Bill Taylor and George Kent testify in first day of public impeachment inquiry – follow for live updates
Some non-impeachment news courtesy of The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani:
The Guardian’s Washington correspondent David Smith:
Continue reading...Only three times in the history of the American republic has Congress initiated public testimony that could result in the removal of the president by impeachment. The tally will rise to four on Wednesday.
Related: Lights, camera, impeachment: TV phase of inquiry carries pluses and pitfalls
Continue reading...It’s Veterans Day, Donald Trump is back in Manhattan and Washington is getting ready for more momentous events
The announcement of Republican representative Pete King’s retirement once again throws a spotlight on the high number of departures and defeats in the House GOP caucus since Trump took office.
When President Trump took office in January 2017, there were 241 Republicans in the House.
Since then, 101 have either been defeated/retired/otherwise left office or are retiring in 2020. (h/t @Dchinni)
One name under discussion for Rep. Peter King's seat: Democratic Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.
Demonstrators who protested Trump’s Veterans Day speech in New York criticized the president’s treatment of veterans and called for his impeachment.
Continue reading...The whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump will not testify in public, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff said.
Related: Watergate to Ukraine: how TV will dictate Trump's impeachment fate
Continue reading...Congress hears Mulvaney approved Trump-Zelenskiy meeting on condition Ukraine announced investigations tied to Joe Biden
Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney approved a White House meeting with the president for the Ukrainian president on condition Ukraine announced investigations tied to Trump’s political rival Joe Biden, according to testimony released on Friday.
Related: Trump impeachment inquiry: Mick Mulvaney implicated in released transcripts – live
Continue reading...Lawsuit exposed ‘shocking pattern of illegality’ in Trump’s personal charity, while John Bolton fails to show for deposition on Capitol Hill – follow live
Bloomberg is preparing to enter the Democratic presidential primary, the New York Times reports. He’s expected to file paperwork designating himself as a candidate in Alabama this week.
Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman, has been privately weighing a bid for the White House for weeks and has not yet made a final decision on whether to run, an adviser said. But in the first sign that he is seriously moving toward a campaign, Mr. Bloomberg has dispatched staffers to Alabama to gather signatures to qualify for the primary there. Though Alabama does not hold an early primary, it has a Friday deadline for candidates to formally enter the race.
Here’s a summary of where things stand:
Continue reading...US officials said Trump would not ‘sign a check’ for military aid without investigation into Joe Biden, Bill Taylor tells inquiry
For a second time in two days, newly released testimony in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump has produced a firsthand account of US officials negotiating a quid pro quo in Ukraine in which military aid would be used to pay for a political hit against Joe Biden, the president’s potential 2020 adversary.
Related: Trump-Ukraine scandal: Taylor transcript details direct quid pro quo via irregular channels – live
Continue reading...EU envoy acknowledges in updated testimony he told Ukraine it would likely not receive aid unless it announced investigations into Trump’s rivals
Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell appears to have bulldozed directly through protocol by forecasting, before the articles of impeachment have even been drafted in the House and Trump put on trial in the Senate, that the president will be acquitted.
“If it were today, I don’t think there’s any question — it would not lead to a removal,” @SenateMajLdr McConnell says of a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.
/2 McConnell: “I’m pretty sure I know how it’s going to end.” Says Trump will be acquitted by Senate like Clinton & Andrew Johnson
Sondland was asked, with respect to the “demands” made by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to investigate the 2016 election and Burisma, if “those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting.”
Continue reading...The former Texas congressman has had low polling numbers and his campaign has been under financial strain
Beto O’Rourke was once a front runner in the Democratic primaries, who raised huge amounts of money from small donors across the country.
Related: Beto O'Rourke withdraws from Democratic race to face Trump
Following in the footsteps of Joan Didion, and Meghan Daum and Luc Sante – Donald Trump has penned his own version of the “Goodbye New York” essay after announcing yesterday that he had changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Mar-a-lago.
“I love New York, but New York can never be great again,” he begins. Like so many bigly figures in the literary world, Trump has written about that bittersweet feeling of leaving the iconic city.
I love New York, but New York can never be great again under the current leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo (the brother of Fredo), or Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Cuomo has weaponized the prosecutors to do his dirty work (and to keep him out of jams), a reason some don’t want to be...
Continue reading...The Democratic US representative Katie Hill has delivered her final speech on the House floor, in which she called out the 'double standards' and 'misogynistic culture' that led to her resignation. The California congresswoman said she would be stepping down after she was accused of having an affair with a campaign worker and nude photographs of her were published online
Tim Morrison is at closed-door testimony following last night’s reports that the official is stepping down from his post at the White House
Nancy Pelosi rather unusually presided over the House herself this morning as members began to debate the impeachment resolution.
