10 things you need to know today: November 2, 2019

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Report: Vindman testified White House lawyer said not to discuss Ukraine call
2. Beto O'Rourke drops out of 2020 presidential race
3. Warren unveils Medicare-for-all payment plan without middle class taxes
4. Perry won't testify in impeachment inquiry
5. Hong Kong protests continue through 22nd weekend
6. New California fire forces 7,000 evacuations
7. Trump says Chad Wolf will take over as acting DHS secretary
8. Kamala Harris' campaign sputters in New Hampshire
9. U.S. adds 128,000 jobs in October, unemployment rises slightly
10. Mets name former star Beltran manager

published 2 November 2019

1. Report: Vindman testified White House lawyer said not to discuss Ukraine call

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who listened to the call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump as the top Ukraine adviser at the White House, testified before Congress that a White House lawyer instructed him not to discuss his concerns about the conversation, sources told The Washington Post. Vindman testified as part of the House impeachment inquiry, and said he reported his concerns of Trump's alleged pressuring of Zelensky to investigate Democrats. A transcript of the call was moved to a server used for highly classified material, which reportedly went against White House protocol. Vindman reportedly testified top National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg told him to keep quiet. Trump has said his call with Zelensky was "perfect" and appropriate.

Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman, ended his 2020 presidential campaign on Friday. The Democrat, who also ran to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last year, struggled to pick up momentum and has faltered in polls in recent months. "Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully," O'Rourke wrote in an email to supporters. "My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee," he wrote, saying "acknowledging this now" would help the party unify around the eventual Democratic nominee. O'Rourke had not yet met the qualifications for the November debate stage.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled a plan to pay for Medicare-for-all without raising taxes on the middle class Friday. To pay for the estimated $34 trillion program, the 2020 candidate proposes a $20.5 trillion tax increase over 10 years. Those costs would be covered by increased Internal Revenue Service enforcement, as well as "targeted taxes on the financial sector, large corporations, and the top 1 percent," Warren writes in her plan. The proposal also includes plans for lowering prescription drug and health procedure costs to reduce the demand on health insurance in the first place. Warren had faced scrutiny for refusing to say taxes would go up to pay for Medicare-for-all.

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is refusing to testify in the House impeachment inquiry, the Energy Department announced Friday. Perry — along with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special representative to Ukraine — was put in charge of the Trump administration's Kyiv policy after the removal of Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in May. Perry, who is expected to resign by the end of the year, was asked to participate in a closed-door deposition next week, but he will not cooperate. "If the committee is interested in conducting a serious proceeding they are welcome to send for the Secretary's consideration an invitation to participate in an open hearing where the Department's counsel can be present and the American people can witness," Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hines said.

Pro-democracy, anti-government protesters gathered in Hong Kong once again Saturday for the 22nd straight week of demonstrations. Some rallies were authorized by police, while tensions reportedly flared outside the city's Victoria Park where protesters had gathered in defiance of a police ban leading to one man's arrest. Elsewhere, demonstrators reportedly vandalized the Hong Kong office of China's Xinhua news agency. Local media showed scenes of a fire in the office's lobby, per The Guardian. Throughout the day, police reportedly fired tear gas and water cannons at the gathered crowds and conducted body searches on those wearing masks.

Yet another fire broke out in southern California, burning more than 9,000 acres on Friday and forcing 7,000 people to evacuate. The Maria fire burning outside Santa Paula, in Ventura County, was zero percent contained as of Friday morning. It joins the Easy fire in the county, which is now 80 percent contained after burning 1,800 acres and threatening the Reagan Presidential Library on Thursday. Further south, just outside of Los Angeles, the Hillside fire has destroyed at least six homes, and another fire was sparked when suspected thieves drove a stolen car onto dry grass in a police chase. Several other fires are also still raging up and down California, with dozens of homes destroyed so far in this active fire season.

Chad Wolf, the acting undersecretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to serve as the acting head of the agency once outgoing acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan leaves his post in November, President Trump told reporters Friday evening. Wolf is a former lobbyist who previously served as the chief of staff to former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. A White House official said Trump does not currently plan to name Wolf as the department's permanent chief, but there's a possibility he could stay on in the role for an extended amount of time. Wolf, if he does take over, would become the fifth person to occupy the role under Trump.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) appears to be ending her 2020 presidential campaign efforts in New Hampshire. All three of Harris' offices have closed in the state, and her whole New Hampshire field organizing team was laid off, a spokesperson said. Harris also won't come to the state capital of Concord for a scheduled visit next week, where she was supposed to file in person for the state primary. Harris will still appear on the ballot as she'll file via mail or surrogate, her campaign said. The news comes just two days after Harris' campaign announced it was laying off dozens of staffers and pulling some from other states to relocate to Iowa.

Unemployment remained remarkably low for another month as the U.S. added 128,000 jobs in October, Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Friday reveals. That's more than double the 75,000 jobs economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected to be added in the month. Unemployment overall rose slightly to 3.6 percent, though it's still historically low. The total unemployment level also hit a new high of 158,000. President Trump quickly celebrated the "blowout" numbers in a tweet.

Carlos Beltran will take over as the next manager for the New York Mets, replacing recently fired skipper Mickey Callaway. The 42-year-old Beltran enjoyed a storied career as a player for several teams, including a successful stint with the Mets from 2005 to 2011. It's a quick turnaround from the field to the dugout for Beltran, who only retired in 2017 after winning a World Series ring with the Houston Astros. The Mets are coming off a solid season, in which they finished 86-76, but a slow start and an ineffective bullpen left them behind the Atlanta Braves and the World Series champion Washington Nationals in a challenging National League East. However, a torrid finish to the season has led to high expectations for next season in Queens.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.