Top Political News provided by The Washington Post©

• ‘Get over it’: Mulvaney’s twin admissions put Trump at the center of emoluments and Ukraine controversies
  In admitting that Trump had personally intervened to award a multimillion-dollar summit to his own company, and that the president had also used taxpayer money as leverage to push a Ukrainian investigation into Democrats, Mulvaney embraced a Trumpian tactic: saying the quiet — and potentially illegal — part out loud.
• Growing number of Republicans struggle to defend Trump on G-7 choice, Ukraine and Syria
  One Republican, Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, compared the situation to Watergate and did not rule out voting to impeach Trump.
• Live updates: Rick Perry won’t comply with subpoena in impeachment inquiry
  Energy Secretary Rick Perry declined to say whether he would comply with a Friday deadline to produce subpoenaed documents, while a key deposition in the impeachment inquiry was postponed.
• In admitting then denying quid pro quo, Mulvaney turns harsh impeachment spotlight on himself
  Republican lawmakers and officials said the White House chief of staff did more to harm the president’s defense than administration officials testifying before Democratic-led committees in Congress.
• Hillary Clinton suggests Putin has kompromat on Trump, Russia will back Tulsi Gabbard third-party bid
  "I’m not making any predictions," Clinton said, "but I think they’ve got their eye on someone who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s the favorite of the Russians."
• This week in impeachment, in 5 minutes
  From top aides turning on the Trump administration to acknowledging a quid pro quo, it was the most damaging yet for Trump
• Before Mick Mulvaney confirmed a Trump-Ukraine quid pro quo, so did Sen. Ron Johnson — quietly
  It escaped notice, but Johnson said much the same thing Mulvaney did earlier this month.
• Supreme Court will decide constitutionality of consumer watchdog bureau
  The Trump administration, and even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director, say it is not properly structured.
• Supreme Court will rule on expedited removal of those denied asylum requests
  The Trump administration objects to a lower-court ruling that such undocumented immigrants deserve judicial review.
• Trump to nominate Energy Dept. deputy Dan Brouillette to succeed Rick Perry as secretary
  The deputy energy secretary is the former top lobbyist for the Ford Motor Co.
• Hillary Clinton suggests Putin has kompromat on Trump, Russia will back Tulsi Gabbard third-party bid
  "I’m not making any predictions," Clinton said, "but I think they’ve got their eye on someone who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s the favorite of the Russians."
• ‘I didn’t take this job to keep it’: GOP Rep. Rooney hints he’s open to impeachment
  Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), a former U.S. ambassador, said he has been increasingly concerned by revelations that have emerged regarding the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine.
• Trump’s ad hoc defenses on Ukraine have largely fallen apart
  What’s left mostly centers on process.
• Tim Ryan
  In the House, Ryan represents a northeastern Ohio district hit by manufacturing job losses, and he says he could win back Rust Belt states that Donald Trump won in 2016. Ryan, 46, unsuccessfully chall...
• Marianne Williamson
  Williamson, 67, is a self-help author and motivational speaker who was an antiwar activist and worked with people with HIV and AIDS. She has embraced liberal policies on climate change, universal heal...
• Michael Bennet
  Bennet, 54, has represented Colorado in the Senate since 2009 after stints as superintendent of Denver Public Schools, as an investment adviser and at the Justice Department. The month before his May...
• John Delaney
  Delaney, the first candidate in the race, is a 56-year-old former congressman from Maryland who is running on a platform that includes an expanded national service program similar to AmeriCorps and on...
• Steve Bullock
  Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is one of the country’s only red-state Democrats to win reelection in 2016. He entered the race castigating what he called “evidence of a corrupt system all across America t...
• Tom Steyer
  Tom Steyer, a billionaire activist, started Nextgen America, a PAC that has contributed $230 million to Democrats in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 campaign cycles. Read more about Steyer and find out where he stands on key issues.
• Before Mick Mulvaney confirmed a Trump-Ukraine quid pro quo, so did Sen. Ron Johnson — quietly
  It escaped notice, but Johnson said much the same thing Mulvaney did earlier this month.
• The problems with Zuckerberg’s MLK and Frederick Douglass analogy
  The billionaire set himself up for criticism about how harmful disinformation has been to black Americans, historically and today.
