memeorandum: Democrats sing different tunes on impeachment as GOP closes ranks (NBC News)

10:20 AM ET, December 3, 2019

Top Items:

Barr doesn't accept key inspector general finding about FBI's Russia investigation — Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department's inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information …

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, CNN, National Review, The Guardian, The Hill, IJR, Daily Kos, Above the Law, Slate, American Greatness, The Last Refuge, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Mediaite, Redstate, Townhall, MSNBC, POLITICUSUSA, Axios and The Gateway Pundit

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed News:

Here Are The Latest Secret Memos From Mueller's Report — BuzzFeed News sued the US government for the right to see all the work that Mueller's team kept secret. Today we are publishing the second installment of the FBI's summaries of interviews with key witnesses.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, HuffPost, CNN, Hullabaloo, Political Wire, The Hill, Associated Press, Raw Story and Axios

NBC News:

Democrats sing different tunes on impeachment as GOP closes ranks — First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — WASHINGTON — If the Democrats have the substance on their side …

Discussion: ABC News, Politico and The Hill

Elena Schneider / Politico:

Buttigieg blows up his strategy to win black voters — ALLENDALE, S.C. — When Pete Buttigieg goes to Iowa or New Hampshire, he's a Democratic presidential frontrunner who packs campaign venues. But when Buttigieg goes to South Carolina, he's far from the top — and his campaign is shaking …

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart, The Hill, Axios, Washington Post and The Guardian

New York Times:
Barr Is Said to Doubt Inspector General's Finding on Russia Inquiry

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Raw Story

Natasha Korecki / Politico:
Biden says he doesn't need Obama's endorsement

Discussion: Breitbart, The Hill, Contemptor, Twitchy, HotAir, The Independent, Washington Times and ABC News

Jerry Dunleavy / Washington Examiner: Hope Hicks says Trump Achilles's heel is intelligence assessment of Russia 2016 election interference

Trevor Hunnicutt / Reuters:
Biden says Buttigieg ‘stole’ his healthcare plan

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Hill and Axios

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News: Newly released documents shed light on Mueller-Trump meeting

Zach Montellaro / Politico: Tom Steyer qualifies for December debate

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Republicans embrace Ukrainian 2016 interference allegation in defense of Trump — Congressional Republicans are gradually embracing the claim of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, concluding the allegation is the most politically expedient way to defend President Trump against impeachment.

Discussion: The American Independent, Fox News, Washington Post and National Review

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Laughable new GOP report: Yes, Trump did it. But his motives were pure! — Boiled down to its essence, the Ukraine scandal is really a tale about a president who has subverted the interests of the nation to his own by putting our foreign policy at the disposal of his naked personal and political needs.

Discussion: Raw Story and New York Times

Rachael Bade / Washington Post:
Democrats quietly debate expanding impeachment articles beyond Ukraine

Discussion: Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic and The Hill

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: How both parties are thinking about impeachment's next phase

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Esquire

Natasha Bertrand / Politico:
Senate panel look into Ukraine interference comes up short

Discussion: Washington Post, KIFI-TV, HuffPost, The Hill, HotAir, Raw Story, KyivPost, The Daily Beast, CNN, The Guardian and Mediaite

Jake Tapper / CNN:
GOP-led committee probed possible Ukraine interference in 2016 election and found nothing worth pursuing, sources say

Discussion: The American Independent, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Politico and Washington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
2 key Trump-Ukraine events we should be paying more attention to

Discussion: KyivPost and FiveThirtyEight

Washington Post:

Trump calls French president's criticism of NATO ‘nasty’ and ‘disrespectful’ — LONDON — President Trump on Tuesday slammed as “very, very nasty” and “very disrespectful” recent comments by his French counterpart about the diminished state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance.

