memeorandum: ‘Alarming circumstances’: A distressed diplomat tells a tale of venal intrigue (Washington Post)

8:25 AM ET, October 23, 2019

Top Items:

Opening statement of Ambassador William B. Taylor — William B. Taylor, the senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified before impeachment investigators Tuesday. Read the story here. — Don't see the document? Click here to download the pdf.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Esquire, CBS News, The Week, Bloomberg, Crooked Media, Slate, The Atlantic, twitchy.com, POLITICUSUSA, Florida Politics, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Here's the quid pro quo proof, Lindsey Graham — SEN. LINDSEY O. Graham, one of President Trump's most ardent defenders in the Ukraine affair, has said he sees no evidence of wrongdoing in the president's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Mr. Trump pressed …

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:

An Envoy's Damning Account of Trump's Ukraine Pressure and Its Consequences — William B. Taylor Jr. laid out in visceral terms the potentially life-or-death stakes of what he saw as an illegitimate scheme to pressure Kiev for political help by suspending American security aid.

Discussion: Washington Post

John Podhoretz / Commentary:

Trump Will Be Impeached — Remember when I said last week that October 17 was the worst day of the Trump presidency? Well, October 22 and has now come along to break the record. This is the day that, I think, has ensured Donald Trump's impeachment. Not his removal. But impeachment will be bad enough.

Michael Warren / CNN:

5 explosive lines from Bill Taylor's statement — Cooper: This could be most consequential day for Trump — Washington (CNN)The top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testified behind closed doors Tuesday as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Power Line, RedState and Law & Crime

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
New testimony undercuts Trump's claim of no quid pro quo on Ukraine. How will Washington respond?

Discussion: New York Times

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump's worst week ever

Discussion: Associated Press and New York Times

ABC News:
The Note: GOP weariness grows as Trump defenses give way

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post: ‘Alarming circumstances’: A distressed diplomat tells a tale of venal intrigue

New York Times:
Ukraine Envoy Testifies Trump Linked Military Aid to Investigations

Discussion: The Week, Axios, Raw Story, Vox, The American Conservative, Breitbart, The Mahablog, Law & Crime, Mother Jones and Mediaite

Associated Press:
Key takeaways from ambassador's testimony on Ukraine

Discussion: KTLA and Associated Press

Washington Post:
Trump made Ukraine aid contingent on public pledge to investigate Bidens and 2016 election, U.S. envoy says he was told

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times: 6 Key Revelations of Taylor's Opening Statement to Impeachment Investigators

Mike Lillis / The Hill: Democrat: Top diplomat's testimony on Ukraine is ‘sea change’ in impeachment probe

The Daily Beast:

Trump Whines That Senate Republicans Are Failing Him on Impeachment and Not Owning Nearly Enough Libs — The president and his advisers want Republicans in the Senate to stage their own hearings to counteract what's happening in the House. — President Trump, his advisers …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill, Mediaite and Contemptor

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

GOP senators warn Trump he risks political harm from impeachment with chaotic approach — Senate Republicans are warning President Trump that he risks bungling impeachment politically and alienating voters, even as he survives a Senate trial, without a focused strategy prosecuted by competent political professionals.

Maggie Miller / The Hill:
Senate Republicans block two election security bills

Discussion: Politico

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Steve Bannon launches radio show and podcast on impeachment

Discussion: Washington Post

BuzzFeed News:

Federal Investigators Are Probing Suspicious Financial Transactions By Two Giuliani Associates Who Ran A Back-Channel Campaign — A federal grand jury investigating activities surrounding Rudy Giuliani's back-channel campaign in Ukraine has demanded legal documents that include records …

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

“MICHAEL COHEN IS NOW EVEN MORE VALUABLE THAN BEFORE”: THE PRESIDENT'S FORMER ATTORNEY OFFERS DIRT ON GIULIANI ASSOCIATE LEV PARNAS — Cohen's SDNY cooperation could continue with new details about the Ukraine case. Could it lighten his sentence? — History certainly felt like it was repeating itself.

Washington Post:

Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates — When two business associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, were arrested this month on charges that they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections, federal prosecutors working on a different case in Chicago took note.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Week and Raw Story

The Harvard Crimson:

A Note To Readers — To our readers: — Last month, The Crimson covered a rally organized by campus group Act on a Dream that called for the abolition of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During the course of our reporting, Crimson reporters requested comment from ICE …

Discussion: Washington Times

Ruoqi Zhang / The Harvard Crimson:
Harvard Student Groups Condemn The Crimson's Coverage of Abolish ICE Rally

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Reason and Althouse

QU Poll:

Release Detail — October 23, 2019 - Approval Of Impeachment Inquiry Reaches 55 Percent, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Disapprove Of Trump's Decision On Syria 2-1 — Approval among American voters of the U.S. House impeachment inquiry, an inquiry to determine whether …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, Washington Times, The Week and Political Wire

CNN:

CNN Poll: Biden's lead in Democratic primary hits widest margin since April — WASHINGTON (CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in the race for the Democratic nomination for president has rebounded, and now stands at its widest margin since April, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Political Wire and Mediaite

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Anonymous author of Trump ‘resistance’ op-ed to publish a tell-all book — The author of an anonymous column in the New York Times in 2018, who was identified as a senior Trump administration official acting as part of the “resistance” inside the government, has written a tell-all book to be published next month.

