Politico “The first time Donald Trump ran for president, Karen Pence, the wife of his running mate, rarely hit the campaign trail to stump for the pair. Camera shy and appalled by Trump’s treatment of women, Mrs. Pence surfaced only to support her husband in his October 2016 vice presidential debate and to join him at rallies in the final weeks before the election.”

“But when Trump began asking friends this summer for their thoughts about Vice President Mike Pence, the second lady decided it was time to step up. Fearful that the president might boot Pence — who has long had his eye on the 2024 presidential race — from his reelection ticket, she became eager to assist the campaign as a loyal female surrogate.”

John Harris: “The first was the degree of critical focus on Sen. Elizabeth Warren, reflecting a calculation that she, rather than former Vice President Joe Biden, has the momentum in the race and is setting the agenda for the party. She took in the glare for the largest share of the three-hour debate without wilting, or receding for significant chunks of the evening (as she did in previous encounters) when the issues shifted away from terrain where she is most comfortable.”

“The second dynamic was an honest illumination of the party’s left-vs.-center debate. In past encounters, this conversation often was portrayed as a choice between ‘activists’ and ‘establishment,’ or between bold principles and expedient moderation.”

Jonathan Swan: “President Trump, while nervous about the historic stain of impeachment, is throwing everything he has into this fight: refusing all cooperation, running ads to profit politically, and torching every person who stands in opposition to him.”

“When it all boils down, Trump really only trusts his own instincts. And his instincts here are the same as they were with the Mueller investigation: Fight like hell.”

The strategy: “No nuance or apology — not a hint of it. Turn the leader of the investigation (in this case, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff) into a conservative media villain. Condemn Trump enemies in the most incendiary and exaggerated language possible (treason, traitors, coup, etc.).”

Chris Cillizza: “That last-minute decision by the State Department seems directly at odds with President Trump’s repeated insistence that his phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was ‘perfect’ and that he retained the ‘absolute right’ to ask foreign countries to investigate corruption.”

“If Trump — and, by extension, his State Department — are completely certain they were acting appropriately, why keep Sondland from testifying to that effect? If there is truly nothing to hide here and everything that Trump and his people did was ‘perfect,’ why not let Sondland tell that story?”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) told reporters that the State Department is withholding EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s personal device with relevant messages about the Trump administration’s interactions with the Ukrainian government, Axios reports.

Said Schiff: “Not only is he being deprived of his testimony today, but we’re also aware that the ambassador has text messages or emails on a personal device, which have been provided to the State Department — although we have requested those from the ambassador. And the State Department is withholding those messages as well.”

New York Times: “Mr. Trump has long believed that he is the best communicator in the White House, but as the presidential campaign picks up its pace and the prospect of his impeachment becomes more real, he seems to be its only empowered communicator, a one-man war room responding to developments almost hour by hour. And that is making many Republicans anxious.”

“For now, the White House has no organized response to impeachment, little guidance for surrogates to spread a consistent message even if it had developed one, and minimal coordination between the president’s legal advisers and his political ones. And West Wing aides are divided on everything from who is in charge to whether, after two years of the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, impeachment even poses a serious political threat to the president.”

President Trump personally contacted Boris Johnson to ask for help as he tried to discredit the Mueller investigation into possible connections between Russia and his 2016 election campaign, the Times of London reports.

A new CNN poll finds 47% of Americans support impeaching President Trump and removing him from office, up from 41% who felt that way in May.

“The share who favor impeachment and removal from office now narrowly outpaces the share who say they don’t feel that way — a first in CNN polling — although the two figures are within the poll’s margin of sampling error. Opposition stands at 45% in the new poll, down from 54% who said so in May.”

“We cannot afford to play rope-a-dope in the court for weeks or months on end. We need an answer. If there’s a fire burning, it needs to be put out. And that’s why we’re going to have to look at every remedy.”

— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D- CA), quoted by Politico, on dealing with President Trump’s lawlessness.

ABC News journalist and political commentator Cokie Roberts has died at the age of 75, ABC News reports.

“Roberts won countless awards, including three Emmys, throughout her decades-long career. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.”

National security expert Josh Geltzer Talks to Slate about why we should be prepared for the worst.

“Under intense pressure to take action on gun safety in the wake of two weekend massacres, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, expressed a new willingness Thursday to consider a measure expanding background checks for all gun purchasers, saying it will be ‘front and center’ in a coming Senate debate on how to respond to gun violence,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. McConnell, who has strongly opposed background checks in the past, made his remarks in an interview with a Kentucky radio host, Terry Meiners of WHAS in Louisville. While he did not support a bill requiring background checks, his remarks appeared to underscore the possibility of a shift in the politics of Washington’s divisive gun debate.”

Earlier for members: A Tipping Point for Gun Control

Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush (R) called on all Americans to stand against “white terrorism” after a gunman who espoused white supremacist views in a manifesto killed at least 18 in El Paso, The Hill reports.

Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), said Saturday evening that “white terrorism” was a “real and present threat that we must all denounce and defeat.”

He added: “I believe fighting terrorism remains a national priority. And that should include standing firm against white terrorism.”