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Sam Levin in Los Angeles (now) , Maanvi Singh in San Francisco and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

Democratic 2020 candidates address LGBTQ forum – as it happened

Pete Buttigieg, left, listens to protesters along with CNN moderator Anderson Cooper as he speaks during the Power of our Pride Town Hall.
Pete Buttigieg, left, listens to protesters along with CNN moderator Anderson Cooper as he speaks during the Power of our Pride Town Hall. Photograph: Marcio José Sánchez/AP

Live political reporting continues in Friday’s blog:

The LGBT forum has come to a close.

After she dodged a question about sex worker rights on stage, I asked Senator Amy Klobuchar about Sesta/Fosta, the controversial law that lawmakers presented as a crackdown on online sex trafficking, but has been linked to increasing harms and violence against sex workers. She dodged again, saying she planned to talk to the person who asked the question – but reiterated that she did not support decriminalizing sex work:

Julián Castro was also asked about decriminalizing sex work after he left the stage. He responded that he was “open to hearing the arguments” and that he was in favor of “de-prioritizing enforcement”, though he was not specific about what that meant. His response:

With that, we’re ending our live coverage for the day - thanks for following along!

Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, is one of the final speakers tonight at the LGBT forum. He talked about his recent trip to the border where he met with LGBTQ asylum seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico under Trump’s policies:

These are folks who applied for asylum in the United States … but the Trump administration is making them remain in Mexico. The members of the LGBT community were fleeing persecution, violence and threats. They should never have been put in that program in the first place... They deserve asylum.

Background on his recent trip:

CNN’s Chris Cuomo has apologized for his offensive joke about pronouns when introducing Kamala Harris at the LGBT town hall.

At the LGBT forum, which is nearing the end, Senator Amy Klobuchar was asked about sex workers’ rights and whether she supports legalization. Her response:

I’m not in favor of decriminalizing all of sex work. I’m concerned about the effect that would have on young women.”

She offered to talk afterward with the person who asked the question. She was also asked about Sesta / Fosta, the controversial law she and the other 2020 candidates supported. The law purported to combat online trafficking, but has been linked to increasing violence against sex workers. She dodged the question.

A non-binary person asked Klobuchar if she supports recognizing a third gender marker on IDs (in California, gender-nonconforming people can get an ‘X’ marker instead of M or F). Klobuchar said she was supportive.

There was just an emotional moment at the CNN LGBT town hall where Blossom, a black trans woman who was not scheduled to ask a question, took the mic and expressed her anger at the erasure of black trans people from the evening:

Earlier in the night, there was a brief protest with people shouting “black trans lives matter”.

Back at the campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump defended his decision to pull US troops out of Syria, a move that enabled a Turkey’s offensive in Syria against US-backed Kurdish groups there.

“Remember they’ve been fighting for hundreds of years,” Trump said. “The single biggest mistake our country made in its history is going into the quicksand of the Middle East.”

Beto O’Rourke is now speaking at the LGBT forum. He was asked about laws criminalizing HIV. He responded that it was wrong for asylum seekers to face discrimination because they have HIV: “We have singled out a population.”

He emphasized that his priority was making HIV prevention medicine more accessible. CNN’s Don Lemon followed up and specifically asked about laws that lead to people spending many years in prison for not disclosing that they have HIV and whether he thinks those policies should be overturned. O’Rourke said yes, but pivoted back to his talking points about prevention.

When asked about violence against black trans women, O’Rourke responded, “I’m going to listen to trans women of color. They will be the guide.” Some more:

Here’s Kamala Harris on HIV/AIDS:

Within a generation, we will end HIV/AIDS. That must be our timeline. We have to accelerate... I know it is within our capacity to do it.

The senator was also asked about anti-trans hate crimes. When she said 19 black trans women were killed this year, someone in the audience had to correct her, since there was another recent murder:

Harris presented herself as a longtime defender of trans rights in numerous ans. Some background here on her controversial record as California attorney general:

Senator Kamala Harris is up now at the forum. She starts by saying her pronouns are “she/her/hers”. CNN’s Chris Cuomo responded: “Mine too.” There were audible groans in the press room.

Here’s her LGBTQ policy plan from earlier:

Some other notable Warren moments from the LGBT forum:

Senator Elizabeth Warren is now up at the LGBT forum. She was asked if she regretted opposing gender-affirming surgery for an incarcerated trans person. She responded:

Yep. It was a bad answer. I believe that everyone is entitled to medical care ... and that includes people who are transgender and it is the time for them to have gender-affirming surgery.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg⁩ was asked about decriminalizing sex work. He said:

I don’t think it’s going to be an easy conversation ... but I think we need to have the debate.”

