Syrian Kurdish officials said clashes near Ain Eissa, a key Kurdish-held town in northern Syria, allowed 950 Islamic State supporters to escape from a camp for displaced people near a U.S.-led coalition base, the AP reports.
Edwards Will Face Rispone In Louisiana Runoff
“Republican millionaire Eddie Rispone, making his first bid for public office, edged his way into a Nov. 16 runoff with incumbent Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards,” the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
“By a margin of about 50,000 votes, Rispone, of Baton Rouge, beat his Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, to face off with Edwards, who led the field Saturday night but not by enough to win outright.”
Cockpit Tapes Confirm Russia’s Role In Airstrikes
“The Russian Air Force has repeatedly bombed hospitals in Syria in order to crush the last pockets of resistance to President Bashar al-Assad,” according to an investigation by the New York Times.
“An analysis of previously unpublished Russian Air Force radio recordings, plane spotter logs and witness accounts allowed The Times to trace bombings of four hospitals in just 12 hours in May and tie Russian pilots to each one.”
“The 12-hour period beginning on May 5 represents a small slice of the air war in Syria, but it is a microcosm of Russia’s four-year military intervention in Syria’s civil war. A new front in the conflict opened this week, when Turkish forces crossed the border as part of a campaign against a Kurdish-led militia.”
Quote of the Day
“Just impeaching Trump for his bad behavior isn’t worth it. But, if he challenges our system of checks and balances as he is doing, if he undermines our democracy, our electoral system, as he is doing, if he undermines his own oath of office as he is doing, it is a challenge to our Constitution.”
— Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with the New Yorker.
Hunter Biden Quits Board of Chinese Company
“Hunter Biden is stepping down from the board of a Chinese-backed private equity company and promising to forego all foreign work if his father, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, is elected president in 2020,” Bloomberg reports.
“After months of keeping a relatively low-profile as President Donald Trump leveled a barrage of unsubstantiated accusations of corruption at him, the younger Biden is publicly vowing to avoid any conflict of interest.”
Tlaib Says Democrats Could Jail Those Who Don’t Testify
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) told Deadline Detroit that House Democrats have discussed jailing allies of the president who do not comply with congressional subpoenas.
Said Tlaib: “There have been actual serious conversations about what the logistics would look like… if we did have to force someone through a court order to come before the Congressional committee. This is pretty uncharted territory for many of us and even for Congress.”
Envoy Will Testify ‘No Quid Pro’ Came from Trump
“The U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, intends to tell Congress this week that the content of a text message he wrote denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine was relayed to him directly by President Trump in a phone call,” the Washington Post reports.
“Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he has no knowledge of whether the president was telling him the truth at that moment.”
Said a person familiar with Sondland’s testimony: “It’s only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth.”
“Sondland will hold out the possibility that Trump wasn’t truthful in his denial of a quid pro quo as well as an alternative scenario in which the president’s interest in the scheme soured.”
Trump Threatens to Sue Schiff and Pelosi
President Trump threatened on Saturday night to sue top congressional Democrats Rep. Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi amid the House impeachment inquiry into the President, CNN reports.
Said Trump: “We’re going to take a look at it. We’re going after these people. These are bad, bad people.”
Louisiana Primary Election Results
The New York Times has the results of the the Louisiana gubernatorial primary election.
If not candidate reaches 50% of the vote, the top two will face a runoff election.
Mattis Says ISIS ‘Will Come Back’
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis told NBC News that the president’s decision to pull troops from Syria’s border in advance of a Turkish incursion could have dire consequences and lead to ISIS’s resurgence.
Said Mattis: “We may want a war over; we may even declare it over. You can pull your troops out as President Obama learned the hard way out of Iraq, but the ‘enemy gets the vote’, we say in the military. And in this case, if we don’t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It’s absolutely a given that they will come back.”
Giuliani Not Aware He’s Under Investigation
Rudy Giuliani told CNN that he’s not aware he’s under investigation for his involvement with the unraveling Ukraine scandal, calling it a “political attack.”
Said Giulani: “No, nothing but leaks, which has to tell you whether they are or are not investigating, it’s a political attack. Otherwise, why leak it?”
