Trump directed Ukraine quid pro quo, key witness says
WASHINGTON — Ambassador Gordon Sondland declared to impeachment investigators Wednesday that President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani explicitly sought a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine, leveraging an Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats. But he also came to believe the trade involved much more.
Besides the U.S. offer of a coveted meeting at the White House, Sondland testified it was his understanding the president was holding up nearly $400 million in military aid, which Ukraine badly needed with an aggressive Russia on its border, in exchange for the country’s announcement of the investigations.
Sondland conceded that Trump never told him directly the security assistance was blocked for the probes, a gap in his account that Republicans and the White House seized on as evidence the president did nothing wrong. But the ambassador said his dealings with Giuliani, as well as administration officials, left him with the clear understanding of what was at stake.
“Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’” Sondland asked. “With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
The rest, he said, was obvious: “Two plus two equals four.”
Democrats revive ‘Medicare for All’
at Atlanta debate
ATLANTA — The top Democratic presidential candidates spent large chunks of prime-time television clashing over “Medicare for All” — again.
Like a string of previous debates, Wednesday’s prominently featured squabbles over a program that could alienate general-election swing voters who may be wary of fully government-run, universal health care and that will be extraordinarily difficult to get through Congress — even if Democrats take the White House and make significant 2020 congressional gains.
The latest faceoff, in Atlanta, came against the backdrop of impeachment consuming Washington, President Donald Trump making major foreign policy moves and well-known Democrats having left — or recently joined — the race. But the White House hopefuls just couldn’t stop debating Medicare for All, in part because it represents an important ideological divide between progressive candidates and moderates but also because the party sees health care as a winning issue — especially after it helped Democrats win the House last year.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the race’s strongest progressive voices, staunchly defended Medicare for All.
“The American people understand that the current health care system is not only cruel, it is dysfunctional,” Sanders said.
Pope Francis calls for action to safeguard women, children
BANGKOK — Pope Francis called for migrants to be welcomed and for women and children to be protected from exploitation, abuse and enslavement as he began a busy two days of activities in Thailand on Thursday.
Francis pleaded for action against one of the region’s greatest scourges, human trafficking to fuel the forced labor and sex trade industries, as he began a weeklong visit to Asia.
He praised the Thai government’s efforts to fight human trafficking in a speech delivered at host Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s Government House offices. But he appealed for greater international commitment to protect women and children “who are violated and exposed to every form of exploitation, enslavement, violence and abuse.”
He called for ways to “uproot this evil and to provide ways to restore their dignity.”
“The future of our peoples is linked in large measure to the way we will ensure a dignified future to our children,” he said.
From wire sources
Amid turmoil, Prince Andrew to step back from royal duties
LONDON — Following days of turmoil that have damaged the British royal family’s reputation, Prince Andrew announced Wednesday that he will step back from public duties “for the foreseeable future” because of his association with a notorious American sex offender.
The second son of Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement that his ties to Jeffrey Epstein had become a “major disruption” to the royal family’s charitable work. It was unclear whether the change was a temporary or permanent shift in his role.
Andrew said he had obtained the queen’s permission to step away. He also said he was willing to help any law enforcement agency with an investigation.
The scandal has rocked the royal family, particularly since a television interview on Saturday failed to ease the many questions about Andrew’s links to Epstein.
For a senior royal to step away from his duties is extremely unusual and reflects the degree to which charities and educational institutions had questioned their associations with him in recent days.
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Blackouts hit Northern California again during fire danger
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas &Electric turned off electricity Wednesday for about 120,000 people in Northern California to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires during a new bout of windy, warm weather.
However, favorable weather allowed the nation’s largest utility to drastically reduce the number of customers it originally had planned to black out — about 375,000 — and even to begin restoring electricity in some areas.
Higher-than-expected humidity, cloud cover and even some rain showers in the Sierra Nevada helped reduce the risk, said Scott Strenfel, PG&E’s principal meteorologist.
“All of these factors kind of broke in all of our favor,” he said.
Virtually all those who lost power were expected to get it back Thursday once a weather all-clear is declared and ground crews and helicopters check power lines to make sure any damage is repaired, officials said.
