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Walmart to halt sale of some ammunition in stores across the US – live
Trump administration to move $3.6bn in military funds to build border wall – live
(about 4 hours later)
Democratic presidential candidates have started releasing statements on Walmart’s decision to end the sale of certain kinds of ammunition.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the plan to reallocate military funds.
Beto O’Rourke expressed gratitude for Walmart’s move but warned that much more sweeping action still needed to be taken to mitigate gun violence.
“The Administration’s irresponsible decision to transfer funds from appropriated U.S. military construction makes America less safe and dishonors the Constitution,” she wrote in a statement. “The President is negating the Constitution’s most fundamental principle, the separation of powers.”
This is a step in the right direction—and I'm grateful Walmart has taken action—but we can't rely on corporations to stop gun violence. We need universal background checks, we need red flag laws, and we need to buy back every single assault weapon. https://t.co/m8fr3qzZcx
Trump initially decided to declare a national emergency in order to procure funding for his border wall after Congress refused to provide the resources he wanted.
After this weekend’s shooting in his home state of Texas, the former congressman repeatedly slammed the lack of action on gun control as “fucked up.”
Both legislative houses passed a resolution to block his emergency declaration, which Trump, in turn, vetoed.
Cory Booker also released a statement applauding the activists and employees who pushed Walmart to reconsider its policies.
The Trump administration is reallocating $3.6 bn in military construction funds for border wall projects.
“When people work together and demand change, change can happen,” Booker said. “This decision by Walmart only happened because employees and activists have been unrelenting in their fight to combat gun violence at every level.
The money would be redirected from construction projects within and outside the US to fund 11 projects along the US border with Mexico. In February, Trump declared a national emergency in order to divert various federal funds to border wall construction. Later, he vetoed legislative efforts to block the emergency declaration.
“I’m encouraged to see Walmart doing the right thing here, and I’m hopeful that this activism proves to politicians that Americans want better standards for gun ownership in this country.”
New York senator Chuck Schumer said the move was “a slap in the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country.” Schumer was told that some of the money would be reallocated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in his home state.
Walmart’s decision comes after multiple gun-related incidents at the company’s stores sparked demands that executives reconsider policies on firearm sales.
It is a slap in the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country that @realDonaldTrump is willing to cannibalize already allocated military funding to boost his own ego, and for a wall he promised Mexico would pay to build. https://t.co/sv2ys87bw1
The El Paso shooting, which left 22 people dead, occurred at a Walmart store last month. Less than a week after that tragedy, a man entered a Missouri Walmart wearing body armor and carrying a loaded military-style rifle.
The Trump administration has issued sanctions against Iran’s space agency. In a statement, secretary of state Mike Pompeo accused the agency it of developing ballistic missiles under the cover of a civilian space program.
No one was injured in the second incident, and the suspect said he was only interested in conducting a “social experiment” to see if Walmart would respect his right to bear arms.
On Thursday, a rocket at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center exploded due to what an Iranian official said was a technical malfunction. Trump tweeted a photo of the failed launch and said the US had nothing to do with it, prompting concerns that he disclosed classified information.
He was later arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat.
From the AP:
Further to Mitch McConnell’s statement early comes big news from Walmart, which has said it will discontinue sales of some ammunition in stores across the US, in response to recent mass shootings that have killed dozens.
Officials said the move was not directly related to last week’s explosion but that the surveillance image provided evidence of the U.S. assertion that the Iranian space program is used to develop missiles, including ones capable of carrying nuclear warheads or other weapons of mass destruction over long distances.
On 3 August, a gunman killed 22 people and injured 24 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Early the next day, nine people were killed and more than 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
The sanctions are part of the Trump administration’s escalating campaign of economic and diplomatic measures against Iran since unilaterally withdrawing last year from an international accord that was intended to curb the Iranian nuclear program.
“As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week, and we will never be the same,” chief executive Doug McMillon said in a letter to Walmart’s associates.
North Carolina’s state political maps are so badly gerrymandered to benefit republicans that they violate the state’s constitution, a panel of judges ruled. State lawmakers must redraw the maps ahead of the 2020 election, without taking into account any data about election results.
