So much impeachment news, an eyewitnesses recants, your weekend longreads
THE BIG STORY
The impeachment stories are coming in fast
It was one of those days where a bunch of stories about the impeachment inquiry came out. Let's walk through them: - President Donald Trump's campaign is cashing in on impeachment — seven of the reelection campaign's top days for unique donors came with the launch of the probe.
But the biggest impeachment item of the day is this: Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, acknowledged for the first time that the White House withheld Ukrainian aid so the country could investigate Democrats.
Pressed on whether this constituted a quid pro quo, Mulvaney responded that it was a normal and common action. I texted politics editor Sarah Mimms to get her sense of the significance of Mulvaney's comments.
🗣Have you been enjoying the text message exchanges? If you do, we've recently launched a show called Did You See This?, where we talk about the news via group chat, the same way you do. It's so good. Check it out here. .JPG
Hey! Heard about .JPG? It's our new newsletter that's all about stunning photojournalism from around the world. This week, deputy photo director Kate Bubacz is interviewing iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz. It's going to be incredible — so sign up right here for pictures worth a thousand words and words worth thousands of pictures. SNAPSHOTS The next G7 summit will take place at Trump's Miami resort. When reporters asked why hosting a gathering with world leaders at the president's own resort isn't a conflict of interest, Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney responded, "Trump's brand is probably strong enough as it is and he doesn't need any more help with that."
Everyone in California will now receive earthquake alerts on their phones seconds before the ground begins to shake. The first statewide system in the US will send emergency alerts to cellphones, giving residents up to 20 seconds of warning before shaking begins.
A Mexican immigrant in ICE custody died after officials waited more than 7 hours to transfer him to a hospital. According to documents we obtained, a detention center holding immigrant detainees waited hours to transfer 37-year-old Roberto Rodriguez-Espinoza to a hospital, where he died from bleeding in his brain.
Paul Dano has been cast as the Riddler in the upcoming The Batman movie. The news comes in the same week we learned that Zoë Kravitz will play Catwoman in the film which will be directed by Matt Reeves (who also directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).
CHANGING THE STORY A man was jailed for 20 years due to a single eyewitness — who now wants to recant
Antonio Mallet was convicted of killing Michael Ledeatte and went on to spend 20 years in prison for the crime. Mallet's conviction rested on Greg Walker's account — he said he saw Mallet fire a gun.
But in an affidavit filed this week, Walker claims that testimony was a lie. NYPD detectives from the Bronx coerced him into framing Mallet for the crime, he said, by threatening to send him to jail unless he pinned the murder on Mallett, a used car salesperson with no criminal record.
Walker stated that he repeatedly told officers he hadn't seen who shot his friend. But detectives wouldn't accept that. They told him Mallet was dangerous.
Mallet's case could add to mounting scrutiny of the NYPD in the wake of a BuzzFeed News investigation that revealed how hundreds of officers kept their jobs after committing serious offenses — from lying to grand juries to attacking innocent people.
Read Kendall Taggart's excellent report on this story.
TAKE A BREATHER Some longreads to sink into for this weekend
A Lot Of Old Sitcoms Don't Hold Up, But The Mary Tyler Moore Show Does. You may have noticed a lot of cringe moments when you try to rewatch Friends. But Jennifer Keishin Armstrong argues that even though The Mary Tyler Moore Show is turning 50 next year (!), it still has a lot to offer modern audiences. That's because, as Armstrong writes, "Unlike a lot of other comedies in the "vintage TV" category, the show does not mine jokes from sexual harassment, gay panic, or race and gender stereotypes."
The Leaders Of Australia's Time's Up Movement Made Big Promises They Couldn't Keep. Globally, #MeToo movements have turned momentum into action and legislation – but the Australian iteration has struggled to lock in its cultural gains. Hannah Ryan and Gina Rushton investigated why NOW Australia, the country's version of Time's Up, never took off: "NOW offers a cautionary tale: how a well-intentioned group lacking infrastructure and experience can collapse under the weight of its own expectations."
Smutty Fanfiction Taught Me More About Queer Sex Than School Ever Could. Fanfiction is a sacred space. It's as personal as it gets, with authors sharing their wishes and fantasies through characters that are known to others. Lauren Strapagiel wrote about how smutty fanfic answered a problem: "Like a lot of other queer millennials, fanfiction was my first introduction to queer sex and provided lessons that my sex ed teachers dare not speak. Where the education system failed us, our fellow horny teens stepped up."
I hope you get a chance to start your day with gratitude today, Elamin BuzzFeed, Inc.
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