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Trump impeachment: McConnell tries to discredit 'most unfair' inquiry – live Trump impeachment: McConnell tries to discredit 'most unfair' inquiry – live
(32 minutes later)
Freshman congressman Anthony Brindisi, from a Trump-supporting district, announces backing for impeachment before tomorrow’s voteFreshman congressman Anthony Brindisi, from a Trump-supporting district, announces backing for impeachment before tomorrow’s vote
Kendra Horn, a freshman House Democrat whose congressional district voted for Trump by more than 13 points in 2016, has just announced she will support impeachment.
Given the relatively conservative make-up of her district, Horn had been watched closely for how she would vote on impeachment, but she has now confirmed she will join the overwhelming majority of the Democratic caucus to support the resolution.
Congressman Jim McGovern, the chairman of the House rules committee, called on his Republican colleagues to criticize Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
“I get it – it’s hard to criticize a president of your own party,” McGovern said. “But that shouldn’t matter here.”
The Massachusetts Democrat went on to extol the virtues of American democracy, recalling how he handed out leaflets as a young man for former presidential candidate George McGovern. “No relation, by the way,” McGovern joked.
Congressman Jim McGovern, the chairman of the House rules committee, has gaveled in the panel’s hearing on debate procedures for the impeachment resolution.
McGovern began the hearing by outlining the allegations against Trump, accusing the president of holding up military assistance to a key ally, Ukraine, to extract a political favor.
The House rules committee has gathered in its hearing room to start discussing debate procedures for the impeachment resolution, but senior Democratic aides say they have little sense of when the chamber-wide vote will take place.
Chuck Schumer suggested there would be Senate votes on whether White House officials, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, would be called to testify during the likely impeachment trial.
“Senators who oppose this plan will have to explain why less evidence is better than more evidence,” Schumer said of the Democratic proposal to have the four White House officials testify.
In his Senate floor speech criticizing Mitch McConnell for rejecting his witness request, Chuck Schumer cited a new poll showing a significant majority of Americans believe Trump should allow his advisers to testify during a Senate impeachment trial.
According to the Washington Post/ABC News poll, seven in 10 Americans say Trump should allow his aides to testify, and six in 10 expect a fair Senate trial.
However, the American public remains sharply divided on the question of whether Trump should be removed from office. The poll found that 49% support removal, compared to 46% who oppose it.
The House rules committee hearing on debate procedures for the impeachment resolution, which was set to start a few minutes ago, appears to be delayed.
Chuck Schumer went to the Senate floor to criticize Mitch McConnell after the majority leader rejected Democrats’ request to have four White House officials testify during the Senate impeachment trial.
Schumer called the request a “good-faith proposal to kickstart the discussions that Leader McConnell has so far delayed,” adding that he did not hear the Republican leader make a “single argument” as to why the requested witnesses should not testify.
Schumer has asked that four White House officials, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, be called to testify. “Impeachment trials, like most trials, have witnesses,” Schumer said. “To have none would be an abberation.”
The New York Democrat called on McConnell to provide “specific reasons why the four witnesses we’ve asked for shouldn’t testify.” “What is Leader McConnell afriad of? What is President Trump afraid of? The truth?” Schumer said. “But the American people want the truth.”
In his fiery floor speech, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell rejected Chuk Schumer’s efforts to tie a resolution outlining impeachment trial procedures to a Democratic request for White House officials to testify.In his fiery floor speech, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell rejected Chuk Schumer’s efforts to tie a resolution outlining impeachment trial procedures to a Democratic request for White House officials to testify.
Criticizing House Democrats’ handling of the impeachment inquiry, McConnell accused Schumer of trying to launch a “fishing expedition to see whether his own ideas can make Chairman Schiff’s sloppy work more persuasive than Chairman Schiff himself bothered to make it.”Criticizing House Democrats’ handling of the impeachment inquiry, McConnell accused Schumer of trying to launch a “fishing expedition to see whether his own ideas can make Chairman Schiff’s sloppy work more persuasive than Chairman Schiff himself bothered to make it.”
