charged political rises and dra-
matic collapses in recent times,
O’Rourke on Friday evening be-
came the highest-profile candi-
date to drop out of the 2020
presidential campaign, amid fi-
nancial strains and lagging popu-
larity. His abrupt exit capped a
week in which Sen. Kamala D.
Harris (D-Calif.) significantly
curbed her own ambitions, laying
off most of her New Hampshire
staff and reorienting her cam-
paign toward Iowa. In the same
week, a super PAC set up to ben-
efit Joe Biden began operating, a
reflection of his struggle to gain
ground in Iowa even as he main-
tains a position at the top of what
is now a 16-candidate field.
SEE O’ROURKE ON ABY MATT VISER
AND JENNA JOHNSONBeto O’Rourke literally came
bounding into the presidential
race, jumping atop tables in jam-
packed coffee shops, smiling like
a Kennedy and waving his arms
like a conductor.
He had been encouraged by
President Barack Obama, cheered
on by Oprah Winfrey. Vanity Fair
put him on its cover, a documen-
tary about him premiered at the
South by Southwest festival, and
he began assembling some of the
Democratic Party’s top political
talent.
And then, 232 days after get-
ting in, he would be gone.
In one of the most hyper-BY PHILIP RUCKER,
RACHAEL BADE AND
ROSALIND S. HELDERMANPresident Trump has sought to
intimidate witnesses in the im-
peachment inquiry, attacking
them as “Never Trumpers” and
badgering an anonymous whis-
tleblower. He has directed the
White House to withhold docu-
ments and block testimony re-
quested by Congress. And he has
labored to publicly discredit the
investigation as a “scam” over-
seen by “a totally compromised
kangaroo court.”
To the Democratic leaders di-
recting the impeachment pro-
ceedings, Trump’s actions to sty-
mie their investigation into his
conduct with Ukraine add up to
another likely article of impeach-
ment: obstruction.
The centerpiece of House
Democrats’ eventual impeach-
ment charges is widely expected
to be Trump’s alleged abuse of
power over Ukraine. But obstruc-
tion of Congress is now all but
SEE OBSTRUCTION ON ABY TOM HAMBURGER,
CAROL D. LEONNIG,
GREG MILLER
AND ELLEN NAKASHIMASeveral days after President
Trump’s phone call with the leader
of Ukraine, a top White House
lawyer instructed a senior nation-
al security official not to discuss
his grave concerns about the lead-
ers’ conversation with anyone out-
side the White House, according
to three people familiar with the
aide’s testimony.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman tes-
tified that he received this instruc-
tion from John Eisenberg, the top
legal adviser for the National Se-
curity Council, after White House
lawyers learned July 29 that a CIA
employee had anonymously
raised concerns about the Trump
phone call, the sources said.
The directive from Eisenberg
adds to an expanding list of moves
by senior White House officials to
contain, if not conceal, possible
evidence of Trump’s attempt to
pressure Ukrainian President Vo-
lodymyr Zelensky to provide in-
formation that could be damaging
to former vice president Joe
Biden.
The instruction to stay quiet
came after White House officials
had already discussed moving a
SEE TESTIMONY ON A Twice charmed? “Idol”
winner Kelly Clarkson beat
reality-TV odds. Can she
break the talk show curse?
“What’s working in Kelly’s
favor,” says one observer, “is
Kelly.” Arts & StylePowder play On Hokkaido,
the northernmost of Japan’s
main islands, hot springs
welcome weary skiers after a
day on the slopes. TravelThe prison experience With
this special issue — written,
illustrated and photographed
by people who have been or
are currently incarcerated —
our goal was to help readers
learn about the experience of
imprisonment. MagazineTHE WORLD
More at risk from sea rise
A new estimate finds that at least
40 million more people will live
below high-tide levels by 2050. A
THE NATION
‘Suicide by cop’ protocol
Police chiefs want to retrain
officers to avoid shooting such
people in mental crisis. ATHE NATION
Trump retreats on guns
He doesn’t want to risk splintering
his political coalition amid the
impeachment battle. ATHE REGION
Failures before fatal fire
A D.C. regulatory agency did not
properly act on a complaint of
dangerous conditions. BIn Sunday’s Post Inside
CONTENT © 2019
The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 332BUSINESS NEWS ............................................. A
COMICS ............................................................. C
OPINION PAGES...............................................A
LOTTERIES.........................................................B
OBITUARIES.......................................................B
TELEVISION ....................................................... C
WORLD NEWS....................................................A$ 206
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Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. SU V1 V2 V3 V
Mostly sunny 56/40 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, breezy 55/38 B6 Democracy Dies in Darkness SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 , 2019. $BY LOUISA LOVELUCKhasakah, syria — They are the
remains of the Islamic State, a
once sprawling kingdom built by
foot soldiers from around the
world to terrorize and enslave
those they conquered.