Back at the LGBT forum, Buttigieg was asked about the ban on gay men donating blood. He responded:

My blood is not welcome in this country. It’s not based on science it’s based on prejudice.

He said he would direct the FDA to make rules that conform with science.

Buttigieg also talked about how people living with HIV can be undetectable, which means untransmittable, giving the rare national platform to the slogan “U equals U”:

Anderson Cooper also asked the South Bend mayor, “Do you believe God made you gay?”

He responded: “The decision was made way above my pay grade.”

Speaking at the Trump rally ahead of the president’s appearance, Eric Trump repeated false claims that Joe Biden’s son Hunter “embezzled” funds.

The crowd responded by chanting “Lock him up! Lock him up!,” echoing chants against Hillary Clinton at Trump campaign rallies in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Guardian’s chief political correspondent David Smith is in Minneapolis, where Trump is holding a campaign rally.

Pete Buttigieg has just taken the stage at the LGBT forum to a standing ovation. But before he got the first question, he was immediately interrupted by protesters, who appeared to be shouting “trans lives matter” and “black trans lives matter”.

The South Bend mayor acknowledged the demonstrators, saying, “My experience as a white cisgender gay man” is not the same as black trans women, and that people should speak out against the “epidemic of violence against black trans women in this country”.

Anderson Cooper asked the mayor a personal question about coming out. Buttigieg said, “It was like was a civil war. I knew I was different long before I was able to say I was gay.”

Joe Biden, speaking at the LGBT forum, just started a sentence, “When I came out...” sparking laughter in the audience. CNN’s Anderson Cooper responded, “Now that would be news.”

“I got something to tell you!” Biden joked.

Some other Biden moments:

When asked about HIV health disparities, Biden said:

We have to make sure there is no ability for hospitals or healthcare providers to discriminate... It’s really important we begin to educate people about what’s going on.”

He went on a tangent about stereotypes about gay people, ending on this:

Here’s Cory Booker backstage at the forum talking about violence against incarcerated LGBTQ people:

LGBT forum in Los Angeles begins

Hello - Sam Levin here in Los Angeles, taking over the blog for the rest of the day. I’m at the LGBT 2020 forum at the Novo in downtown LA, where Cory Booker is first up.

The New Jersey senator said he supported California’s move this week to make HIV prevention medication available to patients without a doctor’s prescription.

“We’re going to fight to make sure health insurance companies actually cover this,” he said, adding, “We need to do more sex education in this country that is science-based.”

Booker also said he was sick of seeing politicians declare their support of LGBT people only after they discover they have an LGBT family member.

Several 2020 candidates released LGBTQ policy plans today in advance of the forum, hosted by CNN and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC):

Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser Fiona Hill will testify to Congress that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and EU ambassador Gordon Sondland circumvented the National Security Council, according to NBC reporters.

Updated

The officials reportedly raised concerns both before and immediately after Donald Trump’s July call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. It’s unclear whether any of the same officials later spoke with the whistleblower who filed the complaint now central to the Democrat’s impeachment inquiry.

One official who had listened on the call immediately went to White House lawyer Eisenberg, and at least two others did so by the end of the day, according to the Post.

It’s unclear whether or how Eisenberg acted on the complaints, or if he informed White House counsel Pat Cipollone of what he had heard.

Updated

At least four national security officials raised concerns over efforts to pressure Ukraine

At least four national security officials raised concerns over the Trump administrations’ efforts to pressure Ukraine with a White House lawyer, the Washington Post reports:

The nature and timing of the previously undisclosed discussions with National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg indicate that officials were delivering warnings through official White House channels earlier than previously understood — including before the call that precipitated a whistleblower complaint and the impeachment inquiry of the president.

At the time, the officials were unnerved by the removal in May of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine; subsequent efforts by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to promote Ukraine-related conspiracies; as well as signals in meetings at the White House that Trump wanted the new government in Kiev to deliver material that might be politically damaging to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.


Updated

Republican lawmakers pledge to return donations from arrested Giuliani associates

House republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Florida governor Ron DeSantis have both pledged to return thousands in campaign donations made by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were arrested and charged with campaign finance violations.

McCarthy, who received $2,700 directly from the Parnas and Furman and plans to donate the money to charity, according to Vice news. DeSantis, who was given $50,000 last year by the two Florida businessmen will return the money, according to the Miami Herald.

Updated

Attorney general William Barr reportedly met with Rupert Murdoch

Attorney general William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch at the media giant’s New York home, according to the New York Times.

Murdoch’s Fox News channel has drawn the president’s ire after the outlet published a poll saying that the majority of Americans favor impeachment. But Murdoch is a frequent confidant of Trump.

It is unclear what Barr and Murdoch discussed during their meeting, the Times reported.

