Welcome to Part II of the Trump Transgressions Timeline, which runs from June 19, 2019, to February 29, 2020. Part I, Part III, Part IV and Part V can be found at the following links:
Trump Transgressions Timeline Part I - 1927 to June 14, 2019
Trump Transgressions Timeline Part III - March 1, 2020 to November 3, 2020
Trump Transgressions Timeline Pat IV - November 4, 2020 to January 6, 2022
Trump Transgressions Timeline Part V - November 7, 2022 to March 29, 2023
Trump Transgressions Timeline Part VI - March 30, 2023 to the Present
February 29, 2020 - Speaking at CPAC, Trump made the following statement regarding coronavirus: "And I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control." A man in his 50s near Seattle became the first person in the US to die from coronavirus. The FDA begins to allow labratories and hospitals to conduct their own covid-19 tests to speed up the process.
February 28, 2020 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Ted Cruz's attempt at a put down yesterday saying on Twitter: "Sen. Cruz, while I understand you judge people’s intelligence by the lowest income they’ve had, I hold awards from MIT Lincoln Lab & others for accomplishments in microbiology. Secondly, I’m surprised you’re asking about chromosomes given that you don’t even believe in evolution." Cortez then tweeted a picture of herself standing in front of a science display at a science fair in which she had won awards for her research, to which she attached the following text: "Sincerely, an Intel global finalist, a fmr multi-year intern for Sen. Kennedy, a cum laude dual major in Economics & International Relations, a fmr Educational Director for national organization, Who to you is 'just a bartender,' And also your colleague." Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney downplayed the threat of coronavirus during an appearance at CPAC saying "The reason you’re seeing so much attention to [the coronavirus] today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president. That's what this is all about ... This is not Ebola ... it’s not SARS, it’s not MERS." While speaking at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, Trump made the following statement: "The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. One of my people came up to me and said: 'Mr President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.' That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. This is their new hoax." Trump also stated that "the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to health and well-being of all Americans". During an appearance on Fox News, Donald Trump Jr, made the following statement: "The playbook is old at this point. But for them to try to use a pandemic, and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump's streak of winning, is a new level of sickness." Rush Limbaugh, the right wing shock jock, and recipient of the presidential medal of freedom claimed "The coronavirus is being weaponized, as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump." Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chair, made the following statement regarding the coronavirus: "Democrats are using this for their political gain to try and stoke fear in the American people, which is shameful, wrong, and I think un-American." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 3,600 points this week - or 12 percent - over concerns about the coronavirus.
February 27, 2020 - Ted Cruz, a Republican Senator, responded to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's criticism of putting Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus response saying on Twitter: "As you are speaking as the oracle of science, tell us, what exactly is a Y chromosome? And at what age of gestation does science tell us that an unborn child feels physical pain?" News surfaced of a whistleblower complaint at HHS which alleged that more than a dozen HHS employees were sent to receive Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, without protective gear or adequate training. According to the Guardian "The whistleblower, who reportedly received two awards from the health secretary last year, said she was unfairly reassigned after raising concern about the workers."While meeting with African American leaders, Trump said of the coronavirus, "It's going to disappear. One day - it's like a miracle - it will disappear ... And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1,191 points today over concerns about the coronavirus.
February 26, 2020 - News has surfaced that the Trump administration is engaged in a "deep state" purge. One of those people involved in the purge is 29 year old Johnny McEntee, who was recently named White House director for presidential personnel. Trump sent the following in tweets today: "Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!" Trump made the following statements today regarding the coronavirus: "The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days ... so we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck." Trump also stated: "I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up." Trump also claimed: "This is a flu. This is like a flu." The official number of confirmed cases in the US is currently at 60. The global number is over 80,000. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which is investigating voter suppression efforts in Georgia, Texas and Kansas, released an email in which Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, told aides in response to an expose in an Atlanta newspaper which exposed the problems in the way voters were removed from the electoral rolls: "Good work, this story is so complex folks will not make it all the way through it." The House of Representatives passed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act today, which will make lynching a hate crime under federal law for the first time in US history. Three Republicans and one Independent voted against passage, they are Louie Gohmert of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ted Yoho of Florida and Justin Amash of Michigan. A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars from law enforcement agencies in so-called sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement agencies. Rush Limbaugh, right wing shock jock, and Trump's recipient of the presidential medal of freedom, claimed on his show that the Democratic Party, and Senator Bernie Sanders in particular, "poses a far greater threat" to the country than the coronavirus does. Limbaugh went on to say "The forces arrayed against Donald Trump are doing everything they can to weaponize this to harm the economy, to harm the stock market in hopes of harming President Trump ... They are trying to use this coronavirus to scare the hell out of everybody in their madcap hopes of finding something that will get rid of Donald Trump. It's exactly like the panic and fearmongering you heard for two years over Russia meddling in and stealing the election." Fox News primetime host Laura Ingraham claimed the 2020 Democratic candidates "are either hoping for misery or actually peddling it." Ingraham also claimed "Democrats and their media cronies have decided to weaponize fear and also weaponized suffering to improve their chances against Trump in November. The facts don't matter to the Trump haters." Following the 1st confirmed case of coronavirus in the US that was not related to foreign travel, which is a sign the virus is likely being carried by many who are not yet known, Trump claimed during a press conference: "And again, when you have 15 people — and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero — that’s a pretty good job we’ve done." According to the Washington Post: "Trump’s playing down of the California patient at his news conference underscores the administration’s slapdash and often misleading attempts to contain not just the virus, but also potential political damage from the outbreak — which has tanked financial markets, slowed global commerce and killed some 3,000 people worldwide, including the first U.S. death, announced Saturday." During the same press conference, Trump contradicted health officials when he said "Well, I don't think it's inevitable". Trump also said, "whatever happens, we're totally prepared." Trump also announced that he was putting Mike Pence in charge of the response to the outbreak. Responding to the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence had been put in charge of the response to the coronavirus outbreak, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic. This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have. As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history. He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health." Ron Klain, the former Ebola czar under President Barack Obama, pointed out that the Trump administration's response has been hampered by the dismantling of the pandemic preparedness unit in the White House in 2018, and by cuts to public health programs over the past several years. Trump was asked about these cuts, here's the exchange:
February 25, 2020 - The CDC warned that the because of the coronavirus "disruption to everyday life might be severe." Responding to a question in New Delhi, Trump stated: "You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are – in all cases, I have not heard anything other." According to news outlets, on the way back from India, Trump called Alex Azar, the health secretary, and complainied that Messonnier was scaring the stock market. Trump sent out the following tweet: "CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world. It was opposed by the Dems, 'too soon', but turned out to be the correct decision. No matter how well we do, however, the ..." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 879 points today over coronavirus concerns. The following coronavirus claims were made today by Trump administration officials:
- "We have contained this. I won’t say airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight" - Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, during an interview with CNBC
- The fatality rate is "similar to seasonal flu" - Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, during testimony before Congress
- "We're very close to a vaccine" - Donald Trump during an interview in India
February 24, 2020 - Regarding coronavirus, Trump stated "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!" Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, issued a statement about the continuing world wide spread of COVID-19 aka the coronavirus, saying in part: "We expect we will see community spread in this country. It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness." Rush Limbaugh, right wing shock jock, and Trump's pick for the presidential medal of freedom, claimed on his show that "I'm dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold folks. The hype of this thing as a pandemic, as the andromeda strain, as 'oh my god, if you get it, you're dead'" Limbaugh also told his audience that Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases is part of the "deep state" who is out to undermine the president because her brother is former deputy attorney Rod Rosenstein. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1,032 points over fears regarding the coronavirus.
February 23, 2020 - Peter Navarro, Trump's economic adviser wrote a second memo with a warning about the novel coronavirus saying: "There is an increasing probability of a full-blown Covid-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1.2 million souls".
February 21, 2020 - According to the New York Times, the White House coronavirus taskforce concluded that aggressive social distancing is necessary to combat covid-19 spread.
February 19, 2020 -While addressing a group of governors, Trump made the following statement about the novel coronavirus: "I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus." John Rood, a senior official at the Pentagon, is leaving the administration. In his resignation letter to Trump, Rood states "It’s my understanding from Secretary Esper that you requested my resignation." According to CNN: "Rood is the Pentagon’s top policy official and oversees aspects of the Pentagon’s relationship with US allies and partners. Rood was involved in certifying to Congress that Ukraine had embarked on significant reforms to justify its receipt of $250 million in security assistance. That certification undermined one of the justifications -- concerns about corruption in Kiev -- that some members of the Trump administration made to defend blocking aid to Ukraine. Hours after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which kicked off impeachment proceedings, Rood emailed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper -- who had been in the job two days -- informing him about an upcoming deputies meeting, 'to discuss the President's concern about endemic corruption in Ukraine and his reported view that US should cease providing security assistance,' according to emails reviewed by CNN. Rood notes in his email to the secretary that 'placing a hold on security assistance at this time would jeopardize this unique window of opportunity and undermine our defense priorities with a key partner in the strategic competition with Russia.'" A former employee of Cambridge Analytica is now working for the Trump campaign as part of their data program. According to Politico: "Matt Oczkowski, who served as head of product at Cambridge before it went bankrupt and shut down in 2018, is helping oversee the Trump campaign’s data program, according to two people familiar with the hire. Cambridge gained notoriety for its work on psychological voter profiling and because it allegedly improperly obtained the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users." According to Julian Assange's lawyer, Dana Rohrabacher, a former Republican congressman, told Assange during a 2017 visit that "on instructions from the president", he would be pardoned if he said Russia was not involved in the leaking of Democratic emails. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to Assange's lawyer's claim saying "The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman. He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie." Critics were quick to point out that Grisham's claims are suspect considering Trump and Rohrabacher had a 45 minute Oval Office meeting in 2017 that was well publicized at the time. From an April 4, 2017 CNN article: "President Donald Trump, amid questions about his campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election, met Tuesday with Dana Rohrabacher, a California congressman so well-known for his pro-Russia views that he has been referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "favorite congressman. Ken Grubbs, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, declined to disclose the focus of the Oval Office conversation, calling it 'a general conversation at the President's invitation. We have nothing more than that,' Grubbs said. A statement from Rohrabacher's office Tuesday evening said the meeting lasted 45 minutes and included White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon." E. Jean Carroll, the ELLE magazine columnist who in 2019 accused Trump of raping her in the mid 1990s, was fired from her editorial position. According to Carroll: "Because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud, after 26 years, Elle fired me. I don’t blame Elle. It was the great honor of my life writing 'Ask E. Jean.'" According to NBC News: "Trump has not only repeatedly denied the allegation, but has also denied ever meeting Carroll. When presented with a picture in which they were both photographed at a 1987 party alongside Carroll’s former husband, John Johnson, Trump maintained that he had 'no idea' who Carroll is. Carroll sued Trump for defamation in New York State Court in November, after which her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, had the black wool dress Carroll was wearing at the time of the alleged attack tested for DNA. Last month, Carroll’s counsel served notice to Trump’s lawyers for the president to submit a DNA sample by March 2 to see if he matched the unidentified male DNA found on the outfit. Yet, earlier this month, Trump’s lawyers argued that Carroll’s defamation suit should be delayed until New York’s highest court rules on whether former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who has also accused Trump of assault and defamation, can proceed with a somewhat similar suit. Trump has denied Zervos' allegations." News surfaced that the Trump administration is siding with Oracle in an ongoing copyright battle with Google. According to the Guardian: "The Trump administration filed the brief in favor of Oracle just hours after the company’s executive chairman Larry Ellison hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump at his golf course in California. Oracle employees are planning a walk out in response to their executive's actions."
February 18, 2020 - Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator, met with Ukrainian president Volodymy Zelensky recently in which Murphy brought up Rudy Giuliani and his efforts to get dirt on Joe Biden. According to Murphy: "Zelensky clearly doesn’t really want to talk about this, and I don’t blame him. But he tells us that, though Giuliani has long wanted a meeting with him, he has always stayed clear of Giuliani and intends to keep it that way. He has no intention of getting involved in American politics any more than he already has, unintentionally. 'As an actor, I always dreamed of becoming famous in America,' he tells us, breaking away from Ukrainian and speaking to us in English. 'And now I’m famous in America. But not the way I wanted!'" The White House announced that Trump will grant clemency to Eddie DeBartolo Jr, the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who plead guilty in 1998 to failing to report a bribe from an elected official. News surfaced that Trump commuted the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption after being caught on tape trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat after he became president. On the tape, Blagojevich can be heard saying "I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden. I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it." During a brief encounter with the press, Trump declared that he is "the chief law enforcement officer of the United States." In reality, the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. News surfaced that Trump has also pardoned Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty to eight felony charges in 2009 related to tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Also pardoned, Michael Milken, the financier who was convicted of racketeering and fraud. In a joint statement, five House Republicans from Illinois criticized Trump's decision to commute the sentence of Rod Blagojevich saying in part: "We are disappointed by the President's commutation of Rod Blagojevich's federal sentence. We believe he received an appropriate and fair sentence, which was the low-end of the federal sentencing guidelines for the gravity of his public corruption convictions. Blagojevich is the face of public corruption in Illinois, and not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermined the trust placed in him by voters." Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, responded to the commutation of Rod Blagojevich saying the commutation "would be controversial under any president, but President Trump embodies the worst in public leadership through his brazen disrespect for the rule of law and good governance". Trump granted clemency to 11 people in total today.
February 16, 2020 - According to the Guardian "More than 1,000 former US justice department officials, including some of the top government lawyers in the country, have called on attorney general William Barr to resign in the wake of the Roger Stone scandal. Some 1,143 alumni of the Department of Justice posted to Medium on Sunday a group letter that tore into Barr for 'doing the president’s personal bidding' in imposing on prosecutors the recommendation of a reduced sentence for Stone, a longtime friend of Donald Trump who was convicted of lying to and obstructing Congress and threatening a witness in the Russia investigation. Barr, the officials said, had damaged the reputation of the department for 'integrity and the rule of law'. The searing letter is the latest twist in a rapidly spiraling constitutional crisis that began earlier this week when Barr imposed his new sentencing memo, slashing a seven to nine-year proposed prison term suggested by career prosecutors. In the fallout, the four prosecutors who had handled the case resigned in disgust." The reduced sentence recommendation followed a Trump tweet in which the president called the sentencing "horrible and very unfair".
February 14, 2020 - While speaking to members of the National Border Patrol Council, Trump stated: "There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner."
February 10, 2020 - According to the Washington Post "The White House is proposing a $4.8 trillion election-year budget Monday that would slash major domestic and safety net programs, setting up a stark contrast with President Trump’s rivals as voting gets under way in the Democratic presidential primary. The budget would cut Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program and also wring savings from Medicare despite Trump’s repeated promises to safeguard Medicare and Social Security. It takes aim at domestic spending with cuts that are sure to be rejected by Congress, including slashing the Environmental Protection Agency budget by 26.5 percent over the next year, and cutting the budget of the Health and Human Services department by 9 percent ... It would target the Education Department for a nearly 8 percent cut, the Interior Department would be cut 13.4 percent, and the Housing and Urban Development department would be cut 15.2 percent. The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development would be cut by 22 percent." During a press conference, William Barr, the attorney general, acknowledged that the Justice Department has established a channel to hear information provided by Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine. News surfaced that more than 100 American troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from last month's strike on a military base in Iraq. According to CNN: "That’s an increase of at least 36 cases from the end of January when the Pentagon said 64 service members had been diagnosed with injuries ... Several Pentagon officials told CNN last month that the number of diagnosed cases is likely to continue to change. Approximately 200 people who were in the blast zone at the time of the attack have been screened for symptoms. During a news conference at the Pentagon late last month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the increasing number of reported cases stems in part from the fact that the injuries, for the most part, fall into the category of ‘mild TBI’ which takes time for symptoms to manifest." Trump has been criticized for downplaying the brain injuries as "headaches". Donald Trump held a rally in New Hampshire where he criticized Nancy Pelosi saying she was "mumbling terribly behind me" during the State of the Union address. Trump added "There was a little anger back there. We're the ones who should be angry, not them". The crowd responded by chanting "lock her up!" In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors are asking Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence Roger Stone to up to 9 years in prison. According to the memo: "Stone knew the gravity of the House intelligence committee’s investigation when he obstructed it by giving false testimony and tampering with a witness. Indeed, Stone acknowledged as much in his opening statement before the committee. Stone chose – consciously, repeatedly and flagrantly – to obstruct and interfere with the search for the truth on an issue of vital importance to all Americans. This court should impose a sentence that accurately reflects the value the judicial system places on the need to allow witnesses to testify truthfully without threat or interference, and the importance of testifying truthfully under oath." Peter Zwack, a retired brigadier general, and former supervisor of impeachment witness Alexander Vindman, lashed out at Lindsey Graham's support for the firing of Vindman, saying in an interview with CNN: "Senator Graham, I always had a lot of respect for you. I met you when I was in Afghanistan in 2008 when you arrived with Senator McCain and Joe Lieberman as part of the three amigos. We thought you guys were rock stars. Where are you now, sir?" A bill in the South Dakota legislature that proposed jailing doctors for giving puberty-blocking drugs to transgender children, failed 5-2 in committee. Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary chair, sent a letter to William Barr demanding answers regarding the intake process for information from Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine. The letter reads in part: "As you know the department has formal, established channels by which to receive information and begin investigations. This new channel to Mr Giuliani would seem to be a significant departure from those traditional channels." Matt Schlapp, the conference chair of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) explained in an interview that Mitt Romney was dis-invited from this year's conference because "This year, I would actually be afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him." Trump made the following claim regarding the coronavirus: "The virus that we’re talking about having to do, a lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April. We’re in great shape, though. We have 12 cases, 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now. I had a long talk with President Xi two nights ago. He feels very confident. He feels that again, as I mentioned, by April or during the month of April, the heat generally speaking kills this kind of virus. So that would be a good thing."
February 8, 2020 - Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator, and close ally of Trump, stated that the Justice Department had "created a process" to review information provided by Rudy Giuliani.
February 7, 2020 - Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert who testified in the House impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, was fired and escorted out of the White House today. His twin brother was removed also. David Pressman, Vindman's attorney, responded to the news saying "He followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country. And for that, the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit – has decided to exact revenge. There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth." Hours after Vindman was escorted out of the White House, Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union, who also testified in the House impeachment inquiry, was recalled. In a statement, Sondland said "I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union".
February 5, 2020 - Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, sent the following tweet: "Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now." Mitt Romney, a Republican senator, has declared that he will vote to convict Donald Trump on the first article of impeachment, saying that the president was "guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust." Romney added that "The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the President committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a ‘high crime and misdemeanor’. Yes, he did." A few select responses to Mitt Romney's decision:
- "Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS. He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now. He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP." - Donald Trump Jr
"W.Mitt Romney AKA Pierre Delecto - will always be remembered as the candidate who chocked when it mattered most. He begged for @realDonaldTrump to endorse him - now we know he will be a 1 term Senator." - Corey Lewandowski
The Senate held it's vote on the two articles of impeachment. The results:
Article I
Guilty - 48
Not Guilty - 52
The guilty votes included all the Democrats + Republican Mitt Romney
Article II
Guilty - 47
Not Guilty - 53
The votes fell along party lines
Trump is now officially the third president to have been acquitted in an impeachment trial.
Some select responses to the Senate vote:
- "As the president's impeachment trial began, Republican senators pledged an oath to defend the Constitution. Today, 52 of them voted to betray that oath—and all of us. We’re entering dangerous territory for our democracy. It’ll take all of us working together to restore it." - Hillary Rodham Clinton
- "Today, the President and Senate Republicans have normalized lawlessness and rejected the system of checks and balances of our Constitution ... The President will boast that he has been acquitted. There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence. The President has been impeached forever." - Nancy Pelosi
February 4, 2020 - Susan Collins, a moderate Republican that Democrats had hoped would vote for impeachment, confirmed that she will be voting to acquit saying "It was wrong for president Trump to mention former vice President Biden on that phone call, and it was wrong for him to ask a foreign country to investigate a political rival. But, I do not believe the House has met its burden of showing the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of removal from office." Collins stated later in an interview with CBS that she believed "that the president has learned from this case." Trump was asked about Collins comments, to which Trump responded that he had done nothing wrong, and that "It was a perfect call." At least 10 House Democrats have announced that they will be boycotting the State of the Union address later today. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of those who are boycotting the event, sent the following tweet: "After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution. None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union." Some select highlights from the State of the Union address:
- Trump's theme for his address: "The great American comeback".
- As Donald Trump entered, speaker Pelosi announced Trump's entrance by saying "Members of Congress, the President of the United States." This intro veered away from the traditional intro which is "Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States."
- As Donald Trump walked up to the podium, Nancy Pelosi extended her hand towards Trump for a handshake, but Trump snubbed her by turning away.
- There were audible groans from Democrats when Trump stated "if we hadn't reversed the failed economic policies of the previous Administration, the world would not now be witnessing this economic success." Fact check: For the first 35 months of Trump's presidency, the economy gained 191,000 jobs per month. For the last 35 months of Obama's presidency, the economy added 227,000 jobs per month, for a difference of 36,000 jobs per month.
- Trump declared that "there are those who want to take away your healthcare" at which point many Democrats pointed at Trump and yelled "you!"
- Trump called on Congress to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. Democrats responded by shouting HR 3, which is the name of the bill already passed by the House, and named in honor of the late Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings, which will lower prescription drug prices.
- Donald Trump awarded Rush Limbaugh, a man with a long record of racist and other controversial remarks, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the same Rush Limbaugh who referred to Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who testified to the House about the need for insurance companies to cover contraception, a "slut" and a "prostitute". This is also the same Rush Limbaugh who referred to 12 year-old Chelsea Clinton as a dog, and called Amy Carter, daughter of Jimmy and Rosalind Carter "the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country".
- Several Democratic lawmakers walked out during the SOTU speech. Congressmn Tim Ryan, one of the walkouts, sent the following in a tweet: "I just walked out of the #StateOfTheUnion. I’ve had enough. It’s like watching professional wrestling. It’s all fake." Congressman Seth Moultan, another walk-out tweeted the following: "I left the #SOTU after Trump—a draft dodger who has mocked Sen. John McCain, Gold Star families, and soldiers with traumatic brain injury—started talking about the good he has done for our military."
- Fred Guttenberg, the father of a girl who was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, was escorted out after he voiced protest to Trump's comments about gun rights.
- After Trump concluded his speech, House speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up the paper copy of the speech. Pelosi was asked why she tore up the speech, her response: "It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative." Pelosi also called the speech a "manifesto of mistruths."
- The White House released a statemnet in response to Nancy Pelosi ripping up the speech which said "Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family. That's her legacy."
February 3, 2020 - During a Trump campaign press conference in Des Moines, IA, while Don Jr was at the podium, a man stood up and yelled "Since your father was elected president, more and more Jews are being gunned down every year." Don Jr retorted "I don’t think anyone’s done more for Israel and for American Jews than Donald Trump, so you can keep going." After the man was forcibly hauled out of the event by burly security guards, Don Jr gloated: "This is why I wrote the book Triggered, folks!" Rush Limbaugh, a conservative radio shock jock, announced that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
January 31, 2020 - Alexander Azar, the health and human services secretary, declared that coronavirus is now a public health emergency. Trump announced a limited ban on entry to the US for foreign nationals who had recently visited China, which will go into effect on February 2nd. The World Health Organization has recommended against any travel or trade restrictions in response to the outbreak according to Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO representative, who explained why saying "Although travel restrictions may intuitively seem like the right thing to do, this is not something that WHO usually recommends. This is because of the social disruption they cause and the intensive use of resources required." Catherine Worsnop, who studies international cooperation during global health emergencies at the University of Maryland had this to say about travel restrictions: "From a public health perspective, there is limited effectiveness. And then there are a host of other reasons why they can actually be counterproductive ... There’s not only the financial toll on a country that is dealing with this outbreak, but this can discourage transparency, both in this outbreak and in the future ... Adopting these restrictions undermines the cooperative approach we need to respond to this kind of outbreak, specifically by undermining the authority of the WHO, which has recommended against these restrictions." According to STAT News: "Travel and trade restrictions can lead to dire economic consequences for countries involved, creating a disincentive for them to quickly disclose potential outbreaks to the WHO or other nations. They can hinder the sharing of information, make it harder to track cases and their contacts, and disrupt the medical supply chain, potentially fueling shortages of drugs and medical supplies in the areas hit hardest by the outbreak. They also send a punitive message, which could contribute to discrimination and stigmatization against Chinese nationals, experts warned. Any effort and money spent crafting and enforcing travel and trade restrictions also take away already-stretched resources from public health measures that have been proven to be far more effective, experts said. Those measures include providing assistance to countries with weaker health systems, accelerating the development of a vaccine or rapid diagnostic test, and clearly communicating with the public about when and how to seek care." According to the Guardian: "US preparedness to deal with the threat of coronavirus has been hampered by the personnel and budget cuts made by the Trump administration over the past three years, according to health experts. There is no one in the White House tasked specifically to oversee a coordinated government-wide response in the event of a pandemic, since the post of senior director for global health security and biothreats on the national security council (NSC) was eliminated last May. The office was established in 2016 after the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa demonstrated the US government was not set up to move with the speed and decisiveness necessary to react to a really lethal epidemic. The White House global health 'czar' was supposed to coordinate international, national, state and local organisations, public and private, to confront a global epidemic, backed by the direct authority of the president. After he became national security adviser, John Bolton eliminated the office as part of an NSC reorganisation, as he did not see global health issues as a national security priority ... Funding has also been cut drastically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forcing it to reduce or discontinue epidemic-prevention efforts in 39 out of the 49 countries it had been helping. Among the countries where CDC efforts were scaled back were Haiti, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as China, where the agency provided technical assistance. In its 2020 budget the Trump administration proposed a further 10% cut in CDC funding, equivalent to $750m. It zeroed out funding for epidemiology and laboratory capacity at state and local levels." Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, retired from the state department. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, held a press conference in which he declared that if Trump is acquitted, the acquittal will be "meaningless" if senators do not vote to call witnesses in the impeachment trial. The New York Times is reporting that an upcoming book by John Bolton claims that Trump sought Bolton's help in his Ukraine pressure campaign. According to the article: "Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense. Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote. The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky that triggered a whistle-blower complaint and impeachment proceedings." In a written statement, Trump denied Bolton's account of the meeting saying "I never instructed John Bolton to set up a meeting for Rudy Giuliani, one of the greatest corruption fighters in America and by far the greatest mayor in the history of N.Y.C., to meet with President Zelensky. That meeting never happened." Rudy Giuliani responded to the news saying "I think he’s making some of it up. He’s sure making up — I wouldn’t call it making it up, but he’s acting like a real scumbag by never telling me that he objected once, & then saying I was a time bomb, or a firecracker or something." John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff weighed in on the Bolton story saying "If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton. Every single time I was with him ... he always gave the president the unvarnished truth." Here are some highlights from today's continuation of the impeachment trial:
- "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office. Can anyone doubt that at least half of the country would view his removal as illegitimate — as nothing short of a coup d’état? It is difficult to conceive of any scheme [Vladimir] Putin could undertake that would undermine confidence in our democracy more than removal would." - Marco Rubio, Republican Senator
- "I do not believe that additional witnesses are needed. I have said consistently for the past four months, since the Zelensky transcript was first released, that I believe that some of the president’s actions in this case – including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine – were wrong and inappropriate. But I do not believe that the president’s actions rise to the level of removing a duly-elected president from office and taking him off the ballot in the middle of an election. ... Our country is already too deeply divided and we should be working to heal wounds, not create new ones. It is better to let the people decide." - Rob Portman, Republican Senator
- "I agree he did something inappropriate, but I don’t agree he did anything akin to treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors" - Lamar Alexander, Republican Senator
- Adam Schiff warned that future judges or presidents facing impeachment could cite the trial of Donald Trump to block witness testimony, which would "effectively nullify" the congressional power of impeachment. Schiff went on to say "Our government is no longer a government with three coequal branches. The president ... for all intents and purposes, becomes above the law."
- Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats keep chanting 'fairness', when they put on the most unfair Witch Hunt in the history of the U.S. Congress. They had 17 Witnesses, we were allowed ZERO, and no lawyers. They didn’t do their job, had no case. The Dems are scamming America!"
- A roll call vote was held on a motion to call witnesses, which failed. The final vote was 49 for, and 51 against. Two Republicans voted for the measure, they were Mitt Romney, and Susan Collins. The impeachment trial of Donald J Trump is now the first impeachment trial in the history of the Senate to have no witnesses. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called the outcome of the vote "a grand tragedy, one of the worst tragedies that the Senate has ever overcome." Hillary Clinton responded to the vote on Twitter saying "With their votes to make the American president accountable to no one, Republican senators have put the interests of one president over the interests of all Americans. The only remedy now is for us all to vote in overwhelming numbers to replace them—and him—in November." Matt Schlapp, the chair of the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference, declared on Twitter that Mitt Romney is longer welcome at the annual conference. Nancy Pelosi responded to the vote against calling witnesses saying "The Senate Republicans’ vote against calling witnesses and compelling documents in the impeachment proceedings makes them accomplices to the president’s cover-up. It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell require the chief justice of the United States to preside over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. Even if Trump is acquitted, he is impeached forever. There can be no acquittal without a trial. And there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence."
January 30, 2020 - The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency. The state department has advised against all travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak. First US case of person-to-person transmission of the novel coronavirus was announced by health officials. Alex Azar, the health secretary, had warned Trump during a call aboard Air Force One regarding the growing coronavirus threat on January 18th. According to the New York Times, Trump dismissed Azar's warning as "alarmist". Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery." Donald Trump made the following statement regarding coronavirus during a speech in Michigan later in the evening: "We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us ... that I can assure you." Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, was interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on a Fox Business show, and was asked about the effect the novel coronavirus, which is causing major issues in China, might have on the US economy. Ross responded by saying "I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease. But the fact is, it does give business yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain ... It’s another risk factor that people need to take into account. So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America."According to Reuters: "The economy grew 2.3% last year, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was the slowest since 2016 and followed the 2.9% notched in 2018. The 3% growth target has remained elusive despite the White House and Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax cut package, which President Donald Trump had predicted would lift growth persistently above that target." According to the Guardian "A section of Donald Trump’s much-vaunted border wall between the United States and Mexico has blown over onto the Mexican side in high winds, US border patrol officers have been reported as saying." Pictures of the damaged wall began appearing on twitter along with the following Donald Trump quote: "I own buildings. I'm a builder; I know how to build. Nobody can build like I can build. Nobody. And the builders in New York will tell you that. I build the best product." A Trump administration lawyer, from the Department of Justice (DoJ), raised eyebrows among Trump critics today when he argued in federal court that a president can be impeached over failure to comply with subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives. The argument was made in proceedings related to the Trump administration's refusal to turn records over regarding the 2020 census. Responding to the news, Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, told the sitting senators in the impeachment trial: "In the category of you can’t make this stuff up, the judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court, then what remedy is there? And the justice department lawyer’s response is impeachment." The comment drew both derision and laughter from the sitting senators. Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Schiff blasted for not focusing on California homeless.” @foxandfriends His District is in terrible shape. He is a corrupt pol who only dreams of the Impeachment Hoax. In my opinion he is mentally deranged!" Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser, was asked about Alan Dershowitz's "public interest" argument in the impeachment trial, to which Conway responded that she would not discuss "politics." Dershowitz is now claiming in interviews that the media misinterpreted his comments. The Washington Post has obtained a 2018 recording of a meeting that included Trump, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, which further contradicts Trump's claim to not know Parnas. According to the Post: "While it was known that Fruman and Parnas had attended an event at Mar-a-Lago, the focus of the event, the timing and who else was in attendance had not been made public. The April 2018 meeting came days before the two men took part in a donor dinner with with the president at his Washington hotel, an encounter captured on a video released last week by Parnas’ attorney. During that dinner, Parnas told the president that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was agitating against him, prompting Trump to abruptly call for her firing." Jimmy Carter responded to the Trump administrations Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in a statement saying: "The new U.S. plan undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. If implemented, the plan will doom the only viable solution to this long-running conflict, the two-state solution." Here are some highlights from today's impeachment proceedings:
- Adam Schiff referred to Dershowitz's "public interest" argument as "the most absurdly dangerous argument that could have been made." Schiff also called it "astonishing" and added "what we have seen over the last couple days is a descent into constitutional madness."
- John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, declined to read a question submitted by Rand Paul, which included the name of the alleged Ukraine whistleblower.
- During a news conference, Rand Paul read his question to reporters, and stated "I can tell you my question made no reference to any whistleblower". However, Paul's question included the names of two people who worked for the national security council, one of whom is the alleged whistleblower. Paul then sent the following tweet: "My question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings."
- Hakeem Jeffries, an impeachment manager, warned that the president's lawyers are presenting arguments that could invite future foreign interference in US elections. According to Jeffries: "This is not a Banana Republic. It's the Democratic Republic of the United States of America."
- Trump's defense team accused House managers of engaging in "election interference" by advancing a process that could take Trump's name off the ballot in an election year.
- Adam Schiff responded to the accusation that the House of Representatives is the one engaging in "election interference" saying "If it were the intention of the framers to say that a president cannot be impeached in an election year, they would have said so. They did not, for a very good reason: there were concerned about presidents who might try to cheat in an election."
- Patrick Philbin, deputy White House counsel, argued that Rudy Giuliani was not carrying out US foreign policy in Ukraine, but was instead a mere source of "information" about the president's thinking. According to Philbin: "The first is I just want to make clear that there was no conduct of foreign policy being carried on here by a private person." Critics were quick to point out that the White House's own memo of the July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky makes clear that the US president was asking his Ukrainian counterpart to confer with Giuliani about potential investigations of corruption.
- Hakeem Jeffries responded to a question from a Republican senator asking whether the Steele dossier would be considered foreign interference in US elections saying the defense team had raised "conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the deep state conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the ‘Adam Schiff is the root of all evil’ conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the Burisma conspiracy theory. We’ve head about the Crowdstike conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the whistleblower conspiracy theory. It’s hard to keep track."
- Speaking at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump told the crowd that Democrats are "obsessed with a deranged witch hunt hoax. We're having probably the best years we've ever had in the history of our country. And I just got impeached!" Trump also said that Democrat environmental policies will"kill our cows" and said that "through remittance, illegal aliens from Mexico are going to pay for the wall."
- Alexander Lamar released a statement which said in part "There is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the U.S. Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense ... It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation ... when elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law ... But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate ... The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday."
January 29, 2020 - Peter Navarro, a Trump economic adviser, sent a memo to the national security council warning that coronavirus could kill half a million Americans and deliver a $5.7tn hit to the economy. Alan Dershowitz, one of Donald Trump's defense attorneys, made the following argument today at Trump's impeachment trial: "Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly, you're right — your election is in the public interest. If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment." He then laid out a hypothetical scenario in which a Democratic president tells Israel it will withhold aid until they stop building new settlements, or tells Palestine he will withold aid until they stop paying terrorists. Dershowitz continued with "If you don't do it, you don't get the money. If you do it, you get the money. There is no one in this chamber that would regard that as in any way unlawful." Critics were quick to point out that US presidents routinely engage in "quid pro quos" with other nations, but unlike the current situation, they did so in matters of official foreign policy or national interest. Some select responses to Dershowitz's argument:
"Either Dershowitz thinks that the Watergate break-in and subsequent coverup were not illegal or impeachable because, after all, the point was to secure the president's election. Or perhaps he has decided that Trump should be king. Either way, not a great argument." - Frank Bowman, Constitutional-Law Professor at the University of Missouri School of Law
"The president lawyers are arguing that if the president ordered his election opponent arrested that would be fine because he’s pursuing the national interest in order to get re-elected." - Chris Hayes
Patrick Philbin, one of Donald Trump's defense attorneys, argued today that it is acceptable to receive information from foreign governments about a political rival if that information is "credible." According to Philbin: "Mere information is not something that would violate the campaign finance laws. If there is credible information ― credible information of wrongdoing by someone who is running for a public office ― it’s not campaign interference for credible information about wrongdoing to be brought to light."
January 28, 2020 - The White House unveiled the administration's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which Trump called the "deal of the century" and a "realistic two-state solution." Palestinian President Mahmoud abbas responded to the proposal saying "We say a thousand times: No, no and no to the ‘deal of the century'".
January 27, 2020 - According to the Washington Post, Joe Grogan, the head of White House domestic policy council, told acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, and others in a meeting that "the administration needed to take the virus seriously or it could cost the president his re-election". Today is day six of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here are some highlights from the proceedings:
- Ken Starr, White House counsel, and the one who spearheaded the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, bemoaned the fact that impeachment is happening "all too frequently", calling this the "Age of Impeachment". One very witty response to Starr's comments came from Paul Begala on twitter "Ken Starr calls this period 'the Age of Impeachment,' and asks, 'How did we get here?' He then whips out a hand mirror and says, 'Oh, right. It was me. My bad.'"
- Mike Purpura, White House counsel, repeatedly criticized House impeachment managers for not providing "any first-hand evidence" that Trump linked Ukraine's military assistance to investigations of Democrats. Ironically, Purpura made this claim at the same time that the president's allies are working to prevent any first-hand accounts from being heard at the trial. Purpura also argued that the assistance was held up over concerns that the US was providing a disproportionate amount of funding to the ally.
- Pam Bondi, White House counsel, pushed the debunked allegation that Joe Biden, as vice-president, advocated for the removal of Victor Shokin, a Ukrainian prosecutor, because Shokin was investigating Burisma, the natural gas company where Biden's son, Hunter was working. Fact check: Shokin refused to cooperate with an investigation of money laundering at Burisma, that was led by British authorities. US and European governments lobbied for the removal of Shokin due to his repeated failure to fight corruption in Ukraine. Bondi also claimed that Trump's legal team had no choice but to discuss the Bidens and Burisma because the news media has been pressing the issue. Ironically, Bondi made this claim after many Republican senators have criticized the media for a lack of scrutiny of the Bidens. The Biden 2020 campaign responded to the fact that Trump's defense is peddling the conspiracy theory that Biden pushed for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor to benefit his son saying "The New York Times calls it ‘debunked,’ The Wall Street Journal calls it ‘discredited,’ the AP calls it ‘incorrect,’ and The Washington Post Fact Checker calls it ‘a fountain of falsehoods.’ The diplomat that Trump himself appointed to lead his Ukraine policy has blasted it as ‘self serving’ and ‘not credible.’ Joe Biden was instrumental to a bipartisan and international anti-corruption victory. It’s no surprise that such a thing is anathema to President Trump."
- Senator Ted Cruz told reporters that "the most important witness for the Senate to hear from is Hunter Biden".
- Alan Dershowitz, White House counsel, started his presentation with the following claim: "I would be making the same argument if Hillary Clinton, for whom I voted, stood accused of these same violations. I am here today because I love my country and our constitution." Dershowitz went on to claim that abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are both "outside the scope of impeachment", which should only occur in the instance of a "serious crime". It should be noted here that the impeachment arguments against Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton both hinged on "abuse of power", and that the consensus view among legal scholars is that impeachment does not require that a law be broken.
According to the New York Times, an early draft of an upcoming book by John Bolton says that military aid to Ukraine was conditioned on investigations into the Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son, and also claims that Bolton raised concerns about Trump's July call with attorney general William Barr. Barr has claimed publicly that he first became aware of the July 25 call in mid-August. Adam Schiff, a House Impeachment Manager, responded to the news regarding Bolton's claims saying "I think the American people should see his testimony live." Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, both Republicans, have expressed interest in calling Bolton as a witness after reports of his claims surfaced. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, pointed out that Republicans have consistently criticized witnesses in the impeachment inquiry for not providing "first-hand evidence", which underscores the need for Bolton to testify. According to Schumer "We are all staring a White House cover-up in the face." Other reactions to news of Bolton's claim:
- "John's selling books" - Doug Collins, Republican Representative
- "Nothing I've seen in the reporting changes the underlying facts" - Republican Senator Ted Cruz
- "If we call any witnesses that involve (executive) privilege it'll take weeks or months" - Republican Senator Roy Blunt
- "Well, I don’t know. Is he a firsthand witness? I’m not sure." - Republican Senator Josh Hawley
"angry, disgruntled employee" - Republican Senator Rand Paul
Ruling along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump Administration's "public charge" rule can go forward as challenges to the policy continue. The "public charge" rule penalizes immigrants applying for green cards and other visas for their use of public benefits, something critics have criticized as a "wealth test." In a move seen as retaliation, Michele Kelemen, an NPR reporter, was removed by the State Department from the pool of journalists traveling to Europe and Asia with Mike Pompeo.
Newly released emails between the office of Mike Pompeo and NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly cast doubt on Pompeo's claim that Kelly lied to him before a contentious interview. Here are the pertinent parts of the exchange between Katie Martin, Pompeo's press aide, and Kelly:
MARTIN: Just wanted to touch base that we still intend to keep the interview to Iran tomorrow. Know you just got back from Tehran so we would like to stick to Iran as the topic as opposed to jumping around. Is that something we can agree to?
KELLY: I am indeed just back from Tehran and plan to start there. Also Ukraine. And who knows what the news gods will serve up overnight. I never agree to take anything off the table.
January 25, 2020 - Today is day five of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here some highlights from today's proceedings:
- Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, says the defense will make two points. First, he will focus on fact, and once the Senate hears those facts "You will find the president did absolutely nothing wrong." Secondly, Cippollone says "They are asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as I’ve said before, they are asking you to remove president Trump from the ballot in an election that is occurring in approximately nine months" or in other words, the Democrats "are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an American election in US history."
- Mike Purpura, White House counsel, plays video of Adam Schiff paraphrasing the July 25th call, which Purpura characterizes as "fake". He also referred to the summary of the call, which was released by the White House, as a transcript, despite the cautionary disclosure at the top of that summary with describes its contents as "not a verbatim transcript". Purpura then goes on to outline six "key facts" that in his words, each one alone is "enough to sink the Democrats case.":
Fact 1 - The transcript (which the White House said is not verbatim) shows that the president did not condition either security assistance or a meeting on anything.
Fact 2 - Ukrainians have said there was no quid pro quo.
Fact 3 - Ukraine did not know security assistance was paused until a month after the 25 July call.
Fact 4 - No Ukrainian investigation into Joe Biden took place.
Fact 5 - Ukraine received assistance without such an investigation.
Fact 6 - Trump has been a bigger supporter of Ukraine than his predecessor, Barack Obama.
- Jay Sekulow held up a copy of the Mueller report, saying "This cost $32million ... All to reach the following ... this investigation did not establish that the campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in election interference activities." Sekulow did not mention that the report found 11 instances in which Trump or his campaign engaged in potential obstruction of justice and suggested that Congress might prosecute these as crimes.
- "After listening to the President’s lawyers opening arguments, I have three observations: They don’t contest the facts of Trump’s scheme. They’re trying to deflect, distract from, and distort the truth. And they are continuing to cover it up by blocking documents and witnesses." - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- "We have been making the argument that we need witnesses, we need documents. We are making the argument it won’t take very long to get them as part of a trial. Today, we thank the president’s counsel for one thing: they made our case even stronger." - Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader
- "Any fair minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax that EVERYBODY, including the Democrats, truly knows it is. This should never be allowed to happen again!" - Donald Trump
January 24, 2020 - Trump sent the following tweet regarding the coronavirus outbreak in China: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!" Today is day four of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Trump, who has been tweeting at record levels during the impeachment trial, sent his tweet first thing this morning: "After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V." According to ABC News, audio surfaced where Trump can be heard saying "Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it." The recording was made on April 30, 2018, at a dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Included in the gathering of guests was Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two former associates of Rudy Giuliani. The recording, which was made by Igor Fruman, includes a conversation between Parnas and Trump where Parnas can be heard telling Trump: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration. She’s basically walking around telling everybody ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait'". Fact check: Yovanovitch has served in the State Department since the Reagan Administration. In November, Trump claimed that he didn't "know much" about Yovanovitch when he signed off on recalling her from Kyiv, but that claim is contradicted by the recording. The pentagon has confirmed that 34 US soldiers were diagnosed with concussions or traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile attack in Iraq. Here are some highlights from today's proceedings:
- "President Trump tried to cheat. He got caught. And then he worked hard to cover it up." - Hakeem Jeffries, House Impeachment Manager
- "Colleagues, this is how alliances wither and die. This is how Russia wins ... If our allies cannot trust us to stand behind them in a time of need, we will not have a single ally left" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- Adam Schiff played a video of Trump at a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki in which Trump cast doubt on the US intelligence community's conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election, and instead peddled the baseless claim regarding a missing DNC "server". Schiff called the moment "breathtaking" and "the most incredible propaganda coup” for Russian intelligence. Schiff added that “Whatever profile Russia did of our president, boy did they have it spot on".
- "[Trump] is still trying to cheat in the next election ... It's not going to stop unless Congress does something bout it ... You cannot leave a man like that in office when you think he violated the constitution" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- "Do you think for a moment that any of you, no matter what your relationship is with this president, no matter how close you are to this president, do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest he wouldn’t ask you to be investigated?" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- Lindsey Graham told reporters during a break "If I have to, I will do it" regarding looking into the baseless corruption claims regarding Hunter Biden that are being peddled by Trump and his allies.
- "This was a declaration of total defiance of the House’s authority to investigate credible allegations of the president’s misconduct and a wholesale rejection of the Congress’ ability to hold the president accountable" - Val Demings, House Impeachment Manager
- "If the president chooses to ignore our subpoena, our power as a branch of government, our ability to do our jobs, our ability to keep an administration in check, our ability to make sure the American people are represented by a congress and not just a president, are diminished. We must act. Is there a consequence for a president that defies our subpoenas absolutely, who says to all branches of the administration, ‘Do not obey a congressional subpoena, categorically’?" - Jerry Nadler, House Impeachment Manager
- "Presidents are still free to raise privacy, national security or other concerns in the course of an impeachment inquiry. But when a president abuses his office, abuses his power, to completely defy house investigators’ impeachment inquiry, when he does that without lawful cause or excuse, he attacks the constitution itself. When he does that, he confirms that he sees himself as above the law." - Zoe Lofgren, House Impeachment Manager
- "I do things every week that are inappropriate. So no, I’m not going to go down that road. This is a constitutional remedy that was designed for the most extreme of cases and we’re just not anywhere in that [ball] park." - Roger Wicker, Republican Senator
"Give America a fair trial. She’s worth it." - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
During a segment of NPR's All Things Considered, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, became furious when host Mary Louise Kelly posed questions to him about Ukraine. Here's the initial exchange:
KELLY: I just want to give you another opportunity to answer this, because as you know, people who work for you in your department, people who have resigned from this department under your leadership, saying you should stand up for the diplomats who work here. [crosstalk]
POMPEO: I don’t know who these unnamed sources are you’re referring to. I can tell you this, when I talked to my team here --
KELLY: These are not unnamed sources. [crosstalk] This is your senior adviser Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer with four decades experience, who testified under oath that he resigned in part due to the failure of the state department to offer support to foreign service employees caught up in the impeachment inquiry on Ukraine.
POMPEO: I’m not going to comment on things that Mr McKinley may have said. I’ll say only this. I have defended every state department official. We’ve built a great team. The team that works here is doing amazing work around the world.
KELLY: Sir, respectfully [crosstalk] where have you defended Marie Yovanovitch?
POMPEO: I’ve defended every single person on this team. I’ve done what’s right for every single person on this team. [crosstalk]
KELLY: Can you point me toward your remarks where you have defended Marie Yovanovitch?
POMPEO: I’ve said all I’m going to say today. Thank you. Thanks for the repeated opportunity to do so. I appreciate that.
According to Kelly, following the interview, Pompeo escorted her into his office, where he cursed at her, then tried to humiliate her by demanded that she point to Ukraine on an unmarked map, which she claims she had no problem doing. Pompeo reacted to Kelly's claim by releasing a brief statement in which he claimed Kelly had violated "the basic rules of journalism and decency" by lying to him about the topics they would discuss, and of being part of an "unhinged" media "conspiracy" on a quest to hurt Trump and his "administration". Pompeo's statement also included the line "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine". The White House tweeted a video from July of 2018 of Trump reading the following statement from a prepared script: "I have full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies. Always have. I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying, and I’ve said this many times, I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. There's a lot of people out there. There was no collusion." According to CBS News, Republican senators were warned that voting against the president could mean your head will end up on a pike.
January 23, 2020 - Today is day three of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Robert Ray, a member of Trump's legal team, was asked by a reporter why Pat Cipollone made the false claim that Republicans were not allowed into the SCIF, to which Ray responded: "I'm not interested in wading in the procedural weeds here." Here are some highlights from today's proceedings:
- Jerry Nadler presented a 1998 quote by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, who is a member of Trump's legal team. The quote, which was made during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial, and is as follow: "It certainly doesn’t have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don’t need a technical crime." Dershowitz was made a member of the Trump legal team because of his new standard for impeachment, which is that it must be "criminal-like conduct".
- Jerry Nadler presented a 1998 quote by Lindsey Graham, who was an impeachment manager during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial. Here's the quote: "What’s a high crime? How about if an important person hurts somebody of low means? It’s not very scholarly. But I think it’s the truth. I think that’s what they meant by high crimes. Doesn’t even have to be a crime."
- Nadler explained that impeachment “exists to address threats to the political system ... The president’s abuse of power, his betrayal of the national interests and his corruption of our elections plainly qualify as great and dangerous offenses."
- Sylvia Garcia reminded the sitting senators that what Joe Biden did in Ukraine was in accordance with official US policy, which is what George Kent, ambassador Volker, Jennifer Williams, David Holmes, Lt Vindman, Dr. Fiona Hill and ambassador Yovanovitch all confirmed in their testimony. This testimony, according to Garcia, prove Trump was only pushing for an investigation of the Bidens for "his own political benefit".
- Sylvia Garcia played a clip of Christopher Wray, the FBI director, saying he has seen "no information that indicates Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election."
- Adam Schiff cited a comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin made in November: "Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in the U.S. elections." Regarding the quote, Schiff stated "You gotta give Donald Trump credit for this: he has made a religious man out of Vladimir Putin".
- During a break from the proceedings, Republican senators complained to the press that what was being presented was nothing new:
"We've seen this before" - Mike Braun
"It seems like Groundhog's day in the Senate" - John Barrasso
"Rinse it, recycle it and repeat it" - Tim Scott
"It's the same stories, same videos all over again" - James Lankford
Critics were quick to point out that these same Republican Senators joined with their colleagues to vote against new documents and new witness testimony.
- Zoe Lofgren, played audio of Trump calling into Fox News on 19 June, where Trump referenced the so-called Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that blames Ukraine rather than Russia for election interference. That was the same day White House officials contacted the Office of Management and Budget about holding up aid to Ukraine.
Trump's comment yesterday about possibly cutting entitlement programs was getting a lot of traction in the news, which inspired this tweet from the president: "Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!"
January 22, 2020 - Regarding the coronavirus, Trump stated "We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine." Today is day two of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The House impeachment managers will be allowed to present their case, starting today, in 24 hours spread over three days. John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is overseeing the trial. While opening the trial Roberts admonished that "Those addressing the Senate should remember where they are". Donald Trump, who is in Davos for an economic summit, was asked by a reporter if it was true that Trump knew everything Lev Parnas was doing in Ukraine as Parnas himself had recently claimed, to which Trump responded: "He's a con man." The reporter then asked "So that's not true?" to which Trump responded "I don't know him. Other than he's sort of like a groupie. He shows up at fundraisers. Ok so I don't know anything about him." Parnas was asked about Trump's claim that he doesn't know him, to which Parnas replied "I welcome him to say that even more. Every time he says that I’ll show him another picture. He’s lying." Karl A. Racine, the D.C. Attorney General, filed a suit against President Trump's inaugural committee and business alleging they had violated their nonprofit status by spending more than $1 million to book a ballroom at Trump's D.C. hotel that its staff knew was overpriced and that it barely used. According to the lawsuit, the committee was formed to organize events around the inauguration, but "abandoned this purpose and violated District law when it wasted approximately $1 million of charitable funds in overpayment for the use of event space at the Trump hotel." According to the AP, most of the troops flown out of Iraq after the Iranian missile attack, are "being treated for symptoms related to possible traumatic brain injury." Trump was asked about the reported brain injuries since he was on record saying there were no injuries to US troops from the Iranian attack. Trump responded saying "I heard they had headaches and a couple of other things ... and I can report it is not very serious ... No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war. No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no." Michael Kaplen, chair of the New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council and past president of the Brain Injury Association of New York State, responded to Trump's comments about the brain injuries to US troops saying he was "shocked at the ignorant statement ... to equate traumatic brain injuries as just a headache is insulting and disrespectful to the thousands of military service members suffering from the signature wound of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict." Kaplen went on to call the injuries "life altering" saying "It’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences affect every aspect of an individual’s life. A brain injury is only ‘mild’ if it is someone else’s brain. There is nothing 'mild' about a mild brain injury." Trump was also asked about news that John Bolton is willing to testify in the trial if subpoenaed to which Trump responded: "The problem with John is that it’s a national security problem. ... He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive and I have to deal on behalf of the country?" Trump also said that he and Bolton did not part on "the best of terms" and "You don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms." A few takeaways from the impeachment trial:
- Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, opened the House presentation by explaining the need for witnesses.
- "The counsel for the president would like you to think this is just about that call...They don't want you to look at the months that went into preparing for that call, or the months of pressure that followed." - Adam Schiff
- "Should the Congress just get over it? Should the American people just come to expect that our presidents will corruptly abuse their office ... is that what we've come to? I hope and pray that the answer is no." - Adam Schiff
- "We’re to believe they felt no pressure? Folks, they’re at war, and they’re being told you’re not getting $400m in aid. That’s $400m of pressure." - Adam Schiff
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration is finalizing a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, rivers, and wetlands, put in place during the Obama administration. According to the story: "From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President Barack Obama’s 'Waters of the United States' regulation, which had frustrated rural landowners... 'I terminated one of the most ridiculous regulations of all: the last administration’s disastrous Waters of the United States rule,' Mr. Trump told the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Texas on Sunday, to rousing applause. He added, 'That was a rule that basically took your property away from you.' His administration had completed the first step of its demise in September with the rule’s repeal. His replacement on Thursday will complete the process, not only rolling back 2015 rules that guaranteed protections under the 1972 Clean Water Act to certain wetlands and streams that run intermittently or run temporarily underground, but also relieves landowners of the need to seek permits that the Environmental Protection Agency had considered on a case-by-case basis before the Obama rule." Trump was asked during an interview if he would consider entitlement cuts. Tump responded "At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s actually the easiest of all things, if you look."
January 21, 2020 - Man in Everett, Washington tested positive for coronavirus, becoming first confirmed US case.Today is day one of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here are some highlights:
- Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority leader, argued that the rules should mirror the rules put into place for the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. The impeachment managers responded that "In the Clinton case, the President provided all of the documents — more than 90,000 pages of them — before the trial took place. McConnell’s resolution rejects that basic necessity,” the statement read. And in the Clinton case, all of the witnesses had testified before the Senate trial began, and the only issue was whether they would be re-called to testify once more. The substance of what they would say was already known. Here, McConnell is trying to prevent the witnesses from ever testifying, and the public from ever finding out what they have to say."
- Republicans voted along party lines to reject 11 proposals made by Democrats, including proposals to subpoena witnesses and documents. Chuck Schumer, the senate minority leader responded to the votes saying "If there’s one thing we learned on the floor it’s that Leader McConnell and senate Republicans don’t want a fair trial. The impeachment trial of president Trump begins with a cloud hanging over it." Jerry Nadler, one of the impeachment managers, responded by stating "A vote against an honest consideration of the evidence against the President. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States ... Only guilty people try to hide evidence.”
- A CNN poll found that 69% of Americans, including 48% of Republicans, feel the trial should include new witness testimony.
- White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed that "not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed in the SCIF". Fact check: 1-in-4 House Republicans sit on the committees that conducted the depositions, and those members of the committees were in fact allowed to be present in the SCIF during the depositions.
January 19, 2020 - Citing serious safety concerns, anti-fascist activists are advising their supporters to avoid the gun rights rally in Richmond Virginia tomorrow.
January 18, 2020 - Alex Azar, the health secretary, called Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to brief him on a possible threat from a coronavirus. According to the AP "Trump spent much of the conversation wanting to talk about vaping; he was considering a new policy restricting its use."
January 17, 2020 - According to a national poll by the Washington Post and Ipsos, 83% of black Americans believe Trump has made racism a bigger problem in the US. According to the New York Times, Kenneth Star, the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, and Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, will join White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow as part of Trump's legal team for the impeachment trial. Monica Lewinsky, the girl at the center of Bill Clinton's impeachment, reacted to the news that Starr would be on the team with this tweet: "this is definitely an 'are you fucking kidding me?' kinda day." Here's a full list of Trump's legal team as of this write up:
Pat Cipollone
Jay Sekulow
Jane Raskin
Pam Bondi
Alan Dershowitz
Ken Starr
Pat Philbin
Mike Purpura
Nearly 72 hours after reports emerged that the former Ukraine ambassador may have been under surveillance and possibly in danger, and after mounting pressure to say something, Mike Pompeo broke his silence during and interview on conservative radio saying in part "We will do everything we need to do to evaluate whether there was something that took place there. I suspect that much of what’s been reported will ultimately prove wrong, but our obligation, my obligation as secretary of state, is to make sure that we evaluate, investigate. Any time there is someone who posits that there may have been a risk to one of our officers, we’ll obviously do that. It is always the case at the Department of State that we do everything we can to ensure that our officers, not only our ambassadors but our entire team, has the security level that’s appropriate". Martha McSally, a Republican Senator from Arizona, was asked by a reporter if the Senate should "consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?" to which McSally responded by calling the reporter "a liberal hack." A coalition of 13 states are suing the Trump administration over new restrictions for food stamp benefits for unemployed Americans, a measure that is estimated would disqualify nearly 700,000 from federal food assistance. The USDA announced a proposed rule change in school nutrition guidelines that would cut the amount of fruits and vegetables required in school lunches and pave the way for children to choose pizza, burgers, french fries and other foods high in calories, saturated fat or sodium in place of balanced meals every day. The new rules undo changes that were put in place by Michelle Obama. The FBI has arrested three members of a neo-Nazi group who built a machine gun and had hoped to start a race war at a gun-rights rally that will be held in Richmond, Virginia on January 20th. The men are members of a group called "The Base". Because of threats of violence at the rally, the governor of Virginia has declared a state of emergency. Donald Trump weighed in on the situation in Virginia with this tweet: "Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That's what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!" Chris Collins, a former congressman, and early Trump supporter, was sentenced today to two years and two months in federal prison for insider trading. News surfaced that 11 US troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms brought about from the Iranian missile strike. According to the AP, three additional neo-Nazis from the group The Base were arrested for conspiring to kill members of the anti-fascist group Antifa. From the story: "A criminal complaint included details of how some of the men built an assault rifle using parts, purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition and traded vests that could carry body armor. They were believed to be planning to attend the pro-gun rally in Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the AP. In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices and their desire to create a white “ethno-state”, the FBI has said in court papers. On Friday, police in Georgia confirmed that three other men linked to The Base were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang. Authorities said the men planned to kill a married couple who were anti-fascist protesters and believed killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base." The House intelligence committee released new documents related to Lev Parnas, that include contacts between Parnas and a top aid to Devin Nunes, a Republican congressman and strong Trump ally.
January 16, 2020 - During an interview with the New York Times, Lev Parnas, the Giuliani associate who is facing charges in federal court, said that Giuliani and Trump's efforts were "all about 2020. That was the most important thing, for him to stay on four years and keep the fight going. I mean, there was no other reason for doing it." According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent government watchdog, the White House budget office violated the 1974 Impoundment Control Act when it froze US military aid to Ukraine. According to the report "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law." The House impeachment managers returned to the Senate for a second time to deliver the articles of impeachment. Adam Schiff read the charges to the Senate, and concluded with this: "Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States." Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the impeachment trial. The Ukrainian government has opened an investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch while she was ambassador to Ukraine by two associates of Rudy Giuliani; Lev Parnas and a Trump donor, Robert Hyde. While speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump stated that he doesn't know Lev Parnas. Trump sent out the following tweet: "I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" According to the New York Times, the Justice Department is investigating a years-old leak of classified information and focusing on whether former FBI director James Comey was involved. According to the story: "The timing of the investigation could raise questions about whether it was motivated at least in part by politics. Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents typically investigate leaks of classified information around the time they appear in the news media, not years later."
January 15, 2020 - Nancy Pelosi announced the House Impeachment Managers today. They are:
Adam Schiff - California
Zoe Lofgren - California
Jerry Nadler - New York
Hakeem Jeffries - New York
Sylvia Garcia - Texas
Val Demings - Florida
Jason Crow - Colorado
The Trump White House responded to the announcement with this statement: "The only thing Speaker Pelosi has achieved with this sham, illegitimate impeachment process, is to prove she is focused on politics instead of the American people. The Speaker lied when she claimed this was urgent and vital to national security because when the articles passed, she held them for an entire month in an egregious effort to garner political support. She failed and the naming of these managers does not change a single thing. President Trump has done nothing wrong. He looks forward to having the due process rights in the Senate that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats denied to him, and expects to be fully exonerated. In the meantime, after President Trump signs the historic China Trade Deal greatly benefiting the people of this country, he will continue working and winning for all Americans, while the Democrats will continue only working against the President." According to a new book by Washington Post journalists Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, called "A Very Stable Genius", Trump "abused", "harrassed" and "pestered" Kirsjen Nielson, his homeland security secretary over immigration policy. The book also points out that while visiting the USS Arizona Memorial, Trump made it clear with his questions that he had no knowledge about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Peter J Messitte, a federal judge, blocked a Trump policy which would allow local governments to determine whether or not they would admit refugees. When Trump introduced the policy in September, 42 out of 50 state governors, including conservative ones, said they would continue admitting refugees. Only one state governor, Greg Abbott of Texas, said he his state would not accept refugees. In the decision, Messitte wrote in part "Giving states and local governments the power to consent to the resettlement of refugees — which is to say veto power to determine whether refugees will be received in their midst — flies in the face of clear Congressional intent". The House voted to approve the impeachment package 228 to 193, which formally appoints the team of seven impeachment managers, and approves sending the two articles of impeachment to the Senate. Peter Lucido, a Republican state senator from Michigan, has issued an apology to Allison Donahue, a reporter, after humiliating her in the Senate chamber in front of a group of students from an all-boys school. Here's Donahue's account of the incident with Lucido saying "You should hang around! You could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you. The teenagers burst into an Old Boys’ Network-type of laughter, and I walked away knowing that I had been the punchline of their 'locker room' talk. Except it wasn’t the locker room; it was the Senate chamber. And this isn’t high school. It’s my career." Nancy Pelosi signed the impeachment resolution using souvenir pens, with her name on them, just as Republicans did when Bill Clinton was impeached. During an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Lev Parnas said in part "President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President." The seven House impeachment managers delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The impeachment managers were told to return tomorrow.
January 14, 2020 - Hillary Clinton responded to news of the hack at Burisma saying on twitter: "Russians appear to be re-running their 2016 hacking playbook, once again to benefit Donald Trump. Will the media play along again? Will the GOP open the door again? Will the Russians help pick our POTUS again?" Adam Schiff also responded saying "The Russians appear to be at it again. According to a new report, they’re hacking information that could be a prelude to more election interference in 2020. And again, it appears aimed to help Trump. We must reject foreign meddling. Americans should decide American elections." According to the Daily Beast, there were unusual movements in US stock and commodities prices leading up to the assassination of general Qassem Suleimani. Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into whether Donald Trump may have tipped off associates that a hit on Iran was imminent. The House intelligence, oversight and foreign affairs committees announced that they had provided additional evidence in the impeachment process based on documents yielded up by Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Some of the documents show that Parnas and his associates may have been carrying out surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine.
January 13, 2020 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Mini Mike Bloomberg is spending a lot of money on False Advertising. I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now, while at the same time winning the fight to rid you of the expensive, unfair and very unpopular Individual Mandate and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Representatives, your healthcare, that I have now brought to the best place in many years, will become the best ever, by far. I will always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!" Critics were quick to point out that the Trump administration's Justice Department is currently party to a lawsuit that would overturn the preexisting conditions protections that come along with Obamacare. Michael Bloomberg also addressed the issue in a response saying "Glad to see you're watching our ads, @realDonaldTrump. I know management isn't your strong suit, so perhaps you don't know your Justice Department supports a suit that would undermine protections for pre-existing conditions. Now that you know, why not ask them to drop the suit?" William Barr, the attorney general, announced at a news conference that Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the Royal Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant that opened fire last month in Pensacola, Florida, committed an act of terrorism. Three Americans died in that attack. Barr also announced that 21 Saudi military trainees would be taken out of the United States in response to the investigation into the shooting. Regarding the inconsistencies in the explanations offered for the assassination of Qassam Soleimani, a reporter asked Trump what the intelligence showed about the threat to the four embassies, to which Trump responded: "Here’s what’s been consistent: We killed Suleimani" News surfaced that Russian hackers from a military intelligence unit targeted Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that is at the center of Trump and his allies conspiracy theories.
January 12, 2020 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, 'no pressure' Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!" Mark Esper, the defense secretary, was asked if he had seen evidence to support Donald Trump's claim that four embassies were in imminent danger, to which Esper replied "I didn't see one with regard to the four embassies." Esper went on to say that the president never claimed there was "tangible" or specific evidence of a coming attack on the embassies but was discussing what he thought "could" happen. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Chairman responded to Esper's comments saying "They are overstating and exaggerating what the intelligence shows. And when you're talking about justifying acts that might bring us into warfare with Iran, that's a dangerous thing to do."
January 10, 2020 - Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, told Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, that the recent US strikes in Iraq were an unacceptable breach of Iraqi sovereignty and in violation of bilateral agreements, and that the US needs to begin putting together an exit strategy. Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman, responded to the the Iraqi Prime Minister saying: "At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East." During an interview on Fox News, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said "There is no doubt that there were a series of imminent attacks being plotted by Qassem Suleimani. We don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real." Pompeo was asked about these comments during a press briefing, to which he responded: "We had specific information on an imminent threat, and that threat included US embassies. Period. Full stop". Pompeo also insisted that the threat to embassies was shared with lawmakers during a classified briefing earlier this week. The Trump administration announced additional sanctions against the Iranian regime, as a response to Iran's missile strike against US troops. Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, sent the following tweet: "Soleimani was, in fact, planning 'imminent attacks.' While Democrats and the media quibble over its definition, quick point: When Obama killed bin Laden, al-Awlaki and Gaddafi, without Congressional approval, there were NO 'imminent attacks' and Democrats did not ask or care." Here are some select responses to Gidley's tweet:
"last week the Vice President said there were 12 hijackers on 9/11. In fact, there were 19. This week, White House spokesman says the US killed Gaddafi, whose capture and grim end at the hands of an angry Libyan mob is on very available video." - Devlin Barrett
"1.) Obama didn't kill Gaddafi. He was killed by a mob. 2.) The Obama administration consulted members of Congress in advance of killing bin Laden. Republican Mike Rogers said he was talking to the CIA four months before the operation." - Shane Harris
"Hey Hogan, long time no see. Bin Laden and Awlaki were senior, operational Al Qaeda leaders. Congress authorized war against AQ back in 2001. Gaddafi was killed by members of the NTC - not by US forces. But wrt imminence - you have agency here. Release the intelligence. Prove it." - Tommy Vietor, former National Security Council Spokesman under Obama
Steve King, Republican Representative from Iowa, took to the House floor today to give a speech about how white nationalism isn't real, and the Democrats are funded by George Soros.
January 9, 2020 - US officials are now saying that Iran shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane in which 176 people were killed. According to CBS News, the plane may have been mistakenly targeted just hours after Iran launched its missile attack in response to the US strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. While speaking to reporters, Trump made this claim regarding the killing of Suleimani: "We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy. We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious. Somebody died, one of our military people died, people were badly wounded just a week before." Trump was asked during a news conference about his call for NATO to get more involved in the Middle East, Trump told reporters that he came up with a "beautiful" name, "NATOME," for NATO Middle East. Trump was also asked about John Bolton testifying at an impeachment trial, to which Trump responded: "We have to protect presidential privilege for me but for future presidents". The House voted today on a resolution to limit the president's war powers by requiring that he go to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran. The resolution passed 224 to 194, mostly along party lines, with Democrats in the majority. Doug Collins, a Republican Representative, responded to the vote on twitter saying that Democrats are "in love" with terrorists.
January 8, 2020 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert advising that it "is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China". A passenger plane carrying 176 people, and bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, burst into flames shortly after take-off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, and crashed shortly thereafter. There were no survivors. Iran is refusing to turn over the plane's black box. According to the New York Times "The Pentagon has contradicted Trump, saying cultural sites would not be a target. US secretary of defense Mark Esper acknowledged that such an attack is against international law and would be considered a war crime." In a speech regarding Iran's missile attack, Trump declared that "Iran appears to be standing down", and in rare level headed form, called for "NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process." Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric, called on Iranian-backed militia groups to not carry out attacks against the US in response to de-escalation rhetoric from both Iran and the US. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state. Mark Esper, the defense secretary, Mark Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, and Gina Haspel, the CIA director, briefed members of Congress today on the Iran situation. Here are some select responses to the briefing:
"There was NO raw evidence presented that this [Suleimani plotting against US] was an imminent threat." - Pramila Jayapal, Democratic Congresswoman
"compelling and decisive ... little doubt ... clear and present danger" - Mark Meadows, Republican Congressman
"Just stepped out of a 75-minute briefing regarding President Trump’s military actions in Iraq—we were provided no evidence of an imminent threat. I remain deeply skeptical that he had justification for this attack." - Cory Booker, Democratic Senator
"lame" - Mike Lee, Republican Senator
January 7, 2020 - Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases, both of which host US and coalition troops. Al-Asad airbase in Iraq's Anbar province was hit by 19 missiles, a base in the city of Erbil was hit by 5. Iran declared the attack to be retaliation for recent the assassination of Qassem Suleimani. Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, released a statement shortly after the attack saying "Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched. We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression." According to US officials, no Americans were killed or injured in the attack.
January 6, 2020 - Trump sent the following tweet: "The Impeachment Hoax, just a continuation of the Witch Hunt which started even before I won the Election, must end quickly. Read the Transcripts, see the Ukrainian President’s strong statement, NO PRESSURE - get this done. It is a con game by the Dems to help with the Election!" Trump also sent this tweet: "IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, announced that he is willing to testify in a Senate impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed. Following Bolton's announcement, Chuck Schumer issued a statement saying in part: "Given that Mr Bolton’s lawyers have stated he has new relevant information to share, if any Senate Republicans oppose issuing subpoenas to the four witnesses and documents we have requested they would be absolutely clear they are participating in a cover-up." The other witnesses that Democrats are requesting to appear at the senate trial are White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget, and Robert Blair, assistant to the president and senior adviser to Mulvaney. Other responses to Bolton's announcement:
"The President & Sen. McConnell have run out of excuses. They must allow key witnesses to testify, and produce the documents Trump has blocked, so Americans can see the facts for themselves. The Senate cannot be complicit in the President's cover-up. #DefendOurDemocracy" - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"Bolton is an important witness to misconduct involving Ukraine that he called a 'drug deal.' Bolton refused to testify in the House, following Trump’s orders. Now he is willing to come forward. The Senate must allow testimony from him, Mulvaney and others. The cover-up must end." - Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
A Huffpost/YouGov poll found that 43% of Americans agree with Trump's decision to order the strike that killed Qassem Suleimani, while 38% disapprove. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, was asked if he supported the senate issuing a subpoena for John Bolton to testify at the impeachment trial. Rubio responded "I wouldn’t because ... I believe you should be constrained by the information that those articles are based on ... if the House wants to start a new impeachment inquiry or ... add additional elements to it that’s their choice to make". Donald Trump called into the Rush Limbaugh show where he said of Democrats: "I think they have lost their minds" and also that they "have nothing" on impeachment. In the wake of the assassination of Suleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted today to expel US troops from Iraq. The US military sent a letter to the Iraqi military announcing the "onward movement" of American forces following the Iraqi parliament vote. When asked about the letter from the military, Mark Esper, the secretary of defense, said the memo is not accurate saying "There's been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq" and that the letter is "inconsistent" with the Pentagon's current position. In violation of 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct UN business, the Trump administration blocked Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, from obtaining a visa to attend the January 9th Security Council meeting. Regarding the letter form the military announcing "onward movement", General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the letter had been sent in error. Donald Trump Jr, posted a picture of himself to Instagram holding an AR-15 rifle with an image of Hillary Clinton behind bars on the magazine with the caption: "Nice day at the range ... adding a little extra awesome to my AR and that mag". Paul Gosar, a Republican congressman from Arizona, tweeted an image that shows former president Barack Obama and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani sitting together smiling broadly with the caption "The world is a better place without these guys in power". The photo was quickly determined to be fake since Obama and Rouhani have never met in person. Donald Trump was asked by reporters about his threat to attack Iranian cultural sites, to which Trump responded "They’re allowed to kill our people They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way."
January 5, 2020 - Iran declared that it would would no longer limit itself to the restrictions of the 2015 nuclear deal, but would "continue to work with international nuclear agencies and will return to JCPOA limits once all sanctions are removed from the country." Amid threats of retaliation from Iran regarding the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!" Critics were quick to point out that targeting cultural sites is prohibited by international conventions signed in Geneva and at the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which was adopted to prevent the type of plundering of art the Nazis undertook during World War II. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister responded to trump's threat saying "Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday’s cowardly assassinations, realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches. Targeting cultural sites is a war crime; – Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun." Human Rights Watch reacted to Trump's threat by releasing a statement that said in part "The laws of war prohibit deliberate attacks on civilian objects not being used for military purposes. Objects of great importance to a people’s cultural heritage must not be the object of attack. Article 53 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions specifically prohibits any acts of hostility against cultural objects, including making such objects the target of reprisals. The US Law of War Manual (2016), which has extensive provisions relating to the protection of cultural property, incorporates this provision into US law. The US is also a party to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), which similarly prohibits such attacks. Under customary laws of war, individuals who order or take part in deliberate attacks on civilian objects are committing war crimes. Article 85 of Protocol I specifically states that attacks on cultural objects are grave breaches of the convention. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which neither the US nor Iran is a party, includes as a war crime intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science, or charitable purposes or historic monuments that are not military objectives. The US War Crimes statute holds criminally liable US nationals, including officials and military personnel, who commit war crimes. Under customary laws of war, every combatant has a duty to disobey a manifestly unlawful order ... Trump’s threat to attack Iran’s cultural heritage shows his callous disregard for the global rule of law. Whether refusing to condemn the brutal murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi or pardoning convicted war criminals, Trump has shown little respect for human rights as part of US foreign policy." Trump was asked about the Iraqi parliament passing a resolution to expel US troops, to which Trump responded "We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it. If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame." Brett McGurk, the former US presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter Isis, responded to Trump's threat against Iran saying "Trump's comments tonight regarding Iran and Iraq are not only unacceptable, they’re unAmerican. American military forces adhere to international law. They don't attack cultural sites. And they're not mercenaries. Reckless and unprecedented words from a commander-in-chief."
January 3, 2020 - During a CNN interview, Mike Pompeo claimed the drone attack on the Iranian general "saved American lives". Pompeo went on to say that Suleimani was "actively plotting in the region to take action, big actions he described it, that would have put thousands, if not hundreds American lives at risk" and that the attack was driven by "an intelligence-based assessment". Pompeo added that "Last night was the time we needed to strike to make sure that this imminent attack that he was working actively was disrupted." Donald Trump, sent the following in a tweet: "General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more...but got caught! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself. While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!" Trump also sent this tweet: "The United States has paid Iraq Billions of Dollars a year, for many years. That is on top of all else we have done for them. The people of Iraq don’t want to be dominated & controlled by Iran, but ultimately, that is their choice. Over the last 15 years, Iran has gained more and more control over Iraq, and the people of Iraq are not happy with that. It will never end well!" Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times regarding the killing which reads in part: "Few tears will be shed in many parts of the world for Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani, whose Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ruthlessly spread Iranian influence and contributed to the deaths of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians, as well as hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq, over the past decade and a half. But revenge is not a strategy, and the killing of General Suleimani is a major – and incredibly risky – escalation with Iran, a pivotal country of some 80 million people that has been largely estranged from the United States for 40 years. It will cause more instability and the loss of more innocent lives. Any chances for American diplomacy with Iran are dead for the duration of the Trump presidency – if not longer. Instead of one nuclear proliferation crisis, with North Korea, there will most likely now be two, as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal completely collapses. The Sunni fundamentalists who killed Americans in their homeland – something Iran has not done so far – will rejoice. Russia and China will be happy to see the United States mired in the Middle East for the foreseeable future." Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic congresswoman who is a former CIA analyst, and who served under Barack Obama and George W Bush, responded to the attack saying "The two administrations I worked for both determined that the ultimate ends didn’t justify the means. The Trump Administration has made a different calculation." According to the AP: "The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by President Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday." Critics of Trump began re-tweeting a tweet that Trump sent out in November of 2011 in which Trump wrote: "In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran." Trump read a short statement to the press at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, which read in part: "As president my highest and most solemn duty is the defense of our nation and its citizens. Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him. Under my leadership America’s policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American. We will find you. We will eliminate you." Trump also told reporters "We have the best intelligence in the world." Mike Pence, the vice president, sent the following tweet: "Yesterday, President @realDonaldTrump took decisive action and stood up against the leading state sponsor of terror to take out an evil man who was responsible for killing thousands of Americans. Soleimani was a terrorist. Here are some of his worst atrocities:" This was followed by a list that experts called out as including falsehoods, like this one "Assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States." Peter R. Neuman responded to Pence on twitter saying "This is wrong and should be called out. For a start, there were 19 September 11 attackers, not 12, and nothing we know suggests they came from or were assisted by Iran." According to the New York Times "Trump administration officials have provided no specific details of what they said were imminent threats, and some Defense Department officials said they knew of only generalized threats that did not appear to be imminent." Majid Takht Ravanchi, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, stated during an interview with CNN "We cannot just close our eyes to what happened last night. Definitely there will revenge. There will be harsh revenge ... the time, the place, will be decided by Iran."
January 2, 2020 - Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Qassem Suleimani, Iran's top general, who was being driven in a convoy of vehicles after landing at the Baghdad airport. Shortly after the attack, the Pentagon released a statement saying in part: "General Suleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world." Minutes before the attack, Trump tweeted a picture of a US flag without comment. The White House released a statement calling the attack a "decisive defensive action" carried out "at the direction of the president". Democrats criticized the Trump administration for not first seeking Congressional approval before the attack. Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, vowed that the US would face "severe revenge" for the killing of Suleimani. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, sent the following tweet: "The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation. The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism." Following the attack, the US embassy in Baghdad released the following statement: "Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, the US embassy urges American citizens to heed the January 2020 travel advisory and depart Iraq immediately. US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land". Alistair Burt, a former Middle East minister, warned that the attack could cause "a huge potential escalation" of the conflict, of which "the consequences are unknown". Julian Borger, a writer for the Guardian, described Suleimani's death as a "dagger thrust into the heart of Iranian power". Borger added that "The leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force was a bearded icon of the Islamic Republic, arguably its second most powerful figure after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Killing him was a blunt act of war against a substantial regional power. Its half-million-strong armed services are the most potent military force the US has faced since confronting the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army more than 60 years ago in Korea." Hassan al-kaabi, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker, announced that Iraq will be holding an emergency parliament session dedicated to taking "decisive decisions that put an end to US presence inside Iraq". Following the drone attack, oil prices rose over $2 a barrel. News surfaced that oil companies in Basra have begun evacuating employees with US citizenship. Here are some reactions from around the world to the killing of Suleimani:
"The US assassination is an extremely serious and dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East with global significance" - Jeremy Corbyn, Labour party leader in the UK
"The targeted killings of Qasem Soleiman and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis are most likely unlawful and violate international human rights law: Outside the context of active hostilities, the use of drones or other means for targeted killing is almost never likely to be legal" - Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing
"Congratulations to all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani. Long in the making, this was a decisive blow against Iran's malign Quds Force activities worldwide. Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran." - John Bolton, former US national security adviser for Donald Trump
"No doubt #Soleimani was a bad actor, w much blood on his hands. But killing non-state terrorists eg bin Laden or Baghdadi v different from killing senior official of internationally-recognised state. Big escalation by Trump, & a lawless step that increases risk to US & allies." - Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Center for European Reform
"We affirm that what happened is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a clear breach by the American forces of their mandate which is exclusively to fight Islamic State and provide advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces." - Statement from Iraq's Military
"The U.S. remains committed to de-escalation." - Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State
"Donald Trump has yet again radically and recklessly escalated tensions in an area where peacekeeping was already on a knife edge." - Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader in UK
"Carrying out operations to assassinate Iraqi figures and figures from another country on Iraqi soil is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a dangerous escalation." - Adil Abd Al Mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister.
"The world is a better place without him. The problem is that comes at a very high cost. Number one, there will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this." - Michael Morell, former acting and deputy CIA director
"Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question. The question is this - as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?" - Chris Murphy, Democratic lawmaker
"There are serious questions about how this decision was made and whether we are prepared for the consequences." - Pete Buttigieg, Democratic Presidential candidate
"Iran's master terrorist is dead" - Mitch McConnell, Republican majority leader in the US Senate
"We say be patient, soon you will witness the bodies of Americans in all of the Middle East" - Ismail Qaani, New Commander of the Quds force
January 1, 2020 - According to the Guardian "Iranian-backed militants have withdrawn from the US embassy in Baghdad following an order from their militia organisation, ending a day-long siege that badly damaged US-Iraqi relations and demonstrated the strength of Iranian influence in the Iraqi capital." In response to the one day siege, Donald Trump said that Tehran would "pay a big price for any US lives lost or damage to US property". In a blow to Republicans in North Carolina, Loretta Biggs, a US district judge, has blocked North Carolina's new voter identification law, in a ruling which called out "discriminatory intent" as a likely motivating factor in crafting the measure. Two years ago, another attempt to implement a similar law by Republicans in the state of North Carolina was struck down by a federal appeals court which stated that African Americans were targeted "with almost surgical precision".
December 31, 2019 - Protesters stormed the American embassy in Baghdad, where they lit fires, smashed doors and windows, raised militia flags, and chanted "Death to America" and other slogans in support of pro-Iranian militias, which were the target of American airstrikes two days ago. Reports surfaced that Iraqi security forces allowed the protesters inside the highly protected area known as the Green Zone. According to the Guardian "Street protests take place regularly in the Iraqi capital. In recent months, security guards have shot dead more than 450 people protesting against rampant government corruption and the growing influence of Iranian-backed groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah." Scott Jenkins, a state district judge, ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $100,000 to the parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook. Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, fired 34 correction officer trainees who were photographed giving a Nazi salute. State investigators who looked into the photo, found that the trainees regularly gave the Nazi salute "as a sign of respect" for their instructor. The instructor was also fired by Justice.
December 30, 2019 - During an interview, climate activist Greta Thunberg was asked what she would have said to Donald Trump had she had the opportunity to speak with him at the UN climate change summit in New York. Thunberg responded: "Honestly, I don't think I would have said anything. Because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me? So I probably wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have wasted my time."
December 29, 2019 - Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against three camps in Iraq, and two in Iran. The camps belong to the Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah group, which is formally part of the Iraqi army. Estimates put the death toll at 25 or more, with dozens more injured. The airstrikes were a response to a rocket attack that took place on December 27 by that group against a US base in Kirkuk, in which a US contractor was killed, and four Americans were injured. The Iraqi government condemned the airstrikes, and pro-Iranian militias promised further attacks against American targets, with the goal of expelling US forces.
December 28, 2019 - Donald Trump has twice retweeted material that publicly names the Ukraine whistleblower, one of which falsely claims that the whistleblower "committed perjury by making false statements" and is being protected by Adam Schiff. Amy Siskind, president of the New Agenda, a nonpartisan advocacy organisation, responded to Trump's retweets saying "This is not acceptable behavior from the so-called leader of our country, and he must be called to task for it!" Despite the whistleblower's account having been fully corroborated by direct witnesses to the events that led to the complaint, the whistleblower himself is reportedly being driven to work with a full security detail to protect his safety as his identity has become a right wing obsession. Last month, Donald Trump Jr tweeted an article that contained the whistleblower's name in the headline. When confronted by hosts of The View television show, Trump Jr claimed he was a "private citizen" sharing information on social media. The show's hosts argued that this was disingenuous considering he is the president's son.
December 20, 2019 - Donald Trump reacted to an editorial in Christianity Today calling for his removal from office saying on twitter: "A far left magazine, or very 'progressive,' as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!" In a report produced for the Washington state legislature, Matthew Shea, a Washington state representative, was found to have "participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States" for his role in planning "the 2016 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge" as well as other activities associated with the takeover. The report also explains that in a document entitled the Biblical Basis for War, Shea "advocated the replacement of US democracy with a theocracy and the killing of all males who do not agree". The report concludes that while Shea is not an "imminent direct threat ... it is more probable than not that Representative Shea is likely to plan, direct and engage in additional future conflicts that could carry with them significant risk of bloodshed and loss of life". The report adds that "Representative Shea presents a present and growing threat of risk to others through political violence." Shea, who appeared as a guest in 2018 on the podcast Prepper Recon, spoke on the podcast topic "US civil war is coming" and the "balkanization" of the United States. In response to the report, Shea was suspended from the house Republican caucus. Nancy Pelosi made the following statement today: "He just got impeached. He’ll be impeached for ever. No matter what the Senate does. He’s impeached for ever because he violated our constitution."
December 19, 2019 - Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former press secretary under Donald Trump, sent the following tweet mocking Joe Biden's stutter: "IIIIIIIIIIIIII hhhave absolutely no idea what Biden is talking about." Joe Biden tweeted in response: "I've worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it's my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It's called empathy. Look it up." Sanders later deleted her tweet, and issued an apology. Nancy Pelosi has stated that she will delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate until she can receive assurances of a fair trial. Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "I got Impeached last might without one Republican vote being cast with the Do Nothing Dems on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history. Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but it’s Senate’s call!" Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, called the impeachment of president Trump "the most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in modern history." McConnell also stated that "House Democrats may be too afraid to even transmit their shoddy work product to the Senate. Looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet in front of the entire country, and second guessing whether they want to do to trial." McConnell also said the House did something no other Congress has ever done- impeached a President who hasn't "committed an actual crime". What most captured the attention of McConnell's critics, was his repeated insistence on the importance of following "precedent", which critics point out that McConnell broke with when he refused to hold confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, a Supreme Court nominee of then President Barack Obama's. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, responded to McConnell's remarks saying "Is the president’s case so weak that none of the president’s men can defend him under oath?" Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, made the following statements: "We would hope there would be a fair process just as we would hope they would honor the constitution ... It reminded me that our founders, when they wrote the Constitution, they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don't think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the senate at the same time." Pelosi also addressed Trump's suggestion that John Dingell was looking up from Hell saying: "Let us pray for the president. The president clearly is insecure when it comes to states-persons ... Cruelty is not wit, just because he gets a laugh for saying cruel things doesn’t mean he’s funny. It’s not funny at all, it’s sad." News surfaced that the Republican-controlled Senate removed an explicit mention of "white nationalists" from a screening provision in a military spending bill. Here's the wording from both before and after the edit:
Before:
(a) STUDY. - The Secretary of Defense shall study the feasibility of, in background investigations and security and suitability screenings of individuals who seek to enlist in the Armed Forces -
(1) screening for white nationalists extremist and individuals with ties to white nationalist oranizations; gang-related activity; and
(2) using the following resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
After:
(a) STUDY. - The Secretary of Defense shall study the feasibility of, in background investigations and security and suitability screenings of individuals who seek to enlist in the Armed Forces -
(1) screening for extremist and gang-related activity; and
(2) using the following resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
Chuck Bonniwell, one of the hosts of the show "Chuck & Julie" on the conservative radio station KNUS-AM out of Denver, Colorado, complained on-air about the monotony of the media coverage of the impeachment proceedings saying "You wish for a nice school shooting to interrupt the monotony". Executives at the station immediately cancelled the show. According to a story in the Washington Post: "After meeting privately in July 2017 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign — and the blame he cast instead on a rival country — led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions." Christianity Today, an evangelical Christian magazine founded by televangelist Billy Graham, called for Donald Trump to be removed from office in an op-ed written by Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief. In the editorial, Galli stated in part: "the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral ... The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people ... He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused ... To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?"
December 18, 2019 - Donald J Trump sent the following tweet early this morning: "Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the Transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!" Adam Schiff sent the following tweet early this morning: "President Trump abused his power to cheat in the next election, then obstructed Congress to cover it up. The only question is: Will Members honor their oath to uphold the Constitution? History will remember the vote we take today." A video surfaced from 2008 of Donald Trump speaking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer. Here are some of Trump's comments: "When [Pelosi] first got in and was named speaker, I met her. And I’m very impressed by her. I think she’s a very impressive person, I like her a lot ... But I was surprised that she didn’t do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush. It just seemed like she was really going to look to impeach Bush and get him out of office. Which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing." Here are some highlights from the House's historic impeachment debate and vote:
- Joe Novotny, the House clerk, read the articles of impeachment to the House members which said in part: "Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States."
- Congressman Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee said of Democrats "They do not care about facts."
- Mike Pence, the vice president, made the following statement today: "What's happening on Capitol Hill today is a disgrace. The truth is they are trying to impeach this president because they know they can’t defeat this president. ... They’re pushing this partisan impeachment because they know they can’t stop you from giving president Donald Trump four more years in the White House. ... Tonight after a sham investigation, do-nothing Democrats are going to vote on a partisan impeachment seeking to oveturn the willl of the American people."
- Trump sent out the following tweet, among the more than 40 he sent before noon: "SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!"
- Tom McClintock, a House Republican, referred to abuse of power (one of the articles of impeachment) as a "made-up crime."
- Chris Stewart, a House Republican, stated that "If you set this bar as being impeachable, every president in our future will be impeached."
- Jerry Nadler, a House Democrat and chairman of the judiciary committee, reminded his GOP colleagues that if Trump is removed from office "the new president will be Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton."
- Clay Higgins, a House Republican, made the following statement on the House floor: ""America's being severely injured by this betrayal, by this unjust and weaponized impeachment, brought upon us by the same socialists who threaten unborn life in the womb, who threaten First Amendment rights of conservatives, who threaten Second Amendment protections of every American patriot, and who have long ago determined that they would organize and conspire to overthrow President Trump."
- Steve Chabot, a Republican, warned that Trump's impeachment would set a dangerously low standard going forward. Note: Chabot was an impeachment manager during Bill Clinton's impeachment.
- Barry Loudermilk, a Republican, argued that Pontius Pilate was more fair to Jesus than Democrats have been to president Trump.
- Mike Kelly, a Republican, compared today's impeachment to the attack on Pearl Harbor, predicting that December 18 would be "another date that will live in infamy".
- After Louie Gohmert, a Republican, promoted baseless claims against Ukraine and claimed "This country's end is now in sight. I hope I don't live to see it", Jerry Nadler, the judiciary chairman stated: "I’m deeply concerned that any member of the House would spew Russian propaganda on the floor of the House." Gohmert shouted back at Nadler, but Nadler ignored him.
- Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, quoted Alexander Hamilton's warning of a leader who is "unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper," who would "throw things into confusion" and "may ride the storm and direct the whirlwind."
- Bill Johnson, a Republican, held a moment of silence for the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump in 2016.
- John Lewis, a Democrat and civil rights icon, stated that "For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history."
- Adam Schiff mocked a repeated talking point by Republicans that the impeachment inquiry was "secretive" in nature and that those secret meetings were held in a basement "bunker". To this Schiff said "This is apparently what they call depositions".
- Matt Gaetz, a Republican, said in a statement on the House floor "This is not about Ukraine; this is about power. Donald Trump has it, and Democrats want it." Gaetz also accused Democrats of "adhering to no sense of honor" and called the impeachment resolution a "slap in the face" to the Americans who voted for Trump.
- Adam Schiff made the following statement on the House floor: "I think when the history of this time is written, it will record that when my colleagues found that they lacked the courage to stand up to this unethical president, they consoled themselves by attacking those who did".
- Devin Nunes, a Republican, stated that "The only thing that Donald Trump is guilty of is beating Hillary Clinton."
- Liz Cheney, a Republican, claimed that Democrats had presented "no direct evidence of any impeachable offense".
- Steve Scalise, a Republican, stated Democrats "made up these terms to impeach a president because they couldn’t find any crimes" and also stated that Democrats "hated" the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump.
The House voted on the two articles of impeachment, here are the results:
First Article of Impeachment: Abuse of Power
Yea - 230
Nay - 197
Present - 1 (Tulsi Gabbard)
Second Article of Impeachment: Obstruction of Congress
Yea - 229
Nay - 198
Present - 1 (Tulsi Gabbard)
Donald Trump is now officially the third president in US history to be impeached.
Speaking at a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, Trump told the crowd: "The do-nothing Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American people. This lawless partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat party." Trump also suggested that the late Representative John Dingell, the longest serving congressman, and WWII veteran, may be in Hell, when he said that he's "looking down" on the ceremony, followed by "Maybe he's looking up" to loud groans from the crowd. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell responded to Trump's attack on her late husband saying on twitter: "Mr. President, let’s set politics aside. My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder."
December 17, 2019 - Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, while speaking on the Senate floor about the impeachment inquiry, called the investigation the "most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in recent history" resulting in a "slapdash work product." McConnell also offered this advice: "House Democrats still have an opportunity to do the right thing for the country. The House can turn back and not deploy this constitutional remedy of last resort." McConnell also rejected Chuck Schumer's request to have White House officials testify saying "It is not the Senate's job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to get to guilty. That would hardly be impartial justice." Chuck Schumer responded to McConnell's rejection of calling witnesses saying he did not hear the Republican leader make a "single argument" as to why the requested witnesses should not testify. Schumer went on to say "What is Leader McConnell afraid of? What is President Trump afraid of? The truth? But the American people want the truth." Schumer also stated that he will force votes on calling Mulvaney/Bolton and that "Senators who oppose this plan will have to explain why less evidence is better than more evidence". According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 7 in 10 Americans say Trump should allow his aides to testify, and 6 in 10 expect a fair Senate trial. The poll also found that 49% support Trump's removal from office, while 46% oppose it. Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign official and close ally of Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years probation. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI. News surfaced that Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for tax fraud and conspiracy, was hospitalized for a "cardiac event." Donald Trump sent an angry six-page letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemning the impeachment inquiry. Speaking to reporters, Mitch McConnell declared "I am not an impartial juror. This is a political process ... I expect we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I'm not impartial about this at all." Donald Trump was asked if he assumed any responsibility for the trajectory of the impeachment inquiry. Trump's response: "No, I don't take any. Zero, to put it mildly." News surfaced that three more staffers working for congressman Jeff Van Drew have resigned. Van Drew has signaled that he will be switching parties over opposition to impeachment. Donald Trump, and his supporters have repeatedly compared the impeachment process with witch trials, which inspired the Kim Driscoll, the mayor of Salem, Massachusetts to send the following tweet:
December 13, 2019 - The House judiciary committee voted in favor of the two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. The articles will now go before the full House of Representatives. After the vote, Jerry Nadler, the committee chairman stated: "Today is a solemn and sad day. For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House judiciary committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president - for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House will act expeditiously. Thank you." Here are some select responses to the judiciary's vote on the articles of impeachment
"Evidence that Trump committed multiple impeachable offenses – abusing the official powers of the Oval Office and obstructing Congress – is overwhelming and irrefutable. To preserve our democracy for now, and for future generations, our Constitution must be upheld. Congress must fulfill its constitutional obligation and move forward to hold the president accountable." - Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee Chair
"This desperate charade of an impeachment inquiry in the House Judiciary Committee has reached its shameful end. The President looks forward to receiving in the Senate the fair treatment and due process which continues to be disgracefully denied to him by the House." Stephanie Grisham, White House Press Secretary
"It’s a witch-hunt. It’s a sham. It’s a hoax ... to be using this for a perfect phone call ... It’s a scam ... You’re trivializing impeachment. The people are disgusted." - Donald J Trump
"It’s not fair that I’m being Impeached when I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong! The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have become the Party of Hate. They are so bad for our Country!" - Donald J Trump
The US supreme court has agreed to hear subpoena fights over Donald Trump's financial records, with a decision expected in late June.
December 12, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, the 16 year-old climate activist, was named Person of the Year by Time magazine. Donald Trump reacted to the news by sending the following tweet: "So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!" Critics of Trump were quick to point out the outrage expressed by Republicans just last week after a witness at an impeachment hearing invoked Barron Trump's name to make a point about the difference between a king and a president. Eric Holder, the attorney general under Barack Obama, published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he criticized William Barr, the current attorney general: "Virtually since the moment he took office... Barr’s words and actions have been fundamentally inconsistent with his duty to the Constitution. Which is why I now fear that his conduct – running political interference for an increasingly lawless president – will wreak lasting damage." According to the Daily Beast, Donald Trump lashed out at world leaders who were overheard mocking Trump at the Nato Summit in London. According to the story: "During this private airing of grievances, President Trump repeatedly denigrated the Canadian prime minister behind his back and called the French president a 'pain in the ass' while referring to him as 'short,' according to an individual who was present for the meeting. Trump also bashed the French leader for not doing enough to help in recent Iran negotiations." The House judiciary committee continued to debate the articles of impeachment for a second day. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, referenced the Bill Clinton impeachment hearings with this question to Republicans: "lying about a sexual affair is an abuse of presidential power but the misuse of presidential power to get a benefit doesn’t matter?" During a segment of Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News, guest Seth Barron commented on some footage showing some trash on the streets of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's New York district by saying that immigrants were responsible for the trash and that they had "occupied" the district and made it "one of the least American districts in the country." Carlson responded with "How can we take seriously anything she says about the environment when this is her congressional district? She should be ashamed of this." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the segment by calling Carlson a "white supremacist sympathizer" and by stating that Carlson's show represents an "hour-long production of unmitigated racism". Along mostly party lines, the House passed legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and to cap out of pocket expenses for Medicare recipients. According to an AP story on the legislation: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill would cap Medicare recipients' out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors. But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters. 'I think that it is going to be too hot to handle for the Republicans,' said Pelosi, D-Calif. She is claiming bragging rights because her bill would deliver on the promise that Donald Trump made as a candidate in 2016, when he said he would 'negotiate like crazy' to lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients. It's a pledge that Trump has backed away from as president." Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!" Appearing on Fox News, Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader, told Sean Hannity that he is "going to coordinate with the president's lawyers" regarding a trial in the Senate and that "My hope is that there won't be a single Republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment".
December 11, 2019 - According to ProPublica, Donald Trump Jr traveled to Mongolia over the summer, where he shot and killed an argali, an endangered species of large mountain sheep. According to the story, the right to kill an argali is granted via an "opaque permitting system" that experts say require "money, connections and politics." According to the story the US and Mongolia supported Trump's Jr's trip, including by giving him security services. Kathleen Clark, a professor specializing in legal ethics at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, responded to the story saying "What are the chances the Mongolian government would’ve done any of that to someone who wasn’t the son of the United States’ president?" Donald Trump held a closed-door meeting with Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, after the Russian stated at a joint press conference with secretary of state Mike Pompeo that "we have highlighted once again that all speculation about our alleged interference in domestic processes in the US are baseless. There are no facts that would support that." Following the closed-door meeting, the Trump administration released an official photo of Lavrov standing beside Trump in the Oval Office as Trump smiles broadly. A tweet sent by Michael Barbaro included the official picture with accompanying text stating "The reward for systematically interfering in a US election? An Oval Office visit." George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, sent the foloowing text message: "It’s pretty clear that @petestrzok has an extremely strong slander case against @realDonaldTrump for the latter’s false claim last night that @NatSecLisa obtained a restraining order against Strzok." Michael Horowitz, the DoJ IG, testified before the Senate judiciary committee today. Here are some highlights from his testimony:
- The report took 19 months by a team that poured over a million documnets and conducted 170 interviews with 100 witnesses.
- When asked if the mishandling of Carter Page's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant was done out of political bias, Horowitz responded "I did not know their state of mind at this point."
- Regarding the opening of the FBI's investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign, Horowitz stated: "As to the opening, we found no bias, no testimonial documents on that." Horowitz also stated that the investigation was opened "with proper predicate, sufficient predication" and that proper protocol was not followed with certain steps of the investigation.
- Horowitz was asked if the FBI sent any spies to the Trump campaign, to which he replied: "We did not find evidence that the FBI sought to place confidential human sources inside the campaign or plant them inside the campaign".
- Horowitz was asked about statements from William Barr that the FBI acted in bad faith when it conducted its Russian inquiry, to which Horowitz responded "My defense of my team and my work is that we stand by the report. Nothing I’ve heard changed our view. The department, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the FBI director, whomever is free to disagree with my conclusions. I didn't take the [inspector general] job to be popular to not have my feelings hurt."
The New York Times published an analysis of the DoJ IG report which states in part: "At more than 400 pages, the study amounted to the most searching look ever revealed about the government’s secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty. While clearing the F.B.I. of acting out of political bias, the Justice Department's independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser. 'The litany of problems with the Carter Page surveillance applications demonstrates how the secrecy shrouding the government's one-sided FISA approval process breeds abuse," said Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project. 'The concerns the inspector general identifies apply to intrusive investigations of others, including especially Muslims, and far better safeguards against abuse are necessary.'" The House judiciary committee held a debate on the articles of impeachment that were introduced as House resolution 755. Here are some highlights:
- Jerrold Nadler, the committee chairman opened the debate stating it should be framed around three questions:
1. Does the evidence show clearly that Trump committed these acts?
2. Do they rise to the level of impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors?
3. What are the consequences if we fail to act?
- Nadler also pointed out that while other presidents have tried to evade investigations: "President Trump's stonewall was complete, absolute and without precedent."
- Doug Collins, the leading Republican on the committee said that by pursuing impeachment "we tear down, not only try to tear down the leader of the free world, President Trump, but we’re tearing down the newly elected leader of the Ukraine" by implying that the Ukrainian leader lied when he denied he felt pressured by Trump.
- Steve Chabot, a Republican on the committee made the following statement "The drafting of impeachment articles drafted solely on secret hearings closed to the media and to the American people... If Geoge Orwell had written the script no one would have believed it". Note: the articles of impeachment are based on both public hearings and closed-door hearings, in which Republicans were present, and whose transcripts were subsequently made public.
- Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, called out the names of several people he would like to see called as witnesses in a Senate trial, one of which is purported to be the one who initially blew the whistle on Trump's corrupt dealings with Ukraine
- Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, responded to Gohmert saying "House Republicans just committed an incredible and outrageous breach. The President threatened the whistleblower with violence, and whether the person just named is the whistleblower or not they were just put in real danger. This is unacceptable and there should be consequences."
December 10, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness!" Trump responded to Christopher Wray's comments regarding the DoJ IG report saying "I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!" During an interview with ABC, Christopher Wray said "We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election."
While formally announcing articles of impeachment against Donald J Trump, Jerry Nadler made the following statement: "Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two Articles of Impeachment charging the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors" Nadler then explained the two articles:
1. Abuse of Power: "It is an impeachable offense for the president to exercise the powers of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 presidential election, thus damaging our national security, undermining the integrity of the next election, and violating his oath to the American people."
2. Obstruction of Congress: "President Trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. ... A president who describes himself as above accountability, above the American people and above Congress’ power of impeachment, which is meant to protect against threats to our Democratic institutions, is a president who sees himself above the law. We must be clear: No one, not even the president, is above the law."
Adam Schiff addressed those who are saying "why don't you just wait?" to which Schiff responded: "Why don't you just let him cheat one more time? ... Why not let him have foreign help one more time? That is what that argument amounts to." Trump responded to the announcement of articles of impeachment tweeting: "Nadler just said that I 'pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 Election.' Ridiculous, and he knows that is not true. Both the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said, many times, that there 'WAS NO PRESSURE.' Nadler and the Dems know this, but refuse to acknowledge!" This was followed by another tweet saying "WITCH HUNT!" which was followed by this tweet: "Shifty Schiff, a totally corrupt politician, made up a horrible and fraudulent statement, read it to Congress, and said those words came from me. He got caught, was very embarrassed, yet nothing happened to him for committing this fraud. He’ll eventually have to answer for this!" Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, is suing the Department of Justice and the FBI, alleging that the two agencies unlawfully shared private text messages between her and former FBI agent Peter Strzok with the media in December 2017. Those messages, which expressed fear of a Trump presidency, have been used by Trump and his allies as evidence of a "deep state" conspiracy working against his presidency. The Washington Post published an editorial calling for Trump's impeachment saying "It is our view that more than enough proof exists for the House to impeach Mr. Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, based on his own actions and the testimony of the 17 present and former administration officials who courageously appeared before the House Intelligence Committee." During a brief encounter with reporters, Trump called the articles of impeachment "very weak". According to the Washington Post, a US judge in El Paso, TX, blocked Donald Trump's plan to spend $3.6bn in military funds on a border wall, ruling that the administration doesn't have the authority to reallocate funds earmarked by Congress for a different purpose. Donald Trump held a rally in Hershey Pennsylvania where he mocked former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI agent Peter Strzok to the delight of his supporters, who laughed as Trump acted out a conversation between the two, which included pretending to be Lisa having an orgasm. Trump also made the claim that Page had to get a restraining order against Strzok because he couldn't stay away from her. A source close to Page has called the claim "absolutely untrue". During an appearance on Fox News, Senator Lindsey Graham made the following statement: "When 51 of us say we’ve heard enough, the trial is going to end. The president’s going to be acquitted. ... Here's my advice to the president: if the Senate is ready to vote and ready to acquit you, you should celebrate that." Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, made this statement about 16 year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg: "It is staggering, the amount of coverage the press gives that brat."
December 9, 2019 - The House judiciary committee held its impeachment hearing today. Here are some highlights:
- Shortly after the hearing began, Owen Shroyer, a conspiracy theorist who works for Infowars, and who was active in spreading the pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, began yelling from the spectator area, saying that Jerry Nadler and the Democrats were committing "treason" by partaking in this inquiry.
- Barry Burke, House counsel, addressed Trump's claim that Article II allows him "to do whatever I want as president" saying that notion is fundamentally wrong. He also stated "our imagination is the only limit to what Trump may do, or a future president may do, to abuse his power to serve his own interests" if Trump is spared impeachment.
- Stephen Castor, Republican, called the inquiry "baloney!"
- Mike Johnson, Republican, complained that the committee counsel's argument "impugns the motives of the president", which is the whole point of impeachment.
- Daniel Goldman, Democratic counsel, stated that "President Trump directed a months-long scheme to solicit foreign help in his 2020 re-election campaign, withholding official acts from the government of Ukraine in order to coerce and secure political interference in our domestic affairs. As part of the scheme, President Trump applied increasing pressure on the president of Ukraine to publicly announce two investigations helpful to his personal reelection efforts. He applied this pressure himself and through his agents within and outside of the US government by conditioning a desperately-sought Oval Office meeting and $391m in taxpayer-funded, congressionally-appropriated military assistance – vital to Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russian aggression – on the announcement of political investigations helpful to his personal interests. When the president’s efforts were discovered, he released the military aid, though it would take congressional action for the money to be made fully available to Ukraine. The Oval Office meeting still has not happened ... He and his agents continue to solicit Ukrainian interference in our election, causing an imminent threat"
- Zoe Lofgren, Democrat, said the direct evidence against Trump in his dealings with Ukraine "is very damning" followed with "And the president has offered no evidence to the contrary. If he had evidence of his innocence why would he not bring it forward?" Lofgren also stated "We’ve been hearing over and over that it [the impeachment inquiry] is too fast." Lofgren then pointed out that the impeachment process for Bill Clinton lasted 73 days, while the Trump impeachment process “is already on the 76th day".
- Eric Swalwell, Democrat, stated that "There's a reason that no one has said, 'What did the president know and when did he know it'... As it related to this scheme, the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, knew everything"
- Jerry Nadler closed out the hearing with these words: "We know that president Trump has put himself before his country. I am struck by the fact that my Republican colleagues have offered no serious scrutiny of the evidence at hand. They have talked about everything else, but they have offered not one substantive word in the president’s defense. I suspect that is because there is at base, no real defense for the president’s actions."
The US Supreme Court, without comment, refused to review an appeals court ruling that upheld a law in Kentucky which requires doctors to perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before performing an abortion. Amazon filed a lawsuit stating that Donald Trump's "improper pressure" and behind-the-scenes attacks harmed its chances of winning a $10bn Pentagon contract. An open letter to Donald Trump, signed by 27 Senators, and endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Bend The Arc, Immigration Hub, National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for American Progress and Families Belong Together, is demanding that Stephen Miller be removed from his position as a White House senior adviser. The letter reads in part: "Mr Miller's demonstrable white nationalist ideology has directly translated into your administration's policies, which have been widely criticized for systematically targeting communities of color. The Muslim ban targeted individuals of color and caused chaos at US airports around the country, wreaking havoc on the lives of countless individuals and families. The family separation policy tore children from their families, resulting in widely reported mistreatment and human rights abuses of immigrants in detention facilities nationwide ... We demand that you remove Stephen Miller immediately."
Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the justice department, released his report on the origins of the Trump/Russia investigation. Here are some highlights:
- The FBI had a legal "authorized purpose" in monitoring communications of Trump election campaign adviser Carter Page.
- Political bias on the part of FBI employees did not influence the agency's decision to open its investigation.
- Horowitz found 17 "basic and fundamental" errors and omissions in the original application and all subsequent renewals to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA). Those errors made the case appear stronger than it was.
- The FBI had a "reasonable basis" to use information provided on Donald Trump's dealings with Russia by British former spy Christopher Steele.
- A dossier compiled by Christopher Steele "did not lead" to the opening of the FBI investigation into the Trump/Russia investigation.
William Barr, the attorney general, responded to the DoJ inspector general's report saying the "FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a US presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions". Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said that he accepts the findings in the DoJ Inspector General's report and that the FBI would make changes to how it handles confidential informants, how it applies for search warrants via FISA, and how it conducts briefings on foreign influence for presidential nominees. James Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump, sent the following tweet in response to the DoJ IG report: "So it was all lies. No treason. No spying on the campaign. No tapping Trumps wires. It was just good people trying to protect America." Comey then followed that tweet with this one: "FYI: I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions. I can’t change their viewers on Donald Trump but hoped to give them some actual facts about the FBI. They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the DoJ IG report with this: "The shocking report from the DOJ Inspector General shows an out-of-control FBI under President Obama and former Director Jim Comey. The report makes clear that the phony Steele Dossier was 'central and essential' for the FBI to secure wiretaps from the FISA Court to spy on the Trump campaign. But the FBI repeatedly lied to the FISA Court to make Steele seem credible and to hide information showing that the Dossier was false. The Dossier was bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee – but that fact was hidden from the FISA Court. Astoundingly, when evidence was repeatedly uncovered showing no wrongdoing by candidate Trump, that also was hidden from the FISA Court. On top of all that, one FBI lawyer altered an email in an effort to continue and extend the wiretapping – and he has been referred for criminal prosecution. All of this shows a repeated effort to mislead the FISA Court long after the FBI was aware the 'Dossier' was false, phony and could not be used justify spying on the Trump Campaign. The American people should be outraged and terrified by this abuse of power. This should never happen to another presidential candidate or any American ever again." Christopher Wray, the FBI director, was asked about the term "deep state" to which he responded "That's not a term I would ever use to describe our workforce and I think it's an affront to them." Chuck Schumer spoke to reporters about the DoJ IG report saying in part: "For years, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress and the media have speculated wildly about Deep State conspiracies... Today, we just got a report from the [DOJ] inspector general that puts these conspiracy theories to rest ... Let me repeat so that all of those conspiracy theorists out there hear it: this report confirms that the predicate for the FBI's investigation was valid and without political bias. In fact, the report quotes the FBI Deputy General Counsel as saying '[the FBI] would have been derelict in our responsibility had we not opened the case'. I’m sure my Republican friends will do their level best to reject the report's conclusion. But FBI Director Wray appointed by President Trump, has already embraced the central finding of the report. Asked whether he thought the FBI unfairly targeted the Trump campaign, Director Wray said 'I do not.'"
December 6, 2019 - Adam Schiff was asked by a reporter if he "hated" Donald Trump, to which Schiff responded "No, but I do hate what he's doing to the country." Schiff went on to say "The president doesn’t give a shit about what’s good for our country, what’s good for Ukraine. It's all about what’s in it for him personally and for his re-election campaign." Schiff also defended the timeline for moving forward with articles of impeachment saying "The long and the short of it is, though, given that the president is today trying to get foreign interference in the next election to help him, we do not feel that when we already have overwhelming evidence, we should wait any longer." According to the Washington Post, nearly 900 law professors have signed a letter accusing Trump of committing "impeachable conduct" in his actions towards Ukraine. From the story: "The signers are law professors and other academics from universities across the country, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan and many others. The open letter was published online Friday by the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy. 'There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress,' the group of professors wrote. 'His conduct is precisely the type of threat to our democracy that the Founders feared when they included the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution.'" Rudy Giuliani, who is in Europe meeting with former Ukrainian officials, the same ones who helped spread baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden, sent the following tweet: "In reviewing my notes, it seems to me that a large scale joint investigation into Ukraine and the US would uncover and recover billions stolen by crooks, from both countries, at the highest levels. This would be the most effective way to bring our two countries together." A Saudi aviation student opened fire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, killing three. The shooter was killed by first responders. Donald Trump appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One from being handed over to Democratic-led congressional panels. The White House announced today that it was declining an invitation to send a representative to the House judiciary committee's impeachment hearing which is scheduled for December 9th. Duncan Hunter, the Republican representative from California who plead guilty to misusing campaign funds, announced that he will be resigning from Congress "shortly after the Holidays". The Supreme Court granted Trump's request to block a congressional subpoena for his financial records which delays an appellate decision until Friday, December 13th. The House passed a bill to restore key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was weakened by a 2013 Supreme Court decision. The legislation was opposed by all of the Republicans, except one.
December 5, 2019 - One day after a constitutional scholar called by Republicans accused the Democrats of moving too fast on impeachment, Trump sent the following tweet: "I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate." Nancy Pelosi held a press briefing this morning where she stated "The facts are uncontested. The president abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our national security ... Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit ... Sadly but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment." During a question and answer period Pelosi stated that "This isn’t about Ukraine; this is about Russia, who benefited from the withholding of that military assistance". Pelosi added that "All roads lead to Putin". James Rosen, a journalist representing Sinclair Broadcast Group, an organization known for its rightwing politics, asked Nancy Pelosi if she hates Donald Trump. Pelosi, who was walking away from the news conference, headed back to the podium and angrily told Rosen "I don't hate anybody ... as a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone ... So, don't mess with me when it comes to words like that." Trump responded to Pelosi's statement regarding moving forward with articles of impeachment tweeting: "The Do Nothing, Radical Left Democrats have just announced that they are going to seek to Impeach me over NOTHING. They already gave up on the ridiculous Mueller 'stuff,' so now they hang their hats on two totally appropriate (perfect) phone calls with the Ukrainian President. This will mean that the beyond important and seldom used act of Impeachment will be used routinely to attack future Presidents. That is not what our Founders had in mind. The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!" Brian Hook, the state department's special envoy for Iran, announced that the Trump administration believes that as many as a 1,000 protesters have been killed in the Iranian regime's crackdown on recent protests. Hook said that the state department reviewed footage of Iranian forces shooting protesters with machine guns and loading their bodies onto trucks. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declared that Nancy Pelosi had "weakened the nation" with her announcement regarding Democratic leadership moving forward with articles of impeachment. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, issued a statement in response to Nancy Pelosi's statement saying in part: "Speaker Pelosi’s instruction to advance this impeachment process – one that has violated every precedent - moves this Country toward the most partisan and illegitimate subversion of the Constitution in our history."
December 4, 2019 - The House judiciary committee held hearings today with a panel of constitutional scholars regarding the standard for impeaching a president. The scholars are:
- Noah Feldman, Harvard University
- Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina
- Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford University
- Jonathan Turley, George Washington University
Turley was called by the Republicans, the rest were called by the Democrats.
Here are some highlights from the hearing:
- "This administration's level of obstruction is without precedent. In the 1974 impeachment proceedings, President Nixon produced dozens of recordings. In 1998, President Clinton physically gave his blood ... Ladies and gentlemen, the storm in which we find ourselves today was set in motion by President Trump. I do not wish this moment on the country. But we have each taken an oath to protect the Constitution, and the facts before us are clear ... We cannot wait for the election to address the present crisis. The integrity of that election is one of the very things at stake." - Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House judiciary committee
"If you want to know what is really driving this: it’s called the clock and the calendar ... simple railroad job ... We’ve got law professors here. What a start to a party ... you couldn't have possibly digested the Adam Schiff report from yesterday or the Republican response in any real way" - Doug Collins, ranking member of House judiciary committee
- "Mr. Collins, I would like to say to you sir that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses who appeared in the live hearings because I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts, so I'm insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor I don't care about those facts. But everything I read on those occasions tells me that when president Trump invited, indeed demanded foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this a republic to which we pledge allegiance. That demand ... constituted an abuse of power ... A president who cared about the Constitution would say 'Russia, if you're listening, butt out of our elections'" - Pamela S. Karlan
- "President Trump’s conduct described in the testimony and evidence clearly constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution. According to the testimony and to the publicly released memorandum of the July 25, 2019, telephone call between the two presidents, President Trump abused his office by soliciting the president of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals in order to gain personal political advantage, including in the 2020 presidential election. This act on its own qualifies as an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor ... If we cannot impeach a president who abuses his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy — we live in a monarchy, or we live under a dictatorship." - Noah Feldman
- "The record compiled thus far shows that the president has committed several impeachable offenses, including bribery, abuse of power in soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader to benefit his political campaign, obstructing Congress, and obstructing justice ... The president’s serious misconduct, including bribery, soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader in exchange for his exercise of power, and obstructing justice and Congress are worse than the misconduct of any prior president, including what previous presidents who faced impeachment have done or been accused of doing ... If Congress fails to impeach here, then the impeachment process has lost all meaning, and, along with that, our Constitution’s carefully crafted safeguards against the establishment of a king on American soil. No one, not even the president, is beyond the reach of our Constitution and our laws." - Michael Gerhardt
- "I get it. You are mad. The President is mad. My Democratic friends are mad. My Republican friends are mad. My wife is mad. My kids are mad. Even my dog is mad . . . and Luna is a golden doodle and they are never mad. We are all mad and where has it taken us? Will a slipshod impeachment make us less mad or will it only give an invitation for the madness to follow in every future administration? ... Fast is not good for impeachment. Narrow, fast impeachments have failed ... If you rush this impeachment, you're going to leave half the country behind ... You have to give the time to build a record. This isn't an impulse buy item." - Jonathan Turley
- Republicans forced a procedural vote to subpoena the whistleblower. The Democrats responded with a proposal to table (kill) the motion, which was adopted.
- Jonathan Turley confirmed he had written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal which contained the statement "There is much that is worthy of investigation in the Ukraine scandal, and it is true that impeachment doesn’t require a crime."
- Professor Karlan was asked about the credibility of the current claim that Trump was concerned about corruption when he insisted that the Ukrainian president publicly announce investigations. Karlan responded: "Generally you don’t announce the investigation in a criminal case before you conduct it, because it puts the person under notice that they’re under investigation ... I think you ought to make that credibility determination because you have the sole power of impeachment. if I were a member of the House of Representatives I would infer that he was doing it for political reasons."
- Professor Gerhardt responded to Professor Turley's claim that Democrats don't have enough evidence to make the case for impeachment at this point saying "I might just point out that one of the difficulties with asking for a more thorough investigation is that’s exactly what the House has tried to conduct here. The president has refused to comply with subpoenas and other requests for documents." Gerhadt was then asked, "has a president ever refused to cooperate in an impeachment investigation?" to which Gerhadt responded "Not until now."
- Professor Karlan was asked about political influence in foreign affairs, to which she responded: "Yes there is political influence in our foreign affairs. We’ve exited climate accords, we’ve taken different positions on NATO than we would have taken if his opponent won. That’s different from partisan politics in the context of electoral manipulation. If we get over that or get used to that, we will cease to become the democracy that we are now."
- Republican Doug Collins falsely claimed that Ukraine only became aware that aid was being withheld "one month after" the Trump-Zelensky phone call, which contradicts testimony from Laura Cooper that the Ukrainians were aware of the hold in early July prior to the call.
Video surfaced of Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, mocking Trump while other world leaders laughed, including Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron. When Trump got wind of the video, he called Trudeau "two faced". Trump then cancelled a planned press conference and departed from the summit early. Before departing, Trump questioned the loyalty of Democrats saying "You almost question whether or not they love our country and that’s a very serious thing: Do they love our country?" Trump also called impeachment a "dirty word" which "should only be used in special occasions. This should never happen to a president again what's happened here. It's an absolute disgrace to our country." According to a story in the New York Times, Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe this week to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutors who have pushed baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden. From the story: "Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, met in Budapest on Tuesday with a former Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who has become a key figure in the impeachment inquiry. He then traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday seeking to meet with other former Ukrainian prosecutors whose claims have been embraced by Republicans, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk, according to people familiar with the effort. The former prosecutors, who have faced allegations of corruption, all played some role in promoting claims about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a former United States ambassador to Ukraine and Ukrainians who disseminated damaging information about Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in 2016." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, lashed out at professor Pamela Karlan who had used Trump's son's name to make the following pun regarding the fact that the constitution does not allow presidents to distribute titles of nobility: "So while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron". Grisham tweeted in response: "Classless move by a Democratic “witness”. Prof Karlan uses a teenage boy who has nothing to do with this joke of a hearing (and deserves privacy) as a punchline. And what’s worse, it’s met by laughter in the hearing room. What is being done to this country is no laughing matter." The president's reelection campaign also piled on Karlan's pun in a fund raising letter saying: "Only in the minds of crazed liberals is it funny to drag a 13-year-old child into the impeachment nonsense. Pamela Karlan thought she was being clever...but she instead reinforced...that Democrats have no boundaries." Melania Trump also lashed out by sending the following tweet: "A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it." Following the outrage over the pun, Pamela Karlan apologized saying "It was wrong of me to do that...I do regret having said that." The Trump administration approved a rule that will remove nearly 700,000 people from the federal food-stamp program by tightening work requirements for recipients. According to a story in the Washington Post, William Barr's hand picked prosecutor to look into the origins of the Russia investigation, has been unable to find evidence to back at least one right-wing conspiracy theory. From the Post: "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office contacted U.S. Attorney John Durham, the prosecutor Barr personally tapped to lead a separate review of the 2016 probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, the people said. The inspector general also contacted several U.S. intelligence agencies. Among Horowitz’s questions: whether a Maltese professor who interacted with a Trump campaign adviser was actually a U.S. intelligence asset deployed to ensnare the campaign, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the inspector general’s findings have not been made public. But the intelligence agencies said the professor was not among their assets, the people said. And Durham informed Horowitz’s office that his investigation had not produced any evidence that might contradict the inspector general’s findings on that point."
December 3, 2019 - Donald Trump, who is attending a NATO summit in London, raised eyebrows during a news conference. Here are some highlights:
- Trump was asked if the United States supported the protests in Iran, where protesters have been violently repressed by their country's government. Trump responded: "I don’t want to comment on that but the answer is no. But I don't want to comment on that." This statement shocked reporters since secretary of state Mike Pompeo had just stated a couple days ago that "the U.S. is supporting the protesters." Following the news conference, Trump sent the following tweet: "The United States of America supports the brave people of Iran who are protesting for their FREEDOM. We have under the Trump Administration, and always will!"
- Trump, who has repeatedly refused advice from the intelligence community and the Pentagon, while accepting advice from authoritarian regimes like Russia, made the following justification for his interest in a strong relationship with Russia: "We can get along with Russia. I think it’s a good thing to get along with Russia. I go to big stadiums and people like it."
- Donald Trump, who has repeatedly sent out tweets regarding the ever increasing stock market, was asked about the 400 point drop that came after his announcement that there was no "deadline" for reaching a trade deal with China. Trump responded "I don't watch the stock market. I watch jobs."
- Trump railed against the impeachment inquiry and called Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, a "maniac", a "deranged human being" and a "very sick man".
- Trump announced that the June G7 summit will be held at Camp David. The previous location had been announced by acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to be Trump's resort in Doral, Florida, because according to Mulvaney, Camp David had been a "complete disaster" for previous G7's. That decision was quickly reversed amid intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
A federal appeals court has ordered Deutsche Bank and Capitol One to comply with a congressional subpoena to turn over Trump's financial records. The House intelligence committee released its report on the impeachment inquiry.
Here are some highlights from the report:
- "The impeachment inquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election".
The report levels two main charges against Trump:
1. Trump "Conditioned a White House Meeting and Military Aid to Ukraine on a Public Announcement of Investigations Beneficial to his Reelection Campaign."
2. Trump "Obstructed the Impeachment Inquiry by Instructing Witnesses and Agencies to Ignore Subpoenas for Documents and Testimony."
- "The President demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into a political rival that he apparently feared the most, former Vice President Joe Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. To compel the Ukrainian President to do his political bidding, President Trump conditioned two official acts on the public announcement of the investigations: a coveted White House visit and critical U.S. military assistance Ukraine needed to fight its Russian adversary."
- John Solomon, a former writer for the Hill newspaper, who wrote misleading op-eds about Ukraine, was in frequent contact with Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani.
- Phone records show that Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, was repeatedly in contact with Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas at the time that Giuliani started spreading baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden.
- On the day that Marie Yovanovitch was called home "Mr. Giuliani had three phone calls with a number associated with OMB, and 8 calls with a WH number".
- Trump "abused the power of his office for personal and political gain, at the expense of national security"
- Trump "ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry"
Stephanie Grisham, the press secretary, released a statement in response to the impeachment report which stated in part: "At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump ... This report reflects nothing more than their frustrations. Chairman Schiff’s report reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing." Bob Cusack, the editor-in-chief of the Hill newspaper, responded to the report with the following tweet: "The Hill is conducting a meticulous review of opinion columns written by John Solomon on the subject of Ukraine that will be handled by a team of editors and reporters. All results of the review will be transparent and public." Adam Schiff held a press conference regarding the impeachment report. Here are some highlights:
- "This report chronicles a scheme by the president of the United States to coerce an ally, Ukraine, that is at war with an adversary, Russia, into doing the president's political dirty work."
- "To my Republican colleagues, they need to consider when we have a Democratic president, are they willing to say to their oversight that the president can simply refuse?"
- Trump's actions could "invite further corruption of our elections."
- "deeply concerning" that there "may have been members of Congres complicit in” trying to dig up dirt on Biden.
Joseph A. Bondy, a lawyer for Lev Parnas, sent the following tweet: "Devin Nunes, you should have recused yourself at the outset of the #HIC #ImpeachingHearings. #LetLevSpeak" Rudy Giuliani was asked by a reporter what he was calling the OMB about. Giuliani's response: "None of your business." Congressman Duncan Hunter, a Republican representative from California, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges relating to his misuse of more than $200,000 in campaign funds. Hunter, who had previously claimed that he was the victim of a "witch hunt", admitted that he knowingly and willfully stole money to fund his lifestyle. The House intelligence committee voted 13-9 to adopt the impeachment report. The vote was along party lines. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, was asked if he was at all concerned over the call records in the impeachment reportm to which he responded: "I don’t have a problem with Devin talking to individuals. I have no concerns."
December 2, 2019 - Trump restored tariffs on Brazil and Argentina via tweet saying "Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies. which is not good for our farmers. Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries. The Federal Reserve should likewise act so that countries, of which there are many, no longer take advantage of our strong dollar by further devaluing their currencies. This makes it very hard for our manufactures & farmers to fairly export their goods. Lower Rates & Loosen - Fed!" During an interview with Time Magazine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, made the following statement: "Look, I never talked to the President from the position of a quid pro quo. That’s not my thing. But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo. It just goes without saying." Following news of the interview, Trump made the following flse statement: "The Ukrainian president came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. But it will never end it because [Democrats] want to do what they want to do." Lisa Page, the former FBI lawyer whose anti-Trump text messages have been used by Trump and others on the right to claim the existence of a "deep state", and who Trump has mocked mercilessly at his campaign rallies, including pretending to be Lisa while having an orgasm, made the following statement during a Daily Beast interview: "I had stayed quiet for years hoping it would fade away, but instead it got worse. It had been so hard not to defend myself, to let people who hate me control the narrative. I decided to take my power back." Regarding the soon to be released IG report from the justice department, Page said "While it would be nice to have the IG confirm publicly that my personal opinions had absolutely no bearing on the course of the Russia investigations, I don’t kid myself that the fact will matter very much for a lot of people. The president has a very loud megaphone." During an interview with NBC's Meet the Press Host Chuck Todd, Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, made the following claim: "I think both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election." Todd reminded Kennedy that Fiona Hill, the White House's former top expert on Russia, said the baseless accusation was a "fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services" to which Kennedy replied ""Dr. Hill is entitled to her opinion." According to Politico, Trump's Republican allies continue to make the claim that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to favor Hillary Clinton, despite that claim being "thoroughly investigated" and debunked by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee which "found no evidence that Ukraine waged a top-down interference campaign akin to Kremlin's efforts to help Trump win in 2016" According to the AP, the Trump administration has released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay. The Congress has made repeated queries for an explanation for the delay, but the White House has yet to offer any. U.S. District Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson has ruled against the Trump administration's request to stay an order requiring former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress while the administration appeals Jackson's ruling to a higher court saying "Further delay of the Judiciary Committee’s enforcement of its valid subpoena causes grave harm to both the Committee’s investigation and the interests of the public more broadly". Jackson also said delaying McGahn’s testimony "would impede an investigation that a committee of Congress is undertaking as part of an impeachment inquiry." House Republicans have released a 123-page report defending President Trump, which states in part that "The fundamental disagreement apparent in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is a difference of world views and a discomfort with President Trump’s policy decisions". The Justice Department released a batch of documents related to the Mueller investigation in response to a freedom of information request. One highlight from the documents is deputy campaign manager Rick Gates telling the FBI that "while Paul Manafort was running Trump’s campaign, Manafort had pushed the unfounded theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that had hacked the Democratic National Committee’s servers."
November 29, 2019 - Republican lawmakers in Ohio, have introduced a bill to ban abortion which requires doctors to "reimplant an ectopic pregnancy" into a woman's uterus - a procedure that does not exist in medical science - or face charges of "abortion murder" which is punishable by death.
November 27, 2019 - Martin O'Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore, and current governor of Maryland, confronted Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, at a Capitol Hill bar. O'Malley called Cuccinelli "the son of immigrant grandparents who cages children for a fascist president". According to bar patrons who witnessed the incident, Cuccinelli did not respond, but instead opted to get up and leave. Trump claimed during an interview with the disgraced former Fox employee Bill O'Reilly that he did not "direct" Giuliani to launch a pressure campaign in Ukraine, despite claims by Giuliani that he was pursuing investigations on Trump's behalf, and despite Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU testifying that he worked with Giuliani because the former New York mayor was doing Trump's bidding. Senator Lindsey Graham sent the following in a tweet: "Let me see if I have this right. Jerry Nadler is inviting President Trump to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings — after all the facts were gathered in Schiff’s Intel Committee — where the president’s team was shut out. Salem witches got a better deal than this!" Kathryn Watson, a White House reporter responded to Graham's tweet with the following:
Executed
- Bridget Bishop (June 10, 1692)
- Rebecca Nurse (July 19, 1692)
- Sarah Good (July 19, 1692)
- Elizabeth Howe (July 19, 1692)
- Susannah Martin (July 19, 1692)
- Sarah Wildes (July 19, 18692)
- George Burroughs (August 19, 1692)
- George Jacobs Sr. (August 19, 1692)
- Martha Carrier (August 19, 1692)
- John Proctor (August 19, 1692)
- Giles Corey (September 19, 1692) - Pressed to death
Note: Trump has blocked some of his closest advisers, including White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and energy secretary Rick Perry, from testifying, so the suggestion that he has been deprived of the opportunity to defend himself runs contrary to the facts.
News surfaced that Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, who has been engaged in a pressure campaign in Ukraine, is also pursuing business opportunities in that country. According to the New York Times: "Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump’s agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government. His discussions with Ukrainian officials proceeded far enough along that he prepared at least one retainer agreement, on his company letterhead, that he signed. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Giuliani played down the discussions. He said that a Ukrainian official approached him this year, seeking to hire him personally. Mr. Giuliani said he dismissed that suggestion, but spent about a month considering a separate deal with the Ukrainian government. He then rejected that idea." Also according to the New York Times: "In another unsigned draft proposal that was not on letterhead, Mr. Giuliani looked to enter into a similar deal with Yuriy Lutsenko, who was then Ukraine’s top prosecutor. At the time, Mr. Giuliani had been working with Mr. Lutsenko to encourage investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election. Mr. Giuliani was critical of Ms. Yovanovitch, whom he and other Republicans have said was opposed to the president. Mr. Giuliani’s moves against her, however, were also aligned with the interests of Mr. Lutsenko, who had butted heads with the ambassador. Ultimately, Ms. Yovanovitch was removed from her post in May, and Mr. Lutsenko was replaced in August after a new Ukrainian president took office ... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted the ambassador removed for their own reasons, the people said. It is a federal crime to try to influence the United States government at the request or direction of a foreign government, politician or party without registering as a foreign agent. Mr. Giuliani did not register as one, he has said, because he was acting on behalf of his client, Mr. Trump, not Ukrainians." The internal watchdog of the department of homeland security released a report which revised the estimate of children separated at the border. According to NBC News: "Officials at Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for separating families under the May-June 2018 policy, estimated in May of that year that it would separate more than 26,000 children by September, according to the report from the DHS Office of Inspector General, released publicly on Wednesday. After mounting pressure, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the policy on June 20, 2018. Previously, the administration has said in court that an estimated 2,800 children were separated as a result of zero tolerance. But the report released Wednesday said that the lack of technology to track which children had been separated meant the agency had to revise that estimate to 3,014. ... Wednesday’s report said CBP officials forged ahead with the policy even though they knew ahead of time that the agency lacked the proper technology to track and reunify children with their parents. ‘Because of these IT deficiencies, we could not confirm the total number of families DHS separated during the Zero Tolerance period,’ the report said." Michael E. Horowitz, the justice department's inspector general, is expected to release a report soon on the origins of the Russia investigation. According to the New York Times: "The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump’s phones tapped. The startling accusation generated headlines but Mr. Trump never backed it up ... [Horowitz] found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page — eavesdropping that Mr. Trump’s allies have long decried as politically motivated. Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report. The draft contained a chart listing numerous mistakes in the process, one of the people said." Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women. According to ProPublica: "In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business. Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance. A third woman, 27 years Sondland’s junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. She says his job help stopped." Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, sent a letter to Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary chairman, declining the offer for the president or his council to participate in upcoming hearings saying "We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings ... More importantly, an invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the President with an semblance of a fair process. Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing."
November 26, 2019 - The justice department has filed an appeal to judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's ruling that Don McGahn, Trump's former White House counsel, must comply with a congressional subpoena. Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "The D.C. Wolves and Fake News Media are reading far too much into people being forced by Courts to testify before Congress. I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President. Other than that, I would actually like people to testify. Don McGahn’s respected lawyer has already stated that I did nothing wrong. John Bolton is a patriot and may know that I held back the money from Ukraine because it is considered a corrupt country, & I wanted to know why nearby European countries weren’t putting up money also. Likewise, I would love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax. It is a Democrat Scam that is going nowhere but, future Presidents should in no way be compromised. What has happened to me should never happen to another President!" Note: European countries have contributed more to Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression than the United States. The House oversight committee has filed a lawsuit to enforce subpoenas against attorney general William Barr and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to uncover information about the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. During a press conference, Mike Pompeo echoed Trump's request for an investigation into baseless claims that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election saying "Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down." Regarding his role in the Ukraine scandal, Pompeo told reporters "I don’t have much to say with respect to the Ukraine investigation." Pompeo added that "We will continue to comply ... so that appropriate oversight can be conducted". This statement came despite the fact that the state department has not yet turned over any documents in connection with a subpoena from the inquiry. Melania Trump spoke at a youth summit in Baltimore that was meant to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic. After she was introduced, there was a mixture of cheering and booing, and many continued talking throughout her 5 minute speech. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, sent a letter to Trump inviting him to participate in a hearing on December 4th. The hearing, which will include a panel of constitutional experts, is being held to explore the meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors". Regarding the letter, Nadler told the press: "At base, the President has a choice to make: he can take this opportunity to be represented in the impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process. I hope that he chooses to participate in the inquiry, directly or through counsel, as other Presidents have done before him." Congress released transcripts of testimony from Mark Sandy, an official in the White House Office of Management and Budget, and from Philip Reeker, a state department official. Sandy had testified that OMB began the process of withholding funds meant for Ukraine on July 25 - the same day as Trump's infamous call with the Ukrainian president. Sandy also testified that he wasn't initially given a reason for the hold on the funds, and was reassigned after he raised concerns that a freeze would violate the Impoundment Control Act. When asked if anyone in the office's legal department resigned due to the administration's freeze of Ukrainian security assistance, Sandy responded "yes", saying there were two people who resigned. One person according to Sandy "expressed to me concerns about actions vis-à-vis the Impoundment Control Act" and the other "expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold". Reeker testified that there was "understanding" among officials that Rudy Giuliani was feeding Trump negative information about Ukraine. Reeker also testified that top state department officials, under the guidance of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, blocked an effort to release a statement of support for former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. According to a report in the New York Times, Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint at the time that he unfroze aid to Ukraine. From the story: "Lawyers from the White House counsel’s office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said. The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump’s thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a 'quid pro quo' with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair. Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing in withholding the aid and in his broader campaign to pressure Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to conduct investigations that could benefit Mr. Trump’s re-election chances."
November 25, 2019 - Donald Trump sent tweets today declaring that support for impeachment is "dropping like a rock" and that it is "down into the 20's in some polls". In reality, support for impeachment has dropped slightly in the last few days, but according to FiveThirtyEight, still hovers just below 50%. News surfaced that the House intelligence committee has come into possession of recordings from Lev Parnas. According to ABC News: "The material submitted to the committee includes audio, video and photos that include Giuliani and Trump. It was unclear what the content depicts and the committees only began accessing the material last week ... Sources tell ABC News the tapes were provided as part of that congressional subpoena issued to Parnas, and the former Giuliani ally also provided a number of documents both in English and Ukrainian to the committee in two separate productions, sources told ABC News. However, some of the material sought by congressional investigators is already in possession of federal investigators within the Southern District of New York and thus held up from being turned over, according to sources familiar with the matter." Reports have surfaced that Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, played a role in trying to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. According to CNN: "The attorney, Joseph A. Bondy, represents Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine. Bondy said that Parnas was told directly by the former Ukrainian official that he met last year in Vienna with Rep. Devin Nunes. ‘Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December,' said Bondy. Shokin was ousted from his position in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including then-vice president Biden, over concerns that Shokin was not pursuing corruption cases. ... Bondy told CNN that his client and Nunes began communicating around the time of the Vienna trip. Parnas says he worked to put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help Nunes dig up dirt on Biden and Democrats in Ukraine, according to Bondy." During an appearance on Fox News, Devin Nunes responded with the following when confronted about the controversy: "Everybody’s going to know all the facts, but I think you can understand, I can’t compete by trying to debate this out with the public media when 90 percent of the media are totally corrupt". Adam Schiff, the chairman of the intelligence committee reacted to the Nunes controversy saying "If he was on a taxpayer-funded [congressional delegation] — and I say ‘if’ — seeking dirt on a potential Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, that will be an ethics matter. That is not before our committee." Donald Trump ordered secretary of defense Mark Esper, to allow Eddie Gallagher to keep his Trident pin, which is a badge denoting his qualifications for the Navy Seal elite force. According to a report in the Washington Post: "A confidential White House review of President Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records. The research by the White House Counsel’s Office, which was triggered by a congressional impeachment inquiry announced in September, includes early August email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for withholding the funds after the president had already ordered a hold in mid-July on the nearly $400 million in security assistance, according to the three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations. One person briefed on the records examination said White House lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president. It’s unclear whether the Mulvaney discussions or other records pose any legal problems for Trump in the impeachment inquiry, but some fear they could pose political problems if revealed publicly." According to a report in the Wall Street Journal: "In recent weeks, prosecutors have sent subpoenas and other requests to potential witnesses seeking records and information related to Mr. Giuliani and two of his associates, according to the people. The investigation, led by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has already led to campaign-finance charges against the associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The subpoenas offer the clearest indication yet that federal prosecutors are examining Mr. Giuliani’s consulting work. Among the entities named in the subpoenas are Giuliani Partners, a security-consulting firm founded by Mr. Giuliani in 2002 that had multiple foreign clients, including a city in Ukraine. The subpoenas also sought information on a company co-founded by Mr. Parnas that paid Mr. Giuliani for business and legal advice. Mr. Giuliani said in an interview that he hadn’t been contacted by prosecutors and has denied wrongdoing. Subpoenas described to The Wall Street Journal listed more than a half dozen potential charges under consideration: obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the Justice Department, donating funds from foreign nationals, making contributions in the name of another person or allowing someone else to use one’s name to make a contribution, along with mail fraud and wire fraud." News reports surfaced that David Pecker, the chairman of America Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, has been meeting with prosecutors to discuss the Trump Organisation's hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. According to a report in the Washington Post regarding the investigation into Rudy Giuliani's consulting business: "As part of the probe, federal prosecutors are examining a raft of other potential crimes, including destruction or alteration of documents, aiding and abetting federal crimes, and foreign nationals contributing to U.S. candidates, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The list of possible crimes under investigation does not mean that those charges will be filed. They do, however, indicate prosecutors are casting a wide net for wrongdoing as they examine the business and legal dealings of the president’s personal lawyer, and two Soviet emigres businessmen who have been assisting Giuliani in the efforts to dig up damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the president’s behalf. ... A spokeswoman for American First Action said the group reached out last month to federal prosecutors in New York, offering to cooperate voluntarily. She said the group has received no subpoenas and follows the law, declining to comment further." Responding to a freedom of information lawsuit by the Center for Public Integrity, an investigative journalism nonprofit, a federal; judge has ordered the release of documents of communications between the Pentagon's comptroller, DOD and White House OMB over the delay in stalled Ukraine aid. December 12 is deadline for 106 pages. Another 100 are due by December 20. Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal judge, has ordered that Don McGahn, and "Any ‘current or former’ senior White House aide subpoenaed by a House committee must at least appear for testimony -- even if they claim privilege while testifying." Jackson also stated in ruling that the Trump administration gets the principles of separation of powers "backwards" and says the Trump administration's absolute immunity argument is "baseless." What follows is a key quote from the decision: "It is a core tenet of this nation’s founding that the powers of a monarch must be split between the branches of the government to prevent tyranny .. Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings. This means that they do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control. Rather, in this land of liberty, it is indisputable that current and former employees of the White House work for the People of the United States, and that they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Moreover, as citizens of the United States, current and former senior-level presidential aides have constitutional rights, including the right to free speech, and they retain these rights even after they have transitioned back into private life." Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor and frequent Trump defender, responded to Jackson's ruling on the Laura Ingraham show saying "she went nuts talking about how the president’s not a king. Of course the President’s not the king. The President’s far more powerful than the king. The President has the power that kings have never had." According to the AP, the Supreme Court has issued a stay on the release of Trump's tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney, giving Trump until December 5th to file a full appeal.
November 24, 2019 - Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, fired Richard Spencer, the US navy secretary, saying he had lost confidence in him. The firing came amid controversy swirling around Spencer's handling of the case of convicted war criminal, Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher. Trump himself has intervened in the case following a Fox News media blitz about the case, and has ordered the navy to restore Gallagher's pay and rank, which will allow Gallagher to retire with a full pension. In a letter of resignation, Spencer wrote that he "cannot in good conscience obey an order he believes "violates the sacred oath" he took and that "Unfortunately it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the commander-in-chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline."
November 22, 2019 - Donald Trump called into Fox & Friends today for a 55-minute interview. Here are some highlights from that call:
- Trump reiterated the conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election
- Called Sondland's testimony "total nonsense"
- Referred to Nancy Pelosi as "crazy as a bedbug"
- Regarding impeachment, Trump stated "I want a trial"
- Complained that former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch took too long to hang his picture in the Ukraine embassy: "She wouldn't hang my picture in the embassy. She is in charge of the embassy. She wouldn't hang it. It look a year-and-a-half, two years to get the picture up. She said bad things about me ... This was not an angel this woman, okay?"
- Said that people praised Yovanovitch because "she's a woman, you have to be nice"
According to the AP, the Trump administration is withholding more than $100 million in US military assistance to Lebanon that has been approved by Congress, and which is overwhelmingly supported by the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. According to a person connected to ambassador Yovanovitch's legal team: "The Embassy in Kyiv hung the official photographs of the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State as soon as they arrived from Washington, DC." According to a story in the New York Times: "The Republican defense of Mr. Trump became central to the impeachment proceedings when Fiona Hill, a respected Russia scholar and former senior White House official, added a harsh critique during testimony on Thursday. She told some of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress that they were repeating ‘a fictional narrative’ — and that it likely came from a disinformation campaign by Russian security services, which themselves propagated it. In a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill’s testimony, American intelligence officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow’s own hacking of the 2016 election, according to three American officials. The briefing came as Republicans stepped up their defenses of Mr. Trump in the Ukraine affair." Joe Biden was asked about news that Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, had requested documents about Joe and Hunter Biden, in what appears to be an attempt to appease Trump and investigate uncorroborated corruption allegations against the two. Biden's response: "I am disappointed, and quite frankly I’m angered, by the fact -- he knows me; he knows my son; he knows there’s nothing to this. Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn’t yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, ‘investigate Biden’ -- there’s nothing to investigate about Biden or his son." According to the New York Times, the book Triggered, Donald Trump Jr's book, moved to the No 1 position on the New York Times bestseller list, after the Republican National Committee spent nearly $100,000 on copies of the book.
November 21, 2019 - Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia on the national security council (NSC), and David Holmes, a state department aide based in Kyiv, testified publicly today for the impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights from their testimony:
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to talk about "Ukrainian election meddling" and the Steele dossier. Nunes also made this statement: "How do we have an impeachable offense here when there’s no actual misdeed and nobody even claiming to be a victim?" Nunes also accused Democrats of having "poisoned the mind of fanatics".
- Hill's opening statement makes a request regarding the narrative being pushed by Trump and some Republicans on the intelligence committee that Ukraine colluded with Democrats in the 2016 election saying in part "Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves. The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified. ... US support for Ukraine – which continues to face armed Russian aggression – has been politicized. The Russian government’s goal is to weaken our country – to diminish America’s global role and to neutralize a perceived US threat to Russian interests. President Putin and the Russian security services aim to counter US foreign policy objectives in Europe, including in Ukraine, where Moscow wishes to reassert political and economic dominance. I say this not as an alarmist, but as a realist. I do not think long-term conflict with Russia is either desirable or inevitable. I continue to believe that we need to seek ways of stabilizing our relationship with Moscow even as we counter their efforts to harm us. Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests. ... The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined."
- Holmes testified that US policy in Ukraine was "overshadowed by a political agenda promoted by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and a cadre of officials with direct access to the White House."
- Holmes described how he was "deeply disappointed to see that none" of the policy priorities were raised in Trump's call with Zelensky, but that Trump had "instead raised the Biden-Burisma investigation and referred to the theory about Crowdstrike."
- Holmes described the phone call between Sondland and Trump which he had overheard, saying in part: "I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the President and explain that he was calling from Kyiv. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelensky, quote, unquote, loves your ass. I then heard President Trump ask, quote, 'So he’s going to do the investigation?' unquote. Ambassador Sondland replied that, 'He’s going to do it,' adding that President Zelensky will quote, 'Do anything you ask him to.'"
- Holmes described the conversation with Sondland that followed the phone call saying "I then took the opportunity to ask Ambassador Sondland for his candid impression of the President’s views on Ukraine. In particular, I asked Ambassador Sondland if it was true that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland agreed that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. I asked why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated, the President only cares about, quote, unquote, big stuff. I noted that there was, quote, unquote, big stuff going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia. And Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant, quote, unquote, big stuff that benefits the President, like the quote, unquote, Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing. The conversation then moved on to other topics."
- Holmes was asked if the call between Trump and Sondland was on "an unsecure cell phone? In the middle of a restaurant in Kyiv? Holmes answered "Yes".
- Hill testified that "it became very clear the White House meeting itself was being predicated on other issues, namely investigations and the questions about the election interference in 2016."
- Holmes described Lutsenko, the prosecutor that Trump had praised in the July 25th phone call saying "He was not a good partner. He had failed to deliver on the promised reforms that he had committed to... he was using his office to insulate and protect political allies while presumably enriching himself."
- Hill was asked if Trump's reference to Crowdstrike in the July 25th call was part of the conspiracy theory Hill referenced in her opening statement. Hill responded "Yes". Hill was then asked "Does that mean Trump ignored senior officials who told him that Crowdstrike was a conspiracy theory and listened to Giuliani instead?" to which Hill responded "That appears to be the case, yes".
- Hill testified that when Bolton referred to Giuliani as a hand grenade, he meant "that Mr Giuliani was pushing views that would probably come back to haunt us, and that’s where we are today."
- Holmes testified that in the spring, anyone everyone involved in Ukraine matters understood that "Burisma" meant "Biden".
- Hill testified about Bolton's instruction that she go to NSC lawyer Jon Eisenberg to "tell Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal that Mulvaney and Sondland were cooking up" after Sondland brought up "an agreement that there will be a meeting if specific investigations are put under way" during a July 10 meeting.
- Holmes testified that the new Ukrainian president saw a White House meeting with President Trump as critical in order to send a message of US support to Russian President Putin.
- Hill testified that the smear campaign against Yovanovitch "was completely unnecessary".
- Hill testified that Sondland "was being involved in a domestic political errand, and we were involved in foreign policy, and the two had diverged. I did say to him, Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up and here we are."
In his closing remarks, Schiff said in part: "In my mind, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes they are above the law. We are better than that. Adjourned."
Trump sent the following tweet regarding Holmes' testimony: "I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!" Nancy Pelosi held a press conference where she addressed charges from Republicans that the impeachment inquiry is not bipartisan. Her response: "Republicans are in denial about the facts. if they don't want to honor their oath of office, I don't think we should be characterized as partisan." According to Politico: "A group of Republican senators met Thursday morning with White House counsel Pat Cipollone, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss impeachment strategy. Two attendees said that the White House wants the Senate to hold a trial of some length and not immediately dismiss any articles of impeachment with the GOP’s majority, as some Republicans have suggested. The White House and Trump’s GOP allies decided instead 'they want some kind of factual affirmative defense on the merits,' said one attendee."
November 20, 2019 - Gordon Sondland, the hotelier who donated $1m to make Trump's inauguration "beautiful", and who was subsequently made ambassador to the European Union, and who is known in some circles as one of the "three amigos", testified publicly today in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights from that hearing:
- In his opening statement, Devin Nunes told Ambassador Sondland, "You are here today to be smeared. But you'll make it through it."
- Devin Nunes announced that the Republicans are making a formal request to subpoena Hunter Biden and the whistleblower.
- From Sondland's opening statement: "Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States. We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders ... Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President ... These emails show that the leadership of State, NSC, and the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 23, 2019, until the security aid was released on September 11, 2019. I will quote from some of those messages with you shortly ... We kept the leadership of the State Department and the NSC informed of our activities. That included communications with Secretary of State Pompeo, his Counselor Ulrich Brechbuehl, and Executive Secretary Lisa Kenna within the State Department; and communications with Ambassador John Bolton, Dr. Fiona Hill, Mr. Timothy Morrison, and their staff at the NSC. They knew what we were doing and why. It was no secret ... Members of this Committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes ... While I cannot remember the precise details -- again, the White House has not allowed me to see any readouts of that call -- the July 26 call did not strike me as significant at the time. Actually, I would have been more surprised if President Trump had not mentioned investigations, particularly given what we were hearing from Mr. Giuliani about the President’s 14 concerns. However, I have no recollection of discussing Vice President Biden or his son on that call or after the call ended ... In response to our persistent efforts to change his views, President Trump directed us to 'talk with Rudy.' We understood that 'talk with Rudy' meant talk with Mr. Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer. Let me say again: We weren’t happy with the President’s directive to talk with Rudy. We did not want to involve Mr. Giuliani. I believed then, as I do now, that the men and women of the State Department, not the President’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for Ukraine matters. Nonetheless, based on the President’s direction, we were faced with a choice: We could abandon the efforts to schedule the White House phone call and White House visit between Presidents Trump and Zelensky, which was unquestionably in our foreign policy interest -- or we could do as President Trump had directed and 'talk with Rudy.' We chose the latter course, not because we liked it, but because it was the only constructive path open to us."
- Sondland described a phone call in which he asked Trump "what do you want from Ukraine ... what do you want?" Sondland continued "It was a very short abrupt conversation, he was not in a good mood. He said I want nothing, I want nothing, there’s no quid pro quo. Tell Zelenskiy to do the right thing."
- Sondland described the quid pro quo saying "He had to announce the investigations, he didn’t actually have to do them, as I understood it ... Through Mr Giuliani, we were led to believe that that’s what he wanted... when the president says talk to my personal lawyer, we followed his direction."
- Sondland reiterates that an announcement of investigations was more important than actual investigations saying "The only thing I heard ... was that they had to be announced in some form, and that form kept changing ... the way it was expressed to me was that the Ukrainians had a long history of committing to things privately and then never following through."
- Sondland confirms that during a phone call with Trump at a Kyiv restaurant, he told Trump that Zelenskiy "loves your ass, he'll do whatever you want ... That sounds like something I would say. That’s how Trump and I communicate. A lot of four-letter words. In this case three letters."
- Sondland admits that he probably did tell David Holmes that Trump "doesn't give a shit about Ukraine".
- Sondland explains that by September 8 "It was abundantly clear to everyone that there was a link" between military aid and an announcement of investigations.
- Sondland pointed out that "it's gotta be Zelenskiy" who makes the investigations announcement.
- Sondland stated that "The president should not investigate a political rival in return for a quid pro quo".
- Sondland responds to the question "Who would benefit from an investigation of the president's political opponent"" with "I assume president Trump would benefit."
- In his closing remarks, Devin Nunes said that "Once again the Democrats have seen the preposterous failure of their conspiracy theory".
- In his closing remarks, Adam Schiff called Sondland's testimony "a seminal moment in our investigation". Schiff then quoted the following passages from Sondland's opening statement:
"We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders."
"Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President."
"I tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended, but I never received a clear answer. In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr. Giuliani had demanded. I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo regarding the security aid with Senator Ron Johnson. And I also shared my concerns with the Ukrainians."
- Adam Schiff then closed with "So much for the Ukrainians didn’t know. You testified today, ambassador, the Ukrainians knew". Schiff also stated: "Getting caught is no defense—not to a violation of the Constitution, or to a violation of his oath of office. And it certainly doesn't give us reason to ignore our own oath of office. We are adjourned."
Some select responses to Sondland's testimony:
"I am old enough to remember Lindsey Graham saying that if there were a quid pro quo in the Ukraine affair, that would be troubling" - Preet Bharara
"Sondland’s testimony is an absolute wrecking ball for the president and his allies." - Evan McMullin
"he's just marched through the statutory elements of bribery. if that testimony was true, Trump has committed an impeachable offense. QED." - Harry Litman
"It’s hard to overhype how extraordinary Sondland’s testimony is. Every American needs to take 15 minutes today to watch or read it. He lays out the corruption scheme in clear, easy to understand detail. It was a clear quid pro quo, and the President directed it." - Chris Murphy
"Can’t wait for the “Sondland is a Never Trumper” tweet." - George Conway
"Watching Fox News coverage of impeachment hearing. Ken Starr: Trump will be impeached; this was a bombshell. Chris Wallace: Sondland 'took out the bus and ran over' Pence, Pompeo, et al. This is bad for the president." - Anthony Zurcher
"This is a very effective line of Schiff questioning—establishing from Sondland the performance of an official act by the president in exchange for a thing of value. That’s the ballgame, right there." - Benjamin Wittes
"Like Volker, Sondland improbably says he didn’t realIze that Burisma equals Biden. Did they not have the least bit of curiosity about why this particular company was of such interest to @realDonaldTrump? This does not pass the smell test." - David Axelrod
"Let’s be clear: the reason they wanted a public announcement was so that the Trump campaign could put it in an ad." - Dan Baer
"Some of the people who assumed that Trump's words and actions meant conditionality: Mulvaney, Sondland, Volker, Kent, Vindman, Homes, Bolton, Hill, Morrison, Williams, and the Ukrainian government. But the GOP argument is that all those people were mistaken." - Susan Hennessey
"Oh the president denied a quid pro quo while doing a quid pro quo? Case closed, I guess!" - Chris Hayes
"It’s a big conspiracy with lots of actors carrying out different parts. Not everyone knew the same thing at the same time or same details. But you add it all up with Trump’s own words & it’s clear that meeting & aid were withheld to try & get announcement of investigations." - Mimi Rocah
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump made the following statement regarding Gordon Sondland: "I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much. This is not a man I know well. He seems like a nice guy though." Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and David Hale, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, both testified today. Cooper was one of several Pentagon officials who warned the White House that withholdoing Congressionally appropriated aid for an extended time could violate the Impoundment Control Act which prevents the executive branch from unilaterally deciding on such holds. Here are some highlights from Cooper's and Hale's testimony:
- Cooper read from an email dated July 25, in which the Ukrainians were asking about the security assistance. This testimony counters the common argument from the GOP that no bribery or quid pro quo could have occurred because the Ukrainians were unaware that aid was being withheld until long after the July 25 call.
- Hale reiterated that it was "wrong" to dismiss Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
- Hale said he has seen no evidence that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, and that the US intelligence community has firmly concluded that Russia did interfere.
- Adam Schiff closed out the day's hearings with this statement: "Let’s judge Trump’s conduct by his words and deeds: Recalls Ambassador Yovanovitch, after she’s falsely smeared. Praises Ukraine’s corrupt former prosecutor. Asks Ukraine to investigate his rival. Holds up aid until it does. That’s not anti-corruption. Just corruption.
November 19, 2019 - The House intelligence committee heard public testimony from the following people today: Lt Col Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Kurt Volker, Trump's former envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, the former top Russia expert on the national security council. Vindman, who is a Purple Heart recipient, has been the subject of a smear campaign by the right. According to the Washington Post: "Since he emerged as a witness last month, Trump and his allies have denounced Vindman. The president called him a ‘Never Trumper witness,’ and on Fox News, Laura Ingraham described Vindman as ‘a U.S. national security official . . . working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interests.’ The attacks picked up again on the eve of his testimony. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested in a letter released Monday that Vindman fits the profile of ‘a significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch [who] have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and . . . react by leaking to the press and participating in the ongoing effort to sabotage his policies and, if possible, remove him from office.’ Vindman’s lawyer, Michael Volkov, called Johnson’s assertion ‘such a baseless accusation, so ridiculous on its face, that it doesn’t even warrant a response." Williams, who Trump has also called a "never Trumper", listened in on the July phone conversation, and found the president's request "unusual and inappropriate." Here are some highlights from the today's public hearing with Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams:
- Adam Schiff opened the hearing with the following descriptions of the witnesses: "Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, whose family fled oppression in the Soviet Union when he was a toddler, is a career Army officer, an Iraq War veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart, and an expert in Russia and Ukraine who has worked at the highest levels of the Pentagon ... Jennifer Williams is a career Foreign Service Officer who is currently detailed to the Office of the Vice-President and responsible for Europe and Eurasia issues."
- Schiff also addressed the attacks on the two witnesses saying "Ms. Williams, we all saw the President’s tweet about you on Sunday afternoon and the insults he hurled at Ambassador Yovanovich last Friday ... Col. Vindman, we have seen far more scurrilous attacks on your character, and watched as certain personalities on Fox have questioned your loyalty. I note that you have shed blood for America, and we owe you an immense debt of gratitude. Today’s witnesses, like those who testified last week, are here because they were subpoenaed to appear, not because they are for or against impeachment. That question is for Congress, not the fact witnesses."
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to attack the media for allegedly spreading false reports about Trump and his aides. Some of the headlines Nunes cites were not false, others were things that were investigated and later found to be false.
- In her opening statement, Jennifer Williams discussed the July call between Trump and Zelensky saying "On July 25th, along with several of my colleagues, I listened to a call between President Trump and President Zelensky—the content of which has since been publicly reported. During my closed-door deposition, Members of the Committee asked about my personal views and whether I had any concerns about the July 25th call. As I testified then, I found the July 25th phone call unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter." Williams also addressed how she learned in early July about the freeze on Ukraine's military assistance, and of being told that White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had directed that the freeze stay in place, despite representatives of the State and Defense Departments advocating for the freeze to be lifted.
- In his opening statement, Alexander Vindman described his reaction to the July 25th call saying "I was concerned by the call, what I heard was improper, and I reported my concerns to Mr. Eisenberg [White House lawyer]. It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent." Vindman also addressed the potential impact on US-Ukrainian relations saying "It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play. This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region." Vindman also addressed the attacks on him and others who are testifying saying "I want to state that the vile character attacks on these distinguished and honorable public servants is reprehensible. It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate, this has been our custom since the time of our Founding Fathers, but we are better than callow and cowardly attacks." Vindman also spoke of the unofficial efforts to shape US-Ukrainian policy saying "In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of two disruptive actors–-primarily Ukraine’s then-Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney— promoting false information that undermined the United States’ Ukraine policy ... The NSC and its inter-agency partners, including the State Department, grew increasingly concerned about the impact that such information was having on our country’s ability to achieve our national security objectives."
- At one point in the questioning, Devin Nunes referred to Alexander Vindman as "Mr Vindman" to which Vindman responded "Ranking member, it’s Lt Col Vindman, please".
- Vindman told Adam Schiff that there was no ambiguity in his mind that Trump made a "demand" to Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
- Republican representative Chris Stewart confronted Vindman for correcting Devin Nunes saying "You always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?" to which Vindman responded that it would be appropriate given that he is dressed in full military uniform, which active duty service members are required to do when appearing before congress, and because he has been the subject of attacks meant to "marginalize" his service.
- Republicans pointed out in questioning that Tim Morrison, Vindman's former boss, testified in his deposition that he had concerns about Vindman's judgment, to which Vindman responded that Fiona Hill had given him a glowing performance review in which she praised his "brilliant" and "unflappable" demeanor.
- Republicans asked Vindman about a job offer he had received from a Ukrainian official, which Vindman described as "comical". The line of questioning appeared to be in line with attacks on Vindman which claimed he had a dual loyalty with Ukraine. Oleksander Danylyuk, the former chairman of the national security and defense council in Ukraine, stated that the job offer was "clearly a joke."
- Vindman described the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election as a "Russian narrative that President Putin has promoted."
- In his closing statement, Devin Nunes declared that "Act one of today's circus is over."
- In his closing statement, Adam Schiff declared that the witnesses contradicted Republican claims that the president mentioned investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election because he cared about Ukrainian corruption.
Following the testimony of Vindman and Williams, Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary released a statement that said in part "We have learned nothing new in today’s illegitimate ‘impeachment’ proceedings. However, buried among the witnesses’ personal opinions and conjecture about a call the White House long ago released to the public, both witnesses testified the July 25 transcript was ‘accurate’ and nothing President Trump has done or said amounts to ‘bribery’ or any other crime." Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison, the second group of witnesses to testify today were requested by the Republican minority. What follows are highlights of their testimony:
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to claim that Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry "solely because they despise" Trump and because they are "afraid he will win reelection next year."
- In his opening statement, Tim Morrison said "I feared at the time of the call on July 25 how its disclosure would play in Washington's political climate. My fears have been realized."
- In his opening statement, Kurt Volker described the narrative he observed in Ukraine vs the one provided to Trump by Rudy Giuliani saying "The problem was that despite the unanimous, positive assessment and recommendations of those of us who were part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation that attended the inauguration of President Zelenskyy, President Trump was receiving a different, negative narrative about Ukraine and President Zelenskyy .. That negative narrative was fueled by accusations from Ukraine’s then-Prosecutor General and conveyed to the President by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani." Volker also said he did not initially know that Burisma was connected to an investigation of Joe Biden and his son saying "In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, ‘Burisma,’ as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden."
- Volker said he found the allegations against Joe Biden "self-serving and not credible". After Adam Schiff asked Volker "Why was it that you found the allegations against Joe Biden related to his son and Burisma not to believed?" Volker responded "Simply because I’ve known former vice-president Biden for a long time and I know how he respect the duties of his higher office."
- Volker testified that Trump's views on Ukraine are "chronically negative" and that Trump told him Ukraine is filled with "terrible people" and had also said that Ukraine "tried to take me down" in 2016. Volker said he tried to persuade Trump that the new president was different, but Trump told him "That's not what I hear about Ukraine. I hear nothing has changed. Talk to Rudy."
- Volker testified that holding up aid to Ukraine was a "bad decision" which weakened the US's position with Russia.
- Volker referred to the moment at a July 10 meeting when Gordon Sondland brought up investigations as "inappropriate" and called it an "eye roll" moment.
- In his closing remarks, Devin Nunes attacked the impeachment investigation saying "Today we are witnesses the Ukraine hoax … the plot is hard to follow and the evidence shifts from day to day".
- In his closing remarks, Adam Schiff said "Why should Americans care about Ukraine? They will need to ask themselves – are we prepared to accept that a president of the United States can leverage official acts, military assistance, White House meetings, to get an investigation of a political rival? I don’t think we want to go there."
November 18, 2019 - Donald Trump responded to Nancy Pelosi's invitation to testify in a tweet saying "Our Crazy, Do Nothing (where’s USMCA, infrastructure, lower drug pricing & much more?) Speaker of the House, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, who is petrified by her Radical Left knowing she will soon be gone (they & Fake News Media are her BOSS), suggested on Sunday’s DEFACE THE NATION that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!" Critics were quick to point out that Trump also said he would be willing to answer questions from Robert Mueller, but then refused to sit down for an interview. Trump did eventually answer some written questions from Mueller's team, but Mueller stated in his report that he found those written answers to be incomplete or imprecise. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, kept senior administration officials aware of the pressure campaign on Ukraine to open investigations. From the story: "Several witnesses have testified to impeachment investigators that they were alarmed by what they perceived as dual channels of U.S. policy on Ukraine—one traditional, and the other led by Mr. Sondland and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, which focused on the president’s push for certain investigations. Mr. Sondland kept several top officials—including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Energy Secretary Rick Perry—apprised of that push, according to the emails reviewed by the Journal, in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart that spurred a whistleblower complaint and, ultimately, the impeachment probe." NBC news is reporting that Trump is upset with secretary of state Mike Pompeo saying "Trump has fumed for weeks that Pompeo is responsible for hiring State Department officials whose congressional testimony threatens to bring down his presidency, the officials said. The president confronted Pompeo about the officials — and what he believed was a lackluster effort by the secretary of state to block their testimony — during lunch at the White House on Oct. 29, those familiar with the matter said. Inside the White House, the view was that Trump ‘just felt like, ‘rein your people in,’ a senior administration official said. Trump particularly blames Pompeo for tapping Ambassador Bill Taylor in June to be the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, the current and former senior administration officials said." According to the AP, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky felt pressure prior to the July phone call that triggered the impeachment inquiry. According to the story "In early May, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were briefed on a meeting Zelenskiy held in which he sought advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in, according to two people with knowledge of the briefings. He was concerned that Trump and associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential race, the people said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic and political sensitivity of the issue. The briefings show that U.S. officials knew early that Zelenskiy was feeling pressure to investigate Biden, even though the Ukrainian leader later denied it in a joint news conference with Trump in September." An ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 70% of Americans believe Trump's pressure campaign on Ukraine to investigate his political rival was wrong. The poll also found that 51% of Americans think Trump should be impeached. The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the House subpoena demanding access to Trump's financial records. News surfaced that an IRS whistleblower reported that a Trump political appointee may have interfered with a routine audit of Trump's and Pence's tax returns. According to the Washington Post "The whistleblower, a career IRS official, initially filed a complaint in July, reporting that he was told that at least one Treasury political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president’s or vice president’s tax returns. In recent weeks, the whistleblower filed additional documentation related to the original complaint, which was given to congressional officials in July, [two people familiar with the matter] said." Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to her fellow Democrats which responds to the many attacks coming from Republicans saying in part "The facts are uncontested: that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests. There are also some who say that no serious wrongdoing was committed, because the military assistance to Ukraine was eventually released. The fact is, the aid was only released after the whistleblower exposed the truth of the President’s extortion and bribery, and the House launched a formal investigation." Pelosi's letter also states that "The weak response to these hearings has been, ‘Let the election decide’. That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections." Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, announced a significant policy shift regarding Israel's West Bank settlements saying the US does not consider them to be a violation of international law. According to the New York Times: "The United States has in the past described the settlements as illegitimate, and Palestinians have demanded the land for a future state, a goal that has been backed by the international community. But President Trump has been persistent in changing United States policy on Israel and the Palestinian territories — moves aimed at boosting political support for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who has failed to form a government after two rounds of elections with razor-close outcomes."
November 17, 2019 - While appearing on Face the Nation, Nancy Pelosi invited Donald Trump to testify in the impeachment inquiry saying "If he has information that is exculpatory, that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame, then we look forward to seeing it". Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, echoed Pelosi's suggestion saying "If Donald Trump doesn’t agree with what he’s hearing, doesn’t like what he’s hearing, he shouldn’t tweet. He should come to the committee and testify under oath. And he should allow all those around him to come to the committee and testify under oath."
November 15, 2019 - Roger Stone, a former Trump associate who served as an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, has been found guilty on seven separate charges, including tampering with witnesses, obstruction, and lying to the House committee currently holding impeachment hearings. Donald Trump responded to the news with the following tweet: "So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie? A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?" Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, testified today in the second public hearing of the House impeachment inquiry. Yovanovitch, who was the victim of a smear campaign by Rudy Giuliani, was recalled from her position in May, despite being told by deputy secretary of state John Sullivan that she had "done nothing wrong". When Yovanovitch testified on October 11th, she told investigators she was removed from her post in Kyiv because of "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives." According to various news outlets, Giuliani was dissatisfied that Yovanovitch was becoming a barrier in his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump's political rivals. The Republicans on the committee posted three large signs, with messages on them, behind their seats, which were visible to the audience. Here's what each sign said:
"I have never seen a direct relationship between investigations and security assistance" - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko November 11, 2019
"95 DAYS SINCE ADAM SCHIFF LEARNED THE IDENTITY OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER"
"I'm Concerned If We Don't Impeach This President, He Will Get Re-Elected" - Rep. Al Green May 4, 2019
Prior to the impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "The Impeachment Witch Hunt should be over with the statement made last night by the President and Foreign Minister of Ukraine. Nervous Nancy Pelosi, who should be home cleaning up the dangerous & disgusting Slum she is making of her District in San Francisco, where even the filth pouring into the Pacific Ocean is rapidly becoming an environmental hazard, is getting NOTHING DONE. She is a Do Nothing Democrat as Speaker, and will hopefully not be in that position very long. Approve USMCA, which has been sitting on her desk for months!" Also prior to the hearing, the White House released a transcript of Trump's first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which consisted of Trump offering his congratulations to the newly elected president, and promising to send a US representative to his inauguration. Here are some highlights from the hearing:
Adam Schiff opened the hearing by thanking Marie Yovanovitch as an "anti-corruption champion whose tour in Kyiv was viewed as very successful." Schiff noted that "In her time in Kyiv, Ambassador Yovanovitch was tough on corruption, too tough on corruption for some, and her principled stance made her enemies. “As George Kent told this committee on Wednesday, ‘you can’t promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people.' Getting rid of Ambassador Yovanovitch helped set stage for an irregular channel that could pursue the two investigations that mattered so much to the President, the 2016 conspiracy theory, and most important, an investigation into the 2020 political opponent he apparently feared most, Joe Biden."
Yovanovitch said she was "shocked" and "devastated" when she read the White House memo of Trump's call with the Ukrainian president, and said that "a person who saw me actually reading the transcript said the color drained from my face." When asked about Trump's statement in the memo that she was "going to go through some things" Yovanovitch said that it "felt like a vague threat." Yovanovitch described a "crisis" in the state department, which is currently being led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying "the policy process is visibly unraveling, leadership vacancies go unfilled, and senior and midlevel officers ponder an uncertain future and head for the doors". She also stated that "the state department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats."
During the hearing, Trump sent the following tweet: "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors."
Adam Schiff read Trump's tweet to Yovanovitch, who responded "I don't think I have such powers." She then explained that she and her fellow diplomats had "demonstrably made things better, both for the US and for the countries I've served in." Schiff then asked Yovanovitch if she thought the tweet was meant to intimidate her, to which she responded "I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating."
Eric Swalwell, a Democratic member of the House intelligence committee, declared that Trump's attack on Marie Yovanovitch "will be considered" for one of the articles of impeachment."
In what was labeled a "pure, disingenuous stunt", Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the Republicans on the impeachment panel, attempted to violate the House resolution outlining the procedures in the impeachment inquiry by trying to yield to representative Elise Stefanik, the only Republican woman on the panel. According to the resolution, only the ranking member or the minority counsel may speak for the initial 45 minutes of questioning. The Republicans, who are aware of the rule, pretended to be shocked when Adam Schiff called them out, and then the Republicans accused Schiff of trying to prevent a woman from speaking. The specific line in the resolution is as follows: "As specified in H. Res. 660, the Chair and Ranking Member may not yield time to other Members during these extended question periods, though either may yield time to Majority and Minority Committee Counsels, respectively."
During questioning from Democratic representative Terri Sewell, Yovanovitch claimed the smear campaign against her has had a "chilling effect not only on the embassy in Kyiv but throughout the state department." Yovanovitch also questioned why the smear campaign was necessary saying "There’s a question as to why the kind of campaign to get me out of Ukraine happened because all the president has to do is say he wants a different ambassador. In my line of work ... all we have is our reputation, and so this has been a very painful period."
At the conclusion of Yovanovitch's testimony, many of those in the public seating area stood and applauded.
Trump was asked if the tweet he sent smearing the reputation of Marie Yovanovitch amounted to witness intimidation to which Trump responded: "I don’t think so at all. I have the right to speak; I have freedom of speech, just like other people do." Trump then went on to call the impeachment inquiry "a disgrace" and "an embarrassment to our nation." He then went on a rant about witness intimidation saying "Tampering is when a guy like shifty Schiff doesn’t let us have lawyers", apparently referring to a longstanding congressional procedure not to allow agency lawyers to be present for staffers' depositions.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal "Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Rudy Giuliani stood to personally profit from a Ukrainian natural-gas business pushed by two associates who also aided his efforts there to launch investigations that could benefit President Trump, people familiar with the matter said." Those associates are Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. If prosecutors find that Giuliani did attempt to personally profit off Ukrainian energy interests, it would be particularly ironic, given Giuliani's claims that Hunter Biden's involvement with an energy company was indicative of corruption.
November 14, 2019 - Following the public impeachment inquiry hearings yesterday featuring Bill Taylor and George Kent, Republicans are making the argument that neither of the diplomats ever spoke to Trump, or listened in on the call with the Ukrainian president. Kellyanne Conway, one of Trump's advisers, referred to the two diplomats as "a bunch of gossip girls" during an appearance on Fox and Friends. Trump responded to the hearings with the following tweet: ".@RepRatcliffe asked the two 'star' witnesses, 'where is the impeachable event in that call?' Both stared straight ahead with a blank look on their face, remained silent, & were unable to answer the question. That would be the end of a case run by normal people! - but not Shifty!" Critics responded to Trump's tweet by pointing out that Taylor and Kent are "fact witnesses" who are testifying to the things they saw, and that the ultimate question of impeachment is for lawmakers to wrestle with. A joint statement has been issued by the leaders of the congressional progressive caucus, the congressional black caucus, the congressional Hispanic caucus and the congressional Asian Pacific American caucus demanding the resignation of Stephen Miller, a top adviser to Trump, after emails from 2015 and 2016 became public in which Miller was peddling white nationalist material to the far-right website Breitbart. The statement reads in part "We feel like it is up to us to point out the obvious — someone who writes, talks, and governs like a white nationalist is in fact a white nationalist ... As leaders in the Democratic Caucus, representing diverse constituencies who have been targeted by Stephen Miller’s hateful beliefs, we call for his resignation without delay." During a news conference, Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of bribery, saying "The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That’s bribery." Pelosi also compared Trump's actions to Richard Nixon's saying "The cover-up makes what Nixon did look almost small". Nixon, who resigned in 1974, attempted to cover up the fact that five men connected to his reelection campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Pelosi also took a swipe at Trump's intelligence saying "If the president has something that is exculpatory -- Mr. President, that means you have anything that shows your innocence -- then he should make that known." News surfaced that a second staffer from the US embassy in Ukraine overheard Trump's phone call with Gordon Sondland where Trump was asking about "the investigations" in Ukraine. That second staffer is Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. According to the AP "The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry." Matt Bevin, the Republican governor of Kentucky, has finally conceded to Democrat Andy Beshear, after losing by only 5,000 votes in a state that Trump won by 30 points in 2016. Donald Trump made the following announcement today via twitter: "In order to continue being the most Transparent President in history, I will be releasing sometime this week the Transcript of the first, and therefore most important, phone call I had with the President of Ukraine. I am sure you will find it tantalizing!" News surfaced that Rudy Giuliani is being investigated for possible finance violations and failure to register as a foreign agent. According to Bloomberg: "The probe of Giuliani, which one official said could also include possible charges on violating laws against bribing foreign officials or conspiracy, presents a serious threat to Trump’s presidency from a man that former national security adviser John Bolton has called a 'hand grenade.'"
November 13, 2019 - Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters that broke the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, made the following assessment in an email to CNN: "Trump has demonstrated remarkable support, especially given the unprecedented nature of his words and actions and attitude as President. The impeachment push by Dems -- given this dynamic of Cold Civil War could conceivably backfire". The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry were held today, with testimony from Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian Affairs. Here are some highlights from the hearing:
- During his opening statement, Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee chair, made the following remarks "The facts in the present inquiry are not seriously contested. Beginning in January of this year, the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, pressed Ukrainian authorities to investigate Burisma, the country’s largest natural gas producer, and the Bidens, since Vice President Joe Biden was seen as a strong potential challenger to Trump." Schiff also addressed one of the GOP's main arguments, which is that there was no pressure campaign on Ukraine because the country's military aid was eventually released. To this argument Schiff said "A scheme to condition official acts or taxpayer funding to obtain a personal political benefit does not become less odious because it is discovered before it is fully consummated".
- During his opening statement, Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, attacked what he called a "horrifically one-sided process." Nunes also decried what he called a "scorched-earth war" against Trump, and accused Democrats of pursuing a "carefully orchestrated media smear campaign."
- Republicans on the committee called on Adam Schiff to subpoena the whistleblower, despite the presence of two witnesses with first-hand accounts sitting right in front of them. Schiff responded that he was committed to protecting the whistleblower's anonymity.
- During his opening remarks, George Kent explained that he was "alarmed" by efforts to oust former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and by efforts to get the Ukrainians to announce investigations into the Bidens, and into the 2016 election.
- During his opening remarks, Bill Taylor told investigators about a phone call between Ambassador Sondland and President Trump that he was not aware of when he initially testified. As relayed by Taylor "a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on July 26. While Ambassador Volker and I visited the front, this member of my staff accompanied Ambassador Sondland. Ambassador Sondland met with Mr. Yermak. Following the meeting, in the presence of my staff at a restaurant, Ambassador Sondland called President Trump and told him of his meetings in Kyiv. The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about 'the investigations.' Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward. Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for." This testimony contradicts earlier testimony from Sondland who told investigators that Trump didn't mention anything about investigations or Bidens during his phone call that preceded his meeting with Zelensky. Taylor also told investigators that a number of senior administration officials , including CIA director Gina Haspel, tried to convince Trump to lift the freeze on Ukrainian military aid. From Taylor's statement "My understanding was that the Secretaries of Defense and State, the CIA Director, and the National Security Adviser sought a joint meeting with the President to convince him to release the hold". Taylor also said that "Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling Ukrainian officials that only a White House meeting with President Zelenskyy was dependent on a public announcement of investigations—in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance." During Bill Taylor's testimony, the White House twitter account shared a video of Trump calling the impeachment inquiry the "single greatest scam in the history of American politics."
Here are some responses to Bill Taylor's testimony by a few political commentators:
"Some very damaging new testimony that Sondland said on 7/26 Trump cares more about investigating the Bidens than about Ukraine. Will need to be corroborated and surely will be." - Preet Bharara
"And there it is: Taylor testifies that Sondland told him that Trump was withholding aid until Zelensky made it clear that he would meet the President's demands for dirt on the Bidens. Honestly, seeing it laid out like this, it's horrifying." - Elizabeth C. McLaughlin
"BOOM. Taylor testifies that when Sondland was asked what Trump thought of Ukraine, 'Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden.' Here's the motive. Trump only saw Ukraine policy as a means to get the political dirt he wanted!" - David Corn
"This is huge -- new evidence tied directly to President Trump. A day after phone call with Zelensky, Trump calls his ambassador/accomplice in Kyiv and makes explicit reference to the 'investigations' he was demanding from Ukraine." - Greg Miller
Critics noted that the Republicans on the House intelligence committee used most of their questioning time not to counter the testimony of Bill Taylor and George Kent, but instead to push the baseless conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, which runs counter to the US intelligence community conclusion that Russia interfered in the election. One particularly funny exchange occurred when Republican Representative John Ratcliffe asked Taylor if he believed anything impeachable had occurred, to which Taylor replied "I'm not here to do anything having to do with, to decide about impeachment. That is not what either of us are here to do. This is your job." Another humorous comment occurred after Republican representative Jim Jordan complained that Congress would not be able to question the whistleblower, or as Jordan put it, the one "who started it all", to which Democratic representative Peter Welch responded "I'd be glad to have the person who started it all to come in and testify. President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there." Democrats chuckled at the comment, Republicans did not. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, sent the following in a tweet: "Rep Turner rightly points out that the first 2 'star' witnesses in this impeachment sham have never even spoken to @POTUS. Think about that: in a Presidential impeachment hearing, the dems witnesses have never even spoken w President Trump. This country deserves so much better." Chris Hayes, a political commentator, responded to Grisham with this: "There are lots of people who *have* spoken to Trump that could testify: Mulvaney, Bolton, but the White House has ordered them not to."
Following the hearings today, these were the headlines of some select major newspapers:
"Impeachment Testimony: ‘Trump Cares More About the Investigations of Biden." - New York Times
"New testimony ties Trump more directly to Ukraine pressure." - Washington Post
"Envoy Reveals New Call in Impeachment Testimony as GOP Defends Trump." - Wall Street Journal
Trump held a joint news conference with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the news conference, Trump contradicted his administration's stated policy of leaving troops in Syria to "fight terrorism", saying the continued military presence is "only for the oil"." Critics pointed out that seizing or benefiting from oil on a foreign territory, without permission from the sovereign authority, would be a violation of international law. Trump was asked during the news conference about the phone call described by Bill Taylor, to which Trump responded that he does not remember that call "not at all, not even a little bit." Regarding the inquiry, Trump had this to say "This is a sham and shouldn’t be allowed. It was a situation that was caused by people that shouldn’t have allowed it to happen. I want to find out who was the whistleblower because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including my call with the president of Ukraine, which was a perfect call and highly appropriate." A federal appeals court ruled today that House Democrats can have access to 8 years of Trump's tax returns. Trump's lawyers plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
November 12, 2019 - According to a memo obtained by Axios, Republicans plan to make the following four points during public impeachment hearings:
1. The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure
2. President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call
3. The Ukrainian government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call
4. President Trump met with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019 — both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating President Trump’s political rivals
Regarding the Republican strategy memo, critics were quick to point out that several senior officials within the Trump administration have testified to the existence of a months-long pressure campaign on Ukraine. Democrats released a memo which responds to the four arguments put forth by Republicans to excuse Trump's behavior. According to their memo:
1. The July 25 call does show evidence of conditionality and pressure.
2. Ukraine did know about the hold on assistance, based on testimonies from Defense Department official Laura Cooper and State Department official Katherine Croft.
3. Security assistance only came after Congress intervened, and Ukraine’s president publicly said on September 25th that Trump had not set a date for a White House visit.
According to the Washington Post, White House infighting is intensifying as Trump's advisers argue about how to push back against the impeachment inquiry. From the story: "Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has urged aides not to comply with the inquiry and blocked any cooperation with congressional Democrats. Top political aides at the Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney once led, have fallen in line with his defiant stance, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the behind-the-scenes developments. Mulvaney’s office blames White House counsel Pat Cipollone for not doing more to stop other government officials from participating in the impeachment inquiry, as a number of State Department officials, diplomats and an aide to Vice President Pence have given sworn testimony to Congress. Cipollone, meanwhile, has fumed that Mulvaney only made matters worse with his Oct. 17 news conference, when he publicly acknowledged a quid pro quo, essentially confirming Democrats’ accusations in front of television cameras and reporters." The Supreme Court will hold a hearing today regarding Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Regarding DACA, Trump sent the following tweet: "Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from 'angels.' Some are very tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!" Jim Sciutto, a CNN anchor, sent the following tweet in response to Trump's: "False. 'Under current policy, an individual may be considered for DACA if he or she has not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more 'non-significant' misdemeanors..or does not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.' -USCIS". The Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer Remington Arms, can go forward. The lawsuit was brought by a survivor and relatives of nine victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. From the AP: "The lawsuit says the Madison, North Carolina-based company should never have sold a weapon as dangerous as the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle to the public. Gunman Adam Lanza used it to kill 20 first graders and six educators. It also alleges Remington targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. Lanza was 20 years old." Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN ambassador, defended Trump's truthfulness during a Today Show interview saying "In every instance that I dealt with him, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with". According to NBC News, John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, told a group of people during a speech last week that he believed Trump's Turkey policy was motivated by personal or financial interests. From the story: "Bolton told the gathering of Morgan Stanley’s largest hedge fund clients that he was most frustrated with Trump over his handling of Turkey, people who were present said. Noting the broad bipartisan support in Congress to sanction Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan purchased a Russian missile defense system, Bolton said Trump’s resistance to the move was unreasonable, four people present for his speech said. Bolton said he believes there is a personal or business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey because none of his advisers are aligned with him on the issue, the people present said. The Trump Organization has a property in Istanbul, and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump attended the opening with Erdogan in 2012. Though it’s a leasing agreement for use of the Trump name, Trump himself said in a 2015 interview that the arrangement presented ‘a little conflict of interest’ should he be elected." According to the New York Times: "Trump has discussed dismissing the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, because Mr. Atkinson reported a whistle-blower’s complaint about Mr. Trump’s interactions with Ukraine to Congress after concluding it was credible, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Trump first expressed his dismay about Mr. Atkinson around the time the whistle-blower’s complaint became public in September. In recent weeks, he has continued to raise with aides the possibility of firing him, one of the people said.The president has said he does not understand why Mr. Atkinson shared the complaint, which outlined how Mr. Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals at the same time he was withholding military aid from the country ... Mr. Trump believes he has the power to fire anyone in the executive branch, though aides say they have learned to ignore many of his private rants, unless the president brings up the subject repeatedly and appears on the precipice of making a move they feel could be damaging." During an interview with NPR, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff made the following statement regarding Republican's latest defense of president Trump: "In terms of whether the president has committed an impeachable offense, the fact that the scheme was discovered, the fact that the scheme was unsuccessful, doesn’t make it any less odious or any less impeachable. If the president solicited foreign help in the U.S. election, if the president conditioned official acts on the performance of these political favors, whether Ukraine ever had to go through with it really doesn’t matter. What matters is, did the president attempt to commit acts that ought to result in his removal from office?"
November 11, 2019 - According to a story in the New York Times: "Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said. The associate, Lev Parnas, told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said. The claim by Mr. Parnas, who is preparing to share his account with impeachment investigators, challenges the narrative of events from Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials that is at the core of the congressional inquiry. It also directly links Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to threats of repercussions made to the Ukrainians, something he has strenuously denied. But Mr. Parnas’s account, while potentially significant, is being contradicted on several fronts. None of the people involved dispute that the meeting occurred, but Mr. Parnas stands alone in saying the intention was to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainian leadership." Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, made this dubious statement on twitter: "Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. Republicans should put out their own transcripts!" It should be noted here that none of the Republicans who were present for the depositions have contested the authenticity of any of the released transcripts. It should also be noted that this attack on the release of the transcripts follows much criticism from Republicans for holding closed-door interviews. A new line of argument is now coming from Republicans regarding the impeachment inquiry. What follows are two illustrations of the argument:
"I believe it's inappropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival ... I do not believe it is impeachable." - Mac Thornberry, Republican Representative and ranking member on the House armed services committee
"Not a good practice for us ever to ask a foreign country to investigate an American. I don't see it as impeachable." - Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN ambassador.
According to the AP, Michael Bleyzer and Alex Cranberg, two political supporters of energy secretary Rick Perry, were awarded an oil and gas contract in Ukraine after Perry provided their names during a meeting that followed the new president's inauguration. According to the story "Bleyzer and his partner Alex Cranberg submitted a bid to drill for oil and gas at a sprawling government-controlled site called Varvynska. They offered millions of dollars less to the Ukrainian government than their only competitor for the drilling rights, according to internal Ukrainian government documents obtained by The Associated Press. But their newly created joint venture, Ukrainian Energy, was awarded the 50-year contract because a government-appointed commission determined they had greater technical expertise and stronger financial backing, the documents show." Carl Nichols, a federal judge in Washington DC, and a Trump appointee, dismissed Trump's lawsuit challenging the House ways and means committee's ability to obtain his state tax returns from New York officials. Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, requested to join the lawsuit filed by Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to John Bolton, to have a judge determine whether he can follow a White House directive to ignore a House subpoena. According to the Guardian "A lawyer for Charles Kupperman, the former deputy to John Bolton at the national security council, argued that Mick Mulvaney’s admission of a quid pro quo (which he later walked back) made him ineligible to join Kupperman’s lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry." Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state under George W Bush, made the following statement at a conference in Abu Dhabi: "I don’t like for the president of the United States to mention an American citizen for investigation to a foreign leader. I think that is out of bounds." Trump sent the following tweet: "Where is the Whistleblower who gave so much false information? Must testify along with Schiff and others!" Trump then followed that tweet with this one: "To think I signed the Whistleblower Protection Act!" Kimberly Atkins, a reporter for NPR, responded to Trump's tweet saying "The Whisleblower Protection Act was enacted in 1989, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. The White House directive expanding whistleblower protections was signed in 2012 by President Barack Obama. The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act - referenced in the tweet - applies to...the VA." The House impeachment investigators released the transcript of testimony from Laura Cooper, deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. Transcripts were also released for testimony from diplomat Christopher Anderson, and state department Ukraine specialist Catherine Croft. A poll published by the Hill found that Trump's approval for women is at 37%, down from 44% in July.
November 8, 2019 - In an interview with the AP, Ivanka Trump claimed the identity of the whistleblower is "not particularly relevant". Trump told a group of reporters at the White House that "They shouldn't be having public hearings. It's a hoax." Critics were quick to point out that on October 23rd, Trump applauded efforts by GOP lawmakers who temporarily shutdown a closed-door deposition and staged a sit-in while demanding public hearings. The House impeachment committees have released the transcripts of Fiona Hill, a former aide to US national security adviser John Bolton, and Lt Col Alexander S Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Here are some highlights from Hill's testimony:
"I went back to talk to Ambassador Bolton. And Ambassador Bolton asked me to go over and report this to our NSC counsel, to John Eisenberg. And he told me, and this is a direct quote from Ambassador Bolton: You go and tell Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up on this, and you go and tell him what you’ve heard and what I’ve said. So I went over to talk to John Eisenberg about this. … I told him exactly, you know, what had transpired and that Ambassador Sondland had basically indicated that there was agreement with the chief of staff that they would have a White House meeting or, you know, a Presidential meeting if the Ukrainians started up these investigations again. And the main thing that I was personally concerned about, as I said to John, was that he did this in front of the Ukrainians."
"Then Ambassador Sondland blurted out: ‘Well, we have an agreement with the chief of staff for a meeting if these investigations in the energy sector start.’ …And Ambassador Bolton immediately stiffened and ended the meeting."
What follows is an exchange that took place between Adam Schiff and Matt Gaetz when Republicans stormed the SCIF:
GAETZ: "You're going to include members of congress on committees that have roles of impeachment --"
SCHIFF: "Mr. Gaetz, take your statement to the press. They do you no good here. So, please absent yourself."
GAETZ: "You're going to have someone remove me from the hearing?"
SCHIFF: "You're going to remove yourself Mr. Gaetz."
Here's a highlight from Vindman's testimony:
Q: "All right. So you did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen. You used the word “demand,” it was not proper to demand. Where in the transcript do you believe that the President made a demand to investigate a U.S. citizen?"
A: "So, Congressman, the power disparity between the President of the United States and the President of Ukraine is vast, and, you know, in the President asking for something, it became — there was — in return for a White House meeting, because that’s what this was about. This was about getting a White House meeting. It was a demand for him to fulfill his—fulfill this particular prerequisite in order to get the meeting."
Vindman also corroborated Hill's testimony which implicates the chief of staff's involvement: "I heard him say that this had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney".
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for John Bolton, sent a letter to the House impeachment investigators letting them know that Bolton was involved in "many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far." Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, was a no-show today for a deposition with the impeachment committee.
November 7, 2019 - According to the New York Times, and the Washington Post, Trump asked William Barr to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken during the July phone conversation with the president of Ukraine. According to the report, Barr refused to do so. Twitter user Orin Kerr, summarized the situation like this: "Trump tried to get one government to have a press conference saying he committed no crime for trying to get a different government to have a press release saying that his political opponent did commit a crime." Trump responded to story by tweeting "the degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story." News surfaced that Trump is in talks with television producer Mark Burnett about a post presidency reality show tentatively named The Apprentice: White House. John Bolton, the former national security adviser, did not show up today to provide testimony for the impeachment inquiry. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence committee chairman notified the Republicans that the witnesses they call to testify in the public impeachment hearings must be able to speak to the following questions:
1. Did the President request that a foreign leader and government initiate investigations to benefit the President’s personal political interests in the United States, including an investigation related to the President’s political rival and potential opponent in the 2020 U.S. presidential election?
2. Did the President – directly or through agents – seek to use the power of the Office of the President and other instruments of the federal government in other ways to apply pressure on the head of state and government of Ukraine to advance the President’s personal political interests, including by leveraging an Oval Office meeting desired by the President of Ukraine or by withholding U.S. military assistance to Ukraine?
3. Did the President and his Administration seek to obstruct, suppress or cover up information to conceal from the Congress and the American people evidence about the President’s actions and conduct?
According to the New York Times, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was planning to go on CNN on September 13th to announce the investigations that Trump wanted, but cancelled at the last minute after Trump's plot became exposed. According to the AP, a New York judge has ordered Donald Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his charitable foundation to further his own political interests and for "persistent violations" of law and "repeated and willful self-dealing". A press release from the New York attorney general reads in part: "Chiefly, Mr. Trump admits to personally misusing funds at the Trump Foundation, and agrees to restrictions on future charitable service and ongoing reporting to the Office of the Attorney General in the event he creates a new charity. The settlements also include mandatory training requirements for Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. Finally, the settlements name the charities that will receive the remaining assets of the Trump Foundation as part of its dissolution. The Trump Foundation has shut down, funds that were illegally misused are being restored, the president will be subject to ongoing supervision by my office, and the Trump children had to undergo compulsory training to ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again. The court’s decision, together with the settlements we negotiated, are a major victory in our efforts to protect charitable assets and hold accountable those who would abuse charities for personal gain. My office will continue to fight for accountability because no one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the President of the United States." The impeachment committee has released a transcript of the deposition of George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state who was nominally in charge of Ukraine policy. Adam Schiff sent the following tweet regarding Kent's testimony: "Here’s why George Kent matters: He and his colleagues recognized the impropriety of Trump’s Ukraine pressure campaign to undertake politically-motivated investigations. He corroborates testimony from numerous other officials, and he documented it." Here are some key points in Kent's testimony:
- Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled because Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and others “started reaching out actively to undermine Ambassador Yovanovitch.”
- Yuriy Lutsenko made a private trip to New York to meet with Rudy Giuliani in order to “throw mud” at State Department officials, including Mr. Kent and Ambassador Yovanovitch.
- Mr. Giuliani was “almost unmissable” as the “campaign of slander” against Ambassador Yovanovitch and others unfolded in Ukraine and the United States.
- The State Department reached “the breaking point of our disillusionment with Yuriy Lutsenko,” the Ukrainian prosecutor general, when they discovered he was “essentially colluding with a corrupt official” to undermine a legitimate investigation into fake passports.
- Mr. Kent unsuccessfully pressed the State Department to issue a “clear statement of support for Ambassador Yovanovitch” after a series of “falsehoods” and “Tweets by members of the Presidential family.”
- Ambassador Gordon Sondland suggested that Ambassador Yovanovitch “do a video or tweet declaring full support for the foreign policy of President Trump.”
- The United States “had our Ambassador just removed through actions by corrupt Ukrainians in Ukraine as well as private American citizens back here.”
- Rudy Giuliani “had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information,” and his “assertions and allegations against former Ambassador Yovanovitch were without basis, untrue, period.”
- After Rudy Giuliani attacked Ambassador Taylor, Under Secretary of State David Hale warned him to “keep my head down and lower my profile in Ukraine.”
- Ambassador Kurt Volker, Ambassador Sondland, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry asserted that they “had the mandate to take the lead on coordinating efforts to engage the new Ukrainian leadership.”
- Ambassador Volker had a private discussion with President Zelensky “to underscore the importance of the messaging that Zelensky needed to provide to President Trump about his willingness to be cooperative.”
- Ambassador Volker said “he planned to start reaching out to” Rudy Giuliani because “it was clear that the former mayor had influence on the President in terms of the way the President thought of Ukraine.”
- Ambassador Volker was “thinking tactically” about interacting with Rudy Giuliani, but Mr. Kent was “concerned strategically.”
- There was “great confusion” during a call on July 18, 2019, when an OMB official announced that “the acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, at the direction of the President had put a hold on all security assistance to the Ukraine.”
- After the call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky on July 25, 2019, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was “uncomfortable” and said “he could not share the majority of what was discussed because of the very sensitive nature of what was discussed.”
- In August 2019, Mr. Kent had “growing concerns that individuals were pushing communications with Ukrainians that had not been discussed and endorsed in the formal policy process.”
- With respect to President Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Biden, Mr. Kent stated: “I do not believe the U.S. should ask other countries to engage in politically associated investigations and prosecutions.”
- Asking Ukraine to investigate someone for political reasons “goes against everything that we are trying to promote in post-Soviet states for the last 28 years, which is the promotion of the rule of law.”
- After Ambassador Volker raised with a senior aide to President Zelensky that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani were interested in initiating investigations, Mr. Kent said, “that’s wrong, and we shouldn’t be doing that as a matter of U.S. policy.”
- In August 16, 2019, Mr. Kent memorialized these conversations in a memorandum, in which he expressed “concerns that there was an effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law, both Ukraine and U.S.”
- In September 2019, according to Ambassador Sondland, “POTUS wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton.”
- Ambassador Sondland was “pushing” for President Zelensky to “send a public signal of announcing a willingness to pursue investigations” in order to “clear the way for both the White House visit as well as the resumption or the clearing of the administrative hold on security assistance,” despite claims by Mr. Morrison and Mr. Sondland that they did not believe the issues were “linked”.
- The State Department delayed in issuing internal instructions to collect documents in response to the Committees’ September 9 or September 23 letters, or the September 27 subpoena.
- On October 1, 2019, Mr. Kent alerted the Director General of the Foreign Service and the Acting Legal Adviser of the State Department that Secretary Pompeo’s letter to the Committees, sent earlier that day, was inaccurate.
- On October 3, 2019, Mr. Kent raised concerns with State Department officials about their delay in responding to the Committees’ subpoena and inaccuracies in Secretary Pompeo’s October 1, 2019, letter to the Committees.
- Mr. Kent produced all relevant documents in his possession to the State Department.
Kent also testified that Rudy Giuliani "had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information" and his "assertions and allegations against former" Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch "were without basis, untrue, period".
While testifying before the impeachment investigators, Pence aide Jennifer Williams said that she found the July 25th call to be "unusual because it was political in nature". A White House official who wrote an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times letting the public know that there is a resistance in the administration, has penned a book that will be released soon. The Washington Post was able to obtain an advanced copy, and from one of the excerpt, Trump is described like this: "It’s like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him." The book also describes an incident in which Trump mocked migrants using a Hispanic accent saying "We get these women coming in with like seven children. They are saying, ‘Oh, please help! My husband left me!’ They are useless. They don’t do anything for our country. At least if they came in with a husband we could put him in the fields to pick corn or something." The book also attributed this quote to Trump: "Can we just get rid of the judges? Let’s get rid of the [expletive] judges."
November 6, 2019 - Adam Schiff announced that open impeachment hearings will begin on Wednesday, November 13th. Today, the House will release the testimony of Bill Taylor, which was especially damning for Trump. According to the Guardian: "It was clear that Trump wanted Zelenskiy to 'investigate' two things. One was the conspiracy theory that Ukraine colluded with Hillary Clinton in 2016 to help her win the presidential election. The other was Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden – son of Joe Biden – had served on the board. The allegation, subsequently found to be untrue, was that Joe Biden had put pressure on the previous government of Petro Poroshenko to fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma, in order to help his son. Taylor said Giuliani was behind the 'irregular policy channel' and that Trump would only meet with Zelenskiy if the Ukrainian president carried out these investigations. There was an explicit quid pro quo, Taylor suggested." A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed health care providers to refuse to take part in procedures on religious grounds. The decision came out of a suit filed by 19 states, the District of Columbia, various health organizations and others sued the US Department of Health and Human Services. The House has released the transcript of the testimony of US diplomat Bill Taylor. In a joint statement, Representative Adam Schiff, Representative Eliot Engel and Representative Carolyn Maloney, the chairs of the investigating committees said: "The testimony of Ambassador Taylor—a West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran, and nonpartisan diplomat — shows how President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and conditioned its release, as well as a vital White House meeting, on the President of Ukraine publicly announcing investigations into debunked conspiracy theories involving the Bidens and the 2016 election." Rudy Giuliani, who has recruited three attorneys to represent him as New York federal prosecutors have begun looking into his business dealings, sent the following tweet: "The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges, that kept changing as one after another were dis-proven. The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent." Matt Bevin, Kentucky's Republican governor, is still refusing to concede to Andy Beshear, who is ahead by just over 5,000 votes. Bevin cited "irregularities", but provided no evidence, and has called on officials to double check the results. Lindsey Graham made the following statement today when he was asked about the Ukraine issue: "What I can tell you about the Trump policy toward Ukraine: It was incoherent. It depends on who you talk to; they seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo".
November 5, 2019 - Wells Griffith, the US national security council's international energy and environment director, and Michael Duffey, associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, were both no shows today for the impeachment inquiry. The House released the transcripts of testimony from Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, the former US envoy to Ukraine. A four page addendum to Sondland's testimony has been released in which Sondland admits to a quid pro quo. According to the New York Times: "A critical witness in the impeachment inquiry offered Congress substantial new testimony this week, revealing that he told a top Ukrainian official that the country likely would not receive American military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations President Trump wanted. The disclosure from Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, in four new pages of sworn testimony released on Tuesday, confirmed his involvement in essentially laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine that he had previously not acknowledged. [...] In his updated testimony, Mr. Sondland recounted how he had discussed the linkage with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, on the sidelines of a Sept. 1 meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and Mr. Zelensky in Warsaw. Mr. Zelensky had discussed the suspension of aid with Mr. Pence, Mr. Sondland said: 'I said that resumption of the U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,' Mr. Sondland said in the document, which was released by the House committees leading the inquiry, along with the transcript of his original testimony from last month." Mitch McConnell told reporters that Trump will be acquitted by the Senate, just like Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told reporters today that he won't read any of the transcripts of any of the testimony and declares "I've written the whole process off ... I think this is a bunch of B.S." Andy Beshear, the Democratic challenger to Republican Matt Bevin, who is the current governor of Kentucky, has declared victory for the governorship. Bevin, whom Donald Trump campaigned for last night, is refusing to concede, saying the results are too close. Democrats have taken both houses of the Virginia state legislature, for the first time since 1994. Juli Briskman, who in 2017 was photographed giving Trump's motorcade the middle finger, and was subsequently fired from her job as a government contractor, beat her Republican opponent for Loudoun county supervisor. Trump sent the following in a tweet regarding Kentucky's race for governor: "@mattbevin picked up at least 15 points in last days, but perhaps not enough (Fake News will blame Trump!)." In reality, Bevin was up by 5 points on November 1st, prior to Trump's November 4th rally.
