Tuesday, Oct 15, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering an interview with Hunter Biden to be broadcast this morning, the murder charge against a police officer in Fort Worth, and LeBron James’s criticism of an N.B.A. executive who upset China.

By Chris Stanford

Fiona Hill, President Trump's former adviser on Russia and Europe, on Capitol Hill on Monday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Bolton called Giuliani a ‘hand grenade’

Rudy Giuliani’s work to pressure Ukraine for information that could damage President Trump’s political opponents so alarmed John Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers.

That aide, Fiona Hill, testified privately to House impeachment investigators on Monday.

Three people who heard her testimony told The Times that Ms. Hill had quoted Mr. Bolton from another conversation: “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”

Background: Ms. Hill was the first former White House official to testify in the impeachment inquiry. She left her post before the July phone call in which Mr. Trump asked Ukraine’s president to investigate Democrats.

What’s next: Investigators are scheduled today to interview George Kent, a State Department official and Ukraine expert. This week is also the deadline for responses to document requests from figures including Mr. Giuliani, Vice President Mike Pence and the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. The White House has vowed not to cooperate.

The Daily: Today’s episode is about the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Civilians near Manbij, Syria, on Monday. The new fighting in the northern part of the country has displaced more than 160,000 people, according to the United Nations. Aaref Watad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Four questions about Syria’s future

President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops has turned a relatively stable part of Syria into a new battleground. Here’s what’s at stake:

• Who will control northeastern Syria?

• How will this turn out for the Kurds?

• How are civilians affected?

• Will ISIS come back?

Much is uncertain, but the answers to these questions will help determine the next stage of Syria’s eight-year war.

Kurdish-led fighters attempted today to retake a strategic border town from Turkish-led forces.

Yesterday: After essentially greenlighting Turkey’s incursion into Syria, Mr. Trump urged an immediate cease-fire during a phone call with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Trump also announced sanctions against Turkey.

News analysis: Mr. Trump’s reliance on his instincts and relationships led him to ignore the consequences of a move that has emboldened Russia, Iran and the Islamic State, our national security correspondent writes.

No ‘ethical lapse’ in Ukraine, Hunter Biden says

The son of Joe Biden acknowledged that he probably wouldn’t have been named to the board of a Ukrainian gas company if his last name weren’t “Biden,” but he rejected suggestions by President Trump that he and his father had engaged in wrongdoing.

Hunter Biden’s interview, to be broadcast this morning on ABC, comes hours before his father appears in the fourth Democratic presidential debate.

The details: The debate includes 12 candidates and is being hosted by The Times and CNN. Watch it live on our website beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, with real-time analysis from Times journalists.

Go deeper: We asked debate veterans what each candidate needs to do to succeed.

Want more? We’re ramping up our On Politics email newsletter to five days a week. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.

Deutsche Bank’s path to the top in China

A $4,254 bottle of French wine. Luxury golfing trips. Hiring the children of the well-connected.

Deutsche Bank has conducted a campaign of charming and enriching China’s political elite to become a major player in the country. Over 15 years, it used expensive gifts, nepotism and questionable consultants to do so.

Its strategy worked: By 2011, the German company was ranked as the top bank for managing initial public offerings in China.

How we know: Confidential documents prepared by the company and its lawyers were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with The Times as part of a joint investigation.

The details: The documents show that the bank’s top leadership was warned about the activity but did not stop it. Here are our key findings.

If you have 8 minutes, this is worth it

Climate change’s impact on wine

John Laurie for The New York Times

Wine producers around the world are working to keep their sensitive crops flourishing despite hotter summers, warmer winters and droughts. Above, a vineyard in Australia.

In the first of a four-part series, The Times’s wine critic, Eric Asimov, explores how the industry is adapting.

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Here’s what else is happening

Murder charge for officer: The Fort Worth police officer who fatally shot a woman through her bedroom window resigned before his arrest. The officer, Aaron Dean, had been with the department since April 2018.

