Ever since impeachment inquiry was announced, it's been getting crazier out there - Fox News

“Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” – Arthur Fleck, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, in “Joker”

There haven’t been any missing 18-and-a-half minutes from White House audio recordings. Yet.

However, we have “notes” or a “transcript” of a call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. There’s a suggestion that the information isn’t complete due to ellipses in the log of the call.

No one is lurking around after hours in a trench coat in a parking garage in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, VA.

But there is the cryptic character, known simply as “the whistleblower.” This is the figure who purportedly ratted out the President’s remarks to Zelensky to intelligence community Inspector General Mike Atkinson. Atkinson deemed the whistleblower complaint “urgent” and “credible.”

That was the prime mover in this entire episode. The whistleblower is “patient zero” in this impeachment contagion, setting all events in motion. Now there appears to be a second whistleblower.

TRUMP CALLS FOR SCHIFF, PELOSI IMPEACHMENTS

Lawmakers want to talk with the whistleblower. Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) had contact with the whistleblower in July. President Trump believes he has a right to face “his accuser.” Some Republicans question whether Schiff and Atkinson handled the whistleblower complaint properly. Schiff’s credibility came into question after he denied having spoken with the whistleblower. And, we’ve learned that the whistleblower may have Democratic ties. All of this presented Mr. Trump and his defenders on Capitol Hill fodder to question the reliability of both the whistleblower and Schiff. Moreover, there’s internecine Republican fighting about the appropriate strategy to stand up for the President. Some rank-and-file GOPers have quietly attacked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced the House was initiating a formal impeachment probe in late September. And ever since, Washington devolved into a cycle of news reserved for the start of the Iraq war, 9/11, the impeachment of President Clinton and the start of the Gulf War. Squadrons of television cameras are parked outside the House Intelligence Committees – and will be for the near future as the House begins preparing its case to potentially impeach the President. It made no difference that Congress was supposed to be on a recess last week – and is on recess this week.

“I don’t think we’re going to get any break,” said Schiff as he walked slowly through the tunnel leading from the Capitol to the Cannon House Office Building late Friday after a seven-and-a-half hour session with Atkinson. “Which means you’re not going to get any break, either.”

In other words, it’s getting crazier out there.

It was significant that Pelosi held a rare press conference in the middle of the recess alongside Schiff on Capitol Hill last week. Pelosi’s appearance with Schiff says a lot about where the House inquest is headed. There’s been some tension between the Speaker and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) over impeachment. But Schiff’s presence is crucial. The Intelligence Committee is now taking control of this. Granted, the Judiciary panel will in fact ultimately craft prospective articles of impeachment. But those writs will stem from what Pelosi and Schiff do.

Tracking Pelosi and who is in her inner orbit involves a bit of Kremlinology. Western journalists covering the Soviet Union always watched who was seated next to the General Secretary at the May Day Parade in Moscow. Whoever was close to Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko or Mikhail Gorbachev would tell you a lot about their status inside the Kremlin. Their absence revealed a lot, too.

The same is true with Pelosi. Schiff was present with Pelosi. Nadler was not.

Republicans are now carping that the House impeachment investigation isn’t legitimate because the full House never conducted a vote to initiate such an inquiry. The entire House voted to take on impeachment in the cases of President Richard Nixon in 1974 and President Clinton in 1998. But the Constitution is pretty vague when it comes to what the House has to do with impeachment. All Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution says is that the House “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."

Republicans would love for the House to conduct a formal roll call vote about impeachment (note, this is separate from actually voting to impeach the President). The GOP would then have lots of vulnerable House Democrats on the record, documented in a vote. The GOP would then weaponize that vote against those Democrats who represent competitive districts.

The entire impeachment question may hinge on a single word: “though.” When asked if he had a relationship with Monica Lewinsky, during his 1998 videotaped grand jury deposition in 1998, President Clinton replied “it depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is” is.” President Trump told Zelensky “I would like you to do us a favor, though.”

“Though” could imply the conditional demand for a exchange. In other words, I’ll do X if you do Y.

