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Top House Republicans accuse Schiff of preventing impeachment witness from answering certain GOP questions

House Republican leaders, in a fiery news conference Tuesday, said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was almost acting like a "lawyer" for a witness in the latest impeachment hearing and kept him from answering certain questions from Republican members.

Reps. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters that Schiff shut down a Republican line of questioning during a hearing with Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who serves as a director on the National Security Council (NSC). “When we asked [Vindman] who he spoke to after important events in July -- Adam Schiff says, 'No, no, no, we're not going to let him answer that question,"' Jordan said.

In an interview on "Hannity" on Tuesday, Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, accused Schiff of "coaching" Vindman and called the impeachment process under Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "unprecedented."

In his prepared opening statement, Vindman expressed concern over President Trump's request to have Ukraine investigate political opponents and said he did not know the identity of the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the House Democrats' formal impeachment inquiry. Click here for more on our top story.

Democrat says he won't back House impeachment resolution

House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a resolution to formalize their impeachment inquiry and adopt rules to govern the proceedings, but one Democratic lawmaker doubts he will support it. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J., said he hasn’t seen anything “impeachable” yet with President Trump and doesn't think he will vote to formalize an impeachment inquiry. “I would imagine that I’m not voting for it,” Van Drew told a reporter from NBC News.

Van Drew, who narrowly defeated his GOP rival in 2018 in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, has openly criticized impeachment, saying it would further divide the country and put members of his party at risk in the 2020 elections. He is among a handful of Democrats who continue to lean away from a formal push for impeachment despite ongoing depositions of witnesses by three House committees spearheading the probe.

'An act of God': Getty Fire in LA sparked by falling tree branch on power lines, officials reveal

The Getty Fire in Los Angeles, which has destroyed a dozen homes and forced many people -- including some celebrities -- to escape the area, was sparked by a tree branch that fell on top of power lines and ignited nearby brush, officials said Tuesday. "This was, simply put in plain parlance, an act of God," Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a news conference.

Garcetti stressed that the blaze was not the result of faulty equipment. Utilities in the state have come under scrutiny from customers and public officials in recent years for their roles in several massive wildfires.

Still, firefighters battling the Getty blaze received a small bit of good news Tuesday. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, one of many Southern California residents forced to leave their homes this week, sent a taco truck to feed first responders. Click here for more.

Ilhan Omar votes 'present' on bill condemning Armenian genocide

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Tuesday refused to support a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, saying it was important first to condemn the preceding "mass slaughter" of "hundreds of millions of indigenous people," as well as the "transatlantic slave trade."

Omar, in a statement explaining her vote of "present" on the resolution, also seemingly suggested that the century-old mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks may not have occurred at all. Click here for more.

Nationals top Astros 7-2, force Game 7 in World Series

Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg took a gem into the ninth inning and Juan Soto ran all the way to first base with his bat following a go-ahead home run, the same way Houston Astros slugger Alex Bregman did earlier. Yep, these Nationals have matched the Astros pitch for pitch, hit for hit, win for win — even home run celebration for home run celebration.

Adam Eaton and Soto hit solo homers off Justin Verlander in the fifth, Anthony Rendon also went deep and drove in five runs, and the Nationals beat the Astros 7-2 Tuesday night to tie the World Series at 3-3. Verlander dropped to 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven Series starts, a blemish on his otherwise sterling career. Now, it's onto a winner-take-all Game 7 Wednesday night in Houston. - The Associated Press

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Jared Kushner slams Joe Biden, claims he's been cleaning up 'messes' ex-VP left behind.

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SOME PARTING WORDS

Tucker Carlson argues it is still not clear what "high crime" President Trump allegedly committed to justify House Democrats' formal impeachment inquiry.

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing on Thursday morning.

