From: The Washington Post <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: The Daily 202: Little clamoring for impeachment in New Hampshire, even as both House members endorse inquiry Sent: Mon. 29 Jul 2019 15:41:53 +0000 If you're having trouble reading this, click here. Listen to The Big Idea Little clamoring for impeachment in New Hampshire, even as both House members endorse inquiry Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), far right, poses for a selfie at the Capitol earlier this year with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) BY JAMES HOHMANN with Mariana Altaro THE BIG IDEA: MANCHESTER, N.H. - Both of New Hampshire's House members endorsed launching an impeachment inquiry against President Trump on Friday afternoon, bowing to pressure from their left flanks at the start of a 46-day summer recess. But most people in this swing state, including many Democrats, do not support such a move. Reps. Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster are among about a dozen House Democrats who have come out for the impeachment inquiry since former special counsel Bob Mueller testified last week, despite continued resistance from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That brings the total EFTA00046903

to 106 members, by our tally, which is just under half the Democratic caucus. The divisions in the Granite State capture in miniature the difficult needle that party leaders must figure out how to thread to prevail in 2020. The Wards are Democrats who loathe Trump, for instance, but they don't support impeachment. "I hate to say this, but I agree with Nancy Pelosi. Not that Congress is doing much of anything anyway, but it would be a waste of Congress's time and our money to impeach," said Bryan Ward, 31, an IT network engineer who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and lives in Penacook. "In my heart of hearts, I'm pretty sure he's going to win the next election, but at this point in the term, I'm not sure impeachment is the best use of resources," said Meghan Ward, 35, a former stage manager who is working odds-and-ends jobs as she studies to get her teacher's license. Their 3-year-old son sat between them on Saturday night during a minor league baseball game here. Meghan voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary because she considered Sanders too much of a socialist and thinks his plans are unrealistic. But she refers to Trump as "Cheeto" and laments the president's remarkably resilient poll numbers despite constant controversies that she's convinced would cripple any other president. Bryan is more optimistic than his wife that Trump will lose in November 2020, but he's not excited about the crop of 2020 alternatives. "I'll wait until the field gets narrowed down a little bit, but right now not one of the candidates really speaks to me," he said. "There's no middle ground anymore. There's never compromise. It's so, so, so contentious. It's red team vs. blue team." The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, a minor league baseball team, play the Fightin Phils of Reading, Pa., on EFTA00046904

Saturday at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, N.H. (James Hohmann/The Washington Post) This was the most frequent refrain during more than 30 conversations I had on Saturday evening with a cross section of New Hampshire voters at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in the heart of downtown in this small state's biggest city. The Fisher Cats, an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, were playing a doubleheader against the Fightin Phils of Reading, Pa. Every ticket in the stadium cost $14 at the box office, and there was a fireworks show afterward. All the folks I talked with at the Fisher Cats game said they plan to vote next year, but none are the kinds of people who hang out at political events and yell at politicians. Pappas and Kuster, like so many House Democrats jumping on the impeachment bandwagon, are catering more to the hardened activists who volunteer and donate to their campaigns than the electorate more broadly. "[Trump's] choices aren't great, but I'm not sure he's done anything that's deserving of him getting kicked out of office," said Rich Fortier, 38, a lifelong Democrat from the Lakes Region up north. "There's probably a protocol for that." Fortier, a high school special education teacher, is frustrated that politicians in both parties are not paying more attention to education, and he worries about budget cuts as the economy slows down. "To me, it seems they're distracted by the battles away from the issues that matter," he said. "They're not worried about the future of the country or things like that." Another Democrat, Beck Bryon, said the country is in a "precarious position" and warned that Trump is turning it into a "dictatorship," but she considers impeachment a "Catch-22." She explained that "it could be beneficial," but the 40-year-old calibration technician worried about what would happen if the president was removed from office by the Senate. Vice President Pence would take over, and she thinks he might more effectively enact the same agenda EFTA00046905

and perhaps have an easier time winning the 2020 election. "So it's potentially smarter to wait," she explained. As the first state with a primary, New Hampshire will not just be pivotal in determining the Democratic nominee but will probably be a top battleground again in the 2020 general election. Clinton carried the Granite State by just 2,700 votes, or less than half a percentage point, after Barack Obama won it twice by more than five points. The specter of impeachment galvanizes many Trump supporters. Republican Wayne Jutras, a salesman who lives near the ballpark, appreciates that Trump is running the government like it's a business. He said Democrats are only coming after him because they resent his success at growing the economy. "They're just trying to dig up some dirt on him," said Jutras, 55, between licks of a vanilla ice cream cone. "It's like anything else: If you're playing for the New York Yankees, you're not going to be cheering for the Boston Red Sox. They're doing their best, but of course they're going to try to impeach him." Many middle-of-the-road voters see impeachment as a distraction. Tom and Suanne Milligan, retirees in their 70s, moved from Indiana last year to live closer to their grandchildren in Canaan, N.H. "We're non- Trump Republicans," he said. "I really don't like any of what's going on." In 2016, he voted for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and she voted for Green Party nominee Jill Stein. They said it's hard to imagine voting for Trump in 2020, but they continue to support GOP candidates down the ballot and hope their party breaks out of Trump's thrall sooner than later. But both disapprove of Democrats trying to impeach the president. "It seems like the Democrats are just trying to appease their own voters," said Suanne. Tom agreed. "Move on," he said. "It's just divisive, and I don't think it's really going to amount to anything." EFTA00046906

Trump: 'I watched Bob Mueller, and they have nothing' -- Public and private polling bolsters what I encountered on the ground: Most Americans oppose impeaching Trump, and overall public opinion has been shifting slightly away from impeachment since the release of the Mueller report. An ABC News-Ipsos poll published on Sunday showed that Mueller's testimony has failed to move the needle of public opinion. Among those who say they read, saw or heard about Mueller's testimony, just under half said it made no difference in their views about impeaching the president, while 27 percent said it made them more likely to support impeachment (almost all Democrats) and 26 percent said it made them less likely (almost all Republicans). "Independents were much more likely to echo the comments made by Republicans than those made by Democrats," ABC notes. "A majority of self- described Independents — 60% -- described the testimony as a waste of time and taxpayer money or questioned Mueller's fitness. About one in five — 19% -- of Independents mentioned that the testimony proved or confirmed Trump's guilt. The remaining 20% of Independents had more mixed assessments." A Washington Post-ABC poll released earlier this month found that 59 percent of Americans said the House should not begin impeachment proceedings. That's slightly higher than Post polling throughout the year, which found opposition to impeachment at 54 percent to 56 percent. Last summer at this time, 49 percent said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. That's down to 37 percent in our latest poll. But, but, but: Among Democrats, the number is 61 percent. About half of Democrats, 49 percent, said they "strongly" support impeachment. Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) waves to supporters after voting last November in Contoocook, N.H. She easily EFTA00046907

won a fourth term. (Geoff Forester/Concord Monitor/AP) -- Those numbers explain why so many Democratic politicians are staking out a position at odds with the views of most voters. But the ground truth is that, even on the left, there's less intensity around impeachment than there was a few months ago. For example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was the first major Democratic presidential candidate to endorse impeachment when the Mueller report came out in April, and she saw a spike in small-dollar fundraising because of it. The majority of her 2020 rivals eventually followed, another proof point of the field's leftward lurch. But Warren did not bring up impeachment during either of the two events she held in New Hampshire on Saturday. Not a single voter asked the senator about it during a house party in Bow or a town hall in Derry. When a reporter questioned Warren about this during a gaggle, she noted that she endorsed impeachment after reading the Mueller report because she felt she had an obligation to do so. But she added that her campaign is focused on removing Trump at the ballot box in 2020. "I'm not running on impeachment," she said. To be sure, each of the dozen voters I interviewed after Warren's first event, in the grassy backyard of a supporter's home, said they support impeachment. But their explanations were measured, and several acknowledged the political risks. "I'm hearing what Nancy says, and I understand where she's coming from," said Shannon Mills, 69, a dentist who served 30 years in the Air Force. (Folks in New Hampshire, so accustomed to access, love referring to national political figures like the speaker by their first names.) "But this is not about politics. You've sworn an oath to defend the Constitution. You cannot ignore the egregious crimes committed by the president. They have to do their jobs. Look, I'm concerned impeachment could make the president look sympathetic to EFTA00046908

a certain segment of the voting population. ... But the truth has to be told." Mills said he believes that Trump welcoming Russian help in 2016, combined with the efforts documented by Mueller to interfere with the investigation that followed, is much worse than the behavior that led House Republicans to impeach Bill Clinton two decades ago. "Clinton lied about an affair, but he didn't sell our country out to the Russians," Mills reasoned. "Neither one is something I approve of. I'm not a big fan of Bill Clinton, either." State Rep. Rebecca McWilliams (D), who represents Concord, said she was impressed that Kuster, her congresswoman, endorsed an impeachment inquiry. "I didn't know I'd ever see Annie do that because she's so cautious," said McWilliams, 37, a practicing attorney and mother of two, as she waited in line for a selfie with Warren. "I don't believe the Mueller report has been the big bomb we thought it'd be. I think it's probably more the 24-hour news cycle we're barraged with. The weight of it all is that this guy is a liar, he's been using the presidency to enrich himself, and he doesn't have our country's best interests at heart. The Mueller report is only a piece of it. It's the culmination." -- Of the two New Hampshire House members, Pappas is considered much more vulnerable than Kuster. He just got elected last year. Notably, he announced his support for the impeachment inquiry at 6:30 on Friday night — about six hours after Kuster issued her statement. A short video that Pappas posted to YouTube begins with a preamble about how he has "been working hard with members of both parties to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, improve care for our veterans, rebuild our infrastructure and ensure that everyone in our state has access to clean drinking water." Then he called impeachment EFTA00046909

