The books of Mormon We’ve got a big whistleblower story for you, and it has nothing to do with impeachment. Jon Swaine, Douglas MacMillan and Michelle Boorstein of The Washington Post received a copy of a whistleblower complaint to the IRS by a former investment manager who alleges that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes (66,000+ shares). 
In case you missed that, “One hundred BILLION dollars. That’s how much a whistleblower alleges the Mormon Church collected in a *tax-exempt investment fund* that was supposed to go to charity,” tweets Robbin Simmons. As Philip Gourevitch says, there are some “astonishing sums kicking around in this scoop.” The Post reports that, in the complaint, the whistleblower, David A. Nielsen, urges the IRS to strip the nonprofit of its tax-exempt status. He also alleges that Ensign, the church’s investment division, could owe billions in taxes. Nielsen’s twin brother provided a copy of the complaint to The Post, along with dozens of supporting documents. “He said he was coming forward without his brother’s approval because he believed the information was too important to remain confidential. ‘I know that sometimes newspapers use anonymous sources,’ he said. ‘But that is usually not best for a story,’” they write. Stalemate 
And now back to impeachment. According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, Americans are locked in a partisan stalemate on removing Trump from office, with 49% saying Trump should be impeached and removed from office and 46% saying he should not, as Dan Balz and Scott Clement report at The Post. That’s not to say there aren’t some points of agreement. ABC News’ Gary Langer highlights the fact that most expect a fair trial, and 7 in 10 say he should let his top aides testify. More than half, 55%, also say Trump was treated fairly in the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committee hearings that led to the articles of impeachment against him. Drop the mic Looking for some consensus? Jim Downs links to the statement by more than 750 historians on the impeachment of President Trump, published on Medium by the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy. As Ryan Goodman tweets, “History has its eye on GOP Senators. ‘Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind... ...We therefore strongly urge ... impeach the President.’ - 750 historians Robert Caro @KenBurns Ron Chernow @KevinMKruse.” Felicia Sonmez of The Washington Post reported on the statement, More than 700 scholars pen letter urging House to impeach Trump (78,000+ shares), noting that Protect Democracy also released a letter earlier this month from more than 500 law professors asserting that Trump had committed “impeachable conduct.” The Lincoln Project 
Looking beyond impeachment, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver, Rick Wilson and, yes, George Conway, write in an op-ed for The New York Times, We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated (46,000+ shares). In announcing the launch of their super PAC, the Lincoln Project, they explain, “Over these next 11 months, our efforts will be dedicated to defeating President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line.” AP News’ Steve Peoples has more on that announcement, Trump conservative critics launch PAC to fight reelection, tweeting, “NEWS -->> A small group of President Donald Trump's fiercest conservative critics, including @gtconway3d, is launching a super PAC designed to fight Trump’s re-election and punish his Republican ‘enablers’ in Congress. My story w/ new details throughout.” Peoples spoke with both Conways, and Kellyanne had this to say: “It’s kind of disappointing to see some of the people who are involved, but not surprising.” Giuliani’s still talking btw 
Meanwhile, “On eve of impeachment vote, Giuliani draws Trump in deeper to the ouster of the Ukraine ambassador.” Maggie Haberman links to Kenneth Vogel’s latest at The New York Times, Giuliani Provides Details of What Trump Knew About Ambassador’s Removal. In an interview, Giuliani said he gave Trump detailed information about how Marie Yovanovitch was, in Giuliani’s view, impeding investigations that could benefit Trump, setting in motion the ambassador’s recall from her post. Jim Dwyer notices a “Striking thing in Giuliani's description for @kenvogel of how he told Trump about supposed misbehavior of the Ukrainian ambassador: Giuliani hadn't spoken with the ambassador or anyone in the embassy -- just compromised individuals with scores to settle.” “Worst presidential lawyer ever,” as Rich Lowry says? You decide. A political mess that quickly spiraled out of control 
On that note, Shimon Prokupecz tweets, “!!!! The quote below from Giuliani is a stunning admission. ‘I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way,’ he said. ‘She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody.’” Over at the New Yorker, “.@adamentous is out with a deep dive on Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, who fed information to Rudy Giuliani, which Giuliani spun to smear Joe Biden,” tweets Michael Luo. In that profile, Adam Entous explains how a Ukrainian prosecutor backed by the White House but fired for his repeated corruption, sparked America’s impeachment hearings — or as Entous tweets, “How one man’s bruised ego and jealousies led to Trump’s impeachment.” Joshua Yaffa says, “In this exhaustive and meticulous @adamentous profile, Lutsenko comes off as aggrieved, entitled, cynical, and reckless—the perfect cocktail for him to play his part in setting in motion a political mess that quickly spiraled out of control.” David Gura adds that Entous’ “authoritative profile of Hunter Biden, from July, is comprehensive and essential reading.” Something must be deeply wrong An old friend of Giuliani and Bill Barr, William Webster, has written an op-ed for The New York Times with a warning: I Headed the F.B.I. and C.I.A. There’s a Dire Threat to the Country I Love. (127,000+ shares). Yes, “More crazy bias, this time from...a 96 year old Republican who ran the FBI and the CIA. It’s pretty withering,” says Quentin Hardy. Adds Michael Morell, “This is a must read from the least political man I know. Judge Webster is a person of the greatest integrity. When he feels compelled to pen such a forceful op-ed, something must be deeply wrong.” Nicholas Kristof calls it a “Powerful essay by William Webster, a former FBI and CIA director, criticizing his old friends William Barr and Rudy Giuliani for undermining the rule of law. It must have been hard to write so bluntly, but I’m glad