• Trump says he’ll host G7 summit at cost at his resort — but provides few details
  For the president, the potential benefits of awarding himself the summit include international media exposure — putting Trump Doral on televisions around the world.
• Both the president’s men: Giuliani, Mulvaney and Trump’s dream of Ukrainian dirt
  Two of Trump’s aides, not confirmed by the Senate, apparently ran Ukraine policy, often with the E.U. ambassador.
• Sen. Mitt Romney raises a troubling theory about Trump and Turkey
  Romney suggested that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have given Trump an ultimatum — and that Trump caved on withdrawing from Syria.

Roll Call©

• Campus Notebook: Idahoans in Africa highlight congressional travel
  This week’s Campus Notebook highlights senators who recently jetted off to Mozambique, Israel and France and a staffer who sold a bunch of stocks, including from the tech industry.  Idahoans in Africa: Sen. Mike Crapo and his wife Susan joined Sen. Jim Risch and his wife Vicki for a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa and Mozambique. Crapo and his wife’s trip, paid for by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, cost $14,113. Risch and his wife’s trip, paid for by the same group, cost $13,758.
• Elijah Cummings to lie in state in Statuary Hall ahead of Friday funeral
  Rep. Elijah E. Cummings will lie in state in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall Thursday before a Friday funeral in his home district of Baltimore.  Many lawmakers are expected to attend the memorial service for the House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman, which will be held Thursday morning. The ceremony will be held Thursday morning and will be open to members of Congress, the Cummings family and invited guests. 
• Some Republicans inch closer to Trump impeachment after Mulvaney comments
  Several Republicans grew more receptive this week to the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump after acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Thursday said in a televised briefing that seeking help to investigate Democrats was part of the reason military aid to Ukraine was temporarily withheld. While Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have signaled they’re eager to learn more from the impeachment investigation led by House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff, 2016 GOP presidential candidate and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Friday that he is “across the Rubicon” and Trump should be impeached.
• Capitol Ink | Elijah Cummings
  Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone.
• Trump announces Brouillette as Energy nominee to replace Perry
  President Donald Trump said Friday he is nominating Dan Brouillette to be the top official at the Energy Department, replacing Secretary Rick Perry, and the department said it would not comply with a congressional subpoena for records about Perry’s contacts with officials in Ukraine.   Trump made the announcement about Brouillette on Twitter a day after Perry told the president he would resign from the post this year.  
• Who's rules? Your rules!
  House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, and Minority Whip Steve Scalise spent over an hour on the House floor Friday afternoon engaged in a spirited debate over the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The two lawmakers meet on the floor weekly to discuss their caucuses' legislative agenda. Friday's exchange was a stark departure from the more congenial tone in their fly-out day conversations. The verbose back-and-forth between the senior congressmen began with a question from Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, on the process for impeachment. The conversation then turned to cover a wide range of arguments on impeachment in the House including:
• Turkey sanctions bills likely to move despite ceasefire
  A shaky ceasefire agreement with Turkey to halt its attacks on the Syrian Kurds does not appear to have done much to slake lawmakers’ appetite for imposing sanctions on the longtime NATO ally. President Donald Trump was quick to declare victory Thursday after Ankara agreed to a five-day ceasefire in its attacks on Kurds in northern Syria. Kurdish fighters are supposed to use that window, which the Turkish government is describing not as a ceasefire but as a “pause,” to withdraw to roughly 20 miles south of the Turkish border.
• Photos of the Week: Everything but Infrastructure Week
  The impeachment inquiry, Columbus Day, and the Stanley Cup’s appearance on the hill were all overshadowed by the loss of Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings. Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone.
• Commerce watchdog will monitor efforts to keep 2020 census secure
  The Commerce Department’s internal watchdog will take a look at the Census Bureau’s efforts to keep the 2020 census secure, the inspector general said in a letter Thursday. The announcement follows a trail of security concerns about Census Bureau systems for next year’s count from the Government Accountability Office and members of Congress. Next year’s census will allow an online response option for most of the country for the first time, along with traditional mail and phone response.