Another mass shooting happened in Odessa, Texas on Saturday. Seven people were killed, keeping a political spotlight on the issue of gun control reform and legislative inaction in Washington.
The ruling would only affect statewide elections — they wouldn’t affect how members of the national House of Representatives are elected. Still, this outcome is heartening for activists looking to challenge partisan gerrymandering. In June, the US Supreme Court declined to block the practice.
Texas shooting: tributes flow as portraits of the victims emerge
The current legislative maps in North Carolina were redrawn by republicans in 2017 to replace previous maps, drawn in 2011, which were also ruled unconstitutional because they looked to shrink democratic voters’ influence on elections distorting district lines.
Here’s a taste of Reuters’ report on the Walmart decision, which points out that this is a major switch from the retail giant’s past reactions to such shootings:
That’s it from me today. I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, for the next few hours.
Walmart will stop selling short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber after clearing current stock. While this type of ammunition is commonly used in some hunting rifles, they are also used in large capacity clips on military style weapons, the company said.
The largest US arms retailer also said it would discontinue handgun sales in Alaska, the only state where it sells these guns. Sales of handgun ammunition will also be discontinued, it said.
… Just last month, Walmart asked employees at its US stores to take down signs and playable demos of violent video games, but made no changes to its policy on selling firearms.
…The retailer, however, said it would continue to cater to hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts, selling long barrel deer rifles and shotguns.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Trump once again attacked Sadiq Khan after the London mayor criticized the president’s handling of Hurricane Dorian. (Trump spent a few hours at one of his golf courses yesterday as he received briefings on the storm.)
Walmart announced it would no longer sell handguns or certain kinds of ammo after a series of gun-related incidents at the company’s stores — most notably last month’s mass shooting in El Paso that claimed 22 lives.
Dorian has been downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, but it has expanded in size, posing an increased threat to the Carolinas.
Mitch McConnell said he would not consider a gun bill in the Senate unless Trump had already expressed support for it, leading to accusations of “cowardice” by Democratic presidential candidates.
After yet another mass shooting, Mitch McConnell appeared noncommittal about taking up a gun bill in the Senate, saying any potential measure would have to have the pre-approval of Trump.
Reports indicate the shooter in Odessa, Texas, obtained his gun through the private sale loophole, which House Democrats have passed a bill to close. (Trump has said he would veto the bill.)
House Democrats intend to hold hearings as soon as next month on Trump’s alleged involvement in a scheme to pay for the silence of women who say they had affairs with the married president before he took office.
Trump once again attacked Sadiq Khan after the London mayor criticized the president’s handling of Hurricane Dorian. (Trump spent hours at his Virginia golf club yesterday while receiving updates on the storm.)
Joe Biden downplayed reports that he has repeatedly told a false war story on the campaign trail, arguing that “details are irrelevant” to one’s leadership abilities.
New images show the extent of Dorian’s devastation in the Bahamas. Follow the Guardian’s live blog to get the latest storm coverage.
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat of West Virginia, said he would not run for governor and instead focus on how he can enact change in his current office.
House Democrats plan to hold hearings as soon as next month on Trump’s alleged involvement in a hush-money scheme to silence women who say they had affairs with the married president before he assumed office.
The blog is covering all of Trump’s tweets toward political enemies and (much more importantly) the potentially catastrophic storm hurtling toward Florida, so stay tuned.
Maanvi will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.
Two more Democratic presidential candidates, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar, have released their climate plans in advance of CNN’s town hall tomorrow.
Beto O’Rourke accused Mitch McConnell of “cowardice” after the Senate majority leader said he would not take up any gun bill unless it already had Trump’s backing.
We’re facing a dual crisis of climate change and economic inequality—and without immediate action, the toll is unimaginable. But this is a fight I know we can win.Read my plan to combat climate change here: https://t.co/xk15EskiLx
What’s the point of your office and your branch of government if you have to wait for permission from the president to act? This is not leadership, it’s cowardice. https://t.co/b7eTHokw8n
Booker called for spending $3 trillion to further develop clean energy and aid areas already affected by the climate crisis, with the hope of having a carbon neutral economy by 2045.
