Tag: Trump abuse of power

Lev Parnas, Giuliani Associate, Opens Talks With Impeachment Investigators

New York Times logoMr. Parnas could offer Congress a vein of information about a political pressure campaign in Ukraine.

An associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani who was involved in a campaign to pressure Ukraine into aiding President Trump’s political prospects has broken ranks, opening a dialogue with congressional impeachment investigators and accusing the president of falsely denying their relationship.

The associate, Lev Parnas, had previously resisted speaking with investigators for the Democrat-led impeachment proceedings, which are examining the president’s pressure attempts in Ukraine. A former lawyer for Mr. Trump was then representing Mr. Parnas.

But since then, Mr. Parnas has hired new lawyers who contacted the congressional investigators last week to notify them to “direct any future correspondence or communication to us,” according to a copy of the letter.

View the complete November 4 article by Ben Protess, Michael Rothfeld and William K. Rashbaum on The New York Times website here.

Former federal prosecutor: Trump’s demand to know whistleblower’s identity amounts to ‘witness intimidation’ and ‘retaliation’

AlterNet logoThe identity of the federal government whistleblower who made a formal complaint about President Donald Trump’s now-infamous July 25 phone conservation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains unknown to the general public. Trump continues to demand to know the person’s identity, inspiring former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah to accuse the president of “witness intimidation” and “retaliation.”

Because of the whistleblower’s complaint, an impeachment inquiry against Trump is now being conducted in the U.S. House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, previously the Democratic Party’s most prominent impeachment skeptic, came out in support of an impeachment inquiry after learning that on July 25, Trump tried to pressure Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump railed against the whistleblower on Sunday, tweeting, “the Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward. The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay. Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!”

View the complete November 4 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Yovanovitch says she felt threatened by Trump raising her on call with Ukraine

The Hill logoFormer Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told House investigators that she felt shocked and threatened when she saw that President Trump had criticized her during a July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president.

Yovanovitch was asked during her closed-door deposition on Oct. 11 what she thought about Trump calling her “bad news” during the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“I hate to be repetitive, but I was shocked. I mean, I was very surprised that President Trump would — first of all, that I would feature repeatedly in a presidential phone call, but secondly, that the president would speak about me or any ambassador in that way to a foreign counterpart,” Yovanovitch told three House committees, according to a transcript of her closed-door testimony released Monday.

View the complete November 4 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

White House lawyer says he will defy impeachment subpoena

The Hill logoWhite House lawyer John Eisenberg said that despite being subpoenaed to appear, he will not show up for testimony in the House impeachment inquiry on Monday, on instructions from President Trump. 

White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a letter to William Burck, Eisenberg’s attorney, on Sunday that the Justice Department had advised him that Eisenberg, as a senior adviser to Trump, is “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters related to his service as a senior adviser to the President.”

“The constitutional immunity of current and former senior advisers to the President exists to protect the institution of the Presidency and, as stated by former Attorney General [Janet] Reno, ‘may not be overborne by competing congressional interests,” Cipollone wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill.

View the complete November 4 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Adam Schiff, a Trump Punching Bag, Takes His Case to a Bigger Ring

New York Times logoMr. Schiff leads the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Depending on one’s viewpoint, he will either save the republic — or destroy it.

LOS ANGELES — The crowd was buzzing with Hollywood types — the actress Patricia Arquette, the producer Norman Lear — at a private film screening on Sunset Boulevard one recent Sunday afternoon. But here in liberal America, the biggest celebrity in the room was not someone who makes a living in what people call “the industry.”

It was Representative Adam B. Schiff, the strait-laced former federal prosecutor who was on the brink of prosecuting his biggest defendant yet: President Trump.

These are heady but perilous days for Mr. Schiff, the inscrutable and slightly nerdy chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who is leading the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump. Adored by the left, reviled by the right, he has become a Rorschach test for American politics. Depending on one’s point of view, he is either going to save the republic, or destroy it.

View the complete November 3 article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Nicholas Fandos on The New York Times website here.

Mulvaney allies to try to stonewall Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, officials say

Washington Post logoBudget chief and other top aides will attempt to create firewall after other senior officials gave testimony that questioned Trump’s motivations

One of acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s top allies is preparing to deliver what President Trump wants but has failed to achieve so far in the impeachment inquiry: unquestioning loyalty from administration staff.

Russell Vought, a Mulvaney protege who leads the White House Office of Management and Budget, intends a concerted defiance of congressional subpoenas in coming days, and two of his subordinates will follow suit — simultaneously proving their loyalty to the president and creating a potentially critical firewall regarding the alleged use of foreign aid to elicit political favors from a U.S. ally.

The OMB is at the nexus of the impeachment inquiry because Democrats are pressing for details about why the White House budget office effectively froze the Ukraine funds that Congress had already appropriated.

View the complete November 3 article by Rachael Bade, Josh Dawsey and Erica Werner on The Washington Post website here.

Senate Republicans divided over whether whistleblower should testify

The Hill logoRepublicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee are divided over whether they need to hear from the whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.

While the House Intelligence Committee has been leading high-profile, near-daily depositions with former and current administration officials, the Senate panel is quietly investigating the whistleblower process and how the complaint was handled.

But the GOP senators on the committee are split over whether the whistleblower who filed the complaint, which the intelligence community inspector general deemed an “urgent concern,” needs to meet with lawmakers behind closed doors.

View the complete November 3 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

GOP lawmaker face-plants on CNN when grilled over Trump asking for foreign help against political opponents

AlterNet logoAn interview with Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) turned contentious on Sunday morning when CNN host Victor Blackwell asked him if he approved of Donald Trump asking foreign leaders for dirt on political opponents.

With Reed saying he was happy that the impeachment inquiry was going to go public — despite voting against it last week — Blackwell asked him about a key part of the hearing: Trump’s Ukraine phone call.

Asked, if he thought it was okay for the president to “pressure a foreign leader to get information that would benefit him politically in exchange for military aid,” Reed ducked the question.

View the complete November 3 article by Tom Boggioni from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Democrats to test Trump as impeachment moves to new stage

The Hill logoThe House impeachment inquiry is set to move into a new, more public phase in the coming weeks that will test the viability of President Trump’s defense strategy.

Trump is in uncharted waters, as he may become the first president to seek reelection after being impeached.

“We are prepared for an impeachment to happen,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Friday on Fox News, underscoring the air of inevitability surrounding the proceedings.

View the complete November 3 article by Brett Samuels and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Republican House members planning all-out attack on whistleblower and more ‘stunts’ during public impeachment hearings: report

AlterNet logoAccording to a report from the Daily Beast, Republican House members who failed in their attempt to derail the private impeachment hearings are gearing up their attack machine for the public hearings on Donald Trump after the House voted to proceed last week.

Now that Republicans have had their “process” complaints about secrecy taken away with the move to open hearings, they are planning an all-out assault to disrupt the hearings in any way they can.

“According to GOP lawmakers and aides, the party’s game plan includes calling for witnesses who could bolster their narrative and hammering away at the anonymous whistleblower whose account launched the inquiry in the first place,” the Beast reports. “They’re also holding out the possibility of more tactics to disrupt impeachment—like last week’s stunt to shut down the inquiry’s secure hearing room. Lawmakers are also likely to release a report when the probe is concluded to counter the report the Democratic majority will release to form the basis for impeachment.”

View the complete November 3 article by Tom Boggioni from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.