Category Archives: US Politics

Trump’s defender v his nemesis: the battle at the heart of impeachment hearings

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Beyond the tussle between Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Devin Nunes is the big question – will party interest reign supreme?

The battle for American hearts and minds in the unfolding impeachment drama is, at its core, a battle between two very different Californian congressmen.

In the red corner is Devin Nunes, a Republican former dairy farmer from the state’s agricultural Central Valley, who long ago threw his lot in with Fox News talking-point orthodoxy and has never hesitated to defend Donald Trump, no matter how much the rest of the political establishment – and the factual record – was arrayed against him.

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Impeachment hearings go public with a flurry of pomp, drama and tension

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As key diplomats testified in an open session, Democrats hoped to overcome the polarization that has defined Trump’s presidency

Shortly after 10am on Wednesday, a single sharp rap of the gavel launched the House intelligence committee’s first public hearing into the impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.

In the vaulted chambers of the ways and means committee, the House’s grandest and most ornate meeting room, the day’s witnesses – William Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior state department official in charge of Ukraine policy – rose to their feet and solemnly raised their right hands to be sworn in.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: highlights from day one – video

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Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public. As Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair, gaveled the House intelligence committee into session, cameras from every major network carried the proceedings to millions of Americans, some of whom were encountering the allegations against Trump for the first time

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Donald Trump says US military presence in Syria ‘only for the oil’ – live

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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:

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Trump cared more about investigating Biden than Ukraine, key witness reveals

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House begins public hearings with testimonies from Bill Taylor and George Kent as president struggles to prevent investigation

Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public.

Related: Lights, camera, impeachment: TV phase of inquiry carries pluses and pitfalls

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Ilhan Omar has been proved right: Stephen Miller is a white nationalist | Poppy Noor

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Leaked emails show the Trump aide promoting white nationalist websites and touting Calvin Coolidge’s segregation-era policies

When the congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, a white nationalist in April, the chorus of outrage from Republicans could not have been louder.

Donald Trump Jr tweeted: “I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a ‘white nationalist’ because she apparently has no shame.”

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Jim Jordan: the Republican in ‘attack dog mode’ for impeachment hearings

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Trump’s loyal ally will block, deflect, and argue that impeachment evidence is lacking and challenge the legitimacy of proceedings

Perhaps the solitary defeat still stings. Jim Jordan won 150 matches and lost just one during a school wrestling career in which he was Ohio state champion four times. Now a politician, Jordan is less a wrestler and more a bare-knuckle fighter in the corner of Donald Trump and lashing out at the president’s enemies.

The world is about to become a lot more familiar with the Republican congressman’s aggressive style when televised impeachment hearings get under way on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.

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Schiff ahead of public hearings: Trump tried to scheme with Ukraine – as it happened

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The House intelligence chair, Adam Schiff, pushed back against Republicans’ defense of the president in an interview with NPR

Tune in tomorrow morning for live coverage of the first public impeachment hearings.

Related: Trump fumes as Democrats get ready for 'sober and rigorous' public hearings

In the memo, posted on CNN, Democrats rebut each of the four arguments the Republicans put forth in their internal memo in the impeachment inquiry.

The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;

President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;

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DC braces for Erdoğan’s visit 18 months after bodyguards assaulted protesters

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His bodyguards ran riot in the city as they punched and pushed Kurdish protesters and attacked American security officers

Police in Washington DC, the US state department and the Secret Service are girding themselves for the return of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday, 18 months after the Turkish president’s bodyguards ran riot in the city, assaulting protesters and American security officers.

Newly declassified state department documents provide fresh details of the aggression shown by the Turkish security detail towards their US counterparts both before and after the 2017 attack near the Turkish embassy in north-west Washington. Six officers from the US Secret Service, two from the diplomatic service and one from the Washington police required medical treatment.

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Donald Trump plans to make foreign aid conditional on religious freedom

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President wants to apportion aid based on how countries treat religious minorities

White House officials are reportedly drafting plans to make US foreign aid conditional on how countries treat their religious minorities, in an effort that is seen as a sop to Christian evangelicals in Donald Trump’s base.