O’Rourke has consistently deployed tough language since his hometown of El Paso lost 22 community members in last month’s mass shooting. Shortly after that tragedy, O’Rourke snapped at a reporter who asked about whether Trump could do anything to improve the situation, “I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the fuck?”
Klobuchar said she would restore several of Barack Obama’s climate proposals, including the Clean Power Plan, and use her $1 trillion investment in infrastructure to help develop a green economy. She set a more modest timeline of 2050 for the US economy to become carbon neutral.
The Democratic presidential candidate also repeatedly slammed the lack of action on gun control as “fucked up” after this weekend’s mass shooting in Odessa, Texas.
Both plans are less sweeping than some of their opponents’, such as Bernie Sanders’ proposal to spend $16 trillion to combat the climate crisis. But all three candidates, as well as seven others, will get the chance to defend their proposals during tomorrow’s seven-hour (yes, you read that right) town hall.
But O’Rourke has backed up the rhetoric with policy. His campaign has gone further than most of his opponents by proposing a mandatory gun buyback program for assault weapons.
In the wake of yet another mass shooting, Mitch McConnell said in an interview that he would only take up a gun bill in the Senate if Trump supports it.
Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana and a Democratic presidential candidate, cited the latest news about the Odessa shooter as evidence of the need to expand background checks.
“Well, we’re in a discussion about what to do on the gun issue in the wake of these horrendous shootings. I said several weeks ago that if the President took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I’d be happy to put it on the floor,” McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
I'm the Governor of a red state. I hunt. Real hunters support background checks. https://t.co/h4JBRhfDeO
He continued: “And the administration is in the process of studying what they are prepared to support, if anything. And I expect to get an answer to that next week. If the President is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it it’ll become law, I’ll put it on the floor.”
Bullock, who is in his second term as governor, has repeatedly relied on his red-state credentials to argue that he knows better than any of his opponents how to defeat Trump.
The Senate majority leader made the comments just three days after a mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, claimed seven lives. That attack came less than a month after the tragedies in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.
But that argument does not appear to be particularly resonating with the Democratic electorate. Bullock failed to qualify for the third debate and has not hit either the polling or donor requirements to participate in the next one.
Trump has repeatedly said he supports expanding background checks, but it’s unclear whether he would put his full political weight behind such a proposal. He has also reportedly been warned by his friends at the National Rifle Association that endorsing a background checks bill could alienate his base.
As more reactions to Walmart’s decision roll in, new details are simultaneously emerging about how the Odessa shooter obtained his gun.
The Democratic-controlled House has already passed two gun-control bills, which Trump and McConnell have declared non-starters. House Democrats intend to hold hearings on additional gun legislation next week, but it still seems unlikely that any law will come from these three shootings that collectively claimed dozens of lives.
The Saturday attack in Texas claimed the lives of seven people, but those deaths could have been prevented if not for a legal loophole that enforces lower restrictions for private gun sales.
A Trump appointee who started working at the Labor Department less than a month ago resigned just hours after Bloomberg Law raised questions about some anti-Semitic Facebook posts.
ABC News reports:
Bloomberg reports:
Authorities stated the suspect, Seth Ator, was considered a ‘prohibited person’ barred by law from purchasing or possessing a firearm because he was diagnosed as being mentally ill. It was further confirmed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said the shooter failed a background check.
[Leif] Olson, 43, started at the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division Aug. 12 as a senior policy adviser, after being cleared for the job by the White House. He was part of a team of political appointees working to finish a series of deregulatory actions that are pivotal to the White House employment agenda. They include rules that would narrow corporations’ shared liability with affiliated companies and clarify time-and-a-half overtime pay calculations.
According to federal and state sources, the private sale loophole allows the sale or purchase of any kind of weapon, including handguns and automatic rifles. The seller may not sell a weapon if he or she knows the buyer is flagged, but is under no obligation to do a background check or ask about the buyer’s status.
