Axios

13 of the 41 Republican lawmakers who were listed by Rep. Matt Gaetz as planning to storm a closed-door hearing Wednesday to protest an alleged lack of transparency in the impeachment inquiry sit on committees with the power to question witnesses and review documents.

The big picture: The inquiry is currently being led by the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees, which are comprised of 48 Republicans in total. House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) has asked the House Sergeant at Arms to "take action" against the members involved in Wednesday's protest, after lawmakers reportedly brought cellphones inside the classified room and forced the deposition to be delayed for five hours.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called Kurdish forces "ingrates" on Wednesday for heaving potatoes and rotten vegetables at U.S. troops withdrawing from northern Syria, ABC News reports.

The big picture: Some of the most powerful Republicans in Congress have denounced President Trump's decision to pull troops from Syria in preparation for Turkey's military offensive into the region, saying it could undo years of fighting ISIS and expose U.S.-allied Kurds to violence.

The agreement reached between Russia and Turkey on Tuesday for a "safe zone" 20 miles into northeast Syria secures a goal long sought by Ankara, but the current ceasefire remains fragile and the deal carries challenges of its own.

The big picture: The deal solidifies the diplomatic marginalization of the U.S. in an area where until weeks ago it had been a stabilizing force. Nevertheless, President Trump hailed the agreement as a "huge success" and announced that the U.S. would lift its recent sanctions on Turkey.

A federal judge on Wednesday gave the State Department 30 days to start producing documents related to the administration's relationship with Ukraine, including communications between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, AP reports

Why it matters: The records, which were sought via a Freedom of Information Act request by ethics watchdog American Oversight, could shed more light on the White House's alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate President Trump's political rivals, which are now at the center of an impeachment inquiry.

Go deeper: Diplomat testifies Trump tied Ukraine aid to Biden, DNC investigations

President Trump attacked acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor as a "Never Trumper" in a tweet Wednesday, after Taylor testified to House investigators that Trump had withheld military aid until Ukraine agreed to investigate his political opponents.

Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor (who I don’t know), in testimony before Congress! Do Nothing Democrats allow Republicans Zero Representation, Zero due process, and Zero Transparency. Does anybody think this is fair? Even though there was no quid pro quo, I’m sure they would like to try. Worse than the Dems!

About 30 House Republicans attempted to force entry Wednesday into the closed-door hearing where Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, was scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump and Ukraine.

The big picture: The Republicans are protesting a lack of transparency in the impeachment process, alleging that the inquiry is not legitimate because a full House vote has not been held and attacking Democrats for holding hearings in private. Because of their efforts to disrupt the hearing, Cooper's testimony was delayed for five hours and began at about 3 pm ET.

A defense attorney for Lev Parnas, one of the two Soviet-born associates of Rudy Giuliani indicted on campaign finance charges this month, argued in a Manhattan court Wednesday that the White House could potentially invoke executive privilege over some of the evidence gathered by prosecutors, the New York Times reports.

The big picture: Parnas, who pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped funnel foreign money into Republican campaigns, employed Giuliani as his lawyer at the same time that Giuliani was working for President Trump. Parnas and Igor Fruman are also under scrutiny from House investigators over allegations that they helped introduce Giuliani to Ukrainian officials as part of a campaign to gather damaging information on Joe Biden and help oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

Go deeper: Trump officials worry about Giuliani's foreign dealings

An internal memo on cybersecurity, obtained by Axios, warns that "the White House is posturing itself to be electronically compromised once again."

The state of play: That's after at least a dozen top- or high-level officials have resigned or been pushed out of a cybersecurity mission that was established under Barack Obama to protect the White House from Russian hacking and other threats, according to conversations with several current and former officials.

A pair of anonymously sourced reports published Wednesday indicate that the Ukrainian government felt pressure from the Trump administration to pursue investigations into the president's political rivals in the U.S. earlier than previously known.

Driving the news: AP reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with advisers on May 7 to discuss how to navigate requests from Trump and Rudy Giuliani that would effectively push Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. The New York Times reports that high-level Ukrainian officials were aware that Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid by August, and that they were told to reach out to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to address it.

William Consovoy, a lawyer for President Trump, claimed in federal appeals court that the president could shoot someone on New York City's 5th Avenue and not be prosecuted, Politico reports.

The big picture: Consovoy's comments were made on Wednesday during oral arguments over a subpoena for Trump's tax returns. Trump filed a lawsuit in New York last month to block the subpoena "on the grounds that as president, he has absolute immunity from criminal indictment or investigation," per Politico. A federal judge threw out Trump's suit to block the subpoena, and Trump filed an appeal.

Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack assembled a focus group this week to explore the possibility of a third-party presidential bid in 2020, Politico reports.

Why it matters: Under Stack, Dick's instituted tougher gun sales restrictions and destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons rather than send them back to manufacturers. The post-Parkland moves were divisive in today's polarized climate and ultimately made a dent in the company's bottom line — which could lead to questions about Stack's motives to implement them as he tests the 2020 bid.

Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) requested documents Wednesday from the Justice Department regarding Ukraine and President Trump's impeachment inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act.

"These factual revelations raise serious concerns about the Justice Department's involvement in politically-motivated investigations, at the behest of the White House and Rudy Giuliani. Therefore, we submit a request for records seeking information about the White House's attempts to interfere with federal law enforcement to pursue politically beneficial outcomes."

President Trump is getting hit with a relentless, daily deluge of leaks — and revelations — from former aides, current officials and Democrats.

Why it matters: This has thrown Trump into a constant state of defensiveness — and turned a growing number of Republicans into skeptics and unwilling full-throated defenders.

A major outside Democratic group is outspending President Trump on Facebook ads in the crucial battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Why it matters: 2020 presidential candidates have spent at least $61 million so far this cycle on Facebook and Google ads, with Trump in the lead, according to the Wesleyan Media Project. But that's national spending. The state-by-state spend (below) is important because that's where the 2020 election will be won.

Murder suspect Chan Tong-kai, whose case prompted Hong Kong's government to introduce a bill that would've exposed Hong Kongers to extradition to mainland China, was released from prison Wednesday, the BBC reports. He was released as officials were preparing to formally withdraw the controversial bill, per AP.

Why it matters: The bill triggered months of massive demonstrations in the Chinese territory that morphed into a wider pro-democracy protest movement that's become embroiled in U.S. politics. Congress has raised China's ire by pressing ahead with a bill supporting the Hong Kong protesters, and the NBA has become involved in a standoff with Chinese officials over the movement.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted an apology Tuesday night after CNN reported he'd criticized President Trump for referring to the impeachment inquiry as a "lynching" yet called then-President Clinton's impeachment investigation a "partisan lynching" in 1998.

"This wasn’t the right word to use and I’m sorry about that. Trump on the other hand chose his words deliberately today in his use of the word lynching and continues to stoke racial divides in this country daily."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he hadn't spoken with President Trump about the memorandum of his July phone call with Ukraine's leader that's at the center of the impeachment inquiry. That's despite Trump quoting McConnell on Oct. 3 as saying, "That was the most innocent phone call that I’ve read."