The Kurdish forces fought hard, but the U.S. partnership with them was always going to be problematic, he said. The Kurdish fighters in Syria have links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Turkey, which both Ankara and Washington have labeled a terrorist organization.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two U.S. officials have told Reuters.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran’s ability to spread “propaganda.”
One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details.
It highlights how President Donald Trump’s administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression without spiraling into a broader conflict.
The strike appears more limited than other such operations against Iran this year after the downing of an American drone in June and an alleged attack by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on oil tankers in the Gulf in May.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany have publicly blamed the Sept. 14 attack on Iran, which denied involvement in the strike. The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen claimed responsibility.
Publicly, the Pentagon has responded by sending thousands of additional troops and equipment to bolster Saudi defenses – the latest U.S. deployment to the region this year.
The Pentagon declined to comment about the cyber strike.
“As a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence, or planning,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith.
The impact of the attack, if any, could take months to determine, but cyber strikes are seen as a less-provocative option below the threshold of war.
“You can do damage without killing people or blowing things up; it adds an option to the toolkit that we didn’t have before and our willingness to use it is important,” said James Lewis, a cyber expert with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Lewis added that it may not be possible to deter Iranian behavior with even conventional military strikes.
Tensions in the Gulf have escalated sharply since May 2018, when Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of sanctions.
It was unclear whether there have been other U.S. cyber attacks since the one in late September.
Iran has used such tactics against the United States. This month, a hacking group that appears linked to the Iranian government tried to infiltrate email accounts related Trump’s re-election campaign.
Over 30 days in August and September, the group, which Microsoft dubbed “Phosphorous,” made more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer accounts, then attacked 241 of them.
Tehran is also thought to be a major player in spreading disinformation.
Last year a Reuters investigation found more than 70 websites that push Iranian propaganda to 15 countries, in an operation that cybersecurity experts, social media firms and journalists are only starting to uncover.
Tensions with Iran have been high since the Sept. 14 attack. Tehran has claimed that an Iranian tanker was hit by rockets in the Red Sea last week and warned on Monday that there would be consequences.
At a news conference on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani reiterated his country’s policy toward the Trump administration, ruling out bilateral talks unless Washington returns to the landmark nuclear deal and lifts crippling U.S. economic sanctions.
Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart. Editing by Gerry Doyle
According to an official translation of her remarks, Lam said housing is the “toughest livelihood issue” facing the city’s citizens and pledged to make more land available for public housing development. In a video delivery of her policy address, she emphasized that housing issues are essential to social stability and upward mobility.
“Every Hong Kong citizen and his family will no longer have to be troubled by, or preoccupied with, the housing problem, and that they will be able to have their own home in Hong Kong, a city in which we all have a share,” she pledged.
Lam’s focus on land and housing initiatives is seen as a bid to restore confidence in the city’s future after months of anti-government protests that have crippled the city and dampened investor sentiment in the Asian financial hub.
She also reiterated the need for an immediate end to violence and said that the violent clashes have been “spreading chaos” and “seriously disrupting people’s lives” in Hong Kong.
The political uncertainties have seeped through into economic matters as the city slashed its GDP growth outlook and businesses have reported huge slumps. Retail and hospitality industries been hit the hardest. The demonstrations have also snarled the city’s normally efficient underground rail system and airport, unnerving investors.
In August, the government unveiled a HK$19.1 billion package to support the slowing economy, including subsidies for the underprivileged and business enterprises, as well as somewhat higher salary tax rebates.
The disagreement between the two, which began in the wake of the September debate, centered on conflict over a mandatory assault weapons buyback, a policy that O’Rourke has touted but struggled to fully explain. While O’Rourke has argued that a buyback would help curb gun violence, Buttigieg has previously called it a “shiny object” and did not hold back from reiterating this argument again on Tuesday.
“Congressman, you just made it clear you are don’t know how this is actually going to take weapons off the streets,” the mayor said Tuesday, suggesting that O’Rourke was pushing for a “purity test” instead of more pragmatic policy. “If you can develop the plan further, I think we can have a debate about it. But we can’t wait.”
In response, O’Rourke argued that he does in fact have a plan and that beyond buybacks, he supports other gun reforms, like red flag laws and universal background checks. O’Rourke also worked to make the case that aggressive reforms are the best way to serve the 40,000 annual gun violence victims and countless activists he says he is advocating for.
However, when pushed on how he would implement a mandatory assault weapons buyback on Tuesday, O’Rourke stopped short of explaining how he would confiscate weapons from people who refrain from voluntarily turning them in to law enforcement.
Instead, he tried to flip Buttigieg’s attack on its head: “Let’s … lead and not be limited by the polls and consultants and focus groups,” he said.
The mayor responded forcefully by noting that he didn’t need a lecture from O’Rourke.
“The problem isn’t the polls, the problem is the policy,” he said. “I don’t need lessons from you on courage, political or personal.”
The exchange between the two lawmakers was the most high-profile back-and-forth they’ve had on the subject of gun control, and it was one of several instances in which Buttigieg argued a rival’s policies were too extreme and overly vague. Buttigieg took the same route earlier in the debate when he confronted Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the subject of Medicare-for-all and argued that she was pushing a more progressive idea instead of focusing on other proposals that could also help expand health care coverage.
On both subjects, O’Rourke and Warren responded to the mayor by saying their focus on more ambitious policies was intended to be a stronger and more effective response to the respective issues of health care coverage and gun control. Warren argued that Buttigieg’s health care proposal, something he’s been referring to as Medicare-for-all-who-want-it, was actually only accessible to those who could afford it. O’Rourke, too, argued that more aggressive measures like a buyback would be necessary to curb gun violence.
