I filled in this week for Jeremy Scahill as the guest host of his podcast Intercepted, and you’ll be stunned to learn I focused on impeachment. I’m not just saying this because I hosted, but I do think it’s worth listening to if you want a primer on the impeachment fight that includes important background about the internal politics of Ukraine. It looks like Rudy got duped, and a former prosecutor there was feeding him bogus information to try to get on the good side of the Trump administration, which he hoped would help him keep his job. He got fired anyway, and now Trump is getting impeached. You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts -- just search for “Intercepted.”
A new poll on impeachment has an interesting finding that bodes well for Democrats. Roughly a third of people who currently say they oppose impeachment do so because they worry that it would backfire on Democrats, not because they think Trump is fit to serve in office. That means there’s a lot of upside left for Democrats. Story here by Aida Chavez.
And meanwhile Trump continues with his predictably unhinged flailing, like his wild press conference today.
I also had a little scoop today with Nick Surgey: As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Kavanaugh confirmation, Susan Collins is marking it with a fundraiser in Orange County, California, hosted by a group of wealth Republican women hailing her, in the words of the invitation, as “the hero of the Kavanaugh confirmation!” So far this cycle, she has received $162,000 from donors in Maine, but raised more than three times as much ($504,000) from donors in California. Damn those coastal elites.
Bernie Sanders last night suffered chest pain and underwent a procedure to have two stents inserted to deal with blockage in his arteries. It’s a relatively minor procedure and he should be back at it quickly. He’s already bristling at having to come off the trail, and the rest he’s supposed to get in the wake of this conflicts pretty sharply with the rigors of a presidential campaign. I know I couldn’t pull off the travel schedule he does at my age, and I can’t imagine how he does it at his, as he’s been campaigning either for president or for the midterms essentially non-stop since 2015. Here’s wishing him a full and speedy recovery.
An impeachment primer podcast for your commute home
With testament to today's presser with our own State guest from Finland, Trump behaves just like a cornered animal. Brazen acts of corruption, obstruction as Administration actors are hiding in plain sight. Nixon’s doing summer salts while this Impeachment Inquiry unfolds.