ВИБОРЧА ГАЗЕТА

Rebuke for Trump in Races Seen as Barometers for 2020 Election

Democrats celebrated big election wins in two US states seen as a test of President Donald Trump’s strength ahead of the 2020 elections, while Republicans held fast to a governorship in traditionally conservative Mississippi, results showed Wednesday.In a sign of trouble for Trump, Democratic challenger Andy Beshear scored a narrow victory in deep-red Kentucky’s gubernatorial race over Republican incumbent Matt Bevin, who refused to concede.Doubling the hurt, Democrats gained control of both chambers of the legislature in Virginia for the first time in 25 years, turning a formerly red state solid blue, according to projections by US media, including the New York Times.”We have called it for Attorney General Beshear to be the Kentucky governor-elect,” Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said on CNN.The US president tweeted that Bevin “picked up at least 15 points in last days, but perhaps not enough (Fake News will blame Trump!).”Beshear, whose father was the last Democratic governor in the state, claimed victory, but Bevin did not throw in the towel.”This is a close, close race. We are not conceding this race by any stretch,” the governor said.Should Bevin’s loss be certified, it would be a shock defeat for a conservative in a southern state that Trump won by 30 percentage points in 2016.Mississippi Governor-elect Tate Reeves addresses his supporters, as his wife, Elee Reeves, right, listens, at a state GOP election night party on Nov. 5, 2019, in Jackson, Miss.In Mississippi, Republican Tate Reeves emerged as the winner of the state governor’s race by a comfortable margin against Jim Hood, an anti-abortion, pro-gun Democrat.”Great going, Tate!” tweeted Trump, who had campaigned in both Mississippi and Kentucky in the closing days of the race but stayed away from Virginia where Republicans had distanced themselves from him.Democrats will now hold all major statewide offices in Virginia and rule the state assembly, a comprehensive consolidation of power not seen there since the 1990s.Democratic leadership swiftly portrayed the night as a massive boost for the party heading into next year’s monumental battle against the president.”This historic victory should send a chill down the spines of Donald Trump and every Republican,” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said in a statement.”Democrats are competing in every election and every state, running on our values, and channeling unprecedented energy into the voting booth — that’s how we won tonight, that’s how we’ll beat Trump.”Tuesday’s elections were tests of enthusiasm ahead of 2020 for Trump, who is deeply unpopular nationwide and is the subject of an impeachment investigation.’Really bad message’Trump hailed the Mississippi results, claiming that his support was key.”Our big Rally on Friday night moved the numbers from a tie to a big WIN. Great reaction under pressure Tate!” Trump said on Twitter.With Washington swept up in the impeachment saga, results in Kentucky, Mississippi and Virginia were closely watched for how the crisis is playing out with voters.The Kentucky result — boosted by strong Democratic turnout in suburban districts outside Lexington and other major cities — is all the more humiliating for Trump because he flew there Monday night to hold a large rally and implore his base to come out to the polls.”If you lose, it sends a really bad message,” he said. “You can’t let that happen to me.”Also on that night, he blasted Democrats for recently voting to bring the impeachment probe to a new, public phase.”The Democrats’ outrageous conduct has created an angry majority that will vote the do-nothing Democrats the hell out of office,” Trump said.Instead, the opposite happened. Bevin was in lockstep with Trump, as was Reeves in Mississippi.But Bevin has become one of the most reviled governors in the nation as he implemented unpopular policies on health care access and teacher pay.Virginia, meanwhile, has been steadily shifting blue over the past decade, and Democrats counted on Trump’s deep unpopularity, and the growing clout of suburban Virginia voters, to help them reclaim the legislature.”We just saw in tonight’s elections — from Virginia to Kentucky — Americans are rejecting Trump’s divisive brand of politics, said Senator Cory Booker, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.”We need moral leadership that seeks to unite this country and work for a better future for all Americans.” 
…

Group Says Misinformation on the Rise on Facebook

An advocacy group tracking misinformation says it has found an increase in fake political news shared on Facebook ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.The group, Avaaz, said Wednesday that it found that viral misinformation is still being spread on the social network despite measures Facebook has put in place since the 2016 elections. The researchers tracked the 100 most widely shared false news stories between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1 this year. The stories they tracked had all been fact-checked and debunked by Facebook’s third-party fact-checking partners, which include The Associated Press.The group found that, collectively, the fake stories were posted more than 2.3 million times and had an estimated 158.9 million views, along with 8.9 million likes, comments and shares. The false stories targeted both political parties, though Avaaz says the majority were against Democrats and liberals.Most of the false news sources were individual users or non-official political pages. Avaaz, a left-leaning online advocacy group, said stories it found spreading even after they were debunked included one falsely claiming that President Donald Trump’s grandfather was a pimp and a tax evader and that his father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. That story had an estimated 29 million views. Another story falsely claiming that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar attended an al-Qaeda training camp had an estimated 770,000 views.Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report late Tuesday.Avaaz said in the report that the findings are the “tip of the iceberg of disinformation” ahead of the 2020 elections.
…

Senior State Department Official Appears Before Trump Impeachment Probe

 A top U.S. State Department official on Wednesday appeared before the impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, the first witness to show up this week after a string of administration officials refused to meet with investigators.David Hale, who was appointed by Trump as under secretary for political affairs, met behind closed doors with lawmakers who are leading the probe of Trump in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
More details in the impeachment inquiry are expected to be released on Wednesday, a day after transcripts revealed a top Trump donor-turned-diplomat reversed course and told investigators Ukrainian aid was tied to investigations of
political rivals sought by the U.S. president.
On Tuesday, publicly released transcripts showed U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had returned to give lawmakers new details after his memory was “refreshed,” corroborating other witnesses who said Trump sought to pressure the Ukrainians into launching investigations that appeared aimed
at boosting his 2020 re-election campaign.
House Democrats leading the inquiry are expected to release more transcripts on Wednesday, but have not yet said which accounts they will issue as the fast-moving probe marches toward
televised public hearings.
Additional witnesses have also been called to testify, but some are likely to heed the White House and refuse to cooperate in the probe, which centers around Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asking him to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Joe Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump, a Republican, in the November
2020 election. Hunter Biden was on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which had been investigated for corruption.
Both have denied any impropriety.
Trump has blasted the House inquiry as a witch hunt and accused Democrats of unfairly targeting him in hope of reversing his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election.Democrats have defended the investigation, citing concerns that the president misused his public office for personal gain.
“It’s clear abuse of presidential power. It cannot be OK in our country for a United States president – any president – to
go to a foreign leader and ask for help in his election. It’s wrong,” Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat on the House intelligence panel, told MSNBC on Wednesday.Key witnesses
The inquiry has shifted this week after congressional investigators began releasing hundreds of pages of testimony
while efforts to gather more witness testimony behind closed doors have all but ground to a halt as top administration
officials refuse lawmakers’ demands.
Two officials on Wednesday’s witness list are sure to be no-shows. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, one of the “Three Amigos” tasked by the White House to set up a back channel to Ukraine, and Russell Vought, the acting White House budget chief, have already said they will not appear.
Hale is expected to tell investigators the State Department was concerned that supporting former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch could hurt efforts to release aid and could provoke Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the Associated Press reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from her post in May. Another top State Department official, Ulrich Brechbuhl, has
not yet said whether he will appear. The AP and CNN reported that Brechbuhl was traveling to Germany on Wednesday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Representatives for the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House intelligence panel, which is leading the inquiry with two other committees, has also sought testimony from other key witnesses, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who the White House said will not appear, and former national security adviser John Bolton, whose participation remains unclear.
Still, Democrats have said they have enough material to move forward with public impeachment hearings, which would be a likely prelude to articles of impeachment – formal charges – being brought to a vote in the Democratic-controlled House.
If the House votes to approve the articles of impeachment, the Republican-controlled Senate would then hold a trial on
whether to remove Trump from office. Senate Republicans have so far shown little appetite for removing the president.
At least one, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, this week told reporters he did not plan to read the transcripts even as
hundreds of pages have begun to be released.
On Tuesday, transcripts from appearances by Sondland, who initially testified in October, and Kurt Volker, Trump’s former special representative for Ukraine negotiations, revealed U.S. diplomats pressed Ukrainian officials to meet Trump’s demands.
Sondland, a hotelier and Trump donor, returned on Monday and told House investigators that he, in fact, had told a Ukrainian official that Kyiv, which is fighting Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country, was unlikely to get nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid unless it probed Trump’s domestic political rivals, the transcripts showed.
Transcripts released on Monday showed two other U.S. diplomats told lawmakers the State Department under Trump was being used for domestic political purposes and warned such action would hurt American interests. 
…