Lindsay Graham reportedly referred to US-allied Kurdish forces as a "threat" in a phone call

Republican senate leader Lindsay Graham reportedly described the “YPG Kurds” as a “threat” during an August phone call with a man he believed to be Turkey’s defense minister, Politico reports.

“Thank you so much for calling me, Mr. Minister,” Graham said. “I want to make this a win-win, if we can.”

But it wasn’t the Turkish defense minister at all. Instead, it was Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian pranksters with suspected ties to the country’s intelligence services who go by “Lexus and Vovan.” ...

Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Graham, confirmed the call’s authenticity to POLITICO. “We have been successful in stopping many efforts to prank Senator Graham and the office, but this one slipped through the cracks,” he said. “They got him.”

The substance of Graham’s conversation with Stolyarov, who was posing as Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, is newly relevant in light of the South Carolina senator’s push for sanctions on Turkey as punishment for their offensive against the Kurds in northern Syria. Graham labeled the Kurds a “threat” to Turkey in the call, seemingly contradicting what he has said publicly in recent days.

Updated

Chuck Schumer: Giuliani needs to testify before congress

Chuck Schumer, the leading democrat in the senate said that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani needs to testify before congress.

“He has an obligation to testify under oath so he can be asked questions so this can come to light,” Schumer said at a press conference, referencing the arrest of two of Giuliani’s associates on campaign finance violations. “Giuliani has been involved up to his neck in this entire mess,” the senator said.

Lindsay Graham, the republican senate leader also wants Giuliani to testify — but for entirely different reasons.

Earlier this week, Graham said he wants to invite Giuliani to speak before the senate judiciary committee about allegations against Joe Biden and his family.

Updated

Did Kurds fight in WWII? There’s evidence that they did.

Yesterday, Donald Trump defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, abandoning US-allied Kurds, by noting that they “didn’t help us in the second world war, they didn’t help us with Normandy”.

According to a New York Times report, there’s evidence that stateless Kurds did fight alongside Allied forces in World War II:

It is unclear whether any Kurds were at the Normandy landings, but there is evidence that some of them fought on the side of the Allied forces during World War II.

Some background: The Kurds, despite being the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, are a stateless and often marginalized people whose homeland stretches across Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia. After World War I, the Allies’ negotiations with representatives of the defeated Ottoman Empire initially involved provisions for an autonomous Kurdistan. But that was abandoned by the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Multiple attempts at greater autonomy or nationhood since then have been suppressed or quashed.

Some of the Kurds who had been pushed out of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey landed in the Soviet Union, said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst in Washington. So when World War II began, many fought with the Soviets on the side of the Allies. But they were difficult to track because they did not fight under a Kurdish flag.

“They didn’t have a country,” Mr. Civiroglu said. “They didn’t have a navy. They didn’t have anything on their own. But individually, many people came forward.”

Gowdy will join Trump’s legal team ‘sometime after January’

“Trey Gowdy is a terrific guy,” said Donald Trump. The former congressman will be joining the president’s legal team sometime next year.
“Trey Gowdy is a terrific guy,” said Donald Trump. The former congressman will be joining the president’s legal team sometime next year. Photograph: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Donald Trump told reporters that Trey Gowdy wouldn’t be joining his legal team until “sometime after January”.

“Trey Gowdy is a terrific guy,” Trump said, “I think there’s a problem with he can’t start for another couple of months because of lobbying rules and regulations.”

Gowdy, a former Republican congressman, chaired the House Select Committee on Benghazi from 2014 to 2016, has in the past stauchly advocated for Congress’ oversight powers. In a resurfaced clip from 2012, Gowdy said “The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles.”

Since retiring from Congress earlier this year, he has been a contributor to Fox News.

Updated

A judge has ordered Lev Parnas and Igor Furman, the two associates of Rudy Giuliani who were arrested on charges of conspiracy, making false statements and falsifying records, to post $1m each and surrender their passports before they can be released from jail.

Once they are released, they will be confined to their homes and will have to wear GPS monitors, though they will be allowed to travel between Florida, where they live New York, where they’re charged.

Judge Michael Nachmanoff also said the pair would not be allowed to discuss the case with each other.

Updated

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, is taking over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • House committees have subpoenaed Rick Perry, Trump’s energy secretary, for documents related to their impeachment inquiry.
  • Two foreign-born Republican donors, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were indicted on campaign-finance charges. The pair helped connect Rudy Giuliani to Ukrainian prosecutors, whom the president’s personal lawyer pressured to investigate Joe Biden.
  • Federal prosecutors said in a short press conference that they arrested Parnas and Fruman at Dulles International Airport, as they were trying to escape the country on one-way tickets out of the US.
  • Giuliani reportedly had lunch with Parnas and Fruman just hours before they were arrested trying to flee.
  • Trump said he would meet with the Chinese vice premier tomorrow to discuss trade negotiations, an announcement that caused US stocks to jump.