Hollow-eyed and gaunt, the
men and boys look broken. Days
are spent in halting conversation
with cellmates who still have the
energy, or staring blankly
across the teeming, fetid cells.
Many have lost limbs in the bat-
tles that led them here. Others
have lost eyes and ears, a result,
they said, of airstrikes.
As Islamist militants fought in
March for their last square mile
in eastern Syria, fighters and fam-
ilies from more than 60 countriesstreamed out of their stronghold
to surrender into the custody of
the U.S.-backed Syrian Demo-
cratic Forces, a Kurdish-led force.
Eight months on, more than
10,000 men and children are still
crammed into at least 25 make-
shift prisons, lingering in legal
twilight. The Kurdish-led force
that holds them does not have thecapacity to investigate or try
them, and their home govern-
ments are mostly unwilling to
take them back to face trials
there.
Amid the abrupt withdrawal of
U.S. troops and advancing Turk-
ish and Syrian government forc-
es, the shifting local landscape is
posing an increasingly urgent
question: What will become of
SEE PRISONS ON ATrump tactics
put obstruction
on table for
impeachment
Vindman said he
was told to keep
concerns quiet
DIRECTIVE CAME FROM NSC LEGAL ADVISER
Move seen as attempt to contain possible evidence
BY BRADY DENNISiles-de-la-madeleine, quebec — High on a
bluff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Adele
Chiasson no longer ventures into her backyard for
a simple reason: It is falling into the sea.
“I’m afraid to go out there,” the widow said one
afternoon from the safety of her kitchen. She
nodded toward the 70-foot-tall, red sandstone
cliffs out back that creep closer with each passing
year. “You never know when a section will fall off.”
Decades ago, when she and her husband moved
to this modest house with its majestic views, they
never imagined a vanishing coastline might one
day drive them away. But the sea long ago claimed
the ground where their children once played. An
abandoned road out back has mostly crumbled
into the surf below. Two of her neighbors’ homes
have been moved inland.
The day might come when she, too, will be forced
to abandon this precarious patch of earth. “I might
not have a choice,” she said.
The more than 12,000 residents of this wind-
swept Canadian archipelago are facing a growing
number of gut-wrenching choices, as extreme
climate change transforms the land and water
around them. Season after season, storm after
SEE CANADA ON A2°C: BEYOND THE LIMIT
A crumbling future on Quebec islands
The archipelago, once protected by ice, is now being ravaged by the sea
BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POSTAn abandoned road on the Magdalen Islands is falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Inside Syria’s teeming ISIS prisons
With security faltering, the fate of these men and the threat they pose remain in limbo
ALICE MARTINS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Men accused of being Islamic State militants sit on the floor of a cell at a prison run by Kurdish-led forces in Hasakah, Syria, on Monday.
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THE WASHINGTON POST
Ready to celebrate the Nats’ World Series win?
O’Rourke ends presidential
run that shone, then faded
Huge crowds are expected downtown today to help the Washington
Nationals mark their World Series title with a parade and rally. Use our tips
on getting there, a list of road closures and more. Story, B
Fall back
At 2 a.m. Sunday, we gain one
hour as daylight saving time ends.
Be sure to set your clocks tonight.
BY ANNIE LINSKEY
Sen. Elizabeth Warren rolled
out a $20.5 trillion health-care
plan on Friday that sought to put
an exclamation point on a cen-
tral argument of her candidacy:
that a liberal revolutionary can
also be electable.
Warren’s plan, a version of the
Medicare-for-all idea that has
become a mantra for many on
the Democratic Party’s left, in-
cludes a raft of new taxes on
businesses and the wealthy but,
she insisted, would not be fund-
ed on the backs of middle-class
Americans.
The announcement followed
weeks of Warren’s repeated re-
fusal to say whether her plan
would raise middle-class taxes,
prompting criticism from rivals
that the candidate known for her
detailed proposals was afraid to
concede the politically uncom-
fortable truth. The issue has
been particularly awkward for
Warren (Mass.), who has tried to
overcome skepticism among
some in the party who fear that
her promise to radically restruc-
ture the American economy
would alienate crucial swing-
state voters.
On Friday, Warren appeared to
try to thread the rhetorical nee-
dle. She vowed to spare most
SEE WARREN ON A
Warren
plants flag
with health
plan taxes
GOP senators’ shift: May accept
‘Do not get too joyful’: ISIS statements portray intent for revenge. A13 a quid pro quo by Trump. A