A Brief Guide to the Last 48 Hours

"I would like you to do us a favor" [Politics Brief from WNYC + Gothamist] [Keep friends and family informed. Forward the Politics Brief.]( A Three-Part Guide to the Last 48 Hours By [James Ramsay]( [Donald Trump] Evan Vucci/AP Images Part One: A Whistle Was Blown Someone in the intelligence world — perhaps the CIA, or the NSA, or a defense contractor — filed a whistleblower complaint to the Inspector General. And leaks to the press indicated that the complaint had to do with Trump asking Ukraine's new president to look into whether Joe Biden got a prosecutor fired in order to protect his son, Hunter Biden, from getting caught in a corruption investigation. The facts, which I learned from [this very informative episode]( of Vox's Today, Explained, are that a bunch of European leaders were already trying to get Ukraine to fire this prosecutor, supposedly because he wasn't doing enough to investigate corruption. And while it's odd that Biden's son was on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, 1) there's no evidence that either Biden did anything illegal, and 2) it tracks with Hunter's [unique personal history](. Part Two: An Investigation Became an Inquiry As House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler [took pains to explain]( on The Brian Lehrer Show last week, his committee had already launched an impeachment investigation, based on findings from the Mueller Report. What's new is, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last night launched an official "impeachment inquiry." "The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections," Pelosi said. House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (a fellow New Yorker, along with Nadler) [told NPR]( that with this latest announcement, there are now five more committees investigating the president "with an eye toward recommending the possibility of articles of impeachment connected to their jurisdiction." Part Three: What Trump Said on That Phone Call The White House this morning released [a memorandum]( (not technically a transcript) of his July phone call with the newly elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "I would like you to do us a favor," Trump apparently said. "I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation in Ukraine ... There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... it sounds horrible to me." In addition to the ethical problem of asking a foreign leader for a political favor, part of the issue hinges on whether or not Trump was offering a quid pro quo. Not long before this phone call, the White House had frozen $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. And one section of the memo that [Brian Lehrer focused on]( this morning was Trump's use of the word "reciprocal": "I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine," the president said, according to the memo. "I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine." Was the president offering something in exchange for investigating Biden, or telling the Ukrainian president that he owes Trump in exchange for that aid money? That's what Nadler, Jeffries, and hundreds of other people in Washington will spend the next 48 hours trying to figure out. Booker Could Be Out by the End of the Month Sen. Cory Booker's presidential campaign said it may throw in the towel if it doesn't raise $1.7 million by the end of September. The junior senator from New Jersey, who came in sixth in a recent Iowa poll, is [still sitting at 1 percent]( in most national Democratic primary polls. And a senior adviser to Booker told NJTV that the campaign can't simply limp along; it needs to grow in order to be competitive. "All the presidential campaigns put out desperate pleas at some point or another," said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray. "Some put them out all the time. Cory Booker’s campaign is one that does not do that. This is why it might have some impact." So far, there's evidence that Murray is right. During a 24-hour stretch over the weekend, Booker's now-or-never-tinged fundraising pitch brought in nearly $500,000. And as of [Tuesday afternoon]( the campaign was more than halfway towards that $1.7 million. ([NJTV News]( The Mayor Is Back to Mayor-ing While six extremely long days have passed since Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped out of the presidential race, it still bears mentioning in this newsletter. It also bears mentioning that in the hours after ending his campaign, de Blasio rode the subway, attended the Climate Strike, and even turned up at a meatball-eating contest at the Feast of San Gennaro. But now that the reunion weekend is over, what's he going to do with the next 2 years and 3 months left in his term? He [told Brian Lehrer]( last Friday that he's looking to get paid vacations for all New Yorkers, a local Green New Deal, and 3-K expansion. "It all falls under this quality of life rubric that he announced during his 2019 State of the City address," said WNYC's Brigid Bergin. "He has this belief that government should be there to make people's lives better." One thing that changed while de Blasio was out campaigning: City Council Speaker (and presumed mayoral hopeful) Corey Johnson became a more visible leader, and one the mayor will need to work with to get these things done. ([The Brian Lehrer Show]( North Brooklyn's Assembly Member Now Has a Primary Challenger After going without a primary challenge for nearly a decade, Assemblyman Joe Lentol, who represents Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Fort Greene, will have to compete against activist and community board member Emily Gallagher in next year's Democratic primary. Though Lentol is generally considered more liberal than other Democratic incumbents who lost their their to more progressive candidates in 2018, he has recently come under scrutiny for supporting Airbnb and accepting donations from the real estate industry. "I intimately know the struggle of so many in north Brooklyn because I’ve lived it," Gallagher told Politico, referring to her experience working in the gig economy and struggling to pay rent. The Democratic Socialists of America's Brooklyn chapter interviewed Gallagher but declined to endorse her, with one member saying she might not reflect socialist values enough. ([Politico]( This Morning's Interview With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Claire Harbage/NPR The first-term House member from the Bronx, who has long been in favor of impeachment, recently said that the Democratic Party's inaction was appearing more scandalous than the president's behavior itself. Now that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has embraced the cause, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez told NPR this morning that she doesn't envy the speaker's job — "you're kind of herding cats," she said. But she added that it's time the balance in the party tipped towards the progressive side. And on that note, she said it's time progressives get their way on a different issue: poverty. As part of a package of bills she's calling "A Just Society," she's proposing tweaks to the federal poverty line that would take into account where someone lives. For example, in New York City, which is a lot more expensive than other parts of the country, people with higher incomes would qualify for benefits like Medicaid. She would also extend those benefits to people regardless of their immigration status. "Immigrants contribute to our country economically — immigrants pay taxes," Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said. "If you contribute to our society, you should benefit from our society." [HEAR THE FULL INTERVIEW]( Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](