The Daily Moth 11-20-19
Highlights of Gordon Sondland’s impeachment testimony | Prosecutor dies after being shot by evidence gun | Red fox that bit five in New Jersey is killed | NTSB: “Redesign Boeing 737 NG” after death | Prince Andrew steps down from royal duties amid Jeffrey Epstein controversy
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Wednesday, November 20. Ready for news?
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Highlights of Gordon Sondland’s impeachment testimony
Here are some highlights of today’s impeachment testimony by the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Gordon Sondland. Many consider the testimony a “bombshell.”
Sondland said that President Trump directed him to work with Rudy Giuliani on matters involving Ukraine and said there was a quid pro quo that required Ukraine to investigate Burisma, the company that Joe Biden’s son Hunter worked in, before Trump would meet with the Ukrainian president Zelensky at the White House.
Sondland said when he eventually found out that security aid ($400 million) to Ukraine was suspended, he was opposed to it and did not understand why. He said he later on believed and understood that the military aid would resume if there was a promise by Ukraine to investigate Burisma.
Sondland said he and other diplomats did not want to work with Giuliani, but they were following the President’s orders and “played the hand that they were dealt.” He said he acted in good faith and did not think that he engaged in improper behavior.
He said that Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knew about the quid pro quo. However, he clarified that neither Trump or other top officials told him that the Ukraine aid was tied to the investigations.
Sondland said that he called Trump on September 9 and asked him what he wanted from Ukraine and that Trump said on the phone that he wanted nothing, no quid pro quo, and for him to tell Zelensky to do the right thing.
President Trump repeated what Sondland said by reading it from a large handwritten note that was captured by photographers. Trump said this specific testimony from Sondland means that it’s all “over.”
An analysis by The Washington Post said what Trump said in his call with Sondland on September 9 doesn’t have any real meaning because the whistleblower complaint was filed on August 12 and that on September 5, the Washington Post wrote an editorial that said the hold-up in security aid seemed to be tied to the investigations.
President Trump also said that he doesn’t know Sondland well. This is a conflict with what Trump said about him last month — he tweeted that Sondland was a really good man and a great American. Sondland donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and was appointed ambassador in 2018.
https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-hearing-gordon-sondland-testimony-81c3f2ad-4284-4c27-a760-7ddb5e526944.html
https://www.axios.com/gordon-sondland-trump-impeachment-opening-statement-25c69f9d-cd4c-4f6f-b831-92aa9c72adf7.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/20/sondland-pence-pompeo-trump-plan-pressure-ukraine-emails/4248107002/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/20/trumps-sweeping-rebuttal-sondlands-testimony-quoting-his-own-denials-quid-pro-quo/
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Prosecutor dies after being shot by evidence gun
On Monday afternoon, in Ixopo, South Africa, there was a freak accident when a well-known South African prosecutor, Addelaid Ferreira-Watt (51), was shot in her left hip when a loaded shotgun that was presented as evidence fell and discharged in a courtroom.
The court staff frantically tried to stop the bleeding. She was brought to a hospital, but died. She leaves behind a daughter.
A witness said that the firearm was evidence in the case of 5 men accused of robbing a couple on a farm in 2014.
The firearm was stolen in the robbery and was later recovered and returned to the couple on the farm.
Police did not keep the firearm as an exhibit pending the trial, because the couple needed it for protection. Instead, police collected the firearm from the couple on Monday.
One of the farmers said she told the police that she did not know if the shotgun was loaded or not.
There will be an investigation on the officer who was supposed to check the weapon to make sure it was not loaded.
South African police are investigating the possibility that whoever was responsible for the shotgun would be charged with culpable homicide, which means they are responsible for the victim’s death whether or not they intentionally caused it.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/lawyer-dies-after-being-shot-by-gun-presented-as-evidence-in-court/news-story/c11ad06eb53076a118b1a6b7a7b8a4ef
https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/top-npa-advocate-ferreira-watt-shot-by-police-officer-in-court-ipid-probing-accident-20191120
https://nypost.com/2019/11/20/prosecutor-killed-in-freak-accident-when-gun-goes-off-in-court/
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Red fox that bit five in New Jersey is killed
On Wednesday morning, police in New Jersey announced they killed a wild red fox that had attacked five people since Friday.
Three of the victims were sent to the hospital for bite wounds.
