All shadow, no diplomacy Well this is quite a development. New materials released by House Democrats appear to show that the Ukraine prosecutor offered information related to Biden in exchange for Ambassador Yovanovitch’s ouster. Paul Sonne, Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger cover the story at The Washington Post, noting that the materials Lev Parnas provided to Congress also show that, before Marie Yovanovitch was removed from her post, “a Parnas associate now running for Congress sent menacing text messages suggesting that he had Yovanovitch under surveillance in Ukraine.” More on that Parnas associate in a moment, but first, as Mieke Eoyang says, “Were you worried that impeachment would be boring? A corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor hired Lev and Igor to get @RudyGiuliani to get him a visa, offered dirt on Biden. Also, a bunch of Trump’s other lawyers were involved.” Quentin Hardy thinks it “Reads like the Team got played by a Ukrainian. But not before they betrayed the American Foreign Service.” At The New York Times, Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Michael Rothfeld also report on those newly released records, Lev Parnas Adds New Details on Push to Oust U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, and Sunny Hostin highlights the fact that “Trump said Ambassador Yovanovitch was going to ‘go through some things.’ What things we must ask ourselves?” Kim Masters thinks “We need more from Lev,” while Philip Gourevitch thinks, “‘the shadow diplomacy campaign at the center of President Trump’s impeachment’ is a pretty benign description of using freelance goons to spy on US Ambassador to the point that she has to have beefed up security — all shadow, no diplomacy.” To sum up: “These people are so dirty,” tweets Joshua Topolsky. 
In a column for The Washington Post, Neal Katyal and Joshua A. Geltzer offer their take on this new evidence: Lev Parnas and Rudy Giuliani have demolished Trump’s claims of innocence. “Americans who have been wondering why President Trump has taken the extraordinary step of trying to block every document from being released to Congress in his impeachment inquiry need wonder no longer,” they write. The best people Back to that Parnas associate. Just who is Robert F. Hyde? We know he’s an avid Donald Trump supporter who’s running for Congress in Connecticut. But also, according to the scoop by David Corn of Mother Jones, the landscaper-turned-lobbyist was taken into police custody at a Trump resort last year. Tweets Corn, “SCOOP: Robert F. Hyde, the new mystery player in the Ukraine scandal, was taken into police custody at a Trump resort last year, claiming the Secret Service & a hit man were after him. He was then involuntarily confined in a medical facility.” Again — you thought impeachment was going to be boring? As Tom LoBianco says, “Russia/Ukraine/impeachment continues to amaze.” Covering the trial This morning Speaker Nancy Pelosi named seven House members to serve as impeachment managers to prosecute the case, as John Wagner and Felicia Sonmez of The Washington Post report. But as for coverage of the trial, Katherine Tully- McManus of Roll Call reports that the Senate sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police are launching an unprecedented crackdown on the Capitol press corps. She writes that the plan is intended “to protect senators and the chamber, but it also suggests that credentialed reporters and photographers whom senators interact with on a daily basis are considered a threat.” Seung Min Kim says, “I am absolutely stunned by these press restrictions for the Senate impeachment trial.” “NO STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS allowed to document the transfer of the articles to the Senate?!?!? I stand with the Standing Committee of Correspondents & scores of colleagues who cover the Capitol daily in condemning this outrageous breach of press freedom,” tweets Mike DeBonis. Debates and clashes Matt Viser, Michael Scherer and Annie Linskey of The Washington Post recap last night’s presidential debate as the “whittled-down field” of candidates clashed over positions on war and peace — and gender in politics. And on that last point, at The Cut Rebecca Traister writes about The Third Rail of Calling ‘Sexism’: Warren tried not to talk about it. “This is a good, nuanced take on the Bernie vs. Warren spat du jour,” says Jon Stokes. Anand Giridharadas summarizes “.@rtraister’s sage take on Sanders and Warren: Worrying women will face special brutality in politics doesn’t make Sanders sexist. And hearing such worries, day after day, as discouragement doesn’t make Warren a liar. Let’s get back to the work.” Irin Carmon urges, “Read @rtraister on ‘the chilling fact that talking in any kind of honest way about marginalization becomes a trap for the marginalized.’” 
