AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Impeachment probe reaches into White House with new subpoena

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, the impeachment inquiry reached directly into the White House on Friday as Democrats subpoenaed officials about contacts with Ukraine and President Donald Trump signalled his administration would not co-operate.

The demand for documents capped a tumultuous week that widened the constitutional battle between the executive branch and Congress and sharpened the political standoff with more witnesses, testimony and documents to come.

Trump said he would formally object to Congress about the House impeachment inquiry, even as he acknowledged that Democrats “have the votes” to proceed. They’ll be sorry in the end, he predicted.

“I really believe that they’re going to pay a tremendous price at the polls,” Trump said.

But Democrats accused Trump of speeding down “a path of defiance, obstruction and coverup” and warned that defying the House subpoena would in itself be considered “evidence of obstruction” and a potentially an impeachable offence.

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Romney, Sasse break from GOP on Trump’s China remarks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Republican leaders were silent or supportive of President Donald Trump’s public call for another foreign government, China, to investigate his political foe, while a handful voiced concern that the president was trying to enlist a rival power in his reelection effort.

Several House and Senate leaders stayed mum Friday as Trump escalated the controversy that has fueled an impeachment inquiry and plowed through another norm of American politics. The quiet continued as House Democrats released a trove of text messages showing U.S. diplomats conducted a campaign to push Ukraine to investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to face Trump next November, and Biden’s son Hunter.

Foreign interference in elections has long been viewed as a threat to U.S. sovereignty and the integrity of democracy, and soliciting foreign help in an election is illegal.

But Trump found support in his willingness to openly challenge that convention. Vice-President Mike Pence made clear he backed the president and believes he is raising “appropriate” issues. Other allies agreed.

“I don’t think there’s anything improper about doing that,” GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said of Trump’s call on China to investigate the Bidens.

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Campaign: Sanders had heart attack, released from hospital

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had a heart attack, his campaign confirmed Friday as the Vermont senator was released from a Nevada hospital.

The 78-year-old was at a campaign event Tuesday when he experienced chest discomfort and was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a heart attack. The senator was transferred to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, where doctors inserted two stents to open up a blocked artery in his heart, according to a statement from the Las Vegas doctors.

The doctors, Arturo Marchand, Jr. and Arjun Gururaj, said the rest of his arteries were normal.

A blocked artery can cause a heart attack, which means that an area of the heart is suffering and in danger of damage because it’s not getting enough blood or oxygen. An artery-opening procedure like the one Sanders had, and placing stents, which are tiny scaffolds to keep the artery open, restores blood flow and helps prevent future problems.

The statements from Sanders and his doctors do not indicate whether his heart suffered any permanent damage, or the extent of any. The sooner blood flow is restored, the better the chance of survival without damage, which is why heart experts urge anyone thinking they might be having a heart attack to call 911.

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Iranian hackers said to target presidential campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — Microsoft said Friday that hackers linked to the Iranian government targeted a U.S. presidential campaign, as well as government officials, media targets and prominent expatriate Iranians.

Overall, the hackers attempted to penetrate 241 accounts — four successfully — though none of those penetrated was associated with presidential campaigns or current or past U.S. officials, Microsoft said. A company spokeswoman declined to identify those targeted, citing customer privacy.

Reuters and The New York Times reported that the attack targeted President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, but this could not be independently confirmed. But a review of publicly available internet records by AP showed that the Trump campaign’s official website is linked to Microsoft’s email service.

Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, said there was “no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted.”

Microsoft’s announcement is the latest sign that foreign governments are looking for ways to potentially disrupt the 2020 presidential election. U.S. intelligence officials have sounded the alarm about the risks for months.

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Without oversight, scores of accused priests commit crimes

Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses, an Associated Press investigation has found.

These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and day care centres. They foster and care for children.

And in their time since leaving the church, dozens have committed crimes, including sexual assault and possessing child pornography, the AP’s analysis found.

A recent push by Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. to publish the names of those it considers to be credibly accused has opened a window into the daunting problem of how to monitor and track priests who often were never criminally charged and, in many cases, were removed from or left the church to live as private citizens.

Each diocese determines its own standard to deem a priest credibly accused, with the allegations ranging from inappropriate conversations and unwanted hugging to forced sodomy and rape.

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Purdue opioid deal blasted as records show $13B to Sacklers

Attorneys general representing nearly half the states and lawyers for more than 500 local governments on Friday blasted the terms of Purdue Pharma’s offer to settle thousands of lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis in court filings that also said the company had funneled up to $13 billion to its controlling family.