Democrats Claim Victory Over Trump-Backed Kentucky Governor, Seize Virginia Legislature

U.S. Democrats claimed an upset win in Kentucky on Tuesday over a Republican governor backed by President Donald Trump and seized control of the state legislature in Virginia, where anti-Trump sentiment in the suburbs remained a potent force.The outcomes of Tuesday’s elections in four states, including Mississippi and New Jersey, could offer clues to how next year’s presidential election could unfold, when Trump will aim for a second four-year term.In Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, whose father, Steve, was the state’s last Democratic governor, scored a narrow victory over Governor Matt Bevin despite an election-eve rally headlined by Trump.In a speech in Lexington, Kentucky, on Monday night, Trump – who won Kentucky by 30 percentage points in 2016 – told voters that they needed to re-elect Bevin, or else pundits would say the president “suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world.”The remarks reflected the extent to which Bevin, 52, sought to nationalize the campaign, emphasizing his support for Trump amid a Democratic-led impeachment inquiry of the Republican president in Congress.While the result was a significant setback for Trump, who remains relatively popular in Kentucky, it may have had more to do with Bevin’s diminished standing in the state. Opinion polls showed Bevin may be the least popular governor in the country, after he waged high-profile fights with labor unions and teachers.Beshear’s upset win could also bolster Democrats’ slim hopes of ousting Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is on the ballot himself in the state next year.At a rally on Tuesday night, Bevin refused to concede, citing unspecified “irregularities,” even as Beshear called on the governor to honor the results.Kentucky’s Attorney General Andy Beshear, running for governor against Republican incumbent Matt Bevin, reacts to statewide election results at his watch party in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. November 5, 2019.Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said in a statement that the president “just about dragged Gov. Matt Bevin across the finish line” while helping Republicans win several other statewide races.Meanwhile, Democrats wrested both chambers of Virginia’s legislature from narrow Republican majorities, which would give the party complete control of the state government for the first time in a quarter-century.Trump has avoided Virginia, where Democrats found success in suburban swing districts in last year’s congressional elections, as they did in states across the country. Tuesday’s election, which saw Democrats prevail in several northern Virginia suburbs, suggested the trend was continuing.In Mississippi, where Republican Governor Phil Bryant was barred from running again due to term limits, Republican Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves defeated Attorney General Jim Hood, a moderate Democrat who favors gun rights and opposes abortion rights.Like Bevin, Reeves campaigned as a staunch Trump supporter in a state that Trump easily won in 2016. The president held a campaign rally in the state last week alongside Reeves.In New Jersey, Democrats were expected to maintain their majority in the state’s general assembly, the legislature’s lower chamber.Virginia in the spotlightThe Virginia contest drew heavy attention and money from both parties. Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential front-runner, visited Virginia over the weekend to campaign with several statehouse candidates, and Republican Vice President Mike Pence held a rally on Saturday.Other Democratic presidential contenders, including U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, have also campaigned with local candidates.In one notable race, Democrat Shelly Simonds, who lost a state House of Delegates race in 2017 via random draw after the election ended in a tie, won a rematch against Republican David Yancey.Virginia’s Democratic gains came despite a year of scandal for the party’s top officials in the state. Governor Ralph Northam barely endured a political firestorm after his yearbook page was shown to have photos of someone in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan costume, while Attorney General Mark Herring admitted to wearing blackface himself in college.Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, meanwhile, has denied two accusations of sexual assault.The legislative wins likely mean that Democrats can pass a raft of bills that Republicans had resisted, including new gun limits. Democrats will also control the redistricting process in 2021, when lawmakers draw new voting lines for state and congressional elections after next year’s U.S. Census.
…

US Envoy: Ukraine Aid Would Not Be Released Without Investigations to Help Trump

A key U.S. diplomat told impeachment investigators targeting President Donald Trump that he came to believe that nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine would not be released unless Kyiv publicly stated it would launch investigations to help Trump politically.In revised testimony released Tuesday, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told the impeachment investigators in the House of Representatives that he warned an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw “that resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”Sondland, a major donor to Trump’s 2017 inauguration celebration, was referring to Trump’s demand in a late July call with Zelenskiy that Ukraine investigate one of his chief 2020 Democratic presidential rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and any evidence that Ukraine meddled in Trump’s 2016 election that sent him to the White House.FILE – President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the InterContinental Barclay New York hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2019.Trump has for weeks denied there was a quid pro quo with Ukraine — military assistance in exchange for political investigations — but Sondland’s testimony about his conversation with Zelenskiy aide Andriy Yermak in the Polish capital was sharply at odds with Trump’s contention. Nonetheless, after withholding the military assistance for weeks,Trump released it, which Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.Impeachment inquiry Trump’s demands of Ukraine are at the center of the House impeachment inquiry into whether he violated U.S. national security to help himself politically. Lawmakers already have heard weeks of closed-door testimony about Trump’s relations with the eastern European country in advance of public hearings that could start later this month. The Democratic-controlled House could in the coming weeks cast a simple-majority vote to impeach Trump, a Republican, leading to a trial in the Republican-majority Senate. His conviction in the Senate by a two-thirds vote would oust him from office, but his removal remains unlikely since the votes of at least 20 Republicans would be needed for a conviction.A transcript of Sondland’s closed-door testimony was released along with that of another key U.S. diplomat, Kurt Volker, a former U.S. envoy to Kyiv.In testimony already revealed at the time he appeared before the impeachment investigators, Sondland said that Trump had delegated U.S. foreign policy oversight on Ukraine to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is Trump’s personal attorney, an edict with which he disagreed but nonetheless complied.Sondland said officials were “disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani. Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the president’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for all aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine.” FILE – Kurt Volker, United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 28, 2017.Volker also depicted Giuliani as the major force to get Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens. Volker said he was “never asked to do anything” he thought was wrong, including by Trump, but said he feared the U.S. relationship with Ukraine was “getting sucked into a domestic political debate.”In releasing the Sondland and Volker transcripts, the leaders of the impeachment committees said that as early as last May, Trump directed U.S. diplomats to work with Giuliani on Ukraine policy and get Zelenskiy to publicly state that the Bidens were being investigated.”It is clear from their testimony that, in exchange for the statement, President Trump would award the Ukrainian president with a highly coveted White House meeting and, later, with millions of dollars in critical military aid being withheld,” the impeachment leaders said.Congressmen Adam Schiff and Eliot Engel and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the impeachment leaders, said that “in an effort to prevent further incriminating information from coming to light, the State Department is continuing to obstruct our investigation by refusing to provide subpoenaed records, including additional text messages provided to the department by Ambassador Sondland. This blanket stonewalling will only continue to build the case against the president for obstruction of Congress, especially in light of the damning evidentiary record the committees have already gathered.”Other testimonyThe Sondland and Volker accounts came a day after the release of testimony from two other diplomats, Marie Yovanovitch, a former ambassador to Ukraine, and Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both Yovanovitch and McKinley told investigators they did not feel supported by the State Department in their dealings with Ukraine or in their relations with Trump and his aides.Yovanovitch said she felt threatened by Trump when he described her as “bad news” in the phone call with Zelenskiy. Trump officials recalled her to Washington months before her tour in Kyiv was due to end and dismissed her.McKinley quit last month, telling the impeachment investigators he left the State Department for two reasons: “The failure, in my view, of the State Department to offer support to Foreign Service employees caught up in the impeachment inquiry, and second, by what appears to be the utilization of our ambassadors overseas to advance domestic political objectives.”In one of his Twitter comments this week, Trump wrote, “What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is ‘perfectly’ stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning.”    What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is “perfectly” stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Mulvaney testimonyIn addition to releasing the Sondland and Volker testimony, the impeachment leaders said Tuesday they want to question acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney about his knowledge of Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to open investigations to help him politically.The lawmakers asked Mulvaney to testify on Friday, although it was not immediately clear whether he would appear for closed-door questioning at the Capitol. Trump has sought, with some success, to block key aides from testifying about his actions involving the eastern European country, although other diplomatic and national security officials have answered the impeachment investigators’ questions.”Based on evidence gathered in the impeachment inquiry and public reporting,” the committees told Mulvaney in a letter, “we believe that you possess substantial first-hand knowledge and information relevant to the House’s impeachment inquiry.”The Democratic-controlled impeachment investigators told Mulvaney the investigation “has revealed that you may have been directly involved in an effort orchestrated by President Trump, his personal agent, Rudolph Giuliani, and others to withhold … nearly $400 million in security assistance in order to pressure [Ukraine] to pursue investigations that would benefit President Trump’s personal political interests.”Mulvaney is the highest-ranking White House official the impeachment panels have sought to question.
 
