NATION
10A — THE OBSERVER
N ATION IN
B RIEF
Fed’s see steady
growth, signals pause
in rate cuts
WASHINGTON — Feder-
al Reserve Chairman Jerome
Powell expects the U.S.
economy to continue grow-
ing at a solid pace, though it
still faces risks from slower
growth overseas and trade
tensions.
Powell also says the Fed is
likely to keep its benchmark
short-term interest rate un-
changed in the coming months,
unless the economy slows
enough to cause Fed policy-
makers to make a “material
reassessment” of their outlook.
In a written statement
he will deliver to the Joint
Economic Committee
later Wednesday, Powell said,
“Looking ahead, my col-
leagues and I see a sustained
expansion of economic activi-
ty, a strong labor market, and
infl ation near our symmetric
2% objective as most likely.”
The Fed cut short-term
rates last month for the third
time this year, to a range of
1.5% to 1.75%.
9 student deaths
since August shakes
USC campus
LOS ANGELES — The
death of nine students since
classes began a little more
than two months ago has left
students and administrators
at the University Southern
California shaken and seeking
answers.
The Los Angeles Times
reports the latest death was
discovered Monday when
the body of a 27-year-old
student was found in an off-
campus apartment.
The fi rst occurred in
August when an incoming
freshman was struck by a car
on a freeway.
Monday’s death occurred
shortly after administrators
sent letters to students and
parents telling them of the
earlier fatalities.
Administrators say three
deaths were the result of sui-
cide. The causes of the other
deaths are either unknown
or haven’t been disclosed.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019
TRUMP IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION OPENS
Dems, GOP take aim at each other
By Lisa Mascaro
and Mary Clare Jalonick
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S.
House launched the fi rst public
hearing Wednesday of Donald
Trump’s impeachment investiga-
tion, the extraordinary process to
determine whether the 45th presi-
dent of the United States should be
removed from offi ce.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic
chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, immediately outlined
the question at the core of the im-
peachment inquiry — whether the
president used his offi ce to pressure
Ukraine offi cials for personal politi-
cal gain.
“The matter is as simple and as
terrible as that,” Schiff said. “Our
answer to these questions will affect
not only the future of this presiden-
cy but the future of the presidency
itself, and what kind of conduct or
misconduct the American people
may come to expect from their com-
mander in chief.”
It was a remarkable moment,
even for a White House full of them.
The hearing is the fi rst chance for
America, and the rest of the world,
to see and hear for themselves about
Trump's actions toward Ukraine
and consider whether they are, in
fact, impeachable offenses.
The top Republican on the panel,
Rep. Devin Nunes of California,
accused the Democratic majority of
conducting a “scorched earth” effort
to take down the president after the
special counsel’s Russia investiga-
tion into the 2016 election failed to
Susan Walsh/The Associated Press
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California,
left, speaks as Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, the ranking member
on the committee listens during the House Intelligence Committee on
Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday in the fi rst public impeach-
ment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie U.S. aid for
Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents.
spark impeachment proceedings.
“We’re supposed to take these
people at face value when they trot
out new allegations?” said Nunes, a
top Trump ally. He derided what he
called the "cult-like atmosphere in
the basement of the Capitol” where
investigators have been interview-
ing witnesses behind closed doors for
weeks. Transcripts of those inter-
views have been released.
Nunes called the Ukraine matter
a “low rent” sequel to the Russia
probe. “Democrats are advancing
their impeachment sham,” he said.
The proceedings were being
broadcast live, and on social media,
from a packed hearing room on
Capitol Hill. The country has been
here only three times before, and
never against the 21st century
backdrop of real-time commentary,
including from the Republican presi-
dent himself.
Testifying will be two seasoned
diplomats, William Taylor, the
graying former infantry offi cer now
charge d'affaires in Ukraine, and
George Kent, the deputy assistant
secretary in Washington, telling the
striking, if sometimes complicated
story of a president allegedly using
foreign policy for personal and politi-
cal gain ahead of the 2020 election.
So far, the narrative is splitting
Americans, mostly along the same
lines as Trump's unusual presidency.
The Constitution sets a dramatic
but vague bar for impeachment,
and there's no consensus yet that
Trump's actions at the heart of the
inquiry meet the threshold of "high
crimes and misdemeanors."
Trump calls the whole thing a
"witch hunt," a retort that echoes
Nixon's own defense. “READ THE
TRANSCRIPT,” he tweeted Wednes-
day.
At its core, the inquiry stems from
Trump’s July 25 phone call with
Ukraine's newly elected president,
Volodymyr Zelenskiy when he asked
the Zelenskiy for “a favor.”
Trump wanted the Ukraine
government to investigate Demo-
crats in the 2016 election and his
potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden, all
while holding as leverage military
aid the young democracy relies on as
it confronts an aggressive Russia.
An anonymous whistleblower fi rst
alerted offi cials to concerns about
the phone call. The White House
released a rough transcript of the
conversation, with portions deleted.
Democratic House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi was initially reluctant
to launch a formal impeachment
inquiry. But she pressed ahead in
September after the whistleblower’s
complaint.
The White House has instructed
administration offi cials not to testify
in the inquiry. But over the past
month, witness after witness has
appeared behind closed doors to tell
the investigators what they know.
NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER 18TH, 2019
Most distant world
ever explored gets
new name: Arrokoth
CAPE CANAVERAL —
The most distant world ever
explored 4 billion miles away
fi nally has an offi cial name:
Arrokoth.
NASA said Tuesday that
means “sky” in the language
of the Native American Pow-
hatan people.
NASA’s New Horizons
spacecraft fl ew past the snow-
man-shaped Arrokoth on New
Year’s Day, 3-1/2 years after
exploring Pluto. At the time,
this small icy world 1 billion
miles beyond Pluto was nick-
named Ultima Thule given its
vast distance from us.
Lead scientist Alan Stern
says the new name “refl ects
the inspiration of looking to
the skies.”
MIRACLE-EAR HEARING AID CENTER MAY
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FEDERAL WORKERS AND RETIREES WHO QUALIFY
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Doctors: Double lung
transplant recipient
was teen who vaped
DETROIT — A double
lung transplant recipient
who severely damaged those
internal organs by vaping
has been identifi ed as a
Michigan teenager.
Doctors at Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit described
to reporters Tuesday the
procedure that saved the
17-year-old’s life and pleaded
for the public to understand
the dangers of vaping.
The teen was admitted in
early September to a Detroit-
area hospital with what
appeared to be pneumonia. He
was eventually taken to Henry
Ford Hospital and the trans-
plant was performed Oct. 15.
The double lung trans-
plant is believed to be fi rst
performed on a patient due
to vaping.
— The Associated Press
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