Maanvi will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.

And with that, Trump has departed for his campaign rally in Minnesota, a state he narrowly lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and hopes to carry in 2020.

Trump offered this very reassuring answer when asked by reporters whether he thought Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, would be indicted: “I hope not.”

The president also explained that Trey Gowdy, the former Republican congressman joining his team to combat the impeachment efforts, would not be able to start for several months due to lobbying restrictions.

And Trump did not specifically say he would block Marie Yovanovitch from testifying tomorrow, but he certainly seemed open to the idea.

Trump says he does not know arrested Republican donors

The president claimed he did not know Lev Parnas or Igor Fruman, the two Republican donors who gave money to a pro-Trump super PAC and have been arrested on campaign-finance charges.

Trump has previously been photographed with the two men and reportedly met with them as recently as last year.

Given that Perry still serves in the Trump administration, he is unlikely to answer the House committees’ subpoena by the Oct. 18 deadline they outlined.

Other senior Trump officials who have been subpoenaed, including secretary of state Mike Pompeo, have similarly failed to provide documents related to the impeachment inquiry by their subpoena deadlines.

The State Department also blocked a former US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, from testifying before the House committees earlier this week.

Updated

The House committees gave Rick Perry a deadline of 18 October to turn over documents related to the impeachment inquiry.

The committees’ three Democratic chairman wrote in a letter to the energy secretary: “Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian president.

“These reports have also raised significant questions about your efforts to press Ukrainian officials to change the management structure at a Ukrainian state-owned energy company to benefit individuals involved with Rudy Giuliani’s push to get Ukrainian officials to interfere in our 2020 election.”

The letter goes on to note Trump’s claim last week that Perry urged him to call the Ukrainian president and reports that the the energy secretary advised the foreign leader to advance anti-corruption efforts in order to get military aid release to the country.

Updated

Perry subpoenaed by House committees in impeachment inquiry

Three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry against Trump have now subpoenaed Rick Perry, the president’s energy secretary.

HR McMaster, Trump’s former national security adviser, was unequivocal when asked earlier today whether it would be okay for a president to request election assistance from a foreign power: “Of course no.”

Other senior officials with Trump ties, including Republican senators facing difficult re-elections next year, have repeatedly dodged the seemingly straightforward question.

Updated

The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, is still scheduled to testify before three House committees investigating impeachment tomorrow, but there are doubts that she will appear.

Trump recalled Yovanovitch from Ukraine in the spring, a decision that is now being scrutinized as House Democrats seek to determiner whether the president abused his power to advance his political interests.

Rudy Giuliani reportedly complained to Trump that Yovanovitch was obstructing efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

The two foreign-born Republican donors who were arrested today, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, also pushed for Yovanovitch’s ouster.

Graham tricked by Russian pranksters

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president’s closest congressional allies, was tricked into having a conversation with two Russian pranksters, mistakenly believing that he was speaking to Turkey’s minister of defense.

Politico has more:

But it wasn’t the Turkish defense minister at all. Instead, it was Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian pranksters with suspected ties to the country’s intelligence services who go by ‘Lexus and Vovan.’ The duo have become notorious in recent years for their cold calls to unwitting, high-profile Western politicians, including Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, leading some to suspect that they’ve had help from the Kremlin, according to The Guardian. ...

The substance of Graham’s conversation with Stolyarov, who was posing as Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, is newly relevant in light of the South Carolina senator’s push for sanctions on Turkey as punishment for their offensive against the Kurds in northern Syria. Graham labeled the Kurds a ‘threat’ to Turkey in the call, seemingly contradicting what he has said publicly in recent days.

Graham also mentions Trump’s personal interest in a ‘Turkish bank case’ in the call that appears to refer to a U.S. case involving Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader and client of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Trump had asked then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 to help persuade the Justice Department to drop the Zarrab case.

Rudy Giuliani seemed skeptical of the possibility that Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman would testify against him to secure leniency in their campaign-finance case.

But Giuliani’s work with Parnas and Fruman, who helped connect him to Ukrainian prosecutors whom he pressured to investigate Joe Biden, has raised the question of what Trump’s personal lawyer knew about the campaign-finance allegations against the two men.

Another poll has found that more than half of Americans support House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against Trump.

According to the PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, 52% of American support the inquiry, while 43% oppose it.

But Americans are evenly split on whether Trump should be removed from office. Forty-eight percent of poll respondents said they would support such a move, while 48% said they would not.

Among the critical bloc of independent voters, 54% support the inquiry, but only 45% support removing Trump from office.