Discussion: Townhall, Arizona Republic, PJ Media Home, NB Blog, Fox News, KTLA, Contemptor, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, The Week, Raw Story, NBC News, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh, ABC News, Breitbart and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Jake Tapper / CNN:
Anonymous Trump official who wrote New York Times op-ed has a book coming out

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, NPR, NB Blog, Hot Air, HuffPost, Daily Kos, Raw Story, CNBC, NBC News, The Guardian, The Hill, New York Times, Townhall, New York Post and Axios

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

Dick's Sporting Goods CEO quietly tests presidential bid — Ed Stack, the CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods and a longtime Republican donor, is testing the waters for a possible third-party presidential bid that could scramble the dynamics of the 2020 general election.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Political Wire, Forbes, Press & Sun-Bulletin and Breitbart

Tim Skubick / WLNS-TV:

Poll shows U.S. Senate race a toss-up — 6 News is releasing some exclusive statewide polling data tonight confirming that the race for one of the state's U.S. Senate seats is a dead heat. — That's bad news for the Democrats and good news for the Republicans.

CNN:

Joe Biden said in 1998 that Clinton impeachment could be seen as ‘partisan lynching’ — McCarthy breaks with Trump over ‘lynching’ comment — (CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump's comparison of the ongoing impeachment inquiry to a …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, twitchy.com, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Associated Press, Politico, Mediaite, Breitbart, Axios, Townhall, Roll Call, KTLA, Talking Points Memo and CNBC

Bonchie / RedState:
Apparently Every Democrat In Existence Used the Term “Lynching” To Defend The Clintons

Discussion: Breitbart, Vox, PJ Media Home, USA Today and Instapundit

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:

Trump's D.C. hotel abruptly cancels Christian aid group's Kurdish solidarity event — A Christian aid group that planned a gathering to honor and pray for the Kurdish people at President Trump's hotel in Washington were told by hotel staff this week that the event was canceled, according to two members of the aid group.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Support for impeaching Trump soars among independents: Reuters/Ipsos poll — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Support for impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump surged among political independents and rose by three percentage points overall since last week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Discussion: CNBC and The Hill

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Katie Couric Steamrolls Sheryl Sandberg in Roving Vanity Fair Summit Interview — Sending a jolt through a luxurious and excessively polite afternoon in Beverly Hills, veteran journalist Katie Couric delivered a relentless series of hardball questions to Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on Tuesday.

Bryan Bender / Politico:

‘The White House is not to be trusted right now’ — Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, “iced out” and blindsided by presidential decisions he disagreed with, grew increasingly wary of President Donald Trump's leadership, even losing his cool in private meetings and plotting to quit nearly half …

Discussion: Defense One

Washington Post:

Anxiety rises among Democrats worried about party's prospects in 2020 — When the 2020 Democratic presidential contest kicked off earlier this year, the massive field was hailed as the most diverse in history, with candidates who spanned the ideological spectrum and offered enough in a broad buffet of options to excite any voter.

Discussion: Fox News and New York Post

Wall Street Journal:

White House, Battling Impeachment, Looks to Coordinate With Hill GOP — Regular calls, talking points mark an attempt to sharpen the message from Trump allies — President Trump has signed off on regular conference calls between senior White House aides and select Republican lawmakers …

Discussion: Political Wire

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

How Centrist Democrats Botched the 2020 Primary — A specter is haunting “pro-business Democrats” — the specter of change they can't believe in. — With just over three months until Iowa gets caucusing, Elizabeth Warren is their party's front-runner. She's running neck and neck …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, The Hill, The Week, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

Donald Trump's ‘Lynching’ — The President keeps asking friends to defend the indefensible. — By The Editorial Board — Donald Trump made himself a political celebrity in 2016 by persuading news media to talk about—Donald Trump. He did it mainly by the expedient of saying outrageous things …

Paul Cobler / Dallas Morning News:

World Series tradition on hold: No D.C. senator for Texans to bet against as Astros face Nationals — Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have no counterparts to bet against as Houston faces Washington, a capital city fighting for statehood — something they both oppose.

Michael R. Pompeo / United States Department of State:

Trump Administration Diplomacy: The Untold Story — MARRIOTT MARQUIS, WASHINGTON, DC HERITAGE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT'S CLUB MEETING — SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you all. Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone. So I've got a prepared speech, and then I got some thoughts. (Laughter.)

Discussion: Bloomberg and The American Conservative

Fox News:

Durham's probe into possible FBI misconduct expanded based on new evidence, sources say — U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe has expanded based on new evidence uncovered during a recent trip to Rome with Attorney General Bill Barr, sources told Fox News on Tuesday.

Discussion: Townhall

Pema Levy / Mother Jones:

New Evidence Hints at Another Justice Department Coverup — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released evidence on Tuesday that the Justice Department buried the whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump's call with the Ukrainian president by failing to refer the matter to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

Discussion: emptywheel