November 4, 2019 - Donald Trump started the day by sending the following quote in a tweet: "'There is no Whistleblower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump. What he was blowing the whistle on didn’t happen. We have the transcript of the call. This is all a farce and no Republican should forget that.' @dbongino @foxandfriends". He also sent this one: "The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!" And this one: "What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is 'perfectly' stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!" And then there was this one: "Mark Levin, a great lawyer and scholar, said last night on his @marklevinshow, that all you have to do is read the transcript of the call, you do not need Never Trumpers or other witnesses to say what it means or says. It is plainly and very well stated for all to see. Witch Hunt". John Eisenberg, a White House attorney, Robert Blair, a senior adviser to Mick Mulvaney, Brian McCormack, the associate director for natural resources at the Office of Management and Budget, and Michael Ellis, a White House attorney, were all no-shows today for their scheduled appearances in the impeachment inquiry. A US appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, must turn over 8 years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns to the Manhattan district attorney's office. Jay Sekulow, Trump's personal attorney, responded to the ruling saying "We will be taking this case to the Supreme Court." E Jean Carroll, the author who accused Donald Trump of sexual assaulting her 23 years ago, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the president. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the lawsuit saying "The lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud - just like the author". The House committees investigating impeachment against Donald Trump have released transcripts of the deposition with former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and of the deposition with former senior adviser to the secretary of state, Ambassador Michael McKinley. In a joint letter accompanying the transcripts, the chairs of the three panels leading the investigations stated in part: "The transcripts of interviews with Ambassadors Yovanovitch and McKinley demonstrate clearly how President Trump approved the removal of a highly respected and effective diplomat based on public falsehoods and smears against Ambassador Yovanovitch’s character and her work in support of long-held US foreign policy anticorruption goals. Ambassadors Yovanovitch and McKinley’s testimony also demonstrates the contamination of US foreign policy by an irregular back channel that sought to advance the President’s personal and political interests, and the serious concerns that this activity elicited across our government." The Trump administration began the process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, isolating the US as the only country in the world not to participate in the pact. Donald Trump sent this tweet promoting a book by his son Don Jr: "My son, @DonaldJTrumpJr is coming out with a new book, 'Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us' – available tomorrow, November 5th! A great new book that I highly recommend for ALL to read. Go order it today!" Critics were quick to point out the hypocrisy of Trump criticizing former vice president Joe Biden for allowing his son to profit off his father's office. Liz Hempowicz, the director of public policy at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, responded to Trump's tweet saying "Frankly he’s using his Twitter account to try to financially benefit his son. That’s not only distasteful, but it’s a misuse of public office and it would be an official misuse of public office if it was anyone other than the president." Trump held a rally in Kentucky in support of Governor Matt Bevin, who is up for re-election. Many of the rally attendees were wearing shirts with the slogan "Read the Transcript" written on them. At the rally, Trump told supporters that Democrats "are coming for your guns" and also ordered security to remove reporters from the Washington Post. Rand Paul, who also spoke at the rally, disgracefully called on the media to unmask the whistleblower saying that the name of the whistleblower is known, and that the gathered media should "Do your job and print his name". The rally goers replied by cheering, and Trump replied by smiling and clapping. At one point, Trump told the crowd: "If you lose, it sends a really bad message … you can’t let that happen to me."
November 1, 2019 - A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 49% of Americans feel that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 47% say he should not. Trump sent the following tweet today: "Stock Market up BIG! Record highs for S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Enjoy!" Critics were quick to point to one of Trump's tweets from yesterday which said "The Impeachment Hoax is hurting our Stock Market. The Do Nothing Democrats don't care!" Stephanie Grisham, who has been Trump's press secretary for about 4 months now, was asked during an interview on Fox News when she might hold her first press briefing. Grisham's response: "Whenever it's time." Grisham was also asked if the White House would be creating an impeachment war room, to which Grisham responded that Trump didn't need one because "He is the war room. We don't feel the need for a war room." Don Young, a Republican congressman from Alaska was asked if it is acceptable for a president to pressure a foreign government to interfere in our elections. Young responded by head butting the reporter's camera, and then said "There you go." According to the Washington Post Alexander Vindman was instructed by White House lawyer John Eisenberg not to discuss his concerns over Donald Trump's conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy with anyone outside the White House. "Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that he received this instruction from John Eisenberg, the top legal adviser for the National Security Council, after White House lawyers learned July 29 that a CIA employee had anonymously raised concerns about the Trump phone call, the sources said. The directive from Eisenberg adds to an expanding list of moves by senior White House officials to contain, if not conceal, possible evidence of Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide information that could be damaging to former vice president Joe Biden." Rick Perry has been asked to testify in the impeachment inquiry, but according to a letter from Shaylyn Hynes, the Department of Energy spokesperson "The secretary will not partake in a secret star chamber inquisition where agency counsel is forbidden to be present. If the committee is interested in conducting a serious proceeding they are welcome to send for the secretary’s consideration an invitation to participate in an open hearing where the Department’s counsel can be present and the American people can witness."
October 31, 2019 - Tim Morrison, Trump's top Russia official is testifying behind closed doors today as part of the impeachment inquiry. According to the Washington Post "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." According to the Guardian, Morrison "testified that public summaries of a 25 July call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, which Morrison listened in on, were accurate." While Morrison did confirm that a quid pro quo was at play, he didn't personally feel that Trump's actions were illegal. According to the Guardian: "Morrison, a former senior congressional aide, seemed to seek to exculpate Trump by suggesting the quid pro quo was all Sondland’s idea. 'I hoped that Ambassador Sondland’s strategy was exclusively his own and would not be considered by leaders in the administration and Congress, who understood the strategic importance of Ukraine to our national security'." Speaking on the floor of the House, Steve Scalise, the House minority whip, accused the Democrats of pursuing "Soviet-style" tactics in the impeachment inquiry. In response to Scalise's remarks, Susan Glasser, a New Yorker writer and former Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post tweeted: "Just in case anyone is unsure, Soviets did not have impeachment proceedings. They had the Gulag." The House held a formal vote in the impeachment resolution which passed with a vote of 232 for and 196 against. Two Democrats, Colin Peterson of Minnesota, and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, voted against the resolution. Every House Republican opposed the measure. Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary, responded to the vote with a statement which read in part "The President has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people. ... With today’s vote, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have done nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules. ... The Democrats want to render a verdict without giving the Administration a chance to mount a defense. That is unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American." Following the vote, Lee Zeldin, a Republican representative, called on Democrats to "Release the damn transcripts! ... Bring it on about substance!" while his Republican colleagues cheered him on. Critics again have taken note that Republicans up to now have avoided the substance of the allegations against Trump. Katie Hill, a House Democrat, resigned today amid allegations she had a consensual sexual relationship with one of her staffers. In her resignation speech on the floor of the House, Hill complained of the "double standard" that pressured her to leave, saying in part "we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office." During an interview, Trump said of the House vote: "The Democrats are desperate. They have nothing...they'll try to win the election this way because they cant win it the fair way." Trump also dismissed the notion that he would pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden saying "Also, would I use Ukraine to beat sleepy Joe Biden? Sleepy Joe, I call him one percent Joe too. One percent, the guy never came out of these things with one percent and he’s heading down rapidly now. I mean, I don’t view him as a very difficult, difficult guy to beat." An AP-NORC poll has found that 61% of Americans think Donald Trump doesn't respect democratic institutions and norms. This total includes 26% of Republicans.
October 30, 2019 - Republicans have been facing a large chorus of criticism for attacking the process of the impeachment inquiry, and at the same time avoid talking about the substance that brought it about. Responding to that criticism, Trump sent the following tweet: "Republicans are very unified and energized in our fight on the Impeachment Hoax with the Do Nothing Democrats, and now are starting to go after the Substance even more than the very unfair Process because just a casual reading of the Transcript leads EVERYBODY to see that the call with the Ukrainian President was a totally appropriate one. As he said, 'No Pressure.' This Impeachment nonsense is just a continuation of the Witch Hunt Hoax, which has been going on since before I even got elected. Republicans, go with Substance and close it out!" Trump responded to testimony yesterday by Alexander Vindman, who provided a first hand account of the Ukraine call, with the following tweet: "Yesterday’s Never Trumper witness could find NO Quid Pro Quo in the Transcript of the phone call. There were many people listening to the call. How come they (including the President of Ukraine) found NOTHING wrong with it. Witch Hunt!" Catherine Croft, a Ukraine expert at the state department, and Christopher Anderson, who worked for two years as an assistant to Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy for Ukraine, are both testifying today in the impeachment inquiry. Croft testified that she repeatedly heard Trump voice distrust of Ukraine, despite the state department's official position of support for the country. From CNN: "According to Anderson’s prepared statements, he helped in May to develop ‘key deliverables’ to show newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘commitment to reform. 1) demonstrating Zelenskyy’s independence from powerful vested interests and pursuing anticorruption reform as well as antitrust reform; 2) strengthening U.S.-Ukrainian energy cooperation; and 3) improving our bilateral security relationship which included Ukraine increasing its purchases of key U.S. military equipment.’ However, he cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the President on Ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement". According to the Guardian, Anderson is also reported to have testified that "Bolton voiced concerns about the role Trump's external advisers, namely Rudy Giuliani, were playing in determining Ukraine policy." Mitch McConnell attacked the House impeachment inquiry by calling it "bizarre" and claiming that the Democratic resolution "falls way short, way short" of fairness and due process. Critics were quick to note McConnell's continued attacks on the process of the impeachment inquiry, with a continued reluctance to weigh in on the substance of the impeachment inquiry. John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, who is going through a confirmation hearing to become the new US ambassador to Russia, affirmed Marie Yovanovitch's account of her removal as ambassador to Ukraine, specifically about how Sullivan had told Yovanovitch that she had done nothing wrong. Sullivan also told senators that the state department has tried to block interview requests tied to the impeachment inquiry "on advice" of the department and "direction from the White House". News came out that last quarter's growth rate was 1.9%, which prompted Trump to send a tweet saying "Greatest Economy in American History." Critics were quick to point to a tweet that Trump sent in 2012 when growth was measured at 1.9%. At that time, Trump said the economy was in "deep trouble". Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO announced that twitter is ending political advertising on its platform. This comes in the wake of facebook facing a lot of criticism over its decision to allow false statements in political ads. According to NPR: "Tim Morrison, the top Russia official on President Trump's National Security Council, who is scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, is set to leave his White House post imminently, three sources familiar with the plan told NPR. Morrison, a conservative hawk who has served as the senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council, will be replaced by Andrew Peek, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, according to the sources."
October 29, 2019 - Alexander S. Vindman, a Lt Col in the United States Army who fled the former Soviet Union with his family when he was 3; an Iraq War veteran; a purple heart recipient; and a top Ukraine expert on the national security council, gave a first hand account of the Ukraine phone call that triggered the impeachment inquiry. From Vindman's opening statement:
"I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine."
Some important takeaways from Alexander Vindman's testimony today:
- Vindman testified that the White House transcript omitted crucial words and phrases - such as Trump telling Zelenskyy that there were recordings of Biden discussing Ukraine corruption, and of Zelenskyy himself mentioning Burisma, the energy company whose board employed Biden's son Hunter - and that his attempts to include them failed.
- Vindman told investigators he confronted Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU after he observed Sondland pressing Ukrainian officials to help the Trump administration by investigating the Biden family.
Vindman's testimony also called into question the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, causing at least one House Democrat - Joaquin Castro - to accuse Sondland of perjuring himself. According to Politico "They raised similar questions about Sondland’s truthfulness following the testimony last week of acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who said Sondland had conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the release of U.S. military assistance aid was predicated upon Zelensky publicly committing to the investigations Trump demanded. But it was the opening statement made public late Monday by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump’s top National Security Council adviser on Ukraine, that had Democrats questioning Sondland’s testimony most pointedly." While Vindman was testifying, Trump sent the following tweet: "How many more Never Trumpers will be allowed to testify about a perfectly appropriate phone call when all anyone has to do is READ THE TRANSCRIPT! I knew people were listening in on the call (why would I say something inappropriate?), which was fine with me, but why so many? Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call 'concerned' today’s Never Trumper witness. Was he on the same call that I was? Can’t be possible! Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call. Witch Hunt!" Brian Kilmeade made the following statement regarding Vindman on Fox News' Fox and Friends: "We also know he was born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family. Young. He tends to feel simpatico with the Ukraine." Jon Fasman, a reporter for the Economist responded to Kilmeade's comments on twitter saying "A bigoted, ignorant smear. America welcomed us while our former countrymen were slaughtering us in pogroms. Our patriotism is intense because we know what happened to our relatives who didn’t/couldn’t reach these blessed shores." A CNN reporter had the following exchange with Nevada Republican Representative Mark Amodei:
Reporter - "The substance of the things that have come out is that the president asked for a public investigation into his rivals, and also Ukriaine aid was being withheld."
Amodei - "Well, that's your conclusion."
Reporter - "That's not my conclusion, that's what's come out."
Amodei - "Sounds like a conclusion to me, so I disagree on the question."
Reporter - "The president has asked for the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens, is that ok?"
Amodei - "The president has asked for the whistleblower complaint to go through the normal processes, and we've seen nothing of that. So beyond that, when you say that you've made the conclusion, whatever, you're a gifted guy, because guess what, it isn't over, and you already know what you think."
Reporter - "The White House transcript that was released had president Trump asking president Zelensky to open an investigation into the Bidens."
Amodei - "Do you know if they've even got plans to call the whistleblower? Because I heard they didn't. Now, I don't know if that's true."
Reporter - "You're not answering my question about the substance of the allegation."
Amodei - "I disagree with your conclusion. It's a conclusion not a question."
Reporter - "I'm asking you about what's in the White House transcript."
Amodei - "Well, my English teacher says you've got a conclusion, so if you want to interview yourself, go right ahead. You're interviewing me."
Reporter - "Why won't you answer my question? Is it ok for the president to ask a foreign country to investigate the Bidens?"
Amodei - "Why don't we do an interview instead of you interviewing yourself?"
Reporter - "The president asked on the White House lawn"
Amodei - ""Are you going to answer my question?"
Reporter - "On the South lawn of the White House, the president asked China to investigate the Bidens, is that ok?"
Amodei - "You know what, if you don't want to interview me, then interview yourself."
Reporter - "I'm asking you a question, but you don't want to answer."
Amodei - "I don't understand."
Reporter - "You don't understand?"
Amodei - "Thanks for doing the best you could."
Donald Trump sent the following tweet "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!" Justin Amash, a former Republican Representative who left the Republican party because of Trump, sent the followng response to Trump's tweet "Your polls must have been done on Oppidite Day." Republican Representative Ted Yoho told a CNN reporter that he has chosen not to sit in on the impeachment inquiry, even though he is entitled to as a member of the House foreign affairs committee. Yoho told the reporter that he didn't consider the inquiry to be valid since no formal vote to launch it had occurred, which echoes arguments from Trump and other Republicans. Critics were quick to point out that at the same time that Republicans are arguing that the inquiry is being held in secret and that there is no transparency, some GOP members are actually choosing to not participate. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host, engaged in the following exchange with John Yoo, a former official from the George W Bush administration who authored that administration's legal opinion justifying torture:
Ingraham - "This is buried in the New York Times piece tonight. He’s a decorated colonel, by the way, in the Iraq War. ‘Because [Colonel Vindman] emigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukrainian officials sought advice from him on how to deal with Mr. Giuliani, though they typically communicated in English.' Here we have a U.S. national-security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interest, and usually they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle to this story?"
Yoo - "I find that astounding, and some people might call that espionage."
According to the Atlantic "Ingraham’s comment is spurious in several ways. First, it was Vindman’s job to speak with Ukrainians. Second, it is of course useful for foreign-policy professionals to speak the language of the foreign countries they handle. Third, other officials, including Sondland and Ambassador William Taylor, have recounted offering advice to Ukrainians about navigating their relationship with Rudy Giuliani. Fourth, there is no evidence that Vindman was acting against the president’s interest; indeed, he was trying to execute official U.S. foreign policy regarding Ukraine, even as Giuliani ran a rogue and dubiously legal shadow foreign policy." House Democrats released a resolution providing a "pathway forward" on impeachment procedures, and are planning to hold a formal vote in the House. Trump's top congressional allies responded to the news saying that the Democrats were now trying to "retroactively legitimize their illegitimate impeachment inquiry" despite weeks of pushing for a formal vote. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, who has not held a single press conference since taking over for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, provided this response to the impeachment resolution: "The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote. It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President. The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written. This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration." Following a landslide of criticism, right wing commentators who had publicly criticized Alexander Vindman, going so far as to accuse him of dual loyalties, and of possibly engaging in espionage, began to walk those comments back by issuing statements calling Vindman a patriot and war hero. George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser, who served 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators in the Mueller probe, has announced his intent to run for the House seat that was recently vacated when Katie Hill resigned over a sex scandal.
October 28, 2019 - Charles Kupperman, the former deputy national security adviser under John Bolton, was scheduled to appear today in the impeachment inquiry, but was a no-show. Kupperman's lawyer sent a letter to House Democrats letting them know that Kupperman is leaving it to a federal judge to determine whether he should comply with the White House order not to appear, or the congressional subpoena to appear. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the house intelligence committee called Kupperman's failure to appear "deeply regrettable" and suggested it "may warrant a contempt proceeding". Schiff also said that the White House order to ignore the congressional subpoena would be taken a "additional evidence of obstruction." When reporters questioned why the House intelligence committee wasn't given advance notice of the late night raid to take out Baghdadi, as is standard protocol, Trump responded that it was because Adam Schiff is "the biggest leaker in Washington." According to the Guardian "US officials who also watched the feed have declined to echo details of Trump’s macabre account of the Isis’s leader death on Saturday, including that Baghdadi was 'whimpering, crying and screaming all the way'" Reports have surfaced that the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, was contradicted by the testimony of Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine. Some Democrats on the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry have accused Sondland of lying under oath. The Justice Department is appealing the ruling by US district judge Beryl Howell that the US House is legally entitled to see grand jury material that was gathered during the Mueller investigation. Donald Trump sent the following tweet boasting about the US military raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi saying "The S&P just hit an ALL TIME HIGH. This is a big win for jobs, 401-K’s, and, frankly, EVERYONE! Our Country is doing great. Even killed long sought ISIS murderer, Al-Baghdadi. We are stronger than ever before, with GREAT upward potential. Enjoy!" However, according to the New York Times "For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist. But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said. Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death in the raid on Saturday, they said, occurred largely in spite of, and not because of, Mr. Trump’s actions." While addressing the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago, Trump made the following comment, which was an obvious swipe at his predecessor, Barack Obama: "[Baghdadi] should've been killed years ago. Another president should've gotten him." Trump also made this statement about immigrants: "As you know, countries love to send their worst to us." Despite claims by Republicans that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because no formal vote was taken to launch the proceedings, a position which is not supported by the constitution, the Democrats have produced a resolution anyway which will be voted on later this week. The resolution reads in part "This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel." Another select paragraph from the resolution "For weeks, the President, his Counsel in the White House, and his allies in Congress have made the baseless claim that the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry ‘lacks the necessary authorization for a valid impeachment proceeding.’ They argue that, because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist. Of course, this argument has no merit." A state court in North Carolina ruled that the congressional map is so severely gerrymandered to benefit Republicans that it can't be used in 2020. Trump's description of the military raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi included revealing classified information which has raised concerns with officials over their ability to carry out future operations. According to NBC "The overarching concern about Trump’s disclosures on the al-Baghdadi raid, officials said, is that he gave America’s enemies details that could make intelligence gathering and similar military operations more difficult and more dangerous to pull off. Revealing that the U.S. possesses documents about future ISIS plans hurts the military’s ability to use that information for quick follow-on operations, officials said. The president’s disclosure that the U.S. had taken ISIS fighters from the compound complicated efforts to try to keep ISIS from knowing who is alive or dead for as long as possible while they interrogate them, officials said."
October 27, 2019 - John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, told an audience at a conservative event that prior to leaving the White House, he had told Trump "Whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man’ – someone who won’t tell you the truth. Don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached." When Trump got wind of Kelly's statement he responded saying "John Kelly never said that. If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary also responded, saying "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President." Donald and Melania Trump, along with a group of Republican lawmakers, attended Game 5 of the World Series. During the game, the camera panned to Trump, who was then projected on the big screen above the outfield. What followed were loud boos, and then loud chants of "Lock him up!" Here are a few select responses to the Game 5 chant on twitter:
"For what? Lock him up for what? What a bunch of pinheads." - Fred Krebs
"As to Ukraine: Bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy. As to the Russia investigation: Obstruction of justice. As to the Stormy Daniels payoff: campaign finance violations, conspiracy. Lots of potential jail time there." - George Conway
October 26, 2019 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, was killed today in a raid by US special forces in Syria. Trump claimed in a statement afterwards that Baghdadi "died like a dog" and was "whimpering, crying and screaming all the way".
October 25, 2019 - According to the New York Times: "Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges. The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director under whose watch agents opened the Russia inquiry, and has long assailed other top former law enforcement and intelligence officials as partisans who sought to block his election." Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, responded to the Times story tweeting: "Senate Intel is wrapping up a three-year bipartisan investigation, and we've found nothing remotely justifying this. Mr. Barr's 'investigation' has already jeopardized key international intelligence partnerships. He needs to come before Congress and explain himself." Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Our soldiers have left and are leaving Syria for other places, then COMING HOME! We were supposed to be there for 30 days - That was 10 years ago. When these pundit fools who have called the Middle East wrong for 20 years ask what we are getting out of the deal, I simply say, THE OIL, AND WE ARE BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS BACK HOME, ISIS SECURED!" Critics were quick to point out that no agreement was ever made that troops would withdraw from Syria in a month, and also that US forces have only been in the country since 2014. Shortly after Trump sent his tweet saying the troops in Syria were coming home, his defense secretary, Mark Esper, announced that the US will maintain a small presence in Syria to prevent ISIS from regaining access to oil revenues. Speaking about Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, Trump said "Here’s the problem. He’s a never-Trumper and his lawyer is a never-Trumper." A reporter then pointed out that Taylor had been selected by secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to which Trump responded ""Everybody makes mistakes." According to CNN, Trump released money being held up fro months from Ukraine after a pressure campaign by fellow Republicans, including a call on September 11 by Ohio Senator Rob Portman. It was Portman who told Trump that "with the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, if he didn’t act soon there wouldn’t be time to get the money out the door, according to six sources familiar with the call." A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department must grant the House judiciary committee access to the grand jury material redacted from special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The judge, Beryl Howell, wrote that the committee should get access to "[a]ll portions of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election that were redacted pursuant to" grand jury restrictions. Judge Howell also stated in the ruling that "Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry" and that the Argument adopted by the White House "has no textual support in the U.S. Constitution [or] the governing rules of the House." Also, Howell stated in her ruling that "impeachment factored into" Mueller’s analysis and that Congress is "the appropriate body to resume where the Special Counsel left off." Judge Howell also stated that "The White House's stated policy of non-cooperation with the impeachment inquiry weighs heavily in favor of disclosure. Congress's need to access grand jury material relevant to potential impeachable conduct by a President is heightened when the Executive Branch willfully obstructs channels for accessing other relevant evidence."
October 24, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Thank you to House Republicans for being tough, smart, and understanding in detail the greatest Witch Hunt in American History. It has been going on since long before I even got Elected (the Insurance Policy!). A total Scam!" This tweet is believed to be a thank you to House Republicans who delayed the testimony of Pentagon official Laura Cooper for five hours yesterday after they staged a sit-in in a secure area being used to conduct impeachment inquiry interviews. According to the Daily Beast "Two Democratic lawmakers told The Daily Beast that, over the course of the nine witness depositions they have conducted over the last several weeks, there have been suggestions that certain witnesses spoke to each other about what they would say to impeachment investigators." During an interview with CNN, Representative Eric Swalwell raised the issue saying "We have evidence, very recently, that there are witnesses in our case who are talking to each other. That's exactly what we don't want to happen." After being asked by a reporter whether Trump's treatment of America's Kurdish allies had done harm to the US' international credibility, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state responded "The whole predicate of your question is insane." News surfaced that the White House is instructing federal agencies to not renew subscriptions to the Washington Post and New York Times. Trump told Fox News' Host Sean Hannity earlier in the week "We don’t even want [the New York Times] in the White House anymore. We’re going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post. They’re fake." A video has begun trending on twitter which shows then-congressman Trey Gowdy, who nearly joined Trump's team to combat the impeachment investigation, arguing that a private hearing was "much more constructive" than the "circus" of public hearings. Regarding the ongoing complaints from Republicans who are condemning the alleged secrecy of the impeachment inquiry, Sam Stein, a Daily Beast reporter sent the following tweet: "The charge that the impeachment inquiry is being run in a non-transparent manner would have more weight if the people making that charge also criticized the WH for not handing over documents, refusing to allow witnesses to testify, and, basically, defying congressional oversight". Senator Lindsey Graham, has introduced a resolution calling on House Democrats to "vote to open a formal impeachment inquiry and provide President Trump with fundamental constitutional protections." Summer Zervos, a former "Apprentice" contestant who is suing Trump for defamation for comments he made while denying her sexual assault allegation, reportedly has corroborating evidence supporting her story, which includes emails and calendar entries. According to the Washington Post: "The White House’s trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine’s trade privileges after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that President Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv, according to people briefed on the matter. ... The August exchange between Bolton and Lighthizer over the trade matter represents the first indication that the administration’s suspension of assistance to Ukraine extended beyond the congressionally authorized military aid and security assistance to other government programs. It is not clear whether Trump directed Bolton to intervene over Ukraine’s trade privileges or was even aware of the discussion."
October 23, 2019 - In what is seen as a publicity stunt, a group of House Republicans who are not members of the House committees, forced their way into the impeachment inquiry room after claiming they were being unfairly kept out. Adam Schiff, who is leading the inquiry, halted the proceedings. Note: Lawmakers who sit on the three investigative panels are the only ones allowed to participate in the inquiry, per the House parliamentarian, who has ruled that entry to non-committee members is not in line with congressional procedure. The panels include both Democratic and Republican committee members. News surfaced that in breaching the inquiry, the non-committee members entered a classified area, called the SCIF, carrying cell phones, which are not permitted, thus marking a major breach of protocol. According to New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin: "The process attacks are a time-buyer for Rs to see what else comes out, if/for how much longer they can defend Trump." According to the New York Times, Ukrainian officials were aware of a freeze on the US military aid as early as the first week of August, which undermines a key argument of Trump's to deny a quid pro quo. Trump announced during a news conference that his administration is lifting all sanctions on Turkey, since Turkey had committed to a "permanent" ceasefire in Syria.During the news conference, Trump said "Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand." He also falsely claimed the US has been there for 10 years. Trump also claimed to have been successful in Syria where others before him had failed, which prompted this tweet from Daniel Dale: "Trump keeps saying, very nonsensically, that others had tried to get this deal for "man, many decades." This is a deal specifically tied to the circumstances of Trump's withdrawal and the subsequent Turkish offensive. It doesn't resolve larger regional issues." Trump also made this statement about Syria's oil: "We've secured the oil and, therefore, a small number of US Troops will remain in the area. Where they have the oil. And we're going to be protecting it, and we'll be deciding what we're going to do with it in the future." William Consovoy, one of Trump's attorneys, made news today after he argued in federal court that Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and local authorities would not be able to do anything about it. According to the AP, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky raised concerns with his advisers as early as May about Trump pressuring him to investigate Joe Biden. Trump sent the following tweet as Marine One arrived at Joint Base Andrews: "The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats. Watch out for them, they are human scum!" According to Bloomberg News, Trump had advance knowledge that House Republicans were going to barge into a secure hearing room on Capitol Hill where Democrats are holding impeachment testimonies. Donald Trump sent the following tweet attacking Bill Taylor, and his lawyer saying "Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor (who I don’t know), in testimony before Congress! Do Nothing Democrats allow Republicans Zero Representation, Zero due process, and Zero Transparency. Does anybody think this is fair? Even though there was no quid pro quo, I’m sure they would like to try. Worse than the Dems!" According to CNN, a federal judge has ordered the state department to release records related to Ukraine, including communications between Giuliani and senior officials, within 30 days. Trump sent the following tweet: "'Neither he (Taylor) or any other witness has provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld. You can’t have a quid pro quo with no quo.' Congressman John Ratcliffe @foxandfriends Where is the Whistleblower? The Do Nothing Dems case is DEAD!" However, according to the New York Times: "Word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times. The problem was not a bureaucratic snag, the Ukrainians were told then. To address it, they were advised, they should reach out to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the interviews and records. The timing of the communications about the issue, which have not previously been reported, shows that Ukraine was aware the White House was holding up the funds weeks earlier than United States and Ukrainian officials had acknowledged. And it means that the Ukrainian government was aware of the freeze during most of the period in August when Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and two American diplomats were pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to make a public commitment to the investigations being sought by Mr. Trump." While speaking at a shale gas conference in Pittsburgh, Trump made the following statement: "You know why we’re going to win New Mexico? Because they want safety on their border. And they didn’t have it. And we’re building a wall on the border of New Mexico, and we’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works, that you can’t get over, that you can’t get under." Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado responded to Trump's statement with this tweet: "Well this is awkward ...Colorado doesn’t border Mexico. Good thing Colorado now offers free full day kindergarten so our kids can learn basic geography".
October 22, 2019 - Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, sent the following tweet: "So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!" Some notable reactions to Trump's "lynching" tweet:
"A lynching?! 4,743 people were lynched in the US between 1882 - 1968, incl. 3,446 African Americans. Lynchings were crimes against humanity and an ugly part of our nation’s history of racial violence and brutality. Sickened to see Trump’s gross misappropriation of this term today" - Kristen Clarke, President of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
"Trump has inspired multiple acts of racist violence and his referring to impeachment as a 'lynching' is risible. But worse will be his toadies adopting this inversion of past and present, with the nation’s most powerful racist as a *victim* of racist violence, as a talking point." - Adam Serweer, Atlantic Staff Writer
"That is one word that no president ought to apply to himself. I’m not just a politician...I’m a product of the South. I know the history of that word." - Jim Clyburn, House majority whip
"You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you. Delete this tweet." - Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Congressman
"Trump knows what a lynching is & what it means in this country. And the fastest way to create a cycle of controversy is to invoke the county’s deepest & darkest racial wounds for his own ends. It should be called out, but let’s stay focused on the facts." - Abby D. Phillip, CNN Reporter
"a lynching in every sense" - Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina
"More than 4400 African American men, women, and children were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white mobs between 1877 and 1950." - The King Center
"@realDonaldTrump and @LindseyGrahamSC this is a lynching [photo of African American hanging from a tree]. Trump this is not happening to you and it’s pathetic that you act like you’re such a victim; but it did happen to 147 black people in your state Lindsey. 'A lynching in every sense'? You should know better." - Michael Steele, Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee
"'Lynching' brings back images of a terrible time in our nation’s history, and the President never should have made that comparison." Susan Collins, Republican Senator
According to a new CNN/SSRS poll, 50 percent of Americans support Trump's removal from office, compared to 43 percent who oppose it. Russia and Turkey announced a plan to jointly control formerly Kurdish territory in Syria, which many are calling a major victory for Vladimir Putin. A few weeks back, Trump claimed that Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told him his call with the Ukraine president was "perfect". Today, McConnell was asked about Trump's claim to which McConnell responded that he had never spoken to the president about that call. According to the Washington Post, a book titled "A WARNING" will be published soon by an anonymous author, who happens to be the same author of a 2018 New York Times op-ed which described a "resistance" inside the government to keep Trump in check. Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine testified behind closed doors today as part of the impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights:
- Ted Lieu, a Democratic member of the House foreign affairs committee told reporters that the ambassador's testimony was "incredibly damaging to the president."
- Andy Levin, a Democratic congressman from Michigan said of Taylor's testimony "All I have to say is that in my 10 short months in Congress – it’s not even noon, right – and this is my most disturbing day in Congress so far. Very troubling."
- Taylor testified that Ambassador Gordon Sondland told him security aid to Ukraine could have been held up in part because of a push for Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation that could help Trump politically.
- Taylor testified that Giuliani, along with Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland and Rick Perry controlled "an irregular, informal channel of U.S. policy-making with respect to Ukraine. Although this irregular channel was well-connected in Washington, it operated mostly outside of official State Department channels."
- According to Politico "Taylor prompted sighs and gasps when he read a lengthy 15-page opening statement, two of the sources said. Another person in the room said Taylor’s statement described ‘how pervasive the efforts were’ among Trump’s allies to convince Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation targeting former Vice President Joe Biden and another probe centering on a debunked conspiracy theory regarding the 2016 election. Taylor also described the extent to which military assistance to Ukraine and a potential White House meeting with Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart were tied to those investigations, the source added."
- According to the Washington Post "Taylor walked lawmakers through a series of conversations he had with other U.S. diplomats who were trying to obtain what one called the ‘deliverable’ of Ukrainian help investigating Trump’s political rivals. Taylor said he spoke to Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the U.S. envoy to the European Union. ‘During that phone call, Amb. Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President [Volodymyr] Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,’ Taylor said in the statement."
- Taylor testified that "President Trump did insist that President Zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference, and that President Zelensky should want to do this himself."
- Taylor testified that he was preparing to resign in August over the delaying of military aid to Ukraine.
- Taylor testified that "Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling the Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelenskyy was dependent on a public announcement of investigations – in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelenskyy ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations."
Speaking to reporters following Taylor's testimony, Stephen Lynch, a representative from Massachusetts, called the testimony "a sea change" that "could accelerate matters". James Jeffrey, the special envoy to Syria, testified today that he "was not consulted before the decision" to withdraw troops from Syria. Several Republicans took to the House floor today to attack the impeachment inquiry as a sham. Mark Meadows, a Republican representative from North Carolina proclaimed "The facts will exonerate our president". Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, sent the following tweet: "Here’s what Trump has done *just this week*: - He called the constitutional ban on profiting from the presidency 'phony.' - His Administration has defied lawful subpoenas and document requests. - He stood by his shakedown of a foreign government and called it 'perfect.'"
October 21, 2019 - According to the Washington Post "In a round of phone calls with conservative allies this weekend, Trump was told Republicans are struggling to defend him on so many fronts". According to the New York Times, Trump is now considering keeping around 200 troops in eastern Syria to combat a potential resurgence of ISIS. If Trump follows through on this proposal "it would mark the second time in 10 months that he has reversed his order to pull out nearly all American troops from the country. Last December, Mr. Trump directed 2,000 American troops to leave Syria immediately, only to relent later and approve a more gradual withdrawal. The decision would also be the potential second major political reversal in a matter of days under pressure from his own party, after he rescinded on Saturday a decision to host next year’s Group of 7 summit at his own resort." Russ Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that no one from his agency will be testifying in the House impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers would like to hear from OMB officials to better understand why military aid to Ukraine was delayed. During a cabinet meeting, Trump declared that Barack Obama deserved no credit for losses faced by ISIS and that he [Trump] deserves more credit saying "I’m the one who did the capturing. I’m the one who knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits." Trump also stated regarding America's Kurdish allies "We never agreed to protect the Kurds for the rest of their lives." Trump also complained about having to cancel his plans to hold the G-7 summit at his own resort, and reportedly exclaimed: "You people with this phony Emoluments Clause." Trump also complained that his phone call with the Ukrainian president was a "perfectly fine conversation". Trump also declared that "Republicans have to get tougher and fight. We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight." Trump also told the gathered reporters that "Miami International, one of the biggest airports in the world. Some people say it's the biggest." Fact checkers were quick to point out that Miami International is not even in the top 20. Mitt Romney was asked in an interview what he thought the "dumbest" thing is that Trump has done while in office, to which Romney responded "I think the places where I would be most critical of the president would be in matters that were divisive, that appeared to be appealing to racism or misogyny. Those are the kinds of things that have been the most harmful long-term to the foundation of America’s virtuous character." A GOP-led resolution to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, has been defeated. The attempt at censure came about over Adam Schiff's characterization of Trump's discussion with the Ukranian president. Oley Larsen, a state senator from Nebraska, posted a photo on facebook that he falsely claimed was an image of Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar at an Al-Qaida training camp. According to the Associated Press, the photo was taken by the AP in 1978, prior to Omar's birth. Video surfaced of Syrian Kurds pelting US armored vehicles with potatoes and rotten fruit as American troops retreated from their position in northern Syria. Shouts of "No America" and "America liar" can be heard from the angry mob. One man can be heard shouting "Like rats, America is running away".
October 20, 2019 - Speaking on Fox News, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said the following regarding Trump's reversal on the G-7 summit location: "The president isn’t one for holding back his feelings and his emotions about something. He was honestly surprised at the level of pushback. At the end of the day he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world and he wanted to put on the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could and he was very comfortable doing that at Doral... I think it’s the right decision to change, we’ll have to find some place else and my guess is we’ll find someplace else that the media won’t like either for some other reason." Mulvaney also stated that he had not as reported, admitted that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure officials there to open investigations into the Democrats, insisting instead that reporters had twisted his words. Chris Wallace, the Fox News host responded "I believe that anyone listening to what you said in that briefing could come to only one conclusion. No, you totally said that." During an interview with Axios, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's most vital allies on Capitol Hill, suggested he may be open to changing his mind on impeachment. Graham was asked if there was anything that would persuade him to support impeachment, to which Graham responded "Sure, I mean ... show me something that ... is a crime. If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing." Speaking on ABC News, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, had the following exchange with George Stephanopoulos:
George - "The president ordered Mick Mulvaney to suspend the aid, and you saw Mr. Mulvaney say right there that one of the reasons was indeed this idea that the Ukrainians had to pursue these political investigations."
Pompeo - "I'll leave it to the chief of staff to explain what it is he said and what he intended. I can speak clearly to what America's strategic objectives were in providing this defensive weaponry to the people of Ukraine."
George - "So do you agree then with Senator Murkowski that it would have been inappropriate to withold the military aid unless this political investigation was pursued?"
Pompeo - "George, I'm telling you what I was involved with. I'm telling you what I saw transpire, and how president Trump was working to make the evaluation about whether it was appropriate to provide this assistance."
George - "What I'm asking is, would it be appropriate to condition that aid?"
Pompeo - "George, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals and secondary things based on what someone else has said. George, you would have never done it when you were the spokesman, and I'm not going to do it today."
George - "It's not a hypothetical. We saw the chief of staff, the acting chief of staff right there."
Pompeo - "It is George, you just said, George, you just said, if this happened. That is by definition a hypothetical."
George - "The chief of staff said it did."
Pompeo - "[silence for 3 uncomfortable seconds, followed by] George you asked me if this happened, it's a hypothetical. I told you what I observed what I saw the process related to this very funding. Uh, what we did, how we thought about that was aimed at the strategic interest of the United States of America in a right and appropriate way to ensure that there wasn't corruption in Ukraine that would divert these resources to an inappropriate place."
October 19, 2019 - Following an avalanche of criticism for choosing his own resort to host the G-7 summit, from people in his own party, and from Democrats who threatened to add the matter to the impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately." Some select responses to Trump's reversal:
"President Trump's decision to award the G7 conference to his own property was outrageous, corrupt and a constitutional violation. It was stunningly corrupt even for a stunningly corrupt administration. His reversal of that decision is a bow to reality, but does not change how astonishing it was that a president ever thought this was appropriate, or that it was something he could get away with." - Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
"Blam! Never doubt that the public’s efforts to hold this corrupt administration accountable is worth all the effort!! Remember this, my friends, as we continue to fight for the integrity of our government and for democracy." - Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics
October 18, 2019 - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, told reporters that the letter sent by Trump telling him not to be a "tough guy" wasn't in line with diplomatic or political customs, and that he wouldn't forget the lack of respect. According to Erdogan, "When the time comes, necessary steps will be taken." Francis Rooney, a Republican representative, admitted during a CNN interview that Trump's conduct toward Ukraine is "troubling". Adam Schiff called Mick Mulvaney's walkback of his quid pro quo statement "not the least bit credible." Secretary of state Mike Pompeo lashed out at the impeachment inquiry saying "They’re not letting state department lawyers in the room … they have not let state department lawyers be part of these hearings ... That’s unheard of … I haven’t seen you all report that." Following Pompeo's statement, Paul Kane, a Washington Post reporter, pointed out that government lawyers are never allowed into the room during depositions, and he pointed to a section in the Congressional Record as proof, which states "Witnesses may be accompanied at a deposition by personal, nongovernmental counsel to advise them of their rights. Only members, committee staff designated by the chair or ranking minority member, an official reporter, witness, and witness's counsel are permitted to attend." Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, has demanded access to the depositions from the impeachment inquiry, despite his panel not being one of the three leading the probe. According to Collins, "The Democrats are trying to conduct their 'impeachment' inquiry in secret." Trump has nominated Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, to take over as secretary. The state department has concluded their investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. The conclusions: "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information".
October 17, 2019 - Elijah Cummings, Democratic US congressman, and chairman of the Oversight Committee, died today. Donald Trump sent the following tweet offering his condolences: "My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard if not impossible, to replace!" Critics were quick to point out the dozen or so tweets Trump sent earlier this year, accusing Cummings of being "racist" and a "bully" and of "trying to hurt innocent people" and of doing "a terrible job for the people of his district" and of "incompetent leadership". Many questioned whether Trump was even capable of writing the condolences tweet. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, will take over the House Oversight Committee as the acting chair. According to the BBC, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, was infuriated by the letter he received from Trump, which he "thoroughly rejected" and "put it in the bin." After the letter surfaced, it was described by critics as "adolescent" in its language and tone. According to the Wall Street Journal "Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he sought out Rudy Giuliani this spring at President Trump’s direction to address Mr. Trump’s concerns about alleged Ukrainian corruption, a sign of how closely the president’s personal lawyer worked with the administration on Ukraine policy. Mr. Perry, in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, said he contacted Mr. Giuliani in an effort to ease a path to a meeting between Mr. Trump and his new Ukrainian counterpart. He said Mr. Giuliani described to him during their phone call several concerns about Ukraine’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election, concerns that haven’t been substantiated." Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, announced that the next G-7 summit will be held at Trump National in Doral, Florida in June. The announcement immediately raised concerns that Trump is trying to personally profit from the presidency. Critics also pointed out that this choice is odd considering Trump's evidence free accusations that Joe Biden benefited from US policy. Mulvaney defended the decision saying the president will not profit and that "It's almost like they built this facility to host that type of event." Some select responses to Mulvaney's announcement:
"The constitution is clear: the president cannot accept gifts or payments from foreign governments. No one is above the law." - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"among the most brazen examples yet of the president's corruption" - Jerrold Nadler, House judiciary committee chairman
Note: The emoluments clause of the US constitution prohibits government officials from receiving salaries, fees or profits from foreign and domestic governments without congressional approval.
During a question/answer period following Mulvaney's G-7 announcement, Mulvaney dropped another bombshell when he told the gathered press that the request for Ukraine to look back at what happened in 2016 was part of an ongoing review of the Russia investigation and part of the reason why Trump held up military aid to Ukraine. According to Mulvaney "The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. Did he also mention to me in the past the corruption that related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that’s it. That’s why we held up the money." Mulvaney went on to say "we do that all the time with foreign policy." Here's one response to Mulvaney's statement on twitter by Abby D. Phillip: "Mulvaney is at the WH podium saying casually that the WH held up security money from Ukraine until Trump got assurances that the government investigate a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election and the DNC server. A conspiracy theory." Mulvaney appeared to not even realize he had just admitted that there was a quid pro quo involved in the delay of US military aid to Ukraine, something the White house has been consistently denying. A reporter then said to Mulvaney "So, it was a quid pro quo" to which Mulvaney responded "We do that all the time with foreign policy … I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy. Elections have consequences." Trump sent out the following tweet: "Great news out of Turkey. News Conference shortly with @VP and @SecPompeo. Thank you to @RTErdogan. Millions of lives will be saved!" Vice president Mike Pence, who is in Turkey negotiating a cease fire, announced that Turkey has agreed to pause the attack for 120 hours to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from Turkey's designated safe zone. Pence also said that because Turkey agreed to the ceasefire, the US agreed to not implement any sanctions and once a permanent ceasefire is in place, economic sanctions will be removed. Following Pence's announcement, Trump sent the following tweet: "This is a great day for civilization. I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path. People have been trying to make this 'Deal' for many years. Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!" Here are some notable responses from Middle East expert to the Trump administration's "deal" with Turkey:
"The ceasefire deal 'sounds like very good news for President Erdogan,' veteran British peace negotiator Jonathan Powell tells me. 'What the Americans have actually done is facilitated the surrender of the allies, the Kurds. It does sound a pretty one-sided agreement.'" - Christiane Amanpour
"BIG - #Pence confirms that the full #YPG withdrawal will be taking place in a territory 20miles (32km) deep. If enacted (unclear), that's the maximalist demand originally set by #Erdogan. However this is spun, it's a huge concession from the #Trump admin/US government. #Pence & #Pompeo have repeatedly used '#YPG' & '#SDF' interchangeably. That detail is crucially important. But in short, the US just granted #Erodgan *everything* he's demanded all along, seemingly in exchange for nothing." - Charles Lister, Senior Resident at the Middle East Institute
During a talk with reporters, Trump praised the "amazing" ceasefire saying "They couldn't get it without a little rough love, as I call it." Critics were quick to point out that Trump is celebrating and declaring victory for making major concessions to an autocratic leader in a violent situation created by Trump's own foreign policy. When asked by reporters about Mick Mulvaney's comment that military aid was partly tied to Ukraine committing to cooperate with the ongoing review of the Russia investigation being led by US Attorney John Durham, a senior DOJ official responded "If the White House was withholding aid in regards to the cooperation of any investigation at the Department of Justice, that is news to us." Adam Schiff was asked by reporters about Mulvaney's admission of a quid pro quo, to which Schiff responded that the situation has "gone from very, very bad to much, much worse." News surfaced that energy secretary Rick Perry, who has become central to the Ukraine scandal, has informed president Trump that he is resigning. Admiral William H. McRaven, who is retired, and who led the United States Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014, and who is known as the architect of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, calls Trump a threat to American democracy in an op-ed in the New York Times. In a 2018 open letter, McRaven criticized Trump's behavior as "treasonous" and called him "wholly in the pocket of Putin." McRaven also wrote "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation. If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken." In an apparent attempt at damage control, the White House released the following statement from Mick Mulvaney: "Once again, the media has decided to misconstrue my comments to advance a biased and political witch hunt against President Trump. Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. The president never told me to withhold any money until the Ukrainians did anything related to the server. The only reasons we were holding the money was because of concern about lack of support from other nations and concerns over corruption. There was never any connection between the funds and the Ukrainians doing anything with the server - this was made explicitly obvious by the fact that the aid money was delivered without any action on the part of the Ukrainians regarding the server. There never was any condition on the flow of the aid related to the matter of the DNC server." Critics were quick to point out that even in walking back his prior statement, Mulvaney doesn't say there was no quid pro quo, only that unblocking military aid was not conditioned on the DNC server.
October 16, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, Michael McKinly, Mike Pompeo's former senior adviser who quit abruptly just a few days ago, will testify today about how "The unwillingness of State Department leadership to defend Yovanovitch or interfere with an obviously partisan effort to intervene in our relationship with Ukraine for the political benefit of the president was too much for him." According to the Washington Post, Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, kept experienced diplomats from the National Security Council and State Department out of discussions regarding aid to Ukraine, and instead put the "three amigos" in charge. Those "three amigos" were Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Energy secretary Rick Perry. According to Fiona Hill, who testified two days ago, Mulvaney even kept details of the those discussions from former National Security Adviser John Bolton. During a photo-op with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Trump said that "If Syria wants to fight to take back their land, that's up to them and Turkey. There's a lot of sand that they can play with." Trump also stated "We are not a policing agent. It is time for us to go home ... if Turkey goes into Syria it is between Turkey and Syria. It’s not our problem." Trump also stated "I'm not going to get involved in a war between Turkey and Syria... If you look at the Kurds, I say this with great respect, they're no angels." We've paid a tremendous amount of money to the Kurds." Trump also said of the Kurdish PKK, which is part of the Kurds, that they are "worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat, in many ways, than Isis". Trump also called his decision to withdraw troops "strategically brilliant". Trump also spoke of a recent decision to send more troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend against Iran saying of the Saudi's "They're paying for that." According to the AP, David Correia, an associate of two Giuliani associates who were arrested last week, was taken into federal custody today at Kennedy Airport in New York City. According to prosecutors, "Correia conspired with other defendants to make political donations with the aim of trying to get support for a new recreational marijuana business." Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump's Jr's girlfriend, told a group at an event to support Trump's reelection, that Don Jr "likes it when I play nurse". According to ProPublica, documents they were able to obtain show that Donald Trump's company gave a lender and New York City tax authorities two different sets of numbers for two Manhattan buildings - 40 Wall Street and the Trump International Hotel and Tower. According to the documents "Trump’s company technically doesn’t own 40 Wall Street, rather it pays the wealthy German family that owns it a sum of money to rent it out to tenants. In 2015, Trump’s company told tax authorities that it paid the family $1.65 million to use the building, while it told lenders it paid $1.24 million the same year." According to CNN "Kenneth McCallion, a New York attorney, says that investigators first approached him earlier this year to ask about Giuliani’s ties to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Giuliani associates indicted last week on campaign-finance related charges. McCallion says FBI counterintelligence agents in February or March asked questions about some of Giuliani’s Ukrainian business dealings. The counterintelligence probe hinges in part on whether a foreign influence operation was trying to take advantage of Giuliani’s business ties in Ukraine and with wealthy foreigners to make inroads with the White House, according to one person briefed on the matter." Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, introduced a resolution to condemn Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria. The resolution passed 354 to 60, with two-thirds of Republicans voting with the Democrats. Responding to the vote, Engel stated "At President Trump’s hands, American leadership has been laid low, and American foreign policy has become nothing more than a tool to advance his own interests. Today we make clear that the Congress is a coequal branch of government and we want nothing to do with this disastrous policy." The White House cancelled a classified briefing on the situation in Syria, prompting Nancy Pelosi to tweet "I am deeply concerned that the White House has canceled an all-Member classified briefing on the dangerous situation the President has caused in Syria, denying the Congress its right to be informed as it makes decisions about our national security." During today's testimony, Michael McKinley expressed disappointment at Pompeo's silence as far-right commentators smeared the reputation of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine. According to the latest Gallup survey, 52 percent of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% say he should not. Note: approval for impeachment of Clinton never got higher than 35%, and for Nixon, it hit 58% by August 1974. Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi held a joint news conference after their first meeting with Trump since the impeachment inquiry was opened, and according to the pair, it didn't go well. The subject of the meeting was the situation in Syria. According to Schumer "he was insulting to the speaker. He called her a third rate politician... said there were communists involved. You guys might like that." Schumer also described the conversation as a "diatribe" and said Trump "has no plan to contain ISIS, other than relying on the Syrians and the Turks". Pelosi then described the conversation like this: "What we just witnessed on the part of the President was a meltdown". Pelosi went on to say "I pray for the president all the time...I pray for the safety and that of his family. Now we have to pray for his health—because this was a very serious meltdown." A letter sent by Trump to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, became public today. The letter warns that Trump could destroy the Turkish economy if Erdogan doesn't handle the Syria situation humanely, and also ends by telling Erdogan "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!" More news is coming out about the meeting that Peosi described as Trump having a meltdown. During the meeting, Trump lashed out at former secretary of defense Jim Mattis, calling him "the world's most overrated general" after Schumer quoted him regarding the resurgence of ISIS. Pelosi apparently told Trump that Russia always wanted a "foothold in the Middle East" and now it has one. She also said "All roads with you lead to Putin." Adam Schiff sent an impeachment inquiry update letter to his colleagues which states that interview transcripts will be made public once they would no longer impact "investigative equities." The letter also states in part "While we have a great many interviews to come, it is worth taking stock of what we already know. We are already in possession of the call record which lays plain the president's efforts to abuse his office for political gain, as well as text messages among State Department employees that show the degree to which the apparatus of the Department was pressed into service of the President's illicit aim of digging up dirt on his political opponent." Trump tweeted a picture showing himself and as many as 20 other men seated around a very large table with Nancy Pelosi standing directly across from Trump with her finger pointed in Trump's direction. Trump captioned the photo "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" The tweet was an obvious attempt to make it look like Pelosi was the one having a meltdown, but critics were quick to point out that the picture actually makes Pelosi look like a strong woman at a table full of men making sure her voice is heard. Pelosi for her part made the photo her background on twitter and facebook. Today is Trump's 1,000th day in office, which JM Rieger marked the occasion with the following tweet: "Today was Trump’s 1,000th day. Things he did: -Told Turkey & Syria to fight over sand -Pushed conspiracy in Oval Office -Bragged about his 'many Italian friends' -Called his election 'corrupt' -Kurds 'no angels' -Called Pelosi 'third-grade politician'".
October 15, 2019 - Regarding the ongoing closed door proceeding of the House impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "Democrats are allowing no transparency at the Witch Hunt hearings. If Republicans ever did this they would be excoriated by the Fake News. Let the facts come out from the charade of people, most of whom I do not know, they are interviewing for 9 hours each, not selective leaks." News coming out of northern Syria is that Russian troops are now patrolling the area deserted by the US. According to the Guardian, this is "a clear sign that Moscow has become the de facto power broker in the region after the evacuation of US troops." George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state, testified today in the impeachment inquiry. Here are ome highlights from that testimony: Kent told investigators that he warned colleagues back in March about Rudy Giuliani's "disinformation" campaign in which he used a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear Joe Biden and the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. News surfaced that Federal prosecutors are examining Rudy Giuliani's interactions with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two men who were arrested on campaign finance charges. Rudy Giuliani's lawyer notified the House that documents subpoenaed with today as the deadline, will not be provided. The letter calls the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry "an unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate impeachment inquiry" and claims the subpoena is "overbroad and unduly burdensome". The Office of Management and Budget also sent a letter to the House saying it would not comply with a demand for documents, which are related to the delay in congressionally approved aid to Ukraine which were alleged to have been held up as a form of pressure to persuade Ukraine's new president to investigate Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy released a statement today saying in part "No one but Trump is to blame for the chaos Turkey has unleashed in Syria, and we all need to acknowledge it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. It’s absurd that Trump is now sanctioning Turkey for an invasion that he invited and announced. Congress now has a decision to make: do something in haste that makes us feel powerful or do something strategic that accounts for the fact that much of the harm Trump has done cannot be reversed...Congress needs to make sure America does its part to alleviate the humanitarian nightmare caused by Trump’s unconscionable double crossing of the Kurds." Mike Pence, the vice president, has declined to comply with a request from the house impeachment inquiry to turn over official documents. News surfaced that former congressman Pete Sessions has been subpoenaed by a grand jury regarding a Manhattan federal prosecutor's investigation into Rudy Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine. In an update on the impeachment inquiry, Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman said "We know from the witnesses that have come forward that there are additional documents that they have provided the state department that they have not provided to Congress." Because of this "The case for obstruction of Congress continues to build." Regarding holding a formal vote to open an impeachment inquiry, which the White House has used as an excuse to not cooperate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "We will not be having a vote. We are on the path of fairness. We are not here to call bluffs. We are on a path that is taking us to a path to truth, a timetable that respects our constitution."
October 14, 2019 - Trump, who is facing mounting criticism over his decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, sent the following tweet as reports emerged of escalating violence against America's Kurdish allies: "Brian Kilmeade over at @foxandfriends got it all wrong. We are not going into another war between people who have been fighting with each other for 200 years. Europe had a chance to get their ISIS prisoners, but didn’t want the cost. “Let the USA pay,” they said. Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly. Big sanctions on Turkey coming! Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey? Never ending wars will end!" Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, responded to Trump's tweet saying: "I just.... i mean.... what? @realDonaldTrump I thought you were going to defeat ISIS, that is why people voted for you. What changed? This is weakness. America is far more honorable than this." Kinzinger is also on record saying Trump had left America's Kurdish allies "to the wolves." News surfaced that a doctored video clip from a scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service, was played for an audience at a Trump gathering at Trump's Doral Miami resort. In the video, Trump is shown stabbing and shooting political enemies and news organizations. The event, which is called the American Priority conference, featured speakers Donald Trump Jr and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Fiona Hill, Trump's former top adviser on Russia, and former aide to John Bolton, testified before three congressional committees for 10 hours today, as part of the House Impeachment Inquiry. Hill was subpoenaed, per officials working on the impeachment inquiry, because of "attempts by the White House and the Administration to direct witnesses not to cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry and efforts by the White House to limit any testimony that does occur." According to Hill, Bolton was so alarmed at the back-channel effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump's political rivals, that he instructed Hill to report the activities of Rudy Giuliani, in concert with White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, to White House lawyers. According to Hill, those activities were described by Bolton as a rogue operation with legal implications. Bolton had reportedly said "I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up." Hill also said that on an earlier occasion, Bolton told her "Giuliani's a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up." Speaking to Reuters, Rudy Giuliani confirmed that he was paid $500,000 for consulting work he did for Fraud Guarantee, a company run by Lev Parnas, who was arrested with another Giuliani associate earlier this week for violating campaign finance laws. Fraud Guarantee, a Boca Raton based company, claims to help clients "reduce and mitigate fraud". Regarding the half million, Giuliani claimed "I know beyond any doubt the source of the money is not any questionable source. The money did not come from foreigners. I can rule that out 100%". While Hill testified, some Republicans complained to the press about a lack of subpoena power for the minority, and also complained that transcripts of closed door interviews is not being released. Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican of Florida, and staunch ally of Trump, walked in on the closed door testimony of Fiona Hill, demanding that he be allowed to be present, but was kicked out of the proceeding, since he is not a member of the three panels conducting the interview. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee voiced concern that the whistleblower may not testify, out of concern for that person's safety saying "Our primary interest right now is making sure that that person is protected. Indeed, now there’s more than one whistleblower, that they are protected." Trump responded to Schiff on twitter saying "Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO! Must testify to explain why he got my Ukraine conversation sooo wrong, not even close. Did Schiff tell him to do that? We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA. Democrat’s game was foiled when we caught Schiff fraudulently making up my Ukraine conversation, when I released the exact conversation Transcript, and when Ukrainian President and the Foreign Minister said there was NO PRESSURE, very normal talk! A total Impeachment Scam!" Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son, announced in an interview with ABC that if his father is elected president, he will step down from the board of a Chinese investment company, and will avoid work with foreign firms. Trump responded to the news on twitter saying "Wow! Hunter Biden is being forced to leave a Chinese Company. Now watch the Fake News wrap their greasy and very protective arms around him. Only softball questions of him please!" A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr claimed that Don Jr had not seen the violent video that was shown at an event for Trump supporters, and that he "strongly condemns the type of disgusting and graphic violence purported to be depicted." A spokesperson for Trump Sr also stated that he had not seen the video, but also condemns it. Critics took note that neither of the Trump's saw fit to condemn the video themselves. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell released a statement regarding the withdrawal of US trips from Syria saying in part "Abandoning this fight now and withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS." Trump sent the following tweet in defense of his Syria decision: "After defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria. Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria and Assad to protect the land of our enemy? Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away! Some people want the United States to protect the 7,000 mile away Border of Syria, presided over by Bashar al-Assad, our enemy. At the same time, Syria and whoever they chose to help, wants naturally to protect the Kurds. I would much rather focus on our Southern Border which abuts and is part of the United States of America. And by the way, numbers are way down and the WALL is being built!" Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, responded to Trump's tweet with one of his own "o those who believe radical Islam is not a threat to our homeland after 9/11 and the rise of ISIS: you are sadly mistaken and ignoring all military advice. Our southern border should be our LAST line of defense against radical Islam. Our FIRST line of defense is the U.S. military working with partners in radical Islam’s backyard keeping them over there so they can’t hurt us here at home or hurt our allies like Israel." Donald Trump released a statement saying that he will soon sign an executive order imposing sanctions on Turkey for launching a military operation in northern Syria after the withdrawal of US troops from the region. The statement also says that a "small footprint" of US troops will remain to "continue to disrupt remnants of ISIS." According to Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, Turkey's ongoing incursion into Syria has resulted in the release of captured Islamic State fighters. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, sent the following tweet: "The U.S. is now implementing sanctions authorities related to #Turkey’s ongoing military offensive in northeast #Syria, which is endangering civilians and severely undermining the D-ISIS campaign. This destabilizing operation by Turkey continues, and has now created a growing and disastrous humanitarian crisis. We remain committed to a political solution to the conflict in Syria in line with UNSCR 2254. Turkey’s unilateral actions led to these sanctions.
October 11, 2019 - Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, has come out in favor of the impeachment inquiry. This makes Hogan the third Republican governor to favor the inquiry. The other two are Phil Scott of Vermont, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. A federal appeals court has rejected Trump's appeal to block House Democrats' subpoena of his financial records. Despite the White House's refusal to participate in the impeachment inquiry, and despite being directed by the state department not to testify, Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, who has been accused by right wing media of "disloyalty", showed up at the House to testify, apparently under subpoena. Here are some highlights from her testimony:
- In her opening statement, Yovanovitch told lawmakers that she was assured by a top State Department official that she had "done nothing wrong", and that she was "incredulous" that she was removed as ambassador "based, as far as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."
- Yovanovitch also stated "With respect to Mayor Giuliani, I have had only minimal contacts with him—a total of three that I recall. None related to the events at issue. I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me. But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."
- Yovanovitch also addressed smears by right wing pundits saying "I want to categorically state that I have never myself or through others, directly or indirectly, ever directed, suggested, or in any other way asked for any government or government official in Ukraine (or elsewhere) to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption. As Mr Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General has recently acknowledged, the notion that I created or disseminated a 'do not prosecute' list is completely false - a story that Mr. Lutsenko, himself, has since retracted. Equally fictitious is the notion that I am disloyal to President Trump. I have heard the allegation in the media that I supposedly told the Embassy team to ignore the President’s orders 'since he was going to be impeached.' That allegation is false. I have never said such a thing, to my Embassy colleagues or to anyone else."
- Yovanovitch also addressed the campaign against her saying "I met with the Deputy Secretary of State, who informed me of the curtailment of my term. He said that the President had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador. He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018. He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause. I departed Ukraine for good this past May."
- Yovanovitch closed with "I am proud of my work in Ukraine. The U.S. Embassy, under my leadership, represented and advanced the policies of the United States government as articulated, first by the Obama Administration and then by the Trump Administration. Our efforts were intended, and evidently succeeded, in thwarting corrupt interests in Ukraine, who fought back by selling baseless conspiracy theories to anyone who would listen. Sadly, someone was listening, and our nation is the worse off for that."
Trump, who is meeting with the Chinese vice premier today, sent the following tweet: "One of the great things about the China Deal is the fact that, for various reasons, we do not have to go through the very long and politically complex Congressional Approval Process. When the deal is fully negotiated, I sign it myself on behalf of our Country. Fast and Clean!" Critics were quick to point out that the "Deal" Trump is working on will only solve a problem of Trump's own creation, which was brought on by tariffs. The pentagon announced that the US is sending approximately 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia. This announcement comes in the wake of an attack on Saudi oil facilities last month. This announcement also stands in contrast to Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria earlier this week, which Trump justified by saying "I campaigned on the fact that I was going to bring our soldiers home, and bring them home as rapidly as possible." The White House announced that John Sullivan, the current Deputy Secretary of State, will be the next US ambassador to Russia. This announcement came only minutes after Marie Yovanovitch described how Sullivan had told her she had done nothing wrong, and that there was a concerted campaign against her. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, announced that at the direction of Trump, he is prepared to authorize sanctions against Turkey, depending upon how that country navigates its military operation in northern Syria. Critics point out that Mnuchin's announcement is equivalent to announcing that the US is not sanctioning Turkey, but could if it wanted to, which goes without saying. A US federal district court has ruled that Trump violated the law by declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border to get his wall built. According to the New York Times, a federal judge has placed a nationwide injunction on the Trump administration's plan to penalize green card applicants who rely on government assistance, which is known as the "public charge" rule. Judge George B. Daniels stated in the decision that those potentially affected by the new regulation could suffer "irreparable harm" if it goes into effect. "The balance of equities and the interests of justice favor issuance of a preliminary injunction". Trump announced that tariffs, which were set to go into effect next week, have been cancelled, as a potential trade deal has been reached. Trump said the deal had not been written yet, but should be written in about 3 weeks. Shep Smith, a Fox News anchor who has repeatedly called out Trump on his falsehoods, and calling his false corruption allegations against Joe Biden "baseless" and a "conspiracy theory", announced that he will be leaving Fox. Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer, and de facto chief of staff to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has announced his resignation. According to the New York Times, the DOJ has filed a brief supporting Trump's appeal of a ruling earlier this week that he release his tax returns. Kevin McAleenan, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, announced that he is leaving to "spend more time with his family and go to the private sector".
October 10, 2019 - Sixteen prominent conservative lawyers released a joint statement saying the "undisputed" events surrounding the call with the Ukrainian president require an "expeditious" impeachment inquiry. The statement also says "We have not just a political candidate open to receiving foreign assistance to better his chances at winning an election, but a current president openly and privately calling on foreign governments to actively interfere in the most sacred of U.S. democratic processes, our elections." According to the Washington Post: "President Trump’s decision to suddenly withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria has angered evangelical Christian leaders and Republican hawks, cleaving his political coalition at the very moment he is trying to fortify his standing to survive the intensifying impeachment inquiry in Congress." According to a Fox News poll, 51% of voters want to see Trump impeached and removed from office. 40% oppose. Trump responded to the Fox poll tweeting: "From the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll. Whoever their Pollster is, they suck. But @FoxNews is also much different than it used to be in the good old days. With people like Andrew Napolitano, who wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice & I turned him down (he’s been terrible ever since), Shep Smith, @donnabrazile (who gave Crooked Hillary the debate questions & got fired from @CNN), & others, @FoxNews doesn’t deliver for US anymore. It is so different than it used to be. Oh well, I’m President!" Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Trump donors - who gave $325,000 to a pro-Trump Super Pac, and who were working with Rudy Giuliani in his work for Trump, were arrested today and charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates to buy influence. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York called it an "illegal straw-donor scheme," working "on behalf of a Ukrainian government official" to have the US ambassador to Ukraine recalled. The men were arrested at Dulles Airport just outside Washington while attempting to flee the country. Parnas was scheduled to be deposed today by House Democrats. Fruman was scheduled to be deposed tomorrow. The House committees, who were interested to see how the two men fit into Trump's dealings with Ukraine, issued subpoenas today for the two to testify in the near future, despite their arrest. According to the indictment, Parnas promised to raise funds for Republican US congressman Pete Sessions and sought that congressman's assistance to get Marie Yovanovitch, then serving as ambassador to Ukraine, recalled. According to the Daily Beast, Pete Sessions received $3m from the pro-Trump Super Pac, after he wrote a letter calling for the sacking of Yovanovitch. According to the Wall street Journal, the whistleblower complaint "cites Ms. Yovanovitch’s ouster as one of a series of events that paved the way for what the whistleblower alleges was an abuse of power by the president. ... In an interview, Mr. Giuliani told The Wall Street Journal that in the lead-up to Ms. Yovanovitch’s removal, he reminded the president of complaints percolating among Trump supporters that she had displayed an anti-Trump bias in private conversations. In Mr. Giuliani’s view, she also had been an obstacle to efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden and his son Hunter." Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's attorneys, denied that Trump had any connection to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Trump himself also claimed in an interview that he doesn't know the two men. A picture surfaced today which shows Trump posing with Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman. According to the Wall Street Journal, Parnas and Fruman "had lunch with Mr. Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington" yesterday, just hours before the pair were arrested at Dulles International Airport. In other Ukraine news, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that responsibility for overseeing aid to Ukraine was shifted to a political appointee after budget staffers raised legal concerns about stalling the funds. Some notable responses to the news of the arrest of Giuliani's associates:
"It's becoming a challenge to keep up with the high crimes and misdemeanors." Hillary Clinton
"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." - Elizabeth Warren
"Today’s arrests show that two associates of Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer, worked to undermine our democracy by setting up fake corporations to launder foreign money and funnel it into our election system. It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to U.S. campaigns. In today’s indictment, the President’s own Department of Justice specifically states that the purpose of our campaign finance laws is to prevent foreign influence from shaping American elections. As the lead Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, I have requested information from the FEC regarding this Administration’s potential campaign finance violations, and I will continue to push the Department of Justice and the FEC to follow the money and uphold the law." - Amy Klobuchar
John Shimkus, a Republican congressman from Illinois, said he is "shocked, angered and embarrassed" by Trump's betrayal of the Kurds, and says he no longer supports the President. According to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/MMarist poll, 52% of Americans support the impeachment inquiry, while 43% oppose it. On the question of removing Trump from office, those for and against are dead even at 48% each. HR McMaster, Trump's former national security adviser was asked today if it is appropriate for the president of the United States to solicit foreign interference in our political process, McMaster's answer "Of course no. No, it's absolutely not." News surfaced that three House committees have subpoenaed Rick Perry, the president's energy secretary as part of the impeachment inquiry. The accompanying letter states in part: "Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian president. These reports have also raised significant questions about your efforts to press Ukrainian officials to change the management structure at a Ukrainian state-owned energy company to benefit individuals involved with Rudy Giuliani’s push to get Ukrainian officials to interfere in our 2020 election." A judge has ordered Lev Parnas and Igor Furman to surrender their passports, and post $1m each before they can be released from jail. Once released, they will be confined to their homes and will have to wear GPS monitors. Donald Trump told reporters that Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman, will be joining his legal team "sometime after January". Gowdy, who chaired the House Select Committee on Benghazi from 2014 to 2016, stated during that investigation: "The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles." Since retiring from congress, Gowdy has worked as a contributor to Fox News.
October 9, 2019 - According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, 50% of voters support removing Trump from office, while 43% do not. Turkey has launched an offensive on Kurds in northern Syria now that US troops have pulled out of the region. The Kurds, who worked with the US as ground troops against ISIS, lost more than 10,000 people in those battles. Following heavy criticism, Trump sent the following tweets to defend his foreign policy in the Middle East: "The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! We went to war under a false & now disproven premise, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. There were NONE! Now we are slowly & carefully bringing our great soldiers & military home. Our focus is on the BIG PICTURE! THE USA IS GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!" Marco Rubio, a Senate Republican, sent the following tweet "The Kurds were lead ground force against ISIS & currently hold 1000’s of ISIS killers in jail. Abandoning them is morally repugnant,stains our nations reputation & could lead to 1000’s of ISIS killers back on battlefield." IN response to news of a Turkish incursion into Kurdish held Syria, Senate Republican Lindsey Graham sent the following tweet: "If media reports are accurate and Turkey has entered northern Syria — a disaster is in the making. Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration. This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS." Graham, who has stated publicly regarding the Ukraine phone call "I’ve read the transcript. ... I do not see anything wrong there, and I want Nancy Pelosi to know that Republican senators are not going to impeach this president based on this transcript" also stated in 1998 during Clinton's impeachment "The day Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day he was subject to impeachment." Joe Biden, former vice president, and current candidate for president in 2020, has come out in favor of impeachment saying "Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation, and committed impeachable acts. To preserve our Constitution, our democracy, our basic integrity, he should be impeached." Trump responded to Biden's statement tweeting "So pathetic to see Sleepy Joe Biden, who with his son, Hunter, and to the detriment of the American Taxpayer, has ripped off at least two countries for millions of dollars, calling for my impeachment - and I did nothing wrong. Joe’s Failing Campaign gave him no other choice!" It should be noted, that neither Trump nor his allies have supplied any evidence to support Trump's claim that Biden exploited his influence as vice president to aid his son or his business. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, was asked three times if it was acceptable for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. Ernst refused to answer the question. According to CNN, a senior adviser to Turkish president Erdogan claims that Trump knew in advance "precisely" the scope of the military operation in northern Syria. The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its last meeting, which show that Trump's trade policy is being blamed for a slowing economy. During a press conference, Trump was asked how he would react if Turkish forces decimated America's Kurdish allies in the region, to which Trump replied that he would "wipe out" Turkey's economy. Trump was also asked if he was concerned that Islamic State fighters might be able to escape because of Turkey's military operation, which Trump dismissed, saying "Well, they’re going to be escaping to Europe. That’s where they want to go; they want to go back to their homes, but Europe didn’t want them from us." Trump also said of the Kurds "They didn't help us in the second world war, they didn't help us with Normandy, as an example." Trump's statement on the Kurd's failure to help at Normandy was traced to an article in which the author, Kurt Schlichter, excused Trump's betrayal by saying "Let's be honest - the Kurds didn't show up for us at Normandy or Inchon or Khe Sanh or Kandahar." Trump also said the following when asked if he would cooperate with the impeachment inquiry: "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." According to NPR: "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." So, when Trump complains that he isn't being given due process during the impeachment proceeding, the complaint is unwarranted because he isn't guaranteed any. Regarding the Ukraine call, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, said the following during an interview with PBS: "I found that to be wholly appropriate. I was on the call. I listened to it. It was consistent with what President Trump has been trying to do to take corruption out." According to Bloomberg, Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, was asked by Trump to persuade the Justice Department to drop a case against Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader, who "was being prosecuted in federal court on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran's nuclear program." According to the article "Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation". According to the New York Times: "It is unclear whether any Kurds were at the Normandy landings, but there is evidence that some of them fought on the side of the Allied forces during World War II. Some background: The Kurds, despite being the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, are a stateless and often marginalized people whose homeland stretches across Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia ... They didn’t have a country ... They didn’t have a navy. They didn’t have anything on their own. But individually, many people came forward." Also according to the New York Times, attorney general William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News. This visit comes in the wake of a Fox News poll saying that the majority of Americans favor impeaching Trump. Trump was reported to be upset by the airing of that poll on Fox. According to the Washington Post, at least four national security officials raised concerns over the Trump administrations' efforts to pressure Ukraine with a White House lawyer. The story states in part "At the time, the officials were unnerved by the removal in May of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine; subsequent efforts by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to promote Ukraine-related conspiracies; as well as signals in meetings at the White House that Trump wanted the new government in Kiev to deliver material that might be politically damaging to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden." Donald Trump held a rally in Minneapolis today. Some highlights:
- Eric Trump falsely claims that Joe Biden's son "embezzled" funds. The crowd responds with "Lock him up! Lock him up!" Eric Trump responds, "We don't need to lock him up, we just need to beat the hell out of all of them."
- Trump claimed that Joe Biden was only "a good vice-president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass".
October 8, 2019 - According to a Washington Post-Schar School poll, 58% of Americans support House Democrats' decision to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. 49% support Trump's removal from office. Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, who was scheduled to testify today before the House of Representatives, was ordered not to do so by the US Department of States. In a statement released by Sondland's attorney, it stated that Sondland is ""profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify, but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see. Importantly, Ambassador Sondland’s tweet, which few report, stated, “I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind.” That says it ALL!" It should be noted here that Sondland's text message, not tweet, which denied a quid pro quo, occurred after Sondland spoke to Donald Trump. Adam Schiff called the blocking of Sondland's testimony "yet additional strong evidence of obstruction." House Democrats issued a subpoena to compel ambassador Sondland to appear. Trump sent the following tweet in response to Adam Schiff's statement: "Hasn’t Adam Schiff been fully discredited by now? Do we have to continue listening to his lies?" Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, sent a letter to House Democratic leaders which called the impeachment inquiry an illegitimate effort "to overturn the results of the 2016 election" and stated in part "In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the executive branch and all future occupants of the office of the presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances." It should be noted that just last week, Trump vowed that he would participate in the inquiry saying "I always cooperate" and that "we'll work together". Responding to the letter, Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying in part "Mr. president, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable." One complaint in Cipillone's letter is that precedent from previous impeachment inquiries is not being followed, however, the Constitution says that the House "shall have sole power of impeachment," and provides no process or rules, meaning each House can proceed in whichever ways it chooses. The Senate intelligence committee released its bipartisan report on Russia's use of social media to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, which concluded that the Kremlin sought to help Trump's campaign by spreading disinformation. The report states in part: "The Committee found, that the IRA sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton’s chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin." The report also calls on the Executive Branch to "reinforce with the public the danger of attempted foreign interference in the 2020 election." According to CNN regarding Trump's call with the Ukrainian president: "The scramble and fallout from the call, described by six people familiar with it, parallels and expands upon details described in the whistleblower complaint. The anxiety and internal concern reflect a phone conversation that deeply troubled national security professionals, even as Trump now insists there was nothing wrong with how he conducted himself. And it shows an ultimately unsuccessful effort to contain the tumult by the administration’s lawyers. At least one National Security Council official alerted the White House’s national security lawyers about the concerns, three sources familiar with the matter said, a detail that had not been previously disclosed. Those same lawyers would later order the transcript of the call moved to a highly classified server typically reserved for code-word classified material."
October 7, 2019 - According to the Guardian, following a phone call with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, the Trump administration gave "the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington's longtime military partner." The decision is reported to have caught the pentagon by surprise. A statement regarding the policy change was released by the White House and said in part "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria. The United States armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial ‘caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area." Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, called the move "a big win for Iran and Assad [and] a big win for Isis" and also a "disaster in the making". Graham also stated "Isis is not defeated. This is the biggest lie being told by this administration". Victor Marrero, a Federal Judge, rejected a legal challenge by Trump to prevent the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal investigation, which is looking at the Trump Organization's involvement in paying two women to keep quiet about their claims of having affairs with Trump. Trump sent the following tweet regarding tax returns ruling "The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!" Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, attempted to give a speech today, but was shouted down by immigrant activists, and finally just walked off the stage. The immigrant activists released a statement about the incident which stated in part "No Trump henchmen should be given a platform to spread hatred or defend the racist, xenophobic policies put into place by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Institutions that elevate the architects and enforcers of Trump’s hate and normalize that cruelty can expect to hear from us." Trump sent the following tweet regarding his decision on northern Syria: "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!" Republican senator Mitt Romney, and Democratic senator Chris Murphy released a joint statement saying in part "The president's decision to abandon our Kurdish allies in northern Syria in the face of an assault by Turkey is a betrayal that will have grave humanitarian and national security consequences. After enlisting support from the Kurds to help destroy ISIS and assuring Kurdish protection from Turkey, the US has now opened the door to their destruction. This severely undercuts America’s credibility as a reliable partner and creates a power vacuum in the region that benefits ISIS". Republican senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, issued a statement saying in part "A precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime. And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup."
October 5, 2019 - News surfaced that a second intelligence official is considering filing a whistleblower complain about Trump's dealings with Ukraine. According to the reports, this whistleblower has more direct information about the events in question than the initial whistleblower. Trump signed a proclamation which will deny US visas to immigrants who cannot prove they can afford health care within 30 days of entering the country. Doug Rand, a former Obama administration official, and co-founder of Boundless Immigration, responded to the news tweeting "This new attempt at an immigration ban is as shameless as it is stunning. It will be chaotic to implement and guaranteed to separate US citizens from their legal immigrant spouses and other close relatives." News surfaced that Trump told House Republicans that he made his call to the Ukrainian President at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry saying "Not a lot of people know this but, I didn't even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to."
October 4, 2019 - During an appearance on Morning Joe, Ellen Weintraub, the Federal Election Commission chair, stated "the law is pretty clear. ... It is absolutely illegal for anyone to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with any election in the United States." Adam Schiff sent the following tweet: "It comes down to this. We’ve cut through the denials. The deflections. The nonsense. Donald Trump believes he can pressure a foreign nation to help him politically. It's his 'right.' Every Republican in Congress has to decide: Is he right?" Video surfaced of Mike Pence in the 2016 vice presidential debate saying "This is basic stuff. Foreign donors — and certainly foreign governments — cannot participate in the American political process." Ruslan Riaboshapka, the current prosecutor general of Ukraine, announced that his office will review all cases closed by his predecessor. Trump told the press "I don’t care about Biden’s campaign. I care about corruption". Mitt Romney, Republican senator of Utah, made the following statement: "When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated. By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling." LaRouche PAC, a far right group that supports Donald Trump, trolled a town hall event hosted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by sending in a woman who ranted about how the climate crisis needed to be solved by eating babies. After the video went viral, Trump sent it in a tweet and stated "AOC is a wack job". Marco Rubio, Republican senator from Florida, was asked about Trump's public request to China to investigate Biden, his response: "I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press knowing that you guys were going to get outraged by it. He’s pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he’s been doing that for awhile, and the media responded right on task". Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller claimed recently that the impeachment inquiry is a product of the "deep state", which is a conspiracy theory. One of the major players in forming and propagating the deep state conspiracy theory is Steve Bannon, who recently stated that the "deep state conspiracy theory is for nut cases". Bannon also said that the government bureaucracy is formidable, but "there's nothing 'deep' about it. It's right in your face." Ron Johnson, Republican senator of Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal that the US ambassador to the Europen Union told him that "aid to Ukraine was tied to the desire by Mr Trump and his allies to have Kyiv undertake investigations related to the 2016 US elections". According to the New York Times the inspector general of the treasury department "is investigating how treasury handled a congressional request for President Trump's tax returns, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to turn over". According to the Washington Post, House Democrats have sent a letter to Mike Pence requesting Ukraine documents for the impeachment inquiry saying in part "Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian president". FiveThirtyEight's poll tracker on impeachment, which charts polling averages, finds that 46.5% of respondents favor impeachment, while 44.8% oppose it. Vice president Mike Pence's office responded to a request for documents saying "it does not appear to be a serious request". According to NBC News, Courtney Simmons Elwood, a Trump-appointed CIA general counsel, contacted the justice department about the whistleblower's complaint and "intended the call ... to make a criminal referral about the president's conduct, acting under rules set forth in a memo governing how intelligence agencies should report allegations of federal crimes". The leaders of the House impeachment inquiry have sent a subpoena to White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney seeking documents saying in part "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the president has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up ... We deeply regret that President Trump has put us – and the nation – in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the subpoena request saying in part "This subpoena changes nothing - just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the President did nothing wrong."
October 3, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, in addition to wanting to construct a moat full of snakes and alligators along the US-Mexico border, Trump also suggested arming US forces "with bayonets to block people crossing into the United States across the Mexico border". While standing on the White House lawn, Trump responded to a question about what he wanted the Ukraine president to do, Trump responded: "If they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens. I would say President Zelenskiy, if it was me, I would start an investigation into the Bidens." Of the whistleblower complaint Trump stated: "It’s totally inaccurate because the conversation that I had was absolutely perfect." Trump also added "China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened in Ukraine." Trump was then asked if he had requested President Xi of China to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump's response: "I haven’t but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about". Some select responses on twitter to Trump's comments on the White House lawn:
"Trump admits he asked Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, and asks China to do the same. Like Nixon telling America 'I ordered the break in.'" - Oliver Willis
"Just to be clear, Trump is currently, this morning, calling on foreign leaders to investigate Biden in the midst of an impeachment proceeding about whether he has encouraged foreign leaders to investigate Biden." - Sam Stein
"This. Is. The. Thing. Republicans. Spent. Days. Denying. He Asked." - Blake Hounshell
"The President cannot use the power of his office to pressure foreign leaders to investigate his political opponents. His rant this morning reinforces the urgency of our work. America is a Republic, if we can keep it." - Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff also called Trump's request that China investigate Biden "a fundamental breach of his oath of office and told the assembled press "Once again, having the president of the United States suggesting, urging, a foreign country to interfere in our presidential elections is an illustration that if this president has learned anything from the two years of the Mueller investigation is that he feels he can do anything with impunity." CNN is refusing to air a Trump campaign ad that makes a series of false claims about the Bidens in Ukraine. According to the Daily Beast: "The 30-second ad, titled 'Biden Corruption,' peddles misleading accusations about Joe Biden and his son Hunter in an attempt by President Trump to deflect from controversy over his pressuring of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on the former vice president." George Conway, husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following tweet: "You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you don’t need to be a mental-health professional to see that something’s very seriously off with Trump—particularly after nearly three years of watching his erratic and abnormal behavior in the White House." Speaking at a healthcare rally in Florida, Trump told the crowd that Republicans will never allow health insurance companies to turn away those with pre-existing conditions, but failed to mention that it was Barack Obama's Affordable Care act that stopped insurance companies from being able to refuse treatment to those with pre-existing conditions, which most Republicans voted against. Vice president Mike Pence defended Trump's controversial Ukraine call saying "The American people have a right to know if the vice president of the United States, or his family, profited from his position." Trump sent the following tweet: "ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy for Ukraine testified before a congressional committee today where he said he "tried to caution Guiliani that his sources, including Ukraine’s former top prosecutor, were unreliable and that he should be careful about putting faith in the prosecutor’s stories". Volker also explained that it was unusual for the U.S. to withhold aid to Ukraine, but said he was given no explanation for it. Also according to Volker, Trump administration diplomats drafted a statement for Volodymyr Zelenskyy that would have committed Ukraine to investigating the energy company Burisma, and would have called for Ukrainian government to look into a conspiracy theory that Ukranians interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton. According to the Washington Post, an Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint relating to interference by a political appointee who tried to interfere with the annual audit of either Trump's or Pence's tax returns, or both. According to CNN "During a phone call with Xi on June 18, Trump raised Biden’s political prospects as well as those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who by then had started rising in the polls, according to two people familiar with the discussion. In that call, Trump also told Xi he would remain quiet on Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed." According to Politico, Rick Perry, Trump's energy secretary, who has suggested that fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault, is planning to resign next month. Perry was the one who attended Ukrainian leader Vlodomyr Zalenskyy's inauguration in place of Mike Pence. Donald Trump sent the following text: "As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!" During testimony with three House committees, Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, provided a series of text messages that were between himself, Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to the Ukraine, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and an aide to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. One bombshell text from Bill Taylor said "As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign". In another, Gordon Sondland says "I think potus really wants the deliverable". According to the Guardian "The texts, released on Thursday night, show that the diplomats made clear that any improvement in Kyiv’s relations with Washington would be dependent on Zelenskiy’s cooperation in Trump’s quest to find damaging material about Hunter Biden, the son of his leading political opponent, and on the Democrats in general. The conversations leave no doubt that the US state department was deeply involved in the effort to use the office of the presidency to pressure a foreign government to investigate Trump's political enemies. At one point, the diplomats even draft a statement for Zelenskiy to read out." Here are some select responses to the information in the text messages:
"All week I’ve been saying you never see direct written evidence of a quid pro quo. I stand corrected." - Preet Bharara
"'I think potus really wants the deliverable' is going to go down in the history books along with 'do us a favor though'" - Susan Glasser
"Waking up to all of this new evidence. Shows impeachment constitutionally required. Damning and sad. This is just the first week of the investigation. Trump's factual defense has already collapsed." - Neal Katyal
"The question at this point is how many times, and with how many foreign leaders, has Trump offered to alter US policy in exchange for help from abroad in interfering in US elections." - Adam Serwer
"A Note to US Gov't Employees: If you've seen illegal acts by Trump or Trump appointees & you keep it to yourself, not only are you failing in your responsibility to the country you're opening yourself up to liability & speculation about your motives. See something, say something." - David Rothkopf
"Bill Taylor is a West Point grad, Vietnam vet, and career public servant. He is our chief diplomat in Ukraine and an expert on the country. If Taylor believes the aid was withheld to get the interference, that’s big news." - Chris Murphy
What follows is an excerpt of the letter that accompanied the release of the text messages to the public, written by the chairs of the Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs Committees:
"The President and his aides are engaging in a campaign of misinformation and misdirection in an attempt to normalize the act of soliciting foreign powers to interfere in our elections. We have all seen the summary of the call in which President Trump repeatedly urged the Ukrainian President to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden immediately after the Ukrainian President mentioned critical U.S. military assistance to counter Russian aggression. The President claims he did nothing wrong. Even more astonishing, he is now openly and publicly asking another foreign power - China - to launch its own sham investigation against the Bidens to further his own political aims. This is not normal or acceptable. It is unethical, unpatriotic, and wrong. American Presidents should never press foreign powers to target their domestic political rivals. Engaging in these stunning abuses in broad daylight does not absolve President Trump of his wrongdoings - or is grave offenses against the Constitution. Over the past week, new reports have revealed that other Trump Administration officials also have been involved in the illicit effort to get Ukrainian help for the President's campaign."
October 2, 2019 - Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, has admitted to being on the call with Trump and the president of Ukraine calling it part of normal state department business. Trump sent the following tweet: "As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!" During a press briefing, Adam Schiff made the following statements:
- "We are deeply concerned about secretary Pompeo’s effort to potentially interfere with witnesses who are set to appear before out committee, many of whom are mentioned in the whistleblower complaint."
- "We are proceeding deliberately, but at the same time we feel a real sense of urgency"
- attempts to “stonewall” the impeachment inquiry “will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice”
- "We're not fooling around here"
- "The president probably doesn't realize how dangerous his statements are"
- "It’s hard to imagine a set of circumstances that would have alarmed the Founders more than what’s on that call. It’s hard to imagine a more corrupt course of conduct.”
Following the news conference, Trump sent the following tweet: "The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it! Adam Schiff should only be so lucky to have the brains, honor and strength of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. For a lowlife like Schiff, who completely fabricated my words and read them to Congress as though they were said by me, to demean a First in Class at West Point, is SAD!" During a press appearance in the Oval Office, Trump made the following statement "He [Schiff] made up my conversation. He actually made it up. It should be treasonous. He made it up. Every word of it. Made it up. And read to Congress as though I said it. I’ll tell you what, he should be forced to resign. Adam Schiff, he’s a low life. He should be forced to resign. He took a perfect conversation, realized he couldn’t read it to congress because it was a very nice conversation." According to the New York Times, the whistleblower approached a House Intelligence Committee staff aide days before filing the complaint. Schiff, the chairman of the committee, was made aware of the nature of the allegations, but was not given information on the whistleblower's identity. Trump held a joint press conference with Sauli Niinisto. Here are some select statements Trump made during the event:
- "I think he [Schiff] probably helped write it [the whistleblower complaint]. He [Schiff] knew long before, and he helped write it too"
- "I probably will be bringing litigation against a lot of people having to do with the corrupt investigation into the 2016 election. And I have every right to."
Trump: "We have the president of Finlnd, ask him a question"
Reporter: "I have one for him, I just wanted to follow up on the one I asked you-"
Trump: "Did you hear me? Ask him a question!"
According to the AP, the US is imposing 25% tariffs on $7.5bn in European imports beginning October 18. News surfaced that Republican senator Lindsey Graham sent a letter to leaders of the UK, Australia and Italy asking them to cooperate with attorney general William Barr in his investigation of the origins of the Mueller investigation. According to the Washington Post, Trump involved vice president Mike Pence in his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden: "Trump instructed Pence not to attend the inauguration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in May — an event White House officials had pushed to put on the vice president’s calendar — when Ukraine’s new leader was seeking recognition and support from Washington, the officials said. Months later, the president used Pence to tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was still being withheld while demanding more aggressive action on corruption, officials said. At that time — following Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenksy — the Ukrainians probably understood action on corruption to include the investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden."
October 1, 2019 - Michael Atkinson, the ICIG, released a statement in which he pointed out that the whistleblower in the Trump/Ukraine scandal had "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct" that was the subject of the urgent complaint filed in August. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, responded to House committees' requests to have members of the state department testify before congress saying he is "concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career [foreign-service officers]." Three House committee chairs (Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings) responded to Pompeo's comments saying in part "Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress—including State Department employees—is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry." According to an excerpt from an upcoming book called Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration, Trump "often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him". A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Georgia law banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Maxine Waters, the chairman of the House Financial services committee, sent the following tweet: "I'm calling on the GOP to stop Trump's filthy talk of whistleblowers being spies & using mob language implying they should be killed. Impeachment is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned & placed in solitary confinement. But for now, impeachment is the imperative."
September 30, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following in tweet: "Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?"
Note: The definition of treason in Article Three, Section 3, of the United States Constitution, is as follows: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "WHO CHANGED THE LONG STANDING WHISTLEBLOWER RULES JUST BEFORE SUBMITTAL OF THE FAKE WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT? DRAIN THE SWAMP!"
Note: There was no change to the whistleblower rule. According to the Daily Beast "From Donald Trump on down, prominent Republicans used part of their weekend to falsely accuse Trump’s hand-picked intelligence community inspector general (IC IG) of secretly changing the requirements for intelligence workers to submit whistleblower tips as part of a deep state plot to clear the way for the Aug. 12 complaint about Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine."
Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina, sent the following tweet: "In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony. But you can impeach a president? I certainly hope not." George Conway, the husband of senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following response to Lindsey Graham in a series of tweets: "It has been a while since you’ve practiced law, so let me help: * @realDonaldTrump’s incriminating statements are binding admissions against him and are not hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2); * Even if that were not so, the statements would be admissible under Rule 804(b)(3)‘ s exception to the hearsay rule for statements against penal or other interest; * To the extent Trump was involved in a criminal conspiracy with... @RudyGiuliani, Giuliani’s statements are also admissible against Trump and House can consider hearsay in deciding whether to begin an impeachment inquiry, just as prosecutors can consider hearsay in deciding whether to convene a grand jury. So your argument, Senator, is pure garbage, even assuming that the rules of evidence apply in the impeachment process." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Very simple! I was looking for Corruption and also why Germany, France and others in the European Union don’t do more for Ukraine. Why is it always the USA that does so much and puts up so much money for Ukraine and other countries? By the way, the Bidens were corrupt!"
Note: Since Russia's annexation of Crimea, the European Union has given Ukraine $16.5 billion in grants and loans. During that same time period, the US has provided $1.3 billion.
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's personal lawyers, made the following statement on his radio show: "We won the Mueller probe. We're going to win this one. Here we go! I tell you what. If Mueller was a war this is a skirmish." Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aid, sent the following tweet: "Presidents don't get to arrest political opponents for treason just because they disagree with them. If they could, Trump could have been in prison for birtherism. We do, however, Arrest for Treason, when someone gives aid and comfort to an enemy, as Trump has done with Russia." Hillary Clinton weighed in with the following tweet: "The president is a corrupt human tornado." Chris Collins, Republican representative from New York, has resigned. Collins is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to charges of insider trading. Trump was asked by a reporter if he knows who the whistleblower is, to which Trump responded "Well we're trying to find out about a whistleblower. We have a whistleblower that reports that things that were incorrect." According to CBS "@60Minutes has obtained a letter that indicates the government whistleblower...is under federal protection because he or she fears for their safety". Andrew Bakaj, a lawyer representing the whistleblower, sent the following tweet: "IC WB UPDATE: The Intel Community Whistleblower is entitled to anonymity. Law and policy support this and the individual is not to be retaliated against. Doing so is a violation of federal law." According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 47% of Americans think Trump should be impeached and removed from office, and 47% say he should not. The numbers represent a 20-point swing from less than a week ago. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, has been subpoenaed by three House committees, who wrote in a joint letter "Our inquiry includes an investigation of credible allegations that you acted as an agent of the President in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the Office of the President." Giuliani has been given until October 15th to turn over materials relevant to the impeachment inquiry. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, was listening in on Trump's call with the Ukrainian president. According to the CNN/SSRS poll, 47% of Americans are in favor of impeaching Trump and removing him from office, while 45% are opposed. According to the New York Times, during a phone call with the Australian prime minister, Trump encouraged him to work with William Barr, the attorney general, in an investigation meant to discredit the findings of Robert Mueller. According to the Times "And like the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Mr. Morrison shows the president using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests." In a move that Mike Pompeo says is to make clear the US "will not tolerate foreign interference" in our elections, the US issued new economic sanctions against seven Russians who were involved in an internet "troll factory". According to Pompeo "The United States will continue to push back against malign actors who seek to subvert our democratic processes". According to the Washington Post, William Barr has made personal appeals to British officials, Italian officials and Australian officials to help discredit the Mueller investigation. The Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community released a statement that contradicts Trump's assertion that the whistleblower was only able to file a complaint because of a recent rule change. According to the ICIG, the disclosure was submitted on a form that had been in place since May of 2018.
September 29, 2019 - Donald Trump re-tweeted the following quote from Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress: "If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal." Donald Trump penned the following tweet: "Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'Whistleblower,' represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress. His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason. In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the 'Whistleblower.' Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!"
Note: Trump's complaint against Adam Schiff is regarding comments Schiff made in his opening statement for a hearing on the whistleblower complaint. Schiff did not read Trump's comments in the White House released transcript verbatim, but instead read his own version of the remarks, which he prefaced with: The president's response to Zelenskyy's request for aid " reads like a classic organized crime shakedown ... this is the essence of what the president communicates." Schiff then recites his own characterization of the transcript, then ends with "This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate."
The following exchange occurred between actor Robert De Niro, and CNN host Brian Stelter, during a live broadcast:
De Niro: Donald Trump "should not be president, period."
Stelter: "And when you say that, folks on Fox come after you."
De Niro: "Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em."
The following exchange took place between CNN's Jake Tapper and Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman:
Tapper: "The president was pushing the president of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. I cannot believe that is OK with you."
Jordan: "It is not OK, but he didn’t do that."
September 28, 2019 - Katrina Mulligan, a former official who worked in ODNI, the national security council, and the justice department, stated the following in an interview with The Guardian: "We all knew Coats’ departure was coming because he had clashed with the president on several issues. What was weird was the president’s forcefulness in not wanting Sue Gordon to take over as acting director ... I was hearing at the time that Sue was getting actively excluded from things by the president that she would ordinarily have taken part in, and she was being made to feel uncomfortable ... And then the president tried to install someone who was clearly unqualified. Now the timeline of the whistleblower in the White House raises a lot of questions about the Sue Gordon piece of this." Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina, sent the following tweet: "In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony. But you can impeach a president? I certainly hope not." Critics were quick to point out that on May 3rd of 2016, Graham sent the following tweet: "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it." Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Can you imagine if these Do Nothing Democrat Savages … had a Republican party who would have done to Obama what the Do Nothings are doing to me. Oh well, maybe next time!"
September 27, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Obama loving (wrote Obama book) Peter Baker of the Failing New York Times, married to an even bigger Trump Hater than himself, should not even be allowed to write about me. Every story is a made up disaster with sources and leakers that don’t even exist. I had a simple and very nice call with with the new President of Ukraine, it could not have been better or more honorable, and the Fake News Media and Democrats, working as a team, have fraudulently made it look bad. It wasn’t bad, it was very legal and very good. A continuing Witch Hunt!" Then he sent the following tweet: "Rep. Adam Schiff fraudulently read to Congress, with millions of people watching, a version of my conversation with the President of Ukraine that doesn’t exist. He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it sound horrible, and me sound guilty. HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT. Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public. He has been doing this for two years. I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!" The second tweet is a response to Schiff's opening statement at yesterday's hearing with the DNI, in which Schiff explained Trump's words as a classic mob shakedown. Nancy Pelos expressed her belief that William Barr, the attorney general, has "gone rogue". Trump sent the following tweet: "Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn’t a Whistleblower at all. In addition, all second hand information that proved to be so inaccurate that there may not have even been somebody else, a leaker or spy, feeding it to him or her? A partisan operative?" According to CNN, a senior White House official confirmed that the Trump administration used a separate classified system to house important documents, including the transcript of the Ukraine call. While speaking at Georgetown University, Hillary Clinton told the crowd "These are perilous times for our world. Nationalism, tribalism and authoritarianism are on the rise. Technology has proved to be a double edged sword." Clinton also told the crowd that Trump has turned US diplomacy into "a cheap extortion racket" and "stabbed in the back" career foreign service officers ... "In the course of his duties he endangered us all by putting his personal political interests ahead of the interests of the American people." More than 300 former national security and foreign policy officials have signed on to a statement which reads in part "[A]ll of us recognize the imperative of formal impeachment proceedings to ascertain additional facts and weigh the consequences of what we have learned and what may yet still emerge. We applaud those Members of Congress, including Speaker Pelosi, who have now started us down that necessary path. President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign interference into our democratic processes. That would constitute an unconscionable abuse of power. It also would represent an effort to subordinate America’s national interests—and those of our closest allies and partners—to the President’s personal political interest. ... To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress' deliberative process. At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings." Three House committees have subpoenaed secretary of state Mike Pompeo for information on the whistleblower complaint writing "Pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019." News surfaced today that Kurt Volker, a part-time special envoy for Ukraine, who was mentioned in the whistleblower report, has resigned. According to the Guardian "further reports emerged of White House efforts to limit access to transcripts of conversations with other countries. Trump’s phone calls with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin were also tightly restricted, according to former administration officials quoted by CNN and the New York Times." According to the Washington Post, the White House restricted access to comments that Trump made to Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, during a 2017 Oval Office meeting, in an attempt to conceal the fact that Trump had told the Russian officials he was unconcerned about Moscow's interference in the 2016 US election because the US did the same thing in other countries. This was the same meeting in which Trump has previously been reported to have told the Russian officials that James Comey was a "nut job", and also shared Israeli intelligence related to ISIS. According to an investigation by Senate Democrats, the NRA acted as a "foreign asset" before the 2016 election, in providing Russian officials access to US political organizations. Lindsey Graham made the following statement today: "From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. What would’ve been wrong is if the president had suggested to the Ukrainian government that if you don’t do what I want you to do regarding the Bidens, we’re not going to give you the aid. That was the accusation; that did not remotely happen."
September 26, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet: "THE GREATEST SCAM IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN POLITICS!" The House intelligence committee released to the public the whistleblower's complaint. According to the whistleblower:
- "The president of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic rivals. The President's personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort. Attorney General Barr appears to be involved as well."
- "I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute 'a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive Order' that 'does not include differences of opinions concerning public policy matters,' consistent with the definition of an 'urgent concern'."
- "I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine the U.S. Government's efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections."
- "The White House officials who told me this information were deeply disturbed by what had transpired in the phone call. They told me there was already a 'discussion ongoing' with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials' retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain."
- "In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to "lock down" all records of the phone call, especially the official word-fro-word transcript of the call that was produced - as is customary - by the White House Situation Room. This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call. White House officials told me that they were 'directed' by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials. Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective."
- "On 26 July, a day after the call, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker visited Kyiv and met with President Zelenskyy and a variety of Ukrainian political figures. Ambassador Volker was accompanied in his meetings by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Based on multiple readouts of these meetings recounted to me by various U.S. officials, Ambassador Volker and Sondland reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy."
- "Starting in mid-May, I heard from multiple U.S. officials that they were deeply concerned by what they viewed as Mr. Giuliani's circumvention of national security decision making processes to engage with Ukrainian officials and relay messages back and forth between Kyiv and the President."
- "During this same timeframe, multiple U.S. officials told me that the Ukrainian leadership was led to believe that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelenskyy would depend on whether Zelenskyy showed willingness to 'play ball' on the issues that had been publicly aired by Mr. Lutsenko and Mr. Giuliani."
- "I learned from U.S. officials that, on or around 14 May, the President instructed Vice President Pence to cancel his planned travel to Ukraine to attend President Zelenskyy's inauguration on 20 May ...According to these officials, it was also 'made clear' to them that the President did not want to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy until he saw how Zelenskyy 'chose to act' in office."
