Tag: Trump impeachment inquiry

Deluge of new Trump corruption stories ramp up pressure to impeach

AlterNet logoNews about Trump’s malfeasance is reaching such a volume that any analysis is nearly superfluous. There are no hidden mysteries to tease out, no nuances to explore. It’s the sort of situation that gives an opinion writer like me impostor syndrome: anyone could take a look at the news and do my job. Things are exactly what they appear to be, and any attempt to make them seem otherwise would be doing a disservice to readers in the service of a hot take.

In many ways, it’s easier for a writer to focus on the Democratic side of politics these days because the disagreements within the left are much more interesting and open to interpretation. But Trump? His story is somehow, at the same time, engrossing and shocking. Yet it is also depressingly dull—like watching the initial stages of a trial against a dumb, reckless mafia don. Did he do the bad thing? Yes. Oh look. Here’s another bad thing. Oh look again, another witness pointing out another crime.

So it is today. The four big stories are all of a piece. First, Trump capo John Kelly wishes he had stayed on longer with the goal of preventing some of the more stupid crimes, having warned his boss that investigators would close in—which they have.

View the complete October 27 article by David Atkins from Washington Monthly on the AlterNet website here.

At Benedict College, Trump Compares Himself To Victims Of Racism

Speaking at an event about criminal justice on Friday, Donald Trump compared his own situation with the ongoing impeachment inquiry to America’s long history of systemic racial inequities in the justice system.

Trump was speaking to the 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center at Benedict College, a historically black institution, in front of an audience almost entirely composed of his supporters. The Statenewspaper reported Friday afternoon that only seven Benedict students attended Trump’s speech.

“We’ll never let up on our efforts to ensure that our justice system is fair for every single American,” said Trump. “And I have my own experience, you know that. You see what is going on with the witch hunt. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our country. No crimes. It’s an investigation in search of a crime. It’s been going on for longer than I have been in office.”

View the complete October 26 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

GOP vows to take new steps to protect Trump

The Hill logoRepublicans are vowing more action after they stormed the secure impeachment hearing room last week, disrupting a deposition and grabbing headlines that were cheered by President Trump. 

The problem is they just don’t know what to do next.

Republicans could continue to protest and disrupt future closed-door hearings, but that move has undermined their own complaints about the Democrats’ impeachment process and raised concerns about the GOP violating security protocols.

View the complete October 27 article by Scott Wong and Juliegrace Brufke on The Hill website here.

Trump hits out at former chief of staff John Kelly’s warning about impeachment

Kelly’s remarks come as testimony resumes in the impeachment inquiry, which the president has called a ‘scam’

Donald Trump has hit back at his former chief of staff, John Kelly, after Kelly said he had warned the president about impeachment.

Kelly said he “felt bad” for having left Trump’s side, because his advice was not followed and the president therefore faced impeachment.

Speaking at the Sea Island Summit, an event in Georgia organised by the conservative Washington Examiner, Kelly said that on leaving, he had said: “Whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man’ – someone who won’t tell you the truth.”

View the complete October 26 article by Martin Pengelly on The Guardian website here.

Diplomat says top leadership of the State Department rejected his entreaties to publicly support ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine

Washington Post logoPhilip Reeker, the diplomat in charge of U.S. policy for Europe, told House impeachment investigators Saturday that he appealed to top State Department leaders to publicly support the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who was the target of a conspiracy-fueled smear campaign, a person familiar with his testimony said.

Reeker expressed his concerns over the falsehoods about Marie Yovanovitch to David Hale, the third-highest-ranking official in the State Department, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the closest adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose friendship began when they attended the U.S. Military Academy together, the person said. He never discussed Yovanovitch with Pompeo, and he eventually heard from staffers for Hale that there would be no public statement in her defense, the person said.

It remains unclear how much information they conveyed to Pompeo and what role Pompeo played in recalling Yovanovitch shortly after she was told she was doing such a good job that her posting was being extended.

View the complete October 26 article by Karoun Demirjian and Carol Morello on The Washington Post  website here.

Indicted Giuliani Associates Were To Set Up Hannity Interview In Vienna

CNN reported this week that two Soviet-born con men arrested while attempting to flee the country earlier this month claimed they were on their way to Vienna to facilitate an interview between Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Hannity has been at the forefront of promoting the false claim that former Vice President Joe Biden acted corruptly by withholding U.S. aid to force the resignation of a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating his son.

