Según el Art. 60 de la Ley Orgánica de Comunicación, los contenidos se identifican y clasifican en:
(I), informativos; (O), de opinión; (F), formativos/educativos/culturales; (E), entretenimiento; y (D), deportivos.
Biarritz, France — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to the city hosting the Group of Seven summit Sunday, a move that caught President Trump off-guard and added another element of tension to the meeting of world economic leaders.
Zarif’s arrival in Biarritz appeared to be a covert initiative by French President Emmanuel Macron, a senior European official said, and other leaders were not informed ahead of time. There was no immediate plan for the Iranian foreign minister to meet anyone other than French officials, officials said.
President Trump, whose antics have often left other world leaders searching for words, had little to say when asked about the unexpected guest.
“No comment,” Trump told reporters.
Zarif came to Biarritz on the invitation of his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi wrote on Twitter. The aim of the visit was to “continue discussions about recent initiatives between the presidents of Iran and France,” Mousavi said. He said there would be no meetings or negotiations with the U.S. delegation during the trip.
Zarif’s only confirmed meeting in Biarritz was with Le Drian, a French diplomat said, speaking under ground rules of anonymity.
White House officials have complained for weeks that Macron was trying to forcefully broker talks between the Trump administration and Iran, which the U.S. president has branded a “number one terrorist nation.”
Trump pulled the United States from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May 2018. The deal, negotiated by the Obama administration, restricted Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for the easing of sanctions.
French officials have said Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach against Iran is doomed to fail. They have sought to persuade the White House to change course and accept a new deal with the Iranians.
Trump’s pressure campaign has involved a mix of sanctions and public threats aimed at crippling Iran’s economy — and, recently, new sanctions and travel restrictions on Zarif.
The foreign minister’s presence in Biarritz — at the invitation of the French president during a summit of world leaders who know Zarif well — was a reminder of how isolated the Trump administration has become in its approach to Iran.
Even as Iranian forces have stepped up their aggression by seizing several tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, European leaders have sought to maintain the 2015 nuclear deal without the United States. Zarif’s visit to the G-7 site appeared to be an unconventional gambit aimed at breaking the logjam.
Previous discussions on Iran during the summit have shown little progress, as leaders could not agree publicly about even the terms of their talks.
Trump claimed Sunday to have not discussed a joint approach to Iran. French officials insisted an agreement had been reached among leaders Saturday night.
“I haven’t discussed that,” Trump said. “We will do our own outreach, but I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to talk, they can talk.”
Administration officials have criticized the French for talking to Iran.
When leaders discussed Iran over dinner on Saturday, they agreed broadly that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that they should work to de-escalate the ongoing crisis, according to officials who were briefed on the closed-door talks.
Macron pushed Trump to allow Iran to export a limited amount of oil — a nonstarter with the White House.
Zarif’s sudden arrival in Biarritz took at least some of the other delegations by surprise, even those aligned with France in its commitment to preserve the nuclear deal, according to a senior European official.
The official said it was not immediately clear why Zarif had been invited. The official called it “a flashy move.”
Because the Iranian diplomat was parachuting into an already packed weekend, it was unclear what his presence would accomplish, unless it was a French effort to jump-start U.S.-Iran talks by putting Trump and Zarif in the same small city.
But even if a meeting with Trump were to take place, the official was skeptical that anything would come of it. Trump would need to offer some carrots to encourage Iran to come back into compliance with the deal. He has shown little inclination to do so, the official said.
Also, since Europe’s strength on the Iran deal has been its unity, the official said, the unilateral move to call in Zarif may prove counterproductive.
Zarif was in Paris on Friday for discussions with Macron and other French officials. He had been scheduled to travel in Asia this weekend, according to his Twitter account. It was unclear how long he planned to stay in the French resort town.
His arrival in Biarritz appeared to take the State Department by surprise, as well. A spokeswoman, noting the agency’s absence from the summit, referred questions to the White House.
Trump is traveling in Biarritz with national security adviser John Bolton, one of the administration’s fiercest critics of Iran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has complained that Zarif has used media appearances to spread Iranian “propaganda” against the United States.
Zarif criticized the Trump administration after it pulled out of the nuclear deal, and again after the administration announced sanctions against him last month.
“The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around the world’,” he tweeted. “Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda.”
Zarif has been meeting with other world leaders, including Macron, about the nuclear issue. He has tweeted pictures of himself shaking hands with top officials and sought to contrast his embrace of diplomacy with the Trump administration’s unilateral pressure campaign.
“Despite US efforts to destroy diplomacy, met with French President @EmmanuelMacron and @JY_LeDriane in Paris today,” the Iranian foreign minister tweeted Friday. “Interviewed with Euronews, AFP, & France24. Multilateralism must be preserved. Next stops Beijing, Tokyo & KL after a day in Tehran.”
He did not mention that he would be stopping in Biarritz.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated that Trump might be willing to meet with Zarif.
“The president has said before that to the extent that Iran wants to sit down and negotiate we would not set preconditions to those negotiations,” he told reporters in France on Sunday.
He declined to comment further.
Josh Dawsey and Damian Paletta in Biarritz and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.
The blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a key trade corridor that connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, which has disrupted traffic and the flow of goods since Monday, has not ended. Disruptions are still plaguing other vital cross-border arteries — from Coutts, Alberta, which connects to Montana, to Surrey, British Columbia, which connects to Washington state.
Robert Mueller testifies before Congress in 2013. A redacted version of Mueller’s report as special counsel was released on Thursday.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
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Robert Mueller testifies before Congress in 2013. A redacted version of Mueller’s report as special counsel was released on Thursday.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
The latest book-length tell-all on life inside President Trump’s White House has appeared, and it’s just as unsparing about dysfunction and deception as all those earlier versions by journalists, gossip mavens and former staffers. Maybe more so.
The difference is that the president likes this one.
Or at least he says he likes it. And it’s probably not because of the catchy title (Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election), or any previous works by the author, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
More likely it’s the ending of the story that the president likes, or what he takes to be the ending.
“GAME OVER,” declared the president’s review on Twitter. Now that would be a catchy title — for the movie the president might like to make.
But it actually isn’t the way the Mueller report ends.
It’s not even the way it ends in the very first review anyone wrote of this 448-page publication. That was, of course, the four-page review penned in March by Attorney General William Barr. That review did say the book ended with the president not being indicted. But we’d already had a spoiler alert on that because it’s the viewpoint of the Justice Department that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Not much of a surprise there.
As for charges of obstruction of justice, well, we got the word on that one early too. Because Barr had already authored a 19-page explanation for why a president could not be charged with obstruction of justice – suggesting pointedly that Mueller should not even be thinking about it.
That was way back in 2018, when Barr was a private citizen but felt free, as a former attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, to share his strong views with the current management at Justice.
Few authors get to pick who will provide the exclusive first review of their work, and Mueller didn’t either. That choice was made by the principal character in the story, the president himself.
Trump got to choose who would get the first crack at interpreting this soon-to-be-best-seller when he chose William Barr to be his new attorney general.
That choice might have been made soon after Trump fired his first attorney general, former senator Jeff Sessions. It might have been made even sooner, possibly after hearing about Barr’s 19-page memo. Suffice it to say there have been few cabinet-level appointments in this administration that worked out better for the president.
Of course, many others are reading Mueller’s work, and their reviews have taken a less legalistic look than Barr did. They tend to dwell on such events as the president telling the White House counsel to have Mueller fired in June 2017, shortly after Mueller began compiling his epic. Or the president telling that counsel to deny the order was ever given. Or the president telling an aide to tell Sessions to get rid of Mueller.
None of these orders was carried out, as Mueller observes, and that disobedience may now constitute Trump’s best defense against a charge of obstructing justice. That, and the Justice Department view that a sitting president cannot be so charged in the first place.
Interest in the report, and especially in portions redacted by Barr and underlying documents and other evidence not yet seen, has not decreased – despite the president’s attempts to give away the ending.
Among those clamoring for a chance to review it are several relevant committees from Congress. The House Judiciary Committee is bound to get special attention, as that is where hearings would be held on a resolution of impeachment.
The I-word has been in the air on Capitol Hill since the Mueller probe began, largely because obstruction of justice was a crucial part of the charges the last two times Congress got serious about taking down a president.
The most recent one of these involved President Bill Clinton’s 1998 grand jury testimony about his affair with a White House intern. Before that, it was President Richard Nixon’s efforts to cover up White House involvement in a burglary at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee.
The latter case stretched over 1972-1974, and the man who was White House counsel at the critical time was one John Dean. Still alive and on CNN Thursday, Dean said “the endeavor of obstruction” could be a crime even if the obstructive orders to subordinates were disobeyed. That is a theory of the case other reviewers may pursue.
An irony in all of this is that the president himself has been so astringent in commenting on earlier books about his White House. These have included Bob Woodward’s best-selling Fear, peek-a-boo looks inside by Cliff Sims (Team of Vipers), Omarosa Manigault (Unhinged) and Michael Wolff (Fire and Fury) — as well as sober memoirs by former FBI heads James Comey and Andrew McCabe.
The chaotic atmosphere described in all these books was based on eyewitness accounts, but Trump denounced them all as “fiction.” Now we see much the same depiction in Mueller’s pages and hear much less objection. In fact, it’s amazing how many journalistic stories derided as “fake news” over the past few years now re-appear in Mueller’s recounting — only this time as documented evidence.
That is the difference it makes when an author can supplement his research with subpoena power, warrants and the threat of perjury prosecution.
It may not make the end product an ideal movie script, or a page-turner in the aisles at your bookstore. But Mueller’s contribution to the literature of this period in history will have an expanding readership in the immediate future as well.
Cruz Blanca, la EPS a la que estaba afiliado el pequeño de 9 años, indaga lo que pasó en la Clínica Policarpa.
Luis Miguel Gonzalez Yate ingresó con su padre a urgencias, con un dolor en el pecho. Según el progenitor, su hijo, luego de que le realizaran un procedimiento, escupió sangre.
“Yo les dije: ‘qué pasó con el niño, qué me le están haciendo’ No, es que tocó entubarlo. No me pidieron autorización, no me dijeron vamos a hacerle esto al niño”, sostiene John Fredy González, el papá.
La madre del menor pidió investigar lo sucedido. “Que hagan justicia porque lo que hicieron con mi hijo lo pueden hacer con otros niños”, dice Yina Yate.