…

US Government Sees No Evidence of Hacking in Tuesday’s Elections

Voting in U.S. state and local elections on Tuesday showed no evidence of successful tampering by any foreign government, the Justice Department and six U.S. security agencies said.But Russia, China, Iran and other adversaries of the United States will seek to meddle in U.S. elections moving forward, including through social media manipulation and cyberattacks, the agencies said.”While at this time we have no evidence of a compromise or disruption to election infrastructure that would enable adversaries to prevent voting, change vote counts or disrupt the ability to tally votes, we continue to vigilantly monitor any threats to U.S. elections,” a joint statement, signed by the heads of each agency, said.Cliff Smith, a Ridgeland, Mississippi, poll worker, offers a voter an “I Voted” sticker after they cast their ballot, Nov. 5, 2019.The agencies have increased efforts to protect elections and a new position was created within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to focus solely on U.S. election security.A January 2017 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies found that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election and its goals included aiding President Donald Trump.National security experts have said they believe foreign governments will again target the 2020 presidential election in an effort to influence U.S. voters.In February 2018, the Justice Department created the first ever Cyber Digital Task Force with the mission of protecting future U.S. elections from foreign interference. 
…

Trump Jr. Releases Provocative Book Defending Father

Donald Trump Jr. released a book Tuesday that rails against the left as he admitted he had caught the political bug and may consider running for office in the future.In “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence US,” the president’s son fiercely defends his father and slams mainstream media and political opponents including Hillary Clinton.”This is the book that the leftist elites don’t want you to read!” screams a blurb on Amazon, adding that “no topic is spared from political correctness.”Trump Jr. dedicates the 300-page part memoir to “deplorables,” a clear dig at Clinton who used the term to describe Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential campaign.The book quickly rose to third on Amazon’s list of bestselling books after the president on Monday encouraged his 66.5 million Twitter followers to order a copy.”A great new book that I highly recommend for ALL to read,” Trump tweeted.Trump Jr., known for his virulent attacks on traditional media including The New York Times and The Washington Post, accuses social networks of trying to sensor him and other conservatives.”This ‘shadow banning’ amounts to a complete suppression of freedom of speech. It can’t be allowed to continue,” he writes in the book, taking aim at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.FILE – White House adviser Ivanka Trump speaks during the forum Unleashing the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs through Finance and Markets, on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, Oct. 18, 2019.While Ivanka Trump was thought to be the most political of the president’s four adult children owing to her role as a White House advisor, Trump Jr hinted Tuesday that he may be tempted to run one day.”I don’t rule anything out. Right now I like the campaigning part. I actually enjoy some of that fight,” he told CBS in an interview.”I like getting out there and being with real people and seeing the difference that my father and his policies are making in their lives.”I’m interested in winning 2020 for my father right now. We’ll worry about everything else later,” the 41-year-old added.”Triggered” is published by Center Street, a known publisher of conservative books.Trump Jr was to sign copies at a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan later on Tuesday.The president has published several books, most famously “Trump: The Art of the Deal” in 1987 which became a New York Times bestseller.
…

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Divorces Husband in Minnesota

Rep. Ilhan Omar has officially divorced from her husband in Minnesota, just a month after she filed a petition saying there was an “irretrievable breakdown” in their marriage. 
 
Omar and Ahmed Hirsi had been married since January 2018 but were longtime partners. Omar says Hirsi is the father of her three children. 
 
The marriage was dissolved Tuesday after paperwork was signed by court personnel. The divorce comes months after a Washington, D.C., woman accused the Democratic congresswoman of having an affair with her husband. 
 
When Omar was asked at the time whether she was separated from Hirsi or dating someone, she told WCCO-TV, “No, I am not.” She has since declined to discuss her personal life. 
 
Attorneys for Omar and Hirsi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
 
…

Former Ambassador Says she was Warned to ‘Watch my Back’

It started with a warning to watch her back, that people were “looking to hurt” her. From there, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told House investigators, it escalated into a chilling campaign to fire her as President Donald Trump and his allies angled in Eastern Europe for political advantage at home.Testimony from Yovanovitch, released on Monday, offered a first word-for-word look at the closed-door House impeachment hearings. Inside, Democrats and Republicans are waging a pitched battle over what to make of Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine’s leaders to investigate political rival Joe Biden, Biden’s son and Democratic activities in the 2016 election.The transcript came out on the same day that four Trump administration officials defied subpoenas to testify, acting on orders from a White House that is fighting the impeachment investigation with all its might. Among those refusing to testify: John Eisenberg, the lead lawyer at the National Security Council and, by some accounts, the man who ordered a rough transcript of Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s leader moved to a highly restricted computer system.During nine hours of sometimes emotional testimony, Yovanovitch detailed efforts led by Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies to push her out of her post. The career diplomat, who was recalled from her job in May on Trump’s orders, testified that a senior Ukrainian official told her that “I really needed to watch my back.”While the major thrust of Yovanovitch’s testimony was revealed in her opening statement, Monday’s 317-page transcript provided new details.Yovanovitch offered significant threads of information including the possibility that Trump was directly involved in a phone call with Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and the Ukrainians dating back to January 2018. And she pushed back on Republican suggestions that she harbored opposition to Trump.She had been recalled from Kyiv before the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that’s at the center of the impeachment inquiry. Later, she was “surprised and dismayed” by what she saw in the transcript of the call — including that Trump had called her “bad news.” He also said that “she’s going to go through some things.”“I was shocked,” Yovanovitch said, to see “that the president would speak about me or any ambassador in that way to a foreign counterpart.”Asked about her as he left on a campaign trip on Monday, Trump had a more equivocal comment: “I’m sure she’s a very fine woman. I just don’t know much about her.”House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said transcripts from the hearings are being released so “the American public will begin to see for themselves.” Two were released Monday, and more are coming.Republicans have accused Democrats of conducting a one-sided process behind closed doors.But the transcripts show GOP lawmakers were given time for questioning, which they used to poke at different aspects of the impeachment inquiry. Some Republicans criticized the process as unfair, while others tried to redirect witnesses to their own questions about Biden’s work on Ukraine corruption issues while he was vice president.In public, some Republicans say the president’s actions toward Ukraine, though not ideal, are certainly not impeachable.Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Oversight committee, defended Yovanovitch’s ouster as clearly within the president’s prerogative.“President Trump has the authority to name who he wants in any ambassador position. That’s a call solely for the president of the United States as the commander in chief,” Jordan said.The former envoy stressed to investigators that she was not disloyal to the president. She answered “no” when asked point blank if she’d ever “badmouthed” Trump in Ukraine, and said she felt U.S. policy in Ukraine “actually got stronger” because of Trump’s decision to provide lethal assistance to the country — military aid that later was held up by the White House as it pushed for investigations into Trump’s political foes.Long hours into her testimony, Yovanovitch was asked why she was such “a thorn in their side” that Giuliani and others wanted her fired.“Honestly,” she said, “it’s a mystery to me.”Yovanovitch, still employed by the State Department, is in a fellowship at Georgetown University.She told the investigators that the campaign against her, which included an article that was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., undermined her ability to serve as a credible ambassador and she wanted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to issue a statement defending her. But no statement was issued.The impeachment panels also released testimony Monday from Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Pompeo.McKinley, a 37-year career diplomat, testified that he decided to resign from his post as a senior adviser to Pompeo after his repeated efforts to get the State Department to issue a statement of support for Yovanovitch after the transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy phone call was released. “To see the impugning of somebody I know to be a serious, committed colleague in the manner that it was done raised alarm bells for me,” he said.McKinley said he was already concerned about politicization at the State Department, and that the refusal to publicly back Yovanovitch convinced him it was time to leave.
…

