nightly brief

Top CNS stories for today including the Senate confirmed a controversial White House lawyer to a seat on the Second Circuit and flipped the makeup of New York-based appeals court; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Donald Trump of “bribery,” a deliberate reference to conduct held up in the Constitution as an impeachable offense; The European Investment Bank voted to stop funding fossil fuel projects despite opposition by some countries, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee kicked off the long-awaited open hearings in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry with the stark message that democracy hangs in its balance; Two nominees to the federal bench in California received a warm welcome in the Senate Judiciary Committee; The U.K. Parliament race is being defined by tactical voting and electoral pacts over Brexit, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including hundreds of protesters set up rainy camp in front of the Supreme Court as the justices dived into President Donald Trump’s abrupt abandonment of a program that protects qualifying young immigrants from deportation; A former campaign aide testified that Roger Stone told then-candidate Donald Trump in July 2016 that WikiLeaks would release documents hacked by Russians in the months leading up to the election; President-elect Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission took a step forward Tuesday with the initial approval of three commissioners, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a new transcript from impeachment investigators quotes the acting White House Chief of Staff as saying Ukraine would have to open investigations sought by President Donald Trump as a condition for Ukraine’s president getting a White House visit; Alan Dershowitz brought counterclaims against the prominent lawyer for two of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers before the ink on the lawyer’s defamation suit was even dry; The United Nations’ highest court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear claims that Russia illegally financed separatist groups in eastern Ukraine, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment that charges a Long Island tech company with rebranding Chinese-made security equipment as “Made in the U.S.A.” before selling them to the U.S. military; President Donald Trump has now filled a quarter of the seats on federal appeals courts in the United States; The European Union’s expansion into the Balkans is stalling and that’s prompting policymakers and experts to warn that the region may turn to Russia, China and Turkey for trade and military protection, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to let medical workers refuse services based on their religious beliefs and moral objections; The House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump released the full transcript of a top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine saying he understood military aid hinged on Ukraine announcing investigations sought by Trump; The Justice Department told a federal jury that Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone lied to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in order to protect the president, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a newly released transcript shows U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told Ukraine officials the country would not receive military aid unless it agreed to launch investigations sought by President Donald Trump; Europe’s highest court overruled Poland’s attempt to force women out of the judiciary sooner than their male counterparts; America’s trade gap with all countries fell 4.7% to a five-month low while the closely watched deficit with China also edged down, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Second Circuit refused to block New York’s subpoenas of President Donald Trump’s accounting firm; The White House formally notified the United Nations it plans to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement; European countries are coming under more pressure to take back and prosecute their citizens who left to fight for the Islamic State, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke officially dropped out of the Democratic presidential race; California will draft a plan to take over Pacific Gas and Electric’s operations if it cannot compensate fire victims and emerge from bankruptcy by June 2020; President Donald Trump and British politician Nigel Farage joined forces to push Prime Minister Boris Johnson into backing an even more hardcore Brexit strategy, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the House of Representatives brought President Donald Trump one step closer to facing impeachment Thursday as lawmakers voted in favor of a resolution that outlines precisely how the inquiry will unfold in the coming weeks and months; Wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds raged across Southern California for a fourth day; A German court shot down a lawsuit brought by three farming families accusing the government of not doing enough to halt climate change, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including former Exxon CEO and ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified in court that the energy giant’s leaders sought a full understanding of how new climate regulations would affect its bottom line; Congress showered bipartisan support on the nominee tapped to serve as watchdog of the Environmental Protection Agency; Two of President Donald Trump’s picks for the Ninth Circuit endured a contentious nomination hearing in the Senate, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump marched another step forward as House Democrats published a resolution to formalize the inquiry and set additional standards about how public hearings and interviews will be conducted; Former California Governor Jerry Brown railed against the Trump administration’s decision to roll back Obama-era fuel economy standards on cars; The agonizing political deadlock over Brexit may be nearing an end after the House of Commons called a snap election in December, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Justice Department took early appeal steps after a federal judge upheld the legality of the impeachment inquiry led by Congress into President Donald Trump; Another California wildfire sparked in Los Angeles and is threatening multimillion-dollar homes and the Getty Center arts complex; The uncertainty over Brexit could drag on past the end of January, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge in Washington approved the release of secret material from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury; A Dutch journalist was released from jail after being held in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions about a source; Virtually the entire continent of South America is in the throes of drama unseen for a generation, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Senate Judiciary Committee approved four of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, including picks for the Ninth and Second Circuits; Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren landed atop two state polls and a national survey of Democrats; Europe’s highest court clobbered France for nearly a decade’s worth of what it called systematic and persistent pollution violations, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California claiming the state’s cap-and-trade agreement with the Canadian province of Quebec violates the constitutional principle that the federal government alone can conduct foreign policy; A new poll shows a surging former Vice President Joe Biden has recaptured a double-digit lead over his Democratic rivals in the race for the White House; President Donald Trump claimed that a “permanent” ceasefire in Syria allows him to lift sanctions against Turkey, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a U.S. diplomat finally appeared before lawmakers to share what some described as the most impactful insights yet to emerge from depositions regarding the quid pro quo at the heart of the President Donald Trump impeachment inquiry; A new poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden holds a slim national lead over his 2020 Democratic rivals; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered another defeat in Parliament over his Brexit strategy, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including three drug distributors and one manufacturer reached a $260 million settlement to avoid a highly anticipated bellwether trial over the nationwide opioid epidemic; Facebook announced a new initiative aimed at combating disinformation campaigns on its platform; Environmentalist parties made historic gains in Swiss parliamentary elections, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the clock for outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry to answer a House subpoena is running down; The Supreme Court agreed to hear an existential challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; A trade conflict between the United States and Europeans got uglier after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on an array of European goods, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that President Donald Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to solicit an investigation and also said next year’s G-7 summit will be held at Trump’s golf resort in Miami; The United States and Turkey announced a five-day ceasefire in the invasion of Syria by Turkish forces that has resulted in the slaughter of Kurdish fighters; The British Parliament is set to vote on whether to support a deal struck between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union that would allow the United Kingdom to leave the EU in an orderly fashion on Oct. 31, and more.