Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Monday sent a letter to House Intelligence Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and House Oversight Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) outlining his account of President Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
Why it matters: Johnson has previously said that he "winced" when EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland told him President Trump would likely unfreeze nearly $400 million in military aid if Ukraine announced an investigation into the 2016 election. In the letter, however, Johnson said that Trump vehemently denied there was any link between the investigations and the aid and that the president said he barely knew Sondland.
Pete Buttigieg, who recently rocketed to the top of polls in Iowa, released a $500 billion college affordability plan today, which would make public college tuition free for households earning under $100,000 and inject $120 billion into federal Pell Grants.
The big picture: It contrasts with more expansive proposals from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who want to wipe out all college tuition and debt — though nearly every 2020 contender has their own ideas.
Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who famously took on President Trump during the 2016 presidential election, announced Monday that he is endorsing Joe Biden in the 2020 race, per the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The big picture: Khan made waves during a speech alongside his wife, Ghazala, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention when he offered Trump a pocket copy of the Constitution while asking if he had ever read the document.
Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign on Monday apologized and removed from its website a stock photo of a Kenyan woman that it used to promote the mayor's "Douglass Plan" to fight racial inequality in America, the Washington Post reports.
What they're saying: Sean Savett, communications director for the Buttigieg campaign, said a contractor running the website chose the photo not knowing it had been captured in Kenya.
The House is investigating whether President Trump lied in his written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller in the wake of new revelations from Roger Stone's trial, CNN reports.
Why it matters: House Democrats had previously suggested in a court filing in September that Trump may have lied, but they drew "new focus" to the allegations during opening arguments Monday in a case involving the Judiciary Committee's request to unseal grand jury materials from the Mueller report, per CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting in early May with his top aides to seek advice on how to navigate pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Joe Biden, two people with knowledge of the briefings told AP.
Why it matters: The sources said Zelensky was concerned that the White House wanted him to take action that could influence the 2020 presidential race — well before the July 25 call with President Trump that's at the heart of the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
House Republicans are asking Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for "firsthand information" about Ukraine-related meetings, briefings and conversations with President Trump and EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland.
What's happening: A letter from Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who's leading the GOP case, and Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, asked Johnson for his recollections after attending the inauguration of Ukraine's president in May.
Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the EU, briefed senior administration officials on efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of President Trump's July 25 call with the Ukrainian leader, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Emails allegedly sent by Sondland that were obtained by WSJ indicate that several other officials can confirm what some witnesses have testified to already about a Trump administration request to investigate Burisma, the gas company with ties to Biden's son.
Top Republicans are taking Pete Buttigieg seriously as a potential general election candidate after his breakout poll in Iowa. The respected Des Moines Register poll, released Saturday night, has Buttigieg at the top of the Democratic pack in Iowa.
What they're saying: "He'd be a fresh face with a message of unity and a more traditional Democratic program that's not as scary to suburbanites," Karl Rove told me. "His weaknesses would be in motivating African Americans and connecting with blue-collar middle America that's dubious of any Harvard-educated elites."
Democrats are approaching Week 2 of impeachment hearings with one key goal: show more of President Trump's direct involvement in the scheme to tie Ukrainian aid to an investigation of Joe Biden's son.
What to watch: Of the eight officials testifying next week, the one with the most known direct interactions with Trump is EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland. The Trump megadonor already had to amend his testimony once. He may be the most legally vulnerable, and he has spoken with Trump about the investigations.
In a tweet Sunday, President Trump attacked Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, for her testimony in a closed-door impeachment hearing, calling her a "Never Trumper" while also claiming he doesn't know who she is.
The big picture: Over the past few weeks, the president has continually claimed that he does not know several of the key people involved in the impeachment inquiry — despite them serving in his own administration.
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg apologized at a black megachurch in Brooklyn on Sunday for implementing aggressive “stop-and-frisk” policing practices that disproportionately targeted black and Latino people across the city, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: Bloomberg’s speech was his first since he filed paperwork to enter the 2020 presidential primary in Alabama, with the comments marking a surprising reversal on a core policy of the former mayor's tenure. Bloomberg in the past has strongly defended stop-and-frisk, which allowed police officers to stop and search anyone they suspected of a crime.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that it is a "waste of time" to discuss what Republicans say about impeachment because "they are in denial about what has happened in the country."
President Trump blessed and helped win, against the odds, the Florida and Georgia governors races in 2018 — an astonishing display of political muscle.
Driving the news: This year,in two more conservative states, Trump tried a similar feat — Kentucky earlier this month, and Louisiana yesterday — and flopped.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Ukrainian officials will not say that President Trump conditioned military aid on their announcement of political investigations because "they are presently reliant on the goodwill of Donald Trump."
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on "Fox News Sunday" that the Trump administration officials who have expressed concerns about the president's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff's witnesses and that there are other officials who have "countering views."
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton met privately with President Trump in August in an effort to convince him to release nearly $400 million in frozen military aid to Ukraine, former National Security Council official Tim Morrison told impeachment investigators last month.
Why it matters: The episode underscores how important Bolton's testimony could ultimately be to determining why Trump withheld security assistance to Ukraine at a time when he was pushing its government to investigate his political rivals — a question at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
Incumbent Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) overcame a tough challenge from President Trump-backed businessman Eddie Rispone to be re-elected governor late Saturday for a second term, AP reports.
Why it matters: The tight race victory by the only Democratic governor in the Deep South in Trump country is a major blow for the president, who tried to drum up support for Rispone at two presidential rallies in Louisiana this month and in tweets leading up to the vote.
"Saturday Night Live" parodied the Trump impeachment hearings as a "Days of Our Lives"-inspired reimagination — dubbed the "Days of Our Impeachment" — in its latest cold open, with Jon Hamm starring as diplomat Bill Taylor.
The big picture: Other highlights included Cecily Strong as Marie Yovanovitch, the former Ukraine ambassador targeted by President Trump's tweets as she testified Friday. And Kate McKinnon was back as Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, declaring: "Mercury’s in retrograde, so my powers are at an all-time high."
Presidential hopeful and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has soared to the top of the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll of 2020 Democratic candidates, released Saturday evening.
The big picture: He's the first choice for 25% of Democratic caucus-goers polled in the latest survey — with a 9-point lead over his closest rival, Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg also topped a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday, where he's the favored candidate among 22% of those surveyed.
