Trump abuse of power 50 , CD3 DFL

McConnell’s impeachment collusion admission handed the Democrats a powerful new weapon to damage the president

Mitch McConnell’s admission on Fox News that he is working behind the scenes with the White House to stack the Senate impeachment trial gives Democrats a potent weapon against the GOP, wrote Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman in the Washington Post.

“If Democrats play their procedural cards right, they can pressure Republicans to allow for a much fairer and more open trial that could actually produce new revelations — and if they refuse, extract a political price for it,” they wrote.

“By telling Sean Hannity that the process of Trump’s trial will be set up ‘in coordination with Trump’s legal team,’ McConnell told the world he wants to rig the process to produce maximal benefit for Trump,” they explained. “But McConnell might not actually be able to do this, if he doesn’t have 51 GOP votes for it — which could be the case, if vulnerable GOP senators don’t want to go along with it. And that allows Democrats to make a public case for a much fairer and more open process — and to try to force those vulnerable GOP senators to take a stand on whether they, too, want a fair and open process.”

McConnell indicates he’ll let Trump’s lawyers dictate Trump’s impeachment trial

As soon as the House votes to impeach President Trump — which is likely to happen next week — it is no longer in charge of the process. The situation then goes over to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will preside but the GOP otherwise can control much of the length and substance of the process.

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is indicating he’ll endeavor to give the White House whatever kind of trial it wants.

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Thursday night, McConnell made a point of saying that he would be coordinating with White House counsel Pat Cipollone every step of the way.

Judiciary Committee sends Trump impeachment articles to the House floor

After three days of contentious debate, the panel voted along party lines to recommend impeachment

The House came one step closer to impeaching President Donald Trump after the Judiciary Committee on Friday morning approved charges that Trump obstructed Congress and abused his power.

Next week, for the first time in more than two decades, and only the third time in U.S. history, the full House will consider articles of impeachment against a sitting president.

On the third calendar day of considering the articles of impeachment, the Judiciary Committee quickly advanced the two articles on separate 23-17 party-line votes.

Senate gears up for battle over witnesses in impeachment trial

Republican and Democratic senators are gearing up for an intense battle over witnesses at an impeachment trial likely to set the tone for the 2020 elections.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have yet to start negotiating on the parameters for the trial, but lawmakers are already jockeying over key questions such as how long a trial should last, whether witnesses will be called and if the White House will be subpoenaed for documents.

Democrats and Republicans appear to be on the cusp of trading rhetorical places.

‘The most shameful hour’: Schiff rips GOP for ‘blinding themselves’ to defend Trump in impeachment hearings Add to list

As Thursday’s marathon debate in the House of Representatives about approving two articles of impeachment against President Trump was ongoing in Washington, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff was in New York lashing out against Republicans for “blinding themselves” in defending Trump’s conduct amid a defining moment for the country.

“For some of our members who are defending the Constitution, it is their finest hour,” Schiff said in a Thursday interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “But for others who are willfully blinding themselves to this president’s misconduct, it is the most shameful hour.”

The California Democrat, a frequent target of Trump’s, then lowered his head and laid out what the years ahead might look like for Republicans united in supporting a president who faces the prospect of the House Judiciary Committee voting Friday morning to send the two articles of impeachment against him — “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” for his dealings with Ukraine — to the House floor next week.

Michael Horowitz just shot down a bunch of Trump conspiracy theories

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz this week issued what is, by any objective standard, a pretty brutal report. The report found 17 instances in which the FBI’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page included significant problems or omissions. It also found an FBI lawyer altered a key document, apparently to preserve the surveillance.

“I think the activities we found here don’t vindicate anybody who touched this FISA,” Horowitz said in Senate testimony about the report Wednesday.

The whole thing would seem to be a major shot in the arm for President Trump’s claims of misconduct by law enforcement — if only he hadn’t spent two-plus years speculating wildly about things significantly worse than what Horowitz actually found.

The real problems the inspector general found

“I WAS surprised by the statement,” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. We could think of a few more ways he could have felt — frustrated, dismayed, outraged — at the spin that senior Justice Department officials put on his long-awaited report. The review of the department’s investigation of President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian election meddling found that the probe was properly launched and that there was no indication of political bias. It also found that the FBI breached protocol in the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process. That deserves further discussion — but not, as Attorney General William P. Barr has done, to dignify the president’s “deep state” conspiracy theories.

Almost simultaneously with the report’s release Monday, Mr. Barr dismissed and minimized Mr. Horowitz’s findings — or, at least, the ones that failed to paint the FBI as a rogue agency nursing an anti-Trump agenda. “The FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” he said. The next day he raised “the possibility that there was bad faith.”

U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Mr. Barr handpicked to conduct yet another investigation of the Russia probe, piled on, saying that “we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened” and implied that he had uncovered new evidence that might shift the picture. This was the statement that surprised Mr. Horowitz. Its innuendo left unanswered whether Mr. Durham has turned up something new.

Partisan battles erupt as Judiciary begins final phase of impeachment

Jerry Nadler told Republicans to “please keep in mind that — one way or the other — President Trump will not be president forever.”

The House Judiciary Committee began formal consideration of two impeachment articles against President Donald Trump on Wednesday night, a four-plus-hour partisan slugfest that changed few minds but yielded dozens of political attack lines that will be repeated endlessly in coming weeks.

Republicans blasted the process as unworthy of the storied Judiciary panel. They accused Democrats of a “political hit job,” “a rigged process” and a “naked partisan exercise” designed to remove a president whom they always opposed.

But Democrats hit back hard, calling Trump “the smoking gun” who engaged in a “constitutional crime spree.” And they said the quick pace of the impeachment proceedings is critical because of the “clear and present danger” Trump poses to the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.

Republicans consider skipping witnesses in Trump impeachment trial

Senate Republicans are weighing a speedy impeachment trial that could include no witnesses for President Trump’s legal team or for House Democrats.

The discussions come as the House is moving forward with articles of impeachment against Trump, teeing up a trial in the Senate that would start in January.

The White House has indicated publicly that it has a wish list of potential witnesses, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff(D-Calif.), Hunter Biden and the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry.

Hoyer predicts impeachment vote next week

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that Democrats will likely impeach President Trump before Christmas, setting the stage for floor votes in the lower chamber next week.

Behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democrats earlier Tuesday introduced two articles of impeachment related to Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukrainian leaders for political favors. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he’ll move those articles through the panel this week — likely on Thursday — and Hoyer predicted the full House will vote on them before the winter holidays.

“Assuming that they … report out articles, my presumption is that we will be considering them before we leave,” Hoyer told reporters in the Capitol.

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After three days of contentious debate, the panel voted along party lines to recommend impeachment

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Jerry Nadler told Republicans to “please keep in mind that — one way or the other — President Trump will not be president forever.”

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