Olson, an unsuccessful GOP candidate in 2012 for a Texas district court judgeship, fired off a series of late-night posts on his personal Facebook page three years ago that started as a sarcastic quip about former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s blowout primary victory. They then devolved into an exchange referencing two anti-Semitic tropes: that Jews control the media and that they look out for members of their own faith.
One of the bills passed by the Democratic-controlled House would close this loophole by making all gun sales subject to background checks. But Trump has said he would veto that bill, and Mitch McConnell refuses to take up any gun legislation without the president’s support.
‘It was sarcastic criticism of the alt-right’s conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic positions,’ Olson said in an interview. He declined to respond to other questions about his resignation and the Facebook post, including whether he wishes to apologize or if he regrets his actions. The remark remained on his Facebook feed through the end of August.
The most powerful gun lobbying organization has responded to Walmart’s decision to end the sale of handguns and certain kinds of ammo. Spoiler alert: the group is not pleased.
Joe Manchin, West Virginia’s Democratic senator, has decided not to enter the gubernatorial race against incumbent Republican Jim Justice.
“The strongest defense of freedom has always been our free-market economy. It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites,” the National Rifle Association said in a statement. “Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America’s fundamental freedoms.” But other major chains, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, have also pulled back on their gun sales in the wake of mass shootings.
Justice has faced legal and political troubles since taking office, but he is banking on his close alliance with Trump to get him through a rocky re-election bid.
The NRA’s statement continued: “The truth is Walmart’s actions today will not make us any safer. Rather than place the blame on the criminal, Walmart has chosen to victimize law-abiding Americans. Our leaders must be willing to approach the problems of crime, violence and mental health with sincerity and honesty.”
Polls indicated that Manchin could defeat Justice if he entered the race. But the former governor, who was just re-elected to the Senate last year, announced this morning that he would not launch a bid to oust Justice.
The NRA similarly put out a statement in the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings expressing a desire to address “the root causes” of such violence, making it clear that they did not consider loose gun laws to be one of those “root causes.”
West Virginia is blessed with the resources and people to accomplish anything, and I am going to use every day I have left in the Senate to make sure West Virginians have that chance. https://t.co/GfoZnbNs6s
Democratic presidential candidates are using Walmart’s announcement that it will stop selling handguns and certain kinds of ammo as an opportunity to pressure Mitch McConnell on taking up gun bills.
“Serving as the Governor of this state was the greatest honor of my life. Nothing made my heart swell with pride more than bragging about the wonderful state I represented,” Manchin said in a statement.
I applaud the brave Walmart workers who called on the company to stop selling guns. This is a good step, but we still have a gun violence crisis. Mitch McConnell must stop his cowardice, stand up to the NRA and allow Congress to pass common sense gun safety legislation. https://t.co/zC0mZqKdtq
But he added: “I have always said that ‘public service is not self-service.’ So, when considering whether to run for Governor, I couldn’t focus just on which job I enjoyed the most, but on where I could be the most effective for the Mountain State.
First @Walmart, next @senatemajldr?We must keep up the pressure, defeat the corporate gun lobby and enact common sense gun safety legislation.Thank you @AMarch4OurLives, @MomsDemand, and @GiffordsCourage for making this progress possible. https://t.co/bTuk6m0CEK
“Ultimately, I believe my role as U.S. Senator allows me to position our state for success for the rest of this century.”
But in a radio interview earlier today, McConnell offered no commitment on considering gun control in the Senate. He told Hugh Hewitt that any bill would need to receive Trump’s pre-approval before it got a vote, which seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Dorian is decreasing in intensity but expanding in size, posing a threat to the Carolinas as the storm pushes northward.
“Well, we’re in a discussion about what to do on the gun issue in the wake of these horrendous shootings,” the Senate majority leader said. “I said several weeks ago that if the President took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I’d be happy to put it on the floor.”
