Tag: Trump obstruction of Congress

More bad news for McConnell: Two-thirds of voters want to see John Bolton testify

AlterNet logoIn the wake of multiple polls showing strong majorities of Americans believe the Senate impeachment trial should include witnesses and documents, a Quinnipiac survey finds that 66% of voters want to hear from one person in particular: former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. That 66% includes 39% of Republicans, 71% of independents, and 91% of Democrats.

Bolton’s willingness to testify in the Senate if subpoenaed is among the biggest prizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acquired while delaying transmission of the articles of impeachment. Along with being quoted by his subordinates as calling Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani a “hand grenade,” Bolton had unique proximity to Trump during some of the most critical episodes in the Ukraine scandal. His testimony could send shockwaves through the GOP, based on his outsized stature within the party and all the information he was privy to. Continue reading.

Pelosi’s impeachment team represents the diversity of the Democratic caucus

Speaker hand-picked seven managers with a broad swath of backgrounds

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has chosen a small but diverse group of managers to make the House’s case for convicting President Donald Trump on two charges when the Senate impeachment trial begins next week, a move that reflects the membership of her own caucus.

Pelosi announced the managers, which include three women and three minorities, Wednesday morning, just hours before the House is expected to approve them and formally send the two articles of impeachment to the Senate.

The group, who flanked Pelosi during the announced, stands in stark contrast to the 13 white Republican men who managed the articles of impeachment for the House during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, almost exactly 20 years ago. Continue reading.

Pelosi names impeachment managers

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tapped seven impeachment managers on Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation over who in the House will step into the political spotlight and make the case before the Senate to remove President Trump from office.

Some of the newly named managers were considered shoo-ins, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whom Pelosi named as lead manager, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler(D-N.Y.). Both lawmakers had leading roles during the months-long impeachment inquiry last fall into Trump’s contacts with Ukraine.

Others picked for the high-profile role were also widely considered to be leading candidates, including Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus; Val Demings (Fla.), a member of both the Judiciary and Intelligence panels; and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), a senior member of the Judiciary panel and the only member of Congress to have participated in both the Nixon and Clinton impeachments. Continue reading.

McConnell: Senate impeachment trial to start next Tuesday

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the Senate will begin debating an organizing resolution to start the Senate trial on Tuesday of next week.

The GOP leader said Chief Justice John Roberts will swear in senators as jurors this week, before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

McConnell said the House is expected to send over articles of impeachment on Wednesday and that the Senate will then have to go through a series of preliminary steps and housekeeping measures. Continue reading.

Roberts would hold the gavel, but not the power, at Trump impeachment trial

The chief justice is likely to punt contentious and political questions to lawmakers

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will preside over any impeachment trial of President Donald Trump as the Constitution requires, but don’t expect him to make decisions that substantively reshape the action.

Although there is speculation about how active a role Roberts will take in an impeachment trial and whether key witnesses testify, the Senate under past rules has given relatively little authority to the nation’s top judicial figure. And in the areas Roberts might have authority to make rulings, such as questions about whether evidence is relevant, the rules also allow the Senate to call for a vote to overrule him anyway.

Also, past impeachment trial rules, such as those for President Bill Clinton in 1999, give the chief justice the ability to defer making a ruling on his own and instead put a question to a Senate vote. Continue reading.

Five lingering questions as impeachment heads to Senate

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday ended weeks of speculation surrounding the Democrats’ impeachment effort, announcing the House would vote as early as next week to send a pair of articles to the Senate. 

The move is indication that the Speaker, who’d delayed the transmission of the articles in an effort to win procedural concessions from Senate GOP leaders, is ready to launch the trial in the upper chamber despite Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s (R-Ky.) refusal to accept her demands.

Yet there are plenty of lingering questions about how the esoteric process will unfold over the next several weeks, as both sides vie for an upper hand in the high-stakes debate over the propriety of President Trump’s handling of foreign policy in Ukraine. Continue reading.

Even after the Senate trial begins, the House could still add more impeachment articles

The 1936 impeachment of a Florida federal judge outlines the process for adding new charges

House Democrats are preparing to send two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, but they still could add more — even after the Senate trial begins.

If the House managers appointed next week found evidence to support additional articles of impeachment against the president, whether from potential witness testimony on the Senate floor or through other means, they could march back across the Capitol and seek an amended impeachment article resolution on the House floor.

While there is no reason to suspect House Democrats would add new charges, a precedent referenced in Jefferson’s Manual from the 1936 judicial impeachment of Halsted L. Ritter, who had been a federal judge based in Palm Beach County, Florida, appears to give them that power. Continue reading.

McConnell tells GOP senators to expect impeachment trial next week

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Republicans during a closed-door lunch on Thursday to expect President Trump’s impeachment trial to start next week. 

Three GOP senators said the Republican leader warned lawmakers during the caucus meeting that they should not expect to be able to go home next weekend, indicating that the long-delayed trial will be underway.

Proceedings have been held up while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has refused to send over the House-passed articles of impeachment, but she told reporters earlier Thursday that she would “soon” do so. 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

‘Fox & Friends’ host ‘stunned’ as network poll shows majority of Americans want Trump impeached and removed

“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade confessed Monday morning his surprise a brand new Fox News poll reveals a majority of Americans want President Donald Trump impeached. Kilmeade also incorrectly reported the numbers in the poll, downplaying just how bad they are for the president.

“A Fox poll came out and I was stunned by this,” Kilmeade told his co-hosts. “It says 50 percent of the country want the president impeached. I was stunned to see the number because I thought that things were trending away” from impeachment.

The Fox News poll reveals not 50% but actually 54% want Trump impeached. 50% want Trump impeached and removed from office, so Kilmeade delivered the information incorrectly, favoring Trump.

Continue reading