The results underscore how polling has shifted in recent weeks. While support for impeachment has increased, there’s been no sign of a major change in public opinion, as some Democrats surely expected.

Updated

Another Republican senator refuses to answer hypothetical question about accepting foreign assistance

Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican of Colorado, repeatedly refused to answer reporters’ hypothetical question about whether it would be acceptable for a president to request election assistance from a foreign power.

Another Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, repeatedly refused to answer the same question yesterday.

Reporters will likely try to pose this same “yes or no” question to Republican lawmakers in the weeks to come – particularly those, like Gardner and Ernst, who face tough re-elections next year.

Giuliani had lunch with indicted donors yesterday, report says

Rudy Giuliani reportedly had lunch with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman the same day that they were arrested on campaign-finance charges.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Since late 2018, Mr. Fruman and Mr. Parnas have introduced Mr. Giuliani to several current and former senior Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss the Biden case, acting as key conduits of information.

The two had lunch with Mr. Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Wednesday, according to a person who was in the hotel and saw the three together.

Parnas and Fruman were arrested hours later at Dulles International Airport trying to flee the country, prosecutors said.

In their short statement on the arrest of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, federal prosecutors said the investigation into the actions of the foreign-born Republican donors was “continuing.”

According to CNN, prosecutors were forced to disclose the charges today because of the pair’s attempt to leave the country.

CNN reports:

US prosecutors were not intending to unseal the indictment against the Giuliani associates and two others Thursday, according to three US officials. Their hand was forced by an attempt by Fruman and Parnas to leave the country.

Attorney General William Barr, who visited the Manhattan US Attorney’s office Thursday in what officials said was a routine stop, was briefed on the investigation into Parnas and Fruman in February after he took office, and he supported the prosecution, according to a US Justice Department official.

Prosecutors say Parnas and Fruman were attempting to leave the country when arrested

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, the office that filed campaign-finance charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, just held a press conference on the indictment.

They said the pair were arrested for coordinating an “illegal straw-donor scheme,” working “on behalf of a Ukrainian government official” to have the US ambassador to Ukraine recalled.

The prosecutors said Parnas and Fruman were attempting to leave the country when they were arrested at Dulles International Airport just outside of Washington.

Chuck Schumer delivered remarks condemning Trump’s “reckless” decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to launch a military operation in the region.

The Senate minority leader said: “Republicans in Congress, by repeatedly demonstrating that they’re unwilling to hold President Trump accountable when he does something wrong, have established a permission structure for President Trump’s reckless actions in Syria.”

The New York Democrat argued in a tweet earlier today that Trump’s policy could lead to the escape of thousands of Isis militants and put the country at risk.

Updated

Another Democratic presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar, said she would request information on the campaign-finance charges laid out in the indictment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The Minnesota senator said in a statement: “Today’s arrests show that two associates of Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer, worked to undermine our democracy by setting up fake corporations to launder foreign money and funnel it into our election system.

“It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to U.S. campaigns. In today’s indictment, the President’s own Department of Justice specifically states that the purpose of our campaign finance laws is to prevent foreign influence from shaping American elections.

“As the lead Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, I have requested information from the FEC regarding this Administration’s potential campaign finance violations, and I will continue to push the Department of Justice and the FEC to follow the money and uphold the law.”

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren weighed in on the arrest of two Republican donors connected to Rudy Giuliani, arguing that their campaign-finance charges indicate the depth of corruption in Trump’s political world.

Here’s a midday summary of today’s news, which is slightly belated given the many developments the blog is tracking:

  • Two foreign-born Republican donors, who helped Rudy Giuliani with his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, were arrested on campaign-finance charges.
  • US stocks jumped after Trump announced he would meet with the Chinese vice premier tomorrow to discuss trade negotiations.
  • A group of prominent conservative lawyers issued a joint statement calling for an “expeditious” impeachment inquiry as a Fox News poll showed a majority of American voters support removing Trump from office.

The blog will have more details on those stories and many others, so stay tuned.

Senior House Democrat announces retirement

In a bit of news shockingly unrelated to impeachment or Syria: Nita Lowey, a Democrat who has served in Congress for more than three decades, announced she would not seek re-election next year.

Lowey said in a statement announcing her decision: “I am honored that my colleagues in Congress elected me as the first Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee and will fight vigorously for House Democratic priorities as I negotiate spending bills for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.”

Lowey is the sixth House Democrat to announce she would not seek re-election next year. Guesses have already started about who might seek to replace Lowey in representing her district, which covers some of the New York suburbs.

An outgoing Republican congressman, John Shimkus of Illinois, said he no longer supports Trump because of the president’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria.

