EFTA00046963

into corruption in Ukraine at the meeting in Kyiv," 
Stern and Robyn Dixon report. 
"Giuliani alleged 'compelling' evidence of criminal misdeeds by Biden [in a tweet after 
the meeting], but gave no specifics. ... Derkach, an independent lawmaker who was 
formerly a member of a pro-Russian party in parliament, went to the Dzerzhinsky Higher 
School of the KGB in Moscow. He is the son of a KGB officer who later served as head 
of Ukrainian intelligence." 
Former secretary of state John Kerry endorsed Biden and plans to campaign 
with him in Iowa on Friday and New Hampshire on Sunday. "I'm not endorsing Joe 
because I've known him a long time. I'm endorsing him because I know him so well," 
Kerry told Dan Balz, who broke the story. "The world has to be put back together, the 
world that Donald Trump has smashed apart." 
Kerry, who served alongside Biden for decades in the Senate and won the Democratic 
nomination in 2004, said he feels strongly that his friend can beat Trump next 
November. "The president knows it," he told Balz. "And that's why he was so busy 
dispatching Rudy Giuliani and engaging in unconstitutional behavior." 
— Today is the last day of that special subscription deal we flagged on 
Wednesday: Through midnight, you can get one year of full digital access to The 
Post for just $30. That's as good a value as you'll find for anything. If you have a 
subscription already, you know that. If you don't, you're missing out. This could also 
make a great holiday gift. 
MORE ON THE IMMIGRATION WARS: 
Video obtained by ProPublica shows how the Border Patrol held a sick teen in a 
concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until 
his cellmate alerted guards about his death: "Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 
16-year-old Guatemalan migrant, was seriously ill when immigration agents put him in a 
small South Texas holding cell with another sick boy on the afternoon of May 19. A few 
hours earlier, a nurse practitioner at the Border Patrol's dangerously overcrowded 
EFTA00047423

processing center in McAllen had diagnosed him with the flu and measured his fever at 
103 degrees. She said that he should be checked again in two hours and taken to the 
emergency room if his condition worsened. None of that happened. Worried that Carlos 
might infect other migrants in the teeming McAllen facility, officials moved him to a cell 
for quarantine at a Border Patrol station in nearby Weslaco. By the next morning, he was 
dead. ... The agency said that an agent had found Carlos 'unresponsive' after checking 
in on him. Sanders said the Border Patrol was 'committed to the health, safety and 
humane treatment of those in our custody.' But the record shows that the Border Patrol 
fell far short of that standard with Carlos. ProPublica has obtained video that documents 
the 16-year-old's last hours, and it shows that Border Patrol agents and health care 
workers at the Weslaco holding facility missed increasingly obvious signs that his 
condition was perilous." 
— The number of pregnant immigration detainees has spiked 52 percent during the 
Trump administration. Maria Sacchetti reports: "The spike in pregnant detainees came 
after federal officials terminated an Obama administration order to release most 
expectant mothers because of health concerns. Advocates for immigrants had pushed 
the Obama administration to sharply curtail the practice of detaining pregnant women 
ahead of the 2016 elections, citing insufficient health care and nutrition in federal 
detention centers and contract jails and the increased risk of miscarriage. But shortly 
after the policy went into effect, Trump declared that nobody in the United States illegally 
is immune to detention and deportation." 
Under pressure, Trump's Department of Homeland Security backed away from 
its proposal to require mandatory facial scans for all U.S. citizens crossing the 
border. Lori Aratani reports: "Reports this week that Customs and Border Protection 
wanted to expand airport facial screening to U.S. citizens drew an immediate outcry from 
privacy advocates and lawmakers, who accused administration officials of reneging on 
promises that the scans would remain optional for citizens. ... On Thursday, however, 
CBP said it was withdrawing the proposal. 'There are no current plans to require U.S. 
citizens to provide photographs upon entry and exit from the United States,' the agency 
said in a statement. 'CBP intends to have the planned regulatory action regarding U.S. 
citizens removed from the unified agenda next time it is published.-
EFTA00047424

