THE LEDE

The Policy Stakes: Big public decisions tend to move very slowly — and then very, very fast. Donald Trump woke up Monday morning with a fairly stable grasp on his presidency; now, he’s facing impeachment over pushing the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

The question for Democrats is: How do you conduct an investigation like this in today’s hectic political media cycle? Early indications from Nancy Pelosi are: quickly. This may be more of a Netflix season, with all the episodes dropping at once, rather than an old-fashioned weekly TV show.

And then a nation’s lonely eyes will turn to…Mitt Romney. My colleague Paul has refused to make odds on exactly how unlikely it is that Trump will actually be removed by the Senate, if he’s impeached by the House. I am (very slightly) less skeptical.

Image of a slack exchange between Ben Smith and reporter Paul McLeod reading: BEN SMITH: So what odds will you give me on conviction in the senate? PAUL MCLEOD: Hang on, googling highest known number, there's no way! BEN SMITH: we can't bet if you don't give me a number

The Political Stakes: Do you miss Bill de Blasio yet? I texted with him on Friday, the day he dropped out of the campaign.

BTW: Elizabeth Warren tweeted my texts with Jay Inslee, and I’m hoping we’ll get her in here soon.

Image Description: @ewarren tweet reading, ''Thank you @JayInslee. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to stop the climate crisis- and that starts with eliminating the filibuster so that we can make the big, structural change we desperately need to save our planet.

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Pete Buttigieg

If you’d told me a year ago that the presidential campaign in late September 2019 would look like a contest between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, with other major national figures like Kamala Harris trying to stay in the mix, I wouldn’t have been surprised. If you’d told me that one of the strongest candidates would be the young mayor of South Bend, Indiana, I would have been shocked. But Pete Buttigieg has found a broad lane for an optimistic Midwestern mayor, a young man who appeals to your mom, and a progressive who talks like a centrist.

We texted Monday before the Ukraine story broke — Buttigieg had already said Trump “deserved” impeachment in April, and reiterated it this week — and after I got his adviser, Lis Smith, to give him the phone.

BEN SMITH: Mayor - thanks for doing this! Can you send over a selfie, and tull us where you are? LIS: Yo it’s Lis. Give us a sec. BEN SMITH: Give the man his phone lis! And take your time - we can go back and forth LIS: Pipe daon. We are doing a and a with the press. Q and a *.

LIS: People who actually showed us the respect of flying to Iowa instead of texting us from their couch in Brooklyn. BEN SMITH: I am on a swiveling startupy chair plastic chair in Manhattan thank you very much

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Mayor Pete Buttigieg talking to reporters on a bus. LIS: Pete rn - not a buzzfeeed reporter in sight. Sad! BEN SMITH: Heny just got off the damn bus. LIS: Henry was with us all day yesterday.

LIS: Jinx! Look just trying to keep you on your toes. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Selfie of Pete Buttigieg PETE BUTTIGIEG: Hello! Pete here BEN SMITH: Where’s the bus? PETE BUTTIGIEG: Somewhere near Elkader.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Between Osborne and Mederville, to be precise BEN SMITH: So you were in college for the original Straight Talk Express. Do you think this is basically the same, in the age of Twitter, or totally different? PETE BUTTIGIEG: High school actually! I think similar-and it’s interesting no on has attempted this since-but with social media the whole thing is more fast paced BEN SMITH: You are spending a lot of time close quarters with the press. What are you learning about them? (/us)

PETE BUTTIGIEG: They can be repetitive, just like politicians! But some good questions are starting to emerge. Big picture stuff. BEN SMITH: Your conversation with Zach about giving blood surprised a lot of people I think.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: @Chas10Buttigieg tweet from 4/6/19 reading, “Today, if Buttigief or I wish to donate blood, we must abstain from se for one year, or our blood is deemed unfit for use. Gay people are still classified as so great an HIV risk that it’s easier to reject our blood.” Link to an Atlantic article titled, “Yes, It Matters that Pete Buttigieg Is Gay” BEN SMITH: What’s the policy issue? Should the FDA change the rules? PETE BUTTIGIEG: It needs to be re-examined. A good policy would actually be based on risk, not sexual orientation alone. Especially given current blood safety testing protocols, this policy seems backward-looking.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: A lot of countries have moved in the direction of individual risk assessment or their evidence based approaches, with better results. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: @CNNPolitics Tweet from 9/19/29 reading, “Pete Buttigieg swipes at Elizabeth Warren for being “evasive” on health care BEN SMITH: Isn’t the lesson of Trump that people want boldness and clarity -- rather than pages of detail? That they want a serious plan, and you’re being too literal?

PETE BUTTIGIEG: I think they want honesty and clarity. We should be able to say what we’re for, what it means, and defend it. (Also the “lesson of Trump” should never be to be more like Trump.) BEN SMITH: Fair! You’ve talked a lot about the generational shift -- but a lot of young people really love Bernie and Warren. And you seem to be the kind of young man who really, really appeals to older voters, many people’s moms. How does that fit, or change, your view of the generational shift?

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Angel smiling emoji BEN SMITH: That’s it? PETE BUTTIGIEG: One thing I’ve noticed is older voters are often the ones most open to (or proactively excited about) generational change. Maybe they are less awed by experience after years of seeing people of different ages succeed and fail in different ways, maybe they’re thinking about their kids and grandkids. We saw the same strong pattern when I was first running for mayor. Based on rope line comments we definitely seem to be doing very well with the mother-in-law vote.

BEN SMITH: Well thank you for doing this Mr. Mayor. I gather from Lis that is was a challenge. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Screenshot of text exchange with Lis showing a picture of Pete Buttigieg on the phone and a text exchange reading: BEN SMITH: Open to questions ideas ofc. LIS: He wants to kill me rn. I’m making him do 2m things st once. BEN SMITH: I feel like I should screenshot and text him our exchange.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Ha-just trying to get her to let me concentrate versus multitask! Glad it worked out BEN SMITH: Prayer hands emojis

BUZZFEED NEWS' IMPEACHMENT LINK SPECIAL

Zoe broke down the 5 key moments from the White House phone record of Trump’s call with the president of Ukraine.

The Ukraine story is a much easier sell than the Mueller report ever was, Democrats argued — and when the record of the call was released, it was “far more damning” than they had expected.

Al Green and Tom Steyer are feeling vindicated this week.

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