Trump vs. Trump on why he fired Comey

President Trump is challenging yesterday's New York Times story about fired former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe's memo, which recounted Trump's decision to fire James Comey as FBI director. In the document, McCabe alleged Trump had asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to link Comey's firing to the ongoing Russia investigation.

Flashback... Trump to NBC's Lester Holt in May of 2017 about his decision to fire Comey: "In fact, when I decided to just do it I said to myself, 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'"

Go deeper: The Trump v. Comey war of words has hit a stalemate.

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Kyle Daly, Ashley Gold
1 hour ago - Technology

Parties trade election influence accusations at Big Tech hearing

Photo: Michael Reynolds/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

A Senate hearing Wednesday with Big Tech CEOs became the backdrop for Democrats and Republicans to swap accusations of inappropriate electioneering.

Why it matters: Once staid tech policy debates are quickly becoming a major focal point of American culture and political wars, as both parties fret about the impact of massive social networks being the new public square.

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Ursula Perano
1 hour ago - World

Germany goes back into lockdown

Photo: Fabrizio Bensch/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will enact one of Europe's strictest coronavirus lockdowns since spring, closing bars and restaurants nationwide for most of November, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Germany is the latest European country to reimpose some form of lockdown measures amid a surge in cases across the continent.

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Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook
2 hours ago - Technology

How overhyping became an election meddling tool

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

As online platforms and intelligence officials get more sophisticated about detecting and stamping out election meddling campaigns, bad actors are increasingly seeing the appeal of instead exaggerating their own interference capabilities to shake Americans' confidence in democracy.

Why it matters: It doesn't take a sophisticated operation to sow seeds of doubt in an already fractious and factionalized U.S. Russia proved that in 2016, and fresh schemes aimed at the 2020 election may already be proving it anew.

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