Bolton told aide to alert National Security Council lawyer over Ukraine meeting

FILE - Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

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Bolton told aide to alert National Security Council lawyer after meeting with Ukrainians about investigations: impeachment testimony
Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers investigating possible impeachment charges against President Trump on Monday that a July meeting with Ukrainian and U.S. officials about unspecified investigations left her and John Bolton, the former national security adviser, so concerned that he directed her to alert a lawyer in the National Security Council, Fox News confirmed. The meeting in question took place July 10, a little more than two weeks before President Trump's controversial call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Both Bolton and Hill, who were present at the meeting, had concerns about the conversation, she testified.

Hill, who exited the administration days before the July 25 phone call, testified on Monday for about nine hours in front of three House panels. The Wall Street Journal reported that those at the hearing took her comments to refer to the "investigation that could implicate Biden and his son." Click here for more on our top story.

In addition, Hill had high praise for ousted U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Yovanovitch, who herself testified before congressional lawmakers last Friday as part of the impeachment inquiry, was recalled from her ambassadorship in May by Trump, around the same time that Rudy Giuliani — Trump's personal attorney — pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate corruption allegations against Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was involved with the board of a gas company there.

Democratic presidential candidates chosen to participate in fourth debate;

Democratic dozen at fourth presidential primary debate will be a record-breaker
A really big stage is set the fourth round of Democrats' presidential primary debate Tuesday night. Twelve candidates have qualified, meeting the polling and fundraising criteria. That means the showdown tonight will be the largest in presidential primary history, topping the 11 Republicans who faced off in a primary debate in September 2015, according to political research from Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political newsletter and website.

The dozen Democratic White House contenders who made the cut are – in alphabetical order: former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; businessman and environmental advocate Tom Steyer; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Twelve candidates on the same stage at the same time could make for an unwieldy debate and a lot of jockeying for time and attention.  The debate will be held at Otterbein University, a liberal arts institution in Westerville, Ohio. The Democratic National Committee's media partners for the showdown are CNN and The New York Times. All eyes will be on Bernie Sanders, who just two weeks ago was rushed to the hospital when he suffered a heart attack.

Trump imposes sanctions on Turkey, threatens more severe penalties, to stop invasion into Syria
President Trump on Monday authorized sanctions and raised steel tariffs on Turkey and threatened more severe financial penalties if Ankara continued its military offensive in northern Syria launched the president decided to withdraw U.S. troops from the region more than a week ago. Trump also urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to negotiate a peaceful end to the violence is sending Vice President Mike Pence and White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien to lead a delegation to Turkey to seek a resolution to the conflict.

In addition, the president announced, U.S. troops in northeastern Syria will be withdrawn from the country as planned and redeployed “in the region to monitor the situation and prevent a repeat of 2014,” when the Islamic State made major territorial gains.

Trump mulls idea of lawsuit against CNN over recording of network 'bias'
President Trump on Monday floated a lawsuit threat against CNN over reports that the network’s president, Jeff Zucker, launched an internal bias campaign to undermine his presidency. In a tweet posted Monday evening, Trump said, “’Project Veritas-Obtained Undercover Videos Highlight Jeff Zucker’s (@CNN) Campaign To Destroy Trump. Videos Reveal @CNN’s BIAS!’ @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews Does this sound like a good, or even great, lawsuit?”

The president’s latest gripe with CNN comes after conservative activist group Project Veritas published undercover recordings from an alleged “whistleblower” that capture CNN employees casually confirming the network's anti-Trump bias and show Zucker telling top news executives to focus solely on impeachment even at the expense of other important news.

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James in action during a match against Brooklyn Nets at the NBA China Games 2019 in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 (Color China Photo via AP)

LeBron James calls Rockets' GM Morey 'misinformed' over Hong Kong tweet
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said Monday that Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was “misinformed” when he posted a tweet that kicked off a costly dispute between the NBA and its Chinese fans and sponsors. “I’m not here to judge how the league handled the situation. I just think that when you’re misinformed or you’re not educated about something – and I’m just talking about the tweet itself – you never know the ramifications that can happen,” James told reporters on Monday night back in Los Angeles. Click here for more on this story.
 
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COMING UP ON FOX NEWS, THIS WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16: Megyn Kelly to sit down with Tucker Carlson in her first TV interview since leaving NBC.

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SOME PARTING WORDS

Tucker Carlson says CNN has been liberal from the beginning, but it wasn't always "nakedly partisan." There is one person responsible for this - CNN President Jeff Zucker.
 
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 Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing on Wednesday morning.

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