Live updates: Trump impeachment inquiry - CNN International

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The House Intelligence Committee wrapped its testimonies in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump this week.

Here's a breakdown of who spoke on what days and what each person had to say:

Tuesday, Nov. 19: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Kurt Volker, former US special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, former National Security Council aide

• Vindman and Williams described the July 25 call: They said the July 25 call between President Trump and the Ukrainian leader was not “perfect.” The President was acting on his own in the July call in asking for the investigations and was provided with no talking points to back that up.
• What Volker admitted: He told lawmakers that he drew a “sharp distinction” between Burisma and Biden, but admits that he was wrong to view them separately. “In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, “Burisma,” as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden. I saw them as very different. The former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable,” Volker said in his opening statement. “In retrospect, I should have seen that connection differently, and had I done so, I would have raised my own objections.”

Wednesday, Nov. 20: US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs

• Sondland pressed Ukraine at Trump's direction: In his opening statement and throughout his testimony, Sondland said he was working with Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the "express direction of the President of the United States." Sondland recounted several conversations between himself and Trump about Ukraine opening two investigations: one into Burisma, a company where former Vice President Joe Biden's son was on the board, and another into conspiracies about Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 US election.
• Sondland implicated Pence, Pompeo and Mulvaney: Republicans have argued that Giuliani could have been running a shadow foreign policy without the involvement or knowledge of other senior White House and State Department officials, but Sondland contradicted that several times in his testimony. He said "everyone" in the State Department was aware. He also implicated key White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who also directs the Office of Management and Budget.
• Cooper showed Ukraine knew about aide issues in July: She testified that Ukrainian officials knew as early as July 25 that there was an issue with US aid to the country. This undercuts a key Republican rebuttal to accusations of a "quid pro quo" linking the aid to investigations into President Trump's political rivals. In their defense of Trump, Republicans have alleged that no bribery could exist if the Ukrainians weren't aware the aid was being held.

Thursday, Nov. 21: Fiona Hill, the former White House Russia expert, and David Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine

• Pressure on Ukraine: Holmes undercut the GOP's defense that there was no pressure on Ukraine. He testified that the Ukrainians felt pressure to move ahead with probes. He said the Ukrainians want to keep White House happy because “they still need us now.” 
• "Not credible": Hill said she found Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony “not credible” when he claimed that it took him many months to connect the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to former Vice President Joe Biden. Both Holmes and Hill make clear it was obvious Burisma was about the Bidens. Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, claimed to be clueless and uncurious about why this was the one company the President wanted investigated.

CNN's Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

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2019-11-24 13:32:00Z
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The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry: Live updates - CNN International

Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images

The House Intelligence Committee wrapped its testimonies in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump this week.

Here's a breakdown of who spoke on what days and what each person had to say:

Tuesday, Nov. 19: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Kurt Volker, former US special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, former National Security Council aide

• Vindman and Williams described the July 25 call: They said the July 25 call between President Trump and the Ukrainian leader was not “perfect.” The President was acting on his own in the July call in asking for the investigations and was provided with no talking points to back that up.
• What Volker admitted: He told lawmakers that he drew a “sharp distinction” between Burisma and Biden, but admits that he was wrong to view them separately. “In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, “Burisma,” as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden. I saw them as very different. The former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable,” Volker said in his opening statement. “In retrospect, I should have seen that connection differently, and had I done so, I would have raised my own objections.”

Wednesday, Nov. 20: US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs

• Sondland pressed Ukraine at Trump's direction: In his opening statement and throughout his testimony, Sondland said he was working with Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the "express direction of the President of the United States." Sondland recounted several conversations between himself and Trump about Ukraine opening two investigations: one into Burisma, a company where former Vice President Joe Biden's son was on the board, and another into conspiracies about Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 US election.
• Sondland implicated Pence, Pompeo and Mulvaney: Republicans have argued that Giuliani could have been running a shadow foreign policy without the involvement or knowledge of other senior White House and State Department officials, but Sondland contradicted that several times in his testimony. He said "everyone" in the State Department was aware. He also implicated key White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who also directs the Office of Management and Budget.
• Cooper showed Ukraine knew about aide issues in July: She testified that Ukrainian officials knew as early as July 25 that there was an issue with US aid to the country. This undercuts a key Republican rebuttal to accusations of a "quid pro quo" linking the aid to investigations into President Trump's political rivals. In their defense of Trump, Republicans have alleged that no bribery could exist if the Ukrainians weren't aware the aid was being held.

