Rudy Giuliani appeared to hold nothing back in a wide-ranging interview with New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi, in which he promoted unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about George Soros and discussed the reported federal investigation into his finances.
The big picture: Giuliani defended his work digging up dirt on Trump's political rivals in Ukraine, which he recently claimed the president continues to support. The former mayor of New York also stressed that he's not worried about his legacy and that he has been besmirched as part of a conspiracy by Democrats, the media and the "deep state" to remove Trump from office.
The Office of Management and Budget is pushing back on suggestions that an email requesting the Pentagon withhold military aid to Ukraine 91 minutes after President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky was anything other than procedural.
Why it matters: Allegations that Trump froze nearly $400 million of congressionally approved military aid in order to pressure Ukraine to investigate a potential 2020 rival are central to the impeachment case against the president. But an OMB spokeswoman said, "It’s reckless to tie the hold of funds to the phone call. As has been established and publicly reported, the hold was announced in an interagency meeting on July 18."
The Trump administration laid out its case against a Senate bill that would sanction Turkey for purchasing Russian-made defense systems and help Syrian Kurdish refugees immigrate to the U.S. in a State Department document obtained by The Daily Beast.
Why it matters: The document reveals how Turkey's actions have divided Trump officials and members of Congress, who have criticized the executive branch for not sanctioning Turkey for trading with Russia's defense and intelligence sectors.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the impeachment of President Trump a "charade" and "political exercise" on "Fox and Friends" on Monday, but added that Senate Republicans "haven't ruled out witnesses" for Trump's upcoming trial.
The big picture:Speaker Nancy Pelosi is withholding delivering the House's approved articles of impeachment until McConnell and Senate leadership determine the rules for the trial.
A group of nearly 200 conservative evangelical leaders sent a letter Sunday rebuking a Christianity Today editorial that called for President Trump's removal, the AP reports.
The big picture: The evangelical leaders wrote to the magazine's president, Timothy Dalrymple, saying that the piece from editor-in-chief Mark Galli "offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations."
Pete Buttigieg announced Monday that he received endorsements from more than 200 foreign policy and national security officials, per USA Today.
Why it matters: It's another way for the South Bend, Ind., mayor to take aim at Joe Biden as his list includes a diverse group of Obama administration alumni described as the "next generation of foreign policy leaders" by the Buttigieg campaign's foreign policy head.
In a recent email exchange with a wealthyprospective donor, a top fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg made an offer that was unusually blunt — even by modern pay-to-play standards.
What they're saying: "If you want to get on the campaign's radar now before he is flooded with donations after winning Iowa and New Hampshire, you can use the link below for donations," the fundraiser, H.K. Park, wrote in an email to the donor, which was reviewed by Axios.
After three years in office, President Trump and the Republican-held Senate have installed a total of 187 judges to the federal bench, with Trump nominees now making up one in four U.S. circuit court judges, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.
Why it matters: Trump's transformation of the federal judiciary will ensure that it maintains a conservative tilt for decades, likely affecting future progressive legislation and priorities no matter the outcome of next November’s election.
The U.S. agency charged with administering the public financing of presidential campaigns doesn't have enough board members to distribute tens of millions of dollars collected for that purpose.
Why it matters: It's the first time since the program started in 1976 that there aren't enough commissioners to approve public funding applications.
Christianity Today editor-in-chief Mark Galli defended his call to remove President Trump from office on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday, explaining that he's not making a "political judgment," but rather a "moral" one.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday that Republicans are "deathly afraid" of calling impeachment fact witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton because their sworn testimonies would make it "harder for those senators to vote for acquittal."
More than 99%of the Trump campaign's TV ads this year discussed impeachment, as tallied by the nonpartisan Wesleyan Media Project. Over the past three months, the Trump campaign talked impeachment in 4,594 television ads, costing $4.4 million.
Why it matters: This is a vivid new illustration of the alacrity with which the Trump campaign is embracing the stain of impeachment to raise money, rev up the base and try to build a head of steam against whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee.
Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Pence, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to withhold the House's articles of impeachment until the Senate determines its rules for President Trump's trial is an "untenable" position.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the upcoming Senate impeachment trial is "not a trial in any classic sense," noting that there are senators running for the Democratic presidential nomination and that every member has "obvious" political considerations.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said on "Fox News Sunday" that she doesn't want President Trump to apologize for his comments about her late husband, former Rep. John Dingell, but hopes the episode will help "bring more civility back to our political environment."
Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said on ABC's "This Week" that the allegations that President Trump exploited Ukraine for his political benefit are "serious" and "impeachable," but added that there are "gaps" in the House's case and that he is willing to acquit Trump in a Senate trial if "those dots aren't connected."
Americans worry a lot about how to get and pay for good health care, but the 2020 presidential candidates are barely talking about what's at the root of these problems: Almost every incentive in the U.S. health care system is broken.
Why it matters: President Trump and most of the Democratic field are minimizing the hard conversations with voters about why health care eats up so much of each paycheck and what it would really take to change things.
Homelessness in the U.S. has risen for a third consecutive year, driven by a spike in California, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a new report.
Homelessness increased in California by 21,306 people, or 16.4 percent, accounting for more than the entire national increase."
