“President Trump was forced to abandon his decision to host next year’s Group of Seven summit at his private golf club after it became clear the move had alienated Republicans and swiftly become part of the impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency,” the Washington Post reports.

“In a round of phone calls with conservative allies this weekend, Trump was told Republicans are struggling to defend him on so many fronts, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.”

“Some of Donald Trump’s closest associates are assembling a roster of possible replacements if the president decides to replace Mick Mulvaney, his acting chief of staff,” Bloomberg reports.

“Among those said to be on the list are former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and veteran political operative Wayne Berman, now a senior managing director for government relations at the Blackstone Group Inc.”

Politico: Mulvaney’s bad week just got worse.

“Amid near-daily revelations of Rudy Giuliani’s ‘shadow’ foreign policy, senior administration officials are worried that more information could surface connecting official Trump administration policy to Giuliani’s personal financial gain,” Axios reports.

“Several people close to the president are infuriated that Giuliani exerts what they see as unwarranted influence over Trump and U.S. foreign policy, with some going so far as to blame him outright for the Ukraine mess.”

New York Times: Justice Department distances itself from Giuliani.

“He has elements, I’m sure, of honor in his life. And there’s things that I think are not honorable. And I mention that because of the payment to a porn star for sexual relations outside of marriage. Look, I’m one of those who believes that we have a responsibility to be honorable and faithful to our wives.”

— Sen. Mitt Romney, quoted by Axios, on President Trump’s personal life.

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll finds Minnesota voters are evenly split on whether President Trump should be impeached and removed from office, 48% to 48%, but clear majorities believe that he lies and abuses his power.

“The Justice Department confirmed Sunday that President Trump’s son Donald Jr. and former White House Counsel Don McGahn were never called before a grand jury that heard witnesses called by Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” Politico reports.

“The disclosure was set in motion by U.S District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling last week that Justice Department attorneys had deleted too much information from a court filing last month in an ongoing legal dispute over Attorney General Bill Barr’s refusal to share with House lawmakers grand jury-related information in Mueller’s final report.”

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon told New York Post that impeachment is a “mortal threat” to Donald Trump’s presidency and the White House needs to start taking it more seriously.

Said Bannon: “This is serious. As sure as the turning of the earth, he is going to be impeached by Pelosi in the next six weeks. Nancy Pelosi is very focused.”

He added: “The problem we have is that the president needs a team around him and somebody has got to step up and make a play. Trump can’t do everything. There is just no coordination with the team.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC News that he never saw the kind of quid pro quo that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney referred to on Thursday with regard to the decision-making process he was involved in.

Said Pompeo: “I’ll leave to the chief of staff to explain what it is he said.”

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted he never said the Trump administration never demanded a quid pro quo between U.S. military aid and Ukraine launching investigations into Joe Biden during an absolutely brutal interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.

Mulvaney continued making this point even after Wallace showed video of him doing so.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News that President Trump was “honestly surprised” at the level of pushback he received from the decision to choose his own Doral resort in Miami as the site of next year’s G7 summit, which he walked back on Saturday night.

“Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney faced internal efforts to oust him before House Democrats moved ahead with their impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump,” multiple sources tell CNN.

“Top aides including Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner were in the process of reaching out to at least two potential replacements for the top West Wing job shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in late September that she would move ahead with an impeachment inquiry.”

Washington Post: “President Trump, whose paramount concern long has been showing strength, has entered the most challenging stretch of his term, weakened on virtually every front and in danger of being forced from office as the impeachment inquiry intensifies.”

“Trump now finds himself mired in a season of weakness. Foreign leaders feel emboldened to reject his pleas or contradict him. Officials inside his administration are openly defying his wishes by participating in the impeachment probe. Federal courts have ruled against him. Republican lawmakers are criticizing him. He has lost control over major conservative media organs. And polling shows a growing share of Americans disapprove of his job performance and support his impeachment.”

“Federal prosecutors reviewing the origins of the Russia investigation have asked witnesses pointed questions about any anti-Trump bias among former F.B.I. officials who are frequent targets of President Trump and about the earliest steps they took in the Russia inquiry,” the New York Times reports.

“The prosecutors, led by John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, have interviewed about two dozen former and current F.B.I. officials, the people said. Two former senior F.B.I. agents are assisting with the review, the people said.”

“The number of interviews shows that Mr. Durham’s review is further along than previously known.”

Politico: “Former Trump White House officials and other Republicans close to the White House are increasingly worried about President Trump’s erratic behavior and say there are no longer enough safeguards around him to prevent self-inflicted disasters large and small.”

“Under the strain of a metastasizing impeachment probe on Capitol Hill and helming an administration run by a diminishing number of heavyweight officials of independent stature, the president is displaying the kind of capricious behavior that once might have been contained or at least mitigated, former officials say.”

“I really try very hard to be super-ethical and always legal.”

– Rudy Giuliani, quoted by the New York Times.

The Atlantic: “The president has polled confidants about whether Mulvaney is up to the job, blaming him for leaks and negative news coverage, and considering whether he should find someone else to run the West Wing. It might stand to reason, then, that with Trump’s growing frustrations with Mulvaney—coupled with a performance yesterday that could put Trump in greater legal jeopardy than ever before—Mulvaney’s days as acting chief of staff are numbered.”

“Yesterday’s press conference was significant not just for Mulvaney’s revelations about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. It also laid bare just how key a role Mulvaney has played in those dealings.”

“A day after President Trump awarded the massive Group of Seven summit to his own struggling Doral resort in Florida, the White House said Trump’s company would only charge taxpayers enough to cover the resort’s costs,” the Washington Post reports.

“But neither the White House nor the Trump Organization answered more detailed questions about what that means. They did not provide specific dollar amounts or say if dollar amounts have been agreed to.”