The spirited discussion on the two topics marked moments where Buttigieg sought to differentiate himself as a moderate option and frame himself as a foil to other candidates onstage. Polling steadily in the middle of the pack, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Buttigieg needed a strong performance in Tuesday’s debate to further carve out a niche for himself.
Taking on O’Rourke — and Warren — was apparently part of that strategy.
Health care has been a major feature of every Democratic debate this election cycle. A major plank of that — women’s access to health care — has not. And Sen. Kamala Harris has had enough of it.
That the issue has come up so little in past debates is “outrageous,” the California senator said, in one of the most moving moments of Tuesday’s three-hour debate.
“There are states that have passed laws that will virtually prevent women from having access to reproductive health care, and it is not an exaggeration to say women will die,” Harris said. “Poor women, women of color will die because these Republican legislatures in these various states who are out of touch with America are telling women what to do with their bodies.”
Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) during the fourth Democratic primary debate.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Harris’s response was echoed by Sen. Cory Booker soon after, noting that two Planned Parenthood clinics had recently closed in Ohio, where the debate was being held. “We are seeing all over this country women’s reproductive rights under attack,” he said. “God bless Kamala. Women should not be the only ones taking up this cause and this fight.”
Harris’s shift of the conversation — and Booker’s follow-up — were among the most attention-grabbing moments of Tuesday’s latest round of Democratic debates. But they weren’t the only ones. From Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on taxing the wealthy to Andrew Yang on universal basic income, here are some of the most significant and substantive responses of the night.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren defend the wealth tax — and hit their competitors on defending billionaires
When the debate moderators brought up income inequality, Sen. Bernie Sanders smiled.
The question was designed as yet another progressive policy litmus test, and that puts him and Sen. Elizabeth Warren center stage.
Both have proposed “wealth taxes” to address rampant inequality in the United States. Warren sells it as a “two-cent tax” on the 75,000 wealthiest families in the country: She’s proposing a 2 percent tax on household assets above $50 million and 3 percent for households with assets worth more than $1 billion. Sanders has come out with his own version of the proposal, one that starts with a 1 percent tax on wealth above $32 million and slowly increases the tax rate on the larger the sum of assets.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) ahead of the fourth Democratic primary debate.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The moderators asked Sanders: “Is the goal of your plan to tax billionaires out of existence?”
Here’s what Sanders said:
When you have a half a million Americans sleeping out on the street today, when you have 87 people — 87 million people uninsured or underinsured, when you have hundreds of thousands of kids who cannot afford to go to college and millions struggling with the oppressive burden of student debt, and then you also have three people owning more wealth than the bottom half of American society, that is a moral and economic outrage.
And the truth is, we cannot afford to continue this level of income and wealth inequality. And we cannot afford a billionaire class whose greed and corruption has been at war with the working families of this country for 45 years. So if you are asking me, do I think we should demand that the wealthy start paying — the wealthiest top 1 percent — start paying their fair share of taxes so we can create a nation and a government that works for all of us, yes, that’s exactly what I believe.
This question sparked a debate about whether a wealth tax was the best method to address inequality. Beto O’Rourke called instead for an earned income tax credit, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she would repeal the recent cuts to the corporate tax rate (which Sanders has also supported in addition to his wealth tax).
Warren got a chance to respond:
I think this is about our values as a country. Show me your budget, show me your tax plans, and we’ll know what your values are. And right now in America the top 1/10th of 1 percent have so much wealth, understand this, that if we put a 2 cent tax on their 50 millionth and first dollar and on every dollar after that, we would have enough money to provide universal childcare for every baby in this country age zero to five.
Universal pre-K for every child, raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher in America, provide for universal tuition-free college, put $50 billion into historically black colleges and universities … And cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the people who have it. My question is not why do Bernie and I support a wealth tax, it’s why does everyone else on the stage think it’s more important to protect billionaires than it is to invest in an entire generation.
— Tara Golshan
Julián Castro points out that police violence is gun violence
Amid back-and-forth about gun laws among multiple candidate, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro invoked an often-overlooked potential consequence of the prospect of mandatory gun buybacks: it could mean police officers going door to door to collect people’s firearms. That’s an aspect that can be particularly distasteful to communities of color, which disproportionately bear the weight of police scrutiny — and violence.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro during the Democratic primary debate.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
“In the places I grew up in, we weren’t exactly looking for another reason for the cops to come banging on the door,” Castro said. He brought up the weekend shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman who was shot in her home by a white police officer performing a welfare check. The officer has been charged with murder.
“I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door to door in certain communities, because police violence is also gun violence, and we need to address that,” Castro said. According to data from Twitter, Castro’s remark was the most tweeted-about moment of the night.
In June, Castro rolled out a sweeping plan to reform policing; he was the first one to do so of the 2020 Democrats. Among his proposals are putting an end to overly aggressive and biased policing and holding the police accountable for misconduct.
I grew up in neighborhoods where it wasn’t uncommon to hear gunshots at night. I can remember ducking in the back seat of a car as a freshman in high school across the street from my school, a public school, because folks were shooting at each other. Let me answer voluntary versus mandatory [gun buybacks]. There are two problems with mandatory buybacks. Number one, folks can’t define it, and if you’re not going door to door, it’s not really mandatory.
