Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle May 22, 2019
News
More Democrats Seeking
Impeachment Proceedings
Against Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Demo-
crats are calling — and more loudly —
for impeachment proceedings against
President Donald Trump after his lat-
est defiance of Congress by blocking
his former White House lawyer from
testifying.
A growing number of rank-and-file
House Democrats, incensed by former
counsel Don McGahn’s empty chair in
the Judiciary Committee hearing room
on Tuesday, are confronting House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and pushing her
and other leaders to act. Their impa-
tience is running up against the speak-
er’s preference for a more methodical
approach , including already-unfold-
ing court battles.
Pelosi summoned some of them —
still a small fraction of the House Dem-
ocratic caucus — to a meeting of inves-
tigators Wednesday to assess strategy.
Some other Democratic leaders,
while backing Pelosi, signaled that a
march to impeachment may at some
point become inevitable.
“We are confronting what might be
the largest, broadest cover-up in Amer-
ican history,” Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer told reporters. If a House inqui-
ry “leads to other avenues including
impeachment,” the Maryland Demo-
crat said, “so be it.”
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Six peo-
ple have died in election rioting in the
Indonesian capital, authorities said
Wednesday, as supporters of the losing
presidential candidate burned vehicles
and battled police and the government
announced restrictions on social me-
dia.
The clashes began Tuesday night
when supporters of former general
Prabowo Subianto tried to force their
way into the downtown offices of the
election supervisory agency and have
continued unabated since then. More
than two dozen vehicles were burned
as rioters took over neighborhoods in
central Jakarta, throwing rocks and
Molotov cocktails at police who re-
sponded with tear gas, water cannon
and rubber bullets.
Subianto, a volatile ultra-nationalist
politician, has refused to accept the of-
ficial results of the April 17 election and
instead declared himself the winner.
The Election Commission on Tuesday
said President Joko Widodo, the first
Indonesian president from outside the
Jakarta elite, had won 55.5% of the vote,
securing the moderate technocrat a sec-
ond term. Subianto, an elite figure from
a wealthy family connected to former
dictator Suharto, also lost to Widodo
in 2014. He has made four unsuccessful
bids for the presidency since Suharto
was ousted in 1998.
Rudiantara, the communications
and information technology minister,
said features of social media including
Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp will
be restricted on a temporary basis to
AP PHOTO/ACHMAD IBRAHIM
World News
Briefs
6 Dead in Indonesia Riots,
Government Restricts
Social Media
during a recent speech.
Pyongyang’s
official
Korean Central News
Agency on Wednesday
said the former Ameri-
can vice president had
insulted the country’s
supreme leadership and
committed an “intoler-
able and serious politi-
cally-motivated provoca-
tion” against the North.
Biden during a cam-
paign launch in Phila-
Supporters of the losing presidential candidate throw rocks at delphia on Saturday ac-
police Wednesday, May 22, 2019, in Jakarta, Indonesia. A number cused President Donald
of people have died and dozens of vehicles burned as rioters took Trump of cozying up to
over neighborhoods in central Jakarta, throwing rocks and Molotov “dictators and tyrants”
cocktails at police who responded with tear gas, water cannon and like Kim and Russian
rubber bullets.
President Vladimir Pu-
tin.
prevent the spread of hoaxes and in-
“What he uttered is
flammatory content. He said messag- just sophism of an imbecile bereft of el-
ing systems will still work for text and ementary quality as a human being, let
voice messages but photos and videos alone a politician,” KCNA said.
will be blocked.
The piece, labeled a commentary, said
National police chief Tito Karnavian Biden had “gone reckless and senseless,
said the people who died in the rioting seized by ambition for power.” It went
were hit by gunshots or blunt devices. on to mention apparent Biden gaffes,
Authorities are still investigating the such as once appearing to fall asleep
death causes and are not ruling out the during a speech by President Barack
involvement of third parties acting as Obama.
provocateurs.
North Korea Calls Biden
‘Fool of Low IQ’ Over Kim
Criticism
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Ko-
rea has labeled Joe Biden a “fool of low
IQ” and an “imbecile bereft of elemen-
tary quality as a human being” after the
U.S. presidential hopeful called North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un a tyrant
Lawmaker Says Iran
Doesn’t Want Direct or
Proxy War with US
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will “under
no circumstances” enter a war either
directly or indirectly with the United
States, a prominent reformist Irani-
an lawmaker said Wednesday, as both
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