LeBron James enters China fray: The Los Angeles Lakers star said he believed an N.B.A. executive’s choice to post about the Hong Kong protests could have endangered traveling players.

Violent meme from Trump allies: A video that showed a fake President Trump killing journalists and political opponents was played at a meeting of a pro-Trump group.

Robert Lyall/National Geographic

Snapshot: Above, the Nautilus, a research vessel, towing an underwater vehicle that was used to hunt for the airplane of Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937. An expedition to the South Pacific found no evidence of the plane, but the explorer and his crew haven’t given up.

In memoriam: Harold Bloom, a prodigious and best-selling literary critic, argued for the superiority of the Western canon (which his detractors noted was written mostly by white men). He died on Monday at 89.

Booker Prize winners: Britain’s most prestigious literary award was shared by Margaret Atwood, for “The Testaments,” and Bernardine Evaristo, for “Girl, Woman, Other.” The judges rebelled against the award’s rule on choosing just one winner.

Baseball playoffs: An 8-1 victory over the Cardinals means the Nationals can advance to their first World Series with another win today. In the American League, the Astros and Yankees play Game 3 of their series this afternoon.

Late-night comedy: Regarding Columbus Day, “There are 100 — maybe 500 — more deserving Italians we could be celebrating. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Marconi, Bon Jovi,” Jimmy Kimmel said. “Instead we honor a man whose gift to America was measles.”

What we’re reading: This Grist article about how Alaskans are experiencing climate change. Dodai Stewart, a deputy editor on the Metro desk, says it’s “a mix of data, experts and anecdotes, nicely woven into a story that is as alarming as it is informative.”

Now, a break from the news

Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food stylist: Simon Andrews.

Cook: You need only one pan for roasted chicken thighs with shallots and grapes. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Watch: In making “Lucy in the Sky,” starring Natalie Portman, Noah Hawley may be the first director to narrow his focus for a movie set in outer space.

Listen: John Zorn’s song cycle “Jumalattaret” pushed the new-music master Barbara Hannigan to her limit. Is the cycle unsingable, or perhaps a masterpiece in the making?

Read: Elton John’s memoir “Me” is a crowded book by a rock star who’s kept a lot to himself.

Smarter Living: Having a hobby lowers stress, increases life satisfaction and usually broadens social networks. In our guide to finding a hobby, an expert in work-life balance recommends finding room by thinking about free time in weeks rather than days.

And our Social Q’s column takes on the etiquette of public kissing.

And now for the Back Story on …

The Times’s debate moderator

Tonight, 12 Democratic candidates will appear in Ohio in the first presidential campaign debate that The Times has planned and hosted in more than a decade. CNN is co-hosting.

Our National editor, Marc Lacey, who will be one of the moderators, is a former White House, international and national correspondent. Here are a few highlights from his interview with our Reader Center.

Marc Lacey during a news meeting at The Times's headquarters in New York. Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

How did you find out you would help moderate?

My phone rang one recent night. I ignored it. It rang again. I ignored it again. The same call and no response continued a few more times right in the middle of the last presidential debate, which I was watching from home.

It turned out that it was Patrick Healy, our political editor. … Apparently there had been a meeting among the top Times brass in which various people were proposed for the Times moderator role.

When Pat asked me, I chuckled. It turns out he wasn’t joking.

How do you spend your time when you’re off duty?

I have a dog named Sandy who greets me at the end of each workday with so much enthusiasm that I forget all the hostile tweets I might have received that day. The debate’s going to be great, I have no doubt, especially to my labradoodle. To her, no matter what happens onstage, I will have won.

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

— Chris

Thank you
Melina Delkic helped compile today’s briefing. Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is on efforts to discredit the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Made a small, plaintive sound, as a cat (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The New York Times Company has been named a top company for women who work in technology, by AnitaB.org, a nonprofit dedicated to improving opportunities for women in the field.