THE BIG STORY

A White House official who listened to Trump’s Ukraine call says the transcript was edited

The impeachment inquiry heard from a top White House official who listened to President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president, and he told Congress that the White House version of the transcript failed to include key details from the call.

To refresh your memory: the call is at the center of an impeachment probe into Trump and whether he withheld aid in exchange for Ukraine’s government investigating his political opponents.

Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top expert on Ukraine on the National Security Council, told Congress that he tried to have the information added to the White House's official transcript of the call, but the edits were not included in the version released to the public.

The information omitted will likely raise new questions from impeachment investigators as to how the White House handled the transcript released to the public, and what information was kept out.

👉 You should also know: House Republicans want to out the identity of the whistleblower whose memo helped trigger the impeachment inquiry, despite legal protections granting anonymity.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Impeachment Today

In today's episode of our daily impeachment podcast, we reenact the call between Trump and Ukraine's president with Shakespearean vigor, so we can explain what all the fuss is about. Listen and subscribe here.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

A judge just blocked Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion

In May, Alabama introduced the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country. It bans abortion nearly entirely — it only allows it when the woman’s life is at risk — and makes no exemptions for rape or incest. The law called for any doctors who performed the procedure to be sentenced to anywhere from 10 years to life in prison.

The law — which was met with nationwide protests — was slated to go into effect on Nov. 15, but a federal judge blocked it.

Anti-abortion legislators and proponents write and pass laws like Alabama’s expecting they’ll be challenged in court, and hope they will eventually reach the Supreme Court.

SNAPSHOTS

The UK will have a general election on Dec. 12. MPs finally granted Boris Johnson an election at his fourth time of asking, after they failed to find another way through the Brexit impasse. It will be the third time since 2015 that the country has been asked to choose a new government.

The NCAA will let student athletes make money off their names and images. The National Collegiate Athletic Association will reverse a long-standing rule and allow student-athletes to make money off their sporting achievements while earning a degree. The change will be implemented by January 2021.

Juul shipped at least a million contaminated pods, a new lawsuit says. A former Juul executive is alleging the company shipped contaminated e-cigarette pods but did not tell customers or issue a recall. The lawsuit claims the then-CEO said, “Half our customers are drunk and vaping like mo-fos, who the fuck is going to notice the quality of our pods.”

The Game of Thrones prequel starring Naomi Watts is no longer happening at HBO. The prequel was to be set to take place thousands of years before the beloved original series, but HBO has reportedly passed on the project after being unhappy with the pilot. However, a different spinoff prequel, House of the Dragon, is indeed coming to HBO.

"A MEGAPHONE FOR HATE"

Facebook failed the Rohingya in Myanmar. Now it may be repeating its mistakes in Assam.

In 2018, a UN report described Facebook as a “useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate,” in reference to the role it played in the state-led violence that displaced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in 2017. The report accused Facebook of not doing enough to stop the spread of hate.

A new report says a similar situation is unfolding as hate speech targeting Bengali Muslims in the Indian state of Assam has spread on Facebook. The report, titled “Megaphone for Hate,” was released by Avaaz, a nonprofit activism network that works on issues like human rights around the world.

Comments and posts that called Bengali Muslims “pigs,” “terrorists,” “dogs,” “rapists,” and “criminals,” — seemingly in violation of Facebook’s standards on hate speech — were shared nearly 100,000 times and viewed at least 5.4 million times, according to Avaaz’s tally.

A LOOK BACK

It’s the end of the decade, so tell us your favorite book from the 2010s

Honestly, it’s been a stellar decade for art in general. Great music. Excellent TV. Fantastic films. But what we really want to know is: what books from this decade were your favorites?

Whether it’s Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, or Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, tell us what you loved!

Revisit the things that remind you of your best self today,

Elamin