- "On 13 June, the President told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he would accept damaging information on his political rivals from a foreign government."
- "On 21 June, Mr. Giuliani tweeted: 'New Pres of Ukraine still silent on investigation of Ukranian interference in 2016 and alleged Biden bribery of Poroshenko. Time for leadership and investigate both if you want to purge how Ukraine was abused by Hillary and Clinton people."
- "In mid-July, I learned of a sudden change of policy with respect to U.S. assistance for Ukraine"
- "On 18 July, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official informed Deprtments and Agencies that the President 'earlier that month' had issued instructions to suspend all U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. Neither OMB nor NSC staff knew why this instruction had been issued. During interagency meetings on 23 July and 26 July, OMB officials again stated explicitly that the instruction to suspend this assistance had come directly from the President, but they still were unaware of a policy rationale. As of early August, I heard from U.S. officials that some Ukrainian officials were aware that U.S. aid might be in jeopardy."
Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, testified today before the House intelligence committee regarding the whistleblower's complaint. Adam Schiff, the committee chairman opened the hearing by stating in part that Trump had "betrayed" his oath of office and threatened US national security. He also stated "If we do not defend the nation, there is no Constitution. But if we do not defend the Constitution, there is no nation worth defending. Schiff added that the founders allowed a remedy for such "flagrant abuse of office": impeachment. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, called the whistleblower complaint a "hoax" and called it another "Steele dossier". Will Hurd, another Republican on the committee, tweeted the following: "There is a lot in the whistleblower complaint that is concerning. We need to fully investigate all of the allegations addressed in the letter, and the first step is to talk to the whistleblower." During questioning, Maguire stated "I think the whistleblower did the right thing" by coming forward. Representative Joaquin Castro asked Maguire "Would you say that the whistleblower complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript that was released?" to which Maguire responded "The whistleblower's complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president." Maguire pointed out during the hearing that the "greatest challenge facing the United States is safeguarding "the integrity of the election system". Mike Turner, a Republican Representative from Ohio tweeted: "I want to say to the president: This is not okay. That conversation is not okay." In an interview with the Washington Post, Yuri Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian president, said "Hunter Biden cannot be responsible for violations of the management of Burisma that took place two years before his arrival."Larry Kudlow, Trump's senior economic adviser, called the whistleblower's claims "hearsay" and "highly suspicious". Trump sent the following tweet: "A whistleblower with second hand information? Another Fake News Story! See what was said on the very nice, no pressure, call. Another Witch Hunt!" Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, was asked about the whistleblower complaint, to which he responded "I haven’t had a chance to actually read the whistleblower complaint yet. I read the first couple of paragraphs, but I got busy today. But I’ll ultimately get a chance to see it. If I understand it right it was someone who has secondhand knowledge." Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Adam Schiff has zero credibility. Another fantasy to hurt the Republican Party!" Adam Schiff responded to Trump's tweet saying he is "always flattered" when he is attacked by a person of the president's character. While speaking to reporters, Trump claimed the investigation into the Ukraine call is a "disgrace" and then said "There should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts." In audio obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Trump can be heard saying "Who’s the person that gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days, when we were smart, right? The spies and treason? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now." At the same event where the recording was made, Trump referred to the media as "scum". Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont has voiced support for impeachment of Donald Trump saying he wasn't surprised by the allegations because he's "watched him over the years." Trump sent the following tweet: "Liddle’ Adam Schiff, who has worked unsuccessfully for 3 years to hurt the Republican Party and President, has just said that the Whistleblower, even though he or she only had second hand information, 'is credible.' How can that be with zero info and a known bias. Democrat Scam!" A fundraising email sent out by the Trump campaign and signed by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr states "What Democrats are doing to President Trump is simply UN-AMERICAN. My father has done NOTHING wrong, but we all know that won’t stop Democrats and their good friends in the FAKE NEWS from spreading LIES for political purposes. Don't let the unhinged left-wing MOB win." The Senate has confirmed Eugene Scalia as the new secretary of labor. During an interview with an Atlantic reporter, Rudy Giuliani stated "It is impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons – when this is over, I will be the hero." According to Politico, a former White House official has confirmed that after the Mexico and Australia phone call transcript leaks that occurred in 2017, the White House began redirecting the transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders to a codeword system to avoid future embarrassment. Kate Bedingfield, Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager, released a statement today that says in part: "And now we know that President Trump's response to all of this was to privately issue a thinly veiled threat this morning to execute the national security professionals who followed their oath to uphold the Constitution by bringing this to light. Donald Trump’s abuse of power makes him one of the most divisive, unfit individuals to occupy the Oval Office in our nation's history. His willingness to sell out our national interest for his personal gain endangers our security and his attempts to cover it up put the stability of our democracy at risk." A new NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll found that 49% of Americans approve of the impeachment inquiry. Kamala Harris has requested an investigation by the State Department's inspector general to determine if any Department of State officials enabled Rudy Giuliani in violation of restrictions against engaging in partisan political activities.
September 25, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have. The Democrats are frozen with hatred and fear. They get nothing done. This should never be allowed to happen to another President. Witch Hunt!" Trump also tweeted the following: "Will the Democrats apologize after seeing what was said on the call with the Ukrainian President? They should, a perfect call - got them by surprise!" The White House released a partial transcript of the call between Trump and the president of Ukraine. Here are some key exchanges in the transcript:
Trump: "We do a lot for Ukraine ... the United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine."
Zelensky: "Yes you are absolutely right ... We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes."
Trump: "I would like you to do us a favor though ... I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... The server, they say Ukraine has it ... I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it ... that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible."
Zelensky: "Yes it is very important for me ... We are ready to open a new page on cooperation in relations between the United States and Ukraine ... one of my assistants spoke to Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine ... We are great friends and you Mr. President have friends in our country so we can continue our strategic partnership."
Trump: "Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that's really unfair ... some very bad people involved ... Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man ... I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General ... The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news so I just want to let you know that ... The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that ... Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me."
Zelensky: "The next prosecutor general will be 100% my person ... He or she will look into situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue ... with regard to the ambassador to the United States from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovitch. It was great that you were the first one who told me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree with you 100%"
Trump: "Well, she's going to go through some things. I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it ... I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor ... Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets."
Zelensky: "Actually last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the Trump Tower ... we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation."
Trump: "Good. Well, thank you very much and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call."
Note: In the transcript, Trump mentioned Crowdstrike, which is the name of the US based cybersecurity firm that conducted analysis of the hack against the Democratic National Committee in 2016, and concluded that two groups connected to the Russian government were behind the attack. Trump also mentioned a server, which is believed to be a DNC server that's at the center of a conspiracy theory, which claims there is a missing server that probably ended up in Ukraine. In reality, there is no missing server. Here are some select responses to the transcript:
"The president of the United States has betrayed our country. That’s not a political statement—it’s a harsh reality, and we must act. He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment." - Hillary Clinton, Former First Lady, and Former Secretary of State
"This 'transcript' itself is a smoking gun. If this is the version of events the president's team thinks is most favorable, he is in very deep jeopardy. We need to see the full whistleblower complaint and the administration needs to follow the law. Now." - Elizabeth Warren, Democratic US Senator
"I did read the transcript, it remains troubling in the extreme, it's deeply troubling." - Mitt Romney, Republican US Senator
"The transcript of the call reads like a classic mob shakedown: – We do a lot for Ukraine – There’s not much reciprocity – I have a favor to ask – Investigate my opponent – My people will be in touch. Nice country you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to her." - Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative
"How the fuck did Trump think this transcript was going to help him???" - Rick Wilson, Republican Strategist
"This transcript is an Orwell Test. Do you reject the evidence of your eyes and ears?" - Amanda Carpenter, Former senior adviser to Senator Ted Cruz
"The phone call is...considerably worse than I thought it would be." - Chris Hayes, MSNBC Host
"Here’s what’s clear: Trump does not observe or recognize important legal distinctions. Not between official business and his campaign. Between private attorney and gov attorneys. Between taxpayer money and his money. Everything is an extension of himself, to be used for his ends." - Asha Rangappa, Former FBI Special Agent
"Any other presidency would be over. Today." - Joyce Alene, Unversity of Alabama Law Professor
"I asked Attorney General Barr in May: did the White House ever ask him to investigate anyone? He wouldn't answer. Barr needs to come back to Congress and answer that question again. Under oath. This time, he better have an answer." - Kamala Harris, Democratic US Senator
"Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in the modern history of this country." - Bernie Sanders, Democratic US Senator
The Justice Department released a statement saying in part "The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son. The President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine – on this or any other matter". According to the New York Times: "After a whistle-blower raised concerns about Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, the director of national intelligence and the inspector general for the intelligence community each referred the complaint for a possible criminal investigation into the president’s actions, according to a Justice Department official. The department’s criminal division reviewed the matters and concluded that there was no basis for a criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s behavior. Law enforcement officials determined that the transcript of the call did not show that Mr. Trump had violated campaign finance laws by soliciting from a foreign national a contribution, donation or thing of value." Speaking to reporters, Trump made the following statement: "The way you had that built up, that call, it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said I never knew you could so nice." Trump sent the following tweet, which quotes Bret Baier, a Fox News host: "You don't see a direct quid pro quo in this." Representative Jerry Nadler, the democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, sent the following tweet: "The President dragged the Attorney General into this mess. At a minimum, AG Barr must recuse himself until we get to the bottom of this matter. #UkraineTranscript". Speaking to reporters, Adam Schiff stated "The notes of the call reflect a conversation far more damning than I or many others had imagined." Schiff also stated "This is how a mafia boss talks. And it’s clear that the Ukraine president understands exactly what is expected of him." Schiff also stated that the whistleblower is "eager" to speak to the House intelligence committee. According to the Washington Post "Three Senate GOP aides said Wednesday that their bosses were grousing and frustrated by the White House’s decision and the sense that Republican lawmakers were being forced into the difficult position of defending Trump while contending with what many see as an alarming or at least problematic transcript." The White House sent out talking points on the Ukraine call to fellow Republicans, but accidentally included House Democrats. A combined statement from Adam Schiff, chair of the intelligence committee, Jerry Nadler, chair of the judiciary committee, Elijah Cummings, chair of the oversight committee and Eliot Engel, chair of the foreign relations committee, states in part: "The record of the call released by the White House confirms our worst fears: that the President abused his office by directly and repeatedly asking a foreign country to investigate his political rival and open investigations meant to help the President politically ... Let’s be clear: no quid pro quo is required to betray our country. Trump asked a foreign government to interfere in our elections—that is betrayal enough." Trump held a joint news conference with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. During the news conference, Trump deflected attention from his own situation by blaming Obama for Ukraine having "lost" Crimea, but failed to mention that Crimea was lost after Russia invaded, not because of anything the Obama administration did. Trump also expressed his belief that some of Hillary Clinton's emails may be located in Ukraine. Trump also voiced anger over Pelosi's move to announce a formal impeachment inquiry by saying she had "lost her way" and had been "taken over" by the "radical left". Trump also stated "Nancy Pelosi, as far as I’m concerned, unfortunately, she’s no longer the speaker of the House." Trump tweeted "Wow!" after it was uncovered that the attorney for the Ukraine call whistleblower had donated money to Joe Biden. Through the same source, which is called OpenSecrets.org, it was uncovered that Trump himself had donated money to Biden in 2001. The whistleblower complaint has been transmitted to the leaders of the House and the Senate. Trump sent the following tweet: "I have informed @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy and all Republicans in the House that I fully support transparency on so-called whistleblower information but also insist on transparency from Joe Biden and his son Hunter, on the millions of dollars that have been quickly and easily taken out of Ukraine and China. Additionally, I demand transparency from Democrats that went to Ukraine and attempted to force the new President to do things that they wanted under the form of political threat." Abby Phillip, a CNN reporter responded to Trump's tweet saying "Trump is trying to turn the tables on Dems by making false claims. The facts are, Democrats wrote to Ukrainian officials urging them to cooperate with the Mueller probe. They did not ask for Ukraine to initiate investigations." Trump held a lone news conference, in which he made the following statements:
"No push, no pressure, no nothing" regarding conversation with Ukranian president.
Claimed the "so-called" whistleblower doesn't have "first class" or "first rate" information. Was probably trying to say "first hand".
"It's a joke. Impeachment for that? When you have a wonderful meeting or a wonderful phone conversation?"
Trump claimed, without offering any evidence, that former president Barack Obama asked foreign leaders for information on him.
Trump accused the media of being "fake" and "corrupt".
"I used to be the king of getting good press, all of the trauma that all of these fakers have caused".
Adam Schiff spoke to reporters after reviewing the whistleblower complaint. What follows are his response, and a few other select responses from the reviewers:
"I found the allegations deeply disturbing. I also found them very credible. I want to thank the whistleblower and let the whistleblower know that we are going to do everything we can to protect you." - Adam Schiff, Chair of the House judiciary committee
"Having read the documents in there, I'm even more worried about what happened than I was when I read the memorandum of the conversation. There are so many facts that have to be examined. It’s very troubling." - Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
"Really troubling things here. Republicans ought not just circle the wagons, and democrats ought not have been using words like impeachment before they knew anything about the actual substance." - Ben Sasse, Republican Senator
According to a report from ABC: "'It was clear that [President Donald] Trump will only have communications if they will discuss the Biden case,' said Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine's Parliament, who now acts as an adviser to Zelenskiy. 'This issue was raised many times. I know that Ukrainian officials understood'". Sharice Davids, Democratic Representative from Kansas, has joined those supporting impeachment, bringing the total to 218, which is the number needed to pass articles of impeachment if all members of the House vote. According to a report from the New York Times: "The intelligence officer who filed a whistle-blower complaint about President Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine raised alarms not only about what the two men said in a phone call, but also about how the White House handled records of the conversation, according to two people briefed on the complaint. The whistle-blower, moreover, identified multiple White House officials as witnesses to potential presidential misconduct who could corroborate the complaint, the people said — adding that the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, interviewed witnesses. Mr. Atkinson eventually concluded that there was reason to believe that the president may have illegally solicited a foreign campaign contributions — and that his potential misconduct created a national security risk, according to a newly disclosed Justice Department memo."
September 24, 2019 - Regarding reports that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, Seven freshman House Democrats penned an op-ed in the Washington Post expressing openness to impeachment saying in part "If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of ‘inherent contempt’ and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security. ... These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do." News surfaced that prior to the call with the Ukrainian president, Trump instructed his chief of staff to hold back military aid from Ukraine. According to the Washington Post "Officials at the Office of Management and Budget relayed Trump's order to the State Department and the Pentagon during an interagency meeting in mid-July, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. They explained that the president had 'concerns' and wanted to analyze whether the money needed to be spent. Administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an 'interagency process' but to give them no additional information — a pattern that continued for nearly two months, until the White House released the funds on the night of Sept. 11. Trump's order to withhold aid to Ukraine a week before his July 25 call with Volodymyr Zelensky is likely to raise questions about the motivation for his decision and fuel suspicions on Capitol Hill that Trump sought to leverage congressionally approved aid to damage a political rival." When asked about the aid that was withheld, Trump explained that he held the money back because he felt our allies should contribute more. Trump also called House Democrats' "demands" to investigate his call with the Ukrainian president "ridiculous" and a "witch hunt". Trump added that "When you see the read out of the call, which I assume you will at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect." Trump spoke at the UN today where he told the assembled group that "The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots." Trump also used the platform to attack immigration advocates who he said "cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice" but whose policies are "cruel and evil." Note: this is exactly the same language that immigration activists have used to describe Trump's family separation & remain in Mexico policies. Trump sent a tweet that included video of a very emotional and angry Greta Thunberg addressing the UN with the following caption: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" Trump's tweet is seen by many as mocking the young climate activist. Thunberg responded to Trump's tweet by changing her twitter bio to "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future." While speaking with reporters, Trump insisted there was no "quid pro quo" with Ukraine when he held up funding. Democratic Representatives Lizzie Fletcher and Don McEachin have joined the call for impeachment, putting the number of pro impeachment House members at 161. A number of Democrats, including former vice president Joe Biden, say they will call for impeachment if the White House does not hand over information about Trump's call with the Ukrainian president. With pressure increasing towards impeachment, Trump announced that he has authorized the release of the transcript of his phone call with the Ukranian president, saying "I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine. You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!" Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee sent the following tweet: "We have been informed by the whistleblower's counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so. We're in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower's testimony as soon as this week." The US Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, passed a resolution 100 to 0 calling for the whistleblower complaint on the Ukraine controversy to be shared with the intelligence committees. Nancy Pelosi held a press conference and announced that House Democrats are moving forward with a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald J Trump, calling his actions "a breach of his constitutional responsibilities". Pelosi also called Trump's actions a "betrayal of his oath of office, a betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry" Donald Trump responded to Pelosi's announcement tweeting "They never even saw the transcript of the call. A total Witch Hunt!" and "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!" Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, sent the following tweet: "Democrats have officially paved the way for a @realDonaldTrump landslide victory. The witch-hunt continues..." News surfaced that prior to Nancy Pelosi's impeachment announcement, Trump contacted her and said "Hey, can we do something about this whistleblower complaint, can we work something out." To which Pelosi responded "Yes, you can tell your people to obey the law."
September 23, 2019 - Jarrett William Smith, a 24 year-old soldier stationed in Kansas, was arrested by the FBI for distributing information online to educate others in making explosive devices. Smith also provided instructions for how a major news network like CNN could be targeted, and also discussed killing members of Antifa. Bill Weld, a Republican challenger of Donald Trump, weighed in on the whistleblower controversy saying "Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election. It couldn't be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason. It's treason, pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death. That's the only penalty." Trump was asked about the appropriateness of his conversation with the president of Ukraine, to which he responded "It's very important to talk about corruption. If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt? ... It’s very important that on occasion you speak to somebody about corruption." Trump sent the following tweet regarding the whistleblower controversy: "'The very thing that they are accusing President Trump of doing (which I didn’t do), was actually done by Joe Biden. Continues to be a double standard.' @RepDevinNunes @foxandfriends These people are stone cold Crooked. Also, who is this so-called 'whistleblower' who doesn't know the correct facts. Is he on our Country's side. Where does he come from. Is this all about Schiff & the Democrats again after years of being wrong?" Trump spoke today at the UN on the subject of Protecting religious freedom. The irony wasn't lost on his critics who were happy to point out that Trump once called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the U.S. Greta Thunberg spoke to the UN General Assembly today saying in part "This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words." According to the Washington Post "Trump has claimed that Biden in 2016 pressured the Ukrainian government to fire Viktor Shokin, the top Ukrainian prosecutor, because he was investigating a Ukrainian gas producer, Burisma Holdings, that had added Biden's son Hunter to its board. But it turns out that the investigation had already been shelved when Biden acted and may have even involved a side company, not Burisma. The Ukrainian prosecutor was regarded as a failure, and 'Joe Biden's efforts to oust Shokin were universally praised,' said Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist heavily involved in Eastern European market reforms. Moreover, Yuri Lutsenko, a former Ukrainian prosecutor general who succeeded the fired prosecutor, told Bloomberg News that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden." Trump made the following statement to a group of journalists today: "Joe Biden and his son are corrupt ... but the fake news doesn't want to report it because they're Democrats. If a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair probably right now. You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves." Trump also stated the following regarding his call with Ukraine "There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. I put no pressure on them whatsoever. I could have. I think it might probably, possibly have been okay if I did, but I didn't." News surfaced that Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Mitch McConnell urging him to hold hearings on whether Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to incentivize launching a probe into Biden. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings, sent a joint letter to Mike Pompeo, demanding the release of information related to the whistleblower complaint, stating in part: "Seeking to enlist a foreign actor to interfere with an American election undermines our sovereignty, democracy and the constitution, which the president is sworn to preserve, protect and defend. Yet the president and his personal attorney now appear to be openly engaging in precisely this type of abuse of power involving the Ukrainian government ahead of the 2020 election." Trump made the following statement to reporters today: "I think I’m gonna get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t. They gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it. And you know what? That was the only thing I agreed with him on." Obama actually received the award for his "efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Michael Knowles, a Conservative Daily Wire podcaster, made the following statement during a guest appearance on a Fox News program: "None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science. If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left." Fox News issued an apology to Greta Thunberg for Knowles' comments. John Ocasio-Nolte, a Breitbart.com editor, sent the following tweet: "I can’t tell if Greta needs a spanking or a psychological intervention... Probably both." Benny Johnson, of Turning Point USA, sent out a tweet calling Greta Thunberg an "annoying, foreign, communist."
September 22, 2019 - Dinesh D'Sousa, a Conservative author, sent a tweet today with a picture of Greta Thunberg next to a painting of a red headed girl with braided hair standing in front of a Nazi flag, with the following commentary: "Children—notably Nordic white girls with braids and red cheeks—were often used in Nazi propaganda. An old Goebbels technique! Looks like today’s progressive Left is still learning its game from an earlier Left in the 1930s." Adam Schiff made the following statement today "Why doesn’t the President just say, ‘Release the whistleblower complaint.’ Clearly he’s afraid for the public to see. This would be the most profound violation of the presidential oath of office, certainly during this presidency, which says a lot, but perhaps during any presidency. There is no privilege that covers corruption. There is no privilege to engage in underhanded discussions. We may have crossed the rubicon here. I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment ... but ... that may be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil that that conduct represents."
September 20, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "The Radical Left Democrats and their Fake News Media partners, headed up again by Little Adam Schiff, and batting Zero for 21 against me, are at it again! They think I may have had a 'dicey' conversation with a certain foreign leader based on a 'highly partisan' whistleblowers statement. Strange that with so many other people hearing or knowing of the perfectly fine and respectful conversation, that they would not have also come forward. Do you know the reason why they did not? Because there was nothing said wrong, it was pitch perfect!" Ben Carson, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, is being criticized for making transphobic comments during an internal meeting. According to the Washington Post "Carson expressed concern about 'big, hairy men' trying to infiltrate women's homeless shelters." News surfaced that a US Marine Corps unit in South Florida is planning to hold its annual ball at Mar-a-Lago, one of Trump's resorts. Trump announced that the US has sanctioned Iran's national bank "at the highest level of sanctions." During a discussion with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump called the whistleblower controversy a "ridiculous story". Trump was then asked if he had discussed Joe Biden in conversations with Ukraine, to which Trump responded "It doesn’t matter what I discussed". Trump then said: "Someone ought to look into Joe Biden." Trump also called the whistleblower "partisan" then admitted "I do not know the identity of the whistleblower." Trump also told the assembled reporters that he is showing restraint with Iran saying "[I could] knock out 15 different major things in Iran. I could do that and [...] it’s all set to go. It would take place in one minute. I could do it right here in front of you. [...] I think it shows much more strength to do it the way we’re doing it." Adam Schiff, the chair of the House intelligence committee, said the following to the press regarding the ongoing whistleblower complaint "This involves something more sinister, something involving a serious or flagrant abuse or violation of law or misappropriation, and the IG underscored the seriousness of this, and also that this needs to be looked into. And right now, no one is looking into this." News surfaced that 24 states are suing the Trump administration to stop them from revoking a state's authority to set auto emission standards. This lawsuit marks the 60th that California has been a part of since the beginning of the Trump administration. According to the Guardian "The Trump administration is planning to sign an agreement to help make one of Central America’s most violent countries, El Salvador, a haven for migrants seeking asylum" by sending asylum seekers there, even though many Salvadorans are fleeing their nation and seeking asylum in the United States. Walmart announced that it will stop selling e-cigarettes. Nancy Pelosi made the following statements regarding the ongoing whistleblower complaint: "We must be sure that the President and his Administration are conducting our national security and foreign policy in the best interest of the American people, not the President’s personal interest." Pelosi also stated "We will continue to follow the facts and explore every possible option to ensure the American people get the truth. We would hope that Republicans would join us in supporting the Constitution." According to the Wall Street Journal, during a July phone call with the Ukrainian president "[Trump] told [Zelensky] that he should work with [Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know," whether allegations were true or not. According to the Journal, Trump asked Zelensky "about eight times" during the call to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation into Hunter Biden. Here are some select responses to the ongoing whistleblower issue:
"Colleagues in Congress: if this isn't impeachable abuse of power, what is? I'm sick of the parsing, dithering & political overcalculating. We are verging on tragic fecklessness. Time to do our job!" - Jared Huffman, Democratic Representative
"We all need to think hard about what to do. Republicans need to put country, not party, first. If the President, in his official capacity, asked a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political opponent, Congress cannot let that stand. Our silence could doom the republic. To ask a foreign leader to interfere in a presidential election - right after a year long investigation into potential foreign interference in a presidential election - would be pretty extraordinary. Even for these times." - Chris Murphy, Democratic Senator
"Just one word: impeachment." - Ilhan Omar, Democratic Representative
"In 2016, President Trump asked Russia to interfere in our elections. In 2020, he's asking Ukraine to do the same. If no one is above the law, then we have no choice but to impeach this president. When will Congress have the courage to act?" - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"If these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and abase our country." - Joe Biden, Former Vice President, and Current Democratic Presidential Candidate
The Department of Homeland Security has added white supremacist violence to its list of major national security threats. Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary announced the addition saying "The continuing menace of racially based violent extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is an abhorrent affront to our nation, the struggle and unity of its diverse population, and the core values of both our society and our department." Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, announced that the US will be sending additional air forces to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying they are "defensive in nature". Approximately 4 million people in 4,500 locations in 150 cities participated in a global climate strike. The participants are calling on world leaders to take action against climate change. Greta Thunberg, who started the School Strike for Climate movement last year, spoke to a large gathering in New York. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, made the following statement: "I don't know what the law is on it, but no president should ever utilize or use American power in any way like to affect an election." Kinzinger also said "It's one thing to go after corruption, and we should, that's a huge problem in Ukraine. But if you say go after it specifically for a political target, that affects somebody in office in the United States, that's a major problem."
September 19, 2019 - The Washington Post is reporting that a member of the intelligence community has made a whistleblower complaint asserting that Trump made a "troubling" promise to a foreign leader. Trump responded to the report tweeting "Another Fake News story out there - It never ends! Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there may be many people listening from various U.S. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. No problem! Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially 'heavily populated' call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA! Presidential Harassment!" Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the Intelligence community, met with congressional leaders to discuss the whistleblower complaint, but refused to release any details saying the Office of Legal Counsel advised against it. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, met with reporters after the meeting with Atkinson, and made the following points:
- The inspector general found that the whistleblower's concern, which involved multiple acts, was urgent and met the criteria for a flagrant issue
- Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence (DNI) made the unprecedented decision not to share the whistleblower's concerns with congress
- If the subject of a complaint can essentially quash a complaint, or keep it from congress, then the system is broken.
Schiff stated "I believe that there is an effort to prevent this information getting to Congress. And if the assertion is accurate, then at one level or another, it likely involves either the president or people around him." Schiff added: "There is no privilege that covers whether the White House is involved in trying to stifle a whistleblower complaint." According to additional reporting from the Washington Post, the whistleblower complaint "centers on Ukraine" and possibly is related to conversations Trump had with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky a couple weeks ago. In May of this year, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, was criticized for suggesting that Ukraine should pursue investigations that could potentially benefit Trump in his reelection bid, specifically by investigating Joe Biden's son and his connections in Ukraine. The Trump administration announced that it will revoke California's authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards. The standards being set by California are more strict than federal regulations require. In making the announcement, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said in part "No state has the authority to opt out of the nation’s rules and no state has the right to impose its policies on everybody else in our whole country. To do otherwise harms consumers and damages the American economy." Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general, responded to the news tweeting "Our message to those who claim to support states' rights is: don't trample on ours. Doing so would be an attempt to undo the progress we've made over decades." Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, responded with this tweet: "Hi, @realDonaldTrump. Let me break it down in simple terms for you... Reducing emissions:
-Protects our air & health -Is good for the economy -Allows families to pay less at the pump. We’re here in the 21st century. Let us know when you decide to join us." Trump's attorneys filed a lawsuit in US District Court in New York to block prosecutors there from obtaining Trump's tax returns. AG Ferguson, the Washington state attorney general, filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from diverting billions of dollars to his wall project, that were initially approved for other military construction projects. During an interview with CNN, the following exchange occurred between Rudy Giuliani and CNN's Chris Cuomo:
Cuomo: "Did you ask the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden?"
Giuliani: "No. Actually I didn't."
30 seconds later...
Cuomo: "So, you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?"
Giuliani: "Of course I did."
September 18, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!" Trump has named Robert C. O'Brien to replace John Bolton as National Security Advisor. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teen climate activist, appeared before a Congressional panel today. Greta did not prepare any testimony, choosing instead to submit the IPCC climate report. In her opening remarks, Greta told the panel: "I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists and I want you to unite behind the science". In prepared remarks to the congressional panel, Jamie Margolin, an American youth activist, stated "People call my generation Generation Z as if we are the last generation, but we are not, we are the GND Generation - the green new deal generation". Terrence K Williams, a conservative commentator and comedian, tweeted a video of Ilhan Omar dancing, and falsely claimed that Omar "partied on the anniversary of 9/11". The video was actually filmed on 9/13. Trump re-tweeted William's tweet, which has since been deleted. Omar responded to the re-tweet stating "This is from a CBC event we hosted this weekend to celebrate black women in Congress. The President of the United States is continuing to spread lies that put my life at risk. What is Twitter doing to combat this misinformation?" The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by one quarter of one percent. Trump, who wanted the rates dropped even further, sent the following tweet: "Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve Fail Again. No 'guts,' no sense, no vision! A terrible communicator!" While speaking at a technology event, Barack Obama was asked how he parsed information as president. Obama responded: "The presidency is like drinking out of a firehose - you can’t absorb that information yourself,” he said. “You can make sure you have a team that is distilling info as effectively as possible so you can get a basic framework for what the problem is. The other thing that’s helpful is not watching TV or reading social media,” he added. “Those are two things I’d advise, if you’re a good president, not to do." Many saw this as a swipe at Trump, who is known to be obsessed with cable news channels and tweets about them at all hours of the day. While visiting Los Angeles, Trump announced that his administration will be "adding some very significant sanctions onto Iran" but offered no details other than to say those would be released "over the next 48 hours". While addressing a group of people in a committee room in the capitol, Greta Thunberg told the crowd "The USA is the biggest carbon polluter in history. It is also the world’s number one producer of oil. It is also the only nation to signal its intention to leave the Paris climate agreement because it was ‘a bad deal’." Thunberg also stated that "This is, above all, an emergency, and not just any emergency. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced and we need to treat it accordingly... Stop telling people ‘everything will be fine’... Stop pretending you, your business idea, your political party or plan will solve everything."
September 17, 2019 - In a newly released study from two economics professors at the University of Texas at Austin, it is shown that "Republicans will win nearly one in six presidential races where they lose the popular vote by 3 points." The study also suggests that Republicans even have a small chance of victory even in elections where Democrats win the popular vote by about 6 points. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2 points in 2016. In a speech to the Heritage Foundation, Vice President Mike Pence said officials are still trying to determine if Iran is behind the Saudi oil facility attack, despite claims from his administration just hours after the attack that Iran is responsible. Corey Lewandowski testified before congress today. The following was part of his opening statement: "Anyone illegally attempting to impact the outcome of an election should spend the rest of their life in jail." Lewandowski wasn't referencing Trump's fake claims of voter fraud, or Republican voter suppression efforts, or Russian tampering in 2016, but rather the right-wing conspiracy theory of the deep state investigation into Trump. Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish climate activist, spoke to a group of Senators today. The lawmakers praised Greta and other activists, then asked for recommendations on how Congress might combat climate change. Greats responded: "Please save your praise, we don’t want it. Don’t invite us here to tell us how inspiring we are without doing anything about it. It doesn’t lead to anything. If you want advice for what you should do, invite scientists, ask scientists for their expertise. We don’t want to be heard. We want the science to be heard. I know you are trying but just not hard enough. Sorry." According to the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will revoke California’s right to set stricter air pollution for cars and light trucks on Wednesday, according to two senior administration officials, as part of a larger effort to weaken an Obama-era climate policy curbing greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s auto fleet. The move sets up a legal battle between the federal government and the nation’s most populous state, which for decades has exercised authority to put in place more stringent fuel economy standards. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have vowed to adopt California’s standards if they diverge from the federal government’s, as have several major automakers."
September 16, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "'The New York Times walks back report on Kavanaugh assault claim.' @foxandfriends The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh - Assaulted by lies and Fake News! This is all about the LameStream Media working with their partner, the Dems." According to the Guardian, "more than a dozen people said they could provide information about incidents involving Kavanaugh, while he was a student at Yale University, but were not interviewed by the FBI because of constraints on the investigation place by the White House and senate Republicans." Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, sent the following tweet: "The @Newyorker can confirm this: Sen. Chris Coons personally alerted FBI Dir. Chris Wray of an additional eyewitness alleging Kavanaugh exposed himself to a 2nd woman at Yale- but the FBI never interviewed the witness, Max Stier, or investigated it." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "They failed on the Mueller Report, they failed on Robert Mueller’s testimony, they failed on everything else, so now the Democrats are trying to build a case that I enrich myself by being President. Good idea, except I will, and have always expected to, lose BILLIONS of DOLLARS for the privilege of being your President - and doing the best job that has been done in many decades. I am far beyond somebody paying for a hotel room for the evening, or filling up a gas tank at an airport I do not own. These Radical Left Democrats are CRAZY! Obama Netflix?" Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, made the following statement today: "In my personal opinion, impeachment is imperative not because he’s going to be removed from office — the Senate won’t do that — but because we have to vindicate the Constitution. We have to show that the kind of self-dealing enrichment that this president is engaged in ... that the kind of public corruption he’s been involved in, that the kind of obstruction of justice that the Mueller report documented — five instances of which met all the requirements for an indictment and the president would have been indicted for those five instances had the Justice Department not had a policy of not indicting presidents no matter what -- we have to show that this kind of behavior … cannot be normalized." The Manhattan district attorney's office has subpoenaed 8 years of Donald Trump's personal corporate tax returns. News surfaced that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is being investigated by the House Oversight and Reform Committee over whether she is using her office to benefit herself and her family. White House counsel sent letters to the House Judiciary Committee saying ex White House aids Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn "may not be compelled" to testify about the Mueller report. White House counsel also sent a letter stating that Corey Lewandowski cannot talk about conversations with Trump that are not contained in the Mueller report. Critics were quick to note that Lewandowski was never a White House employee.
September 15, 2019 - Trump sent out the following tweet: "Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Trump also sent the following tweet: "The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, 'No Conditions'. That is an incorrect statement (as usual!)." Critics were quick to point out the following exchanges that have taken place between the media and Trump officials, and the media and Trump:
"The president has made clear he is happy to take a meeting with no preconditions, but we are maintaining the maximum pressure campaign" - Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, during a September 10 White House briefing.
Trump "has made very clear he is prepared to meet with no preconditions." - Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, during a September 10 White House briefing.
The president "has been clear that he wants to have conversations with the leaders of Iran without preconditions" - Hogan Gidley, the White House deputy press secretary, during an August 28 interview with Fox News.
the administration is "prepared to talk to Iran without preconditions." - Mike Pence, Vice President during a June 23 interview with CNN.
"No preconditions." - Donald Trump during a June 23 interview with NBC after being asked "No preconditions?"
The U.S. is “prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions." - Mike Pence during a June 2 press briefing.
"If they want to meet, I’ll meet. Anytime they want. Anytime they want. It’s good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world. No pre-conditions. If they want to meet, I’ll meet." - Donald Trump during a July 30 press briefing.
September 14, 2019 - According to the New York Times, a new claim of sexual assault has surfaced against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from his days at Yale. According to the claim, Kavanaugh was seen at a dorm party with his pants down, and other males who were present were seen pushing Kavanaugh's penis into a girl's hand. This story is similar to the one told by Deborah Remirez, who claimed that Kavanaugh had thrust his exposed penis at her at a dorm party. Here are some select responses to the news story:
"It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath. He should be impeached. And Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter." - Julian Castro
"Nothing terrifies this corrupt president more than the idea of Congress upholding the rule of law. We must open impeachment inquiries against Trump and Kavanaugh immediately. It’s our constitutional duty." - Ilhan Omar
"The Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again. Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for liable [sic], or the justice department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!" - Donald J Trump
Abqaiq, the world's largest oil processing facility, located in Saudi Arabia, was hit by as many as 19 missiles. Houthi Rebels in Yemen, which are aligned with Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack. Within hours, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, accused Iran of being responsible saying "Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while [President Hassan] Rouhani and [foreign minister Javad] Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy". Democratic senator Chris Murpgy, a member of the foreign relations committee responded to Pompeo's comments saying "This is such irresponsible simplification and it’s how we get into dumb wars of choice. The Saudis and Houthis are at war. The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back. Iran is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor, but it’s just not as simple as Houthis = Iran." Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister responded to Pompeo's remarks saying "Having failed at ‘max pressure’, [Pompeo is] turning to ‘max deceit’".
September 13, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, joined other youth activists to lead a protest outside the White House. During a Democratic presidential debate that took place last evening, Beto O'Rourke, in response to a question said "Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47, and we're not going to allow it to be used against your fellow Americans anymore." Briscoe Cain, a Texas Representative, tweeted the following in response to O'Rourke's comment: "My AR is ready for you Robert Francis." Twitter removed Cain's comment within minutes, citing it as a threat of violence. A decision by a district court to dismiss an Emoluments Clause case against Donald Trump, has been reversed on appeal. ABC is being criticized for its decision to air an ad during the Democratic debate that showed a picture of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burning, and which equated socialism to dictatorship. According to Politico "At a mid-August fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Ivanka Trump was asked to name the personality traits she inherited most from her parents. Without much of a pause, Trump told the crowd of roughly 120 high-end donors that her mother gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman. And her father? He passed onto her his moral compass, she said, according to two event attendees." Stephen Miller, a Conservative blogger, sent the following tweet in reference to Great Thunberg's participation in a protest at the White House: "Tase and arrest her."
September 12, 2019 - Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary committee chair, laid out his case for impeaching Trump:
- Trump "went to great lengths to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation"
- Trump's "attempts to remove the special counsel and encourage witnesses to lie and to destroy or conceal evidence. Anyone else who did this would face federal criminal prosecution."
- "The Mueller report resulted in 37 criminal indictments, 7 guilty pleas, and revealed 10 possible instances where President Trump obstructed justice, at least five of which we now know to be clearly criminal."
- "Trump’s crimes and corruption extend beyond what is detailed in the Mueller report. The president is in violation of the emoluments clauses of the constitution as he works to enrich himself, putting the safety and security of our nation at risk. He has dangled pardons, been involved in campaign finance violations and stonewalled Congress across the board, noting that he will defy all subpoenas"
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it will no longer collect information on the wage gap by race and gender. The ACLU responded to the news saying "This is a complete betrayal of @USEEOC's mandate to ensure equality in the workplace. We urge the commission to reverse this decision immediately." News surfaced that the Trump administration is finalizing plans to revoke an Obama-era regulation which provided federal protection to many US wetlands and streams.
September 11, 2019 - Trump lashed out at Federal reserve leader tweeting "The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt. INTEREST COST COULD BE BROUGHT WAY DOWN, while at the same time substantially lengthening the term. We have the great currency, power, and balance sheet. The USA should always be paying the the lowest rate. No Inflation! It is only the naïveté of Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve that doesn’t allow us to do what other countries are already doing. A once in a lifetime opportunity that we are missing because of 'Boneheads.'" Trump sent the following tweet: "In a hypothetical poll, done by one of the worst pollsters of them all, the Amazon Washington Post/ABC, which predicted I would lose to Crooked Hillary by 15 points (how did that work out?), Sleepy Joe, Pocahontas and virtually all others would beat me in the General Election. This is a phony suppression poll, meant to build up their Democrat partners. I haven’t even started campaigning yet, and am constantly fighting Fake News like Russia, Russia, Russia. Look at North Carolina last night. Dan Bishop, down big in the Polls, WINS. Easier than 2016!" Critics were quick to point out several falsehoods in the tweets:
- The Washington Post/ABC News poll is highly regarded, earning an A+ rating from FiveThirtyEight.
- The final poll from that outlet in 2016 predicted Hillary would beat Trump by 4 points. She actually beat him by 2 points, which was within the margin of error.
- There is no evidence that pollsters are skewing their results in an attempt to undermine Trump.
- Trump has been holding campaign rallies consistently since he took office.
- Russia's interference in the 2016 election has been confirmed, and is therefore not "fake news".
- Dan Bishop was not down big in the polls. The polls showed him leading, but by a very small margin.
According to a story in the New York Times regarding sharpiegate: "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, to have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly disavow the forecasters’ position that Alabama was not at risk. NOAA, which is part of the Commerce Department, issued an unsigned statement last Friday in response, saying that the Birmingham, Ala., office was wrong to dispute the president’s warning. In pressing NOAA’s acting administrator to take action, Mr. Ross warned that top employees at the agency could be fired if the situation was not addressed, The New York Times previously reported. Mr. Ross’s spokesman has denied that he threatened to fire anyone, and a senior administration official on Wednesday said Mr. Mulvaney did not tell the commerce secretary to make such a threat." In other sharpiegate news, the Washington post confirmed the Times report saying "President Trump told his staff that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration needed to deal with a tweet that seemed to contradict his statement that Hurricane Dorian posed a significant threat to Alabama as of Sept. 1, in contrast to what the agency’s forecasters were predicting at the time, senior administration officials said. This led chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to call Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to tell him to fix the issue, the officials said. Trump had complained for several days about the issue, according to the senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Mulvaney then called Ross but did not instruct him to threaten any firings or make any punitive threats, officials said. He simply told Ross that the agency needed to fix the matter immediately, leading to a new statement that was issued Friday, Sept. 6." When Trump was asked about the stories, he responded "I never did that. That’s a whole hoax by the fake news media, when they talk about the hurricane and when they talk about Florida and when they talk about Alabama. That’s just fake news … it’s a fake story." The Trump administration has announced that it will not be granting Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians who were affected by Hurricane Dorian. This decision prompted the following responses from some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates:
"Let’s be clear: This decision is racist and cruel. We should grant Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians fleeing Hurricane Dorian. A Warren administration will reinstate TPS to protect refugees who are at risk in their home countries. " - Elizabeth Warren
"More than 70,000 Bahamians are suddenly homeless after Hurricane Dorian. They've lost practically everything. Denying TPS status to them is heartless. We can't grant Trump a second term" - Kamala Harris
"Racist. Heartless. Cruel. TPS status should be granted immediately. The moral vandalism of this administration is bottomless. We need a new president." - Cory Booker
Trump has nominated Eugene Scalia, son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to the position of labor secretary. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can deny asylum to asylum seekers who pass through another country before arriving at the southern border, while legal challenges to that policy are underway. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonya Sotomayor dissented saying in part "Once again the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution. Although this Nation has long kept its doors open to refugees—and although the stakes for asylum seekers could not be higher—the Government implemented its rule without first providing the public notice and inviting the public input generally required by law."
September 10, 2019 - According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, Trump'a approval is at 38%, slipping 6 percentage points since June. The decline is being attributed to fears over an impending recession. News surfaced that the high-level source that was extracted from Russia in 2017, partly due to concerns that his identity might be revealed by Trump or his administration, was a key informant on Russia's 2016 election interference. Trump responded on twitter to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll saying "ABC/Washington Post Poll was the worst and most inaccurate poll of any taken prior to the 2016 Election. When my lawyers protested, they took a 12 point down and brought it to almost even by Election Day. It was a Fake Poll by two very bad and dangerous media outlets. Sad!" Daniel Dale, a CNN reporter responded to Trump's tweet with a tweet of his own saying "This is not what happened. - WaPo and ABC told me in June they do not recall a legal complaint (?) over their polls - WaPo wasn’t involved in the ABC tracking poll that had him down 12 - Obviously no basis for the claim they fixed subsequent poll results because he complained." Trump also tweeted: "One of the greatest and most powerful weapons used by the Fake and Corrupt News Media is the phony Polling Information they put out. Many of these polls are fixed, or worked in such a way that a certain candidate will look good or bad. Internal polling looks great, the best ever!" According to Bloomberg News, the US uninsured rate rose by 0.6% last year saying in part "The Census report indicates that the biggest decrease in coverage in 2018 came among those covered by Medicaid, the state-federal health program for low-income Americans. Almost two million fewer people were covered by Medicaid in 2018 than in the prior year." Here are some select responses to the higher uninsured rate:
"Trump and Republicans sabotaged the Affordable Care Act at every turn. They played politics with health care and now Americans are paying the price." - Kamala Harris
"Mr. Trump lied. He promised to strengthen health care—instead, he has done everything he can to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. The result: Nearly two million people joined the ranks of the uninsured last year, the first increase in the uninsured rate in a decade." - Bernie Sanders
Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week." John Bolton, contradicted Trump's timeline of events by sending the following tweet: "I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, 'Let's talk about it tomorrow.'" Following Trump's tweet that Bolton was out, oil prices dropped immediately. Charlie Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, has been named acting national security adviser. According to Al Jazeera: "Kupperman served on the board of directors for the Center for Security Policy (CSP) between 2001 and 2010, according to tax records. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an Alabama-based hate monitor, designates the CSP as an anti-Muslim hate group, pointing to the group’s promotion of conspiracy theories claiming that Muslims have infiltrated the US government and seek to establish Islamic law in the country. The Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the Trump administration to revoke Kupperman’s appointment. ‘Once again this is an example of Trump elevating foxes into the hen house, where Islamophobes are well placed to direct our nation’s national security priorities,’ Robert McCaw, director of CAIR’s government affairs department, told Al Jazeera." CNN released a poll showing Trump's approval rating at 39%, which mostly corroborates the Washington Post-ABC News poll showing a drop in Trump's overall approval. News surfaced that the Trump administration has expanded fishing and hunting in wildlife refuges.
September 9, 2019 - President Donald Trump lashed out at musician John Legend, his wife Chrissy Teigen, and NBC News host Lester Holt, after the latter hosted a special report on American prison culture. Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "When all of the people pushing so hard for Criminal Justice Reform were unable to come even close to getting it done, they came to me as a group and asked for my help. I got it done with a group of Senators & others who would never have gone for it. Obama couldn’t come close. A man named @VanJones68, and many others, were profusely grateful (at that time!). I SIGNED IT INTO LAW, no one else did, & Republicans deserve much credit. But now that it is passed, people that had virtually nothing to do with it are taking the praise. Guys like boring musician @johnlegend, and his filthy mouthed wife, are talking now about how great it is - but I didn’t see them around when we needed help getting it passed. “Anchor”@LesterHoltNBC doesn’t even bring up the subject of President Trump or the Republicans when talking about the importance or passage of Criminal Justice Reform. They only talk about the minor players, or people that had nothing to do with it...And the people that so desperately sought my help when everyone else had failed, all they talk about now is Impeaching President Trump!" The tweets were contradicted by a segment of the show in which Trump was shown signing a criminal justice reform bill into law, while surrounded by many Republicans who are shown applauding. Tiegen responded to Trump's twitter rant tweeting: "lol what a pussy ass bitch. tagged everyone but me. an honor, mister president." The tag pussyassbitch began trending on twitter immediately following Tiegan's tweet. Trump responded to news that the Air Force is investigating why in recent months, flights have refueled at a small airport near Trump's Scotland resort, as government personnel stayed at the property. Trump tweeted: "I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I do not own and have nothing to do with) near Turnberry Resort (which I do own) in Scotland, and filling up with fuel, with the crew staying overnight at Turnberry (they have good taste!). NOTHING TO DO WITH ME" Trump also denied having anything to do with vice president Mike Pence staying at his golf club in Ireland saying "I had nothing to do with the decision of our great @VP Mike Pence to stay overnight at one of the Trump owned resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland. Mike’s family has lived in Doonbeg for many years, and he thought that during his very busy European visit, he would stop and see his family!" According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 89% of Americans support universal background checks for gun ownership, 86% support red flag laws, 56% support a ban on military-style assault weapons, and 52% support a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, claimed during an interview with Fox Business that the Trump administration has "not yet seen any impact on the U.S. economy" from Trump's trade war with China, and that there are "no signs" of a looming recession. The impact statement is undercut by the billions in subsidies Trump has approved to compensate farmers affected by the trade war. According to CNN, the US extracted a valuable covert source that had infiltrated the Russian government, partly over concerns that Trump, or his administration, may compromise the source's identity. From the report "A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel. The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter." According to CNBC "In an attempt to quantify the impact of Trump’s tweets on the bond market, J.P. Morgan devised a ‘Volfefe Index’ to analyze how the president’s tweets are influencing volatility in U.S. interest rates. J.P. Morgan found that the index, named after Trump’s infamous and still mysterious ‘covfefe’ tweet, explains a measurable fraction of the moves in implied rate volatility for 2-year and 5-year Treasurys. ... Out of about 4,000 non-retweets occurring during market hours from 2018 to the present, only 146 moved the market." News surfaced that security adviser John Bolton and vice president Mike Pence had voiced opposition to Trump's plan to invite the Taliban to come to the US to engage in peace talks. Trump reacted to the news tweeting: "A lot of Fake News is being reported that I overruled the VP and various advisers on a potential Camp David meeting with the Taliban. This Story is False! I always think it is good to meet and talk, but in this case I decided not to. The Dishonest Media likes to create the look of turmoil in the White House, of which there is none. I view much of the media as simply an arm of the Democrat Party. They are corrupt, and they are extremely upset at how well our Country is doing under MY Leadership, including the Economy, where there is NO Recession, much to the regret of the LameStream Media! They are working overtime to help the Democrats win in 2020, but that will NEVER HAPPEN, Americans are too smart!" Sharpiegate surfaced again today after the New York Times reported that Wilbur Ross, Trump's commerce secretary, threatened firings at the NOAA after that agency contradicted Trump's false claim about Hurricane Dorian affecting Alabama. According to the report "Mr. Ross phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president. Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed, according to the three individuals, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the episode." News surfaced that Todd Palin, husband of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has filed for divorce. The Commerce Department issued a statement denying the New York Times' story that Wilbur Ross had threatened firings over NOAA's contradicting Trump. The Sierra Club issued a statement calling for Ross to resign saying "This shameless abuse of power could have devastating results now and in the future, demonstrating that Ross is unfit to continue in the cabinet and that he does not care that he is supposed to represent the American public above Trump’s fragile ego". News surfaced that the Commerce Department's inspector general is now looking into the statement NOAA put out last week in defense of Trump's false claim.
September 7, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?" The death of the American soldier referred to in Trump's tweet was the 16th US soldier killed in Afghanistan this year. More than 1,200 Afghan civilians have been killed this year. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, responded to the tweets saying in part: "This will lead to more losses to the US. Its credibility will be affected, its anti-peace stance will be exposed to the world, losses to lives and assets will increase." Adam Kinzinger, Republican congressman from Illinois, responded to Trump's tweet saying "Never should leaders of a terrorist organisation that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country. NEVER. Full stop." Critics were quick to point to a tweet that Trump posted in 2012 when news surfaced that Obama was negotiating with the Taliban. Trump's tweet in 2012 said "While @BarackObama is slashing the military, he is also negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban--who facilitated 9/11." Here are a few select responses to Trump's tweet:
"Reasonable minds can and will disagree about the desirability of any agreement with the Taliban. But when a pathologically narcissistic hypocrite who negotiates like a three-year-old is in charge, a nuanced debate over substance gets drowned out by empty theatrics and spectacle." - Steve Vladeck
"If Trump was this upset at Obama in 2012, he should talk to the current president who tried to invite the Taliban leaders to meet face to face at Camp David." - Josh Jordan
"And it’s just another example of the president treating foreign policy like it’s some kind of gameshow: “This isn’t a gameshow. These are terrorists." - Amy Klobuchar, 2020 Presidential Candidate
According to Politico: "Congress is investigating Donald Trump over a potential conflict of interest involving increased US military spending at Prestwick airport near Glasgow and visits to his Trump Turnberry resort". "The house oversight committee has been investigating whether increasing expenditure at the airport and allegations of US military personnel being offered discount deals at Trump’s Ayrshire golf resort represent a violation of the US constitution." According to the Guardian: "A Salvadoran woman who was eight and a half months pregnant and experiencing contractions was apprehended by US border patrol after crossing the Rio Grande and forced to go back to Mexico" as part of the Trump administration's Remain in Mexico program.
September 6, 2019 - In a continuation of sharpiegate, Trump is continuing to claim on twitter that his inaccurate warning that Dorian was going to hit Alabama was, accurate, saying "The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit. They went Crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn’t). Check out maps. This nonsense has never happened to another President. Four days of corrupt reporting, still without an apology. But there are many things that the Fake News Media has not apologized to me for, like the Witch Hunt, or SpyGate! The LameStream Media and their Democrat partner should start playing it straight. It would be so much better for our Country!" According to the Washington Post: "It was Trump who used a black Sharpie to mark up an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map, which he displayed during an Oval Office briefing on Wednesday, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. ‘No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie,’ the official said of the map, which added Alabama into the hurricane’s potential pathway inside the loop of the marker." The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the four car companies that struck a deal with California to heighten emission standards. Here are a few select responses to the new DOJ investigation:
"This is a really disturbing abuse of power and another sign of how politicized DOJ has become. Antitrust law doesn't exist to punish companies for adopting policies you don't like." - Matthew Miller, former spokesman for DOJ under Barack Obama
"Wow, this is a total weaponization of the DOJ against Trump antagonists happening right before our eyes. In keeping with the possible charging of McCabe, the hounding of Bruce Ohr, the IG report on Comey, etc. Two and a half years in, Trump and his acolytes are figuring out how to use the apparatus of the state to reward friends & punish enemies. A direct attack on the rule of law." - Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica editor
The communications arm of NOAA sent out the following statement: "From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link. The Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time. NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources." Dan Sobien, the president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization responded to NOAA's statement saying in part "I’m absolutely shocked at what NOAA did tonight. Never, never has the agency undermined its employees like that. It’s unheard of that they would – with no scientific basis whatsoever – undermine their own employees for political reasons. That’s never happened before under any administration ... This doesn’t happen. This is a scientific agency. People gather data and they make the best decisions they can make from that data."
September 5, 2019 - A CNN graphic incorrectly labeled Alabama as Mississippi, which inspired Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary to tweet: "Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography?" This prompted CNN to send this tweet: "Thanks, Stephanie. Yes, we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime." According to Mother Jones "Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking. Yet a Mother Jones investigation has uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes—a move that could constitute tax fraud." Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, issued a statement arguing that Mike Pence's stay at Trump's Ireland golf club violated the constitution saying in part "Vice President Pence promised that their Administration would defend the Constitution and stand by a ‘strict constructionist’ interpretation of the Constitution. Instead the Trump-Pence Administration is ignoring the text itself and selling out the Constitution to line Trump’s pockets. Trump properties are a cesspool of corruption, a black hole for taxpayers’ money, an exploiter of immigrant labor and a national security threat with a suspected foreign spy walking the halls. ... The American people deserve a government that serves their interests, not one that’s being exploited to line the President’s pockets." Not willing to let sharpiegate go, Trump sent the following tweet today: "Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!" The tweet included photos of early projections that included Alabama in the outer bands of the projections. However, 24 hours prior to Trump's claim, Alabama had been eliminated from the projections. CVS, Walgreens and Wegmans are now asking that customers refrain from openly carrying guns while shopping in their stores. In a continuation of sharpiegate, the White House released a statement from Trump's homeland security and counter-terrorism advisor, who says he briefed the president on Hurricane Dorian with maps that "showed the possibility of storm force winds hitting parts of Alabama". The statement does not explain who altered the weather map with a sharpie. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Trump administration illegally diverted national park fees to keep parks open through the government shutdown, resulting in damage to some parks that could take hundreds of years for parks to recover from.
September 4, 2019 - An inspector general's report from Health and Human Services concluded that children affected by the Trump administration's family separation policy experienced "heightened feelings of anxiety and loss." Also "According to program directors and mental health clinicians, separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated." In another report by the Health and Human Services inspector general, it was pointed out that many of the case managers did not meet minimum education requirements for the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Reports coming out of the Bahamas, which was hit by hurricane Dorian with category 5 winds when it made landfall, are that the destruction is significant. Trump provided a brief to reporters and then added this "I must tell you, over the years there have been some hurricanes that were bigger and stronger and more powerful that hit us very hard also". Trump was asked about Pence's stay at his golf course in Ireland, to which Trump responded "Well, I had no involvement other than it’s a great place. People like my product. What can I tell you?" During a hurricane briefing for reporters, Trump held up a map showing the projected path of hurricane Dorian, which had been edited with a sharpie to include Alabama in the projection, an act that has been dubbed sharpiegate. When reporters asked Trump about the edited hurricane trajectory map, Trump claimed he didn't know who had edited it, but insisted there are "other better maps" that show Alabama was in the area that could be affected, although the weather service disputes this claim. Trump also insisted that Alabama was a part of the forecast when he first sent his tweet September 1st. But, according to the AP: "In fact, forecasts from overnight last Friday showed a small sliver of Alabama at the edge of the five-day cone of uncertainty. But by Saturday morning — more than 24 hours before Trump’s warning about Alabama — the storm was predicted to pose no threat to the state. Trump was getting multiple daily briefings about the storm." Jerrod Nadler, the chair of the the House Judiciary committee, issued a statement describing subpoenas that have been issued to the Department of Homeland Security, regarding reports that Trump offered to pardon officials at the border that violate the law in order to enforce his immigration policies. The statement reads in part "The dangling of pardons by the president to encourage government officials to violate federal law would constitute another reported example of the president’s disregard for the rule of law." The Trump administration announced new rules to roll back Bush-era requirements for energy-saving light bulbs. Noah Horowitz, the director of the Center for Energy Efficiency Standards responded to the news saying in part: "We will explore all options, including litigation, to stop this completely misguided and unlawful action." Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, released a statement accusing Trump of violating the constitution by using is position to promote his resorts and properties.
September 3, 2019 - According to Axios, Trump's allies are trying to raise millions for an effort to engage in "oppo research" against mainstream journalists to expose alleged biases. "The group claims it will slip damaging information about reporters and editors to ‘friendly media outlets’, such as Breitbart, and traditional media, if possible". Kurt Bardella, a former spokesman for Breitbart News and congressional Republican, responded to the Axios story saying "Time and again the president’s tactic is to try to undermine the message so the facts are not deemed credible by his supporters. If this effort delves into the personal lives of reporters, that’s crossing a line because it has nothing to do with their work as reporters." Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America responded to the Axios story saying "It’s insidious, it’s aimed to intimidate, it’s a kind of dragging through the mud effort, a character assassination from as best as we can tell, and it’s alarming. We need the press to do its job. We depend on them to hold politicians to account, to cover what’s going to be a very fractious campaign. If they have to live in fear that their personal lives or ancient communications are going to be dredged into the open in an effort to discredit them and destroy their career, who wants to work under that kind of cloud? The idea that this is being carried out by individuals who are associated with the administration or the campaign makes it all the more sinister." John Farrell, the author of Richard Nixon: The Life, responded to the Axios report saying "The actions of the current president are very much reflections of actions made by a previous president that he has said he much admires and that is Nixon, right down to the phrase ‘the press is the enemy’. There’s a famous White House tape where you have Nixon telling [Henry] Kissinger, write on the blackboard over and over again, ‘the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy’. If you listen to the tapes, they talk a lot about going after individual reporters with their personal foibles, but talking it about on the tapes and actually doing it was different." News surfaced that during vice president Mike Pence's trip to Dublin Ireland, he stayed at Trump's golf club in Doonbeg, an hour away by plane. Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff, said that Trump had made a "suggestion" that Pence stay there. This incident has raised concerns about Trump personally profiting from the presidency. Trump, who cancelled a trip to Poland in response to hurricane Dorian, spent some of his time this past weekend on the golf course, which prompted this comment from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who was present in Poland for the ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the country's Nazi invasion: "He’s clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course." Trump responded to the comment tweeting: "The incompetent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was bothered that I played a very fast round of golf yesterday. Many Pols exercise for hours, or travel for weeks. Me, I run through one of my courses (very inexpensive). President Obama would fly to Hawaii. Kahn should focus on knife crime,” which is totally out of control in London. People are afraid to even walk the streets. He is a terrible mayor who should stay out of our business!" Khan wrote an essay in the Observer, saying in part "Vulnerable, often minority, communities are being demonised and scapegoated for all society’s ills. This comes as a new wave of extremist far-right movements and political parties are winning power and influence at alarming speed – fuelled by Donald Trump, the global poster-boy for white nationalism." Leif Olson, a senior policy adviser at the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, who was appointed by Trump and began work on August 12th, resigned today after Bloomberg Law raised questions about some anti-Semitic posts on Olson's facebook account. According to Reuters, Walmart announced that it will discontinue selling some of its ammunition, saying in part "Walmart will stop selling short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber after clearing current stock. While this type of ammunition is commonly used in some hunting rifles, they are also used in large capacity clips on military style weapons, the company said." According to reports, 1 out of 5 bullets were purchased at a Walmart. Walmart has also asked that customers not open carry in any of their stores. The NRA responded to Walmart's decision to end the sale of certain kinds of ammo saying in part "The strongest defense of freedom has always been our free-market economy. It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites." They also stated "The truth is Walmart’s actions today will not make us any safer. Rather than place the blame on the criminal, Walmart has chosen to victimize law-abiding Americans. Our leaders must be willing to approach the problems of crime, violence and mental health with sincerity and honesty." A bill passed by House Democrats would close the loophole which allowed the Odessa shooter to obtain his gun, but Trump has said he would veto the bill, and Mitch McConnell stated he won't bring the bill to the floor of the Senate unless he can get a guarantee that Trump will sign it. Beto O'Rourke, Democratic candidate for president, responded to McConnell's refusal to take up a gun bill saying "What’s the point of your office and your branch of government if you have to wait for permission from the president to act? This is not leadership, it’s cowardice." A panel of judges in North Carolina ruled that state political maps are so badly gerrymandered to benefit republicans that they violate the state's constitution, and the maps must be redrawn before the 2020 election. The Trump administration has issued sanctions against Iran's space agency, accusing it of developing ballistic missiles under cover of a civilian space program. The Trump administration is reallocating $3.6bn in military funds to build Trump's border wall. Chuck Schumer, responded to the news tweeting "It is a slap in the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country that @realDonaldTrump is willing to cannibalize already allocated military funding to boost his own ego, and for a wall he promised Mexico would pay to build." A court has ruled that the White House must restore a press pass for Playboy correspondent Brian Karem who got into a heated exchange with Sebastian Gorka, a pro-Trump radio host and former White House aide. Kroger has joined Walmart in asking customers not to openly carry firearms in their stores.
September 2, 2019 - Several news outlets reported that Trump's information about hurricane Dorian affecting Alabama was incorrect. Trump responded to the news outlets that called out his incorrect information by tweeting "I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true. They made a big deal about this ... when in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some 'hurt.' Always good to be prepared!" Critics were quick to point out that at no time had the government forecast that hurricane-force winds could reach any part of Alabama.
September 1, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet regarding hurricane Dorian: "In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!" Since Alabama is not one of the states projected to be affected, critics have suggested that Trump's error represents a fundamental misunderstanding of geography. Within 20 minutes of Trump's tweet, the Birmingham, Alabama branch of the National Weather Service tweeted "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east." Within half an hour of Trump's tweet, James Spann, a veteran Alabama forecaster tweeted "Alabama will not be impacted by Dorian in any way." At a press briefing around 20 minutes or so after Trump's initial tweet, Trump said this to reporters: "We have a lot of great people working right now. We don't know where it's going to hit, but we have an idea. Probably a little bit different than the original course. The original course was dead into Florida. Now it seems to be going up to toward South Carolina, toward North Carolina. Georgia is going to be hit. Alabama is going to get a piece of it, it looks like. But it can change its course again and it could go back more toward Florida." About an hour later, Trump stated that Dorian "may get a little piece of a great place: It's called Alabama." Trump added that Alabama "could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that, it could be. This just came up, unfortunately." Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for NOAA, later confirmed for reporters that Alabama was not forecast to be affected by Dorian.
August 31, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, a teen climate activist, responded to critics who mocked her for having Asperger's syndrome, saying: "When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning! I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower." Thunberg has dealt with attacks from science deniers before, like when Andrew Bolt, an Australian News Corp columnist referred to her in an article mockingly as "deeply disturbed". Thunberg responded to Bolt with "I am indeed 'deeply disturbed' about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on and on just because we children communicate and act on the science. Where are the adults?" Seth Ator, who was pulled over for failing to use his blinker, went on a shooting rampage in Odessa, TX, killing 7, and wounding 22. Ator obtained his weapon through a private sale. According to ABC News "Authorities stated the suspect, Seth Ator, was considered a ‘prohibited person’ barred by law from purchasing or possessing a firearm because he was diagnosed as being mentally ill. It was further confirmed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said the shooter failed a background check. According to federal and state sources, the private sale loophole allows the sale or purchase of any kind of weapon, including handguns and automatic rifles. The seller may not sell a weapon if he or she knows the buyer is flagged, but is under no obligation to do a background check or ask about the buyer’s status."
August 30, 2019 - Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's personal assistant, was let go today following Trump's discovery that she had shared details about his family and Oval Office operations with reporters. According to Politico, Westerhout purportedly told a reporter that Trump does not like taking pictures with his younger daughter Tiffany Trump, because he thinks she is overweight. She also bragged that she has a better relationship with Trump than either of his daughters, and that Trump couldn't pick Tiffany out of a crowd. News surfaced that White House staff are looking into ways to satisfy Trump's concern that more mental institutions are needed to combat gun violence. Mental health officials have come out against the idea saying it reflects outdated thinking on the treatment of mental illness. Neil Cavuto, a Fox News host, responded to Trump's comment that "Fox isn't working for us anymore!" saying "Mr. President, we don’t work for you. I don’t work for you. My job is to cover you, not fawn over you or rip you. Just report on you." Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to Barack Obama, responded to Cavuto's statement saying "Mr President: we don't work for you. We work WITH you in a racism for profit scheme. Cavuto/Shep Smith et al are massively overpaid by Fox explicitly so they will do this performance once in a while so Fox can continue to get American corporations to help pay for White nationalist propaganda at all hours of the day." Kay Ivey, Alabama's Republican governor, apologized after it became public knowledge that she had worn blackface in a skit at Auburn University when she was a student there. One select response to Ivey's apology on twitter was this one from K Tully-McManus "There are more governors who have apologized for black face than black governors." News surfaced that the Trump administration plans to ease requirements on oil and gas sites to monitor for methane leaks and plug them. Trump, who cancelled a trip to Poland so that he could monitor hurricane Dorian, which is bearing down on the Bahamas, sent the following tweet regarding the IG's report about James Comey's memos: "One of the most disgraceful examples of an abuse of power by a government official…when you read this report…this is a systematic effort to go after Candidate Trump, President Elect-Trump, and President Trump....you could virtually call this an attempted coup."
August 29, 2019 - The Justice Department's office of the inspector general concluded in a report that James Comey's "retention, handling, and dissemination of certain Memos violated Department and FBI policies, and his FBI Employment Agreement." James Comey responded to the report tweeting: "DOJ IG 'found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.' I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a 'sorry we lied about you' would be nice. And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me 'going to jail' or being a 'liar and a leaker'—ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president." Donald Trump responded to the IG's report saying on twitter: "Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!" The Trump administration is proposing a policy that would allow Customs and Border Protection officials to perform DNA testing on undocumented immigrants in government custody.
August 28, 2019 - As Tropical Storm Dorian heads toward Puerto Rico, Trump sent out the following tweet: "We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico. FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You - Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!" According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump, has offered to pardon administration officials who break the law trying to get a wall built along the US-Mexico border. Regarding concerns about eminent domain, Trump has said "take the land". When asked about this story, the White House didn't deny it, but instead said that when Trump says these things, he is only joking. Trump complained on twitter that "Fox isn't working for us anymore" after a network anchor wasn't sufficiently negative towards the DNC Communications Director. Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, announced that he intends to resign due to mounting health problems. Trump sent the following tweet regarding Puerto Rico, which is currently under threat from a tropical storm: "Puerto Rico is one of the most corrupt places on earth. Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked Pols. No good! And by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!" Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist from Sweden has arrived in New York, after crossing the Atlantic on a sail boat. Trump responded on twitter to the Washington Post story that he had offered pardons to to aides who broke the law saying: "Another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post (lobbyist) which states that if my Aides broke the law to build the Wall (which is going up rapidly), I would give them a Pardon. This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage - FAKE NEWS!" Trump also sent a tweet that falsely claimed his border wall is currently being built: "The Wall is going up very fast despite total Obstruction by Democrats in Congress, and elsewhere!" Regarding Trump's proposed wall, according to the Washington Post: "Trump has repeatedly promised to complete 500 miles of fencing by the time voters go to the polls in November 2020, stirring chants of ‘Finish the Wall!’ at his political rallies as he pushes for tighter border controls. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed just about 60 miles of ‘replacement’ barrier during the first 2½ years of Trump’s presidency, all of it in areas that previously had border infrastructure." According to the Post's Fact Checker, Trump has claimed 190 times that the border wall is being built, making that claim his most frequently repeated lie. The Trump administration has moved to revoke automatic citizenship for children of US service members born overseas. Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic presidential contender for the 2020 race responded to the citizenship news saying "This is how President Trump honors the bravery and sacrifice of our service members."
August 27, 2019 - George Conway, husband of senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following tweet today: "Trump even obstructed justice about obstructing justice. He tried to get his White House counsel to get rid of Mueller using a bogus excuse and for an improper reason. He then later tried to get the White House counsel to create a false record about it. He’s meta-impeachable." Critics of Trump's idea to host the 2020 G7 summit at his Doral resort began tweeting using the hashtag #TrumpBedBugs regarding a 2016 incident in which the Doral was sued by a patron over a bed bug problem in one of the rooms. According to Ismail Ajjaw, an incoming Harvard freshman from Lebanon, he was deported and had his student visa revoked after immigration officials uncovered social media posts by some of his friends that officials considered anti-American. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has encouraged Trump to meeting with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani announced that he will not meet until sanctions against Iran are lifted. Howard Sachs, a federal judge, has temporarily blocked Missouri's abortion ban, which made it illegal for doctors to perform abortions after 8 weeks of pregnancy, saying "While federal courts should generally be very cautious before delaying the effect of state laws, the sense of caution may be mitigated when the legislation seems designed, as here, as a protest against supreme court decisions. The hostility to, and refusal to comply with, the supreme court’s abortion jurisprudence is most obviously demonstrated in the attempt to push ‘viability’ protection downward in various weekly stages to eight weeks." The ban was set to go into effect tomorrow. News surfaced that the Trump administration has redirected $155m from federal disaster relief funds to pay for immigrant detention space. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, the chair of the House homeland security appropriations subcommittee, released a statement condemning the move saying in part "I strongly disagree with DHS’s decision to transfer and reprogram funds to pay for more ICE detention beds and for hearing facilities to support the Administration’s inhumane Migrant Protection Protocols program."
August 26, 2019 - Trump, who is currently attending the G7 summit, skipped a climate meeting in which world leaders discussed wildfires in the Amazon - wildfires that have increased dramatically since right wing leader Jair Bolsonaro became president of Brazil, and which many attribute to Bolsonaro's policies. Trump was asked by a reporter after the meeting ended if he had attended the climate meeting, Trump's response: "We're having it in a little while." While speaking at the G7 summit, Trump suggested hosting the 2020 G7 summit at a Trump property called Trump National Doral Miami in Florida. Trump was asked by reporters about the potential emoluments clause violation of hosting the G7 at his resort, to which Trump responded "I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money." Trump then went on to repeat his unsubstantiated claim that the presidency is costing him between $3bn and $5bn. Trump was asked by one reporter why he considered it appropriate to invite Russia to the G7 summit after that country meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Trump then blamed Barack Obama for the removal of Russia saying it was because Putin outsmarted him. The reporter then pointed out that Russia was excluded because of Putin's annexation of Crimea. When Trump was asked about his trade war with China, and the negative affect it has on global markets, Trump responded: "Sorry! It’s the way I negotiate. It’s the way I negotiate. It’s done very well for me over the years, and it’s done even better for the country." When Trump was asked about the climate crisis, he responded with this statement: "I’m an environmentalist. People don’t understand that." When asked what he thinks the world should be doing about climate change, Trump responded "I feel the US has tremendous wealth... I'm not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills - which, frankly, aren't working too well... I think I know more about the environment than most." Representative Sean Duffy, a Wisconsin Republican announced his retirement, making him the 8th House Republican to announce plans to leave office in recent weeks. The White House Correspondents' Association has filed a court brief on behalf of Brian Karem, whose press pass was suspended for 30 days by the White House. Nineteen states have filed suit against the Trump Administration over indefinite detention of migrant children. According to the New York Times, in an attempt to discredit news organizations, conservative operatives tied to the Trump Administration are pursuing an "aggressive operation" of digging into social media posts and other public statements made by journalists and organizations deemed unfriendly to Trump, in the hopes of finding potentially embarrassing information.
August 23, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, citing 25 people in or tied to the Trump administration: "Administration officials have scrambled this week to assemble a menu of actions Trump could take to avert an economic downturn. Few aides have a firm sense of what steps he would seriously consider, in part because he keeps changing his mind." David Koch has died of prostate cancer. The billionaire industrialist and Republican mega donor was 79. Jean Cramer, a city council candidate in Marysville, Michigan, created a stir after she was asked if Marysville should do more to attract foreign-born residents. Cramer's response: "Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible." When asked to clarify, Cramer responded "Husband and wife need to be the same race. Same thing with kids. That’s how it’s been from the beginning of, how can I say, when God created the heaven and the earth. He created Adam and Eve at the same time. But as far as me being against blacks, no I’m not." Dan Damman, the Marysville mayor, called the comments "vile" and "jaw dropping". Trump continued his assault on Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, by sending the following tweet following a speech by Powell: "As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can 'speak' without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work 'brilliantly' with both, and the U.S. will do great. My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?" China announced that it will impose $75bn in tariffs on American exports that affect more than 5,000 products. Trump responded to news of the Chinese tariffs with a twitter tirade: "Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop - it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!" During an interview with the Guardian, singer Taylor Swift described the atmosphere in the country as "gaslighting the American public into being like, 'If you hate the president, you hate America.'" In retaliation for the newly announced Chinese tariffs, Trump tweeted that his administration will increase tariffs on Chinese goods from 25% to 30% starting October 1st. The Trump administration has filed a brief with the Supreme Court declaring that federal law allows private companies to fire workers based on sexual orientation.
August 22, 2019 - News surfaced that on the day before a gunman carried out the deadliest attack against Latinos in modern US history in El Paso, Texas, Greg Abbott, the governor of that state, sent out a fundraising letter calling on Republicans to "DEFEND TEXAS NOW" and "take matters into our own hands" in response to "illegal immigrants". Here are some select responses to the news of Abbott's fundraising letter:
"It’s disgusting. They know exactly what they are doing when they are using this kind of language and using this racist rhetoric to energize their base. It’s really disturbing. It’s alarmist, it’s threatening, it’s hostile.” - Manny Garcia, Executive Director of the Texas Democratic party
"If the leader of the government in Texas is utilizing these types of words, and talking about defending our country and having to take matters into their own hands, that sounds to me like a call to folks to do exactly that. This is what this guy who came to El Paso from Dallas was trying to do. He was trying to defend what he thought he needed to defend, and to take things into his own hands. It’s really, really upsetting." - David Stout, El Paso County Commissioner
News surfaced that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's former press secretary, will be joining the Fox News cast of Fox & Friends. According to BuzzFeed, the Executive Office for Immigration Review sent out a morning briefing that included a link to blog post on the white nationalist website VDare. The post refers to the New York Times as "lugenpresse", which is a German term meaning "lying press" that was adopted by the Nazis to stigmatize Jews, communists and critics of Adolf Hitler. That slur has regained popularity among the far right and white nationalists. The post also uses the term "kritarch" which is used perjoratively in the blog post as an anti-semitic trope.
August 21, 2019 - Wayne Allyn Root, a far right crank who promoted the Obama 'birther' conspiracy, and who pushed the notion that Obama was a Muslim, and gay, and who claimed the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was a "Muslim terror attack" sent the following tweet: "President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God...But American Jews don’t know him or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that’s OK, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s good for all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job." Trump re-tweeted Root's tweet saying "Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words." The Trump administration announced a new regulation that allows the government to detain families crossing the border indefinitely. The new rule replaces the current 20-day limit imposed by what is known as the Flores agreement. The ACLU responded to the proposed rule change saying "The government should NOT be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn’t be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer. This is yet another cruel attack on children, who this administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies. Congress must not fund this." According to the Idaho Statesman "The Community Council of Idaho plans to remove and conceal signage on buses they use to transport local children of farm workers and Head Start participants, after repeated experiences of harassment from motorists across the state, including the Treasure Valley. The buses are used to transport children to the Community Council, where they can take part in non-profit programs. The vehicles are labelled 'Migrant and Seasonal Head Start', and staff say drivers are harassing the buses because they 'assume that migrant means undocumented'". Trump was asked about his cancelled trip to Denmark, to which he responded "I looked forward to going but I thought the prime minister’s statement that [Trump’s plan to buy Greenland] was ‘absurd’ [...] I thought it was nasty. I thought it was a very not nice way of saying something. They could have told me no. It was not a very nice statement the way she blew me off." Trump also stated "We treat countries with respect she shouldn’t treat the United States that way." Trump announced that the US is looking at scrapping birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the US constitution, saying "We are looking at birthright citizenship very seriously. It’s frankly ridiculous." News surfaced that the Trump administration is considering an executive order that would allow states and cities to deny entry to refugees. News surfaced that Trump mocked the accents of the leaders of South Korea and Japan at a recent fundraiser. While speaking to reporters about trade with China, Trump turned and looked skyward and announced "I am the chosen one". This comment prompted many to accuse Trump of having a "messiah" complex. Trump sent the following tweet as part of an ongoing campaign to pressure Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, into dropping interest rates: "Doing great with China and other Trade Deals. The only problem we have is Jay Powell and the Fed. He’s like a golfer who can’t putt, has no touch. Big U.S. growth if he does the right thing, BIG CUT - but don’t count on him! So far he has called it wrong, and only let us down".
August 20, 2019 - A report released by the Department of Defense claims that Isis militants are regaining strength, due in part to the Trump administration's withdrawal of troops from Syria and other policy shifts in Iraq. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, was asked about the report, and how it squared with Trump's claims that he defeated Isis, to which Pompeo responded "It’s complicated. There are certainly places where Isis is more powerful today than they were three or four years ago. But the caliphate is gone and their capacity to conduct external attacks has been made much more difficult." The feud between Trump and Anthony Scaramucci continued as Scaramucci published an op-ed in the Washington Post which reads in part "I broke from Trump because not only has his behavior become more erratic and his rhetoric more inflammatory, but also because, like all demagogues, he is incapable of handling constructive criticism. As we lie on the bed of nails Trump has made, it’s often difficult to see how much the paradigm of acceptable conduct has shifted. For the Republican Party, it’s now a question of whether we want to start cleaning up the mess or continue papering over the cracks." Trump responded to the op-ed with a series of twitter attacks, like this one: "Just another disgruntled former employee who got fired for gross incompetence!" Tucker Carlson, who has been absent from his prime time show on Fox News since dismissing white supremacy as a "hoax", returned today, but with fewer advertiser's. According to Media Matters for America, at least 5 advertisers ditched Carlson's show over the last 11 days. Trump sent the following tweet in response to a press conference held by Rashida Tlaib in which she became emotional while talking about being barred from entering Israel: "Sorry, I don’t buy Rep. Tlaib’s tears. I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears? She hates Israel and all Jewish people. She is an anti-Semite. She and her 3 friends are the new face of the Democrat Party. Live with it!" Jennifer Horn, a board member of the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans, resigned today in response to that group's endorsement of Trump for president in 2020 saying "I could never endorse him for President of the United States and still look my children in the eye. In order to maintain favor with this unprincipled, unscrupulous President, too many in our party are fast abandoning the moral high ground, and I fear that in this endorsement, the Log Cabin Republicans have damaged our ability to effectively advocate for equal rights for all." According to a story at HuffPost, which cites US financial disclosure statements filed by Trump in 2018, Trump inflated the value of his Scottish golf resorts by $165m. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump had this to say regarding stricter background checks: "We have very, very strong background checks right now. A lot of the people who put me where I am are strong supporters of the second amendment." Trump also claimed that expanding background checks was a "slippery slope" that could lead to a situation where "everything gets taken away". Trump also told reporters that Russia should be allowed to rejoin the G7. Russia was suspended in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea. Trump made the following statement regarding Israel's action of blocking two US congresswomen from entering their country: "It was all going to be a propaganda tour against Israel, so I don't blame Israel for doing what they did." Trump also spoke of Rashida Tlaib saying "All of a sudden, she starts the tears, and I don’t buy it for a second. I’ve seen her in a very vicious mood. I saw a woman that was violent and vicious and out of control. And all of a sudden I see this person who’s crying because she can’t see her grandmother." Trump then made this remark: "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty". This comment by Trump, which suggests that Jewish Americans have dual loyalty, is widely considered antisemitic. According to the Atlantic, Trump called Wayne LaPierre, the NRA CEO, to tell him that any push to expand requirements for background checks on gun sales is off the table. Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister reacted to news that Trump is interested in purchasing Greenland by saying "Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously." Frederiksen also called the idea "absurd". Trump responded to Frederiksen's comments by calling off a scheduled visit to Denmark saying "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time". Eva Flyvholm, the foreign policy chair for Denmark's Red-Green Alliance, responded to the issue over Greenland saying "There are already many good reasons to think that the man is a fool, and now he has given another good reason". Villy Sovndal, the former Denmark foreign minister said Trump's decision "confirms that Donald Trump is a narcissistic fool. If he had been a clown in a circus, you could probably say that there is considerable entertainment value. The problem is that he is the president of the most powerful nation in the world". According to the Guardian, law enforcement officials have thwarted six separate mass shootings in the last two weeks. The groups that were going to be targeted were LGBTQ people, Jewish people, black Americans, Latinos and Muslims. Four of the suspects are white and in their 20's.
August 19, 2019 - According to a survey by the National Association of Business Economics, 34% of economists surveyed believe the US will slip into a recession in 2021. 34% believe a recession will happen in 2020.Two major areas of concern for economists are Trump's tariffs, and high budget deficits. Trump's response to the news of a potential recession is that there must be some sort of conspiracy saying "The Fake News Media is doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election. The problem they have is that the economy is way too strong and we will soon be winning big on Trade, and everyone knows that, including China!" Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's former communications director, announced that he will be working against Trump's re-election saying "I’m in the process of putting together a team of people that feel the exact same way that I do. This is not a ‘Never Trump’ situation. This not just screeching rhetoric. This is — OK, the guy is unstable. Everyone inside knows it, everyone outside knows it. Let’s see if we can find a viable alternative." Trump responded to Scaramucci's comments saying "He was a mental wreck. We didn’t want him around. Now Fake News puts him on like he was my buddy!" Donald Trump, who proclaimed shortly after the El Paso massacre that "There is a great appetite, and I mean a very strong appetite, for background checks" was asked whether he would support universal background checks right now. Trump's response: "I’m not saying anything. I’m saying Congress is going to be reporting back to me with ideas. And they’ll come in from Democrats and Republicans. And I’ll look at it very strongly. But just remember, we already have a lot of background checks. OK? Thank you." The chair of the Federal Elections Commission made the following statement "Academics have studied this. Lawyers have studied this. The government has studied this. Democrats have studied this. Republicans have studied this. No one can find any evidence of rampant voter fraud". On the heels of the FEC chairs statement about voter fraud, Donald Trump sent the following tweet, which amplifies a baseless conspiracy theory: "Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought!" Hillary Clinton responded to Trump's voter fraud conspiracy tweeting "The debunked study you’re referring to was based on 21 undecided voters. For context that’s about half the number of people associated with your campaign who have been indicted." Steve King, the Iowa Republican who wondered if there would be anybody left in the world were it not for rape and incest, demanded an apology for the negative reaction to his comments saying "when we have a national, viral attack that comes out on a misquote, and it’s absolutely proven, all the folks that did that attack, I think they owe me an apology, including my own leadership." Representative Ben Ray Lujan, is the 127th House Democrat to back impeachment proceedings. Planned Parenthood announced that it will no longer accept funds from Title X health care funding due to a Trump administration rule that prohibits Title X recipients from providing abortion counseling. Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood called the change an "unethical and dangerous gag rule".
August 18, 2019 - Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor to Trump, stated "I sure don't see a recession" in response to a question about a possible economic downturn. NBC's Chuck Todd then reminded Kudlow of comments Kudlow made in 2007, right before the second-worst downturn in American history, in which Kudlow had stated "There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen… The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come." Trump echoed Kudlow's remarks telling reporters "I don’t see a recession. We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are tremendously rich. They’re loaded up with money. Walmart is through the roof. We’re not going to have a recession – the world is in a recession right now." Trump also talked about his trade war with China saying "China’s doing very poorly – the worst in 27 years – because of what I’ve done. They are losing millions of jobs in China. We’re not paying for the tariffs, China is paying for the tariffs. Other countries maybe but in the case of China, China is eating the tariffs – at least so far."
August 16, 2019 - Rashida Tlaib released a statement in which she declined Israel's offer of allowing her to visit her family in the West Bank on "humanitarian" grounds, writing "these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice." Tlaib also wrote "In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government. I have therefore decided not to travel to Palestine and Israel at this time. Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart." Israel's interior minister responded to Tlaibs' announcement tweeting "I approved her request as a gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis, but it was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the State of Israel. Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother." This tweet prompted a response from Matt Duss, a foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders who tweeted: "What an absolutely disgusting remark. Emerging right wing narrative that 'Tlaib's painful decision not to give up her rights as a condition of seeing her grandmother just shows this was all a cynical publicity stunt' is typical of the dehumanization of Palestinians as unfeeling machines programmed to attack Israel." Nine nonprofits serving immigrant communities have sued the Trump administration over its "public charge rule", which penalizes green-card applicants who use public benefits, saying that the rule is an unconstitutional effort to discriminate against nonwhite immigrants. Xavier Becerra, California's Democratic attorney general, stated that the rule "would force working parents and families across the nation to forego basic necessities like food, housing and healthcare out of fear." Congressional Republicans were found to be circulating a memo with instructions on how to respond to questions about gun violence. One of the suggested responses on the memo was for this question: "Do you believe white nationalism is driving more mass shootings recently?" The suggested answer in the memo is this "White nationalism and racism are pure evil and cannot be tolerated in any form. We also can’t excuse violence from the left such as the El Paso shooter, the recent Colorado shooters, the Congressional baseball shooter, Congresswoman Giffords’ shooter and Antifa." The chair of the Federal Elections Commission is claiming that the agency's Republican members shut down an effort to further investigate Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election by funneling money to the National Rifle Association. New York City's chief medical examiner released a statement saying that Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy revealed that he died as a result of suicide by hanging. The Trump administration submitted a brief to the Supreme Court today arguing that transgender people should not be protected by Title VII's ban on "sex" discrimination.
August 15, 2019 - According to a Fox News poll, 90% of Americans believe criminal background checks should be required for all gun purchases, and 81% believe red flag laws should be in place which allow judges to take guns away from those deemed dangerous. Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, urged the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to block United States Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel during a planned trip later this week, saying on twitter "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!" This tweet directly contradicts an official statement put out an hour before by Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary, that said "The Israeli government can do what it wants" regarding the representative's planned trip, and that reports that Trump was urging Netanyahu to barr Omar and Tlaib are "inaccurate". Tzipi, Hotovely, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, announced that Omar and Tlaib would be prevented entry into Israel saying "The decision has been made, the decision is not to allow them to enter." Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of the nonprofit J Street, which calls itself "the political home of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans" issued a statement saying "We may disagree with the views that the Members hold on such questions as BDS or with Rep. Tlaib on the two-state solution, but the right approach for a state that values democracy is to welcome criticism and debate, not to shut it down. The fact that President Trump has already tweeted out his own call for these representatives to be denied entry illustrates that this decision is motivated purely by politics and ideology – not by the interests of the State of Israel. It is an affront to Congress and the American people and does severe damage to the US-Israel relationship – and it must be reversed immediately." Here are some other selected responses to Israel blocking entry to two US Congresswomen:
"Israel has always banned Palestinians from their land and separated us from other Palestinians, but this time the Palestinian is a U.S congresswomen.@RashidaTlaib didn't even have to land to expose the true face of Israel's occupation." - Ayman Odeh, Palestinian Parliamentarian in Israel
"The Tlaib / Omar story is only incidentally about Israel. It's about a flagrant abuse of presidential power to control travel by elected members of Congress. It's a made-in-America scandal, by Americans, for Americans." - David Frum, former speech writer for George W Bush
"Just when you thought we reached rock bottom, the President of the United States tries to block legal U.S. citizens — members of Congress — from traveling to another country. This is unconstitutional and un-American. A despicable abuse of power." - Keith Boykin, former White House staffer for Bill Clinton
"Banning Congresswomen Omar and Tlaib from entering Israel and Palestine is a sign of enormous disrespect to these elected leaders, to the United States Congress, and to the principles of democracy. The Israeli government should reverse this decision and allow them in." - Bernie Sanders, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"The close relationship enjoyed by the United States and Israel should extend to all its government representatives, regardless of their views on specific issues or policies" - Jerry Nadler, Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee
"President Trump, you show great weakness every single day—when you attack women of color, when you degrade the office of the president, and when you ask our allies to stoop to your level." - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Prsidential Candidate
"I’m calling this like I see it: bigoted, short sighted and cruel. Any leader committed to advancing democracy would welcome with open arms two democratically elected United States Congresswomen. And every single member of Congress should be calling this out." - Representative Ayanna Pressley
"I want to tell you a secret: A month ago when Netanyahu decided to allow Omar and Tlaib into the country they alreadty supported BDS and he knew it back then. There is only one reason for Netanyahu's backtracking today - the pressure from Donald Trump" - Barak Ravid, Reporter for Israeli News Channel 13
"First he tells Congresswoman Tlaib to 'go back' to 'her' country, and then he tells that country not to let her in." - Representative Tom Malinowski
"Israel’s denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel. The President’s statements about the Congresswomen are a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President." - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"MoC are frequently asked to visit Israel to 'see things for ourselves.' But Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women in Congress from entering tells the US that only *some* Americans are welcome to Israel, not all. Trump is exporting his bigotry &making matters worse." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"I have always been a stalwart supporter of Israel—a vital partner that shares our democratic values. No democracy should deny entry to visitors based on the content of their ideas—even ideas they strongly object to. And no leader of the free world should encourage them to do so." - Joe Biden, former Vice President and 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying "There is no country in the world that respects the U.S. and the American Congress more than Israel. However, the itinerary showed that the congresswomen’s sole intention was to harm Israel." Netanyahu added that Tlaib may be allowed to travel to the West Bank if she submitted a request on humanitarian grounds to visit family there. Trump tweeted that "Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!" The House judiciary committee has issued subpoenaes for Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, and Rick Dearborn, a former White House official. A panel of judges has ruled that migrant children must have access to soap, toothpaste and a place to sleep. The ruling comes in response to a Trump administration official's arguments that detained immigrant children, who are required to be provided with "safe and sanitary" conditions, didn't also need basic hygiene products. In the ruling, the judges wrote in part "Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleep deprived are without doubt essential to the children’s safety." According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has shown an interest in the US acquiring Greenland, and has asked White House counsel to look into the idea. The State Department's internal watchdog released a report that found "evidence of leadership and management deficiencies and mistreatment of career employees" within the State Department. The report identified the work environment as "vindictive", and found that Kevin Moley, the assistant secretary of state, and his former senior advisor Marie Stull, retaliated against employees they believed were not sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Career employees described to the inspector general incidents in which Stull "referred to them or to other career employees as ‘Obama holdovers,’ ‘traitors,’ or ‘disloyal,' and some were accused of being part of the "Deep State" and of "undermining the president's agenda." After seeing the report, Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for Moley to be fired or to resign. Trump spoke to reporters today about the ongoing trade war with China saying "I think the longer the trade war goes on, the weaker China gets and the stronger we get". Todd Starnes, who hosts a show on Fox News, told viewers of his show "I do believe that we have been invaded by a horde. A rampaging horde of illegal aliens. This has been a slow-moving invasion. When you go back in time and when you look at what an invasion is. Whether it is the Nazis invading France and western Europe. I mean, whether the Muslims were invading a country back in the early years. It was an invasion." Trump mocked a guy at a rally in Manchester, NH, saying "That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising." Moments later Trump told the crowd "Our movement is built on love." Trump had mocked the guy because he thought he was a protester, but it turned out that the guy was actually a Trump supporter. Representative Anthony Brown became the 126th House Democrat to back impeachment proceedings against Trump.
August 14, 2019 - The DOW Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 800 points over recession fears. A primary indicator of an impending recession is an inverted yield curve, which preceded every recession for the past five decades. The inversion has now occurred. Trump blamed the federal reserve for the recession fears tweeting "We are winning, big time, against China. Companies & jobs are fleeing. Prices to us have not gone up, and in some cases, have come down. China is not our problem, though Hong Kong is not helping. Our problem is with the Fed. Raised too much & too fast. Now too slow to cut. Spread is way too much as other countries say THANK YOU to clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. Germany, and many others, are playing the game! CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE! We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!" Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services was asked about his recent comments regarding the statue of liberty poem, Cuccinelli's response: "Well, of course, that poem was referring back to people coming from Europe, where they had class-based societies, where people were considered wretched if they weren’t in the right class". Here are a few select responses to Cuccinelli's comment:
"This administration finally admitted what we’ve known all along: They think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people." - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"Not only disgusting, but factually inaccurate. The Statue of Liberty was created to celebrate emancipation." - Mara Gay, New York Times Editorial Board Member
"The whole point of the Trump political experiment has been to make subtext text. This is just the latest installment. (P.S. It's funny how now all of Europe is okay, but 100 years ago, a man with a name like Cuccinelli was from the 'wrong' part of that continent.)" - Julia Loffe, Writer for GQ Magazine
"This man is acting Director of Citizenship & Immigration Services. For the love of everyone, double check your voter registration status + register if you haven’t" - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Representative
While explaining his opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, Republican Representative Steve King told a conservative group in Iowa "What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that? Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that." Here are a few select responses to King's comments:
"You are a disgrace. Resign" - Kirsten Gillibrand, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"Just a reminder that every Republican presidential candidate coveted Steve King’s endorsement in the last cycle." - Brian Schatz, Democratic Senator
"You would think it would be pretty easy to come out against rape and incest. Then again, you’d think it would be pretty easy to come out against white nationalism. This is just one more example why there needs to be a sane representative in that district, and it’s why I think J.D. Scholten will be an excellent public servant for that district." - Pete Buttigieg, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
Representative Deb Haaland, of New Mexico, became the 122nd Democrat to call for impeachment hearings against Trump. Congressional democrats have subpoenaed Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan, to testify at a deposition in September. 8chan is a far-right website that has been linked to at least three deadly white supremacist acts of violence in the last 6 months, including the killing of 22 people in El Paso, Texas. Trump sent a tweet in praise of President Xi of China saying "I know President Xi of China very well. He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a 'tough business.' I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?"
August 13, 2019 - Julie Golob, a member of the NRA's board of directors, resigned her position today. Golob is the 4th board member to resign in the past two weeks. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, responded to news of Golob's departure saying "Now another board member is calling it quits. At this rate, they may be answering subpoenas rather than paying for political ads in 2020." Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, announced that some products affected by Trump's tariffs aginst China will be delayed until December 15th. Lighthizer also announced that products related to "health, safety, national security and other factors" will not be subject to the 10 percent tariffs. Trump himself claimed the delay in imposing the tariffs was precautionary "just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers" leading up to the Christmas shopping season. Ben White, a reporter for Politico responded to news of the delay saying "I mean this is just giving away the game and admitting tariffs are bad for Americans and that you have a pain threshold the Chinese can easily exploit." According to the Washington Post: "Trump’s escalating trade war has spooked business executives. There’s already been a noticeable decline in business investment as corporate leaders say Trump’s tariffs and unpredictability are creating too much uncertainty, dissuading them from spending large sums on new buildings or equipment. Now there are early signs that business leaders are beginning to pull back on hiring, too." Trump claimed on twitter today in reference to tariffs that "the tens of billions of dollars that the U.S. is receiving is a gift from China." Representative Ted Lieu, of California, responded to Trumps' tweet saying "Today is Tuesday. That means @realDonaldTrump is lying, again. US is not getting billions of dollars from China as a gift. US importers pay US tariffs, not China. Also, US farmers are getting a fraction of what they would be getting if there was no trade war. #TuesdayThoughts" Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, offered an edited version of the poem that appears on the Statue of Liberty saying: "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge." Pro Democracy demonstrators have been clashing with police in Hong Kong for weeks, and today those clashes intensified as demonstrators took over the Hong Kong airport. Both Democrats and Republicans have come out in support of the demonstrators. Speaking to reporters regarding the Hong Kong situation, Trump said "The Hong Kong thing is a very tough situation, very tough. We'll what see what happens. But I'm sure it'll work out. I hope it works out for everybody, including China, by the way." While speaking to a group about energy on an official White House event, Trump claimed the presidency has cost him billions of dollars. Trump also attacked some of his Democratic rivals saying "We'll have to hit Pocahontas very hard again if she does win... What a group: Pocahontas and Sleepy Joe." Also complains that Barack Obama was paid for his book.
August 12, 2019 - Conspiracy theories continue to be promoted online regarding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, despite the results of a New York City medical examiner's autopsy which found no indications of foul play. The Trump administration introduced a new policy that penalizes green card applicants who use public benefits, like food stamps. Numerous studies determined that a rule of this sort, which affects legal immigration, would result in many legal immigrants dis-enrolling from public benefits programs, even if they are not affected by the rule. According to the Urban Institute, 1 in 7 adults in immigrant families eschew public benefits out of fear it could affect their chances of getting a green card. Researchers also found that not receiving public benefits caused increased financial difficulties, as well as mental and physical health problems. Explaining the new policy, Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, told reporters "Through the public charge rule, President Trump's administration is re-enforcing the ideals of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility ensuring immigrants are able to support themselves and become successful here in America". One reporter asked Cuccinelli "Is that sentiment, give us 'your tired, your poor,' still operative in the United States, or...should the plaque come down from the Statue of Liberty?" Cuccinelli responded "I'm certainly not prepared to take anything down off the Statue of Liberty." Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's former communications director, announced that he no longer supports Trump's re-election bid saying "For the last three years I have fully supported this president. Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100% litmus test. Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country. To those asking, ‘What took so long?’ You’re right. I tried to see [the] best in [Donald Trump] based on private interactions and select policy alignment. But his increasingly divisive rhetoric – and damage it’s doing to fabric of our society – outweighs any short-term economic gain." According to the Washington Post, Trump has made more than 12,000 false or misleading statements since becoming president, averaging about 13 or so claims per day. His most repeated false claim - 190 times - is that his border wall is being built. Another big one - 186 times - is that the US economy today is the best in history. News surfaced that some of Trump's evangelical supporters are distraught that Trump repeatedly used the word "goddamn" at a rally in Greenville, NC. According to Business Insider, FBI agents are not happy with Donald Trump for amplifying conspiracy theories regarding the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein. One anonymous agent told the magazine: "The last thing investigators need is the president of the United States fanning the flames with these bullshit theories that have no basis in reality". The Trump administration announced new rules regarding the implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Under the changes, species categorized as "threatened" will not automatically receive the same protections as those listed as "endangered". The new rules will also allow officials to draw more attention to the economic impact of protecting a species. This change comes in the wake of a United Nations report released this spring which found that humans are disrupting the natural world, and putting a million species at risk of extinction worldwide.
August 10, 2019 - Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of girls as young as 14, died in jail of an apparent suicide. Donald Trump re-tweeted a conspiracy theory that former president Bill Cinton is somehow connected with Epstein's death. Here is the original tweet: "Died of SUICIDE on 24/7 SUICIDE WATCH ? Yeah right! How does that happen#JefferyEpstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this! RT if you’re not Surprised #EpsteinSuicide #ClintonBodyCount #ClintonCrimeFamily" According to those familiar with Epstein's incarceration, he was not on suicide watch when he killed himself. Another important thing to note here, is that Epstein was in federal custody at the time that he died, which means he was under the purview of Trump's justice department. A white man carrying two shotguns and a pistol, and wearing body armor, entered a mosque in Oslo, Norway and opened fire. One man was injured before the shooter was overpowered by members of the mosque. The man claimed inspiration from the Christchurch and El Paso shootings. Race Imboden, who took a knee during the raising of the American flag while standing on the podium where he received a Gold Medal in the Pan-Am Games, explained his action on twitter saying "We must call for change. This week I am honored to represent Team USA at the Pan-Am Games, taking home gold and bronze. My pride however has been cut short by the multiple shortcomings of the country I hold so dear to my heart. Racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list. I chose to sacrifice my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed. I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change." For a change of pace, guess which of the following quotes is from Tucker Carlson, a Fox News Host, and which one is from a far-right shooter who killed 51 people in a New Zealand mosque:
"When confronted or pressed for details, [proponents of diversity] retreat into a familiar platitude, which they repeat like a zen koan: diversity is our strength. But is diversity our strength? The less we have in common, the stronger we are? Is that true of families? Is it true in neighborhoods or businesses? Of course not. Then why is it true of America? Nobody knows. Nobody’s even allowed to ask the question."
"Why is diversity said to be our greatest strength? Does anyone even ask why? It is spoken like a mantra and repeated ad infinitum … But no one ever seems to give a reason why. What gives a nation strength? And how does diversity increase that strength? What part of diversity causes this increase in strength? No one can give an answer."
Are you stumped? Tucker Carlson gets credit for the first of the two quotes.