Thursday, Nov. 21: Fiona Hill, the former White House Russia expert, and David Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine

• Pressure on Ukraine: Holmes undercut the GOP's defense that there was no pressure on Ukraine. He testified that the Ukrainians felt pressure to move ahead with probes. He said the Ukrainians want to keep White House happy because “they still need us now.” 
• "Not credible": Hill said she found Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony “not credible” when he claimed that it took him many months to connect the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to former Vice President Joe Biden. Both Holmes and Hill make clear it was obvious Burisma was about the Bidens. Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, claimed to be clueless and uncurious about why this was the one company the President wanted investigated.

CNN's Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

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2019-11-24 12:45:00Z
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Hong Kong Voters Turn Out For Biggest Election In City's History - NPR

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Long lines of voters waited to vote in Hong Kong's district council elections Sunday. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

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Millions of people turned out to vote in Hong Kong's district elections Sunday — a peaceful action nonetheless seen by many as an act of protest.

Normally low-key affairs, this year's elections for district councilors — akin to community representatives — have been widely seen as a referendum on popular support for ongoing anti-government protests that are now in their sixth month.

Long lines of voters snaked around voting booths in each of Hong Kong's 18 districts Sunday morning as voters rushed to cast their ballots in case booths were closed later on.

By early evening, the city reported more than 2.4 million people had voted — exceeding the 2.2 million total votes cast in the 2016 legislative elections.

"Since the civil unrest and protest movement began in June, today is the only institution and method to express our discontent to Beijing," pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong told NPR.

Wong was disqualified from running for a district seat himself after election regulators declared his candidacy in violation of the city's Basic Law, or constitution, because Wong has previously advocated for Hong Kong's "self-determination," a stance Beijing has sought to cast as separatism.

Ongoing anti-government protests have roiled the city since June, after furor over an extradition bill that could have sent suspected criminals to mainland China drew millions into the streets in peaceful protest.

Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, later permanently withdrew the bill after three months of steadily more violent protest, an action demonstrators said was too little, too late. They are now demanding direct elections for the city's next chief executive and an independent inquiry into police tactics used to suppress demonstrations.

Against this backdrop, the district elections have taken on an outsize significance, and voters have mobilized in unprecedented fashion. Government voter registration statistics show that more than 4.1 million people are registered to vote Sunday in a city of around 7.4 million, the highest level ever recorded. For the first time ever, all 452 elected district councilor seats are being contested as many first-time, pan-democratic candidates run for office.

Hong Kong's 452 elected councilors normally concern themselves with more mundane tasks, such as overseeing garbage disposal policies and street lighting. They have advisory functions and control over how some of the city's finances are disbursed locally, but possess no lawmaking abilities.

"They do not listen to our opinions actually. They can do whatever they want, and we cannot monitor them," said Philip Wong, 40, who was preparing to cast his ballot Sunday morning for first-time candidate Isaac Ho, a founding member of the pan-democratic group Community March.

But this year, Wong says his vote mattered more: "Whether or not [this election] makes a change, it is a reflection of the Hong Kong people's voice. We can use the vote to express our discontent and dissatisfaction with the current government and the police brutality."

And district councilors are not entirely powerless. About a quarter of them, 117, also sit on the 1,200-member council that elects the city's chief executive. District councilors also are allocated six seats on the city's 70-person Legislative Council, which sets policy. Pan-democrats are hoping that by electing a majority in the district councils, they may be able to tip Hong Kong's historically pro-Beijing lawmaking bodies in their favor.

