USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — An activist was quickly acquitted Wednesday on charges he illegally harbored two Central American immigrants at a southern Arizona camp operated by a humanitarian group.

The verdict by a jury in U.S. District Court came after jurors deliberated for about two hours in what was the second trial for Scott Warren. A mistrial was declared last June after a jury deadlocked on harboring charges.

Warren was stoic after the verdict was read. “The government failed in its attempt to criminalize basic human kindness,” Warren said outside of court.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — 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.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Navy officials on Wednesday notified a SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State militant and three of his superior officers during a 2017 deployment to Iraq that all four will face a review to determine if they should remain on the elite force.

Attorneys for Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher said the Navy is trying to remove his Trident pin, designating him as a SEAL, in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision last week to restore his rank.

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — It wasn’t until she became a high school senior that Kayla Ireland had another black person as a teacher in Waterbury, a former manufacturing hub where the students are mostly minorities and the educators are generally white.

WASHINGTON (AP) — They have heard the measured testimony of career diplomats and the mind-boggling account of a first-time ambassador who declared he was in charge of President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy. Now House impeachment investigators will hear from Fiona Hill, a no-nonsense former White House adviser who was alarmed by what she saw unfolding around her.

ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates clashed Wednesday in a debate over the future of health care in America, racial inequality and their ability to build a winning coalition to take on President Donald Trump next year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — They owned the White House’s policy on Ukraine.

Or so they thought.

Gradually, administration officials on both sides of the Atlantic understood that President Donald Trump was using a back channel headed by Rudy Giuliani to push Ukraine for investigations of Democrats.

Former National Security Council adviser Fiona Hill says her team learned more by watching the president’s personal lawyer on television.

In Kyiv, U.S. diplomat David Holmes heard Trump’s voice on a phone call asking about “investigations.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — House impeachment investigators will hear from two key witnesses Thursday who grew alarmed by how President Donald Trump and others in his orbit were conducting foreign policy in Ukraine, capping an intense week in the historic inquiry.

20 Nov 2019; MEMO: A US decision effectively backing Israel’s building of settlements in the occupied West Bank, long a cherished item on conservative Christians’ wish list, is expected to strengthen evangelicals’ support for Donald Trump as he seeks re-election in 2020, according to a leader of the president’s evangelical advisory group.