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WASHINGTON (AP) — The combative White House letter vowing to defy the “illegitimate” impeachment inquiry has actually put President Donald Trump on a more certain path to charges. His refusal to honor subpoenas or allow testimony would likely play into a formal accusation against him.

The letter sent to House leaders by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone Tuesday evening declared the president would not cooperate with the investigation — a clear reason, Democrats say, to write an article of impeachment charging him with obstruction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For once, Republicans and Democrats in Congress were in the same place: out of the loop.

When it came to President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement that U.S. forces would no longer protect Syrian Kurds from a Turkish invasion, his supporters knew as little as his critics.

All the effort by Republicans to assuage and court the mercurial president meant little in terms of their ability to dissuade him from a decision that most of them vehemently opposed. They found out about it like Democrats, late at night and on Twitter.

9 October 2019; AFP: The United Nations has an overall annual operating budget of several billion dollars, covering everything from humanitarian work to disarmament, but right now, it's just trying to make sure its employees get paid after this month.

How did the world body end up more than $200 million in the red?

The answer: member states who have not paid their expected contributions, including the United States.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley were consulted regarding the redeployment of U.S. forces in Syria, countering reports suggesting that senior Pentagon officials were blindsided by the decision.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Battling an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump is misrepresenting facts as he blasts his investigators and seeks to highlight the administration’s efforts to fulfill campaign pledges on the economy and war in the Middle East .

WINNFIELD, La. (AP) — Tucked away in the dense forest of rural Louisiana is a barbed wire-ringed prison that has quickly grown into a major detention center for immigrants detained at the border.

The Winn Correctional Center is one of eight Louisiana jails that have started housing asylum seekers and other migrants over the past year, making Louisiana an unlikely epicenter for immigrant detention under President Donald Trump. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it’s now holding about 8,000 migrants in Louisiana out of 51,000 nationally.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday slapped travel bans on Chinese officials involved in a massive crackdown against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in its west.

The State Department said it would not issue visas to Chinese government and Communist Party officials believed to be responsible for or complicit in mass detentions and abuses in western Xinjiang province. It did not identify the targeted officials or say how many were affected by the ban, which can also be applied to their immediate family members.

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — An Islamic terrorist already serving a life prison term for a bombing in New York City was convicted Tuesday of multiple counts of attempted murder and assault stemming from a shootout with police three years ago.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi , a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan but grew up in New Jersey, sat quietly during the reading of the verdicts Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to warn the public about efforts by foreign governments to interfere in U.S. elections, a subject he has largely avoided, and take steps to thwart attempts by hostile nations to use social media to meddle in the 2020 presidential contest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on envoy Gordon Sondland’s scheduled testimony on Capitol Hill (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

House Democrats have subpoenaed Gordon Sondland, the U.S. European Union ambassador, after he failed to show up at a scheduled deposition Tuesday morning.

The deposition was scheduled as part of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Sondland was an intermediary as Trump appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his family.