"another pressing issue we can't ignore." "After weeks of careful consideration and after countless conversations with my constituents, I believe it is imperative that Congress continues its oversight work by opening an impeachment inquiry," Pappas continued. "I have said many times that we should not take this step for political purposes and that we should not avoid our responsibility because it might feel politically convenient. It's up to Congress to put all the facts on the table and hold leaders accountable, and I'm committed to that process while maintaining my focus on the concerns of the people of New Hampshire." "Our Democracy is at Stake," Kuster wrote in an open letter to her constituents on Friday. "The Special Counsel reiterated that he did not exonerate the President, and that because of Department of Justice policy, he could not charge the President with a crime even if he had the evidence to do so. Under the Constitution, that job falls to us." -- Both Kuster and Pappas declined interview requests to discuss impeachment, which speaks volumes about how politically delicate the issue is in their state. More significantly, both of New Hampshire's Democratic senators declined to join their House counterparts. "I think we need to continue to investigate the charges, but I think at this time there is not a consensus to move forward with impeachment proceedings," said Jeanne Shaheen, who faces a competitive reelection fight next year, in a local radio interview. "Impeachment is a grave step that should not be taken lightly," said Maggie Hassan, the former governor who narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte in 2016, in a statement. "I am not convinced that initiating an impeachment inquiry is the best course of action at this time, but it is ultimately the House of Representatives' decision." EFTA00046910

CONTENT FROM AT,T BUSINESS A More Secure Foundation for a 5G World Learn how businesses can help safeguard their data in a 5G- con nected future Pelosi downplays impeachment calls after meeting with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez -- Trump has signaled repeatedly that he believes impeachment will help his reelection prospects, and he's all but dared Democrats to do it by refusing to cooperate with House oversight. Many Republican strategists focused on trying to win back the House also think the issue will unite their base. Trump aides have said that the reelection campaign could tout an acquittal by the Senate, even if it was on party lines, as a form of exoneration. This tracks with what I heard from Republicans I talked with at the Fisher Cats game. Ken Grenier, a unionized postal worker who supports Trump, is angry that Democrats are trying to remove a president from power outside an election. "I've got to keep this PG for the paper, but right now they're extremely anti-American," said the 57-year-old. "It's just wasting more time and money to distract people from the good things that Trump is doing. They pushed 'collusion' for so long, and they're so invested in it, that they can't back away, even though they know the Republicans in the Senate are not going to vote to remove him from office." EFTA00046911

After voting for Ted Cruz in the 2016 primary, Grenier has been grateful for the president's tireless efforts to secure the southern border. He was thrilled that the Supreme Court allowed the administration late Friday to move forward with construction of the wall. He's also pleased about the president's judicial nominations and efforts to reduce access to abortion. Grenier volunteered that he disapproves of Trump's recent attacks on the four minority congresswomen who call themselves the Squad. The president must stop "flapping his gums" on Twitter, he explained, as his wife nodded in agreement. "The Dems were in free fall for a while, and then Trump's tweets about the Squad unified them. I wish he hadn't done that." House Judiciary considers Trump impeachment after Mueller -- Nationally, Democrats continue to be divided about the right approach. Four House members from Washington state announced their support on Sunday for opening an impeachment inquiry, prompting Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to issue her own statement last night saying that she agrees. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said on Sunday that his "personal view" is that Trump "richly deserves impeachment," but he says his committee still needs "more evidence" before opening an inquiry. "The question is," Nadler told CNN, "can we develop enough evidence to put before the American people?" House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) defended Pelosi's approach. "I worry equally about the message of EFTA00046912

taking an impeachment case to trial, losing that case, having the president acquitted and then having an adjudication that this conduct is not impeachable," Schiff said on NBC. "There's no making the case to the cult of the president's personality that is the Senate GOP, but we should at least be able to make the case to the American people. I want to make sure that that's true before we go down this path." Subscribe on Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod and other podcast players. Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning briefing for decision-makers. Sign up to receive the newsletter. THE LATEST FROM CALIFORNIA: Multiple people reportedly injured in shooting at California food festival -- Three people are dead and at least 15 injured after a shooting Sunday evening at a food festival in Gilroy, Calif. Allyson Chiu, Meagan Flynn and Faiz Siddiqui report: "One gunman was killed by officers at the scene, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said early Monday morning. Police are still searching for a possible second suspect, although it's unclear if that person also fired on the crowd or assisted the shooter. ... The first reports of gunshots at the Gilroy Garlic Festival came in around 5:41 p.m. local time, just as the event was wrapping up its third and final day. Smithee said he has `no idea' what the shooter's motive was on Sunday. He added that officers already EFTA00046913

stationed at the festival 'engaged the suspect in less than a minute.' "Among the dead is a 6-year-old boy named Steven Romero, the child's father told NBC Bay Area. The boy's mother and grandmother were also injured in the shooting. ... The shooter was carrying an 'assault-type rifle,' the City of Gilroy said in a statement early Monday. Investigators believe the suspect entered the festival by cutting through a perimeter fence, Smithee told reporters. He noted that security at the festival's official entrances is 'very tight.' ... Many evacuees were left stranded after the festival because their vehicles were parked at what had turned into an active crime scene. Some gathered on a stagecoach outside the festival, while others called ride-hailing services to get home. "Julissa Contreras and her boyfriend, Mario Camargo, were browsing at a food tent when they saw a man in a military-style outfit emerge from a nearby access road and start shooting `left to right and right to left,' Contreras told The Post in a phone interview. Contreras and Camargo ran in different directions, each taking shelter behind tents with crying children and frantic parents. Some people froze and others sprinted. Some appeared to play dead, Camargo said. Once they heard the gunfire stop, Contreras and Camargo each made a run for the entrance, eventually reuniting in the parking lot. Camargo said he saw two wounded people as he fled. ... Contreras said there was one moment that she couldn't stop thinking about. When the gunfire broke out, she looked in the direction of the gunman and saw children fleeing an inflatable slide, all trying to squeeze through the same tiny exit. 'I'm never going to forget that image,' she said." -- Videos uploaded to social media showed the chaotic scenes: EFTA00046914

Dan Coats is expected to resign as director of National Intelligence ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN: -- Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats will leave his position next month, and Trump announced Sunday that he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), a third-term congressman, as his replacement. Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana and ambassador to Germany, was often at odds with Trump over the wisdom of negotiating with Russia, the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program and the severity of foreign threats to U.S. elections. Ratcliffe, who sits on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, has made his name in Congress as one of the GOP's most dogged critics of perceived anti-Trump bias at the FBI and in the special counsel's investigation. Ratcliffe will probably get confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate that seems reluctant to challenge Trump, but the appointment of an outspoken partisan loyalist raises a litany of legitimate questions about the president's politicization of the intelligence community. Ratcliffe launched perhaps the most spirited defenses of Trump during the Mueller hearings last Wednesday, criticizing the former special counsel for providing evidence of the 10 episodes in which Trump possibly obstructed justice when he never intended to decide whether the president had committed a crime. Trump's announcement that Ratcliffe will get the job came a few hours after the congressman went on Fox News to defend the president and attack the Mueller report as an untrustworthy document written by liberals. EFTA00046915

Ratcliffe to Mueller: 'You didn't follow the special counsel regulations' -- "For months, Coats had recognized that his relationship with Trump, which was never strong, had frayed beyond repair. ... Coats had felt isolated and excluded from important national security decision- making," notes Shane Harris, our intelligence beat reporter. Ratcliffe "has no background in intelligence, though he did serve as a terrorism prosecutor and the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Texas in the George W. Bush administration. He also served as the mayor of Heath, Tex., a town of about 9,000 outside Dallas. ... Trump has repeatedly blasted the intelligence agencies as having tried to undermine his campaign and has, without evidence, accused former senior intelligence officials from the Obama administration of illegally spying on him. Ratcliffe echoed those allegations Sunday on Fox News. 'What I do know as a former federal prosecutor is that it does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration,' he said, declining to identify anyone by name." -- "Last year, Ratcliffe's name was floated as a possible replacement for former attorney general Jeff Sessions," Karoun Demirjian notes in a sidebar. "He joined the House Intelligence Committee earlier this year, where he has been considered the GOP's replacement for former congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), an accomplished prosecutor skilled in executing detailed, stinging examinations of witnesses in closed-door interviews and from the dais. ... Ratcliffe represents the seventh-most-Republican district in the country, according to the Cook Political Voting Index." Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser sits for a portrait at The Washington Post last week. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post) EFTA00046916