— The Trump administration's plan to charge huge fees to obtain immigration 
records may have the unintended consequence of undermining the booming 
genealogy testing market. Sydney Trent reports: "The fees would nearly triple, and in 
many cases, they would rise nearly 500 percent, from $130 to $625 to obtain a single 
paper file. The little-known Genealogy Program administered by U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services allows genealogists, family historians and other researchers to 
obtain citizenship and alien registration files, visa applications and other records 
documenting the lives of deceased immigrants who arrived in the United States between 
the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. ... The increases come at a time when millions of 
Americans are discovering a passion for family genealogy, spurring the growth of 
websites and services that cater to them. Ancestry.com, one of the most popular, now 
has more than 3 million paying subscribers perusing its databases of documents and 
DNA connections." 
-- A new lawsuit challenges the Trump administration's policy of requiring 
foreigners to list all of their social media accounts on visa applications. Tony 
Romm and Drew Harwell report: "The requirement — implemented as part of the 
president's controversial crackdown on immigration — amounts to an illegal surveillance 
dragnet that threatens to chill political expression online, according to a group of 
documentary filmmakers, who filed their case with the backing of two advocacy groups, 
the Brennan Center for Justice and the Knight First Amendment Institute." 
-- A House committee chair called for an independent investigation into the $400 
million border wall contract awarded this week to a North Dakota company owned 
by a frequent Fox News guest and major GOP donor. Trump personally pushed 
military officials to hire the firm. Nick Miroff reports: "In a letter to the Defense 
Department Office of Inspector General, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said there are 
reasons to be suspicious of the decision to bestow such a large contract on the 
company. Thompson cited Trump's repeated promotion of [Tommy] Fisher to the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers and a recent visit by the acting secretary of the Department of 
Homeland Security to a span of privately financed barrier the firm built outside El Paso." 
EFTA00047425

Subscribe on Amazon Echo Google Home, Apple HomePod and other podcast 
players. 
Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning briefing for 
decision-makers. 
Sign up to receive the newsletter. 
Emergency responders head to the scene of a shooting on Friday morning near the Naval Air Base Station in 
Pensacola, Fla. (WEAR-TV via AP) 
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: 
-- A shooter who opened fire Friday morning at Naval Air Station 
Pensacola, killing at least two people and injuring multiple people, has 
died, authorities said. Brittany Shammas and Alex Horton report: "It was unclear if 
the two victims killed were service members or civilians, said Lt. Cmdr. Megan 
Isaac, a Navy spokeswoman. ... An active shooting at the Naval station was 
reported at about 6:45 a.m., and the base was placed on lockdown, the Navy 
said." 
— The United States added 266,000 jobs in November as the jobless rate 
decreased to 3.5 percent, reflecting a surge of strength in the labor market that 
has muscled through recession fears that flared over the summer. Rachel Siegel 
reports: "The data, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beat expectations. 
Analysts had forecast roughly 180,000 new jobs for the month. The 3.5 percent 
unemployment rate is back at a 50-year low. The jobs data offer the latest snapshot into 
an economy that appears to have lost some steam from 2018 but continues to grow." 
— Elizabeth Warren released a letter from her physician this morning that 
EFTA00047426

describes her as "very healthy" and issued five pages of supporting medical 
records, making her the first of the four septuagenarians in the Democratic 
contest to provide details about their health. Annie Linskey reports: "Warren takes 
medication for hypothyroidism, a common condition in which the thyroid gland is 
underactive, according to the letter. Her blood pressure is 115/57, and she has had a flu 
shot this year. Warren is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 129 pounds. ... Warren also 
provided a hematology report including information on everything from her platelet count 
to the size of her red blood cells. ... 
"Sanders, at 78, is the oldest candidate in the race. He suffered a heart attack while 
campaigning in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, which sidelined him until a Democratic debate two 
weeks later. Sanders had two stents inserted, but his campaign has declined to 
specify how much damage his heart sustained and declined interview requests 
with his physician. The Vermont senator's campaign has said it would provide his 
health records by the end of the year. ... After a debate in September in which his 
answers sometimes meandered and one challenger appeared to allude to his age, 
Biden committed to releasing his health records ahead of the Iowa caucuses on 
Feb. 3." 
'I don't hate anybody': Pelosi pushes back after reporter asks if she hates Trump 
THE LATEST ON THE INVESTIGATIONS: 
-- Democrats are considering articles of impeachment against Trump that include 
obstruction and bribery, but they are unlikely to pursue a charge of treason. 
Karoun Demirjian and Mike DeBonis report: "Democratic members of the Judiciary 
Committee and Intelligence Committee, which this week released a report of their 
findings from a two-month-long impeachment investigation, have said that they believe 
Trump's actions vis-a-vis Ukraine meet the definition of bribery, one of the crimes the 
EFTA00047427