“MURIENDO POR CRUZAR,” AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DEATHS ALONG THE BORDER, THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 AT 6 P.M./5 C
Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval present the Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production
Miami – July 31, 2014 –Telemundo presents “Muriendo por Cruzar”, a documentary that investigates why increasing numbers of immigrants are dying while trying to cross the US-Mexican border near the city of Falfurrias, Texas, this Sunday, August 3 at 6PM/5 C. The Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production, presented by Noticias Telemundo journalists Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval, reveals the obstacles immigrants face once they cross into US territory, including extreme weather conditions, as they try to evade the border patrol. “Muriendo por Cruzar” is part of Noticias Telemundo’s special coverage of the crisis on the border and immigration reform.
“‘Muriendo por Cruzar’” dares to ask questions that reveal the actual conditions undocumented immigrants face as they try to start a new life in the United States,” said Alina Falcón, Telemundo’s Executive Vice President for News and Alternative Programming. “Our collaboration with The Weather Channel was very productive. They have a unique expertise in covering the impact of weather on people’s lives, as we do in covering immigration reform and the border crisis. The result is a compelling documentary that exposes a harrowing reality.”
“Muriendo por Cruzar” is the first co-production by Telemundo and The Weather Channel. Both networks are part of NBCUniversal.
Severe flooding in Northern California has turned the small river town of Guerneville into an “island,” county officials said Wednesday, rendering the community inaccessible by anything other than watercraft.
In an update to an evacuation notice Wednesday morning, the county reminded area residents that even though rains have eased, the worst of the flooding is yet to come. The Russian River surpassed its flood stage in the town Tuesday evening, resulting in dozens of road closures, and is expected to crest Wednesday night.
In addition to Guerneville, 24 nearby towns and communities were ordered to evacuate. Flood levels are expected to decrease Thursday and into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
“Good morning. Guerneville is officially an island,” the Sonoma sheriff’s office posted to Facebook on Wednesday. “Due to flooding all roads leading to the community are impassable. You will not be able to get into or out of town without a boat today.”
The floods were caused by record-breaking rainfall in the region, according to the Weather Service. The Sonoma sheriff’s office has urged residents to heed evacuation warnings, writing Wednesday afternoon that roads “keep flooding, and flooding FAST.”
The rain, winds and flooding were spurred by a “potent atmospheric river,” the Weather Service said.
Atmospheric rivers develop when strong storms pull humid air from the tropical Pacific Ocean to the West Coast. The result is a fire hose of extreme rainfall that can trigger dangerous flooding and deadly landslides. They’re most common during winter, and the effects are exacerbated when heavy rain falls on burn scars from recent wildfires.
Parts of the Sonoma region were hit by the deadly wildfires that ravaged Northern California in 2017, resulting in mass evacuations and the deaths of dozens in surrounding counties. At least six people died in Sonoma County.
Those who have opted to wait out the storm in their homes could be stuck for days, the Los Angeles Times reports. The newspaper reports that this is expected to be the most severe flood in the area since 1995, when the Russian River crested in Guerneville at about 48 feet — 16 feet above its flood stage.
In Monte Rio, a town about five miles south of Guerneville, firefighters worked overnight to help people trapped in their vehicles and homes as water levels rose, the AP reports. Fire Chief Steve Baxman told the Press Democrat that rescuers took “17 people out of cars and houses during the night.”
“Too many people are driving into the water,” he told the publication.
Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said in a video Tuesday evening that the rainfall could be “100-year storm” material and that he was preparing to move his family to another location overnight, stating: “Family most important, property second.”
“We’re all about preparedness. We’re not trying to have people stand on their roofs and get saved in the middle of the night,” Gore said Tuesday. “If you get an evacuation order, pay attention.”
A car sits underwater in a flooded neighborhood on Feb. 27 in Forestville, Calif. The Russian River has inundated the town of Guerneville, which was placed under mandatory evacuation as roads leading into the town have been flooded over. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Estas son las 10 noticias más impactantes reportadas por Wasapea a EL HERALDO
Foto: Archivo Particular
Algunos de los casos que se han documentado a través del servicio ‘Wasapea a El Heraldo’.
Por:
Ayer, 2 de octubre, cumplió dos meses en vigencia el servicio de reportería ciudadana Wasapea a EL HERALDO. En el transcurso, los usuarios se han volcado masivamente al sistema de mensajería instantánea para compartir con este medio los reportes y denuncias que ocurren en la ciudad y la región. Se trata de un recurso para acercarnos a nuestra comunidad de lectores y, a la vez, para tener ojos en los lugares más distantes.
A 60 días de su entrada en vigor, recibimos diariamente más de 100 chats en la línea 3104383838. Sin duda, los reportes de los usuarios han aportado significativamente para que las situaciones que divulgan se resuelvan de forma oportuna.
En apenas dos meses, los lectores nos han ayudado a registrar más de 50 noticias que se han publicado en nuestras ediciones impresas y digitales. En muchos casos, han desencadenado un posterior seguimiento de parte de las autoridades para tomar los correctivos que haya lugar. El servicio también nos ha permitido contar historias inspiradoras, que de no ser por este enlace difícilmente se darían a conocer.
