Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told CBS News that depositions in the House’s impeachment inquiry have already established an “extortion scheme” by the White House.
Said Swalwell: “We have enough evidence from the depositions that we’ve done to warrant bringing this forward, evidence of an extortion scheme using taxpayer dollars to ask a foreign government to investigate the president’s opponents.”
A plea from 33 writers in the New York Times:
“Please stop using the Latin phrase ‘quid pro quo’ regarding the impeachment inquiry. Most people don’t understand what it means, and in any case it doesn’t refer only to a crime. Asking for a favor is not a criminal act; we frequently demand things from foreign countries before giving them aid, like asking them to improve their human rights record.”
“That is not a crime; the crime is President Trump’s demand for something that will benefit him personally. But using this neutral phrase — which means simply ‘this for that’ — as synonymous with criminality is confusing to the public. It makes the case more complicated, more open to question and more difficult to plead.”
“Please use words that refer only to criminal behavior here. Use ‘bribery’ or ‘extortion’ to describe Mr. Trump’s demand to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, making it very clear that this is a crime. The more we hear words that carry moral imputations, the more we understand the criminal nature of the act.”
JMC Analytics notes that early voting in the Louisiana governor’s race, which ended last night, was the highest ever for a non-presidential election.
Key takeaway: “Whatever the turnout levels are from election cycle to election cycle, black voters (who are almost unanimously Democratic) tend to show up in greater numbers on the last day. But very rarely do they turn out to the extent that they did yesterday: a whopping 40% of the last day early voters were black (blacks represent 31% of Louisiana’s registered voters). As further illustration of how unprecedented black participation this strong is, in the 116 days of available data for in person early voting going all the way back to 2008, only four other times has the black early vote as a percentage of the total vote ever hit 40% (and three of those times were in 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected).”
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The United States is “very actively” trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea’s national security adviser told Reuters, as a year-end North Korean deadline for U.S. flexibility approaches.
Jeff Bezos called Michael Bloomberg in February and asked if he’d consider joining the 2020 presidential race, Vox reports.
Bloomberg said no at the time.
Sen. Bernie Sanders responded to the report when asked by the Des Moines Register: “They’ve got class solidarity. The billionaires are looking out for each other. They’re willing to transcend difference and background and even politics.”
“After days of silence, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her campaign responded with careful calibration to former vice president Joe Biden, who accused her Tuesday of holding an ‘angry, unyielding viewpoint,'” the Washington Post reports.
Warren turned the criticism into a rallying cry: “I’m angry and I own it.”
She added: “Over and over, we are told that women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet.”
She continued: “Well, I’m angry and I own it. I’m angry on behalf of everyone who is hurt by Trump’s government, our rigged economy, and business as usual.”
A new Morning Consult poll finds Michael Bloomberg is running at 4% nationally as he teases a presidential bid, showing that he’s well known — but widely disliked — by the Democratic electorate.
In fact, nearly 25% of likely primary voters view him unfavorably — the highest unfavorable rating in the field.
“Tonight we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires: Sorry, you ain’t gonna buy this election.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders, quoted by the Washington Post.
Sunday Times: “Nine Russian business people who gave money to the Conservative Party are named in a secret intelligence report on the threats posed to UK democracy which was suppressed last week by Downing Street.”
“Oligarchs and other wealthy Tory donors were included in the report on illicit Russian activities in Britain by the cross-party intelligence and security select committee, whose publication was blocked by No 10.”
“Some Russian donors are personally close to the prime minister.”
“Trump is not a billionaire he’s a fake president. He calls everything else fake because he knows he’s fake…Everything that he says that are negative about other things or other people is what he is saying about himself. So he’s fake. He’s a loser. He is a genuine loser.”
— Actor Robert DeNiro, in a MSNBC interview.
Former national security adviser John Bolton has a book deal, the Associated Press reports.
“The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with President Trump. He reached a deal over the past few weeks with Simon & Schuster.”
President Trump said that a transcript of another call he had with the president of Ukraine will “probably” be released on Tuesday, CBS News reports.
The call took place in April after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected.
“President Trump says he lifted his freeze on aid to Ukraine on Sept. 11, but the State Department had quietly authorized releasing $141 million of the money several days earlier,” Bloomberg reports.
“The State Department decision, which hasn’t been reported previously, stemmed from a legal finding made earlier in the year, and conveyed in a classified memorandum to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. State Department lawyers found the White House Office of Management and Budget, and thus the president, had no legal standing to block spending of the Ukraine aid.”
A top Iowa aide toTom Steyer resigned Friday, a day after it was revealed he had privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing Steyer’s White House bid, the AP reports.
Washington Post: “Bloomberg’s decision, fueled by his dissatisfaction with the race’s leading moderate, former vice president Joe Biden, and worries about the rise of liberal leader Elizabeth Warren, injected renewed volatility into the primary race just three months before voting begins with the Iowa caucuses.”
“Names being floated as potential candidates include former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and former U.S. attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. Former secretary of state John F. Kerry, the party’s 2004 nominee, also has been mentioned, although people close to him insist that he will not enter the race.”
“The party’s 2016 nominee, Hillary Clinton, was fielding calls in recent days about whether to get into the race, some close to her said. While it is still unlikely that she will run, some allies have gone so far as to talk about a potential pathway that would bypass Iowa and New Hampshire and focus on making a stand in South Carolina.”
Politico: “As U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. imposed the sentence of nine years and two months on Jeffrey Yohai, the judge blasted the would-be real estate developer as a serial scammer whose ‘horrific’ crimes posed a significant threat to the public.”
“Yohai pleaded guilty to a brazen array of frauds, including renting out luxury homes without the permission of their owners, selling non-existent backstage passes for the Coachella music festival, and pawning band equipment that belonged to someone else.”
“Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is asking to join a pending lawsuit aimed at clarifying whether the House of Representatives can require senior advisers to President Trump to testify in the ongoing impeachment probe related to Ukraine,” Politico reports.
“Mulvaney’s move in a court filing late Friday night could breathe new life into the suit filed last month by former Deputy National Security Adviser Charles Kupperman.”
Politico: “How was Trump’s order to freeze the $400 million in military assistance handled at the highest levels of his administration? What reasons were given, if any, to the senior budget officials who implemented the abrupt freeze?”
“Despite a mountain of evidence supplied by cooperative diplomats — and a public admission and hasty retraction by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney — the uncertainty surrounding the hold on the aid has only deepened over time, according to interview transcripts released this week as part of the impeachment inquiry. In fact, what has become increasingly clear is that only a small cadre of budget officials — and Trump himself — has the answers. And they have fought harder than anyone to spurn Democrats’ demands for testimony.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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