-- Trump's nominee to be vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Hyten, is facing a confirmation hearing tomorrow that will force senators on the Armed Services Committee to decide whether they believe an Army colonel's charges that he sexually assaulted her while she was under his command — accusations he denies. Demirjian reports: "Col. Kathryn Spletstoser has accused Hyten, who is currently responsible for the country's nuclear arsenal as the head of U.S. Strategic Command, of making unwanted sexual contact with her on several occasions in 2017 while the two were traveling for work. ... [Some] Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee [have] said they are wary of taking her uncorroborated word over the categorical denials of a decorated four- star Air Force general endorsed by high-ranking colleagues. ... The Air Force's Office of Special Investigations investigated Spletstoser's allegations but could not substantiate her claims. ... "Spletstoser said the committee [led by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)] has denied her request to speak at the hearing, unless she has `new information' to present. Spletstoser's public remarks would probably mirror much of what she has told the panel in private and alleged in a Washington Post interview. ... The first time was in January 2017, she alleges, when Hyten grabbed her left hand as she was exiting a work meeting in his hotel room in Palo Alto, Calif., pulling it in toward his groin so she could feel his erection before she moved her hand away. In June 2017, Spletstoser said, Hyten interrupted a work meeting in his Washington, D.C., hotel room to fondle her breasts and kiss her — and she pushed him away and admonished him, she said. ... Yet it was during the Reagan National Defense Forum in December 2017 that Spletstoser said Hyten made his most aggressive move, arriving uninvited at her hotel room in workout clothes carrying a binder, and claiming he wanted to discuss work matters. Within minutes, Spletstoser said, Hyten had pinned her against him and begun `grinding on me hard, EFTA00046917

like he wants to take my clothes off and have sex ... and then I realize, he's ejaculating.' "If Spletstoser's account is correct, it would mean Hyten committed a crime, but if she is lying, as an active-duty service member, she will have committed a crime for which she could be court- martialed. ... Former Air Force secretary Heather Wilson, who was briefed on investigators' findings before leaving her position earlier this year, said in an interview Sunday that `the Air Force left no stone unturned in its investigation and the Senate has been thorough as well.' `Based on what I know of the complete investigation,' she continued, 'I believe General Hyten was falsely accused.- -- For this week's New Yorker, Connie Bruck profiles Harvard law professor and Trump ally Alan Dershowitz, writing about his controversial history as the attorney to men such as O.J. Simpson, Mike Tyson and Jeffrey Epstein and the accusations he's faced following his close relationship to Epstein. Dershowitz, who was accused by Epstein victim of abuse, told the New Yorker that he's innocent and defended his work by saying that "every honest criminal lawyer will tell you that he defends the guilty and the innocent." Demonstrators demand the resignation of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, featured in a poster Saturday that reads in Spanish "traitor," after the government signed an agreement with the Trump administration to require migrants passing through the Central American country to seek asylum there, rather than pushing on toward the United States. (Oliver de Ros/AP) THE NEW WORLD ORDER: -- In pressuring Guatemala to accept a deal to absorb vast numbers of asylum seekers, the Trump administration has embarked on a dramatic and risky strategy to slash the number of Central Americans flooding the U.S. border. "The accord — which EFTA00046918

was negotiated in secret and signed at the White House on Friday — could plunge Guatemala's young democracy into a constitutional crisis," Mary Beth Sheridan reports. "It could also saddle one of the hemisphere's poorest countries with tens of thousands of Salvadoran and Honduran migrants who would be barred from making their claims in the United States. The agreement is one of the boldest steps yet taken by Trump to stanch the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. It aims to close off the U.S. asylum system to the migrants who have crossed through Guatemala en route to the United States. They would instead have to seek protection in Guatemala. "But the agreement is built on a fragile political and legal base. The Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that President Jimmy Morales needed approval from the Guatemalan Congress to sign the accord, something he has not received. Some analysts said Morales could get around the ruling with his argument that the deal is simply a cooperation agreement, not a treaty. Others note Morales has at times simply shrugged off court rulings he dislikes. ... Guatemala holds a runoff presidential election on Aug. 11, and both candidates have criticized Morales's negotiation of such a broad agreement in secret. While the next Guatemalan government could cancel the deal, it would face intense pressure from the Trump administration to not do so. ... The agreement is also likely to be challenged in U.S. courts by opponents who say Guatemala does not qualify as a 'safe' country, because of high levels of violence. "Morales, who finishes his four-year term in January, is highly unpopular. Guatemalans were startled by a widely published photo showing their government minister, Enrique Degenhart, signing the agreement as Trump loomed over his shoulder, an image suggesting the Central American country's submission. On Saturday, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the presidential palace in Guatemala City to protest the agreement. Guatemalan EFTA00046919

analysts have suggested Morales made the deal with Trump in hopes of winning support from the U.S. government. Morales faces allegations of financial crimes related to his 2015 electoral campaign but has been shielded by presidential immunity, which he loses in January. He says he is innocent." • Julian Castro warned that migrants may "end up dead" because of the deal. The Democratic presidential candidate said the country is not safe. (CBS News) • To try curbing the number of Central American migrants reaching the U.S., Mexico has pledged to help create jobs in Honduras. (Al Jazeera) • An Arizona Republican state senator apologized for saying that "we're going to look like South American countries very quickly" because immigrants are "just flooding us ... and overwhelming us." Sen. Sylvia Allen faced backlash after the Phoenix New Times published an audio recording of her speech at the Arizona Republican Party headquarters in Phoenix. (Morgan Krakow) -- Federal prosecutors are investigating Trump's close friend and campaign fundraiser Thomas J. Barrack Jr. in connection to foreign lobbying. From the Times: "Investigators have looked in particular at whether Mr. Barrack or others violated the law requiring people who try to influence American policy or opinion at the direction of foreign governments or entities to disclose their activities to the Justice Department, people familiar with the case said. The inquiry had proceeded far enough last month that Mr. Barrack, who played an influential role in the campaign and acts as an outside adviser to the White House, was interviewed, at his request, by prosecutors in the public integrity unit of the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn." Barrack's spokesman said that, in expectation of the Times article, his EFTA00046920

lawyer had contacted the prosecutor's office and confirmed it has no more questions for him. "Mr. Barrack has not been accused of wrongdoing, and his aides said he never worked on behalf of foreign states or entities. ... "But as the scrutiny of Mr. Barrack indicates, prosecutors continue to pursue questions about foreign influence. Among other lines of inquiry, they have sought to determine whether Mr. Barrack and others tried to sway the Trump campaign or the new administration on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia ... Investigators have also questioned witnesses about Mr. Barrack's involvement with a proposal from an American group that could give Saudi Arabia access to nuclear power technology. ... Central to the inquiry into Mr. Barrack are his dealings with [Rashid al-Malik, an Emirati businessman], who is well connected in the court of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. ... When Mr. Trump was elected, Mr. al-Malik received a coveted invitation to the inaugural's most exclusive event — the chairman's dinner, hosted by Mr. Barrack." -- A leading Russian critic of Vladimir Putin was hospitalized with suspected poisoning. From ABC News: Alexei Navalny "was taken by ambulance to the hospital early on Sunday morning from the jail with what authorities said was a 'severe allergic reaction,' his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter. Initially, one of Navalny's close colleagues suggested the cause was likely unsanitary conditions in the jail, but by the evening Navalny's lawyer released a statement from his long-time doctor saying that his symptoms were the result of 'an undefined chemical substance.- -- A crackdown on Moscow protesters this weekend suggests a new, more hostile approach by Putin toward the Russian opposition. Matthew Bodner reports: "Analysts said the scale of the roundup — nearly 1,400 demonstrators were swept off the streets in EFTA00046921

Moscow on Saturday, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info — suggested a change in approach for a Russian elite that is increasingly concerned about political stability. ... Thousands took to the streets of central Moscow on Saturday to demand that independent candidates be allowed to run in upcoming elections for city parliament. It was the latest demonstration in a protest movement that began two weeks ago after the city election commission rejected the candidacies of several opposition-minded candidates, citing falsified supporter signatures." -- In Hong Kong, protesters once again took to the streets and turned neighborhoods into foggy battlegrounds. Shibani Mahtani reports: "The clouds of gas left bystanders — including children, tourists and the elderly — choking and sputtering, underscoring the growing risks of Hong Kong's deepening political crisis, now in its eighth weekend. Police said that protesters threw paint bombs, corrosive liquid and bricks at them, and that 49 people were arrested. Protesters had convened to demonstrate against what they saw as police brutality over the course of the protests, including in the neighborhood of Yuen Long the day before." -- Iran's deputy foreign minister said an emergency meeting in Vienna between Tehran and other signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal was constructive but inconclusive. Adam Taylor reports: "Earlier Sunday, the head of Iran's nuclear agency was reported to have told lawmakers that Iran had enriched 24 metric tons of uranium since the nuclear deal was reached in 2015. The remarks by Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization were reported widely by state-run and semiofficial media, which cited conservative lawmakers present at the closed-door meeting. The claim, if confirmed, would suggest that Iran has produced far more enriched uranium than was previously known, exceeding the deal's limit many times over. But some analysts were skeptical." EFTA00046922

-- The targeting of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi was no aberration. Vanity Fair's Ayman Mohyeldin reports on a targeted campaign by Saudi Arabia against dissidents: "Prince Khaled bin Farhan al-Saud sat in one of the few safe locations he frequents in Dusseldorf and ordered each of us a cup of coffee. With his close-cropped goatee and crisp gray suit, he looked surprisingly relaxed for a hunted man. He described his constant fear of being abducted, the precautions he takes when venturing outside, and how German law enforcement officials routinely check on him to make sure he is all right. ... As we sat over coffee, he relayed a story that at first sounded innocuous. One day in June 2018, his mother, who lives in Egypt, called him with what she thought was good news. The Saudi Embassy in Cairo had contacted her, she said, and had a proposal: The kingdom wanted to mend relations with the prince and was willing to offer him $5.5 million as a goodwill gesture. ... "But as tempting as the overture was, he claimed he never considered it seriously. And when he followed up with Saudi officials, he realized the deal had a dangerous catch. They had told him he could collect his payment only if he personally came to a Saudi embassy or consulate. That immediately set off alarm bells. He declined the offer. Two weeks later, on October 2, 2018, bin Farhan saw a startling news report. [Khashoggi] had gone to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork required for his pending marriage. Minutes after his arrival—as revealed in leaked audiotape transcripts compiled by Turkish authorities—Khashoggi was tortured and strangled by a Saudi hit squad. ... Bin Farhan was dumbstruck as he watched television news shows and saw surveillance-camera footage of Khashoggi's last hours alive. The prince realized all too clearly: By refusing to go to a Saudi consulate to pick up his payment, he might have narrowly avoided a similar fate." EFTA00046923

