“I am a high functioning human being able to outwork people half my age. Compared to Biden and Pelosi, I’m a phenom.”
— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by New York Magazine.
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Trump and Kemp at Odds Over Georgia Senate Seat
“President Trump quietly met Sunday in the White House with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the governor’s preferred pick to fill the state’s Senate seat, Atlanta businesswoman Kelly Loeffler,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“But the private huddle turned tense and ended quickly… Mr. Trump has preferred Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican who has vocally defended the president during the impeachment process, and he told Mr. Kemp that he would be taking a risk by appointing the politically untested Ms. Loeffler. At one point Mr. Trump questioned why they were holding the meeting if Mr. Kemp had made his decision.”
Clinton Strategist Advising Trump on Impeachment
“As President Trump’s White House battles impeachment, he turned to a familiar face last week: Mark Penn, one of President Bill Clinton’s top strategists,” the Washington Post reports.
“Penn came to the Oval Office for more than an hour last Monday, three people familiar with the meeting said, and brought polling data and impeachment advice for the president. Penn reassured Trump that he wouldn’t be removed from office, and encouraged him to travel the country like Clinton did when he was fighting impeachment over 20 years ago.”
Hold on Ukraine Funds Happened Same Day as Phone Call
“The Office of Management and Budget’s first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25, the same day President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone,” CNN reports.
House Judiciary Schedules First Impeachment Hearing
“The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, the next phase in the process that could result in the third-ever presidential impeachment before the end of the year,” Politico reports.
“The hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday, will focus on the definition of an impeachable offense and the formal application of the impeachment process. The panel will invite White House lawyers to attend and participate.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I would like to think there’s a coalition of the decent out there who are just horrified by watching Donald Trump, by watching what he’s doing, but also what he’s doing to us. I would love to see the emergence of a coalition that would set aside ideological differences, at least temporarily, to deal with the current emergency.”
— Conservative commentator Charlie Sykes, quoted by The Progressive.
The GOP Should Be Voted Out of Existence
Max Boot: “Republicans have turned their back on conservative principles to become a cult of personality for an aspiring authoritarian. All voters with a conscience should now turn their back on the Republican Party. For aiding and abetting the president’s egregious abuses of power, the Republican Party deserves to be destroyed from top to bottom. We need a center-right party in this country. What we have instead is a party with no fixed principles that is willing to do anything — no matter how vile — to serve its maximum leader, a.k.a. ‘the chosen one.'”
Democrats Trust Obama Would Stop Bernie Sanders
Asked if President Obama “would really lay himself on the line to prevent” Sen. Bernie Sanders from being nominated for president, an Obama adviser told Politico: “I can’t really confirm that… He hasn’t said that directly to me.”
He added: “The only reason I’m hesitating at all is because, yeah, if Bernie were running away with it, I think maybe we would all have to say something. But I don’t think that’s likely. It’s not happening.”
Americans Bearing Full Costs of Trade War
Reuters: “The prices Chinese firms charge have barely budged, meaning U.S. companies and consumers are paying the tariff costs, estimated at around $40 billion annually.”
“As a result of the U.S.-China trade war, the government adds as much as 25% to the import price as Chinese goods enter the country. If Chinese companies were absorbing that cost, they would have to cut their prices as much as 20% – a level that would allow U.S. retailers, manufacturers, or wholesalers to keep their own prices and profits stable. That is not what is happening. Import data from June 2018 to September 2019 shows Chinese import prices fell only 2%, the Fed study found, in line with price declines seen in many other nations as global trade slowed.”
U.N. Says Drastic Action Needed on Climate Change
Washington Post: “Global temperatures are on pace to rise as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to the United Nations’ annual ‘emissions gap’ report, which assesses the difference between the world’s current path and the changes needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.”
“Should that pace continue, scientists say, the result could be widespread, catastrophic effects: Coral reefs, already dying in some places, would probably dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Some coastal cities, already wrestling with flooding, would be constantly inundated by rising seas. In much of the world, severe heat, already intense, could become unbearable.
‘Follow the Facts’
Former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), writing in the New York Times:
“My fellow Republicans, please follow the facts. It’s not enough merely to dismiss the Ukraine investigation as a partisan witch hunt or to hide behind attacks against the ‘deep state,’ or to try to find some reason to denounce every witness who steps forward, from decorated veterans to Trump megadonors. History demands that we all wrestle with the facts at hand. They are unavoidable.”
Michael Gerson: The GOP’s galling accommodation of Trump.
Pompeo Gives Vague Answer on Testifying
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked if he would consider testifying in the House impeachment investigation, after President Trump encouraged him earlier to do it, CBS News reports.
Said Pompeo: “When the time is right, all good things happen.”
House Oversight Committee Sues Barr and Ross
The House Oversight Committee filed suit against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross over their refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas in the investigation over the failed effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The Case Against Donald Trump
Just out: Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump by Neal Katyal and Sam Koppelman.
“If President Trump is not held accountable for repeatedly asking foreign powers to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, this could very well mark the end of our democracy.”
Trump Claims He Would Like His Aides to Testify
President Trump tweeted that he would “actually like” his current and former aides to testify in the House impeachment probe but that he is “fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President.”
Trump’s Turkey Corruption Is Way Worse Than You Think
Tim Miller: “According to a report by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, Bolton said that he believes there is a ‘personal or business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey.'”
“Wait what? The president’s former national security advisor suggested that the commander-in-chief made life or death national security decisions because of an active conflict of interest related to his business?”
“Even by the standards of Trumpian corruption, this is holy-motherforking-shirtballs level stuff.”
“Bolton’s accusation, if accurate, would amount to the biggest scandal in the American presidency in half a century: The most senior security staffer, a man with unparalleled access to the president, believes that Trump acted in a way that is indistinguishable from double-dealing despots the world over.”
Ruling Will Not Lead Bolton to Testify Soon
“John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Trump who resisted efforts to pressure Ukraine for help against domestic political rivals, dashed any expectation on Tuesday that he would testify soon in the House impeachment investigation in response to a court ruling involving a onetime colleague,” the New York Times reports.
“Charles Cooper, a lawyer who represents Mr. Bolton, said that a court decision on Monday ordering another former White House official to appear before Congress under subpoena did not apply to Mr. Bolton because of the nature of his job. Mr. Cooper said Mr. Bolton would therefore wait for another judge to rule in a separate case that could take weeks more to litigate.”
