1. Trump wanted Attorney General William Barr to hold a press conference to say that Trump didn’t break any laws during his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The request made its way from the White House to the Justice Department sometime around Sept. 25, around the same time the Trump administration released a summary of the July 25 call, which showed Trump dangling a meeting with Zelensky at the White House in exchange for a public investigation into Trump’s political rivals. Trump wanted Barr to go on television and clear him of any wrongdoing, a request that Barr eventually declined. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)

  2. Intelligence officials want CIA director Gina Haspel to weigh in on the CIA whistleblower whose complaint is now at the center of the House impeachment inquiry. Haspel has so far avoided making any statements about the whistleblower or the complaint, as has Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Former CIA director John Brennan called on leaders in the intelligence community to push back both publicly and privately against attempts by GOP lawmakers and administration officials to unmask and punish the whistleblower. Current U.S. intelligence officials say they have taken steps to protect the identity of the whistleblower, but they have not indicated whether Haspel or Maguire have urged Trump behind the scenes to stop encouraging efforts to out him. It is illegal for the inspector general or others who handled the complaint to reveal the identity of the whistleblower, but not for others who learn the identity through outside channels. (NBC News)

  3. Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas received $500,000 from a Long Island attorney so he could pay Rudy Giuliani to help pressure the Ukrainian government to launch investigations into Trump’s political opponents. Charles Gucciardo, a Republican donor and Trump supporter, gave the money to Lev Parnas as part of a deal that would make Gucciardo an investor in Parnas’ company, Fraud Guarantee. Parnas then gave the money to Giuliani’s firm in October 2018, which cemented the relationship between Parnas and Giuliani. Giuliani and Parnas would then go on to become a critical part of the campaign to pressure the Zelensky administration to publicly investigate Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the 2016 election. Parnas’ company, Fraud Guarantee, was presented as a bulwark against the risk of being defrauded, but the company never had any official customers and Giuliani never engaged in any public marketing for it. Giuliani is currently under federal investigation for possible foreign lobbying violations, and Parnas has been indicted for alleged campaign finance and foreign money-laundering violations. (New York Times)