'Disgusting,' A hate agenda': Lawmakers condemn Trump's tweet rant targeting Cummings DIVIDED AMERICA: -- Trump created another racial firestorm by spending the weekend attacking the city of Baltimore and the congressional district of Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, saying it represents a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess." City leaders fired back. Fredrick Kunkle and Hannah Natanson report: "Maryland's political leaders and residents reacted with outrage — and sometimes resignation — to Trump's tweetstorm ... Some said Trump's language describing a majority black city represented by an African American lawmaker demonstrated his predilection for degrading political opponents. ... Others said that even if the president were half right about Baltimore's woes, he has a duty to do more than use them as a political weapon." -- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's (R) muted response to Trump's comments stirred more anger. Antonio Olivo and Rebecca Tan report: "In a statement delivered by his spokesman, Hogan said: 'Baltimore City is truly the very heart of our state, and more attacks between politicians aren't going to get us anywhere.' On social media, where the Twitter hashtag #WeAreBaltimore was trending on Sunday, Hogan's critics called the governor 'weak' and 'gutless' for not delivering a forceful rebuke of the president." -- Others didn't hold back their disdain: • "Better to have a few rats than to be one," the Baltimore Sun's editorial board said in response to Trump's comments: "In pointing to the 7th [District], the president wasn't hoping his supporters would recognize landmarks like Johns Hopkins Hospital, perhaps the nation's leading medical center. He wasn't conjuring images of the U.S. Social Security Administration, where they write the checks that so many retired and disabled Americans depend EFTA00046924

upon. It wasn't about the beauty of the Inner Harbor or the proud history of Fort McHenry. And it surely wasn't about the economic standing of a district where the median income is actually above the national average. No, he was returning to an old standby of attacking an African American lawmaker from a majority black district on the most emotional and bigoted of arguments. It was only surprising that there wasn't room for a few classic phrases like you people' or `welfare queens' or `crime-ridden ghettos' or a suggestion that the congressman `go back' to where he came from." • "We are African Americans, we are patriots, and we refuse to sit idly by," 149 African Americans who served in the Obama administration say in an op-ed published by The Post. • Former president Barack Obama, who doesn't comment often on politics, shared the op-ed on Twitter: "I've always been proud of what this team accomplished during my administration. But more than what we did, I'm proud of how they're continuing to fight for an America that's better," he wrote. Michelle Obama, who also shies away from commenting on the Trump administration, also criticized Trump's comments. "What truly makes our country great is its diversity," the former first lady tweeted, "I've seen that beauty in so many ways over the years. Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there's a place for us all. We must remember it's not my America or your America. It's our America." (Colby Itkowitz) -- White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that Trump's tweets had "zero to do with race," and Wallace called him out. From Mediaite: "'Nobody objects to the president defending his border policies, but this seems, Mick, to be the worst kind of ... racial stereotyping. Black congressman, majority-black district,' Wallace shot back. `No human being would want EFTA00046925

to live there.' Is he saying people that live in Baltimore are not human beings?' Mulvaney again insisted that Trump is going after Cummings for saying 'things that are not true about the border.' ... Wallace responded by saying, `You say it has zero to do with race. There is a clear pattern here, Mick.- -- Keeping the story alive on Sunday, Trump accused Cummings and his allies of being the real racists. From the Times: "Trump said Democrats who called him racist as a result were themselves playing `the Race Card,' as he put it on Twitter. The president later specifically referred to Mr. Cummings as a racist without explaining why. `If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership,' Mr. Trump wrote. ... Mr. Trump posted repeated tweets throughout the day denying that he was racist and attacking Mr. Cummings and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, herself a Baltimore native and daughter and sister of former mayors. He defended himself by citing record-low unemployment for African- Americans on his watch." -- Jared Kushner, the president's senior adviser and son-in-law, owns more than a dozen apartment complexes in Baltimore that have been cited for hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide substandard housing to low-income tenants. Rebecca Tan reports: "Kushner Cos., which started operating in Maryland in 2013, has owned almost 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes, many of them in Baltimore County, the Baltimore Sun reported earlier this year. ... In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by the Kushner firm were responsible for more than 200 code violations, all accrued in the span of the calendar year. Repairs were made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after EFTA00046926

warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions." ProPublica and the Times originally reported on Kushner's Baltimore real estate "empire" in 2017. -- Wanda Vazquez Garced, the unpopular justice minister who was next in Puerto Rico's line of succession, announced that she will not take over as governor, hoping to put a stop to continuing street protests. In a tweet, Vazquez said she has no interest in the position and said she hopes the ousted Ricardo Rossello appoints a new secretary of state who can take over instead. (CNN) QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I understand that everything that Donald Trump says is offensive to some people." — Mulvaney on Trump's comments about Baltimore. (Felicia Sonmez) SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: Trump attacked Al Sharpton after the reverend said he was traveling to Baltimore: A Post reporter responded to Trump's campaign manager appearing to mock homicides in Baltimore: A Vox reporter reminded us once again that there's always a tweet. Trump called on Barack Obama to bring Baltimore together during the 2015 Freddie Gray riots: EFTA00046927

A Democratic senator from Connecticut decided to unfollow the president: A Times reporter reflected on the significance of Trump's words when combined with his accomplishments: A Times reporter on a flight to Baltimore shared this moment: A reporter for Salvadoran online newspaper El Faro shared images from migrants on the road traveling to the U.S.: Julian Castro, the 2020 candidate, poked fun at attempts by his twin brother, a congressman, to look different than him: And Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, guest-edited an issue of Vogue: VIDEOS OF THE DAY: John Oliver explained how the United Kingdom ended up with Boris Johnson as its prime minister: The former first lady trolled Trump by posting this video of dancers from Baltimore after the president ridiculed the city: EFTA00046928

The CEO of Under Armour celebrated Baltimore, the city where the company is headquartered: A new political advertisement for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu features Trump and Vladimir Putin: India's prime minister ventured into the wild with Bear Grylls: And cyclists made their way around the Louvre's pyramid for this year's Tour de France: You received this email because you signed up for The Daily 202 or because it is included in your subscription. Manage my email newsletters and alerts I Unsubscribe from The Daily 202 Privacy Policy I Help @2019 The Washington Post 1301 K St NW. Washington DC 20071 EFTA00046929

The Daily 202: What Sondland allegedly said after Trump hung up on July 26 badly undercuts him and the president From The Washington Post To Charisma Edge, The Washington Post Date 2019/11/19 09:36 Subject: The Daily 202: What Sondland allegedly said after Trump hung up on July 26 badly undercuts him and the president Attachments: TEXT.htm, Mime.822 If you're having trouble reading this click here. The Daily 202 Share: Listen to The Big Idea What Sondland allegedly said after Trump hung up on July 26 badly undercuts him and the president Career diplomat David Holmes, a political counselor at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, arrives at the Capitol on Friday. House investigators released the transcript of his deposition on Monday night. (Jose Luis Magana/AP) BY JAMES HOHMANN with Mariana Alfaro THE BIG IDEA: David Holmes, the political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, testified that he "vividly" remembers his July 26 lunch at a restaurant in Kyiv because he'd "never seen anything like this." A fl • Page 17419 EFTA00046930

Hoer oraenng a Dome or wine, Amaassaaor to tne turopean union Gordon Sondland used his unsecured cellphone to update President Trump on his meeting that morning with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Holmes said he could hear Trump say, "So he's going to do the investigation?" And he said Sondland responded, "Oh yeah, he's going to do it." The ambassador explained to the president that Zelensky, whom Trump spoke with the day before, "loves your a--," according to the transcript of Holmes's deposition released last night by House impeachment investigators. But it's what purportedly transpired after this two-minute conservation that's most problematic for both Sondland and Trump. According to Holmes, the E.U. ambassador volunteered that the president cared more about the investigation of Joe Biden that Rudy Giuliani was pursuing than anything having to do directly with Ukraine. Holmes explained that he asked Sondland, point blank, whether it was true that the president "doesn't give a s--- about Ukraine" because "it had been very difficult for us to get the president interested in what we were trying to do in Ukraine." "Ambassador Sondland agreed that the president did not give a s--- about Ukraine," Holmes said under oath. "I asked why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated, the President only cares about 'big stuff.' I noted that there was 'big stuff going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia. And Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant 'big stuff that benefits the president,' like the 'Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing.- -- Holmes, a career Foreign Service officer, has agreed to testify publicly on Thursday at 9 a.m. alongside Fiona Hill, the former National Spcnritv Council official who also nrnvided damaninn Page 17420 EFTA00046931

closed-door testimony against Sondland. The 213-page transcript suggests that Holmes is poised to offer a gripping narrative for the benefit of a television audience. "This was an extremely distinctive experience in my Foreign Service career," Holmes said. "I've never seen anything like this, someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language. There's just so much about the call that was so remarkable that I remember it vividly." -- House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) questioned Holmes about his bluntness with Sondland. "I'm not proud of my language," the diplomat answered. "But the informal tone of the lunch and the language I had heard him using in his call with the president, we were just sort of, you know, two guys talking about stuff, and it seemed to me that was the kind of language that he used." Holmes recalled that Sondland's exact words were: "Nope, not at all, doesn't give a s--- about Ukraine." Waiters were coming and going as all this played out on the outdoor terrace at SHO, a central Kyiv restaurant. Holmes said he was surprised a presidential conversation so candid would take place on a cellphone since the Russians own or hold significant stakes in the mobile networks and government officials should always assume that they're being monitored. Acting ambassador Bill Taylor revealed the July 26 call between Trump and Sondland during his testimony last week. Unraveling three discrepancies in Gordon Sondland's testimony Page 17421 EFTA00046932