Por el servicios de Wasapae los vecinos de El Parque lanzaron un SOS por el puente que los comunica con el barrio Universal.
Fue a través de un mensaje como conocimos la historia José Alfonso Martínez, el ángel motorizado de los perros callejeros. La labor que adelanta con los animales en Sabanilla fue compartida por un usuario a través de Wasapea a EL HERALDO, y a partir de allí se desarrolló una nota que se convirtió en una de las más leídas de nuestra web (ver listado). A continuación, presentamos el ‘top’ 10 de las publicaciones generadas por esos reportes ciudadanos que se han convertido en historias.
Twenty-one people, including two of China’s top marathon athletes, died after freezing rain and high winds struck a 62-mile mountain race in northwestern China, local officials said on Sunday.
Liang Jing, 31, an ultramarathon champion, and Huang Guanjun, the winner of the men’s marathon for hearing-impaired runners at China’s 2019 National Paralympic Games, were among those found dead, according to state news media.
The deaths prompted outrage in China, with online commentators questioning the preparedness of the local government that organized the race, held at Yellow River Stone Forest Park in Gansu Province.
Hours into the event on Saturday, the weather suddenly deteriorated as the runners were climbing 6,500 feet above sea level to the 12-mile mark, according to Zhang Xuchen, the mayor of the nearby city of Baiyin, who fired the starting pistol. Runners dressed in shorts and T-shirts were suddenly facing freezing conditions, and rain turned to hail. Some passed out from the cold.
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(CNN)It’s a common rule in Asian American households: Don’t bring home a black boyfriend or girlfriend.
“Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother,” the English version of the letter begins. “We need to talk. You may not have many Black friends, colleagues, or acquaintances, but I do. Black people are a fundamental part of my life: they are my friends, my neighbors, my family. I am scared for them.”
La propuesta del gobierno de Venezuela de convocar a una Asamblea Constituyente es “fraudulenta” porque “es el pueblo exclusivamente el único que cuenta con poder constituyente”, afirmó este martes el secretario general de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), Luis Almagro.
“La propuesta anunciada es errada, inconstitucional y fraudulenta. La conformación de la constituyente sólo con supuestos representantes sectoriales viola los principios fundamentales de igualdad política”, expresó Almagro en un mensaje grabado en video.
En la visión de Almagro, “la violación de la Constitución es el problema venezolano”.
Por ello, señaló que el gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro “anuncia ahora el fin de la Constitución de (Hugo) Chávez y de su legado a partir de un fraudulento llamado a una Asamblea Constituyente”.
En su mensaje, Almagro analizó el mecanismo de convocatoria a una Asamblea Constituyente a partir del artículo 347 de la actual Constitución venezolana, precisamente el documento que el gobierno de Caracas se propone substituir.
En la visión del secretario general de la OEA, ese mecanismo indica que la convocatoria debe surgir del “pueblo”
“Quien puede convocar una Asamblea Constituyente es el pueblo exclusivamente” por posee el “poder constituyente originario”, apuntó. Además, añadió, el proceso de selección de los integrantes de esa asamblea no puede apoyarse en la “discriminación política” sería “en substancia y forma antidemocrática”.
Para Almagro, el “gobierno venezolano atenta contra el respeto a los más elementales principios que regulan un sistema democrático y afecta los derechos humanos de sus ciudadanos”.
El de este martes fue el segundo video de Almagro sobre Venezuela en dos días. En la noche del lunes ya había divulgado un mensaje en la plataforma digital Vimeo al cumplirse el primer mes de las protestas en Caracas.
“Hace un mes, comenzaron las manifestaciones en Venezuela por libertades fundamentales, elecciones y soluciones para la crisis económica del país. Es la hora que esos derechos del pueblo sean restituidos”, había expresado en ese mensaje.
Después de dos años de creciente tirantez entre Almagro y el gobierno en Caracas, la delegación de Venezuela inició formalmente la semana pasada el proceso de salida de la OEA, que tomará dos años para completarse.
La decisión de Venezuela de iniciar su salida de una institución continental de la que es miembro fundador ocurrió después que el Consejo Permanente de la OEA aprobó la convocatoria de una reunión de cancilleres para discutir la situación en el país. Aún no se fijó lugar ni fecha para esa reunión.
Kyiv-based foreign service officer Suriya Jayanti also overheard the call, the wire service reported, citing a person briefed on what Jayanti overheard.
William Taylor, chargé d’affaires to Ukraine, testified Wednesday that someone on his staff overheard a July 26 call between Trump and Sondland during which Trump asked Sondland “about the investigations.”
Sondland replied that “the Ukrainians were ready to move forward,” Taylor testified.
“Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine,” Taylor said. “Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which [Trump lawyer Rudy] Giuliani was pressing for.”
The call came a day after Trump spoke with Ukraine’s president on a call from the White House. That call ended up sparking a whistleblower complaint that led to the House impeachment inquiry.
Taylor offered information about the July 26 call for the first time at Wednesday’s impeachment hearing. He said he had learned of the call after he previously was deposed by House lawmakers behind closed doors.
The staffer, David Holmes, is slated to testify to lawmakers behind closed doors on Friday.