Constitution identifies specifically as an impeachable offense. ... Democratic leaders say 
they have overwhelming support in their ranks for articles dealing with the core of 
Trump's conduct regarding Ukraine ... Aides cautioned that the situation remains fluid 
and that discussions about the articles are ongoing. Several members of the Judiciary 
panel are also eager to make reference in the articles to the president's alleged efforts to 
obstruct justice in former special counsel 
S. Mueller III's Russia probe, arguing 
that Trump has repeatedly solicited or welcomed foreign interference in his election bids. 
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisted that Russia was an integral factor 
in the president's alleged misconduct regarding Ukraine, because when Trump 
decided to withhold military aid to Kyiv, it was the Kremlin that benefited. 'Russia. 
It's about Russia,' Pelosi said. 'All roads lead to Putin. Understand that.' But Democrats 
have yet to commit to including articles of impeachment that directly address Trump's 
alleged ties to Russia that were detailed in the Mueller report, or settle on how they will 
organize and draft their various grievances against the president." 
Pelosi shut down a reporter who asked her whether she "hates" Trump. Felicia 
Sonmez reports: "Pelosi ... was about to exit the room when a reporter shouted out a 
question. 'Do you hate the president, Madam Speaker?' 
Rosen, a reporter for 
Sinclair Broadcast Group, called out from a seat in the front row. Most times, Pelosi 
ignores questions shouted at her in the hallways and briefing rooms of the Capitol. But 
Rosen's query appeared to strike a nerve with Pelosi, who stopped in her tracks, turned 
to face the reporter and delivered an extraordinary rebuttal. 'I don't hate anybody,' Pelosi 
said sternly, pointing her finger at Rosen, a reporter she has dismissed as 'Mr. 
Republican Talking Points.' Pelosi then referenced her Catholic upbringing and told 
Rosen, 'Don't accuse me.' ... 'As a Catholic, I resent your using the word 'hate' in a 
sentence that addresses me,' she said. `I don't hate anyone. I was raised in a way 
that is a heart full of love, and [I] always pray for the president, and I still pray for 
the president. I pray for the president all the time. So, don't mess with me when it 
comes to words like that.— Trump responded on Twitter that he does not believe 
Pelosi prays for him. 
EFTA00047428

-- "These days Pelosi, a history major in college, spends much of her time quoting 
the founders of the nation in her bid to justify her move to embrace impeachment. 
Occasionally she favors the Bible," Rachael Bade and DeBonis report in a ticktock on 
how the speaker transformed from a skeptic to the face of impeachment. "On Thursday 
morning, before lashing out at the news conference, she read verses from the Old 
Testament book of Jeremiah to her whip team in the Capitol basement — a 
warning about corrupt kings. 'Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between 
people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don't take advantage of the homeless, the 
orphans, the widows,' she read. 'Doom to the leader who builds palaces but bullies 
people, who makes a fine house but destroys lives.-
- The phone logs disclosed in the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment 
report have raised fresh concerns about Trump's use of unsecured 
communications, against the advice of aides and breaking with longstanding 
practice. Paul Sonne, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Greg 
report: "Trump 
has routinely communicated with [Giuliani] and other individuals speaking on cellphones 
vulnerable to monitoring by Russian and other foreign intelligence services, current and 
former U.S. officials said. Phone records released this week by the House Intelligence 
Committee revealed extensive communications between Giuliani, unidentified people at 
the White House and others involved in the campaign to pressure Ukraine, with no 
indication that those calls were encrypted or otherwise shielded from foreign 
surveillance. The revelations raise the possibility that Moscow was able to learn about 
aspects of Trump's attempt to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival months before 
that effort was exposed by a whistleblower report and the impeachment inquiry, officials 
said. ... The disclosures provide fresh evidence suggesting that the president continues 
to defy the security guidance urged by his aides and followed by previous incumbents. ... 
"Trump and Giuliani have effectively 'given the Russians ammunition they can use in an 
overt fashion, a covert fashion or in the twisting of information,' said John Sipher, former 
deputy chief of Russia operations at the CIA. Sipher and others said that it is so likely 
that Russia tracked the calls of Giuliani and others that the Kremlin probably 
knows more now about those conversations than impeachment investigators. 
'Congress and investigators have call records that suggest certain things but have no 
EFTA00047429

