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Vivian Ho in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

'Not going': Giuliani drops speaking gig at Kremlin-linked event after meltdown – as it happened

Rudy Giuliani was scheduled to speak at the Kremlin-linked conference, and then abruptly said he would no longer attend.
Rudy Giuliani was scheduled to speak at the Kremlin-linked conference, and then abruptly said he would no longer attend. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

Evening summary

What a day. Have a good weekend, everybody!

First House Republican comes out in support of impeachment inquiry

Representative Mark Amodei of Nevada released a statement today saying he supported an impeachment inquiry but “in no way, shape, or form, did I indicate support for impeachment.”

The NRA has responded to the New York Times report that Wayne LaPierre met with President Trump to discuss providing financial support as he faces impeachment in exchange for opposing gun control legislation:

White House restricted transcripts of Trump's calls to Putin, Saudi crown prince

In a week when phone calls between President Trump and world leaders are under more scrutiny than ever, CNN is reporting that White House aides “took remarkable steps” to keep Trump’s calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin from becoming public.

From CNN:

In the case of Trump’s call with Prince Mohammed, officials who ordinarily would have been given access to a rough transcript of the conversation never saw one, according to one of the sources. Instead, a transcript was never circulated at all, which the source said was highly unusual, particularly after a high-profile conversation.

The call - which the person said contained no especially sensitive national security secrets - came as the White House was confronting the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence assessments said came at the hand of the Saudi government.

With Putin, access to the transcript of at least one of Trump’s conversations was also tightly restricted, according to a former Trump administration official.

It’s unclear if aides took the same steps in securing the phone call Trump had with Ukraine’s president that became the subject a whistleblower complaint, but “officials confirmed calls aside from the Ukraine conversation were placed there.”

Updated

Key figure in Ukraine-Trump saga resigns

So, who needs a brief recap of this whole shebang? This week, a whistleblower accused President Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden.

Two US diplomats are mentioned in the whistleblower report on Trump’s relations with Kyiv: part-time special envoy Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the EU.

The Arizona State Press, Arizona State University’s student newspaper, broke the news today that Volker has resigned.

Feinstein calls for investigation into EPA "unfairly targeting" California

If you’ll recall, the Trump administration and the self-fashioned “resistance state of California don’t exactly see eye-to-eye. As of today, California has filed 62 lawsuits against the Trump administration.

California has especially butted heads with Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, which just last week revoked the state’s authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks. Per usual, California vowed to fight the decision in court and filed a lawsuit. Since then, the EPA escalated the feud by accusing the state of failing to stop water pollution from human waste left on the pavement by the homeless - an echo of comments made by President Trump when he was leaving California last week.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has now written to the EPA’s deputy inspector general, asking for an investigation into “whether there was inappropriate political interference”.

While there could be a number of things to choose from, Feinstein is specifically asking the deputy inspector general to look into “the recent threat” from EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to withhold transportation funding from California.

More details on Rudy Giuliani and the Kremlin-linked conference he was scheduled to speak at, and then abruptly no longer planning to attend:

The New York Times report that President Trump met with Wayne LaPierre today to discuss the NRA funding some of Trump’s impeachment defense in exchange for Trump opposing gun control legislation has started to garner some reaction from lawmakers:

The meeting took place the same the day a Senate report declared the NRA a “foreign asset” to Russia ahead of the 2016 election.

Welcome to the state of our political discourse, where everything is either breaking or already broken: at 1:58pm PDT, Rudy Giuliani was still going to the Kremlin-backed conference along with Russian President Vladimir Putin. By 2:39pm:

With all eyes on Trump and his inner circle over allegations that he pressured Ukrainian officials for dirt on a political rival, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani chose this moment to ignore all Ukraine-Russia tensions and accept a gig as a paid speaker at a Kremlin-backed conference that Russian President Vladi­mir Putin is expected to attend.

Giuliani confirmed his participation to the Washington Post, taking exception to any questions of impropriety.

“I will try to not knowingly talk to a Russian until this is all over,” he angrily told the Post.

National security experts called Giuliani’s decision “terrible judgment,” and “current and former White House aides said there is internal exasperation with Giuliani’s behavior”.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t call any of his fellow panelists a moron this time around.

Hey all, it’s Vivian Ho on the west coast, taking over for the indomitable Joan Greve. Since absolutely nothing happened in politics this week, I’m sure we’re in for a quiet rest of the day.

The New York Times is reporting that President Trump met with Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association, to discuss today how the NRA could provide him with financial support as he faces impeachment.

This meeting comes after Trump claimed he spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about gun control and accused her of not being interested in the matter.

That’s it from me for this very busy week in Washington. My west coast colleague, Vivian Ho, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Three House Democratic committee chairmen have subpoenaed the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to provide documents on the whistleblower complaint about Trump allegedly pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden.
  • The Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, confirmed that his panel will likely hold an impeachment hearing next week (during the congressional recess).
  • The former Ukrainian prosecutor who first investigated corruption claims against a company with ties to Hunter Biden said he met with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal layer, “maybe 10 times”. He added that he has seen no evidence that the Bidens broke Ukrainian law.
  • Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the Ukraine call would be the focus of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry moving forward and pledged to “move with purpose, and expeditiously, but not hastily”.
  • Trump is continuing to attempt to discredit the whistleblower, now peddling a baseless claim that the person fabricated sources for the complaint.

Vivian will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned and have a wonderful weekend.

Updated

Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee are spending $10 million to air this incredibly misleading ad about Joe Biden and Ukraine on cable news outlets and digital platforms.

The ad repeats several falsehoods that Trump has peddled this week in an effort to distract from the whistleblower complaint about his call with the Ukrainian president.

First of all, there is no evidence to support claims that Biden tried to pressure Ukraine to close an investigation into the business activities of his son, Hunter. The former Ukrainian prosecutor who first investigated corruption claims against the company with ties to Hunter Biden has dismissed the allegation.

Second, Democrats are not concerned about Trump encouraging Ukraine to crack down on corruption. They are concerned he pushed Ukraine to investigate Biden to hurt his chances in the 2020 election.

And media outlets have been reporting on the whistleblower complaint because of the very serious allegations contained in it, not because of any secret agenda to collude with the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway is blaming House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against Trump on ... sexism?

But the argument that Nancy Pelosi was intimidated into supporting an impeachment inquiry by male lawmakers does not align with the reality that almost every woman in the House Democratic caucus has backed the investigation.

In their letter to Mike Pompeo, the three House Democratic committee chairman specifically express an interest in the role that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, played in pressuring Ukraine to open an investigation of Joe Biden.

The chairmen write to the secretary of state: “Mr. Giuliani’s recent public statements raise more troubling questions about State Department officials’ possible involvement in the President’s efforts to press Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election.”

They go on to specifically reference comments Giuliani has made on television and this tweet he sent, showing an apparent screenshot of a text from Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine.

The three House Democratic committee chairman stress in their letter to Mike Pompeo that the secretary of state has already twice refused to comply with their requests for documents on the whistleblower complaint.

The chairmen write: “Your actions are all the more troubling given that since our September 9 request, it has become clear that multiple State Department officials have direct knowledge of the subject matters of the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

Pompeo was given until next Friday, Oct. 4, to hand over the requested documents to the committee.

The three House Democratic committee chairmen gave a stern warning to Mike Pompeo about not providing the requested documents by the Oct. 4 deadline.

The chairmen wrote to the secretary of state: “Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly deflected such document requests from House Democrats this year, but the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry could make that evasion tactic much more difficult to pursue.

Updated

The three House Democratic chairmen noted in their letter to Mike Pompeo that they have set a schedule for depositions over the next two weeks from five State Department officials who are connected to the whistleblower complaint.

Here is the schedule:

  • October 2: Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine.
  • October 3: Kurt Volker, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine.
  • October 7: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the European and Eurasian Bureau.
  • October 8: Ulrich Brechbuhl, one of Pompeo’s key deputies.
  • October 10: Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union.

House committees subpoena Pompeo in impeachment inquiry

Three House committees have subpoenaed secretary of state Mike Pompeo for information on the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s Ukraine call.

Three House Democratic chairs – Adam Schiff of the intelligence commitee, Eliot Engel of the foreign affairs committee and Elijah Cummings of the oversight committee – wrote a letter to Pompeo requesting documents.

The three chairs wrote: “Pursuant to the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019.”

Buttigieg on impeachment: 'This is about the integrity of the system'

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg explained his reasoning for supporting the impeachment inquiry against Trump while speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

The Indiana mayor said: “We’ve reached a point where the rule of law and our constitutional system requires holding this president accountable for what he’s done. ...

“This is not just about this moment or about this president. This is about the integrity of the system – because the whole system is designed so that when this sort of thing happens, there’s a constitutional remedy. If we didn’t use that remedy, the entire system could fall apart.”

Buttigieg added that Democrats will have to do two things at once as they pursue the impeachment inquiry: hold Trump accountable and work to make sure he does not win a second term.

Trump’s White House appears to be handling the impeachment inquiry with the same haphazard approach that has defined much of the administration’s work.

The New York Times reports:

[Trump] heads into what appears to be a rapidly unfurling impeachment inquiry unprepared temperamentally, and with a depleted staff, many of whom are shrugging off the seriousness of what the president faces. ...

Having a formal war room, or rapid response operation, ‘would be overreaction on our part,’ said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president. ‘It would be playing on the Democrats’ turf.’ And if impeachment succeeds, Trump officials are anticipating a Republican-held Senate that would not permit witnesses to testify at length and would not convict him.

Mr. Trump, aides said, shares that view, and on Thursday he expressed no interest in building a war room to respond to what he views as an effort by congressional Democrats to harass him.

The Democratic chairs of the House committees on the budget and appropriations are requesting information from the White House on when it decided to hold back military aid from Ukraine.

Some Democrats have voiced their suspicion that Trump held back the military aid specifically to pressure Ukraine to open an investigation into Joe Biden.

The chairs, John Yarmuth of Kentucky and Nita Lowey of New York, write in a letter to Trump’s acting chief of staff and the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget that they fear the president may have unlawfully violated the Impoundment Control Act and abused his authority.

The Trump White House has become pretty adept at swatting away such information requests from House Democrats, but the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry could turn up the pressure to be transparent, an NPR reporter noted.

Updated

Former Ukrainian prosecutor says he spoke to Giuliani 'maybe 10 times'

Former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko said in an interview that he spoke with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, “maybe 10 times.”

Yuriy Lutsenko speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kiev.
Yuriy Lutsenko speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kiev. Photograph: Stepan Franko/EPA

Giuliani was reportedly the key player from Trump’s circle of advisers involved in efforts to convince the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Joe Biden and the business dealings of his son, Hunter.

Lutsenko, who initially investigated the company at the center of the baseless accusations against the Bidens, told NBC News that he did not know of “any possible violation of Ukrainian law, once again, Ukrainian law by Biden and by the junior.”

John Harris, the founding editor of Politico, has written a piece about how the impeachment inquiry against Trump lacks the “solemnity” that such significant news events should carry.

Harris blames the loss of solemnity on a trend that began with the impeachment of Bill Clinton, which he covered as a reporter for the Washington Post.

Harris writes:

It is too early to tell what will come of House Democrats’ decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, but not too early to conclude that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has failed to revive the concept of solemnity in American politics. ...

[T]he reaction, underway even before she started speaking, made clear that for much of the country, it was just another day in what Rahm Emanuel, when he was Barack Obama’s chief of staff, called the metropolis of ‘Fucknutsville.’ ...

In retrospect, it seems clear what a critical moment of transition the Clinton impeachment — for that matter, the entire Clinton presidency — was in the journey to Nutsville. ...