-- Holmes's sworn testimony links Trump himself much more directly to the efforts to coerce Ukraine to investigate Biden at a time when the former vice president was leading in polls. It also further undermines another favorite GOP talking point: that Trump put assistance on ice because he was sincerely concerned about corruption and the rule of law in Kyiv. The rough transcript of Trump's initial April call with Zelensky, released Friday, revealed that the president didn't even broach corruption during that conversation, despite the White House's readout from the time that said he had raised the issue. "I think the Ukrainians gradually came to understand that they were being asked to do something in exchange for the meeting and the security assistance hold being lifted," Holmes testified. Not to mention, the president's reported disregard for Ukraine's future is a boon for the Kremlin's propaganda efforts in Russia's ongoing invasion in the east and its occupation of Crimea. -- It stands to reason that Sondland would know about Trump's interest in Biden. The rough transcript of the July 25 call shows Trump mentioning his political challenger to Zelensky. But Sondland insisted under oath that he didn't know the president was interested in securing a Biden investigation until later. "Sondland did not disclose any conversation with Trump while in Kyiv in his testimony or in the follow-up statement," Glenn Kessler notes. "In his initial deposition, he said: 'Again, I recall no discussions with any State Department or White House official about former vice president Biden or his son. Nor do I recall taking part in any effort to encourage an investigation into the Bidens.' Page 17422 EFTA00046933

"Sondland in his testimony indicated that he did not understand until late in the game that administration requests that Ukraine investigate the Ukrainian gas company Burisma — where Hunter Biden was a director — were related to the Biden family. He expressed ignorance about statements and tweets made by Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, making that connection. 'I became aware of his [Giuliani's] interest in Burisma sometime in the intervening period, but I never made the connection between Burisma and the Bidens until the very end,' Sondland said. 'I heard the word 'Burisma,' but I didn't understand that Biden and Burisma were connected.- Trump on Sondland: 'I hardly know the gentleman' -- Tomorrow morning, Sondland will get a chance to clear up these and other discrepancies during his own televised testimony. Holmes's deposition gives him more to answer for when he's in the hot seat. The Portland, Ore., hotelier already significantly revised his testimony regarding the existence of a quid pro quo after other officials gave conflicting accounts of his role. -- Trump claimed last week that he doesn't have any recollection of the July 26 conversation, and the White House refuses to turn over call logs that could illuminate the extent of the president's Ukrainian-related contacts. The president has begun distancing himself from Sondland. "I hardly know the gentleman," Trump said on Nov. 8. The president has previously taken this tack with Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort and others who he apparently concluded had outlived their usefulness to him. Page 17423 EFTA00046934

-- Sondland previously sought to minimize his contacts with Trump. "I think I've spoken with President Trump — and this is a guess — maybe five or six times since I've been an ambassador," he said during his deposition. "And one of those I recall was a Christmas, `Merry Christmas,' and it was zero substance." But former National Security Council senior director Tim Morrison said it was his understanding that Sondland had a lot of conversations with the president. "Ambassador Sondland believed and at least related to me that the president was giving him instructions," Morrison testified, adding that Sondland related to him that he was "discussing these matters with the president." -- Democrats also released the transcript last night from Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale's appearance. Hale, the top career official at Foggy Bottom, revealed that Mike Pompeo spoke with Giuliani by phone on March 28 and March 29 as officials in the department tried to get a statement of support for then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as the president's personal lawyer participated in a smear campaign against her. Hale said Yovanovitch was doing an "exceptional" job. Pompeo: 'I'm not going to get into issues surrounding the Democrat impeachment inquiry' -- Pompeo continues to defy a subpoena and refuses to turn over records that could validate — or undercut — some of the most damning witness testimony about Trump's conduct. Sondland turned over communications from his personal devices to the State Department, but State won't share them with investigators. Page 17424 EFTA00046935

-- Holmes also testified that aides to Energy Secretary Rick Perry were "very aggressive in terms of promoting an agenda" in Ukraine, as well as in "excluding embassy personnel from meetings without giving explanations." -- He will return to the Capitol on Thursday with a deep reservoir of credibility because he has a proven track record of speaking truth to power. "Holmes won an award in 2014 for raising concerns about then-President Barack Obama's policy toward Afghanistan, where Holmes had served," Anne Gearan reports. "The 'constructive dissent' honor recognizes mid-level State Department officials who use an internal process to flag problems they observe, which in his case was about how Obama had, in his view, muddied decision-making on Afghanistan and Pakistan. ... A rising star in the Foreign Service, Holmes had a string of sought-after jobs before landing as the senior political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. In addition to the National Security Council — a high-stress, high-profile plum — Holmes also was picked for a prestigious job working for the State Department's No. 3 official during the Obama administration." -- Two more-junior staffers who were sitting at the table might also be able to corroborate Holmes's testimony if Sondland disputes his allegations: Suriya Jayanti arranged Sondland's schedule in Kyiv, and Tara Maher, a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, where Sondland is based. -- Holmes said he also told others in the embassy: The encounter was so "extraordinary" that Holmes immediately told his direct supervisor at the embassy. "You're not going to believe what I just heard," he recalled telling her. "I would refer back to it repeatedly in our Page 17425 EFTA00046936

morning staff meetings," he added. "We'd talk about what we're trying to do. ... And I would say, 'Well, as we know, he doesn't really care about Ukraine. He cares about some other things.- -- House investigators have now released all but two deposition transcripts. Mark Sandy from the Office of Management and Budget testified on Saturday and hasn't come back to the Capitol to approve the text. Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, has not completed a review of his transcript either. Jennifer Williams and Alexander Vindman arrive on Tuesday morning to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) HAPPENING TODAY: -- Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, European affairs director at the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, Vice President Pence's special adviser on Europe and Russia, are testifying this morning. They are the first public witnesses who heard Trump's July 25 call with Zelensky. This afternoon, lawmakers will hear from Kurt Volker, a former Trump administration envoy to Ukraine, and Morrison, the former top Russia and Europe adviser on the National Security Council. -- Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, plans to testify about his alarm at Trump's request that Ukraine investigate his political opponents. "But Republicans are also seizing on Vindman's testimony as an opportunity, signaling that they plan to try to Page 17426 EFTA00046937

discredit one of the key witnesses in the inquiry by questioning his motives and his loyalty to the president," Tom Hamburger, Carol Leonnig and Rachael Bade report. "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested in a letter released Monday that Vindman fits the profile of `a significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch [who] have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and ... react by leaking to the press and participating in the ongoing effort to sabotage his policies and, if possible, remove him from office.' Vindman's lawyer, Michael Volkov, called Johnson's assertion `such a baseless accusation, so ridiculous on its face, that it doesn't even warrant a response.- -- "Trump and many of his allies have seized on a core defense strategy by attacking career public servants who are testifying as witnesses in the probe and spreading disinformation about their motives as `unelected bureaucrats," Elise Viebeck and Isaac Stanley-Becker report. -- Vindman is the second of three immigrants scheduled to testify. (My Big Idea from Friday explains the significance.) -- Volker will modify his testimony and plans to say this afternoon that he didn't know the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations. From the Times: "Mr. Volker will say that he did not realize that others working for Mr. Trump were tying American security aid to a commitment to investigate Democrats. His testimony, summarized by a person informed about it who insisted on anonymity to describe it in advance, will seek to reconcile his previous closed- door description of events with conflicting versions offered subsequently by other witnesses. ... Mr. Volker will modify his account as well, addressing disparities between his testimony and that of other Page 17427 EFTA00046938

witnesses. While he has been lumped together with Mr. Sondland and Energy Secretary Rick Perry as 'the three amigos' working on behalf of the president, he plans to try to distinguish his role, insisting that he was not part of any inappropriate pressure and that he was unaware of certain events that he has only now learned about through other testimony. ... "Mr. Volker plans to say that he never knew that Mr. Sondland told the Ukrainians that the aid and investigations were linked and that he did not know that Mr. Zelensky was being pressed to appear on CNN and announce that he would open the investigations Mr. Trump sought. He also will seek to explain why his description of a key July 10 meeting in the White House with Ukrainian officials differed from those provided by several others. According to other witnesses, John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, abruptly ended the meeting when Mr. Sondland raised the investigations." -- State Department officials were informed that Zelensky was feeling pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Biden even before the July phone call, the AP reports: "In early May, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were told Zelenskiy was seeking advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in ... He was concerned [Trump] and associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential race ... State Department officials in Kyiv and Washington were briefed on Zelenskiy's concerns at least three times ... Notes summarizing his worries were circulated within the department ... The briefings and the notes show that U.S. officials knew early that Zelenskiy was feeling pressure to investigate Biden, Page 17428 EFTA00046939

even though the Ukrainian leader later denied it in a joint news conference with Trump in September." Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), left, confers with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) during a Finance Committee committee hearing on Oct. 24. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE ON THE INVESTIGATIONS: -- Two senators are looking into a second whistleblower's allegations that at least one political appointee at the Treasury Department tried to interfere with an audit of Trump or Vice President Pence. Jeff Stein and Tom Hamburger scoop: "Staff members for Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (Ore.), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, met with the IRS whistleblower earlier this month ... Follow-up interviews are expected to further explore the whistleblower's allegations. It could not be learned to what extent the senators consider the whistleblower a credible source. Trump administration officials have previously played down the complaint's significance and suggested that it is politically motivated. The whistleblower, a career IRS official, initially filed a complaint in July, reporting that he was told that at least one Treasury political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president's or vice president's tax returns. "In recent weeks, the whistleblower filed additional documentation related to the original complaint, which was given to congressional officials in July ... The IRS whistleblower complaint was first disclosed in an August court filing by Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Page 17429 EFTA00046940