• Forget impeachment, let’s talk about the Nats: Congressional Hits and Misses
  While no one is on the same page about the impeachment inquiry or the Trump administration’s foreign policy moves, all of D.C. can at least agree on one thing: the Nationals making it to the World Series is “pretty exciting,” as ever-enthusiastic Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it. Between putt-putt mishaps, rebukes of Chairman LeBron James and an auction for the Stanley Cup, Congress has been on the ball lately.
• Polling impeachment and remembering Elijah Cummings
  Polls now show a majority of Americans favor impeaching President Donald Trump and removing him from office. Democratic pollster Brad Bannon explains how people should read the rush of new surveys coming in. We also remember Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who passed away this week, by reprising his 2017 interview with CQ Roll Call. Show Notes:
• Trump’s big night in Big D: Three takeaways from ‘overthrow’ rally in Dallas
  ANALYSIS | Donald Trump walked slowly into the White House just after 1:30 a.m. Friday even more embattled than when he left it some 15 hours earlier. During a rally in Dallas hours before, he dropped the “I-word” (impeachment) just once as he described himself and conservatives as victims of an “overthrow” conspiracy. Gordon Sondland, the hotelier-turned-ambassador to the European Union, told the House lawmakers leading an impeachment inquiry that he came to realize Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, likely was trying “to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president’s 2020 re-election campaign.”
• Congress has long sought to bar foreign campaign contributions
  In the decades before President Donald Trump asked Ukraine to launch an investigation into his main political rival in the upcoming presidential election, Congress tried again and again to keep foreign nationals out of American elections and government decisions. The lawmakers’ adversaries over the years sound as if they come straight out of Hollywood scripts: the Nazi party in the 1930s, the Philippine sugar industry in the 1960s, a Greek industrialist in the 1970s, an international businessman turned Chinese government agent in the 1990s.
• Survey: Young adults, minorities less likely to participate in the census
  A significant portion of Americans said they may not participate in next year’s census, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Friday that has implications for the 2020 count’s cost, as well as its uses for redistricting and distribution of federal funds. More than one in five younger adults, those making less than $30,000 and those identifying as black said they definitely will not, probably will not or might not participate in the census, according to the Pew report. Its results reflect similar outcomes to surveys conducted before and during the 2010 census, said one of the authors of the report, D’Vera Cohn.
• Impeachment news roundup: Oct. 18
  After weeks of “no quid pro quo” with Ukraine replacing “no collusion” with the Russians in President Donald Trump’s responses to the investigations into his administration, Mick Mulvaney, his acting chief of staff, said there was a quid pro quo. Then he and the White House spent the following hours Thursday trying to put that genie back in the bottle. But, in true Trump-style, his 2020 campaign decided to capitalize on the press conference by selling a T-shirt emblazoned with one of the more memorable lines from Mulvaney’s press conference.  
• Lopsided cease-fire ‘deal’ emboldens Turkey, harms U.S. allies
  ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence had reached an agreement with Turkey’s president for a halt to hostilities in northern Syria. “This is a great day for civilization,” Trump wrote. “People have been trying to make this “Deal” for many years.”
• Pay to play: Will California prompt congressional action on college athletics?
  For college football fanatics, nothing compares to waking up on that first crisp autumn Saturday morning to prepare for a whole day of game watching. Tuning in to ESPN’s “College GameDay.” Sipping bourbon at the tailgate without facing societal judgment for drinking before noon. College football’s shared rituals and traditions provide millions with a weekly source of escapism and entertainment every fall. The game offers excitement, frustration and camaraderie on any given Saturday thanks to the dizzying skills of its student-athletes.
• Iowa battlefield extends from politics to gridiron
  Iowa is a perennial political battleground, but Iowans know the most intense contest happens on the gridiron every year, when the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones try to demolish one another in one of college football’s oldest rivalries. The reward? A move up in conference ranking, bragging rights and the coveted Cy-Hawk trophy. This year, ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast from Iowa State territory in Ames for the first time in school history on Sept 14. Iowa won, 18-17. 
• Hill staffers worried about expenses turn to student loan benefit
  Kendra Horn was a recent law school graduate in 2004 when she took a job as press secretary to fellow Oklahoma Democrat Brad Carson. Fourteen years before her own election to the House, she made the move from Oklahoma to Washington and almost immediately felt the pressures of a tight budget. With a pile of student loans and a low starting salary, she tried to keep her expenses to a minimum. She kept her food costs low, scoping out the cheaper places to eat, and paid for groceries on her credit card. But with all of her budgeting, she wasn’t making enough to make payments on her student loans.