Trial of Trump Crony Roger Stone Promises Political Drama

Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former confidant of President Donald Trump, is going on trial over charges related to his alleged efforts to exploit the Russian-hacked Hillary Clinton emails for political gain.The trial in Washington, which begins Tuesday, promises to revive the specter of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as the impeachment inquiry against Trump proceeds in the House.Stone’s indictment in January was an offshoot of Mueller’s investigation. Stone is accused of lying to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampering with witnesses and obstructing a House intelligence committee probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.A self-proclaimed dirty trickster with a flair for public drama, Stone has a history in Republican political circles dating back to the Nixon administration. He emerged as an early public supporter of Trump and has consistently criticized the case against him as politically motivated.Stone, a longtime friend of the president’s, briefly served on Trump’s campaign but was pushed out amid infighting with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Though sidelined, he continued to communicate with Trump and stayed plugged into his circle of advisers.The indictment says Stone, who was arrested by the FBI in a raid at his Florida home, repeatedly discussed WikiLeaks in 2016 with campaign associates and lays out in detail Stone’s conversations about emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and posted in the weeks before Trump beat Clinton.After WikiLeaks on July 22, 2016, released hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, the indictment says, a senior Trump campaign official “was directed” to contact Stone about additional releases and “what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had “regarding the Clinton campaign.” The indictment does not name the official or say who directed the outreach to Stone.Stone is also accused of threatening New York radio host Randy Credico in an effort to prevent Credico from contradicting Stone’s testimony before the House intelligence committee. 
…

Experts Say Impeachment Fallout Might Hurt Pompeo’s Potential Senate Run

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s frequent official trips to his home state of Kansas have fueled speculation he may be considering resigning to run for an open Senate seat in the midwestern state. But some political observers say Pompeo’s role in the withholding of U.S. military aid to Ukraine and the impeachment inquiry may have an impact on his political prospects. VOA Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
…

Trump, in 2020 Election Preview, Pushes Republican Candidates in Tuesday Voting

There are scattered key elections in the U.S. on Tuesday, with President Donald Trump campaigning for Republican candidates in hopes of shoring up his own political standing a year ahead of his re-election contest.Trump, with polls showing widening disapproval ratings from voters nationally and facing an impeachment inquiry in Washington, heads Monday night to the mid-south state of Kentucky, where he won easily in the 2016 national election that sent him to the White House and remains popular.Whether his Republican allies win there and elsewhere could signal how voters feel about him as he looks to the Nov. 3, 2020, national election against a Democratic challenger that won’t be picked for months.Governor Matt Bevin looks on during the final Kentucky gubernatorial debate with Democratic candidate Andy Beshear, Oct. 29, 2019 in Highland Heights, Kentucky.He is headlining an election-eve rally for incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, a loyal supporter of the president who is facing a tough re-election campaign against his Democratic challenger, State Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of a former Kentucky governor.”Kentucky is having the best economic year ever under Matt’s leadership,” Trump said on Twitter ahead of his visit. In another tweet, Trump said, “Matt will never let you down, and we have to send a strong signal to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left Democrats. See you on Monday night, VOTE TUESDAY!!!”Trump was referring to his nemesis in Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives that has launched the impeachment inquiry against Trump after he pressed Ukraine to investigate one of his top 2020 Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden.But Bevin has openly feuded with teachers and others in the state, putting his re-election in doubt in a state that has long voted for Republican candidates. Polls show his race against Beshear is a tossup.In the run-up to Tuesday’s voting, Trump also has visited the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana, two other states he won in 2016, to lend support to Republican gubernatorial candidates.Louisiana’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone talks to media on a campaign stop at New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, La., Nov. 4, 2019.On Twitter, Trump has called for the Louisiana election of Eddie Rispone, a self-described “conservative outsider for governor” over incumbent Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, in a runoff that occurs Nov. 16.Trump contended that Edwards “is always fighting” his Make America Great Again agenda. “Wants to raise your taxes and car insurance to the sky. Vote for Republican Eddie R!”In a recent open contest for the governor’s seat, with both Republicans and Democrats on the ballot, Edwards won easily, but narrowly failed to reach a majority, necessitating the runoff late next week with Rispone, his closest challenger.At a rally in Mississippi last week, Trump called on voters to elect Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who is locked in a tight contest Tuesday with Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood, to replace the term-limited Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. Analysts in the state say it could be one of the closest elections in a generation.There are four states that are holding state legislative contests on Tuesday, but only in the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia, which borders Washington, is there a possibility of a switch in political control.Republicans now narrowly hold majorities in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate. But a handful of Democratic wins in closely contested contests throughout the state could give them control of both the legislature and the governor’s office, where Gov. Ralph Northam has two years remaining in his term.”Virginia has the best Unemployment and Economic numbers in the history of the State,” Trump tweeted, apparently unaware that Democratic governors have run the state 14 of the last 18 years, even as Republicans have recently held majorities in the state legislature.Trump claimed that if Democrats take control of the General Assembly, as the state legislature is called, “those numbers will go rapidly in the other direction.””I hope everyone in the Great State of Virginia will get out and VOTE on Tuesday in all of the local and state elections to send a signal” to Washington by voting for Republicans, Trump said.Numerous cities throughout the U.S. are also holding elections Tuesday, electing mayors and other officials.In Tucson, Arizona, in the southwestern part of the U.S., voters are deciding in a referendum whether to declare it a sanctuary city, like numerous other municipalities throughout the U.S., to protect immigrants when they have been arrested from being turned over to federal immigration authorities. Trump has often derided such localities as counter-productive to his tough anti-immigration policies. 
…

Trump Impeachment Probe Divides US Voters in Key State

As the US House of Representatives continues to march forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, voters are speaking out in the political battleground state of Wisconsin. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Madison
…

Trump: Written Answers from Whistleblower Unacceptable

U.S. President Donald Trump, faced with a mounting impeachment inquiry, said Monday that written answers are not good enough from the whistleblower who first disclosed that he had pressed Ukraine to pursue investigations of one of his chief 2020 Democratic political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden.”He must be brought forward to testify,” Trump said on Twitter regarding the whistleblower. “Written answers not acceptable!”  He called the impeachment investigation a “con.”  The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019Trump offered his latest assessment on the impeachment effort targeting him in the House of Representatives a day after a Washington lawyer, Mark Zaid, said his client, the unnamed whistleblower, would be willing to answer questions in writing posed by Republican supporters of Trump, other than queries about his identity. Republican lawmakers also said the conditions were unacceptable.”What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelenskiy] is ‘perfectly’ stated,” Trump tweeted. “There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!”    What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is “perfectly” stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019Trump on Sunday derided the whistleblower, linking him to his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, along with former CIA director John Brennan and former national security adviser Susan Rice — two of Obama’s top aides.“There have have been stories written about a certain individual, a male, and they say he’s the whistleblower,” Trump said at the White House. “If he’s the whistleblower, he has no credibility because he’s a Brennan guy, he’s a Susan Rice guy, he’s an Obama guy. And he hates Trump.”“Now, maybe it’s not him. But if it’s him, you guys ought to release the information,” the president urged reporters.Zaid, the whistleblower’s lawyer, said his legal team has offered to allow Congressman Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, to submit questions which the whistleblower would answer “in writing, under oath and penalty of perjury.”But Congressman Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, objected to the proposed process, saying written answers would not give Republicans a chance to cross-examine the whistleblower.”You don’t get to ignite an impeachment effort and never account for your actions and role in orchestrating it,” Jordan said in a statement.  “We have serious questions about this individual’s political bias and partisan motivations and it seems Mark Zaid and Adam Schiff [the Democrat leading the impeachment probe] are attempting to hide these facts from public scrutiny.”Zaid responded on Twitter, saying Jordan’s statement showed a “misunderstanding” of federal whistleblower protections.Those laws protect the identity and careers of people who report issues such as misconduct, abuse of authority and dangers to public safety by government employees.The whistleblower reported being “deeply concerned” about Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Zelenskiy in which Trump urged the Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden for alleged corruption, his son Hunter Biden, who worked for a Ukrainian natural gas company, and any efforts Ukraine undertook to try to defeat Trump in the 2016 election.Although the whistleblower gave a second-hand account of the Trump phone call, witnesses who heard the call directly have verified much of what he said, as did a rough transcript of the call released by the White House.  Trump has been unsuccessful in several attempts to block national security and diplomatic officials from testifying at the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry conducted behind closed doors in advance of planned public hearings later this month.On Monday, however, two White House witnesses, including John Eisenberg, the lead lawyer for the National Security Council, defied subpoenas to testify and two others were also expected to do the same later in the day.Despite laws protecting government whistleblowers, Trump demanded again Sunday that the whistleblower be revealed.”The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward,” Trump tweeted. “The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay,” Trump said. “Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!”Trump insisted that he does not know who the whistleblower is, although he keeps referring to that person as “he” and says it’s an “Obama guy.”The Democratic-led impeachment probe is centered on whether Trump called on a foreign government — Ukraine — to interfere in next year’s election and withheld $391 million in military aid unless Zelenskiy publicly committed himself to investigating Biden and the Democrats.White House aide Kellyanne Conway told CNN Sunday that Trump’s request was not an impeachable offense.   
…