Committee. ... Neal made the disclosure in court filings as part of his battle with the Trump administration over the president's tax returns, which the Treasury Department has refused to furnish. ... The Treasury inspector general has opened a review of the Treasury Department's handling of House Democrats' request for Trump's tax returns. Asked whether that review would look at the IRS whistleblower's complaint, Rich Delmar, the acting inspector general, said in an email that 'the inquiry is ongoing, and will take into account that aspects of the underlying matter are the subject of litigation.- -- The impeachment inquiry is expanding to explore whether Trump lied to former special counsel Bob Mueller, the House's general counsel told a federal appeals court. Ann E. Marimow, Spencer S. Hsu and Rachael Bade report: "The statement came during arguments over Congress's demand for the urgent release of secret grand jury evidence from Mueller's probe of Russia's 2016 election interference, with House lawyers detailing fresh concerns about Trump's truthfulness that could become part of the impeachment inquiry. The hearing followed Friday's conviction of longtime Trump friend Roger Stone for lying to Congress. Testimony and evidence at his trial appeared to cast doubt on Trump's written answers to Mueller's questions ... 'Did the president lie? Was the president not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?' General Counsel Douglas N. Letter said in court. 'The House is now trying to determine whether the current president should remain in office,' Letter added. 'This is something that is unbelievably serious and it's happening right now, very fast.' ... Behind the scenes, there's been debate among Democratic lawmakers about whether articles of impeachment should include obstruction of justice allegations detailed in Mueller's renort " Page 17430 EFTA00046941

-- Mitch McConnell said he still "can't imagine a scenario" that would lead to Trump's conviction in the Senate. "I can't imagine a scenario under which President Trump would be removed from office with 67 votes in the Senate," the Senate majority leader said, according the Louisville Courier-Journal. -- The Supreme Court placed a temporary hold on a lower court's ruling that said accounting firm Mazars USA must turn over eight years of Trump's financial records. Robert Barnes reports: "The House itself had acquiesced to such a move earlier Monday. Without the court's intervention, the firm would have been required to turn over the records Wednesday. Trump last week asked the high court to stop the order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. ... House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter said in a letter to the court Monday morning that the committee will oppose Trump's motion. But 'out of courtesy to this court,' Letter said the committee did not oppose putting the D.C. Circuit's ruling on hold temporarily. Roberts said in his short order that the House's opposition to Trump's filing should be filed by Thursday." -- Another federal judge blocked the House from obtaining Trump's New York state tax returns without a court review. Spencer S. Hsu reports: "U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols of Washington entered the unusual order in a potentially precedent- setting case, which came even though the House committee has not said whether it wants the records and has sought to toss out Trump's lawsuit, filed last July. Nichols's 19-page decision and order came one week after the judge dismissed New York state officials from the lawsuit, which sought to bar the House from requesting and state Page 17431 EFTA00046942

oniciats worn turning over i rump s returns using New y one s i rust mot, signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and enacted July 7. ... New York tax officials had agreed not to turn over Trump's records any sooner than seven days after Nichols ruled on whether the Trump lawsuit should be heard before him or before a federal judge in New York." -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham announced that he will hold a hearing on Dec. 11 featuring Justice Department Inspector General Nichael Horowitz. From Politico: "Horowitz's scheduled appearance before the committee comes as the inspector general is wrapping up an investigation into the origins of the FBI probe into the 2016 Trump campaign's dealings with Russia. ... In a statement announcing the hearing, Graham described Horowitz as 'a good man that has served our national well.' ... The South Carolina Republican added that Horowitz 'will deliver a detailed report of what he found regarding his investigation, along with recommendations as to how to make our judicial and investigative systems better.- -- Nepotism alert: What does Rudy Giuliani's son Andrew actually do in the White House all day? The Atlantic's Elaina Plott tried to figure it out: "The younger Giuliani has served in the Office of Public Liaison, beginning as an associate director, since March 2017, making him one of the longest-serving members of the Trump administration. According to White House personnel records from 2018, he earns a salary of $90,700. The public-liaison office deals with outreach to outside coalitions, and several of the current and former administration officials I spoke to for this story said Giuliani helps arrange sports teams' visits to the White House. ... But snorts-team visits are more special-occasion than schedulina staple in Page 17432 EFTA00046943

the business of government, especially in this White House, where many title-winning teams decline invitations to visit or are simply not invited at all. ... Steve Munisteri, who was principal director of the public-liaison office and Giuliani's supervisor from February 2017 to February 2019, told me that Giuliani fills out his time by serving as the office's representative at White House meetings about the opioid crisis. "Others who have worked with Giuliani offered a different take on his White House tenure. 'He doesn't really try to be involved in anything,' one former senior White House official told me ... 'He's just having a nice time.' Yet for the differing opinions on the nature of Giuliani's role, the officials I spoke to were certain that Giuliani had nabbed a White House post in the first place because of his father. A second former senior White House official plainly called it 'a nepotism job.- -- Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson said it's "wrong" to ask another country for personal favors. "If you're seeking some kind of personal gain and you're using — whether it's American foreign aid or American weapons or American influence — that's wrong. And I think everyone understands that," he told PBS NewsHour. (Well, not everyone.) -- Jimmy Finkelstein, the owner of the Hill newspaper, has stayed out of the impeachment headlines, despite playing a crucial role in the saga. From CNN: "Finkelstein was [John] Solomon's direct supervisor at The Hill and created the conditions which permitted Solomon to publish his conspiratorial stories without the traditional oversight implemented at news outlets. And he has kept a watchful eye Page 17433 EFTA00046944

on tne newspapers coverage to ensure it is not too critical or tne President. As one former veteran employee of The Hill told CNN Business, 'Solomon is a symptom of the larger problem of Jimmy Finkelstein.' ... The paper's editor-in-chief sent staff a note Monday morning notifying employees that editors 'are reviewing, updating, annotating with any denials of witnesses, and when appropriate, correcting any [of Solomon's] pieces referenced during the ongoing congressional inquiry.' ... Finkelstein has been friends with Trump for decades. In fact, according to a former employee at The Hill, he 'boasts that he's a close friend' of the President." -- Rep. Devin Nunes's attorney is representing one of the congressman's former aides in a new defamation lawsuit against Politico. McClatchy reports: "Kashyap 'Kash' Patel, a lawyer who worked for Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee when Nunes was the committee's chairman, is suing Politico over an Oct. 23 story with the headline 'Nunes Protege Fed Ukraine Info to Trump.' ... Patel is represented by Virginia attorney Steven Biss, who has filed five lawsuits on behalf of Nunes this year alleging that news organizations, Twitter, anonymous social media users and political consultants conspired against the California congressman. ... The news story at the center of Patel's lawsuit reported that Patel tried to involve himself in the Trump administration's Ukraine policy. Patel now works [on] the National Security Council. The story by Politico reporter Natasha Bertrand was based on sources who described diplomats' testimony at closed-door House Intelligence Committee hearings..." Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring calls the suit baseless: "This lawsuit is high on bombast and low on merit. It is unserious and is a public relations tactic designed to intimidate journalists and media oraanizations from doina their iob." he said in a statement. Page 17434 EFTA00046945

-- Tribalism alert: A remarkable 2 in 3 Americans say that nothing they hear in the inquiry will change their minds on impeachment, according to a new NPR-PBS- Marist poll. "It's a tangible example of just how locked in most Americans are in their partisan positions, even as nearly a dozen people have either testified or are set to testify in the impeachment inquiry. The poll was conducted Nov. 11-15 — before, during and after the testimonies of the first three witnesses to be called in the inquiry. ... By a 47%-41% margin, Americans say they are more likely to support impeachment based on what they've heard or read from the testimonies and evidence presented. And the testimonies could actually be serving to harden their views - 86% of Democrats said they are now more likely to support impeachment after hearing testimony and evidence while 83% of Republicans said they are less likely to now support impeachment. ... Some 70% of registered voters say they've been paying 'very' or 'fairly' close attention to the House impeachment inquiry. And 53% of those paying at least fairly close attention say they're more likely to support impeachment." -- Notable commentary from The Post's opinion page: • Dana Milbank: "Trump-friendly judges run out the clock on impeachment." • Foreign affairs columnist Robert Kagan: "Republicans are pushing the U.S. to accept quid pro quo as the new normal." • Catherine Rampell: "Trump and Republicans are on the hunt for Real Crimes." • The Post's Editorial Board: "Republicans' defense of Page 17435 EFTA00046946

I rump IS tuil of noies.- • Michael Gerson: "Trump spurs a Wild West of continuously worsening political rhetoric." • Eugene Robinson: "For Trump, incompetent bribery is still bribery." Subscribe on Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod and other podcast players. Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning briefing for decision-makers. Sign up to receive the newsletter. Pompeo: Israeli settlements in West Bank do not violate international law THE NEW WORLD ORDER: -- Mike Pompeo declared that Israel's West Bank settlements do not violate international law. Karen DeYoung, Steve Hendrix and John Hudson report: "The move upends more than 40 years of U.S. policy that has declared Israeli expansion into territories occupied since the 1967 war a major obstacle to settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In response to a question, Pompeo denied that the announcement was connected to turmoil in Israel in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has supported the Israeli annexation of West Bank territory, is fighting for his political life. ... Pompeo said the administration was returning to policy under Ronald Page 17436 EFTA00046947