means whatsoever of getting the actual text' of what was said, Sipher said. 'I guarantee 
the Russians have the actual information.' 
"U.S. officials said that Giuliani would have been considered a target of Russian 
intelligence efforts from early in Trump's presidency and that it is assumed that the 
Kremlin intensified its surveillance of the president's lawyer when he turned his focus to 
Ukraine — a former Soviet republic and target of Kremlin aggression where Russian 
intelligence has made deep inroads — late last year. 'That would definitely put him on 
the radar,' said a U.S. official ... U.S. officials said that Russia would likely have him 
under physical surveillance when he is in Ukraine." 
-- The White House claims that no one from the Office of Management and Budget 
spoke with Giuliani. From the Journal: "The previously undisclosed phone number 
cited by the House Intelligence Committee in its impeachment inquiry report, which The 
Wall Street Journal has identified, isn't directly linked to the Office of Management and 
Budget. It could instead reflect phone calls from other parts of the White House, 
according to people familiar with the matter ... It isn't known whom Mr. Giuliani, the 
president's personal lawyer, spoke with in the administration in the calls reflected in the 
logs, but OMB officials say it wasn't anyone on their staff. A White House official had 
previously said the call logs don't align with the cellphone records of acting chief of staff 
Mick Mulvaney, who is also the budget office director. A senior House Intelligence 
Committee official said the panels overseeing the impeachment probe are continuing to 
investigate the call records, including whether the number described as linked to OMB 
could also reference calls from elsewhere in the White House." 
-- Trump asked the Supreme Court to review court decisions granting Congress 
access to his financial records. 
Barnes reports: "Warning of 'uncharted 
territory,' Trump asked the court for the second time to review rulings from lower courts 
that have said Congress and state prosecutors have a right to review his personal and 
business records. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's decision in favor of 
the House Oversight and Reform Committee presents the Supreme Court with a 'case of 
firsts,' wrote Trump's personal lawyer William S. Consovoy. ... The Supreme Court is 
scheduled to consider a related case at its private conference Dec. 13. It involves a 
EFTA00047430

decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that granted Manhattan District 
Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. similar access to Trump's financial records, which are held by 
his longtime accounting firm Mazars USA. The company has said it will comply with final 
court orders. If the court decides to order full briefing and argument in both cases, it 
could lead to landmark decisions this term on the ability of prosecutors and Congress to 
investigate the president. Both subpoenas are independent of the House's impeachment 
inquiry." 
— A federal judge appointed by Trump rejected the Trump administration's efforts 
to conceal several financial disclosure forms submitted by former acting attorney 
general Matt Whitaker, a cable talking head whom the president tapped to serve as 
the nation's chief law enforcement officer after firing Jeff Sessions. From Politico: 
"Acting on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by BuzzFeed, District Judge 
Trevor McFadden ruled Wednesday that the draft financial disclosures are ineligible for 
protection under an exemption protecting the confidentiality of policy-making debates. 
'The Court is unpersuaded by DOJ's 'deliberative process' arguments,' wrote McFadden 
... 'Whitaker's draft forms do not bear the mark of the deliberative process.-
- Karen McDougal, the former Playboy bunny who says Trump carried on an affair 
with her while he's been married to Melania Trump, filed a lawsuit against Fox 
News for alleged defamation. From CNN: "In the lawsuit, which was filed in a New 
York state court, McDougal accused host Tucker Carlson of acting with a 'reckless 
disregard for the truth' when he suggested on a December 2018 episode of his show 
that she extorted Trump. In a statement provided by a Fox News spokesperson, the 
network said it would 'vigorously defend Tucker Carlson against these meritless claims.-
--
 commentary: 
• Jonathan Turley, the lawyer who Republicans called to testify on 
Wednesday, wrote in The Hill that he's received a deluge of hate 
mail: "Democrats offering passion over proof in Trump 
impeachment." 
• Randall D. Eliason, former assistant U.S. attorney for D.C.: "The 
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Republicans' expert is wrong about bribery." 
• Politico founder John Harris: "Donald Trump, You're No Bill 
Clinton." 
• Karen Tumulty: "Nancy Pelosi and that four-letter word." 
• Dana Milbank: "This moment was made for Nancy Pelosi." 
• Marc Thiessen: "Pelosi may have signed a political death warrant 
for moderate Democrats in Trump districts." 
• Eugene Robinson: "Trump is impeaching himself." 
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador meets with Attorney General Bill Barr on Thursday at the 
Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. (Mexican Presidency/AFP) 
THE NEW WORLD ORDER: 
-- Attorney General Bill Barr's meeting in Mexico could be a prelude to greater U.S. 
involvement in the fight against drug cartels. 
Sieff reports: When Barr "met 
with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday, it marked the 
highest-level discussion of a matter of bitter disagreement between the two countries: 
Should drug cartels be designated as terrorist organizations? ... For decades, the United 
States has worked with Mexico to combat drug cartels, helping to develop the very 
architecture of Mexico's security apparatus. But with Trump and Lopez Obrador, the 
dynamic is more complicated than ever before. Lopez Obrador, known by his initials as 
AMLO, has long rejected a security strategy involving increased militarization, instead 
endorsing an array of social programs aimed at dissuading would-be cartel members 
from joining organized crime. Trump, on the other hand, has been talking about a U.S. 
role in fighting cartels since taking office. ... 
"After Thursday's meeting, both sides played down the dispute over the terrorist 
designation, which could potentially have implications for both U.S. security 
involvement in Mexico and Mexico's financial sector, if more comprehensive anti-
money laundering policies are applied. ... In a news release about the meeting, the 
Justice Department did not mention the terrorism designation. ... Still, many in Mexico 
EFTA00047432

