Here is the latest news from The Associated Press at 8:40 p.m. EST

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Career State Department official George Kent told House impeachment investigators that President Donald Trump wanted to hear three words from the Ukraine president: investigations, Biden and Clinton. That's according to a transcript released Thursday. Kent testified that he was told to "lay low" on Ukraine policy as the Trump administration and the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were interacting with Ukraine outside of regular foreign policy channels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say a senior State Department envoy has written a highly critical assessment of the Trump administration's abrupt withdrawal of troops from northeast Syria. Two officials familiar with the matter say the internal memo by the top American diplomat in northern Syria takes the administration to task for not doing enough to prevent the Turkey's invasion of the region and protect U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters there.

LA MORA, Mexico (AP) — With security tight, a small community in Mexico has laid to rest a mother and two sons _ victims of the drug cartel ambush that killed nine American women and children. It is the first funeral to come out Monday's tragedy. The three dead were buried in a single grave in hand-hewn pine coffins.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, is opening the door to a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, warning that the current field of candidates is ill equipped to defeat President Donald Trump. Bloomberg hasn't made a final decision on whether to jump into the race. But if he does, it could dramatically reshape the Democratic contest less than three months before primary voting begins. The 77-year-old Bloomberg had said in March that he wouldn't run for president.

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge in New York ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his charitable foundation. Judge Saliann Scarpulla on Thursday also signed off on an agreement to close the Trump Foundation and distribute about $1.7 million in remaining funds to other nonprofit groups. Trump called the lawsuit "politically motivated harassment."