Shimkus has previously voiced criticism of Trump’s “style,” but this is still a noteworthy message of censure from a Republican congressman as the president seeks to consolidate the party in opposition to House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Trump adviser says China gave him information on Hunter Biden

Michael Pillsbury, an informal adviser to Trump, said in an interview that China gave him information about Hunter Biden’s business activities.

The Financial Times reports:

‘I got a quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese,’ Mr Pillsbury told the Financial Times.

Mr Trump came under heavy criticism last week after publicly urging China to investigate the Bidens in a move that mirrored his request to the Ukraine’s president in a July phone call that has sparked an impeachment inquiry.

Mr Pillsbury’s comments to the FT came after he revealed on Fox Business that he had raised the issue of the Bidens during a visit to China a week ago.

‘I tried to bring up the topic in Beijing,’ Mr Pillsbury told the television channel. ‘I’ve never seen them get so secretive in my entire life. They would discuss ICBM warheads sooner than talk about what Hunter Biden was doing in China with [former] vice-president Biden.’

But Pillsbury then seemed to backtrack, telling CNN that Chinese officials gave him “nothing news” on the younger Biden.

Democrats subpoena Parnas and Fruman despite arrest

Okay, well, the blog called this one wrong: House Democrats are indeed subpoenaing Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to testify for their impeachment inquiry, despite the pair’s arrest on campaign-finance charges.

Democrats are looking for more information about how Parnas and Fruman connected Rudy Giuliani to Ukrainian prosecutors, whom the president’s personal lawyer pressured to investigate false corruption claims against Joe Biden.

Biden mocks Trump for criticizing Kurds' lack of involvement in D-Day

Joe Biden has put out a statement slamming Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria and mocking the president’s criticism of America’s Kurdish allies for not participating in the 1944 D-Day invasion.

Biden said: “Donald Trump sold out the Syrian Democratic Forces – the courageous Kurds and Arabs who fought with us to smash Isis’s caliphate – and he betrayed a key local ally in the fight against terrorism. But that’s not all – he betrayed our brave troops, who sacrificed alongside them. He betrayed our word as a nation – raising doubts among our allies around the world about America’s security commitments. And he betrayed our security by green lighting a Turkish incursion that will create chaos and destruction, setting conditions for Isis to regrow.

“His sad attempt to excuse the betrayal – saying that the Kurds didn’t fight with us at Normandy 75 years ago in World War II – adds insult to very real injury. By that standard, only Canada, a handful of European allies, and others could ever hope for America to come to their defense – and even they might have doubts after Trump’s performance. Especially when Trump said he wasn’t worried about Isis regrouping and fleeing Syria because they would only go to Europe ...

“This is not about keeping forces in northern Syria indefinitely. That was never the plan. It’s about consolidating our hard-fought gains against Isis, and preventing it from regenerating – which it is already trying to do. Managing this complex environment requires smart and sustained diplomacy, which President Trump has demonstrated he has neither the patience nor the wisdom to conduct. Every day, President Trump’s incompetent policies make us less safe.”

Updated

Trump attorney denies president's connection to Parnas and Fruman

Jay Sekulow, an attorney for the president, denied that the president had any connection to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman as the two Republican donors faced campaign-finance charges.

But Parnas and Fruman donated to a pro-Trump super PAC and have been working with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, in recent months.

And Trump has previously been photographed with Parnas and Fruman, who reportedly met with the president last year.

Updated

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, the office that filed the campaign finance charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are holding a press conference at 2 p.m. EST to discuss the indictment.

These are the mugshots of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were arrested at Dulles Airport just outside Washington last night.

Parnas was scheduled to be deposed by House Democrats for their impeachment inquiry today, but many predicted he would not show up.

He and Fruman were expected to be served with subpoenas to appear before Congress, but that likely seems on hold now following their arrest.

Here's what we know about Parnas and Fruman

Okay, so here’s what we know so far about the charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman: the two foreign-born Republican donors, who gave $325,000 to a pro-Trump Super Pac, are accused of attempting to circumvent campaign finance laws to exert political influence.

Prosecutors say that Parnas and Fruman promised to raise money for a congressman, whom has been identified by some news outlets as former Republican representative Pete Sessions, if he pushed for the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine.

That ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, was recalled by Trump this spring after some of the president’s external allies, including Rudy Giuliani, complained that she was obstructing efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

Parnas and Fruman were also the ones who connected Giuliani to a Ukrainian prosecutor, whom the president’s personal lawyer similarly advised to probe false corruption claims against Biden.

So we’ve got two guys allegedly running a sham fundraising operation to influence Ukrainian politics as they work with Trump’s senior adviser, who is also trying to meddle in Ukraine’s affairs to harm the political fortunes of the president’s potential election opponent.

It is, in short, a mess – and it’s a mess that House Democrats will likely be keen to get to the bottom of.

