Tag: Trump obstruction of Congress

New Evidence Troubles White House Because ‘Parnas Has Receipts’

Lev Parnas, a longtime associate of Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is causing “concern” among White House officials after he publicly turned on the president and claimed “Trump knew exactly everything that was going on that Rudy Giuliani was doing in Ukraine.”

Parnas, who has been cooperating with the House Intelligence Committee and handed over a “trove” of impeachment documents last week, was integral to Giuliani’s efforts to pressure a Ukrainian investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

While some senators, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), have downplayed the relevance of Giuliani and Parnas’ efforts in Ukraine as they pertain to Trump’s impeachment, CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang on Sunday said there’s “a recognition among sources who are being honest that even if [Parnas is] not an official witness, he’s already impacting this trial.” Continue reading.

Roberts under pressure from both sides in witness fight

The Hill logoSenate Democrats are pressing Chief Justice John Roberts to rule in favor of calling witnesses at President Trump‘s impeachment trial, while Republicans argue it could force his recusal from potential Supreme Court cases. 

Democrats say it’s simple: A trial can’t be a fair one without witnesses. Republicans counter that if Roberts rules on witnesses, he will have to recuse himself from any Supreme Court case on Trump’s claims of executive privilege over potential witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

“I don’t know how you have a serious trial unless you hear from witnesses who know in fact what the facts are, what happened,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Continue reading.

Dershowitz distances himself from White House response to Democrats’ impeachment charges

Washington Post logoAlan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law emeritus professor who recently joined President Trump’s legal team, distanced himself Sunday from a response by two White House lawyers to House Democrats’ impeachment case against the president, noting that he did not sign onto the document.

“I didn’t sign that brief,” Dershowitz said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week.” “I didn’t even see the brief until after it was filed. That’s not part of my mandate. My mandate is to determine what is a constitutionally authorized criteria for impeachment.”

Dershowitz is one of four lawyers who were selected personally by Trump and announced Friday as new members of the president’s legal team. The others are former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi and former independent counsels Robert Ray and Kenneth W. Starr. Continue reading.

‘Brazen and unlawful’: Trump team attacks House impeachment effort in first formal response

The president’s initial reply comes on the same day House managers previewed their own opening arguments.

President Donald Trump launched his first formal attack on the House’s effort to remove him from office on Saturday, calling the Democrats’ impeachment case against him fatally flawed and “constitutionally invalid” while blasting the effort as a political hit job by his adversaries.

“This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election — now just months away,” Trump’s lawyers argued in a six-page response filed with the Senate just days before the president’s trial begins in earnest.

The allegations raised by Trump’s attorneys — a soft swing at the substance of the impeachment articles and a more direct rebuke of the process Democrats used to get there — mirror the House’s charges against him. Democrats allege the president pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election on his behalf by launching investigations into his political opponents. Continue reading.

House Democrats may call new impeachment witnesses if Senate doesn’t

The Hill logoKey House Democrats pressing the Senate to hear from new witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial are leaving the door open to another possibility: calling those witnesses themselves if Senate Republicans do not.

House Democrats impeached Trump last month on two charges related to his handling of foreign policy in Ukraine, but their investigations into the issue remain open even as the spotlight turns to the launch of the Senate trial.

Democrats in both chambers are hoping the emergence of new evidence and eyewitness offers to testify will force Senate GOP leaders to consider the unexplored information, including captivating details of Trump’s pressure campaign recently provided by Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman with close ties to Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Continue reading.

Meet Pelosi’s 7 impeachment managers

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has named seven House members to serve in high-profile roles as impeachment managers, who will argue the case to impeach President Trump during the Senate trial.

Unlike the past two modern impeachment inquiries into sitting presidents that included only House Judiciary Committee members as managers, Pelosi bucked tradition and selected members across multiple congressional panels to argue the case Trump is unfit for office.

She said one factor has guided her decisionmaking: litigation experience. Continue reading.

Parnas pressure grows on Senate GOP

The Hill logoPressure is growing on Senate Republicans to call Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to testify in the impeachment trial. 

Democrats are opening the door to hearing from Parnas as a witness at the impeachment trial after an explosive round of media interviews and new evidence released by House Democrats, which details Parnas’s role in trying to convince the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

The revelations, Democrats argue, underscore the need for witnesses and documents — something Republicans have so far resisted.  Continue reading.

Senate Impeachment Trial Must Include All Important Evidence

Center for American Progress logoIn impeaching President Donald Trump, the U.S. House of Representatives uncovered overwhelming evidence that Trump extorted a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election. The House did so even though Trump engaged in unprecedented obstruction of Congress by blocking
critically important witnesses and documents, circumstances that underlay the House’s second impeachment article. Now, as the U.S. Senate begins the trial phase of impeachment proceedings, every senator must make a crucial decision: recklessly support the president’s obstruction or uphold their oaths under the U.S. Constitution.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made a reasonable requestthat the Senate obtain a limited set of additional firsthand evidence and testimony from persons directly involved in Trump’s scheme. Yet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) seems intent on beginning the Senate impeachment trial without committing to require witnesses and relevant documents that have been withheld by the Trump administration. It is very possible that at no time will majority party senators impose this requirement, and they have offered no substantive reason why this evidence would be unnecessary here.

This is an untenable position. The Senate should see all available, relevant evidence rather than willfully avoid finding out information that President Trump’s supporters fear will damage him. Continue reading.

Democrats file brief against Trump, ‘the Framers’ worst nightmare’

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Saturday unveiled an extensive outline of their legal case heading into the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, lending a preview of the arguments — both substantial and procedural — underlying the central assertion that the president abused his office and should be removed. 

In the 111-page brief, Democrats argue that Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors — charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — and lay out the evidence and legal analysis they intend to present.

And while they buckle down on their allegations that Trump is guilty of pressuring a foreign power to investigate a 2020 political rival, they say the only lingering question they have is whether the Senate will be a fair arbiter of justice. Continue reading.

Trump to add Dershowitz, Ken Starr to impeachment defense team

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s impeachment defense team for his Senate trial will include Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, sources confirmed to The Hill on Friday.

Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow said the team will also consist of former attorneys Jane Raskin and Robert Ray, as well as former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Starr worked as independent counsel investigating former President Clinton over allegations that ultimately led to his impeachment. Ray followed Starr as independent counsel. Continue reading.