Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Twelve Democratic 2020 presidential candidates will share the stage in the perpetual swing state on Tuesday
The Democratic 2020 presidential candidates will gather once again on Tuesday night to face off in their fourth debate, this time in the perpetual swing state of Ohio.
Twelve of the candidates have qualified to participate, and they will all share one stage – marking the most crowded debate stage of this election cycle so far. But the dynamics of the race have changed since the candidates last met in September, and some of the contenders face the prospect of this being their last debate.
Democratic front-runner Elizabeth Warren is on an absolute tweet storm today, linking America’s big dollar election donation system corrupt, calling out pay-for-play - and taking full advantage of comedy actor Kate McKinnon’s most recent depiction of her on Saturday Night Live.
I don't spend call time asking rich donors to throw big dollar fundraisers or underwrite my campaign. My call time is spent with grassroots donors, thanking them for chipping in whatever they can. Mind if I make just a few more? pic.twitter.com/TDo9EkNpA1
Action in the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry is taking place behind closed doors today, so we’ll wait breathlessly for any revelations via participating lawmakers on Capitol Hill committees taking testimony from state department official George Kent.
Meanwhile, there is plenty else afoot in US politics.
The former US national security adviser, John Bolton, was reportedly so alarmed at a back-channel effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Donald Trump’s political rivals that he told a senior aide to report it to White House lawyers.
The revelation of Bolton’s involvement in the effort to block a shadow foreign policy aimed at Trump’s political benefit emerged from congressional testimony given by his former aide, Fiona Hill, the former top Russia expert in the White House.
In a rare moment of agreement, senator Lindsey Graham said he is working with the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to pass sanctions on Turkey for their military operation in Syria.
I will be working across party lines in a bicameral fashion to draft sanctions and move quickly, appreciating President Trump’s willingness to work with the Congress. The Speaker indicated to me that time was of the essence.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, said that he would meet with Trump this afternoon to discuss the president’s Syria policy.
Lindsey Graham says on Fox he’s meeting with Trump this afternoon to discuss Syria and sanctions on Turkey
Donald Trump’s secretary of defense said on Sunday the Pentagon would cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry, while cautioning that Trump may try to restrict his disclosure of information.
Donald Trump came to the defence of Rudy Giuliani on Saturday, only a day after he said he didn’t know if the former New York mayor was still his personal attorney and it was reported that Giuliani is under federal investigation in Manhattan.
I want to thank the President for the opportunity to serve alongside the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security. With his support, over the last 6 months, we have made tremendous progress mitigating the border security and humanitarian crisis we faced this year... pic.twitter.com/A4rTcZgJKF
Kevin McAleenan has resigned as acting secretary of homeland security.
McAleenan had only been in the position since April, when he was appointed acting secretary to replace Kirstjen Nielsen. Nielsen succeeded John Kelly in the job when Kelly was tapped to be Trump’s White House chief of staff. (Update to clarify: Elaine Duke served as acting secretary for six months between Kelly and Nielsen.)
It is too soon to say whether her evisceration of the state department delivered behind closed doors, will mark a turning point in Donald Trump’s struggle to hold on to his office. There will without doubt be a counter-attack.
The former US ambassador to Ukraine, whose abrupt departure has become a focus of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, has told congressional investigators that the president personally pressured the state department to recall her as part of a “concerted campaign” against her.
At a closed-door hearing on Capital Hill, Marie Yovanovitch delivered a stinging denunciation of diplomacy under the Trump administration, saying the state department was being “attacked and hollowed out from within”.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren weighed in on the arrest of two Republican donors connected to Rudy Giuliani, arguing that their campaign-finance charges indicate the depth of corruption in Trump’s political world.
In addition to abusing and manipulating our diplomatic relationships for Trump's political gain, we can add corruption and campaign finance violations to the list. https://t.co/b57uGfVl3l
Here’s a midday summary of today’s news, which is slightly belated given the many developments the blog is tracking:
As we noted earlier, when Trump defended his decision abandon Kurdish allies in Syria by saying that they didn’t help the US during World War II.