But also, in the places I grew up in, we weren’t exactly looking for another reason for cops to come banging on the door, and you all saw a couple days ago what happened to Atatiana Jefferson in Fort Worth. A cop showed up at 2 in the morning at her house when she was playing video games with her nephew, he didn’t even announce himself, and within four seconds he shot her and killed her through her own window. She was in her own home. I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door to door in certain communities because police violence is also gun violence and we need to address that.
— Emily Stewart
Andrew Yang makes the case for UBI
After Bernie Sanders said he’ll respond to automation-induced job loss by giving Americans a federal jobs guarantee, Andrew Yang insisted he had a better idea: universal basic income — the idea that the government should dispense a regular stipend to every single citizen, no strings attached.
Yang has promised that if he becomes president, the government will send a check for $1,000 per month ($12,000 annually) to every American adult above age 18. He calls it the “Freedom Dividend.”
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former tech executive Andrew Yang on stage during the Democratic presidential debate.Win McNamee/Getty Images
On Tuesday night, he successfully played up two of the appeals of UBI: its simplicity and its directness. His emphasis on putting money straight in people’s pockets — and trusting them to know how best to spend it — helped him stand out and may have made his proposal more palatable to a broadly individualistic American electorate.
What was most interesting was the way Yang made the case that a UBI is better than a Sanders-style jobs guarantee. He noted it’s important not only that people have jobs but that they’re able to pursue the work that’s right for them. Here’s what he said:
I am for the spirit of a federal jobs guarantee, but you have to look at how it would actually materialize in practice. What are the jobs? Who manages you? What if you don’t like your job? What if you’re not good at your job? The fact is most Americans do not want to work for the federal government. And saying that that is the vision of the economy of the 21st century to me is not a vision that most Americans would embrace.
Also Senator Sanders’s description of a federal jobs guarantee does not take into account the work of people like my wife, who’s at home with our two boys, one of whom is autistic. We have a Freedom Dividend of $1,000 a month, it actually recognizes the work that is happening in our families and our communities. It helps all Americans transition.
Because the fact is, and you know this in Ohio, if you rely upon the federal government to target its resources, you wind up with failed retraining programs and jobs that no one wants. When we put the money into our hands, we can build a trickle-up economy — from our people, our families, and our communities up. It will enable us to do the kind of work that we want to do. This is the sort of positive vision in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution that we have to embrace as a party.
— Sigal Samuel
Kamala Harris turns the conversation toward reproductive rights
At the third presidential debate in September, reproductive rights weren’t mentioned at all. Sen. Kamala Harris objected at the time, tweeting that the debate “was three hours long and not one question about abortion or reproductive rights.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
This time, she took matters into her own hands. During a discussion about taxes under Medicare-for-all (something that’s gotten a lot of attention at previous debates, to say the least), Harris turned the conversation to another aspect of health care: abortion. Here’s what she said:
This is the sixth debate we have had in this presidential cycle and not nearly one word with all of these discussions about health care on women’s access to reproductive health care, which is under full-on attack in America today. And it’s outrageous. There are states that have passed laws that will virtually prevent women from having access to reproductive health care, and it is not an exaggeration to say women will die.
Poor women, women of color will die because these Republican legislatures in these various states who are out of touch with America are telling women what to do with their bodies. Women are the majority of the population in this country. People need to keep their hands off of women’s bodies and let women make the decisions about their own lives.
Harris is one of several Democratic presidential candidates with robust plans for maintaining and expanding abortion access around the country, even as Republican-controlled state legislatures pass near-total bans and other restrictions on reproductive care. But they haven’t had much of a chance to talk about them at the previous debates. Harris brought up the oversight, making the point that abortion “is a significant health care issue in America today.”
— Anna North
Pete Buttigieg dismantles Trump’s Syria strategy — and makes the case for American leadership
Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Buttigieg’s foreign policy plan straddles that line too: It calls for limiting America’s endless engagement overseas, including “repealing and replacing” the 2011 Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was intended for al-Qaeda after 9/11 but has ultimately given presidents broad authority to go after terrorism everywhere. Buttigieg has also said that the US should continue to provide “security assistance” to those fighting terrorists — which sounds a lot like what the US was doing in Syria, up until last week.
His response to Tuesday night’s question, however, was a clear,forceful takedown of Trump’s Syria policy and an impassioned defense of the importance of American leadership.
In doing so, he touted his own military service, showed off his foreign policy credentials (not bad for a small-town mayor!), and probably got the attention of a lot of people who worry that another four years of Trump will irrevocably damage US standing in the world:
Well, respectfully, congresswoman, I think that is dead wrong. The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence, it a consequence of a withdrawal and a betrayal by this president of American allies and American values.
Look, I didn’t think we should have gone to Iraq in the first place. I think we need to get out of Afghanistan, but it’s also the case that a small number of specialized, special operations forces and intelligence capabilities were the only thing that stood between that part of Syria and what we’re seeing now, which is the beginning of a genocide and the resurgence of ISIS.
Meanwhile, soldiers in the field are reporting that, for the first time, they feel ashamed — ashamed of what their country has done. We saw the spectacle, the horrifying sight of a woman with the lifeless body of her child in her arms asking what the hell happened to American leadership.
When I was deployed, I knew one of the things keeping me safe was the fact that the flag on my shoulder represented a country known to keep its word. And our allies knew it. And our enemies knew that. You take that away, you are taking away what makes America America. It makes the troops and the world a much more dangerous place.
