10 things you need to know today: October 31, 2019

(Image credit: Tim Warner/Getty Images))

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1. Democrats ask John Bolton to testify in impeachment inquiry
2. Nationals beat Astros to win the World Series
3. Twitter bans all political ads
4. Trump's nominee for Russia ambassador says he wasn't aware of pressure on Ukraine
5. Chile cancels two summits as deadly protests continue
6. Wildfire spares Reagan Presidential Library in California
7. Pentagon releases images from raid that killed ISIS leader
8. The Fed cuts interest rates for 3rd time this year
9. Report: White House moved Ukraine transcript to classified server after staff warning
10. 70 killed in fire on train in Pakistan

published 31 October 2019

1. Democrats ask John Bolton to testify in impeachment inquiry

House Democrats on Wednesday asked former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify on Nov. 7 in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Bolton's lawyer said Bolton would not testify "voluntarily" but would accept a subpoena. Impeachment investigators plan to ask Bolton about his reported frustration with the way Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and other allies were pushing Ukraine to investigate Democrats while holding back on military aid and a meeting between Trump and Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky. On Wednesday, two more witnesses, both of them State Department officials, gave closed-door depositions on the Ukraine controversy. Democrats plan to hold a House vote Thursday on a resolution spelling out the process for the public phase of the impeachment investigation.

The Washington Nationals won their first World Series championship Wednesday, beating the Houston Astros 6-2 in the decisive Game 7 of the best-of-seven series. The Nationals came back from a two-run deficit with seventh-inning home runs by Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick, then extended their lead with another run in the eighth inning, and two in the ninth. The Nationals won all four of their World Series victories on the road in what players and coaches said was a fitting end to a season that started out badly, with the Nationals going 19-31 before the team started winning. Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg was named World Series MVP after winning Game 2 and Game 6, and finished the postseason 5-0.

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Twitter said Wednesday it was banning all political advertising from its micro-blogging site because social media ads can help politicians and organizations gain an unfair advantage. "While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted. President Trump's campaign accused Twitter of trying to "silence conservatives." Twitter's policy contrasts with that of Facebook, which has faced intense criticism for saying earlier this month that it would not block or pull misleading or false campaign ads. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said recently in testimony to Congress that policing political ads would restrict politicians' free expression.

Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, President Trump's nominee for ambassador to Russia, told senators at his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he did not know about any effort by Trump to pressure Ukraine into investigating Democrats, the question that has prompted a House impeachment inquiry. Sullivan said he did know that Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had pushed for the recall of Marie Yovanovitch, then-ambassador to Ukraine, although he said he did not know the specifics of the matter. "My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement with Mr. Giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to Ukraine," said Sullivan, the State Department's No. 2 official.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced Wednesday that his South American nation was calling off two summits it was supposed to host, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in mid-November. Chile also is scrapping plans to host the Conference of the Parties climate change summit. The decision came as the Chilean government faces deadly mass protests sparked by a hike in public transportation fares. President Trump had been hoping to sign a "phase one" trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC event, which was supposed to be held in Santiago. Hogan Gidley, the White House's principal deputy press secretary, said Wednesday that the White House is "awaiting potential information regarding another location" for the summit.

Powerful Santa Ana winds fanned wildfires near Los Angeles that just missed the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Firefighters on the ground and in aircraft battled the blaze, and they got an assist from a herd of about 500 goats that created a firebreak by eating dry vegetation that could have served as fuel for the flames. "One of the firefighters mentioned that they do believe the goats' fire line helped them fight this fire," library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said. "They just proved today how useful they really are." Numerous wind-whipped fires are burning across the state. The fire that threatened the library started in the Simi Valley hills early Wednesday and quickly scorched 1,300 acres, threatening 6,500 homes.

The Pentagon released images Wednesday from the raid in which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed at his hideout in Syria. The grainy black-and-white aerial video showed American special operations forces approaching the compound on foot. The video also showed airstrikes against nearby militants. One sequence shows a huge plume of smoke rising from Baghdadi's compound after it was destroyed by U.S. bombs. "It looks pretty much like a parking lot, with large potholes," said Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command. The Pentagon warned there was a possibility that ISIS would attempt a "retribution attack."

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would cut its target short-term interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year. The move, which the Fed announced at the end of a two-day policy meeting, drops the target range for the federal funds rate to between 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent. The Fed said the reduction was justified in response to global economic uncertainty, but Chair Jerome Powell did say the potential for a U.S.-China trade deal and the lessening risk of a no-deal Brexit could help raise business confidence. In its statement, the rate-setting committee suggested the economy might be strong enough to make it unnecessary to cut rates any more this year. The news boosted stocks, lifting the S&P 500 to another record high.

White House lawyer John Eisenberg proposed moving the transcript of President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a server used for highly classified material after White House officials expressed concerns about the conversation, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who listened to the call as the top Ukraine adviser at the White House, testified to impeachment investigators this week that he rushed to Eisenberg's office moments after the call to say he was disturbed by Trump's alleged pressuring of Zelensky to investigate Democrats, the Post reported, citing people familiar with Vindman's testimony. Moving the reconstructed transcript to the special server restricted access and went against White House protocol.

At least 70 people were killed in a fire on a train in Pakistan early Thursday. Another 30 people were injured. The flames spread quickly after a gas canister exploded as the train passed through the city of Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab, local police officer Amir Taimoor said. It was the worst disaster in 15 years for the country's accident-plagued rail network. Gas canisters are banned on Pakistan trains, but passengers were using gas-powered stoves in a carriage. "Two stoves blew up when people were cooking breakfast," Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Geo television. "The presence of kerosene with the passengers in the moving train further spread the fire." Many passengers reportedly were heading to a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.