Fact-checking website PolitiFact announced on Monday that President Trump's claim that the Ukraine whistleblower complaint was "almost completely wrong" is being recognized as its annual "Lie of the Year."
The big picture: In August, a whistleblower reported that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son in a July phone call. Trump immediately dismissed the whistleblower's description of the call. A summary of the call and sworn testimony by witnesses verified the majority of the whistleblower's account of the conversation, as well as the broader pressure campaign being carried out by Rudy Giuliani and other officials.
President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told the New Yorker that he needed former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch "out of the way" because she was going to make the investigations of the Bidens and the 2016 election that he was pushing "difficult for everybody."
Why it matters: Yovanovitch was recalled by Trump in April after her reputation was publicly tarnished in articles by The Hill's John Solomon — a smear campaign that Giuliani admitted to coordinating.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina told CNN's Poppy Harlow on Monday that it's "vital" President Trump be impeached, but would not rule out voting for him in 2020.
91 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal income taxes on their U.S. income last year, according to a report released Monday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Why it matters: Some of the companies that paid no federal income tax last year still made billions of dollars — and they include some of the country's biggest names, like Amazon, Chevron, Halliburton and IBM.
President Trump said that he is looking forward to debating the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, but signaled that he may not work with the Commission on Presidential Debates in a series of Monday tweets.
The big picture: Trump's tweets confirm a New York Times report from last week, which said that the president mistrusted the bipartisan nonprofit organization after his campaign clashed with its officials during the 2016 cycle.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA analyst who was elected to the House in a swing district during the 2018 midterms, laid out her reasoning for voting to impeach President Trump this week in a Detroit Free Press op-ed on Monday.
"But in the national security world that I come from, we are trained to make hard calls on things, even if they are unpopular, if we believe the security of the country is at stake."
Why it matters: Some polls indicate voters in that Michigan, a key battleground in 2020, aren't convinced by House Democrats' argument for impeaching Trump — so Slotkin's decision could be important, especially as Cook Political Report rates her seat as a toss-up for Democrats.
SAGINAW, Mich. — Some swing voters here who voted for Barack Obama and then Donald Trump are firmly in Trump’s camp now — and they're sick of impeachment.
Why it matters: The two-plus hour conversation revealed major warning signs for the Democratic Party in a crucial swing county that will be a pivotal area to win in 2020.
Why it matters: The 658-page report highlights the reasons behind the two articles of impeachment against Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Its publication is required so the House can consider the articles ahead of a vote, expected Wednesday.
The House Judiciary Committee released its full, 658-page impeachment report early Monday outlining the reasons behind the two articles of impeachment against President Trump to be considered in the House ahead of a vote, expected Wednesday.
He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked. Accordingly, President Trump should be impeached and removed from office."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Belgian town of Bastogne to join weekend-long commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of World War II's Battle of the Bulge.
Most Democratic members and committee staffers who have spoken to Axios expect around four to six moderate Democrats will break ranks and vote against impeaching President Trump on Wednesday.
The big picture: According to conversations with multiple Democratic members this week, including those in vulnerable districts that voted for Trump, they don't expect a lot of Democrats to vote against the articles. But they do agree that there will likely be more defectors than there were on the vote launching a formal impeachment inquiry.
On Sunday night, Chuck Schumer made his opening bid to Mitch McConnell in the two leaders' negotiations over the Senate impeachment trial.
Driving the news: Schumer has sent a letter to McConnell in which he asks the Republican leader to call four witnesses who refused to testify before the House impeachment committees.
