- New York Times: EPA to finalize rule that removes protections for streams and wetlands (rss.cnn.com)Meanwhile, Republicans Are Re-Opening the Energy Market to Underhanded Dealing (dcreport.org)
- Democrats unroll damning case against Trump as they flip the script and accuse Trump of trying ‘to cheat’ in election (nytimes.com)Chuck Schumer Says Public Pressure Is Getting To McConnell (politicususa.com)Five key takeaways from Wednesday's impeachment proceedings (theguardian.com)GOP Senator Breaks Impeachment Trial Rules To Go On Fox News (politicususa.com)Adam Schiff Just Made Republican Senators Trump’s AccomplicesAdam Schiff Makes GOP Senators Squirm With Video Of Trump Asking China And Ukraine For Election HelpDems: Convict Trump or ‘Write The History of Our Decline with Our Own Hand’ (thedailybeast.com)Susan Collins sent note to dais before John Roberts admonished legal teams, source says (rss.cnn.com)Senator Confirms Republicans Are Leaving And Not Listening To Evidence Against Trump (politicususa.com)
- White House budget officials laid groundwork to freeze Ukraine aid before July 25 call, heavily redacted emails show (rss.cnn.com)
- Democrats Outsmart McConnell As His Sham Impeachment Trial Gloriously Backfires (politicususa.com)The key moments of day one – video (theguardian.com)Bitter exchanges and evidence that incriminates Trump (rss.cnn.com)Schumer Refuses To Allow McConnell To Speed Up Impeachment Trial (politicususa.com)Adam Schiff Fact-Checks and Humiliates Trump’s Lying Lawyers… (politicususa.com)Jerry Nadler Storms the Senate, Fingers GOP in Treacherous Cover-Up for Trump (politicususa.com)House impeachment manager quotes Notorious B.I.G. on the Senate floor (rss.cnn.com)Democrats May Just Sucker Trump with Biden-for-Bolton Witness Swap… (rss.cnn.com)… Because Team Biden Had Been Prepping for Impeachment Smears for Months, and They're Loaded for Bear (thedailybeast.com)… Then Tells Senate that intelligence agencies are withholding evidence (cbsnews.com)
- The Corporations Spending the Most to Undo Our Democracy (dcreport.org)
- McConnell Pushes to Speed Impeachment Trial as Trump Requests Swift Acquittal (nytimes.com)
- Former Whitewater Counsel SLAMS Ken Starr For Joining Team Trump (rdtdaily.com)
- Lev Parnas Asks Barr to Recuse Himself From Criminal Case (nytimes.com)
- Mitch McConnell Blocks Reporters From Shooting Video Of House Impeachment Managers (politicususa.com)
- Navy Secretary nominee may have had undisclosed tie to corrupt election tamperers Cambridge Analytica (cbsnews.com)
- The Good Christians Behind Willie Nash’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Mississippi (thedailybeast.com)
- Trump Adviser On Russia Physically Removed From White House (politicususa.com)
- Rod Rosenstein Reveals Himself as the Snake Who Released the Strzok-Page Texts (politicususa.com)
- Lev Parnas worked his way into Trump’s world — and now is rattling it (washingtonpost.com)
Top wire stories
- Other towns have been left holding the bag for Trump rally costs (rdtdaily.com)
- Trump’s Lawyer Pushes Russian Propaganda As Impeachment Defense (politicususa.com)
- Largest Veterans organization demands apology after Trump said traumatic brain injuries from Iranian attack are ‘not very serious’ (rss.cnn.com)
- Trump’s dismantling of environmental regulations unwinds 50 years of protections (rss.cnn.com)
- Cindy Axne, Congresswoman From Iowa Swing District, Endorses Joe Biden (nytimes.com)
- 27 People Died in a Nightclub Fire. Did Their Government Help Kill 37 More? (thedailybeast.com)
- Trump campaign Iowa staffer found dead (cbsnews.com)
- Republican senators are visibly upset by Schiff’s reference to CBS report. (nytimes.com)
- Adam Schiff Just Preemptively Destroyed Trump’s Impeachment Defense (politicususa.com)
- Emotional Schiff Speech Goes Viral, Delighting the Left and Enraging the Right (nytimes.com)
- “Evangelicals Are Getting Scammed”: Anti-Trump Evangelicals Are Trying To Figure Out What To Do Next (buzzfeednews.com)
- Pompeo reschedules trip to Ukraine as impeachment trial wages on (rss.cnn.com)
- House lawyers say Trump’s impeachment defense undercuts argument against having his attorney testify (rss.cnn.com)
- Adulterer-in-Chief Throws Red Meat to His Evangelical Base (thedailybeast.com)
- The Surreal Saga of Disgraced GOP Congressman Duncan Hunter and His Campaign’s Missing $250K (thedailybeast.com)
- Ex-Fox News Women Struggle to Get New TV Jobs (thedailybeast.com)
- Florida’s iguana-geddon: cull of a pesky interloper or tasty windfall? (theguardian.com)
- Adam Schiff Powerfully Rallies the Nation to Rid Itself of Donald J. Trump (politicususa.com)Schiff Masterfully Forces Republicans To Listen To Trump’s Corruption (politicususa.com)Schiff ends the day with a fiery push for Trump’s removal (nytimes.com)Nadler gives a history lesson in arguing that no crime is needed for impeachment (nytimes.com)
- Republican senator attacks National Security Council aide who testified in impeachment probe (rss.cnn.com)
- Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is sidelined during Senate impeachment trial (cbsnews.com)
- Why Does An Anti-Semitic ‘Pastor’ Have White House Press Credentials? (rdtdaily.com)
- Two of four FISA warrants against Carter Page declared invalid (rss.cnn.com)
- Trump Tries to Walk Back Entitlement Comments as Democrats Pounce (nytimes.com)
- Seeing a Bloomberg Ad on Fox News, Trump Takes the Bait (nytimes.com)
- The Colossal Grammys Mess Will Probably Only Get Worse (thedailybeast.com)