Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) big-money sidestep may not be a big deal after all.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the Warren campaign's finance director Michael Pratt resigned because the 2020 contender pledged to only pursue individual donations. Pratt reportedly suggested Warren would fail without a consistent stream of big money, but Democrats have quickly come to her defense to say that's not true.

In response to the Times story, Wall Street Journal campaign finance reporter Julie Bykowicz tweeted that "a finance director quitting is never a positive thing for a presidential campaign," and that there was "no way to spin that." Yet Dan Pfeiffer, a former official in former President Barack Obama's administration, poured cold water on that whole idea.

It's true that Warren is still polling in the upper end of the 2020 Democratic spectrum, and that she keeps cranking out policy proposals like she's already in office. Still, the Times article rightly pointed out that Warren is "struggl[ing] in early fundraising." Pete Buttigieg, who joined the 2020 race in January as a longshot, reported Monday that he'd raised $7 million so far — about as much as Warren has reported taking in since her November launch.

Read more about Warren's donation disagreement at The New York Times. Kathryn Krawczyk

Canadian politics has been roiled by a photo that has emerged of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "wearing brownface at a party," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "This is pretty bad, and I just want to say ... it's not us this time! Suck it, Canada!"

"There are so many problems with this photo," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "First of all, it's obviously never okay to do blackface, and secondly, if you are going to darken your skin, at least get the color right, okay? Trudeau isn't dressed like Aladdin, he's dressed as Aladdin doing blackface. ... And also, Trudeau didn't even need the brownface to make the costume work. He's in a full Aladdin outfit at an Arabian Nights–themed party!"

When Time published the photo, "Trudeau hopped on his magic carpet and flew straight to a press conference to apologize," Noah said. And how did that go? "This is not good, man," he said, laughing. "Trudeau came out to apologize for one blackface and ended up admitting to more. He's like, 'I did brownface for Aladdin and I did blackface when I sang the song 'Day-O.' And now, if you'll excuse me, daylight's coming and me wanna go home.'"

"Look, two instances of blackface would be bad enough," Noah said, but "apparently Trudeau has been going full-body," too. "This guy's committed," he said, but "with the Canadian election just one month away, many are wondering if this blackface scandal is gonna hurt Trudeau's chances of being re-elected. And to be honest, I'm just sad to see another black man being brought down." Trudeau is hardly alone, though, and Noah had some suggestions on how to beat the blackface epidemic. Watch below. Peter Weber

Millions of protesters around the world are expected to participate in Friday's "global climate strike," a series of rallies urging governments to back measures to combat climate change ahead of a United Nations summit in New York. Large crowds turned out in Australia to kick off the day of youth-led protests, inspired in part by the "Fridays for Future" demonstrations by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. The estimated 300,000 protesters at 100 rallies in Australia — including 100,000 in Melbourne and 80,000 in Sydney — would make it the biggest protest in Australia since the Iraq War in 2003.

More than 800 events are planned around the U.S., and Europe and Asia are expecting hundreds more. Peter Weber

Carson King thought the funny sign he made for the Iowa State and University of Iowa football game over the weekend might help him make some beer money, never dreaming that he would eventually accrue $100,000.

King, 24, ended up standing behind a commentator for ESPN's College GameDay, holding his sign that read "Busch Light supply needs replenished." Underneath his message, King added his Venmo name, and within an hour, he had $400 in donations from people who saw him on camera. By the time he had $600, King's thoughts turned to something other than beer, and he decided he would donate the money to charity.

After discussing the matter with family and friends, King decided to use a few dollars to buy a case of Busch Light, with the rest of the money going directly to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. "They do so much," he told Today. "It's incredible." Word spread, and as donations continued to come in, Busch and Venmo both told King they'd like to match all the money he raises. As of Thursday, that's a hefty $100,000. King will keep the fundraiser going until Sept. 30, and is appreciative of all the donations he's received so far, from 25 cents to $300. "Anything is incredible," he said. Catherine Garcia

"Remember a couple of years ago, when [President] Trump first got into office, we were all so nervous that Donald Trump was some sort of sleeper agent who was going to sell America out to a foreign power behind our backs?" Stephen Colbert asked on Thursday's Late Show. "Well, it's Throwback Thursday!" He ran through the outline of the whistleblower complaint that over the summer, Trump made a very troubling "promise" to an unknown "foreign leader." Colbert saw the silver lining: "Thank God Trump never keeps his promises."