— Jen Kirby
Elizabeth Warren takes credit where it’s due on the CFPB
In terms of executive experience, the most important piece of Sen. Warren’s resumé is her work in championing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And on Tuesday evening, she reminded voters of that.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during the October Democratic debate. | Win McNamee/Getty ImagesGetty Images
Warren first conceived of the agency as a Harvard professor in 2007. After the financial crisis, she went to Washington, DC, to help get it codified into the Dodd-Frank reform bill, and she spent nearly a year setting the consumer agency up.
It’s one of the central arguments for her candidacy, though it’s not one she makes often: she has experience in the executive branch and she understands the levers of power, including when it comes to regulation. The Massachusetts Democrat jumped at the opportunity to point that out. “I know what we can do by executive authority, and I will use it,” Warren said.
So you started this question with how you got something done. Following the financial crash of 2008, I had an idea for a consumer agency that would keep giant banks from cheating people. And all of the Washington insiders and strategic geniuses said, don’t even try because you will never get it passed.
And sure enough, the big banks fought us. The Republicans fought us. Some of the Democrats fought us. But we got that agency passed into law. It has now forced big banks to return more than $12 billion directly to people they cheated. I served in the Obama administration. I know what we can do by executive authority, and I will use it. In Congress, on the first day, I will pass my anti-corruption bill, which will beat back the influence of money and repeal the filibuster. And the third, we want to get something done in America, we have to get out there and fight for the things that touch people’s lives.
Former Vice President Joe Biden interjected to note that he had backed the CFPB and helped it to gain support in Congress — to which Warren responded with a dig redirecting credit, too, thanking former President Barack Obama for championing the agency.
She then brought it back to her fight to get the bureau in place. “Understand this: it was … dream big, fight hard,” she said. “People told me, ‘Go for something little, go for something small, go for something that the big corporations will be able to accept.’ I said no. Let’s go for an agency that will make structural change in our economy.”
— Emily Stewart
Cory Booker brings home his message of love
Author and activist Marianne Williamson wasn’t onstage on Tuesday, but there is another candidate running on a message of love: Sen. Cory Booker. And in his last response of the evening, the New Jersey Democrat returned to that theme that is a core part of his candidacy.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks during the Democratic Presidential Debate at Otterbein University, in Westerville, Ohio, on October 15, 2019.Win McNamee/Getty Images
“I believe in the values of rugged individualism and self-reliance, but think about our history. Rugged individualism didn’t get us to the moon, it didn’t beat the Nazis, it didn’t map the human genome, it didn’t beat Jim Crow,” he said.
He noted that among his fellow primary contenders are an openly gay man and a black woman, the result of a common struggle and a common purpose. It might have come off as a little sappy, but it was also moving.
“You cannot love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women,” Booker said. “Love is not sentimentality, it’s not anemic. Love is struggle, love is sacrifice.”
Well look, I have so many, I don’t even know where to count. I was the mayor of a large city with a Republican governor. He and I had to form a friendship even though I can write a dissertation on our disagreements. When I got to the United States Senate, I went there with the purpose of making friendships across the aisle.
I go to bible study in Chairman Inhofe’s office. He and I passed legislation together to help homeless and foster kids. I went out to try to invite every one of my Republican colleagues to dinner. And let me again say, finding a dinner in a restaurant agreeing on one with Ted Cruz was a very difficult thing. I’m a vegan, and he’s a meat-eating Texan. But I’ll tell you this right now. This is the moment in America that this is our test. The spirit of our country — I believe in the values of rugged individualism and self-reliance.
But think about our history. Rugged individualism didn’t get us to the moon. It didn’t beat the Nazis. It didn’t map the human genome. It didn’t beat Jim Crow. Everything we did in this country big … and we have done so many big things. The fact that there’s an openly gay man. A black woman. All of us on this stage are because we in the past are all inheritors of a legacy of common struggle and common purpose. This election is not a referendum on one guy in one office. It’s a referendum on who we are and who we must be to each other. The next leader is going to have to be one amongst us Democrats that can unite us all.
In August, the Indian government injected a new note of uncertainty by stripping away statehood from Jammu and Kashmir State, which includes the restive Kashmir Valley. It announced that the territory would be cut in half and turned into two federally controlled territories, a change that Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India said would bring peace and prosperity.
But it was clear that the shift would be highly unpopular, and in the hours before India announced the move, the Indian authorities shut off phone and internet service in Kashmir. The authorities also rounded up most of Kashmir’s political leadership, and many remain in jail without having been charged.
On Monday, the Indian government switched cellphone service back on for much of the Kashmir Valley, though the internet remains off. For the first time in more than two months, many Kashmiris were able to call loved ones — or an ambulance, if they needed it. Doctors have said that as a result of the weekslong communication blackout, at least a dozen people died needlessly.
Some Kashmiris are determined to return to their normal routines, and there was even a traffic jam in downtown Srinagar, the valley’s biggest city, on Tuesday morning.
But separatist militants are determined to disrupt any resumption of normalcy and maintain the resistance. There are only a few hundred militants in the Kashmir Valley, members of various outlawed groups who are poorly trained and lightly armed compared with the Indian forces they are fighting.
Still, they have managed to keep much of the population in check through fear. The militants have hung posters and passed threats person to person, ordering the population to stay off the streets, or else.
In August, militants fatally shot a shopkeeper in Srinagar who had opened his shop for a few hours. Other shopkeepers shut their gates after that.
Mr. Mulvaney’s role has also come under increased scrutiny. Ms. Hill testified that she and the former national security adviser John R. Bolton believed that Mr. Mulvaney and the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon D. Sondland, were trying to bypass them to hijack Ukraine policy.