The AP reported that Jayanti has been in Kyiv since 2018 and helps facilitate coordination between the country’s energy industry and U.S. business interests. She joined the State Department in 2012 and has also served at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
WASHINGTON – Friday is shaping up to be judgment day for President Donald Trump.
The GOP-controlled Senate could wrap up the impeachment trial for Trump and acquit him, or decide to prolong the proceedings – possibly for weeks – by calling witnesses to testify. That would postpone a final vote on whether to remove him from office.
Thursday ended with the second round of questions being asked but with no certainty to how senators would vote on adding witnesses.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and other GOP leaders have balked at the idea of more witnesses, notably John Bolton. In his forthcoming book, Trump’s former national security adviser writes that the president told him to withhold military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine announced political investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Democrats, who control 47 of the chamber’s 100 seats, have been trying to convince at least four Republican senators to join them in demanding Bolton and other administration witnesses appear to discuss the president’s conduct regarding Ukraine.
If Democrats fail, the third impeachment of a president in U.S. history will end like the previous two.
The House on Dec. 18 impeached Trump on two articles – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – after hearings by the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees into whether he tried to leverage the aid to Ukraine in exchange for digging up dirt on the Bidens.
The Senate trial began Jan. 21 with House Democratic lawmakers acting as prosecutors laying out the case against Trump over three days. Trump’s lawyers then began their defense of the president on Saturday and wrapped up Tuesday. As required by Senate rules, both sides – Republican and Democratic senators – were given a chance to pose follow-up questions to the Democratic House managers and Trump’s defense team on Wednesday and Thursday.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, saying he had a duty to make sure any country receiving aid is meeting its obligations and that impeachment over this issue would weaken any president’s ability to carry out policy. His lawyers and political allies also say this impeachment effort lacks merit because no specific crime is being alleged.
Democrats contend Trump never cared about corruption in Ukraine until he saw Joe Biden emerge as the biggest threat to his 2020 reelection. The withholding of money in order to get Ukraine to announce the investigations and weaken Biden in the process is exactly the kind of “high crime” that the nation’s founding fathers were referencing when they created the impeachment mechanism.
Whatever the outcome, the process has left raw feelings on both sides of the aisle.
“Like war, impeachment is hell, or at least presidential impeachment is hell,” Trump lawyer Ken Starr, who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment more than 20 years ago, told senators Monday. “Those of us who lived through the Clinton impeachment, including members of this body, full well understand that a president impeachment is tantamount to domestic war.”
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on a Democratic resolution mapping out rules for public hearings in the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, after weeks of Republicans criticizing the inquiry for holding closed-door meetings in the basement of the Capitol.
Also on Thursday, the trio of committees investigating Trump’s dealings with Ukraine have another private deposition with a National Security Council official. Timothy Morrison, whose departure from the NSC as senior director for Europe and Russia was announced on the eve of his testimony, was described by another witness in the House impeachment inquiry as having a “sinking feeling” after learning the U.S. was withholding military aid for Ukraine while urging an investigation of Trump’s political rival former Vice President Joe Biden.
Morrison’s testimony is expected to begin in the morning. The House is expected to debate the resolution in the morning and vote on it as part of a series beginning about 10:30 a.m.
The vote will be the first of the full House under the formal impeachment inquiry and will put moderate lawmakers from both parties under scrutiny heading into the 2020 election. The resolution formalizes the public phase of the investigation with hearings and evidence-sharing with the president’s counsel, even as Republicans continue to criticize the process as a “sham.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declared a formal impeachment inquiry Sept. 24 amid reports Trump urged Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival, Biden, while withholding military aid. Trump has called the inquiry a partisan “witch hunt” and White House counsel Pat Cipollone notified Pelosi Oct. 8 that the administration wouldn’t cooperate for lack of a full House vote.
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U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was recalled to Washington for “consultations” on April 29, 2019. The whistleblower complaint cited a Rudy Giuliani interview with a Ukrainian journalist published on May 14, 2019, where he stated that Yovanovitch was “removed … because she was part of the efforts against the President.” Seen here, Yovanovitch, center, sits during her meeting with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 6, 2019. Mikhail Palinchak, Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP
From left, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa., Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., and Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, pose for a group photo on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 16, 2019, outside the room where people are interviewed for the impeachment inquiry. Susan Walsh, AP
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, center, with Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. (R), responds to a question from the news media prior to the testimony of US Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, before a closed session of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, Oct. 29 2019. SHAWN THEW, EPA-EFE
The resolution charts a public phase of the investigation. Six committees have been investigating Trump for a variety of reasons, including possible abuse of power and obstruction of justice: Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means.
Provisions in the resolution allow Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the panel’s top Republican, to each question witnesses for up to 90 minutes or delegate their time to staffers before rank-and-file lawmakers each ask questions for five minutes. Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees could subpoena witnesses and documents, and if the chairman objected, Republicans could ask for a committee vote.
U.S. and Ukraine relations go further back than the now infamous phone call between Trump and Zelensky. We explain their relationship. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The Intelligence Committee and other panels would provide reports to the Judiciary Committee, which would draft possible articles of impeachment. At Judiciary hearings, the president’s counsel would be able to participate by receiving evidence and staff reports, questioning witnesses, submitting additional evidence and being invited to offer a concluding presentation.