worry about a further emboldening of security forces in the fight against drug traffickers. 
Over the past decade, that approach has frequently led to the splintering of armed 
groups and an uptick in violence." 
"Pelosi is pushing to strip out sweeping legal protections for online content in 
the new trade pact with Mexico and Canada, in what would be a blow for big 
technology companies," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Internet firms lobbied hard to 
include the immunity language in the trade agreement, seeing it as a way to extend to 
Mexico and Canada the broad umbrella of legal protection they enjoy in the U.S." 
— China will waive tariffs on some U.S. soybeans and pork in a goodwill gesture 
as the two sides try to reach a broader agreement to defuse their trade war. From 
Reuters: "The tariff waivers were based on applications by individual firms for U.S. 
soybeans and pork imports, the finance ministry said in a statement, citing a decision by 
the country's cabinet. It did not specify the quantities involved. China had imposed the 
levies in response to tariffs launched by Washington over allegations that China steals 
and forces the transfer of American intellectual property to Chinese firms, known as 
Section 301. That includes tariffs of 25% on both U.S. soybeans and pork in July 2018 
and a further 10% on pork and 5% on soybeans in September this year. The waiver 
comes amid negotiations between the United States and China to conclude a 'phase 
one' or interim deal to de-escalate a 17-month trade war that has roiled financial 
markets, disrupted supply chains and weighed on global economic growth." 
— The U.S. said Iranian forces may have killed more than 1,000 protesters during 
weeks of unrest. Carol Morello and Missy Ryan report: "Brian Hook, the special 
representative for Iran, said the Trump administration will ask Congress to impose harsh 
sanctions on officials responsible for the alleged atrocities and mistreatment of 
thousands of protesters who have been imprisoned since anti-government 
demonstrations have convulsed Iran." 
— Trump's bromance with Kim Jong Un appears to be turning sour after the North 
Korean leader responded to Trump's "rocket man" diss by invoking the "senile 
dotard" taunt. Simon Denyer reports: "On Tuesday, Trump jokingly dusted off an old 
EFTA00047433

nickname for Kim, calling him 'Rocket Man' for his keenness to test his weapons 
systems. If it was a joke, Pyongyang didn't get it. North Korea responded angrily on 
Thursday by threatening to call Trump a senile dotard. The U.S. president 'has lost 
politeness to the highest dignity of our republic and dared to use metaphors,' said Choe 
Son Hui, North Korea's vice foreign minister, according to the Korean Central News 
Agency. ... 'If he uses statements and expressions that intentionally amplify the 
atmosphere of confrontation at this time of crisis, we will have to diagnose that the 
dotard started to be senile again,' she said." 
-- New satellite imagery shows activity at a previously dismantled North Korean 
test site. From CNN: "The commercial satellite imagery, which was captured on 
Thursday by Planet Labs, shows new activity at Sohae Satellite Launching Station and 
the presence of a large shipping container at the facility's engine test stand, according 
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury 
Institute, which works in partnership with the imaging company. The shipping container 
was not seen at the site before Thursday and its presence suggests the North Koreans 
are moving to resume tests engine tests at Sohae..." 
— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended an off-the-books sit-down meeting 
with a conservative group that included a number of wealthy Republican donors 
while he was in London for the NATO summit. From CNN: "The gathering, hosted by 
the Hamilton Society, conveniently took place in the hotel where Pompeo was staying, 
situated in a small events space on the second floor. Pompeo slipped into the meeting, 
without the State Department alerting the press traveling with him about where he was 
headed or who he was going to meet. ... The Hamilton Society is a group of right-
leaning American and British business professionals who often invite guest speakers to 
meet them. The news that he made time to meet with the donors after a busy day 
visiting with world leaders only serves to heighten speculation that Pompeo may 
be eyeing a run for the Senate in Kansas next year and as he has become further 
embroiled in the Ukraine impeachment inquiry." 
-- Two Russian nationals were charged in global hacking schemes that deployed 
some of the largest pieces of malware ever seen to swipe tens of millions of 
EFTA00047434

