Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Times

What we learned from the impeachment hearing

The first public testimony in the House’s impeachment investigation further implicated President Trump in a campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

William Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior State Department official, were the first of what is expected to be a parade of witnesses over the next 10 days. Some takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing:

• In a new detail, Mr. Taylor testified that one of his aides had overheard a phone call involving Mr. Trump and Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, in which the president asked about “the investigations.” When the aide asked about Mr. Trump’s thoughts on Ukraine, Mr. Sondland said the president cared more about “investigations of Biden.”

• Mr. Kent said that efforts to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine “were now infecting U.S. engagement with Ukraine, leveraging President Zelensky’s desire for a White House meeting.”

• Republicans dismissed Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kent, both veteran diplomats, as representatives of a “politicized bureaucracy” without firsthand knowledge of Mr. Trump’s actions.

Catch up: Our video covers the highlights of the five-hour hearing in about four minutes.

Quotable: “I am not here to take one side or another or to advocate for any particular outcome,” Mr. Taylor said. “My sole purpose is to provide facts.”

Closer look: Mr. Taylor, who did most of the talking, and the bow-tied Mr. Kent embodied the traditional Washington that Mr. Trump has rejected. Read more about the scene on Capitol Hill.

News analysis: “It was not clear that minds were changed,” our chief White House correspondent writes. “But whether or not voters were watching, history certainly was.”

Reaction: Mr. Trump said he had been too busy to watch the hearing but dismissed it as “a hoax.” He welcomed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to the White House, a month after the country’s incursion into Syria scrambled U.S. policy in the Middle East.

“The Daily”: Today’s episode is about the hearing.

Another angle: The drama in Washington is weakening Mr. Zelensky’s position as he seeks to end his country’s conflict with Russian-backed separatists.

“A lot of progress has been made, but the bottom line is that antimicrobial resistance is worse than we previously thought,” a C.D.C. official said. “Every 11 seconds someone in the United States gets a resistant infection and someone dies every 15 minutes.”

Related: Also on Wednesday, New York identified medical facilities that have treated patients with Candida auris, a fungus resistant to major medicines that has been spreading globally. It’s the first state to release such details.

Go deeper: Read our series about drug-resistant infections.

Student activists vs. Journalism 101

The campus newspaper at Northwestern University set off a firestorm for how it covered student protests — and then for apologizing. Student groups have boycotted The Harvard Crimson over how it handled a demonstration calling for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The flare-ups illustrate a growing tension at American universities between traditional journalistic practices and the demands of student activists. Student journalists are often caught in the middle.

Background: At most large colleges, students manage, write and publish newspapers independently. Some publications have faculty advisers, but students generally make the final decisions.

Quotable: “Everybody’s trying to figure out a solution and still be good journalists along the way,” said a Northwestern sophomore who covered the protest.

Another angle: The student body president at the University of Florida is under fire for using student fees to pay Donald Trump Jr. to speak on campus.

If you have some time, this is worth it

Tom Hanks is as nice as you think he is

What we’re reading: This five-part series from The Seattle Times about endangered orcas, which just won an international science journalism award. “It’s hard not to remember the orca mother who carried her dead calf around for more than two weeks,” writes Remy Tumin of the briefings team. “This explains — in breathtaking scale — the human impact.”

Now, a break from the news

Here’s why: The trade war has hurt manufacturing, but the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending. And thanks to a strong job market, Americans are still shopping.

To maintain U.S. growth, the Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates. That lifts stocks by encouraging borrowing and spending, and by making bonds less attractive.

Put it together and you get what Wall Street calls a TINA market — “there is no alternative.” If big economies outside the U.S. are in worse shape, and bonds don’t appeal, then there’s not much to invest in except American stocks.

One caution: Even as markets hit records, stocks aren’t exactly ripping higher, and Wall Street’s happy-go-lucky mood could evaporate in an instant. In August, all it took was an angry presidential tweet about China to send the market into a tailspin.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris and Anna

Thank you
Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and Chris Harcum provided the break from the news. Mohammed Hadi, our director of business news, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at [email protected].

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about the impeachment hearing.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: “German food puns are the ___!” (5 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Three cheers for Kirk Johnson, who retired from The Times on Tuesday after 38 years as a reporter and correspondent.