Tag: Trump sleaze

Public opinion polls show shift toward impeaching Trump

The Hill logoPublic opinion is shifting in favor of Democrats on impeachment, with new polls showing about half the nation supports a House inquiry into President Trump after revelations he pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

The latest NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist survey found 49 percent approval for impeachment, against 46 percent who said they disapprove. That’s a 10-point jump in favor of impeachment over the same survey from April, around the time former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s election interference was released.

A Politico-Morning Consult survey found a similar bounce in a short period of time, with support for impeachment spiking 7 points in the week since the Ukrainian revelations came to light, although only 36 percent in that poll said they support impeachment, compared to 49 percent who said they oppose it.

View the complete September 28 article by Jonathan Easley on The Hill website here.

U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker resigns

Axios logoU.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker resigned on Friday, 1 day after the whistleblower report on President Trump and Ukraine was released, Arizona State University’s student newspaper first reported and outlets including CNN confirm.

Why it matters: The whistleblower at the heart of a controversy over Trump and Ukraine said that Volker, along with U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, met with Ukrainian officials a day after Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the whistleblower, Volker and Sondland provided Ukrainian officials with advice on how to “navigate” Trump’s demands.

    • Volker is scheduled for a deposition on Oct.3 as part of the House impeachment inquiry and committee investigations into whether Trump jeopardized national security by pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate political rival Joe Biden.
    • Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson found the whistleblower complaint to be credible.

View the complete September 27 article by Orion Rummler on the Axios website here.

First House Republican backs impeachment inquiry

The Hill logoRep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) on Friday became the first House Republican to voice support for an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

In a conference call with reporters, Amodei made clear he wouldn’t vote to impeach Trump, but he also expressed concern over the president’s dealings with Ukraine, adding that the House should “put it through the process and see what happens.”

“I’m a big fan of oversight, so let’s let the committees get to work and see where it goes,” he said, according to audio of the call released by The Nevada Independent.

View the complete September 27 article by Tal Axelrod on The Hill website here.

Trump, the TV president, finally meets a media story he can’t control

Washington Post logoDonald Trump’s presidency would have been impossible without his reality-TV fame from NBC’s “The Apprentice.”

And he is skilled at dominating the visual medium that still matters so much — even in our digital age — from his raucous rallies to his impromptu media gaggles outside a whirring helicopter to his symbiotic relationship with Fox News.

But not this week.

View the complete September 27 article by Margaret Sullivan on The Washington Post website here.

Support for Trump impeachment rises 12 points in new poll

The Hill logoA new Hill-HarrisX survey on Friday found support for impeachment proceedings against President Trump has risen 12 points compared to a similar poll conducted three months ago.

The survey was conducted on Sept. 26-27, just days after House Democrats started a formal impeachment inquiry over a whistleblower complaint involving Trump’s communications with Ukraine.

The poll showed 47 percent of respondents support that decision, up 12 points from a similar survey in June, which asked whether Democrats should begin impeachment proceedings.

View the complete article with video and embedded poll results on The Hill website here.

Democrats subpoena Pompeo for Ukraine documents

The Hill logoThe House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents relating to the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine, indicating Democrats are wasting no time diving into the formal impeachment inquiry they launched this week.

The subpoena notice, drafted in consultation with the Intelligence and Oversight and Reform committees, accuses Pompeo of refusing to turn over requested information to Congress amid the Democrats’ nascent investigation into Trump’s interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Your continued refusal to provide the requested documents not only prevents our Committees from fully investigating these matters, but impairs Congress’ ability to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities to protect our national security and the integrity of our democracy,” wrote Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), head of Foreign Affairs; Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the Intelligence panel; and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who leads the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

View the complete September 27 article by Rachel Franzen, Scott Wong and Mike Lillis on The Hill website here.

D.C. Memo: It’s not a transcript. It’s a memo.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the D.C. Memo. This week in Washington, impeachment is on everyone’s mind. Other things are going on, like all Minnesota members voting for the same bill and Klobuchar’s trip to Iowa, but you’ll have to read on for that.

Impeachment

All of it happened remarkably quickly: a whistleblower complaint alleging President Donald Trump misused his authority on a phone call with the Ukranian president, moderate Democrats backing impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreeing to go along with them, and the White House releasing the memo (not a transcript) noting what was said during the call.

What was said exactly? Trump maintains he did not imply that Ukraine would lose aid if they did not follow through on his request, but you can read it for yourself here. Here is an excerpt of two parts of the conversation:

View the complete September 27 article by Gabe Schneider on the MinnPost website here.

Trump calls on Schiff to ‘immediately resign’ over his portrayal of Trump’s call with Zelenskiy

President says longtime thorn in his side tried to ‘defraud the American Public’ in Thursday hearing

Donald Trump on Friday called for House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff to resign over his portrayal of Trump’s message to Ukraine’s president in their phone call that the president called an attempt to “defraud the American public.”

Schiff has long been a thorn in Trump’s side and now Speaker Nancy Pelosi has placed him in charge of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, which is centered on the July 25 telephone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy. During the call, Trump asks Zelenskiy for a “favor” after the incoming Ukrainian leader noted his intention to purchase more U.S.-made military hardware. That favor was Trump’s desire for an investigation of 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden.

During a Thursday hearing about an intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint about that call and White House aides’ coordinated effort to “lock down” the records, Schiff kicked off the hearing by summarizing Trump’s request of Zelenskiy, saying what he was about to recount was “the essence of what the president communicates.”

View the complete September 27 article by John T. Bennet on The Roll Call website here.

Nearly 300 national security officials call for impeachment inquiry against Trump

AlterNet logoNearly 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed an open letter calling for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The signatures were gathered by National Security Action, an organization founded by officials from the Obama administration concerned about Trump’s “reckless leadership,” but the list includes many others who served as career officials in Republican and Democratic administrations, reported the Washington Post.

“To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress’ deliberative process,” the statement says. “At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings.”

View the complete September 27 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Kremlin says it hopes U.S. won’t release details of Putin-Trump calls

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday that it hoped that Washington would not release confidential details of phone calls between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment when asked about the White House’s release of a reconstruction of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that has set off a U.S. domestic political storm.

Peskov said it was not normal diplomatic practice to release confidential details of such calls and that he hoped the bad state of ties with Washington would not lead to a similar situation arising in Russia’s case.

View the September 27 article from Andrew Osborn and Tom BalmforthReuters on the Yahoo website here.