USA Today - 11.11.2019

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The roommate of a Clark Atlanta

University student whose body was

found in a local park

was being held without

bail Sunday after her

arrest on a murder

charge – along with the

roommate’s boyfriend.

Alexis Crawford, 21,

was reported missing

Nov. 1, five days after

she filed a police report accusing her

roommate’s boyfriend of what Atlan-

ta Police Chief Erika Shields de-

scribed as “unwanted kissing and

touching.”

Crawford’s roommate, Jordyn

Jones, 21, and Jones’ boyfriend, Bar-

ron Brantley, 21, face charges of mal-

ice murder. Malice murder involves

deliberate intent and is punishable by

death or by imprisonment for life with

or without parole.

Shields said one of the suspects

led investigators to the body on Fri-

day. The medical examiner listed the

cause of Crawford’s death as asphyxi-

ation. Investigators were working to

determine the motive for the killing,

Shields said.

Both suspects were in custody

Sunday, Fulton County Jail records

show.

“The case has come to one of the

saddest conclusions possible,”

Shields said. “For Alexis’ family, our

hearts go out to you. I am so truly sor-

ry we could not provide you with a

better ending.”

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, serving

as a spokesman for Crawford’s family,

said funeral services will be held Sat-

urday. Family members, he said, were

“devastated and heartbroken.”

“Please pray for Alexis Crawford’s

family and give thetime and space to

process the loss of their beloved

‘Lexi,’ ” Hutchins said.

The university offered condo-

lences to Crawford’s family and coun-

seling to students.

“Investigators say that this was an

isolated, off campus incident and

there was never a threat to any other

members of the community,” school

President George French said in a

statement.

Roommate, boyfriend

arrested after death

of Atlanta student

John Bacon

USA TODAY

Crawford

Victim vanished 5 days

after filing police report

WASHINGTON – Ahead of the first
scheduled public impeachment hear-
ings Wednesday, House Republicans
have requested that Hunter Biden and
the whistleblower whose report
sparked the investigation give open tes-
timony in the inquiry into President
Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
Saturday was the deadline for House
Republicans to submit their proposed
list of witnesses to Democrats.
In addition to “all individuals relied
upon by the anonymous whistleblower
in drafting his or her secondhand com-
plaint,” Republicans asked for eight wit-
nesses:
The whistleblower: The still-un-
named official who filed a whistleblower
complaint after Trump’s July 25 call
with Ukranian president Volodymyr Ze-
lensky.
Hunter Biden: The son of former
Vice President Joe Biden and former
board member of Burisma Holdings,
Ukraine’s largest gas company.
David Hale:The undersecretary of
state for political affairs who testified
behind closed doors on Nov. 6.
Tim Morrison: National Security
Council aide who testified behind
closed doors on Oct. 31.
Kurt Volker: Special envoy to Uk-
raine who testified behind closed doors
on Oct. 3.
Nellie Ohr:A contractor for research
firm Fusion GPS who worked on the
Steele dossier, an unverified 2016 docu-
ment compiled by former British intelli-
gence officer Christopher Steele alleging
ties between Trump and the Kremlin.
Devon Archer:Burisma board mem-
ber and business partner of Hunter Bi-
den.
Alexandra Chalupa:Democratic Na-
tional Committee staffer who Republi-
cans say was part of Ukrainian efforts to
interfere in the 2016 election.
“We expect you will call each of the
witnesses listed above to ensure that
the Democrats’ ‘impeachment inquiry’
treats the President with fairness, as
promised by Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi,”
top Intelligence Committee Republican
Devin Nunes wrote in a letter Saturday
to Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s
Democratic chairman.
Schiffresponded to the Republicans
in a statement released later Saturday,
saying they were “evaluating” Republi-
cans’ requests and would give “due con-
sideration to witnesses within the scope
of the impeachment inquiry.”
“This inquiry is not, and will not
serve, however, as a vehicle to under-
take the same sham investigations into
the Bidens or 2016 that the President
pressed Ukraine to conduct for his per-
sonal political benefit, or to facilitate the
President’s effort to threaten, intimi-

date, and retaliate against the whistle-

blower who courageously raised the ini-

tial alarm,” Schiffadded.

Andrew Bakaj, one of the whistle-

blower’s attorneys, told USA TODAY his

client was willing to answer questions

from Republican lawmakers in writing

but not in person.

“My client’s complaint has been

largely corroborated. Nonetheless, I

have offered to have my client respond

in writing, under oath, and under penal-

ty of perjury to Republican questions,”

Bakaj told USA TODAY in a statement.

Bakaj said that he feared the request

to testify publicly “was part of a larger

effort to unmask my client’s identity.”

“The call to have my client’s identity

disclosed will fundamentally harm a

process that took decades to build. By

extension, it will adversely impact Con-

gressional oversight. These conse-

quences, I fear, will be long-lasting,” he

added.

