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Former top Russia adviser to reject ‘fictional narrative’ that Ukraine meddled in US politics — (CNN)A former top White House official will offer on Thursday a full-throated rebuttal to the “fictional narrative” pushed by President Donald Trump and his GOP allies about Ukraine's role meddling …
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FOX2now.com, WPIX 11 New York, WTVR-TV and FOX31 Denver
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Fiona Hill to criticize Republicans for pushing ‘fictional narrative’ on Ukraine — President Donald Trump's former top Russia aide plans to go after Republican lawmakers on Thursday for pushing what she dubs a “fictional narrative” about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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Breitbart, The Daily Beast, NBC News, Associated Press, Contemptor and The Root

Fiona Hill to say partisan politics drove a ‘fictional’ narrative on Ukraine — The former White House official is expected to detail warning about the threat to U.S. democracy posed by Russia. — WASHINGTON — Former White House official Fiona Hill will tell Congress on Thursday …

Impeachment hearings putting Trump through emotional wringer — One day, he's up. One day, he's down. Other days he's just angry. — President Donald Trump has gone through a range of emotions since House Democrats started their public impeachment hearings last week about whether …
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USA Today, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Law & Crime, Vanity Fair, FiveThirtyEight and The Hill

Pompeo Emerges as a Major Trump Enabler in Ukraine Affair — A top envoy's testimony places Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the center of the nation's biggest foreign policy controversy in nearly two decades. — WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has for months deflected questions …
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Washington Post, The American Independent and Common Dreams

Sondland Has Implicated the President and His Top Men — Congress now needs to hear from more witnesses before an impeachment vote. — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values.
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Deseret News, The Long Version, Vox, Mother Jones, FactCheck.org and The Guardian

Sondland was devastating. But Republicans don't care about the facts. — This column has been updated. — Former White House counsel John Dean's testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee beginning in June 1973 is widely seen as the beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency.
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Politico, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, HuffPost and The Week

Sondland's Testimony Was A Bombshell. Republicans Pretended It Was A Dud.
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The Hill, Vox and Associated Press
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: ‘Buckle up’: Last day of the impeachment show ... for now
POLITICO Playbook: ‘Buckle up’: Last day of the impeachment show ... for now
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, Power Line, Political Wire and The Week
Washington Post:
Sondland's bombshell testimony leaves Trump's Republican allies scrambling
Sondland's bombshell testimony leaves Trump's Republican allies scrambling
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The American Independent, NBC News, The Federalist, US News, New York Times, The Guardian and Politico
ABC News:
Trump impeachment hearings live updates: Fiona Hill and David Holmes appear
Trump impeachment hearings live updates: Fiona Hill and David Holmes appear
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Fox News
Washington Post:
‘Everyone was in the loop’: Gordon Sondland makes two stunning points
‘Everyone was in the loop’: Gordon Sondland makes two stunning points
Discussion:
USA Today, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Informed Comment, The Atlantic and Occupy Democrats
Andrew McCarthy / New York Post:
Gordon Sondland's testimony frees Team Trump to adopt the best defense: the truth
Noah Bookbinder / New York Times:
Gordon Sondland Leaves Us With No Other Option
Gordon Sondland Leaves Us With No Other Option
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The Moderate Voice, Tampa Bay Times, HuffPost and Breitbart
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump cozies up to GOP during impeachment — including Mitt Romney and Susan Collins
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
If Pompeo doesn't testify, he should be impeached
If Pompeo doesn't testify, he should be impeached
Discussion:
Raw Story, Houston Chronicle and Redstate
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Ambassador Sondland's Revenge
Katie Rogers / New York Times:
‘I Want Nothing,’ Trump Says, Quoting From Sondland's Testimony
‘I Want Nothing,’ Trump Says, Quoting From Sondland's Testimony
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week, The Stranger and Mother Jones

Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes' Investigations … The indicted Giuliani associate helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for the Republican congressman in 2018. — Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018 …
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emptywheel, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo
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Trump hosted Zuckerberg for undisclosed dinner at the White House in October — The meeting took place during Zuckerberg's most recent visit to Washington, where he testified before Congress about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra. — President Donald Trump hosted a previously undisclosed dinner …
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Breitbart, The Guardian, Joe.My.God., HuffPost, Mashable, Bloomberg, Engadget, Axios and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