“They didn’t help us with Normandy as an example,” Trump told reporters.
Trump on the Kurds: "They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy, as an example." He suggests that they battled alongside U.S. forces for "their land," and adds, "With all of that being said, we like the Kurds." pic.twitter.com/4aFGJiQquv
Trump told reporters he’ll cooperate with the House democrats’ impeachment inquiry if “they give us our rights”.
Asked whether he’ll cooperate with the democrats if they hold a vote on the impeachment inquiry, Trump responded: “The Republican Party and president has been treated extremely badly by the Democrats, very unfairly, because they have a tiny margin in the House, they have eviscerated the rules, they don’t give us any fair play, it is the most unfair situation people have seen, no lawyers, you can’t have lawyers, you can’t speak, you can’t do anything.”
The Constitution states clearly that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment,” and that “the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.”
What “impeachment” means in this context is, effectively, indictment — the House has the power to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to spur a trial that would then take place in the Senate.
Eight-page letter to Democratic leaders sets stage for constitutional crisis, as legislative and executive branches clash
Donald Trump pushed the United States towards a constitutional crisis on Tuesday when his legal counsel said the White House would refuse to cooperate with Congress’s impeachment inquiry.
“Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to participate in it,” the counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter to Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo has announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials suspected of being involved in “a highly repressive campaign against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang).”
Earlier today, the US commerce department issued a list of 28 state security bureaus and tech companies in China that it said are being used to suppress muslims and other ethnic minorities.
The US state department is withholding messages from the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, that are relevant to the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry, says the chair of the US House intelligence committee, Adam Shiff
The secretary of defense for public affairs, Jonathan Hoffman, said in a statement it does not support a Turkish operation in northern Syria.
Despite the president giving a green light for that to occur, the defense department’s statement claims that their position is in tune with the presidents.
The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey - as did the President - that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria. The US Armed Forces will not support, or be involved in any such operation.
In conversations between the Department and the Turkish military we have consistently stressed that coordination and cooperation were the best path toward security in the area. Secretary Esper and Chairman Milley reiterated to their respective Turkish counterparts that unilateral action creates risks for Turkey. As the President has stated, Turkey would be responsible, along with European nations and others, for thousands of ISIS fighters who had been captured and defeated in the campaign lead by the United States.
The homeland security department released a statement in response to the department’s acting secretary, Kevin McAleenan, deciding not to speak after protestors interrupted his remarks at an immigration conference this morning.
The department said McAleenan’s right to free speech and assembly were “robbed.”
Republican defenders mostly silent, with two vivid exceptions, as at least one additional whistleblower steps forward
As Donald Trump strived to enforce message discipline among Republicans in the face of a building threat that he will be impeached, new forces beyond the US president’s control appeared likely to accelerate the congressional impeachment inquiry further in the coming week.
At least one additional whistleblower has stepped forward to describe an alleged scheme by Trump to extort Ukraine for dirt on Democratic 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden, the individual’s lawyer announced.
As the walls of an impeachment inquiry closed in, Trump’s incoherent statements renewed fears about his fitness for office
The eye of a storm is deceptively calm. At the White House this week the sun was shining, a bust of Ronald Reagan reposed outside the West Wing office of the press secretary, a US marine saluted the president as he boarded Marine One and scores of African American millennials cheered him in the east room.
But inside Donald Trump’s head, there was no calm. The storm was a firestorm.
Intelligence official was interviewed by watchdog to corroborate initial complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, report says
A second intelligence official is reportedly considering filing a whistleblower complaint about Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine as the Democrats’ impeachment investigation into the president and his administration continues to escalate.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, also failed to meet a subpoena deadline to turn over documents related to the investigation, as House Democrats broadened their subpoena request to the White House, demanding documents after the executive branch ignored requests to provide them voluntarily.
At a press conference in Greece the US secretary of state says state department lawyers 'harassed his team' after he missed the the subpoena by three congressional committees to provide the House Democrats with documents relating to Ukraine in accordance with an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump