* Jennifer Hassan and Josh Dawsey report on the president’s gobsmacking attempt to play Jerry Springer:
Michael McKinley, the former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo until his sudden resignation last week, told House impeachment investigators Wednesday that career diplomats were mistreated during his tenure and that some had their careers derailed for political reasons, according to people familiar with his testimony.McKinley said his concerns culminated with the recall of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, a punitive action he and many other rank-and-file diplomats viewed as wholly unjustified.
Pompeo is yet another administration figure who is deeply involved in the Ukraine scandal.
* A new Gallup poll shows a majority of Americans saying Trump should be impeached and removed from office.
* Evan Perez, Sara Murray, and Shimon Prokupecz report that investigators are not only examining Rudy Giuliani’s finances but are conducting a counterintelligence probe of his activities.
* Leigh Ann Caldwell reports that Democrats have asked State Department official Bill Taylor, who texted that it would be “crazy” to withhold aid from Ukraine to get them to help Trump’s reelection, to testify next Tuesday.
* Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman report that Fiona Hill testified that she worried that Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland was a security risk because he occupied such an important position despite having zero diplomatic experience.
* David Dayen and Ryan Grim tried to see if anyone could back up Joe Biden’s claim that he “got votes” for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, and came up empty.
* Timothy O’Brien explains how Trump has been cheating on his taxes by undervaluing properties for his entire career.
* Devlin Barrett reports that a fourth man has been arrested in the case involving Rudy Giuliani’s associates.
* Hamed Aleaziz reports that hundreds of Department of Homeland Security asylum officers have signed a brief urging a court to strike down the Trump administration’s policy making asylum all but impossible to obtain at the southern border.