dollars from unsuspecting victims' bank accounts. Devlin Barrett and Matt 
Zapotosky report: "Officials identified those charged as Maksim Yakubets of Moscow 
and Igor Turashev of Yoshkar-Ola, Russia. They said that a $5 million reward is being 
offered for information that leads to Yakubets's capture and that it's the largest 
such money offering yet for a cyber criminal. Brian Benczkowski, who heads the 
Justice Department's criminal division, said Yakubets was the 'leader of a criminal cyber 
gang' and had been involved in cyber crime for the past decade on an 'unimaginable 
scale.-
- In Germany, Angela Merkel made a symbolic visit to the former Nazi 
concentration camp at Auschwitz for the first time in her 14 years as 
chancellor. (Loveday Morris) 
-- Australia's drought could be responsible for New Zealand's glaciers turning red 
and pink. (Australian Broadcasting Company) 
-- Indian police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young 
veterinarian when she was on her way home from work last week. (BBC) 
'Investigators are there first to protect Uber.' One worker shares her experience in a call center. 
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS THAT SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED: 
Uber has disclosed that 3,000 sexual assaults were reported on its U.S. rides 
last year, the first time it has revealed the scale of the safety problem that exists at 
ride-hailing companies. Faiz Siddiqui reports: "The reported assaults were part of 
Uber's long-awaited safety study, published Thursday amid widespread and ongoing 
criticism of its safety practices and pressure to increase its transparency about the issue. 
In the lengthy report, which divides sexual misconduct into 21 categories but focuses on 
the five most serious, Uber said it recorded 235 rapes last year and thousands more 
reports of assault that could involve unwanted touching, kissing or attempted rape. The 
EFTA00047435

reports involved drivers and passengers. The company tallied roughly 6,000 reports of 
those types of assault in 2017 and 2018. ... Uber said its data showed that drivers 
reported instances of sexual assault at the same rate as riders across the five most 
serious categories it recorded. ... 
"Uber said there were 107 motor-vehicle fatalities in 2017 and 2018, with a total of 
97 fatal crashes involving users on the app. The company also said there were 19 fatal 
physical assaults over the same time period, during which it said an average of more 
than 3.1 million trips took place each day. ... Lyft has pledged to release a transparency 
report of its own. ... Lyft has faced lawsuits from at least 34 women in San 
Francisco who allege they were raped or sexually assaulted on rides booked 
through the app." 
— In an amicus brief, hundreds of lawyers shared their own abortion stories as the 
Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to Louisiana's assault on 
reproductive rights. Deanna Paul reports: "Having exercised what they say is their right 
to a safe and legal abortion, for varied personal and medical reasons, the women said 
they were compelled to tell the nation's highest court the role it played in their life 
trajectories. 'Becoming a first-generation professional would have been impossible 
without access to safe and legal abortion services,' one signer wrote. 'The ability to 
make my own choice, to even have a choice, gave me control over my life when I felt 
like I was utterly powerless.' ... Another described her 31-year-old mother's death in 
1959, after she attempted to perform her own abortion. ... Many of the brief's signers 
are women with whom the Supreme Court justices went to law school, clerked 
alongside and employed as clerks. Some are the female attorneys who stand up and 
argue before them." 
— A uranium-contaminated site collapsed into the Detroit River last month. From 
the Detroit Free Press: "Located next to Historic Fort Wayne and leased by Detroit Bulk 
Storage, the site known as the Detroit Dock allegedly collapsed under the weight of large 
aggregate piles that were stored at the site during Thanksgiving weekend. The property 
has been listed by the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency 
as a contaminated site due to its use of uranium and other dangerous chemicals during 
EFTA00047436