The word “though” tripped up McCarthy last week during his appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes. McCarthy suggested that reporter Scott Pelley added the word “though” when asked about the call notes. That was not the case.

Congress continues its two-plus week recess. Impeachment will truly intensify once lawmakers return to Washington early next week. But two constants remain: Democrats are steeled in their resolve to impeach Mr. Trump. And, there is little diminution in support for the President among Congressional Republicans.

Some Congressional Republicans fear retribution from the President. That’s why they exhibit fealty to Mr. Trump. Some political analysts will point to a dozen Republican senators and a few in the House who have voted against the President to terminate his national emergency declaration for the border wall. But it’s wrong to perceive those Republican defections as a softening of GOP support for the President. Republicans know there aren’t enough votes to override President Trump’s vetoes of these measures. So, they’re willing to vote their conscience.

This is why President Trump enjoys a GOP firewall when it comes to a Senate impeachment trial. It takes 67 votes to convict during a Senate trial. It’s hard to believe that 20 Republicans would join all 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats to convict. In fact, it’s far from assured that all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus would vote to convict.

The dam will only break among Congressional Republicans if they start to see their positions weaken because of their defense of President Trump.

On August 7, 1974, Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (R-PA), House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R-AZ) and Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) paid President Nixon a visit. The story goes that they told Nixon his presidency was doomed and he would face conviction in the Senate. They contend they said no such thing. But history seems to have exaggerated what the trio told Nixon. Perhaps he already knew. Nixon quit two days later.

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Support for President Trump remains high now among Congressional Republicans. One could even see a scenario where a team of Republicans could visit the White House to encourage Mr. Trump to fight impeachment.

Impeachment is just beginning. There’s a long way to go.

No. It’s not you. Things are getting crazier out there.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ever-since-impeachment-inquiry-was-announced-its-been-getting-crazier-out-there

2019-10-07 07:19:19Z
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U.S. forces will not defend Kurdish forces in Syria: U.S. official - Reuters

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The United States informed the commander of the Kurdish-led SDF forces in Syria on Monday morning that U.S. forces will not defend them from Turkish attacks anywhere, a U.S. official told Reuters ahead of an expected Turkish offensive.

The official said U.S. forces had evacuated two observation posts at Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain in northeast Syria, along the Turkish border. The other U.S. forces in the region were still in position for now, the official said.

Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Daren Butler

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-10-07 07:44:00Z
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Trump’s decision to make way for Turkey in Syria seen by critics as a Kurds betrayal - Fox News

FILE 2018: President Donald Trump, left, talks with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as they arrive together for a family photo at a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

President Trump faced swift criticism early Monday after the White House announced its decision to move U.S. troops from northern Syria and give way for Turkey’s planned military incursion in the region.

Kurdish forces bore the brunt of the ground campaign against Islamic State militants but are considered terrorists by the Turkish government.

In December, Trump announced he was withdrawing American troops from Syria but was met with widespread condemnation for abandoning Kurdish allies to the Turkish assault.

The announcement prompted the resignation in protest of then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and a coordinated campaign by then-national security adviser John Bolton to try to protect the Kurds.

As recently as January, Trump warned Ankara not to target the group, saying the U.S. would "devastate" Turkey economically if "they hurt the Kurds."

It was not immediately clear if Trump mentioned the Kurds in his Sunday phone call with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan.

“Allowing Turkey to move into Northern Syria is one of the most destabilizing moves we can do in the Middle East,” tweeted former Iraq War veteran Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona. “The Kurds will never trust America again. They will look for new alliances or Independence to protect themselves.  Pompeo has failed again.”

Turkey views the People's Protection Units, or YPG, as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged an insurgency against Turkey for 35 years.

“The Kurds betrayed by the US --- again,” wrote New York Times contributing writer Wajahat Ali. “Turkey has a brutal history of oppressing Kurds. Erdogan wants nothing more than to crack down on an entire group he sees as a ‘threat’ and whom he routinely refers to as ‘terrorists,’” he added.  “Kurds are US allies fighting ISIS. This is a win for extremists and authoritarians. Shameful.”