“I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Mr. Bolton said, according to Ms. Hill’s testimony to congressional investigators.
Mr. Mulvaney has told colleagues that he was unaware of what Mr. Bolton was talking about, according to a person familiar with his comments. Mr. Mulvaney has insisted that his role in the fallout from the Ukraine matter was limited to following presidential directives and setting up the call with Mr. Zelensky, at the urging of Mr. Sondland and Rick Perry, the secretary of energy. Mr. Mulvaney, who did not listen in on the discussion, had a top deputy on the call, who flagged no concerns.
But Mr. Mulvaney was involved in the effort to freeze $391 million in military assistance to Ukraine ahead of the July call. Mr. Trump directed him days ahead of the call to place a hold on the aid.
Mr. Mulvaney has told associates that the administration paused the aid to try to push Ukraine to more robustly fight corruption, not in connection with pressuring Ukraine to uncover dirt on of Mr. Trump’s political rivals. Since releasing the transcript last month, the White House has tried to cast its pressure campaign as itself an anticorruption effort, though to little effect.
Mr. Mulvaney was not involved in the release of the transcript. Current and former administration officials who have sought to protect Mr. Trump from the fallout over the conversation have nonetheless partly faulted Mr. Mulvaney for the call.
No special steps were taken to restrict the number of officials who listened in, allowing some officials who did to express concerns about it to the C.I.A. officer who eventually would compile their accounts into his whistle-blower complaint.
The endorsements could be a blow for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who, like Sanders, is running on a platform of sweeping liberal change and who has emphasized her role as a female pioneer. Ocasio-Cortez had worked as a volunteer organizer for Sanders’s 2016 presidential bid; she was recruited to run for Congress in 2018 by Justice Democrats, a group that grew out of the Sanders campaign.
Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive in northern Syria on Tuesday despite U.S. sanctions and growing calls for it to stop, while Syria’s Russia-backed army moved on the key city of Manbij that was abandoned by U.S. forces.
Reuters journalists accompanied Syrian government forces who entered the center of Manbij, a flashpoint where U.S. troops had previously conducted joint patrols with Turkey.
Russian and Syrian flags were flying from a building on the city outskirts and from a convoy of military vehicles.
Russia’s Interfax news agency, citing Moscow’s Defense Ministry, said later that Syrian forces had taken control of an area of more than 1,000 square km (386 miles) around Manbij, including Tabqa military airfield.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said an attack from Manbij that killed one Turkish soldier was launched by Syrian government forces in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to withhold protection from Syria’s Kurds after a phone call with Erdogan a week ago swiftly upended five years of U.S. policy on Syria.
As well as clearing the way for the Turkish incursion, the U.S. withdrawal gives a free hand to Washington’s adversaries in the world’s deadliest ongoing war, namely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
The Syrian army deployments into Kurdish-held territory amount to a victory for Assad and Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swathe of Syria that had been beyond their grasp through much of its eight-year-old war.
The United States announced on Sunday it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops from northern Syria. Its former Kurdish allies immediately forged a new alliance with Assad’s government, inviting the army into towns across the breadth of their territory.
A Reuters cameraman on the Turkish frontier reported heavy bombardment on Tuesday morning of the Syrian border town of Ras al Ain where an SDF spokesman reported a fierce battle going on.
U.S. military aircraft carried out a “show of force” in Syria after Turkish-backed fighters came in close proximity to American forces during the Turkish offensive, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The official said U.S. military aircraft were flown over the area after troops in northeastern Syria felt the Turkish-backed fighters were too close. The Turkish-backed fighters dispersed after the show of force, the official said.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will meet Erdogan on Thursday in Ankara, where he will urge Turkey to reach an immediate ceasefire in Syria and to work toward a negotiated settlement. Erdogan said he told Trump he will never declare a ceasefire in northern Syria.
“Vice President Pence will reiterate President Trump’s commitment to maintain punishing economic sanctions on Turkey until a resolution is reached,” the White House said in a statement.
After Trump announced a set of sanctions on Monday to punish Ankara, U.S. prosecutors hit Turkey with charges on the majority state-owned Halkbank for taking part in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran.
A Turkish embassy official in Washington said the indictment did not contribute positively to the current state of U.S.-Turkey ties. Turkish and American officials had been in talks on the Halkbank case for at least a year.
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones says that Tuesday’s quake is too far from Monday’s Bay Area quake to be connected.
She says Tuesday’s activity, which was centered near Paicines and Tres Pinos, is at the “creeping section of the San Andreas Fault.” It historically has magnitude 4-5 quakes and creeps without quakes. Jones says it’s not accumulating strain like other parts of the San Andreas Fault.
“All of our stuff starting shaking,” said Wild Roots Hair Salon owner Megan Adams. “Our water started swaying back and forth. It was freaky at first because I haven’t felt an earthquake in a while.”
Many residents were giving the quake a little more thought than usual, especially as the region gets closer to the 30th anniversary of Loma Prieta.
“I worry more when we don’t get anything for a really long time, then I feel like something (big) could be coming,” said Tres Pinos Country store owner Wayne Pfeffer.
Follow live coverage from the fourth Democratic debate here.
Rudy Giuliani refused to hand over documents about his work with Ukraine, defying a congressional subpoena.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won’t call a full House vote to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry.
Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, says he has no regrets about joining the board of a Ukrainian firm but regrets the fallout that has since enveloped his father’s campaign.