Democrats, Republicans Dig In Ahead of Public Hearings for Trump Impeachment Probe

Democrats and Republicans continue to spar as the US House of Representatives prepares for public hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington
…

Impeachment Whistleblower Agrees to Answer Republican Questions

The lawyer for the whistleblower whose serious concerns about the Trump – Ukraine telephone call which set off the House impeachment probe says his client has agreed to answer written questions from Republicans.Attorney Mark Zaid tweeted Sunday that the whistleblower will answer questions from House Republicans “in writing, under oath and penalty of perjury.”Zaid added that the only questions he or she will refuse to answer concern identity.Zaid said some Republicans have “sought to expose our client’s identity which could jeopardize their safety as well as that of their family…being a whistleblower is not a partisan job or is impeachment an objective. This is not our role.”Zaid made his offer to Representative Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee — one of the panels that has been hearing testimony in the impeachment inquiry. Nunes has yet to reply.FILE – Then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend an NCAA basketball game between Georgetown University and Duke University in Washington, Jan. 30, 2010.News reports say the whistleblower is a Central Intelligence Agency official who had worked in the White House. That person was disturbed by Trump’s July 25th telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump urged Zelenskiy to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for alleged corruption, and his son Hunter Biden, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.The whistleblower reported his or her concerns to the intelligence community inspector general. Although this person gave a second-hand account of the Trump phone call, witnesses who heard the call directly have verified the whistleblower’s account.  Despite laws protecting government whistleblowers, Trump demanded again Sunday that the whistleblower be revealed.”The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward,” Trump tweeted. “The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay,” Trump said. “Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!”Trump insists he does not know who the whistleblower is, although he keeps referring to that person as “he” and says it’s an “Obama guy.”
Democrats, Republicans Dig In Ahead of Public Hearings for Trump Impeachment Probe video player.
FILE – Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Oct. 23, 2019.No evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden has ever surfaced.Trump also says it was Ukraine, not Russia, which interfered in the 2016 U.S. election on behalf of Democrats. That assertion is based on a debunked conspiracy theory and U.S. intelligence has concluded it was Russia that meddled in the election to try to get Trump elected.The House impeachment inquiry continues this week with the committees scheduled to hear from four more witnesses Monday. Ken Bredemeier contributeds to this report.
…

White House: Trump’s Ukraine Actions Not Impeachable   

The White House on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s bid to get Ukraine to investigate one of his chief 2020 Democratic political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, saying the request did not amount to an impeachable offense.”Nothing would lead to a high crime or misdemeanor,” one of Trump’s top aides, Kellyanne Conway, told CNN. She was referring to the standard for impeaching a U.S. president days after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved proceedings for the impeachment inquiry targeting Trump over his actions related to Ukraine.FILE – Then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend an NCAA basketball game between Georgetown University and Duke University in Washington, Jan. 30, 2010.But Conway said she did not know whether Trump had initially conditioned release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv investigating Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma, as well as a debunked political theory that Ukraine, and not Russia, had hacked into Democratic National Committee computers to try to help defeat Trump in the 2016 election.”I feel comfortable in saying that [Trump] never mentioned a quid pro quo or 2020″ in a late July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Conway said. “Let’s be honest …,” she added, “what is not there [in the phone call between the two leaders] is holding up the aid. They got that aid.”Democrats contested White House assertions. “The Congress appropriated money for foreign aid for Ukraine, and the president illegally withheld that money,” Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told ABC.Trump said on Twitter, “Many people listened to my phone call with the Ukrainian President while it was being made. I never heard any complaints. The reason is that it was totally appropriate, I say perfect. Republicans have never been more unified, and my Republican Approval Rating is now 95%!”Many people listened to my phone call with the Ukrainian President while it was being made. I never heard any complaints. The reason is that it was totally appropriate, I say perfect. Republicans have never been more unified, and my Republican Approval Rating is now 95%!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Oct. 23, 2019.Conway said, “Joe Biden is not insulated from his past actions,” when as second in command under former President Barack Obama, he, along with European leaders, pressed Ukraine to oust a prosecutor they believed was not investigating high-level corruption in the eastern European country. Neither of the Bidens has been implicated in any wrongdoing. The younger Biden, however, has acknowledged that he used “poor judgment” in accepting the position on the Burisma board, which he left months ago, because it has caused his father political problems as he tries to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination to face Trump in the 2020 election that is a year from Sunday.FILE – President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the InterContinental Barclay New York hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2019, in New York.Trump has repeatedly said there was no quid pro quo even as he asked the Ukrainian leader for “a favor” in the form of politically-related investigations.The impeachment inquiry in the House was touched off by the account of a whistleblower, identified in news reports as a Central Intelligence Agency official who formerly worked in the White House, who was troubled by Trump’s request to Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his son.”The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward,” Trump said Sunday on Twitter. However, the general thrust of the whistleblower’s account was verified by a rough transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy call released in September by the White House and subsequent testimony to the impeachment investigators.”The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay,” Trump said. “Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!”  The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward. The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay. Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2019CBS reported the whistleblower has offered to answer written questions posed by Republican lawmakers without having to go through the House Intelligence Committee’s Democratic majority, according to the whistleblower’s attorney. Republicans have argued that Trump is entitled to confront his accuser.If the full House, on a simple-majority vote, approves articles of impeachment against Trump in the coming weeks, a trial would be held in the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be needed to convict him and remove him from office. With the votes of at least 20 Republican senators needed to turn against Trump to oust him, his conviction remains unlikely.  
 
…

Trump Lashes Out at Democrats After Impeachment Vote

President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at Democrats in the House for their vote this week formalizing the impeachment inquiry into his conduct, calling it “an attack on democracy itself.”Democrats are “disgracing themselves and bringing shame upon the House of Representatives,” Trump charged during a rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, in support of the state’s Republican candidate for governor. “They’ve been plotting to overthrow the election since the moment I won,” he told the packed crowd.The rally came a day after Democrats voted to formalize the investigation into whether Trump abused his office and compromised national security when he asked the president of Ukraine to investigate one of his political rivals. Aggrieved and feeding off the energy of the crowd, Trump repeatedly defended himself against what he called the “deranged impeachment witch hunt” and accused Democrats of doing anything to take him down and invalidate the results of the 2016 campaign.  Members of the audience wave and cheer as President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 1, 2019.Insults for Biden, O’RourkeAt one point, Trump mockingly impersonated former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his family led to the impeachment inquiry.Still, Trump insisted — despite polling to the contrary — that the investigation is helping him politically and will hurt Democrats come 2020, telling his crowd that “we’ve never had greater support than we have right now.“While we’re creating jobs and killing terrorists,” he said, “the Democrat Party has gone completely insane.”Trump also celebrated the news that Beto O’Rourke, one of the Democratic candidates running to replace him, has dropped out of the race. Trump unleashed a slew of insults, calling O’Rourke “pathetic,” “nasty” and a “poor bastard.”“He made a total fool of himself,” Trump said, mocking an interview in which O’Rourke said he was born for the job.“He said that he was born for it, like he was born from heaven, he came down,” Trump told his crowd. “Anybody who says they were born for this, they’re in trouble.”President Donald Trump welcomes Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, left, to the stage at a rally at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 1, 2019.Tight Mississippi raceTrump was in Mississippi trying to shore up support for Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who is locked in a tight race to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in next week’s off-year election. The race between Reeves and Democrat Jim Hood for the open seat is considered the state’s toughest governor’s race in nearly a generation.Trump expressed surprise that the race is a close one but promised, “We’re going to send a signal by sending a terrific new Republican governor to Jackson.”Even though the state’s Democratic nominee for governor lost by 34 percentage points four years ago, Democrats in this conservative Deep South state think they have a shot this time with Attorney General Hood as their nominee. Hood, 57, who is serving his fourth term, has been elected by wide margins in his previous races and is currently the only Democrat to hold statewide office.Trump tried to tie Hood with national Democrats, saying he’s “not the kind of guy” Mississippi needs. Trump also celebrated the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the Islamic State Group, calling him “a savage and soulless monster.” But he also complained that he hadn’t gotten enough credit for the killing.“Conan the dog got more publicity than me,” he said, referring to the dog that played a key role in the Syria raid.Rallies for GOP governor hopefulsThe rally is one of a handful of events Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be holding in the coming days to try to bolster Republican candidates running in gubernatorial elections.Trump is scheduled to travel to Kentucky Monday to campaign for incumbent GOP Gov. Matt Bevin. He is heading to Louisiana on Wednesday to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone, who is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.Pence was in Kentucky Friday campaigning for Bevin and will travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Monday to campaign for Reeves, among other stops.“It’s always good for the president to help out Republicans up and down the ticket,” said Rick Gorka, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign and the Republican national party. “He needs reliable partnerships and strong leaders in the states in order to continue to enact his policies, so this is a way to lend his support to Tate Reeves to close out this election strong.”Mississippi raceReeves has sought to tie Hood as closely as possible to national Democrats, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are deeply unpopular in a state that voted heavily for Trump in the last presidential election.Hood says Reeves and other Republicans have underfunded schools and ignored the financial plight of rural hospitals while giving tax breaks to big businesses.Hood has not invited national Democratic figures to Mississippi. He’s running campaign commercials that show him with his family, his pickup truck and his hunting dog, Buck. In one, Hood unpacks a rifle and says that “Tate Reeves and his out-of-state corporate masters” are spending money on a “bunch of lies.”Reeves has faced some enthusiasm problems in the Republican party. He was forced into a runoff with Bill Waller Jr., former chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.But Gorka said the party was confident heading into Tuesday’s Election Day.“We’re looking at a strong possibility of winning in Mississippi, but also flipping seats in Louisiana and keeping the one in Kentucky,” he said. “So the way we always approach any election is we invest to win, both with data and infrastructure, but also with the most precious resource, the president’s time, to make sure that we’re getting the most bang for our buck.”
…