He added: “If it’s an appropriate law enforcement investigation, you try to keep it secret so the subjects aren’t alerted.”
The Phone Call That Changed Trump’s Presidency
Associated Press: “By the time staffers in the Situation Room got the president of Ukraine on the phone at 9:03 a.m., Trump had just finished firing off tweets claiming complete vindication from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony the day before about the Russia investigation. On the call, Trump was first to speak. He showered the 41-year-old Ukrainian, a novice politician and former comedian, with praise following his party’s victory in parliamentary elections. Zelenskiy chatted about how he wanted to “drain the swamp” in Kyiv and how he wished the European Union would provide more financial support. He told Trump that Ukraine was ready to buy more Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States.”
“The next 10 words that came out of Trump’s mouth — ‘I would like you to do us a favor, though’ — are what triggered the House impeachment inquiry that has imperiled his presidency.”
Trump’s Presidency Moves Into Crisis
Dan Balz: “Many Americans have become inured to the president’s volatile behavior. Yet even by the standards of this presidency, Trump has been operating beyond his often-untethered bounds. His Twitter feed has been more frantic, his public comments angrier and more abusive, his sense of victimhood more on display than ever. Including his attacks on the investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller, there may be no period in the entirety of Trump’s presidency comparable to the behavior now on display.”
“Along the political spectrum, there is a shared sense that the country has entered into a new and more worrisome phase of Trump’s presidency. To some who have long been critical of the president, Trump’s actions with regard to Ukraine and his call to China to launch its own investigation of Biden and his son have brought a heightened sense of alarm. Others, who have been more measured in their assessments of the president over time, see the country in a period of crisis that will test the strength of America’s constitutional democracy and its institutions.”
Trump Says He’s Immune from Criminal Investigations
“President Trump on Friday repeated his assertion of sweeping executive immunity — arguing in court that, because he is president, he cannot be investigated by any prosecutor, anywhere,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s personal attorneys made the argument in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York.”
Trump Finally Comes to Giuliani’s Defense
“President Trump defended his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Saturday amid reports that federal prosecutors are investigating whether the former New York City mayor broke lobbying laws in his efforts to oust the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yavonovitch,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “So now they are after the legendary ‘crime buster’ and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani. He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer.”
He added: “Such a one sided Witch Hunt going on in USA. Deep State. Shameful!”
Reid Warns Trump Will Be Tough to Beat In 2020
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told CNN that President Trump is “a very, very smart man” who won’t be easy for Democrats to defeat in the 2020 election.
Said Reid: “I don’t think he’s, intellectually, a powerhouse but he is basically a very, very smart man. No matter what the subject, any argument he involves himself in, it’s on his terms. You’re always arguing against him. He never, never, is willing to debate an issue on terms that aren’t his.”
He added: “Anyone that thinks Trump’s going to be beaten easily should have another thing coming.”
An Impeachment Loophole
Washingtonian: “The Constitution doesn’t indicate that removal from office requires two-thirds of the Senate. It requires two-thirds of senators present for the proceedings.”
“But suppose … 30 senators … boycott the proceedings—or, when the big day of the vote arrived, mysteriously not show up. With 70 members now present, the number of senators required to convict Trump is no longer 67. It’s 47: exactly the number of seats Democrats and independents currently hold in the Senate.”
China Made Few Concessions for Trade Truce
“In return for a series of modest concessions, most of which had been offered by President Xi Jinping’s administration in previous negotiating rounds, Donald Trump agreed to suspend another set of tariff increases originally scheduled to take effect on October 15,” the Financial Times reports.
“The two sides are still a long way from a final settlement that addresses much more contentious issues, such as Chinese government support for strategic industries and state-owned enterprises, which Mr Trump had hoped to reach before his 2020 re-election campaign kicks off in earnest. Chinese negotiators, however, believe that time is on their side and they can continue to stonewall Mr Trump and his lead negotiator, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, on any ‘systemic’ reforms that they fear would weaken the Chinese Communist party’s grip over the world’s second-largest economy.”