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Kelvin Lam, a pan-democratic candidate, is running in lieu of activist Joshua Wong, who was disqualified in October. "We want a more transparent structure for all the meetings," he says. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

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Emily Feng/NPR

But Kelvin Lam, a district candidate running in lieu of Joshua Wong, cautioned that the councilors' first tasks would start with fairly modest goals, such as livestreaming council meetings to the public: "We will start the reform at the fairly low level first ... we want a more transparent structure for all the meetings."

Only steps away from Lam, supporters of incumbent Judy Chan waved flyers and shook hands with voters. Chan, a protégé of prominent pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip, promised to restore order to a city she said had been shaken by protests.

"For the past six months, a lot of violence has happened in Hong Kong and many people are not happy," said Chan, referring to the current anti-government protests. "We feel we even lost our freedom of saying how we think, and I am hoping this election the result will come out good and hopefully it will send a message to everyone as saying that the Hong Kong people will really want a peaceful community all around."

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Judy Chan, the pro-Beijing incumbent from the New People's Party, is running against Kelvin Lam. She promised to restore order to a city she said had been shaken by protests. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

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Emily Feng/NPR

The Hong Kong government had repeatedly warned it might delay the district elections, held every four years, over concerns of violence. But the two days leading up to Sunday's elections were quiet as protesters dialed back activities so as not to justify a delay.

However, acts of intimidation have overshadowed the elections. Three political parties who lean more pro-Beijing say more than 100 of their district councilors' offices and facilities have been graffitied or broken-into in the run-up to Sunday. At least four pan-democratic candidates have been physically attacked while campaigning.

Fears over potential meddling from Beijing were also running high Sunday. Residents shared photos on social media of men allegedly from outside of Hong Kong who were clustered outside various voting stations, filming voters with mobile phones throughout the day. One such group of men, when approached by this NPR reporter, refused to answer questions, walking in circles before disappearing into a metro station.

But the alleged intimidation did not keep voters away. Voting booths close at 10:30 p.m. Sunday and election results are expected to be announced Monday morning.

"This is the first time that many people have been woke up to their responsibility to vote," said Isabel Long, 23, a first-time voter herself. She vowed to vote in the next elections, regardless of how protests ended.

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2019-11-24 11:26:00Z
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Pope urges abolition of nuclear weapons during Japan visit - BBC News

Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons during a visit to Nagasaki, one of the two Japanese cities targeted by atomic bombs during World War Two.

He decried the "unspeakable horror" of nuclear weapons and insisted they were "not the answer" for global peace.

At least 74,000 were killed in Nagasaki by the attack by US forces in 1945.

Two survivors of the bombing, now both in their 80s, presented the pontiff a wreath during the Sunday service.

Pope France arrived from Thailand on Saturday for a four-day visit, which is only the second papal visit to Japan.

• The Japanese Christians forced to trample on Christ

Hundreds of people gathered in the pouring rain to hear him in Nagasaki. The Pope then attended a meeting at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, the site of the other atomic attack.

What did the Pope say?

In a sombre ceremony, the Pope unequivocally condemned the use of nuclear weapons.

"This place makes us deeply aware of the pain and horror that we human beings are capable of inflicting upon one another," he said at the event in Nagasaki.

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During his speech, Pope Francis also took aim at their use as a deterrent and insisted peace is incompatible with the "fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation."

He also criticised the money "squandered" on the weapons around the world and mentioned a "climate of distrust" hindering contemporary non-proliferation and arms control efforts.

• Where are the world's nuclear weapons?
• In pictures: Nagasaki bombing

Sakue Shimohira, 85, and Shigemi Fukahori, 89, were two survivors who met with the Pope during the visit.

"My mother and older sister were killed, charred," Ms Shimohira was quoted by AFP news agency as saying. "Even if you survived, you couldn't live like a human or die like a human... It's the horror of nuclear weapons."

There are about 536,000 Catholics in Japan, according to Vatican News. The number makes up less than only 0.5% of the population - where Buddhism and Shinto sects are the most popular religions.

Nagasaki is known for being home to so-called "hidden Christians" who practiced their faith underground when it was banned during the 17th Century.

What happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

The first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima by a US warplane on 6 August 1945.

The US hoped the bombing, which came after Japan rejected an earlier ultimatum for peace, would force a quick surrender without risking US causalities on the ground.