Above all, the Clinton impeachment was the beginning of political news as Rorschach test — in which one side sees wickedness in a politician’s behavior, and the other side sees wickedness in the disingenuous, hypocritical, malicious response of the opposition party to the behavior.

Updated

More than 300 former national security and foreign policy officials, who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, signed a statement warning that Trump’s actions represent a “profound national security concern.”

The statement reads, in part:

[A]ll of us recognize the imperative of formal impeachment proceedings to ascertain additional facts and weigh the consequences of what we have learned and what may yet still emerge. We applaud those Members of Congress, including Speaker Pelosi, who have now started us down that necessary path.

President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign interference into our democratic processes. That would constitute an unconscionable abuse of power. It also would represent an effort to subordinate America’s national interests—and those of our closest allies and partners—to the President’s personal political interest. ...

To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress’ deliberative process. At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings.

A small update from the Democratic presidential primary: Cory Booker’s campaign announced it has raised more than $1.2 million since sending out its weekend fundraising plea.

Booker’s campaign manager said in a Saturday email to the New Jersey senator’s supporters that he intended to drop out if he did not raise another $1.7 million in the third quarter, which ends on September 30.

It appears Booker is now within striking distance of meeting his goal. But if he does not hit it, it will be interesting to see if he drops out before the next Democratic debate, for which he has already qualified.

Updated

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, is eyeing next Friday as a possible date to hold a hearing on the whistleblower complaint.

Politico reports:

The precise details of that hearing — including whether it will be public — depend on whether the committee can schedule an interview with the whistleblower, and if it obtains the full inspector general’s report on the whistleblower’s complaint.

Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community’s inspector general, previously said the complaint was both urgent and credible. The whistleblower, meanwhile, is awaiting legal guidance from the office of the director of national intelligence regarding what he or she is permitted to tell lawmakers.

Mitch McConnell said back in March that, if the House were to impeach Trump, the Senate would immediately hold a trial on whether to remove the president from office.

The Senate majority leader said: “If it were to happen, the Senate has no choice. If the House were to act, the Senate immediately goes into a trial.”

The Kentucky Republican went on to say that he thought impeachment would be politically shortsighted on Democrats’ part, predicting it would energize the GOP base and turn off moderate voters.

Gabbard comes out in favor of impeachment

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman, has come out in favor of the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Gabbard said she concluded, after reviewing the whistleblower complaint and the president’s comments on the matter, that it would set a “very dangerous precedent” if an inquiry were not pursued.

She added: “So it is unfortunate, but necessary, that I speak in support of the inquiry into the President’s alleged abuse of power in relation to his interactions with Ukraine’s leaders.”

Gabbard had been one of the last remaining holdouts among House Democrats on supporting the inquiry, as a Politico reporter noted last night.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • A White House official confirmed the use of a separate system to house important documents with politically sensitive information, including the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president. The admission could bolster claims of a White House cover-up.
  • Trump has continued to lodge baseless allegations against the whistleblower who first raised concerns about the call, as Joe Biden accused the president of trying to “hijack” the 2020 election.
  • The Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, confirmed that his panel intends to hold hearings next week (during a congressional recess) to advance its impeachment investigation.

The blog is still covering the latest on impeachment, so stay tuned.

Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock explained in an interview with CNN why he considers an impeachment inquiry so necessary, expressing fear that American democracy is “under siege.”

The comment represents a tonal shift for Bullock, who had appeared reluctant about impeachment up until a few days ago.

The Montana governor argued in an interview last month that Democrats should focus on more kitchen-table issues.

He said: “In probably 30 different stops, no one asked me about impeachment. What they do talk about is, ‘Am I going to lose my rural hospital?’ ”

Today also marks one year since Christine Blasey Ford testified during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for now-justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Despite Ford’s searing testimony, Kavanaugh’s nomination was approved by a Senate vote of 50-48 – the narrowest margin for a confirmation vote since 1881.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris posted an Instagram to mark the anniversary, saying she still believes the sexual assault allegation that Ford came forward with.