• Democrats seeking votes in Trump country tout miners’ benefits
  Senate Republicans say they’re close to unveiling a plan to address a $66 billion funding shortfall affecting coal miners’ and other union pension plans, an issue Democrats see as advantageous politically and as a possible bargaining chip in trade talks with the Trump administration. President Donald Trump championed manufacturing and coal industry jobs during his 2016 campaign, including in critical swing states he won like Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the 2020 campaign, Democrats have been touting “broken promises” to workers in those states and others, including more traditional GOP bastions like Kentucky where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is up for reelection next year. 
• Partisan divide reaches into views of higher education
  Once, American colleges and universities enjoyed bipartisan support, and Republicans and Democrats alike believed in the value of higher education. Today, not so much. And that could be a big issue as Congress considers reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, a version of which House Democrats unveiled Tuesday. 
• John Yarmuth, from pinup to budget wonk
  Smile, network and don’t be surprised if you end up as a pinup. Rep. John Yarmuth is now the House Budget chairman, but as a young Hill staffer, he was showcased for Roll Call’s unfortunate “Hill Pinup” feature as an April Fools’ joke in 1971. Don’t worry, the feature has long since been discontinued. Check out the video to see Yarmuth discussing his star turn in the pages of Roll Call almost 50 years later, as well as his advice for young staffers in this week’s Staffer Edition.
• John Yarmuth went from Roll Call pinup to Budget chairman
  John Yarmuth got his start on Capitol Hill in 1971 after another young future lawmaker — Mitch McConnell — called and asked him to take his slot on the staff of their home-state senator, Kentucky’s Marlow Cook. Now a Democratic congressman who represents Louisville, Yarmuth spoke to Roll Call recently about his early days as a Rockefeller Republican and his experience as an April Fools’ pinup for our publication.
• Educating K Street: Colleges and universities seek influence in Congress, executive branch
  Lobbyist Stu Van Scoyoc began working for the University of Alabama system three decades ago, helping the school smooth over a problem the 1986 tax overhaul created for its pension program. It’s still a client. Lobbying on behalf of colleges and universities has been a mainstay of K Street work for years for firms like Van Scoyoc Associates. And many of the biggest spending university systems maintain their own lobbying outposts in Washington with in-house employees who monitor Capitol Hill and executive branch debates and look for federal funding opportunities, relying often on home-state and alumni connections.
• Elijah Cummings, a man of character and the best of Baltimore
  OPINION — In the summertime, Baltimore can be hot as blazes with humidity to match. Trying to cool off in a public pool would be quite an ordinary outing for an 11-year-old boy. But for young Elijah Cummings in 1962, it turned into a nightmare in the still largely segregated city. White adults and children resisting integration yelled, “Go back to where you came from” — sound familiar? — to children and, over the heads of a police line, threw rocks and bottles, one of which caught young Elijah in the face. That day taught Cummings he had rights, he later said, and it made him determined to become a lawyer despite teachers who dismissed his dream as impossible. With strong parents and supporters such as his boss at a drug store, who paid his college admission fee, Cummings fulfilled that dream and so much more.
• Cummings unites lawmakers, for the moment, as impeachment inquiry trudges forward
  House lawmakers dialed down the partisan rancor, at least for a day, as they honored the life of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who died early Thursday at age 68. But the impeachment inquiry, of which the Maryland Democrat was a key leader, is forging ahead. The investigation into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine has stoked anger among Republicans who view the probe as illegitimate. Democrats’ frustrations with the president’s conduct and his supporters in Congress are only growing. The death of Cummings, held in deep respect on both sides of the aisle, didn’t put the partisan fighting completely to rest, but it did quell the most inflammatory elements for the moment.
• At Dallas rally, embattled Trump calls 2020 a fight for ‘survival of American democracy’
  President Donald Trump wasted little time Thursday at a campaign rally in Dallas attacking Democrats leading an impeachment probe against him, saying “Crazy Nancy” and “Shifty Schiff” hate the United States. “The Democrats have betrayed our country,” he said to cheers, adding the 2020 election is about the “survival of American democracy.”
