THE BIG STORY

Ambassador Bill Taylor laid out Trump’s alleged quid pro quo to Ukraine in Congressional testimony

Okay, first things first: quid pro quo is just a fancy way of saying “something in exchange for another thing.” Don’t let a dead language get in the way of understanding the news.

The whole Donald Trump impeachment story centers on whether the president withheld aid from Ukraine in exchange for that country’s officials investigating his political opponents, aka a quid pro quo.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that there was no quid pro quo in his dealings with Ukraine. Yesterday, Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, shared new details with members of Congress about Trump’s efforts to secure Ukraine’s help investigating Joe Biden and the 2016 election, laying out in clear terms a quid pro quo request by the president.

House Democrats who heard Taylor’s testimony said that it was one of the most impactful depositions they had held so far. One lawmaker told Politico, “The body language of the people hearing it was ‘holy shit,’ seriously.”

This is a particularly dramatic time for a testimony like this — After weeks of closed-door testimonies, Democrats are preparing to put the Trump impeachment inquiry on TV soon.

👉 Also, Trump compared his impeachment to black people being killed by racists, which: nope.

Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine. Alex Wong / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Boris Johnson has lost a crunch vote on his timetable to deliver Brexit by Oct 31.

In the worst will-they-or-won’t-they since Ross and Rachel, Britain is again on course for another Brexit delay, a sentence I’ve written many times this year alone.

The latest delay comes after MPs voted to reject Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s timetable to ram legislation through Parliament in time to take the UK out of the European Union by Oct. 31. Opposition MPs rejected the rush job, and said they need more time to scrutinize the bill.

Attention now turns to Brussels to see how EU leaders will respond to Britain’s request for an extension.

THE STAKES 2020

Next up on Ben Smith's wheel-of-candidate-interviews: Billionaire hedge fund manager and Democratic candidate Tom Steyer! See what he has to say about being an outsider in politics and find out what's up with that drawing on his hand by subscribing to The Stakes 2020.

SNAPSHOTS

A police officer who threatened to shoot a black family during a shoplifting investigation will be fired. The May confrontation in Phoenix was captured in cellphone videos by witnesses and prompted the family to file a lawsuit. The police department says Officer Christopher Meyer, who threatened to shoot and also kicked a handcuffed man, will be fired.

The anonymous author of the “resistance inside the Trump administration” op-ed has written a book. After the 2018 New York Times editorial went viral, the anonymous author will release a book on Nov. 19, called A Warning.

Rosario Dawson and her family have been accused of physically and verbally abusing a trans man. Dedrek Finley, who was hired to do construction work at the actor’s home, filed a civil suit against the star, alleging Dawson and her family frequently misgendered and discriminated against him because of his gender identity.

A local TV reporter was fired for jumping on classic cars during a live segment. CBS 13's Good Day Sacramento reporter Angel Cardenas was fired after an on-air segment in which he got excited and jumped on several cars, inspiring outrage from classic car lovers.

Might as well jump. CBS 13

GROUNDBREAKING CASE

What you need to know about the historic climate fraud case against Exxon

It’s the first climate fraud lawsuit to go to trial in the United States, and the consequences could be groundbreaking.

The New York attorney general is taking ExxonMobil to trial, accusing the oil giant of misleading investors about the company’s financial risks due to climate change.

There’s some creative legal stuff happening here: the state is acting under a 1921 anti-fraud law meant to protect investors against false statements, even ones made without proof of intent to deceive.

An expert explained to us that the case against Exxon hinges on whether they are found to be keeping “two sets of books,” essentially portraying climate risk to shareholders “differently in public than they are behind closed doors.”

ABSOLUTELY NOPE

This mom thought she saw a terrifying ghost baby in bed with her son but the truth is hilarious

Maritza Cibuls put her two young children to bed around 8:30. Then, when she checked the video baby monitor, she noticed something strange lurking beside her son: a...ghost baby?

Citbuls she texted her mom, husband, and sister a photo. She also posted it on a Facebook parenting group. Her husband, who was at work, told her it was probably her son's drool, which she conceded was probably right.

The next day, she noticed her post was blowing up on Facebook, with people demanding to know what happened next. So Citbuls worked up the courage to investigate the situation. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you, but let’s just say no one saw that coming. For context, here's the ghost baby:

I hope you show up for yourself and your own needs today,

Elamin