memeorandum: We're about to hear a lot about Watergate. Here's how to tell if you're getting the real story. (Hugh Hewitt/Washington Post)

9:15 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: Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, Esquire, The Guardian, CBS News, The Week, NPR, Crooked Media, Slate, The Atlantic, twitchy.com, POLITICUSUSA, Florida Politics, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite and Roll Call

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: Outside the Beltway and 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.

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 and The Guardian

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Trump's worst week ever — DRIVING THE DAY — THIS IS QUICKLY SHAPING UP to be the worst week of President DONALD TRUMP'S presidency: — 1) BILL TAYLOR, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, provided close to unassailable evidence that TRUMP was directly seeking …

Discussion: Associated Press and New York Times

ABC News:

The Note: GOP weariness grows as Trump defenses give way — The deeper things get and the more likely impeachment is, the more President Donald Trump needs his Republican Party to stay loyal. — That's not lost on the president. But what he may be losing over time is the ability …

Discussion: Politico

Michael Warren / CNN:
5 explosive lines from Bill Taylor's statement

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

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

Discussion: Raw Story

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Florida Politics, KTLA and Associated Press

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, The Hill, New York Post, Washington Times, Political Wire and Mediaite

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
How Centrist Democrats Botched the 2020 Primary

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

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: Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Hill, Washington Times, Daily Kos, The Week and Political Wire

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 …

Washington Post:
Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates

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 Post and 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

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, Breitbart and Press & Sun-Bulletin

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: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, The Hill, 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, Washington Post, PJ Media Home, USA Today and Instapundit

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Pelosi and McConnell are on an impeachment collision course — Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are attacking each other in increasingly pointed terms as House Democrats burrow deeper into their impeachment inquiry. — But if the top two congressional leaders can't find a way to come together soon …

Nancy Cordes / CBS News:
McConnell denies telling Trump his Ukraine call was “innocent”

Discussion: The Week, Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, News & Guts Media and McConnell contradicts …

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 …

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.

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.

Washington Post:

How a Beltway power couple and a political newcomer learned to thrive in the Trump era — When Brad Parscale was looking for advice about how to navigate Washington after running the digital strategy for Donald Trump's upstart presidential campaign in 2016, the brash political newcomer turned to a Beltway power couple.

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

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: Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

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

Hugh Hewitt / Washington Post:

We're about to hear a lot about Watergate. Here's how to tell if you're getting the real story. — Some of the people I admire the most in journalism have lost their balance. President Trump has so repeatedly pushed around the Fourth Estate and so often bloodied their collective nose …

Conrad Black / American Greatness:

Impeachment Will Fail — Two elements of the turbulent current American political scene became clearer over the past week. One is the determination, attested to by almost all Washington insiders whatever side they are on, of the Democratic leadership to force an impeachment trial of the president.

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Former Acting Attorney General: ‘Abuse of Power Is Not a Crime’ — Matthew Whitaker also blasted the “global elitists and careerists” who are upset with Trump for “upsetting the apple cart” of the “world establishment.” — Following Tuesday's devastating House testimony by acting U.S. Ambassador …

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.

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

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