Above the Fold

ANOTHER LEAK: “President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent telephone call to help Attorney General William P. Barr gather information for a Justice Department inquiry that Mr. Trump hopes will discredit the Mueller investigation,” The New York Times reports, citing “two American officials with knowledge of the call.” However, as Erick Erickson points out, “If the President of the United States wants to ask Australia to help the Attorney General investigate 2016, it is his right to do so. This is an absolute nothing burger of a story.” He adds, “I have never bought into the coup rhetoric, but this is starting to look like the President and intelligence services are at war with each other.”

GIULIANI SUBPOENAED: “Democrats on Monday subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer who was at the heart of Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden’s family. … With Congress out of session for observance of the Jewish holidays, Democrats moved aggressively against Giuliani, requesting by Oct. 15 ‘text messages, phone records and other communications’ that they referred to as possible evidence. They also requested documents and depositions from three of his business associates.” (Associated Press)

Government & Politics

DOWN ANOTHER MAN: “Republican congressman Chris Collins, one of the first members of Congress to throw his support behind President Trump, reportedly resigned his congressional seat Monday a day before he is expected to plead guilty to insider-trading charges he had previously vowed to fight. Collins, 69, is accused of working with his son, Cameron Collins, to avoid more than $700,000 in losses using confidential information about the Australian company Innate Immunotherapeutics.” (National Review)

FAKE HATE CRIME: “The family of a young girl who claimed to be the victim of a hate crime at a Virginia Christian school where Karen Pence teaches admitted Monday that the girl invented the incident. The 12-year-old girl told her grandmother Wednesday that three boys in her grade at Springfield’s Immanuel Christian School held her down and cut her dreadlocks while using the racially charged term ‘nappy.’ … Major news outlets emphasized that Second Lady Karen Pence is an art teacher at Immanuel Christian’s elementary school.” (The Washington Free Beacon)

Other Notables

HONG KONG BATTLEFIELD: “Hong Kong police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at pro-democracy protesters throwing petrol bombs in the Asian financial hub on Tuesday as its Chinese rulers celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. … The South China Morning Post and television reports said at least one person was wounded in the chest by police firing live rounds.” (Reuters)

MANUFACTURING CONTRACTION CONTINUES: “A gauge of U.S. manufacturing slumped to the lowest level in more than 10 years in September as exports dived amid the escalated trade war. The U.S. manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index from the Institute for Supply Management plunged to 47.8% in September, the lowest since June 2009, marking the second consecutive month of contraction. Any figure below 50% signals a contraction.” (CNBC)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Releasing more call transcripts will cripple future presidents (Issues & insights)

POLICY: Funding by crisis doesn’t have to be the status quo (The Heritage Foundation)

HUMOR: BOMBSHELL: Shadowy spies say Trump has overdue library book (The Daily Wire)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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