August 9, 2019 - A photo surfaced from Trump's visit to a hospital in El Paso showing Trump and the first lady Melania posing with a baby who lost both of its parents in the El Paso shooting. POTUS and FLOTUS are both smiling broadly in the picture, Trump also has his thumb extended up. Criticism of the photo was swift. This from Georgetown professor Don Moynihan "This child just lost both parents to a white supremacist who drove 10 hours to a Walmart to kill Hispanics because, like Trump, he was concerned about an immigrant invasion. Why, exactly, are the President and First Lady smiling? Why the hell is he doing the thumbs up sign?" Trump sent out the following tweet: "Serious discussions are taking place between House and Senate leadership on meaningful Background Checks. I have also been speaking to the NRA, and others, so that their very strong views can be fully represented and respected. Guns should not be placed in the hands of mentally ill or deranged people. I am the biggest Second Amendment person there is, but we all must work together for the good and safety of our Country. Common sense things can be done that are good for everyone!" While speaking to reporters, Trump stated that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is "totally on board" with considering a background checks bill. Trump also told the press he had a received a "beautiful" three-page letter from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Trump also mentioned that North Korea is still participating in the repatriation program for the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War, which is not true, as the Pentagon announced in May that that program had been suspended due to a lack of communication from North Korean officials. Trump was also asked about the ICE raids at Mississippi food processing plants that left some children abandoned. Trump's response: "I want people to know that if they come into the United States illegally, they’re getting out. They’re going to be brought out. And this serves as a very good deterrent. ... They’re not coming in illegally and staying. They may get in, but it doesn’t matter because they’re going out." Beto O'Rourke posted a video on twitter of a young girl sobbing and pleading for the return of her dad, who had been swept up in the ICE raids in Mississippi. O'Rourke made the following comment about the video: "She is not a 'rapist' or a 'criminal.' She is not an 'animal' or an 'infestation.' She's a daughter who misses her father—and has no idea when she'll see him again. She will struggle with this trauma for the rest of her life. We’ll have it on our conscience for the rest of ours." The 21-year-old El Paso shooter, who was taken into custody without incident after the shooting, has confessed to being the shooter, and also to targeting "Mexicans". According to a new Reuters poll:
- 69% of Americans back "strong" or "moderate" restrictions on guns.
- A majority of Americans, but only a third of Republicans believe that "the way people talk about immigration encourages acts of violence."
- 78% of Americans believe it is likely another mass shooting will take place in the next three months.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen has ruled that a school board's transgender bathroom ban discriminated against former student Gavin Grimm. Trump responded to news that some countries are issuing travel advisories against the US by threatening to issue "reciprocal" advisories saying "We are a very reciprocal nation, with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them". South Korea's military has reported that North Korea has launched multiple projectiles into the sea. According to the AP "The North Korean missile tests, which U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly played down, come amid stalled diplomatic talks with the United States on the North’s nuclear program. So far, North Korea has stuck by its unilateral suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, which came during a diplomatic outreach to Washington last year." Eight Democratic US Senators signed onto a letter to some major tech firms asking them to halt the sale of gun accessories on their sites saying in part: "America is in the throes of a gun violence epidemic and it is incumbent upon corporate America to do its part to help end the carnage."
August 8, 2019 - Former president Bill Clinton sent the following tweet: "We have talked, tweeted, and delayed long enough. This is about who we are as a country, and what America will look like years from now. It’s time to reinstate the assault weapons ban and make background checks universal." Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia has come out in favor of impeachment, bringing the number of pro-impeachment Democrats to 119. Trump is once again toying with the idea of commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich saying "I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly". Blagojevich was caught on tape trying to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat saying "I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing". News surfaced that while meeting with medical staff in El Paso yesterday, Trump bragged about the size of the crowd at his rally in the city in February. News also surfaced that 5 victims refused to meet with Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, some major Wall Street banks have handed over thousands of pages of documents to congressional committees who are looking into Trump's financial ties with Russia. The NRA issued a series of tweets pushing back against background checks and "red flag" legislation. Beto O'Rourke responded to Trump's crowd size remark at an El Paso hospital saying "This community is focused on healing. Not hatred. Not racism. Certainly not crowd sizes. Our community — and our country — will not be defined by @realdonaldtrump’s smallness. We will be defined by the love, compassion, and strength of El Paso." Curt James Brockway, 39, was arrested and charged with felony assault on a minor after he picked up a 13 year-old boy and body slammed him on his head, after the teenager failed to remove his hat for the national anthem at a rodeo in Superior, Montana. According to the police report, the boy suffered a concussion and a fractured skull, and had blood coming out of his ears. Speaking through his attorney, Brockway claimed he had heard Trump speak out against athletes who protest during the national anthem, and felt he had been "given an order from commander in chief to make sure people are patriotic".
August 7, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet today: "Meanwhile, the Dayton, Ohio, shooter had a history of supporting political figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and ANTIFA. @OANN I hope other news outlets will report this as opposed to Fake News. Thank you!" According to the FBI, investigators have uncovered no evidence of a racial motivation in the Dayton attack, but have in the El Paso attack, where the shooter posted an anti-immigrants screed which echoed Trump's own anti-immigrant rhetoric. As he was leaving the White House to travel to Dayton and El Paso, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he was concerned about hate groups. Trump's response: "I am concerned for any group of hate. I don’t like it ... whether it’s white supremacy or any other kind of supremacy, whether it’s antifa, whether it’s any group or kind of hate ... I am concerned about it and I’ll do something about it." It should be noted here that the Southern Poverty Law Center does not list antifa as a hate group because the group does "not promote hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity." An open letter to Trump was posted online by the Border Network for Human Rights asking the president to not visit El Paso saying in part "Your presence would bring no comfort, no respite from the pain so brutally and callously imposed upon us. We ask, instead, for your absence. We say this because we recognize that it is your rhetoric and your actions that led us to this terrible moment." The letter has attracted more than 17,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. Trump told reporters "I think we can do something on background checks like we've never done before." Critics were quick to point out that after the Parkland shooting in 2018, Trump said "We’re going to be very strong on background checks. We’re going to be doing very strong background checks." Trump told reporters today "My rhetoric brings people together". Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, responded to Trump's comment on twitter saying "Ironically, he's right, people of all stripes come together over how disgusting his rhetoric is." Tucker Carlson, a Fox News host, attracted criticism when he said the following "If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns, problems this country has, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America. This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power." Reporters traveling with Donald Trump were not allowed to accompany him while he visited with first responders and victims at a Dayton hospital because they were told "the visit was not a photo opp". After the visit, Trump posted photos online of himself posing with first responders and hospital staff. Michael Gerson, a former top aide to George W. Bush, wrote an op-ed about racism, which reads in part "Racism is the fire that left our country horribly disfigured. It is the beast we try to keep locked in the basement. When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame." Representative Elijah Cummings has extended an invitation to Trump to visit Baltimore saying "I want him to come and look at my entire city. I’ll ride with him for hours if I have to." Joe Biden delivered a speech in Burlington, Iowa condemning Trump for having "fanned the flames of white supremacy." Trump responded to Biden's speech on twitter saying "Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring! The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy. It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!" Biden then responded to Trump's tweet by tweeting: "Thank you for tuning in! We hope you learned a thing or two about what it takes to be an effective leader who can unify the nation." In a joint statement, Claudia Ordaz Perez, El Paso's mayor pro tempore, and Vincent Perez, a county commissioner, called on Trump to condemn racial terrorism saying in part "If the President fails to strongly condemn this racially-motivated terrorist attack and fails to call for an end to the use of violence against minority groups by radicalized white nationalist terrorists during his visit, his continued depiction of immigrants and migrants as a threat to our nation will only place our community at greater risk for racially-motivated attacks." The House judiciary committee has asked a federal judge to force testimony from Don McGahn, Trump's former White House counsel. Amnesty International issued a travel warning for visitors to the US saying "Today we issue a travel warning calling for travelers & visitors to the United States to exercise extreme caution & have a contingency plan when travelling throughout the country. This is due to ongoing rampant gun violence in the United States." In what is being called the largest workplace sting in at least a decade, Immigration officials arrested 680 workers at food processing plants in Mississippi. Most of those arrested were Latino. Responding to the raid, the ACLU sent the following tweet: "ICE cruelly swept through Mississippi, leaving children stranded without parents or knowledge of when they could be reunited. THIS is what happens when you want to achieve an anti-immigrant agenda no matter the cost." Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director, has sued the Justice Department claiming he was fired as part of a plot to root out officials who were not loyal to Trump. McCabe was fired 24 hours before he was set to retire. Sue Gordon, the deputy director of national intelligence will be stepping down next week, along with Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence (DNI). Trump announced that Joseph Maguire, the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center will serve as acting director of national intelligence.
August 6, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet to address criticism that he is racist: "It’s political season and the election is around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative. @ainsleyearhardt @foxandfriends And I am the least racist person. Black, Hispanic and Asian Unemployment is the lowest (BEST) in the history of the United States!" Trump also responded to a statement released by Obama yesterday saying "Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres. @kilmeade @foxandfriends" Dave Stout, an El Paso County Commissioner, responded to news that Trump is planning to visit the city saying "It’s ridiculous and unconscionable. The city of El Paso is an economically challenged community. He’s going to be throwing salt into the wound -- a very, very deep wound. And this community needs healing, not Donald Trump." According to the city of El Paso, Trump's reelection campaign still owes the city $569,204 for a rally held in February. News surfaced that some foreign countries have begun warning their citizens about travel to the US. Uruguay warned of "growing indiscriminate violence", and Japan warned of "the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States" A coalition of progressive groups held a rally against white supremacy and gun violence in Lafayette Square just north of the White House. The group released a statement saying "The impact of Trump’s racist rhetoric and policies cannot be ignored when white supremacists— many of whom name him in their attacks and cite him in their hate manifestos— murder innocent people of color. It is not enough for Republican leadership in Congress to offer thoughts and prayers, nor should they repeatedly blame gun violence on mental illness — an unfounded and harmful trope. They must unequivocally denounce this violence, pass laws to stop it, and prevent the rise of white supremacy." During an interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar stated the following regarding Trump's plan to visit El Paso: "From my perspective, he is not welcome here. He should not come here while we are in mourning. I would encourage the president’s staff members to have him do a little self-reflection. I would encourage them to show him his own words and his actions at the rallies." The Trump campaign sued the state of California over the new law that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns if they want to run in the state's primary. News surfaced that Trump's re-election campaign has described immigration as an "invasion" in more than 2,000 facebook ads this year. A picture surfaced of 7 young men wearing shirts with "TEAM MITCH" written on them. In the picture the men are holding a cardboard cutout of AOC, and some of them are mimicking groping and choking the image. The caption on the picture is "break me off a piece of that." AOC tweeted the picture to Mitch McConnell with the following statement: "Hey @senatemajldr - these young men look like they work for you. Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?" The ACLU sent the following tweet today: "BREAKING: We’re challenging the Trump administration’s new rule that massively expands fast-track deportations without a fair legal process such as a court hearing or access to an attorney. This is an illegal escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants." David Stout, an El Paso county commissioner, made the following statement regarding Trump's planned visit tomorrow: "Regardless of what happened here on Saturday, he has constantly demonized, vilified the type of people who live in this community. I don’t understand why in the world anybody would think it would be a good idea for him to be in El Paso, Texas." Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who was terminated over text messages he sent that disparaged Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit over his dismissal saying "This campaign to publicly vilify Special Agent Strzok contributed to the FBI’s ultimate decision to unlawfully terminate him, as well as to frequent incidents of public and online harassment and threats of violence to Strzok and his family that began when the texts were first disclosed to the media and continue to this day." Representative Veronica Escobar was invited to join Donald Trump during his visit to El Paso, but she declined the invitation after she was told that Trump was "too busy" to honor her request to speak to him about his racist comments.
August 5, 2019 - Donald J Trump, who is facing a lot of criticism following two mass shootings over the weekend - one which was carried out by a man who echoed Trump's own rhetoric in an anti-immigration screed posted to 8chan - blamed the media today saying in a tweet: "The Media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our Country. Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years. News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!" Critics were quick to point to this line from the El Paso shooter's screed which Trump echoed in his statement: "The media is infamous for fake news". Trump also sent out the following tweet: "We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!" The responses to these tweets were swift:
"Nah. News coverage has got to start calling you what you are. A traitor. A liar. A racist. A coward. A fool. #WhiteSupremacistInChief" - Ava DuVernay, Filmmaker
"This is sinister. Why do shootings mean we need immigration reform? By linking them, Trump blames the victims for the terrorism that took their lives. He throws red meat to his base-let’s keep Hispanics out of our country-in response to the crimes of a white supremacist." - Joyce Alene, Law Professor at the University of Alabama
"What's the connection between background checks & immigration reform? That we have to keep guns out of the hands of the invading hordes? Of less than human people coming cross our borders? That's the implication. That's disgusting. It reminds me of the 1930's in Germany." - Jerry Nadler, US House Judiciary Committee Chair
"Let me see if I got this: A white supremacist comes to my community with a weapon of war, murders my neighbors because they are Latino, and we should tie tepid gun measures to honoring a terrorist's grievances?" - Bob Moore, El Paso News Reporter
"Marrying a backgrounds check bill with immigration reform would almost certainly doom both efforts. After Parkland, Trump promised to be 'very strong' on background checks." - Manu Raju, CNN Reporter
"That’s an absolute freaking joke that he’s going to tie this to the most polarized issue happening in the United States. Mitch McConnell needs to get off his ass and do something." - Tim Ryan, Democratic Presidential Candidate
"This president’s open racism is an invitation to violence. The writing has been on the wall since his maiden speech coming down that escalator calling immigrants 'rapists and criminals.' The actions that follow cannot surprise us." - Beto O'Rourke, Democratic Presidential Candidate
"That is what a lack of leadership in the White House looks like. He is not only egging on white supremacy and white nationalism, but he is one himself. He has been using racist language as a candidate and as president for two years, especially against immigrants." - Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic Presidential Candidate
The New York Post, a right leaning paper owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch is out with the following front page headline "BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS" The editorial board of the National Review, another conservative media outlet, wrote the following: "the patterns on display over the last few years have revealed that we are contending here not with another ‘lone wolf,’ but with the fruit of a murderous and resurgent ideology — white supremacy — that deserves to be treated by the authorities in the same manner as has been the threat posed by militant Islam." Candice Keller, a Republican, State Representative from Ohio, received a torrent of criticism after posting the following to facebook: "After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs? The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed public schools (hello parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you Obama); hatred of our veterans (thank you, professional athletes who hate our flag and National Anthem); the Dem Congress, many members whom are openly anti-Semitic, the culture, which totally ignores the importance of God and the church (until they elect a President); state officeholders, who have no interest whatsoever in learning about our Constitution and the Second Amendment; and snowflakes, who can't accept a duly-elected President." Trump, while reading from a prepared statement, blamed violent video games and lack of mental health care among other things for the violence last weekend. Trump also called for the country to come together, and also, Trump said this: "In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" Here are some select responses to Trump's statements:
"Sure, it’s good to finally use the words. But let’s be clear: no figure in modern American history has done more to encourage and embolden these hateful ideologies than Donald Trump. It defined his campaign. It has defined his presidency. A reluctant sentence changes none of that" Brian Klaas, Political Scientist
"Trump is on TV blaming the Internet, social media, video games and mental health for the mass shootings. Nonsense! Every country has Google, Facebook, video games and people with mental health issues. What they don’t have is easy access to guns and a racist, xenophobic president." - Keith Boykin, former Clinton White House aide
"Again, if fascism and white nationalism is a 'mental illness' requiring involuntary commitment, then Trump needs to be committed right now." - Amanda Marcotte, Writer for Salon
"Donald Trump is never as passionate, spontaneous or animated when discussing white nationalist attacks as he is when attacking Latinos, blacks and Muslims" - Jason Johnson, Political Editor for the Root
"Not enough. A few words written by a press flack do nothing for the families of these victims. Trump says we should “reject bigotry”, but he’s the notorious bigot that cowards like these are inspired by." - Sawyer Hackett, Press Secretary for Democratic Presidential Candidate Julian Castro
"Donald Trump is unfit to lead our nation. His words could not be more hollow. He says 'we must condemn racism, bigotry and white nationalism' — but often serves as their national spokesperson. In this national emergency, our president is morally bankrupt. We deserve better." - Julian Castro Democratic Candidate for President
"You can’t speak out of one side of your mouth about the need for us to come together as a country but consistently do things that divide this nation and pit us against each other, that fuel racial bigotry and hatred" - Cory Booker, Democratic Candidate for President
"You blamed the media. You blamed video games. You blamed everybody but yourself.
Look in the mirror today. You have the power to heal a wound that you re-opened. Will you stop describing Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders’ as the terrorist did?" - Joaquin Castro, Representative from Texas
"President Trump’s words today are meaningless. We know his vile and racist words have incited violence and attacks on Americans." - Bennie G. Thompson, Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
"White supremacy is not a mental illness. We need to call it what it is: Domestic terrorism. And we need to call out Donald Trump for amplifying these deadly ideologies." - Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Candidate for President
"We have a racist president, who is prejudiced, and misogynistic, who doesn’t value anyone outside of himself." - Carl Lewis, Nine-time Olympic Gold Medalist
Politico Reporter Michael Calderone sent the following tweet comparing Trump's reaction to these recent mass shootings - which were carried out by white guys - with those carried out by Islamic extremists: "Trump took no questions after his statement today. Compare to San Bernardino, where Trump was calling into one TV news show after another to talk about the shooting. Reminder: Trump not only called for banning all Muslims from entering the US in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting in Dec. 2015, but he was over TV news shows stoking fears of future attacks on U.S. soil:" Calderone included these statements that Trump made during those calls to various news shows in 2015:
"We have to use vigilance in our country or we're going to have many more World Trade Centers and our country will never be the same. We will have many, many more World Trade Centers" - Donald Trump speaking to ABC's George Stephanopoulos
"You're going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it, many, many more, and probably beyond the World Trade Center" - Donald Trump speaking to CNN's Chris Cuomo
"You will have more World Trade Centers and you will have more, bigger than the World Trade Center, if we don't toughen up, smarten up and use our heads" - Donald Trump speaking on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
In a joint statement, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on Mitch McConnell to bring the Senate back from its recess to pass some basic background check bills that passed in the House more than 5 months ago, but were never taken up by the Senate. The bills are the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act. While speaking at a press conference, Lopez Obrador, the president of Mexico said "We have great respect for the decisions of other governments, but we believe these appalling events that have taken place in the United States should lead to contemplation, discussion and a decision to control the indiscriminate sale of guns" Kellyanne Conway told reporters outside the White House that Trump put politics aside in his response to the shootings, but critics quickly pointed out that blaming mental illness echoes a key talking point from the National Rifle Association. Barack Obama released a statement today expressing condolences for the victims of the recent shootings, and also demanding action on gun control. The statement also called on Americans to "soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don't look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people. Such language isn't new- it's been at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it's time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much - clearly and unequivocally." Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man who mailed pipe bombs to critics of Trump, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. News surfaced that many Hispanic Texans are lining up to buy firearms for self protection. The Dow dropped 2.9 percent, in response to Trump's escalating trade war with China. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has declared China a currency manipulator under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Dee Margo, El Paso's Mayor has announced that Trump will be visiting the city on August 7th.
August 4, 2019 - Connor Betts, who was wearing body armor and carrying 100-bullet magazines, opened fire in Dayton, OH, killing 9. Six of the 9 victims were black. Betts was shot dead by police within 30 seconds of the beginning of his shooting spree. Trump responded to this attack and the one in El Paso yesterday by tweeting "I want to extend our condolences from El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. They’re incredible people, they’ve been through a lot. Hate has no place in our country. We’re going to take care of it." Trump also blamed mental illness for the shootings saying "This is also a mental illness problem, if you look at both these cases … both these people are very ill." Rosie Phillips Davis, the president of the American Psychological Association, released the following statement: "Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness. The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them. One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster. If we want to address the gun violence that is tearing our country apart, we must keep our focus on finding evidence-based solutions. This includes restricting access to guns for people who are at risk for violence and working with psychologists and other experts to find solutions to the intolerance that is infecting our nation and the public dialogue."
August 3, 2019 - Patrick Crusius, a resident of Allen, TX, drove 650 miles to El Paso, TX, where he opened fire in a crowded Walmart store, killing 22, and injuring dozens more. Shortly before the shooting, Crusius left a message on the website 8chan, which expressed sympathy for a white nationalist who opened fire in two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The message also stated "This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas." Trump tweeted to "condemn today's hateful act" and called it an "act of cowardice". Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter tweeted "White supremacy, like all other forms of terrorism, is an evil that must be destroyed."
August 2, 2019 - The US officially pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with Russia, saying "Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise. Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that the world has lost "an invaluable brake on nuclear war" and also that "This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles." The NYPD's deputy commissioner of trials has recommended that Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired for his role in the chocking death of Eric Garner in 2014. Garner's last words were "I can't breath." News surfaced that there was an attempted break in at congressman Elijah Cummings' house, prompting Trump to send this tweet: "Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!" Nikki Haley, Trump's former US ambassador to the United Nations responded to Trump's tweet with "This is so unnecessary." Following news that North Korea hs launched more missiles, Trump sent the following tweet: "Kim Jong Un and North Korea tested 3 short range missiles over the last number of days. These missiles tests are not a violation of our signed Singapore agreement, nor was there discussion of short range missiles when we shook hands. There may be a United Nations violation, but Chairman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country, and only the United States, with me as President, can make that vision come true." As of today, 118 of 235 House Democrats support impeachment of Donald Trump. John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, has withdrawn his name from consideration after questions were raised about his experience, qualifications, and ability to be non-partisan. News also emerged that Ratcliffe had exaggerated his national security credentials.Ratcliffe was even referred to be Republicans in the Senate as "an inexperienced but loyal partisan". Responding to the news, Trump sent the following tweet: "Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people."
August 1, 2019 - Trump announced, via twitter, that beginning September 1st, the US would impose a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports that aren't already affected by the 25% tariff on $250 billion worth of goods. Following Trump's tweet announcing the new tariffs, the stock market plunged. Steve Liesman, a CNBC reporter, sent the following tweet: "Probably needs to be stated again: the president is increasing tariffs the day after the Fed Chair (whom the president chose) warned that tariffs represent the single biggest threat to the us and global economies. And he said it repeatedly." Regarding Trump's attacks on Baltimore, Nancy Pelosi made the following statement: "The president – this comes as no surprise – really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who’s a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations." State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed Trump's family business regarding hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Representative Will Hurd announced that he will not be seeking reelection to Congress. Hurd is the 3rd Republican in the past week to announce that he is retiring. In newly released audio, Ronald Reagan and then president Richard Nixon can be heard talking about how an African delegation to the United Nations danced in response to a vote. Reagan can be heard saying "To watch that thing on television, as I did, to see those, those monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!" Nixon responds by erupting with laughter.
July 31, 2019 - The Washington National Cathedral released the following statement regarding Trump's racist attacks: "This week, President Trump crossed another threshold. Not only did he insult a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality for all persons; not only did he savage the nations from which immigrants to this country have come; but now he has condemned the residents of an entire American city. Where will he go from here? Make no mistake about it, words matter. And, Mr. Trump’s words are dangerous. These words are more than a 'dog-whistle.' When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human 'infestation' in America. They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation. Violent words lead to violent actions. When does silence become complicity? What will it take for us all to say, with one voice, that we have had enough? The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of ours. As leaders of faith who believe in the sacredness of every single human being, the time for silence is over. We must boldly stand witness against the bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and xenophobia that is hurled at us, especially when it comes from the highest offices of this nation. We must say that this will not be tolerated. To stay silent in the face of such rhetoric is for us to tacitly condone the violence of these words. We are compelled to take every opportunity to oppose the indecency and dehumanization that is racism, whether it comes to us through words or actions." Trump sent the following tweet today: "CNN’s Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television, insinuated last night while asking a debate 'question' that I was a racist, when in fact I am 'the least racist person in the world.' Perhaps someone should explain to Don that he is supposed to be neutral, unbiased & fair, or is he too dumb (stupid} to understand that. No wonder CNN’s ratings (MSNBC’s also) have gone down the tubes - and will stay there until they bring credibility back to the newsroom. Don’t hold your breath!" It should be noted here, that Don Lemon is one of the most prominent black TV journalists in the US. For the first time in more than a decade, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter point, which many economists see as an indicator that the US economy may be running out of steam. In a newly released Quinnipiac University poll, 51% of voters believe Donald Trump is a racist. Harry Enten of CNN provided the following analysis of the poll: "Compare these numbers to a Harris poll from September 1968. Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist, was running for president as an opponent to the Civil Rights movement. As he campaigned, 41% agreed when asked whether Wallace was a racist. That was basically even with the 40% who disagreed with the statement. There are a few ways to look at these numbers, and none are complementary to Trump. You can say that more voters believe Trump is racist than believed a segregationist running for president in 1968 was. You could be generous to Trump and say that the spread between racist and not a racist (5 points in Trump’s case and 1 point in Wallace’s case) is closer because more voters were undecided on Wallace. Even so, the net margin for Trump being a racist is wider than it was in Wallace’s case." The Trump administration imposed sanctions against Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister. Zarif responded to the news with the following tweet: "The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world'. Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda." The Senate has confirmed Kelly Craft to succeed Nikki Haley as Trump's ambassador to the UN. Kraft came under heavy criticism earlier this year for spending more than half her time as ambassador to Canada absent from her post.
July 30, 2019 - California has passed a law that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns to qualify for California's primary ballot. The ACLU sent the following tweet: "BREAKING: Today we filed a motion to block the Trump administration from continuing to separate families at the border. More than 900 parents and children — including babies — have been separated since the court blocked the cruel policy over a year ago." Leslie McCrae Dowles, a Republican political operative from North Carolina, has been charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and illegal possession of absentee ballots. Dowles was indicted last year on charges that he was running a scheme to illegally collect and forge mail-in ballots from voters in rural North Carolina.
July 29, 2019 - A gunman opened fire at the Gilroy garlic festival in northern California, killing three. The gunman was shot and killed by police. In an ironic twist to Trump's attacks on the city of Baltimore, news surfaced that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, owns more than a dozen apartment complexes in Baltimore, which have been cited for, among other things, rodent infestations. In another ironic twist, House Republicans have scheduled their annual policy retreat in Baltimore. Speaking to reporters in Baltimore, Al Sharpton spoke of Trump's attacks on the city saying "He attacks everybody. I know Donald Trump. He’s not mature enough to take criticism. He can’t help it. He’s like a child. Somebody says something, he reacts. He’s thin-skinned and not really matured that well. But he has a particular venom for blacks and people of color. He doesn’t refer to any of his other opponents or critics as ‘infested.’ He does not attack their districts." Representative Dina Titus has come out publicly for impeachment, bringing the number of pro-impeachment Democrats to 109, which is nine short of a majority for the Democratic caucus.Nancy Pelosi referred to Mitch McConnell as "Moscow Mitch" over his opposition to taking up election security bills. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell complained that criticism of his refusal to take up election security bills is equivalent to "modern day McCarthyism". The Senate tried but failed to override Trump's veto of a resolution blocking US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries without Congressional approval.
July 28, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet: "I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence. A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves. Dan Coats, the current Director, will be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly." Here are some noteworthy responses to Trump's announcement:
"Trump is consolidating his personal control over the intelligence community ... I fear that there is a slow takeover of the norms and procedures of governance by this president, amassing unprecedented executive power. To do that he needs to neutralise or at least silence the intelligence community. He has been doing that for three years, but this takes it to the new level." - Rolf Mowatt-Larsen, Former CIA Intelligence Officer
"So you're forcing #DanCoats out as DNI because he has continually warned about Russian interference in our elections and you're ensconcing Ratcliffe who attacked Mueller when he supported Coats? Pretty obviously laying the groundwork for stealing another election in 2020." - Victoria Brownworth, Investigative Journalist
"So Coats, who has warned over and over about threats from Russia, is out. And Ratcliffe, who auditioned by attacking Mueller during the hearings is in. You are the epitome of corruption and a danger to this country, it can’t be said enough." - Michelangelo Signorile, Journalist, Commentator, Author
July 27, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place. Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!" Elijah Cummings responded to Trump's tweet with a tweet of his own saying "Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents." Gerald Stansbury, the president of the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP responded to Trump's tweet saying "America deserves a president who lifts our cities up, not one who heaps trash talk on them".
July 26, 2019 - The Commerce Department announced that US economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2019. The GDP grew at an annual rate of 2.1% During a House judiciary committee hearing, Brian Hastings, a senior Border Patrol official, claimed Francisco Erwin Galicia, an American citizen, was detained by immigration officers for more than 3 weeks because he never presented himself as an American citizen. That statement was later contradicted by Galicia's attorney who produced a notice to appear at DHS which reads in part "On or about June 27, 2019, you were found at the Falfurrias, Texas, Border Patrol Checkpoint, a distance of more than 25 miles from the United States border with Mexico ... You did not receive the permission of an immigration officer to proceed beyond that 25 mile limit ... At that time, you falsely represented yourself to be a citizen of the United States for the purpose of furthering your entry into the United States". Representative Annie Kuster became the 100th lawmaker to come out in support of an impeachment inquiry. The House judiciary committee has filed suit to obtain the "grand jury material underlying the Mueller report" citing the need for the committee to recommend one way or the other regarding articles of impeachment against Trump. The Commerce Department released data today showing economic growth last year was 2.5% The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can spend $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on the border wall. The Trump administration signed an agreement with Guatemala to restrict asylum applications to the US. Amnesty International reacted to the agreement saying "any attempts to force families and individuals fleeing their home countries to seek safety in Guatemala are outrageous". RAICES, a Texas-based group that provides legal services to refugee families responded to the agreement saying "This new agreement with Guatemala puts 100s of thousands of people's lives at risk. What Trump is doing with these third country agreements violates the principle of asylum and directly leads to people being kidnapped, beaten and sexually abused."
July 25, 2019 - Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, announced he will resign effective 2 August. After a nearly two-decade lapse, the Justice Department said in a statement that it will resume capital punishment. Attorney General William Barr asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of five death-row inmates, with the first to take place December 9. Amid reports that some Trump administration officials have been communicating using personal email accounts and encrypted apps, the House oversight committee has voted to authorize subpoenas of all White House work communications sent via personal email and cellphone. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the committee, stated during a contentious debate with Republicans "I don’t know how to say this any differently: We have laws. And the laws say we keep official records." Representative Ilhan Omar, who was the target of the "send her back" chant at one of Trump's rallies, wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she stated in part: "The president’s rally will be a defining moment in American history. It reminds us of the grave stakes of the coming presidential election: that this fight is not merely about policy ideas; it is a fight for the soul of our nation. The ideals at the heart of our founding — equal protection under the law, pluralism, religious liberty — are under attack, and it is up to all of us to defend them." While Trump addressed the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, the image projected behind him was a doctored version of the presidential seal, which included a two headed eagle (similar to the Russian Federations state seal) which is clasping golf clubs instead of arrows with one foot, and holding a wad of cash with the other, and includes the phrase "45 is a puppet" in Spanish, and also includes 5 instances of the hammer and sickle on the shield across the eagle's chest. The member of TPUSA's AV team who was responsible for accidentally projecting that image rather than the real seal was fired. The doctored image was created by a Republican voter who does not like Trump. The Senate intelligence committee has released the first volume of its report on Russia election interference which documents in detail how Russia coordinated "an unprecedented level of activity against state election infrastructure" which targeted all 50 states. Senate Republicans blocked US election security legislation aimed at strengthening US election security. Representative Peter Defazio has announced support for an impeachment inquiry against Trump saying "I believe that the time has come for the Judiciary Committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry and collect the evidence necessary to build a strong case against President Trump. His presidency is a danger to our national security and a threat to our democracy." After some viral videos surfaced showing police officers in New York city being doused with water, Trump demanded via twitter that mayor "Bill de Blasio should act immediately!" de Blasio responded to Trump's tweet saying "Crime’s gone down year after year in New York City and it’s not just because you finally left town." Daniella Stella, a pro-Trump Republican who is looking to unseat Ilhan Omar, is facing felony charges over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from Target and a grocery store. Representative Katherine Clark has announced that she is in favor of impeaching Trump saying "I deeply respect the committee work of @HouseDemocrats to hold the President accountable, including hearings, subpoenas and lawsuits. All of our efforts to put the facts before the American people, however, have been met with unprecedented stonewalling and obstruction. That is why I believe we need to open an #ImpeachmentInquiry that will provide us a more formal way to fully uncover the facts."
July 24, 2019 - Today is the day that Robert Mueller will be testifying on Capitol Hill, which explains the overnight twitter storm from Donald Trump. Here's a sample of the types of tweets sent out by Trump: "So why didn’t the highly conflicted Robert Mueller investigate how and why Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted and acid washed 33,000 Emails immediately AFTER getting a SUBPOENA from the United States Congress? She must have GREAT lawyers!" Here are some quotes made by Robert Mueller during today's testimony, as well as some of the exchanges that took place:
"We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term. Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not." - Robert Mueller
"I am unable to address questions about the opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called ‘Steele Dossier'." - Robert Mueller
Jerry Nadler - "Did you actually totally exonerate the president?"
Robert Mueller - "No. It is correct that my report does not exonerate President Trump for obstruction of justice."
Cedric Richmond - "So it's fair to say that the president tried to protect himself by asking staff to falsify records relevant to an ongoing investigation?"
Robert Mueller - "I would say that's generally a summary."
Ken Buck - "Could you charge the President with a crime after he left office?"
Robert Mueller - "Yes"
Ted Lieu - "The reason you did not indict Donald Trump... is because of the OLC decision. Is that correct?"
Robert Mueller - "That is correct."
Trump, who claimed he would not be watching Mueller testify, sent tweets during the testimony that showed he was in fact watching him testify. The following was one of them: "Mueller was asked whether or not the investigation was impeded in any way, and he said no.” In other words, there was NO OBSTRUCTION". Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for PBS NewsHour, asked Trump about Robert Mueller's characterization that he and his aides were "generally" untruthful regarding the special counsel's questions, to which Trump responded: "If you were ever truthful, you'd be able to write the truth."
July 23, 2019 - Boris Johnson became Britain's new prime minister. Ivanka Trump sent a tweet congratulating Johnson "on becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingston." Trump sent the following tweet: "In 2016 I almost won Minnesota. In 2020, because of America hating anti-Semite Rep. Omar, & the fact that Minnesota is having its best economic year ever, I will win the State! 'We are going to be a nightmare to the President,' she say. No, AOC Plus 3 are a Nightmare for America!" Trump administration proposes new rule that could cut more than 3 million people from being eligible for free food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Mark Esper has been confirmed as secretary of Defense. While speaking to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Trump continued his verbal attacks on "the squad", and specifically singled out Representative Rashid Tlaib of Michigan who he referred to as "vicious" and a "crazed lunatic". Here are some other highlights from Trump's speech to Turning Point USA:
- Trump claimed "they have no collusion", despite the report specifically stating that what was being investigated was conspiracy, and the report states that there wasn't enough evidence to bring conspiracy charges.
- Trump claimed "they did a report, and there was no obstruction" even though the report outlined several instances of attempts to obstruct justice.
- Trump said that Democrats "hate our country".
- Trump, speaking of "the squad" said "We don't like when they talk about 'evil Jews.' We don't like when they say horrible things about Israel."
- Trump called the media "really dishonest" and "totally unhinged."
- Trump claimed that Article II of the US Constitution gives him the right do "whatever I want as president."
The Pew Research Center released a poll regarding attitudes towards the Russia investigation. The poll found that the majority of Republicans "are confident in the fairness of the investigation." FBI director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate judiciary committee today stating that "A majority of the domestic terrorism cases we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence". Wray has on a previous occasion said that white supremacy poses a significant and "pervasive" threat to the United States. A spokesperson later clarified that what Wray was referring to was the majority of "racially motivated" cases. Donald Trump has filed suit against the House ways and means committee, and New York state officials, to block the disclosure of his state tax returns. Today the Senate passed the 9/11 victims fund, which will provide lifetime compensation to the victims. The leaders of the NAACP have voted unanimously for the impeachment of Donald Trump. The group accuses the president of leading "one of the most racist and xenophobic administrations since the Jim Crowe era." According to Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, "The pattern of Trump’s misconduct is unmistakable and has proven time and time again, that he is unfit to serve as the president of this country." According to the Guardian "Protesters from the climate crisis group Extinction Rebellion are causing havoc at the US Capitol in Washington, confronting politicians and gluing themselves to doorways in order to block them." Kaela Bamberger, a spokesperson for the group said "We believe the issue is so urgent it should be treated as a top priority. Petitioning and lobbying have been shown to be ineffective in the past, so we are taking extreme action to reflect the extreme nature of the crisis. The climate emergency should be treated with the gravity it deserves." Representative Julia Brownley of California has come out in favor of impeachment saying "This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, and I believe President Trump presents an existential threat to our democracy. I am, therefore, calling for the immediate opening of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump."
July 22, 2019 - Donald J Trump tweeted the following message today: "The 'Squad' is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart. They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border...And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country!" Joe Kaeser, the CEO of the German industrial giant Siemens wrote the following in response to Trump's racist attacks on "the squad" saying "I find it depressing that the most important political office in the world is turning into the face of racism and exclusion". A new poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist showed that following Trump's racist attack, his poll numbers have hit 44%, their highest point since Trump took office. While sitting with Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, Trump said he had a winning strategy on the war in Afghanistan: "I could win that war in a week. I don’t want to kill 10 million people.... Afghanistan could be wiped off the face of the earth. I don’t want to go that route. ... I have a plan that could win that war in a very short period of time." Trump also told reporters he would not be tuning in when Robert Mueller testifies later this week saying: "I’m not going to be watching Mueller. We had a total no-collusion finding." Representative Joyce Beatty, a House Democrat, has joined the call for impeachment saying in part "As the Mueller report makes crystal clear, this president believes he is above the law and it is the responsibility of Congress to hold him accountable for his words and actions". Protests continue in Puerto Rico as hundreds of thousand of people are calling for the resignation of mayor Ricardo Rossello. The Trump administration announced a new policy to fast-track deportations of undocumented immigrants by bypassing immigration judges. According to the Guardian "The new policy will take effect immediately and apply to those who have illegally entered the United States within the past two years. The current process for “expedited removal” has only been applied to migrants who have been in the country for less than two weeks and were caught within 100 miles of the US-Mexico border. The new policy will apply anywhere in the United States." The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a statement saying all the fencing completed since Trump took office was "in place of dilapidated designs", and that no new border fencing has been put in place. This statement contradicts Trump and other administration officials who regularly claim the government has built "new border wall". An Illinois Republican group removed a post from its facebook page that referred to members of "the squad" as the "Jihad squad" saying "Political jihad is their game" and “If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist." Officer Charlie Rispoli, a police officer in Gretna, Louisiana, posted a comment to his facebook page saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "needs a round" and not "the kind she used to serve". The post was accompanied by a fake story that made it appear as if Ocasio-Cortez had said "We pay soldiers too much." Arthur Lawson, the Gretna police chief said that while the post was "disturbing", he didn't believe it constituted an actual threat.
July 21, 2019 - Donald J Trump attracted criticism after he shared a series of tweets by Katie Hopkins, a far right British commentator who was fired by LBC radio in May of 2017, after calling for a "final solution" during an anti-Muslim tirade in the wake of a deadly suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester. Hopkins is also known for comments which liken immigrants to cockroaches and proposing that gunships be used to stop them from crossing the Mediterranean. Trump also drew criticism for his continued attacks on "the squad" tweeting: "I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!" Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's statements remind him of abuse he received as a black child in the 1960's during the civil rights struggle saying "I heard the same kind of chant, ‘Go home, you don’t belong here.’ And they called us the N-word over and over and over again" AOC responded to Trump's latest twitter attack by tweeting: "We fight to guarantee: - healthcare - public college & student loan forgiveness - enviro protections - living wages - basic human rights. We don’t take a dime of corporate money, either. You: - Jack up drug prices - Appoint Betsy DeVos to scam student loans - Hurt immigrant kids".
July 19, 2019 - Trump sent the following in tweets today: "It is amazing how the Fake News Media became 'crazed' over the chant 'send her back' by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen. Mainstream Media, which has lost all credibility, has either officially or unofficially become a part of the Radical Left Democrat Party. It is a sick partnership, so pathetic to watch! They even covered a tiny staged crowd as they greeted Foul Mouthed Omar in Minnesota, a State which I will win in #2020 because they can’t stand her and her hatred of our Country, and they appreciate all that I have done for them (opening up mining and MUCH more) which has led to the best employment & economic year in Minnesota's long and beautiful history!" Julie Davis, a reporter for the New York times sent out the following response to Trump's tweet: "So much for that disavowal. Trump basically admits here that his public rejection of "send her back" was under duress, saying the reaction to the phrase was an overblown media narrative." Rabbi Avi Olitzky, said of the Trump/Omar controversy: "This is a very eerie wave of similar situations in history, be that Nazi Germany or elsewhere." Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, responded to the Trump/squad controversy saying: "I firmly distance myself from (the attacks) and feel solidarity towards the attacked women. The strength of America lies in the idea that people of different origins contribute to what makes the country great." There are reports that Ivanka and Melania Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence have urged Trump to disavow the "send her back" chant, but all have so far remained publicly silent regarding Trump's racist comments. In total abandonment of his disavowel of a racist chant at his North Carolina rally, Trump had this to say in the oval office: "I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can hate our country. I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can say anti-Semitic things. She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country. Those people in North Carolina -- that stadium was packed. It was a record crowd ... Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots." Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the Stena Impero, a British oil tanker, in the strait of Hormuz after the tanker veered into Iranian waters while en route to Saudi Arabia. Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy, both Republican Senators, have introduced a resolution that would designate Antifa as a hate group. Side note: The Southern Poverty Law Center does not classify Antifa as a hate group. The Trump administration announced that it will implement its "Remain in Mexico" policy in Brownsville, TX. Under the policy, migrants would be sent back across the border to Matamoros to wait for their hearing. Matamoros, which is dominated by crime gangs, is part of a Level 4 travel advisory issued by the State Department which urges Americans not to travel there "due to crime and kidnapping." Trump dismissed as "fake news" reports that members of his inner circle encouraged him to disavow a racist chant at his rally in North Carolina. The United States court of appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the Trump administration's request to dismiss an emoluments lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats saying the administration did not show "a clear and indisputable right to dismissal of the complaint".
July 18, 2019 - Both Democrats and Republicans spoke out against the nativist chant that occurred at Trump's North Carolina rally yesterday. Among those speaking out was Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and conservative radio host who tweeted: "It saddens me beyond belief that the standard-bearer for the Republican Party, my Party, is making 'Send her back' his re-election rallying cry. It’s so ugly. It’s so un-American. It just saddens me beyond belief." Ilhan Omar, responded to news of the "send her back" chant by tweeting a photo of herself presiding over the House chamber with accompanying text that read "I am where I belong, at the people’s house and you’re just gonna have to deal!" Omar also sent a tweet with the following quote: "You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. -Maya Angelou". Here are some Democrat responses to the "send her back" chant:
"It’s vile. It’s cowardly. It’s xenophobic. It’s racist. It defiles the office of the President. And I won't share it here. It’s time to get Trump out of office and unite the country." - Kamala Harris
"Trump knows that when we stand together and fight for racial, social, economic and environmental justice, we have the power to defeat him. So the demagogue is doing what he knows best: Divide and conquer through hate. His attacks only make us stronger." - Bernie Sanders
"Our children are listening. We’ve heard it before throughout our history, but it has no place in America in 2019. It’s clear that Donald Trump is trying to divide us by race and gender. It’s immoral. These members of Congress — children of immigrants, just like so many of us — are an example of exactly what makes America great." - Joe Biden
"It’s bad enough that the president didn’t stop the chant last night. But he started it. It’s instilling fear, it’s going to instill violence" - Ben Ray Lujan
Representative Peter Welch, a congressman from Vermont, issued a statement calling for Trump's impeachment, saying "I did not arrive at this conclusion lightly. However, after 30 months in office, President Trump has established a clear pattern of willful disregard for our Constitution and its systems of checks and balances. His presidency has wrought an unprecedented and unrelenting assault on the pillars and guardrails of our democracy, including the rule of law on which our country was founded." Bobby Rush, a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has called for authorities to elevate security for Ilhan Omar saying "It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger. He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level". Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr sent the following tweet today: "Putting targets on the backs of the 4 Congresswomen&the women in the press who have been attacked is violent in its tone&is life-threatening. It violatesEEOClaw workplace conditions&moral law.The other women inCongress&the press must not allow the 4Congresswomen to stand alone." News surfaced that ICE HQ in Washington, D.C. has gone into "lockdown" in anticipation of the arrival of marchers who are walking from Capitol Hill. Thousands have taken to the streets in Puerto Rico, demanding that governor Ricardo Rossello resign after some of his online chats were leaked (scandal now known as "RickyLeaks") showing him mocking women, the disabled and victims of Hurricane Maria. Trump tweeted about the event, but oddly used the moment to attack San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz "A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico. The Governor is under siege, the Mayor of San Juan is a despicable and incompetent person who I wouldn’t trust under any circumstance, and the United States Congress foolishly gave 92 Billion Dollars for hurricane relief, much of which was squandered away or wasted, never to be seen again. This is more than twice the amount given to Texas & Florida combined. I know the people of Puerto Rico well, and they are great. But much of their leadership is corrupt, & robbing the U.S. Government blind!" Cruz responded to Trump's tweet calling him "unhinged". During a protest at the U.S. Capitol, a group of Catholics - including Catholic nuns - were arrested while protesting "to pressure the Trump administration and Congress to end the immoral and inhumane practice of detaining immigrant children." House Democrats passed a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Trump was asked by White House pool reporters why he did not stop the "send her back" chants at his rally, to which Trump responded, "I think I did - I started speaking very quickly. I was not happy with it - I disagree with it." A Rohingya muslim refugee who fled persecution in Myanmar to a regional refugee camp, told Trump that his people were hoping to "go back home as quickly as possible". He then asked Trump what was the US's "plan for that?" Trump then asked "And where is that exactly?" An aide then leaned in and told him "Right next to Burma." Trump then responded "Thank you, I appreciate it" then moved on to speak with someone else. Representative Ilhan Omar made the following statement today: "We have said this president is racist. We have condemned his racist remarks. I believe he is fascist." Omar also responded to comments made by Lindsey Graham in which he said "I don’t think a Somali refugee embracing Trump would be asked to go back. If you’re racist, you want everybody to go back because they are black or Muslim. That’s not what this is about." Omar's response: "If I was wearing a MAGA hat, if there was a Somali person wearing a MAGA hat, they would not be deported, but because I criticize the president I should be deported. I want to remind people that this is what this president and his supporters have turned our country [into]" The US was “supposed to be a country where we allow democratic debate and dissent to take place. This is not about me. This is about us fighting for what our country truly should be and deserves to be." AOC made this comment to reporters today: "The president put millions of Americans in danger last night. His rhetoric is endangering lots of people. This is not just about threats to individual members of Congress, but it is about creating a volatile environment in this country through violent rhetoric that puts anyone, like Ilhan, anyone who believes in the rights of all people, in danger. And I think that he has a responsibility for that environment." Michele Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, made this comment today regarding "the squad": "I believe that those four women are fantastic. I see bright women who dare to say what they think." Bachelet also said this: "It is not good for leaders, global leaders, (to use) hate speech, saying things that are bad examples or bad models, because it permits and gives license to many others to be xenophobic, to be anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-everything, anti-foreign. That’s one of the dangers in the world today." Trump claimed today that the US shot down an Iranian drone near the Strait of Hormuz, saying it was "the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters". In a court filing that was unsealed today, Trump and former communications director, Hope Hicks, spoke on several occasion with Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, about hush payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Hicks had told an FBI agent that "she did not learn about the allegations made by Clifford until early November 2016" raising the prospect that she may have lied to the FBI. The Trump EPA has denied the conclusions of its own experts regarding chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that studies have associated with brain damage in children, and rejected a call for ban on the toxic substance from environmental and public health groups. California has moved to ban the pesticide in that state. Under Barack Obama, the EPA had moved to ban the chemical. Representative Bennie Thompson called for an emergency meeting with the Capitol police board regarding what he called "heightened threats" against four lawmakers known as "the squad". Martha Barcena, the Mexican ambassador to Washington, says that her country is not ready to sign a "safe third country" agreement with the US. House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler has requested that Trump's former press secretary Hope Hicks, explain why her previous testimony regarding hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels is inconsistent with new evidence from the FBI. Trump announced today that he will be nominating Eugene Scalia, son of former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, for labor secretary saying in part "He will be a great member of an Administration that has done more in the first 2 ½ years than perhaps any Administration in history!" Dan Le Batard, of the Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN criticized Trump and the "send her back" chanters saying: "It is antithetical to what we should be, and if you’re not calling it abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric, you’re complicit."
July 17, 2019 - During an interview on CBS this morning, AOC had this to say "America has always been about the triumph of people who fight for everyone versus those who want to preserve rights for just a select few... There is no bottom to the barrel of vitriol that will be used and weaponized to stifle those who want to advance rights for all people in the United States." From USA Today: "A clear majority of Americans say President Trump’s tweets targeting four minority congresswomen were 'un-American,' according to a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll. But most Republicans say they agreed with his comments, an illustration of the nation’s sharp partisan divide on issues of patriotism and race." In the same poll, Trump's approval rating with Republicans rose 5 percentage after he made the racist tweets attacking four Democratic women of color. The ACLU released the following statement regarding its lawsuit challenging Trump's new asylum ban saying: "The Trump administration is trying to unilaterally reverse our country’s legal and moral commitment to protect those fleeing danger. It’s patently unlawful under U.S. law as well as international human rights law – and it’s an unacceptable assault on our country’s values. Our team has been working around the clock to file this suit and stop the new rule in its tracks. The Trump administration has been tearing apart families and stoking fear and racism across the country for over two years now. Last weekend, the president reminded us of what fuels his anti-immigrant agenda when he told Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – four women of color and new members of Congress – to 'go back' to where they came from. This is racism, plain and simple." Articles of impeachment were filed by Texas Representative Al Green, and will be voted on later today. The articles say in part: "The form of the resolution is as follows: Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, of high misdemeanors. Resolved, that Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is unfit to be President, unfit to represent the American values of decency and morality, respectability and civility, honesty and propriety, reputability and integrity, is unfit to defend the ideals that have made America great, unfit to defend liberty and justice for all as extolled in the Pledge of Allegiance, is unfit to defend the American ideal of all persons being created equal as exalted in the Declaration of Independence, is unfit to ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare and to ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity as lauded in the preamble to the United States Constitution, is unfit to protect the government of the people, by the people, for the people as elucidated in the Gettysburg Address, and is impeached for high misdemeanors that the following Article of Impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:" The mayor of Kallstadt Germany, the ancestral home town of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, made the following statement: "Everyone has his or her roots somewhere — and to demand of others to simply leave the country is paradoxical for him. I can only wish Americans that they will elect someone who turns on his mind before saying something." Joe Biden delivered this zinger today: "If Trump doesn't have a racist bone, that means he has no bones". Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blocked the passage of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund saying the new spending should be offset by cuts to other spending. A Pew research poll found that Republicans increasingly see immigration as an existential threat to "our identity as a nation." The House voted 332 to 95 in favor of tabling the impeachment resolution. The House also voted to block Trump's attempt to sidestep Congress and complete several arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump is expected to veto the legislation. The House also voted 230 to 198 to hold the attorney general and the commerce secretary in criminal contempt for obstructing a probe into Trump's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Trump held a rally in North Carolina where he falsely accused Ilhan Omar of praising Al Quaeda, and told the crowd that "She looks down with contempt on the hardworking Americans saying that ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country. And obviously, and importantly, Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds." The crowd responded by chanting "SEND HER BACK! SEND HER BACK!" The chant continued unabated for 13 seconds.
July 16, 2019 - Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have decided not to bring charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who used a banned chokehold on Eric Garner, who then suffered a fatal asthma attack. Garner's last words were "I can't breathe" and his death sparked a national movement against police violence. House Democrats are poised to take a vote today condemning Trump for his racist tweets over the last few days in which he told congresswomen of color to "go back" to their country. Trump responded to the upcoming vote by tweeting the following: "Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show 'weakness' and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!" Kellyanne Conway told reporters outside the White House that Trump's tweet did not mean that the congresswomen should visit countries once inhabited by their ancestors, which led to this exchange:
Reporter: "So, what countries was the president referring to, then?"
Conway: "What's your ethnicity?"
Reporter: "Uh, why is that relevant?"
Conway: "Because I'm asking you a question. My ancestors are from Ireland and Italy."
Reporter: "My ethnicity is not relevant to the question."
Conway: "It is, because you're asking about, he said 'originally'. He said 'originally from'."
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Roger stone, Trump's former adviser, to refrain from using social media, after he violated a previous gag order forbidding him from discussing his case online. Trump was asked where the "squad" should go if they leave the United States. Trump responded by saying "It’s up to them. Wherever they want – or they can stay. But they should love our country. They shouldn’t hate our country. I have clips right here. The most vile, horrible statements about our country. About Israel. About others. It’s up to them. Do what they want. They can leave. They can stay. They should love our country, and they should work for the good of our country." During a news conference, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was asked if the president's tweets were racist, to which he replied: "The president’s not a racist. And I think the tone of all of this is not good for the country. But it’s coming from all ideological points of view... to single out any segment of this I think is a mistake". Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House press secretary, sent the following tweet: "Would @realDonaldTrump ever tell a white immigrant - whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th+ generation - to "go back to your country"? No. That's why the comments were racist and unacceptable. America is a nation of immigrants founded on the ideals of free thought and free speech." Speaking on the House floor, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, made the following statement: "These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist." Republican Doug Collins responded to Pelosi's statement demanding that it be deleted from the official record of the House proceedings. Ron Wright, a Republican congressman from Texas released a statement saying "When one becomes a citizen of this country, it no longer matters where they came from". Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, published an op-ed in the Washington Post saying in part "I served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and currently serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yet I still experience people telling me to 'go back' to China or North Korea or Japan. Like many immigrants, I have learned to brush off this racist insult. I never thought the president of the United States would tell members of Congress to 'go back' to another country ... The suspicion that immigrants are not to be trusted or are unpatriotic is not just wrong, it is un-American. And dangerous." Two lawsuits were filed today challenging Trump's new asylum restrictions. One was filed by the ACLU, the other was filed by two immigration advocacy groups. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have voted to officially condemn Trump's racist attack on four congresswomen. Democrats were joined by 4 Republicans in a vote of 240 to 187.
July 15, 2019 - According to the Associated Press, the White House has published a new rule in the Federal Register, that asylum seekers who pass through another country first will be ineligible for asylum at the US southern border. Trump continued his attack on the "squad" sending out this tweet: "When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions! If Democrats want to unite around the foul language [and] racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular [and] unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out." Some Republicans came forward and criticized Trump's tweets: Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Trump's comments were "wrong" and that the congresswomen's ideas should be defeated "on the merits, not on the basis of their ancestry". Susan Collins, a senator from Maine called the tweets "way over the line". Tim Scott of South Carolina called the tweets "unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language". Will Hurd of Texas called the tweets "racist and xenophobic" and "unbecoming of the leader of the free world". John Kasich of Ohio, called the tweets "deplorable". Jeff Flake, of Arizona, called the tweets "so vile and offensive it is incumbant on Republicans to respond and condemn". Trump was asked by a reporter if he thought his tweets were racist, his response: "Not at all. If somebody has a problem with our country, if someone doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave." Trump was asked if it concerned him that many thought his tweets were racist, Trump's response: "It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me." Charlie Sykes, an editor at the Bulwark website responded to the racist tweet controversy saying "There was a time when GOPers like Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, Nikki Haley, Jeff Flake, even Reince [Priebus] would have denounced this kind of racism. Who will speak out now? Will any elected Republican push back?" Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, called the Trump administration's new asylum policy "patently unlawful". Trump continued his twitter attack on "the squad" tweeting: "We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own Country, they’re calling the guards along our Border (the Border Patrol Agents) Concentration Camp Guards, they accuse people who support Israel as doing it for the Benjamin’s, they are Anti-Semitic, they are Anti-America, we don’t need to know anything about them personally, talk about their policies. I think they are American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that is disgusting, that the American people will reject. What does it mean for America to have free Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants, no criminalization of coming into our Country - See how that works for controlling Immigration! They talk about Israel like they’re a bunch of thugs, not victims of the entire region. They wanted to impeach President Trump on DAY ONE. Make them the face of the future of the Democrat Party, you will destroy the Democrat Party. Their policies will destroy our Country! @LindseyGrahamSC Need I say more?" Republican Congressman Andy Harris from Maryland offered a defense of Trump's tweets saying they were "clearly not racist" and that "he could have meant go back to the district they came from-to the neighborhood they came from". AOC sent the following tweet: "It’s important to note that the President’s words yday, telling four American Congresswomen of color 'go back to your own country,' is hallmark language of white supremacists. Trump feels comfortable leading the GOP into outright racism, and that should concern all Americans." AOC also tweeted: "Until Republican officials denounce yesterday’s explicitly racist statements (which should be easy!), we sadly have no choice but to assume they condone it. It is extremely disturbing that the *entire* GOP caucus is silent. Is this their agenda?" Ayanna Pressley made this comment today to a reporter: "I never use the word you used – president – to describe him. I refer to him as ‘the occupant.’ He simply occupies the space. He embodies zero of the qualities and the principles, the responsibility, the grace, the integrity, the compassion, of someone who would truly embody that office. It’s just another day in the world under this administration." Texas Republican Will Hurd in an interview on CNN said this: "Those tweets are racist, and xenophobic... It’s also behavior that’s unbecoming of the leader of the free world. He should be talking about things that unite, not divide us." After Trump was asked about his angry racist tweets, he said this: "These are people who hate our country. All I am saying is if they’re not happy here, they can leave. They can leave and you know what I’m sure there’ll be many people that won’t miss them. They have to love our country." Trump also accused Nancy Pelosi of racism saying it was racist of her to suggest last week that he wants to "make America white again." Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski weighed in on Trump's tweets saying "There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments –they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop." Donald Trump nominated Mark Esper as the successor to former defense secretary Jim Mattis. The "squad" held a press conference to address Trump's racist tweets, here are some highlights:
"This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous, chaotic and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way down. We want to get down to the business of the American people and why we were sent here." - Ayanna Pressley
"I have not made impeachment central to my election or my tenure. But it’s not if he will be impeached, but when. It is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery of this country." - Ilhan Omar
"The president can’t defend his policies so what he does is attack us personally." - AOC
"Many members of Congress have called for his impeachment. I urge House leadership, many of my colleagues, to take action to impeach." - Rashida Tlaib
While the press conference was taking place, Trump sent the following tweet" "We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America. Certain people HATE our Country. They are anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda, and comment on the 9/11 attack, 'some people did something.' Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders, which means drugs, crime, human trafficking, and much more. Detention facilities are not Concentration Camps! America has never been stronger than it is now – rebuilt Military, highest Stock Market EVER, lowest unemployment and more people working than ever before. Keep America Great! The Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four 'progressives,' but now they are forced to embrace them. That means they are endorsing Socialism, hate of Israel and the USA! Not good for the Democrats! The Obama Administration built the Cages, not the Trump Administration! DEMOCRATS MUST GIVE US THE VOTES TO CHANGE BAD IMMIGRATION LAWS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" In a 405 to 7 vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation to hold accountable those responsible for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi Arabia Human Rights and Accountability Act now heads to the Senate.
July 14, 2019 - Trump sent out the following tweet today: "So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!" While Trump did not name the targets of his tweet, it was obviously directed at the group of congresswomen known as the "squad": Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. All 4 women are minorities, and all 4 women are American citizens. Omar is the only one of the 4 who was born in a foreign country, having been born in Somalia, and came to America at the age of 12. What follows is a select group of responses to Trump's racist tweet:
"The country I ‘come from’, and the country we all swear to, is the United States. You are angry because you don’t believe in an America where I represent New York 14, where the good people of Minnesota elected [Omar], where [Tlaib] fights for Michigan families, where [Pressley] champions little girls in Boston. You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"The worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen" - Ilhan Omar
"This is what racism looks like. We are what democracy looks like" - Ayanna Pressley
"Want a response to a lawless [and] complete failure of a president? He is the crisis. His dangerous ideology is the crisis. He needs to be impeached." - Rashida Tlaib
"When I call the president a racist, this is what I'm talking about" - Bernie Sanders
"Racist and disgusting" - Justin Amash, former Republican congressman
[Trump's comments are] "absolutely racist and un-American" - Kamala Harris
Trump responded to the outcry against his remarks by tweeting: "So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, “RACIST.” Their disgusting language and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged. If the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!"
July 12, 2019 - Alexander Acosta, the US labor secretary, who granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008, has resigned. Patrick Pizzella, the deputy labor secretary, will serve as acting labor secretary. The House voted 251 to 170 to limit Trump's authority to make war with Iran. The house also voted 402 to 12 to approve a bill that would ensure funding for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Megan Rapinoe had this to say regarding her and the rest of the US Women's Soccer Teams refusal to accept an invitation to the White House: "I don’t think anyone on the team has any interest in lending the platform that we’ve worked so hard to build and the things that we fight for and the way that we live our life, I don’t think that we want that to be co-opted or corrupted by this administration." News surfaced that Jeffrey Epstein engaged in witness tampering by wiring $350,000 to two potential witnesses shortly after the Miami Herald published an investigative report about a secret deal he had reached with authorities in Florida to avoid federal prosecution. According to the AP: "The NRA is involved in a number of legal tangles, some that threaten its very future. The New York attorney general’s office is similarly investigating to determine if it has run afoul of laws that govern its nonprofit status. The NRA is chartered out of New York, while the NRA Foundation is chartered out of Washington. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee also has launched an investigation into the NRA’s operations. At the same time, there is an ongoing factional war within the NRA, pitting some of its most ardent gun-rights supporters and loyalists against one another. The NRA has traded lawsuits with Ackerman McQueen, its longtime marketing firm that crafted some of its most prominent messages for decades. Months after filing its first lawsuit against the Oklahoma-based firm, the NRA officially severed ties last month."
July 10, 2019 - Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to Washington, resigned. The House oversight committee is holding a hearing today called "Kids in Cages: inhumane treatment at the border". Trump sent the following tweet regarding Iran: "Iran has long been secretly 'enriching,' in total violation of the terrible 150 Billion Dollar deal made by John Kerry and the Obama Administration. Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years. Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!" According to the Washington Post, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, sent a letter to Trump warning him that his Fourth of July event cost the DC government $1.7m, and has completely drained a fund used to "protect the nation's capital from terrorist threats and provide security at events such as rallies and state funerals". While signing an executive order on kidney health, Trump exclaimed "Very special, the kidney has a very special place in the heart." After Fox News host Tucker Carlson delivered a three-minute monologue riddled with anti-immigrant rhetoric and personal attacks against congresswoman Ilhan Omar, she responded by saying "Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress. No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect. They will just have to get used to calling me congresswoman!" In the monologue, Tucker accused Omar of being ungrateful for "everything America has done for Omar and her family" and of hating "this country more than ever." A federal appeals court in Virginia sided with Trump in a lawsuit accusing the president of illegally profiting off the presidency as a result of not divesting himself from his business interests while in office.
July 9, 2019 - Donald Trump, the president of the United States, sent the following tweets today: "The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy. He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled. I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done. A disaster! I don’t know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger.....Thank you, Mr. President!" News surfaced that labor secretary Alexander Acosta played a role in securing a lenient 2008 plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein, leading many prominent Democrats to call for his resignation. In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Chuck Schumer stated in part "It is now impossible for anyone to have confidence in Secretary Acosta’s ability to lead the department of labor. If he refuses to resign, President Trump should fire him". A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter, and that doing so violates the first amendment of the US constitution. In the unanimous decision, Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote "The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees." Kellyanne Conway sent the following tweet regarding a disagreement between five Democratic congresswomen: "Major Meow Mashup with @SpeakerPelosi brushing back anti-humanitarian border aid fresh-women @AOC @IlhanMN @AyannaPressley @RashidaTlaib" That tweet prompted the following response from congresswoman Ayanna Pressley: "@KellyannePolls oh hi Distraction Becky. Remember that time your boss tore babies from their mothers’ arms and threw them in cages? Yeah take a seat and keep my name out of your lying mouth."
July 8, 2019 - Trump, who had recently invited the USA Women's Soccer Team to the White House "win or lose" via a tweet, told reporters after they won the World Cup that the White House had not thought to invite the team for a visit, but would "look at it". Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, and good friend of Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of sex trafficking for his role in molesting dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14. In 2002, Donald Trump made the following statement about Epstein: "I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Elliot Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser, is being investigated in New York to examine whether he used his position as vice chair of Trump's inaugural committee to drum up business deals with foreign leaders in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A press conference was held today regarding the child molestation charges against Jeffrey Epstein. During the press conference, Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney in the southern district of New York, praised the "excellent investigative journalism" that helped his team build their case. Critics of Trump were quick to point out that Allen Dershowitz, a prominent Trump defender, and good friend of Epstein, had mounted a public campaign against the Miami Herald's reporting on Epstein, calling it "Fake News". According to Elora Mukherjee, the director of Columbia Law School's immigrant rights clinic, and one of six attorneys to visit the detention center in Clint, TX "I’ve been visiting children detained in federal immigration custody for 12 years. I have never seen anything like this before. I have never seen, smelled, had to bear witness to such degrading and inhumane conditions." William Barr, the US Attorney General, accused Democrats of trying to create a "public spectacle" by subpoenaing Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress. Barr also said the "Supreme Court decision was wrong" regarding the citizenship question on the US census saying he believes there is "an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that." The U.S. Census Bureau's experts have argued that asking about citizenship would discourage immigrants from participating in the survey, which would result in a less accurate census. Trump sent a tweet saying of ambassador Kim Darroch: "I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him." Trump also disinvited Ambassador Darroch from a dinner with the emir of Qatar. Ned Price, former special assistant to the president for national security affairs under Barack Obama responded to Trump's response to critical statements made by the British Ambassador saying "The UK ambassador didn’t write anything that wasn’t already patently obvious to an informed observer. He spoke of Donald Trump as someone with thin skin, as someone with a delicate ego, as someone who would be receptive to pandering, and just look at Trump’s reaction. He has proved the ambassador right in every respect — by proving he is ego driven, by proving he is thin-skinned, and by proving he will quite literally refuse to deal with people who don’t say nice things about him." Regarding Trump's renewed attempts to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, accused the Trump administration of having a goal of "making America white again" saying "They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted. It's really disgraceful and it's not what our founders had in mind." Representative Justin Amash, the first Republican to back impeachment of Trump, sent formal notification today that he is withdrawing his membership from the House Republican Conference, and resigning from the House oversight and reform committee. Downing Street released a statement saying "Sir Kim Darroch continues to have the Prime Minister's full support." The House Judiciary Committee released the written responses that Annie Donaldson, the former chief of staff to former White House counsel Don McGahn. According to the Committee, the White House blocked her from answering questions 212 times.
July 7, 2019 - Trump responded to the leaked Kim Darroch memos saying Britain's ambassador to the US has "not served the UK well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man ... I can say things about him, but I won't bother."
July 6, 2019 - In memos written by Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's Ambassador to Washington, which were leaked online, Trump is described as "inept", "insecure" and "incompetent". Darroch also warned London that the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional", that the President's career could end in "disgrace", that Trump's economic policies could wreck the world trade system, and that Trump could have been indebted to "dodgy Russians". In one memo, Darroch wrote "We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept." Darroch also said that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" inside the White House – dismissed by Trump as "fake news" – are "mostly true". Darroch also weighed in on Trump's claim that he had called off a retaliatory strike against Tehran at the last minute saying the claim "doesn't stand up".
July 3, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet today: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question." This tweet directly contradicts the following statement made yesterday by Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary "The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question." Here are some select responses on twitter to Trump's census tweet:
"So the government lawyers who formally advised different courts yesterday that the 2020 Census will _not_ include a citizenship question were all lying? That’s not exactly going to help convince the courts to take seriously any of the government’s representations going forward." - Steve Vladeck
"And here is what DOJ told lawyers for the challengers yesterday: 'We can confirm that the decision has been made to print the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire without a citizenship question'" - Zoe Tillman
In response to Trump's tweet, plaintiffs in a New York case which challenged Trump's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census have requested an immediate conference with a federal judge to resolve the contradiction between Trump's tweet, and the administration's lawyers representations in court yesterday. New York's Attorney General, Latitia James tweeted "Another day, another attempt to sow chaos and confusion. The Supreme Court of the United States has spoken, and Trump’s own Commerce Department has spoken. It’s time to move forward to ensure every person in the country is counted." Responding to the request for clarification, District court Judge Jesse M Furman ordered the government to state its "position and intentions". Trump responded to the claims that migrants face horrible conditions in border patrol facilities with the following tweets: "Our Border Patrol people are not hospital workers, doctors or nurses. The Democrats bad Immigration Laws, which could be easily fixed, are the problem. Great job by Border Patrol, above and beyond. Many of these illegals aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions. No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked & aghast at how terrible things are. Just Pols. If they really want to fix them, change the Immigration Laws and Loopholes. So easy to do! Now, if you really want to fix the Crisis at the Southern Border, both humanitarian and otherwise, tell migrants not to come into our country unless they are willing to do so legally, and hopefully through a system based on Merit. This way we have no problems at all!" The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that family separations harms children's short and long-term health. A federal judge in Ohio has issued a preliminary injunction preventing Ohio's six-week abortion ban from going into effect next week. During a conference call, a lawyer for the DOJ told a federal judge that the agency has "been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward" to include a citizenship question on the census in 2020. During an interview with Yahoo News, AOC said she believes we are heading in a fascist direction under President Trump.
July 2, 2019 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the following: "I can’t understate how disturbing it was that CBP officers were openly disrespectful of the Congressional tour. If officers felt comfortable violating agreements in front of their *own* management & superiors, that tells us the agency has lost all control of their own officers." And "When you pair: - 9,500 current + former CBP officers are part of a violently racist & sexually violent secret Facebook group - Corroborating accounts of abuse - CBP couldn’t control their own officers for a Congressional tour, What else do you call that but a rogue agency?" The House's tax-writing committee has sued the Treasury Department and the IRS for access to Trump's tax returns. Regarding the lawsuit, Lloyd Doggett, US Representative from Texas and member of the Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement "This long-overdue legal action is needed to keep this bad president from setting a bad precedent. It should not take a court order to affirm that ‘shall’ means ‘shall.’ But Trump will do what it takes to delay the inevitable, hiding his tax returns as long as he can. Republican silence and Democratic timidity will not produce the documents we need to ensure accountability. Trump must learn that no President can ignore laws he doesn’t like." The House Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing next week on the separation and treatment of immigrant children. Elijah Cummings, the committee's chairman made the following statement "The Trump administration’s actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing. There seems to be open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency." News surfaced that the printer of the 2020 census questionnaire has been instructed to begin printing without a citizenship question. News surfaced that large NRA donors are threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in support for that group until Wayne LaPierre, the group's chief executive, steps down. AOC sent the following tweet today: "Last week, we called the concentration camps at the border for what they are. In the week since: - Acting director of Customs & Border Patrol resigned - Bank of America announced they will stop financing for-profit immigrant detention & private prisons. Words matter." In an open letter to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, almost 500 scholars asked the museum to rethink a statement in which it rejected comparisons between migrant detention facilities and concentration camps. Regarding AOC's comparison of migrant facilities to concentration camps, Liz Cheney sent the following tweet: "Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this." Steven Groves, the White House Deputy Press Secretary, released the following statement regarding the filing of a lawsuit today for Trump's tax returns: "While the crisis at our southern border worsens, Democrats continue to focus their efforts on Presidential harassment. Chairman Neal's willingness to use his powerful Committee to go after his political opponents is a danger to democracy. The Committee has no legitimate legislative purpose for which it can demand the President's tax returns, and it is evident that they are only interested in partisan games. The only thing more political than the Committee's crusade for the President's tax returns is its sham lawsuit." News surfaced that the National Park Service is diverting $2.5m in entrance and recreation fees that are "primarily intended to improve parks across the country" to cover costs associated with Trump's Fourth of July celebration. The ACLU is reporting that "A federal court just ruled the Trump administration cannot arbitrarily detain people exercising their legal right to seek asylum without a hearing. Try as it may, the government can’t circumvent the Constitution in an effort to deter and punish asylum-seekers applying for protection.
This ruling will provide much-needed relief for people being detained in cruel and inhumane conditions while going through the asylum process." In a report released by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, there are warnings of "dangerous overcrowding" that requires "immediate attention". In one facility auditors found "some single adults were held in standing room only conditions for a week and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells". The report included pictures, one of which showed 88 men squashed in a cell meant for 41.
July 1, 2019 - A ProPublica investigation uncovered a secret Facebook group used by current and former Border Patrol agents that contains jokes about migrant deaths, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress who were visiting detention facilities in Texas, and among other things, included a vulgar illustrations of New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) engaged in oral sex with detained migrants, and also included messages calling for agents to harm her during a scheduled visit. The group, which is called "I'm 10-15"(10-15 is Border Patrol code for "aliens in custody.") includes 9,500 members. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to news of the Facebook group by tweeting: "9,500 CBP officers sharing memes about dead migrants and discussing violence and sexual misconduct towards members of Congress. How on earth can CBP’s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely? PS I have no plans to change my itinerary & will visit the CBP station today." After departing from a border patrol facility, AOC sent the following tweets: "Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress" and "Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap. This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals." According to ProPublica, Customs and Border Patrol has launched an investigation into the Facebook group "I'm 10-15", and according to the US Border Patrol Chief "Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable." The White House released the following statement today regarding Iran: "The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level. There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms. We must restore the longstanding nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran. The United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime will continue until its leaders alter their course of action. The regime must end its nuclear ambitions and its malign behavior." CNN is reporting claims from whistleblowers that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has used his taxpayer-funded diplomatic security team for personal errands like picking up his dog and take away food orders. From the CNN story: "The whistleblower said this led agents to complain that they are now serving as 'UberEats with guns,' which has created a buzz within the department, according to multiple Democratic congressional aides who cited the whistleblower." For his July 4th speech at the Lincoln memorial, Trump told reporters that there would be "brand new Sherman tanks" on display, despite Sherman tanks not being in service since 1957. Following the Trump administration's loss in the Supreme Court over the citizenship question on the 2020 US census, Trump says he is looking "very strongly" at delaying the 2020 census. Yimi Alexis Balderramos-Torres, 30, a Honduran immigrant, became the sixth detainee to die in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since October.
June 30, 2019 - Donald Trump became the 1st sitting US president to enter North Korea, after meeting Kim Jong-un at the DMZ, and then the two walked back over the border. During the impromptu meeting, the secret service had to intervene after a scuffle broke out between US reporters and North Korean guards. Stephanie Grisham, the new White House press secretary, was bruised up during the scuffle. The CBO estimates that the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will cost the country $1.9tn. According to some prominent Democrats, like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, student loan forgiveness would cost $1.6tn.
June 29, 2019 - Trump responded to criticism from former president Jimmy Carter saying "Look, he was a nice man. He was a terrible president. He’s a Democrat. And it’s a typical talking point. He’s loyal to the Democrats. And I guess you should be. As everybody now understands, I won not because of Russia, not because of anybody but myself." Donald Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, re-tweeted, then deleted, the following tweet, which was initially tweeted by Ali Alexander, an alt-right personality: "Kamala Harris is implying she is descended from American Black Slaves. She’s not. She comes from Jamaican Slave Owners. That’s fine. She’s not an American Black. Period." Trump Jr then wrote "Is this true? Wow." In response to Trump Jr's deleted tweet, Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and US Housing secretary, stated the following: It’s disgusting. It has no place in our politics. This is the game that these folks play. They put something out there. You notice what he did. He tweeted it out and then he deleted it like a coward, so he can say, ‘Oh, that was a mistake.’ But he knows what he’s doing. He’s giving voice to these racist utterances about Senator Harris. We need to dispel them immediately and condemn them and then not give them any more life, because they’re disgusting." What follows are responses to the racist attacks on Kamala Harris by some of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020:
"The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks." - Elizabeth Warren
"@KamalaHarris doesn’t have shit to prove." - Cory Booker
"These troll-fueled racist attacks on Senator @KamalaHarris are unacceptable. We are better than this (Russia is not) and stand united against this type of vile behavior."- Amy Klobuchar
"The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama's American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America." - Joe Biden
"The presidential competitive field is stronger because Kamala Harris has been powerfully voicing her Black American experience. Her first-generation story embodies the American dream. It’s long past time to end these racist, birther-style attacks."- Pete Buttigieg
"The coordinated smear campaign on Senator @KamalaHarris is racist and vile. The Trump family is peddling birtherism again and it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against it." - Jay Inslee
"There's a long history of black Americans being told they don't belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day. @KamalaHarris is an American. Period. And all of us must call out attempts to question her identity for what they are: racist." - Beto O'Rourke
June 28, 2019 - Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), had this response to a widely circulated photo of a drowned migrant and his young daughter "The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because that father didn’t wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion and decided to cross the river and not only died but his daughter died tragically as well. Until we fix the attractions in our asylum system, people like that father and that child are going to continue to come through a dangerous trip." The supreme court announced that it will review the constitutionality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), which the Trump administration has tried to end, but has been stymied by the courts. Trump, who is in Osaka Japan for the G20 summit, Joked with Vladimir Putin about Russian meddling in the US elections, and about getting rid of journalists. Regarding journalists, Trump said to Putin, "Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn't it? You don't have this problem in Russia but we do", to which Putin responded "We also have. It's the same." According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 26 journalists have been murdered in Russia since Putin first became president, many of them investigative reporters scrutinizing governmental abuses. When asked by reporters whether he was going to tell Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election, Trump, who was sitting next to Putin, smiled and said "Yes, of course I will." Then without looking at Putin, said mockingly "Don't meddle in the election, please" then repeated the phrase while wagging his finger. Putin reacted with a laugh, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, reacted with a broad smile. During a conference at the Carter Center, former president Jimmy Carter stated that a full investigation "would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf." When asked if that meant Trump was an illegitimate president, Carter responded "Based on what I said, which I can't retract". At the same conference, former vice president Walter Mondale, said of Trump, "he's got something deep in him that is detestable." Mondale added that "Doctors tell me they think they recognize symptoms of psychological problems." Joe Kennedy, a Massachusetts representative, has come out publicly for impeachment, saying "This is not a decision I made lightly, nor is it one to celebrate. It’s a dark day for our country when its Commander-in-Chief is accused of high crimes. But after reading the Mueller report in full, reviewing the facts and consulting with legal experts, I believe Congress has a responsibility to act decisively." Today is Sarah Huckabee Sanders last day as White House press secretary. According to Reuters "A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the government into mediation to resolve serious concerns about the treatment of migrant children at crowded U.S. border patrol facilities in Texas." This order follows requests by the children's attorneys to issue an emergency order to send public health experts and doctors to the border patrol facilities in the El Paso and Rio Grande sectors. "The judge asked the parties to file a joint status report by July 12 about what has been done to address the conditions described by the children’s attorneys." Trump sent the following tweet today "After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!" James Fields, the 22-year-old neo-Nazi who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring nineteen, was sentenced today to life in prison.
June 27, 2019 - Reddit announced that The_Donald, the largest pro-Donald Trump community on its site, has been "quarantined" due to "repeated rule-breaking behavior" and in recent days, "encouragement of violence towards police officers and public officials in Oregon" following news that Republicans, who had fled the state to delay a vote on a clean energy bill, were being sought by state troopers. Video surfaced of Megan Rapinoe, a member of the US Women's Soccer team, saying "I'm not going to the fucking White House" when asked if she would be excited to go. Rapinoe, who was the first white professional athlete to kneel for the national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, was told by Trump on twitter recently to "never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our flag" at the World Cup. The supreme court issued a ruling in RUCHO ET AL. v. COMMON CAUSE ET AL., regarding districting maps in North Carolina and Maryland, which were determined by lower courts to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The court ruled that " Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts." The ruling was split 5-4 with all of the conservatives in the majority and all of the liberals in the minority. Justice Kagan in her dissent wrote "Of all times to abandon the Court's duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent." The advocacy group Common Cause issued a statement regarding the gerrymandering ruling saying "Today, five Supreme Court Justices turned their backs on hundreds of thousands of people in Maryland and North Carolina stripped of their voice in Washington by power-hungry politicians. The Supreme Court had the opportunity to end partisan gerrymandering once and for all but instead a narrow majority chose to wash their hands of the undemocratic practice. Without recourse to the Supreme Court, the American people must continue to take the battle to the state courts, to the polls, and to the streets, to make their voices heard and to end partisan gerrymandering once and for all. This decision is part of a disturbing pattern from the Roberts Court of undercutting or eviscerating reforms passed by Congress to protect the integrity of our democracy. This Supreme Court has gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act, shredded campaign finance limits in Citizens United, and now it has condoned extreme partisan gerrymandering. Letting politicians manipulate voting maps is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Whether they favor Democrats or Republicans, gerrymanders cheat voters." The supreme court also issued a ruling on the issue of whether the Trump administration can include a question about US citizenship on the 2020 census, ruling with the lower court that the justification used for adding the question was "contrived". Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, appeared in court today to face state-level mortgage fraud charges among other crimes. Manafort pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Rex Tillerson, the former US secretary of state, testified last month in a closed-door session with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he spoke about an incident in which he walked into a restaurant, and discovered his Mexican counterpart dining with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The moment was "awkward" according to Tillerson, because he wasn't even aware that his counterpart was in Washington.
June 26, 2019 - Special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before the House judiciary committee and House permanent select committee on intelligence in an open session on 17 July. A shocking photo surfaced showing the bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria who had drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Bravo [Rio Grande]. The two were seeking asylum in the US, but after discovering that the wait for an asylum interview would take months, decided to cross the river instead. Trump was asked by reporters whether he would confront Putin at the upcoming G20 summit regarding election meddling, Trump's response "What I say to him is none of your business."
June 25, 2019 - Sonny Purdue, Trump's agriculture secretary, acknowledged that farmer's are bearing the brunt of trade war with China saying "We knew going in that when you flew the penalty flag on China, the retaliation, if it came, would be against the farmer." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, called new sanctions announced by the Trump administration "outrageous and idiotic" and said the Trump administration is "afflicted by mental retardation". Trump reacted to Rouhani's statement by tweeting "Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!" Stephanie Grisham, the communications director for First Lady Melania Trump, has been named the new White House press secretary to replace outgoing Sarah Huckabee Sanders. John Sanders, the acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner, has announced he will resign effective July 5th. Charanya Krishnaswami, the advocacy director of Amnesty International USA, responded to news of Sander's resignation saying "Children should never be held in detention at all, let alone in the appalling conditions that were detailed in reports this weekend from a Texas border patrol station. Today’s announcement that the chief of Customs and Border Protection is resigning is an opportunity for steps to be taken, including Congressional hearings and investigations, to provide accountability for these shocking abuses, and compassionate care to children seeking safety in the United States. Any effort to normalize the warehousing of children is unacceptable." According to the Guardian "The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman for allegedly failing to file a required financial disclosure report after she was fired".
June 24, 2019 - Trump sent a tweet today criticizing the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, and claimed it "doesn't know what it's doing". Trump signed an executive order imposing "hard hitting" new sanctions on Iran saying "A lot of restraint has been shown by us. That doesn’t mean we’re going to show it in the future but I felt that we want to give [diplomacy] a chance ... I think Iran has a phenomenal future." Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that additional sanctions will be imposed on Iranian military leaders who were responsible for shooting down a drone last week. Congressman Jim Himes joined the growing list of House members calling for impeachment saying "Impeachment is divisive. The politics of impeachment are messy and uncertain, and might, in the short run, serve the President’s narrow political interests. But look at where we are today. Republicans in this chamber cheer or justify or stand woefully silent in the face of behavior for which they would have impeached a Democratic president many times over. Our best and most proven ideas cannot get even a hearing in the Senate. Unless we restore respect for the law, respect for truth and respect for common decency, we cannot hope to solve any of our other pressing problems. There are moments for careful calculation. For weighing political expediency and conflicting interests. And there moments for clarity and conviction. This is that moment." Ravelry.com, an 8 million strong social network for knitters, crocheters and others in the fiber arts, has banned talk of president Trump and his administration saying that it cannot provide a space "inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy.” The announcement went on to say that support of the Trump administration is “undeniably support for white supremacy." In response to news that a House panel will vote on a subpoena to compel testimony, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway claimed accusations by the independent Office of Special Counsel that she has repeatedly violated the Hatch Act are politically motivated saying "You know what they’re mad about? They want to put a big roll of masking tape over my mouth because I helped as the campaign manager for the successful part of the campaign." Henry Kerner, the chief of the White House’s Office of Special Counsel released a statement saying Conway's "conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government. Ms. Conway’s conduct reflects not a misunderstanding of the law, but rather a disregard for it" Jason Miller, a former top campaign aide and a close adviser to Donald Trump, has announced he is leaving the consulting firm he works for, just days after calling Jerry Nadler a "fat fuck" in a now deleted tweet. The US Treasury Department inspector general will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the delay in replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 with abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Hundreds of kids are being moved out of the Clint Border Patrol station in El Paso county, after a legal team interviewed 60 children and documented kids forced to take care of kids, no clean clothing, weeks of no baths and poor nutrition. Holly Cooper, who co-directs University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic and represents detained youth, told reporters "In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity". The story about Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations against President Trump was removed from the New York Post's website per orders from Col Allen, the New York Post's former top editor, and strong supporter of Donald Trump. During an interview with The Hill, Trump claimed that Jean Carroll is "Totally lying. I don’t know anything about her. I know nothing about this woman. I know nothing about her. She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that." The White House sent oversight committee chairman Elijah Cummings a letter declining "the invitation to make Ms. Conway available for testimony before the Committee". Donald Trump Jr sent the following tweet regarding Jean Carroll's accusation of sexual assault: "Enough is enough with this bullshit! We all get it Media... you hate @realDonaldTrump, but giving every Avenatti like wacko a platform because they will say anything for press kills what little is left of your credibility. Let him do his job. The results speak for themselves!"
June 23, 2019 - Trump was asked during an interview if he would allow the FBI to investigate the assassination of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi as requested by the UN special rapporteur. Trump's response "I think it’s been heavily investigated.” When asked by whom, Trump responded "By everybody. I mean … I’ve seen so many different reports." Trump also suggested Saudi Arabia was no worse than other Middle Eastern countries saying "Look at Iran, look at other countries, I won’t mention names." Trump also suggested that investigating may jeopardize weapons sales to the Saudis saying "I’m not like a fool that says, ‘We don’t want to do business with them.' And by the way, if they don’t do business with us, you know what they do? They’ll do business with the Russians or with the Chinese. We make the best equipment in the world, but they will buy great equipment from Russia and from China." John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, told reporters in Jerusalem that "biting" new sanctions will be imposed tomorrow against Iran, and that "Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, its threats to exceed the limits set in the failed Iran nuclear deal in the coming days … are not signs of a nation seeking peace" Bolton also warned Iran not to "mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness". Regarding the Trump Administration's plan to roll back the Obama era Clean Power plan, and allow states to choose their own emission standards, the following conversation took place between Vice President Mike Pence, and CNN's Jake Tapper:
TAPPER - "Do you think human induced climate emergency is a threat to the United States?"
PENCE - "Well, what I will tell you is that we'll always follow the science on that in this administration."
TAPPER - "The science says it is."
PENCE - "What we won't do, and the Clean Power Plan was all about that, was hamstringing energy in this country, raising the cost of utility rates for working families across this country."
TAPPER - "But is it a threat?"
PENCE - "While other countries like China and India do absolutely nothing, or make illusory promises decades down the road to deal with it. The truth of the matter is with the advent of natural gas, with the natural gas explosion that's developing, the clean coal technology, we're seeing a significant reduction in carbon emissions all across this country."
TAPPER - "But is what people are calling a climate emergency, is it a threat? Do you think it's a threat? Man-made climate emergency, is it a threat?"
PENCE - "I think the answer to that is gonna be based upon the science."
TAPPER - "The science says yes. I'm asking you what you think."
PENCE - "Well, there's many in the science that think"
TAPPER - "The science community in your own administration, at NOAA, at DNI, they all say it's a threat, but you won't for some reason."
PENCE - "What we've said is we are not going to raise utility rates..."
TAPPER - "So, you don't think it's a threat is all I'm saying, you don't think it's a threat."
PENCE - "I think we're making great progress reducing carbon emissions. America has the cleanest air and water in the world."
TAPPER - "Not true. We don't have the cleanest air and water in the world. We don't. You can get back to me with some statistics."
June 22, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!" Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, responded to Trump walking back his deportation threat, saying "This is all a game to him while people live in deep fear. Human beings as political pawns." Speaking to reporters, Trump made the following comments: "We’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country. They’re going to be so happy, and I’m going to be their best friend. I hope that happens." According to the Guardian "Iran has insisted it has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons and the International Atomic Energy Agency has said there is no recent evidence of development or experimentation with weaponisation. Iran has so far stuck to the limits on its nuclear programme agreed in a multilateral 2015 agreement. But more than a year after Trump pulled the US out of the deal and imposed severe sanctions, the government in Tehran is threatening to break some of those agreed limits."
June 21, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "On Monday they shot down an unmanned drone flying in International Waters. We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!" The House intelligence committee will be issuing a subpoena to compel Moscow-born business executive, and former Trump associate Felix Sater, to testify after he failed to appear for an interview today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to Trump's near bombing of locations in Iran saying "We are in an extremely dangerous and sensitive situation with Iran. We must calibrate a response that de-escalates and advances American interests, and we must be clear as to what those interests are." Pelosi also stressed that "hostilities must not be initiated without the approval of Congress." E. Jean Carroll, journalist and Elle advice columnist, accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store 23 years ago. Recognizing that she would be asked why she waited so long to say something, Carroll wrote "Receiving death threats, being driven from my home, being dismissed, being dragged through the mud, and joining the 15 women who’ve come forward with credible stories about how the man grabbed, badgered, belittled, mauled, molested, and assaulted them, only to see the man turn it around, deny, threaten, and attack them, never sounded like much fun. Also, I am a coward." Carroll is the 22nd woman to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct. The White House issued a statement that read in part "This is a completely false and unrealistic story surfacing 25 years after allegedly taking place and was created simply to make the President look bad." Trump responded to Carroll's accusation in the following statement released by the White House: "Regarding the ‘story’ by E Jean Carroll, claiming she once encountered me at Bergdorf Goodman 23 years ago: I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section. Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda — like Julie Swetnick who falsely accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It’s just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence. Worse still for a dying publication to try to prop itself up by peddling fake news — it’s an epidemic. Ms. Carroll and New York Magazine: No pictures? No surveillance? No video? No reports? No sales attendants around?? I would like to thank Bergdorf Goodman for confirming they have no video footage of any such incident because it never happened. False accusations diminish the severity of real assault. All should condemn false accusations and any actual assault in the strongest possible terms. If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible. The world should know what’s really going on. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations." Shortly after Trump released the statement denying he'd ever met Carroll, pictures surfaced of Trump and Carroll speaking to one another at a holiday party in 1987. Two of Carroll's friends have come forward to say that Carroll told them about the incident shortly after it happened. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, announced that his state will be dispatching 1,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to "provide assistance at temporary holding facilities". According to the Washington Post, Trump has directed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to “conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders, an operation that is likely to begin with predawn raids in major US cities on Sunday." Another US Representative, Debbie Mucarsei-Powell, has gone public with calls for impeachment.
June 20, 2019 - According to US Central Command, Iran has shot down a US Navy Global Hawk drone in the strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims the drone was flying in their country's airspace. Capt Bill Urban, a CentCom spokesman claimed the drone was flying in international airspace. Responding to the drone incident, Trump sent the following tweet: "Iran made a very big mistake!" Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint against Ivanka Trump, daughter and senior aide to Donald Trump, for violating the Hatch Act, which bans government workers from speaking out on political campaign issues. At issue are tweets Ivanka sent ahead of her father's 2020 presidential campaign launch in which she included the 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" and claimed "the best is yet to come". Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for an investigation into the decision by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to delay by eight years the release of a $20 bank note honoring abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Mnuchin claimed "counterfeiting issues" were the reason for the delay. Trump was asked by reporters if he plans to strike back against Iran for shooting down a US drone. Trump's response: "You will soon find out." During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump made the following comments about the drone downing: "I find it hard to believe it was intentional. I imagine someone made a mistake...in shooting down the drone. We didn’t have a man or woman in the drone. It would have made a big, big difference." The Senate passed measures today to block Trump from using his emergency authority to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. The measures now go to the House, and if passed, Trump is expected to issue a veto. Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican who lost a campaign for US Senate over allegations that he sexually assaulted or pursued teenage girls when he was in his 30's, has declared his intent to run for Senate again in 2020. Trump was asked if he would be willing to apologize to the "Central Park Five" who were wrongly convicted of beating and raping a jogger in New York's Central Park in 1989, to which he responded: "You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Fairstein, and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case, so we'll leave it at that." Roger Stone, a former Trump confidant, who is awaiting trial on charges of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements, has violated a gag order with recent social media posts according to federal prosecutors, who have requested an immediate hearing. The call for impeachment now stands at 70 members of the House, with 3 new members backing the notion. The National Rifle Association has sued its former president, Oliver North, for "conduct harmful to the NRA" and accused North of a "failed coup attempt". All 12 Republican state senators in Oregon fled the capitol today to delay a vote on a clean energy bill. The state's Democratic governor responded by dispatching state troopers to retrieve the Republicans. News surfaced that the US launched a cyber attack against Iranian weapons systems
June 19, 2019 - According to a UN report, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be investigated over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is "credible evidence" that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing. The report states in part "It is the conclusion of the special rapporteur that Mr Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law." Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law has very close ties to the crown prince. Some Democrats have offered censure as an alternative to impeachment proceedings against Trump, to which House speaker Nancy Pelosi responded "No. I think censure is just a way out. If you’re gonna go, you gotta go. In other words, if the goods are there, you must impeach, and censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the Constitution should we decide that’s the way to go." According to California Representative Karen Bass, who was present for a closed-door interview with Hope Hicks, Trump's former senior adviser "She’s objecting to stuff that’s already in the public record. It’s pretty ridiculous." Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, stated in a letter to Jerry Nadler, that Trump had directed Hicks not to answer questions "relating to the time of her service as a senior adviser to the president." A hearing took place today before a judiciary sub-committee on the subject of reparations for descendants of slaves. The congressional chairs, half of which were reserved for Democrats and half for Republicans, were full on the Democrat side, and nearly empty on the Republican side. David Smith, the Guardian's Washington bureau chief, wrote the following summary about Trump's re-election launch that took place last evening: "Trump spent little effort offering a vision of the future. He and his supporters were most energised by his greatest hits: grievance politics, demonising opponents, raging against perceived injustices. There was even a reprise of attacks on Hillary Clinton, his defeated rival in 2016, complete with furious chants of 'Lock her up!' His vicious, often fabricated, attacks implied that while a referendum on his record would likely end in defeat, his campaign believes that whipping up fear of a Democrat in the White House could yet save his skin." The Trump administration is finalizing a plan to roll back an Obama era plan to curb coal-fired power plant pollution. Responding to the news, Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California responded with "President Trump’s Dirty Power Plan is more than just disgraceful and immoral, it is unlawful. There is no justification for gutting a law that would have significantly reduced emissions and prevented thousands of premature deaths per year. While the Trump Administration might lack the necessary courage, we’re prepared to confront the climate crisis head-on." Matthew Kacsmaryk, who signed onto a letter that labeled being transgender a "delusion" and who opposes protections for LGBTQ people in housing, healthcare, and opposes the Violence Against Women Act, was confirmed today to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. Every Democrat voted no, every Republican except Susan Collins voted yes. Reports have surfaced that Donald Trump is seeking to fire or demote Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman. Powell responded to the reports saying "I think the law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it."
June 18, 2019 - The Washington Post is reporting that Trump and senior immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, have been pushing Homeland Security officials to arrest and deport thousands as part of a plan called the "rocket docket". Earlier this year, ICE director Ronald Vitiello and Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were ousted after they expressed concerns about possible public outrage over images of children being taken into custody or separated from their families. Donald Trump is in Orlando Florida today for a rally to officially kick off his 2020 re-election campaign. The Orlando Sentinel published an editorial today that says in part "Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. We’re here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Donald Trump. Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent. Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump. After 2½ years we’ve seen enough. Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies. So many lies — from white lies to whoppers — told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity. Trump’s capacity for lying isn’t the surprise here, though the frequency is. It’s the tolerance so many Americans have for it. There was a time when even a single lie — a phony college degree, a bogus work history — would doom a politician’s career." Among the attendees at the Orlando rally, were members of the Proud Boys, a far-right organization which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many of the Proud Boys were seen wearing MAGA hats, and some were flashing white power gestures. According to Politico "The Trump administration and its domestic political allies are laying the groundwork for a possible confrontation with Iran without the explicit consent of Congress — a public relations campaign that was already well underway before top officials accused the Islamic Republic of attacking a pair of oil tankers last week in the Gulf of Oman." Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense, has withdrawn his name from the confirmation process, and will resign his position, due to news becoming public that he went through a messy divorce that involved accusations of domestic violence. A confirmation hearing scheduled for today, has been cancelled. Mark Esper, the current secretary of the Army, will replace Shanahan. A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a CNN reporter that there were no plans to round up millions of immigrants next week, but that there are tentative plans to target families with removal orders in July. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent the following tweet: "This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis." Walter Shaub, former head of the independent Office of Government Ethics, who quit in disgust over Trump actions, sent the following tweet in response to AOC's: "She's right, and it's time the media started calling them concentration camps. (A year ago this weekend, I saw @AOC in person protesting outside the Tornillo child concentration camp. I didn't know who she was at the time, but her passion in opposing the horror got my attention.)" Lenny Pozner, the father of Noah Pozner, who was one of the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of the book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook. In what is being called a sign that the climate crisis is accelerating faster than scientists had feared, permafrost in the Canadian Arctic has been observed to be thawing 70 years earlier than predicted. According to Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks "What we saw was amazing. It’s an indication that the climate is now warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years." According to Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International: "Thawing permafrost is one of the tipping points for climate breakdown and it’s happening before our very eyes. This premature thawing is another clear signal that we must decarbonise our economies, and immediately." Sarah Fabian, an attorney at the Department of Justice, generated viral online outrage after video was released which showed her arguing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal that the federal government should not be required to provide detained immigrant children with soap, toothbrushes - or even beds, to be "safe and sanitary".
June 17, 2019 - The Supreme Court handed down a number of rulings today. According to the Associated Press, one of those rulings "preserves a long-standing rule that provides an exception to the Constitution’s ban on trying someone twice for the same offense." This ruling, which allows state and federal governments to charge an individual with the same crime, could have direct implications for those involved in the Mueller probe. In another case, the court let stand a lower court ruling that Republican gerrymandering in Virginia diminished the clout of black voters. Iran announced today that it will begin enriching uranium to 20%, unless Europe steps up with relief from sanctions imposed by Trump. US officials called Iran's announcement nuclear blackmail". ABC News released footage from George Stephanopoulos's interview with Donald Trump, showing Trump getting agitated after White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney coughs in the background. Trump shut down the interview, and angrily asked Mulvaney to leave the room. The Trump Administration announced that it is cutting hundreds of millions in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras because thousands of their citizens have been asking for asylum at the Southern border. News surfaced that the Trump Administration is sending approximately 1,000 troops to the Middle East for "defensive purposes". Trump sent the following tweet: "Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, is doing a very good job stopping people long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won't do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!"
Post-impeachment/Pandemic Transgressions Continued
February 29, 2020 - Speaking at CPAC, Trump made the following statement regarding coronavirus: "And I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control." A man in his 50s near Seattle became the first person in the US to die from coronavirus. The FDA begins to allow labratories and hospitals to conduct their own covid-19 tests to speed up the process.
February 28, 2020 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Ted Cruz's attempt at a put down yesterday saying on Twitter: "Sen. Cruz, while I understand you judge people’s intelligence by the lowest income they’ve had, I hold awards from MIT Lincoln Lab & others for accomplishments in microbiology. Secondly, I’m surprised you’re asking about chromosomes given that you don’t even believe in evolution." Cortez then tweeted a picture of herself standing in front of a science display at a science fair in which she had won awards for her research, to which she attached the following text: "Sincerely, an Intel global finalist, a fmr multi-year intern for Sen. Kennedy, a cum laude dual major in Economics & International Relations, a fmr Educational Director for national organization, Who to you is 'just a bartender,' And also your colleague." Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney downplayed the threat of coronavirus during an appearance at CPAC saying "The reason you’re seeing so much attention to [the coronavirus] today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president. That's what this is all about ... This is not Ebola ... it’s not SARS, it’s not MERS." While speaking at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, Trump made the following statement: "The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. One of my people came up to me and said: 'Mr President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.' That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. This is their new hoax." Trump also stated that "the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to health and well-being of all Americans". During an appearance on Fox News, Donald Trump Jr, made the following statement: "The playbook is old at this point. But for them to try to use a pandemic, and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump's streak of winning, is a new level of sickness." Rush Limbaugh, the right wing shock jock, and recipient of the presidential medal of freedom claimed "The coronavirus is being weaponized, as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump." Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chair, made the following statement regarding the coronavirus: "Democrats are using this for their political gain to try and stoke fear in the American people, which is shameful, wrong, and I think un-American." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 3,600 points this week - or 12 percent - over concerns about the coronavirus.
February 27, 2020 - Ted Cruz, a Republican Senator, responded to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's criticism of putting Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus response saying on Twitter: "As you are speaking as the oracle of science, tell us, what exactly is a Y chromosome? And at what age of gestation does science tell us that an unborn child feels physical pain?" News surfaced of a whistleblower complaint at HHS which alleged that more than a dozen HHS employees were sent to receive Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, without protective gear or adequate training. According to the Guardian "The whistleblower, who reportedly received two awards from the health secretary last year, said she was unfairly reassigned after raising concern about the workers."While meeting with African American leaders, Trump said of the coronavirus, "It's going to disappear. One day - it's like a miracle - it will disappear ... And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1,191 points today over concerns about the coronavirus.