• House Dems move forward with drug pricing bill
  A House committee on Thursday approved a Democratic bill designed to limit drug prices, a top priority for the party, as another panel’s debate on the measure was poised to last for hours. House leaders produced the 141-page bill after months of deliberations among various party factions, as progressives urged their colleagues to be bold despite GOP criticisms that the measure could hamper research into future cures. The bill, numbered HR 3, includes requirements for the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate Medicare prices for the most expensive drugs, with commercial health plans also having the option of adopting those prices.
• Rick Perry to resign as Energy secretary
  Energy Secretary Rick Perry has informed President Donald Trump that he intends to step down, the president said Thursday ahead of a campaign rally in Texas. The resignation notification came just hours after acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Trump instructed Perry to consider his personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, the lead on all Ukraine policy matters.
• Mulvaney acknowledges 2016 election investigation was tied to Ukraine aid freeze
  President Donald Trump’s acting White House chief of staff contended Thursday the administration’s hold on a nearly $400 million military aid package to Ukraine had “absolutely nothing” to do with Trump’s desire for Kyiv to investigate his then-top Democratic rival. But it was linked to the 2016 U.S. election. Mick Mulvaney acknowedged Trump held up the aid, in part, because of his concerns — rooted in conservative media — that Ukrainian officials worked to aid Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and prevent him from winning the White House. Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate whether a hacked Democratic National Committee server that was penetrated in 2016 resides in that country. The conservative conspiracy theory has been widely debunked.
• Office of Congressional Ethics has transmitted four matters to Ethics Committee for further review
  The independent investigative entity that examines ethical transgressions of House lawmakers has undertaken five new matters to review potential misconduct and transmitted four cases to the House Ethics Committee for further review in the third quarter. The Office of Congressional Ethics, according to its latest activity report released Thursday, deemed those four matters contain a “substantial reason” to believe a violation may have occurred. 
• Pence says Turkey has agreed to cease fire in northern Syria
  Vice President Mike Pence announced on Thursday that a ceasefire agreement had been reached with the Turkish government that would allow for a cessation of fighting in northeast Syria where Syrian Kurds have been getting hammered for the last week. Specifics of the ceasefire, which was to last for 120 hours, were initially scarce but Pence at a news conference in Ankara alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it was already being implemented.
• White House picks Trump resort in Florida for G-7 summit
  The White House has selected Trump National Doral Miami as the site of next year’s G7 summit despite criticism from Democrats and others that President Donald Trump owns the resort. The summit will be held June 10-12. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said there were about 12 candidate sites. Democrats and others have said holding any major summit at a Trump property could violate the emoluments clause in the Constitution, which bars presidents from receiving compensation from foreign governments.
• Elijah E. Cummings in Congress, 1996-2019
  Thirteen-term Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., died Thursday at the age of 68, after complications arising from longtime health issues, according to a statement from his office. He found himself in the national spotlight frequently in his role as the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, but most recently as a strong voice in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.  The Maryland lawmaker saw himself as a champion for civil rights, his Baltimore constituents and democracy. A search through the CQ Roll Call and C-SPAN archives generated more than one could possibly watch in one sitting, but here is a short look back at his political life and legacy in under two-and-a-half minutes:
• State officials dissolved company long before $500K deal with Giuliani
  State officials in Florida may have dissolved a company linked to a Ukrainian American businessman facing campaign finance charges long before Rudy Giuliani’s consulting firm reportedly was paid $500,000 to provide business and legal advice. The company in question is called Fraud Guarantee. Its website lists as its co-founder and CEO Lev Parnas, who allegedly worked with Giuliani to urge Ukrainian officials to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Parnas was indicted last week on charges that included making an illegal campaign contribution through a shell corporation to a PAC that supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
• Watch: Democrats plan to name prescription drug bill for Elijah Cummings
  Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer paid tribute to Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who died early Thursday. Pelosi told reporters in her weekly news briefing that Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal suggested they name their prescription drug bill after the Maryland Democrat. Prescription drug prices were a focus for Cummings as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. “He just fought to the end,” Pelosi said Thursday. “But that’s the way he was, not only on his personal health, but what he believed in in the Congress of the United States.”
