Tag: Trump abuse of power

Senate GOP hopes for a drama-free impeachment trial while bracing for Trump and his legal team

Washington Post logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gave a knowing smile when the only hiccup of Thursday’s formalities got resolved: After a brief pause, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. realized he had to gavel the impeachment trial out of session, adjourning until Tuesday.

McConnell got the day’s ending he had hoped for, a Senate looking somber and serious as it conducts President Trump’s impeachment trial. A Senate that might, as he put it a day before, be capable of rising above “short-termism and factional fever.”

But that fever lingers as the sides jockey for position when the real phase of the trial kicks in, with early skirmishes about calling witnesses getting overtaken by talks about what limits could be placed on the presentation of evidence. Continue reading.

‘Weak’: Former White House counsel breaks down why McConnell’s arguments on impeachment ‘precedent’ are deeply flawed

AlterNet logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t consider himself an “impartial juror” in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and that he will be coordinating with Trump in the weeks ahead. One of the Kentucky Republican’s arguments is that Trump’s impeachment, unlike the impeachment of Present Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, has not been handled in a fair way. But former White House Counsel Bob Bauer, in a January 16 article for Benjamin Wittes’ Lawfare website, lays out some of reasons why McConnell’s arguments on impeachment “precedent” are misleading.

McConnell has argued that Trump’s impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives was handled in an overtly “partisan” manner by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and other Democrats — while Clinton’s impeachment in the late 1990s was not. Bauer totally disagrees.

“McConnell’s history is weak,” Bauer asserts. “More than 90% of the House Republicans voted for Clinton’s impeachment; more than 90% of Republican senators voted for convicting him. By any measure, among lawmakers, there was overwhelming Republican Party support for ousting a Democratic president from office. McConnell’s professed claims of historically unprecedented partisanship is founded on the pointless distinction between fully party-line and just-over-90% party-line support.” Continue reading.

With stakes beyond task at hand, John Roberts takes central role in Trump’s impeachment trial

Washington Post logoWith an oath of impartiality, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Thursday became only the third American sworn to preside over a presidential impeachment trial.

How he fulfills that pledge will have obvious consequences for President Trump. But it also will shape the public image of the nation’s 17th chief justice, and it holds ramifications for the Supreme Court and federal judiciary he leads. He portrays both as places where partisan politics have no purchase.

“And now he crosses First Street, where it’s all about partisan politics,” said Harvard law professor Richard Lazarus, referring to the roadway in Washington that separates the Supreme Court from Congress. Continue reading.

New allegations, watchdog report complicate GOP position on impeachment trial

The Hill logoA flood of captivating new details surrounding President Trump‘s dealings with Ukraine has spilled out into the public just as the Senate begins the impeachment trial, putting fresh pressure on GOP leaders to consider witnesses and new documents.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Thursday issued a stunning report, accusing the White House budget office of breaking the law by withholding military aid to Ukraine — the very issue at the heart of the Democrats’ impeachment effort.

Separately, a close associate of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, has delivered a trove of information to House Democrats related to Giuliani’s campaign to pressure Ukrainian leaders to find dirt on the president’s political rivals. Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born Florida businessman facing unrelated campaign-finance charges in New York, is also making the media rounds to deliver a damning message: Trump, he says, was privy to the pressure campaign from the start. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes vows to sue fellow congressman after allegation he ‘conspired with Parnas’

AlterNet logoRep. Devin Nunes was outed by Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday.

In the conversation, Parnas explained that he and Nunes didn’t have much of a relationship until he was told to work with Nunes’ aide Derek Harvey.

“We met several times at the Trump Hotel, but our relationship started getting — basically where it expanded was when I was introduced to his aide, Derek Harvey, and the reason why Derek Harvey I was told because Devin Nunes had an ethics — something to do with the Ethics Committee, he couldn’t be in the spotlight. He was kind of shunned a little bit and that he was looking into this Ukraine stuff also, wanted to help out. And they gave me Derek Harvey to deal with,” said Parnas. Continue reading.

Trump’s trial a major test for McConnell, Schumer

The Hill logoThe stakes for McConnell and Schumer, who have been longtime political adversaries, are high.

In 1999, Democrats scored a big victory in President Clinton’s impeachment trial by convincing a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle and vote against the two articles of impeachment passed by the House. Ten Republicans voted against Article I charging Clinton with perjury and five Republicans voted against Article II charging the president with obstruction of justice.
Clinton and his allies hailed it as an acquittal and saw depriving Republicans — who controlled the chamber with 55 seats — of a majority vote for impeachment as a major victory. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was spotted exchanging high fives on media row in the Russell Rotunda immediately after the vote.

If Schumer can convince four Senate Republicans to vote to subpoena additional witnesses and documents, as he has demanded for weeks, it would be a big win. And if he can convince any Republicans to vote for articles of impeachment — something that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) failed to do in the House — it will be a bigger victory. Continue reading.

Ukraine to probe possible surveillance of U.S. envoy as FBI approaches man who claimed to have tracked her

Washington Post logoKYIV — Ukrainian authorities announced a probe Thursday into the possible surveillance of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch that a critic claimed to have orchestrated from the United States before President Trump dismissed her from the post, and the FBI visited the critic’s home and business apparently seeking more information.

The statement by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry and subsequent FBI action followed the disclosure of new documents related to the impeachment case against Trump. The material included exchanges between Lev Parnas, a then-associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, and others about the need to oust Yovanovitch.

The documents — provided to the House Intelligence Committee by Parnas — include messages with Robert F. Hyde, a Connecticut Republican who is running for a seat in Congress. In those exchanges, Parnas was informed about Yovanovitch’s physical location.  Continue reading.

Seven things to know about the Trump trial

The Hill logoThe impeachment battle is shifting to the Senate ahead of a weeks-long trial expected to get underway next week.

With the House voting Wednesday to transmit the articles, Chief Justice John Roberts and senators are expected to be sworn in on Thursday. A fierce rules fight and opening arguments will get started on Tuesday.

Though the outcome of the trial is pre-baked, the high-profile proceeding, the third in the chamber’s history, will put a spotlight on a handful of key potential swing votes, as well as the 2020 contenders. Continue reading.

How a Senate impeachment trial works

Washington Post logoA Senate impeachment trial is a rare thing — it has happened only two other times in American history and once in the modern era. Here’s the nitty-gritty of how we believe each day will work, based on a reading of the Senate rules about how to hold trials, how President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial was run, and our current understanding of the expected schedule.

The ceremonial beginning: Wednesday and Thursday

After the House voted on sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, the team of House prosecutors known as impeachment managers walked the charges across the Capitol to the Senate.

The managers will present articles of impeachment — literally by reading them — to a full Senate on Thursday at 12. Continue reading.

4 takeaways from the Lev Parnas interview and revelations

Washington Post logoLev Parnas has leaped to the center of the impeachment of President Trump, with House Democrats releasing a series of documents from Parnas that detail his work with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and Ukrainian officials. Parnas also spoke with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night, during an interview in which he lodged some explosive allegations that have yet to be substantiated.

Below, some takeaways.

1. Ukraine knew this was about hitting Biden, not ‘corruption’

On Tuesday night, we got documents that indicated there was an early quid pro quo between Parnas and then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko. During the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky’s predecessor, then-President Petro Poroshenko, Parnas and Lutsenko tied information about Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings to the removal of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom Lutsenko wanted out. Continue reading.