Officers initially thought the fox was already dead on Tuesday, but later found the fox alive near the New Jersey Transit railroad tracks. The fox tried to attack one of the officers and was “euthanized on the spot.”
State wildlife officials will test the animal to see if it had rabies.
According to New Jersey wildlife officials, red foxes are often found living in yards, parks and golf courses.
Foxes can carry contagious diseases including rabies, mange and distemper. Officials warn that humans should avoid any foxes that appear sick or are acting abnormally.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/fox-jersey-bit-hospital-killed-police/story?id=67138386
https://abc7ny.com/pets-animals/police-kill-fox-after-it-attacks-5-people-in-new-jersey-town/5707474/
https://nypost.com/2019/11/19/angry-fox-attacks-five-people-in-new-jersey-biting-spree/
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fox-in-new-jersey-that-bit-5-people-is-dead-police/ar-BBX3wGU?li=AA524b
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NTSB: “Redesign Boeing 737 NG” after death
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued their final report after their investigation on a passenger who died when a Southwest plane engine exploded 20 minutes after takeoff on April 2018.
The report includes 7 safety recommendations, one of which calls for Boeing to redesign the engine covers on all of their Boeing 737 NG aircraft.
When the engine fan blades break, the debris is supposed to be contained and eject out the rear of the engine, but the blade ended up piercing through the engine cover. The cover parts hit the fuselage of the aircraft; one part punctured a passenger window.
This caused a rapid depressurization in the plane and caused a passenger, Jennifer Riordan (43), who was sitting in a window seat near the engine, to be partially sucked out of the cabin.
Passengers and flight attendants were able to pull her back in and perform CPR on her, but she had already died on impact when her head hit the window when she was sucked out.
Riordan, a mother of two from New Mexico, was the first passenger killed in the United States on a commercial airplane in 9 years at the time.
The Southwest plane took off from LaGuardia International Airport in New York City and was headed towards Dallas when the engine exploded. It was forced to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport
The NTSB’s recommended redesign would impact 6,800 737 NGs currently in service and require months to complete, but it is up to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to decide whether or not Boeing would be required to follow these recommendations.
Southwest Airlines is currently operating on all Boeing 737 NGs.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/ntsb-calls-redesign-boeing-737-ng-part-woman/story?id=67143076
https://abcnews.go.com/US/plane-makes-emergency-landing-philadelphia/story?id=54530003
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2019/11/19/southwest-airlines-fatal-accident-ntsb-recommendations-boeing-engine-cover-fix/4238550002/
https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20191119.aspx
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Prince Andrew steps down from royal duties amid Jeffrey Epstein controversy
Britain’s Prince Andrew, who is the third child of Queen Elizabeth II, announced that he would step away from his royal duties because his “former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to his family’s work.”
Prince Andrew was criticized by many people in the U.K. after he gave a recent interview with BBC in which he answered questions about his friendship with Epstein. He admitted that he did not make good judgment in associating with him.
In the BBC interview, he denied that he had sex with an underage girl who was allegeldy trafficked by Epstein. That girl, now a woman, Virginia R. Giuffre, said Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 in 2001. There is a photograph of the two standing next to each other with Prince Andrew’s arm around her, but Prince Andrew said in the BBC interview that he has never met her.
Prince Andrew also denied that he did anything inappropriate when he visited Epstein in New York City in 2010. A video released by The Daily Mail showed a man that looks like Prince Andrew waving off a young woman who left Epstein’s house. Prince Andrew said that he was in New York City to cut off his contact with Epstein.
Many did not find Prince Andrew’s interview convincing, and after heavy criticism and scrutiny, he met with Queen Elizabeth II and “got permission to step away from his royal duties.”
Although Epstein died in a jail in New York City, there is still a federal investigation on those who might have been involved in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking and abuse of underage girls.
https://www.axios.com/prince-andrew-step-down-royal-duties-jeffrey-epstein-fb06f764-ebdd-4174-9b4f-97f1f5cad2cb.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/20/uk/prince-andrew-steps-back-intl-gbr/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1987812/Video-Jeffrey-Epstein-seen-leaving-place-New-York-girl.html
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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Convo [https://convo.click/2mVhM8h]
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Supported by:
Convo [https://convo.click/2mVhM8h]
Gallaudet University: [gallaudet.edu]