“This is a serious moment for our nation,” said Nadler, D-N.Y. “This committee is committed to executing its part of the House’s ongoing impeachment investigation with the highest fealty to the Constitution.”
The provisions weren’t enough to appease concerns among Republicans, who worried about the lack of additional resources for committees participating in the inquiry and that the Intelligence Committee might not pass along all the confidential evidence it has gathered to the Judiciary Committee.
“The Soviet-style process that Speaker Pelosi and Adam Schiff have been conducting behind closed doors for weeks now has been rotten to the core,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-ranking Republican in the House.
The White House denounced the measure in a statement by press secretary Stephanie Grisham, saying the resolution continues the impeachment “scam” without allowing “any due process for the president.”
Testimony from NSC aide
The Intelligence Committee has been taking depositions for weeks about Ukraine and Morrison, who is slated to testify Thursday, was mentioned repeatedly in the House testimony Oct. 22 of Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. Morrison is leaving the NSC soon after more than a year of service, according to a senior administration official.
Taylor described how NSC and State Department officials learned bit by bit about the back-channel efforts of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Taylor said he asked Morrison during a call Aug. 22 whether U.S. policy toward Ukraine had changed. Morrison replied “it remains to be seen,” but said the “president doesn’t want to provide any assistance at all,” according to Taylor.
“That was extremely troubling to me,” said Taylor, who had warned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he would resign if the U.S. didn’t strongly support Ukraine.
The conversation with Morrison was sandwiched between Trump’s July 25 call to Zelensky, when the president urged an investigation of the Bidens, and the White House release of a summary of the call Sept. 25, when Taylor learned of its details.
Three key House committees – Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform – are investigating how Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid during the summer while also urging Zelensky to investigate Biden.
Democrats contend the effort could be an impeachable abuse of power. But House Republicans have accused Democrats of selectively leaking snippets of testimony from the closed-door sessions to make the president look bad. Trump has vigorously defended his authority to urge the investigation of corruption and called the inquiry a partisan “witch hunt.”
Morrison succeeded Fiona Hill, the former NSC senior director for Europe and Russia, who resigned during the summer. She told lawmakers Oct. 14 that National Security Adviser John Bolton said he wasn’t part of “whatever drug deal” that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were “cooking up,” according to reports about her testimony.
Bolton reportedly referred to Giuliani as “a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up,” according to Hill. Bolton told her to notify NSC lawyer John Eisenberg about a July 10 White House meeting of officials dealing on Ukraine.
Taylor picked up the thread with details about how national-security and diplomatic officials learned about the results of pressuring Ukraine to begin investigations.
On Sept. 1, Zelensky met with Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw. Sondland also met there with Andriy Yermak, an assistant to Zelensky, according to Taylor.
Morrison described Sondland telling Yermak that the military aid wouldn’t come until Zelensky committed to investigate Burisma, the Ukraine energy company that employed Hunter Biden as a board director, according to Taylor.
“This was the first time I had heard that the security assistance – not just the White House meeting – was conditioned on the investigations,” Taylor said.
Taylor alerted Alexander Danyliuk, Ukraine’s national security adviser, that the military assistance was “all or nothing” because the funding would expire with the end of the U.S. fiscal year Sept. 30.
On Sept. 2, Morrison met with Danyliuk in Warsaw and later told Taylor that the Ukrainian expressed concern about the losing U.S. support.
On Sept. 7, Morrison said he had a “sinking feeling” after a conversation with Sondland, according to Taylor. Trump told Sondland he wasn’t asking for a “quid pro quo,” but insisted that “Zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference,” Taylor said.
CHICAGO — An Ice Storm Warning (scarlet-shaded area on the headlined map) for freezing rain mixed with sleet and snow is in effect for much of the Chicago area along and west of the Fox River Valley tonight into Tuesday.
At the same time, heavy snow 4 to 8-inches is expected in northern counties bordering Wisconsin, and a Winter Weather Advisory (purple-shaded counties) for primarily freezing rain/snow mix is in effect for the remainder of the Chicago area.
Extremely dangerous conditions for outdoor activities and travel will exist area-wide. The Tuesday morning commute will be slowed by slick roads and snow-covered highways, and movement outdoors made extremely hazardous due to glaze covering a good portion of northeast Illinois into northwest Indiana.
DEVELOPING: Heads up, Chicago. VERY icy this morning. Everything is coated. Low branches everywhere. Spotted this on Irving Park near Lake Shore Drive. @WGNMorningNewspic.twitter.com/Rk4QkCQTO6
Metra Electric train service has been suspended until further notice. Metra suggest customers seek alternate transportation at this time.
Metra Alert ME – Metra electric service is not operating until further notice due to extreme weather conditions, customers should consider using the Rock Island
As of 6 a.m., ComEd is reporting more than 7,000 power outages in Cook County alone. More outages expected.
More than 7,000 power outages in Cook County alone…and there’s plenty more around the area. Why I think we’ll see MORE of those happening later today/tonight on @WGNMorningNews
The center of an intensifying low pressure system will track south of Chicago into Lower Michigan Tuesday, heading into Ontario Canada later Tuesday night. A wintry mix of freezing rain/sleet and snow will lay out to the north of the low-pressure track, covering the Chicago area.