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested October 10 at Dulles National Airport on conspiracy- and campaign finance-related charges as the two were attempting to leave the country. Parnas and Fruman reportedly worked closely with Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, to dig up dirt in Ukraine against Biden.

It had been previously reported that the two were arrested on their way to Vienna, where they would later be joined by Giuliani, but questions remained as to the purpose of their trip. According to CNN, “they told others they were headed to Vienna to help with a planned interview the next day: Shokin, they said, was scheduled to do an interview from the Austrian capital with Sean Hannity.” A spokesperson for Hannity would neither confirm nor deny that he had intentions of interviewing Shokin prior to Parnas and Fruman being arrested, according to CNN.

View the complete October 25 article by Julie Millican from MediaMatters on the National Memo website here.

Former Bolton aide asks court if he’s required to testify in impeachment probe

A top aide to former national security adviser John Bolton filed suit Friday to determine whether he’s required to comply with a subpoena to appear before House impeachment investigators, a move that could mire the testimony of a key witness in litigation as President Donald Trump seeks to block his cooperation with lawmakers.

Charles Kupperman, the former deputy national security adviser — who briefly succeeded Bolton after he left the administration last month — is asking a district court judge to decide how to resolve the conflict between the House subpoena and the president’s directive.

In a Friday letter to Kupperman’s attorney Chuck Cooper, who is also representing Bolton, White House counsel Pat Cipollone indicated that Trump had directed him not to honor the House subpoena and asserted that Kupperman is “absolutely immune” from testifying because of his regular interactions with Trump.

View the complete October 25 article by Kyle Cheney on the Politico website here.

Citing ‘Potentially Impeachable Conduct’ By Trump, Judge Orders Release Of Mueller Records

Topline: In a major victory for House Democrats pursuing an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, a federal judge  ruled Friday the Justice Department must hand over redacted grand jury materials from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, citing “potentially impeachable conduct by the President.”

  • The House judiciary committee sued in July for the grand jury materials to be released, according to the Washington Post.
  • U.S. District Court judge Beryl Howell repeatedly noted House Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry in her ruling, saying the Mueller materials could assist with their investigation.

View the complete October 25 article by Lisette Voytko on The Forbes Magazine website here.

Trump frustrated as White House effort to defy impeachment inquiry fails to halt witness testimony, advisers say

Washington Post logoAfter weeks of dismissing the impeachment inquiry as a hollow partisan attack, President Trump and his closest advisers now recognize that the snowballing probe poses a serious threat to the president — and that they have little power to block it, according to multiple aides and advisers.

The dawning realization comes as Democrats rapidly gather evidence from witness after witness testifying about the pressure put on Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals. The president is increasingly frustrated that his efforts to stop people from cooperating with the probe have so far collapsed under the weight of legally powerful congressional subpoenas, advisers said.

The Democratic strategy got a boost Friday from a federal judge, who ruled that the House impeachment inquiry is legal. In the coming week, House investigators are scheduled to hear testimony from five more witnesses, including on Saturday from an acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, who is expected to testify about the efforts to oust the previous U.S. ambassador.

View the complete October 25 article by Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s Impeachable Conduct Strikes at the Heart of the Rule of Law: Part 2

Find more about Trump’s Constitutional Crisis as it develops here.

This is part two in a series documenting the ways in which President Trump’s actions related to Ukraine violate basic tenets of American law. Read the first installment, which focuses on bribery and extortion, here.

Center for American Progress logoThere is substantial evidence to show that President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses. Pressuring a foreign government to interfere in U.S. elections by, among other things, withholding military aid undermines America’s democracy and national security. In fact, concern over foreign interference is one of the reasons the founders provided for the constitutional power of impeachment in the first place.

President Trump continues to claim that his actions in the Ukraine-related scandal have been “perfect.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. While a president need not break any specific laws in order to be impeached and removed from office, the type of behavior exhibited by President Trump is prohibited by a range of federal laws.

Trump’s impeachable conduct

Here are some of the major events that have occurred so far in the Ukraine-related scandal:

View the complete October 18 article by Maggie Jo Buchanan, William Roberts and Michael Sozan on the Center for American Progress website here.