February 26, 2020 - News has surfaced that the Trump administration is engaged in a "deep state" purge. One of those people involved in the purge is 29 year old Johnny McEntee, who was recently named White House director for presidential personnel. Trump sent the following in tweets today: "Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!" Trump made the following statements today regarding the coronavirus: "The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days ... so we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck." Trump also stated: "I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up." Trump also claimed: "This is a flu. This is like a flu." The official number of confirmed cases in the US is currently at 60. The global number is over 80,000. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which is investigating voter suppression efforts in Georgia, Texas and Kansas, released an email in which Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, told aides in response to an expose in an Atlanta newspaper which exposed the problems in the way voters were removed from the electoral rolls: "Good work, this story is so complex folks will not make it all the way through it." The House of Representatives passed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act today, which will make lynching a hate crime under federal law for the first time in US history. Three Republicans and one Independent voted against passage, they are Louie Gohmert of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ted Yoho of Florida and Justin Amash of Michigan. A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars from law enforcement agencies in so-called sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement agencies. Rush Limbaugh, right wing shock jock, and Trump's recipient of the presidential medal of freedom, claimed on his show that the Democratic Party, and Senator Bernie Sanders in particular, "poses a far greater threat" to the country than the coronavirus does. Limbaugh went on to say "The forces arrayed against Donald Trump are doing everything they can to weaponize this to harm the economy, to harm the stock market in hopes of harming President Trump ... They are trying to use this coronavirus to scare the hell out of everybody in their madcap hopes of finding something that will get rid of Donald Trump. It's exactly like the panic and fearmongering you heard for two years over Russia meddling in and stealing the election." Fox News primetime host Laura Ingraham claimed the 2020 Democratic candidates "are either hoping for misery or actually peddling it." Ingraham also claimed "Democrats and their media cronies have decided to weaponize fear and also weaponized suffering to improve their chances against Trump in November. The facts don't matter to the Trump haters." Following the 1st confirmed case of coronavirus in the US that was not related to foreign travel, which is a sign the virus is likely being carried by many who are not yet known, Trump claimed during a press conference: "And again, when you have 15 people — and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero — that’s a pretty good job we’ve done." According to the Washington Post: "Trump’s playing down of the California patient at his news conference underscores the administration’s slapdash and often misleading attempts to contain not just the virus, but also potential political damage from the outbreak — which has tanked financial markets, slowed global commerce and killed some 3,000 people worldwide, including the first U.S. death, announced Saturday." During the same press conference, Trump contradicted health officials when he said "Well, I don't think it's inevitable". Trump also said, "whatever happens, we're totally prepared." Trump also announced that he was putting Mike Pence in charge of the response to the outbreak. Responding to the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence had been put in charge of the response to the coronavirus outbreak, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic. This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have. As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history. He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health." Ron Klain, the former Ebola czar under President Barack Obama, pointed out that the Trump administration's response has been hampered by the dismantling of the pandemic preparedness unit in the White House in 2018, and by cuts to public health programs over the past several years. Trump was asked about these cuts, here's the exchange:
Q: Your budgets have consistently called for enormous cuts to the CDC, the NIH, and the WHO. You’ve talked a lot today about how these professionals are excellent, have been critical and necessary. Does this experience at all give you pause about those consistent cuts?
TRUMP: No, because we — we can get money and we can increase staff. We know all the people. We know all the good people. It’s a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven’t been used for many, many years. And if — if we have a need, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money — and I’m a business person — I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly. For instance, we’re bringing some people in tomorrow that are already in this, you know, great government that we have, and very specifically for this. We can build up very, very quickly. And we’ve already done that. I mean, we really have built up. We have a great staff. And using Mike, I’m doing that because he’s in the administration and he’s very good at doing what he does, and doing as it relates to this.
February 25, 2020 - The CDC warned that the because of the coronavirus "disruption to everyday life might be severe." Responding to a question in New Delhi, Trump stated: "You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are – in all cases, I have not heard anything other." According to news outlets, on the way back from India, Trump called Alex Azar, the health secretary, and complainied that Messonnier was scaring the stock market. Trump sent out the following tweet: "CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world. It was opposed by the Dems, 'too soon', but turned out to be the correct decision. No matter how well we do, however, the ..." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 879 points today over coronavirus concerns. The following coronavirus claims were made today by Trump administration officials:
- "We have contained this. I won’t say airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight" - Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, during an interview with CNBC
- The fatality rate is "similar to seasonal flu" - Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, during testimony before Congress
- "We're very close to a vaccine" - Donald Trump during an interview in India
February 24, 2020 - Regarding coronavirus, Trump stated "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!" Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, issued a statement about the continuing world wide spread of COVID-19 aka the coronavirus, saying in part: "We expect we will see community spread in this country. It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness." Rush Limbaugh, right wing shock jock, and Trump's pick for the presidential medal of freedom, claimed on his show that "I'm dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold folks. The hype of this thing as a pandemic, as the andromeda strain, as 'oh my god, if you get it, you're dead'" Limbaugh also told his audience that Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases is part of the "deep state" who is out to undermine the president because her brother is former deputy attorney Rod Rosenstein. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1,032 points over fears regarding the coronavirus.
February 23, 2020 - Peter Navarro, Trump's economic adviser wrote a second memo with a warning about the novel coronavirus saying: "There is an increasing probability of a full-blown Covid-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1.2 million souls".
February 21, 2020 - According to the New York Times, the White House coronavirus taskforce concluded that aggressive social distancing is necessary to combat covid-19 spread.
February 19, 2020 -While addressing a group of governors, Trump made the following statement about the novel coronavirus: "I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus." John Rood, a senior official at the Pentagon, is leaving the administration. In his resignation letter to Trump, Rood states "It’s my understanding from Secretary Esper that you requested my resignation." According to CNN: "Rood is the Pentagon’s top policy official and oversees aspects of the Pentagon’s relationship with US allies and partners. Rood was involved in certifying to Congress that Ukraine had embarked on significant reforms to justify its receipt of $250 million in security assistance. That certification undermined one of the justifications -- concerns about corruption in Kiev -- that some members of the Trump administration made to defend blocking aid to Ukraine. Hours after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which kicked off impeachment proceedings, Rood emailed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper -- who had been in the job two days -- informing him about an upcoming deputies meeting, 'to discuss the President's concern about endemic corruption in Ukraine and his reported view that US should cease providing security assistance,' according to emails reviewed by CNN. Rood notes in his email to the secretary that 'placing a hold on security assistance at this time would jeopardize this unique window of opportunity and undermine our defense priorities with a key partner in the strategic competition with Russia.'" A former employee of Cambridge Analytica is now working for the Trump campaign as part of their data program. According to Politico: "Matt Oczkowski, who served as head of product at Cambridge before it went bankrupt and shut down in 2018, is helping oversee the Trump campaign’s data program, according to two people familiar with the hire. Cambridge gained notoriety for its work on psychological voter profiling and because it allegedly improperly obtained the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users." According to Julian Assange's lawyer, Dana Rohrabacher, a former Republican congressman, told Assange during a 2017 visit that "on instructions from the president", he would be pardoned if he said Russia was not involved in the leaking of Democratic emails. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to Assange's lawyer's claim saying "The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman. He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie." Critics were quick to point out that Grisham's claims are suspect considering Trump and Rohrabacher had a 45 minute Oval Office meeting in 2017 that was well publicized at the time. From an April 4, 2017 CNN article: "President Donald Trump, amid questions about his campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election, met Tuesday with Dana Rohrabacher, a California congressman so well-known for his pro-Russia views that he has been referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "favorite congressman. Ken Grubbs, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, declined to disclose the focus of the Oval Office conversation, calling it 'a general conversation at the President's invitation. We have nothing more than that,' Grubbs said. A statement from Rohrabacher's office Tuesday evening said the meeting lasted 45 minutes and included White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon." E. Jean Carroll, the ELLE magazine columnist who in 2019 accused Trump of raping her in the mid 1990s, was fired from her editorial position. According to Carroll: "Because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud, after 26 years, Elle fired me. I don’t blame Elle. It was the great honor of my life writing 'Ask E. Jean.'" According to NBC News: "Trump has not only repeatedly denied the allegation, but has also denied ever meeting Carroll. When presented with a picture in which they were both photographed at a 1987 party alongside Carroll’s former husband, John Johnson, Trump maintained that he had 'no idea' who Carroll is. Carroll sued Trump for defamation in New York State Court in November, after which her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, had the black wool dress Carroll was wearing at the time of the alleged attack tested for DNA. Last month, Carroll’s counsel served notice to Trump’s lawyers for the president to submit a DNA sample by March 2 to see if he matched the unidentified male DNA found on the outfit. Yet, earlier this month, Trump’s lawyers argued that Carroll’s defamation suit should be delayed until New York’s highest court rules on whether former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who has also accused Trump of assault and defamation, can proceed with a somewhat similar suit. Trump has denied Zervos' allegations." News surfaced that the Trump administration is siding with Oracle in an ongoing copyright battle with Google. According to the Guardian: "The Trump administration filed the brief in favor of Oracle just hours after the company’s executive chairman Larry Ellison hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump at his golf course in California. Oracle employees are planning a walk out in response to their executive's actions."
February 18, 2020 - Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator, met with Ukrainian president Volodymy Zelensky recently in which Murphy brought up Rudy Giuliani and his efforts to get dirt on Joe Biden. According to Murphy: "Zelensky clearly doesn’t really want to talk about this, and I don’t blame him. But he tells us that, though Giuliani has long wanted a meeting with him, he has always stayed clear of Giuliani and intends to keep it that way. He has no intention of getting involved in American politics any more than he already has, unintentionally. 'As an actor, I always dreamed of becoming famous in America,' he tells us, breaking away from Ukrainian and speaking to us in English. 'And now I’m famous in America. But not the way I wanted!'" The White House announced that Trump will grant clemency to Eddie DeBartolo Jr, the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who plead guilty in 1998 to failing to report a bribe from an elected official. News surfaced that Trump commuted the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption after being caught on tape trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat after he became president. On the tape, Blagojevich can be heard saying "I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden. I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it." During a brief encounter with the press, Trump declared that he is "the chief law enforcement officer of the United States." In reality, the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. News surfaced that Trump has also pardoned Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty to eight felony charges in 2009 related to tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Also pardoned, Michael Milken, the financier who was convicted of racketeering and fraud. In a joint statement, five House Republicans from Illinois criticized Trump's decision to commute the sentence of Rod Blagojevich saying in part: "We are disappointed by the President's commutation of Rod Blagojevich's federal sentence. We believe he received an appropriate and fair sentence, which was the low-end of the federal sentencing guidelines for the gravity of his public corruption convictions. Blagojevich is the face of public corruption in Illinois, and not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermined the trust placed in him by voters." Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, responded to the commutation of Rod Blagojevich saying the commutation "would be controversial under any president, but President Trump embodies the worst in public leadership through his brazen disrespect for the rule of law and good governance". Trump granted clemency to 11 people in total today.
February 16, 2020 - According to the Guardian "More than 1,000 former US justice department officials, including some of the top government lawyers in the country, have called on attorney general William Barr to resign in the wake of the Roger Stone scandal. Some 1,143 alumni of the Department of Justice posted to Medium on Sunday a group letter that tore into Barr for 'doing the president’s personal bidding' in imposing on prosecutors the recommendation of a reduced sentence for Stone, a longtime friend of Donald Trump who was convicted of lying to and obstructing Congress and threatening a witness in the Russia investigation. Barr, the officials said, had damaged the reputation of the department for 'integrity and the rule of law'. The searing letter is the latest twist in a rapidly spiraling constitutional crisis that began earlier this week when Barr imposed his new sentencing memo, slashing a seven to nine-year proposed prison term suggested by career prosecutors. In the fallout, the four prosecutors who had handled the case resigned in disgust." The reduced sentence recommendation followed a Trump tweet in which the president called the sentencing "horrible and very unfair".
February 14, 2020 - While speaking to members of the National Border Patrol Council, Trump stated: "There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner."
February 10, 2020 - According to the Washington Post "The White House is proposing a $4.8 trillion election-year budget Monday that would slash major domestic and safety net programs, setting up a stark contrast with President Trump’s rivals as voting gets under way in the Democratic presidential primary. The budget would cut Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program and also wring savings from Medicare despite Trump’s repeated promises to safeguard Medicare and Social Security. It takes aim at domestic spending with cuts that are sure to be rejected by Congress, including slashing the Environmental Protection Agency budget by 26.5 percent over the next year, and cutting the budget of the Health and Human Services department by 9 percent ... It would target the Education Department for a nearly 8 percent cut, the Interior Department would be cut 13.4 percent, and the Housing and Urban Development department would be cut 15.2 percent. The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development would be cut by 22 percent." During a press conference, William Barr, the attorney general, acknowledged that the Justice Department has established a channel to hear information provided by Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine. News surfaced that more than 100 American troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from last month's strike on a military base in Iraq. According to CNN: "That’s an increase of at least 36 cases from the end of January when the Pentagon said 64 service members had been diagnosed with injuries ... Several Pentagon officials told CNN last month that the number of diagnosed cases is likely to continue to change. Approximately 200 people who were in the blast zone at the time of the attack have been screened for symptoms. During a news conference at the Pentagon late last month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the increasing number of reported cases stems in part from the fact that the injuries, for the most part, fall into the category of ‘mild TBI’ which takes time for symptoms to manifest." Trump has been criticized for downplaying the brain injuries as "headaches". Donald Trump held a rally in New Hampshire where he criticized Nancy Pelosi saying she was "mumbling terribly behind me" during the State of the Union address. Trump added "There was a little anger back there. We're the ones who should be angry, not them". The crowd responded by chanting "lock her up!" In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors are asking Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence Roger Stone to up to 9 years in prison. According to the memo: "Stone knew the gravity of the House intelligence committee’s investigation when he obstructed it by giving false testimony and tampering with a witness. Indeed, Stone acknowledged as much in his opening statement before the committee. Stone chose – consciously, repeatedly and flagrantly – to obstruct and interfere with the search for the truth on an issue of vital importance to all Americans. This court should impose a sentence that accurately reflects the value the judicial system places on the need to allow witnesses to testify truthfully without threat or interference, and the importance of testifying truthfully under oath." Peter Zwack, a retired brigadier general, and former supervisor of impeachment witness Alexander Vindman, lashed out at Lindsey Graham's support for the firing of Vindman, saying in an interview with CNN: "Senator Graham, I always had a lot of respect for you. I met you when I was in Afghanistan in 2008 when you arrived with Senator McCain and Joe Lieberman as part of the three amigos. We thought you guys were rock stars. Where are you now, sir?" A bill in the South Dakota legislature that proposed jailing doctors for giving puberty-blocking drugs to transgender children, failed 5-2 in committee. Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary chair, sent a letter to William Barr demanding answers regarding the intake process for information from Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine. The letter reads in part: "As you know the department has formal, established channels by which to receive information and begin investigations. This new channel to Mr Giuliani would seem to be a significant departure from those traditional channels." Matt Schlapp, the conference chair of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) explained in an interview that Mitt Romney was dis-invited from this year's conference because "This year, I would actually be afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him." Trump made the following claim regarding the coronavirus: "The virus that we’re talking about having to do, a lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April. We’re in great shape, though. We have 12 cases, 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now. I had a long talk with President Xi two nights ago. He feels very confident. He feels that again, as I mentioned, by April or during the month of April, the heat generally speaking kills this kind of virus. So that would be a good thing."
February 8, 2020 - Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator, and close ally of Trump, stated that the Justice Department had "created a process" to review information provided by Rudy Giuliani.
February 7, 2020 - Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert who testified in the House impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, was fired and escorted out of the White House today. His twin brother was removed also. David Pressman, Vindman's attorney, responded to the news saying "He followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country. And for that, the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit – has decided to exact revenge. There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth." Hours after Vindman was escorted out of the White House, Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union, who also testified in the House impeachment inquiry, was recalled. In a statement, Sondland said "I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union".
- "Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS. He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now. He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP." - Donald Trump Jr
"W.Mitt Romney AKA Pierre Delecto - will always be remembered as the candidate who chocked when it mattered most. He begged for @realDonaldTrump to endorse him - now we know he will be a 1 term Senator." - Corey Lewandowski
The Senate held it's vote on the two articles of impeachment. The results:
Article I
Guilty - 48
Not Guilty - 52
The guilty votes included all the Democrats + Republican Mitt Romney
Article II
Guilty - 47
Not Guilty - 53
The votes fell along party lines
Trump is now officially the third president to have been acquitted in an impeachment trial.
Some select responses to the Senate vote:
- "As the president's impeachment trial began, Republican senators pledged an oath to defend the Constitution. Today, 52 of them voted to betray that oath—and all of us. We’re entering dangerous territory for our democracy. It’ll take all of us working together to restore it." - Hillary Rodham Clinton
- "Today, the President and Senate Republicans have normalized lawlessness and rejected the system of checks and balances of our Constitution ... The President will boast that he has been acquitted. There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence. The President has been impeached forever." - Nancy Pelosi
Pre-impeachment/Pandemic Transgressions
February 4, 2020 - Susan Collins, a moderate Republican that Democrats had hoped would vote for impeachment, confirmed that she will be voting to acquit saying "It was wrong for president Trump to mention former vice President Biden on that phone call, and it was wrong for him to ask a foreign country to investigate a political rival. But, I do not believe the House has met its burden of showing the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of removal from office." Collins stated later in an interview with CBS that she believed "that the president has learned from this case." Trump was asked about Collins comments, to which Trump responded that he had done nothing wrong, and that "It was a perfect call." At least 10 House Democrats have announced that they will be boycotting the State of the Union address later today. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of those who are boycotting the event, sent the following tweet: "After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution. None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union." Some select highlights from the State of the Union address:
- Trump's theme for his address: "The great American comeback".
- As Donald Trump entered, speaker Pelosi announced Trump's entrance by saying "Members of Congress, the President of the United States." This intro veered away from the traditional intro which is "Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States."
- As Donald Trump walked up to the podium, Nancy Pelosi extended her hand towards Trump for a handshake, but Trump snubbed her by turning away.
- There were audible groans from Democrats when Trump stated "if we hadn't reversed the failed economic policies of the previous Administration, the world would not now be witnessing this economic success." Fact check: For the first 35 months of Trump's presidency, the economy gained 191,000 jobs per month. For the last 35 months of Obama's presidency, the economy added 227,000 jobs per month, for a difference of 36,000 jobs per month.
- Trump declared that "there are those who want to take away your healthcare" at which point many Democrats pointed at Trump and yelled "you!"
- Trump called on Congress to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. Democrats responded by shouting HR 3, which is the name of the bill already passed by the House, and named in honor of the late Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings, which will lower prescription drug prices.
- Donald Trump awarded Rush Limbaugh, a man with a long record of racist and other controversial remarks, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the same Rush Limbaugh who referred to Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who testified to the House about the need for insurance companies to cover contraception, a "slut" and a "prostitute". This is also the same Rush Limbaugh who referred to 12 year-old Chelsea Clinton as a dog, and called Amy Carter, daughter of Jimmy and Rosalind Carter "the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country".
- Several Democratic lawmakers walked out during the SOTU speech. Congressmn Tim Ryan, one of the walkouts, sent the following in a tweet: "I just walked out of the #StateOfTheUnion. I’ve had enough. It’s like watching professional wrestling. It’s all fake." Congressman Seth Moultan, another walk-out tweeted the following: "I left the #SOTU after Trump—a draft dodger who has mocked Sen. John McCain, Gold Star families, and soldiers with traumatic brain injury—started talking about the good he has done for our military."
- Fred Guttenberg, the father of a girl who was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, was escorted out after he voiced protest to Trump's comments about gun rights.
- After Trump concluded his speech, House speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up the paper copy of the speech. Pelosi was asked why she tore up the speech, her response: "It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative." Pelosi also called the speech a "manifesto of mistruths."
- The White House released a statemnet in response to Nancy Pelosi ripping up the speech which said "Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family. That's her legacy."
February 3, 2020 - During a Trump campaign press conference in Des Moines, IA, while Don Jr was at the podium, a man stood up and yelled "Since your father was elected president, more and more Jews are being gunned down every year." Don Jr retorted "I don’t think anyone’s done more for Israel and for American Jews than Donald Trump, so you can keep going." After the man was forcibly hauled out of the event by burly security guards, Don Jr gloated: "This is why I wrote the book Triggered, folks!" Rush Limbaugh, a conservative radio shock jock, announced that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
January 31, 2020 - Alexander Azar, the health and human services secretary, declared that coronavirus is now a public health emergency. Trump announced a limited ban on entry to the US for foreign nationals who had recently visited China, which will go into effect on February 2nd. The World Health Organization has recommended against any travel or trade restrictions in response to the outbreak according to Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO representative, who explained why saying "Although travel restrictions may intuitively seem like the right thing to do, this is not something that WHO usually recommends. This is because of the social disruption they cause and the intensive use of resources required." Catherine Worsnop, who studies international cooperation during global health emergencies at the University of Maryland had this to say about travel restrictions: "From a public health perspective, there is limited effectiveness. And then there are a host of other reasons why they can actually be counterproductive ... There’s not only the financial toll on a country that is dealing with this outbreak, but this can discourage transparency, both in this outbreak and in the future ... Adopting these restrictions undermines the cooperative approach we need to respond to this kind of outbreak, specifically by undermining the authority of the WHO, which has recommended against these restrictions." According to STAT News: "Travel and trade restrictions can lead to dire economic consequences for countries involved, creating a disincentive for them to quickly disclose potential outbreaks to the WHO or other nations. They can hinder the sharing of information, make it harder to track cases and their contacts, and disrupt the medical supply chain, potentially fueling shortages of drugs and medical supplies in the areas hit hardest by the outbreak. They also send a punitive message, which could contribute to discrimination and stigmatization against Chinese nationals, experts warned. Any effort and money spent crafting and enforcing travel and trade restrictions also take away already-stretched resources from public health measures that have been proven to be far more effective, experts said. Those measures include providing assistance to countries with weaker health systems, accelerating the development of a vaccine or rapid diagnostic test, and clearly communicating with the public about when and how to seek care." According to the Guardian: "US preparedness to deal with the threat of coronavirus has been hampered by the personnel and budget cuts made by the Trump administration over the past three years, according to health experts. There is no one in the White House tasked specifically to oversee a coordinated government-wide response in the event of a pandemic, since the post of senior director for global health security and biothreats on the national security council (NSC) was eliminated last May. The office was established in 2016 after the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa demonstrated the US government was not set up to move with the speed and decisiveness necessary to react to a really lethal epidemic. The White House global health 'czar' was supposed to coordinate international, national, state and local organisations, public and private, to confront a global epidemic, backed by the direct authority of the president. After he became national security adviser, John Bolton eliminated the office as part of an NSC reorganisation, as he did not see global health issues as a national security priority ... Funding has also been cut drastically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forcing it to reduce or discontinue epidemic-prevention efforts in 39 out of the 49 countries it had been helping. Among the countries where CDC efforts were scaled back were Haiti, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as China, where the agency provided technical assistance. In its 2020 budget the Trump administration proposed a further 10% cut in CDC funding, equivalent to $750m. It zeroed out funding for epidemiology and laboratory capacity at state and local levels." Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, retired from the state department. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, held a press conference in which he declared that if Trump is acquitted, the acquittal will be "meaningless" if senators do not vote to call witnesses in the impeachment trial. The New York Times is reporting that an upcoming book by John Bolton claims that Trump sought Bolton's help in his Ukraine pressure campaign. According to the article: "Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense. Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote. The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky that triggered a whistle-blower complaint and impeachment proceedings." In a written statement, Trump denied Bolton's account of the meeting saying "I never instructed John Bolton to set up a meeting for Rudy Giuliani, one of the greatest corruption fighters in America and by far the greatest mayor in the history of N.Y.C., to meet with President Zelensky. That meeting never happened." Rudy Giuliani responded to the news saying "I think he’s making some of it up. He’s sure making up — I wouldn’t call it making it up, but he’s acting like a real scumbag by never telling me that he objected once, & then saying I was a time bomb, or a firecracker or something." John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff weighed in on the Bolton story saying "If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton. Every single time I was with him ... he always gave the president the unvarnished truth." Here are some highlights from today's continuation of the impeachment trial:
- "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office. Can anyone doubt that at least half of the country would view his removal as illegitimate — as nothing short of a coup d’état? It is difficult to conceive of any scheme [Vladimir] Putin could undertake that would undermine confidence in our democracy more than removal would." - Marco Rubio, Republican Senator
- "I do not believe that additional witnesses are needed. I have said consistently for the past four months, since the Zelensky transcript was first released, that I believe that some of the president’s actions in this case – including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine – were wrong and inappropriate. But I do not believe that the president’s actions rise to the level of removing a duly-elected president from office and taking him off the ballot in the middle of an election. ... Our country is already too deeply divided and we should be working to heal wounds, not create new ones. It is better to let the people decide." - Rob Portman, Republican Senator
- "I agree he did something inappropriate, but I don’t agree he did anything akin to treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors" - Lamar Alexander, Republican Senator
- Adam Schiff warned that future judges or presidents facing impeachment could cite the trial of Donald Trump to block witness testimony, which would "effectively nullify" the congressional power of impeachment. Schiff went on to say "Our government is no longer a government with three coequal branches. The president ... for all intents and purposes, becomes above the law."
- Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats keep chanting 'fairness', when they put on the most unfair Witch Hunt in the history of the U.S. Congress. They had 17 Witnesses, we were allowed ZERO, and no lawyers. They didn’t do their job, had no case. The Dems are scamming America!"
- A roll call vote was held on a motion to call witnesses, which failed. The final vote was 49 for, and 51 against. Two Republicans voted for the measure, they were Mitt Romney, and Susan Collins. The impeachment trial of Donald J Trump is now the first impeachment trial in the history of the Senate to have no witnesses. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called the outcome of the vote "a grand tragedy, one of the worst tragedies that the Senate has ever overcome." Hillary Clinton responded to the vote on Twitter saying "With their votes to make the American president accountable to no one, Republican senators have put the interests of one president over the interests of all Americans. The only remedy now is for us all to vote in overwhelming numbers to replace them—and him—in November." Matt Schlapp, the chair of the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference, declared on Twitter that Mitt Romney is longer welcome at the annual conference. Nancy Pelosi responded to the vote against calling witnesses saying "The Senate Republicans’ vote against calling witnesses and compelling documents in the impeachment proceedings makes them accomplices to the president’s cover-up. It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell require the chief justice of the United States to preside over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. Even if Trump is acquitted, he is impeached forever. There can be no acquittal without a trial. And there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence."
January 30, 2020 - The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency. The state department has advised against all travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak. First US case of person-to-person transmission of the novel coronavirus was announced by health officials. Alex Azar, the health secretary, had warned Trump during a call aboard Air Force One regarding the growing coronavirus threat on January 18th. According to the New York Times, Trump dismissed Azar's warning as "alarmist". Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery." Donald Trump made the following statement regarding coronavirus during a speech in Michigan later in the evening: "We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us ... that I can assure you." Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, was interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on a Fox Business show, and was asked about the effect the novel coronavirus, which is causing major issues in China, might have on the US economy. Ross responded by saying "I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease. But the fact is, it does give business yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain ... It’s another risk factor that people need to take into account. So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America."According to Reuters: "The economy grew 2.3% last year, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was the slowest since 2016 and followed the 2.9% notched in 2018. The 3% growth target has remained elusive despite the White House and Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax cut package, which President Donald Trump had predicted would lift growth persistently above that target." According to the Guardian "A section of Donald Trump’s much-vaunted border wall between the United States and Mexico has blown over onto the Mexican side in high winds, US border patrol officers have been reported as saying." Pictures of the damaged wall began appearing on twitter along with the following Donald Trump quote: "I own buildings. I'm a builder; I know how to build. Nobody can build like I can build. Nobody. And the builders in New York will tell you that. I build the best product." A Trump administration lawyer, from the Department of Justice (DoJ), raised eyebrows among Trump critics today when he argued in federal court that a president can be impeached over failure to comply with subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives. The argument was made in proceedings related to the Trump administration's refusal to turn records over regarding the 2020 census. Responding to the news, Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, told the sitting senators in the impeachment trial: "In the category of you can’t make this stuff up, the judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court, then what remedy is there? And the justice department lawyer’s response is impeachment." The comment drew both derision and laughter from the sitting senators. Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Schiff blasted for not focusing on California homeless.” @foxandfriends His District is in terrible shape. He is a corrupt pol who only dreams of the Impeachment Hoax. In my opinion he is mentally deranged!" Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser, was asked about Alan Dershowitz's "public interest" argument in the impeachment trial, to which Conway responded that she would not discuss "politics." Dershowitz is now claiming in interviews that the media misinterpreted his comments. The Washington Post has obtained a 2018 recording of a meeting that included Trump, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, which further contradicts Trump's claim to not know Parnas. According to the Post: "While it was known that Fruman and Parnas had attended an event at Mar-a-Lago, the focus of the event, the timing and who else was in attendance had not been made public. The April 2018 meeting came days before the two men took part in a donor dinner with with the president at his Washington hotel, an encounter captured on a video released last week by Parnas’ attorney. During that dinner, Parnas told the president that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was agitating against him, prompting Trump to abruptly call for her firing." Jimmy Carter responded to the Trump administrations Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in a statement saying: "The new U.S. plan undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. If implemented, the plan will doom the only viable solution to this long-running conflict, the two-state solution." Here are some highlights from today's impeachment proceedings:
- Adam Schiff referred to Dershowitz's "public interest" argument as "the most absurdly dangerous argument that could have been made." Schiff also called it "astonishing" and added "what we have seen over the last couple days is a descent into constitutional madness."
- John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, declined to read a question submitted by Rand Paul, which included the name of the alleged Ukraine whistleblower.
- During a news conference, Rand Paul read his question to reporters, and stated "I can tell you my question made no reference to any whistleblower". However, Paul's question included the names of two people who worked for the national security council, one of whom is the alleged whistleblower. Paul then sent the following tweet: "My question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings."
- Hakeem Jeffries, an impeachment manager, warned that the president's lawyers are presenting arguments that could invite future foreign interference in US elections. According to Jeffries: "This is not a Banana Republic. It's the Democratic Republic of the United States of America."
- Trump's defense team accused House managers of engaging in "election interference" by advancing a process that could take Trump's name off the ballot in an election year.
- Adam Schiff responded to the accusation that the House of Representatives is the one engaging in "election interference" saying "If it were the intention of the framers to say that a president cannot be impeached in an election year, they would have said so. They did not, for a very good reason: there were concerned about presidents who might try to cheat in an election."
- Patrick Philbin, deputy White House counsel, argued that Rudy Giuliani was not carrying out US foreign policy in Ukraine, but was instead a mere source of "information" about the president's thinking. According to Philbin: "The first is I just want to make clear that there was no conduct of foreign policy being carried on here by a private person." Critics were quick to point out that the White House's own memo of the July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky makes clear that the US president was asking his Ukrainian counterpart to confer with Giuliani about potential investigations of corruption.
- Hakeem Jeffries responded to a question from a Republican senator asking whether the Steele dossier would be considered foreign interference in US elections saying the defense team had raised "conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the deep state conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the ‘Adam Schiff is the root of all evil’ conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the Burisma conspiracy theory. We’ve head about the Crowdstike conspiracy theory. We’ve heard about the whistleblower conspiracy theory. It’s hard to keep track."
- Speaking at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump told the crowd that Democrats are "obsessed with a deranged witch hunt hoax. We're having probably the best years we've ever had in the history of our country. And I just got impeached!" Trump also said that Democrat environmental policies will"kill our cows" and said that "through remittance, illegal aliens from Mexico are going to pay for the wall."
- Alexander Lamar released a statement which said in part "There is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the U.S. Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense ... It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation ... when elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law ... But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate ... The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday."
January 29, 2020 - Peter Navarro, a Trump economic adviser, sent a memo to the national security council warning that coronavirus could kill half a million Americans and deliver a $5.7tn hit to the economy. Alan Dershowitz, one of Donald Trump's defense attorneys, made the following argument today at Trump's impeachment trial: "Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly, you're right — your election is in the public interest. If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment." He then laid out a hypothetical scenario in which a Democratic president tells Israel it will withhold aid until they stop building new settlements, or tells Palestine he will withold aid until they stop paying terrorists. Dershowitz continued with "If you don't do it, you don't get the money. If you do it, you get the money. There is no one in this chamber that would regard that as in any way unlawful." Critics were quick to point out that US presidents routinely engage in "quid pro quos" with other nations, but unlike the current situation, they did so in matters of official foreign policy or national interest. Some select responses to Dershowitz's argument:
"Either Dershowitz thinks that the Watergate break-in and subsequent coverup were not illegal or impeachable because, after all, the point was to secure the president's election. Or perhaps he has decided that Trump should be king. Either way, not a great argument." - Frank Bowman, Constitutional-Law Professor at the University of Missouri School of Law
"The president lawyers are arguing that if the president ordered his election opponent arrested that would be fine because he’s pursuing the national interest in order to get re-elected." - Chris Hayes
Patrick Philbin, one of Donald Trump's defense attorneys, argued today that it is acceptable to receive information from foreign governments about a political rival if that information is "credible." According to Philbin: "Mere information is not something that would violate the campaign finance laws. If there is credible information ― credible information of wrongdoing by someone who is running for a public office ― it’s not campaign interference for credible information about wrongdoing to be brought to light."
January 28, 2020 - The White House unveiled the administration's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which Trump called the "deal of the century" and a "realistic two-state solution." Palestinian President Mahmoud abbas responded to the proposal saying "We say a thousand times: No, no and no to the ‘deal of the century'".
January 27, 2020 - According to the Washington Post, Joe Grogan, the head of White House domestic policy council, told acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, and others in a meeting that "the administration needed to take the virus seriously or it could cost the president his re-election". Today is day six of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here are some highlights from the proceedings:
- Ken Starr, White House counsel, and the one who spearheaded the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, bemoaned the fact that impeachment is happening "all too frequently", calling this the "Age of Impeachment". One very witty response to Starr's comments came from Paul Begala on twitter "Ken Starr calls this period 'the Age of Impeachment,' and asks, 'How did we get here?' He then whips out a hand mirror and says, 'Oh, right. It was me. My bad.'"
- Mike Purpura, White House counsel, repeatedly criticized House impeachment managers for not providing "any first-hand evidence" that Trump linked Ukraine's military assistance to investigations of Democrats. Ironically, Purpura made this claim at the same time that the president's allies are working to prevent any first-hand accounts from being heard at the trial. Purpura also argued that the assistance was held up over concerns that the US was providing a disproportionate amount of funding to the ally.
- Pam Bondi, White House counsel, pushed the debunked allegation that Joe Biden, as vice-president, advocated for the removal of Victor Shokin, a Ukrainian prosecutor, because Shokin was investigating Burisma, the natural gas company where Biden's son, Hunter was working. Fact check: Shokin refused to cooperate with an investigation of money laundering at Burisma, that was led by British authorities. US and European governments lobbied for the removal of Shokin due to his repeated failure to fight corruption in Ukraine. Bondi also claimed that Trump's legal team had no choice but to discuss the Bidens and Burisma because the news media has been pressing the issue. Ironically, Bondi made this claim after many Republican senators have criticized the media for a lack of scrutiny of the Bidens. The Biden 2020 campaign responded to the fact that Trump's defense is peddling the conspiracy theory that Biden pushed for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor to benefit his son saying "The New York Times calls it ‘debunked,’ The Wall Street Journal calls it ‘discredited,’ the AP calls it ‘incorrect,’ and The Washington Post Fact Checker calls it ‘a fountain of falsehoods.’ The diplomat that Trump himself appointed to lead his Ukraine policy has blasted it as ‘self serving’ and ‘not credible.’ Joe Biden was instrumental to a bipartisan and international anti-corruption victory. It’s no surprise that such a thing is anathema to President Trump."
- Senator Ted Cruz told reporters that "the most important witness for the Senate to hear from is Hunter Biden".
- Alan Dershowitz, White House counsel, started his presentation with the following claim: "I would be making the same argument if Hillary Clinton, for whom I voted, stood accused of these same violations. I am here today because I love my country and our constitution." Dershowitz went on to claim that abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are both "outside the scope of impeachment", which should only occur in the instance of a "serious crime". It should be noted here that the impeachment arguments against Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton both hinged on "abuse of power", and that the consensus view among legal scholars is that impeachment does not require that a law be broken.
According to the New York Times, an early draft of an upcoming book by John Bolton says that military aid to Ukraine was conditioned on investigations into the Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son, and also claims that Bolton raised concerns about Trump's July call with attorney general William Barr. Barr has claimed publicly that he first became aware of the July 25 call in mid-August. Adam Schiff, a House Impeachment Manager, responded to the news regarding Bolton's claims saying "I think the American people should see his testimony live." Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, both Republicans, have expressed interest in calling Bolton as a witness after reports of his claims surfaced. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, pointed out that Republicans have consistently criticized witnesses in the impeachment inquiry for not providing "first-hand evidence", which underscores the need for Bolton to testify. According to Schumer "We are all staring a White House cover-up in the face." Other reactions to news of Bolton's claim:
- "John's selling books" - Doug Collins, Republican Representative
- "Nothing I've seen in the reporting changes the underlying facts" - Republican Senator Ted Cruz
- "If we call any witnesses that involve (executive) privilege it'll take weeks or months" - Republican Senator Roy Blunt
- "Well, I don’t know. Is he a firsthand witness? I’m not sure." - Republican Senator Josh Hawley
"angry, disgruntled employee" - Republican Senator Rand Paul
Ruling along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump Administration's "public charge" rule can go forward as challenges to the policy continue. The "public charge" rule penalizes immigrants applying for green cards and other visas for their use of public benefits, something critics have criticized as a "wealth test." In a move seen as retaliation, Michele Kelemen, an NPR reporter, was removed by the State Department from the pool of journalists traveling to Europe and Asia with Mike Pompeo.
Newly released emails between the office of Mike Pompeo and NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly cast doubt on Pompeo's claim that Kelly lied to him before a contentious interview. Here are the pertinent parts of the exchange between Katie Martin, Pompeo's press aide, and Kelly:
MARTIN: Just wanted to touch base that we still intend to keep the interview to Iran tomorrow. Know you just got back from Tehran so we would like to stick to Iran as the topic as opposed to jumping around. Is that something we can agree to?
KELLY: I am indeed just back from Tehran and plan to start there. Also Ukraine. And who knows what the news gods will serve up overnight. I never agree to take anything off the table.
January 25, 2020 - Today is day five of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here some highlights from today's proceedings:
- Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, says the defense will make two points. First, he will focus on fact, and once the Senate hears those facts "You will find the president did absolutely nothing wrong." Secondly, Cippollone says "They are asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as I’ve said before, they are asking you to remove president Trump from the ballot in an election that is occurring in approximately nine months" or in other words, the Democrats "are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an American election in US history."
- Mike Purpura, White House counsel, plays video of Adam Schiff paraphrasing the July 25th call, which Purpura characterizes as "fake". He also referred to the summary of the call, which was released by the White House, as a transcript, despite the cautionary disclosure at the top of that summary with describes its contents as "not a verbatim transcript". Purpura then goes on to outline six "key facts" that in his words, each one alone is "enough to sink the Democrats case.":
Fact 1 - The transcript (which the White House said is not verbatim) shows that the president did not condition either security assistance or a meeting on anything.
Fact 2 - Ukrainians have said there was no quid pro quo.
Fact 3 - Ukraine did not know security assistance was paused until a month after the 25 July call.
Fact 4 - No Ukrainian investigation into Joe Biden took place.
Fact 5 - Ukraine received assistance without such an investigation.
Fact 6 - Trump has been a bigger supporter of Ukraine than his predecessor, Barack Obama.
- Jay Sekulow held up a copy of the Mueller report, saying "This cost $32million ... All to reach the following ... this investigation did not establish that the campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in election interference activities." Sekulow did not mention that the report found 11 instances in which Trump or his campaign engaged in potential obstruction of justice and suggested that Congress might prosecute these as crimes.
- "After listening to the President’s lawyers opening arguments, I have three observations: They don’t contest the facts of Trump’s scheme. They’re trying to deflect, distract from, and distort the truth. And they are continuing to cover it up by blocking documents and witnesses." - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- "We have been making the argument that we need witnesses, we need documents. We are making the argument it won’t take very long to get them as part of a trial. Today, we thank the president’s counsel for one thing: they made our case even stronger." - Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader
- "Any fair minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax that EVERYBODY, including the Democrats, truly knows it is. This should never be allowed to happen again!" - Donald Trump
January 24, 2020 - Trump sent the following tweet regarding the coronavirus outbreak in China: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!" Today is day four of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Trump, who has been tweeting at record levels during the impeachment trial, sent his tweet first thing this morning: "After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V." According to ABC News, audio surfaced where Trump can be heard saying "Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it." The recording was made on April 30, 2018, at a dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Included in the gathering of guests was Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two former associates of Rudy Giuliani. The recording, which was made by Igor Fruman, includes a conversation between Parnas and Trump where Parnas can be heard telling Trump: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration. She’s basically walking around telling everybody ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait'". Fact check: Yovanovitch has served in the State Department since the Reagan Administration. In November, Trump claimed that he didn't "know much" about Yovanovitch when he signed off on recalling her from Kyiv, but that claim is contradicted by the recording. The pentagon has confirmed that 34 US soldiers were diagnosed with concussions or traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile attack in Iraq. Here are some highlights from today's proceedings:
- "President Trump tried to cheat. He got caught. And then he worked hard to cover it up." - Hakeem Jeffries, House Impeachment Manager
- "Colleagues, this is how alliances wither and die. This is how Russia wins ... If our allies cannot trust us to stand behind them in a time of need, we will not have a single ally left" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- Adam Schiff played a video of Trump at a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki in which Trump cast doubt on the US intelligence community's conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election, and instead peddled the baseless claim regarding a missing DNC "server". Schiff called the moment "breathtaking" and "the most incredible propaganda coup” for Russian intelligence. Schiff added that “Whatever profile Russia did of our president, boy did they have it spot on".
- "[Trump] is still trying to cheat in the next election ... It's not going to stop unless Congress does something bout it ... You cannot leave a man like that in office when you think he violated the constitution" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- "Do you think for a moment that any of you, no matter what your relationship is with this president, no matter how close you are to this president, do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest he wouldn’t ask you to be investigated?" - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
- Lindsey Graham told reporters during a break "If I have to, I will do it" regarding looking into the baseless corruption claims regarding Hunter Biden that are being peddled by Trump and his allies.
- "This was a declaration of total defiance of the House’s authority to investigate credible allegations of the president’s misconduct and a wholesale rejection of the Congress’ ability to hold the president accountable" - Val Demings, House Impeachment Manager
- "If the president chooses to ignore our subpoena, our power as a branch of government, our ability to do our jobs, our ability to keep an administration in check, our ability to make sure the American people are represented by a congress and not just a president, are diminished. We must act. Is there a consequence for a president that defies our subpoenas absolutely, who says to all branches of the administration, ‘Do not obey a congressional subpoena, categorically’?" - Jerry Nadler, House Impeachment Manager
- "Presidents are still free to raise privacy, national security or other concerns in the course of an impeachment inquiry. But when a president abuses his office, abuses his power, to completely defy house investigators’ impeachment inquiry, when he does that without lawful cause or excuse, he attacks the constitution itself. When he does that, he confirms that he sees himself as above the law." - Zoe Lofgren, House Impeachment Manager
- "I do things every week that are inappropriate. So no, I’m not going to go down that road. This is a constitutional remedy that was designed for the most extreme of cases and we’re just not anywhere in that [ball] park." - Roger Wicker, Republican Senator
"Give America a fair trial. She’s worth it." - Adam Schiff, House Impeachment Manager
During a segment of NPR's All Things Considered, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, became furious when host Mary Louise Kelly posed questions to him about Ukraine. Here's the initial exchange:
KELLY: I just want to give you another opportunity to answer this, because as you know, people who work for you in your department, people who have resigned from this department under your leadership, saying you should stand up for the diplomats who work here. [crosstalk]
POMPEO: I don’t know who these unnamed sources are you’re referring to. I can tell you this, when I talked to my team here --
KELLY: These are not unnamed sources. [crosstalk] This is your senior adviser Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer with four decades experience, who testified under oath that he resigned in part due to the failure of the state department to offer support to foreign service employees caught up in the impeachment inquiry on Ukraine.
POMPEO: I’m not going to comment on things that Mr McKinley may have said. I’ll say only this. I have defended every state department official. We’ve built a great team. The team that works here is doing amazing work around the world.
KELLY: Sir, respectfully [crosstalk] where have you defended Marie Yovanovitch?
POMPEO: I’ve defended every single person on this team. I’ve done what’s right for every single person on this team. [crosstalk]
KELLY: Can you point me toward your remarks where you have defended Marie Yovanovitch?
POMPEO: I’ve said all I’m going to say today. Thank you. Thanks for the repeated opportunity to do so. I appreciate that.
According to Kelly, following the interview, Pompeo escorted her into his office, where he cursed at her, then tried to humiliate her by demanded that she point to Ukraine on an unmarked map, which she claims she had no problem doing. Pompeo reacted to Kelly's claim by releasing a brief statement in which he claimed Kelly had violated "the basic rules of journalism and decency" by lying to him about the topics they would discuss, and of being part of an "unhinged" media "conspiracy" on a quest to hurt Trump and his "administration". Pompeo's statement also included the line "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine". The White House tweeted a video from July of 2018 of Trump reading the following statement from a prepared script: "I have full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies. Always have. I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying, and I’ve said this many times, I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. There's a lot of people out there. There was no collusion." According to CBS News, Republican senators were warned that voting against the president could mean your head will end up on a pike.
January 23, 2020 - Today is day three of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Robert Ray, a member of Trump's legal team, was asked by a reporter why Pat Cipollone made the false claim that Republicans were not allowed into the SCIF, to which Ray responded: "I'm not interested in wading in the procedural weeds here." Here are some highlights from today's proceedings:
- Jerry Nadler presented a 1998 quote by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, who is a member of Trump's legal team. The quote, which was made during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial, and is as follow: "It certainly doesn’t have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don’t need a technical crime." Dershowitz was made a member of the Trump legal team because of his new standard for impeachment, which is that it must be "criminal-like conduct".
- Jerry Nadler presented a 1998 quote by Lindsey Graham, who was an impeachment manager during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial. Here's the quote: "What’s a high crime? How about if an important person hurts somebody of low means? It’s not very scholarly. But I think it’s the truth. I think that’s what they meant by high crimes. Doesn’t even have to be a crime."
- Nadler explained that impeachment “exists to address threats to the political system ... The president’s abuse of power, his betrayal of the national interests and his corruption of our elections plainly qualify as great and dangerous offenses."
- Sylvia Garcia reminded the sitting senators that what Joe Biden did in Ukraine was in accordance with official US policy, which is what George Kent, ambassador Volker, Jennifer Williams, David Holmes, Lt Vindman, Dr. Fiona Hill and ambassador Yovanovitch all confirmed in their testimony. This testimony, according to Garcia, prove Trump was only pushing for an investigation of the Bidens for "his own political benefit".
- Sylvia Garcia played a clip of Christopher Wray, the FBI director, saying he has seen "no information that indicates Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election."
- Adam Schiff cited a comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin made in November: "Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in the U.S. elections." Regarding the quote, Schiff stated "You gotta give Donald Trump credit for this: he has made a religious man out of Vladimir Putin".
- During a break from the proceedings, Republican senators complained to the press that what was being presented was nothing new:
"We've seen this before" - Mike Braun
"It seems like Groundhog's day in the Senate" - John Barrasso
"Rinse it, recycle it and repeat it" - Tim Scott
"It's the same stories, same videos all over again" - James Lankford
Critics were quick to point out that these same Republican Senators joined with their colleagues to vote against new documents and new witness testimony.
- Zoe Lofgren, played audio of Trump calling into Fox News on 19 June, where Trump referenced the so-called Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that blames Ukraine rather than Russia for election interference. That was the same day White House officials contacted the Office of Management and Budget about holding up aid to Ukraine.
Trump's comment yesterday about possibly cutting entitlement programs was getting a lot of traction in the news, which inspired this tweet from the president: "Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!"
January 22, 2020 - Regarding the coronavirus, Trump stated "We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine." Today is day two of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The House impeachment managers will be allowed to present their case, starting today, in 24 hours spread over three days. John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is overseeing the trial. While opening the trial Roberts admonished that "Those addressing the Senate should remember where they are". Donald Trump, who is in Davos for an economic summit, was asked by a reporter if it was true that Trump knew everything Lev Parnas was doing in Ukraine as Parnas himself had recently claimed, to which Trump responded: "He's a con man." The reporter then asked "So that's not true?" to which Trump responded "I don't know him. Other than he's sort of like a groupie. He shows up at fundraisers. Ok so I don't know anything about him." Parnas was asked about Trump's claim that he doesn't know him, to which Parnas replied "I welcome him to say that even more. Every time he says that I’ll show him another picture. He’s lying." Karl A. Racine, the D.C. Attorney General, filed a suit against President Trump's inaugural committee and business alleging they had violated their nonprofit status by spending more than $1 million to book a ballroom at Trump's D.C. hotel that its staff knew was overpriced and that it barely used. According to the lawsuit, the committee was formed to organize events around the inauguration, but "abandoned this purpose and violated District law when it wasted approximately $1 million of charitable funds in overpayment for the use of event space at the Trump hotel." According to the AP, most of the troops flown out of Iraq after the Iranian missile attack, are "being treated for symptoms related to possible traumatic brain injury." Trump was asked about the reported brain injuries since he was on record saying there were no injuries to US troops from the Iranian attack. Trump responded saying "I heard they had headaches and a couple of other things ... and I can report it is not very serious ... No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war. No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no." Michael Kaplen, chair of the New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council and past president of the Brain Injury Association of New York State, responded to Trump's comments about the brain injuries to US troops saying he was "shocked at the ignorant statement ... to equate traumatic brain injuries as just a headache is insulting and disrespectful to the thousands of military service members suffering from the signature wound of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict." Kaplen went on to call the injuries "life altering" saying "It’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences affect every aspect of an individual’s life. A brain injury is only ‘mild’ if it is someone else’s brain. There is nothing 'mild' about a mild brain injury." Trump was also asked about news that John Bolton is willing to testify in the trial if subpoenaed to which Trump responded: "The problem with John is that it’s a national security problem. ... He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive and I have to deal on behalf of the country?" Trump also said that he and Bolton did not part on "the best of terms" and "You don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms." A few takeaways from the impeachment trial:
- Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, opened the House presentation by explaining the need for witnesses.
- "The counsel for the president would like you to think this is just about that call...They don't want you to look at the months that went into preparing for that call, or the months of pressure that followed." - Adam Schiff
- "Should the Congress just get over it? Should the American people just come to expect that our presidents will corruptly abuse their office ... is that what we've come to? I hope and pray that the answer is no." - Adam Schiff
- "We’re to believe they felt no pressure? Folks, they’re at war, and they’re being told you’re not getting $400m in aid. That’s $400m of pressure." - Adam Schiff
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration is finalizing a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, rivers, and wetlands, put in place during the Obama administration. According to the story: "From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President Barack Obama’s 'Waters of the United States' regulation, which had frustrated rural landowners... 'I terminated one of the most ridiculous regulations of all: the last administration’s disastrous Waters of the United States rule,' Mr. Trump told the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Texas on Sunday, to rousing applause. He added, 'That was a rule that basically took your property away from you.' His administration had completed the first step of its demise in September with the rule’s repeal. His replacement on Thursday will complete the process, not only rolling back 2015 rules that guaranteed protections under the 1972 Clean Water Act to certain wetlands and streams that run intermittently or run temporarily underground, but also relieves landowners of the need to seek permits that the Environmental Protection Agency had considered on a case-by-case basis before the Obama rule." Trump was asked during an interview if he would consider entitlement cuts. Tump responded "At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s actually the easiest of all things, if you look."
January 21, 2020 - Man in Everett, Washington tested positive for coronavirus, becoming first confirmed US case.Today is day one of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Here are some highlights:
- Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority leader, argued that the rules should mirror the rules put into place for the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. The impeachment managers responded that "In the Clinton case, the President provided all of the documents — more than 90,000 pages of them — before the trial took place. McConnell’s resolution rejects that basic necessity,” the statement read. And in the Clinton case, all of the witnesses had testified before the Senate trial began, and the only issue was whether they would be re-called to testify once more. The substance of what they would say was already known. Here, McConnell is trying to prevent the witnesses from ever testifying, and the public from ever finding out what they have to say."
- Republicans voted along party lines to reject 11 proposals made by Democrats, including proposals to subpoena witnesses and documents. Chuck Schumer, the senate minority leader responded to the votes saying "If there’s one thing we learned on the floor it’s that Leader McConnell and senate Republicans don’t want a fair trial. The impeachment trial of president Trump begins with a cloud hanging over it." Jerry Nadler, one of the impeachment managers, responded by stating "A vote against an honest consideration of the evidence against the President. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States ... Only guilty people try to hide evidence.”
- A CNN poll found that 69% of Americans, including 48% of Republicans, feel the trial should include new witness testimony.
- White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed that "not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed in the SCIF". Fact check: 1-in-4 House Republicans sit on the committees that conducted the depositions, and those members of the committees were in fact allowed to be present in the SCIF during the depositions.
January 19, 2020 - Citing serious safety concerns, anti-fascist activists are advising their supporters to avoid the gun rights rally in Richmond Virginia tomorrow.
January 18, 2020 - Alex Azar, the health secretary, called Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to brief him on a possible threat from a coronavirus. According to the AP "Trump spent much of the conversation wanting to talk about vaping; he was considering a new policy restricting its use."
January 17, 2020 - According to a national poll by the Washington Post and Ipsos, 83% of black Americans believe Trump has made racism a bigger problem in the US. According to the New York Times, Kenneth Star, the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, and Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, will join White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow as part of Trump's legal team for the impeachment trial. Monica Lewinsky, the girl at the center of Bill Clinton's impeachment, reacted to the news that Starr would be on the team with this tweet: "this is definitely an 'are you fucking kidding me?' kinda day." Here's a full list of Trump's legal team as of this write up:
Pat Cipollone
Jay Sekulow
Jane Raskin
Pam Bondi
Alan Dershowitz
Ken Starr
Pat Philbin
Mike Purpura
Nearly 72 hours after reports emerged that the former Ukraine ambassador may have been under surveillance and possibly in danger, and after mounting pressure to say something, Mike Pompeo broke his silence during and interview on conservative radio saying in part "We will do everything we need to do to evaluate whether there was something that took place there. I suspect that much of what’s been reported will ultimately prove wrong, but our obligation, my obligation as secretary of state, is to make sure that we evaluate, investigate. Any time there is someone who posits that there may have been a risk to one of our officers, we’ll obviously do that. It is always the case at the Department of State that we do everything we can to ensure that our officers, not only our ambassadors but our entire team, has the security level that’s appropriate". Martha McSally, a Republican Senator from Arizona, was asked by a reporter if the Senate should "consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?" to which McSally responded by calling the reporter "a liberal hack." A coalition of 13 states are suing the Trump administration over new restrictions for food stamp benefits for unemployed Americans, a measure that is estimated would disqualify nearly 700,000 from federal food assistance. The USDA announced a proposed rule change in school nutrition guidelines that would cut the amount of fruits and vegetables required in school lunches and pave the way for children to choose pizza, burgers, french fries and other foods high in calories, saturated fat or sodium in place of balanced meals every day. The new rules undo changes that were put in place by Michelle Obama. The FBI has arrested three members of a neo-Nazi group who built a machine gun and had hoped to start a race war at a gun-rights rally that will be held in Richmond, Virginia on January 20th. The men are members of a group called "The Base". Because of threats of violence at the rally, the governor of Virginia has declared a state of emergency. Donald Trump weighed in on the situation in Virginia with this tweet: "Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That's what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!" Chris Collins, a former congressman, and early Trump supporter, was sentenced today to two years and two months in federal prison for insider trading. News surfaced that 11 US troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms brought about from the Iranian missile strike. According to the AP, three additional neo-Nazis from the group The Base were arrested for conspiring to kill members of the anti-fascist group Antifa. From the story: "A criminal complaint included details of how some of the men built an assault rifle using parts, purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition and traded vests that could carry body armor. They were believed to be planning to attend the pro-gun rally in Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the AP. In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices and their desire to create a white “ethno-state”, the FBI has said in court papers. On Friday, police in Georgia confirmed that three other men linked to The Base were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang. Authorities said the men planned to kill a married couple who were anti-fascist protesters and believed killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base." The House intelligence committee released new documents related to Lev Parnas, that include contacts between Parnas and a top aid to Devin Nunes, a Republican congressman and strong Trump ally.
January 16, 2020 - During an interview with the New York Times, Lev Parnas, the Giuliani associate who is facing charges in federal court, said that Giuliani and Trump's efforts were "all about 2020. That was the most important thing, for him to stay on four years and keep the fight going. I mean, there was no other reason for doing it." According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent government watchdog, the White House budget office violated the 1974 Impoundment Control Act when it froze US military aid to Ukraine. According to the report "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law." The House impeachment managers returned to the Senate for a second time to deliver the articles of impeachment. Adam Schiff read the charges to the Senate, and concluded with this: "Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States." Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the impeachment trial. The Ukrainian government has opened an investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch while she was ambassador to Ukraine by two associates of Rudy Giuliani; Lev Parnas and a Trump donor, Robert Hyde. While speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump stated that he doesn't know Lev Parnas. Trump sent out the following tweet: "I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" According to the New York Times, the Justice Department is investigating a years-old leak of classified information and focusing on whether former FBI director James Comey was involved. According to the story: "The timing of the investigation could raise questions about whether it was motivated at least in part by politics. Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents typically investigate leaks of classified information around the time they appear in the news media, not years later."
January 15, 2020 - Nancy Pelosi announced the House Impeachment Managers today. They are:
Adam Schiff - California
Zoe Lofgren - California
Jerry Nadler - New York
Hakeem Jeffries - New York
Sylvia Garcia - Texas
Val Demings - Florida
Jason Crow - Colorado
The Trump White House responded to the announcement with this statement: "The only thing Speaker Pelosi has achieved with this sham, illegitimate impeachment process, is to prove she is focused on politics instead of the American people. The Speaker lied when she claimed this was urgent and vital to national security because when the articles passed, she held them for an entire month in an egregious effort to garner political support. She failed and the naming of these managers does not change a single thing. President Trump has done nothing wrong. He looks forward to having the due process rights in the Senate that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats denied to him, and expects to be fully exonerated. In the meantime, after President Trump signs the historic China Trade Deal greatly benefiting the people of this country, he will continue working and winning for all Americans, while the Democrats will continue only working against the President." According to a new book by Washington Post journalists Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, called "A Very Stable Genius", Trump "abused", "harrassed" and "pestered" Kirsjen Nielson, his homeland security secretary over immigration policy. The book also points out that while visiting the USS Arizona Memorial, Trump made it clear with his questions that he had no knowledge about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Peter J Messitte, a federal judge, blocked a Trump policy which would allow local governments to determine whether or not they would admit refugees. When Trump introduced the policy in September, 42 out of 50 state governors, including conservative ones, said they would continue admitting refugees. Only one state governor, Greg Abbott of Texas, said he his state would not accept refugees. In the decision, Messitte wrote in part "Giving states and local governments the power to consent to the resettlement of refugees — which is to say veto power to determine whether refugees will be received in their midst — flies in the face of clear Congressional intent". The House voted to approve the impeachment package 228 to 193, which formally appoints the team of seven impeachment managers, and approves sending the two articles of impeachment to the Senate. Peter Lucido, a Republican state senator from Michigan, has issued an apology to Allison Donahue, a reporter, after humiliating her in the Senate chamber in front of a group of students from an all-boys school. Here's Donahue's account of the incident with Lucido saying "You should hang around! You could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you. The teenagers burst into an Old Boys’ Network-type of laughter, and I walked away knowing that I had been the punchline of their 'locker room' talk. Except it wasn’t the locker room; it was the Senate chamber. And this isn’t high school. It’s my career." Nancy Pelosi signed the impeachment resolution using souvenir pens, with her name on them, just as Republicans did when Bill Clinton was impeached. During an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Lev Parnas said in part "President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President." The seven House impeachment managers delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The impeachment managers were told to return tomorrow.
January 14, 2020 - Hillary Clinton responded to news of the hack at Burisma saying on twitter: "Russians appear to be re-running their 2016 hacking playbook, once again to benefit Donald Trump. Will the media play along again? Will the GOP open the door again? Will the Russians help pick our POTUS again?" Adam Schiff also responded saying "The Russians appear to be at it again. According to a new report, they’re hacking information that could be a prelude to more election interference in 2020. And again, it appears aimed to help Trump. We must reject foreign meddling. Americans should decide American elections." According to the Daily Beast, there were unusual movements in US stock and commodities prices leading up to the assassination of general Qassem Suleimani. Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into whether Donald Trump may have tipped off associates that a hit on Iran was imminent. The House intelligence, oversight and foreign affairs committees announced that they had provided additional evidence in the impeachment process based on documents yielded up by Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Some of the documents show that Parnas and his associates may have been carrying out surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine.
January 13, 2020 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Mini Mike Bloomberg is spending a lot of money on False Advertising. I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now, while at the same time winning the fight to rid you of the expensive, unfair and very unpopular Individual Mandate and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Representatives, your healthcare, that I have now brought to the best place in many years, will become the best ever, by far. I will always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!" Critics were quick to point out that the Trump administration's Justice Department is currently party to a lawsuit that would overturn the preexisting conditions protections that come along with Obamacare. Michael Bloomberg also addressed the issue in a response saying "Glad to see you're watching our ads, @realDonaldTrump. I know management isn't your strong suit, so perhaps you don't know your Justice Department supports a suit that would undermine protections for pre-existing conditions. Now that you know, why not ask them to drop the suit?" William Barr, the attorney general, announced at a news conference that Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the Royal Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant that opened fire last month in Pensacola, Florida, committed an act of terrorism. Three Americans died in that attack. Barr also announced that 21 Saudi military trainees would be taken out of the United States in response to the investigation into the shooting. Regarding the inconsistencies in the explanations offered for the assassination of Qassam Soleimani, a reporter asked Trump what the intelligence showed about the threat to the four embassies, to which Trump responded: "Here’s what’s been consistent: We killed Suleimani" News surfaced that Russian hackers from a military intelligence unit targeted Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that is at the center of Trump and his allies conspiracy theories.
January 12, 2020 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, 'no pressure' Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!" Mark Esper, the defense secretary, was asked if he had seen evidence to support Donald Trump's claim that four embassies were in imminent danger, to which Esper replied "I didn't see one with regard to the four embassies." Esper went on to say that the president never claimed there was "tangible" or specific evidence of a coming attack on the embassies but was discussing what he thought "could" happen. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Chairman responded to Esper's comments saying "They are overstating and exaggerating what the intelligence shows. And when you're talking about justifying acts that might bring us into warfare with Iran, that's a dangerous thing to do."
January 10, 2020 - Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, told Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, that the recent US strikes in Iraq were an unacceptable breach of Iraqi sovereignty and in violation of bilateral agreements, and that the US needs to begin putting together an exit strategy. Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman, responded to the the Iraqi Prime Minister saying: "At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East." During an interview on Fox News, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said "There is no doubt that there were a series of imminent attacks being plotted by Qassem Suleimani. We don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real." Pompeo was asked about these comments during a press briefing, to which he responded: "We had specific information on an imminent threat, and that threat included US embassies. Period. Full stop". Pompeo also insisted that the threat to embassies was shared with lawmakers during a classified briefing earlier this week. The Trump administration announced additional sanctions against the Iranian regime, as a response to Iran's missile strike against US troops. Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, sent the following tweet: "Soleimani was, in fact, planning 'imminent attacks.' While Democrats and the media quibble over its definition, quick point: When Obama killed bin Laden, al-Awlaki and Gaddafi, without Congressional approval, there were NO 'imminent attacks' and Democrats did not ask or care." Here are some select responses to Gidley's tweet:
"last week the Vice President said there were 12 hijackers on 9/11. In fact, there were 19. This week, White House spokesman says the US killed Gaddafi, whose capture and grim end at the hands of an angry Libyan mob is on very available video." - Devlin Barrett
"1.) Obama didn't kill Gaddafi. He was killed by a mob. 2.) The Obama administration consulted members of Congress in advance of killing bin Laden. Republican Mike Rogers said he was talking to the CIA four months before the operation." - Shane Harris
"Hey Hogan, long time no see. Bin Laden and Awlaki were senior, operational Al Qaeda leaders. Congress authorized war against AQ back in 2001. Gaddafi was killed by members of the NTC - not by US forces. But wrt imminence - you have agency here. Release the intelligence. Prove it." - Tommy Vietor, former National Security Council Spokesman under Obama
Steve King, Republican Representative from Iowa, took to the House floor today to give a speech about how white nationalism isn't real, and the Democrats are funded by George Soros.
January 9, 2020 - US officials are now saying that Iran shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane in which 176 people were killed. According to CBS News, the plane may have been mistakenly targeted just hours after Iran launched its missile attack in response to the US strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. While speaking to reporters, Trump made this claim regarding the killing of Suleimani: "We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy. We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious. Somebody died, one of our military people died, people were badly wounded just a week before." Trump was asked during a news conference about his call for NATO to get more involved in the Middle East, Trump told reporters that he came up with a "beautiful" name, "NATOME," for NATO Middle East. Trump was also asked about John Bolton testifying at an impeachment trial, to which Trump responded: "We have to protect presidential privilege for me but for future presidents". The House voted today on a resolution to limit the president's war powers by requiring that he go to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran. The resolution passed 224 to 194, mostly along party lines, with Democrats in the majority. Doug Collins, a Republican Representative, responded to the vote on twitter saying that Democrats are "in love" with terrorists.
January 8, 2020 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert advising that it "is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China". A passenger plane carrying 176 people, and bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, burst into flames shortly after take-off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, and crashed shortly thereafter. There were no survivors. Iran is refusing to turn over the plane's black box. According to the New York Times "The Pentagon has contradicted Trump, saying cultural sites would not be a target. US secretary of defense Mark Esper acknowledged that such an attack is against international law and would be considered a war crime." In a speech regarding Iran's missile attack, Trump declared that "Iran appears to be standing down", and in rare level headed form, called for "NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process." Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric, called on Iranian-backed militia groups to not carry out attacks against the US in response to de-escalation rhetoric from both Iran and the US. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state. Mark Esper, the defense secretary, Mark Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, and Gina Haspel, the CIA director, briefed members of Congress today on the Iran situation. Here are some select responses to the briefing:
"There was NO raw evidence presented that this [Suleimani plotting against US] was an imminent threat." - Pramila Jayapal, Democratic Congresswoman
"compelling and decisive ... little doubt ... clear and present danger" - Mark Meadows, Republican Congressman
"Just stepped out of a 75-minute briefing regarding President Trump’s military actions in Iraq—we were provided no evidence of an imminent threat. I remain deeply skeptical that he had justification for this attack." - Cory Booker, Democratic Senator
"lame" - Mike Lee, Republican Senator
January 7, 2020 - Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases, both of which host US and coalition troops. Al-Asad airbase in Iraq's Anbar province was hit by 19 missiles, a base in the city of Erbil was hit by 5. Iran declared the attack to be retaliation for recent the assassination of Qassem Suleimani. Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, released a statement shortly after the attack saying "Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched. We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression." According to US officials, no Americans were killed or injured in the attack.
January 6, 2020 - Trump sent the following tweet: "The Impeachment Hoax, just a continuation of the Witch Hunt which started even before I won the Election, must end quickly. Read the Transcripts, see the Ukrainian President’s strong statement, NO PRESSURE - get this done. It is a con game by the Dems to help with the Election!" Trump also sent this tweet: "IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, announced that he is willing to testify in a Senate impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed. Following Bolton's announcement, Chuck Schumer issued a statement saying in part: "Given that Mr Bolton’s lawyers have stated he has new relevant information to share, if any Senate Republicans oppose issuing subpoenas to the four witnesses and documents we have requested they would be absolutely clear they are participating in a cover-up." The other witnesses that Democrats are requesting to appear at the senate trial are White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget, and Robert Blair, assistant to the president and senior adviser to Mulvaney. Other responses to Bolton's announcement:
"The President & Sen. McConnell have run out of excuses. They must allow key witnesses to testify, and produce the documents Trump has blocked, so Americans can see the facts for themselves. The Senate cannot be complicit in the President's cover-up. #DefendOurDemocracy" - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"Bolton is an important witness to misconduct involving Ukraine that he called a 'drug deal.' Bolton refused to testify in the House, following Trump’s orders. Now he is willing to come forward. The Senate must allow testimony from him, Mulvaney and others. The cover-up must end." - Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
A Huffpost/YouGov poll found that 43% of Americans agree with Trump's decision to order the strike that killed Qassem Suleimani, while 38% disapprove. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, was asked if he supported the senate issuing a subpoena for John Bolton to testify at the impeachment trial. Rubio responded "I wouldn’t because ... I believe you should be constrained by the information that those articles are based on ... if the House wants to start a new impeachment inquiry or ... add additional elements to it that’s their choice to make". Donald Trump called into the Rush Limbaugh show where he said of Democrats: "I think they have lost their minds" and also that they "have nothing" on impeachment. In the wake of the assassination of Suleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted today to expel US troops from Iraq. The US military sent a letter to the Iraqi military announcing the "onward movement" of American forces following the Iraqi parliament vote. When asked about the letter from the military, Mark Esper, the secretary of defense, said the memo is not accurate saying "There's been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq" and that the letter is "inconsistent" with the Pentagon's current position. In violation of 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct UN business, the Trump administration blocked Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, from obtaining a visa to attend the January 9th Security Council meeting. Regarding the letter form the military announcing "onward movement", General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the letter had been sent in error. Donald Trump Jr, posted a picture of himself to Instagram holding an AR-15 rifle with an image of Hillary Clinton behind bars on the magazine with the caption: "Nice day at the range ... adding a little extra awesome to my AR and that mag". Paul Gosar, a Republican congressman from Arizona, tweeted an image that shows former president Barack Obama and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani sitting together smiling broadly with the caption "The world is a better place without these guys in power". The photo was quickly determined to be fake since Obama and Rouhani have never met in person. Donald Trump was asked by reporters about his threat to attack Iranian cultural sites, to which Trump responded "They’re allowed to kill our people They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way."
January 5, 2020 - Iran declared that it would would no longer limit itself to the restrictions of the 2015 nuclear deal, but would "continue to work with international nuclear agencies and will return to JCPOA limits once all sanctions are removed from the country." Amid threats of retaliation from Iran regarding the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!" Critics were quick to point out that targeting cultural sites is prohibited by international conventions signed in Geneva and at the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which was adopted to prevent the type of plundering of art the Nazis undertook during World War II. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister responded to trump's threat saying "Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday’s cowardly assassinations, realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches. Targeting cultural sites is a war crime; – Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun." Human Rights Watch reacted to Trump's threat by releasing a statement that said in part "The laws of war prohibit deliberate attacks on civilian objects not being used for military purposes. Objects of great importance to a people’s cultural heritage must not be the object of attack. Article 53 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions specifically prohibits any acts of hostility against cultural objects, including making such objects the target of reprisals. The US Law of War Manual (2016), which has extensive provisions relating to the protection of cultural property, incorporates this provision into US law. The US is also a party to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), which similarly prohibits such attacks. Under customary laws of war, individuals who order or take part in deliberate attacks on civilian objects are committing war crimes. Article 85 of Protocol I specifically states that attacks on cultural objects are grave breaches of the convention. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which neither the US nor Iran is a party, includes as a war crime intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science, or charitable purposes or historic monuments that are not military objectives. The US War Crimes statute holds criminally liable US nationals, including officials and military personnel, who commit war crimes. Under customary laws of war, every combatant has a duty to disobey a manifestly unlawful order ... Trump’s threat to attack Iran’s cultural heritage shows his callous disregard for the global rule of law. Whether refusing to condemn the brutal murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi or pardoning convicted war criminals, Trump has shown little respect for human rights as part of US foreign policy." Trump was asked about the Iraqi parliament passing a resolution to expel US troops, to which Trump responded "We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it. If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame." Brett McGurk, the former US presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter Isis, responded to Trump's threat against Iran saying "Trump's comments tonight regarding Iran and Iraq are not only unacceptable, they’re unAmerican. American military forces adhere to international law. They don't attack cultural sites. And they're not mercenaries. Reckless and unprecedented words from a commander-in-chief."
January 3, 2020 - During a CNN interview, Mike Pompeo claimed the drone attack on the Iranian general "saved American lives". Pompeo went on to say that Suleimani was "actively plotting in the region to take action, big actions he described it, that would have put thousands, if not hundreds American lives at risk" and that the attack was driven by "an intelligence-based assessment". Pompeo added that "Last night was the time we needed to strike to make sure that this imminent attack that he was working actively was disrupted." Donald Trump, sent the following in a tweet: "General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more...but got caught! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself. While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!" Trump also sent this tweet: "The United States has paid Iraq Billions of Dollars a year, for many years. That is on top of all else we have done for them. The people of Iraq don’t want to be dominated & controlled by Iran, but ultimately, that is their choice. Over the last 15 years, Iran has gained more and more control over Iraq, and the people of Iraq are not happy with that. It will never end well!" Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times regarding the killing which reads in part: "Few tears will be shed in many parts of the world for Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani, whose Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ruthlessly spread Iranian influence and contributed to the deaths of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians, as well as hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq, over the past decade and a half. But revenge is not a strategy, and the killing of General Suleimani is a major – and incredibly risky – escalation with Iran, a pivotal country of some 80 million people that has been largely estranged from the United States for 40 years. It will cause more instability and the loss of more innocent lives. Any chances for American diplomacy with Iran are dead for the duration of the Trump presidency – if not longer. Instead of one nuclear proliferation crisis, with North Korea, there will most likely now be two, as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal completely collapses. The Sunni fundamentalists who killed Americans in their homeland – something Iran has not done so far – will rejoice. Russia and China will be happy to see the United States mired in the Middle East for the foreseeable future." Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic congresswoman who is a former CIA analyst, and who served under Barack Obama and George W Bush, responded to the attack saying "The two administrations I worked for both determined that the ultimate ends didn’t justify the means. The Trump Administration has made a different calculation." According to the AP: "The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by President Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday." Critics of Trump began re-tweeting a tweet that Trump sent out in November of 2011 in which Trump wrote: "In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran." Trump read a short statement to the press at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, which read in part: "As president my highest and most solemn duty is the defense of our nation and its citizens. Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him. Under my leadership America’s policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American. We will find you. We will eliminate you." Trump also told reporters "We have the best intelligence in the world." Mike Pence, the vice president, sent the following tweet: "Yesterday, President @realDonaldTrump took decisive action and stood up against the leading state sponsor of terror to take out an evil man who was responsible for killing thousands of Americans. Soleimani was a terrorist. Here are some of his worst atrocities:" This was followed by a list that experts called out as including falsehoods, like this one "Assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States." Peter R. Neuman responded to Pence on twitter saying "This is wrong and should be called out. For a start, there were 19 September 11 attackers, not 12, and nothing we know suggests they came from or were assisted by Iran." According to the New York Times "Trump administration officials have provided no specific details of what they said were imminent threats, and some Defense Department officials said they knew of only generalized threats that did not appear to be imminent." Majid Takht Ravanchi, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, stated during an interview with CNN "We cannot just close our eyes to what happened last night. Definitely there will revenge. There will be harsh revenge ... the time, the place, will be decided by Iran."
January 2, 2020 - Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Qassem Suleimani, Iran's top general, who was being driven in a convoy of vehicles after landing at the Baghdad airport. Shortly after the attack, the Pentagon released a statement saying in part: "General Suleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world." Minutes before the attack, Trump tweeted a picture of a US flag without comment. The White House released a statement calling the attack a "decisive defensive action" carried out "at the direction of the president". Democrats criticized the Trump administration for not first seeking Congressional approval before the attack. Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, vowed that the US would face "severe revenge" for the killing of Suleimani. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, sent the following tweet: "The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation. The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism." Following the attack, the US embassy in Baghdad released the following statement: "Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, the US embassy urges American citizens to heed the January 2020 travel advisory and depart Iraq immediately. US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land". Alistair Burt, a former Middle East minister, warned that the attack could cause "a huge potential escalation" of the conflict, of which "the consequences are unknown". Julian Borger, a writer for the Guardian, described Suleimani's death as a "dagger thrust into the heart of Iranian power". Borger added that "The leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force was a bearded icon of the Islamic Republic, arguably its second most powerful figure after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Killing him was a blunt act of war against a substantial regional power. Its half-million-strong armed services are the most potent military force the US has faced since confronting the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army more than 60 years ago in Korea." Hassan al-kaabi, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker, announced that Iraq will be holding an emergency parliament session dedicated to taking "decisive decisions that put an end to US presence inside Iraq". Following the drone attack, oil prices rose over $2 a barrel. News surfaced that oil companies in Basra have begun evacuating employees with US citizenship. Here are some reactions from around the world to the killing of Suleimani:
"The US assassination is an extremely serious and dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East with global significance" - Jeremy Corbyn, Labour party leader in the UK
"The targeted killings of Qasem Soleiman and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis are most likely unlawful and violate international human rights law: Outside the context of active hostilities, the use of drones or other means for targeted killing is almost never likely to be legal" - Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing
"Congratulations to all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani. Long in the making, this was a decisive blow against Iran's malign Quds Force activities worldwide. Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran." - John Bolton, former US national security adviser for Donald Trump
"No doubt #Soleimani was a bad actor, w much blood on his hands. But killing non-state terrorists eg bin Laden or Baghdadi v different from killing senior official of internationally-recognised state. Big escalation by Trump, & a lawless step that increases risk to US & allies." - Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Center for European Reform
"We affirm that what happened is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a clear breach by the American forces of their mandate which is exclusively to fight Islamic State and provide advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces." - Statement from Iraq's Military
"The U.S. remains committed to de-escalation." - Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State
"Donald Trump has yet again radically and recklessly escalated tensions in an area where peacekeeping was already on a knife edge." - Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader in UK
"Carrying out operations to assassinate Iraqi figures and figures from another country on Iraqi soil is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a dangerous escalation." - Adil Abd Al Mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister.
"The world is a better place without him. The problem is that comes at a very high cost. Number one, there will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this." - Michael Morell, former acting and deputy CIA director
"Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question. The question is this - as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?" - Chris Murphy, Democratic lawmaker
"There are serious questions about how this decision was made and whether we are prepared for the consequences." - Pete Buttigieg, Democratic Presidential candidate
"Iran's master terrorist is dead" - Mitch McConnell, Republican majority leader in the US Senate
"We say be patient, soon you will witness the bodies of Americans in all of the Middle East" - Ismail Qaani, New Commander of the Quds force
January 1, 2020 - According to the Guardian "Iranian-backed militants have withdrawn from the US embassy in Baghdad following an order from their militia organisation, ending a day-long siege that badly damaged US-Iraqi relations and demonstrated the strength of Iranian influence in the Iraqi capital." In response to the one day siege, Donald Trump said that Tehran would "pay a big price for any US lives lost or damage to US property". In a blow to Republicans in North Carolina, Loretta Biggs, a US district judge, has blocked North Carolina's new voter identification law, in a ruling which called out "discriminatory intent" as a likely motivating factor in crafting the measure. Two years ago, another attempt to implement a similar law by Republicans in the state of North Carolina was struck down by a federal appeals court which stated that African Americans were targeted "with almost surgical precision".
December 31, 2019 - Protesters stormed the American embassy in Baghdad, where they lit fires, smashed doors and windows, raised militia flags, and chanted "Death to America" and other slogans in support of pro-Iranian militias, which were the target of American airstrikes two days ago. Reports surfaced that Iraqi security forces allowed the protesters inside the highly protected area known as the Green Zone. According to the Guardian "Street protests take place regularly in the Iraqi capital. In recent months, security guards have shot dead more than 450 people protesting against rampant government corruption and the growing influence of Iranian-backed groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah." Scott Jenkins, a state district judge, ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $100,000 to the parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook. Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, fired 34 correction officer trainees who were photographed giving a Nazi salute. State investigators who looked into the photo, found that the trainees regularly gave the Nazi salute "as a sign of respect" for their instructor. The instructor was also fired by Justice.
December 30, 2019 - During an interview, climate activist Greta Thunberg was asked what she would have said to Donald Trump had she had the opportunity to speak with him at the UN climate change summit in New York. Thunberg responded: "Honestly, I don't think I would have said anything. Because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me? So I probably wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have wasted my time."
December 29, 2019 - Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against three camps in Iraq, and two in Iran. The camps belong to the Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah group, which is formally part of the Iraqi army. Estimates put the death toll at 25 or more, with dozens more injured. The airstrikes were a response to a rocket attack that took place on December 27 by that group against a US base in Kirkuk, in which a US contractor was killed, and four Americans were injured. The Iraqi government condemned the airstrikes, and pro-Iranian militias promised further attacks against American targets, with the goal of expelling US forces.
December 28, 2019 - Donald Trump has twice retweeted material that publicly names the Ukraine whistleblower, one of which falsely claims that the whistleblower "committed perjury by making false statements" and is being protected by Adam Schiff. Amy Siskind, president of the New Agenda, a nonpartisan advocacy organisation, responded to Trump's retweets saying "This is not acceptable behavior from the so-called leader of our country, and he must be called to task for it!" Despite the whistleblower's account having been fully corroborated by direct witnesses to the events that led to the complaint, the whistleblower himself is reportedly being driven to work with a full security detail to protect his safety as his identity has become a right wing obsession. Last month, Donald Trump Jr tweeted an article that contained the whistleblower's name in the headline. When confronted by hosts of The View television show, Trump Jr claimed he was a "private citizen" sharing information on social media. The show's hosts argued that this was disingenuous considering he is the president's son.
December 20, 2019 - Donald Trump reacted to an editorial in Christianity Today calling for his removal from office saying on twitter: "A far left magazine, or very 'progressive,' as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!" In a report produced for the Washington state legislature, Matthew Shea, a Washington state representative, was found to have "participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States" for his role in planning "the 2016 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge" as well as other activities associated with the takeover. The report also explains that in a document entitled the Biblical Basis for War, Shea "advocated the replacement of US democracy with a theocracy and the killing of all males who do not agree". The report concludes that while Shea is not an "imminent direct threat ... it is more probable than not that Representative Shea is likely to plan, direct and engage in additional future conflicts that could carry with them significant risk of bloodshed and loss of life". The report adds that "Representative Shea presents a present and growing threat of risk to others through political violence." Shea, who appeared as a guest in 2018 on the podcast Prepper Recon, spoke on the podcast topic "US civil war is coming" and the "balkanization" of the United States. In response to the report, Shea was suspended from the house Republican caucus. Nancy Pelosi made the following statement today: "He just got impeached. He’ll be impeached for ever. No matter what the Senate does. He’s impeached for ever because he violated our constitution."
December 19, 2019 - Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former press secretary under Donald Trump, sent the following tweet mocking Joe Biden's stutter: "IIIIIIIIIIIIII hhhave absolutely no idea what Biden is talking about." Joe Biden tweeted in response: "I've worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it's my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It's called empathy. Look it up." Sanders later deleted her tweet, and issued an apology. Nancy Pelosi has stated that she will delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate until she can receive assurances of a fair trial. Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "I got Impeached last might without one Republican vote being cast with the Do Nothing Dems on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history. Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but it’s Senate’s call!" Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, called the impeachment of president Trump "the most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in modern history." McConnell also stated that "House Democrats may be too afraid to even transmit their shoddy work product to the Senate. Looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet in front of the entire country, and second guessing whether they want to do to trial." McConnell also said the House did something no other Congress has ever done- impeached a President who hasn't "committed an actual crime". What most captured the attention of McConnell's critics, was his repeated insistence on the importance of following "precedent", which critics point out that McConnell broke with when he refused to hold confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, a Supreme Court nominee of then President Barack Obama's. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, responded to McConnell's remarks saying "Is the president’s case so weak that none of the president’s men can defend him under oath?" Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, made the following statements: "We would hope there would be a fair process just as we would hope they would honor the constitution ... It reminded me that our founders, when they wrote the Constitution, they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don't think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the senate at the same time." Pelosi also addressed Trump's suggestion that John Dingell was looking up from Hell saying: "Let us pray for the president. The president clearly is insecure when it comes to states-persons ... Cruelty is not wit, just because he gets a laugh for saying cruel things doesn’t mean he’s funny. It’s not funny at all, it’s sad." News surfaced that the Republican-controlled Senate removed an explicit mention of "white nationalists" from a screening provision in a military spending bill. Here's the wording from both before and after the edit:
Before:
(a) STUDY. - The Secretary of Defense shall study the feasibility of, in background investigations and security and suitability screenings of individuals who seek to enlist in the Armed Forces -
(1) screening for white nationalists extremist and individuals with ties to white nationalist oranizations; gang-related activity; and
(2) using the following resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
After:
(a) STUDY. - The Secretary of Defense shall study the feasibility of, in background investigations and security and suitability screenings of individuals who seek to enlist in the Armed Forces -
(1) screening for extremist and gang-related activity; and
(2) using the following resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
Chuck Bonniwell, one of the hosts of the show "Chuck & Julie" on the conservative radio station KNUS-AM out of Denver, Colorado, complained on-air about the monotony of the media coverage of the impeachment proceedings saying "You wish for a nice school shooting to interrupt the monotony". Executives at the station immediately cancelled the show. According to a story in the Washington Post: "After meeting privately in July 2017 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign — and the blame he cast instead on a rival country — led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions." Christianity Today, an evangelical Christian magazine founded by televangelist Billy Graham, called for Donald Trump to be removed from office in an op-ed written by Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief. In the editorial, Galli stated in part: "the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral ... The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people ... He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused ... To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?"
December 18, 2019 - Donald J Trump sent the following tweet early this morning: "Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the Transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!" Adam Schiff sent the following tweet early this morning: "President Trump abused his power to cheat in the next election, then obstructed Congress to cover it up. The only question is: Will Members honor their oath to uphold the Constitution? History will remember the vote we take today." A video surfaced from 2008 of Donald Trump speaking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer. Here are some of Trump's comments: "When [Pelosi] first got in and was named speaker, I met her. And I’m very impressed by her. I think she’s a very impressive person, I like her a lot ... But I was surprised that she didn’t do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush. It just seemed like she was really going to look to impeach Bush and get him out of office. Which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing." Here are some highlights from the House's historic impeachment debate and vote:
- Joe Novotny, the House clerk, read the articles of impeachment to the House members which said in part: "Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States."
- Congressman Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee said of Democrats "They do not care about facts."
- Mike Pence, the vice president, made the following statement today: "What's happening on Capitol Hill today is a disgrace. The truth is they are trying to impeach this president because they know they can’t defeat this president. ... They’re pushing this partisan impeachment because they know they can’t stop you from giving president Donald Trump four more years in the White House. ... Tonight after a sham investigation, do-nothing Democrats are going to vote on a partisan impeachment seeking to oveturn the willl of the American people."
- Trump sent out the following tweet, among the more than 40 he sent before noon: "SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!"
- Tom McClintock, a House Republican, referred to abuse of power (one of the articles of impeachment) as a "made-up crime."
- Chris Stewart, a House Republican, stated that "If you set this bar as being impeachable, every president in our future will be impeached."
- Jerry Nadler, a House Democrat and chairman of the judiciary committee, reminded his GOP colleagues that if Trump is removed from office "the new president will be Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton."
- Clay Higgins, a House Republican, made the following statement on the House floor: ""America's being severely injured by this betrayal, by this unjust and weaponized impeachment, brought upon us by the same socialists who threaten unborn life in the womb, who threaten First Amendment rights of conservatives, who threaten Second Amendment protections of every American patriot, and who have long ago determined that they would organize and conspire to overthrow President Trump."
- Steve Chabot, a Republican, warned that Trump's impeachment would set a dangerously low standard going forward. Note: Chabot was an impeachment manager during Bill Clinton's impeachment.
- Barry Loudermilk, a Republican, argued that Pontius Pilate was more fair to Jesus than Democrats have been to president Trump.
- Mike Kelly, a Republican, compared today's impeachment to the attack on Pearl Harbor, predicting that December 18 would be "another date that will live in infamy".
- After Louie Gohmert, a Republican, promoted baseless claims against Ukraine and claimed "This country's end is now in sight. I hope I don't live to see it", Jerry Nadler, the judiciary chairman stated: "I’m deeply concerned that any member of the House would spew Russian propaganda on the floor of the House." Gohmert shouted back at Nadler, but Nadler ignored him.
- Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, quoted Alexander Hamilton's warning of a leader who is "unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper," who would "throw things into confusion" and "may ride the storm and direct the whirlwind."
- Bill Johnson, a Republican, held a moment of silence for the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump in 2016.
- John Lewis, a Democrat and civil rights icon, stated that "For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history."
- Adam Schiff mocked a repeated talking point by Republicans that the impeachment inquiry was "secretive" in nature and that those secret meetings were held in a basement "bunker". To this Schiff said "This is apparently what they call depositions".
- Matt Gaetz, a Republican, said in a statement on the House floor "This is not about Ukraine; this is about power. Donald Trump has it, and Democrats want it." Gaetz also accused Democrats of "adhering to no sense of honor" and called the impeachment resolution a "slap in the face" to the Americans who voted for Trump.
- Adam Schiff made the following statement on the House floor: "I think when the history of this time is written, it will record that when my colleagues found that they lacked the courage to stand up to this unethical president, they consoled themselves by attacking those who did".
- Devin Nunes, a Republican, stated that "The only thing that Donald Trump is guilty of is beating Hillary Clinton."
- Liz Cheney, a Republican, claimed that Democrats had presented "no direct evidence of any impeachable offense".
- Steve Scalise, a Republican, stated Democrats "made up these terms to impeach a president because they couldn’t find any crimes" and also stated that Democrats "hated" the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump.
The House voted on the two articles of impeachment, here are the results:
First Article of Impeachment: Abuse of Power
Yea - 230
Nay - 197
Present - 1 (Tulsi Gabbard)
Second Article of Impeachment: Obstruction of Congress
Yea - 229
Nay - 198
Present - 1 (Tulsi Gabbard)
Donald Trump is now officially the third president in US history to be impeached.
Speaking at a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, Trump told the crowd: "The do-nothing Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American people. This lawless partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat party." Trump also suggested that the late Representative John Dingell, the longest serving congressman, and WWII veteran, may be in Hell, when he said that he's "looking down" on the ceremony, followed by "Maybe he's looking up" to loud groans from the crowd. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell responded to Trump's attack on her late husband saying on twitter: "Mr. President, let’s set politics aside. My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder."
December 17, 2019 - Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, while speaking on the Senate floor about the impeachment inquiry, called the investigation the "most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in recent history" resulting in a "slapdash work product." McConnell also offered this advice: "House Democrats still have an opportunity to do the right thing for the country. The House can turn back and not deploy this constitutional remedy of last resort." McConnell also rejected Chuck Schumer's request to have White House officials testify saying "It is not the Senate's job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to get to guilty. That would hardly be impartial justice." Chuck Schumer responded to McConnell's rejection of calling witnesses saying he did not hear the Republican leader make a "single argument" as to why the requested witnesses should not testify. Schumer went on to say "What is Leader McConnell afraid of? What is President Trump afraid of? The truth? But the American people want the truth." Schumer also stated that he will force votes on calling Mulvaney/Bolton and that "Senators who oppose this plan will have to explain why less evidence is better than more evidence". According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 7 in 10 Americans say Trump should allow his aides to testify, and 6 in 10 expect a fair Senate trial. The poll also found that 49% support Trump's removal from office, while 46% oppose it. Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign official and close ally of Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years probation. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI. News surfaced that Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for tax fraud and conspiracy, was hospitalized for a "cardiac event." Donald Trump sent an angry six-page letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemning the impeachment inquiry. Speaking to reporters, Mitch McConnell declared "I am not an impartial juror. This is a political process ... I expect we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I'm not impartial about this at all." Donald Trump was asked if he assumed any responsibility for the trajectory of the impeachment inquiry. Trump's response: "No, I don't take any. Zero, to put it mildly." News surfaced that three more staffers working for congressman Jeff Van Drew have resigned. Van Drew has signaled that he will be switching parties over opposition to impeachment. Donald Trump, and his supporters have repeatedly compared the impeachment process with witch trials, which inspired the Kim Driscoll, the mayor of Salem, Massachusetts to send the following tweet:
Oy vey...again
Learn some history:
1) Salem 1692 = absence of evidence+powerless, innocent victims were hanged or pressed to death
2)#Ukrainegate 2019 = ample evidence, admissions of wrongdoing+perpetrators are among the most powerful+privileged
Kim Driscoll, Mayor of Salem, MADecember 16, 2019 - Democrats on the House judiciary committee released a 658-page report accusing Trump of committing constitutional and criminal bribery saying in part: "Applying the constitutional definition of 'bribery' here, there can be little doubt that it is satisfied. President Trump solicited President Zelensky for a 'favor' of great personal value to him; he did so corruptly; and he did so in a scheme to influence his own official actions respecting the release of military and security assistance and the offer of a White House meeting. Although President Trump's actions need not rise to the level of a criminal violation to justify impeachment, his conduct here was criminal." In a dissenting report, Republicans on the committee argued that the Democrats had committed a grave misstep that could jeopardize future presidencies. Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a freshman Democrat who has publicly denounced the impeachment inquiry, is considering switching party affiliation to Republican. News of the potential switch has led to the resignation of at least six of his staffers. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, sent a letter to Mitch McConnell stating in part: "This trial must be one that is fair, that considers all of the relevant facts, and that exercises the Senate's 'sole Power of Impeachment' under the Constitution with integrity and dignity. The trial must be one that not only hears all of the evidence and adjudicates the case fairly; it must also pass the fairness test with the American people." During a press conference, Schumer called a trial without witnesses the equivalent of a "cover-up". The witnesses that Schumer has requested the Senate to call include chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, stated in an interview "I think it is vital that he be impeached ... Some of this conduct, like publicly berating a decorated war veteran who shows up in response to a lawfully issued subpoena of Congress, I think that conduct is not just unbecoming, I think it’s destructive to our republic". According to the Washington Post, Trump has made more than 15,000 false or misleading claims since taking office, and has made more in 2019 than the two previous years combined. During an interview with the New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani stated "I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody." According to the LA Times, the US has a plan to send asylum seekers to Honduras, thus ending their opportunity to make an asylum case here. The Trump administration has already reached similar agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala. Advocates for asylum seekers say the ongoing efforts to prevent migrants from seeking asylum in the US has had deadly consequences and will continue to create an escalating humanitarian crisis. According to a story in the New York Times: "The 2017 tax bill, President Trump’s main domestic achievement, doubled the maximum credit in the two-decade-old program and extended it to families earning as much as $400,000 a year (up from $110,000). The credit now costs the federal government $127 billion a year — far more than better-known programs like the earned-income tax credit ($65 billion) and food stamps ($60 billion). But children with the greatest economic needs are least likely to benefit. While Republicans say the increase shows concern for ordinary families, 35 percent of children fail to receive the full $2,000 because their parents earn too little, researchers at Columbia University found. A quarter get a partial sum and 10 percent get nothing. Among those excluded from the full credit are half of Latinos, 53 percent of blacks and 70 percent of children with single mothers."
December 13, 2019 - The House judiciary committee voted in favor of the two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. The articles will now go before the full House of Representatives. After the vote, Jerry Nadler, the committee chairman stated: "Today is a solemn and sad day. For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House judiciary committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president - for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House will act expeditiously. Thank you." Here are some select responses to the judiciary's vote on the articles of impeachment
"Evidence that Trump committed multiple impeachable offenses – abusing the official powers of the Oval Office and obstructing Congress – is overwhelming and irrefutable. To preserve our democracy for now, and for future generations, our Constitution must be upheld. Congress must fulfill its constitutional obligation and move forward to hold the president accountable." - Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee Chair
"This desperate charade of an impeachment inquiry in the House Judiciary Committee has reached its shameful end. The President looks forward to receiving in the Senate the fair treatment and due process which continues to be disgracefully denied to him by the House." Stephanie Grisham, White House Press Secretary
"It’s a witch-hunt. It’s a sham. It’s a hoax ... to be using this for a perfect phone call ... It’s a scam ... You’re trivializing impeachment. The people are disgusted." - Donald J Trump
"It’s not fair that I’m being Impeached when I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong! The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have become the Party of Hate. They are so bad for our Country!" - Donald J Trump
The US supreme court has agreed to hear subpoena fights over Donald Trump's financial records, with a decision expected in late June.
December 12, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, the 16 year-old climate activist, was named Person of the Year by Time magazine. Donald Trump reacted to the news by sending the following tweet: "So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!" Critics of Trump were quick to point out the outrage expressed by Republicans just last week after a witness at an impeachment hearing invoked Barron Trump's name to make a point about the difference between a king and a president. Eric Holder, the attorney general under Barack Obama, published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he criticized William Barr, the current attorney general: "Virtually since the moment he took office... Barr’s words and actions have been fundamentally inconsistent with his duty to the Constitution. Which is why I now fear that his conduct – running political interference for an increasingly lawless president – will wreak lasting damage." According to the Daily Beast, Donald Trump lashed out at world leaders who were overheard mocking Trump at the Nato Summit in London. According to the story: "During this private airing of grievances, President Trump repeatedly denigrated the Canadian prime minister behind his back and called the French president a 'pain in the ass' while referring to him as 'short,' according to an individual who was present for the meeting. Trump also bashed the French leader for not doing enough to help in recent Iran negotiations." The House judiciary committee continued to debate the articles of impeachment for a second day. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, referenced the Bill Clinton impeachment hearings with this question to Republicans: "lying about a sexual affair is an abuse of presidential power but the misuse of presidential power to get a benefit doesn’t matter?" During a segment of Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News, guest Seth Barron commented on some footage showing some trash on the streets of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's New York district by saying that immigrants were responsible for the trash and that they had "occupied" the district and made it "one of the least American districts in the country." Carlson responded with "How can we take seriously anything she says about the environment when this is her congressional district? She should be ashamed of this." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the segment by calling Carlson a "white supremacist sympathizer" and by stating that Carlson's show represents an "hour-long production of unmitigated racism". Along mostly party lines, the House passed legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and to cap out of pocket expenses for Medicare recipients. According to an AP story on the legislation: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill would cap Medicare recipients' out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors. But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters. 'I think that it is going to be too hot to handle for the Republicans,' said Pelosi, D-Calif. She is claiming bragging rights because her bill would deliver on the promise that Donald Trump made as a candidate in 2016, when he said he would 'negotiate like crazy' to lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients. It's a pledge that Trump has backed away from as president." Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!" Appearing on Fox News, Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader, told Sean Hannity that he is "going to coordinate with the president's lawyers" regarding a trial in the Senate and that "My hope is that there won't be a single Republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment".
December 11, 2019 - According to ProPublica, Donald Trump Jr traveled to Mongolia over the summer, where he shot and killed an argali, an endangered species of large mountain sheep. According to the story, the right to kill an argali is granted via an "opaque permitting system" that experts say require "money, connections and politics." According to the story the US and Mongolia supported Trump's Jr's trip, including by giving him security services. Kathleen Clark, a professor specializing in legal ethics at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, responded to the story saying "What are the chances the Mongolian government would’ve done any of that to someone who wasn’t the son of the United States’ president?" Donald Trump held a closed-door meeting with Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, after the Russian stated at a joint press conference with secretary of state Mike Pompeo that "we have highlighted once again that all speculation about our alleged interference in domestic processes in the US are baseless. There are no facts that would support that." Following the closed-door meeting, the Trump administration released an official photo of Lavrov standing beside Trump in the Oval Office as Trump smiles broadly. A tweet sent by Michael Barbaro included the official picture with accompanying text stating "The reward for systematically interfering in a US election? An Oval Office visit." George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, sent the foloowing text message: "It’s pretty clear that @petestrzok has an extremely strong slander case against @realDonaldTrump for the latter’s false claim last night that @NatSecLisa obtained a restraining order against Strzok." Michael Horowitz, the DoJ IG, testified before the Senate judiciary committee today. Here are some highlights from his testimony:
- The report took 19 months by a team that poured over a million documnets and conducted 170 interviews with 100 witnesses.
- When asked if the mishandling of Carter Page's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant was done out of political bias, Horowitz responded "I did not know their state of mind at this point."
- Regarding the opening of the FBI's investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign, Horowitz stated: "As to the opening, we found no bias, no testimonial documents on that." Horowitz also stated that the investigation was opened "with proper predicate, sufficient predication" and that proper protocol was not followed with certain steps of the investigation.
- Horowitz was asked if the FBI sent any spies to the Trump campaign, to which he replied: "We did not find evidence that the FBI sought to place confidential human sources inside the campaign or plant them inside the campaign".
- Horowitz was asked about statements from William Barr that the FBI acted in bad faith when it conducted its Russian inquiry, to which Horowitz responded "My defense of my team and my work is that we stand by the report. Nothing I’ve heard changed our view. The department, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the FBI director, whomever is free to disagree with my conclusions. I didn't take the [inspector general] job to be popular to not have my feelings hurt."
The New York Times published an analysis of the DoJ IG report which states in part: "At more than 400 pages, the study amounted to the most searching look ever revealed about the government’s secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty. While clearing the F.B.I. of acting out of political bias, the Justice Department's independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser. 'The litany of problems with the Carter Page surveillance applications demonstrates how the secrecy shrouding the government's one-sided FISA approval process breeds abuse," said Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project. 'The concerns the inspector general identifies apply to intrusive investigations of others, including especially Muslims, and far better safeguards against abuse are necessary.'" The House judiciary committee held a debate on the articles of impeachment that were introduced as House resolution 755. Here are some highlights:
- Jerrold Nadler, the committee chairman opened the debate stating it should be framed around three questions:
1. Does the evidence show clearly that Trump committed these acts?
2. Do they rise to the level of impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors?
3. What are the consequences if we fail to act?
- Nadler also pointed out that while other presidents have tried to evade investigations: "President Trump's stonewall was complete, absolute and without precedent."
- Doug Collins, the leading Republican on the committee said that by pursuing impeachment "we tear down, not only try to tear down the leader of the free world, President Trump, but we’re tearing down the newly elected leader of the Ukraine" by implying that the Ukrainian leader lied when he denied he felt pressured by Trump.
- Steve Chabot, a Republican on the committee made the following statement "The drafting of impeachment articles drafted solely on secret hearings closed to the media and to the American people... If Geoge Orwell had written the script no one would have believed it". Note: the articles of impeachment are based on both public hearings and closed-door hearings, in which Republicans were present, and whose transcripts were subsequently made public.
- Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, called out the names of several people he would like to see called as witnesses in a Senate trial, one of which is purported to be the one who initially blew the whistle on Trump's corrupt dealings with Ukraine
- Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, responded to Gohmert saying "House Republicans just committed an incredible and outrageous breach. The President threatened the whistleblower with violence, and whether the person just named is the whistleblower or not they were just put in real danger. This is unacceptable and there should be consequences."
December 10, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness!" Trump responded to Christopher Wray's comments regarding the DoJ IG report saying "I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!" During an interview with ABC, Christopher Wray said "We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election."
While formally announcing articles of impeachment against Donald J Trump, Jerry Nadler made the following statement: "Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two Articles of Impeachment charging the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors" Nadler then explained the two articles:
1. Abuse of Power: "It is an impeachable offense for the president to exercise the powers of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 presidential election, thus damaging our national security, undermining the integrity of the next election, and violating his oath to the American people."
2. Obstruction of Congress: "President Trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. ... A president who describes himself as above accountability, above the American people and above Congress’ power of impeachment, which is meant to protect against threats to our Democratic institutions, is a president who sees himself above the law. We must be clear: No one, not even the president, is above the law."
