important endorsement of abor-
tion rights in 25 years.
Trump’s choices for the court,
Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and
Brett M. Kavanaugh, who re-
placed the late Antonin Scalia
and Kennedy, respectively, were
enthusiastically supported by
antiabortion groups.
The court could reaffirm or
overturn that 2016 precedent, or
distinguish it in a way that a
restriction deemed unconstitu-
tional in one state is allowed in
another.
Leaders on both sides of the
issue took news of the court’s
action as momentous, even if the
questions in the case are narrow.
“The Supreme Court now has a
chance in this case to reconsider,
reverse, and return Roe v. Wade
and the issue of abortion to the
American people, which is long
overdue,” Students for Life of
America President Kristan Haw-
kins said in a statement. “States
should absolutely have the right
SEE SUPREME COURT ON A
BY ROBERT BARNES
The Supreme Court said Fri-
day that it will review a restric-
tive Louisiana abortion law, pro-
viding the first opportunity for a
conservative majority reinforced
by President Trump’s two appoin-
tees to begin reconsidering the
court’s abortion rights land-
scape.
In the coming months, the
court will examine whether the
state’s 2014 law requiring doctors
at abortion clinics to have admit-
ting privileges at nearby hospi-
tals unduly burdens women’s ac-
cess to abortion. Practitioners
have said the law would force
most of Louisiana’s abortion clin-
ics to close, leaving only one
doctor eligible to perform the
procedure.
It is almost identical to a Texas
law struck down by the Supreme
Court in 2016. Now-retired jus-
tice Anthony M. Kennedy joined
the court’s four liberals to form a
majority in what was its most
BY TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
President Trump conceded Fri-
day that Democrats had enough
votes to impeach him, but he sug-
gested that Speaker Nancy Pelosi
hold a House vote to formally
begin an inquiry to force a Senate
trial on whether to remove him
from office.
“They’ve taken away our
rights,” Trump told reporters Fri-
day, as he capped a tumultuous
week when new revelations about
his administration’s dealings with
Ukraine emerged each day.
“They’re all in line. Because even
though many of them don’t want
to vote, they have no choice. They
have to follow their leadership.
And then we’ll get it to the Senate,
and we’re going to win.”
But even as Trump boasted of a
“very unified” Republican Party
that would protect him from con-
viction, some Republicans public-
ly broke ranks with him Friday. At
least two GOP senators and one
former administration official ex-
pressed uneasiness with Trump’s
efforts to encourage foreign gov-
ernments to investigate former
vice president and 2020 Demo-
cratic presidential candidate Joe
Biden.
Separately, intelligence com-
munity inspector general Michael
Atkinson met with lawmakers Fri-
day to discuss a whistleblower
complaint alleging abuse of power
by Trump. Atkinson, a Trump ap-
pointee, previously said that the
whistleblower “appeared cred-
ible” and that the complaint repre-
sented an “urgent concern” wor-
thy of Congress’s immediate atten-
tion.
And documents reviewed by
SEE IMPEACHMENT ON A
BY GREG MILLER,
PAUL SONNE,
GREG JAFFE
AND MICHAEL BIRNBAUM
By mid-May, the U.S. relation-
ship with Ukraine was unravel-
ing: The U.S. ambassador had
been recalled home for no appar-
ent reason, the country’s new
president was anxious about U.S.
support, and President Trump’s
personal lawyer was hawking
Kiev conspiracy theories.
Amid this turbulence, an unex-
pected figure stepped forward to
assert that he was now in charge
of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. am-
bassador to the European Union,
had no apparent standing to seize
this critical portfolio, nor any ap-
parent qualifications as a diplo-
mat beyond the $1 million he’d
given to Trump’s inauguration.
But when some in the White
House and State Department
sought to block his power grab,
current and former U.S. officials
said, he rebuffed their demands to
know who had granted him such
authority with two words:
“The president.”
Over the next four months,
Sondland worked closely with
Kurt Volker, the U.S. special repre-
sentative for Ukraine, to reorient
America’s relationship with Kiev
around the president’s political
interests.
Newly released texts ex-
changed by Sondland, Volker and
other U.S. officials during this pe-
riod read like a government-sanc-
tioned shakedown. Again and
again, they make clear that
Ukraine’s new president, Volod-
ymyr Zelensky, would not get mil-
itary aid or the Oval Office invita-
tion he coveted until he commit-
ted to investigations that Trump
SEE UKRAINE ON A
Texts show
push to
strong-arm
Ukraine
Trump loyalist led coterie
of officials who pressed
Zelensky for probes
President says
House has votes
to impeach him
SEEKS VOTE TO FORMALLY LAUNCH INQUIRY
He touts ‘unified’ GOP as some in party break ranks
BY GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER,
LAURA VOZZELLA
AND SCOTT CLEMENT
richmond — Gun policy is the
top issue for Virginia voters just
one month before pivotal elec-
tions that will determine control
of the state legislature, according
to a Washington Post-Schar
School poll.
That could be a positive sign for
Democrats, who have seized on
gun control in the months since a
gunman killed 12 people at a Vir-
ginia Beach municipal building
on May 31. Three out of four voters
rate gun policy as a “very impor-
tant” issue in casting their ballots,
and majorities support proposals
pitched by the Democrats, includ-
ing statewide bans on assault
weapons and high-capacity am-
munition clips as well as limiting
gun purchases to one a month.
Overwhelming majorities fa-
vor expanding background
checks and “red flag” laws allow-
ing authorities to take weapons
away from someone deemed a
danger.