Schiff confirms likely impeachment hearings next week

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, has confirmed that his panel intends to hold hearings next week.

The House is supposed to go on recess for two weeks after today, but Democrats on the intelligence committee have expressed hope that they will move quickly on next steps in the impeachment inquiry.

Schiff said he expected subpoenas and depositions to go out as the committee advances its investigation.

Updated

Trump and his allies are doing everything they can to discredit the anonymous whistleblower who first raised concerns about the president’s Ukraine call.

Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said it was even a “stretch” to apply the term whistleblower to the person who filed the complaint.

It’s again worth noting that the White House is attempting to discredit the entirety of the complaint by disparaging the whistleblower himself, rather than denying specific aspects of the complaint.

For example, the White House could address the claim that Trump officials have repeatedly placed politically sensitive information on a separate server meant for highly classified information or that the president tried to solicit election assistance from a foreign country.

But no one from the Trump White House seems to be doing that so far.

Joe Biden, who has been generally hesitant to weigh in on the allegations that Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate him, just tweeted a video about the controversy.

The video includes a variety of news hosts and commentators emphasizing the gravity of the accusations and fact-checking Trump’s baseless corruption claims about Biden.

The tweet echoes what the former vice president told attendees of a California fundraiser last night: “It’s a tactic that’s used by this president to try to hijack an election so we do not focus on the issues that matter in our lives, in your lives. Healthcare, education, the godawful rampant gun violence that’s going on, and maybe the single most important consequential thing is climate change.

“So I’m not going to let him do it. This is not about me, this is about the American people and the issues that matter to them.”

Democrats on the House intelligence committee appear to be planning to hold hearings over the upcoming two-week congressional recess.

Another Democrat on the committee, Mike Quigley of Illinois, said earlier today that he expected key figures in the whistleblower complaint – including Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and William Barr, the attorney general – to be called before the panel.

House Democratic leaders are distributing talking points to members about how to talk about impeachment with constituents during the upcoming two-week recess.

Trump “has reached a grave new level of lawlessness that demands an impeachment inquiry,” one talking point reads.

Clinton: Trump has 'endangered' the country

Hillary Clinton is currently speaking at Georgetown University, severely criticizing Trump’s communications with Ukraine.

The former Democratic presidential candidate said Trump had “endangered us all by putting his personal political interests ahead of the interests of the American people,” the Guardian’s David Smith reports from the event.

Clinton warned: “These are perilous times for our world.”

Updated

October Democratic debate to be held on one night

The Democratic National Committee has informed presidential campaigns that the October debate will take place on one night.

Joe Biden speaks as Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris listen during the third presidential debate.
Joe Biden speaks as Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris listen during the third presidential debate. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

“To address several inquiries we have received we are writing to let you know that, pending a final decision after the certification deadline, it is the intention of the DNC and our media partners to hold the October debate over one night on Tuesday October 15th,” the DNC said, per CNN.

This decision may come as a surprise to the campaigns, given that 12 candidates have said they have qualified for the debate.

It’s possible (although seemingly unlikely) that one or more of those 12 will drop out in the next few weeks, but it will almost certainly be a very crowded debate stage.

Updated

White House officials acknowledge use of separate system to store Ukraine call transcript

A senior White House official acknowledged to CNN that the Trump administration has previously used a separate classified system to house important documents, including the transcript of the president’s Ukraine call.

The admission could substantiate the whistleblower’s accusation that White House officials quickly moved to conceal details of the Ukraine call by placing it in a codeword system usually reserved for highly classified information.

The whistleblower wrote in his complaint of the separate system: “White House officials told me that they were ‘directed’ by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials.

“Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.”

The whitlesblower notes in the appendix of the complaint that a White House official said this was “not the first time” this process took place.

Updated

To introduce some levity into what will likely be a very serious chapter of American history, the Twitter account for Merriam-Webster Dictionary is trolling the president over his misunderstanding of punctuation.

Trump tweeted this complaint about CNN’s coverage hours ago, seemingly confusing a hyphen with an apostrophe.

Thankfully, Merriam Webster quickly jumped to the president’s assistance to clear up the matter.

It’s not the first time the dictionary has offered its expertise to criticize the president or his allies.

After senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway offered up the term “alternative facts” to describe Sean Spicer’s false statements about Trump’s inauguration crowd size, Merriam Webster helped her out with the actual definition of a fact.

House intelligence Democrat says Barr, Giuliani likely to be called to testify

Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat on the House intelligence committee, just told CNN that he expects Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and William Barr, the attorney general, to be called to testify before the panel.

Rudy Giuliani attends the White House Sports and Fitness Day in May 2018.
Rudy Giuliani attends the White House Sports and Fitness Day in May 2018. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

The Illinois Democrat also predicted other White House officials would be asked to appear before the committee, where they will likely face questions about whether they participated in or knew of an effort to cover up details of Trump’s Ukraine call.

Updated

House intelligence committee plans return to Capitol Hill during recess

Members of the House intelligence committee intend to continue their consideration of impeachment during the upcoming two-week recess, with the hope of wrapping up the inquiry this fall.

Nancy Pelosi would not specify a timeline this morning when asked about completing the inquiry by the end of the year, saying only that her caucus would “move with purpose, and expeditiously, but not hastily.”

The Kremlin has a request to make of the White House: please don’t release any conversations between Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The AP reports:

Asked if Moscow is worried that the White House could similarly publish transcripts of Trump’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that ‘we would like to hope that it wouldn’t come to that in our relations, which are already troubled by a lot of problems.’

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, he emphasized that the publication of the Trump-Zelenskiy call is an internal U.S. issue, but added that it was ‘quite unusual’ to release a confidential call between leaders.

‘The materials related to conversations between heads of states are usually classified according to normal international practice,’ he said.

The Ukrainian president was reportedly taken aback by the White House including his side of the dialogue in its memo on the two leaders’ July call.

His surprise, in turn, surprised many journalists, given that the White House said it was waiting to share information on the call until Ukraine approved its release.

In the memo, Zelenskiy is quoted as praising Trump and telling him about his stay at Trump Tower during his last visit to New York.

Another important point: the White House has not specified what in the whistleblower complaint it is contradicting.

Trump is clearly trying to convince his supporters to reject the complaint wholesale by peddling a baseless claim that the whistleblower made up his sources.

But by doing so, Trump is signaling that he knows how potentially devastating the whistleblower’s allegations could be if proven true.

Trump’s tweet alleging (without evidence) that the whistleblower fabricated his sources could raise concerns about the president protecting the person’s identity, as a CNBC reporter pointed out.

Trump accuses whistleblower of fabricating sources

Trump has now jumped from the argument that the whistleblower complaint represented “secondhand information,” as he first argued yesterday, to claiming that the information may have been entirely fabricated.

The whistleblower said this in his complaint to explain how he obtained his information: “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. ...

“Over the past four months, more than half a dozen U.S. officials have informed me of various facts related to this effort.”

A New Yorker writer, who was one target of Trump’s Twitter ire this morning, pointed out that all three major US newspapers included the same word on their front page after the release of the whistleblower complaint: cover-up.

The whistleblower alleged that White House officials quickly sought to keep details of Trump’s Ukraine call from being made public by placing documents regarding the conversation in a codeword system.

Such a system is usually reserved for highly classified national security data, but the Ukraine call merely represented politically sensitive information. National security experts warned that such an abuse of the sophisticated system could set a dangerous precedent.

Pelosi says Trump gave Democrats 'no choice' but to impeach

In Nancy Pelosi’s morning interview with MSNBC, the House speaker said she believed that Trump had left her caucus with “no choice” but to impeach him.

Pelosi said: “This is as serious as it gets when it comes to protecting the Constitution of the United States.”

The speaker accused Trump of “jeopardizing national security” and “jeopardizing the integrity of our elections.”

Pelosi also reiterated her wish to keep the impeachment inquiry focused on the Ukraine call for now. She said: “I think we have to stay focused as the public is concerned. That the president of the United States used taxpayer dollars to shake down the leader of another country for his own political gain. ...