Democrat O’Rourke ‘Reluctantly’ Dropping his Presidential Bid

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman, announced Friday that he was ending his Democratic presidential campaign, which failed to recapture the enthusiasm, interest and fundraising prowess of his 2018 Senate race.Addressing supporters in Iowa, O’Rourke said he made the decision “reluctantly” and vowed to stay active in the fight to defeat President Donald Trump. “I will be part of this and so will you,” he said.O’Rourke was urged to run for president by many Democrats, including supporters of former President Barack Obama, who were energized by his narrow Senate loss last year in Texas, a reliably Republican state. He raised a record $80 million from donors across the country, visited every county in Texas and used social media and livestreaming video to engage directly with voters. He ultimately lost to incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 percentage points.But O’Rourke, 47, struggled to replicate that model in the presidential primary, and both his polling and his fundraising dwindled significantly in recent months.“We have to clearly see, at this point, that we did not have the means to pursue this campaign successfully and that my service will not be as a candidate, nor as a nominee of this party for the presidency,” O’Rourke said.A supporter for Democratic presidential candidate and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) holds her face after O’Rourke announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, Nov. 1, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa.Crucial stretch of the raceO’Rourke’s decision comes as the Democratic primary enters a critical stretch. With three months until the kickoff Iowa caucuses, polls consistently show a trio of candidates leading the way: former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, showing strength in Iowa, as well. Lower polling candidates face difficult questions about whether they have the money to sustain a campaign through the first primary contests.Earlier this week, Kamala Harris, another candidate who entered the race to much fanfare, announced she was downscaling her campaign, laying off some staffers and reorienting almost exclusively to focus on Iowa.O’Rourke entered the race as the feel-good, dynamic candidate who had the ability to appeal to both Republicans and Democrats and work across the aisle in Washington.But he immediately faced criticism that he had a sense of entitlement, particularly after the release of a Vanity Fair interview on the eve of his campaign launch in which he appeared to say he was “born” to be in presidential politics.After quickly pulling in $9.4 million during his first two weeks in the race, O’Rourke’s financial situation deteriorated. By the end of June, he was spending more than his campaign was taking in. By the end of September, he had just $3.2 million cash on hand while spending double that over the previous three months, campaign finance records show.Perhaps more significantly, the small-dollar contributions that fueled his Senate bid and the early days of his presidential campaign slowed to a $1.9 million trickle.The former congressman also struggled to articulate a consistent vision and messaging as a presidential candidate.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks during a rally against the visit of the U.S. President Donald Trump after a shooting at a Walmart store, in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 7, 2019.Climate change and gun controlHe spent several weeks trying to build his campaign around climate change, calling global warming the greatest existential threat the country had ever faced. But as the excitement over his candidacy began to fade, O’Rourke was forced to stage a “reintroduction” of his campaign to reinvigorate it. After a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in his hometown of El Paso, killing 22 people, O’Rourke more heavily embraced gun control, saying he would take assault weapons away from existing owners.As O’Rourke’s standing in the presidential primary plummeted, some Democrats urged him to return to Texas for another Senate run. He has repeatedly denied having any interest in that race.O’Rourke’s decision came hours before he was supposed to join other Democratic contenders at a party dinner in Iowa.Campaign volunteers were still collecting voter information and handing out Beto stickers outside the event amid a steady rain as the candidate announced he was dropping out.O’Rourke did not endorse another Democrat for the nomination, saying the country will be well served by any of the other candidates, “and I’m going to be proud to support whoever that nominee is.”Trump quickly weighed in on O’Rourke’s exit, saying in a tweet: “Oh no, Beto just dropped out of race for President despite him saying he was “born for this.” I don’t think so!”
 
…

AP-NORC Poll: Trump Approval Steady as Impeachment Rages

President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady as the House presses forward with an impeachment probe

President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady as the House presses forward with an impeachment probe that could imperil his presidency, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But there are warning signs in the survey for Trump.

Though Trump remains overwhelmingly popular within his own party, some Republicans have a critical view of the president’s honesty, his discipline and his respect for America’s democratic norms. Overall, 61% of Americans say Trump has little or no respect for the country’s democratic institutions and traditions, an issue that strikes at the heart of the impeachment inquiry focused in part on whether he sought a foreign government’s help for personal political gain.

Trump has fought back against the House probe with the same strategy that has buoyed him throughout the other investigations and controversies that have consumed his first three years in office: casting the investigations as politically motivated and repeatedly disparaging his opponents, often in bitingly personal terms. Republicans are so far sticking with him, with 85% saying they approve of Trump.

“The Democrats will not let the president do his job,” said Robert Little, a 73-year-old Republican from Kannapolis, North Carolina. “Ever since he’s been in office, he’s done a lot of good things for the United States, but the Democrats’ only agenda is to get rid of Trump.”

Overall, 42% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the job, in line with where he has been throughout his tenure. Just 7% of Democrats have a positive view of Trump as president.

Divisive nature

Trump’s job approval rating and other markers in the survey underscore the deeply divisive nature of his presidency, with Republicans largely favoring his actions and Democrats overwhelmingly disapproving. As Trump eyes his reelection campaign, it suggests his path to victory will hinge on rallying higher turnout among his core supporters as opposed to persuading new voters to back his bid for a second term.

The biggest bright spot for Trump remains the economy, which has continued to grow despite warning signs of a downturn. Fifty-four percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, including a quarter of Democrats.

Trump inherited a growing economy from his predecessor, Barack Obama, and the trajectory has remained positive, with the unemployment rate hovering below 4%. But economists have warned that Trump’s push to levy tariffs on China puts economic gains at risk, and a majority of Americans, 55%, disapprove of Trump’s handling of trade negotiations with other countries.

Critical of foreign policy

Americans are more critical of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, with 59% disapproving of how he’s handling that issue. The public is also skeptical that Trump’s actions as president have been good for America’s standing in the world; 46% said his policies have done more harm than good, while 39% said they have had a more positive impact.

The poll was conducted almost entirely before Trump announced on Sunday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a U.S. raid in Syria.

Trump was elected in 2016 with low marks from voters on an array of personal attributes, including honesty, and those assessments haven’t changed. Trump frequently repeats false statements and spreads conspiracy theories that have been debunked, including by members of his own administration.