.@SpeakerPelosi taking the unusual step of presiding over the House herself as they begin debate on the procedures for the impeachment inquiry going forward
Tim Morrison, the national security council official currently testifying behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry, reportedly intends to confirm Bill Taylor’s account that the White House held up Ukraine’s military assistance to push for public announcements of investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election.
The Washington Post reports:
Morrison is expected to tell impeachment investigators on Thursday that the account offered by Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr., is accurate, particularly that Morrison alerted him to the president’s and his deputies’ push to withhold security aid and a meeting with the Ukrainian president until Ukraine announced an investigation of the Bidens and 2016 election interference, the person said on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Morrison will also say that he did not necessarily view the president’s demands as improper or illegal, but rather problematic for U.S. policy in supporting an ally in the region, the person said.
House committees leading the impeachment inquiry reportedly intend to call Donald Trump’s former national security adviser
The interior department is grounding its entire fleet of drones due to security concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported.
With more than 800 aerial drones, the department has one of the largest fleets in the federal government.
US officials worry that the country’s reliance on Chinese drones may be putting critical US infrastructure at risk. They are concerned the drones may be sending information back to the Chinese government or hackers elsewhere to use for cyberattacks or other offenses.
Hello, Kari Paul here in San Francisco, taking over the blog for the next few hours. More news to come shortly.
Continue reading...Alexander Vindman to testify call made him ‘worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine’
Trump is still tweeting away, arguing that the House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry have a “Death Wish” when it comes to next year’s elections.
However, a number of House Republicans have announced plans to retire or seek higher office in recent months, suggesting that the GOP caucus is the one with doubts about their 2020 prospects.
Nervous Nancy Pelosi is doing everything possible to destroy the Republican Party. Our Polls show that it is going to be just the oppidite. The Do Nothing Dems will lose many seats in 2020. They have a Death Wish, led by a corrupt politician, Adam Schiff!
Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declined to attack the integrity of Lt Col Alexander Vindman but still questioned the official’s reported concerns about Trump’s Ukraine call.
The California Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill: “I thank him for his service ... but he is wrong.”
“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” @GOPLeader tells @nancycordes when asked whether Republicans are moving the goalposts by refusing to support a vote on impeachment procedures going forward after calling for one for weeks.
Continue reading...Resolution outlining impeachment procedures specifically calls out the Trump administration for dismissing the inquiry as illegitimate
Here’s a recap of today:
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who introduced a Senate resolution denouncing the House inquiry last week, is both taking credit for House Democrats’ decision to hold a full vote on the impeachment inquiry, and saying that the vote is meaningless.
“A vote now is a bit like un-ringing a bell as House Democrats have selectively leaked information in order to damage President Trump for weeks,” he said.
There is no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming response House Democrats heard from the American people and Senate Republicans in support of my resolution forced their hand.
Today’s announcement is an acknowledgement of the success of our efforts last week.
Top Democrats reacted with anger to Donald Trump’s decision to go ahead with the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid without giving them advance notice, on grounds that they were not to be trusted with such highly sensitive information.
Related: Trump impeachment: Schiff expects battle over key witness John Bolton
Continue reading...A hearing room is invaded, the president’s enemies are ‘scum’. A bare-knuckle scrap has begun – but will it be enough?
Donald Trump has shown little taste for military adventure. He avoided the draft in Vietnam. He fell out with his once-beloved generals. He stunned the world by pulling troops out of Syria and abandoning America’s Kurdish allies.
Related: Blow to Trump as DoJ ordered to turn over evidence from Mueller grand jury
Continue reading...Congressman and civil rights leader Elijah Cummings was remembered on Friday as a 'fierce champion of truth, justice and kindness' at a funeral that brought Washington politicians and ordinary people alike to the Baltimore church where he worshipped for nearly four decades.
Continue reading...Congressman and civil rights leader Elijah Cummings was remembered at a funeral that brought Washington politicians and ordinary people alike to the Baltimore church where he worshipped for nearly four decades
Continue reading...Democrat sent cease-and-desist as lawsuit suggests publication defamed her by claiming she has a Nazi-inspired tattoo
A member of Congress from California has threatened to sue the Daily Mail over nude photographs and claims posted online by the newspaper.
Lawyers for Katie Hill, 32, a Democratic, first-term representative from a suburban Los Angeles district, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Mail demanding that “you remove these photos from publication at once”.
Continue reading...The charade may seem desperate, but it’s a strategy straight out of Trump’s playbook when he faced Mueller
In addition to an abuse-of-power allegation, Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump are said to be building a case against the president for alleged obstruction of justice.
But it had not occurred to anyone that the obstruction in question might literally amount to the physical obstruction by Republican lawmakers of impeachment proceedings.
Continue reading...