Here are the #Dorian Key Messages for Sept 3rd 11 AM EDT: Many new #Hurricane Watches and Warnings have been issued for the Carolinas with multiple threats expected across the southeastern United States. More: https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/LepqRE983a
Another Democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, has weighed in on Walmart’s decision to end the sale of handguns and certain kinds of ammunition.
Our colleague Oliver Laughland is in Savannah, Georgia, which is “eerily quiet” despite many residents choosing not to evacuate. Follow the Guardian’s live blog to get the latest storm coverage.
But the Massachusetts senator scolded Walmart for not doing more, adding that similar corporate decisions would not be enough on its own to significantly reduce gun violence.
Trump sent more than 120 tweets over Labor Day weekend as Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas and made its way toward Florida.
This is a good start—but it's not nearly enough. Walmart can and should do much more. And we need real gun reform, now. https://t.co/3gAZZ5ZxOK
The New York Times reported yesterday:
The comments echoed those of her opponent, Beto O’Rourke, who said Walmart’s decision was merely “a step in the right direction.”
Over the long weekend, President Trump monitored Hurricane Dorian from a golf cart at his club in Virginia, calling for regular updates from an aide trailing him around the course. By 8 p.m. Monday, as Dorian churned toward Florida and Mr. Trump’s boarded-up Mar-a-Lago resort, the president had golfed twice and since Saturday morning pelted the American public with 122 tweets.
As he has done during other hurricanes, Mr. Trump awaited landfall by assuming the role of meteorologist in chief, adding weatherman-style updates to a usual weekend routine of attacking his enemies, retweeting bits of praise and critiquing the performance of his cable news allies. ...
As Dorian approached, Mr. Trump switched into town-crier mode, updating the public on what he had learned — or, what he thought he’d learned — from government officials as Dorian threatened the coast of the state of Florida, where he has owned property for decades.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with Khan, whom the president has previously slammed as a “national disgrace” and “stone cold loser.”
Khan has dismissed those insults as childish, instead choosing to criticize Trump for emboldening violent extremists.
“Vulnerable, often minority, communities are being demonised and scapegoated for all society’s ills,” Khan wrote in a Saturday essay for the Observer.
He continued: “This comes as a new wave of extremist far-right movements and political parties are winning power and influence at alarming speed – fuelled by Donald Trump, the global poster-boy for white nationalism.”
Trump spent a few hours at his Virginia golf course yesterday as millions of Americans prepared for the potentially catastrophic arrival of Hurricane Dorian.
Since my election, many trillions of dollars of worth has been created for our Country, and the Stock Market is up over 50%. If you followed the advice of the Failing New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, you’d be doing VERY poorly - you’d be angry and hurt. He never got it!
The White House said Trump received regular updates on the storm and that the president spoke to Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, about its progress. But Trump also spent part of Labor Day tweeting gripes about his political enemies and media organizations.
Trump once again attacked Sadiq Khan after the London mayor criticized the US president for his handling of Hurricane Dorian.
Khan attended a ceremony in Poland this weekend to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the country’s Nazi invasion, which Trump skipped ostensibly to focus on managing storm preparations. But the president also spent time at one of his golf courses this weekend.
“He’s clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course,” Khan said of Trump’s absence.
....”knife crime,” which is totally out of control in London. People are afraid to even walk the streets. He is a terrible mayor who should stay out of our business!
The president responded by attacking Khan as “incompetent,” originally misspelling the mayor’s first and last names in the process.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is expanding his campaign, hiring additional staffers in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire as the Indiana mayor has stagnated in the polls.
20 new offices in Iowa, 12 new offices in New Hampshire, 1 new Twitter account for you to get all the updates—and the latest campaign news. #PhaseThree is here. Follow along with @PeteForAmerica! https://t.co/LQhdTlgHxm
McClatchy reports:
The South Bend mayor’s campaign is expected to announce in the coming days a flurry of staffing hires and new office openings in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as a director of African-American engagement, who will be crucial to outreach in South Carolina and other southern states that follow.
‘Labor Day for us is really going to be a turning point,’ said Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager. ‘It’s when we’ll flip the switch.’