• What happened in Hiroshima?

The first bomb killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima - about half of which are thought to have died on its initial impact.

The attack was the first use of nuclear weapons, which had just been developed, during a war. US President Harry Truman only announced their existence after the first bomb was dropped.

When no immediate surrender came from the Japanese, US forces dropped a second bomb three days later.

Nagasaki was actually not the initial target of the attack, but was only chosen after bad weather obscured the main target city of Kokura.

Japan surrendered six days later and officially brought about the end of World War Two.

The necessity of the bombs, and their devastating and lasting impact on civilians, has been contested since.

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2019-11-24 10:33:14Z
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Hong Kong vote hits record amid calls for democracy - CNBC

A candidate campaigns outside a shopping mall ahead of the Hong Kong District Council elections on November 23, 2019 in Hong Kong, China.

Chris McGrath | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A record number of Hong Kong people voted on Sunday in district elections viewed as a barometer of support for city leader Carrie Lam, who has been besieged by nearly six months of often violent anti-government protests.

Government data showed 1,524,675 people had cast their vote by 1.30 p.m., with nine hours still left until polling stations closed. That surpassed the 1,467,229 voters in the last district elections four years ago.

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2019-11-24 09:42:00Z
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Fiona Hill left a legacy for angry women during impeachment hearing - CNN

Hill, the former senior director for Russia and Europe at the National Security Council, became an Internet sensation this week because we so rarely see women of her intellectual caliber elevated into these sorts of roles and then thrust into the national spotlight.

She was bulletproof from the moment she decried "the fictional narrative" that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 US election and showed her authority in a way that was somehow steely and disarming at the same time.

At one point, Hill gingerly observed a truth familiar to all women: men pay less attention to us when we get angry. Even in 2019, we are still living in a society where anger in women is quickly relegated to the category of emotion, hysteria or hormones.

Hill's observation came as she was detailing how she'd gotten irritated and angry that US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was diverting the administration's energy from national security foreign policy to a "domestic political errand," which led her to presciently tell him "this is all going to blow up."

Describing their final meeting, Sondland had told lawmakers Hill was "pretty upset about her role in the administration, about her superiors, about the President."

"She was sort of shaking," Sondland said. "She was pretty mad."

Lawmakers pressed Hill to explain Thursday why she was "upset." She acknowledged that she had a "bit of a blow up with Ambassador Sondland" and several "testy encounters with him" because he hadn't kept her in the loop about the meetings he was having.

"One of those was in June 18 when I actually said to him, 'Who put you in charge of Ukraine?' And you know, I'll admit, I was a bit rude -- and that's when he told me -- 'The President,' which shut me up," Hill recalled.

"This other meeting ... I was actually, to be honest, angry with him," Hill said. "I hate to say it, but often when women show anger, it's not fully appreciated. It's often, you know, pushed onto emotional issues perhaps, or deflected onto other people. And what I was angry about was that he wasn't coordinating with us."

In response to that anger, she recalled, Sondland said: "But I'm briefing the President. I'm briefing chief of staff (Mick) Mulvaney. I'm briefing Secretary (of State Mike) Pompeo. And I've talked to Ambassador (John) Bolton -- who else do I have to deal with?"

In hindsight, Hill said she realized through Sondland's deposition that he was right not to coordinate with her "because we weren't doing the same thing that he was doing."

In other words, his business was a "domestic political errand," hers was a national security matter.

But in the end, they became inextricably linked, and Hill's anger was an early warning sign that Ukraine policy had gone off the rails.

If more of her colleagues had paid attention to why she was actually angry, the history of the Trump administration might have looked very different.

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2019-11-23 16:17:00Z
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Pence makes surprise trip to Iraq to meet U.S. troops - The Washington Post

At Al Asad Air Base, Pence also received a classified briefing followed by a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil-Abdul Mahdi. He did not meet in person with either Mahdi or the Iraqi president, both of whom are facing pressure for their heavy-handed response to weeks-long anti-government demonstrations in which more than 320 Iraqis have died.

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2019-11-23 14:59:00Z
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