‘Everyone was in the loop’  After yesterday’s testimony in the impeachment hearings, The New York Times Editorial Board emphasizes what we just saw: Sondland Has Implicated the President and His Top Men. The editorial quotes the “damning words” of Trump’s handpicked ambassador: “Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret.”
The Board also urges Congress to hear from more witnesses before an impeachment vote, writing, “It is essential for the House to conduct a thorough inquiry, including hearing testimony from critical players who have yet to appear. Right now, the House Intelligence Committee has not scheduled testimony from any witnesses after Thursday. That is a mistake. No matter is more urgent, but it should not be rushed.” With so many people under the bus now, Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Kayla Epstein of The Washington Post are reporting that Sondland’s bombshell testimony leaves Trump’s Republican allies scrambling. “But party is still defending the president. No notable defections on a big testimony day,” tweets Dawsey. “Scrambling but still delusional,” as Michelangelo Signorile puts it. Meanwhile, on the impeachment fashion front, Robin Givhan of The Washington Post takes a look at Gordon Sondland’s most dazzling accessory: Resting happy face. Matea Gold quotes, “‘For almost the entire hearing, Sondland was wrapped in the warm certainty of an elusive form of privilege.’ Via the great @robingivhan.” “So so true. @RobinGivhan nails it again,” tweets Carol Leonnig. Sondland’s testimony certainly got our attention, but that wasn’t the end of the day’s impeachment hearings. Also at The Washington Post, Amber Phillips provides 3 takeaways from Laura Cooper’s and David Hale’s testimony. Truth 2 Power Today, two more witnesses, Fiona Hill and David Holmes, are testifying, and Michael Shear is providing live updates at The New York Times. At The Post, Greg Miller highlights Hill’s opening statement, tweeting, “Fiona Hill opens her testimony today with a withering attack on Trump, Nunes and others who have advanced a ‘fictional narrative’ that it was Ukraine -- not Russia -- that interfered in 2016.” Thomas Ricks calls it “Truth 2 Power,” while Shear points out that Hill is the co-author of a 500-page book analyzing the psyche of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peter Alexander and Josh Lederman of NBC News also report on Hill’s opening statement, Former White House aide Fiona Hill appears to take aim at GOP lawmakers for ignoring Putin election threat. Lederman tweets, “Fiona Hill, who emigrated from the UK, to tell Congress it's her ‘patriotic duty’ as an American to testify, a person familiar tells me and @PeterAlexander The White House tried to limit her previous deposition.” The other impeachment hearing 
Just what is Devin Nunes doing? For those watching the hearings (and for those testifying), it might be confusing. But as Ryan Broderick writes at BuzzFeed News, There Are Two Separate Impeachment Hearings Happening Right Now — And Republicans Are Winning Theirs. He explains, “Each round of GOP questioning is not meant to interrogate the witnesses...but instead to create moments that can be flipped into Fox News segments, shared as bite-size Facebook posts, or dropped into 4chan threads.” In other words, “Instead of trying to learn the truth, it seeks to create not just a counternarrative but a completely separate reality.” John Robb says it’s a “Good example of how the dynamics of online warfare overwhelms 20th Century process/media.” This is interesting Speaking of Nunes, Lev Parnas’s lawyer tells The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff Swan that the indicted Giuliani associate helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ investigative work, although he didn’t specify what those investigations entailed. She tweets, “Exclu: Congressional records show Nunes, Derek Harvey, and two other staffers traveled to Europe in late 2018. Lev Parnas helped set up meetings for them there, per his lawyer.” And as Eileen Connelly says, “This is interesting.” “It would sure be good to know how Devin Nunes got hooked up with Lev Parnas,” adds Daniel Schulman. Despicable Yoo Danny Hakim of The New York Times reports that, after a guest on the Fox show “Ingraham Angle” suggested that Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman was guilty of spying, Vindman’s lawyer has asked Fox News to retract the allegation (55,000+ shares). “Hmmmmm Fox News vs. the Army. I wonder which one to choose?!” tweets Benjamin Parker. Wayne Cunningham adds, “The really despicable thing about John Yoo is how he framed his accusation against LTC Vindman as ‘Some people might call that espionage.’ From what I understand, some people think John Yoo tortures puppies for fun.” #DemDebate 