By the end of September, the campaign will have 100 staffers in Iowa alone, according to Schmuhl, meaning Buttigieg with have one of the largest 2020 teams there. His Labor Day visit marks his eighth to Iowa since July, signaling a more intense commitment to the state.
The chief of staff to Mike Pence said that Trump made a “suggestion” that the vice president stay at his golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland, during an official trip to the country.
“I don’t think it was a request, like a command ... I think that it was a suggestion,” Marc Short said. “It wasn’t like a, ‘You must.’ ... Keep in mind, the Secret Service has protected that facility for him, too, so they sort of know the realities, they know the logistics around that facility.”
Pence had originally planned to conclude his trip in Doonbeg, where he has familial ties. But now the vice president is traveling back and forth from Doonbeg to Dublin, which are more than an hour apart from each other by plane.
Short said Pence was not staying at Trump’s golf club for free but refrained from offering a cost estimate for the visit, raising concerns about the president personally profiting from his office.
Trump’s allies are trying to raise millions to bolster an effort aimed at exposing the alleged biases of mainstream journalists.
Axios reports:
The group claims it will slip damaging information about reporters and editors to ‘friendly media outlets,’ such as Breitbart, and traditional media, if possible.
People involved in raising the funds include GOP consultant Arthur Schwartz and the ‘loose network’ that the N.Y. Times reported last week is targeting journalists. The operations are to be run by undisclosed others. ...
The irony: The New York Times exposed an extremely improvisational effort that had outed a Times editor for past anti-Semitic tweets. This new group is now using the exposure to try to formalize and fund the operation. ...
Under ‘Primary Targets,’ the pitch lists: ‘CNN, MSNBC, all broadcast networks, NY Times, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, and all others that routinely incorporate bias and misinformation in to their coverage. We will also track the reporters and editors of these organizations.’
Joe Biden again downplayed reports that he has repeatedly told a false war story on the campaign trail.
The Washington Post reported last week that a story the former vice president likes to tell about a Navy captain refusing to accept an award for his bravery actually combines the elements of at least three different events into one anecdote.
But the Democratic presidential candidate dismissed any notion that the error reflected badly on his leadership. “That has nothing to do with judgment of whether or not you send troops to war, the judgment of whether you bring someone home, the judgment of whether you decide on a healthcare policy,” Biden told NPR.
He added: “The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making.”
And yet Biden just can’t seem to stop relaying anecdotes that are not corroborated by other related parties. A spokesman for George W. Bush told NPR in response to a story Biden shared about the events leading up to the Iraq War: “I’m sure it’s just an innocent mistake of memory, but this recollection is flat wrong.”
Good morning, live blog readers!
Washington is back from its long weekend, and Congress will soon return from its August recess. But Democrats on the House judiciary committee are celebrating early by planning hearings on Donald Trump’s alleged role in arranging payments to silence Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, who claim they had affairs with the married president before he took office.
The Washington Post has more details:
The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to hold hearings and call witnesses involved in hush-money payments to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels as soon as October, according to people familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
Democrats say they believe there is already enough evidence to name Trump as a co-conspirator in the episode that resulted in his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleading guilty to two campaign finance charges.
Cohen, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for those counts and other crimes, testified under oath that Trump directed the payments that helped land him behind bars. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also described Trump’s alleged role in the scheme, referring to him in court papers as ‘Individual-1.’ But they concluded their investigation this summer without bringing any additional charges.
The news comes as more than half of the House Democratic caucus has announced their support for launching an impeachment inquiry against Trump. But Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she would not support such a move until she feels Democrats have the best possible case against the president.
The House speaker’s apparent approval of these hearings could accelerate an impeachment timeline. However, the White House will almost certainly try to block certain witnesses from testifying before the committee, as it has done with every other congressional investigation this year. So the true judgment of Trump’s conduct may still not come until Election Day 2020.
Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:
Trump will meet with Mark Esper, the defense secretary, this afternoon as Hurricane Dorian makes its way toward Florida. (Follow the Guardian’s live coverage of the storm here.)
Trump’s former defense secretary, Jim Mattis, will speak in New York this morning as part of his book tour.