George Kent, a top official in the State Department, is being deposed on Capitol Hill.
On a July call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump urged Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
Washington— President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents about his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government, with his attorney calling the impeachment inquiry “unconstitutional, baseless, and illegitimate.”
Giuliani also parted ways with that attorney, John Sale, whom he recently hired to represent him in the impeachment probe. Sale wrote the letter informing the committees of Giuliani’s refusal to hand over documents.
“Jon Sale, who is a lifelong friend, has represented me for the sole purpose of analyzing the request and responding,” Giuliani said on Twitter. “At this time, I do not need a lawyer.”
The House committees leading the impeachment probe had initially issued a voluntarily request for documents, and issued a subpoena after Giuliani refused to hand them over.
Two of Giuliani’s associates who were involved in his Ukraine work were indicted on federal campaign finance charges last week. Federal investigators are looking into Giuliani’s involvement with the two men, and the investigation will include any business dealings Giuliani may have had with the two men, a person familiar with the matter previously told CBS News. Giuliani denied any knowledge of a federal investigation.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden told ABC News he has no regrets about joining the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was in office. Biden said that in retrospect it was “poor judgment” to join the board of Burisma but that he did nothing “improper” and only had a “brief exchange” with his father about his role.
“I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father,” he said. “That’s where I made the mistake. So I take full responsibility for that.”
Biden told ABC that while he does not regret the work, “what I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president of the United States that would be listening to this ridiculous conspiracy idea.”
Also on Tuesday, a key State Department official testified before congressional investigators as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill after a two-week break.
George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state in the European and Eurasian bureau, arrived on Capitol Hill for his deposition before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees. In emails from last spring provided to Congress by the State Department inspector general earlier this month, Kent expressed concerns about the administration’s efforts to oust Marie Yovanovitch, then the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Russia at the National Security Council, testified Monday behind closed doors in a marathon session lasting more than 10 hours.
The New York Times reported Hill testified that former National Security Adviser John Bolton was opposed to efforts by Giuliani and others to pressure Ukraine, quoting Bolton as saying the former New York mayor was a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.” Hill also told lawmakers Bolton said he was “not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,” referring to Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
A source familiar with Hill’s testimony confirmed the accuracy of the quotes to CBS News.
Asked for comment about Bolton’s comments, Giuliani told CBS News he was “disappointed in John.”
Instead she aimed to turn the question to overall costs.
“Let me be clear on this,” she said. “I will not sign a bill into law that does not lower costs for middle class families.”
She repeatedly refused to say.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg immediately pounced.
“A yes or no question that did not get a yes or no answer,” he said, saying it sounded like the type of things Americans hate about Washington. He added, “Your signature senator is to have a plan for everything: Except this.”
Mr. Buttigieg then pitched his “Medicare for all who want it.” When Ms. Warren’s turn came, she said that Mr. Buttigieg’s vision amounts to “Medicare for all who can afford it.”
Mr. Buttigieg came back and said Ms. Warren would “obliterate” the private health insurance of 150 million Americans. “It’s just better than Medicare for all whether you want it or not,” Mr. Buttigieg said, rebranding Ms. Warren’s plan in a more negative light.
Senator Amy Klobuchar followed up with her own hit on Ms. Warren.
“At least Bernie’s being honest here,” Ms. Klobuchar interrupted, addressing Ms. Warren as “Elizabeth,” saying Americans deserved to know where the “invoice” was going.
Ms. Klobuchar continued, dismissing Ms. Warren’s ideas as unrealistic, declaring there is a “difference between a plan and pipe dream.”
It fell to Mr. Sanders to explain exactly what Medicare for all would require.
“Taxes will go up,” he said, before explaining that costs will go down because, under his plan, medical insurance premiums and co-pays would be eliminated.
Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive in northern Syria on Tuesday despite U.S. sanctions and growing calls for it to stop, while Syria’s Russia-backed army moved on the key city of Manbij that was abandoned by U.S. forces.
Reuters journalists accompanied Syrian government forces who entered the center of Manbij, a flashpoint where U.S. troops had previously conducted joint patrols with Turkey.
Russian and Syrian flags were flying from a building on the city outskirts and from a convoy of military vehicles.
Russia’s Interfax news agency, citing Moscow’s Defense Ministry, said later that Syrian forces had taken control of an area of more than 1,000 square km (386 miles) around Manbij, including Tabqa military airfield.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said an attack from Manbij that killed one Turkish soldier was launched by Syrian government forces in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to withhold protection from Syria’s Kurds after a phone call with Erdogan a week ago swiftly upended five years of U.S. policy on Syria.
As well as clearing the way for the Turkish incursion, the U.S. withdrawal gives a free hand to Washington’s adversaries in the world’s deadliest ongoing war, namely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
The Syrian army deployments into Kurdish-held territory amount to a victory for Assad and Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swathe of Syria that had been beyond their grasp through much of its eight-year-old war.
The United States announced on Sunday it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops from northern Syria. Its former Kurdish allies immediately forged a new alliance with Assad’s government, inviting the army into towns across the breadth of their territory.
A Reuters cameraman on the Turkish frontier reported heavy bombardment on Tuesday morning of the Syrian border town of Ras al Ain where an SDF spokesman reported a fierce battle going on.
