Leaked State Department emails, a brand new criminal probe, and Republicans unable to answer the most basic of questions about proper presidential conduct were all part of Thursday's impeachment fare.
- State Department diplomats were "practically apoplectic that $141 million in State Department aid to Ukraine was being held up, according to leaked emails from the agency."
- Joe Biden's campaign hammered The New York Times for publishing an op-ed that spread right-wing conspiracies about him and his family.
- Two associates of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani were arrested in a criminal probe emanating from prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. While the investigation is not directly related to the impeachment inquiry yet, it centers on a campaign finance violation and House Democrats have already subpoenaed Giuliani's associates as part of the impeachment inquiry.
- While the details of how Trump is connected to Rudy Giuliani's two indicted associates are still a little murky, what is crystal clear is that Trump's entire 'anti-corruption' team was both highly corrupt and funded by an unnamed Russian source.
- Speaking of impeachment-related subpoenas, Energy Secretary Rick Perry got one today concerning both Trump's Ukraine pressure campaign and the apparent effort to install two U.S. businessmen on the board of Ukraine's state-owned gas company.
- After Team Trump declared war on the impeachment inquiry, House Democrats are forging ahead with fresh vigor. "The conspiracy is so wide-ranging, House members don't have to rely just on administration officials." Naturally, the biggest problem is deciding how deeply to delve into Trump's corruption.
- Trump panic: Donald Trump has been phoning Moscow Mitch McConnell as many as three times daily "to browbeat him about impeachment and to remind him to keep Senate Republicans in line." Somebody's nervous and tracking every word that's uttered by Senate Republicans, who Trump is counting on to serve as a firewall.
- The Trump administration put a political appointee in charge of releasing aid to Ukraine, which is a little unusual since career budget office staffers with years or even decades of experience are usually put in charge of dispersing those funds.
- A Fox News poll delivered some disquieting news to Trump: 51% of registered voters now support both impeachment and removal of Trump from office.
- Several Republican senators up for re-election in 2020 are having trouble answering a very simple question: Is lobbying foreign leaders to investigate political rivals okay?
- Trump's commitment to stonewalling House Democrats at every turn of their impeachment inquiry may be comfortable territory for him, but it also ensures that more articles of impeachment will be added to his list of impeachable offenses.