WASHINGTON — One misconception about the Ukraine-Trump-whistleblower story is that it came out of nowhere.

In fact, it’s been playing out for months — in plain sight.

Here’s a helpful timeline of the scandal/controversy, per NBC’s Lauren McCulloch and the “Meet the Press” team, which drives home the point that we’re not at the beginning of this story.

We’re smack-dab in the middle.

Ring a bell? Allegations of misusing a highly classified database

Here’s the big news from yesterday’s release of the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress, per NBC’s Carol E. Lee.

“Allegations by a whistleblower that White House officials misused a highly-classified database to shield President Donald Trump’s quest for information against a political opponent have raised alarm among national security experts and former government officials familiar with the secret, electronic system,” Lee writes.

More: “Former and current intelligence officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that, if true, such misuse should spark an investigation into the potential mishandling of a classified system.”

And: “‘The only reason to use classification to limit who sees a transcript is if the conversation is classified,’ said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration. ‘We know from the transcript that the conversation wasn’t classified so the only reason to restrict access is to protect the president’s corruption.’”

Tweet of the day

Rudy Giuliani was nearly shouting in my phone call with him. “It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero,” he told me. https://t.co/nUCGBEdAD2 — Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) September 26, 2019

2020 Vision: Bennet urges caution about the march toward impeachment

Democratic presidential Michael Bennet, who didn’t qualify for the third Dem debate, told Politico that Democrats need to be cautious when it comes to impeachment over this whistleblower story.

“I think that we need to let this investigation take its course before anybody makes that judgment and I've got responsibilities on the Intelligence Committee to do oversight; I've not reached a conclusion. I do think that it would be nice for us to have a president who didn't behave the way this president did on that telephone call,” he said.

Bennet added, “Look, I've said I think that he's committed impeachable offenses. I said that about the Mueller Report. I think it's clear from the Mueller report that he obstructed justice, and I think that's an impeachable offense. [But] what I think and what the American people think are two different things. And you can't remove a president unless there's public sentiment. I suppose you could try, but it seems to me that there would be a debacle in the country.”

On the campaign trail today

Joe Biden is in Las Vegas… Elizabeth Warren holds a town hall in New Hampshire… Andrew Yang also stumps in the Granite State… And Pete Buttigieg has a one-on-one interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle at the Texas Tribune Festival.

Dispatches from NBC’s embeds

Andrew Yang campaigned yesterday in New Hampshire, where he emphasized the economy and took questions on the climate, the Department of Education Budget and supporting veterans. NBC’s Julia Jester spoke with a few voters after the event who gave Yang mixed reviews. One undecided voter said the primary race is a “moving target”, but when it came to national Democrats and impeachment said, “even if the Democrats legitimately hurt themselves doing this, I believe that they think it's the right thing to do.”

Another voter who supports Julian Castro said he was surprised by Yang’s sole focus on the economy, “I’m finally getting a little tired about it being about the economy” rather than the environment, he told Jester.

And in Biden world, Joe Biden told California donors that President Trump is trying to “hijack an election”, according to the pool report. While at the event, Biden mimicked Trump and said Trump was aiming at him given his lead in many polls.

Data Download: The number of the day is …

11.

That's the number of Democratic House members who have NOT come out in favor of some kind of impeachment proceedings against Trump.

What's more, all but one of those 11 represent districts that voted for Trump in 2016.

The exception? Tulsi Gabbard.

The Lid: Joining in

Don't miss the pod from yesterday, when we looked at the number of Democrats in competitive districts who have come out in support of impeachment over the last week.

ICYMI: News clips you shouldn’t miss

NBC's White House team writes that the president's team is facing "total panic" about what to do next.

Trump says that those who passed information along to the whistleblower are "like spies."

Jane Timm fact-checks the false claim that Democrats threatened Ukraine aid.

Rudy Giuliani spent months cultivating relationships with prosecutors in Ukraine.

Trump Agenda: Returning to the Mueller playbook

The White House is returning to the Mueller playbook.

The Washington Post lays out how the whistleblower worked in stealth to lay out a case against the president.

And the New York Times notes that White House aides were worried about the Ukraine call as soon as Trump put down the phone.

2020: How impeachment affects Biden vs. Warren

Jonathan Allen looks at how impeachment could impact the Warren vs. Biden fight.

Trump will hold a campaign rally in Minneapolis next month.

Kamala Harris says Giuliani should be disbarred.

Tom Price is interested in that Georgia Senate appointment.