memeorandum: Biden's Iowa Problem: Our Poll Suggests His Voters Aren't the Caucusing Type (Nate Cohn/New York Times)

12:55 PM ET, January 27, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Tied Ukraine Aid to Inquiries He Sought, Bolton Book Says — Drafts of the book outline the potential testimony of the former national security adviser if he were called as a witness in the president's impeachment trial. — WASHINGTON — President Trump told his national security adviser …

New York Times:

John Roberts Can Call Witnesses to Trump's Trial. Will He? — Democratic House managers should ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas for John Bolton and others. — Mr. Katyal and Mr. Geltzer are law professors at Georgetown. Mr. Edwards is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma.

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Just Security, Fox News, The Week, The Hill, NPR, New York Post, Balloon Juice and POLITICUSUSA

Axios:

Republicans fear “floodgates” if Bolton testifies — There may be enough new pressure on Senate Republicans to allow witnesses at President Trump's impeachment trial, after the leak from a forthcoming book by former national security adviser John Bolton that contradicts what the White House has been telling the country.

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Mother Jones, HuffPost, Fox News, Deadline, New York Post, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, National Review, Townhall, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Claiming John Bolton is just another ‘deep state’ James Comey is absurd — The idea that John Bolton, a lifelong conservative and loyal Republican, is some sort of deep state James Comey clone out to sell books by making up stories to damage President Trump, is patently absurd.

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Raw Story and Mediaite

George Conway / Washington Post:

Bolton's testimony would be devastating. Not even Republicans could look away. — Search the transcript of Saturday's impeachment trial, as President Trump's lawyers began their opening arguments, and you'll see there's a name nowhere to be found: John Bolton, the former national security adviser.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Week

Emily Singer / The American Independent:

GOP senators angry new leaked details support case against Trump — A leaked manuscript revealed former national security adviser John Bolton said Trump did demand Ukraine investigate Biden in order to receive critical military aid. — A manuscript of former national security adviser John …

Discussion: NBC News, CNN and The Week

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Four big takeaways from the explosive John Bolton revelations — We have now learned precisely what John Bolton is prepared to tell us about President Trump's Ukraine extortion scheme. This is terribly inconvenient for Republican senators who are frantically searching for ways to vote …

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, CNN, Fox News and Talking Points Memo

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Defense Team to Present Arguments Following Bolton's ‘800-Pound Gorilla’ — Democrats reiterate demand for former national security adviser to testify at impeachment trial, as president's attorneys consider retooling arguments — WASHINGTON—President Trump's defense team will seek …

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit and Politico

John Bolton / Amazon.com:

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir — Kindle Edition — See the Best Books of the Month — Want to know our Editors' picks for the best books of the month? Browse Best Books of the Month, featuring our favorite new books in more than a dozen categories.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill and The Week

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

John Bolton's bombshell gives the GOP a glimpse of its nightmare scenario — We finally got a taste Sunday night of what former national security adviser John Bolton might tell President Trump's Senate impeachment trial — if he's called to testify, that is.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill and Daily Kos

Noah Weiland / New York Times:
5 Takeaways on Trump and Ukraine From John Bolton's Book

Discussion: Washington Post, Financial Times, National Review, CNN, Raw Story, The Hill, Fox News, The Week, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

William Kristol / The Bulwark: Speak for America, John!

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump plots a flashy series finale for impeachment

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
Lindsey Graham abruptly cancels planned press conference in wake of John Bolton bombshell

Discussion: Daily Kos

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Republican senators privately complain they were blindsided by Bolton.

Discussion: The American Independent, Breitbart and CNN

Allan Smith / NBC News:
GOP senators under pressure for witness testimony at Trump trial after Bolton revelations

Discussion: New York Times, Fox News and Washington Post

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
John Bolton went to Bill Barr with concerns about Giuliani's ‘shadow foreign policy’ in Ukraine: report

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News and ABC News

Alexander Bolton / The Hill: Senate Republicans face pivotal moment on impeachment witnesses

Washington Post:
Democrats call for Bolton to testify in Trump impeachment trial after new report on aid to Ukraine

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Fox News, Axios, The Wrap, Raw Story, Breitbart, NBC News, Florida Politics, The Atlantic, IJR, Mediaite, UPI, NPR, HuffPost, CNN and The Week

Ariel Zilber / Daily Mail:

Journalist who linked to story about Kobe Bryant rape case suspended — Felicia Sonmez (right), who covers national politics for The Washington Post, posted a link to a story about the Kobe Bryant rape case from 2003 on Sunday - hours after he died.