The Lost Debate — There are winners and losers, even when no one watches. — It'll be interesting to see the numbers on Wednesday night's debate because my sense—and maybe I'm just projecting here—is that anyone in America who follows politics closely enough to watch a two-hour debate three months …
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Boston.com
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Buttigieg counterpunches as rivals take aim at his rising candidacy
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The Federalist, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, Joe.My.God., Fox News, Axios, Rolling Stone, The Hill, ABC News and Breitbart
NBC News:
Read the full text from the fifth debate for the 2020 presidential election hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post.
Read the full text from the fifth debate for the 2020 presidential election hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post.
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Jacobin, Real Clear Politics, Washington Post and FactCheck.org
Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Warren dominates Democrats' fifth 2020 debate: Issue-by-issue recap
Warren dominates Democrats' fifth 2020 debate: Issue-by-issue recap
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The Hill
CNN:
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Raw Story and Political Wire
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Scoop: Fiona Hill to warn of “fictional narrative” on Ukraine in testimony
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Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Deseret News and Slate
Philip Ewing / NPR:
WATCH: Fiona Hill, David Holmes Testify In The Week's Final Impeachment Hearing
WATCH: Fiona Hill, David Holmes Testify In The Week's Final Impeachment Hearing
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and emptywheel

‘Dishonest’ : Steve Schmidt presses Tulsi Gabbard on meeting Bashar al-Assad — Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard joins Chris Matthews from the spin room after the MSNBC/Washington Post Debate. Steve Schmidt pressed Gabbard on meeting with Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad.
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Vindman's Lawyer Asks Fox News to Retract Espionage Allegation — A guest on the Ingraham Angle, a Fox show, suggested that Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a key figure in the impeachment hearings, was guilty of spying. — Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman is hitting back at the smear campaign against him.
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CNN, BizPac Review, Washington Post, Axios, Deadline, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Hill, National Review, The Week, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Daily Beast and Press Watch, more at Mediagazer »

Google to Limit Targeting of Political Ads — The company said the ads would not be directed specifically to audiences based on their public voter records or political affiliations. — SAN FRANCISCO — Google will restrict how precisely political advertisers can target an audience on its online services …
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Scott Spencer / The Keyword:
An update on our political ads policy
An update on our political ads policy
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National Review, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Guardian, CNN, TechCrunch, Engadget, Mashable, Bloomberg, TheStreet and FOX59, more at Mediagazer »

Schiff games Trump impeachment show - In legitimate proceedings, you can't have it both ways — “Self-serving and not credible.” At Tuesday's public hearing in the House impeachment inquiry, former U.S. envoy Kurt Volker offered that assessment of allegations that former Vice President Joe Biden …

DNA test shows Hunter Biden is father of Arkansas woman's baby — DNA testing has established, “with scientific certainty,” that Hunter Biden is the father of an Arkansas baby, according to a motion filed Wednesday in Independence County on behalf of the child's mother, Lunden Alexis Roberts.

As Sondland testified, a misleading Ukraine story spread among conservatives on social media — The article offered conservatives and Trump loyalists a welcome alternative to the day's news. — A misleading claim about the head of the Ukrainian energy company at the heart …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE and New York Times
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Ilya Zhegulev / Reuters:
Ukraine widens probe against Burisma founder to embezzlement of state funds
Ukraine widens probe against Burisma founder to embezzlement of state funds
Discussion:
American Greatness, Redstate, John Solomon Reports and Interfax-Ukraine

Trump is lying about the ‘new’ ‘Apple’ factory — It is neither new nor an Apple factory — In advance of Trump's factory tour today, I took a look at the strange relationship that's developed between Tim Cook and Donald Trump over the past three years. One of the things that popped …
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HuffPost, Joe.My.God., The Week, Raw Story and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

White House pick to lead NOAA withdraws nomination, citing health concerns — Barry Myers' nomination never got to a floor vote — Barry Myers, President Trump's controversial nominee to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has withdrawn from consideration due …
Discussion:
Washington Times and The Hill

There Are Two Separate Impeachment Hearings Happening Right Now — And Republicans Are Winning Theirs — Nothing Republican Rep. Devin Nunes does during the hearings makes sense if you watch it in the moment. When it's posted on Facebook later, though, it works perfectly.
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American Greatness, POLITICUSUSA, Common Dreams, The Rush Limbaugh Show and Contemptor

DOD Identifies Army Casualties — The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel. — Both soldiers died Nov. 20, 2019, in Logar Province, Afghanistan, when their helicopter crashed while providing security for troops on the ground.