• Carolyn Maloney to be acting chairwoman of Oversight panel as succession sorted out
  Rep. Carolyn Maloney will serve as acting chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform after Chairman Elijah E. Cummings died Thursday, with House Democrats choosing a formal replacement for Cummings at “a later time,” a senior Democratic leadership aide told CQ Roll Call. The next leader of the committee will step into a bright spotlight, with the panel conducting multiple investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration and playing a key role in the impeachment process headed by Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.
• Who could succeed Elijah Cummings in Congress?
  The death Thursday of Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings will unleash a crowded Democratic primary for a yet-to-be-set special election in the Baltimore-based 7th District. Maryland Democratic Party chairwoman Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the wife of the late congressman, could clear the field if she’s interested. She briefly ran for governor last cycle and was elected state party chair in December.
• Democrats in tears after first caucus gathering since Cummings’ death
  Several House Democrats on Thursday left their first caucus gathering since the death of their colleague, Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, weeping or holding back tears.  The House Oversight and Reform chairman’s death left Virginia Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, one of the panel’s subcommittee chairs, inconsolable. He exited Democrats’ weekly whip meeting Thursday in a stream of tears, not stopping to talk to colleagues or reporters as he usually would. 
• Impeachment news roundup: Oct. 17
  Capitol Hill was shocked Thursday morning by the death of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, one of the three committees conducting the impeachment investigations, but it didn’t affect scheduled hearings.  Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and a key player in the investigation into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, testified Thursday before the three House Committees conducting the impeachment inquiry.
• Elijah E. Cummings: A life in photos
  Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a 12-term congressman, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and a key player in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, died early Thursday of complications from longtime health issues.  The Maryland Democrat was 68. Here is a look at Cummings through the years.
• Rep. Elijah Cummings fondly remembered by Democrats, Republicans
  Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died Thursday after longtime health complications, threaded a needle that few recent chairmen and chairwomen of high-profile investigative committees have been able to manage: He remained widely popular among his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform over the last 10 months and a key player in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, Cummings has been on the receiving end of a stream of invective from a frustrated White House.
• Democrats bow to critics, expand scope of drug price bill
  House Democratic leaders unveiled changes to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing bill ahead of markups Thursday, seeking to appease progressives who pushed for more aggressive action. The chamber is expected to vote on the bill this month.
• Rep. Elijah Cummings, key Democrat in impeachment investigation, has died
  Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and a key player in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, died early Thursday of complications from longtime health issues, his office said in a statement. The Maryland Democrat was 68. Cummings had missed roll call votes since Sept. 11 and said in a Sept. 30 statement that he expected to return to the House by mid-October after having a medical procedure, according to the Baltimore Sun.
• Can church ever be separate from state at a Franklin Graham rally?
  [OPINION] CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After the Rev. Billy Graham became less a counselor of presidents and more a political player, particularly in the unfortunate case of Richard Nixon, he learned a lesson. The Rev. Franklin Graham, heir to his father’s legacy, has chosen a different path, arguably becoming as well known for his politics as for his role as a spiritual leader. Considering his remarks as he brought his “Decision America” tour to his hometown this past weekend, it’s a box Graham the younger is not exactly comfortable being placed in. But for the preacher who credited the “God factor,” in part, for Donald Trump’s 2016 win, that narrative is set. Vocal support of the president pre- and post-election exists right alongside his philanthropic and mission outreach — such as recent efforts in the Bahamas — through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.
• House Democrats sharpen counterattacks to Republican impeachment process complaints
  House Democrats in recent days have sharpened their counterattacks to Republican assertions that they’re running an illegitimate and nontransparent impeachment process.  The rebukes represent a shift in messaging strategy as Democrats had largely been trying to avoid engaging in a back-and-forth about process, arguing the GOP was manufacturing concerns to avoid having to defend President Donald Trump on the substance of the impeachment inquiry.
• Capitol Ink | Gutastrophe
  Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone.
• Graham abruptly leaves hearing during official's testimony
  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., abruptly left a Senate Foreign Relations hearing Wednesday during the testimony of a senior administration official. The moment came after nearly three hours of testimony by Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran. Most of Hook's statements defended the Trump administration's recent troop withdrawal from northern Syria.
• Will Trump abandoning the Kurds hurt him politically with former comrades in arms?