manufacturing dating to the 1940s..." 
-- Armed robbers in Florida hijacked a UPS truck and led police on a chase that 
ended in a fatal shootout. Marisa lati reports: "The two robbers, a UPS driver and a 
person in a nearby car were killed in the shooting in Miramar, George Piro, a Federal 
Bureau of Investigation agent, told reporters. Police said no officers were killed. A female 
employee of Regent Jewelers in nearby Coral Gables was injured, that city's police force 
said. Her status was not immediately clear, Chief Ed Hudak told reporters. The incident 
began when Coral Gables police received a silent holdup alarm from the jewelry store in 
the city's Miracle Mile section around 4:15 p.m., Hudak said. ... The robbers fled north in 
a truck and, about 20 minutes later, abducted a UPS truck and its driver at gunpoint 
while the driver was making a delivery in Coral Gables, Hudak said." 
— Three soldiers were killed after a National Guard helicopter crashed in 
Minnesota. (Reis Thebault) 
— California regulators imposed a one-year moratorium banning insurers from 
dropping policies for homeowners in wildfire-ravaged areas of the state. From the 
Los Angeles Times: "The move comes amid an exodus of some insurers in communities 
hard hit by fires, forcing some homeowners to take plans that provide less coverage, 
sometimes at higher premiums. Some have had to go without insurance altogether. 'I 
have heard the same story again and again. People getting dropped by their insurance 
after decades,' California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said. 'To add insult to 
injury, many struggle to find coverage.' Though existing law prohibits insurers from 
dropping policies for homeowners who have suffered a total loss in a wildfire, the 
moratorium relies on a law that went into effect this year that extends that rule to 
homeowners who live adjacent to a declared wildfire emergency and did not lose their 
home." 
-- General Motors and LG Chem will invest up to $2.3 billion by 2023 to form a joint 
venture for production of battery cells for electric vehicles in Ohio. The facility is 
expected to create 1,100 new jobs for the area. (CNBC) 
Republican Rep. Tom Graves, who represents a solidly red district in Georgia, 
EFTA00047437

