Tag: Trump abuse of power

‘My most disturbing day in Congress’: Democrat leaves US diplomat’s hearing shaken by Ukraine testimony

AlterNet logoThe US diplomat who protested against President Trump’s pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival in exchange for military aid is testifying on Capitol Hill today in a closed-door session. According to reports, Taylor, who was the top American diplomat in Ukraine after Trump’s ouster of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, is expected to be questioned by House investigators on what he thinks Trump’s motives were in trying to orchestrate a quid pro quo with Ukraine’s government.

While details on Taylor’s exact testimony are still unknown, Fox News reporter Chad Pergram suggested in a tweet this Tuesday that Taylor is already confirming Democrats worst fears. One of those Democrats, Rep. Andy Levin (MI), was overheard saying, “It’s only noon and this is my most disturbing day in Congress so far.”

Taylor became a central figure in President Trump’s Ukraine fiasco after leaked text messages showed him condemning Trump’s push for a quid pro quo.

View the complete October 22 article from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump made Ukraine aid contingent on public pledge to investigate Bidens and 2016 election, U.S. envoy says he was told

Washington Post logoAmerica’s top diplomat in Ukraine delivered a forceful blow to President Trump’s account of his “perfect” dealings with that nation, telling lawmakers Tuesday that the White House had threatened to withdraw much-needed military aid unless Kyiv announced investigations for Trump’s political benefit.

The explosive, closed-door testimony from acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. undermined Trump’s insistence that he never pressured Ukrainian officials in a potentially improper “quid pro quo.” It also offered House investigators an expansive road map to what Taylor called a “highly irregular” channel of shadow diplomacy toward Ukraine that lies at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

In a 15-page opening statement, obtained by The Washington Post, Taylor repeatedly expressed his shock and bewilderment as he watched U.S. policy toward Ukraine get overtaken by Trump’s demand that newly elected president Volodymyr Zelensky “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of [Democratic presidential candidate Joe] Biden and 2016 election interference.”

View the complete October 22 article by Rachael Bade, Anne Gearan, Karoun Demirjian and Mike DeBonis on The Washington Post website here.

Trump made Ukraine aid contingent on public pledge to investigate Bidens and 2016 election, U.S. envoy says he was told

Washington Post logoAmerica’s top diplomat in Ukraine delivered a forceful blow to President Trump’s account of his “perfect” dealings with that nation, telling lawmakers Tuesday that the White House had threatened to withdraw much-needed military aid unless Kyiv announced investigations for Trump’s political benefit.

The explosive, closed-door testimony from acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. undermined Trump’s insistence that he never pressured Ukrainian officials in a potentially improper “quid pro quo.” It also offered House investigators an expansive road map to what Taylor called a “highly irregular” channel of shadow diplomacy toward Ukraine that lies at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

In a 15-page opening statement, obtained by The Washington Post, Taylor repeatedly expressed his shock and bewilderment as he watched U.S. policy toward Ukraine get overtaken by Trump’s demand that newly elected president Volodymyr Zelensky “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of [Democratic presidential candidate Joe] Biden and 2016 election interference.”

View the complete October 22 article by Rachael Bade, Anne Gearan, Karoun Demirjian and Mike DeBonis on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s Top Defenders Used To Agree That It’s Wrong To Withhold Information From Congress

On Tuesday, the White House released a letter saying that it would not comply with the House’s impeachment inquiry. Withholding information from Congress is wrong and defying a subpoena is an impeachable offense, but you don’t have to take our word for it:

Jim Jordan said it’s wrong for a president of the United States to go on national television and say there’s no corruption in his administration, and that his friends shouldn’t be allowed to run the investigation.

Jim Jordan in 2014: “And the fact that the president of the United States, the highest official in the executive branch, goes on national television and says there’s no corruption, not even a smidgen, is wrong. The bad guy doesn’t get to have his friends run the investigation like we see here.” Continue reading “Trump’s Top Defenders Used To Agree That It’s Wrong To Withhold Information From Congress”

All The Ways Bill Taylor Was Told Trump Sought A Quid Pro Quo

Bill Taylor – Trump’s own top diplomat to Ukraine – made it clear in his testimony today that Trump engaged in a quid pro quo.

TRUMP INSISTED ON AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE INVESTIGATIONS: Trump himself pressed for the Ukrainian president to make a public announcement of investigations into Trump’s political rival and a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.