Discussion: Fox News and Raw Story

Politico: Allies unite to defend NATO — against Macron

Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump says Macron's NATO “brain death” comments are “very insulting”

Discussion: Politico, One America News Network and ustr.gov, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:
Boris Johnson looks to avoid damaging Trump meeting during NATO gathering

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill and One America News Network

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Trump calls Macron comments on NATO ‘insulting’ and ‘nasty’

Discussion: Political Wire

Ryan Heath / Politico:
Alliance divided: Breaking down NATO's factions

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Associated Press:
The Latest: Russia watching NATO, warns of ‘confrontation’

Discussion: Slate

Washington Post:

Mueller Report Illustrated — A book and six-part digital series on the obstruction investigation — Written and designed by The Washington Post and illustrated by artist Jan Feindt, “The Mueller Report Illustrated: The Obstruction Investigation” brings to life the findings …

Rosalind Helderman / Washington Post:
How the Ukraine pressure campaign began as an effort to undercut the Mueller investigation

Discussion: KyivPost and Raw Story

Washington Post: The Mueller Report Illustrated: Chapter 1

New York Times:

China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West — Beijing's pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent. — TUMXUK, China — In a dusty city in the Xinjiang region on China's western frontier, the authorities are testing the rules of science.

Discussion: National Review, more at Techmeme »

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Ukraine Knew of Aid Freeze in July, Says Ex-Top Official in Kyiv — Ukraine's government learned of the military aid freeze during the Trump administration's pressure campaign — and tried to keep that knowledge from going public, says an ex-deputy foreign minister.

Discussion: Axios, National Review, FactCheck.org, KyivPost, Hullabaloo, HuffPost, Law & Crime, Reason, Talking Points Memo, Los Angeles Times, PJ Media Home, Fox News and Politico

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:

Trump Denies Knowing Prince Andrew, Despite Numerous Photos of Them Together — KISS OF DEATH — Donald Trump has denied knowing Prince Andrew, despite multiple photos of the two together, including several of them meeting in June this year. The president, who is in the United Kingdom for a NATO summit …

Discussion: Political Wire and VICE

Washington Post:

North Dakota company that Trump touted gets $400 million border wall contract — A company that President Trump urged military officials to hire for border wall construction has been awarded a $400 million contract to build a span of new barrier across an Arizona wildlife refuge …

Discussion: The Hill

Associated Press:

Trump calls Democrats impeachment push “unpatriotic” — 1 of 3 — LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump criticized Democrats at the opening of a NATO leaders' meeting Tuesday, calling the impeachment push by his rivals “unpatriotic” and “a bad thing for our country.”

Discussion: IJR and The Hill

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Impeachment Power Can Be Abused, Too

Discussion: Power Line

Bloomberg:

Trump Sees No Deadline for China Trade Deal, Sending Stocks Down — U.S. president signals no urgency for truce as Dec. 15 looms — 'We'll see whether not the deal is going to be right,' he says — Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars.

Discussion: CNBC and Political Wire

Anna Isaac / Wall Street Journal: Global Stocks Drop After Trump Signals Further Delays to China Deal

Robin Givhan / Washington Post:

Melania Trump's Christmas decorations are lovely, but that coat looks ridiculous — First lady Melania Trump unveiled this year's White House Christmas decorations in a gauzy video in which she strolls through the public rooms marveling at their holiday luster.

Discussion: Townhall, Fox News, Aleteia, The Gateway Pundit, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Twitchy, SPIN, ABC News and IJR

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

Trump gave states the power to ban refugees. Conservative Utah wants more of them. — SALT LAKE CITY — Apiel Kuot had survived war, sexual assault and life — first as an orphan, then as a single mother — in an east African refugee camp. But Utah terrified her.

Angelo Fichera / FactCheck.org:

Photo Manipulated to Show Schiff With Epstein — Quick Take — A doctored photo circulating on Facebook purports to show Rep. Adam Schiff with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The original photo shows Schiff with his father. — Full Story

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:

Fusion GPS Chiefs Spin Hard Before the Horowitz Report — There are a few bombshells tucked in the new book authored by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, co-owners of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm responsible for the most infamous dossier in American political history.

Casey Michel / GEN:

Rudy Giuliani Isn't the Shadiest Lawyer in the Trump-Ukraine Scandal — Meet Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, tied to almost every foreigner in the impeachment saga, including an indicted oligarch — or the past few months, Rudy Giuliani has chewed up screen time and headlines at a rate he hasn't seen in nearly two decades.