announced he will not seek reelection. (CNN) 
Members of St. 
were deeply disturbed by the hateful graffiti scrawled on the church's walls. 
(Suzannah Couch/Brown County Democrat) 
— An investigation into the defacing of a church in Indiana soon after Trump's 
election led to an unlikely suspect - and the discovery of a hate crime hoax. Peter 
Jamison reports: "The knock on Nathan Stang's door came just after 1 p.m. ... 'Hi, 
Nathan,' said Brian Shrader, a deputy with the Brown County Sheriff's Department. 
'Remember me?' ... It was Shrader who had interviewed him after an appalling act of 
vandalism at St. 
Episcopal Church, where Stang played the organ and directed 
the choir. On the Sunday morning after the 2016 election, Stang had discovered the 
church's walls defaced with black spray paint: a swastika, along with the words 'Heil 
Trump' and 'Fag Church.' ... The graffiti in rural Indiana became a national sensation, 
part of a string of high-profile hate crime reports in the wake of Trump's victory. ... Stang 
played music as the spray paint was finally scrubbed off at a ceremony of healing 
attended by more than 200 people. ... As a gay man, Stang had dreaded the 
unexpected triumph of Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, an ardent 
opponent of same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights. ... 
"When Shrader appeared on his doorstep five months later, in April 2017, Stang was 
struggling with major depression. Over the winter, he had contemplated suicide. His face 
— fine-featured and quick to come alive when he sat at the keyboard or stood before a 
classroom of undergraduates — was covered in dark stubble. ... Stang, expressionless, 
watched the 30-year-old detective's face. There had been no arrests for the vandalism, 
and no outward signs that investigators were making progress. But the case had 
reached a critical juncture, and though Stang didn't know it, Shrader was surreptitiously 
recording their conversation. A copy of the video was later provided to The Washington 
Post. 'I've spent six months on this case, okay? A long time,' Shrader said slowly. He 
took a breath and placed his right hand, palm down, on the armrest console that 
separated them. 'Based on what I've found in this investigation,' he told the 
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organist, `you're responsible for this.'" 
West Virginia's governor is calling for the firing of several corrections 
employees who are already suspended for performing a Nazi salute in a class 
photo. Kim Bellware reports: "Gov. Jim Justice (R) said such conduct would not be 
tolerated. ... 'I have directed Secretary Jeff Sandy of the Department of Military Affairs 
and Public Safety to continue actively investigating this incident, and I have ordered the 
termination of all those that are found to be involved in this conduct,' [he told The Post]. 
Justice was briefed on the matter by Sandy, who announced in a Wednesday letter to 
DCR employees that several employees had been suspended. ... In his letter, Sandy did 
not discuss how or when the photo came to his attention. The photo, provided to The 
Post with faces of the participants already blurred out, is labeled as DCR 'Basic Training 
Class #18' that took place from Oct. 21 to Nov. 27." 
— A former video editor for Infowars host Alex Jones describes in a New York 
Times essay the tense - and sometimes downright abusive — conditions the 
conspiracy theorist's staff worked under as they produced stories based on 
misinformation and debunked myths. "Working for Jones was a balancing act. You 
had to determine where he was emotionally and match his tone quickly. If he was angry, 
then you had better get angry. If he was joking around, then you could relax, sort of, 
always looking out of the corner of your eye for his mood to turn at any moment. ... 
Ideas for stories mostly came from what other news outlets reported. Jones wanted us to 
'hijack' the mainstream media's coverage and use it to our advantage. If it fit into the 
Infowars narrative, it played," writes Josh 
In the essay, 
admits to making up stories about a Muslim community in 
New York. "We were sent to visit Muslim-majority communities throughout the United 
States to investigate what Jones instructed us to call 'the American Caliphate.' ... We 
landed in Newark at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2015. The first stop was Islamberg, a Muslim 
community three hours north of Manhattan. It was founded in the 1980s by mostly 
African-American followers of a Pakistani cleric named Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani 
Gilani 
was suspected of association with the organization Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which was briefly 
designated as a terrorist group by the State Department in the 1990s; Gilani has denied 
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any connection to the group. ... But unfounded rumors circulated around far-right 
corners of the internet that this community was a potential terrorist-training center. 
Jones, who thought the media consistently ingratiated themselves with Islamic 
extremists, believed them. ... We pulled in, unannounced ... Because of the conspiracy 
theories about the place, Islamberg was a constant target of right-wing extremists ... So 
the phone call we received later that night from a law-enforcement agent shouldn't have 
come as a surprise. The officer who contacted us said he simply wanted to verify who 
we were after receiving a concerned call from someone in Islamberg. ... Jones told us 
to file a story that accused the police of harassment, lending credence to the 
theory that this community contained dangerous, potential terrorists. I knew this 
wasn't the case according to the information we had. We all did." 
SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: 
Nancy Pelosi's team compared Trump to Richard Nixon: 
Trump went after Pelosi after she made her impeachment announcement: 
A quote from Fiona Hill, who worked on Trump's National Security Council until this 
summer and testified against him last month, seemed apropos: 
Trump's campaign manager tried to use polling from a district held by a freshman 
Democrat to criticize the impeachment proceedings. The attack backfired: 
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Rep. Devin Nunes claimed he doesn't remember what he talked about with indicted 
Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, so Parnas's lawyer tried to refresh his memory: 
Elizabeth Warren's campaign is clashing with Pete Buttigieg's campaign after the 
Massachusetts senator said the South Bend, Ind., mayor should release the names of 
his bundlers, something he did after the first quarter but then discontinued: 
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is refusing to resign, but he's been told he should not vote 
now that he's pleaded guilty to a felony: 
Someone was editing the Wikipedia page for the Washington Examiner, a conservative 
publication, from within the White House: 
The president appears to use a lot of salt and pepper: 
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Former House speaker Paul Ryan is up to more jolly activities now that he's retired: 
And here's something to warm your heart: A kindergartener in Michigan invited his entire 
class to his adoption day ceremony: 
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 
"I can barely imagine how nerve-racking and stressful it is," said Sen. Richard 
Blumenthal (D-Conn.), referring to the plight facing his Senate colleagues running for 
president as an impeachment trial threatens to keep them out of Iowa. "The organizers 
of events are all going to say, 'If you fail to be at this event, you've lost.' They're all 
jealous lovers." (Sean Sullivan) 
VIDEOS OF THE DAY: 
Sen. 
Bennet (D-Colo.) announced this morning that he plans to hold 50 New 
Hampshire town halls in the 10 weeks leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary: 
Trump and the first lady continued the 97-year-old tradition of lighting the National 
Christmas Tree: 
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