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell argued Chuck Schumer’s request to have White House officials testify during the impeachment trial was an effort to make up for the House’s inability to compel the Trump advisers to appear before impeachment investigators.Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell argued Chuck Schumer’s request to have White House officials testify during the impeachment trial was an effort to make up for the House’s inability to compel the Trump advisers to appear before impeachment investigators.
“It is not the Senate’s job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to “get to ‘guilty,” McConnell said. “That would hardly be impartial justice.”“It is not the Senate’s job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to “get to ‘guilty,” McConnell said. “That would hardly be impartial justice.”
The Kentucky Republican suggested House Democrats should not vote to impeach if they are expecting the Senate to do additional fact-finding. “If House Democrats’ case is this deficient, this thin, the answer is not for the judge and jury to cure it here in the Senate,” McConnell said. “The answer is that the House should not impeach on this basis in the first place.”The Kentucky Republican suggested House Democrats should not vote to impeach if they are expecting the Senate to do additional fact-finding. “If House Democrats’ case is this deficient, this thin, the answer is not for the judge and jury to cure it here in the Senate,” McConnell said. “The answer is that the House should not impeach on this basis in the first place.”
On the subject of Chuck Schumer’s letter calling on White House officials to testify during the likely impeachment trial, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell accused the minority leader of trying to “short circuit” efforts to reach an agreement on trial procedures.On the subject of Chuck Schumer’s letter calling on White House officials to testify during the likely impeachment trial, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell accused the minority leader of trying to “short circuit” efforts to reach an agreement on trial procedures.
McConnell said he would still meet with Schumer to discuss trial procedures, but he seemed very skeptical of allowing witnesses to testify. In his letter, Schumer specifically called on acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton to testify.McConnell said he would still meet with Schumer to discuss trial procedures, but he seemed very skeptical of allowing witnesses to testify. In his letter, Schumer specifically called on acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton to testify.
“The Democratic leader wants to write a completely new set of rules,” McConnell said.“The Democratic leader wants to write a completely new set of rules,” McConnell said.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is speaking on the Senate floor about the impeachment inquiry, calling the investigation the “most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in recent history.”Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is speaking on the Senate floor about the impeachment inquiry, calling the investigation the “most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in recent history.”
The Kentucky Republican argued the result of the Democrats’ months-long investigation was a “slapdash work product.”The Kentucky Republican argued the result of the Democrats’ months-long investigation was a “slapdash work product.”
McConnell also offered a word of advice on the eve of the House’s expected vote on the impeachment resolution. “House Democrats still have an opportunity to do the right thing for the country,” the Senate leader said. “The House can turn back and not deploy this constitutional remedy of last resort.”McConnell also offered a word of advice on the eve of the House’s expected vote on the impeachment resolution. “House Democrats still have an opportunity to do the right thing for the country,” the Senate leader said. “The House can turn back and not deploy this constitutional remedy of last resort.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, detailed his conversations with Trump about Maria Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled earlier this year.
The Times reports:
The Times’ story came the same day that the New Yorker published an article in which Giuliani was quoted as saying he wanted Yovanovitch “out of the way” to push for investigations into Biden and the 2016 election.
Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser, said Trump would sign the massive government spending deal, which is expected to pass the House this afternoon, to avoid a shutdown.
But the $1.3 trillion spending bill has consequences far beyond keeping the government open. The Washington Post has more details:
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The majority of House Democrats representing districts that Trump carried in 2016 have now signaled they intend to support the president’s impeachment, but several vulnerable Democratic lawmakers have not yet indicated how they will vote.
The positions of these lawmakers will likely become clearer by tomorrow, when the impeachment resolution reaches the House floor for debate.
The House is expected to vote this afternoon on its government spending deal, which would avoid a shutdown at the end of the week.
Trump has not yet sent a clear signal on whether he will support the deal, although an adviser to former Republican House speaker Paul Ryan noted lawmakers have used a technicality to try to secure the president’s signature.
It appears the food services company Sodexo has reached an agreement with its employees at Loyola Marymount University, the site of Thursday’s Democratic debate.
The presidential candidates who have qualified for the debate threatened to boycott the event if the union dispute was not resolved, but this announcement should clear the way for the debate to continue as scheduled.