Reagan, pointing out that Reagan said in a 1981 interview that settlements were 'not illegal.' Reagan went on in that interview, however, to say that settlements were 'ill-advised." Pompeo said the Trump administration, as it did with recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and Israel's sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, has simply "recognized the reality on the ground." -- A bid by Netanyahu's rival to form a new Israeli government has entered its final, fraught stretch. Ruth Eglash reports: Benny Gantz's options are limited. "The most obvious choice — uniting with [Netanyahu's] ruling Likud party — appears increasingly unlikely, while forming a government dependent on smaller parties with sharply conflicting ideologies seems an almost impossible gamble. Gantz has until midnight Wednesday to announce a government, then secure enough support in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to approve the new configuration. If not, Israel will enter politically uncharted territory, with even the keenest of political observers saying they have no idea what might happen next — though most are betting it will set Israel on the path to a third national election in less than a year." -- An American and an Australian who were being held hostage for the past three years were released by the Taliban. That announcement came shortly after it was revealed that three detained Taliban commanders had been flown to Qatar. Sayed Salahuddin and Sharif Hassan report: "American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks were instructors at the American University of Kabul when they were kidnapped in 2016. The militants are Mali Khan, Hafiz Rashid and Anas Haqqani, a younger brother of the Taliban's deputy leader and son of the Haqqani network's founder. They were held in a government detention center at Bagram air base. Page 17437 EFTA00046948

The Haqqani network is an insurgent group closely allied with the Taliban. It is accused of orchestrating many of the sophisticated and deadly attacks against Afghan and foreign installations in recent years." -- Swedish prosecutors announced that the alleged rape investigation involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been dropped. Karla Adam reports: "Eva-Marie Persson, the deputy director of public prosecution, said in a statement that 'my overall assessment is that the evidential situation has been weakened to such an extent that that there is no longer any reason to continue the investigation.' In 2010, Assange was accused of committing sexual offences in Sweden. A case involving an alleged rape was abandoned in 2017, but then reopened earlier this year after Assange was evicted from the Ecuador Embassy in London. Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012 and is fighting extradition to the United States, which accuses him of publishing secret documents." -- As violence spikes, some Hong Kong activists see salvation in their British citizenship. Rick Noack reports: "As the Hong Kong leadership — backed by Beijing — is increasingly cracking down on pro-democracy protests in the semiautonomous territory, some argue that the West's most credible leverage over the Chinese leadership there hinges on the British National Overseas (BNO) passport category. Issued to those who were residents of Hong Kong before the transfer of power in 1997, the passports entitle holders to some but not all rights that British citizens can rely on. Passport holders can, for instance, travel to Britain for up to six months without a visa or seek consular assistance abroad, but they are not entitled to stay in the I I 4l,., I I I/ 4., °kin Page 17438 EFTA00046949

I.J.r\- II lUeill II lel y. l,ellIJ VI I ti le U.IN. yliVel I II HUI IL LO yi di IL DINKJ pcibbpui I. holders full British citizenship are gradually mounting, however, amid concerns that China may be breaking its promise to maintain Hong Kong's semiautonomous status for at least three more decades." -- China slammed Hong Kong judges after they ruled that demonstrators could wear face masks. Gerry Shih, Tiffany Liang and David Crawshaw report: "The central government's Hong Kong affairs office said that Monday's judgment 'blatantly challenged the authority' of China's legislature and of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and created 'severe negative social and political impact.' ... The comments poured fuel on one of the central grievances of Hong Kong's protest movement — encroachment by the mainland government on the semiautonomous territory's affairs — and could exacerbate clashes after days of violent standoffs on university campuses. But they reflect the Chinese government's diminishing patience for the unrest, as evidenced by an increasingly harsh line from officials and state media, some of which have urged police to use live ammunition against protesters." -- About 100 protestors remain holed up at a university surrounded by police in Hong Kong. From the Guardian: "Lam ... said about 600 protesters surrendered to authorities at the Polytechnic University campus in Kowloon overnight, after police allowed two representatives to mediate between the two sides. About 20 activists were evacuated to seek medical help. In her first public remarks since the crisis began more than 36 hours ago, Lam said that 200 of those who surrendered were children and were not arrested. She said however that authorities reserved the right to make further investigations in the future. Lam said the other 400 who left the campus have been arrested. ... Groups of protesters have tried to Page 17439 EFTA00046950

escape the tight police cordon around the campus. Late on Monday, dozens were seen abseiling down a footbridge as police fired tear gas, to drivers on motorbikes who whisked them away. Others tried to flee through manhole covers. ... Police said they had allowed Red Cross volunteers into the university to ferry out injured protesters but said the rest had no option but to give themselves up." -- American federal agencies have failed to adequately respond to the threat of Chinese government-funded programs that have recruited scientists and exploited U.S. research to strengthen China's own economy and military. From the Wall Street Journal: "With what are known as `talent programs,' the Chinese government provides compensation and resources to researchers who at times illicitly transfer intellectual property to China, in some cases setting up shadow labs overseas mirroring their U.S. research, according to the report released Monday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Participants are routinely told to conceal their participation from U.S. authorities, the report said. ... The Chinese government has concentrated recruitment efforts on those born in China but working in the U.S., although it also has recruited some people who are not ethnic Chinese. The report included examples of U.S.-funded scientists who allegedly willfully failed to disclose their participation in China's Thousand Talents Plan, the best-known of more than 200 similar Chinese programs, or engaged in other activities counter to U.S. research values, the report said." -- North Korean veteran diplomat and Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan said the country is no longer interested in holding talks with the U.S., saying it does not want to "gift the U.S. president with something he can brag about." Anne Gearan Page 17440 EFTA00046951

reports: "Trump has been hoping for a third summit with North Korea, ideally within about three months, to show that his bold effort to befriend and persuade Kim is working. ... Talks have been bogged down for months, with North Korea demanding relief from economic sanctions before any meaningful discussion of disarmament. The Trump administration has stuck to its dual approach, retaining sanctions while offering free-flowing, direct leader-to-leader talks that traditional diplomacy would reserve for the very end of a process. Kim Kye Gwan's statement to the Korean-language website of the official Korean Central News Agency [said] ... that despite the two leaders' previous meetings, 'there has not been much improvement in relations with the United States.- -- The U.S. broke off talks with South Korea over how to share the cost of the two nations' military alliance. Min Joo Kim reports: "Trump has demanded South Korea raise fivefold its contribution to cover the cost of stationing 28,500 U.S. troops in the country, asking for nearly $5 billion, officials on both sides said. But that demand has triggered anger from Korean lawmakers and sparked concerns that Trump may decide to reduce the U.S. troop presence in the Korean Peninsula if talks break down. The top U.S. negotiator, James DeHart, said the U.S. side decided to cut short the negotiations on Tuesday morning, the second of two days of planned talks. In a rare public show of disunity between the allies, he blamed South Korea for making proposals that `were not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden sharing.' ... Trump insists that South Korea, as a `very wealthy nation,' needs to pay more. His demand for up to $5 billion would imply South Korea was effectively not only being asked to cover local costs but also the entire wage bill for the U.S. troops." Page 17441 EFTA00046952

MIL:MI, tile /AMU! ICelll IJUSIMIUSSINUIllel I INIIIC) LidrrriJ bile once had a "very special relationship" with Boris Johnson, said the U.K. prime minister has fed her "to the wolves" while ghosting her. William Booth and Karla Adam report: "British authorities are looking into accusations that she received undue advantages because of her association with Johnson, including grants and contracts and participation in three trade missions abroad as part of Johnson's entourage. .. . Whether there are grounds for a criminal investigation won't be announced until after Britain's Dec. 12 election. And whether Arcuri's accusations of bad behavior can hurt Johnson and his Conservative Party at the polls is unclear. ... Johnson, 55, is separated from his wife and living with his partner, Carrie Symonds, 31, at the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street. This arrangement, a first in British history, is barely commented on in the news media. . . . He remains Britain's most popular politician.- -- As she named herself Bolivia's interim leader, Jeanine Afiez said her "only objective" would be to call for new elections. Yet in the week since she assumed power, the conservative leader has acted like anything but a caretaker as she undoes 14 years of socialist rule under former president Evo Morales. Anthony Faiola and Rachelle Krygier report: "In just seven days, the U.S.-backed leader has replaced Bolivia's top military brass, cabinet ministers and the heads of major state-owned companies with appointees of her own. Her administration has threatened to arrest `seditious' lawmakers, and ejected allies of the old government including Venezuelan diplomats and Cuban doctors. Her new foreign minister announced Bolivia's exit from the Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, a union of socialist nations based in Page 17442 EFTA00046953

Caracas. As supporters of Morales took to the streets last week to object, Anez issued a presidential decree granting security forces immunity from prosecution for 'participating in operations to reestablish internal order.' Within hours, a confrontation between soldiers and Morales supporters near Cochabamba left nine dead." -- Libya's U.N.-backed government believes that two Russians arrested on spying allegations earlier this year were employed by the Kremlin-friendly Wagner Group, a security firm. Missy Ryan and Sudarsan Raghavan report: "Fathi Bashagha, who serves as interior minister for the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), said the Russian nationals were arrested on suspicion of attempting to influence planned municipal elections and gather information on the GNA's military operations against a rival force, which is based in eastern Libya and backed by Russia. Speaking in an interview during a visit to Washington, Bashagha said the men had provided 'confessions' and remained in detention while the GNA attorney general investigates their activities. The alleged intelligence operation coincides with mounting concern about Russian involvement in a battle for control of Tripoli and the larger schism in the country that has impaired the oil industry and provided a foothold to Islamist militant groups." Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, shown Saturday, as Trump visited for what officials claimed was a physical exam. (Stefani Reynolds/EPA- EFE/Shutterstock) DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS THAT SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED: Page 17443 EFTA00046954