Updated

Hillary Clinton, who has voiced support for the impeachment inquiry and recently referred to Trump as a “corrupt human tornado,” tweeted this about the latest allegations against the president and his associates.

A Politico reporter helped to lay out the significance of the charges facing Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who assisted Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

John Dowd, a former lawyer for Trump who is now representing Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, said the two Republican donors have assisted Rudy Giuliani in his work for the president.

The pair, who have been accused of attempting to circumvent campaign finance laws to exert political influence, also connected Giuliani to a Ukrainian prosecutor whom he pressured to investigate Joe Biden.

Updated

The blog is also still following updates on the arrest of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Republican donors who were involved with Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

According to NBC News, the lawmaker identified only as “Congressman-1” in the indictment, who allegedly was promised funds from Parnas and Fruman if he pushed for the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine, was former Republican representative Pete Sessions.

Trump announces meeting with China amid trade negotiations

Meanwhile, Trump announced over Twitter that he would meet tomorrow with the Chinese vice premier to engage in trade talks.

The vice premier, Liu He, is leading China’s negotiating team as the two countries attempt to wind down the tit-for-tat sanctions that have escalated in recent months.

Trump has shown little willingness to end his trade war, but US stocks still surged following his announcement that he would sit down with Liu.

White House reportedly shifted oversight of Ukraine aid to political appointee amid legal concerns

The Wall Street Journal is now also reporting that the White House shifted responsibility of overseeing aid to Ukraine to a political appointee after budget staffers raised legal concerns about stalling the funds.

The Journal reports:

The president has the authority to delay the release of money in certain instances, according to the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan research agency, including if there has been an unexpected change in circumstances for the program. But without being provided explanation or justification about why the administration was delaying the aid, some career officials at the Office of Management and Budget became worried they didn’t have the legal authority to hold up the funds, according to the people familiar. ...

While career civil servants put an initial hold on the aid, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs in OMB, was given the authority for continuing to keep the aid on hold after the career staff began raising their concerns to political officials at OMB, according to the people familiar with the matter. Mr. Duffey also began overseeing the process for approving and releasing funds, called apportionment, for other foreign aid and defense accounts, according to a public document indicating the change. ...

The Democratic leaders of the House Budget and Appropriations committees, which are also probing the delay in the aid to Ukraine, called the involvement of a political official in the apportionment process ‘seemingly unprecedented’ in a letter requesting documents from OMB. Those committees have received some documents from OMB that they requested.

According to the indictment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Parnas promised to raise funds for a US congressman whom they pressured to get Marie Yovanovitch, then serving as the US ambassador to Ukraine, recalled.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump recalled Yovanovitch in May after some of his external advisers, including Rudy Giulaini, claimed she was obstructing efforts to convince Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden:

The recall of Marie Yovanovitch in the spring has become a key point of interest in the House impeachment inquiry. A whistleblower complaint by a CIA officer alleges the president solicited foreign interference in the 2020 elections by pressing Ukraine’s president in a July 25 call to pursue investigations, including into the activities of Mr. Biden, a Democrat who is running for president.

The complaint cites Ms. Yovanovitch’s ouster as one of a series of events that paved the way for what the whistleblower alleges was an abuse of power by the president. ...

In an interview, Mr. Giuliani told The Wall Street Journal that in the lead-up to Ms. Yovanovitch’s removal, he reminded the president of complaints percolating among Trump supporters that she had displayed an anti-Trump bias in private conversations. In Mr. Giuliani’s view, she also had been an obstacle to efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden and his son Hunter.

The pro-Trump Super Pac that received money from Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman said it would place the funds in a “segregated” bank account until the charges against them are addressed.

Updated

The indictment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman has now been posted, and it lays out charges that the two foreign-born Republican donors tried to circumvent election laws to exert political influence.

Rudy Giuliani minimized campaign-finance charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman as recently as two weeks ago, a New York Times reporter noted.

Parnas, one of the men arrested on campaign-finance charges, was scheduled to be deposed today by House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

USA Today has more:

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman helped Rudy Giuliani meet a key Ukrainian prosecutor as the president’s personal lawyer sought to discredit Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. ...

But in a legal dust-up that appears unrelated to the Ukraine scandal, the campaign contribution sparked a complaint to the Federal Election Commission – and at least two lawsuits – because of questions about the source of the money. Despite the generous political contributions, Parnas faces a $510,000 federal judgment in a case over a debt for a movie that never got made.

Three House committees – Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform – scheduled depositions Thursday with Parnas and Friday with Fruman to ask how they fit in with Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

A lawyer for the two arrested men said last week that they were still working with Rudy Giuliani to assist him in representing the president.