TURKEY ANNOUNCES INCURSION OF NORTHEAST SYRIA, US-BACKED KURDS HAVE VOWED 'ALL-OUT' WAR

Following the late Sunday announcement, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has worked alongside U.S. troops to combat ISIS, warned against Turkey’s imminent incursion in a lengthy series of tweets.

“Based on our confidence in the #US efforts in the Security Mechanism agreement, we implemented all our commitments to remove military fortifications between Tal Abyad & SereKaniye, withdraw combat forces with heavy weapons, risking a security vacuum as a result of the agreement,” the group tweeted.

“But Erdogan's threats are aimed to change the security mechanism into a mechanism of death, displace our people & change the stable & secure region into a zone of conflict and permanent war.”

SDF officials argued Turkey’s presence in the region would result in the return of ISIS leaders, reversing successful efforts to defeat the terrorist organization, and lead to “long-term war in the region making #Syria a permanent conflict area.”

ERDOGAN THREATENS MILITARY ACTION IN SYRIA, US-BACKED GROUP VOVWS 'ALL-OUT WAR'

Erdogan said his country has given enough warning and has “acted with enough patience.” Erdogan has expressed frustration with Washington’s support for Kurdish groups in Syria.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said it is committed to the agreement between Turkey and the U.S. to preserve stability in the region.

"However, we will not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border to DEFEND ourselves and our people," SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted a day earlier.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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2019-10-07 06:32:49Z
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Britons Demand Return of American Woman Who Fled After Fatal Crash - The New York Times

The mother of a British teenager who was killed in a crash in August has appealed to President Trump for help after the main suspect in the investigation, an American citizen, left Britain despite telling the police that she had no plans to do so.

Harry Dunn, 19, was killed after his motorcycle collided with a car traveling in the opposite direction in Brackley, a town in the East Midlands, on Aug. 27.

The police said their investigation into the crash had been complicated when the 42-year-old American woman who is the main suspect recently left the country. Sky News reported that the British police believe that the American was driving on the wrong side of the road when the crash occurred.

The woman is the wife of an American diplomat, and thus has diplomatic immunity, according to local media reports.

“Harry Dunn’s family deserves justice, and in order to achieve this, a full and thorough investigation, with the assistance of all parties involved, needs to take place,” Superintendent Sarah Johnson, head of operations for the Northamptonshire police, said in a statement on Saturday. She added that the police had sought documentation “to allow for the arrest and formal interview of the subject.”

The police are also working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ms. Johnson said, adding that they are “exploring all opportunities through diplomatic channels” to ensure the investigation’s progress.

Harry Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, has been pushing the efforts to have the American woman’s immunity waived and have her come back to Britain.

“President Trump, please listen,” Ms. Charles told Sky News, the media outlet that first reported on the identity of the 42-year-old woman. “We’re a family in ruin. We’re broken.”

“We can’t grieve,” she said, adding of the woman, “Please, please let her get back on a plane.”

Though the Foreign Office did not formally confirm the identity of the American woman, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, offered his condolences to the victim’s family and released a statement addressing the matter.

Britain transmitted a formal request for a waiver of immunity to the American Embassy in London on Sept. 5. The embassy declined the waiver eight days later.

“I have called the U.S. ambassador to express the U.K.’s disappointment with their decision, and to urge the embassy to reconsider it,” Mr. Raab said. The American Embassy could not be reached for comment.

After news of the woman’s flight from Britain emerged, the news media, the British government and social media users stepped up pressure on the American government to reconsider her immunity and allow the police to resume questioning her in Britain.

“We have to get proper justice for Harry and closure for his family,” Andrea Leadsom, the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. A day earlier, she had met Harry Dunn’s family, who, she wrote, is “heartbroken.”

“Harry & his family have been wronged,” Angela Rayner, a member of Parliament for the opposition Labour Party, said in a tweet.

The victim’s parents said they would continue fighting to get justice for their son’s death.