Neil Gorsuch, the first of two US supreme court justices appointed by Trump, has appeared on Fox and Friends to tout his book “A Republic, If You Can Keep It.”
His live interview on Trump’s favorite morning TV show provoked expressions of disapproval on social media. Brian Stelter of CNN sniped: “How is it appropriate for a Supreme Court justice to try to goose sales of his three-month-old book by chatting on one of the most partisan shows on TV?”
In the end, the most outrageous thing about the Fox and Friends interview was that it failed to elicit a single interesting comment from the conservative justice. Plenty of folksy banter about Colorado fly-fishing, female in-laws and how the justices sing together at Christmas and on birthdays.
But no questions on impeachment, Trump, Roe v Wade or any of the other seismic conflicts battering the nation’s highest court. About the most grabby remark Gorsuch made was to lament that almost one in 10 American college graduates believe that Judith Sheindlin - better known as Judge Judy - sits on the US supreme court. The way this interview went, she might as well have been.
Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious set of reforms to fight global corruption, arguing that “financial transparency is a necessary component of any responsible domestic and international policy agenda.”
“Around the world -- in places including Chile, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran – protesters are rising up against corruption and economic inequality,” Warren wrote in a Medium post. “The United States must stand with them. Financial transparency is a necessary component of any responsible domestic and international policy agenda, but international controls are only as strong as their weakest links. The United States has the means to compel change, and we must lead by example.”
Her plan would:
Require the disclosure of “ultimate beneficial owner of a company” – the real owners behind shell companies that allow individuals to mask their identities and the sources of their money
Gather better data on cross-border financial flows
Expand anti-bribery laws that penalize foreign officials who extort American companies
Impose new rules to clamp down on dark money with stiff penalties for violations
Deploy targeted sanctions to “investigate, name, and shame corrupt individuals and their criminal rings”
Warren’s proposal makes multiple references to the Panama Papers, an unprecedented leak of records from one of the world’s largest offshore law firms that exposed the many ways the wealthy and powerful exploit secretive offshore tax havens. The records were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, who worked with a network of media partners, including the Guardian.
“Laundered money represents 2 to 5 percent of global GDP, or as much as $2 trillionannually,” she writes. “And the flow of illicit money and lack of financial transparency are not just problems for developing countries or systems exploited by autocrats – they also affect the United States and its interests around the world.”
The plan also comes ahead of a House vote on impeachment that centers on the US’ anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. Multiple diplomats and administration testified during the impeachment investigation this year that those efforts were disrupted by a parallel pressure campaign by Trump’s allies to extract a political favor from the country’s newly elected president.
Another freshman House Democrat, Mikie Sherill of New Jersey, has announced she will vote to impeach Trump, who carried her congressional district by 1 point in 2016.
So far, the only House Democrats to signal they will oppose impeachment are Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew, who has indicated he will switch his party affiliation. Trump, who helped convince Van Drew to change sides, tweeted praise at the freshman congressman late last night.
Good morning, live blog readers!
The House rules committee is set to meet at 11am ET to discuss the parameters for the impeachment debate, which will take place tomorrow on the House floor before a chamber-wide vote.
Although the rules committee meeting will likely not be as chaotic as tomorrow’s floor debate, viewers can expect some heated moments as two representatives from the judiciary committee – Democrat Jamie Raskin and Republican Doug Collins – take questions from members of the panel about the two articles of impeachment. (Judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler was originally scheduled to attend but will be unable to appear due to a family emergency.)
Democratic leadership also received some good news this morning; congressman Anthony Brindisi, a freshman House Democrat whose district voted for Donald Trump by 15 points in 2016, said he would support impeachment.
Brindisi is one of more than a dozen vulnerable House Democrats who have now signaled their support for impeaching Trump, indicating the Democratic caucus will likely be largely unified when the vote takes place. But once the House approves the articles of impeachment, which seems all but certain at this point, the debate will then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Trump has already been guaranteed a much more favorable audience.
Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:
Trump will welcome the Guatemalan president and first lady to the White House and later speak at a Christmas reception.
The House is expected to vote on government funding to avoid a shutdown.
Joe Biden is attending a fundraiser in his home state of Delaware.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.