Two GOP donors with ties to Giuliani reportedly arrested on campaign-finance charges

Two Trump donors with ties to the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been arrested on campaign-finance charges, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reports (and pay attention to that last paragraph):

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Florida businessmen, have been under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, and are expected to appear in federal court in Virginia later on Thursday, [people familiar with the matter] said. The men’s nationalities was unclear, though both were believed to have been born in former Soviet republics.

Mr. Giuliani, President Trump’s private lawyer, identified the two men in May as his clients. Both men have donated to Republican campaigns including Mr. Trump’s, and in May 2018 gave $325,000 to the primary pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, through an LLC called Global Energy Producers, according to Federal Election Commission records. ...

Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had a dinner with the president in early May 2018, according to since-deleted Facebook posts captured in a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. ...

Since late 2018, Mr. Fruman and Mr. Parnas have introduced Mr. Giuliani to several current and former senior Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss the Biden case.

Updated

Trump is also tweeting about the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying there was “no blackmail” in the pair’s July call.

The AP has more on Zelenskiy’s comments:

Zelenskiy is trying to save his reputation and distance himself from the U.S. political drama. In an all-day ‘media marathon’ held in a food court, he played down suggestions that Trump pressured him to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden in exchange for military aid to help Ukraine battle Russian-backed separatists.

Responding to questions from The Associated Press, Zelenskiy said he only learned after their July 25 phone call that the U.S. had blocked hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine.

‘We didn’t speak about this’ during the July call, Zelenskiy said.

‘There was no blackmail.’

But the White House’s own memo on the call includes Trump saying to Zelenskiy, after the mention of military aid to Ukraine: “I would like you to do us a favor though.” The president goes on to talk about false corruption allegations against Biden.

So even if Zelenskiy didn’t pick up on any pressure from Trump, which already sounds dubious, it seems pretty clear from the memo that the US president was trying to exert it.

Trump slams Fox News as poll shows majority of voters support impeachment

Trump has some harsh words this morning for Fox News after the outlet’s polling team released a survey showing the majority of American voters back impeachment.

According to the poll, 51% of voters want to see Trump impeached and removed from office, compared to 40% who oppose the impeachment process altogether. The figure represents a record-high level of support for impeachment in Fox News’ polling.

However, the latest revelations about Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine seems to now be causing a slow increase in support for impeachment, rather than the groundswell of outrage that many Democrats likely expected.

Updated

Just as Trump needs his congressional allies the most to help push back against the impeachment inquiry, the president is alienating many Republican lawmakers with his decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria.

One of Trump’s biggest boosters in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, has already unveiled a bipartisan plan to sanction Turkey for launching a military operation in the region.

The Washington Post’s front page carries this headline today: “Trump’s Syria move opens a new conflict — with stalwart GOP allies.”

The Post reports:

President Trump’s decision to suddenly withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria has angered evangelical Christian leaders and Republican hawks, cleaving his political coalition at the very moment he is trying to fortify his standing to survive the intensifying impeachment inquiry in Congress.

Instead of enjoying uncontested GOP support as he plunges into a constitutional showdown with House Democrats and prepares for a bruising reelection campaign, Trump is now fighting on two fronts within his party. ...

While GOP lawmakers have been skittish about directly engaging the subject at the heart of the impeachment debate — the president’s conduct with his Ukrainian counterpart — many have felt free to loudly condemn Trump’s Syria decision, underscoring the fluidity within GOP ranks.

Group of prominent conservative lawyers backs impeachment inquiry against Trump

Good morning, live blog readers!

Sixteen prominent conservative lawyers are adding their names to the list of supporters of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.

The group – which includes George Conway, who is married to senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway – wrote in a joint statement released this morning that the “undisputed” events surrounding Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president require an “expeditious” impeachment inquiry.

They write: “We have not just a political candidate open to receiving foreign assistance to better his chances at winning an election, but a current president openly and privately calling on foreign governments to actively interfere in the most sacred of U.S. democratic processes, our elections.”

The statement is unlikely to sway the Republican lawmakers who have stood by Trump while he has slammed the impeachment probe as a “scam,” but congressional Democrats will almost certainly cite the lawyers’ support as more evidence for why their inquiry is necessary.

Nancy Pelosi will likely pose this question to her GOP colleagues: if these lawyers – many of whom served under Republican presidents – believe Trump should be investigated, why don’t you?

House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill.
House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on today:

  • Trump is holding a campaign rally in Minnesota at 8 p.m. EST, where he will likely punch back against those leading the impeachment inquiry.
  • House committees investigating impeachment will depose Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman with ties to Rudy Giuliani.
  • CNN and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation will host a town hall focused on LGBT issues with the Democratic presidential candidates starting at 7:30 p.m. EST.

The blog will have more on all of that, so stay tuned.

Updated

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