More than half of Americans, 56%, said the word “honest” does not describe the president. Among Republicans, views are also mixed on Trump’s honesty: Just about half say “honest” describes Trump very or extremely well.

Republicans concerned

Even fewer Republicans have a positive view on Trump’s level of self-control, with just 39% saying “disciplined” is a very good way to describe the president, who often lashes out at critics and airs a myriad of grievances. Another 29% say it describes him moderately well, but about as many say it doesn’t describe him well.

The result is an electorate with raw emotions about the president. Nearly half say Trump makes them feel angry. And four in 10 Americans, including about 2 in 10 Republicans, say the president makes them feel overwhelmed.

“It wears you down, it wears you out,” said Bill Cathey, a 57-year-old independent from Charlotte, North Carolina. “And kind of dampens your spirit throughout the day.”

…

US Impeachment Vote: Some Notable Quotes

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to open a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

Here are some of the comments from lawmakers who supported and opposed the investigation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called for the inquiry to be approved:

“The times have found each and every one of us in this room. This is not any cause for any glee or comfort. What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.”

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, a Trump supporter:

“Trying to put a ribbon on this sham process doesn’t make it any less of a sham. We are less than 13 months before the next election. Americans understand that this is unfair. … They instinctively know this is [an] unfair and partisan process.”

Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who opposed the investigation:

“This is the moment that history will write. … What do you believe the definition of due process is? What do you think the First Amendment is [guaranteeing free speech]? This House is so much better than what is transforming today. … We believe and know we can do better. I guess it’s only fitting we take this vote on Halloween.”

Congressman Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, supporting the Trump investigation:

“The facts are clear: The White House launched a shadow foreign policy that circumvented and undermined our normal diplomatic channels. A distinguished career ambassador was publicly smeared and pushed aside. Critical military aid for Ukraine — a valued partner locked in a life-or-death struggle against Russia — was blocked.

“The goal? … To pressure a foreign government to interfere in our 2020 elections. …

“The president’s own words say it best — from the record of the call with [Ukraine] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy as he sought the tools to push back against Russia. Mr. Trump’s answer? ‘I’d like you to do us a favor though.'”
 

…

Mayors for Pete: Buttigieg Hunts for Support in City Halls

As Pete Buttigieg works to prove the leader of a city of roughly 100,000 people is ready to assume the American presidency, he’s relying on help from politicians who would know best: his fellow mayors.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor has amassed a network of roughly 60 “Mayors for Pete,” a collection of local leaders pushing for his underdog bid. The group includes mayors from former industrial cities, thriving metros and tiny towns of just a few thousand people. It includes the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, a Rust Belt city like the one Buttigieg leads, and the mayor of West Sacramento, California, a rising progressive leader.

About a third are from swing states Democrats need to win to take the White House. But just three are from the early voting states Buttigieg needs to win to become Democrats’ presidential nominee.

The campaign believes the mayors bring credibility to the 37-year-old Buttigieg’s chief pitch, a promise to usher in the next generation of Democratic politics and a more pragmatic, no-excuses style of governing.

“He’s a mayor, which means that unlike a lot of people who are running for that office, he’s in a place where he actually has to get things done,” said Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, who endorsed Buttigieg in April, passing over Beto O’Rourke, a home state candidate.

But Buttigieg’s list also highlights one of his chief weaknesses in the Democratic primary. Adler aside, the group is short on mayors who represent America’s largest cities, and on city leaders who aren’t white. It’s an omission that reflects Buttigieg’s trouble winning over black voters, a critical group of the Democratic primary electorate, amid criticism of his handling of the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer in South Bend.

Meanwhile, some of his competitors have picked up big names: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan are backing Joe Biden. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney just endorsed Elizabeth Warren.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who flirted with a presidential run himself, has not yet offered an endorsement, nor has Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s first black and LGBT mayor and a rising Democratic star. Many mayors of majority black cities in the South still haven’t endorsed anyone.

Senior Buttigieg campaign adviser Jess O’Connell said that winning support from mayors is just a piece of the campaign’s overall strategy for capturing the nomination and that she hopes the list of mayors will grow as the Democratic field winnows to fewer candidates.

“For now, what we most want are people that know Mayor Pete and understand his style,” she said. “But we know we have more to do to earn everybody’s endorsement.”

Adrian Perkins of Shreveport, Louisiana, is one of the mayors who hasn’t yet committed. Perkins went to Harvard Law School and served in the military like Buttigieg; the two connected through a friend when Perkins, 33, was still in school and Buttigieg took time to offer him advice.

But Perkins said his endorsement must be the best choice for his city, a majority black community experiencing major floods that he attributes to climate change. Perkins, who is black, acknowledged that Buttigieg has a perception problem with some black voters, but he said that could change if people get to know him.

“It would go a long way for Pete, on coming here and me putting him in front of some of the African Americans in my community, so they can see who I see in him,” he said.

Buttigieg has already won over Sly James, the former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, and former head of the African American Mayors Association, and Michelle De La Isla, the first Latina mayor of Topeka, Kansas. Christropher Cabaldon, of West Sacramento, is Filipino, part of the West’s growing Asian-Pacific Islander community.

While smaller-city mayors may not seem like coveted presidential endorsements, they are more closely connected to voters than most politicians and are responsible for functions of government that often have a more direct impact on voters’ lives.

“I think that right now you see a complete breakdown of state and federal politics, and the only place you see governing happening and stuff getting done is at the local level,” said Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio.

Whaley, Adler and Cabaldon met Buttigieg through the U.S Conference of Mayors and developed friendships. Cabaldon, who came out as gay in 2006 while serving as mayor, sought Buttigieg out at the conference in 2015, after Buttigieg came out, to offer support. Three years later, he was a guest at Buttigieg’s wedding to husband Chasten.

All three spoke at Buttigieg’s campaign launch in April, where the effort to win support from other mayors began.

As impeachment battles consume Washington, Cabaldon said, Buttigieg can provide an alternative focused on actual governance, not partisan bickering.

“We don’t fight to the death in local government,” he said.

The mayors have a call every other week with a campaign staffer dedicated to working with mayors, where they toss around policy ideas, discuss Buttigieg’s upcoming schedule and connect the campaign with interested people, Whaley said.

O’Connell, the senior campaign adviser, said the campaign has drawn from various cities to build out its policy proposals.

Whaley said she’s helped at least three Ohio mayors who aren’t backing Buttigieg connect local donors or activists with the campaign. Adler has set up fundraisers and facilitated community meetings, including with Austin’s black and Hispanic communities.

“Mayors know the leadership of every one of their communities,” Whaley said.

Buttigieg won the endorsement of Victory Fund, a group that helps LGBT candidates raise money that is headed by Annise Parker, the former Houston mayor who is backing his bid. Buttigieg didn’t automatically win the group’s endorsement, instead having to prove he was competitive first, Parker said.

With so many other current and former mayors running for president – Cory Booker (Newark), Julian Castro (San Antonio) and, previously, Bill de Blasio (New York) – Parker said Buttigieg’s ability to win over his colleagues stands out.

 One telling indicator is that mayors across the country stood up and said, “We like this one,” Parker said.

…

Islamic State Leader ‘Crawled Into a Hole’ to Die, Pentagon Says

Three days after U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up to a White House podium and told the world Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was finally dead, military officials gave the public a glimpse of the raid that ended his life.

Five black-and-white videos, taken by drones flying overhead, show attack helicopters blasting and killing a series of dark figures near the compound who fired on U.S. special forces as the flew in, before the U.S. forces themselves approach, calling on those inside to surrender.

The videos, released late Wednesday, also show U.S. aircraft using precision guided munitions to reduce the area to rubble.

“It looks pretty much like a parking lot with large potholes right now,” said General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, who oversaw the mission. “The operation was exquisitely planned and executed.”

What the video and several additional photos did not show, however, were the terror leader’s last moments.

In announcing the terror leader’s death on Sunday, Trump said, “He died like a dog.”

“He died like a coward,” the president added. “He was whimpering, screaming and crying.”

But the Pentagon, as it did earlier in the week, declined Wednesday to confirm that account of the IS leader’s last moments, though its account was no more flattering.

“I can tell you this. He crawled into a hole with two, small children and blew himself up,” General McKenzie told reporters, adding Baghdadi may have also fired several shots at U.S. forces before dying.

“You can deduce what kind of person it is based on that activity,” McKenzie said. “I’m not able to confirm anything else.”