-- Trump's health is under scrutiny again after an unplanned visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. Toluse Olorunnipa and Amy Gardner report: "In a memo released by the White House late Monday, Trump's doctor, Sean Conley, wrote that Trump's 'interim checkup' over the weekend had been 'routine,' and was only kept secret because of 'scheduling uncertainties.' 'Despite some speculation, the President has not had any chest pain, nor was he evaluated or treated for any urgent or acute issues,' Conley wrote in the memo. 'Specifically, he did not undergo any specialized cardiac or neurologic evaluations.' While Trump claimed that he had begun 'phase one' of his annual physical, Conley said Trump would have a 'more comprehensive examination' next year. Trump described his condition on Twitter as 'very good (great!)'; Conley's memo did not characterize the president's overall health. It did include cholesterol figures that had dropped since Trump's last physical exam in February. It is unusual for a president to undergo a physical exam in multiple stages months apart, and the circumstances surrounding Trump's visit renewed questions about the White House's handling of his medical information, according to several experts. ... Two people who interacted with Trump late last week said that he seemed to be hoarse and have signs of a cold but that nothing serious seemed amiss." • "Trump's mysterious hospital visit raises many questions. His explanation for it didn't answer any of them," writes the Post's Editorial Board. -- Prosecutors are preparing to file charges against two Bureau of Prisons workers who were supposed to regularly check on millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein the night he hanged himself in his cell. Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky report: "The Page 17444 EFTA00046955

two corrections workers, wnose names nave not men reieasea, tell under suspicion immediately after Epstein was found early on the morning of Aug. 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal jail used primarily for people awaiting trial. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging, although lawyers for the disgraced financier have questioned that conclusion. ... The death of the most high-profile defendant in the federal prison system led to a major shake-up at the Bureau of Prisons. Attorney General William P. Barr brought in a former director of the agency to run it again, and replaced the top official at the MCC, saying the preliminary investigation had found 'serious irregularities at the center.' "Those irregularities include logs indicating that Epstein was checked on regularly, in accordance with MCC procedures. Investigators don't believe those checks happened ... Prosecutors have been focused on charges against the officers of falsifying federal records ... In recent weeks, they sought to have the officers plead guilty, though they refused." -- Emails obtained by CBS News show that San Diego billionaire Doug Manchester was pressed by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to donate half a million bucks to the party while his Senate confirmation to become the ambassador to the Bahamas hung in the balance. "Manchester donated $1 million to Mr. Trump's inauguration fund. He was offered the Bahamas post the day after Mr. Trump was sworn in. Manchester said Mr. Trump told him, 'I should probably be the ambassador to the Bahamas and you should be president.' Then, for two and a half years, Manchester's nomination stalled in the Senate. ... He wrote back to McDaniel's request for $500,000, 'As you know I am not supposed to do any hut my wife is sending a contribution for 5100.000. Assuming I Page 17445 EFTA00046956

get voted out of the [Foreign Relations Committee] on Wednesday to the floor we need you to have the majority leader bring it to a majority vote ... Once confirmed, I our [sic] family will respond!" -- The Trump State Department appointee who inflated her résumé has resigned amid fresh questions about the Trump team's clearly flawed vetting process. Reis Thebault reports: In a letter of resignation to Pompeo, Mina Chang "defended herself and criticized the 'toxic environment' at the agency, where she had served as a deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations since April. Chang denied creating or commissioning the Time cover and wrote that her resignation should be seen 'as a protest and not as surrender,' closing by saying that stepping down was 'the only acceptable moral and ethical option for me at this time.' ... 'The Department of State is experiencing what I and many believe is the worst and most profound moral crisis confronting career professionals and political appointees in the Department's history,' wrote Chang, who had no diplomatic experience before joining the State Department. ...Chang, in her rebuttal document, argued that her 'background was fully investigated by the FBI and State Department's Diplomatic Security. No questions were raised or concerns identified during the process." -- In Georgia, Democrats are finding out that turning the state blue is easier to predict than to pull off. Jenna Johnson reports: "Four Gwinnett County Democratic Party leaders gathered on living- room couches to ... [address a pressing] priority: In less than a month, Republican state leaders plan to purge the registrations of 330,000 voters who haven't participated in recent elections — roughly 22,000 of whom are registered in Gwinnett County, many of them likely Page 17446 EFTA00046957

Democrats. They spent hours debating how best to find these voters and keep them registered, and organizing phone banks, including one ahead of a Democratic debate watch party Wednesday night. Then came a text message from another county party member who had heard that the state party was organizing a similar effort, as was a nonprofit group. 'We don't have time for this,' Bianca Keaton, the first black woman to lead the Gwinnett County Democrats, said with exasperation. 'We are moving ahead with the plan we made this morning. I don't want them in Gwinnett County.' The exchange was yet another reminder that while Democrats see themselves as poised to take over the state, they are a long way from building the kind of coordinated effort that Georgia Republicans — and Democrats in places like Virginia and elsewhere — have long enjoyed." -- In Virginia, Democratic lawmakers rushed to file bills as the legislative window opened for next year's General Assembly session, setting out voting rights, gun control, LGBTQ protections and the Equal Rights Amendment as priorities for their newfound majority. Gregory S. Schneider reports: "It was bad timing for Republican leaders, who traveled to Richmond Monday to officially shut down the special legislative session on gun control that they had cut short over the summer. As the state's docket began filling with Democratic proposals, Republican leaders presided over the floor of the Senate and House of Delegates for probably the last time before their rivals take over. ... House Democrats chose [Democratic Del. Eileen] Filler-Corn as their speaker-designee, putting her in line to be the chamber's first female leader in its 400-year history. Republicans made no effort Monday to draw attention to proposed legislation, which can be filed until 10 days after the session starts Jan. 8." Page 17447 EFTA00046958

-- Three people were killed during a shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Duncan, Okla. Katie Mettler reports: "The shooting took place just before 10 a.m., reported the Duncan Banner. Officers with the Duncan Police Department responded to the Walmart Supercenter on Highway 81 in Duncan, a city 65 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. A man and woman were found dead inside a car in the parking lot, and another man was found dead outside the car, police said in the statement. It was not immediately clear whether the alleged shooter was among those who died. A handgun was found at the scene, authorities said. The Duncan Banner reported that Red River Technology Center and Duncan Public Schools were put on lockdown." -- The shooting at a Fresno, Calif., backyard gathering that left four dead was a targeted attack, police said. Derek Hawkins, Katie Shpeherd and Katie Mettler report: "The shooting stunned Southeast Asian Hmong residents in Fresno, which is home to the largest Hmong population in California and the second-largest Hmong population in the United States. ... The attackers, armed with semiautomatic pistols, fled on foot before partygoers could make out their faces in the darkness, police said. ... Fresno Police Deputy Chief Andrew Hall said the department was mobilizing an 'Asian gang task force' to investigate whether the attack was connected to recent a spike in violent crime in the city by Asian gangs. There was no indication that the residents were involved in gangs, he said, but investigators believe the gunman intentionally targeted the house." -- About 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency could be hit by climate change, a new Government Accountability Office report found. Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis report: "GAO investigators said the anpnry nppric tn takes mnre annnaccivp antinn tn anknnwlprinp rickc Page 17448 EFTA00046959

facing some of the nation's most polluted sites — and to safeguard them amid a changing climate. Even as they agreed with the GAO on certain points, Trump administration officials formally rejected a recommendation to clarify how preparing toxic sites to withstand the impacts of climate change is part of the EPA's mission." -- WeWork could lay off thousands of employees as the company tries to recover from a disastrous attempt to go public. Marie C. Baca reports: "That means WeWork could lose about a third of the 12,500-person head count it had in June, according to a company filing. WeWork Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure told employees that layoffs would begin this week." There are also reports that the New York attorney general is investigating the former chief executive for alleged self-dealing. SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized Pompeo: A freelance reporter in Hong Kong shared devastating images from the detention of protesters inside one of the city's university campuses: Pete Buttigieg is surging in Iowa, but a new poll shows that he has literally no support among black voters in South Carolina: Page 17449 EFTA00046960

Ken Cuccinelli is now tweeting under his potential DHS title, even though he has not been confirmed for it: An interview of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) went viral for uncomfortable reasons, and a BuzzFeed reporter quickly got to the bottom of it: The MSNBC show that aired the interview and Swalwell tried to set the record straight: A Supreme Court justice shared some details about the job: A World War II veteran in Texas is turning 100: And a 2020 contender had a bit of "Breaking Bad" fun: QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I did not feel courageous. I was simply doing my duty as a citizen, providing information to the Senate that I believed would be relevant to the Supreme Court nomination process," said Christine Blasey Ford of her decision to testify against Supreme Page 17450 EFTA00046961

Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "I thought anyone in my position would, of course, do the same thing." VIDEOS OF THE DAY: The South Dakota government's new advertising campaign takes aim at the state's methamphetamine addiction crisis. The $449,000 ad blitz centers around the slogan: "Meth. We're On It," Michael Brice- Saddler reports. Many online mocked it and a marketing expert went as far as saying it was a "colossal blunder": Seth Meyers finds the evidence against Trump to be "overwhelming": Stephen Colbert can't believe Trump actually went on Twitter and attacked the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine while she spoke to the House investigators: Colbert also visited New Zealand and drove around the island with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: And Trevor Noah thinks Trump had a pretty bad weekend: You received this email because you signed up for The Daily 202 or because it is induded in your Page 17451 EFTA00046962