Brian Lehrer Is All Over Today's Impeachment Hearing

Listen to his podcast, and his post-hearing special [Politics Brief from WNYC + Gothamist] [Keep friends and family informed. Forward the Politics Brief.]( Another Day in the Long-Running Feud Between Jerry Nadler and Donald Trump By [James Ramsay]( J. Scott Applewhite/AP Images Back in 1985, when Donald Trump was just 39, he wanted to build a giant mixed-use complex on top of an old rail yard on the Upper West Side. His proposal, which he called "Television City," included film and TV studios, retail space, a bunch of parking, and seven residential towers, including a 153-story building with a penthouse at the top that he himself would live in. And then Jerry Nadler, at the time a Democratic State Assemblymember representing the Upper West Side, stepped in to stop it. His constituents didn't want their sunlight or their views blocked. The project was demanding a suspicious amount of tax breaks. Architecture critics thought it would [look dumb](. And though the complex was eventually built, albeit on a smaller scale, the episode kicked off a feud between Trump and Nadler that has lasted to this day. Now, Congressman Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing this phase of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. "For Nadler, I don't know if it was personal," WNYC's Brian Lehrer told Morning Edition host Richard Hake today. "He was representing the neighborhood. And his tenacity in fighting Trump did help him earn a promotion from State Assembly to Congress when a seat came open in 1992. "But for Trump, it's usually personal," Lehrer added. "The bottom line as it relates to today is, he never forgave Jerry Nadler." [Hear Brian Lehrer's full recap of the Trump-Nadler saga]( and tune in to WNYC tonight at 8 p.m. for Lehrer's live analysis of today's hearing. Bloomberg Is Now Polling in 5th Place After spending nearly $40 million on an initial advertising blitz (Mike 2020 and the Peloton ad have taken over the screens in my local Blink Fitness), he's sitting at 6 percent in a new Hill-HarrisX poll. The fourth place candidate, Pete Buttigieg, is at 9 percent; Joe Biden is leading the poll at 31 percent. Because the former New York City mayor and media billionaire is not taking campaign donations, he [won't appear in next month's debate]( which has polling and fundraising requirements. (Tom Steyer, the other billionaire in the field who's been spending a ton on TV ads, is one of the six candidates who has qualified so far.) But while he's not fundraising his way onto the debate stage, Bloomberg is spending more of his own fortune on TV spots — a strategy that has opened him up to criticism that he's trying to buy the race. "You just can’t simply allow wealthy people to come in and buy elections," Sen. Amy Klobuchar recently told [The View](. "I don’t think America looks at the guy in the White House and says, 'Let’s find someone richer.'" Bloomberg's [new ad campaign]( which launches today, will run for the next two weeks on national TV in all 50 states, and in about 100 local markets. ([The Hill]( The Race for New Jersey's Democratic Party Leader Has Become a Proxy Fight Unless you're one of the 100 or so Democratic State Committee members, you don't get to vote for who leads the party. But the election does affect all New Jersey residents, since the committee chair influences how district lines could be redrawn in 2021. And the election for that job has become a heated battle between incumbent John Currie and his challenger, Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones. Currie, who has held the job since 2013, has supported Gov. Phil Murphy in [his feuds]( with other state Democratic leaders. Jones, meanwhile, has the backing of George Norcross, the South Jersey power broker who has recently come under scrutiny for making loads of money from a state tax incentive program (Norcross' involvement in the tax breaks was the subject of an extensive [WNYC and ProPublica investigation](. Now, Jones' supporters are saying they're confident he has the votes to win, while Currie has mailed out campaign flyers with Norcross' face and the text, "Is this who we want in control of our Democratic Party?" The vote for the committee chair position has not yet been scheduled, but will happen some time before Currie's term ends on January 30th of next year. ([Politico]( Phil Murphy Got a New Job The Democratic governor of New Jersey began a new position yesterday as the chairman of the national Democratic Governors Association. The role essentially involves a lot of fundraising, with the goal of winning more seats for Democrats. Once all the newly-elected governors are inaugurated in January, Democrats will trail Republicans 26-24. Next year will see 11 gubernatorial races, and supporting all those candidates is expected to raise Murphy's national profile. But this could also backfire for Murphy; Chris Christie's approval among New Jersey voters dropped after he led the Republican Governors Association in 2014. Murphy himself will be up for reelection in 2021. ([The Wall Street Journal]( When Bloomberg Was a Republican [Mike] Robert Spencer/AP In addition to his legacy of stop-and-frisk policing, his alliance with big real estate developers, and his tenure in the finance industry, current Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has another conservative bona-fide: He used to be a Republican. And he made huge campaign contributions to Republicans in the New York State Senate. During his three terms as New York City mayor, Bloomberg personally donated over $2 million to the State Senate Republican’s campaign committee. He also gave $75,000 to the campaign commitee for the Independent Democratic Caucus, a now-defunct group of Democratic state senators who caucused with Republicans. For the entirety of Bloomberg's mayoralty, Republicans held the majority in the State Senate, and liberals say they never expected Bloomberg to help Democrats win it back. “Him trying to buy the Senate Republican majority felt very similar to him spending $100 million on a mayoral election," Jonathan Westin, a leading progressive advocate, told Gothamist. "He was trying to spend whatever it took to buy the elections." [Read Ross Barkan's complete analysis of Bloomberg's relationship with New York's Republican Party.]( Today: 3 Out of 4 Legal Scholars Agree, Trump Deserves It Three constitutional scholars summoned by Democrats testified that President Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine rises to the level of impeachment; the one summoned by Republicans said the call for impeachment was premature. Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](