Initial accounts, including the one shared by President Trump, indicated Baghdadi had three children with him when he detonated a suicide belt or suicide vest, killing all of them. But McKenzie said special forces members later concluded there had been only two children with the self-declared IS caliph when he fled into a dead-end tunnel as U.S. forces moved in.

U.S. military officials have said the raid on Baghdadi was months in the making, a culmination of intense surveillance, human intelligence and, finally, because the right opportunity presented itself.

McKenzie told reporters he gave the special operations team the go-ahead at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 UTC) Saturday, after having fully briefed the president.

The special operations team then staged the final assault from Syria, flying to the location of Baghdadi’s hideout in Barisha, near the Turkish border, accompanied by drones, attack helicopters and fighter jets, he said.

Upon their arrival at the site, about 10 to 15 fighters from nearby compounds, possibly thinking they were under attack, began firing at the U.S. forces and were killed.

U.S. forces then approached the compound, calling for those inside to surrender. One group, including 11 children, came out and were moved away from the site after being checked for weapons and explosive devices.

Once inside, U.S. forces shot and killed four women and one man, all believed to be suicide bombers, after they refused requests in Arabic to stop, McKenzie said.

It was at that point the U.S. team came upon Baghdadi, who fled into a tunnel before killing himself.

“While the assault force was securing the remains [of Baghdadi], they also secured whatever documentation and electronics we could find, which was substantial,” McKenzie told reporters

President Trump on Sunday said the documents included “highly sensitive material,” including future plans.

McKenzie declined to get into any detail, but said it appeared that Baghdadi had been using floppy disks or other computer hardware to store information and then distribute it by courier.

Before leaving the site, U.S. forces released all the non-combatants, including the 11 children who had evacuated the compound.

Two other men who had surrendered left with U.S. forces and remain in custody, McKenzie said.

…

Going Its Own Way: Twitter Bans Political Ads from Its Service

In a major break from other internet companies, Twitter said on Wednesday it would no longer accept political ads, a decision that will affect users and political campaigns in the U.S. and around the world.

In a series of 11 tweets, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, said that while internet advertising is powerful and effective for advertisers, “that power brings significant risks to politics.”

“We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally,” Dorsey said. “We believe political message reach should be earned not bought.”

We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons…?

— jack ??? (@jack) October 30, 2019

The ban, which will go into effect Nov. 22, will cover candidate ads as well as ads for political issues. Advertisements that encourage people to vote will remain.
 
Technology and elections
 
Twitter’s decision comes as internet firms have struggled with internet-fueled disinformation campaigns both in the U.S. and around the world.
 
Earlier on Wednesday, Facebook said it removed three Russia-backed disinformation campaigns in Africa that they were part of legitimate local organizations.
 
Since the birth of social media, tech savvy political candidates have gained an edge by using internet services – including buying ads on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter- to augment traditional media and talk directly to their supporters.

But since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, mixing technology and electoral politics has come under increasing scrutiny. Echoed in Dorsey’s tweets is a darker view that technology’s success at helping candidates target and reach masses can create its own problems.

“A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet,” Dorsey wrote. “Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.”

A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.

— jack ??? (@jack) October 30, 2019

 
Fighting against, profiting from misinformation

Twitter’s decision will likely have little effect on the firm’s bottom line – less than $3 million was spent on political advertising on the service in the U.S. mid-term election, the firm’s chief financial officer tweeted. Still, it appears to end a struggle between the advertising business and Twitter’s fight against misinformation.

“It’s not credible for us to say: ‘We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want!'”

For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: “We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want! ?”

— jack ??? (@jack) October 30, 2019

That comment is in stark contrast to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ongoing defense of his firm’s decision not to factcheck political ads.

Zuckerberg told investors on Wednesday that he stands by that decision, adding that “ads can be an important part of voice — especially for candidates and advocacy groups the media might not otherwise cover so they can get their message into debates.”

Twitter’s across-the-board ban on political ads earned the praise of one Silicon Valley executive.

“I think this is the right call by Jack Dorsey and by Twitter,” said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, chief marketing officer at Mozilla, the parent of the Firefox browser. In 2018, Mozilla stopped advertising across Facebook’s businesses because of Facebook’s data practices.

“Accepting money to run ads that contain falsehoods isn’t the right thing to do for people,”Kaykas-Wolffsaid. “We know that the harm from misinformation is very real in political discourse. … You either vet the ads or you don’t run them.”

It remains to be seen whether Twitter’s decision will influence other internet firms and how it will be received by people seeking office, who have now lost one way to reach voters.

…

Papadopoulos Seeks California Seat Left Vacant by Rep. Hill

George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Katie Hill.

Papadopoulos didn’t immediately comment, but on Sunday he tweeted, “I love my state too much to see it run down by candidates like Hill. All talk, no action, and a bunch of sellouts.”

Hill, whose district covers Los Angeles County, announced her resignation on Sunday amid an ethics probe into allegations she had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

She’s admitted to a consensual relationship with a campaign staff member, but denied one with a congressional staff member, which would violate U.S. House rules. She’s called herself the victim of revenge porn by an abusive husband she is divorcing.

Papadopoulos, meanwhile, was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

The FBI’s counterintelligence investigation that later became the Mueller probe was triggered, in part, from a tip from an Australian diplomat who had communicated with Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of stolen emails that would be potentially damaging to Hillary Clinton.

His lawyers have sought a pardon from the president, though Papadopoulos contends that’s unlikely to come to fruition.

In the last few months, he’s been working on a working on a documentary series with his wife about their interactions with the special counsel’s team. He’s also on the board of advisers for a medical marijuana company that is hoping to help use cannabis to combat the opioid epidemic.

Papadopoulos was the first of five Trump aides to plead guilty as part of Mueller’s investigation. He wants the government to declassify material, including authorizations by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that he contends could prove he was unlawfully targeted.

Attorney General William Barr appointed a U.S. attorney who is conducting a criminal investigation examining origins of Mueller’s probe. The current investigation is examining what led the U.S. to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and the roles that various countries played in the U.S. probe. Prosecutors are also investigating whether the surveillance and intelligence-gathering methods used during the investigation were legal and appropriate

Papadopoulos enters a field of at least three other Republicans and one Democrat. The other Republicans are Navy veteran Mike Garcia, bank executive Angela Jacobs Underwood and Mark Cripe, who works for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Former Republican Rep. Steve Knight, who lost the seat to Hill in 2018, is also considering running.

The seat was the last Los Angeles County seat to be held by Republicans before Hill’s victory and was one of seven Democrats flipped last year.

State Assemblywoman Christy Smith is the only Democrat in the race so far. She quickly criticized Papadopoulos on Tuesday.

“If he pled guilty to lying to the FBI – how do we know he’ll tell us the truth?” Smith tweeted. “We deserve someone from our community serving as our voice – not (Trump’s) wannabe political hack!”

A special election to fill Hill’s seat cannot be set by Gov. Gavin Newsom until she officially leaves Congress, which she has not done. It’s possible there is no special election, depending on how long she waits to leave office. That would make the next election for the seat in November 2020.

…

US Appeals Court Blocks Release of Unredacted Mueller Report Pending Appeal

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday issued a stay that blocks the release to a congressional committee of an unredacted copy of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to hand over by Wednesday a copy of the Mueller report that included material that had been blacked out.

The Justice Department requested the stay by the Court of Appeals in Washington while it appeals Howell’s ruling.

The department is trying to block Democrats from accessing the full Mueller report on the grounds that doing so would require the disclosure of secret grand jury materials and potentially harm ongoing investigations.

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena seeking the full report as part of Democrats’ effort to build a case for removing Trump from office through impeachment.

Mueller submitted his report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr in March after completing a 22-month investigation that detailed Russia’s campaign of hacking and propaganda to boost Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election as well as extensive contacts between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

Barr, a Trump appointee who Democrats have accused of trying to protect the president politically, released the 448-page report in April with some parts redacted.

The House impeachment inquiry centers not on the findings of the Mueller report but on Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate a domestic political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. House Democrats have described that as an improper solicitation of foreign interference in a U.S. election.

In her ruling on Friday, Howell also said the House need not pass a resolution formally initiating its impeachment inquiry, undercutting an argument that Trump’s fellow Republicans have made in attacking the probe.

Democrats began the inquiry without putting such a resolution to a vote, but on Tuesday they unveiled legislation laying out procedures for the probe that could be voted on a early as this week.

…