memeorandum: Q&A: Explaining the fast-moving impeachment inquiry (Mary Clare Jalonick/Associated Press)

3:35 PM ET, October 25, 2019

Top Items:

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

NSC official plans to testify in impeachment probe even if White House tries to block him — Tim Morrison, a National Security Council official who has been identified as a witness to one of the most explosive pieces of evidence unearthed by House impeachment investigators …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Raw Story and CNN

CNN:

A mystery that's baffling investigators: What changed Trump's mind on $400 million in Ukraine aid? — How Trump jeopardized Ukraine's national security — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump was already under fire for freezing aid to Ukraine when a Republican senator set off another alarm bell …

CNN:

White House official expected to back up diplomat's testimony over Trump push for Ukraine probe into Bidens — Why the ‘quid pro quo’ defense may not matter — (CNN)Tim Morrison, a top Russia and Europe adviser on President Donald Trump's National Security Council, is expected to testify …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post and Roll Call

New York Times:
Republicans Fight Trump's Impeachment by Attacking the Process

Discussion: The Atlantic, Fox News, Vox, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Progress Pond, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Politico, Just Security, Associated Press and The Daily Beast

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:
Q&A: Explaining the fast-moving impeachment inquiry

Discussion: Breitbart, FOX6Now.com and KTLA

CNN:
Bolton lawyers in talks about possible impeachment deposition

Discussion: CNBC, HuffPost, Law & Crime, Fortune and Washington Post

CNN:
White House eyes ex-Treasury spokesman to lead impeachment messaging efforts

Discussion: VICE and New York Times

Amber Phillips / Washington Post: It's looking as if the impeachment inquiry could extend into 2020

CNN:

Feds blow door off safe, issue subpoenas as probe into Giuliani associates escalates — (CNN)Federal prosecutors in New York have subpoenaed the brother of one of the recently indicted associates of Rudy Giuliani, according to two people familiar with the matter, as they escalate their investigation in the campaign-finance case.

Discussion: New York Daily News and Talking Points Memo

ProPublica:

How a Veteran Reporter Worked with Giuliani's Associates to Launch the Ukraine Conspiracy — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.

Discussion: Mediaite

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Giuliani probe snowballs — Rudy Giuliani's problems keep piling up. — His responsibilities are shrinking as Donald Trump's TV-friendly personal attorney. His efforts to dig up dirt on the president's political opponents have landed his highest-profile client in a congressional impeachment investigation.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, emptywheel, Raw Story, News & Guts Media, Law & Crime and POLITICUSUSA

Craig Karmin / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Organization Exploring Sale of Marquee Washington Hotel — Move is motivated partly by ethical criticisms concerning profiting on the property — The Trump Organization is exploring a sale of the rights to the company's opulent Washington, D.C., hotel, a move it says is motivated partly …

Discussion: NBC News, CNN, Washington Post, Axios, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, Washingtonian, The Hill, The House Committee …, CNBC, The Week, Political Wire, Raw Story and News & Guts Media

Eric Lipton / New York Times: Trump Family Considers Selling Hotel in Washington

Rich Schapiro / NBC News:

Rudy Giuliani butt-dials NBC reporter, heard discussing need for cash and trashing Bidens — “The problem is we need some money,” Giuliani says to unidentified man during accidental call to NBC News writer. — Late in the evening on Oct. 16, Rudy Giuliani made a phone call to this reporter.

Discussion: Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

Justice Dept. Is Said to Open Criminal Inquiry Into Its Own Russia Investigation — The move is likely to open the attorney general to accusations that he is trying to deliver a political victory for President Trump. — WASHINGTON — For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked …

Margot Cleveland / The Federalist:
All The Russia Collusion Clues Are Beginning To Point Back To John Brennan

Discussion: RedState, Salon, Breitbart, Washington Post and American Greatness

Washington Post:

We represent the whistleblower. Their identity is no longer relevant. — The public now knows more about the call with Ukraine than what was in the complaint. — Our client's whistleblower complaint about President Trump's efforts to solicit interference from Ukraine in the 2020 U.S. election …

Discussion: CNN and Politico

House Foreign Affairs Committee:
OMB and State Department Officials Subpoenaed in House Impeachment Inquiry

Discussion: Axios

Washington Post:
Live updates: House issues subpoenas to two OMB officials in impeachment inquiry; Trump praises Giuliani

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill and Breitbart

Pat Rynard / Iowa Starting Line:

Gabbard Skips Iowa Forum, Appears On Fox News Instead — Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's bizarre week in American politics continued Thursday night, when she skipped an appearance at LULAC's Latino town hall in Des Moines, appearing that evening instead on Sean Hannity's Fox News show.