“We are not going to be swept under the carpet,” Ms. Charles told ITV, a British news channel. “If that becomes his legacy, then we are going to carry on fighting, we’re not going to give up, we’re not going to go away,” she said.

“We can’t let our son die and nothing be answered for,” Tim Dunn, his father, said.

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2019-10-07 06:05:00Z
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Ignoring ban, masked Hong Kongers march in huge numbers - The Washington Post

Fazry Ismail EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks take part in a demonstration against a newly imposed law banning face masks in public in Hong Kong, China, Oct. 6, 2019. 

HONG KONG — Covering their faces with black surgical masks, Guy Fawkes disguises, dish towels and even paper bags, tens of thousands in Hong Kong marched in the territory’s two main districts in defiance of a government ban on face masks, despite fears of violence and pouring rain. 

The march, which until late afternoon continued to be overwhelmingly peaceful, underscored the depth of dissent over the new measures which many here believe to be an infringement of their basic freedoms. Despite a partial shutdown the city’s subway system, including stations close to the starting points of the rallies, participants included the disabled in wheelchairs, toddlers and the elderly. 

“To me, banning the masks is an erosion of our basic rights,” said 60-year-old Fred Wong, marching toward central Hong Kong in a green surgical mask. “We as the older ones should be ashamed of ourselves for not protecting our rights a long time ago, and we should be embarrassed if we don’t come out to fight for the future of the young.” 

[Hong Kong brought to a standstill as city braces for more unrest after ban on face masks]

The size and diversity of the marches also indicated that many remain undeterred and unwilling to give up on their goals for a more democratic Hong Kong, even as the risk of participation continues to increase. The Hong Kong government is under growing pressure from authorities in Beijing to quell the anger that has erupted on city streets and end demonstrations that are now in their fifth month. 

Starting at midafternoon, police attempted to disperse both marches, one in central Hong Kong and another in the Kowloon district close to Victoria Harbor. Before they started firing tear gas rounds, there had been no confrontations between police and protesters.

In Mongkok, a neighborhood in Kowloon, police fired rubber bullets and bean bag rounds at the crowd, which had also been peacefully marching. Police escalated to tear gas after protesters began shining laser lights and throwing things at a police station. 

In one particularly dramatic scene in Kowloon, a taxi driver appeared to deliberately drive into a crowd of protesters. The crowd retaliated and pummeled the man, leaving him bleeding all over his face before another group of protesters stepped in to end the attack.

Vincent Thian

AP

Police use tear gas to disperse protesters in Hong Kong, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019. 

By early evening, a hard core of protesters geared up for clashes with police, now routine after large marches. Outside the city’s High Court building, demonstrators laid bricks down on the road along with traffic cones and metal railings. In what appeared to be a new tactic, they also tied trip wires made of fishing line across a road that has been the scene of charges by police during recent protests. 

Small groups also threw petrol bombs and other objects at police. 

Police soon began clearing the crowds with water cannons, more tear gas and began arresting protesters. A spokeswoman for the police department did not immediately have details on the arrests or whether any were charged under the new anti-mask laws. 

At the barracks of the People’s Liberation Army in the Kowloon Tong neighborhood, personnel on the roof raised a yellow flag warning those marching past that they were breaching the law and could be prosecuted — it was time protesters have elicited a reaction from the Chinese military. Protesters have previously avoided targeting PLA buildings. 

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam invoked sweeping emergency powers to enact the new law, a measure she hopes will stop the violence that has increasingly become the hallmark of the last five months of street protests. 

Protests were first sparked by a now-withdrawn proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China, but the unrest has now swelled into a movement seeking direct elections for Hong Kong’s leaders and an independent investigation into the police. 

Lam’s ban on face masks, however, has so far only has only sparked more anger. Violence on city streets swelled on Friday night, with dozens of businesses perceived as pro-Beijing vandalized and burned. Some of the same outlets were also targeted on Sunday, along with subway stations which were badly vandalized. 

The city was placed on an effective shutdown on Saturday as the entire subway network, shops and most supermarkets were closed. The subway reopened only partially on Sunday, but announced it would close all stations at 9 p.m. 

