Tag: Trump impeachment

Toxic McConnell-Schumer relationship strains impeachment talks

The Hill logoThe toxic relationship between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has left senators pessimistic about reaching a deal to set the rules of President Trump’s impeachment trial.

The leaders already have scars from the battles over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2018, efforts to repeal ObamaCare in 2017 and McConnell’s refusal to hold a vote on former President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, among other controversies.

So perhaps it should not be surprising that talks on rules for the trial are off to a rocky start. Continue reading

From accusing Pelosi of lying about her faith to overstating his electoral college win, here are 5 absurd parts of Trump’s letter to the House speaker

AlterNet logoThis Wednesday, December 18, the two articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee approved against President Donald Trump — one for abuse of power, the other for obstruction of Congress — are expected to come up for a full vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the Democrat-controlled House votes to indict Trump on those articles (which is likely), they would go to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Trump, the day before the expected House vote, sent a long-winded, rambling letter to House Speaker Pelosi and railed against House Democrats for pursuing impeachment.

Here are some of the most absurd things Trump said to Pelosi in his December 17 letter.

1. Trump claimed his July 25 conversation with Zelensky was ‘totally innocent’

Pelosi and other House Democrats have been stressing that Trump crossed the line when he tried to bully Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. But Trump, in his letter, told Pelosi, “I had a totally innocent conversation with the president of Ukraine…. I said to President Zelensky, ‘I would like you to do us a favor, though’…. I said do us a favor, not me, and our country, not a campaign.”

Trump accuses Democrats of subverting democracy in blistering letter to Pelosi

Axios logoPresident Trump sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday accusing Democrats of “perversion of justice” and condemning them for their handling of impeachment, at one point writing: “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”

The big picture: Written on White House letterhead, the letter memorializes Trump’s defense on the eve of his expected impeachment. The House is set to approve articles of impeachment on Wednesday, sending them to the Senate for what is likely to be a speedy trial that ends with Trump’s acquittal.

What he’s saying: Trump rehashed his usual arguments against impeachment, including that Democrats are seeking revenge over their 2016 election loss and that his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “perfect.”

  • “There is nothing I would rather do than stop referring to your party as the Do-Nothing Democrats. Unfortunately, I don’t know that you will ever give me a chance to do so,” Trump wrote.
  • “You are the ones interfering in America’s elections. You are the ones subverting America’s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish, personal, political and partisan gain,” he added.  Continue reading

A letter from local legal scholars about impeachment

The action is a step in a process. It’s not only warranted in this case but essential.

Opinion editor’s note: This article was submitted on behalf of multiple legal scholars at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. They are listed below.

Last week, we joined more than 800 of our colleagues from around the country and signed a “Letter to Congress from Legal Scholars”(tinyurl.com/legal-scholars). This letter concluded that President Donald Trump engaged in impeachable conduct.

Also last week, the U.S. House announced that it will bring two articles of impeachment against President Trump, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. This will set in motion the third impeachment of a U.S. president in history.

In light of these extraordinary events, we are writing separately to reiterate to our local community why, as legal scholars, we believe that President Trump engaged in impeachable conduct. We also write to explain why, as citizens, we believe that he should be impeached.  Continue reading

House votes to impeach Trump

The Hill logoHouse Democrats took the historic step Wednesday of impeaching President Trump, a momentous move that will send long-lasting reverberations throughout the Capitol and the country, both already fiercely divided over the truculent figure in the Oval Office.

The two articles, which charge Trump with abusing power and obstructing Congress in his dealings with Ukraine, passed almost exclusively along party lines, marking the most sectarian and contentious of the three presidential impeachments since the nation’s founding — and the first to target a president in his first term.

Lawmakers voted 230 to 197 on the resolution accusing Trump of abusing his power, with all Republicans opposed and only two Democrats — Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) — crossing the aisle in dissent. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), a Democratic presidential candidate, voted present.  Continue reading

McConnell takes heat from all sides on impeachment

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is under pressure from Senate Democrats, House Republicans and President Trump when it comes to the fraught impeachment trial that is about to take over life in the Senate.

Democrats are making it crystal clear they’ll cast McConnell as a Trump stooge if he doesn’t run what they consider to be a fair trial. House Republicans, frustrated they didn’t get to call former Vice President Joe Biden or the anonymous whistleblower as witnesses, are demanding that McConnell put them in the hot seat.

And the GOP leader, who himself is up for reelection next year, is under the wary eyes of Trump and his own Senate caucus. Any false steps are bound to bring the heat — and even more pressure for the Senate veteran.

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Giuliani Provides Details of What Trump Knew About Ambassador’s Removal

New York Times logoRudolph Giuliani said in an interview that he briefed the president “a couple of times” about Marie Yovanovitch, the envoy to Ukraine, setting her recall in motion.

WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani said on Monday that he provided President Trump with detailed information this year about how the United States ambassador to Ukraine was, in Mr. Giuliani’s view, impeding investigations that could benefit Mr. Trump, setting in motion the ambassador’s recall from her post.

In an interview, Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, described how he passed along to Mr. Trump “a couple of times” accounts about how the ambassador, Marie L. Yovanovitch, had frustrated efforts that could be politically helpful to Mr. Trump. They included investigations involving former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Ukrainians who disseminated documents that damaged Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The president in turn connected Mr. Giuliani with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who asked for more information, Mr. Giuliani said. Within weeks, Ms. Yovanovitch was recalled as ambassadorat the end of April and was told that Mr. Trump had lost trust in her.

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GOP claims vindication, but Van Drew decision doesn’t spark defections

The Hill logoDemocratic Rep. Jefferson Van Drew’s expected decision to join the GOP over the divisive impeachment issue has roiled New Jersey and Washington and left both parties claiming vindication ahead of Wednesday’s historic House vote to make President Trump just the third commander in chief to be impeached.

Republicans quickly pounced, arguing that Van Drew’s defection is evidence that Democrats, pressured by “radical” liberal activists, have overreached in taking the drastic step of impeaching Trump over his dealings with Ukraine. They’re warning of a bloodbath at the polls next year for other vulnerable Democrats who decide to back impeachment this week.

Yet Democrats, far from dodging the embarrassing episode, are instead leaning in, noting that the heavy pressure on Van Drew was coming not from conservatives in his swing district but from liberals up in arms that the freshman lawmaker was ready to buck the party and oppose the impeachment articles.

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Democrats accuse Trump of criminal bribery, wire fraud in report that explains articles of impeachment

Washington Post logoDemocrats accused President Trump of “multiple federal crimes,” including bribery and wire fraud, in a new report released early Monday that explains the articles of impeachment that the House is expected to approve mostly along party lines Wednesday.

A trial will probably begin in the Republican-led Senate in early January, and Democrats are seeking to call several senior Trump administration officials who did not testify as part of the House proceedings.

At the heart of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Senators have a choice: Convict Trump or coronate him

AlterNet logoThe two articles of impeachment, which have drawn criticism as either too much or too little, strike me as cleverly drafted to put Senate Republicans in a most uncomfortable box.

The second article, obstruction of Congress, should be the tougher one for Senate Republicans. It flows from Donald Trump’s stonewalling the impeachment inquiry – no testimony, no documents.

On top of this utter contempt of Congress, Trump claims absolute immunity from investigation by anyone for anything. His lawyers asserted in federal court in October that the NYPD could not investigate even if Trump literally shot someone on Fifth Avenue.

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