But the voters most concerned
about gun policy split almost
evenly between supporting Dem-
ocratic candidates, 47 percent,
and Republican candidates, 44
percent. Nearly every Republican
officeholder has opposed gun
control measures.
That signals that both sides of
the gun control debate are ener-
gized for the Nov. 5 elections,
when all 140 seats in the General
Assembly are on the ballot. Re-
publicans are defending thin ma-
jorities of 51 to 48 in the House of
Delegates and 20 to 19 in the
Senate, with one vacancy in each
chamber.
Like the majority of Virginians,
Steve Hunter supports certain
gun-control measures. He thinks
SEE POLL ON A
Va. voters motivated
by gun policy, poll finds
For justices, abortion case
signals a pivotal moment
Kurt Volker to Ukrainian aide Andrey Yermak: 8:36 a.m.
Aug. 9, 2019
Sept. 1, 2019
Sept. 9, 2019
Good lunch - thanks. Heard from White House — assuming President Z convinces
trump he will investigate / “get to the bottom of what happened” in 2016, we will nail
down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow- kurt
Gordon Sondland to Kurt Volker: 5:35 p.m.
[White House ocial Tim] Morrison ready to get dates as soon as Yermak confirms.
Gordon Sondland: 5:19 a.m.
e president has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. e president is
trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and
reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop
the back and forth by text.
5:46 p.m.
Gordon Sondland: 5:47 p.m.
Not sure i did. I think potus really wants the deliverable
Gordon Sondland: 12:42 p.m.
Call me
Bill Taylor 12:08 p.m.
Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on
investigations?
Bill Taylor 12:47 a.m.
As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with
a political campaign.
Kurt Volker:
Excellent!! How did you sway him? :)
July 25, 2019
Newly released texts by State Department ocials make clear that Ukraine would not get military
aid or a meeting with President Trump without committing to investigations into the 2016
election and an energy company that employed the son of Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden.
The beating heart A
tragic crime. A medical
breakthrough. A last chance
at life. Adapted from Gene
Weingarten’s upcoming book,
“One Day.” Magazine
Decade Influencers Lele
Pons, one of the people who
helped shape the culture of
the past decade, is a perfectly
generic, and successful,
online star. Arts & Style
Come sail away A 40-hour
low-key “mini-cruise” gives a
taste of the Baltics. In Peru,
learning to go with the flow
along the Amazon River on a
cargo ship. And avoiding the
swells and focusing on
wellness in Bermuda. Travel
THE NATION
Heart attack led to
Sanders’s hospitalization
Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, who was
released from a Las Vegas hospital
Friday, experienced chest pains at
a Tuesday campaign event.
Doctors found a blockage in one
artery and revealed Friday that he
had a myocardial infarction. A
THE WORLD
Iraqi security forces
open fire on protesters
A crackdown on anti-government
demonstrators has left at least
41 people dead and more than
1,600 wounded even as Grand
Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s most
influential Shiite cleric, backed
protesters’ demands. A
In Sunday’s Post Inside
ILLUSTRATION BY PATRIK SVENSSON
1
CONTENT © 2019
The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 304
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COMICS ............................................................. C
OPINION PAGES...............................................A
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OBITUARIES.......................................................B
TELEVISION ....................................................... C
WORLD NEWS..................................................A
$ 365
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Partly sunny 69/61 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 77/66 B6 Democracy Dies in Darkness S A T U R D A Y , O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9. $ 2
SEAN LOOSE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
JEAN-JACQUES LEVY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
An acclaimed pioneer
Diahann Carroll, seen in 1972, broke ground as the first black
woman to star in a nonservant role on a TV series. She died
Friday at 84. Obituary, B4, and Appreciation, C
BY CAROL D. LEONNIG,
SHANE HARRIS
AND JOSH DAWSEY
In one of his first calls with a
head of state, President Trump
fawned over Russian President
Vladimir Putin, telling the man
who ordered interference in
America’s 2016 election that he
was a great leader and apologiz-
ing profusely for not calling him
sooner.
He pledged to Saudi officials in
another call that he would help
the monarchy enter the elite
Group of Seven, an alliance of the
world’s leading democratic econ-
omies.
He promised the president of
Peru that he would deliver to his
country a C-130 military cargo
plane overnight, a logistical
nightmare that set off a herculean
scramble in the West Wing and
Pentagon.
And in a later call with Putin,
Trump asked the former KGB
officer for his guidance in forging
a friendship with North Korea’s
Kim Jong Un — a fellow authori-
tarian hostile to the United
States.
Starting long before revela-
tions about Trump’s interactions
with Ukraine’s president rocked
Washington, Trump’s phone calls
with foreign leaders were an anxi-
ety-ridden set of events for his
aides and members of the admin-
istration, according to former and
current officials. They worried
that Trump would make promises
he shouldn’t keep, endorse pol-
icies the United States long op-
posed, commit a diplomatic blun-
der that jeopardized a critical
SEE CALLS ON A
Trump’s calls
with leaders
have long
troubled aides
William B. “Bill” Taylor Kurt Volker Andrey Yermak Gordon Sondland
Under review: Ukraine prosecutor
will “audit” old Burisma cases. A
Poll: Virginia Gov. Northam’s image
has recovered since scandal. A
DOJ firepower: Department helps
Trump fight financial probes. A
IG in spotlight: Atkinson vowed
to protect whistleblowers. A
Trump as victim: Alternate reality
is spun as inquiry escalates. A