Their legal filings said the tentative deal does not contain an admission of wrongdoing from members of the Sackler family, would not stop family members from future misconduct and wouldn’t force them to repay money “they pocketed from their illegal conduct.”

The documents say members of the Sackler family — one of the wealthiest in the U.S. — made $12 billion to $13 billion from Purdue, a higher amount than court records had previously given. The figure was in a sworn statement given last month by Jesse DelConte, a restructuring consultant for Purdue; an excerpt of his deposition did not specify over what time period those payments were made.

In a previous deposition, former Purdue chief executive Richard Sackler gave only a broad range — between $1 billion and $10 billion — that the family made from its signature painkiller, OxyContin.

Friday’s court filings object to Purdue’s request that all lawsuits against members of the Sackler family be halted as part of tentative settlement terms that are being considered in bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York. The family faces hundreds of lawsuits in state courts, including at least two dozen filed by state attorneys general.

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‘I think it’s crazy’: Takeaways of diplomats’ text messages

WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump’s contacts with Ukraine had not yet been made public. An impeachment inquiry by Democrats had yet to begin.

But the saga at the centre of it all was quietly unfolding in Washington, where two top diplomats catered to the president’s interests in a foreign investigation into a political rival.

Text messages released by House Democrats span a frenetic period from July to September, revealing new details about diplomatic efforts to commit Ukraine to an investigation into the 2016 presidential election and the family of Democratic rival Joe Biden.

The communications tell a story of diplomats striving to satisfy a president’s unorthodox foreign policy whims even as another conveys misgivings about the whole plan.

Some takeaways on the texts:

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Western governors: States not consulted on nuclear waste

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Western governors are disappointed that the U.S. Department of Energy didn’t consult their states’ nuclear waste experts before releasing a five-year plan for a nuclear waste facility in New Mexico, the governors say.

The Western Governors’ Association in a Sept. 30 letter to the Energy Department said the plan released in August for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could have benefited with contributions from the states concerning transportation and safety.

The underground repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico, typically referred to as WIPP, takes in plutonium-contaminated clothing, tools and other material generated at 22 sites across the nation involved in Cold War-era nuclear research and bomb-making.

Among those sites are the Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and the Hanford site in Washington state.

“Western Governors have a vested interest in the safety and functionality of WIPP, as its internal practices and regional shipping procedures affect the health and safety of citizens across the West,” states the letter signed by Oregon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.

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Hong Kong’s leader says mask ban necessary to quell violence

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s embattled leader insisted a new measure banning masks at rallies was not a move toward authoritarian rule or at the behest of the Chinese government, which signalled its approval shortly after she implemented the toughened response to quell four months of increasingly violent protests.

International observers worried, however, that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s use of the Emergency Ordinance — last invoked more than 50 years ago — could lead to harsher measures that would limit free expression in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The mask ban went into effect Saturday. Two activists filed legal challenges late Friday on grounds it would instil fear and curtail freedom of assembly, but a court denied their request for an injunction.

Lam announced the measure Friday afternoon as thousands of masked protesters crammed streets in the central business district and staged demonstrations in other areas of the city, shouting “Hong Kong people, resist!” They set fires and vandalized subway stations, prompting police to respond with tear gas.

An officer fired a single shot from his gun in self-defence after he was attacked by protesters in the northern Yuen Long district, said police spokeswoman Yolanda Yu. She said a man was wounded, but that police didn’t know exactly how he got shot. A police official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the news media, said the victim is 14. A Hospital Authority spokesman said the teen was in serious but not critical condition.

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Foltynewicz, Duvall lead Braves to 3-0 win over Cardinals

ATLANTA (AP) — When Mike Foltynewicz was summering in the minor leagues, it was hard to envision an October like this.

Yet there he was Friday, coming through when Atlanta needed it most.

Foltynewicz threw seven dominating innings, Adam Duvall hit a pinch-hit homer and the Braves evened the NL Division Series with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2.

After spending a good chunk of his summer at Triple-A Gwinnett, Foltynewicz has been a different pitcher since returning from the minors. He went 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA over his last 10 starts — a brilliant run that carried right into the post-season.

“Pretty special,” Foltynewicz said. “I really made sure to slow things down, to stay in my mechanics and make sure all my pitches were working like they were tonight. It was smooth sailing, so it was a lot of fun.”