A Wind Advisory is issued for the entire Chicago area later Tuesday/Tuesday night as the storm center pulls away, strengthening west to northwest winds eventually gusting 40 mph or higher will direct much colder air into our area, changing all precipitation to snow showers and potentially causing widespread ice-laden tree damage and subsequent power outages. As you go north, storm total snowfall looks to gradually increase from 1 to 2-inches along the Interstate-80 corridor to the 4 to 8-inches far north.
In a year when Democrats are struggling to choose between a string of septuagenarian candidates, strategists say the 37-year-old South Bend, Ind., mayor has become an alternative choice, tapping into a desire for a fresh face in Washington.
Democrats are also battling over how far left to go in the primary, but Buttigieg may be a candidate who appeals to centrists without turning off liberals.
Political observers and strategists say this appeal is one of the main reasons Buttigieg, who is a veteran and also gay, has been surging toward the top of polls.
“He’s trying to be the Goldilocks ‘just right’ candidate in between everyone,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale.
When Buttigieg announced his candidacy, the chance of him winning the nomination seemed like a long shot.
Voters didn’t know much about him and couldn’t pronounce his name. He had a staff of four, including an intern. Some news organizations wouldn’t add him to their primary graphics.
Less than a year later, Buttigieg has a staff of 469 people, what pundits call a commanding presence at town halls and a rash of good headlines.
“I think one of the biggest factors not getting enough attention is they’re doing a really good job campaigning,” said Vale. “They’re doing lots of events [and] interviews.”
It’s “definitely possible” Buttigieg could win the nomination, Vale said, because “his rise is coming from a good foundation, not just a viral moment.”
Buttigieg has gained 14 points since August, the last time Monmouth surveyed caucusgoers. Biden lost 7 points while Warren lost 2 points in the survey and Sanders gained 5 points.
“There’s no doubt about it — as the primary cycle continues, Mayor Pete’s appeal is only growing,” said Democratic strategist Lynda Tran. “The latest poll certainly puts the wind at his back heading into Iowa.”
Buttigieg’s fundraising has propelled his campaign. He raised more than $19 million in the third quarter, beating some of his competitors and becoming the candidate Hollywood A-listers have most supported with their checkbooks.
Buttigieg does face some hurdles — particularly his low support among black voters. It is difficult to imagine he will win the nomination unless he can improve his standing with African Americans.
In South Carolina, where Biden performs particularly well because of his strong support among black voters, Buttigieg ranks sixth, according to an average of polls in South Carolina conducted by RealClearPolitics.
In the spot, he also pledges “to do something about gun violence, to tackle systemic racism wherever we find it until your race in this country has no bearing on your health, or your wealth, your life expectancy or your relationship with law enforcement.”
Buttigieg’s age and lack of experience could also weigh him down, Democrats say, particularly in a campaign season where the party’s voters are locked in on finding the candidate who can defeat Trump.
“If Donald Trump wasn’t a factor, he would easily be the front-runner. He’s young, very smart and dynamic,” the Democratic strategist said.
Some voters might not feel comfortable nominating a candidate who is only 37 years old.
Former President Obama was one of the younger presidents elected in the United States. But he was about a decade older when he took office than Buttigieg is now.
“I don’t know if I feel comfortable voting for someone younger than me. I think that’s a confusing dilemma for me,” Trujillo said, adding that other voters may feel the same way.
Trujillo said Buttigieg also hasn’t been scrutinized the way other candidates have so far.
“He has the appeal because he really hasn’t been under the microscope,” Trujillo added. “Once the bright lights are on you, things get a little bumpier.
But more than anything, Buttigieg will have to prove his electability against Trump.
“I like what he stands for a lot, but I have my doubts about whether he can beat him,” one major Democratic donor said. “I don’t see how the mayor of South Bend Indiana ends up winning.”
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El Partido Popular de Mariano Rajoy se perfila ganador de las elecciones de este domingo en España.
El gobernante Partido Popular, PP, ganó este domingo las elecciones generales en España pero quedó lejos de la mayoría absoluta y los votos se repartieron entre vairas formaciones, algo que dificultará la formación del futuro gobierno.
Con el 99% de los votos escrutados, el PP es el partido más votado con 123 diputados y el 28,72% de los votos, seguido del Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE, con 90 escaños y el 22,02%.
Podemos se perfila como tercera fuerza con 69 escaños y el 20,4% y Ciudadanos queda en cuarto lugar con 40 diputados y el 13,93%.
En el caso de Podemos, el total de escaños y porcentaje corresponde a esta formación política y a sus candidaturas en tres comunidades: En Comú Podem en Cataluña (12 escaños y un 3,6% de los votos), Compromís en la Comunidad Valenciana (9 y un 2,7%) y En Marea en Galicia (6 y un 1,5%).
Se trata de unos resultados muy fragmentados que pueden complicar la formación de gobierno.
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La participación ha sido ligeramente superior a la de las elecciones generales de 2011.
Desde los comicios de 1982 los dos grandes partidos (PP y PSOE) siempre habían sumado al menos dos tercios de los votos y un mínimo de 282 de los 350 escaños del Congreso.