he did.” And Ken Dilanian says, “It’s hard to overstate how much Webster is respected, even revered, in the national security community. His criticisms of Barr here will reverberate.” Meanwhile, if you’re wondering whatever happened with Michael Flynn, it looks like he’s finally going to get sentenced. Breaking news from Spencer Hsu and Carol Leonnig of The Washington Post, Michael Flynn’s sentencing has been set for Jan. 28 after judge rejects his attacks on the FBI, Justice Department. Law of unintended consequences Ari Levy and Alex Sherman of CNBC report that hundreds of freelance writers at Vox Media, primarily those covering sports for the SB Nation site, will lose their jobs in the coming months as the company prepares for a California law to go into effect that will force companies to reclassify contractors in the state as employees. The law is meant to protect gig workers and was mainly targeted at companies like Uber, Lyft and Door Dash. But “As it pertains to Vox, the law forbids nonemployees from submitting more than 35 pieces per year,” Levy and Sherman explain. “Law of unintended consequences,” as Josh Kraushaar tweets. Katie Kilkenny covers the story at The Hollywood Reporter, Vox Media Ends Work With California Freelance Writers Ahead of Gig Economy Law, and Miles Howard points out, “#AB5 was never about protecting freelancers from exploitation. It was about protecting unionized workers from those who don’t have the privilege of being able to unionize. By the way, there are many, many freelancers who would like to be in a union. Ugh.” Tuesday must-reads New from Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times, A Methane Leak, Seen From Space, Proves to Be Far Larger Than Thought. Her piece details the impact of the February 2018 blowout at a natural gas well run by an Exxon Mobil subsidiary in Belmont County, Ohio. The little known gas-well accident at this Ohio fracking site was in fact one of the largest methane leaks ever recorded in the United States — releasing more methane than the entire oil and gas industries of many nations do in a year. As Yvonne Abraham says, “This is a catastrophe,” but Todd Woody also thinks, “This could be a game changer - as long as its followed up by enforcement.” Also at The Times, Thomas Fuller and Josh Haner spent three months documenting life in a California slum for their piece, Among the World’s Most Dire Places: This California Homeless Camp. Tweets Clive Thompson, “Excellent and gripping @nytimes interactive compares a homeless camp in San Francisco to one in Mexico City; they’re both dire, but the one is San Francisco is worse.” Nicholas Kristof praises the “Great visual journalism to put faces on homelessness.” “Giant tech companies, they're just like us: Riven with partisan divisions.” Shira Ovide links to the exclusive by Emily Glazer, Deepa Seetharaman and Jeff Horwitz of The Wall Street Journal on Peter Thiel’s role at the center of Facebook’s internal divisions on politics. Thiel has been advising Zuckerberg on politics, arguing that Facebook should stick to its decision to accept political ads and to not fact-check those from politicians. Ryan Knutson calls it a “Fascinating look at the disputes playing out among facebook board members over the company’s ad policies.” And then there’s the really dark side of social media. Casey Newton of The Verge describes his latest, Google and YouTube moderators speak out on the work that’s giving them PTSD, this way: “This is a story about what that feels like, moment to moment. It’s a story about doing the best you can in a situation that feels worse every day. It’s a story about the human cost of making the internet safe. This is the Terror Queue.” Tweets Joe Brown, “Scary look inside the terrible job that is content moderation at Google. Another big one by @CaseyNewton.” Despite the sadness, or because of it? “Sorry but how is anyone on this website talking about anything other than” this, Ellen Cushing wonders. In a new piece for The New York Times, Motoko Rich writes about Japan’s remote mountain village of Nagoro: There Are No Children Here. Just Lots of Life-Size Dolls. “Incredible aging and demography piece and photography,” tweets Howard French. The story includes photos by Nadia Shira Cohen, and Michael Slackman acknowledges it’s “Kinda creepy. A town with no children is populated by dolls. Some 350 dolls made outnumber the human residents by more than 10 to 1.” As Angelique Roche says, “This is an interesting study in aging populations but, also (if I'm being totally honest) an interesting premise for a horror thriller.” But also, as Gene Park says, “this piece makes me unbelievably sad.” “So it’s going to be this kind of day, eh?” tweets Jon Chase. Meanwhile, Anthony Tao wonders, “Is Japan the most humanist or posthumanist place in the world? Does it persist despite the sadness, or because of it?” A few more - “What a lede: ‘Curtis Flowers walked out of jail at 4 p.m. Monday, 23 years, six trials, and four death sentences after the day he first walked in.’” Pamela Colloff links to Parker Yesko’s reporting for APM Reports, Curtis Flowers to be released on bail. As Yesko writes, “a judge granted Flowers’ request for bail and delivered a scorching ruling that called the state’s case against Flowers into question and excoriated District Attorney Doug Evans’ recent handling of it.” Evans wasn’t there.
- Jeffie Lam of the South China Morning Post reports that Phila Siu, a reporter for the outlet, was denied entry into Macau to cover Xi Jinping’s visit for 20th anniversary handover celebrations. He shares on Twitter, “I was today denied entry to Macau to cover President Xi Jinping’s visit, despite having signed up with the Macau government. Police said there were strong signs I’d engage in activities that pose a threat to public order and safety of Macau.”
- Purdue Pharma’s Payments to Sacklers Soared Amid Opioid Crisis, as Jan Hoffman and Danny Hakim report at The New York TImes. According to a new audit, the family directed $10.7 billion from the drugmaker to family-controlled trusts and holding companies, as legal pressure tightened around Purdue.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists in consideration for the 92nd Academy Awards in nine categories. You can check out the Oscars Shortlists here.
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When it comes to PR technology, it’s time to separate truth from fiction — and essential PR capabilities from imposters and nice-to-haves. New on the Muck Rack Blog today, 
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