USA Today - 09.10.2019

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It’s Fire Prevention Day!

SOURCE National Interagency Coordination Center
AMY BARNETTE, DAVID ANESTA/USA TODAY

U.S. wildland burned in

human-caused fi res in the U.S.

(in millions of acres):

6 5 4 3 2 1 0

2001 2018

5.6 million

10.09.

49ers make

a statement by

staying perfect

Team has not been 4-0 since 1990

and will have to keep proving itself,

columnist Jarrett Bell says. In Sports

JIMMY GAROPPOLO BY TONY AVELAR/AP

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WASHINGTON – House Democrats said Tuesday

that they would subpoena Gordon Sondland, a U.S.

ambassador involved in the Trump administration’s

dealings with Ukraine, after the State Department

blocked his appearance before their impeachment

inquiry.

Sondland, President Donald Trump’s ambassador

to the European Union, was scheduled to appear be-

fore a trio of committees Tuesday morning to answer

questions about his role in pushing Ukraine’s presi-

dent to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Early this morning, the U.S. Department of State

directed Ambassador Gordon Sondland not to ap-

pear today for his scheduled transcribed interview

before the U.S. House of Representatives Joint Com-

mittee,” said Robert Luskin, Sondland’s attorney.

Luskin said Sondland had agreed “to appear vol-

State Department,

Dems in showdown

Gordon Sondland, who was involved in the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine, had

flown to Washington for his scheduled testimony Tuesday. DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Move to block envoy’s Ukraine testimony

is labeled ‘strong evidence of obstruction’

Deirdre Shesgreen and Christal Hayes

USA TODAY

See SHOWDOWN, Page 4A

Impeachment

inquiry: Who

is up next?

THURSDAY

Three House commit-

tees – Foreign Affairs,

Intelligence and Over-

sight – have scheduled

a deposition with Lev

Parnas, a Ukrainian-

born businessman who

helped introduce Rudy

Giuliani, President Don-

ald Trump’s personal

attorney, to the Ukrai-

nian prosecutor who

sought to provide dirt

on former Vice Presi-

dent Joe Biden, a 2020

presidential contender.

FRIDAY

The committees have

scheduled a deposition

with Marie Yovanovitch,

a career diplomat

and the former U.S.

ambassador to Ukraine.

She was pulled from

her post in May after

working years under

Republican and Demo-

cratic administrations.

Trump called Yovano-

vitch “bad news” in his

July phone call with

Ukraine President

Volodymyr Zelensky,

which followed reports

in conservative media

that Yovanovitch was

disloyal to Trump.

The panels are also

set to depose Igor

Fruman, a Ukrainian-

born business partner

of Parnas, the busi-

nessman who helped

Giuliani in his efforts

in Ukraine.

Yovanovitch

House Democrats leading

an impeachment inquiry

say they will subpoena

Gordon Sondland,

ambassador to the

European Union;

Republicans blast an

“unfair and partisan

process.”

WASHINGTON – The Supreme
Court appeared deeply divided Tues-
day on a major civil rights question:
whether gay and transgender people
are covered by a federal law barring
employment discrimination on the
basis of sex.
The court’s rulings in three cases,
which are not expected
until next year, seemed
to hinge on President
Donald Trump’s two
nominees. Associate
Justice Neil Gorsuch
called the dispute over
transgender rights
“close” but more likely
an issue for Congress to address. Asso-
ciate Justice Brett Kavanaugh directed
his only question to a lawyer for two
employers that fired gay workers, leav-
ing his position in doubt.
The court’s four liberal justices
forcefully denounced the firings of two
gay men and a transgender woman
from Georgia, New York and Michigan
and made clear they believe all three
should be protected by the statutory
ban on sex discrimination.
“We can’t deny that homosexuals
are being fired merely for being who

High court

sharply

divided

over LGBT

protection

Gorsuch, Kavanaugh

could hold the keys

Richard Wolf
USA TODAY

Gorsuch

See COURT, Page 6A

WASHINGTON – The Justice De-

partment told a federal judge that a

House committee investigating Presi-

dent Donald Trump is not entitled to

grand jury evidence from special coun-

sel Robert Mueller’s investigation, say-

ing it has failed to explain which specif-

ic testimony it needs access to or how it

would help its investigation into poten-

tial obstruction by the president.

“There is this generalized notion that

this is an important matter because of

impeachment and, therefore, (the com-

mittee) should have access to every-

thing,” Elizabeth Shapiro, an attorney in

the Justice Department’s Civil Division,

said during a two-hour hearing in feder-

al court Tuesday. “It also needs to be

particularized, and they shouldn’t get a

pass on that because of impeachment.”

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl How-

ell heard arguments on whether the

potential obstruction of justice, as de-

scribed in 10 episodes in the Mueller re-

port. But Attorney General William Barr

redacted grand jury evidence from the

report and argued against disclosing it

under the subpoena.

Shapiro said there first needs to be a

“degree of formality” in the form of a full

House vote on an impeachment inquiry

before treading into dangerous territory

of “penetrating grand jury evidence.”

House Democrats have argued that a

full House vote isn’t necessary to move

forward with an impeachment inquiry.

Six committees have been conduct-

ing investigations of Trump since

Democrats regained control of the

chamber in January. House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced

Sept. 24 that all of the inquiries now fall

under the umbrella of a formal im-

peachment investigation and that no

floor vote is necessary. But Republicans

have argued that only the full House

can authorize an impeachment inquiry.

House Judiciary Committee should re-

ceive the underlying grand jury evi-

dence behind Mueller’s report on Rus-

sian interference in the 2016 election.

The panel subpoenaed the evidence

as part of a sweeping impeachment in-

vestigation of Trump, who has called

the inquiry a partisan witch hunt. The

Judiciary Committee is focusing on

Mueller grand jury evidence is still in the mix

Bart Jansen and Kristine Phillips

USA TODAY

New York Democrat Jerry Nadler has

been leading the charge. EPA-EFE

Rising star loses those long locks
as a young Henry V in “The King”

IN LIFE

NETFLIX VIA AP

Timothee Chalamet

takes it from the top