Liar, Liar: Even as word comes that House investigators are asking whether President Trump lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller during the Russia investigation, the President said he will “strongly consider” testifying in writing as part of the impeachment inquiry.

  He tweeted, “Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!”

  Believe it when it actually happens.

  The House investigators are trying to determine whether Trump lied to the Special Counsel when he said in writing that he didn’t know about communications between his campaign and WikiLeaks regarding stolen Democratic Party emails. In a court hearing on a request to see the Special Counsel’s grand jury material, a House lawyer said, “I believe the special counsel said the president had been untruthful in some of his answers.”

  Mueller said more than that. In testimony before Congress when he was asked whether Trump hadn’t always been truthful, Mueller replied, “I would say generally.”

  Evidence in the Roger Stone trial showed that Stone reported inside information from Wikileaks to the Trump campaign.

  An impeachment vote appears certain at some point. In a letter to House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote yesterday, “The facts are uncontested: that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests.” 

The Lineup: One of the most important testimonies in the impeachment inquiry takes place on Wednesday with the appearance of Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who will be asked to confirm a cellphone call that would be very damaging to the President.

  A witness to the cellphone call in a restaurant said Trump told Sondland that he cared more about Ukraine investigating former Vice President Joe Biden than he did about the security of Ukraine itself. 

  Sondland is a Trump diehard who previously denied the so-called “quid-pro-quo” on Ukraine military aid and then changed his statement. If he denies what witnesses heard on the cellphone call, he could be up for a perjury charge.  

  Today’s witnesses include Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert for the National Security Council; Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence; Kurt D. Volker, the former United States special envoy to Ukraine; and Timothy Morrison, a Europe and Russia expert for the National Security Council.

  Vindman, Williams and Morrison all listened in real time to the July phone call between Trump and Ukraine’s president that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry. Morrison is also the aide who overheard the restaurant conversation Sondland had with Trump.

Mayor Pete: After flooding the Iowa television markets with $2.1 million worth of advertisements, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg now leads in polls among Democrats for the Iowa Caucuses next year. It’s early, but this is big for a candidate who’s held no statewide or national office and was barely known before he declared for president.

  In the three latest polls, Buttigieg beats Elizabeth Warren and comes second to Joe Biden in only one. In the most recent, Buttigieg is #1 at 25 percent.

Let’s Make a Deal: The US has delayed joint US-South Korean air force drills in an attempt to encourage North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to re-engage in nuclear disarmament talks. US Defense Secretary Mike Esper said, “We also urge the DPRK to return to the negotiating table without precondition or hesitation.”

  President Trump gave a half-hearted defense of Sen. Joe Biden, who Kim called a “rabid dog” for being critical of his regime. Trump tweeted, ““Joe Biden may be sleepy and very slow, but he is not a ‘rabid dog.’ He is actually somewhat better than that.”

The Bulletin Board: The Supreme Court put a hold on a lower court ruling that President Trump’s accounting firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to a House committee. —- A Colorado jury convicted Patrick Frazee of murdering Kelsey Berreth, his fiancée who went last missing last Thanksgiving. Berreth, whose body was never found, was the mother of the couple’s infant daughter. — Two chemistry professors at Henderson State University in Arkansas have been charged with making methamphetamines. Hollywood would make a television series about it, but that’s been done already.

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