THE BIG STORY

Fiona Hill and David Holmes testify at Trump’s impeachment hearings

Quick background here: Fiona Hill is the former senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council staff. David Holmes is a political counselor at the US Embassy in Kyiv, and said he overheard a July 26 phone call between ambassador Gordon Sondland and President Donald Trump.

Hill and Holmes both testified before the Trump impeachment inquiry.

Hill chastised the committee for perpetuating the false claim that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 presidential election, saying, “This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.”

She went further, and added, “I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.”

Holmes said he had a “clear impression” that the hold on military aid for Ukraine was meant to add to the pressure on Ukraine’s government to launch an investigation into Trump’s political rivals.

👉Hill gave a very relatable answer about women’s anger during her testimony: “Often when women show anger, it’s not fully appreciated. It’s often, you know, pushed on to emotional issues or perhaps deflected onto other people.”

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Impeachment Today

We made it through the impeachment hearings. In today's episode of our daily impeachment podcast, we talk about what happens next in the process. Listen and subscribe.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

“Nothing is off the table” for Facebook as Google and Twitter crack down on political ads

A few weeks ago, Twitter announced that it will restrict political advertising on its platforms. This week, Google followed suit.

The moves have put pressure on Facebook to act, so its advertising brain trust is huddling to consider changes to its rules on political advertising, including ad targeting restrictions of its own.

Political advertising professionals are worried the momentum would push Facebook to roll out draconian restrictions, hampering their ability to get their message across on what they said was the most important online advertising platform.

SNAPSHOTS

The California high school shooter used an untraceable “ghost” gun, sheriff says. Police confirmed that the 16-year-old who shot five classmates and killed himself in Santa Clarita used a gun assembled from a kit, also known as a ghost gun — a weapon without a serial number.

These women are going through “hell” after finding out their breast implants were linked to cancer. Millions of breast implants were recalled after they were linked to a higher risk of developing breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, an uncommon cancer that has sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 33 others.

A 14-year-old boy allegedly posted a photo of his black classmate in a Craigslist ad called “Slave for sale.” The Illinois boy, who has not been identified, was charged with two counts of a felony hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct.

The Victoria’s Secret fashion show has been canceled as consumers demand more diversity. After nearly 25 years, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is done as the company struggles to find its voice in an era were body diversity and inclusivity has gained more traction with consumers.

"THROUGH HELL AND BACK"

These elite women runners are calling out Nike and US sports agencies for enabling a toxic, abusive culture

It’s a charged time to be a sponsored athlete — big-name brands and high-powered US athletic agencies have been accused of covering up and enabling alleged abuse and mistreatment of young, star runners, as well as widespread doping.

It’s against this background that Olympic runners Alysia Montaño and Kara Goucher said they are fed up, describing how they have gone through “hell and back” in a sport that they love to their core, but has caused them so much pain and anger.

Montaño and Goucher, and a host of other powerful women runners have been lambasting big brands and governing sports bodies for how they allegedly treat their women athletes, accusing them of protecting coaches who abuse, body-shame, and sacrifice their athletes' health to win.

TIME TO UNWIND

Because you need some longreads to get you through the weekend

The new trend in feminism is feeling nothing. A darkly comic, deadpan tone is in a lot of recent writing about feminism. Emmeline Clein looks closely at its popularity: “...we now seem to be interiorizing our existential aches and angst, smirking knowingly at them, and numbing ourselves to maintain our nonchalance. Let’s call it dissociation feminism.”

In the age of so-called cancel culture, Jeffree Star is doing fine. The YouTube beauty mogul is apologizing a lot lately. Scaachi Koul wrote about how he’s escaped being canceled: “At this point, it seems as though Star actually has joined the select rank of un-cancelable YouTubers who could weather any storm.”

This mom is buying mutant mice from China to find a cure for her son’s rare genetic disease. Amber Freed’s newborn couldn’t move his hands because of a disease so rare, only an estimated 100 other people have it in the world. Dan Vergano reports on her efforts to find a cure: “The only option was for me to create our own miracle. Nobody else was going to help.”

Recognize when you've done your best and give yourself credit for it,

Elamin