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In the day's other news: The Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates for the third
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time this year, in a bid to strengthen the economy.
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The quarter-point cut was expected.
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But Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that further reductions are on hold.
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JEROME POWELL, Federal Reserve Chairman: I have given you a sense of what our outlook
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is.
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It's for moderate growth, a strong labor market, and inflation near our 2 percent objective.
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If something happens to cause us to materially reassess that outlook, that's what would cause
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us to change our views on the appropriate stance of policy.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: The Central Bank had raised rates four times last year.
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On impeachment, there was new fallout from Tuesday's testimony by an Army lieutenant
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on the White House National Security Council staff.
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Alexander Vindman was on the July phone call between President Trump and the president
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of Ukraine.
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In his closed-door deposition, Vindman said the White House summary of the call omitted
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references to former Vice President Biden and corruption in Ukraine.
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Reaction today broke mostly down party lines.
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SEN.
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LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I have read the transcript.
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And if you add his corrections, it doesn't change anything for me.
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There were a lot of people on the call, and these are the only corrections I have seen.
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And, to me, they're -- they don't change the substance at all.
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SEN.
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RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL): What he's raised, though, is an important issue.
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And that is whether or not the summary of the transcript is complete.
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And the fact that it went to a secret server very quickly tells me there are political
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forces at work here that didn't want the world to see what was in the amended transcript.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, U.S. House impeachment investigators asked former National Security
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Adviser John Bolton to testify next week.
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Committees conducting the inquiry heard today from two Foreign Service officers.
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They hear tomorrow from Tim Morrison, the top Russia expert on the National Security
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Council staff.
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A senior administration official tells the "NewsHour" late today that Morrison has resigned
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ahead of his deposition, but that he -- quote -- "has been considering doing so for some
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time."
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The number two official at the State Department says that he doesn't know of any attempts
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by President Trump to have Ukraine investigate the Bidens.
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Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan testified today at his Senate confirmation hearing to
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be the ambassador to Russia.
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He said he was unaware of any pressure on Ukraine.
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But New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez pressed the point.
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SEN.
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ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Do you think it's ever appropriate for the president to use
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his office to solicit investigations into domestic political opponents?
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JOHN SULLIVAN, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Nominee: Soliciting investigations into a domestic
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political opponent, I don't think that would be in accord with our values.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: Sullivan said he had known that Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal
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lawyer, worked to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from her post.
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Marie Yovanovitch was recalled last March.
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Sullivan said he didn't think that she had done anything wrong.
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The Pentagon today released video of the Saturday raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu
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Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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The images show Special Forces assaulting his compound in Northwestern Syria.
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Later, bombs destroyed the site.
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U.S. officials say that al-Baghdadi blew himself up, and two children died with him.
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They initially had said that three children were killed.
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In Syria, state-run media report that government troops have clashed with Turkish forces in
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Northeastern Syria.
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It happened near Ras al-Ayn.
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That's a town that Turkey seized from Syrian Kurdish-led forces this month.
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Meanwhile, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that some Kurdish fighters are
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still in a so-called safe zone along the border.
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He warned them to withdraw, or face a new Turkish assault.
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Facebook says that it has removed dozens of pages and accounts that were part of a Russian
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disinformation campaign in Africa.
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The company says they were linked to a Russian oligarch accused of interfering in the 2016
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U.S. presidential election.
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And in Washington, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a congressional hearing that Russia
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means to meddle again in next year's election.
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CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI Director: Some of the things that the Russians have tried in other
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countries, we expect them to try to do here as well, which puts the premium on the point
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that I was making before about our working with -- on the foreign influence side, working
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with the social media companies in particular to really get them to keep upping their game
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as part of the defense.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: In its announcement, Facebook said that it took down nearly 200 accounts,
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with more than one million followers, across eight African nations.
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Twitter announced today that it will ban all political advertising on its service starting
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November 22.
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The company said that such ads on social media make it too easy to spread messages.
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By contrast, Facebook said this month it will not fact-check political ads.
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Chicago and its teachers union may have a deal to end a school strike.
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The union says that it will submit a tentative agreement to its members tonight if the city
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agrees to make up lost school days.
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Teachers have been on strike 10 days, demanding better pay and smaller classes.
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And on Wall Street, stocks got a bit of a bump from the Fed's interest rate cut.
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The Dow Jones industrial average gained 115 points to close at 27186.
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The Nasdaq rose 27 points, and the S&P 500 added nearly 10.