"Trump denies he did anything wrong," Colbert said, reading the tweet. "Very good point: What kind of moron would think you would make an inappropriate offer to a foreign country while you were being recorded?" He let Trump answer that, then played a game to try and figure out what Trump promised to which leader. But it turns out, according to The New York Times, that the complaint actually involves a "series of actions" Trump took. "Oh, a series?" Colbert said. "Great. Now we can binge-watch the end of America."

This story is "stunning," Late Night's Seth Meyers said. "Now, we don't know which foreign leader this is, and this is a complicated story, so just to help you follow along, we put together a helpful little mnemonic device. Remember: It's a [P]romise from the [U]nited States made by [T]rump to an [I]nternational leader, but we do not know their [N]ame. Could be anyone." (It actually appears to be somebody in Ukraine.)

Meyers also answered Trump's question about whether he would say something "inappropriate" to a foreign leader over the phone: "It's not that we're dumb enough to believe it, it's that we're smart enough to believe you're dumb enough to do it." Still, Trump "probably feels like he has impunity to do whatever he wants because so far he's face almost no consequences," he said, making his case for impeachment. Watch below. Peter Weber

Following a public outcry, the Trump administration reversed policy on Thursday and restored the medical deferred action program, which protects immigrants with life-threatening medical conditions from deportation as they receive treatment.

Last month, applicants received letters from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services saying that requests were no longer being accepted, and the sick migrants had to leave the United States within 33 days. Recipients who spoke to the media, like 16-year-old Jonathan Sanchez, said that if they went back to their original countries, they would die; Sanchez has cystic fibrosis, and said doctors in Honduras are not equipped to treat him.

When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped the program on Aug. 7, the agency did so without alerting Congress or the public. Hearings were held on Capitol Hill, with immigrants sharing their stories about how the program helped them, and USCIS said it would reopen cases that were pending as of Aug. 7. In a letter to the House Oversight Committee sent Thursday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said he had directed USCIS to start considering all applications again.

"It should not take an emergency hearing by Congress — and threats for more — to force the Trump administration to do the right thing," House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in a statement. "Because of the secrecy and obstruction surrounding this policy, we will be taking additional steps to verify that these children and their families do not need to live in fear and uncertainty." Catherine Garcia

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, and other presidential candidates shared their climate change plans on Thursday during MSNBC's Climate Forum 2020.

The two-day event at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service kicked off Thursday morning with a question-and-answer session between students and the candidates. Twelve presidential candidates are participating, with Thursday's lineup consisting of Sanders, Yang, Castro, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), author Marianne Williamson, former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).

Castro said his $10 trillion climate plan consists of a public-private partnership that will result in 10 million new jobs and the United States having net zero emission within the next 30 years. Ryan is calling for a forceful climate police that focuses on bringing manufacturing jobs back to hard hit rural and industrial areas. Delaney said he would re-enter the Paris climate agreement and promote global development of clean technologies.

Sanders declared that "unlike Trump, I do believe in science," and said one of his first acts as president would be to sign an executive order prohibiting fossil fuel extraction on public lands. Williamson said people need to push back against corporations and lawmakers who are tight with the fossil fuel industry.

Yang feels that action should have been taken two decades ago, and wants to see corporations taxed on their carbon production. Bennet said he would give lawmakers nine months to pass climate change legislation, and if they didn't do it he would turn to executive orders. He also discussed the importance of talking about the economy and jobs and how they tie in to climate change, so people don't fall for President Trump's scare tactics. "We can't lose an economic debate to a climate denier," he said. Catherine Garcia