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White House talks After meeting with

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

President Trump expressed optimism over a

tentative cease-fire in northern Syria. A

Venice deluged Much of the already

threatened city was inundated by the highest

tidewaters in half a century. A

LOCAL LIVING

Joint efforts The way to fight arthritis is to keep moving. Here are some good ways to do that.

STYLE ‘Triggered,’ too Donald Trump Jr. finds his safe space in D.C. after a book tour portraying his family as victims. C

In the News

THE NATION

The Trump adminis- tration plans to live- stream border wall construction with webcams, according to four people familiar with the proposal. A Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is seek-

ing a third round of bailout payments for farmers increasingly worried about the im- pact of trade wars. A In a lawsuit, 10 military families decried mold-infested, substan- dard housing at Mary- land’s Fort Meade. A

THE WORLD

Hong Kong was paralyzed for a third straight day as pro- democracy protesters dug in and authorities clamped down hard- er. A

THE ECONOMY People are betting on political outcomes, including impeachment,

in online markets that could be better indica- tors than polls. A

THE REGION Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) is circulating a 21 / 2 -minute video ex- plaining her support for impeachment proceedings in a district that President Trump car- ried in 2016. B

BUSINESS NEWS.........................A COMICS.........................................C OPINION PAGES..........................A LOTTERIES....................................B OBITUARIES..................................B TELEVISION...................................C WORLD NEWS.............................A

BY LENA H. SUN

Drug-resistant germs sicken
about 3 million people every year
in the United States and kill about
35,000, representing a much larg-
er public health threat than previ-
ously understood, according to a
long-awaited report released
Wednesday by the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention.
The new estimates show that,
on average, someone in the United
States gets an antibiotic-resistant
infection every 11 seconds, and
every 15 minutes, someone dies.

Bacteria, fungi and other germs that have developed a resistance to antibiotics and other drugs pose one of the gravest public health challenges and a baffling problem for modern medicine. Scientists, doctors and public health officials have warned of

this threat for decades, and the new report reveals the top dan- gers and troubling trends. More pathogens are developing new ways of fending off drugs de- signed to kill them, and infections are spreading more widely outside of hospitals. No new classes of antibiotics have been intro- duced in more than three decades. The report highlighted some successes. Hospitals have im- proved their methods for tracking and slowing the spread of resis- SEE SUPERBUGS ON A

CDC upgrades superbugs’ threat level

Drug-resistant germs kill thousands more annually than estimated in 2013

BY MATT VISER

Deval Patrick has called party leaders, supporters and elected officials to confirm that he in- tends to run for the Democratic presidential nomination and that he plans to file his candidacy offi- cially in New Hampshire on Thursday, according to two people with knowledge of his plans. Patrick is likely to make the announcement Thursday during an appearance on “CBS This Morning.” He has been a contribu- tor to the network since Septem-

ber, but CBS announced on Wednesday that it was severing the relationship. After registering for the ballot in New Hampshire, Patrick plans to head to Califor- nia, a state that falls early in the primary calendar and has a wealth of delegates. The filing

deadline in New Hampshire is Friday. The former Massachusetts governor on Wednesday was working through a list of people to alert them of his decision, according to those with knowledge of his plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans before they are announced. Patrick’s decision, for which he started laying the groundwork Sunday, could further unsettle the Democratic presidential field less than three months before the con- SEE PATRICK ON A

Deval Patrick set to join 2020 contest

Former Mass. governor plans to register today for N.H. primary ballot

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), right, spearheaded Republicans’ defense of President Trump. Democrats, led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), left, said the hearing bolstered their case.

Testimony puts Trump closer to scandal

BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST

BY ROBERT COSTA,

MICHAEL SCHERER

AND SEUNG MIN KIM

Some Republican senators and
their advisers are privately dis-
cussing whether to pressure GOP
leaders to stage a lengthy im-
peachment trial beginning in
January to scramble the Demo-
cratic presidential race — poten-
tially keeping six contenders in
Washington until the eve of the
Iowa caucuses or longer.
Those conversations about the
timing and framework for a trial
remain fluid and closely held,
according to more than a dozen
participants in the discussions.
But the deliberations come as
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) faces pressure
from conservative activists to
swat back at Democrats as public
impeachment hearings began
this week in the House.
The discussions raise a poten-
tial hazard for the six Democratic
senators running for president,
who had previously planned on a
final sprint out of Washington
before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses
and the Feb. 11 New Hampshire
primary.
“That might be a strategy,” Sen.
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said with a
coy smile when asked about the
possibility of a trial that disrupts
the Democratic campaign. “But
I’ll leave that up to others. I’m
just a lowly worker.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), a
McConnell ally, said the Senate
would try to distinguish itself
during impeachment “by doing
this right,” with a trial that proba-
bly lasts five or six weeks. But he
acknowledged the timing could
have an effect on the campaign by
giving a potential boost to presi-
SEE TRIAL ON A

