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| William Barr reportedly refused to declare Trump broke no laws over Ukraine – live | William Barr reportedly refused to declare Trump broke no laws over Ukraine – live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Attorney general refused a request by Trump to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken in the call, New York Times reported | Attorney general refused a request by Trump to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken in the call, New York Times reported |
| Before Jeff Sessions jumped into the Alabama senate race this week, Trump sent word to him “through allies that he would publicly attack him if he ran,” the New York Times reports. | |
| Trump blames Sessions, his first attorney general, for the two-year Russia investigation concluding with the Mueller report, from which Sessions recused himself, properly most analysts believe since Sessions was a top adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign which was under investigation. | |
| But Sessions has jumped into the senate race anyway. He happily held an Alabama senate seat for 20 years before his ill-fated turn in the Trump administration. And the race to unseat incumbent Democratic senator Doug Jones in 2020 is wide open on the Republican side. | |
| Will Trump make good on his threat to attack Sessions? What will Mitch McConnell advise? Republicans would very much like to regain the Alabama senate seat, which could end Democratic dreams of retaking the senate next year. | |
| Donald Trump has been talking with his TV producer pals about life after the presidency and what it could hold, the Daily Beast reports. | |
| With Trump’s regular attacks on free and fair elections, the rule of law, executive branch norms, the separation of powers and the free press, not to mention his megalomania, it can seem at times as if he has no intention of ever leaving office – or at least not on account of paltry details such as an election loss or term limits. | |
| But the Beast cites “three people with knowledge of the situation and another source close to Trump” to report: | |
| Read further: | |
| Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled a plan to create “a welcoming and safe America for all” on Thursday morning, promising that on his first day as president he would “overturn all of President Trump’s actions to demonize and harm immigrants on the first day of his presidency.” | |
| The plan calls for the breaking up of customs and border protection (CBP) and customs enforcement (ICE). Sanders is the first 2020 candidate to take that stand as part of his official campaign platform. | |
| The Sanders plan also calls for a moratorium on deportations, stopping “all construction of the racist and ineffective wall on the U.S.-Mexico Border,” overturning “President Trump’s racist and disgusting Muslim ban,” and ensuring “all children who were separated from their families by the United States government are reunited swiftly.” | |
| Sanders would also focus on improving labor conditions in agriculture, food service and other industries that depend on an immigrant workforce. Read all about it. | |
| A public defender in the Bronx gives it two thumbs up: | |
| The president is laying down fire on Twitter in response to reports that he wanted attorney general William Barr to hold a news conference to say Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president was not criminal by any stretch. | The president is laying down fire on Twitter in response to reports that he wanted attorney general William Barr to hold a news conference to say Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president was not criminal by any stretch. |
| Trump has sent out a pair of tweets claiming that “the degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story.” He does not mention the Times’ corroborating report. | Trump has sent out a pair of tweets claiming that “the degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story.” He does not mention the Times’ corroborating report. |
| Now Trump is going on about the whistleblower whose complaint the White House fought for six weeks to prevent Congress from obtaining – because Trump had done nothing wrong? | Now Trump is going on about the whistleblower whose complaint the White House fought for six weeks to prevent Congress from obtaining – because Trump had done nothing wrong? |
| “Read the transcript,” Trump concludes, referring to a partial transcript of his call with Zelenskiy in which Trump said “the United States has been very very good to Ukraine” then asked for the “favor” of investigations into Joe Biden and 2016 election tampering. | “Read the transcript,” Trump concludes, referring to a partial transcript of his call with Zelenskiy in which Trump said “the United States has been very very good to Ukraine” then asked for the “favor” of investigations into Joe Biden and 2016 election tampering. |
| Evidence that Trump used the power of his office to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election goes well beyond the record of the call. That evidence includes the testimony of more than a dozen witnesses before Congress and public statements by Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. But also: Read the transcript! | Evidence that Trump used the power of his office to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election goes well beyond the record of the call. That evidence includes the testimony of more than a dozen witnesses before Congress and public statements by Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. But also: Read the transcript! |
| Hello and welcome to our politics live blog coverage. | Hello and welcome to our politics live blog coverage. |
| Attorney general William Barr has done a lot for Donald Trump. He pre-baked the Mueller report. He is hard at work on a report that is expected to attack the work of US intelligence agencies on which that report was built. He did not recuse himself from a justice department review of a phone call Trump had with the Ukrainian president, despite being mentioned himself on the call. The review, perhaps not surprisingly, found that the call was, legally speaking, peachy. | Attorney general William Barr has done a lot for Donald Trump. He pre-baked the Mueller report. He is hard at work on a report that is expected to attack the work of US intelligence agencies on which that report was built. He did not recuse himself from a justice department review of a phone call Trump had with the Ukrainian president, despite being mentioned himself on the call. The review, perhaps not surprisingly, found that the call was, legally speaking, peachy. |
| But there are lines, apparently, that even Barr will not cross. The attorney general refused a request by Trump to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken in the call, the Washington Post reported late Wednesday in an account backed up by the New York Times. (Correction: we originally had those news organizations reversed; it was a Post scoop.) | But there are lines, apparently, that even Barr will not cross. The attorney general refused a request by Trump to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken in the call, the Washington Post reported late Wednesday in an account backed up by the New York Times. (Correction: we originally had those news organizations reversed; it was a Post scoop.) |
| Trump is a big believer in the power of press conferences. In 2017 he pressured then FBI director James Comey to go on TV and declare he was not a target in the nascent investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign. Comey likewise refused. At the heart of the impeachment inquiry is a demand by Trump that the Ukrainian president “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of [Joe] Biden and 2016 election interference.” | Trump is a big believer in the power of press conferences. In 2017 he pressured then FBI director James Comey to go on TV and declare he was not a target in the nascent investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign. Comey likewise refused. At the heart of the impeachment inquiry is a demand by Trump that the Ukrainian president “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of [Joe] Biden and 2016 election interference.” |
| Elsewhere, it looks like the congressional committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry against Trump will wangle their second witness of the week today – out of about a dozen subpoenas and requests on the week. | Elsewhere, it looks like the congressional committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry against Trump will wangle their second witness of the week today – out of about a dozen subpoenas and requests on the week. |
| Scheduled to testify is Jennifer Williams, a national security aid to vice president Mike Pence who listened to the 25 July call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. | Scheduled to testify is Jennifer Williams, a national security aid to vice president Mike Pence who listened to the 25 July call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. |
| Also invited to testify today, but apparently not planning to appear, is John Bolton, the former national security adviser. | Also invited to testify today, but apparently not planning to appear, is John Bolton, the former national security adviser. |
| Thanks for joining us! | Thanks for joining us! |