  With President Donald Trump in essence abandoning former Kurdish allies in northern Syria who helped the U.S. beat back ISIS over the last half decade, some Republican lawmakers who served in the military and outside advocacy groups are divided whether the policy could damage the president’s support among current and former service members, which has remained high throughout his administration. Despite the U.S. military and Kurds working hand-in-hand on military operations in the Middle East for more than two decades, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that the Kurds are “no angels,” and deemed his move to withdraw U.S. personnel who had served as a buffer between them and Turkish forces “strategically brilliant.”
• Rare, and unapologetic, bipartisan congressional rebuke for Trump on Syria
  “I think Lindsey should focus on Judiciary,” President Donald Trump said Wednesday when asked about criticism from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of his decision to effectively side with Turkey over the Kurdish population of Syria. Graham, who is often an ally of the president, was comparing Trump’s move to pull back U.S. forces supporting the Kurds to the Obama administration policy of withdrawal from Iraq. The senator is chairman of both the Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the State Department.

McClatchy©

• Giuliani associate made millions in Ukraine before his U.S. fortunes turned
  Long before Igor Fruman was arrested in a widening political scandal that threatens the American presidency, the Soviet-born émigré and sometime Florida man came to riches through political connections in … Click to Continue »
• Pot lawsuit may provide clues to Russian funds in Parnas, Fruman straw donor scheme
  The federal indictment of South Florida businessmen Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas — associates of Rudy Giuliani who have emerged as key figures in the House impeachment inquiry into President … Click to Continue »
• After presser flap, Mulvaney’s future is uncertain. But there’s always South Carolina
  Mick Mulvaney hadn’t planned on staying long at the South Carolina Republican Party’s annual fundraising gala in August. The acting White House chief of staff, who’d previously served in Congress … Click to Continue »
• Trump to attend 2020 candidate forum at historically black South Carolina college
  President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to participate in a presidential candidate forum focused on improving the criminal justice system in the United States. His participation will bring him … Click to Continue »
• Trump’s campaign is spending more on legal fees, paying 13 law firms in Q3
  President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign spent more on lawyers in the past three months than in any other quarter this election cycle as he continues to grapple with a range … Click to Continue »
• He’s a Trump defender. Will impeachment talks hurt his chance for re-election in Georgia?
  The furor over President Donald Trump’s possible impeachment might loom as a crucial issue for independent voters in Georgia where one of the president’s closest allies faces re-election, Sen. David … Click to Continue »
• ‘Many are dying waiting in the line for decades.’ Green card change blocked in Senate
  Sunayana Dumala and other immigrants from India expressed their disappointment Thursday when an Illinois senator blocked a bill meant to end decades-long wait times for green cards. Dumala, a Johnson … Click to Continue »
• Cummings’ passion and collegiality sought in new impeachment leader
  Rep. Elijah Cummings’ death won’t slow the House impeachment inquiry, but it does mean Democrats now have to scramble to find someone with his measured approach and political savvy to … Click to Continue »
• Next G-7 summit of world leaders will be at Trump Doral in Florida
  The White House has chosen President Donald Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida, for the next Group of Seven summit of world leaders during the homestretch of the 2020 presidential campaign, … Click to Continue »
• Kobach’s campaign paid Kansan known to post racist comments on white nationalist site
  Kansas Republican Kris Kobach’s Senate campaign paid an Olathe man who regularly posted hateful comments about Jews and racial minorities on a white nationalist website. Kobach’s campaign paid Joe Suber … Click to Continue »
• Kushner to visit Israel to meet with potential new government leaders
  Jared Kushner, who is leading the Trump administration’s policymaking process on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will travel to Israel with his team later this month to assess the nation’s political environment … Click to Continue »
• Trump fires back at Graham for Syria criticism: ‘He’d like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years’
  President Donald Trump fired back at Sen. Lindsey Graham, who criticized the president for withdrawing troops from Syria, saying Graham would rather "stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years." … Click to Continue »
• Pence and Pompeo in damage control with Christians over Trump’s Kurdish crisis