U.S. military aircraft carried out a “show of force” in Syria after Turkish-backed fighters came in close proximity to American forces during the Turkish offensive, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The official said U.S. military aircraft were flown over the area after troops in northeastern Syria felt the Turkish-backed fighters were too close. The Turkish-backed fighters dispersed after the show of force, the official said.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will meet Erdogan on Thursday in Ankara, where he will urge Turkey to reach an immediate ceasefire in Syria and to work toward a negotiated settlement. Erdogan said he told Trump he will never declare a ceasefire in northern Syria.
“Vice President Pence will reiterate President Trump’s commitment to maintain punishing economic sanctions on Turkey until a resolution is reached,” the White House said in a statement.
After Trump announced a set of sanctions on Monday to punish Ankara, U.S. prosecutors hit Turkey with charges on the majority state-owned Halkbank for taking part in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran.
A Turkish embassy official in Washington said the indictment did not contribute positively to the current state of U.S.-Turkey ties. Turkish and American officials had been in talks on the Halkbank case for at least a year.
Impeaching a U.S. president might not be the be-all-end-all for their career. We explain why this is the case. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday refused to turn over documents requested by House Democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry.
The White House has said it will not cooperate with an investigation it considers unfair and illegitimate, a claim it bases in part on the fact that the House has not formally voted to begin impeachment proceedings.
Pence’s attorney echoed that reasoning in a letter sent Tuesday to the chairmen of the investigating committees.
Counsel Matthew E. Morgan also wrote that some of the documents that Democrats had asked Pence to produce by Tuesday “are clearly not vice-presidential records.”
“Please know that if the Committees wish to return to the regular order of legitimate legislative oversight requests, and the Committees have appropriate requests for information solely in the custody of the Office of the Vice President,” Morgan wrote, “we are prepared to work with you in a manner consistent with well-established bipartisan constitutional protections and a respect for the separation of powers.”
House Democrats did not immediately say Tuesday whether they will subpoena Pence for the documents.
They have warned the White House that failure to comply with requests for documents and witnesses can be evidence of obstruction, a potentially impeachable offense.
“The case for obstruction of Congress continues to build,” Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said at a joint news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday night.
Pelosi restated her position that a House vote is not needed under the Constitution to launch an impeachment investigation.
“There’s no requirement that we have a vote so at this time we will not be having a vote,” Pelosi said.
Democrats are investigating any role Pence may have played in President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, as well as a separate conspiracy theory related to interference in the 2016 elections.
Democrats have subpoenaed a variety of people inside and outside of the administration, including giving acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney a Friday deadline to comply with a large documents request.
Democrats’ initial Oct. 4 request to Pence followed a Washington Post report that Trump used Pence in his attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens but was not conclusive on how much Pence knew about Trump’s effort.
The Post said Pence’s national security adviser monitored Trump’s July call with Zelensky but didn’t hear anything he felt should be relayed to the vice president.
CNN reported that Pence was given a transcript of call, but it’s not clear if he read it.
The whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry by disclosing the call alleged that Trump instructed Pence to cancel plans to attend Zelensky’s May inauguration, a detail given in the context of Trump wanting to wait to see how the new leader “chose to act” in office.
Democrats requested documents related to the call and to a number of other events, including Pence’s meeting with Zelensky in September when he substituted for Trump on a trip to Poland.
The White House maintains that Trump did nothing improper.
“What I can tell you is, all of our discussions internally, between the president and our team, and our contacts and my office with Ukraine, were entirely focused on the broader issues of the lack of European support and corruption,” Pence said during a trip to Iowa last week.
Pence also told reporters he has no problem with the White House releasing transcripts of his conversations with Zelensky, something he said White House lawyers were reviewing.
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin calls for full transparency on the former Russia adviser’s closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill. #FoxNews
FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most-watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.
HOLLISTER (CBS SF) — A 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Central California Tuesday afternoon along the San Andreas fault line, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake struck at 12:42 p.m. about four miles south of Hollister near Tres Pinos in San Benito County and was felt as far north as San Jose. The quake was widely felt in Morgan Hill, Santa Cruz, the Monterey-Carmel area, Salinas, King City and Gilroy.
The initial quake was followed by a 2.6 magnitude aftershock at 12:55 p.m. The original magnitude was pegged at 4.8 until the USGS revised the reading shortly after.
The quake struck two days before the 30th annivesary of the deadly and devastating 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake which hit along the same fault line. The ’89 quake – which struck during Game 3 of the World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants – claimed 63 lives, injured nearly 4,000 and caused widespread damage.
“It was on the San Andres Fault just south of San Juan Bautista,” said Ann Marie Baltay of the USGS. “It’s a pretty typical event for the fault. It was very moderate ground motion.”
The San Benito County building has been evacuated as a precaution. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Baltay said she did not believe the 4.7 quake was a foreshock of a larger temblor.
“The San Andreas Fault was a major player in the 1989 6.9 quake … and also the 1906 event (San Francisco Great Quake),” she said. “The San Andreas is capable of a much larger event. This particular region we don’t think is any more likely to participate in a really large event. We don’t think this was a foreshock. “
“But there is always a chance there might be a larger event coming.”
KPIX 5 reporter Len Ramirez was in Santa Cruz when the quake struck.
“So I was sitting in a SUV shaking. I looked around. I thought it might be an earthquake,” he said. “There was no reaction from anyone on the sidewalk. Pacific Ave. is a very busy sidewalk. People just went about their business…It went on for about 30-50 seconds.”
But Stacy Pinkham said in her Santa Cruz neighborhood, the quake delivered quite a jolt. Santa Cruz also suffered heavy damage in the 1989 quake.
“It was a good shaker over in Santa Cruz!,” she posted to KION CBS 5 Facebook page.