Discussion: The Desk, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Twitchy, PJ Media Home, Althouse, The Outline and TMZ.com, more at Mediagazer »

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Read the Kobe Bryant-Related Tweets That Led Washington Post to Suspend Reporter Felicia Sonmez — Washington Post national political reporter Felicia Sonmez was suspended by the paper over the weekend over tweets she sent out after the news broke of Kobe Bryant's death.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, The Root, The Spun, Raw Story, Reason and The Daily Caller

Brian Flood / Fox News:
Washington Post political reporter suspended over Kobe Bryant tweets

Discussion: Townhall

New York Times:

Bernie Sanders and His Internet Army — At the start of his 2020 bid, the Vermont senator told his supporters that he condemned bullying. Is it his problem if many don't seem to listen? — The defense from Bernie Sanders was straightforward: It wasn't me.

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Bernie Sanders's Trump-like campaign is a disaster for Democrats

Discussion: Washington Examiner

David Frum / The Atlantic:
Bernie Can't Win — “Left but not woke” is the Bernie Sanders brand.

Discussion: Vox, The Nation, New York Post and Hollywood Reporter

Politico:
How record-high turnout in Iowa could shuffle the 2020 race

Discussion: Associated Press and Wall Street Journal

William B. Taylor / New York Times:

Yes, Secretary Pompeo, Americans Should Care About Ukraine — A former ambassador tells the secretary of state just why. — Mr. Taylor is a former United States ambassador to Ukraine. — As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepares to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv later this week …

Discussion: CNN and HuffPost

Shay Khatiri / The Bulwark:

Mike Pompeo Is The Worst — Mike Pompeo is a disgrace to the office he holds and the department he leads. — On Friday, NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly reported that, during an interview, when asked about the Ukraine scandal, Pompeo began cursing, told her that Americans don't care about Ukraine …

Discussion: Washington Post

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Emails support NPR host after Pompeo calls her a liar in setting up contentious interview

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Raw Story, VICE, The Guardian, The Week, HuffPost and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Elliott / Grabien News:

MSNBC Makes Worst Broadcasting Blooper, Anchor Appears to Use Racial Epithet While Covering Kobe Tragedy — In some markets, a 15 second delay prevented the word from being broadcast — MSNBC's Sunday anchor Alison Morris made easily the worst reporting gaffe in 2020.

Discussion: PJ Media Home, The Wrap, New York Post, Fox News and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:
Kobe Bryant and daughter among those killed in chopper crash

Discussion: Washington Post, The Stranger, KNX 1070, Outsports, Denver Post, Associated Press, FOX 61, KFOR-TV, globalnews.ca, KTLA, Florida Politics and WFLA-TV

Los Angeles Times:
Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna among 9 dead in helicopter crash in Calabasas

Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times:
Column: How can Kobe Bryant be gone? His legend wasn't supposed to end this way

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, NBC News, Fox News, Slate, The Week and New York Post

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Biden's Iowa Problem: Our Poll Suggests His Voters Aren't the Caucusing Type — Why there's a wide split in recent surveys in the state. — With one week to go until the Iowa caucuses, Joe Biden finds himself in a seemingly unimaginable position: needing to mobilize older voters who are usually the most consistent voters.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau and CNN

Joe Biden / USA Today:

Trump is worst possible leader to deal with coronavirus outbreak — So far, Trump has blithely tweeted that ‘it will all work out well.’ Yet the steps he's taken as president have only weakened our capacity to respond. — The possibility of a pandemic is a challenge President Donald Trump is unqualified to handle as president.

Discussion: Axios, Breitbart, IJR and NPR

Richard North Patterson / The Bulwark:

This Is How Trump Would Destroy Bernie Sanders — Bernie is Trump's dream candidate. — He's back—with a vengeance. — Bernie Sanders is having yet another political moment, this time the result of a belated realization that his 2020 campaign is sturdier and more strategically balanced …