Tipsheet: Republicans wrestle with impeachment strategy

View in your browser     Republicans wrestle with impeachment strategy BY ALEXANDER BOLTON Senate Republicans realize they need to push back more aggressively on the fast-moving impeachment inquiry in the House, but they have yet to display a unified strategy.  The disunity comes as public opinion polls show growing support for impeachment proceedings, giving more momentum to congressional Democrats almost three weeks after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the inquiry. Read the full story here     Trump defends 'crime buster' Giuliani amid reported probe BY RACHEL FRAZIN President Trump on Saturday defended his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as the former New York City mayor faces scrutiny from Congress and a reported investigation by federal prosecutors in New York. Read the full story here     Five ways Trump's Syria decision spells trouble BY ELLEN MITCHELL President Trump this week showed no sign of backing down on his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria, stoking fears in Washington of worst-case scenarios from abandoning a crucial defense partner.  Read the full story here     Trump releases $50 million to protect ethnic and religious minorities in Syria BY JOHN BOWDEN President Trump on Saturday authorized the release of $50 million in emergency assistance to Syrian human rights groups and other organizations working to protect civilians in the war-torn country. Read the full story here       Rubio hits Warren's 'crude' and 'vulgar' response to opposition to same-sex marriage BY MARTY JOHNSON  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) criticized Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) response to a town hall question about same-sex marriage. Read the full story here     Warren targets Facebook with ad claiming Zuckerberg supports Trump BY RACHEL FRAZIN   Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign is targeting Facebook's policies for political advertisements with a new ad that purposefully makes the false claim that the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have endorsed President Trump. Read the full story here     Louisiana's Democratic governor forced into runoff BY REID WILSON Louisiana's Democratic governor will run against a wealthy Republican businessman who has already spent eight figures on his own campaign in a November runoff after narrowly missing out on winning re-election outright. Read the full story here     Meet Trump's most trusted pollsters BY JONATHAN EASLEY Jim and John McLaughlin occupy a fraught space in Trump World as pollsters for a president who runs on gut instinct and disparages the polling industry that failed to forecast his shocking 2016 election victory. Read the full story here     Lawmakers focus their ire on NBA, not China BY SYLVAN LANE AND BRETT SAMUELS President Trump and lawmakers in both parties have focused their ire on the NBA, not China, amid this week’s spat over Hong Kong protesters and freedom of speech, boosting pressure on the league to defy Beijing's attempts to stifle criticism. Read the full story here     California governor signs law banning people from smoking in state parks, on beaches BY RACHEL FRAZIN California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday signed a bill banning smoking and vaping on state beaches and in state parks.  Read the full story here     The Constitution doesn't require a vote to start the impeachment process BY LAWRENCE FRIEDMAN Opinion | That impeachment inquiries and investigations are left to the House’s discretion makes sense. The House is the most democratically representative department of the federal government, and the framers reasonably could have concluded that no impeachment investigation would occur unless a majority of the House membership approved. Given the potential political obstacles to assembling a majority of the House to act on any matter, much less an issue as fraught as impeachment, the framers likely understood that the power to investigate and, potentially, adopt articles of impeachment would be used cautiously. Read the full story here     Why calls for impeachment have become commonplace BY JOHN A. LAWRENCE Opinion | What explains that evolution? Are presidents more dishonest? Are Congresses more obsessed with finding wrongdoing? Or is there something more profound about the changing nature of American politics? Read the full story here     The New York Times: Impeachment support grows, but so does the public divide BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Americans are as divided over impeachment as they are over President Trump. But support for the Democrats’ inquiry is building even in places Mr. Trump won, and among politically crucial independents. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: Envoy to say his denial of quid pro quo came from Trump BY AARON C. DAVIS AND JOHN HUDSON The U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, will tell Congress that the content of a message he wrote denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine came directly from the president, said a person familiar with his testimony. Read the full story here     Reuters: Entrepreneur Andrew Yang's quixotic US presidential campaign gets serious BY JOSEPH AX Entrepreneur Andrew Yang knows most people initially viewed his candidacy for U.S. president – and his campaign promise to guarantee every American a basic, government-funded income – as a gimmick. Read the full story here     The Associated Press: Trump says he’s an ‘island of one’ on Syria BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is an “island of one” for removing U.S. forces from northeastern Syria. Read the full story here     The Wall Street Journal: China emerges with wins from US trade truce BY CHAO DENG AND LINGLING WEI U.S. shelves new tariffs against Beijing while leaving many demands to be worked out later. Read the full story here   Did a friend forward you this email? 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