Adam Schiff addressed those who are saying "why don't you just wait?" to which Schiff responded: "Why don't you just let him cheat one more time? ... Why not let him have foreign help one more time? That is what that argument amounts to." Trump responded to the announcement of articles of impeachment tweeting: "Nadler just said that I 'pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 Election.' Ridiculous, and he knows that is not true. Both the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said, many times, that there 'WAS NO PRESSURE.' Nadler and the Dems know this, but refuse to acknowledge!" This was followed by another tweet saying "WITCH HUNT!" which was followed by this tweet: "Shifty Schiff, a totally corrupt politician, made up a horrible and fraudulent statement, read it to Congress, and said those words came from me. He got caught, was very embarrassed, yet nothing happened to him for committing this fraud. He’ll eventually have to answer for this!" Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, is suing the Department of Justice and the FBI, alleging that the two agencies unlawfully shared private text messages between her and former FBI agent Peter Strzok with the media in December 2017. Those messages, which expressed fear of a Trump presidency, have been used by Trump and his allies as evidence of a "deep state" conspiracy working against his presidency. The Washington Post published an editorial calling for Trump's impeachment saying "It is our view that more than enough proof exists for the House to impeach Mr. Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, based on his own actions and the testimony of the 17 present and former administration officials who courageously appeared before the House Intelligence Committee." During a brief encounter with reporters, Trump called the articles of impeachment "very weak". According to the Washington Post, a US judge in El Paso, TX, blocked Donald Trump's plan to spend $3.6bn in military funds on a border wall, ruling that the administration doesn't have the authority to reallocate funds earmarked by Congress for a different purpose. Donald Trump held a rally in Hershey Pennsylvania where he mocked former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI agent Peter Strzok to the delight of his supporters, who laughed as Trump acted out a conversation between the two, which included pretending to be Lisa having an orgasm. Trump also made the claim that Page had to get a restraining order against Strzok because he couldn't stay away from her. A source close to Page has called the claim "absolutely untrue". During an appearance on Fox News, Senator Lindsey Graham made the following statement: "When 51 of us say we’ve heard enough, the trial is going to end. The president’s going to be acquitted. ... Here's my advice to the president: if the Senate is ready to vote and ready to acquit you, you should celebrate that." Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, made this statement about 16 year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg: "It is staggering, the amount of coverage the press gives that brat."
- Shortly after the hearing began, Owen Shroyer, a conspiracy theorist who works for Infowars, and who was active in spreading the pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, began yelling from the spectator area, saying that Jerry Nadler and the Democrats were committing "treason" by partaking in this inquiry.
- Barry Burke, House counsel, addressed Trump's claim that Article II allows him "to do whatever I want as president" saying that notion is fundamentally wrong. He also stated "our imagination is the only limit to what Trump may do, or a future president may do, to abuse his power to serve his own interests" if Trump is spared impeachment.
- Stephen Castor, Republican, called the inquiry "baloney!"
- Mike Johnson, Republican, complained that the committee counsel's argument "impugns the motives of the president", which is the whole point of impeachment.
- Daniel Goldman, Democratic counsel, stated that "President Trump directed a months-long scheme to solicit foreign help in his 2020 re-election campaign, withholding official acts from the government of Ukraine in order to coerce and secure political interference in our domestic affairs. As part of the scheme, President Trump applied increasing pressure on the president of Ukraine to publicly announce two investigations helpful to his personal reelection efforts. He applied this pressure himself and through his agents within and outside of the US government by conditioning a desperately-sought Oval Office meeting and $391m in taxpayer-funded, congressionally-appropriated military assistance – vital to Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russian aggression – on the announcement of political investigations helpful to his personal interests. When the president’s efforts were discovered, he released the military aid, though it would take congressional action for the money to be made fully available to Ukraine. The Oval Office meeting still has not happened ... He and his agents continue to solicit Ukrainian interference in our election, causing an imminent threat"
- Zoe Lofgren, Democrat, said the direct evidence against Trump in his dealings with Ukraine "is very damning" followed with "And the president has offered no evidence to the contrary. If he had evidence of his innocence why would he not bring it forward?" Lofgren also stated "We’ve been hearing over and over that it [the impeachment inquiry] is too fast." Lofgren then pointed out that the impeachment process for Bill Clinton lasted 73 days, while the Trump impeachment process “is already on the 76th day".
- Eric Swalwell, Democrat, stated that "There's a reason that no one has said, 'What did the president know and when did he know it'... As it related to this scheme, the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, knew everything"
- Jerry Nadler closed out the hearing with these words: "We know that president Trump has put himself before his country. I am struck by the fact that my Republican colleagues have offered no serious scrutiny of the evidence at hand. They have talked about everything else, but they have offered not one substantive word in the president’s defense. I suspect that is because there is at base, no real defense for the president’s actions."
The US Supreme Court, without comment, refused to review an appeals court ruling that upheld a law in Kentucky which requires doctors to perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before performing an abortion. Amazon filed a lawsuit stating that Donald Trump's "improper pressure" and behind-the-scenes attacks harmed its chances of winning a $10bn Pentagon contract. An open letter to Donald Trump, signed by 27 Senators, and endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Bend The Arc, Immigration Hub, National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for American Progress and Families Belong Together, is demanding that Stephen Miller be removed from his position as a White House senior adviser. The letter reads in part: "Mr Miller's demonstrable white nationalist ideology has directly translated into your administration's policies, which have been widely criticized for systematically targeting communities of color. The Muslim ban targeted individuals of color and caused chaos at US airports around the country, wreaking havoc on the lives of countless individuals and families. The family separation policy tore children from their families, resulting in widely reported mistreatment and human rights abuses of immigrants in detention facilities nationwide ... We demand that you remove Stephen Miller immediately."
Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the justice department, released his report on the origins of the Trump/Russia investigation. Here are some highlights:
- The FBI had a legal "authorized purpose" in monitoring communications of Trump election campaign adviser Carter Page.
- Political bias on the part of FBI employees did not influence the agency's decision to open its investigation.
- Horowitz found 17 "basic and fundamental" errors and omissions in the original application and all subsequent renewals to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA). Those errors made the case appear stronger than it was.
- The FBI had a "reasonable basis" to use information provided on Donald Trump's dealings with Russia by British former spy Christopher Steele.
- A dossier compiled by Christopher Steele "did not lead" to the opening of the FBI investigation into the Trump/Russia investigation.
William Barr, the attorney general, responded to the DoJ inspector general's report saying the "FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a US presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions". Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said that he accepts the findings in the DoJ Inspector General's report and that the FBI would make changes to how it handles confidential informants, how it applies for search warrants via FISA, and how it conducts briefings on foreign influence for presidential nominees. James Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump, sent the following tweet in response to the DoJ IG report: "So it was all lies. No treason. No spying on the campaign. No tapping Trumps wires. It was just good people trying to protect America." Comey then followed that tweet with this one: "FYI: I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions. I can’t change their viewers on Donald Trump but hoped to give them some actual facts about the FBI. They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the DoJ IG report with this: "The shocking report from the DOJ Inspector General shows an out-of-control FBI under President Obama and former Director Jim Comey. The report makes clear that the phony Steele Dossier was 'central and essential' for the FBI to secure wiretaps from the FISA Court to spy on the Trump campaign. But the FBI repeatedly lied to the FISA Court to make Steele seem credible and to hide information showing that the Dossier was false. The Dossier was bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee – but that fact was hidden from the FISA Court. Astoundingly, when evidence was repeatedly uncovered showing no wrongdoing by candidate Trump, that also was hidden from the FISA Court. On top of all that, one FBI lawyer altered an email in an effort to continue and extend the wiretapping – and he has been referred for criminal prosecution. All of this shows a repeated effort to mislead the FISA Court long after the FBI was aware the 'Dossier' was false, phony and could not be used justify spying on the Trump Campaign. The American people should be outraged and terrified by this abuse of power. This should never happen to another presidential candidate or any American ever again." Christopher Wray, the FBI director, was asked about the term "deep state" to which he responded "That's not a term I would ever use to describe our workforce and I think it's an affront to them." Chuck Schumer spoke to reporters about the DoJ IG report saying in part: "For years, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress and the media have speculated wildly about Deep State conspiracies... Today, we just got a report from the [DOJ] inspector general that puts these conspiracy theories to rest ... Let me repeat so that all of those conspiracy theorists out there hear it: this report confirms that the predicate for the FBI's investigation was valid and without political bias. In fact, the report quotes the FBI Deputy General Counsel as saying '[the FBI] would have been derelict in our responsibility had we not opened the case'. I’m sure my Republican friends will do their level best to reject the report's conclusion. But FBI Director Wray appointed by President Trump, has already embraced the central finding of the report. Asked whether he thought the FBI unfairly targeted the Trump campaign, Director Wray said 'I do not.'"
December 6, 2019 - Adam Schiff was asked by a reporter if he "hated" Donald Trump, to which Schiff responded "No, but I do hate what he's doing to the country." Schiff went on to say "The president doesn’t give a shit about what’s good for our country, what’s good for Ukraine. It's all about what’s in it for him personally and for his re-election campaign." Schiff also defended the timeline for moving forward with articles of impeachment saying "The long and the short of it is, though, given that the president is today trying to get foreign interference in the next election to help him, we do not feel that when we already have overwhelming evidence, we should wait any longer." According to the Washington Post, nearly 900 law professors have signed a letter accusing Trump of committing "impeachable conduct" in his actions towards Ukraine. From the story: "The signers are law professors and other academics from universities across the country, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan and many others. The open letter was published online Friday by the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy. 'There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress,' the group of professors wrote. 'His conduct is precisely the type of threat to our democracy that the Founders feared when they included the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution.'" Rudy Giuliani, who is in Europe meeting with former Ukrainian officials, the same ones who helped spread baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden, sent the following tweet: "In reviewing my notes, it seems to me that a large scale joint investigation into Ukraine and the US would uncover and recover billions stolen by crooks, from both countries, at the highest levels. This would be the most effective way to bring our two countries together." A Saudi aviation student opened fire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, killing three. The shooter was killed by first responders. Donald Trump appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One from being handed over to Democratic-led congressional panels. The White House announced today that it was declining an invitation to send a representative to the House judiciary committee's impeachment hearing which is scheduled for December 9th. Duncan Hunter, the Republican representative from California who plead guilty to misusing campaign funds, announced that he will be resigning from Congress "shortly after the Holidays". The Supreme Court granted Trump's request to block a congressional subpoena for his financial records which delays an appellate decision until Friday, December 13th. The House passed a bill to restore key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was weakened by a 2013 Supreme Court decision. The legislation was opposed by all of the Republicans, except one.
December 5, 2019 - One day after a constitutional scholar called by Republicans accused the Democrats of moving too fast on impeachment, Trump sent the following tweet: "I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate." Nancy Pelosi held a press briefing this morning where she stated "The facts are uncontested. The president abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our national security ... Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit ... Sadly but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment." During a question and answer period Pelosi stated that "This isn’t about Ukraine; this is about Russia, who benefited from the withholding of that military assistance". Pelosi added that "All roads lead to Putin". James Rosen, a journalist representing Sinclair Broadcast Group, an organization known for its rightwing politics, asked Nancy Pelosi if she hates Donald Trump. Pelosi, who was walking away from the news conference, headed back to the podium and angrily told Rosen "I don't hate anybody ... as a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone ... So, don't mess with me when it comes to words like that." Trump responded to Pelosi's statement regarding moving forward with articles of impeachment tweeting: "The Do Nothing, Radical Left Democrats have just announced that they are going to seek to Impeach me over NOTHING. They already gave up on the ridiculous Mueller 'stuff,' so now they hang their hats on two totally appropriate (perfect) phone calls with the Ukrainian President. This will mean that the beyond important and seldom used act of Impeachment will be used routinely to attack future Presidents. That is not what our Founders had in mind. The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!" Brian Hook, the state department's special envoy for Iran, announced that the Trump administration believes that as many as a 1,000 protesters have been killed in the Iranian regime's crackdown on recent protests. Hook said that the state department reviewed footage of Iranian forces shooting protesters with machine guns and loading their bodies onto trucks. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declared that Nancy Pelosi had "weakened the nation" with her announcement regarding Democratic leadership moving forward with articles of impeachment. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, issued a statement in response to Nancy Pelosi's statement saying in part: "Speaker Pelosi’s instruction to advance this impeachment process – one that has violated every precedent - moves this Country toward the most partisan and illegitimate subversion of the Constitution in our history."
December 4, 2019 - The House judiciary committee held hearings today with a panel of constitutional scholars regarding the standard for impeaching a president. The scholars are:
- Noah Feldman, Harvard University
- Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina
- Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford University
- Jonathan Turley, George Washington University
Turley was called by the Republicans, the rest were called by the Democrats.
Here are some highlights from the hearing:
- "This administration's level of obstruction is without precedent. In the 1974 impeachment proceedings, President Nixon produced dozens of recordings. In 1998, President Clinton physically gave his blood ... Ladies and gentlemen, the storm in which we find ourselves today was set in motion by President Trump. I do not wish this moment on the country. But we have each taken an oath to protect the Constitution, and the facts before us are clear ... We cannot wait for the election to address the present crisis. The integrity of that election is one of the very things at stake." - Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House judiciary committee
"If you want to know what is really driving this: it’s called the clock and the calendar ... simple railroad job ... We’ve got law professors here. What a start to a party ... you couldn't have possibly digested the Adam Schiff report from yesterday or the Republican response in any real way" - Doug Collins, ranking member of House judiciary committee
- "Mr. Collins, I would like to say to you sir that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses who appeared in the live hearings because I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts, so I'm insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor I don't care about those facts. But everything I read on those occasions tells me that when president Trump invited, indeed demanded foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this a republic to which we pledge allegiance. That demand ... constituted an abuse of power ... A president who cared about the Constitution would say 'Russia, if you're listening, butt out of our elections'" - Pamela S. Karlan
- "President Trump’s conduct described in the testimony and evidence clearly constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution. According to the testimony and to the publicly released memorandum of the July 25, 2019, telephone call between the two presidents, President Trump abused his office by soliciting the president of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals in order to gain personal political advantage, including in the 2020 presidential election. This act on its own qualifies as an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor ... If we cannot impeach a president who abuses his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy — we live in a monarchy, or we live under a dictatorship." - Noah Feldman
- "The record compiled thus far shows that the president has committed several impeachable offenses, including bribery, abuse of power in soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader to benefit his political campaign, obstructing Congress, and obstructing justice ... The president’s serious misconduct, including bribery, soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader in exchange for his exercise of power, and obstructing justice and Congress are worse than the misconduct of any prior president, including what previous presidents who faced impeachment have done or been accused of doing ... If Congress fails to impeach here, then the impeachment process has lost all meaning, and, along with that, our Constitution’s carefully crafted safeguards against the establishment of a king on American soil. No one, not even the president, is beyond the reach of our Constitution and our laws." - Michael Gerhardt
- "I get it. You are mad. The President is mad. My Democratic friends are mad. My Republican friends are mad. My wife is mad. My kids are mad. Even my dog is mad . . . and Luna is a golden doodle and they are never mad. We are all mad and where has it taken us? Will a slipshod impeachment make us less mad or will it only give an invitation for the madness to follow in every future administration? ... Fast is not good for impeachment. Narrow, fast impeachments have failed ... If you rush this impeachment, you're going to leave half the country behind ... You have to give the time to build a record. This isn't an impulse buy item." - Jonathan Turley
- Republicans forced a procedural vote to subpoena the whistleblower. The Democrats responded with a proposal to table (kill) the motion, which was adopted.
- Jonathan Turley confirmed he had written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal which contained the statement "There is much that is worthy of investigation in the Ukraine scandal, and it is true that impeachment doesn’t require a crime."
- Professor Karlan was asked about the credibility of the current claim that Trump was concerned about corruption when he insisted that the Ukrainian president publicly announce investigations. Karlan responded: "Generally you don’t announce the investigation in a criminal case before you conduct it, because it puts the person under notice that they’re under investigation ... I think you ought to make that credibility determination because you have the sole power of impeachment. if I were a member of the House of Representatives I would infer that he was doing it for political reasons."
- Professor Gerhardt responded to Professor Turley's claim that Democrats don't have enough evidence to make the case for impeachment at this point saying "I might just point out that one of the difficulties with asking for a more thorough investigation is that’s exactly what the House has tried to conduct here. The president has refused to comply with subpoenas and other requests for documents." Gerhadt was then asked, "has a president ever refused to cooperate in an impeachment investigation?" to which Gerhadt responded "Not until now."
- Professor Karlan was asked about political influence in foreign affairs, to which she responded: "Yes there is political influence in our foreign affairs. We’ve exited climate accords, we’ve taken different positions on NATO than we would have taken if his opponent won. That’s different from partisan politics in the context of electoral manipulation. If we get over that or get used to that, we will cease to become the democracy that we are now."
- Republican Doug Collins falsely claimed that Ukraine only became aware that aid was being withheld "one month after" the Trump-Zelensky phone call, which contradicts testimony from Laura Cooper that the Ukrainians were aware of the hold in early July prior to the call.
Video surfaced of Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, mocking Trump while other world leaders laughed, including Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron. When Trump got wind of the video, he called Trudeau "two faced". Trump then cancelled a planned press conference and departed from the summit early. Before departing, Trump questioned the loyalty of Democrats saying "You almost question whether or not they love our country and that’s a very serious thing: Do they love our country?" Trump also called impeachment a "dirty word" which "should only be used in special occasions. This should never happen to a president again what's happened here. It's an absolute disgrace to our country." According to a story in the New York Times, Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe this week to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutors who have pushed baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden. From the story: "Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, met in Budapest on Tuesday with a former Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who has become a key figure in the impeachment inquiry. He then traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday seeking to meet with other former Ukrainian prosecutors whose claims have been embraced by Republicans, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk, according to people familiar with the effort. The former prosecutors, who have faced allegations of corruption, all played some role in promoting claims about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a former United States ambassador to Ukraine and Ukrainians who disseminated damaging information about Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in 2016." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, lashed out at professor Pamela Karlan who had used Trump's son's name to make the following pun regarding the fact that the constitution does not allow presidents to distribute titles of nobility: "So while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron". Grisham tweeted in response: "Classless move by a Democratic “witness”. Prof Karlan uses a teenage boy who has nothing to do with this joke of a hearing (and deserves privacy) as a punchline. And what’s worse, it’s met by laughter in the hearing room. What is being done to this country is no laughing matter." The president's reelection campaign also piled on Karlan's pun in a fund raising letter saying: "Only in the minds of crazed liberals is it funny to drag a 13-year-old child into the impeachment nonsense. Pamela Karlan thought she was being clever...but she instead reinforced...that Democrats have no boundaries." Melania Trump also lashed out by sending the following tweet: "A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it." Following the outrage over the pun, Pamela Karlan apologized saying "It was wrong of me to do that...I do regret having said that." The Trump administration approved a rule that will remove nearly 700,000 people from the federal food-stamp program by tightening work requirements for recipients. According to a story in the Washington Post, William Barr's hand picked prosecutor to look into the origins of the Russia investigation, has been unable to find evidence to back at least one right-wing conspiracy theory. From the Post: "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office contacted U.S. Attorney John Durham, the prosecutor Barr personally tapped to lead a separate review of the 2016 probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, the people said. The inspector general also contacted several U.S. intelligence agencies. Among Horowitz’s questions: whether a Maltese professor who interacted with a Trump campaign adviser was actually a U.S. intelligence asset deployed to ensnare the campaign, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the inspector general’s findings have not been made public. But the intelligence agencies said the professor was not among their assets, the people said. And Durham informed Horowitz’s office that his investigation had not produced any evidence that might contradict the inspector general’s findings on that point."
December 3, 2019 - Donald Trump, who is attending a NATO summit in London, raised eyebrows during a news conference. Here are some highlights:
- Trump was asked if the United States supported the protests in Iran, where protesters have been violently repressed by their country's government. Trump responded: "I don’t want to comment on that but the answer is no. But I don't want to comment on that." This statement shocked reporters since secretary of state Mike Pompeo had just stated a couple days ago that "the U.S. is supporting the protesters." Following the news conference, Trump sent the following tweet: "The United States of America supports the brave people of Iran who are protesting for their FREEDOM. We have under the Trump Administration, and always will!"
- Trump, who has repeatedly refused advice from the intelligence community and the Pentagon, while accepting advice from authoritarian regimes like Russia, made the following justification for his interest in a strong relationship with Russia: "We can get along with Russia. I think it’s a good thing to get along with Russia. I go to big stadiums and people like it."
- Donald Trump, who has repeatedly sent out tweets regarding the ever increasing stock market, was asked about the 400 point drop that came after his announcement that there was no "deadline" for reaching a trade deal with China. Trump responded "I don't watch the stock market. I watch jobs."
- Trump railed against the impeachment inquiry and called Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, a "maniac", a "deranged human being" and a "very sick man".
- Trump announced that the June G7 summit will be held at Camp David. The previous location had been announced by acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to be Trump's resort in Doral, Florida, because according to Mulvaney, Camp David had been a "complete disaster" for previous G7's. That decision was quickly reversed amid intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
A federal appeals court has ordered Deutsche Bank and Capitol One to comply with a congressional subpoena to turn over Trump's financial records. The House intelligence committee released its report on the impeachment inquiry.
Here are some highlights from the report:
- "The impeachment inquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election".
The report levels two main charges against Trump:
1. Trump "Conditioned a White House Meeting and Military Aid to Ukraine on a Public Announcement of Investigations Beneficial to his Reelection Campaign."
2. Trump "Obstructed the Impeachment Inquiry by Instructing Witnesses and Agencies to Ignore Subpoenas for Documents and Testimony."
- "The President demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into a political rival that he apparently feared the most, former Vice President Joe Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. To compel the Ukrainian President to do his political bidding, President Trump conditioned two official acts on the public announcement of the investigations: a coveted White House visit and critical U.S. military assistance Ukraine needed to fight its Russian adversary."
- John Solomon, a former writer for the Hill newspaper, who wrote misleading op-eds about Ukraine, was in frequent contact with Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani.
- Phone records show that Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, was repeatedly in contact with Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas at the time that Giuliani started spreading baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden.
- On the day that Marie Yovanovitch was called home "Mr. Giuliani had three phone calls with a number associated with OMB, and 8 calls with a WH number".
- Trump "abused the power of his office for personal and political gain, at the expense of national security"
- Trump "ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry"
Stephanie Grisham, the press secretary, released a statement in response to the impeachment report which stated in part: "At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump ... This report reflects nothing more than their frustrations. Chairman Schiff’s report reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing." Bob Cusack, the editor-in-chief of the Hill newspaper, responded to the report with the following tweet: "The Hill is conducting a meticulous review of opinion columns written by John Solomon on the subject of Ukraine that will be handled by a team of editors and reporters. All results of the review will be transparent and public." Adam Schiff held a press conference regarding the impeachment report. Here are some highlights:
- "This report chronicles a scheme by the president of the United States to coerce an ally, Ukraine, that is at war with an adversary, Russia, into doing the president's political dirty work."
- "To my Republican colleagues, they need to consider when we have a Democratic president, are they willing to say to their oversight that the president can simply refuse?"
- Trump's actions could "invite further corruption of our elections."
- "deeply concerning" that there "may have been members of Congres complicit in” trying to dig up dirt on Biden.
Joseph A. Bondy, a lawyer for Lev Parnas, sent the following tweet: "Devin Nunes, you should have recused yourself at the outset of the #HIC #ImpeachingHearings. #LetLevSpeak" Rudy Giuliani was asked by a reporter what he was calling the OMB about. Giuliani's response: "None of your business." Congressman Duncan Hunter, a Republican representative from California, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges relating to his misuse of more than $200,000 in campaign funds. Hunter, who had previously claimed that he was the victim of a "witch hunt", admitted that he knowingly and willfully stole money to fund his lifestyle. The House intelligence committee voted 13-9 to adopt the impeachment report. The vote was along party lines. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, was asked if he was at all concerned over the call records in the impeachment reportm to which he responded: "I don’t have a problem with Devin talking to individuals. I have no concerns."
December 2, 2019 - Trump restored tariffs on Brazil and Argentina via tweet saying "Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies. which is not good for our farmers. Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries. The Federal Reserve should likewise act so that countries, of which there are many, no longer take advantage of our strong dollar by further devaluing their currencies. This makes it very hard for our manufactures & farmers to fairly export their goods. Lower Rates & Loosen - Fed!" During an interview with Time Magazine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, made the following statement: "Look, I never talked to the President from the position of a quid pro quo. That’s not my thing. But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo. It just goes without saying." Following news of the interview, Trump made the following flse statement: "The Ukrainian president came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. But it will never end it because [Democrats] want to do what they want to do." Lisa Page, the former FBI lawyer whose anti-Trump text messages have been used by Trump and others on the right to claim the existence of a "deep state", and who Trump has mocked mercilessly at his campaign rallies, including pretending to be Lisa while having an orgasm, made the following statement during a Daily Beast interview: "I had stayed quiet for years hoping it would fade away, but instead it got worse. It had been so hard not to defend myself, to let people who hate me control the narrative. I decided to take my power back." Regarding the soon to be released IG report from the justice department, Page said "While it would be nice to have the IG confirm publicly that my personal opinions had absolutely no bearing on the course of the Russia investigations, I don’t kid myself that the fact will matter very much for a lot of people. The president has a very loud megaphone." During an interview with NBC's Meet the Press Host Chuck Todd, Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, made the following claim: "I think both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election." Todd reminded Kennedy that Fiona Hill, the White House's former top expert on Russia, said the baseless accusation was a "fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services" to which Kennedy replied ""Dr. Hill is entitled to her opinion." According to Politico, Trump's Republican allies continue to make the claim that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to favor Hillary Clinton, despite that claim being "thoroughly investigated" and debunked by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee which "found no evidence that Ukraine waged a top-down interference campaign akin to Kremlin's efforts to help Trump win in 2016" According to the AP, the Trump administration has released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay. The Congress has made repeated queries for an explanation for the delay, but the White House has yet to offer any. U.S. District Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson has ruled against the Trump administration's request to stay an order requiring former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress while the administration appeals Jackson's ruling to a higher court saying "Further delay of the Judiciary Committee’s enforcement of its valid subpoena causes grave harm to both the Committee’s investigation and the interests of the public more broadly". Jackson also said delaying McGahn’s testimony "would impede an investigation that a committee of Congress is undertaking as part of an impeachment inquiry." House Republicans have released a 123-page report defending President Trump, which states in part that "The fundamental disagreement apparent in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is a difference of world views and a discomfort with President Trump’s policy decisions". The Justice Department released a batch of documents related to the Mueller investigation in response to a freedom of information request. One highlight from the documents is deputy campaign manager Rick Gates telling the FBI that "while Paul Manafort was running Trump’s campaign, Manafort had pushed the unfounded theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that had hacked the Democratic National Committee’s servers."
November 29, 2019 - Republican lawmakers in Ohio, have introduced a bill to ban abortion which requires doctors to "reimplant an ectopic pregnancy" into a woman's uterus - a procedure that does not exist in medical science - or face charges of "abortion murder" which is punishable by death.
November 27, 2019 - Martin O'Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore, and current governor of Maryland, confronted Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, at a Capitol Hill bar. O'Malley called Cuccinelli "the son of immigrant grandparents who cages children for a fascist president". According to bar patrons who witnessed the incident, Cuccinelli did not respond, but instead opted to get up and leave. Trump claimed during an interview with the disgraced former Fox employee Bill O'Reilly that he did not "direct" Giuliani to launch a pressure campaign in Ukraine, despite claims by Giuliani that he was pursuing investigations on Trump's behalf, and despite Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU testifying that he worked with Giuliani because the former New York mayor was doing Trump's bidding. Senator Lindsey Graham sent the following in a tweet: "Let me see if I have this right. Jerry Nadler is inviting President Trump to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings — after all the facts were gathered in Schiff’s Intel Committee — where the president’s team was shut out. Salem witches got a better deal than this!" Kathryn Watson, a White House reporter responded to Graham's tweet with the following:
Executed
- Bridget Bishop (June 10, 1692)
- Rebecca Nurse (July 19, 1692)
- Sarah Good (July 19, 1692)
- Elizabeth Howe (July 19, 1692)
- Susannah Martin (July 19, 1692)
- Sarah Wildes (July 19, 18692)
- George Burroughs (August 19, 1692)
- George Jacobs Sr. (August 19, 1692)
- Martha Carrier (August 19, 1692)
- John Proctor (August 19, 1692)
- Giles Corey (September 19, 1692) - Pressed to death
Note: Trump has blocked some of his closest advisers, including White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and energy secretary Rick Perry, from testifying, so the suggestion that he has been deprived of the opportunity to defend himself runs contrary to the facts.
News surfaced that Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, who has been engaged in a pressure campaign in Ukraine, is also pursuing business opportunities in that country. According to the New York Times: "Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump’s agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government. His discussions with Ukrainian officials proceeded far enough along that he prepared at least one retainer agreement, on his company letterhead, that he signed. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Giuliani played down the discussions. He said that a Ukrainian official approached him this year, seeking to hire him personally. Mr. Giuliani said he dismissed that suggestion, but spent about a month considering a separate deal with the Ukrainian government. He then rejected that idea." Also according to the New York Times: "In another unsigned draft proposal that was not on letterhead, Mr. Giuliani looked to enter into a similar deal with Yuriy Lutsenko, who was then Ukraine’s top prosecutor. At the time, Mr. Giuliani had been working with Mr. Lutsenko to encourage investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election. Mr. Giuliani was critical of Ms. Yovanovitch, whom he and other Republicans have said was opposed to the president. Mr. Giuliani’s moves against her, however, were also aligned with the interests of Mr. Lutsenko, who had butted heads with the ambassador. Ultimately, Ms. Yovanovitch was removed from her post in May, and Mr. Lutsenko was replaced in August after a new Ukrainian president took office ... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted the ambassador removed for their own reasons, the people said. It is a federal crime to try to influence the United States government at the request or direction of a foreign government, politician or party without registering as a foreign agent. Mr. Giuliani did not register as one, he has said, because he was acting on behalf of his client, Mr. Trump, not Ukrainians." The internal watchdog of the department of homeland security released a report which revised the estimate of children separated at the border. According to NBC News: "Officials at Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for separating families under the May-June 2018 policy, estimated in May of that year that it would separate more than 26,000 children by September, according to the report from the DHS Office of Inspector General, released publicly on Wednesday. After mounting pressure, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the policy on June 20, 2018. Previously, the administration has said in court that an estimated 2,800 children were separated as a result of zero tolerance. But the report released Wednesday said that the lack of technology to track which children had been separated meant the agency had to revise that estimate to 3,014. ... Wednesday’s report said CBP officials forged ahead with the policy even though they knew ahead of time that the agency lacked the proper technology to track and reunify children with their parents. ‘Because of these IT deficiencies, we could not confirm the total number of families DHS separated during the Zero Tolerance period,’ the report said." Michael E. Horowitz, the justice department's inspector general, is expected to release a report soon on the origins of the Russia investigation. According to the New York Times: "The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump’s phones tapped. The startling accusation generated headlines but Mr. Trump never backed it up ... [Horowitz] found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page — eavesdropping that Mr. Trump’s allies have long decried as politically motivated. Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report. The draft contained a chart listing numerous mistakes in the process, one of the people said." Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women. According to ProPublica: "In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business. Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance. A third woman, 27 years Sondland’s junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. She says his job help stopped." Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, sent a letter to Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary chairman, declining the offer for the president or his council to participate in upcoming hearings saying "We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings ... More importantly, an invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the President with an semblance of a fair process. Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing."
November 26, 2019 - The justice department has filed an appeal to judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's ruling that Don McGahn, Trump's former White House counsel, must comply with a congressional subpoena. Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "The D.C. Wolves and Fake News Media are reading far too much into people being forced by Courts to testify before Congress. I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President. Other than that, I would actually like people to testify. Don McGahn’s respected lawyer has already stated that I did nothing wrong. John Bolton is a patriot and may know that I held back the money from Ukraine because it is considered a corrupt country, & I wanted to know why nearby European countries weren’t putting up money also. Likewise, I would love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax. It is a Democrat Scam that is going nowhere but, future Presidents should in no way be compromised. What has happened to me should never happen to another President!" Note: European countries have contributed more to Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression than the United States. The House oversight committee has filed a lawsuit to enforce subpoenas against attorney general William Barr and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to uncover information about the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. During a press conference, Mike Pompeo echoed Trump's request for an investigation into baseless claims that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election saying "Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down." Regarding his role in the Ukraine scandal, Pompeo told reporters "I don’t have much to say with respect to the Ukraine investigation." Pompeo added that "We will continue to comply ... so that appropriate oversight can be conducted". This statement came despite the fact that the state department has not yet turned over any documents in connection with a subpoena from the inquiry. Melania Trump spoke at a youth summit in Baltimore that was meant to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic. After she was introduced, there was a mixture of cheering and booing, and many continued talking throughout her 5 minute speech. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, sent a letter to Trump inviting him to participate in a hearing on December 4th. The hearing, which will include a panel of constitutional experts, is being held to explore the meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors". Regarding the letter, Nadler told the press: "At base, the President has a choice to make: he can take this opportunity to be represented in the impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process. I hope that he chooses to participate in the inquiry, directly or through counsel, as other Presidents have done before him." Congress released transcripts of testimony from Mark Sandy, an official in the White House Office of Management and Budget, and from Philip Reeker, a state department official. Sandy had testified that OMB began the process of withholding funds meant for Ukraine on July 25 - the same day as Trump's infamous call with the Ukrainian president. Sandy also testified that he wasn't initially given a reason for the hold on the funds, and was reassigned after he raised concerns that a freeze would violate the Impoundment Control Act. When asked if anyone in the office's legal department resigned due to the administration's freeze of Ukrainian security assistance, Sandy responded "yes", saying there were two people who resigned. One person according to Sandy "expressed to me concerns about actions vis-à-vis the Impoundment Control Act" and the other "expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold". Reeker testified that there was "understanding" among officials that Rudy Giuliani was feeding Trump negative information about Ukraine. Reeker also testified that top state department officials, under the guidance of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, blocked an effort to release a statement of support for former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. According to a report in the New York Times, Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint at the time that he unfroze aid to Ukraine. From the story: "Lawyers from the White House counsel’s office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said. The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump’s thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a 'quid pro quo' with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair. Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing in withholding the aid and in his broader campaign to pressure Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to conduct investigations that could benefit Mr. Trump’s re-election chances."
November 25, 2019 - Donald Trump sent tweets today declaring that support for impeachment is "dropping like a rock" and that it is "down into the 20's in some polls". In reality, support for impeachment has dropped slightly in the last few days, but according to FiveThirtyEight, still hovers just below 50%. News surfaced that the House intelligence committee has come into possession of recordings from Lev Parnas. According to ABC News: "The material submitted to the committee includes audio, video and photos that include Giuliani and Trump. It was unclear what the content depicts and the committees only began accessing the material last week ... Sources tell ABC News the tapes were provided as part of that congressional subpoena issued to Parnas, and the former Giuliani ally also provided a number of documents both in English and Ukrainian to the committee in two separate productions, sources told ABC News. However, some of the material sought by congressional investigators is already in possession of federal investigators within the Southern District of New York and thus held up from being turned over, according to sources familiar with the matter." Reports have surfaced that Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, played a role in trying to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. According to CNN: "The attorney, Joseph A. Bondy, represents Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine. Bondy said that Parnas was told directly by the former Ukrainian official that he met last year in Vienna with Rep. Devin Nunes. ‘Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December,' said Bondy. Shokin was ousted from his position in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including then-vice president Biden, over concerns that Shokin was not pursuing corruption cases. ... Bondy told CNN that his client and Nunes began communicating around the time of the Vienna trip. Parnas says he worked to put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help Nunes dig up dirt on Biden and Democrats in Ukraine, according to Bondy." During an appearance on Fox News, Devin Nunes responded with the following when confronted about the controversy: "Everybody’s going to know all the facts, but I think you can understand, I can’t compete by trying to debate this out with the public media when 90 percent of the media are totally corrupt". Adam Schiff, the chairman of the intelligence committee reacted to the Nunes controversy saying "If he was on a taxpayer-funded [congressional delegation] — and I say ‘if’ — seeking dirt on a potential Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, that will be an ethics matter. That is not before our committee." Donald Trump ordered secretary of defense Mark Esper, to allow Eddie Gallagher to keep his Trident pin, which is a badge denoting his qualifications for the Navy Seal elite force. According to a report in the Washington Post: "A confidential White House review of President Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records. The research by the White House Counsel’s Office, which was triggered by a congressional impeachment inquiry announced in September, includes early August email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for withholding the funds after the president had already ordered a hold in mid-July on the nearly $400 million in security assistance, according to the three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations. One person briefed on the records examination said White House lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president. It’s unclear whether the Mulvaney discussions or other records pose any legal problems for Trump in the impeachment inquiry, but some fear they could pose political problems if revealed publicly." According to a report in the Wall Street Journal: "In recent weeks, prosecutors have sent subpoenas and other requests to potential witnesses seeking records and information related to Mr. Giuliani and two of his associates, according to the people. The investigation, led by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has already led to campaign-finance charges against the associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The subpoenas offer the clearest indication yet that federal prosecutors are examining Mr. Giuliani’s consulting work. Among the entities named in the subpoenas are Giuliani Partners, a security-consulting firm founded by Mr. Giuliani in 2002 that had multiple foreign clients, including a city in Ukraine. The subpoenas also sought information on a company co-founded by Mr. Parnas that paid Mr. Giuliani for business and legal advice. Mr. Giuliani said in an interview that he hadn’t been contacted by prosecutors and has denied wrongdoing. Subpoenas described to The Wall Street Journal listed more than a half dozen potential charges under consideration: obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the Justice Department, donating funds from foreign nationals, making contributions in the name of another person or allowing someone else to use one’s name to make a contribution, along with mail fraud and wire fraud." News reports surfaced that David Pecker, the chairman of America Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, has been meeting with prosecutors to discuss the Trump Organisation's hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. According to a report in the Washington Post regarding the investigation into Rudy Giuliani's consulting business: "As part of the probe, federal prosecutors are examining a raft of other potential crimes, including destruction or alteration of documents, aiding and abetting federal crimes, and foreign nationals contributing to U.S. candidates, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The list of possible crimes under investigation does not mean that those charges will be filed. They do, however, indicate prosecutors are casting a wide net for wrongdoing as they examine the business and legal dealings of the president’s personal lawyer, and two Soviet emigres businessmen who have been assisting Giuliani in the efforts to dig up damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the president’s behalf. ... A spokeswoman for American First Action said the group reached out last month to federal prosecutors in New York, offering to cooperate voluntarily. She said the group has received no subpoenas and follows the law, declining to comment further." Responding to a freedom of information lawsuit by the Center for Public Integrity, an investigative journalism nonprofit, a federal; judge has ordered the release of documents of communications between the Pentagon's comptroller, DOD and White House OMB over the delay in stalled Ukraine aid. December 12 is deadline for 106 pages. Another 100 are due by December 20. Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal judge, has ordered that Don McGahn, and "Any ‘current or former’ senior White House aide subpoenaed by a House committee must at least appear for testimony -- even if they claim privilege while testifying." Jackson also stated in ruling that the Trump administration gets the principles of separation of powers "backwards" and says the Trump administration's absolute immunity argument is "baseless." What follows is a key quote from the decision: "It is a core tenet of this nation’s founding that the powers of a monarch must be split between the branches of the government to prevent tyranny .. Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings. This means that they do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control. Rather, in this land of liberty, it is indisputable that current and former employees of the White House work for the People of the United States, and that they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Moreover, as citizens of the United States, current and former senior-level presidential aides have constitutional rights, including the right to free speech, and they retain these rights even after they have transitioned back into private life." Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor and frequent Trump defender, responded to Jackson's ruling on the Laura Ingraham show saying "she went nuts talking about how the president’s not a king. Of course the President’s not the king. The President’s far more powerful than the king. The President has the power that kings have never had." According to the AP, the Supreme Court has issued a stay on the release of Trump's tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney, giving Trump until December 5th to file a full appeal.
November 24, 2019 - Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, fired Richard Spencer, the US navy secretary, saying he had lost confidence in him. The firing came amid controversy swirling around Spencer's handling of the case of convicted war criminal, Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher. Trump himself has intervened in the case following a Fox News media blitz about the case, and has ordered the navy to restore Gallagher's pay and rank, which will allow Gallagher to retire with a full pension. In a letter of resignation, Spencer wrote that he "cannot in good conscience obey an order he believes "violates the sacred oath" he took and that "Unfortunately it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the commander-in-chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline."
November 22, 2019 - Donald Trump called into Fox & Friends today for a 55-minute interview. Here are some highlights from that call:
- Trump reiterated the conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election
- Called Sondland's testimony "total nonsense"
- Referred to Nancy Pelosi as "crazy as a bedbug"
- Regarding impeachment, Trump stated "I want a trial"
- Complained that former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch took too long to hang his picture in the Ukraine embassy: "She wouldn't hang my picture in the embassy. She is in charge of the embassy. She wouldn't hang it. It look a year-and-a-half, two years to get the picture up. She said bad things about me ... This was not an angel this woman, okay?"
- Said that people praised Yovanovitch because "she's a woman, you have to be nice"
According to the AP, the Trump administration is withholding more than $100 million in US military assistance to Lebanon that has been approved by Congress, and which is overwhelmingly supported by the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. According to a person connected to ambassador Yovanovitch's legal team: "The Embassy in Kyiv hung the official photographs of the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State as soon as they arrived from Washington, DC." According to a story in the New York Times: "The Republican defense of Mr. Trump became central to the impeachment proceedings when Fiona Hill, a respected Russia scholar and former senior White House official, added a harsh critique during testimony on Thursday. She told some of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress that they were repeating ‘a fictional narrative’ — and that it likely came from a disinformation campaign by Russian security services, which themselves propagated it. In a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill’s testimony, American intelligence officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow’s own hacking of the 2016 election, according to three American officials. The briefing came as Republicans stepped up their defenses of Mr. Trump in the Ukraine affair." Joe Biden was asked about news that Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, had requested documents about Joe and Hunter Biden, in what appears to be an attempt to appease Trump and investigate uncorroborated corruption allegations against the two. Biden's response: "I am disappointed, and quite frankly I’m angered, by the fact -- he knows me; he knows my son; he knows there’s nothing to this. Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn’t yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, ‘investigate Biden’ -- there’s nothing to investigate about Biden or his son." According to the New York Times, the book Triggered, Donald Trump Jr's book, moved to the No 1 position on the New York Times bestseller list, after the Republican National Committee spent nearly $100,000 on copies of the book.
November 21, 2019 - Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia on the national security council (NSC), and David Holmes, a state department aide based in Kyiv, testified publicly today for the impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights from their testimony:
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to talk about "Ukrainian election meddling" and the Steele dossier. Nunes also made this statement: "How do we have an impeachable offense here when there’s no actual misdeed and nobody even claiming to be a victim?" Nunes also accused Democrats of having "poisoned the mind of fanatics".
- Hill's opening statement makes a request regarding the narrative being pushed by Trump and some Republicans on the intelligence committee that Ukraine colluded with Democrats in the 2016 election saying in part "Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves. The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified. ... US support for Ukraine – which continues to face armed Russian aggression – has been politicized. The Russian government’s goal is to weaken our country – to diminish America’s global role and to neutralize a perceived US threat to Russian interests. President Putin and the Russian security services aim to counter US foreign policy objectives in Europe, including in Ukraine, where Moscow wishes to reassert political and economic dominance. I say this not as an alarmist, but as a realist. I do not think long-term conflict with Russia is either desirable or inevitable. I continue to believe that we need to seek ways of stabilizing our relationship with Moscow even as we counter their efforts to harm us. Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests. ... The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined."
- Holmes testified that US policy in Ukraine was "overshadowed by a political agenda promoted by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and a cadre of officials with direct access to the White House."
- Holmes described how he was "deeply disappointed to see that none" of the policy priorities were raised in Trump's call with Zelensky, but that Trump had "instead raised the Biden-Burisma investigation and referred to the theory about Crowdstrike."
- Holmes described the phone call between Sondland and Trump which he had overheard, saying in part: "I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the President and explain that he was calling from Kyiv. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelensky, quote, unquote, loves your ass. I then heard President Trump ask, quote, 'So he’s going to do the investigation?' unquote. Ambassador Sondland replied that, 'He’s going to do it,' adding that President Zelensky will quote, 'Do anything you ask him to.'"
- Holmes described the conversation with Sondland that followed the phone call saying "I then took the opportunity to ask Ambassador Sondland for his candid impression of the President’s views on Ukraine. In particular, I asked Ambassador Sondland if it was true that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland agreed that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. I asked why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated, the President only cares about, quote, unquote, big stuff. I noted that there was, quote, unquote, big stuff going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia. And Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant, quote, unquote, big stuff that benefits the President, like the quote, unquote, Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing. The conversation then moved on to other topics."
- Holmes was asked if the call between Trump and Sondland was on "an unsecure cell phone? In the middle of a restaurant in Kyiv? Holmes answered "Yes".
- Hill testified that "it became very clear the White House meeting itself was being predicated on other issues, namely investigations and the questions about the election interference in 2016."
- Holmes described Lutsenko, the prosecutor that Trump had praised in the July 25th phone call saying "He was not a good partner. He had failed to deliver on the promised reforms that he had committed to... he was using his office to insulate and protect political allies while presumably enriching himself."
- Hill was asked if Trump's reference to Crowdstrike in the July 25th call was part of the conspiracy theory Hill referenced in her opening statement. Hill responded "Yes". Hill was then asked "Does that mean Trump ignored senior officials who told him that Crowdstrike was a conspiracy theory and listened to Giuliani instead?" to which Hill responded "That appears to be the case, yes".
- Hill testified that when Bolton referred to Giuliani as a hand grenade, he meant "that Mr Giuliani was pushing views that would probably come back to haunt us, and that’s where we are today."
- Holmes testified that in the spring, anyone everyone involved in Ukraine matters understood that "Burisma" meant "Biden".
- Hill testified about Bolton's instruction that she go to NSC lawyer Jon Eisenberg to "tell Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal that Mulvaney and Sondland were cooking up" after Sondland brought up "an agreement that there will be a meeting if specific investigations are put under way" during a July 10 meeting.
- Holmes testified that the new Ukrainian president saw a White House meeting with President Trump as critical in order to send a message of US support to Russian President Putin.
- Hill testified that the smear campaign against Yovanovitch "was completely unnecessary".
- Hill testified that Sondland "was being involved in a domestic political errand, and we were involved in foreign policy, and the two had diverged. I did say to him, Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up and here we are."
In his closing remarks, Schiff said in part: "In my mind, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes they are above the law. We are better than that. Adjourned."
Trump sent the following tweet regarding Holmes' testimony: "I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!" Nancy Pelosi held a press conference where she addressed charges from Republicans that the impeachment inquiry is not bipartisan. Her response: "Republicans are in denial about the facts. if they don't want to honor their oath of office, I don't think we should be characterized as partisan." According to Politico: "A group of Republican senators met Thursday morning with White House counsel Pat Cipollone, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss impeachment strategy. Two attendees said that the White House wants the Senate to hold a trial of some length and not immediately dismiss any articles of impeachment with the GOP’s majority, as some Republicans have suggested. The White House and Trump’s GOP allies decided instead 'they want some kind of factual affirmative defense on the merits,' said one attendee."
November 20, 2019 - Gordon Sondland, the hotelier who donated $1m to make Trump's inauguration "beautiful", and who was subsequently made ambassador to the European Union, and who is known in some circles as one of the "three amigos", testified publicly today in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights from that hearing:
- In his opening statement, Devin Nunes told Ambassador Sondland, "You are here today to be smeared. But you'll make it through it."
- Devin Nunes announced that the Republicans are making a formal request to subpoena Hunter Biden and the whistleblower.
- From Sondland's opening statement: "Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States. We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders ... Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President ... These emails show that the leadership of State, NSC, and the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 23, 2019, until the security aid was released on September 11, 2019. I will quote from some of those messages with you shortly ... We kept the leadership of the State Department and the NSC informed of our activities. That included communications with Secretary of State Pompeo, his Counselor Ulrich Brechbuehl, and Executive Secretary Lisa Kenna within the State Department; and communications with Ambassador John Bolton, Dr. Fiona Hill, Mr. Timothy Morrison, and their staff at the NSC. They knew what we were doing and why. It was no secret ... Members of this Committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes ... While I cannot remember the precise details -- again, the White House has not allowed me to see any readouts of that call -- the July 26 call did not strike me as significant at the time. Actually, I would have been more surprised if President Trump had not mentioned investigations, particularly given what we were hearing from Mr. Giuliani about the President’s 14 concerns. However, I have no recollection of discussing Vice President Biden or his son on that call or after the call ended ... In response to our persistent efforts to change his views, President Trump directed us to 'talk with Rudy.' We understood that 'talk with Rudy' meant talk with Mr. Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer. Let me say again: We weren’t happy with the President’s directive to talk with Rudy. We did not want to involve Mr. Giuliani. I believed then, as I do now, that the men and women of the State Department, not the President’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for Ukraine matters. Nonetheless, based on the President’s direction, we were faced with a choice: We could abandon the efforts to schedule the White House phone call and White House visit between Presidents Trump and Zelensky, which was unquestionably in our foreign policy interest -- or we could do as President Trump had directed and 'talk with Rudy.' We chose the latter course, not because we liked it, but because it was the only constructive path open to us."
- Sondland described a phone call in which he asked Trump "what do you want from Ukraine ... what do you want?" Sondland continued "It was a very short abrupt conversation, he was not in a good mood. He said I want nothing, I want nothing, there’s no quid pro quo. Tell Zelenskiy to do the right thing."
- Sondland described the quid pro quo saying "He had to announce the investigations, he didn’t actually have to do them, as I understood it ... Through Mr Giuliani, we were led to believe that that’s what he wanted... when the president says talk to my personal lawyer, we followed his direction."
- Sondland reiterates that an announcement of investigations was more important than actual investigations saying "The only thing I heard ... was that they had to be announced in some form, and that form kept changing ... the way it was expressed to me was that the Ukrainians had a long history of committing to things privately and then never following through."
- Sondland confirms that during a phone call with Trump at a Kyiv restaurant, he told Trump that Zelenskiy "loves your ass, he'll do whatever you want ... That sounds like something I would say. That’s how Trump and I communicate. A lot of four-letter words. In this case three letters."
- Sondland admits that he probably did tell David Holmes that Trump "doesn't give a shit about Ukraine".
- Sondland explains that by September 8 "It was abundantly clear to everyone that there was a link" between military aid and an announcement of investigations.
- Sondland pointed out that "it's gotta be Zelenskiy" who makes the investigations announcement.
- Sondland stated that "The president should not investigate a political rival in return for a quid pro quo".
- Sondland responds to the question "Who would benefit from an investigation of the president's political opponent"" with "I assume president Trump would benefit."
- In his closing remarks, Devin Nunes said that "Once again the Democrats have seen the preposterous failure of their conspiracy theory".
- In his closing remarks, Adam Schiff called Sondland's testimony "a seminal moment in our investigation". Schiff then quoted the following passages from Sondland's opening statement:
"We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders."
"Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President."
"I tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended, but I never received a clear answer. In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr. Giuliani had demanded. I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo regarding the security aid with Senator Ron Johnson. And I also shared my concerns with the Ukrainians."
- Adam Schiff then closed with "So much for the Ukrainians didn’t know. You testified today, ambassador, the Ukrainians knew". Schiff also stated: "Getting caught is no defense—not to a violation of the Constitution, or to a violation of his oath of office. And it certainly doesn't give us reason to ignore our own oath of office. We are adjourned."
Some select responses to Sondland's testimony:
"I am old enough to remember Lindsey Graham saying that if there were a quid pro quo in the Ukraine affair, that would be troubling" - Preet Bharara
"Sondland’s testimony is an absolute wrecking ball for the president and his allies." - Evan McMullin
"he's just marched through the statutory elements of bribery. if that testimony was true, Trump has committed an impeachable offense. QED." - Harry Litman
"It’s hard to overhype how extraordinary Sondland’s testimony is. Every American needs to take 15 minutes today to watch or read it. He lays out the corruption scheme in clear, easy to understand detail. It was a clear quid pro quo, and the President directed it." - Chris Murphy
"Can’t wait for the “Sondland is a Never Trumper” tweet." - George Conway
"Watching Fox News coverage of impeachment hearing. Ken Starr: Trump will be impeached; this was a bombshell. Chris Wallace: Sondland 'took out the bus and ran over' Pence, Pompeo, et al. This is bad for the president." - Anthony Zurcher
"This is a very effective line of Schiff questioning—establishing from Sondland the performance of an official act by the president in exchange for a thing of value. That’s the ballgame, right there." - Benjamin Wittes
"Like Volker, Sondland improbably says he didn’t realIze that Burisma equals Biden. Did they not have the least bit of curiosity about why this particular company was of such interest to @realDonaldTrump? This does not pass the smell test." - David Axelrod
"Let’s be clear: the reason they wanted a public announcement was so that the Trump campaign could put it in an ad." - Dan Baer
"Some of the people who assumed that Trump's words and actions meant conditionality: Mulvaney, Sondland, Volker, Kent, Vindman, Homes, Bolton, Hill, Morrison, Williams, and the Ukrainian government. But the GOP argument is that all those people were mistaken." - Susan Hennessey
"Oh the president denied a quid pro quo while doing a quid pro quo? Case closed, I guess!" - Chris Hayes
"It’s a big conspiracy with lots of actors carrying out different parts. Not everyone knew the same thing at the same time or same details. But you add it all up with Trump’s own words & it’s clear that meeting & aid were withheld to try & get announcement of investigations." - Mimi Rocah
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump made the following statement regarding Gordon Sondland: "I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much. This is not a man I know well. He seems like a nice guy though." Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and David Hale, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, both testified today. Cooper was one of several Pentagon officials who warned the White House that withholdoing Congressionally appropriated aid for an extended time could violate the Impoundment Control Act which prevents the executive branch from unilaterally deciding on such holds. Here are some highlights from Cooper's and Hale's testimony:
- Cooper read from an email dated July 25, in which the Ukrainians were asking about the security assistance. This testimony counters the common argument from the GOP that no bribery or quid pro quo could have occurred because the Ukrainians were unaware that aid was being withheld until long after the July 25 call.
- Hale reiterated that it was "wrong" to dismiss Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
- Hale said he has seen no evidence that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, and that the US intelligence community has firmly concluded that Russia did interfere.
November 19, 2019 - The House intelligence committee heard public testimony from the following people today: Lt Col Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Kurt Volker, Trump's former envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, the former top Russia expert on the national security council. Vindman, who is a Purple Heart recipient, has been the subject of a smear campaign by the right. According to the Washington Post: "Since he emerged as a witness last month, Trump and his allies have denounced Vindman. The president called him a ‘Never Trumper witness,’ and on Fox News, Laura Ingraham described Vindman as ‘a U.S. national security official . . . working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interests.’ The attacks picked up again on the eve of his testimony. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested in a letter released Monday that Vindman fits the profile of ‘a significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch [who] have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and . . . react by leaking to the press and participating in the ongoing effort to sabotage his policies and, if possible, remove him from office.’ Vindman’s lawyer, Michael Volkov, called Johnson’s assertion ‘such a baseless accusation, so ridiculous on its face, that it doesn’t even warrant a response." Williams, who Trump has also called a "never Trumper", listened in on the July phone conversation, and found the president's request "unusual and inappropriate." Here are some highlights from the today's public hearing with Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams:
- Adam Schiff opened the hearing with the following descriptions of the witnesses: "Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, whose family fled oppression in the Soviet Union when he was a toddler, is a career Army officer, an Iraq War veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart, and an expert in Russia and Ukraine who has worked at the highest levels of the Pentagon ... Jennifer Williams is a career Foreign Service Officer who is currently detailed to the Office of the Vice-President and responsible for Europe and Eurasia issues."
- Schiff also addressed the attacks on the two witnesses saying "Ms. Williams, we all saw the President’s tweet about you on Sunday afternoon and the insults he hurled at Ambassador Yovanovich last Friday ... Col. Vindman, we have seen far more scurrilous attacks on your character, and watched as certain personalities on Fox have questioned your loyalty. I note that you have shed blood for America, and we owe you an immense debt of gratitude. Today’s witnesses, like those who testified last week, are here because they were subpoenaed to appear, not because they are for or against impeachment. That question is for Congress, not the fact witnesses."
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to attack the media for allegedly spreading false reports about Trump and his aides. Some of the headlines Nunes cites were not false, others were things that were investigated and later found to be false.
- In her opening statement, Jennifer Williams discussed the July call between Trump and Zelensky saying "On July 25th, along with several of my colleagues, I listened to a call between President Trump and President Zelensky—the content of which has since been publicly reported. During my closed-door deposition, Members of the Committee asked about my personal views and whether I had any concerns about the July 25th call. As I testified then, I found the July 25th phone call unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter." Williams also addressed how she learned in early July about the freeze on Ukraine's military assistance, and of being told that White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had directed that the freeze stay in place, despite representatives of the State and Defense Departments advocating for the freeze to be lifted.
- In his opening statement, Alexander Vindman described his reaction to the July 25th call saying "I was concerned by the call, what I heard was improper, and I reported my concerns to Mr. Eisenberg [White House lawyer]. It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent." Vindman also addressed the potential impact on US-Ukrainian relations saying "It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play. This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region." Vindman also addressed the attacks on him and others who are testifying saying "I want to state that the vile character attacks on these distinguished and honorable public servants is reprehensible. It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate, this has been our custom since the time of our Founding Fathers, but we are better than callow and cowardly attacks." Vindman also spoke of the unofficial efforts to shape US-Ukrainian policy saying "In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of two disruptive actors–-primarily Ukraine’s then-Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney— promoting false information that undermined the United States’ Ukraine policy ... The NSC and its inter-agency partners, including the State Department, grew increasingly concerned about the impact that such information was having on our country’s ability to achieve our national security objectives."
- At one point in the questioning, Devin Nunes referred to Alexander Vindman as "Mr Vindman" to which Vindman responded "Ranking member, it’s Lt Col Vindman, please".
- Vindman told Adam Schiff that there was no ambiguity in his mind that Trump made a "demand" to Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
- Republican representative Chris Stewart confronted Vindman for correcting Devin Nunes saying "You always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?" to which Vindman responded that it would be appropriate given that he is dressed in full military uniform, which active duty service members are required to do when appearing before congress, and because he has been the subject of attacks meant to "marginalize" his service.
- Republicans pointed out in questioning that Tim Morrison, Vindman's former boss, testified in his deposition that he had concerns about Vindman's judgment, to which Vindman responded that Fiona Hill had given him a glowing performance review in which she praised his "brilliant" and "unflappable" demeanor.
- Republicans asked Vindman about a job offer he had received from a Ukrainian official, which Vindman described as "comical". The line of questioning appeared to be in line with attacks on Vindman which claimed he had a dual loyalty with Ukraine. Oleksander Danylyuk, the former chairman of the national security and defense council in Ukraine, stated that the job offer was "clearly a joke."
- Vindman described the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election as a "Russian narrative that President Putin has promoted."
- In his closing statement, Devin Nunes declared that "Act one of today's circus is over."
- In his closing statement, Adam Schiff declared that the witnesses contradicted Republican claims that the president mentioned investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election because he cared about Ukrainian corruption.
Following the testimony of Vindman and Williams, Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary released a statement that said in part "We have learned nothing new in today’s illegitimate ‘impeachment’ proceedings. However, buried among the witnesses’ personal opinions and conjecture about a call the White House long ago released to the public, both witnesses testified the July 25 transcript was ‘accurate’ and nothing President Trump has done or said amounts to ‘bribery’ or any other crime." Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison, the second group of witnesses to testify today were requested by the Republican minority. What follows are highlights of their testimony:
- Devin Nunes used his opening statement to claim that Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry "solely because they despise" Trump and because they are "afraid he will win reelection next year."
- In his opening statement, Tim Morrison said "I feared at the time of the call on July 25 how its disclosure would play in Washington's political climate. My fears have been realized."
- In his opening statement, Kurt Volker described the narrative he observed in Ukraine vs the one provided to Trump by Rudy Giuliani saying "The problem was that despite the unanimous, positive assessment and recommendations of those of us who were part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation that attended the inauguration of President Zelenskyy, President Trump was receiving a different, negative narrative about Ukraine and President Zelenskyy .. That negative narrative was fueled by accusations from Ukraine’s then-Prosecutor General and conveyed to the President by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani." Volker also said he did not initially know that Burisma was connected to an investigation of Joe Biden and his son saying "In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, ‘Burisma,’ as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden."
- Volker said he found the allegations against Joe Biden "self-serving and not credible". After Adam Schiff asked Volker "Why was it that you found the allegations against Joe Biden related to his son and Burisma not to believed?" Volker responded "Simply because I’ve known former vice-president Biden for a long time and I know how he respect the duties of his higher office."
- Volker testified that Trump's views on Ukraine are "chronically negative" and that Trump told him Ukraine is filled with "terrible people" and had also said that Ukraine "tried to take me down" in 2016. Volker said he tried to persuade Trump that the new president was different, but Trump told him "That's not what I hear about Ukraine. I hear nothing has changed. Talk to Rudy."
- Volker testified that holding up aid to Ukraine was a "bad decision" which weakened the US's position with Russia.
- Volker referred to the moment at a July 10 meeting when Gordon Sondland brought up investigations as "inappropriate" and called it an "eye roll" moment.
- In his closing remarks, Devin Nunes attacked the impeachment investigation saying "Today we are witnesses the Ukraine hoax … the plot is hard to follow and the evidence shifts from day to day".
- In his closing remarks, Adam Schiff said "Why should Americans care about Ukraine? They will need to ask themselves – are we prepared to accept that a president of the United States can leverage official acts, military assistance, White House meetings, to get an investigation of a political rival? I don’t think we want to go there."
November 18, 2019 - Donald Trump responded to Nancy Pelosi's invitation to testify in a tweet saying "Our Crazy, Do Nothing (where’s USMCA, infrastructure, lower drug pricing & much more?) Speaker of the House, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, who is petrified by her Radical Left knowing she will soon be gone (they & Fake News Media are her BOSS), suggested on Sunday’s DEFACE THE NATION that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!" Critics were quick to point out that Trump also said he would be willing to answer questions from Robert Mueller, but then refused to sit down for an interview. Trump did eventually answer some written questions from Mueller's team, but Mueller stated in his report that he found those written answers to be incomplete or imprecise. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, kept senior administration officials aware of the pressure campaign on Ukraine to open investigations. From the story: "Several witnesses have testified to impeachment investigators that they were alarmed by what they perceived as dual channels of U.S. policy on Ukraine—one traditional, and the other led by Mr. Sondland and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, which focused on the president’s push for certain investigations. Mr. Sondland kept several top officials—including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Energy Secretary Rick Perry—apprised of that push, according to the emails reviewed by the Journal, in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart that spurred a whistleblower complaint and, ultimately, the impeachment probe." NBC news is reporting that Trump is upset with secretary of state Mike Pompeo saying "Trump has fumed for weeks that Pompeo is responsible for hiring State Department officials whose congressional testimony threatens to bring down his presidency, the officials said. The president confronted Pompeo about the officials — and what he believed was a lackluster effort by the secretary of state to block their testimony — during lunch at the White House on Oct. 29, those familiar with the matter said. Inside the White House, the view was that Trump ‘just felt like, ‘rein your people in,’ a senior administration official said. Trump particularly blames Pompeo for tapping Ambassador Bill Taylor in June to be the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, the current and former senior administration officials said." According to the AP, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky felt pressure prior to the July phone call that triggered the impeachment inquiry. According to the story "In early May, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were briefed on a meeting Zelenskiy held in which he sought advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in, according to two people with knowledge of the briefings. He was concerned that Trump and associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential race, the people said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic and political sensitivity of the issue. The briefings show that U.S. officials knew early that Zelenskiy was feeling pressure to investigate Biden, even though the Ukrainian leader later denied it in a joint news conference with Trump in September." An ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 70% of Americans believe Trump's pressure campaign on Ukraine to investigate his political rival was wrong. The poll also found that 51% of Americans think Trump should be impeached. The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the House subpoena demanding access to Trump's financial records. News surfaced that an IRS whistleblower reported that a Trump political appointee may have interfered with a routine audit of Trump's and Pence's tax returns. According to the Washington Post "The whistleblower, a career IRS official, initially filed a complaint in July, reporting that he was told that at least one Treasury political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president’s or vice president’s tax returns. In recent weeks, the whistleblower filed additional documentation related to the original complaint, which was given to congressional officials in July, [two people familiar with the matter] said." Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to her fellow Democrats which responds to the many attacks coming from Republicans saying in part "The facts are uncontested: that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests. There are also some who say that no serious wrongdoing was committed, because the military assistance to Ukraine was eventually released. The fact is, the aid was only released after the whistleblower exposed the truth of the President’s extortion and bribery, and the House launched a formal investigation." Pelosi's letter also states that "The weak response to these hearings has been, ‘Let the election decide’. That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections." Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, announced a significant policy shift regarding Israel's West Bank settlements saying the US does not consider them to be a violation of international law. According to the New York Times: "The United States has in the past described the settlements as illegitimate, and Palestinians have demanded the land for a future state, a goal that has been backed by the international community. But President Trump has been persistent in changing United States policy on Israel and the Palestinian territories — moves aimed at boosting political support for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who has failed to form a government after two rounds of elections with razor-close outcomes."
November 17, 2019 - While appearing on Face the Nation, Nancy Pelosi invited Donald Trump to testify in the impeachment inquiry saying "If he has information that is exculpatory, that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame, then we look forward to seeing it". Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, echoed Pelosi's suggestion saying "If Donald Trump doesn’t agree with what he’s hearing, doesn’t like what he’s hearing, he shouldn’t tweet. He should come to the committee and testify under oath. And he should allow all those around him to come to the committee and testify under oath."
November 15, 2019 - Roger Stone, a former Trump associate who served as an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, has been found guilty on seven separate charges, including tampering with witnesses, obstruction, and lying to the House committee currently holding impeachment hearings. Donald Trump responded to the news with the following tweet: "So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie? A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?" Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, testified today in the second public hearing of the House impeachment inquiry. Yovanovitch, who was the victim of a smear campaign by Rudy Giuliani, was recalled from her position in May, despite being told by deputy secretary of state John Sullivan that she had "done nothing wrong". When Yovanovitch testified on October 11th, she told investigators she was removed from her post in Kyiv because of "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives." According to various news outlets, Giuliani was dissatisfied that Yovanovitch was becoming a barrier in his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump's political rivals. The Republicans on the committee posted three large signs, with messages on them, behind their seats, which were visible to the audience. Here's what each sign said:
"I have never seen a direct relationship between investigations and security assistance" - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko November 11, 2019
"95 DAYS SINCE ADAM SCHIFF LEARNED THE IDENTITY OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER"
"I'm Concerned If We Don't Impeach This President, He Will Get Re-Elected" - Rep. Al Green May 4, 2019
Prior to the impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "The Impeachment Witch Hunt should be over with the statement made last night by the President and Foreign Minister of Ukraine. Nervous Nancy Pelosi, who should be home cleaning up the dangerous & disgusting Slum she is making of her District in San Francisco, where even the filth pouring into the Pacific Ocean is rapidly becoming an environmental hazard, is getting NOTHING DONE. She is a Do Nothing Democrat as Speaker, and will hopefully not be in that position very long. Approve USMCA, which has been sitting on her desk for months!" Also prior to the hearing, the White House released a transcript of Trump's first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which consisted of Trump offering his congratulations to the newly elected president, and promising to send a US representative to his inauguration. Here are some highlights from the hearing:
Adam Schiff opened the hearing by thanking Marie Yovanovitch as an "anti-corruption champion whose tour in Kyiv was viewed as very successful." Schiff noted that "In her time in Kyiv, Ambassador Yovanovitch was tough on corruption, too tough on corruption for some, and her principled stance made her enemies. “As George Kent told this committee on Wednesday, ‘you can’t promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people.' Getting rid of Ambassador Yovanovitch helped set stage for an irregular channel that could pursue the two investigations that mattered so much to the President, the 2016 conspiracy theory, and most important, an investigation into the 2020 political opponent he apparently feared most, Joe Biden."
Yovanovitch said she was "shocked" and "devastated" when she read the White House memo of Trump's call with the Ukrainian president, and said that "a person who saw me actually reading the transcript said the color drained from my face." When asked about Trump's statement in the memo that she was "going to go through some things" Yovanovitch said that it "felt like a vague threat." Yovanovitch described a "crisis" in the state department, which is currently being led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying "the policy process is visibly unraveling, leadership vacancies go unfilled, and senior and midlevel officers ponder an uncertain future and head for the doors". She also stated that "the state department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats."
During the hearing, Trump sent the following tweet: "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors."
Adam Schiff read Trump's tweet to Yovanovitch, who responded "I don't think I have such powers." She then explained that she and her fellow diplomats had "demonstrably made things better, both for the US and for the countries I've served in." Schiff then asked Yovanovitch if she thought the tweet was meant to intimidate her, to which she responded "I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating."
Eric Swalwell, a Democratic member of the House intelligence committee, declared that Trump's attack on Marie Yovanovitch "will be considered" for one of the articles of impeachment."
In what was labeled a "pure, disingenuous stunt", Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the Republicans on the impeachment panel, attempted to violate the House resolution outlining the procedures in the impeachment inquiry by trying to yield to representative Elise Stefanik, the only Republican woman on the panel. According to the resolution, only the ranking member or the minority counsel may speak for the initial 45 minutes of questioning. The Republicans, who are aware of the rule, pretended to be shocked when Adam Schiff called them out, and then the Republicans accused Schiff of trying to prevent a woman from speaking. The specific line in the resolution is as follows: "As specified in H. Res. 660, the Chair and Ranking Member may not yield time to other Members during these extended question periods, though either may yield time to Majority and Minority Committee Counsels, respectively."
During questioning from Democratic representative Terri Sewell, Yovanovitch claimed the smear campaign against her has had a "chilling effect not only on the embassy in Kyiv but throughout the state department." Yovanovitch also questioned why the smear campaign was necessary saying "There’s a question as to why the kind of campaign to get me out of Ukraine happened because all the president has to do is say he wants a different ambassador. In my line of work ... all we have is our reputation, and so this has been a very painful period."
At the conclusion of Yovanovitch's testimony, many of those in the public seating area stood and applauded.
Trump was asked if the tweet he sent smearing the reputation of Marie Yovanovitch amounted to witness intimidation to which Trump responded: "I don’t think so at all. I have the right to speak; I have freedom of speech, just like other people do." Trump then went on to call the impeachment inquiry "a disgrace" and "an embarrassment to our nation." He then went on a rant about witness intimidation saying "Tampering is when a guy like shifty Schiff doesn’t let us have lawyers", apparently referring to a longstanding congressional procedure not to allow agency lawyers to be present for staffers' depositions.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal "Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Rudy Giuliani stood to personally profit from a Ukrainian natural-gas business pushed by two associates who also aided his efforts there to launch investigations that could benefit President Trump, people familiar with the matter said." Those associates are Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. If prosecutors find that Giuliani did attempt to personally profit off Ukrainian energy interests, it would be particularly ironic, given Giuliani's claims that Hunter Biden's involvement with an energy company was indicative of corruption.
November 14, 2019 - Following the public impeachment inquiry hearings yesterday featuring Bill Taylor and George Kent, Republicans are making the argument that neither of the diplomats ever spoke to Trump, or listened in on the call with the Ukrainian president. Kellyanne Conway, one of Trump's advisers, referred to the two diplomats as "a bunch of gossip girls" during an appearance on Fox and Friends. Trump responded to the hearings with the following tweet: ".@RepRatcliffe asked the two 'star' witnesses, 'where is the impeachable event in that call?' Both stared straight ahead with a blank look on their face, remained silent, & were unable to answer the question. That would be the end of a case run by normal people! - but not Shifty!" Critics responded to Trump's tweet by pointing out that Taylor and Kent are "fact witnesses" who are testifying to the things they saw, and that the ultimate question of impeachment is for lawmakers to wrestle with. A joint statement has been issued by the leaders of the congressional progressive caucus, the congressional black caucus, the congressional Hispanic caucus and the congressional Asian Pacific American caucus demanding the resignation of Stephen Miller, a top adviser to Trump, after emails from 2015 and 2016 became public in which Miller was peddling white nationalist material to the far-right website Breitbart. The statement reads in part "We feel like it is up to us to point out the obvious — someone who writes, talks, and governs like a white nationalist is in fact a white nationalist ... As leaders in the Democratic Caucus, representing diverse constituencies who have been targeted by Stephen Miller’s hateful beliefs, we call for his resignation without delay." During a news conference, Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of bribery, saying "The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That’s bribery." Pelosi also compared Trump's actions to Richard Nixon's saying "The cover-up makes what Nixon did look almost small". Nixon, who resigned in 1974, attempted to cover up the fact that five men connected to his reelection campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Pelosi also took a swipe at Trump's intelligence saying "If the president has something that is exculpatory -- Mr. President, that means you have anything that shows your innocence -- then he should make that known." News surfaced that a second staffer from the US embassy in Ukraine overheard Trump's phone call with Gordon Sondland where Trump was asking about "the investigations" in Ukraine. That second staffer is Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. According to the AP "The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry." Matt Bevin, the Republican governor of Kentucky, has finally conceded to Democrat Andy Beshear, after losing by only 5,000 votes in a state that Trump won by 30 points in 2016. Donald Trump made the following announcement today via twitter: "In order to continue being the most Transparent President in history, I will be releasing sometime this week the Transcript of the first, and therefore most important, phone call I had with the President of Ukraine. I am sure you will find it tantalizing!" News surfaced that Rudy Giuliani is being investigated for possible finance violations and failure to register as a foreign agent. According to Bloomberg: "The probe of Giuliani, which one official said could also include possible charges on violating laws against bribing foreign officials or conspiracy, presents a serious threat to Trump’s presidency from a man that former national security adviser John Bolton has called a 'hand grenade.'"
November 13, 2019 - Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters that broke the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, made the following assessment in an email to CNN: "Trump has demonstrated remarkable support, especially given the unprecedented nature of his words and actions and attitude as President. The impeachment push by Dems -- given this dynamic of Cold Civil War could conceivably backfire". The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry were held today, with testimony from Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian Affairs. Here are some highlights from the hearing:
- During his opening statement, Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee chair, made the following remarks "The facts in the present inquiry are not seriously contested. Beginning in January of this year, the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, pressed Ukrainian authorities to investigate Burisma, the country’s largest natural gas producer, and the Bidens, since Vice President Joe Biden was seen as a strong potential challenger to Trump." Schiff also addressed one of the GOP's main arguments, which is that there was no pressure campaign on Ukraine because the country's military aid was eventually released. To this argument Schiff said "A scheme to condition official acts or taxpayer funding to obtain a personal political benefit does not become less odious because it is discovered before it is fully consummated".
- During his opening statement, Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, attacked what he called a "horrifically one-sided process." Nunes also decried what he called a "scorched-earth war" against Trump, and accused Democrats of pursuing a "carefully orchestrated media smear campaign."
- Republicans on the committee called on Adam Schiff to subpoena the whistleblower, despite the presence of two witnesses with first-hand accounts sitting right in front of them. Schiff responded that he was committed to protecting the whistleblower's anonymity.
- During his opening remarks, George Kent explained that he was "alarmed" by efforts to oust former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and by efforts to get the Ukrainians to announce investigations into the Bidens, and into the 2016 election.
- During his opening remarks, Bill Taylor told investigators about a phone call between Ambassador Sondland and President Trump that he was not aware of when he initially testified. As relayed by Taylor "a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on July 26. While Ambassador Volker and I visited the front, this member of my staff accompanied Ambassador Sondland. Ambassador Sondland met with Mr. Yermak. Following the meeting, in the presence of my staff at a restaurant, Ambassador Sondland called President Trump and told him of his meetings in Kyiv. The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about 'the investigations.' Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward. Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for." This testimony contradicts earlier testimony from Sondland who told investigators that Trump didn't mention anything about investigations or Bidens during his phone call that preceded his meeting with Zelensky. Taylor also told investigators that a number of senior administration officials , including CIA director Gina Haspel, tried to convince Trump to lift the freeze on Ukrainian military aid. From Taylor's statement "My understanding was that the Secretaries of Defense and State, the CIA Director, and the National Security Adviser sought a joint meeting with the President to convince him to release the hold". Taylor also said that "Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling Ukrainian officials that only a White House meeting with President Zelenskyy was dependent on a public announcement of investigations—in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance." During Bill Taylor's testimony, the White House twitter account shared a video of Trump calling the impeachment inquiry the "single greatest scam in the history of American politics."
Here are some responses to Bill Taylor's testimony by a few political commentators:
"Some very damaging new testimony that Sondland said on 7/26 Trump cares more about investigating the Bidens than about Ukraine. Will need to be corroborated and surely will be." - Preet Bharara
"And there it is: Taylor testifies that Sondland told him that Trump was withholding aid until Zelensky made it clear that he would meet the President's demands for dirt on the Bidens. Honestly, seeing it laid out like this, it's horrifying." - Elizabeth C. McLaughlin
"BOOM. Taylor testifies that when Sondland was asked what Trump thought of Ukraine, 'Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden.' Here's the motive. Trump only saw Ukraine policy as a means to get the political dirt he wanted!" - David Corn
"This is huge -- new evidence tied directly to President Trump. A day after phone call with Zelensky, Trump calls his ambassador/accomplice in Kyiv and makes explicit reference to the 'investigations' he was demanding from Ukraine." - Greg Miller
Critics noted that the Republicans on the House intelligence committee used most of their questioning time not to counter the testimony of Bill Taylor and George Kent, but instead to push the baseless conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, which runs counter to the US intelligence community conclusion that Russia interfered in the election. One particularly funny exchange occurred when Republican Representative John Ratcliffe asked Taylor if he believed anything impeachable had occurred, to which Taylor replied "I'm not here to do anything having to do with, to decide about impeachment. That is not what either of us are here to do. This is your job." Another humorous comment occurred after Republican representative Jim Jordan complained that Congress would not be able to question the whistleblower, or as Jordan put it, the one "who started it all", to which Democratic representative Peter Welch responded "I'd be glad to have the person who started it all to come in and testify. President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there." Democrats chuckled at the comment, Republicans did not. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, sent the following in a tweet: "Rep Turner rightly points out that the first 2 'star' witnesses in this impeachment sham have never even spoken to @POTUS. Think about that: in a Presidential impeachment hearing, the dems witnesses have never even spoken w President Trump. This country deserves so much better." Chris Hayes, a political commentator, responded to Grisham with this: "There are lots of people who *have* spoken to Trump that could testify: Mulvaney, Bolton, but the White House has ordered them not to."
Following the hearings today, these were the headlines of some select major newspapers:
"Impeachment Testimony: ‘Trump Cares More About the Investigations of Biden." - New York Times
"New testimony ties Trump more directly to Ukraine pressure." - Washington Post
"Envoy Reveals New Call in Impeachment Testimony as GOP Defends Trump." - Wall Street Journal
Trump held a joint news conference with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the news conference, Trump contradicted his administration's stated policy of leaving troops in Syria to "fight terrorism", saying the continued military presence is "only for the oil"." Critics pointed out that seizing or benefiting from oil on a foreign territory, without permission from the sovereign authority, would be a violation of international law. Trump was asked during the news conference about the phone call described by Bill Taylor, to which Trump responded that he does not remember that call "not at all, not even a little bit." Regarding the inquiry, Trump had this to say "This is a sham and shouldn’t be allowed. It was a situation that was caused by people that shouldn’t have allowed it to happen. I want to find out who was the whistleblower because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including my call with the president of Ukraine, which was a perfect call and highly appropriate." A federal appeals court ruled today that House Democrats can have access to 8 years of Trump's tax returns. Trump's lawyers plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
November 12, 2019 - According to a memo obtained by Axios, Republicans plan to make the following four points during public impeachment hearings:
1. The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure
2. President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call
3. The Ukrainian government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call
4. President Trump met with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019 — both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating President Trump’s political rivals
Regarding the Republican strategy memo, critics were quick to point out that several senior officials within the Trump administration have testified to the existence of a months-long pressure campaign on Ukraine. Democrats released a memo which responds to the four arguments put forth by Republicans to excuse Trump's behavior. According to their memo:
1. The July 25 call does show evidence of conditionality and pressure.
2. Ukraine did know about the hold on assistance, based on testimonies from Defense Department official Laura Cooper and State Department official Katherine Croft.
3. Security assistance only came after Congress intervened, and Ukraine’s president publicly said on September 25th that Trump had not set a date for a White House visit.
According to the Washington Post, White House infighting is intensifying as Trump's advisers argue about how to push back against the impeachment inquiry. From the story: "Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has urged aides not to comply with the inquiry and blocked any cooperation with congressional Democrats. Top political aides at the Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney once led, have fallen in line with his defiant stance, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the behind-the-scenes developments. Mulvaney’s office blames White House counsel Pat Cipollone for not doing more to stop other government officials from participating in the impeachment inquiry, as a number of State Department officials, diplomats and an aide to Vice President Pence have given sworn testimony to Congress. Cipollone, meanwhile, has fumed that Mulvaney only made matters worse with his Oct. 17 news conference, when he publicly acknowledged a quid pro quo, essentially confirming Democrats’ accusations in front of television cameras and reporters." The Supreme Court will hold a hearing today regarding Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Regarding DACA, Trump sent the following tweet: "Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from 'angels.' Some are very tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!" Jim Sciutto, a CNN anchor, sent the following tweet in response to Trump's: "False. 'Under current policy, an individual may be considered for DACA if he or she has not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more 'non-significant' misdemeanors..or does not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.' -USCIS". The Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer Remington Arms, can go forward. The lawsuit was brought by a survivor and relatives of nine victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. From the AP: "The lawsuit says the Madison, North Carolina-based company should never have sold a weapon as dangerous as the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle to the public. Gunman Adam Lanza used it to kill 20 first graders and six educators. It also alleges Remington targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. Lanza was 20 years old." Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN ambassador, defended Trump's truthfulness during a Today Show interview saying "In every instance that I dealt with him, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with". According to NBC News, John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, told a group of people during a speech last week that he believed Trump's Turkey policy was motivated by personal or financial interests. From the story: "Bolton told the gathering of Morgan Stanley’s largest hedge fund clients that he was most frustrated with Trump over his handling of Turkey, people who were present said. Noting the broad bipartisan support in Congress to sanction Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan purchased a Russian missile defense system, Bolton said Trump’s resistance to the move was unreasonable, four people present for his speech said. Bolton said he believes there is a personal or business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey because none of his advisers are aligned with him on the issue, the people present said. The Trump Organization has a property in Istanbul, and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump attended the opening with Erdogan in 2012. Though it’s a leasing agreement for use of the Trump name, Trump himself said in a 2015 interview that the arrangement presented ‘a little conflict of interest’ should he be elected." According to the New York Times: "Trump has discussed dismissing the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, because Mr. Atkinson reported a whistle-blower’s complaint about Mr. Trump’s interactions with Ukraine to Congress after concluding it was credible, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Trump first expressed his dismay about Mr. Atkinson around the time the whistle-blower’s complaint became public in September. In recent weeks, he has continued to raise with aides the possibility of firing him, one of the people said.The president has said he does not understand why Mr. Atkinson shared the complaint, which outlined how Mr. Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals at the same time he was withholding military aid from the country ... Mr. Trump believes he has the power to fire anyone in the executive branch, though aides say they have learned to ignore many of his private rants, unless the president brings up the subject repeatedly and appears on the precipice of making a move they feel could be damaging." During an interview with NPR, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff made the following statement regarding Republican's latest defense of president Trump: "In terms of whether the president has committed an impeachable offense, the fact that the scheme was discovered, the fact that the scheme was unsuccessful, doesn’t make it any less odious or any less impeachable. If the president solicited foreign help in the U.S. election, if the president conditioned official acts on the performance of these political favors, whether Ukraine ever had to go through with it really doesn’t matter. What matters is, did the president attempt to commit acts that ought to result in his removal from office?"
November 11, 2019 - According to a story in the New York Times: "Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said. The associate, Lev Parnas, told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said. The claim by Mr. Parnas, who is preparing to share his account with impeachment investigators, challenges the narrative of events from Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials that is at the core of the congressional inquiry. It also directly links Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to threats of repercussions made to the Ukrainians, something he has strenuously denied. But Mr. Parnas’s account, while potentially significant, is being contradicted on several fronts. None of the people involved dispute that the meeting occurred, but Mr. Parnas stands alone in saying the intention was to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainian leadership." Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, made this dubious statement on twitter: "Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. Republicans should put out their own transcripts!" It should be noted here that none of the Republicans who were present for the depositions have contested the authenticity of any of the released transcripts. It should also be noted that this attack on the release of the transcripts follows much criticism from Republicans for holding closed-door interviews. A new line of argument is now coming from Republicans regarding the impeachment inquiry. What follows are two illustrations of the argument:
"I believe it's inappropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival ... I do not believe it is impeachable." - Mac Thornberry, Republican Representative and ranking member on the House armed services committee
"Not a good practice for us ever to ask a foreign country to investigate an American. I don't see it as impeachable." - Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN ambassador.
According to the AP, Michael Bleyzer and Alex Cranberg, two political supporters of energy secretary Rick Perry, were awarded an oil and gas contract in Ukraine after Perry provided their names during a meeting that followed the new president's inauguration. According to the story "Bleyzer and his partner Alex Cranberg submitted a bid to drill for oil and gas at a sprawling government-controlled site called Varvynska. They offered millions of dollars less to the Ukrainian government than their only competitor for the drilling rights, according to internal Ukrainian government documents obtained by The Associated Press. But their newly created joint venture, Ukrainian Energy, was awarded the 50-year contract because a government-appointed commission determined they had greater technical expertise and stronger financial backing, the documents show." Carl Nichols, a federal judge in Washington DC, and a Trump appointee, dismissed Trump's lawsuit challenging the House ways and means committee's ability to obtain his state tax returns from New York officials. Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, requested to join the lawsuit filed by Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to John Bolton, to have a judge determine whether he can follow a White House directive to ignore a House subpoena. According to the Guardian "A lawyer for Charles Kupperman, the former deputy to John Bolton at the national security council, argued that Mick Mulvaney’s admission of a quid pro quo (which he later walked back) made him ineligible to join Kupperman’s lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry." Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state under George W Bush, made the following statement at a conference in Abu Dhabi: "I don’t like for the president of the United States to mention an American citizen for investigation to a foreign leader. I think that is out of bounds." Trump sent the following tweet: "Where is the Whistleblower who gave so much false information? Must testify along with Schiff and others!" Trump then followed that tweet with this one: "To think I signed the Whistleblower Protection Act!" Kimberly Atkins, a reporter for NPR, responded to Trump's tweet saying "The Whisleblower Protection Act was enacted in 1989, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. The White House directive expanding whistleblower protections was signed in 2012 by President Barack Obama. The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act - referenced in the tweet - applies to...the VA." The House impeachment investigators released the transcript of testimony from Laura Cooper, deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. Transcripts were also released for testimony from diplomat Christopher Anderson, and state department Ukraine specialist Catherine Croft. A poll published by the Hill found that Trump's approval for women is at 37%, down from 44% in July.
November 8, 2019 - In an interview with the AP, Ivanka Trump claimed the identity of the whistleblower is "not particularly relevant". Trump told a group of reporters at the White House that "They shouldn't be having public hearings. It's a hoax." Critics were quick to point out that on October 23rd, Trump applauded efforts by GOP lawmakers who temporarily shutdown a closed-door deposition and staged a sit-in while demanding public hearings. The House impeachment committees have released the transcripts of Fiona Hill, a former aide to US national security adviser John Bolton, and Lt Col Alexander S Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Here are some highlights from Hill's testimony:
"I went back to talk to Ambassador Bolton. And Ambassador Bolton asked me to go over and report this to our NSC counsel, to John Eisenberg. And he told me, and this is a direct quote from Ambassador Bolton: You go and tell Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up on this, and you go and tell him what you’ve heard and what I’ve said. So I went over to talk to John Eisenberg about this. … I told him exactly, you know, what had transpired and that Ambassador Sondland had basically indicated that there was agreement with the chief of staff that they would have a White House meeting or, you know, a Presidential meeting if the Ukrainians started up these investigations again. And the main thing that I was personally concerned about, as I said to John, was that he did this in front of the Ukrainians."
"Then Ambassador Sondland blurted out: ‘Well, we have an agreement with the chief of staff for a meeting if these investigations in the energy sector start.’ …And Ambassador Bolton immediately stiffened and ended the meeting."
What follows is an exchange that took place between Adam Schiff and Matt Gaetz when Republicans stormed the SCIF:
GAETZ: "You're going to include members of congress on committees that have roles of impeachment --"
SCHIFF: "Mr. Gaetz, take your statement to the press. They do you no good here. So, please absent yourself."
GAETZ: "You're going to have someone remove me from the hearing?"
SCHIFF: "You're going to remove yourself Mr. Gaetz."
Here's a highlight from Vindman's testimony:
Q: "All right. So you did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen. You used the word “demand,” it was not proper to demand. Where in the transcript do you believe that the President made a demand to investigate a U.S. citizen?"
A: "So, Congressman, the power disparity between the President of the United States and the President of Ukraine is vast, and, you know, in the President asking for something, it became — there was — in return for a White House meeting, because that’s what this was about. This was about getting a White House meeting. It was a demand for him to fulfill his—fulfill this particular prerequisite in order to get the meeting."
Vindman also corroborated Hill's testimony which implicates the chief of staff's involvement: "I heard him say that this had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney".
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for John Bolton, sent a letter to the House impeachment investigators letting them know that Bolton was involved in "many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far." Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, was a no-show today for a deposition with the impeachment committee.
November 7, 2019 - According to the New York Times, and the Washington Post, Trump asked William Barr to hold a news conference and declare that no laws were broken during the July phone conversation with the president of Ukraine. According to the report, Barr refused to do so. Twitter user Orin Kerr, summarized the situation like this: "Trump tried to get one government to have a press conference saying he committed no crime for trying to get a different government to have a press release saying that his political opponent did commit a crime." Trump responded to story by tweeting "the degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story." News surfaced that Trump is in talks with television producer Mark Burnett about a post presidency reality show tentatively named The Apprentice: White House. John Bolton, the former national security adviser, did not show up today to provide testimony for the impeachment inquiry. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence committee chairman notified the Republicans that the witnesses they call to testify in the public impeachment hearings must be able to speak to the following questions:
1. Did the President request that a foreign leader and government initiate investigations to benefit the President’s personal political interests in the United States, including an investigation related to the President’s political rival and potential opponent in the 2020 U.S. presidential election?
2. Did the President – directly or through agents – seek to use the power of the Office of the President and other instruments of the federal government in other ways to apply pressure on the head of state and government of Ukraine to advance the President’s personal political interests, including by leveraging an Oval Office meeting desired by the President of Ukraine or by withholding U.S. military assistance to Ukraine?
3. Did the President and his Administration seek to obstruct, suppress or cover up information to conceal from the Congress and the American people evidence about the President’s actions and conduct?
According to the New York Times, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was planning to go on CNN on September 13th to announce the investigations that Trump wanted, but cancelled at the last minute after Trump's plot became exposed. According to the AP, a New York judge has ordered Donald Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his charitable foundation to further his own political interests and for "persistent violations" of law and "repeated and willful self-dealing". A press release from the New York attorney general reads in part: "Chiefly, Mr. Trump admits to personally misusing funds at the Trump Foundation, and agrees to restrictions on future charitable service and ongoing reporting to the Office of the Attorney General in the event he creates a new charity. The settlements also include mandatory training requirements for Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. Finally, the settlements name the charities that will receive the remaining assets of the Trump Foundation as part of its dissolution. The Trump Foundation has shut down, funds that were illegally misused are being restored, the president will be subject to ongoing supervision by my office, and the Trump children had to undergo compulsory training to ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again. The court’s decision, together with the settlements we negotiated, are a major victory in our efforts to protect charitable assets and hold accountable those who would abuse charities for personal gain. My office will continue to fight for accountability because no one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the President of the United States." The impeachment committee has released a transcript of the deposition of George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state who was nominally in charge of Ukraine policy. Adam Schiff sent the following tweet regarding Kent's testimony: "Here’s why George Kent matters: He and his colleagues recognized the impropriety of Trump’s Ukraine pressure campaign to undertake politically-motivated investigations. He corroborates testimony from numerous other officials, and he documented it." Here are some key points in Kent's testimony:
- Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled because Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and others “started reaching out actively to undermine Ambassador Yovanovitch.”
- Yuriy Lutsenko made a private trip to New York to meet with Rudy Giuliani in order to “throw mud” at State Department officials, including Mr. Kent and Ambassador Yovanovitch.
- Mr. Giuliani was “almost unmissable” as the “campaign of slander” against Ambassador Yovanovitch and others unfolded in Ukraine and the United States.
- The State Department reached “the breaking point of our disillusionment with Yuriy Lutsenko,” the Ukrainian prosecutor general, when they discovered he was “essentially colluding with a corrupt official” to undermine a legitimate investigation into fake passports.
- Mr. Kent unsuccessfully pressed the State Department to issue a “clear statement of support for Ambassador Yovanovitch” after a series of “falsehoods” and “Tweets by members of the Presidential family.”
- Ambassador Gordon Sondland suggested that Ambassador Yovanovitch “do a video or tweet declaring full support for the foreign policy of President Trump.”
- The United States “had our Ambassador just removed through actions by corrupt Ukrainians in Ukraine as well as private American citizens back here.”
- Rudy Giuliani “had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information,” and his “assertions and allegations against former Ambassador Yovanovitch were without basis, untrue, period.”
- After Rudy Giuliani attacked Ambassador Taylor, Under Secretary of State David Hale warned him to “keep my head down and lower my profile in Ukraine.”
- Ambassador Kurt Volker, Ambassador Sondland, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry asserted that they “had the mandate to take the lead on coordinating efforts to engage the new Ukrainian leadership.”
- Ambassador Volker had a private discussion with President Zelensky “to underscore the importance of the messaging that Zelensky needed to provide to President Trump about his willingness to be cooperative.”
- Ambassador Volker said “he planned to start reaching out to” Rudy Giuliani because “it was clear that the former mayor had influence on the President in terms of the way the President thought of Ukraine.”
- Ambassador Volker was “thinking tactically” about interacting with Rudy Giuliani, but Mr. Kent was “concerned strategically.”
- There was “great confusion” during a call on July 18, 2019, when an OMB official announced that “the acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, at the direction of the President had put a hold on all security assistance to the Ukraine.”
- After the call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky on July 25, 2019, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was “uncomfortable” and said “he could not share the majority of what was discussed because of the very sensitive nature of what was discussed.”
- In August 2019, Mr. Kent had “growing concerns that individuals were pushing communications with Ukrainians that had not been discussed and endorsed in the formal policy process.”
- With respect to President Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Biden, Mr. Kent stated: “I do not believe the U.S. should ask other countries to engage in politically associated investigations and prosecutions.”
- Asking Ukraine to investigate someone for political reasons “goes against everything that we are trying to promote in post-Soviet states for the last 28 years, which is the promotion of the rule of law.”
- After Ambassador Volker raised with a senior aide to President Zelensky that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani were interested in initiating investigations, Mr. Kent said, “that’s wrong, and we shouldn’t be doing that as a matter of U.S. policy.”
- In August 16, 2019, Mr. Kent memorialized these conversations in a memorandum, in which he expressed “concerns that there was an effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law, both Ukraine and U.S.”
- In September 2019, according to Ambassador Sondland, “POTUS wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton.”
- Ambassador Sondland was “pushing” for President Zelensky to “send a public signal of announcing a willingness to pursue investigations” in order to “clear the way for both the White House visit as well as the resumption or the clearing of the administrative hold on security assistance,” despite claims by Mr. Morrison and Mr. Sondland that they did not believe the issues were “linked”.
- The State Department delayed in issuing internal instructions to collect documents in response to the Committees’ September 9 or September 23 letters, or the September 27 subpoena.
- On October 1, 2019, Mr. Kent alerted the Director General of the Foreign Service and the Acting Legal Adviser of the State Department that Secretary Pompeo’s letter to the Committees, sent earlier that day, was inaccurate.
- On October 3, 2019, Mr. Kent raised concerns with State Department officials about their delay in responding to the Committees’ subpoena and inaccuracies in Secretary Pompeo’s October 1, 2019, letter to the Committees.
- Mr. Kent produced all relevant documents in his possession to the State Department.
Kent also testified that Rudy Giuliani "had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information" and his "assertions and allegations against former" Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch "were without basis, untrue, period".
While testifying before the impeachment investigators, Pence aide Jennifer Williams said that she found the July 25th call to be "unusual because it was political in nature". A White House official who wrote an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times letting the public know that there is a resistance in the administration, has penned a book that will be released soon. The Washington Post was able to obtain an advanced copy, and from one of the excerpt, Trump is described like this: "It’s like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him." The book also describes an incident in which Trump mocked migrants using a Hispanic accent saying "We get these women coming in with like seven children. They are saying, ‘Oh, please help! My husband left me!’ They are useless. They don’t do anything for our country. At least if they came in with a husband we could put him in the fields to pick corn or something." The book also attributed this quote to Trump: "Can we just get rid of the judges? Let’s get rid of the [expletive] judges."
November 6, 2019 - Adam Schiff announced that open impeachment hearings will begin on Wednesday, November 13th. Today, the House will release the testimony of Bill Taylor, which was especially damning for Trump. According to the Guardian: "It was clear that Trump wanted Zelenskiy to 'investigate' two things. One was the conspiracy theory that Ukraine colluded with Hillary Clinton in 2016 to help her win the presidential election. The other was Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden – son of Joe Biden – had served on the board. The allegation, subsequently found to be untrue, was that Joe Biden had put pressure on the previous government of Petro Poroshenko to fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma, in order to help his son. Taylor said Giuliani was behind the 'irregular policy channel' and that Trump would only meet with Zelenskiy if the Ukrainian president carried out these investigations. There was an explicit quid pro quo, Taylor suggested." A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed health care providers to refuse to take part in procedures on religious grounds. The decision came out of a suit filed by 19 states, the District of Columbia, various health organizations and others sued the US Department of Health and Human Services. The House has released the transcript of the testimony of US diplomat Bill Taylor. In a joint statement, Representative Adam Schiff, Representative Eliot Engel and Representative Carolyn Maloney, the chairs of the investigating committees said: "The testimony of Ambassador Taylor—a West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran, and nonpartisan diplomat — shows how President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and conditioned its release, as well as a vital White House meeting, on the President of Ukraine publicly announcing investigations into debunked conspiracy theories involving the Bidens and the 2016 election." Rudy Giuliani, who has recruited three attorneys to represent him as New York federal prosecutors have begun looking into his business dealings, sent the following tweet: "The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges, that kept changing as one after another were dis-proven. The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent." Matt Bevin, Kentucky's Republican governor, is still refusing to concede to Andy Beshear, who is ahead by just over 5,000 votes. Bevin cited "irregularities", but provided no evidence, and has called on officials to double check the results. Lindsey Graham made the following statement today when he was asked about the Ukraine issue: "What I can tell you about the Trump policy toward Ukraine: It was incoherent. It depends on who you talk to; they seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo".
November 5, 2019 - Wells Griffith, the US national security council's international energy and environment director, and Michael Duffey, associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, were both no shows today for the impeachment inquiry. The House released the transcripts of testimony from Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, the former US envoy to Ukraine. A four page addendum to Sondland's testimony has been released in which Sondland admits to a quid pro quo. According to the New York Times: "A critical witness in the impeachment inquiry offered Congress substantial new testimony this week, revealing that he told a top Ukrainian official that the country likely would not receive American military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations President Trump wanted. The disclosure from Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, in four new pages of sworn testimony released on Tuesday, confirmed his involvement in essentially laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine that he had previously not acknowledged. [...] In his updated testimony, Mr. Sondland recounted how he had discussed the linkage with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, on the sidelines of a Sept. 1 meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and Mr. Zelensky in Warsaw. Mr. Zelensky had discussed the suspension of aid with Mr. Pence, Mr. Sondland said: 'I said that resumption of the U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,' Mr. Sondland said in the document, which was released by the House committees leading the inquiry, along with the transcript of his original testimony from last month." Mitch McConnell told reporters that Trump will be acquitted by the Senate, just like Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told reporters today that he won't read any of the transcripts of any of the testimony and declares "I've written the whole process off ... I think this is a bunch of B.S." Andy Beshear, the Democratic challenger to Republican Matt Bevin, who is the current governor of Kentucky, has declared victory for the governorship. Bevin, whom Donald Trump campaigned for last night, is refusing to concede, saying the results are too close. Democrats have taken both houses of the Virginia state legislature, for the first time since 1994. Juli Briskman, who in 2017 was photographed giving Trump's motorcade the middle finger, and was subsequently fired from her job as a government contractor, beat her Republican opponent for Loudoun county supervisor. Trump sent the following in a tweet regarding Kentucky's race for governor: "@mattbevin picked up at least 15 points in last days, but perhaps not enough (Fake News will blame Trump!)." In reality, Bevin was up by 5 points on November 1st, prior to Trump's November 4th rally.