The move, which threatens to impose further constraints on a US foreign aid policy already heavily restricted under the Trump administration, was first reported by Politico after briefings from White House aides.

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Trump faces key test as week of impeachment hearings begins – live

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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.

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Trump, the whistleblower and the comic: key players in the Ukraine scandal

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Trump’s request that Ukraine help find dirt on Joe Biden has led to an impeachment inquiry – and drawn in multiple people

Democrats announced an official impeachment inquiry into Trump on 24 September following a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s interactions with the president of Ukraine. A White House summary of a 25 July call shows Trump pressed Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with the US attorney general and Rudy Giuliani, to investigate his political rival Joe Biden in the run-up the 2020 US election. Trump told Zelenskiy to look into unfounded and debunked allegations that Biden helped remove a Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated a company tied to his son Hunter.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: a timeline of key events so far

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Pelosi launched inquiry on 24 September over allegations that Trump sought the help of a foreign country to harm a political rival

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on 24 September.

Since then, House committees have been taking witness testimony about an alleged plot by Trump to use the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country, Ukraine, in the 2020 election.

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Nikki Haley: Tillerson and Kelly tried to block Trump to ‘save country’

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Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has claimed former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John Kelly tried to recruit her to work around Donald Trump in an effort to “save the country”.

Related: Trump impeachment: whistleblower will not testify in public, Democrats say

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Trump impeachment: whistleblower will not testify in public, Democrats say

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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

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‘We need to hear the evidence’: swing voters give their view on Trump

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In this Kansas City suburb, voters who went for Trump in 2016 have their doubts about impeachment – but say the president has questions to answer

Steve Isley sees no reason not to believe what Donald Trump has to say about Congress’s impeachment investigation.

Related: Woman who gave Trump the finger elected in Virginia

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‘Baby Trump’ balloon stabbed and deflated at Alabama protest

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Protest balloon was knifed during Donald Trump’s visit to college football game

A towering Baby Trump protest balloon was knifed and deflated by someone unhappy with its appearance during Donald Trump’s Saturday trip to Alabama, organisers said.

The incident occurred during the president’s visit to watch a University of Alabama football game. The balloon, which is more than 6.1 metres (20 feet) tall, was set up in a nearby park.

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Elizabeth Warren hits back at Biden ‘angry’ criticism: ‘I am angry and I own it’

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Hitting back at criticism from Joe Biden that many people said was sexist, Elizabeth Warren told supporters: “I am angry and I own it.”

Related: Michael Bloomberg: billionaire eyes centre lane in Democratic presidential race

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Warren and Booker lead candidates at environmental justice forum

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  • National Black Caucus of State Legislators hosts event
  • Booker defends support for nuclear power

Only six candidates turned out for the first ever presidential forum on environmental justice, at South Carolina State University on Friday night.

Related: Michael Bloomberg: billionaire eyes centre lane in Democratic presidential race

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Trump impeachment: Bolton hints at meetings inquiry doesn’t know about – as it happened

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Lawyer for former US national security adviser says there are ‘many relevant conversations’ that House impeachment investigators don’t know about

Quiet ending to a not-so-quiet day.

The team behind Michael Bloomberg has said that “if we run”, they would bypass the four early-voting state - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina - and focus on doing well on Super Tuesday and beyond.

NEW Bloomberg statement: "If we run, we are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing."

In a statement, Iowa Democratic Party chair @troymprice tells me: "It’s disappointing to hear that Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t plan on competing in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses or the other three early nominating states." pic.twitter.com/SR7wemUrhg

.@ChairmanBuckley blasts Bloomberg for potentially skipping New Hampshire. “We are disappointed and frankly very surprised that any candidate would launch a campaign for the White House where their path doesn't run through New Hampshire or any of the other early states.” pic.twitter.com/wfVhF1NO5u

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