[How it got to this point: The evolution of Hong Kong’s protests]

Many are worried that the expanded police powers afforded by the law will only further a sense of impunity in the department, which is using increasingly harsh measures to suppress the demonstrations. In recent days, riot police presence has increased all over the city, with officers fully decked out in shields, helmets and sometimes, face coverings. 

Protesters have now added a new demand to their list of five: Now they are also calling for the complete overhaul of the police force.

Tyrone Siu

Reuters

Anti-government protesters take cover while riot police use rubber bullets to disperse them during a demonstration at Prince Edward, in Hong Kong, Oct. 6, 2019. 

“In Hong Kong, we are seeing the police now covering their faces with black masks, almost like they have unlimited rights,” said Yeung, 18, who only provided her last name citing the illegality of the march. The law, she added, “is being applied with double standards.” 

On Sunday morning, the High Court for the second time rejected a temporary injunction on the anti-mask law, this time filed by a group of two dozen pro-democracy lawmakers. The court however will still hear a judicial review of the law and the emergency powers used to implement it, and has expedited the case.

“The court obviously sees that there is an important constitutional principle at stake concerning our separation of powers, concerning the rule of law in Hong Kong. And that is why the court has agreed to grant us a very fast and quick hearing in the second half of this month,” Dennis Kwok, a pro-democracy lawmaker who represents the legal sector, said after the ruling. 

“We will do our best to fight whether it is in court, whether it is in [the Legislative Council] or whether it is out there with the Hong Kong people,” he added, referring to the city’s lawmaking body. 

Joy Luk, a blind protester in her 30s, was among those marching in central Hong Kong. She had a caretaker with her, and was listening to a local news live-stream of the protest over headphones connected to her phone.

She was also wearing a surgical mask. 

“I have not worn any face masks to the protest in the past, because I don’t think my identity would be concealed even if I wear them. I am probably the only blind person to go to the front-lines of protests,” she said, adding that she has participated in demonstrations “countless” times. 

“But now,” Luk said, “it is my means of expression against the government. They cannot stop us.”

Vincent Thian

AP

Protesters throw back tear gas at police in Hong Kong, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019.

Read more

Hong Kong leader invokes colonial-era emergency powers to ban masks, sparking more protests

Hong Kong protester shot as police disperse anti-China demonstrations on National Day

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2019-10-06 12:30:00Z
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2nd whistleblower comes forward after speaking with IG: Attorney - ABC News

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2019-10-06 12:22:00Z
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North Korea sees no way for U.S. to have alternative plans in two weeks - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un meet at the start of their summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Sunday that there was no way United States would bring alternative plans for their stalled nuclear talks within two weeks after negotiations in Sweden between the two countries broke down at the weekend.

The United States and North Korea were holding working-level talks in Sweden but these were broken off on Saturday. The U.S. State Department said it had accepted Sweden’s invitation to return for more discussions with Pyongyang in two weeks.

North Korea said the ball was now in Washington’s court, warning again that it would only wait until the end of the year for the United States to change course.

“We have no intention to hold such sickening negotiations as ... happened this time (in Sweden) before the U.S. takes a substantial step to make complete and irreversible withdrawal of the hostile policy toward the DPRK,” KCNA state news agency cited a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry as saying, referring to the official name of North Korea.

North Korea reiterated the year-end deadline that leader Kim Jong Un set for the United States to show more flexibility in the talks, which fell apart in February during his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

In June, the two leaders then met again in Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, and agreed to restart working-level talks.

But the North Korean foreign ministry said Washington had made no preparations for the talks in Sweden but only sought to serve its own political aims.

“The U.S. is spreading a completely ungrounded story that both sides are open to meet after two weeks...it is not likely at all that it can produce a proposal commensurate to the expectations of the DPRK and to the concerns of the world in just fortnight,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Reporting by Ju-min Park and Josh Smith; Editing by Jane Merriman

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa/north-korea-sees-no-way-for-us-to-have-alternative-plans-in-two-weeks-idUSKCN1WL089

2019-10-06 11:59:00Z
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