“According to Mr. Morrison, President Trump told Ambassador Sondland that he was not asking for a ‘quid pro quo.’ But President Trump did insist that President Zelenskyy go to a microphone. Continue reading “All The Ways Bill Taylor Was Told Trump Sought A Quid Pro Quo”

Amid Mounting Evidence of a Quid Pro Quo, DFL Calls on Republican Congressmen to Support Investigation

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On October 22, Bill Taylor, an Army veteran and the top United States diplomat to Ukraine, testified before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees that President Donald Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure their government into declaring they would investigate one of Trump’s domestic political opponents. This is the latest piece of evidence of a quid pro quo in which Donald Trump sought to exchange U.S. military aid for electoral support from the Ukranian government.

Late last month, the White House released a summary of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. In that call, Zelensky requested the military aid that Congress passed and Trump blocked, to which Trump responded “I would like you to do us a favor though…” Trump then asks Zelensky to investigate his political rivals in what many argue is an explicit quid pro quo arrangement. Two weeks ago, text message between top U.S. diplomats strongly corroborated the existence of that quid pro quo. Last week, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney openly confessed to a quid pro quo before attempting to walk his comments back.

In response to the growing evidence of a quid pro quo, DFL Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement calling on Minnesota’s Republican Congressional Delegation to support the House investigation into Trump’s conduct: Continue reading “Amid Mounting Evidence of a Quid Pro Quo, DFL Calls on Republican Congressmen to Support Investigation”

Graham Says Trump Was ‘Stupid’ To Urge China Probe Of Bidens

The relationship between Donald Trump and top Trump defender Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) continued to show fissures over the weekend, when Graham criticized Trump’s public call for China to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.

“As to asking China to look into Biden, that was stupid,” Graham told Axios’ Jonathan Swan in an interview that aired Sunday night on HBO. “Nobody believes that China would be fair to Biden, Trump, me or you, or anybody. Bad idea. That didn’t last very long.”

Graham was referencing Trump’s comment from the White House lawn, in which he openly called on Ukraine and China to investigate Biden. It was that very topic that sparked a whistleblower to come forward and report Trump’s behavior, and what prompted a House impeachment inquiry.

View the complete October 22 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

House Democrats zero in on ‘abuse of power’ in Trump impeachment inquiry

Pelosi is said to favor one sweeping charge related to Ukraine, but there’s some debate about the need for additional charges.

WASHINGTON — House Democrats are zeroing in on a framework for their impeachment case against President Donald Trump that will center on a simple “abuse of power” narrative involving the president’s actions regarding Ukraine, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations.

As Democrats continue closed-door depositions with critical witnesses and prepare to move to the next phase of public hearings, they are wrestling over which elements and evidence to bring in, which to leave out. The goal is to explain to the public the reasoning and relevance of any eventual impeachment charges.

Democratic House committee chairs and leaders are still debating the need for additional articles or charges that extend beyond the president’s dealings with Ukraine, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been adamant that the case against Trump must be targeted and easy to communicate in order to build public support, according to those familiar with discussions.

View the complete October 21 article by Heidi Przybyla on the NBC News website here.

Trump and Giuliani’s efforts to find ‘dirt’ on Joe Biden went way beyond his son’s involvement with Ukrainian energy company: report

AlterNet logoMuch of the coverage of the Ukraine scandal has focused heavily on Hunter Biden’s involvement with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and how President Donald Trump hoped to use that involvement to harm a political adversary: former Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden’s father. But Ryan Goodman and Alex Potcovaru, in an October 21 article for Just Security, stress that there is another crucial element to Ukrainegate: Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to prove an “unfounded” conspiracy theory that Joe Biden and other Democrats, in 2016, tried to harm Trump’s presidential campaign via Ukraine.

“Giuliani’s unfounded conspiracy theory is that Biden removed Ukraine prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and approved the new prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, as part of an effort to ‘frame (2016 Trump campaign manager) Paul Manafort and the Trump campaign in the 2016 election,” Goodman and Potcovaru explain. “Giuliani asserts, without evidence, that the new prosecutor dropped a case against an organization that had produced information in coordination with the Democrats and U.S. officials to taint Manafort. This conspiracy theory fits in with the overall idea that Russia was not behind the 2016 election interference, but instead, the real collusion involved Ukrainian and Democratic operatives.” Continue reading “Trump and Giuliani’s efforts to find ‘dirt’ on Joe Biden went way beyond his son’s involvement with Ukrainian energy company: report”

Trump dismisses ‘phony Emoluments Clause’ after Doral criticism

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday dismissed criticism that his since-reversed plan to host the Group of Seven (G-7) summit at his Doral property would have led to an ethics violation.

“I don’t think you people, with this phony Emoluments Clause — and by the way, I would say that it’s cost anywhere from $2 billion to $5 billion to be president,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

The Emoluments Clause prohibits elected federal officials from receiving gifts or contributions from foreign governments. Trump has repeatedly claimed the presidency has cost him billions of dollars.

View the complete October 21 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.