This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Special Counsel Robert Hur’s description of President Joe Biden; House Republicans’ impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and refusal on Ukraine aid; and Democrat Tom Suozzi’s win in the New York congressional special election. And in Slate Plus, Emily, John, and David talk local news with reporter Ellie Wolfe. 
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Matt Viser and Tyler Pager for The Washington Post: Biden responds angrily to special counsel report questioning his memory and Marianne LeVine: Trump says he’d disregard NATO treaty, urge Russian attacks on U.S. allies
Politico Magazine: What Biden Needs to Do to Reassure the Public
Elena Moore for NPR: Biden’s campaign gives in and joins TikTok. Blame the youngs
Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell for The Hill: Lawmakers scramble for Plan B on Ukraine
Jake Tapper for CNN: Marco Rubio reacts to Trump threatening NATO country to ‘pay up’
Zack Beauchamp for Vox: The moral and strategic case for arming Ukraine
Joshua Matz, Michael J. Gerhardt, Amit Jain, and Laurence H. Tribe for Just Security: Why and How the Senate Should Swiftly Dismiss the Impeachment Charges Against Mayorkas
Nate Cohn for The New York Times: Not an Ordinary Special Election, and Yet a Typical Result and Carl Hulse: How Senate Democrats Flipped the Border Issue on Republicans

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: American Fiction; Sam Sanders, Nadira Goffe, and Stephen Metcalf for the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast: American Fiction, Oscar Contender?; and Sam Sanders, Saeed Jones, and Zach Stafford for the Stitcher Vibe Check podcast: A Special Conversation with Cord Jefferson 
John: Timeguessr and Matt Levine for Matt Levin’s Money Stuff: Lyft Had an Earnings Typo
David: The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix and USA for Africa: We Are the World 
Listener chatter from J.T. Horn in Strafford, Vermont: Peter Frick Wright for the Outside Podcast: A Wild Conversation with E. Jean Carroll
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss with Ellie Wolfe her local-news reporting as Education Reporter for the Arizona Daily Star. See Proposed law would limit shared governance at Arizona’s universities; U of A to ‘permanently eliminate’ $27 million worth of jobs in academic units; U of A’s Robbins talks about his pay, layoffs, athletics debt, more; and CFO: U of A must cut $200M in spending, rethink mission, accept layoffs. Thanks to listeners Alison, Anna, and David for the recommendation! 
 
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Brad Stulberg about his book, Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 
Research by Julie Huygen
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