Angie Ciolino agreed.
“Felt it good in Santa Cruz,” she posted.
Monterey’s Edward Ciliberti recalled the 1989 quake.
“I felt the 1987 big quake in SF down in Monterey and today’s felt much stronger,” he posted. “Perhaps because the epicenter in today’s quake was in the Pinnacles, much much closer to us.”
Greenfield’s Jessica Torres Vazquez commented on the rumbling sound that can precede a quake.
“What was the loud noise with the earthquake it sounded like a plane taking off so close it was weird,” she posted.
Hunter Biden — son of former Vice President Joe Biden and the man who set off President Donald Trump’s desire for a Ukrainian investigation into the Biden family — expressed regret that his business dealings have touched off a scandal on Tuesday, but maintained that while he may have made poor choices in the past, he did nothing wrong in accepting work from a Ukrainian energy company.
Biden made those comments in an interview with ABC News, breaking his silence on an issue that has led to an impeachment inquiry into the president. That interview followed a statement Biden’s lawyer released Sunday outlining the businessman’s plans to avoid questions of conflict of interest should his father, a Democratic candidate for president, win the White House in 2020.
Hunter Biden joined the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company named Burisma Holdings in 2014; that company’s owner was the subject of a corruption investigation that had stalled. Despite evidence suggesting the opposite is true, Trump and his allies have alleged Joe Biden — who at the time was vice president — tried to use to the power of the vice presidency to shield his son from that investigation. They’ve also pressured Ukrainian officials to launch a new investigation into Burisma and the Bidens.
“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part,” Hunter Biden told ABC’s Amy Robach about his decision to accept the Burisma job. But said he “did nothing wrong at all,” except for one thing: “I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father. That’s where I made the mistake.”
Noting he had worked on a number of boards in the past, Biden went on to say what made Burisma different is he failed to take “into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president of the United States that would be listening to this — this ridiculous conspiracy idea.”
Trump and his allies have, however, seized on the conspiracy theory, and have taken a number of actions because of it. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer and a private citizen, has taken trips to Ukrainian to pressure officials to start investigating Biden, and he seems to have worked with State Department officials to push the investigation as well.
Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in a call that caused concern in the White House that he was using the power of his office to pressure a foreign country to discredit a potential rival. That concern led to a whistleblower submitting a complaint about the president’s conduct, and, now, to an impeachment inquiry.
Hunter Biden addressed this state of affairs in his interview, saying he takes “no pleasure” in watching the “death spiral of this administration.”
“It’s really hard for me to say anything snarky right now or combative because I was raised to respect that office,” Biden said. “It’s making me emotional. … I hope that the history isn’t fully written yet. I hope that a lot of people that — that have a chance at redemption here stand up for what is right.”
The White House has argued that it is the entity standing up for what is right in pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. And it has said that it will not cooperate with House Democrats’ efforts to investigate the Ukraine scandal. Some current and former administration officials have disregarded the White House’s stance on the matter and submitted to questioning by Congress, however.
Hunter Biden himself does not have any direct knowledge of the wrongdoing the president is accused of; he is an important figure mostly because the obsession Trump and his allies have with proving he and his father did something wrong has put the president in potential peril.
This interview is unlikely to change anything with respect to the impeachment inquiry itself — and Biden signaled he would like to be as uninvolved in those proceedings as possible. Instead, Biden’s interview is most likely to affect how Trump approaches his self-defense, and it could increase Trump’s efforts to use Hunter Biden as a foil and as a symbol of Washington corruption.
Trump maintains it is the Bidens who engaged in misconduct — not him
The impeachment inquiry Trump faces begins with his demands of Ukraine. Although he also asked that country to look into a conspiracy theory about it being a repository for DNC emails, Trump’s initial — and subsequent — requests for a Ukrainian investigation have centered on Hunter and Joe Biden.
In recent days, Hunter Biden has worked to defend himself against the attacks of the president and his allies, arguing through his lawyer’s statement and in his interview that he was qualified to be on the Burisma board (pushing back against the claim that he was asked to join because of his family name) and announcing his plans to step down from the board of a Chinese company he has a small stake in (the president has claimed that Biden’s work in that country was facilitated by his father).
As Biden has made these efforts, Trump has worked to use the man as a symbol of the swamp he swore he would drain, tweeting that the media will protect Biden and attempt to minimize what the president sees as wrongdoing.
Wow! Hunter Biden is being forced to leave a Chinese Company. Now watch the Fake News wrap their greasy and very protective arms around him. Only softball questions of him please!
Trump and many of Hunter Biden’s critics have argued that his last name opened doors for him, and Biden admitted to as much when asked during the ABC interview, “If your last name wasn’t Biden, do you think you would’ve been asked to be on the board of Burisma?
“Probably not, in retrospect,” Biden said. “But that’s — you know — I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.”
And as Vox’s Aaron Rupar has pointed out, Trump’s children — and the president himself — have all financially benefitted from his office.
Biden was asked directly about the business advantages those with political ties have, particularly with respect to a trip he took with his father to China during the Obama administration; he told the New Yorker he introduced his dad to a business associate during that visit.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Biden said. “I made a mistake in retrospect as it related to creating any perception that that was wrong.”
That perception has obviously had wide-ranging effects. And as the president continues to face the question of impeachment, he will likely continue to do his best to aggrandize Biden’s behavior and use it as a weapon to attack those who believe it is his behavior, not that of Joe Biden’s son, that merits scrutiny.
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