GOP senators may

seek long trial to

disrupt primaries

BY KAROUN DEMIRJIAN,

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA

AND RACHAEL BADE

The first day of public impeachment hearings unearthed new evidence potentially impli- cating President Trump more di- rectly in a scheme to center Amer- ican policy toward Ukraine on political investigations, heighten- ing the stakes of upcoming proceedings that will include a set of critical witnesses. William B. Taylor Jr., the acting ambassador to Ukraine, testified Wednesday about a previously undisclosed July 26 phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, in which the president asked about “the investigations” he had sought into political rivals. The call, overheard by one of Taylor’s aides, puts the president more squarely in the middle of the swirling Ukraine scandal that has led Democrats to allege that the White House tried to with- hold military assistance and an Oval Office meeting from Ukraine until Kyiv announced investigations into former vice president Joe Biden and his son, as well as an unfounded theory that Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 presidential election to hurt Trump. “The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sond- land about ‘the investigations,’ ” Taylor told lawmakers, adding that he understood that they were following up on the matter a day after Trump spoke with Ukraine’s new leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. SEE IMPEACHMENT ON A

UKRAINE IS CENTER OF PUBLIC HEARINGS

President reportedly asked about inquiries

“It was unexpected, and most unfortunate, to watch

some Americans — including those who allied

themselves with corrupt Ukrainians in pursuit of

private agendas — launch attacks on dedicated public

servants advancing U.S. interests in Ukraine.”

George Kent, standing at left

“The member of my staff could hear President Trump

on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about

‘the investigations.’ Ambassador Sondland told

President Trump that the Ukrainians were

ready to move forward.”

William B. Taylor Jr., standing at right

“Elements of the civil service have decided that they,

not the president, are really in charge.”

Rep. Devin Nunes, the committee’s top Republican

“Is that what Americans should now expect from their

president? If that is not impeachable conduct, what is?”

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee

New evidence: Trump back at heart of questions on Ukraine effort. A

A key question: Is Trump’s norm-breaking a betrayal or his right? A

‘Insane’: Call to Trump from Kyiv restaurant seen as major breach. A

Kent and Taylor: Dapper and authoritative pair give their takes. A

The hearing before the House Intelligence Committee was a rig- orous civics lesson, a reminder that the United States employs battalions of envoys who live for long stretches in often unfriendly countries, representing the interests of the place they call home. It was a stage for fiery court- room rhetoric, with the chief Re- publican defender of the president, Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), trashing the proceedings as an “impeachment sham... a tele- vised, theatrical performance staged by the Democrats.” And it was a made-for-TV fo- rum for fresh revelations, as one of the first witnesses, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified that a member of his staff heard Trump ask about “the investigations” he had urged SEE MOMENT ON A

BY MARC FISHER

It’s not clear that any minds
were changed or that the issues
are riveting enough to hold the
nation’s collective attention for
weeks to come or that President
Trump’s fate will be determined
in Room 1100 of the Longworth
House Office Building.
But Day One of the Trump
impeachment hearings was a
classic Washington moment, a
clash of politicians and diplomats
as much as Republicans against
Democrats. Like virtually every-
thing else in Washington over the
past three years, even without the
president in the room, this was
another episode of the Trump
Show — the transformation of the
U.S. government into a long-
running drama about one outsize
personality.

An only-in-Washington moment:

Clash of politicians vs. diplomats

ture of President Trump’s con- cerns,” the witness answered. For weeks, as the House’s impeachment inquiry of Trump has unfolded behind closed doors, two dueling narratives about the president’s actions have remained dis- tinct. One story line rests on a whis- tleblower complaint — corrobo- rated by a string of named diplomats as well as the White House’s own reconstructed transcript of a July phone call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart — about a shadow foreign policy to undermine conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election and damage one of Trump’s 2020 rivals, former vice president Joe Biden. The other, which has played out in conservative media and on SEE NARRATIVES ON A

BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER

The question seemed to sur- prise William B. Taylor Jr., a Viet- nam veteran with decades of dip- lomatic experience. Couldn’t he “appreciate that President Trump was very con- cerned,” asked the Republican counsel, that the Ukrainians were “out to get him?” The lawyer was referring to a conspiracy theory, popular in parts of the political right, that while Democrats have focused on Russia’s efforts to help Trump win the 2016 election, it was actually Ukraine that interfered during that campaign to help Trump’s Democratic opponent. Taylor paused, casting his eyes down as his lips curled into a grin. He declined to give credence to the claim. “I don’t know the exact na-

Dueling narratives on Trump’s

actions collide for shared audience