A panel of judges ruled in favor of North Carolina Republicans' redrawn 2020 congressional map Monday, CBS News reports.
The big picture: In October, the judges directed North Carolina's GOP-held state legislature to redraw the map after it found "beyond a reasonable doubt that the 2016 congressional districts are extreme partisan gerrymanders." The new map favors Republicans for eight of the state's 13 congressional seats, whereas they'd previously held 10.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) told KUSI News on Monday that he will plead guilty on one count of misuse of campaign funds.
The big picture: Hunter's scheduled plea change — first hinted at in documents filed in federal court, per the San Diego Union-Tribune — comes six months after his wife changed her own plea. The couple was indicted in 2018 on allegations that they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal use, including on gas, groceries, lavish dinners and vacations.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will hit the campaign trail in Iowa next week for Kamala Harris as she tries to increase her support among voters there before the February caucuses, AP reports.
Why it matters: Harris has been stuck in the single digits in national polling and she's fallen back to sixth place in several Iowa polls. An appearance from Newsom will test whether a governor from the most liberal state has the appeal in the Midwest to revive her struggling campaign, which still doesn't have a TV ad up in Iowa.
In a wide-ranging interview with TIME magazine and other European publications, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly pushed back on President Trump for withholding military aid this summer while the country was in the midst of a war with Russia.
Why it matters: The question of whether Trump froze aid in order to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into his domestic rivals is now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. Zelensky denied that he ever spoke with Trump about the aid "from the position of a quid pro quo," but criticized the U.S. for its treatment of Ukraine and frequent labeling of the country as corrupt.
President Trump's 2020 campaign announced Monday it will no longer allow reporters from Bloomberg News to obtain credentials to cover Trump campaign events.
The big picture: Campaign manager Brad Parscale described the decision to ban Bloomberg reporters as a reaction to Bloomberg News' announcement that it would no longer do investigative journalism on Democratic 2020 candidates, following the entry of the media outlet's owner, Mike Bloomberg, into the presidential race.
More than 60% of campaign contributions that 2020 presidential candidates Julián Castro and Cory Booker have received in Iowa came from women, according to Federal Election Commission filings analyzed by the Des Moines Register and OpenSecrets.
Why it matters: Historically, men donated more to presidential campaigns than women. The Register and OpenSecrets notes that the gap is closing, especially in Iowa, where men and women have so far donated about equal amounts to Democratic presidential candidates. Women donated to Castro and Booker at a higher proportion than any of the top-polling women running for president, the analysis found.
Editor's Note: Bullockdropped outof contention for the Democratic presidential nomination on Dec. 2, 2019. Below is our original article on his candidacy.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock thinks he's the Democratic candidate who can win over Trump supporters. He's successfully kept his spot in the Montana governor's mansion even though his state swung hard for President Trump in 2016.
House Republicans will try to go on the offensive this week, as both sides make closing arguments for and against the impeachment of President Trump.
The big picture: A senior House GOP aide told Axios to look for Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, to engage Chairman Jerry Nadler with "a bunch of procedural maneuvers."
Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, per the Washington Post.
The big picture: Bullock believed he could be the Democrat to beat President Trump, having won re-election even as the state voted for Trump in 2016. But his campaign failed to gain traction — and he only qualified for a single debate.
Impeachment is bringing out President Trump's instincts as marketer in chief, as he seeks to turn a perilous, shame-inducing inquiry into an aggressive fundraising and mobilization tool.
Why it matters: Democrats competing for the chance to challenge Trump in the general election are getting a preview of how he may seek to upend and monetize their arguments against him.
The Mexican government said in a statement Sunday that authorities detained several people suspected of a cartel shooting massacre of nine members of a Mormon family who held U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
The big picture: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is under pressure to curb violence in the country. President Trump has vowed to designate Mexico's drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page told the Daily Beast in an interview published Sunday night being the target of President Trump's wrath over the past two years is "like being punched in the gut."
My heart drops to my stomach when I realize he has tweeted about me again. The president of the United States is calling me names to the entire world. He's demeaning me and my career. It’s sickening."