Discussion: CNN, The Outline, WORLD, Slate, Big League Politics and IJR

Ronn Blitzer / Fox News:
Clinton ally Blumenthal sought to stop publication of Russia probe book: source

Discussion: RedState

Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
Tulsi Gabbard echoes Republican frustrations with impeachment inquiry: 'I don't know what's …

Discussion: Breitbart, HuffPost, alicublog, The Federalist, Townhall, No More Mister Nice Blog, Associated Press, Reuters and Fox Business

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

DNC raises thresholds for December debate — The halfway mark of the Democratic debate calendar is coming up, and the sixth debate will likely feature the smallest stage yet. — New thresholds announced by the Democratic National Committee for the sixth debate — which will be hosted …

Discussion: Fox News, The Federalist, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, Breitbart, Associated Press, The Week, The Daily Caller, Axios, The Wrap, Political Wire and FiveThirtyEight

Washington Post:

The U.S. deficit hit $984 billion in 2019, soaring during Trump era — Spending increases, tax cuts, and political apathy fueled surge, and interest payments now near $400 billion — The U.S. government's budget deficit ballooned to nearly $1 trillion in 2019, a $205 billion increase from a year earlier …

Discussion: National Review, Political Wire and Raw Story

Katia Dmitrieva / Bloomberg: U.S. Annual Budget Deficit Nears $1 Trillion With 26% Rise

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: “Anonymous” to expose private Trump conversations — The anonymous “senior Trump administration official” who will release a tell-all book, “A Warning,” next month was a frequent participant in meetings with President Trump and plans to recount specific conversations, sources tell me.

Discussion: NBC News, The Daily Caller and CNN

Sen. Rand Paul / Breitbart:

Rand Paul: Is Quid Pro Quo the Status Quo? — Isn't all foreign aid supposed to be quid pro quo? — We give you this aid — on the expectation that you will not steal any of it for personal use, that you will spend it as we instruct, and on the understanding that if you don't spend the money …

Byron York / Washington Examiner: In impeachment, can Democrats focus on Trump intent and not result?

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Watchdog Council Says Justice Department Erred in Blocking Whistleblower Complaint — Memo saying matter wasn't urgent was wrong, Council of Inspectors General concludes — A U.S. watchdog council has faulted a Justice Department legal memo that initially blocked the Ukraine whistleblower's complaint …

Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
Watchdogs inside government blast DOJ for not referring Ukraine whistleblower to Congress

Discussion: Axios and MSNBC

Facebook:

Introducing Facebook News — Testing a dedicated place for news in the US — Journalism plays a critical role in our democracy. When news is deeply-reported and well-sourced it gives people information they can rely on. When it's not, we lose an essential tool for making good decisions.

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, NPR, Deadline, The Hill, TechCrunch, The Verge and UPI, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:
Facebook Launches News Section to Compensate Publishers

Discussion: Slate

Alicia Cohn / The Hill:

Cummings pallbearer skips McConnell handshake at memorial — A pallbearer at Rep. Elijah Cummings's (D-Md.) memorial on Thursday shook hands with all top congressional leaders except Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). — Video captured the pallbearer, who has been identified …

Discussion: Courier-Journal, Breitbart, Baltimore Sun and Political Wire

Bobby Gehlen / ABC News:
Congressman Elijah Cummings' funeral to feature Obama, Clintons, Pelosi and family

Discussion: NBC News, Politico, The Hill, The Week, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Breitbart and C-SPAN.org

The Economist:

Elizabeth Warren wants to remake American capitalism — As it stands, the Democratic front-runner's programme has too little time for markets or business — ELIZABETH WARREN is remarkable. Born into a struggling family in Oklahoma, she worked her way up to become a star law professor at Harvard.

CNN:

Maria Butina released from federal prison, expected to be deported to Russia — (CNN)Russian gun rights enthusiast Maria Butina was released from the Tallahassee Federal Correction Institution on Friday after having served more than 15 months behind bars, according to the US Federal Bureau of Prisons …

Discussion: Law & Crime, New York Post, Political Wire, UPI and Breaking News USA

Sarah N. Lynch / Reuters:
Russian agent Butina freed from U.S. prison, set to be deported

Discussion: BBC, The Hill, The Daily Caller and Fox News

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Trump Cuts Out Media That Doesn't ‘Make Him Feel Beautiful’ — It's a comfort mechanism for the president that intensifies whenever he feels under siege and when scandal swirls. — For months, President Trump has refused to grace CNN or MSNBC with what he views as the gift of his presence.

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Post

Kansas City Star:

Mike Pompeo, either quit and run for U.S. Senate in Kansas or focus on your day job — BY THE KANSAS CITY STAR EDITORIAL BOARD — If Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, then he should quit his rather important day job and do that.

Discussion: Wichita Eagle

Elliot Spagat / Associated Press:

Trump Administration Responsible For More Than 5,400 Child Separations, ACLU Says — The figure includes more than 1,500 migrant children that were not previously disclosed by the Justice Department. — SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities separated more than 1,500 children …

Discussion: Axios

Tulsi Gabbard / TULSI2020.com:

Mahalo, Hawaiʻi — I am so grateful. — Grateful to call Hawaiʻi home; grateful for our people and the spirit of aloha that binds us all together; and grateful for our precious 'āina, beautiful oceans, and towering mountains. — Most of all, I'm grateful to all of you …

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: The West Wing's impeachment war room — Top Trump officials have quietly created a de facto impeachment war room, with a chief goal of policing and solidifying Republican Senate support for acquittal. — What's happening: Most senior officials in the White House recognized quickly …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Randall Roberts / Los Angeles Times:

Morrissey is anti-immigrant and backs a white nationalist political party. Why don't fans care? — For years, when professor Melissa Mora Hidalgo wasn't teaching classes at Cal State Fullerton or UC San Diego, the Los Angeles-based culture writer could often be found on stages throughout the region …

Matthew Knott / Sydney Morning Herald:

Joe Hockey denounces key Donald Trump policies in scathing speech — New York: Australia's ambassador to Washington Joe Hockey has launched a blistering attack on the isolationist tariff policies of US President Donald Trump, warning the US risks losing its economic dominance and provoking war unless …