Analistas dicen que hay distintos escenarios posibles, como una coalición de centro-derecha entre el Partido Popular y Ciudadanos o un pacto de centro-izquierda entre PSOE, Podemos y otras formaciones.
También se baraja la posibilidad de una gran coalición PP-PSOE, al estilo de Alemania.
Ciudadanos y Podemos presentaron candidatos nacionales por primera vez para desafiar a los dos partidos tradicionalmente más grandes.
“Gracias”
El presidente del gobierno y candidato a la reelección, Mariano Rajoy, habló desde el balcón de la sede del Partido Popular en Madrid para dar las gracias a sus votantes.
Rajoy se mostró dispuesto a formar gobierno y subrayó que el país necesita “un gobierno estable”, reconociendo los esfuerzos que se han hecho en España en los últimos años.
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Los simpatizantes del Partido Popular se congregaron en las cercanías de la sede del partido para celebrar la victoria.
“El margen de mejora es muy grande pero para ello España necesita un gobierno que tenga apoyo parlamentario”, declaró Rajoy, quien además valoró positivamente el índice de participación en las elecciones.
Dada la pérdida de la mayoría, Rajoy reconoció la necesidad de diálogo para poder seguir adelante.
“España quiere cambiar”
Por su parte, el secretario general y candidato del PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, aseguró en su aparición ante los medios que le corresponde al PP la esponsabilidad de formar gobierno al haber ganado las elecciones generales, pero advirtió que “España quiere izquierda y quiere cambiar”.
Sánchez se dirigió a los militantes socialistas en el interior de la sede de Ferraz tras confirmarse que el PSOE, con 91 escaños, quedó como segunda fuerza por detrás del PP (122).
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El candidato del PSOE a la presidencia felicitó al Partido Popular por su victoria electoral.
“España quiere izquierda y quiere cambiar, pero también es cierto que los españoles han decidido que la primera fuerza sea el PP”, remarcó el líder del PSOE, que telefoneó a Mariano Rajoy para felicitarle por la victoria.
“Una nueva transición”
El director de campaña de Podemos, Íñigo Errejón, quien ha declarado que se ha terminado “el turnismo político y el bipartidismo” y que se abre una nueva etapa en la historia de España que está “en puertas de una nueva transición”.
Si bien Errejón ha querido mantener en todo momento la prudencia respecto a los datos, ha sido interrumpido por la euforia de sus compañeros que en una sala contigua gritaban “remontada” y “sí se puede”.
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El líder de Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, se mostró satisfecho con los resultados de su partido en una jornada que tildó de “histórica”.
Poco después compareció ante los medios el líder de Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, quien calificó la jornada como “histórica”.
Iglesias subrayó: “España ha votado un cambio de sistema” y eso tiene una implicación “irrenunciable, imprescindible e inaplazable”, que es la reforma constitucional.
“Basta de rojos y azules”
El líder del emergente Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, que se estrena en el Congreso español como cuarta fuerza política, considera que su partido ha hecho “historia” y el país empieza “una nueva era política”, caracterizada por la “esperanza e ilusión”.
Ciudadanos consiguió 40 diputados. Según Rivera, las urnas confirman que “hay mas españoles que quieren cambio” y que “se acabó la resignación”.
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Ciudadanos quedó en cuarto lugar con 40 escaños.
“Basta ya de rojos y azules”, señaló el político catalán en referencia a los colores del PP y el PSOE, y felicitó al resto de formaciones por sus resultados.
Futuras negociaciones
Este domingo también se votó la composición del Senado, donde el PP logró 121 de los 208 escaños en juego, seguido del PSOE, con 50 y Podemos, con 14.
A estos nuevos parlamentarios habrá que sumar los senadores elegidos por las asambleas de las comunidades autónomas que mantienen su puesto.
Las nuevas Cámaras se constituirán el próximo 13 de enero aunque, a la vista de los resultados, todo indica que las negociaciones para la investidura del próximo presidente del gobierno empezarán antes de que acaben las fiestas navideñas.
Preocupaciones del electorado
La economía, los casos de corrupción y la situación de Cataluña fueron temas dominantes durante la campaña.
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El voto de estas elecciones es el más fragmentado de los últimos años.
El gobierno de Mariano Rajoy adoptó durante la legislatura impopulares medidas de austeridad y reformas laborales que el Partido Popular asegura han devuelto el crecimiento a la economía española.
Sin embargo, el índice de desempleo permanece alto en un 21%, el segundo más alto de la Unión Europea después de Grecia, si bien ha bajado desde el 27% del año 2013.
Gerald Belz, 18, was discovered unconscious Wednesday around 3 a.m. behind an academic hall — when the wind chill was about minus 51 degrees. The first-year pre-med student was rushed to a hospital, where he died.
“I want people to remember him as a compassionate person,” his dad, Michael Belz, told KCRG. “He had many more friends than I was aware of.”
Officials believe the teen died because of arctic temperatures that have been linked to at least nine other deaths as a polar vortex grips the Midwest. Doctors didn’t find any alcohol in his system, his family said, but the precise cause of death is not yet known.
The teen had been Snapchatting with his girlfriend late Tuesday and told her he was going to bed, his dad said, according to the Daily Iowan.
He’d graduated in May from Kennedy High School, where he played football.
The university canceled classes until Thursday amid the frigid weather.
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