  Christian leaders were blindsided last week by President Donald Trump’s sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria that left thousands of Kurds vulnerable to attacks. They sought audience with … Click to Continue »
• Democrats sound the alarm on Biden’s campaign cash woes
  Democrats are sounding the alarm on Joe Biden’s lackluster fundraising, with some warning the presumed frontrunner for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination doesn’t have the resources to run a full-fledged … Click to Continue »
• Kansas Senate race: Wagle loans campaign money as Marshall pulls ahead in fundraising
  Kansas Republican Rep. Roger Marshall holds a commanding financial advantage in the race to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts, far ahead of two GOP competitors who made six-figure personal loans … Click to Continue »
• ‘We’re coming for you. We’re coming to help these young athletes’: Romney warns NCAA
  Republican Sen. Mitt Romney issued a stern warning to the NCAA on Wednesday over its treatment of college athletes. “I know there are people who think we can hold this … Click to Continue »
• Ousted California Republican gains fundraising advantage in rematch for House seat
  A San Joaquin Valley Republican trying to return to Congress raising more money for a 2020 campaign than the Democrat who defeated him last year. Former Rep. David Valadao, raised … Click to Continue »
• While conspiracy lawsuits unfold, Devin Nunes keeps collecting campaign cash – $7 million of it
  Rep. Devin Nunes has the most cash on hand of any House member this cycle, sitting at a cool $7 million. That gives him a huge advantage as he prepares … Click to Continue »
• Lindsey Graham rebukes Donald Trump on Syria: ‘I will not be quiet’
  U.S. Lindsey Graham was at a lunch meeting Wednesday when President Donald Trump said at a televised press conference that Graham should stay out of discussions regarding American troop withdrawal … Click to Continue »
• Thom Tillis’ primary challenger is putting up $1 million of his own money. Who is he?
  Raleigh businessman Garland Tucker has poured more than $1.2 million of his own money into a bid to oust incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in North Carolina’s GOP primary. … Click to Continue »
• Warren takes fire from 2020 rivals: Takeaways from the fourth Democratic debate
  Elizabeth Warren felt the heat. Pete Buttigieg stepped up. And Joe Biden was, surprisingly, mostly an afterthought. That was the dynamic at play during Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, where a … Click to Continue »
• Lindsey Graham’s support builds among small donors amid ties to Donald Trump
  Lindsey Graham continues to reap the benefits of his national visibility as a powerful Republican lawmaker and ally of President Donald Trump. The U.S. senator from South Carolina raised $3.3 … Click to Continue »
• Small donors, Hollywood and PACs help Jaime Harrison in cash race to beat Graham
  Jaime Harrison continues to raise record amounts of cash for a South Carolina Democrat running statewide against a powerful Republican incumbent. Harrison, the likely Democratic nominee to face off against … Click to Continue »
• Did Tom Steyer buy his way into the Democratic debate? How he worked his way to the stage
  Tom Steyer had a sudden change of heart when he went to Iowa in January. Worried he couldn’t compete with the plethora of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, he reversed course … Click to Continue »
• GOP wants to knock off Josh Harder, but the California Democrat has more cash than anyone else
  In a California congressional district Republicans are hoping to reclaim, the latest campaign fundraising reports suggest the GOP is going to have a hard time unseating Democratic Rep. Josh Harder. … Click to Continue »
• Leading 2020 Democrats lay groundwork for Super Tuesday delegate fight
  Bernie Sanders is going all in on California, hiring nearly two dozen staffers in the state. Joe Biden is deploying campaign hands in North Carolina. And Elizabeth Warren has already … Click to Continue »
• Rick Scott donates campaign contributions from indicted Giuliani associate
  Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott said Monday he donated two campaign contributions from Igor Fruman, a South Florida businessman who was arrested on campaign finance charges with his partner Lev … Click to Continue »
• Republicans to unleash new ad blitz targeting swing-district Democrats on impeachment
  Republicans are planning to target Democrats in swing districts with a new round of ads on impeachment this week as lawmakers return from their fall recess. The Republican National Committee … Click to Continue »
• Are liberals to blame for California’s homeless? GOP solutions resemble Newsom’s
  Political leaders from both sides of the aisle have been trading blame over California’s surging homeless population since President Trump kicked off a round of finger-pointing during his September visit … Click to Continue »
• California cannabis king linked to Ukrainian who was indicted with Giuliani associates
  A Ukrainian-born man indicted in a campaign-finance scheme along with two associates of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, is an officer in a Sacramento cannabis dispensary controlled by a … Click to Continue »