“Looking at the material the administration is giving us, they are actually speeding up the process.”

Updated

Bloomberg News has now obtained footage of Trump’s remarks at a private event with UN staffers yesterday.

In it, the president is heard comparing the whistleblower’s sources to a “spy” and saying, “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

Pelosi: Barr has 'gone rogue'

Nancy Pelosi said that she believed the attorney general, William Barr, had “gone rogue” in his handling of the whistleblower complaint.

The Justice Department chose not to pursue a criminal investigation of Trump after receiving the whistleblower complaint that he had tried to solicit foreign assistance in the 2020 election, a decision that was severely criticized by Democratic lawmakers.

The House speaker added that she considered Trump’s comments about the whistleblower and his sources to be “dangerous.”

The president said at an event with UN staffers yesterday that he wanted to know who talked to the whistleblower and appeared to joke about executing those officials.

Trump calls on Schiff to 'immediately resign'

Trump is now demanding over Twitter that Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, resign over his opening statement at yesterday’s hearing.

In his opening statement, Schiff parodied the White House memo on Trump’s conversation with the president of Ukraine to emphasize his argument that the commander-in-chief was acting like a mob boss.

Republican lawmakers accused Schiff of falsely quoting the memo, even though the document itself is not a verbatim transcript of the call. It seemed quite clear that Schiff was trying to make a point, not quoting from a specific text. The video is below to make your own call.

Trump on defense as Biden accuses him of trying to 'hijack' election

Good morning, live blog readers!

Well, Donald Trump is back on Twitter and trying to shout down concerns that he tried to solicit foreign assistance in the 2020 election, even as the impeachment inquiry against him advances at a rapid clip.

The president specifically took aim at Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, and a New York Times reporter who covers his White House.

But it’s clear that this scandal over whether Trump tried to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is not going to go away easily.

Biden himself has been hesitant to directly weigh in on the controversy, but in comments at a fundraiser last night, he accused Trump of trying to “hijack” the election.

Biden said: “It’s a tactic that’s used by this president to try to hijack an election so we do not focus on the issues that matter in our lives, in your lives. Healthcare, education, the godawful rampant gun violence that’s going on, and maybe the single most important consequential thing is climate change.

“So I’m not going to let him do it. This is not about me, this is about the American people and the issues that matter to them.”

But with so much attention turned to the potentially history-making events unfolding on Capitol Hill, it will be hard to keep a focus on the issues of the 2020 race.

Joe Biden leaves after a visit to Pasadena City College.
Joe Biden leaves after a visit to Pasadena City College. Photograph: Marcio José Sánchez/AP

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:

  • Trump will participate in a High Holy Days call with Jewish leaders and later speak at the White House’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, which could prove interesting given the president’s past racist remarks about Latino immigrants.
  • This is Congress’ last day in session before a two-week recess.
  • Biden is campaigning in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The blog will have more on all of that, so stay tuned.

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Bored Panda
Wait – Is Taylor Swift Actually Performing at the Brits This Year?
Wait – Is Taylor Swift Actually Performing at the Brits This Year?
Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie’s Wine Battle Is In Year 4. Are They Close To A ‘Truce’ Yet?
The saga continues.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Bianca Belair And Bad Bunny Were Rumored For WrestleMania, But One Now Seems Way More Likely
There are two major updates to share on both.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
'It has not been retitled, it's called Man of Tomorrow': James Gunn debunks wild rumor that his Superman sequel has a new title
The DC Studios co-chief has responded to a recent report that his Superman follow-up has undergone a title change.
TechRadar
TechRadar
Why You Should Stop Buying Pre-Shredded Cheese
We have all grabbed that bag of shredded cheddar for convenience on taco night. It saves us the time and effort of getting out the grater and cleaning it later. However, that convenience comes with hidden costs that affect both your wallet and your cooking. Once you switch back to…
Grocery Coupon Guide
Grocery Coupon Guide
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