|
|
BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA Wednesday, September 25, 2019 |
|
|
| BOOTY CALL |
| The White House has released a summary of the fateful call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that convinced Democratic leaders to launch an impeachment inquiry, and guess what?
It’s much worse than we imagined!
Here’s what the call summary showed:
What happened on this call is one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. Not bad for an impeachment inquiry that’s 24 hours old.
So how are Republicans in Congress responding? They’ve sorted into three groups:
It gets worse! The administration also transmitted the whistleblower complaint that ignited this controversy to the House and Senate intelligence committees, and agreed to let acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testify without restrictions, after he threatened to resign. (Maguire denies multiple reports that he made any such threat.)
With things moving so quickly, Democrats have reportedly begun debating whether to press equally hard on all of Trump’s impeachable offenses, or limit the inquiry to this scandal alone. It’s worth noting: If they rush this inquiry to a close, Republicans in the Senate will acquit him as quickly as possible, and that will be it for oversight until 2021 at the earliest. They’ve only been at this for a day and have already unearthed something extremely damning, so they should keep digging. |
|
| A new United Nations report warns that climate change will put important marine ecosystems at risk, disrupt seafood harvests, and threaten hundreds of millions of people who live on coasts worldwide. Oceans absorb over 90 percent of the excess heat trapped on Earth by greenhouse gases, and as the temperatures rise, we’ll see more destructive floods and storms. By the end of the century, the report warns, marine life could decline by 15 percent and sea levels could rise by three feet. Keep calling and marching and voting. |
| |
|
| Apparently a lot of you have a lot of questions about impeachment. We heard you! I (Priyanka) asked Pod Save America's Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor all of your burning impeachment FAQ's on today's livestream, and if you couldn't make it, we saved the stream for you!
Catch up → |
|
|
| The Justice Department has suggested it may defend President Trump’s effort to block the Manhattan district attorney’s office from subpoenaing his tax records. The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, who works for DOJ, asked the court to prevent enforcement of the subpoena as his office decides whether or not to get involved in the case. That same federal prosecutor recused himself from a federal investigation of this same issue.
Elizabeth Warren leads California’s Democratic presidential primary for the first time with 29 percent, according to a Berkeley IGS poll. This is the first poll from a large, diverse state to show Warren on top, and is additionally significant because California’s March 3rd primary comes earlier this cycle, and the state will send more delegates to the 2020 Democratic convention than any other state.
Another transgender woman of color has been shot in Dallas, TX. According to police, she was shot multiple times, and has been hospitalized with critical injuries (her name has not been released). Over the past two years, four trans women of color have been killed in Dallas, and several more have been assaulted. In Texas, violence against transgender people is not considered a hate crime.
A group of 17 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to block its rollback of the Endangered Species Act.
Embattled opera singer Plácido Domingo has left the Metropolitan Opera after 20 women accused him of sexual harassment and intimidation. His departure came one day before he was set to star in the opening of MacBeth. Karma for the fact that the Met didn’t axe him when the overwhelming number of accusations surfaced.
Vox Media acquired New York Media, the parent company of New York Magazine, in what the owners insist is a harmonious merger. From Priyanka: If they touch The Cut they are dead to me.
Former Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the suspected car thief and arsonist, will run against fellow GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), who is under federal indictment. Next year’s Crooked-7 is gonna be liiiiiiiiit.
Juul has ousted its CEO and will suspend all of its print, television, and digital advertising, along with some of its lobbying, amid growing controversy over the acute health effects of vaping. Before you get too excited, the CEO was replaced by an executive at Altria, the tobacco company that became a major investor in Juul last year.
|
| |
| |
|
| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the official mandate to form a new government by President Reuven Rivlin. Though Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party received more seats than Netanyahu’s Likud Party in last week’s election, neither secured the majority coalition needed to form a government. After Rivlin’s attempt to get Gantz and Netanyahu to cooperate with a unity government failed, he gave Netanyahu the mandate, saying that it was “based on the question of who has the better chance of forming a government.” With this mandate, Netanyahu will have 28 days to get support from 61 members of the Israeli Parliament. |
|
| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced a package of anti-poverty bills called “A Just Society” that would adjust the federal poverty line based on local costs-of-living and health-insurance access, and to include expenses like childcare and Internet access. It would also limit annual rent increases, pressure federal contractors to offer better wages and benefits to workers and offer full access to social-welfare programs for people with convictions and undocumented immigrants. An estimated 40 million Americans live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census, while the middle class faces stagnant wages and increased living costs. |
|
