Took Unusual Steps to Limit Access to Ukraine Call Record

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post and Mediaite

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Wall Street Democratic donors warn the party: We'll sit out, or back Trump, if you nominate Elizabeth Warren — In recent interviews of several big-money Democratic donors and fundraisers in the business community, CNBC has found that this opinion is becoming widely shared as Warren surges against Joe Biden.

Discussion: RedState, New York Times, NBC News, VodkaPundit, The Week, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Hill

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:

Voter Support for Impeachment Grows Amid Ukraine Scandal — Backing for impeachment increases by 13 net points since the weekend — President Donald Trump pauses during a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25 in New York City.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week and Mediaite

Associated Press:

A first: Vermont GOP governor backs Trump impeachment probe — ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. — Vermont's governor has become the first Republican chief executive to support impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump but cautions that he wants to know more before any further actions are taken.

Discussion: Axios, Breitbart, Mediaite and Associated Press

Steven Shepard / Politico: Support for impeachment jumps in new poll

Mehdi Hasan / The Intercept:

Democrats, Please Don't Mess This Up. Impeach Trump for All His Crimes, Not Just for Ukraine. — Are Democrats preparing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Speaker Nancy Pelosi's announcement on Tuesday that the House of Representatives would hold an “official impeachment inquiry” …

Discussion: New Republic, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post and Politico

Arren Kimbel-Sannit / Politico:
Cory Booker optimistic impeachment will get bipartisan support

Discussion: YouGov, Breitbart and The Daily Beast

Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:
Public Support For Impeachment Grows After Nancy Pelosi Backs Inquiry

Discussion: The American Spectator, No More Mister Nice Blog and USA Today

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
The Impeachment Fervor Isn't Going Anywhere

Discussion: Fox News and Instapundit

Washington Post:

Former Ukraine prosecutor says Hunter Biden ‘did not violate anything’ — KIEV, Ukraine — A former top Ukrainian prosecutor, whose allegations were at the heart of the dirt-digging effort by Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Thursday he believed that Hunter Biden did not run afoul of any laws in Ukraine.

Discussion: Axios, IJR, Occupy Democrats, Political Wire, Reuters and Bloomberg

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast: Giuliani Won't Say if He Has a Security Clearance

NBC News:
Kurt Volker, Trump's part-time Ukraine envoy, played role in Giuliani outreach

Discussion: The Guardian, Palmer Report and POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:
Phone Call Showed Only a Slice of Trump's Obsession With Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Talking Points Memo, The Nation, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, HuffPost, Issues & Insights, CNN, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite and CBS News

U.S. House of Representatives Permanent …:

House Intelligence Committee Releases Whistleblower Complaint — f t # e — Washington, DC - Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the declassified whistleblower complaint. The complaint can be viewed here, and the Intelligence Community Inspector General letter regarding …

Discussion: CNBC, Breitbart, The Independent, FactCheck.org, Raw Story, The New Neo, News Agency UNIAN, Balloon Juice, Splinter and New York Post

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What did they all know about the whistleblower complaint, and when they know it?

Discussion: The Guardian

Jacob Knutson / Axios:
Acting DNI Joseph Maguire: Whistleblower “did the right thing”

Discussion: Washington Post, New Republic, Politico, New York Sun and Breitbart

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Whistleblower says White House tried to ‘lock down’ Ukraine call

Discussion: Fox News, Vox, Washington Post, Breitbart, Axios, Jezebel and Scripting News

Washington Post:

Trump's other Ukraine problem: New concern about his business — Zelensky recounted his stay at the president's N.Y. hotel in call with Trump. — Buried in the controversy over President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was an effort by the Ukrainian leader …

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and Just Security

Shay Khatiri / The Bulwark:
Everything Bad About the Trump-Zelensky Call That Had Nothing to Do with Biden

Discussion: Washington Post and Politifact.com Truth …

The Boston Globe:

The limits of Trump's ‘so what if I did?’ strategy — WASHINGTON — As news that he asked a foreign leader to investigate his political rivals rocked Washington, President Trump turned to a tried-and-true strategy: Embrace it.Trump took the unusual step of releasing a rough transcript Wednesday …

Discussion: CNN

Taylor Telford / Washington Post:

Income inequality in America is the highest it's been since census started tracking it, data shows — In the midst of the nation's longest economic expansion, the separation between rich and poor is at a five-decade high — Last year, income inequality in the United States reached …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Jacobin and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Mike Schneider / Associated Press:
Census: Inequality grew, including in heartland states

Discussion: KTLA

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:

Immigrant Population Growth in the U.S. Slows to a Trickle — The U.S. population gained immigrants last year at the slowest pace since 2008. President Trump's approach to immigration is seen as the likely cause. — The United States population gained immigrants at the slowest pace …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Biden's brother touted Biden Cancer Initiative ties in investment pitch — James Biden suggested the former vice president's anti-cancer efforts could benefit potential investors, a litigant says. His spokesman denies it. — James Biden is accused of telling executives at a healthcare firm …

Discussion: New York Post, Fox News, Breitbart and National Review

Robert Patrick / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

NAACP, faith and other groups ask police union to fire its controversial business manager — Rev. Darryl Gray speaks at a rally in support for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2019, on the front steps of City Hall. More than 75 people attended the rally.

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

US deploys air defense systems, troops to Saudi Arabia — WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is sending one Patriot missile battery and four ground-based radar systems to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said Thursday, in what officials describe as the first steps to help the kingdom protect itself against Iranian attacks.