In a letter sent Thursday to Republi-

cans outlining the parameters for wit-

nesses, Schiffwrote that witnesses had

to be directly related to the Trump ad-

ministration’s pressuring of Ukraine to

open investigations into a political rival

and any potential attempts to obstruct

or cover up an investigation.

Trump weighed in on the proposed

list of witnesses as well, tweeting later

Saturday that he wanted Pelosi, Schiff

and Joe Biden to appear, among oth-

ers.

The whistleblower, who has been

described as a person in the intelli-

gence community, issued a complaint

in August alleging Trump pushed a for-

eign power – Ukraine – to interfere in

the 2020 election by asking the coun-

try to investigate his political rival Joe

Biden.

Democrats say Trump used his

power to withhold military aid and a

White House meeting in exchange for

an investigation. Trump has defended

his interactions with Ukraine and has

dismissed the inquiry as a “hoax” and

“witch hunt.”

Trump and Republicans accuse Bi-

den of strong-arming the Ukrainian

government to fire its top prosecutor in

order to thwart an investigation into a

company tied to his son, an accusation

that lacks credible evidence.

USA TODAY has spoken to two doz-

en leaders and investigators in Uk-

raine who say Trump’s accusations

against Hunter Biden’s work in Uk-

raine are baseless.

The impeachment inquiry was

launched by Pelosi on Sept. 24. What

followed were weeks of closed-door

witness testimony, including that of

three people who are now on House

Republicans’ witness list: Volker, Mor-

rison and Hale.

On Oct. 31, in a near-party-line vote,

the House approved a resolution set-

ting the parameters for the public por-

tion of the impeachment inquiry,

which begins Wednesday.

GOP wants Hunter Biden,

whistleblower to testify

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, left, speaks with

committee member Devin Nunes before former Special Prosecutor Robert

Mueller testifies on July 24 in Washington. JIM WATSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Nicholas Wu
USA TODAY

“The call to have my client’s

identity disclosed will

fundamentally harm a

process that took decades

to build.”

Andrew Bakaj

Attorney for anonymous whistleblower

WASHINGTON – A New York

judge’s ruling that President Donald

Trump must pay $2 million to charity

appears to be the final chapter in the

saga of Trump’s troubled charitable

foundation.

State Supreme Court Justice Sa-

liann Scarpulla of Manhattan ruled on

Thursday that Trump must pay $2 mil-

lion in damages to various nonprofit

groups to settle allegations that he and

his family used the Trump Foundation

to further his political and business in-

terests.

Though Trump admitted the mis-

conduct in court documents, he issued

a defiant statement in which he ac-

cused New York’s attorney general of

mischaracterizing the settlement

process for political purposes. Trump

claimed he had been attacked by “po-

litical hacks in New York State.”

The lawsuit, filed last year by then-

New York Attorney General Barbara

Underwood, outlined a wide array of

mismanagement by Trump and his

three eldest children.

Chief among them: allowing

Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign

to orchestrate a televised fundraiser in

Des Moines, Iowa, for the foundation,

which then distributed $2.8 million to

veterans’ charities that were also cho-

sen by the campaign.

Charities are prohibited by New

York law from supporting political

candidates or campaigns.

Trump staged the fundraiser on

Jan. 28, 2016, days before the Iowa

caucuses, rather than participate in a

Republican presidential debate.

According to the lawsuit, Trump’s

campaign staff, not the foundation,

chose the veterans’ groups that would

get the money. That violated New

York’s charity laws.

The Attorney General’s Office and

the Trump Foundation reached an

agreement last year to dissolve the

foundation and distribute its remain-

ing $1.8 million in assets to a variety of

charities, including the Army Relief

Fund and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial

Museum.

In a settlement reached last year,

Trump and his foundation admitted

the campaign had complete control of

how the funds were distributed and

that Trump took credit for the grants.

The final part of the settlement in-

volved how much in damages should

be paid to the charities.

Scarpulla resolved that issue last

week with her order that Trump must

pay $2 million.

That’s less than the $2.8 million

sought by New York’s current attorney

general, Letitia James. She based that

figure on how much the foundation

brought in at the fundraiser.

But Scarpulla reasoned that Trump

had agreed to dissolve the foundation,

and the money raised at the Des

Moines event did eventually reach

charitable organizations tied to veter-

ans, even though that was done at the

campaign’s behest.

In last week’s ruling, Scarpulla

wrote “that Mr. Trump breached his fi-

duciary duty“ with statutory viola-

tions that included “allowing his cam-

paign to orchestrate the fundraiser.”

That conduct, she wrote, resulted in

“distribution of the funds to further

Mr. Trump’s political campaign.”

Trump

Foundation

saga ends

with $2M

judgment

Suit centered on use of

campaign for fundraiser

A judge said President Donald Trump

must pay $2 million to charity. AP

Michael Collins, Dennis Wagner

and Kevin McCoy

USA TODAY