What about that “mysterious exchange that was captured on live television without sound” at the end of last night’s debate? In a brief interview with Linskey and Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said Warren ‘came to raise a concern’ with Sanders after the debate, but he declined to provide further details about the conversation. Meanwhile, the second in Vox’s series making the best case for the leading Democratic candidates is The case for Elizabeth Warren, by Ezra Klein. WHAT 
This seems like a good point to share this story: I tried to interview Sen. Peter Lucido. He told me a group of schoolboys ‘could have a lot of fun’ with me. That’s what Michigan State Sen. Lucido told Michigan Advance reporter Allison Donahue outside of the Senate yesterday in front of a group of teenage boys. Donahue was looking for a comment from him about the Detroit Metro Times’ story reporting that he was a member of a violent, anti-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Facebook group, which has since been deleted. Reading this, Gary Miles is “Proud of a young Michigan journalist I never met today - @donahual, who works for progressive non-profit news site.” “Thank you for standing up for yourself and young women and for writing this @donahual,” adds Randy Essex. Elsewhere The New York Times has verified security camera footage showing that two missiles hit Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8 (90,000+ shares). Malachy Browne, Evan Hill, Logan E. Mitchell and Barbara Marcolini report that the missiles were launched from an Iranian military site around eight miles from the plane. The entire Russian government has resigned to make way for Putin to extend his grip on power (67,000+ shares). CNN’s Mary Ilyushina and Sheena McKenzie explain what’s happening in the wake of Putin’s proposed constitutional amendments that would strengthen the powers of the prime minister and parliament at the expense of the presidency. Speaking of Putin, “This is a fabulous story: When Putin invited Libya’s rival leaders to sign a truce, it would appear he hadn’t factored in the legendary stubbornness of the 76-year-old military commander Khalifa Haftar.” Ruth Pollard links to that story by Samer Al-Atrush, Ilya Arkhipov and Selcan Hacaoglu of Bloomberg, How Putin Was Thrown Off Course by a Furious Libyan General. Whew — some actual good news in Australia. At The Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hannam shares how an incredible, secret firefighting mission has saved the only known natural grove of the world-famous Wollemi pines from destruction during the record-breaking bushfires in NSW (105,000+ shares). At The New York Times, Motoko Rich explains why it’s a big deal that A Japanese Politician Is Taking Paternity Leave. Snubs and un-snubs 
Maybe they should just call it the All-Kinds-of-Music Hall of Fame. Anyway, Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, T-Rex and the Doobie Brothers are among the 2020 inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as Joe Coscarelli reports at The New York Times. And as Mc Nelly Torres says, “Pat Benatar didn’t make the cut? That’s BS!” Referring to the Oscar nominations, Marina Fang tweets, “Vanity Fair's great Hollywood issue is out today. The diversity of stars featured is really jarring when compared to, uh, some events yesterday. So many of these actors should have (and could have!) gotten nominated! They were right there!” Check out Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue 2020: Eddie Murphy, Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Lopez, Laura Dern, Antonio Banderas, and Many More. Tweets Daniel Taroy, “the vanity fair hollywood issue is here!! (along with justice for awkwafina, j.lo, beanie feldstein, and more).” Also, says Kelcie Pegher, “Love this mobile design.” RIP Gladys Bourdain Longtime New York Times copy editor Gladys Bourdain, Who Helped Her Son Reach an Audience, Dies at 85. Daniel E. Slotnik has the Times obit for Ms. Bourdain, who developed “a reputation as a strict grammarian on the culture and metropolitan desks” and also wrote for outlets like Opera News, Musical America and The Times. Tweets Michael Luo, “Still have such distinct and fond memories of getting late night calls from Gladys on the @nytmetro copy desk. RIP.” And here are some other memories shared by journalists on Twitter: Patrick LaForge says, “I sat near Gladys for several years on the Metro Copy Desk, and she always made sure we ordered good takeout.” “After @Bourdain died, his mom told me she was going to visit his tattoo artist to get ‘Tony’ inked on the inside of her wrist,” tweets Kim Severson. And Pradnya Joshi says, “Gladys Bourdain was a tough teacher and a great friend to all copy editors who came through @nytimes ... we all miss her, and her red pen.” A few more | 
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