Tag: Trump extortion

Mulvaney drops plans to file lawsuit on impeachment testimony

The Hill logoActing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday reversed plans to file a lawsuit regarding his compliance with a subpoena for congressional testimony in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

His attorneys notified a federal court that Mulvaney, after further consideration, “does not intend to pursue litigation regarding the deposition subpoena issued to him by the U.S. House of Representatives” and will instead obey directions from Trump to ignore the subpoena altogether.

The filing came hours after Mulvaney’s lawyers said he planned to file his own suit after encountering opposition to joining a similar one filed by former White House official Charles Kupperman.

View the complete November 12 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

‘You will find it tantalizing!’ Trump gets mocked for a desperate attempt to distract from his Ukraine scheme

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s anxiety, as measured by number of tweets, seems to be approaching all-time highs. Monday, hours after giving a Veterans Day speech in his hometown of New York, surrounded by banners in windows and on buildings calling for his impeachment and removal, Trump took to Twitter and had yet another meltdown.

“In order to continue being the most Transparent President in history, I will be releasing sometime this week the Transcript of the first, and therefore most important, phone call I had with the President of Ukraine,” Trump tweeted Monday night. “I am sure you will find it tantalizing!”

Of course, that is the call nobody is talking about. The call that led to the impeachment inquiry is the infamous July 25 call, which Trump repeatedly has insisted everyone should “read the transcript” from, despite the fact he has never released the transcript.

View the complete November 12 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Law-and-order or conspiracy? How political parties frame the impeachment battle will help decide Trump’s fate

The presidential impeachment battle moves to a new stage on Wednesday, when the House will conduct the first public, televised testimony.

The nation is divided: Although a majority of Americans believe that Trump should cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, the public is not yet sure if Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses.

The impeachment battle will occur in Congress. But it will also play out on the national stage as the two sides compete to frame how the public thinks about the legitimacy of the inquiry.

View the complete November 12 article by Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University, on the Conversation website.

CNN’s John Avlon Completely Destroys GOP’s New Impeachment Strategy: ‘These are Zombie Talking Points’

An internal memo which has been circulating among House Republicans has been made public, having been obtained by outlets including CNN and Axios. This memo outlines four points of evidence which will serve as the crux of the GOP’s argument against impeaching President Donald Trump. But the strategy presented in the plan, according to one CNN commentator, is comically bad.

Appearing on CNN’s New Day Tuesday, John Avlon completely shredded the GOP strategy — which will lean on the president’s “state of mind” in his conversations with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“These are zombie impeachment talking points,” Avlon said. “This is slavish devotion to Donald Trump’s bar which is, ‘I did nothing wrong.’ And they’re going sort of in search of brains because the arguments they’re making are really easy to blow up.”

View the complete November 12 article by Joe DePaolo on the Mediaite website here.

There’s a Surprisingly Plausible Path to Removing Trump From Office

It would take just three Republican senators to turn the impeachment vote into a secret ballot. It’s not hard to imagine what would happen then.

By most everyone’s judgment, the Senate will not vote to remove President Donald Trump from office if the House impeaches him. But what if senators could vote on impeachment by secret ballot? If they didn’t have to face backlash from constituents or the media or the president himself, who knows how many Republican senators would vote to remove?

A secret impeachment ballot might sound crazy, but it’s actually quite possible. In fact, it would take only three senators to allow for that possibility.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will immediately move to hold a trial to adjudicate the articles of impeachment if and when the Senate receives them from the House of Representatives. Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution does not set many parameters for the trial, except to say that “the Chief Justice shall preside,” and “no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.” That means the Senate has sole authority to draft its own rules for the impeachment trial, without judicial or executive branch oversight.

View the complete November 12 article by Juleanna Glover on the Politico website here.

Republicans shrug off growing evidence, stand with Trump against impeachment

Washington Post logoCongressional Republicans are sticking with their party leader in the face of thousands of pages of evidence showing President Trump leveraged foreign policy for political favors, raising the possibility that not a single House Republican will vote for his impeachment.

As they prepare to hold the first open impeachment hearings this week, Democrats had hoped to peel off Republican support from a key bloc — retiring lawmakers who need not worry about internal blowback or primary challenges.

Yet many are refusing to break with Trump. Rep. Peter T. King of New York made a point of stating his intention to vote against impeaching Trump in his retirement announcement Monday, a troubling sign for Democrats.

View the complete November 11 article by Rachael Bade on The Washington Post website here.

Democrats sharpen their message on impeachment

The Hill logoIn a last-minute move, Democrats are shifting their impeachment rhetoric and talking points just days before the first public hearings into President Trump’s handling of foreign policy in Ukraine.

The televised hearings mark a crucial phase in an investigation conducted thus far behind closed doors, as Democrats seek to swing public opinion — and by extension, that of Republicans — behind the central inference of their impeachment inquiry: that Trump broke the law and should be removed from office.

As part of that outreach effort, many well-placed Democrats are dropping the opaque Latin phrase that has dominated the seven-week impeachment investigation — “quid pro quo” — and embracing distinct legal terms like “extortion” and “bribery” that are explicit in their reference to criminality and easier for the public to digest.

View the complete November 12 article by Scott Wong and Mike Lillis on The Hill website here.

FACT CHECK: Republicans’ Favorite Talking Points on Trump’s Abuse of Power

In preparation for this week’s public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, Republicans  circulated a few of their favorite talking points. Unsurprisingly, they’re filled with lies. Here’s the truth:

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT: 


REALITY: Continue reading “FACT CHECK: Republicans’ Favorite Talking Points on Trump’s Abuse of Power”

Trump to host Turkey’s Erdogan same day public impeachment hearings start

Bipartisan calls to cancel visit ignored, as experts say Washington still needs Ankara

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be feted Wednesday at the White House despite his attacks on a longtime U.S. ally, his purchase of military equipment from Russia and calls from lawmakers in both parties to punish him.

President Donald Trump and top aides have ignored bipartisan calls to cancel Erdogan’s visit, which is expected to include a joint press conference on the same day public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry begin.

Though largely united against the Democratic impeachment effort, Trump and many congressional Republicans are at odds over what to do after Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to attack Kurdish forces.

View the complete November 12 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.