There was a Democratic debate yesterday, too, and Aaron Blake of The Washington Post sizes up the winners and losers. Among the winners: Mayor Pete and marijuana. Losers included a shaky Biden and “the ‘just beat Trump’ ethos.” Pointing out that Buttigieg’s most tense back-and-forth was with Tulsi Gabbard, Blake writes, “that’s about the best he could have hoped for, given her limited constituency in the Democratic Party.” Snap! Also worth noting: Amy Klobuchar was a top-searched candidate on Google at the end of the night. Earlier, Mattie Kahn “Spent 55 glorious minutes with @mitchellreports, @kwelkernbc, and @AshleyRParker ahead of tonight’s debate. We talked about support and competition, the praise flowed like a fine wine, I begged them to dress in sequin suits (TBD!), and no one interrupted.” Read all about that in her piece for Glamour, Four Seasoned Journalists Will Moderate Tonight's Presidential Debate. They Happen to Be Women. Katie Couric called it “One of the many reasons you should tune in to tonights' #DemDebate! #letsgoladies.” Stepping into the void At The New York Times, Julie Bosman writes about the new report by PEN America that shows how the collapse of local news is causing a ‘national crisis’ and has left many Americans woefully uninformed. “Democracy dies in darkness, indeed,” tweets Mike Stanton. As Joseph Cranney points out, “Most people think their local news outlets are financially stable. But less than 1 in 5 paid for local news in the last year.” Leela de Kretser tweets, “Good to see @BlockClubCHI and @chalkbeat get props for stepping into the void. Smart journos like @elizwgreen, @stoomey and @jensabella can have a big impact on local.” To see the power of local journalism in near real time, Lucas Waldron points to the “Nearly immediate impact from @ProPublicaIL’s explosive story about how young children are held in isolated seclusion ‘timeouts’ in Illinois public schools.” As Jennifer Richards, Jodi S. Cohen, Lakeidra Chavis and Dan Petrella report, Illinois is taking emergency action to halt isolated timeouts in schools in response to the investigation by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune. “Sometimes it takes years to spark government action. And sometimes it takes just hours. Such powerful work from @jsmithrichards, @Jodiscohen and @lakeidrachavis that @GovPritzker took action today,” tweets Steve Mills. Tech lords abase themselves before Trump So this seems totally normal. NBC News has learned that Mark Zuckerberg had a secret dinner with Donald Trump and Peter Thiel at the White House last month (74,000+ shares). Ben Collins and Dylan Byers have that scoop, and as Alex Kantrowitz notes, “Zuckerberg, Trump, Melania, and Thiel had a secret dinner at the White House last month. Facebook has been preaching political transparency. Yet it didn’t disclose this.” On brand, at least. 
In an emailed statement, a Facebook spokesperson told Collins and Byers, “As is normal for a CEO of a major U.S. company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House.” Clearly, nothing to see here, but David Roth offers this colorful assessment: “Obviously this is bad but in a perverse way it’s gratifying to see billionaire tech lords abase themselves before Trump. Tim Cook and Zuck being like ‘so good, nice and dry’ when this porridge-brained old shitheel asks them how their burgers are.” Oh yes, Tim Cook. Well, as Jim Kerstetter says, “The headline pretty much says it all. Smart analysis of a very odd day in Texas.” The headline, for that analysis by Jack Nicas of The New York Times: No, That Mac Factory in Texas Is Not New. So you’re telling us, a factory that’s been operating since 2013 isn’t the result of Trump and his staff’s “support in pulling today off and getting us to this far. It would not be possible without them,” as Cook said? Nicas notes, “Mr. Trump walked in front of the news cameras and took credit for the plant, suggesting it had opened that day. ‘For me, this is a very special day,’ he said. Mr. Cook stood next to him, stone-faced.” Courage! While we’re at it, “In an amazing turn, Google is working with anti-union consultants to advise on its labor issues. a few years ago, Google was so revered for its worker friendly reputation that Hollywood held it up as an ideal place to work.” Daisuke Wakabayashi links to his reporting with Noam Scheiber of The New York Times, Google Hires Firm Known for Anti-Union Efforts. Thursday’s must-read A CNN investigation by Barbara Arvanitidis, Katie Polglase, Bryony Jones and Alex Platt reveals How a Catholic order dedicated to protecting children failed them. Their reporting found that a pedophile priest was sent to work for an aid organization helping vulnerable families in an African country, even though his Catholic order knew he’d been convicted of abusing children years earlier in Europe. Polglase shares, “I spent a year investigating one of the most tightly controlled religious orders in the world, and the secrets they hide are extraordinary.” UK news BBC News is reporting that Prince Andrew is scaling back on royal duties because of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, “And that’s all he has to do. Stop working, live on his stupendous wealth, and it all goes away,” tweets Michael Moran. Rob Beschizza notes, “Prince Andew has always been famously stupid, but the fact he lied in that trainwreck interview in a way that would obviously get noticed beggars belief.” BBC News also reports that Alex Salmond has been charged with sexually assaulting 10 women while serving as Scotland’s first minister. “Labour’s manifesto launch today and the Conservatives are running attack ads on Google The top link for ‘Labour’ goes to a Tory mini-site using the domain.” Rowland Manthorpe links to that site here. Meanwhile, Mikey Smith of the Daily Mirror reports that Tories have banned the Mirror from Boris Johnson’s general election battle bus. A few more | 
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