Month: November 2019

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The impeachment testimony transcripts

• House Democrats released the full transcripts of closed-door depositions with witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. They corroborate what we already know: There was a quid pro quo. [Vox / Lauren Katz]
• Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU and Trump donor, revised his previous testimony to say that — yep — there was a quid pro

As the trial of Roger Stone stretched into its fourth day on Friday, prosecutors called their biggest name yet to the witness stand: Steve Bannon.

The former White House chief strategist and Trump campaign CEO stressed that he was appearing under a subpoena, rather than voluntarily. “I have been compelled to testify,” he said.

But he proceeded to explain that, in 2016, Stone suggested to him several times “that he [Stone] had a relationship with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.”

All this relates to the government investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Part of that interference, special counsel Robert …

Former National Security Council official Fiona Hill gave an account of a tense White House meeting that’s key to the impeachment inquiry, in a deposition transcript released Friday.

At this July 10 sit-down between Trump administration officials and Ukrainian officials, Hill said, Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland “blurted out” that there was an agreement: Ukraine’s president would get a meeting with President Donald Trump, if Ukraine agreed to launch certain investigations.

Hill testified that National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted very badly to this — first ending the meeting, and later telling her, in rather colorful terms, to …

It looks like Michael Bloomberg might be running for president after all.

The 77-year-old billionaire philanthropist, media magnate, and former New York City mayor hasn’t officially announced that he plans to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for the White House. In March, he said he would sit the race out. But he appears to have changed his mind in the face of the rise of progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the perceived weakness of the more centrist Joe Biden.

On Thursday, the New York Times first reported that Bloomberg is flirting with the idea of a presidential …

Vaping was introduced into the US market as a tool for helping adult smokers quit. But that’s not who has been buying e-cigarettes in mass.

The latest survey data on adolescent e-cigarette use, published this week in JAMA, shows another year-on-year surge in nicotine e-cigarette use among teens.

According to the survey findings, 28 percent of high school students reported using nicotine e-cigarettes in the past 30 days this year — up from just over 20 percent in 2018. Among middle schoolers, that rate rose from 5 percent in 2018 to 11 percent in 2019. The figures are “particularly …

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

A Trump rule loses in court — for now

• A federal judge blocked a new rule by the Trump administration that would allow medical providers to deny patients procedures if it violated the provider’s religious or moral convictions. [Wall Street Journal / Stephanie Armour]
• Citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York district judge ruled that the “conscience provision”

Peter Thiel’s troubled venture capital firm, Mithril Capital, has become embroiled in lawsuits and countersuits full of explosive claims that air the kind of dirty laundry Silicon Valley typically keeps inside the house.

In the months following Recode’s reporting about problems at Mithril Capital — including a federal investigation from the FBI and other agencies over concerns of financial misconduct — things have only gotten messier for the firm. On Thursday, Mithril’s former general counsel, Crystal McKellar, filed a lawsuit against the firm alleging that Mithril had retaliated against her with a lawsuit it had filed against McKellar last month.…

Now that it tastes like (or close to) the real thing, meatless meat has become mega-popular. You no longer need to choose between your desire to enjoy a delicious burger and your desire to spare animals or the environment from harm. That’s thanks, in large part, to two companies.

Beyond Meat has been selling its plant-based meat products in restaurants like Subway and Denny’s and grocery stores like Whole Foods. Its competitor, Impossible Foods, has snagged major deals with restaurant chains like Burger King, but it was long locked out of the retail market as one of its …

Of all the states in the US, Colorado may be the best prepared for a genuine, large-scale energy transition.

For one thing, thanks to its bountiful sunlight and wind, Colorado has enormous potential for renewable energy, most of which is untapped. The state currently generates only 3 percent of its electricity from solar and just under 18 percent from wind.

The political climate is favorable as well. As of earlier this year, Democrats have a “trifecta” in the state, with control over the governorship and both houses of the legislature. Gov. Jared Polis campaigned on a promise to target …

When inventor Frederick Banting discovered insulin in 1923, he refused to put his name on the patent. He felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a discovery that would save lives. Banting’s co-inventors, James Collip and Charles Best, sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1. They wanted everyone who needed their medication to be able to afford it.

Today, Banting and colleagues would be spinning in their graves: Their drug, which many of the 30 million Americans with diabetes rely on, has become the poster child for pharmaceutical price gouging. …