November 4, 2019 - Donald Trump started the day by sending the following quote in a tweet: "'There is no Whistleblower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump. What he was blowing the whistle on didn’t happen. We have the transcript of the call. This is all a farce and no Republican should forget that.' @dbongino @foxandfriends". He also sent this one: "The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!" And this one: "What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is 'perfectly' stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!" And then there was this one: "Mark Levin, a great lawyer and scholar, said last night on his @marklevinshow, that all you have to do is read the transcript of the call, you do not need Never Trumpers or other witnesses to say what it means or says. It is plainly and very well stated for all to see. Witch Hunt". John Eisenberg, a White House attorney, Robert Blair, a senior adviser to Mick Mulvaney, Brian McCormack, the associate director for natural resources at the Office of Management and Budget, and Michael Ellis, a White House attorney, were all no-shows today for their scheduled appearances in the impeachment inquiry. A US appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, must turn over 8 years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns to the Manhattan district attorney's office. Jay Sekulow, Trump's personal attorney, responded to the ruling saying "We will be taking this case to the Supreme Court." E Jean Carroll, the author who accused Donald Trump of sexual assaulting her 23 years ago, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the president. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the lawsuit saying "The lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud - just like the author". The House committees investigating impeachment against Donald Trump have released transcripts of the deposition with former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and of the deposition with former senior adviser to the secretary of state, Ambassador Michael McKinley. In a joint letter accompanying the transcripts, the chairs of the three panels leading the investigations stated in part: "The transcripts of interviews with Ambassadors Yovanovitch and McKinley demonstrate clearly how President Trump approved the removal of a highly respected and effective diplomat based on public falsehoods and smears against Ambassador Yovanovitch’s character and her work in support of long-held US foreign policy anticorruption goals. Ambassadors Yovanovitch and McKinley’s testimony also demonstrates the contamination of US foreign policy by an irregular back channel that sought to advance the President’s personal and political interests, and the serious concerns that this activity elicited across our government." The Trump administration began the process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, isolating the US as the only country in the world not to participate in the pact. Donald Trump sent this tweet promoting a book by his son Don Jr: "My son, @DonaldJTrumpJr is coming out with a new book, 'Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us' – available tomorrow, November 5th! A great new book that I highly recommend for ALL to read. Go order it today!" Critics were quick to point out the hypocrisy of Trump criticizing former vice president Joe Biden for allowing his son to profit off his father's office. Liz Hempowicz, the director of public policy at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, responded to Trump's tweet saying "Frankly he’s using his Twitter account to try to financially benefit his son. That’s not only distasteful, but it’s a misuse of public office and it would be an official misuse of public office if it was anyone other than the president." Trump held a rally in Kentucky in support of Governor Matt Bevin, who is up for re-election. Many of the rally attendees were wearing shirts with the slogan "Read the Transcript" written on them. At the rally, Trump told supporters that Democrats "are coming for your guns" and also ordered security to remove reporters from the Washington Post. Rand Paul, who also spoke at the rally, disgracefully called on the media to unmask the whistleblower saying that the name of the whistleblower is known, and that the gathered media should "Do your job and print his name". The rally goers replied by cheering, and Trump replied by smiling and clapping. At one point, Trump told the crowd: "If you lose, it sends a really bad message … you can’t let that happen to me."
November 1, 2019 - A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 49% of Americans feel that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 47% say he should not. Trump sent the following tweet today: "Stock Market up BIG! Record highs for S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Enjoy!" Critics were quick to point to one of Trump's tweets from yesterday which said "The Impeachment Hoax is hurting our Stock Market. The Do Nothing Democrats don't care!" Stephanie Grisham, who has been Trump's press secretary for about 4 months now, was asked during an interview on Fox News when she might hold her first press briefing. Grisham's response: "Whenever it's time." Grisham was also asked if the White House would be creating an impeachment war room, to which Grisham responded that Trump didn't need one because "He is the war room. We don't feel the need for a war room." Don Young, a Republican congressman from Alaska was asked if it is acceptable for a president to pressure a foreign government to interfere in our elections. Young responded by head butting the reporter's camera, and then said "There you go." According to the Washington Post Alexander Vindman was instructed by White House lawyer John Eisenberg not to discuss his concerns over Donald Trump's conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy with anyone outside the White House. "Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that he received this instruction from John Eisenberg, the top legal adviser for the National Security Council, after White House lawyers learned July 29 that a CIA employee had anonymously raised concerns about the Trump phone call, the sources said. The directive from Eisenberg adds to an expanding list of moves by senior White House officials to contain, if not conceal, possible evidence of Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide information that could be damaging to former vice president Joe Biden." Rick Perry has been asked to testify in the impeachment inquiry, but according to a letter from Shaylyn Hynes, the Department of Energy spokesperson "The secretary will not partake in a secret star chamber inquisition where agency counsel is forbidden to be present. If the committee is interested in conducting a serious proceeding they are welcome to send for the secretary’s consideration an invitation to participate in an open hearing where the Department’s counsel can be present and the American people can witness."
October 31, 2019 - Tim Morrison, Trump's top Russia official is testifying behind closed doors today as part of the impeachment inquiry. According to the Washington Post "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." According to the Guardian, Morrison "testified that public summaries of a 25 July call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, which Morrison listened in on, were accurate." While Morrison did confirm that a quid pro quo was at play, he didn't personally feel that Trump's actions were illegal. According to the Guardian: "Morrison, a former senior congressional aide, seemed to seek to exculpate Trump by suggesting the quid pro quo was all Sondland’s idea. 'I hoped that Ambassador Sondland’s strategy was exclusively his own and would not be considered by leaders in the administration and Congress, who understood the strategic importance of Ukraine to our national security'." Speaking on the floor of the House, Steve Scalise, the House minority whip, accused the Democrats of pursuing "Soviet-style" tactics in the impeachment inquiry. In response to Scalise's remarks, Susan Glasser, a New Yorker writer and former Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post tweeted: "Just in case anyone is unsure, Soviets did not have impeachment proceedings. They had the Gulag." The House held a formal vote in the impeachment resolution which passed with a vote of 232 for and 196 against. Two Democrats, Colin Peterson of Minnesota, and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, voted against the resolution. Every House Republican opposed the measure. Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary, responded to the vote with a statement which read in part "The President has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people. ... With today’s vote, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have done nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules. ... The Democrats want to render a verdict without giving the Administration a chance to mount a defense. That is unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American." Following the vote, Lee Zeldin, a Republican representative, called on Democrats to "Release the damn transcripts! ... Bring it on about substance!" while his Republican colleagues cheered him on. Critics again have taken note that Republicans up to now have avoided the substance of the allegations against Trump. Katie Hill, a House Democrat, resigned today amid allegations she had a consensual sexual relationship with one of her staffers. In her resignation speech on the floor of the House, Hill complained of the "double standard" that pressured her to leave, saying in part "we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office." During an interview, Trump said of the House vote: "The Democrats are desperate. They have nothing...they'll try to win the election this way because they cant win it the fair way." Trump also dismissed the notion that he would pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden saying "Also, would I use Ukraine to beat sleepy Joe Biden? Sleepy Joe, I call him one percent Joe too. One percent, the guy never came out of these things with one percent and he’s heading down rapidly now. I mean, I don’t view him as a very difficult, difficult guy to beat." An AP-NORC poll has found that 61% of Americans think Donald Trump doesn't respect democratic institutions and norms. This total includes 26% of Republicans.
October 30, 2019 - Republicans have been facing a large chorus of criticism for attacking the process of the impeachment inquiry, and at the same time avoid talking about the substance that brought it about. Responding to that criticism, Trump sent the following tweet: "Republicans are very unified and energized in our fight on the Impeachment Hoax with the Do Nothing Democrats, and now are starting to go after the Substance even more than the very unfair Process because just a casual reading of the Transcript leads EVERYBODY to see that the call with the Ukrainian President was a totally appropriate one. As he said, 'No Pressure.' This Impeachment nonsense is just a continuation of the Witch Hunt Hoax, which has been going on since before I even got elected. Republicans, go with Substance and close it out!" Trump responded to testimony yesterday by Alexander Vindman, who provided a first hand account of the Ukraine call, with the following tweet: "Yesterday’s Never Trumper witness could find NO Quid Pro Quo in the Transcript of the phone call. There were many people listening to the call. How come they (including the President of Ukraine) found NOTHING wrong with it. Witch Hunt!" Catherine Croft, a Ukraine expert at the state department, and Christopher Anderson, who worked for two years as an assistant to Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy for Ukraine, are both testifying today in the impeachment inquiry. Croft testified that she repeatedly heard Trump voice distrust of Ukraine, despite the state department's official position of support for the country. From CNN: "According to Anderson’s prepared statements, he helped in May to develop ‘key deliverables’ to show newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘commitment to reform. 1) demonstrating Zelenskyy’s independence from powerful vested interests and pursuing anticorruption reform as well as antitrust reform; 2) strengthening U.S.-Ukrainian energy cooperation; and 3) improving our bilateral security relationship which included Ukraine increasing its purchases of key U.S. military equipment.’ However, he cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the President on Ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement". According to the Guardian, Anderson is also reported to have testified that "Bolton voiced concerns about the role Trump's external advisers, namely Rudy Giuliani, were playing in determining Ukraine policy." Mitch McConnell attacked the House impeachment inquiry by calling it "bizarre" and claiming that the Democratic resolution "falls way short, way short" of fairness and due process. Critics were quick to note McConnell's continued attacks on the process of the impeachment inquiry, with a continued reluctance to weigh in on the substance of the impeachment inquiry. John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, who is going through a confirmation hearing to become the new US ambassador to Russia, affirmed Marie Yovanovitch's account of her removal as ambassador to Ukraine, specifically about how Sullivan had told Yovanovitch that she had done nothing wrong. Sullivan also told senators that the state department has tried to block interview requests tied to the impeachment inquiry "on advice" of the department and "direction from the White House". News came out that last quarter's growth rate was 1.9%, which prompted Trump to send a tweet saying "Greatest Economy in American History." Critics were quick to point to a tweet that Trump sent in 2012 when growth was measured at 1.9%. At that time, Trump said the economy was in "deep trouble". Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO announced that twitter is ending political advertising on its platform. This comes in the wake of facebook facing a lot of criticism over its decision to allow false statements in political ads. According to NPR: "Tim Morrison, the top Russia official on President Trump's National Security Council, who is scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, is set to leave his White House post imminently, three sources familiar with the plan told NPR. Morrison, a conservative hawk who has served as the senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council, will be replaced by Andrew Peek, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, according to the sources."
October 29, 2019 - Alexander S. Vindman, a Lt Col in the United States Army who fled the former Soviet Union with his family when he was 3; an Iraq War veteran; a purple heart recipient; and a top Ukraine expert on the national security council, gave a first hand account of the Ukraine phone call that triggered the impeachment inquiry. From Vindman's opening statement:
"I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine."
Some important takeaways from Alexander Vindman's testimony today:
- Vindman testified that the White House transcript omitted crucial words and phrases - such as Trump telling Zelenskyy that there were recordings of Biden discussing Ukraine corruption, and of Zelenskyy himself mentioning Burisma, the energy company whose board employed Biden's son Hunter - and that his attempts to include them failed.
- Vindman told investigators he confronted Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU after he observed Sondland pressing Ukrainian officials to help the Trump administration by investigating the Biden family.
Vindman's testimony also called into question the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, causing at least one House Democrat - Joaquin Castro - to accuse Sondland of perjuring himself. According to Politico "They raised similar questions about Sondland’s truthfulness following the testimony last week of acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who said Sondland had conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the release of U.S. military assistance aid was predicated upon Zelensky publicly committing to the investigations Trump demanded. But it was the opening statement made public late Monday by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump’s top National Security Council adviser on Ukraine, that had Democrats questioning Sondland’s testimony most pointedly." While Vindman was testifying, Trump sent the following tweet: "How many more Never Trumpers will be allowed to testify about a perfectly appropriate phone call when all anyone has to do is READ THE TRANSCRIPT! I knew people were listening in on the call (why would I say something inappropriate?), which was fine with me, but why so many? Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call 'concerned' today’s Never Trumper witness. Was he on the same call that I was? Can’t be possible! Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call. Witch Hunt!" Brian Kilmeade made the following statement regarding Vindman on Fox News' Fox and Friends: "We also know he was born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family. Young. He tends to feel simpatico with the Ukraine." Jon Fasman, a reporter for the Economist responded to Kilmeade's comments on twitter saying "A bigoted, ignorant smear. America welcomed us while our former countrymen were slaughtering us in pogroms. Our patriotism is intense because we know what happened to our relatives who didn’t/couldn’t reach these blessed shores." A CNN reporter had the following exchange with Nevada Republican Representative Mark Amodei:
Reporter - "The substance of the things that have come out is that the president asked for a public investigation into his rivals, and also Ukriaine aid was being withheld."
Amodei - "Well, that's your conclusion."
Reporter - "That's not my conclusion, that's what's come out."
Amodei - "Sounds like a conclusion to me, so I disagree on the question."
Reporter - "The president has asked for the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens, is that ok?"
Amodei - "The president has asked for the whistleblower complaint to go through the normal processes, and we've seen nothing of that. So beyond that, when you say that you've made the conclusion, whatever, you're a gifted guy, because guess what, it isn't over, and you already know what you think."
Reporter - "The White House transcript that was released had president Trump asking president Zelensky to open an investigation into the Bidens."
Amodei - "Do you know if they've even got plans to call the whistleblower? Because I heard they didn't. Now, I don't know if that's true."
Reporter - "You're not answering my question about the substance of the allegation."
Amodei - "I disagree with your conclusion. It's a conclusion not a question."
Reporter - "I'm asking you about what's in the White House transcript."
Amodei - "Well, my English teacher says you've got a conclusion, so if you want to interview yourself, go right ahead. You're interviewing me."
Reporter - "Why won't you answer my question? Is it ok for the president to ask a foreign country to investigate the Bidens?"
Amodei - "Why don't we do an interview instead of you interviewing yourself?"
Reporter - "The president asked on the White House lawn"
Amodei - ""Are you going to answer my question?"
Reporter - "On the South lawn of the White House, the president asked China to investigate the Bidens, is that ok?"
Amodei - "You know what, if you don't want to interview me, then interview yourself."
Reporter - "I'm asking you a question, but you don't want to answer."
Amodei - "I don't understand."
Reporter - "You don't understand?"
Amodei - "Thanks for doing the best you could."
Donald Trump sent the following tweet "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!" Justin Amash, a former Republican Representative who left the Republican party because of Trump, sent the followng response to Trump's tweet "Your polls must have been done on Oppidite Day." Republican Representative Ted Yoho told a CNN reporter that he has chosen not to sit in on the impeachment inquiry, even though he is entitled to as a member of the House foreign affairs committee. Yoho told the reporter that he didn't consider the inquiry to be valid since no formal vote to launch it had occurred, which echoes arguments from Trump and other Republicans. Critics were quick to point out that at the same time that Republicans are arguing that the inquiry is being held in secret and that there is no transparency, some GOP members are actually choosing to not participate. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host, engaged in the following exchange with John Yoo, a former official from the George W Bush administration who authored that administration's legal opinion justifying torture:
Ingraham - "This is buried in the New York Times piece tonight. He’s a decorated colonel, by the way, in the Iraq War. ‘Because [Colonel Vindman] emigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukrainian officials sought advice from him on how to deal with Mr. Giuliani, though they typically communicated in English.' Here we have a U.S. national-security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interest, and usually they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle to this story?"
Yoo - "I find that astounding, and some people might call that espionage."
According to the Atlantic "Ingraham’s comment is spurious in several ways. First, it was Vindman’s job to speak with Ukrainians. Second, it is of course useful for foreign-policy professionals to speak the language of the foreign countries they handle. Third, other officials, including Sondland and Ambassador William Taylor, have recounted offering advice to Ukrainians about navigating their relationship with Rudy Giuliani. Fourth, there is no evidence that Vindman was acting against the president’s interest; indeed, he was trying to execute official U.S. foreign policy regarding Ukraine, even as Giuliani ran a rogue and dubiously legal shadow foreign policy." House Democrats released a resolution providing a "pathway forward" on impeachment procedures, and are planning to hold a formal vote in the House. Trump's top congressional allies responded to the news saying that the Democrats were now trying to "retroactively legitimize their illegitimate impeachment inquiry" despite weeks of pushing for a formal vote. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, who has not held a single press conference since taking over for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, provided this response to the impeachment resolution: "The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote. It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President. The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written. This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration." Following a landslide of criticism, right wing commentators who had publicly criticized Alexander Vindman, going so far as to accuse him of dual loyalties, and of possibly engaging in espionage, began to walk those comments back by issuing statements calling Vindman a patriot and war hero. George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser, who served 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators in the Mueller probe, has announced his intent to run for the House seat that was recently vacated when Katie Hill resigned over a sex scandal.
October 28, 2019 - Charles Kupperman, the former deputy national security adviser under John Bolton, was scheduled to appear today in the impeachment inquiry, but was a no-show. Kupperman's lawyer sent a letter to House Democrats letting them know that Kupperman is leaving it to a federal judge to determine whether he should comply with the White House order not to appear, or the congressional subpoena to appear. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the house intelligence committee called Kupperman's failure to appear "deeply regrettable" and suggested it "may warrant a contempt proceeding". Schiff also said that the White House order to ignore the congressional subpoena would be taken a "additional evidence of obstruction." When reporters questioned why the House intelligence committee wasn't given advance notice of the late night raid to take out Baghdadi, as is standard protocol, Trump responded that it was because Adam Schiff is "the biggest leaker in Washington." According to the Guardian "US officials who also watched the feed have declined to echo details of Trump’s macabre account of the Isis’s leader death on Saturday, including that Baghdadi was 'whimpering, crying and screaming all the way'" Reports have surfaced that the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, was contradicted by the testimony of Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine. Some Democrats on the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry have accused Sondland of lying under oath. The Justice Department is appealing the ruling by US district judge Beryl Howell that the US House is legally entitled to see grand jury material that was gathered during the Mueller investigation. Donald Trump sent the following tweet boasting about the US military raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi saying "The S&P just hit an ALL TIME HIGH. This is a big win for jobs, 401-K’s, and, frankly, EVERYONE! Our Country is doing great. Even killed long sought ISIS murderer, Al-Baghdadi. We are stronger than ever before, with GREAT upward potential. Enjoy!" However, according to the New York Times "For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist. But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said. Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death in the raid on Saturday, they said, occurred largely in spite of, and not because of, Mr. Trump’s actions." While addressing the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago, Trump made the following comment, which was an obvious swipe at his predecessor, Barack Obama: "[Baghdadi] should've been killed years ago. Another president should've gotten him." Trump also made this statement about immigrants: "As you know, countries love to send their worst to us." Despite claims by Republicans that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because no formal vote was taken to launch the proceedings, a position which is not supported by the constitution, the Democrats have produced a resolution anyway which will be voted on later this week. The resolution reads in part "This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel." Another select paragraph from the resolution "For weeks, the President, his Counsel in the White House, and his allies in Congress have made the baseless claim that the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry ‘lacks the necessary authorization for a valid impeachment proceeding.’ They argue that, because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist. Of course, this argument has no merit." A state court in North Carolina ruled that the congressional map is so severely gerrymandered to benefit Republicans that it can't be used in 2020. Trump's description of the military raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi included revealing classified information which has raised concerns with officials over their ability to carry out future operations. According to NBC "The overarching concern about Trump’s disclosures on the al-Baghdadi raid, officials said, is that he gave America’s enemies details that could make intelligence gathering and similar military operations more difficult and more dangerous to pull off. Revealing that the U.S. possesses documents about future ISIS plans hurts the military’s ability to use that information for quick follow-on operations, officials said. The president’s disclosure that the U.S. had taken ISIS fighters from the compound complicated efforts to try to keep ISIS from knowing who is alive or dead for as long as possible while they interrogate them, officials said."
October 27, 2019 - John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, told an audience at a conservative event that prior to leaving the White House, he had told Trump "Whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man’ – someone who won’t tell you the truth. Don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached." When Trump got wind of Kelly's statement he responded saying "John Kelly never said that. If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary also responded, saying "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President." Donald and Melania Trump, along with a group of Republican lawmakers, attended Game 5 of the World Series. During the game, the camera panned to Trump, who was then projected on the big screen above the outfield. What followed were loud boos, and then loud chants of "Lock him up!" Here are a few select responses to the Game 5 chant on twitter:
"For what? Lock him up for what? What a bunch of pinheads." - Fred Krebs
"As to Ukraine: Bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy. As to the Russia investigation: Obstruction of justice. As to the Stormy Daniels payoff: campaign finance violations, conspiracy. Lots of potential jail time there." - George Conway
October 26, 2019 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, was killed today in a raid by US special forces in Syria. Trump claimed in a statement afterwards that Baghdadi "died like a dog" and was "whimpering, crying and screaming all the way".
October 25, 2019 - According to the New York Times: "Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges. The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director under whose watch agents opened the Russia inquiry, and has long assailed other top former law enforcement and intelligence officials as partisans who sought to block his election." Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, responded to the Times story tweeting: "Senate Intel is wrapping up a three-year bipartisan investigation, and we've found nothing remotely justifying this. Mr. Barr's 'investigation' has already jeopardized key international intelligence partnerships. He needs to come before Congress and explain himself." Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Our soldiers have left and are leaving Syria for other places, then COMING HOME! We were supposed to be there for 30 days - That was 10 years ago. When these pundit fools who have called the Middle East wrong for 20 years ask what we are getting out of the deal, I simply say, THE OIL, AND WE ARE BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS BACK HOME, ISIS SECURED!" Critics were quick to point out that no agreement was ever made that troops would withdraw from Syria in a month, and also that US forces have only been in the country since 2014. Shortly after Trump sent his tweet saying the troops in Syria were coming home, his defense secretary, Mark Esper, announced that the US will maintain a small presence in Syria to prevent ISIS from regaining access to oil revenues. Speaking about Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, Trump said "Here’s the problem. He’s a never-Trumper and his lawyer is a never-Trumper." A reporter then pointed out that Taylor had been selected by secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to which Trump responded ""Everybody makes mistakes." According to CNN, Trump released money being held up fro months from Ukraine after a pressure campaign by fellow Republicans, including a call on September 11 by Ohio Senator Rob Portman. It was Portman who told Trump that "with the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, if he didn’t act soon there wouldn’t be time to get the money out the door, according to six sources familiar with the call." A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department must grant the House judiciary committee access to the grand jury material redacted from special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The judge, Beryl Howell, wrote that the committee should get access to "[a]ll portions of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election that were redacted pursuant to" grand jury restrictions. Judge Howell also stated in the ruling that "Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry" and that the Argument adopted by the White House "has no textual support in the U.S. Constitution [or] the governing rules of the House." Also, Howell stated in her ruling that "impeachment factored into" Mueller’s analysis and that Congress is "the appropriate body to resume where the Special Counsel left off." Judge Howell also stated that "The White House's stated policy of non-cooperation with the impeachment inquiry weighs heavily in favor of disclosure. Congress's need to access grand jury material relevant to potential impeachable conduct by a President is heightened when the Executive Branch willfully obstructs channels for accessing other relevant evidence."
October 24, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Thank you to House Republicans for being tough, smart, and understanding in detail the greatest Witch Hunt in American History. It has been going on since long before I even got Elected (the Insurance Policy!). A total Scam!" This tweet is believed to be a thank you to House Republicans who delayed the testimony of Pentagon official Laura Cooper for five hours yesterday after they staged a sit-in in a secure area being used to conduct impeachment inquiry interviews. According to the Daily Beast "Two Democratic lawmakers told The Daily Beast that, over the course of the nine witness depositions they have conducted over the last several weeks, there have been suggestions that certain witnesses spoke to each other about what they would say to impeachment investigators." During an interview with CNN, Representative Eric Swalwell raised the issue saying "We have evidence, very recently, that there are witnesses in our case who are talking to each other. That's exactly what we don't want to happen." After being asked by a reporter whether Trump's treatment of America's Kurdish allies had done harm to the US' international credibility, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state responded "The whole predicate of your question is insane." News surfaced that the White House is instructing federal agencies to not renew subscriptions to the Washington Post and New York Times. Trump told Fox News' Host Sean Hannity earlier in the week "We don’t even want [the New York Times] in the White House anymore. We’re going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post. They’re fake." A video has begun trending on twitter which shows then-congressman Trey Gowdy, who nearly joined Trump's team to combat the impeachment investigation, arguing that a private hearing was "much more constructive" than the "circus" of public hearings. Regarding the ongoing complaints from Republicans who are condemning the alleged secrecy of the impeachment inquiry, Sam Stein, a Daily Beast reporter sent the following tweet: "The charge that the impeachment inquiry is being run in a non-transparent manner would have more weight if the people making that charge also criticized the WH for not handing over documents, refusing to allow witnesses to testify, and, basically, defying congressional oversight". Senator Lindsey Graham, has introduced a resolution calling on House Democrats to "vote to open a formal impeachment inquiry and provide President Trump with fundamental constitutional protections." Summer Zervos, a former "Apprentice" contestant who is suing Trump for defamation for comments he made while denying her sexual assault allegation, reportedly has corroborating evidence supporting her story, which includes emails and calendar entries. According to the Washington Post: "The White House’s trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine’s trade privileges after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that President Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv, according to people briefed on the matter. ... The August exchange between Bolton and Lighthizer over the trade matter represents the first indication that the administration’s suspension of assistance to Ukraine extended beyond the congressionally authorized military aid and security assistance to other government programs. It is not clear whether Trump directed Bolton to intervene over Ukraine’s trade privileges or was even aware of the discussion."
October 23, 2019 - In what is seen as a publicity stunt, a group of House Republicans who are not members of the House committees, forced their way into the impeachment inquiry room after claiming they were being unfairly kept out. Adam Schiff, who is leading the inquiry, halted the proceedings. Note: Lawmakers who sit on the three investigative panels are the only ones allowed to participate in the inquiry, per the House parliamentarian, who has ruled that entry to non-committee members is not in line with congressional procedure. The panels include both Democratic and Republican committee members. News surfaced that in breaching the inquiry, the non-committee members entered a classified area, called the SCIF, carrying cell phones, which are not permitted, thus marking a major breach of protocol. According to New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin: "The process attacks are a time-buyer for Rs to see what else comes out, if/for how much longer they can defend Trump." According to the New York Times, Ukrainian officials were aware of a freeze on the US military aid as early as the first week of August, which undermines a key argument of Trump's to deny a quid pro quo. Trump announced during a news conference that his administration is lifting all sanctions on Turkey, since Turkey had committed to a "permanent" ceasefire in Syria.During the news conference, Trump said "Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand." He also falsely claimed the US has been there for 10 years. Trump also claimed to have been successful in Syria where others before him had failed, which prompted this tweet from Daniel Dale: "Trump keeps saying, very nonsensically, that others had tried to get this deal for "man, many decades." This is a deal specifically tied to the circumstances of Trump's withdrawal and the subsequent Turkish offensive. It doesn't resolve larger regional issues." Trump also made this statement about Syria's oil: "We've secured the oil and, therefore, a small number of US Troops will remain in the area. Where they have the oil. And we're going to be protecting it, and we'll be deciding what we're going to do with it in the future." William Consovoy, one of Trump's attorneys, made news today after he argued in federal court that Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and local authorities would not be able to do anything about it. According to the AP, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky raised concerns with his advisers as early as May about Trump pressuring him to investigate Joe Biden. Trump sent the following tweet as Marine One arrived at Joint Base Andrews: "The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats. Watch out for them, they are human scum!" According to Bloomberg News, Trump had advance knowledge that House Republicans were going to barge into a secure hearing room on Capitol Hill where Democrats are holding impeachment testimonies. Donald Trump sent the following tweet attacking Bill Taylor, and his lawyer saying "Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor (who I don’t know), in testimony before Congress! Do Nothing Democrats allow Republicans Zero Representation, Zero due process, and Zero Transparency. Does anybody think this is fair? Even though there was no quid pro quo, I’m sure they would like to try. Worse than the Dems!" According to CNN, a federal judge has ordered the state department to release records related to Ukraine, including communications between Giuliani and senior officials, within 30 days. Trump sent the following tweet: "'Neither he (Taylor) or any other witness has provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld. You can’t have a quid pro quo with no quo.' Congressman John Ratcliffe @foxandfriends Where is the Whistleblower? The Do Nothing Dems case is DEAD!" However, according to the New York Times: "Word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times. The problem was not a bureaucratic snag, the Ukrainians were told then. To address it, they were advised, they should reach out to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the interviews and records. The timing of the communications about the issue, which have not previously been reported, shows that Ukraine was aware the White House was holding up the funds weeks earlier than United States and Ukrainian officials had acknowledged. And it means that the Ukrainian government was aware of the freeze during most of the period in August when Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and two American diplomats were pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to make a public commitment to the investigations being sought by Mr. Trump." While speaking at a shale gas conference in Pittsburgh, Trump made the following statement: "You know why we’re going to win New Mexico? Because they want safety on their border. And they didn’t have it. And we’re building a wall on the border of New Mexico, and we’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works, that you can’t get over, that you can’t get under." Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado responded to Trump's statement with this tweet: "Well this is awkward ...Colorado doesn’t border Mexico. Good thing Colorado now offers free full day kindergarten so our kids can learn basic geography".
October 22, 2019 - Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, sent the following tweet: "So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!" Some notable reactions to Trump's "lynching" tweet:
"A lynching?! 4,743 people were lynched in the US between 1882 - 1968, incl. 3,446 African Americans. Lynchings were crimes against humanity and an ugly part of our nation’s history of racial violence and brutality. Sickened to see Trump’s gross misappropriation of this term today" - Kristen Clarke, President of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
"Trump has inspired multiple acts of racist violence and his referring to impeachment as a 'lynching' is risible. But worse will be his toadies adopting this inversion of past and present, with the nation’s most powerful racist as a *victim* of racist violence, as a talking point." - Adam Serweer, Atlantic Staff Writer
"That is one word that no president ought to apply to himself. I’m not just a politician...I’m a product of the South. I know the history of that word." - Jim Clyburn, House majority whip
"You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you. Delete this tweet." - Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Congressman
"Trump knows what a lynching is & what it means in this country. And the fastest way to create a cycle of controversy is to invoke the county’s deepest & darkest racial wounds for his own ends. It should be called out, but let’s stay focused on the facts." - Abby D. Phillip, CNN Reporter
"a lynching in every sense" - Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina
"More than 4400 African American men, women, and children were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white mobs between 1877 and 1950." - The King Center
"@realDonaldTrump and @LindseyGrahamSC this is a lynching [photo of African American hanging from a tree]. Trump this is not happening to you and it’s pathetic that you act like you’re such a victim; but it did happen to 147 black people in your state Lindsey. 'A lynching in every sense'? You should know better." - Michael Steele, Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee
"'Lynching' brings back images of a terrible time in our nation’s history, and the President never should have made that comparison." Susan Collins, Republican Senator
According to a new CNN/SSRS poll, 50 percent of Americans support Trump's removal from office, compared to 43 percent who oppose it. Russia and Turkey announced a plan to jointly control formerly Kurdish territory in Syria, which many are calling a major victory for Vladimir Putin. A few weeks back, Trump claimed that Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told him his call with the Ukraine president was "perfect". Today, McConnell was asked about Trump's claim to which McConnell responded that he had never spoken to the president about that call. According to the Washington Post, a book titled "A WARNING" will be published soon by an anonymous author, who happens to be the same author of a 2018 New York Times op-ed which described a "resistance" inside the government to keep Trump in check. Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine testified behind closed doors today as part of the impeachment inquiry. Here are some highlights:
- Ted Lieu, a Democratic member of the House foreign affairs committee told reporters that the ambassador's testimony was "incredibly damaging to the president."
- Andy Levin, a Democratic congressman from Michigan said of Taylor's testimony "All I have to say is that in my 10 short months in Congress – it’s not even noon, right – and this is my most disturbing day in Congress so far. Very troubling."
- Taylor testified that Ambassador Gordon Sondland told him security aid to Ukraine could have been held up in part because of a push for Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation that could help Trump politically.
- Taylor testified that Giuliani, along with Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland and Rick Perry controlled "an irregular, informal channel of U.S. policy-making with respect to Ukraine. Although this irregular channel was well-connected in Washington, it operated mostly outside of official State Department channels."
- According to Politico "Taylor prompted sighs and gasps when he read a lengthy 15-page opening statement, two of the sources said. Another person in the room said Taylor’s statement described ‘how pervasive the efforts were’ among Trump’s allies to convince Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation targeting former Vice President Joe Biden and another probe centering on a debunked conspiracy theory regarding the 2016 election. Taylor also described the extent to which military assistance to Ukraine and a potential White House meeting with Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart were tied to those investigations, the source added."
- According to the Washington Post "Taylor walked lawmakers through a series of conversations he had with other U.S. diplomats who were trying to obtain what one called the ‘deliverable’ of Ukrainian help investigating Trump’s political rivals. Taylor said he spoke to Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the U.S. envoy to the European Union. ‘During that phone call, Amb. Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President [Volodymyr] Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,’ Taylor said in the statement."
- Taylor testified that "President Trump did insist that President Zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference, and that President Zelensky should want to do this himself."
- Taylor testified that he was preparing to resign in August over the delaying of military aid to Ukraine.
- Taylor testified that "Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling the Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelenskyy was dependent on a public announcement of investigations – in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelenskyy ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations."
Speaking to reporters following Taylor's testimony, Stephen Lynch, a representative from Massachusetts, called the testimony "a sea change" that "could accelerate matters". James Jeffrey, the special envoy to Syria, testified today that he "was not consulted before the decision" to withdraw troops from Syria. Several Republicans took to the House floor today to attack the impeachment inquiry as a sham. Mark Meadows, a Republican representative from North Carolina proclaimed "The facts will exonerate our president". Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, sent the following tweet: "Here’s what Trump has done *just this week*: - He called the constitutional ban on profiting from the presidency 'phony.' - His Administration has defied lawful subpoenas and document requests. - He stood by his shakedown of a foreign government and called it 'perfect.'"
October 21, 2019 - According to the Washington Post "In a round of phone calls with conservative allies this weekend, Trump was told Republicans are struggling to defend him on so many fronts". According to the New York Times, Trump is now considering keeping around 200 troops in eastern Syria to combat a potential resurgence of ISIS. If Trump follows through on this proposal "it would mark the second time in 10 months that he has reversed his order to pull out nearly all American troops from the country. Last December, Mr. Trump directed 2,000 American troops to leave Syria immediately, only to relent later and approve a more gradual withdrawal. The decision would also be the potential second major political reversal in a matter of days under pressure from his own party, after he rescinded on Saturday a decision to host next year’s Group of 7 summit at his own resort." Russ Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that no one from his agency will be testifying in the House impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers would like to hear from OMB officials to better understand why military aid to Ukraine was delayed. During a cabinet meeting, Trump declared that Barack Obama deserved no credit for losses faced by ISIS and that he [Trump] deserves more credit saying "I’m the one who did the capturing. I’m the one who knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits." Trump also stated regarding America's Kurdish allies "We never agreed to protect the Kurds for the rest of their lives." Trump also complained about having to cancel his plans to hold the G-7 summit at his own resort, and reportedly exclaimed: "You people with this phony Emoluments Clause." Trump also complained that his phone call with the Ukrainian president was a "perfectly fine conversation". Trump also declared that "Republicans have to get tougher and fight. We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight." Trump also told the gathered reporters that "Miami International, one of the biggest airports in the world. Some people say it's the biggest." Fact checkers were quick to point out that Miami International is not even in the top 20. Mitt Romney was asked in an interview what he thought the "dumbest" thing is that Trump has done while in office, to which Romney responded "I think the places where I would be most critical of the president would be in matters that were divisive, that appeared to be appealing to racism or misogyny. Those are the kinds of things that have been the most harmful long-term to the foundation of America’s virtuous character." A GOP-led resolution to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, has been defeated. The attempt at censure came about over Adam Schiff's characterization of Trump's discussion with the Ukranian president. Oley Larsen, a state senator from Nebraska, posted a photo on facebook that he falsely claimed was an image of Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar at an Al-Qaida training camp. According to the Associated Press, the photo was taken by the AP in 1978, prior to Omar's birth. Video surfaced of Syrian Kurds pelting US armored vehicles with potatoes and rotten fruit as American troops retreated from their position in northern Syria. Shouts of "No America" and "America liar" can be heard from the angry mob. One man can be heard shouting "Like rats, America is running away".
October 20, 2019 - Speaking on Fox News, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said the following regarding Trump's reversal on the G-7 summit location: "The president isn’t one for holding back his feelings and his emotions about something. He was honestly surprised at the level of pushback. At the end of the day he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world and he wanted to put on the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could and he was very comfortable doing that at Doral... I think it’s the right decision to change, we’ll have to find some place else and my guess is we’ll find someplace else that the media won’t like either for some other reason." Mulvaney also stated that he had not as reported, admitted that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure officials there to open investigations into the Democrats, insisting instead that reporters had twisted his words. Chris Wallace, the Fox News host responded "I believe that anyone listening to what you said in that briefing could come to only one conclusion. No, you totally said that." During an interview with Axios, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's most vital allies on Capitol Hill, suggested he may be open to changing his mind on impeachment. Graham was asked if there was anything that would persuade him to support impeachment, to which Graham responded "Sure, I mean ... show me something that ... is a crime. If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing." Speaking on ABC News, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, had the following exchange with George Stephanopoulos:
George - "The president ordered Mick Mulvaney to suspend the aid, and you saw Mr. Mulvaney say right there that one of the reasons was indeed this idea that the Ukrainians had to pursue these political investigations."
Pompeo - "I'll leave it to the chief of staff to explain what it is he said and what he intended. I can speak clearly to what America's strategic objectives were in providing this defensive weaponry to the people of Ukraine."
George - "So do you agree then with Senator Murkowski that it would have been inappropriate to withold the military aid unless this political investigation was pursued?"
Pompeo - "George, I'm telling you what I was involved with. I'm telling you what I saw transpire, and how president Trump was working to make the evaluation about whether it was appropriate to provide this assistance."
George - "What I'm asking is, would it be appropriate to condition that aid?"
Pompeo - "George, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals and secondary things based on what someone else has said. George, you would have never done it when you were the spokesman, and I'm not going to do it today."
George - "It's not a hypothetical. We saw the chief of staff, the acting chief of staff right there."
Pompeo - "It is George, you just said, George, you just said, if this happened. That is by definition a hypothetical."
George - "The chief of staff said it did."
Pompeo - "[silence for 3 uncomfortable seconds, followed by] George you asked me if this happened, it's a hypothetical. I told you what I observed what I saw the process related to this very funding. Uh, what we did, how we thought about that was aimed at the strategic interest of the United States of America in a right and appropriate way to ensure that there wasn't corruption in Ukraine that would divert these resources to an inappropriate place."
October 19, 2019 - Following an avalanche of criticism for choosing his own resort to host the G-7 summit, from people in his own party, and from Democrats who threatened to add the matter to the impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately." Some select responses to Trump's reversal:
"President Trump's decision to award the G7 conference to his own property was outrageous, corrupt and a constitutional violation. It was stunningly corrupt even for a stunningly corrupt administration. His reversal of that decision is a bow to reality, but does not change how astonishing it was that a president ever thought this was appropriate, or that it was something he could get away with." - Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
"Blam! Never doubt that the public’s efforts to hold this corrupt administration accountable is worth all the effort!! Remember this, my friends, as we continue to fight for the integrity of our government and for democracy." - Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics
October 18, 2019 - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, told reporters that the letter sent by Trump telling him not to be a "tough guy" wasn't in line with diplomatic or political customs, and that he wouldn't forget the lack of respect. According to Erdogan, "When the time comes, necessary steps will be taken." Francis Rooney, a Republican representative, admitted during a CNN interview that Trump's conduct toward Ukraine is "troubling". Adam Schiff called Mick Mulvaney's walkback of his quid pro quo statement "not the least bit credible." Secretary of state Mike Pompeo lashed out at the impeachment inquiry saying "They’re not letting state department lawyers in the room … they have not let state department lawyers be part of these hearings ... That’s unheard of … I haven’t seen you all report that." Following Pompeo's statement, Paul Kane, a Washington Post reporter, pointed out that government lawyers are never allowed into the room during depositions, and he pointed to a section in the Congressional Record as proof, which states "Witnesses may be accompanied at a deposition by personal, nongovernmental counsel to advise them of their rights. Only members, committee staff designated by the chair or ranking minority member, an official reporter, witness, and witness's counsel are permitted to attend." Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, has demanded access to the depositions from the impeachment inquiry, despite his panel not being one of the three leading the probe. According to Collins, "The Democrats are trying to conduct their 'impeachment' inquiry in secret." Trump has nominated Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, to take over as secretary. The state department has concluded their investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. The conclusions: "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information".
October 17, 2019 - Elijah Cummings, Democratic US congressman, and chairman of the Oversight Committee, died today. Donald Trump sent the following tweet offering his condolences: "My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard if not impossible, to replace!" Critics were quick to point out the dozen or so tweets Trump sent earlier this year, accusing Cummings of being "racist" and a "bully" and of "trying to hurt innocent people" and of doing "a terrible job for the people of his district" and of "incompetent leadership". Many questioned whether Trump was even capable of writing the condolences tweet. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, will take over the House Oversight Committee as the acting chair. According to the BBC, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, was infuriated by the letter he received from Trump, which he "thoroughly rejected" and "put it in the bin." After the letter surfaced, it was described by critics as "adolescent" in its language and tone. According to the Wall Street Journal "Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he sought out Rudy Giuliani this spring at President Trump’s direction to address Mr. Trump’s concerns about alleged Ukrainian corruption, a sign of how closely the president’s personal lawyer worked with the administration on Ukraine policy. Mr. Perry, in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, said he contacted Mr. Giuliani in an effort to ease a path to a meeting between Mr. Trump and his new Ukrainian counterpart. He said Mr. Giuliani described to him during their phone call several concerns about Ukraine’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election, concerns that haven’t been substantiated." Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, announced that the next G-7 summit will be held at Trump National in Doral, Florida in June. The announcement immediately raised concerns that Trump is trying to personally profit from the presidency. Critics also pointed out that this choice is odd considering Trump's evidence free accusations that Joe Biden benefited from US policy. Mulvaney defended the decision saying the president will not profit and that "It's almost like they built this facility to host that type of event." Some select responses to Mulvaney's announcement:
"The constitution is clear: the president cannot accept gifts or payments from foreign governments. No one is above the law." - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"among the most brazen examples yet of the president's corruption" - Jerrold Nadler, House judiciary committee chairman
Note: The emoluments clause of the US constitution prohibits government officials from receiving salaries, fees or profits from foreign and domestic governments without congressional approval.
During a question/answer period following Mulvaney's G-7 announcement, Mulvaney dropped another bombshell when he told the gathered press that the request for Ukraine to look back at what happened in 2016 was part of an ongoing review of the Russia investigation and part of the reason why Trump held up military aid to Ukraine. According to Mulvaney "The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. Did he also mention to me in the past the corruption that related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that’s it. That’s why we held up the money." Mulvaney went on to say "we do that all the time with foreign policy." Here's one response to Mulvaney's statement on twitter by Abby D. Phillip: "Mulvaney is at the WH podium saying casually that the WH held up security money from Ukraine until Trump got assurances that the government investigate a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election and the DNC server. A conspiracy theory." Mulvaney appeared to not even realize he had just admitted that there was a quid pro quo involved in the delay of US military aid to Ukraine, something the White house has been consistently denying. A reporter then said to Mulvaney "So, it was a quid pro quo" to which Mulvaney responded "We do that all the time with foreign policy … I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy. Elections have consequences." Trump sent out the following tweet: "Great news out of Turkey. News Conference shortly with @VP and @SecPompeo. Thank you to @RTErdogan. Millions of lives will be saved!" Vice president Mike Pence, who is in Turkey negotiating a cease fire, announced that Turkey has agreed to pause the attack for 120 hours to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from Turkey's designated safe zone. Pence also said that because Turkey agreed to the ceasefire, the US agreed to not implement any sanctions and once a permanent ceasefire is in place, economic sanctions will be removed. Following Pence's announcement, Trump sent the following tweet: "This is a great day for civilization. I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path. People have been trying to make this 'Deal' for many years. Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!" Here are some notable responses from Middle East expert to the Trump administration's "deal" with Turkey:
"The ceasefire deal 'sounds like very good news for President Erdogan,' veteran British peace negotiator Jonathan Powell tells me. 'What the Americans have actually done is facilitated the surrender of the allies, the Kurds. It does sound a pretty one-sided agreement.'" - Christiane Amanpour
"BIG - #Pence confirms that the full #YPG withdrawal will be taking place in a territory 20miles (32km) deep. If enacted (unclear), that's the maximalist demand originally set by #Erdogan. However this is spun, it's a huge concession from the #Trump admin/US government. #Pence & #Pompeo have repeatedly used '#YPG' & '#SDF' interchangeably. That detail is crucially important. But in short, the US just granted #Erodgan *everything* he's demanded all along, seemingly in exchange for nothing." - Charles Lister, Senior Resident at the Middle East Institute
During a talk with reporters, Trump praised the "amazing" ceasefire saying "They couldn't get it without a little rough love, as I call it." Critics were quick to point out that Trump is celebrating and declaring victory for making major concessions to an autocratic leader in a violent situation created by Trump's own foreign policy. When asked by reporters about Mick Mulvaney's comment that military aid was partly tied to Ukraine committing to cooperate with the ongoing review of the Russia investigation being led by US Attorney John Durham, a senior DOJ official responded "If the White House was withholding aid in regards to the cooperation of any investigation at the Department of Justice, that is news to us." Adam Schiff was asked by reporters about Mulvaney's admission of a quid pro quo, to which Schiff responded that the situation has "gone from very, very bad to much, much worse." News surfaced that energy secretary Rick Perry, who has become central to the Ukraine scandal, has informed president Trump that he is resigning. Admiral William H. McRaven, who is retired, and who led the United States Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014, and who is known as the architect of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, calls Trump a threat to American democracy in an op-ed in the New York Times. In a 2018 open letter, McRaven criticized Trump's behavior as "treasonous" and called him "wholly in the pocket of Putin." McRaven also wrote "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation. If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken." In an apparent attempt at damage control, the White House released the following statement from Mick Mulvaney: "Once again, the media has decided to misconstrue my comments to advance a biased and political witch hunt against President Trump. Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. The president never told me to withhold any money until the Ukrainians did anything related to the server. The only reasons we were holding the money was because of concern about lack of support from other nations and concerns over corruption. There was never any connection between the funds and the Ukrainians doing anything with the server - this was made explicitly obvious by the fact that the aid money was delivered without any action on the part of the Ukrainians regarding the server. There never was any condition on the flow of the aid related to the matter of the DNC server." Critics were quick to point out that even in walking back his prior statement, Mulvaney doesn't say there was no quid pro quo, only that unblocking military aid was not conditioned on the DNC server.
October 16, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, Michael McKinly, Mike Pompeo's former senior adviser who quit abruptly just a few days ago, will testify today about how "The unwillingness of State Department leadership to defend Yovanovitch or interfere with an obviously partisan effort to intervene in our relationship with Ukraine for the political benefit of the president was too much for him." According to the Washington Post, Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, kept experienced diplomats from the National Security Council and State Department out of discussions regarding aid to Ukraine, and instead put the "three amigos" in charge. Those "three amigos" were Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Energy secretary Rick Perry. According to Fiona Hill, who testified two days ago, Mulvaney even kept details of the those discussions from former National Security Adviser John Bolton. During a photo-op with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Trump said that "If Syria wants to fight to take back their land, that's up to them and Turkey. There's a lot of sand that they can play with." Trump also stated "We are not a policing agent. It is time for us to go home ... if Turkey goes into Syria it is between Turkey and Syria. It’s not our problem." Trump also stated "I'm not going to get involved in a war between Turkey and Syria... If you look at the Kurds, I say this with great respect, they're no angels." We've paid a tremendous amount of money to the Kurds." Trump also said of the Kurdish PKK, which is part of the Kurds, that they are "worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat, in many ways, than Isis". Trump also called his decision to withdraw troops "strategically brilliant". Trump also spoke of a recent decision to send more troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend against Iran saying of the Saudi's "They're paying for that." According to the AP, David Correia, an associate of two Giuliani associates who were arrested last week, was taken into federal custody today at Kennedy Airport in New York City. According to prosecutors, "Correia conspired with other defendants to make political donations with the aim of trying to get support for a new recreational marijuana business." Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump's Jr's girlfriend, told a group at an event to support Trump's reelection, that Don Jr "likes it when I play nurse". According to ProPublica, documents they were able to obtain show that Donald Trump's company gave a lender and New York City tax authorities two different sets of numbers for two Manhattan buildings - 40 Wall Street and the Trump International Hotel and Tower. According to the documents "Trump’s company technically doesn’t own 40 Wall Street, rather it pays the wealthy German family that owns it a sum of money to rent it out to tenants. In 2015, Trump’s company told tax authorities that it paid the family $1.65 million to use the building, while it told lenders it paid $1.24 million the same year." According to CNN "Kenneth McCallion, a New York attorney, says that investigators first approached him earlier this year to ask about Giuliani’s ties to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Giuliani associates indicted last week on campaign-finance related charges. McCallion says FBI counterintelligence agents in February or March asked questions about some of Giuliani’s Ukrainian business dealings. The counterintelligence probe hinges in part on whether a foreign influence operation was trying to take advantage of Giuliani’s business ties in Ukraine and with wealthy foreigners to make inroads with the White House, according to one person briefed on the matter." Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, introduced a resolution to condemn Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria. The resolution passed 354 to 60, with two-thirds of Republicans voting with the Democrats. Responding to the vote, Engel stated "At President Trump’s hands, American leadership has been laid low, and American foreign policy has become nothing more than a tool to advance his own interests. Today we make clear that the Congress is a coequal branch of government and we want nothing to do with this disastrous policy." The White House cancelled a classified briefing on the situation in Syria, prompting Nancy Pelosi to tweet "I am deeply concerned that the White House has canceled an all-Member classified briefing on the dangerous situation the President has caused in Syria, denying the Congress its right to be informed as it makes decisions about our national security." During today's testimony, Michael McKinley expressed disappointment at Pompeo's silence as far-right commentators smeared the reputation of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine. According to the latest Gallup survey, 52 percent of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% say he should not. Note: approval for impeachment of Clinton never got higher than 35%, and for Nixon, it hit 58% by August 1974. Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi held a joint news conference after their first meeting with Trump since the impeachment inquiry was opened, and according to the pair, it didn't go well. The subject of the meeting was the situation in Syria. According to Schumer "he was insulting to the speaker. He called her a third rate politician... said there were communists involved. You guys might like that." Schumer also described the conversation as a "diatribe" and said Trump "has no plan to contain ISIS, other than relying on the Syrians and the Turks". Pelosi then described the conversation like this: "What we just witnessed on the part of the President was a meltdown". Pelosi went on to say "I pray for the president all the time...I pray for the safety and that of his family. Now we have to pray for his health—because this was a very serious meltdown." A letter sent by Trump to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, became public today. The letter warns that Trump could destroy the Turkish economy if Erdogan doesn't handle the Syria situation humanely, and also ends by telling Erdogan "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!" More news is coming out about the meeting that Peosi described as Trump having a meltdown. During the meeting, Trump lashed out at former secretary of defense Jim Mattis, calling him "the world's most overrated general" after Schumer quoted him regarding the resurgence of ISIS. Pelosi apparently told Trump that Russia always wanted a "foothold in the Middle East" and now it has one. She also said "All roads with you lead to Putin." Adam Schiff sent an impeachment inquiry update letter to his colleagues which states that interview transcripts will be made public once they would no longer impact "investigative equities." The letter also states in part "While we have a great many interviews to come, it is worth taking stock of what we already know. We are already in possession of the call record which lays plain the president's efforts to abuse his office for political gain, as well as text messages among State Department employees that show the degree to which the apparatus of the Department was pressed into service of the President's illicit aim of digging up dirt on his political opponent." Trump tweeted a picture showing himself and as many as 20 other men seated around a very large table with Nancy Pelosi standing directly across from Trump with her finger pointed in Trump's direction. Trump captioned the photo "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" The tweet was an obvious attempt to make it look like Pelosi was the one having a meltdown, but critics were quick to point out that the picture actually makes Pelosi look like a strong woman at a table full of men making sure her voice is heard. Pelosi for her part made the photo her background on twitter and facebook. Today is Trump's 1,000th day in office, which JM Rieger marked the occasion with the following tweet: "Today was Trump’s 1,000th day. Things he did: -Told Turkey & Syria to fight over sand -Pushed conspiracy in Oval Office -Bragged about his 'many Italian friends' -Called his election 'corrupt' -Kurds 'no angels' -Called Pelosi 'third-grade politician'".
October 15, 2019 - Regarding the ongoing closed door proceeding of the House impeachment inquiry, Trump sent the following tweet: "Democrats are allowing no transparency at the Witch Hunt hearings. If Republicans ever did this they would be excoriated by the Fake News. Let the facts come out from the charade of people, most of whom I do not know, they are interviewing for 9 hours each, not selective leaks." News coming out of northern Syria is that Russian troops are now patrolling the area deserted by the US. According to the Guardian, this is "a clear sign that Moscow has become the de facto power broker in the region after the evacuation of US troops." George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state, testified today in the impeachment inquiry. Here are ome highlights from that testimony: Kent told investigators that he warned colleagues back in March about Rudy Giuliani's "disinformation" campaign in which he used a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear Joe Biden and the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. News surfaced that Federal prosecutors are examining Rudy Giuliani's interactions with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two men who were arrested on campaign finance charges. Rudy Giuliani's lawyer notified the House that documents subpoenaed with today as the deadline, will not be provided. The letter calls the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry "an unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate impeachment inquiry" and claims the subpoena is "overbroad and unduly burdensome". The Office of Management and Budget also sent a letter to the House saying it would not comply with a demand for documents, which are related to the delay in congressionally approved aid to Ukraine which were alleged to have been held up as a form of pressure to persuade Ukraine's new president to investigate Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy released a statement today saying in part "No one but Trump is to blame for the chaos Turkey has unleashed in Syria, and we all need to acknowledge it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. It’s absurd that Trump is now sanctioning Turkey for an invasion that he invited and announced. Congress now has a decision to make: do something in haste that makes us feel powerful or do something strategic that accounts for the fact that much of the harm Trump has done cannot be reversed...Congress needs to make sure America does its part to alleviate the humanitarian nightmare caused by Trump’s unconscionable double crossing of the Kurds." Mike Pence, the vice president, has declined to comply with a request from the house impeachment inquiry to turn over official documents. News surfaced that former congressman Pete Sessions has been subpoenaed by a grand jury regarding a Manhattan federal prosecutor's investigation into Rudy Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine. In an update on the impeachment inquiry, Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman said "We know from the witnesses that have come forward that there are additional documents that they have provided the state department that they have not provided to Congress." Because of this "The case for obstruction of Congress continues to build." Regarding holding a formal vote to open an impeachment inquiry, which the White House has used as an excuse to not cooperate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "We will not be having a vote. We are on the path of fairness. We are not here to call bluffs. We are on a path that is taking us to a path to truth, a timetable that respects our constitution."
October 14, 2019 - Trump, who is facing mounting criticism over his decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, sent the following tweet as reports emerged of escalating violence against America's Kurdish allies: "Brian Kilmeade over at @foxandfriends got it all wrong. We are not going into another war between people who have been fighting with each other for 200 years. Europe had a chance to get their ISIS prisoners, but didn’t want the cost. “Let the USA pay,” they said. Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly. Big sanctions on Turkey coming! Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey? Never ending wars will end!" Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, responded to Trump's tweet saying: "I just.... i mean.... what? @realDonaldTrump I thought you were going to defeat ISIS, that is why people voted for you. What changed? This is weakness. America is far more honorable than this." Kinzinger is also on record saying Trump had left America's Kurdish allies "to the wolves." News surfaced that a doctored video clip from a scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service, was played for an audience at a Trump gathering at Trump's Doral Miami resort. In the video, Trump is shown stabbing and shooting political enemies and news organizations. The event, which is called the American Priority conference, featured speakers Donald Trump Jr and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Fiona Hill, Trump's former top adviser on Russia, and former aide to John Bolton, testified before three congressional committees for 10 hours today, as part of the House Impeachment Inquiry. Hill was subpoenaed, per officials working on the impeachment inquiry, because of "attempts by the White House and the Administration to direct witnesses not to cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry and efforts by the White House to limit any testimony that does occur." According to Hill, Bolton was so alarmed at the back-channel effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump's political rivals, that he instructed Hill to report the activities of Rudy Giuliani, in concert with White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, to White House lawyers. According to Hill, those activities were described by Bolton as a rogue operation with legal implications. Bolton had reportedly said "I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up." Hill also said that on an earlier occasion, Bolton told her "Giuliani's a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up." Speaking to Reuters, Rudy Giuliani confirmed that he was paid $500,000 for consulting work he did for Fraud Guarantee, a company run by Lev Parnas, who was arrested with another Giuliani associate earlier this week for violating campaign finance laws. Fraud Guarantee, a Boca Raton based company, claims to help clients "reduce and mitigate fraud". Regarding the half million, Giuliani claimed "I know beyond any doubt the source of the money is not any questionable source. The money did not come from foreigners. I can rule that out 100%". While Hill testified, some Republicans complained to the press about a lack of subpoena power for the minority, and also complained that transcripts of closed door interviews is not being released. Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican of Florida, and staunch ally of Trump, walked in on the closed door testimony of Fiona Hill, demanding that he be allowed to be present, but was kicked out of the proceeding, since he is not a member of the three panels conducting the interview. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee voiced concern that the whistleblower may not testify, out of concern for that person's safety saying "Our primary interest right now is making sure that that person is protected. Indeed, now there’s more than one whistleblower, that they are protected." Trump responded to Schiff on twitter saying "Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO! Must testify to explain why he got my Ukraine conversation sooo wrong, not even close. Did Schiff tell him to do that? We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA. Democrat’s game was foiled when we caught Schiff fraudulently making up my Ukraine conversation, when I released the exact conversation Transcript, and when Ukrainian President and the Foreign Minister said there was NO PRESSURE, very normal talk! A total Impeachment Scam!" Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son, announced in an interview with ABC that if his father is elected president, he will step down from the board of a Chinese investment company, and will avoid work with foreign firms. Trump responded to the news on twitter saying "Wow! Hunter Biden is being forced to leave a Chinese Company. Now watch the Fake News wrap their greasy and very protective arms around him. Only softball questions of him please!" A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr claimed that Don Jr had not seen the violent video that was shown at an event for Trump supporters, and that he "strongly condemns the type of disgusting and graphic violence purported to be depicted." A spokesperson for Trump Sr also stated that he had not seen the video, but also condemns it. Critics took note that neither of the Trump's saw fit to condemn the video themselves. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell released a statement regarding the withdrawal of US trips from Syria saying in part "Abandoning this fight now and withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS." Trump sent the following tweet in defense of his Syria decision: "After defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria. Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria and Assad to protect the land of our enemy? Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away! Some people want the United States to protect the 7,000 mile away Border of Syria, presided over by Bashar al-Assad, our enemy. At the same time, Syria and whoever they chose to help, wants naturally to protect the Kurds. I would much rather focus on our Southern Border which abuts and is part of the United States of America. And by the way, numbers are way down and the WALL is being built!" Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, responded to Trump's tweet with one of his own "o those who believe radical Islam is not a threat to our homeland after 9/11 and the rise of ISIS: you are sadly mistaken and ignoring all military advice. Our southern border should be our LAST line of defense against radical Islam. Our FIRST line of defense is the U.S. military working with partners in radical Islam’s backyard keeping them over there so they can’t hurt us here at home or hurt our allies like Israel." Donald Trump released a statement saying that he will soon sign an executive order imposing sanctions on Turkey for launching a military operation in northern Syria after the withdrawal of US troops from the region. The statement also says that a "small footprint" of US troops will remain to "continue to disrupt remnants of ISIS." According to Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, Turkey's ongoing incursion into Syria has resulted in the release of captured Islamic State fighters. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, sent the following tweet: "The U.S. is now implementing sanctions authorities related to #Turkey’s ongoing military offensive in northeast #Syria, which is endangering civilians and severely undermining the D-ISIS campaign. This destabilizing operation by Turkey continues, and has now created a growing and disastrous humanitarian crisis. We remain committed to a political solution to the conflict in Syria in line with UNSCR 2254. Turkey’s unilateral actions led to these sanctions.
October 11, 2019 - Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, has come out in favor of the impeachment inquiry. This makes Hogan the third Republican governor to favor the inquiry. The other two are Phil Scott of Vermont, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. A federal appeals court has rejected Trump's appeal to block House Democrats' subpoena of his financial records. Despite the White House's refusal to participate in the impeachment inquiry, and despite being directed by the state department not to testify, Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, who has been accused by right wing media of "disloyalty", showed up at the House to testify, apparently under subpoena. Here are some highlights from her testimony:
- In her opening statement, Yovanovitch told lawmakers that she was assured by a top State Department official that she had "done nothing wrong", and that she was "incredulous" that she was removed as ambassador "based, as far as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."
- Yovanovitch also stated "With respect to Mayor Giuliani, I have had only minimal contacts with him—a total of three that I recall. None related to the events at issue. I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me. But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."
- Yovanovitch also addressed smears by right wing pundits saying "I want to categorically state that I have never myself or through others, directly or indirectly, ever directed, suggested, or in any other way asked for any government or government official in Ukraine (or elsewhere) to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption. As Mr Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General has recently acknowledged, the notion that I created or disseminated a 'do not prosecute' list is completely false - a story that Mr. Lutsenko, himself, has since retracted. Equally fictitious is the notion that I am disloyal to President Trump. I have heard the allegation in the media that I supposedly told the Embassy team to ignore the President’s orders 'since he was going to be impeached.' That allegation is false. I have never said such a thing, to my Embassy colleagues or to anyone else."
- Yovanovitch also addressed the campaign against her saying "I met with the Deputy Secretary of State, who informed me of the curtailment of my term. He said that the President had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador. He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018. He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause. I departed Ukraine for good this past May."
- Yovanovitch closed with "I am proud of my work in Ukraine. The U.S. Embassy, under my leadership, represented and advanced the policies of the United States government as articulated, first by the Obama Administration and then by the Trump Administration. Our efforts were intended, and evidently succeeded, in thwarting corrupt interests in Ukraine, who fought back by selling baseless conspiracy theories to anyone who would listen. Sadly, someone was listening, and our nation is the worse off for that."
Trump, who is meeting with the Chinese vice premier today, sent the following tweet: "One of the great things about the China Deal is the fact that, for various reasons, we do not have to go through the very long and politically complex Congressional Approval Process. When the deal is fully negotiated, I sign it myself on behalf of our Country. Fast and Clean!" Critics were quick to point out that the "Deal" Trump is working on will only solve a problem of Trump's own creation, which was brought on by tariffs. The pentagon announced that the US is sending approximately 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia. This announcement comes in the wake of an attack on Saudi oil facilities last month. This announcement also stands in contrast to Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria earlier this week, which Trump justified by saying "I campaigned on the fact that I was going to bring our soldiers home, and bring them home as rapidly as possible." The White House announced that John Sullivan, the current Deputy Secretary of State, will be the next US ambassador to Russia. This announcement came only minutes after Marie Yovanovitch described how Sullivan had told her she had done nothing wrong, and that there was a concerted campaign against her. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, announced that at the direction of Trump, he is prepared to authorize sanctions against Turkey, depending upon how that country navigates its military operation in northern Syria. Critics point out that Mnuchin's announcement is equivalent to announcing that the US is not sanctioning Turkey, but could if it wanted to, which goes without saying. A US federal district court has ruled that Trump violated the law by declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border to get his wall built. According to the New York Times, a federal judge has placed a nationwide injunction on the Trump administration's plan to penalize green card applicants who rely on government assistance, which is known as the "public charge" rule. Judge George B. Daniels stated in the decision that those potentially affected by the new regulation could suffer "irreparable harm" if it goes into effect. "The balance of equities and the interests of justice favor issuance of a preliminary injunction". Trump announced that tariffs, which were set to go into effect next week, have been cancelled, as a potential trade deal has been reached. Trump said the deal had not been written yet, but should be written in about 3 weeks. Shep Smith, a Fox News anchor who has repeatedly called out Trump on his falsehoods, and calling his false corruption allegations against Joe Biden "baseless" and a "conspiracy theory", announced that he will be leaving Fox. Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer, and de facto chief of staff to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has announced his resignation. According to the New York Times, the DOJ has filed a brief supporting Trump's appeal of a ruling earlier this week that he release his tax returns. Kevin McAleenan, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, announced that he is leaving to "spend more time with his family and go to the private sector".
October 10, 2019 - Sixteen prominent conservative lawyers released a joint statement saying the "undisputed" events surrounding the call with the Ukrainian president require an "expeditious" impeachment inquiry. The statement also says "We have not just a political candidate open to receiving foreign assistance to better his chances at winning an election, but a current president openly and privately calling on foreign governments to actively interfere in the most sacred of U.S. democratic processes, our elections." According to the Washington Post: "President Trump’s decision to suddenly withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria has angered evangelical Christian leaders and Republican hawks, cleaving his political coalition at the very moment he is trying to fortify his standing to survive the intensifying impeachment inquiry in Congress." According to a Fox News poll, 51% of voters want to see Trump impeached and removed from office. 40% oppose. Trump responded to the Fox poll tweeting: "From the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll. Whoever their Pollster is, they suck. But @FoxNews is also much different than it used to be in the good old days. With people like Andrew Napolitano, who wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice & I turned him down (he’s been terrible ever since), Shep Smith, @donnabrazile (who gave Crooked Hillary the debate questions & got fired from @CNN), & others, @FoxNews doesn’t deliver for US anymore. It is so different than it used to be. Oh well, I’m President!" Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Trump donors - who gave $325,000 to a pro-Trump Super Pac, and who were working with Rudy Giuliani in his work for Trump, were arrested today and charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates to buy influence. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York called it an "illegal straw-donor scheme," working "on behalf of a Ukrainian government official" to have the US ambassador to Ukraine recalled. The men were arrested at Dulles Airport just outside Washington while attempting to flee the country. Parnas was scheduled to be deposed today by House Democrats. Fruman was scheduled to be deposed tomorrow. The House committees, who were interested to see how the two men fit into Trump's dealings with Ukraine, issued subpoenas today for the two to testify in the near future, despite their arrest. According to the indictment, Parnas promised to raise funds for Republican US congressman Pete Sessions and sought that congressman's assistance to get Marie Yovanovitch, then serving as ambassador to Ukraine, recalled. According to the Daily Beast, Pete Sessions received $3m from the pro-Trump Super Pac, after he wrote a letter calling for the sacking of Yovanovitch. According to the Wall street Journal, the whistleblower complaint "cites Ms. Yovanovitch’s ouster as one of a series of events that paved the way for what the whistleblower alleges was an abuse of power by the president. ... In an interview, Mr. Giuliani told The Wall Street Journal that in the lead-up to Ms. Yovanovitch’s removal, he reminded the president of complaints percolating among Trump supporters that she had displayed an anti-Trump bias in private conversations. In Mr. Giuliani’s view, she also had been an obstacle to efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden and his son Hunter." Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's attorneys, denied that Trump had any connection to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Trump himself also claimed in an interview that he doesn't know the two men. A picture surfaced today which shows Trump posing with Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman. According to the Wall Street Journal, Parnas and Fruman "had lunch with Mr. Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington" yesterday, just hours before the pair were arrested at Dulles International Airport. In other Ukraine news, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that responsibility for overseeing aid to Ukraine was shifted to a political appointee after budget staffers raised legal concerns about stalling the funds. Some notable responses to the news of the arrest of Giuliani's associates:
"It's becoming a challenge to keep up with the high crimes and misdemeanors." Hillary Clinton
"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." - Elizabeth Warren
"Today’s arrests show that two associates of Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer, worked to undermine our democracy by setting up fake corporations to launder foreign money and funnel it into our election system. It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to U.S. campaigns. In today’s indictment, the President’s own Department of Justice specifically states that the purpose of our campaign finance laws is to prevent foreign influence from shaping American elections. As the lead Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, I have requested information from the FEC regarding this Administration’s potential campaign finance violations, and I will continue to push the Department of Justice and the FEC to follow the money and uphold the law." - Amy Klobuchar
John Shimkus, a Republican congressman from Illinois, said he is "shocked, angered and embarrassed" by Trump's betrayal of the Kurds, and says he no longer supports the President. According to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/MMarist poll, 52% of Americans support the impeachment inquiry, while 43% oppose it. On the question of removing Trump from office, those for and against are dead even at 48% each. HR McMaster, Trump's former national security adviser was asked today if it is appropriate for the president of the United States to solicit foreign interference in our political process, McMaster's answer "Of course no. No, it's absolutely not." News surfaced that three House committees have subpoenaed Rick Perry, the president's energy secretary as part of the impeachment inquiry. The accompanying letter states in part: "Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian president. These reports have also raised significant questions about your efforts to press Ukrainian officials to change the management structure at a Ukrainian state-owned energy company to benefit individuals involved with Rudy Giuliani’s push to get Ukrainian officials to interfere in our 2020 election." A judge has ordered Lev Parnas and Igor Furman to surrender their passports, and post $1m each before they can be released from jail. Once released, they will be confined to their homes and will have to wear GPS monitors. Donald Trump told reporters that Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman, will be joining his legal team "sometime after January". Gowdy, who chaired the House Select Committee on Benghazi from 2014 to 2016, stated during that investigation: "The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles." Since retiring from congress, Gowdy has worked as a contributor to Fox News.
October 9, 2019 - According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, 50% of voters support removing Trump from office, while 43% do not. Turkey has launched an offensive on Kurds in northern Syria now that US troops have pulled out of the region. The Kurds, who worked with the US as ground troops against ISIS, lost more than 10,000 people in those battles. Following heavy criticism, Trump sent the following tweets to defend his foreign policy in the Middle East: "The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! We went to war under a false & now disproven premise, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. There were NONE! Now we are slowly & carefully bringing our great soldiers & military home. Our focus is on the BIG PICTURE! THE USA IS GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!" Marco Rubio, a Senate Republican, sent the following tweet "The Kurds were lead ground force against ISIS & currently hold 1000’s of ISIS killers in jail. Abandoning them is morally repugnant,stains our nations reputation & could lead to 1000’s of ISIS killers back on battlefield." IN response to news of a Turkish incursion into Kurdish held Syria, Senate Republican Lindsey Graham sent the following tweet: "If media reports are accurate and Turkey has entered northern Syria — a disaster is in the making. Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration. This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS." Graham, who has stated publicly regarding the Ukraine phone call "I’ve read the transcript. ... I do not see anything wrong there, and I want Nancy Pelosi to know that Republican senators are not going to impeach this president based on this transcript" also stated in 1998 during Clinton's impeachment "The day Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day he was subject to impeachment." Joe Biden, former vice president, and current candidate for president in 2020, has come out in favor of impeachment saying "Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation, and committed impeachable acts. To preserve our Constitution, our democracy, our basic integrity, he should be impeached." Trump responded to Biden's statement tweeting "So pathetic to see Sleepy Joe Biden, who with his son, Hunter, and to the detriment of the American Taxpayer, has ripped off at least two countries for millions of dollars, calling for my impeachment - and I did nothing wrong. Joe’s Failing Campaign gave him no other choice!" It should be noted, that neither Trump nor his allies have supplied any evidence to support Trump's claim that Biden exploited his influence as vice president to aid his son or his business. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, was asked three times if it was acceptable for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. Ernst refused to answer the question. According to CNN, a senior adviser to Turkish president Erdogan claims that Trump knew in advance "precisely" the scope of the military operation in northern Syria. The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its last meeting, which show that Trump's trade policy is being blamed for a slowing economy. During a press conference, Trump was asked how he would react if Turkish forces decimated America's Kurdish allies in the region, to which Trump replied that he would "wipe out" Turkey's economy. Trump was also asked if he was concerned that Islamic State fighters might be able to escape because of Turkey's military operation, which Trump dismissed, saying "Well, they’re going to be escaping to Europe. That’s where they want to go; they want to go back to their homes, but Europe didn’t want them from us." Trump also said of the Kurds "They didn't help us in the second world war, they didn't help us with Normandy, as an example." Trump's statement on the Kurd's failure to help at Normandy was traced to an article in which the author, Kurt Schlichter, excused Trump's betrayal by saying "Let's be honest - the Kurds didn't show up for us at Normandy or Inchon or Khe Sanh or Kandahar." Trump also said the following when asked if he would cooperate with the impeachment inquiry: "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." According to NPR: "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." So, when Trump complains that he isn't being given due process during the impeachment proceeding, the complaint is unwarranted because he isn't guaranteed any. Regarding the Ukraine call, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, said the following during an interview with PBS: "I found that to be wholly appropriate. I was on the call. I listened to it. It was consistent with what President Trump has been trying to do to take corruption out." According to Bloomberg, Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, was asked by Trump to persuade the Justice Department to drop a case against Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader, who "was being prosecuted in federal court on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran's nuclear program." According to the article "Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation". According to the New York Times: "It is unclear whether any Kurds were at the Normandy landings, but there is evidence that some of them fought on the side of the Allied forces during World War II. Some background: The Kurds, despite being the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, are a stateless and often marginalized people whose homeland stretches across Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia ... They didn’t have a country ... They didn’t have a navy. They didn’t have anything on their own. But individually, many people came forward." Also according to the New York Times, attorney general William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News. This visit comes in the wake of a Fox News poll saying that the majority of Americans favor impeaching Trump. Trump was reported to be upset by the airing of that poll on Fox. According to the Washington Post, at least four national security officials raised concerns over the Trump administrations' efforts to pressure Ukraine with a White House lawyer. The story states in part "At the time, the officials were unnerved by the removal in May of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine; subsequent efforts by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to promote Ukraine-related conspiracies; as well as signals in meetings at the White House that Trump wanted the new government in Kiev to deliver material that might be politically damaging to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden." Donald Trump held a rally in Minneapolis today. Some highlights:
- Eric Trump falsely claims that Joe Biden's son "embezzled" funds. The crowd responds with "Lock him up! Lock him up!" Eric Trump responds, "We don't need to lock him up, we just need to beat the hell out of all of them."
- Trump claimed that Joe Biden was only "a good vice-president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass".
October 8, 2019 - According to a Washington Post-Schar School poll, 58% of Americans support House Democrats' decision to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. 49% support Trump's removal from office. Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, who was scheduled to testify today before the House of Representatives, was ordered not to do so by the US Department of States. In a statement released by Sondland's attorney, it stated that Sondland is ""profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify, but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see. Importantly, Ambassador Sondland’s tweet, which few report, stated, “I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind.” That says it ALL!" It should be noted here that Sondland's text message, not tweet, which denied a quid pro quo, occurred after Sondland spoke to Donald Trump. Adam Schiff called the blocking of Sondland's testimony "yet additional strong evidence of obstruction." House Democrats issued a subpoena to compel ambassador Sondland to appear. Trump sent the following tweet in response to Adam Schiff's statement: "Hasn’t Adam Schiff been fully discredited by now? Do we have to continue listening to his lies?" Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, sent a letter to House Democratic leaders which called the impeachment inquiry an illegitimate effort "to overturn the results of the 2016 election" and stated in part "In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the executive branch and all future occupants of the office of the presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances." It should be noted that just last week, Trump vowed that he would participate in the inquiry saying "I always cooperate" and that "we'll work together". Responding to the letter, Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying in part "Mr. president, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable." One complaint in Cipillone's letter is that precedent from previous impeachment inquiries is not being followed, however, the Constitution says that the House "shall have sole power of impeachment," and provides no process or rules, meaning each House can proceed in whichever ways it chooses. The Senate intelligence committee released its bipartisan report on Russia's use of social media to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, which concluded that the Kremlin sought to help Trump's campaign by spreading disinformation. The report states in part: "The Committee found, that the IRA sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton’s chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin." The report also calls on the Executive Branch to "reinforce with the public the danger of attempted foreign interference in the 2020 election." According to CNN regarding Trump's call with the Ukrainian president: "The scramble and fallout from the call, described by six people familiar with it, parallels and expands upon details described in the whistleblower complaint. The anxiety and internal concern reflect a phone conversation that deeply troubled national security professionals, even as Trump now insists there was nothing wrong with how he conducted himself. And it shows an ultimately unsuccessful effort to contain the tumult by the administration’s lawyers. At least one National Security Council official alerted the White House’s national security lawyers about the concerns, three sources familiar with the matter said, a detail that had not been previously disclosed. Those same lawyers would later order the transcript of the call moved to a highly classified server typically reserved for code-word classified material."
October 7, 2019 - According to the Guardian, following a phone call with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, the Trump administration gave "the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington's longtime military partner." The decision is reported to have caught the pentagon by surprise. A statement regarding the policy change was released by the White House and said in part "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria. The United States armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial ‘caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area." Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, called the move "a big win for Iran and Assad [and] a big win for Isis" and also a "disaster in the making". Graham also stated "Isis is not defeated. This is the biggest lie being told by this administration". Victor Marrero, a Federal Judge, rejected a legal challenge by Trump to prevent the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal investigation, which is looking at the Trump Organization's involvement in paying two women to keep quiet about their claims of having affairs with Trump. Trump sent the following tweet regarding tax returns ruling "The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!" Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, attempted to give a speech today, but was shouted down by immigrant activists, and finally just walked off the stage. The immigrant activists released a statement about the incident which stated in part "No Trump henchmen should be given a platform to spread hatred or defend the racist, xenophobic policies put into place by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Institutions that elevate the architects and enforcers of Trump’s hate and normalize that cruelty can expect to hear from us." Trump sent the following tweet regarding his decision on northern Syria: "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!" Republican senator Mitt Romney, and Democratic senator Chris Murphy released a joint statement saying in part "The president's decision to abandon our Kurdish allies in northern Syria in the face of an assault by Turkey is a betrayal that will have grave humanitarian and national security consequences. After enlisting support from the Kurds to help destroy ISIS and assuring Kurdish protection from Turkey, the US has now opened the door to their destruction. This severely undercuts America’s credibility as a reliable partner and creates a power vacuum in the region that benefits ISIS". Republican senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, issued a statement saying in part "A precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime. And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup."
October 5, 2019 - News surfaced that a second intelligence official is considering filing a whistleblower complain about Trump's dealings with Ukraine. According to the reports, this whistleblower has more direct information about the events in question than the initial whistleblower. Trump signed a proclamation which will deny US visas to immigrants who cannot prove they can afford health care within 30 days of entering the country. Doug Rand, a former Obama administration official, and co-founder of Boundless Immigration, responded to the news tweeting "This new attempt at an immigration ban is as shameless as it is stunning. It will be chaotic to implement and guaranteed to separate US citizens from their legal immigrant spouses and other close relatives." News surfaced that Trump told House Republicans that he made his call to the Ukrainian President at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry saying "Not a lot of people know this but, I didn't even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to."
October 4, 2019 - During an appearance on Morning Joe, Ellen Weintraub, the Federal Election Commission chair, stated "the law is pretty clear. ... It is absolutely illegal for anyone to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with any election in the United States." Adam Schiff sent the following tweet: "It comes down to this. We’ve cut through the denials. The deflections. The nonsense. Donald Trump believes he can pressure a foreign nation to help him politically. It's his 'right.' Every Republican in Congress has to decide: Is he right?" Video surfaced of Mike Pence in the 2016 vice presidential debate saying "This is basic stuff. Foreign donors — and certainly foreign governments — cannot participate in the American political process." Ruslan Riaboshapka, the current prosecutor general of Ukraine, announced that his office will review all cases closed by his predecessor. Trump told the press "I don’t care about Biden’s campaign. I care about corruption". Mitt Romney, Republican senator of Utah, made the following statement: "When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated. By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling." LaRouche PAC, a far right group that supports Donald Trump, trolled a town hall event hosted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by sending in a woman who ranted about how the climate crisis needed to be solved by eating babies. After the video went viral, Trump sent it in a tweet and stated "AOC is a wack job". Marco Rubio, Republican senator from Florida, was asked about Trump's public request to China to investigate Biden, his response: "I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press knowing that you guys were going to get outraged by it. He’s pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he’s been doing that for awhile, and the media responded right on task". Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller claimed recently that the impeachment inquiry is a product of the "deep state", which is a conspiracy theory. One of the major players in forming and propagating the deep state conspiracy theory is Steve Bannon, who recently stated that the "deep state conspiracy theory is for nut cases". Bannon also said that the government bureaucracy is formidable, but "there's nothing 'deep' about it. It's right in your face." Ron Johnson, Republican senator of Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal that the US ambassador to the Europen Union told him that "aid to Ukraine was tied to the desire by Mr Trump and his allies to have Kyiv undertake investigations related to the 2016 US elections". According to the New York Times the inspector general of the treasury department "is investigating how treasury handled a congressional request for President Trump's tax returns, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to turn over". According to the Washington Post, House Democrats have sent a letter to Mike Pence requesting Ukraine documents for the impeachment inquiry saying in part "Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian president". FiveThirtyEight's poll tracker on impeachment, which charts polling averages, finds that 46.5% of respondents favor impeachment, while 44.8% oppose it. Vice president Mike Pence's office responded to a request for documents saying "it does not appear to be a serious request". According to NBC News, Courtney Simmons Elwood, a Trump-appointed CIA general counsel, contacted the justice department about the whistleblower's complaint and "intended the call ... to make a criminal referral about the president's conduct, acting under rules set forth in a memo governing how intelligence agencies should report allegations of federal crimes". The leaders of the House impeachment inquiry have sent a subpoena to White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney seeking documents saying in part "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the president has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up ... We deeply regret that President Trump has put us – and the nation – in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena." Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, responded to the subpoena request saying in part "This subpoena changes nothing - just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the President did nothing wrong."
October 3, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, in addition to wanting to construct a moat full of snakes and alligators along the US-Mexico border, Trump also suggested arming US forces "with bayonets to block people crossing into the United States across the Mexico border". While standing on the White House lawn, Trump responded to a question about what he wanted the Ukraine president to do, Trump responded: "If they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens. I would say President Zelenskiy, if it was me, I would start an investigation into the Bidens." Of the whistleblower complaint Trump stated: "It’s totally inaccurate because the conversation that I had was absolutely perfect." Trump also added "China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened in Ukraine." Trump was then asked if he had requested President Xi of China to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump's response: "I haven’t but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about". Some select responses on twitter to Trump's comments on the White House lawn:
"Trump admits he asked Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, and asks China to do the same. Like Nixon telling America 'I ordered the break in.'" - Oliver Willis
"Just to be clear, Trump is currently, this morning, calling on foreign leaders to investigate Biden in the midst of an impeachment proceeding about whether he has encouraged foreign leaders to investigate Biden." - Sam Stein
"This. Is. The. Thing. Republicans. Spent. Days. Denying. He Asked." - Blake Hounshell
"The President cannot use the power of his office to pressure foreign leaders to investigate his political opponents. His rant this morning reinforces the urgency of our work. America is a Republic, if we can keep it." - Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff also called Trump's request that China investigate Biden "a fundamental breach of his oath of office and told the assembled press "Once again, having the president of the United States suggesting, urging, a foreign country to interfere in our presidential elections is an illustration that if this president has learned anything from the two years of the Mueller investigation is that he feels he can do anything with impunity." CNN is refusing to air a Trump campaign ad that makes a series of false claims about the Bidens in Ukraine. According to the Daily Beast: "The 30-second ad, titled 'Biden Corruption,' peddles misleading accusations about Joe Biden and his son Hunter in an attempt by President Trump to deflect from controversy over his pressuring of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on the former vice president." George Conway, husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following tweet: "You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you don’t need to be a mental-health professional to see that something’s very seriously off with Trump—particularly after nearly three years of watching his erratic and abnormal behavior in the White House." Speaking at a healthcare rally in Florida, Trump told the crowd that Republicans will never allow health insurance companies to turn away those with pre-existing conditions, but failed to mention that it was Barack Obama's Affordable Care act that stopped insurance companies from being able to refuse treatment to those with pre-existing conditions, which most Republicans voted against. Vice president Mike Pence defended Trump's controversial Ukraine call saying "The American people have a right to know if the vice president of the United States, or his family, profited from his position." Trump sent the following tweet: "ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy for Ukraine testified before a congressional committee today where he said he "tried to caution Guiliani that his sources, including Ukraine’s former top prosecutor, were unreliable and that he should be careful about putting faith in the prosecutor’s stories". Volker also explained that it was unusual for the U.S. to withhold aid to Ukraine, but said he was given no explanation for it. Also according to Volker, Trump administration diplomats drafted a statement for Volodymyr Zelenskyy that would have committed Ukraine to investigating the energy company Burisma, and would have called for Ukrainian government to look into a conspiracy theory that Ukranians interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton. According to the Washington Post, an Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint relating to interference by a political appointee who tried to interfere with the annual audit of either Trump's or Pence's tax returns, or both. According to CNN "During a phone call with Xi on June 18, Trump raised Biden’s political prospects as well as those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who by then had started rising in the polls, according to two people familiar with the discussion. In that call, Trump also told Xi he would remain quiet on Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed." According to Politico, Rick Perry, Trump's energy secretary, who has suggested that fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault, is planning to resign next month. Perry was the one who attended Ukrainian leader Vlodomyr Zalenskyy's inauguration in place of Mike Pence. Donald Trump sent the following text: "As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!" During testimony with three House committees, Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, provided a series of text messages that were between himself, Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to the Ukraine, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and an aide to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. One bombshell text from Bill Taylor said "As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign". In another, Gordon Sondland says "I think potus really wants the deliverable". According to the Guardian "The texts, released on Thursday night, show that the diplomats made clear that any improvement in Kyiv’s relations with Washington would be dependent on Zelenskiy’s cooperation in Trump’s quest to find damaging material about Hunter Biden, the son of his leading political opponent, and on the Democrats in general. The conversations leave no doubt that the US state department was deeply involved in the effort to use the office of the presidency to pressure a foreign government to investigate Trump's political enemies. At one point, the diplomats even draft a statement for Zelenskiy to read out." Here are some select responses to the information in the text messages:
"All week I’ve been saying you never see direct written evidence of a quid pro quo. I stand corrected." - Preet Bharara
"'I think potus really wants the deliverable' is going to go down in the history books along with 'do us a favor though'" - Susan Glasser
"Waking up to all of this new evidence. Shows impeachment constitutionally required. Damning and sad. This is just the first week of the investigation. Trump's factual defense has already collapsed." - Neal Katyal
"The question at this point is how many times, and with how many foreign leaders, has Trump offered to alter US policy in exchange for help from abroad in interfering in US elections." - Adam Serwer
"A Note to US Gov't Employees: If you've seen illegal acts by Trump or Trump appointees & you keep it to yourself, not only are you failing in your responsibility to the country you're opening yourself up to liability & speculation about your motives. See something, say something." - David Rothkopf
"Bill Taylor is a West Point grad, Vietnam vet, and career public servant. He is our chief diplomat in Ukraine and an expert on the country. If Taylor believes the aid was withheld to get the interference, that’s big news." - Chris Murphy
What follows is an excerpt of the letter that accompanied the release of the text messages to the public, written by the chairs of the Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs Committees:
"The President and his aides are engaging in a campaign of misinformation and misdirection in an attempt to normalize the act of soliciting foreign powers to interfere in our elections. We have all seen the summary of the call in which President Trump repeatedly urged the Ukrainian President to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden immediately after the Ukrainian President mentioned critical U.S. military assistance to counter Russian aggression. The President claims he did nothing wrong. Even more astonishing, he is now openly and publicly asking another foreign power - China - to launch its own sham investigation against the Bidens to further his own political aims. This is not normal or acceptable. It is unethical, unpatriotic, and wrong. American Presidents should never press foreign powers to target their domestic political rivals. Engaging in these stunning abuses in broad daylight does not absolve President Trump of his wrongdoings - or is grave offenses against the Constitution. Over the past week, new reports have revealed that other Trump Administration officials also have been involved in the illicit effort to get Ukrainian help for the President's campaign."
October 2, 2019 - Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, has admitted to being on the call with Trump and the president of Ukraine calling it part of normal state department business. Trump sent the following tweet: "As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!" During a press briefing, Adam Schiff made the following statements:
- "We are deeply concerned about secretary Pompeo’s effort to potentially interfere with witnesses who are set to appear before out committee, many of whom are mentioned in the whistleblower complaint."
- "We are proceeding deliberately, but at the same time we feel a real sense of urgency"
- attempts to “stonewall” the impeachment inquiry “will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice”
- "We're not fooling around here"
- "The president probably doesn't realize how dangerous his statements are"
- "It’s hard to imagine a set of circumstances that would have alarmed the Founders more than what’s on that call. It’s hard to imagine a more corrupt course of conduct.”
Following the news conference, Trump sent the following tweet: "The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it! Adam Schiff should only be so lucky to have the brains, honor and strength of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. For a lowlife like Schiff, who completely fabricated my words and read them to Congress as though they were said by me, to demean a First in Class at West Point, is SAD!" During a press appearance in the Oval Office, Trump made the following statement "He [Schiff] made up my conversation. He actually made it up. It should be treasonous. He made it up. Every word of it. Made it up. And read to Congress as though I said it. I’ll tell you what, he should be forced to resign. Adam Schiff, he’s a low life. He should be forced to resign. He took a perfect conversation, realized he couldn’t read it to congress because it was a very nice conversation." According to the New York Times, the whistleblower approached a House Intelligence Committee staff aide days before filing the complaint. Schiff, the chairman of the committee, was made aware of the nature of the allegations, but was not given information on the whistleblower's identity. Trump held a joint press conference with Sauli Niinisto. Here are some select statements Trump made during the event:
- "I think he [Schiff] probably helped write it [the whistleblower complaint]. He [Schiff] knew long before, and he helped write it too"
- "I probably will be bringing litigation against a lot of people having to do with the corrupt investigation into the 2016 election. And I have every right to."
Trump: "We have the president of Finlnd, ask him a question"
Reporter: "I have one for him, I just wanted to follow up on the one I asked you-"
Trump: "Did you hear me? Ask him a question!"
According to the AP, the US is imposing 25% tariffs on $7.5bn in European imports beginning October 18. News surfaced that Republican senator Lindsey Graham sent a letter to leaders of the UK, Australia and Italy asking them to cooperate with attorney general William Barr in his investigation of the origins of the Mueller investigation. According to the Washington Post, Trump involved vice president Mike Pence in his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden: "Trump instructed Pence not to attend the inauguration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in May — an event White House officials had pushed to put on the vice president’s calendar — when Ukraine’s new leader was seeking recognition and support from Washington, the officials said. Months later, the president used Pence to tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was still being withheld while demanding more aggressive action on corruption, officials said. At that time — following Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenksy — the Ukrainians probably understood action on corruption to include the investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden."
October 1, 2019 - Michael Atkinson, the ICIG, released a statement in which he pointed out that the whistleblower in the Trump/Ukraine scandal had "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct" that was the subject of the urgent complaint filed in August. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, responded to House committees' requests to have members of the state department testify before congress saying he is "concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career [foreign-service officers]." Three House committee chairs (Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings) responded to Pompeo's comments saying in part "Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress—including State Department employees—is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry." According to an excerpt from an upcoming book called Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration, Trump "often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him". A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Georgia law banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Maxine Waters, the chairman of the House Financial services committee, sent the following tweet: "I'm calling on the GOP to stop Trump's filthy talk of whistleblowers being spies & using mob language implying they should be killed. Impeachment is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned & placed in solitary confinement. But for now, impeachment is the imperative."
September 30, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following in tweet: "Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?"
Note: The definition of treason in Article Three, Section 3, of the United States Constitution, is as follows: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "WHO CHANGED THE LONG STANDING WHISTLEBLOWER RULES JUST BEFORE SUBMITTAL OF THE FAKE WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT? DRAIN THE SWAMP!"
Note: There was no change to the whistleblower rule. According to the Daily Beast "From Donald Trump on down, prominent Republicans used part of their weekend to falsely accuse Trump’s hand-picked intelligence community inspector general (IC IG) of secretly changing the requirements for intelligence workers to submit whistleblower tips as part of a deep state plot to clear the way for the Aug. 12 complaint about Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine."
Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina, sent the following tweet: "In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony. But you can impeach a president? I certainly hope not." George Conway, the husband of senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following response to Lindsey Graham in a series of tweets: "It has been a while since you’ve practiced law, so let me help: * @realDonaldTrump’s incriminating statements are binding admissions against him and are not hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2); * Even if that were not so, the statements would be admissible under Rule 804(b)(3)‘ s exception to the hearsay rule for statements against penal or other interest; * To the extent Trump was involved in a criminal conspiracy with... @RudyGiuliani, Giuliani’s statements are also admissible against Trump and House can consider hearsay in deciding whether to begin an impeachment inquiry, just as prosecutors can consider hearsay in deciding whether to convene a grand jury. So your argument, Senator, is pure garbage, even assuming that the rules of evidence apply in the impeachment process." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Very simple! I was looking for Corruption and also why Germany, France and others in the European Union don’t do more for Ukraine. Why is it always the USA that does so much and puts up so much money for Ukraine and other countries? By the way, the Bidens were corrupt!"
Note: Since Russia's annexation of Crimea, the European Union has given Ukraine $16.5 billion in grants and loans. During that same time period, the US has provided $1.3 billion.
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's personal lawyers, made the following statement on his radio show: "We won the Mueller probe. We're going to win this one. Here we go! I tell you what. If Mueller was a war this is a skirmish." Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aid, sent the following tweet: "Presidents don't get to arrest political opponents for treason just because they disagree with them. If they could, Trump could have been in prison for birtherism. We do, however, Arrest for Treason, when someone gives aid and comfort to an enemy, as Trump has done with Russia." Hillary Clinton weighed in with the following tweet: "The president is a corrupt human tornado." Chris Collins, Republican representative from New York, has resigned. Collins is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to charges of insider trading. Trump was asked by a reporter if he knows who the whistleblower is, to which Trump responded "Well we're trying to find out about a whistleblower. We have a whistleblower that reports that things that were incorrect." According to CBS "@60Minutes has obtained a letter that indicates the government whistleblower...is under federal protection because he or she fears for their safety". Andrew Bakaj, a lawyer representing the whistleblower, sent the following tweet: "IC WB UPDATE: The Intel Community Whistleblower is entitled to anonymity. Law and policy support this and the individual is not to be retaliated against. Doing so is a violation of federal law." According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 47% of Americans think Trump should be impeached and removed from office, and 47% say he should not. The numbers represent a 20-point swing from less than a week ago. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, has been subpoenaed by three House committees, who wrote in a joint letter "Our inquiry includes an investigation of credible allegations that you acted as an agent of the President in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the Office of the President." Giuliani has been given until October 15th to turn over materials relevant to the impeachment inquiry. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, was listening in on Trump's call with the Ukrainian president. According to the CNN/SSRS poll, 47% of Americans are in favor of impeaching Trump and removing him from office, while 45% are opposed. According to the New York Times, during a phone call with the Australian prime minister, Trump encouraged him to work with William Barr, the attorney general, in an investigation meant to discredit the findings of Robert Mueller. According to the Times "And like the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Mr. Morrison shows the president using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests." In a move that Mike Pompeo says is to make clear the US "will not tolerate foreign interference" in our elections, the US issued new economic sanctions against seven Russians who were involved in an internet "troll factory". According to Pompeo "The United States will continue to push back against malign actors who seek to subvert our democratic processes". According to the Washington Post, William Barr has made personal appeals to British officials, Italian officials and Australian officials to help discredit the Mueller investigation. The Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community released a statement that contradicts Trump's assertion that the whistleblower was only able to file a complaint because of a recent rule change. According to the ICIG, the disclosure was submitted on a form that had been in place since May of 2018.
September 29, 2019 - Donald Trump re-tweeted the following quote from Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress: "If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal." Donald Trump penned the following tweet: "Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'Whistleblower,' represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress. His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason. In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the 'Whistleblower.' Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!"
Note: Trump's complaint against Adam Schiff is regarding comments Schiff made in his opening statement for a hearing on the whistleblower complaint. Schiff did not read Trump's comments in the White House released transcript verbatim, but instead read his own version of the remarks, which he prefaced with: The president's response to Zelenskyy's request for aid " reads like a classic organized crime shakedown ... this is the essence of what the president communicates." Schiff then recites his own characterization of the transcript, then ends with "This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate."
The following exchange occurred between actor Robert De Niro, and CNN host Brian Stelter, during a live broadcast:
De Niro: Donald Trump "should not be president, period."
Stelter: "And when you say that, folks on Fox come after you."
De Niro: "Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em."
The following exchange took place between CNN's Jake Tapper and Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman:
Tapper: "The president was pushing the president of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. I cannot believe that is OK with you."
Jordan: "It is not OK, but he didn’t do that."
September 28, 2019 - Katrina Mulligan, a former official who worked in ODNI, the national security council, and the justice department, stated the following in an interview with The Guardian: "We all knew Coats’ departure was coming because he had clashed with the president on several issues. What was weird was the president’s forcefulness in not wanting Sue Gordon to take over as acting director ... I was hearing at the time that Sue was getting actively excluded from things by the president that she would ordinarily have taken part in, and she was being made to feel uncomfortable ... And then the president tried to install someone who was clearly unqualified. Now the timeline of the whistleblower in the White House raises a lot of questions about the Sue Gordon piece of this." Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina, sent the following tweet: "In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony. But you can impeach a president? I certainly hope not." Critics were quick to point out that on May 3rd of 2016, Graham sent the following tweet: "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it." Trump sent the following in a tweet: "Can you imagine if these Do Nothing Democrat Savages … had a Republican party who would have done to Obama what the Do Nothings are doing to me. Oh well, maybe next time!"
September 27, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Obama loving (wrote Obama book) Peter Baker of the Failing New York Times, married to an even bigger Trump Hater than himself, should not even be allowed to write about me. Every story is a made up disaster with sources and leakers that don’t even exist. I had a simple and very nice call with with the new President of Ukraine, it could not have been better or more honorable, and the Fake News Media and Democrats, working as a team, have fraudulently made it look bad. It wasn’t bad, it was very legal and very good. A continuing Witch Hunt!" Then he sent the following tweet: "Rep. Adam Schiff fraudulently read to Congress, with millions of people watching, a version of my conversation with the President of Ukraine that doesn’t exist. He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it sound horrible, and me sound guilty. HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT. Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public. He has been doing this for two years. I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!" The second tweet is a response to Schiff's opening statement at yesterday's hearing with the DNI, in which Schiff explained Trump's words as a classic mob shakedown. Nancy Pelos expressed her belief that William Barr, the attorney general, has "gone rogue". Trump sent the following tweet: "Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn’t a Whistleblower at all. In addition, all second hand information that proved to be so inaccurate that there may not have even been somebody else, a leaker or spy, feeding it to him or her? A partisan operative?" According to CNN, a senior White House official confirmed that the Trump administration used a separate classified system to house important documents, including the transcript of the Ukraine call. While speaking at Georgetown University, Hillary Clinton told the crowd "These are perilous times for our world. Nationalism, tribalism and authoritarianism are on the rise. Technology has proved to be a double edged sword." Clinton also told the crowd that Trump has turned US diplomacy into "a cheap extortion racket" and "stabbed in the back" career foreign service officers ... "In the course of his duties he endangered us all by putting his personal political interests ahead of the interests of the American people." More than 300 former national security and foreign policy officials have signed on to a statement which reads in part "[A]ll of us recognize the imperative of formal impeachment proceedings to ascertain additional facts and weigh the consequences of what we have learned and what may yet still emerge. We applaud those Members of Congress, including Speaker Pelosi, who have now started us down that necessary path. President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign interference into our democratic processes. That would constitute an unconscionable abuse of power. It also would represent an effort to subordinate America’s national interests—and those of our closest allies and partners—to the President’s personal political interest. ... To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress' deliberative process. At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings." Three House committees have subpoenaed secretary of state Mike Pompeo for information on the whistleblower complaint writing "Pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019." News surfaced today that Kurt Volker, a part-time special envoy for Ukraine, who was mentioned in the whistleblower report, has resigned. According to the Guardian "further reports emerged of White House efforts to limit access to transcripts of conversations with other countries. Trump’s phone calls with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin were also tightly restricted, according to former administration officials quoted by CNN and the New York Times." According to the Washington Post, the White House restricted access to comments that Trump made to Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, during a 2017 Oval Office meeting, in an attempt to conceal the fact that Trump had told the Russian officials he was unconcerned about Moscow's interference in the 2016 US election because the US did the same thing in other countries. This was the same meeting in which Trump has previously been reported to have told the Russian officials that James Comey was a "nut job", and also shared Israeli intelligence related to ISIS. According to an investigation by Senate Democrats, the NRA acted as a "foreign asset" before the 2016 election, in providing Russian officials access to US political organizations. Lindsey Graham made the following statement today: "From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. What would’ve been wrong is if the president had suggested to the Ukrainian government that if you don’t do what I want you to do regarding the Bidens, we’re not going to give you the aid. That was the accusation; that did not remotely happen."
September 26, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet: "THE GREATEST SCAM IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN POLITICS!" The House intelligence committee released to the public the whistleblower's complaint. According to the whistleblower:
- "The president of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic rivals. The President's personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort. Attorney General Barr appears to be involved as well."
- "I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute 'a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive Order' that 'does not include differences of opinions concerning public policy matters,' consistent with the definition of an 'urgent concern'."
- "I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine the U.S. Government's efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections."
- "The White House officials who told me this information were deeply disturbed by what had transpired in the phone call. They told me there was already a 'discussion ongoing' with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials' retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain."
- "In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to "lock down" all records of the phone call, especially the official word-fro-word transcript of the call that was produced - as is customary - by the White House Situation Room. This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call. White House officials told me that they were 'directed' by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials. Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective."
- "On 26 July, a day after the call, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker visited Kyiv and met with President Zelenskyy and a variety of Ukrainian political figures. Ambassador Volker was accompanied in his meetings by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Based on multiple readouts of these meetings recounted to me by various U.S. officials, Ambassador Volker and Sondland reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy."
- "Starting in mid-May, I heard from multiple U.S. officials that they were deeply concerned by what they viewed as Mr. Giuliani's circumvention of national security decision making processes to engage with Ukrainian officials and relay messages back and forth between Kyiv and the President."
- "During this same timeframe, multiple U.S. officials told me that the Ukrainian leadership was led to believe that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelenskyy would depend on whether Zelenskyy showed willingness to 'play ball' on the issues that had been publicly aired by Mr. Lutsenko and Mr. Giuliani."
- "I learned from U.S. officials that, on or around 14 May, the President instructed Vice President Pence to cancel his planned travel to Ukraine to attend President Zelenskyy's inauguration on 20 May ...According to these officials, it was also 'made clear' to them that the President did not want to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy until he saw how Zelenskyy 'chose to act' in office."
- "On 13 June, the President told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he would accept damaging information on his political rivals from a foreign government."
- "On 21 June, Mr. Giuliani tweeted: 'New Pres of Ukraine still silent on investigation of Ukranian interference in 2016 and alleged Biden bribery of Poroshenko. Time for leadership and investigate both if you want to purge how Ukraine was abused by Hillary and Clinton people."
- "In mid-July, I learned of a sudden change of policy with respect to U.S. assistance for Ukraine"
- "On 18 July, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official informed Deprtments and Agencies that the President 'earlier that month' had issued instructions to suspend all U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. Neither OMB nor NSC staff knew why this instruction had been issued. During interagency meetings on 23 July and 26 July, OMB officials again stated explicitly that the instruction to suspend this assistance had come directly from the President, but they still were unaware of a policy rationale. As of early August, I heard from U.S. officials that some Ukrainian officials were aware that U.S. aid might be in jeopardy."
Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, testified today before the House intelligence committee regarding the whistleblower's complaint. Adam Schiff, the committee chairman opened the hearing by stating in part that Trump had "betrayed" his oath of office and threatened US national security. He also stated "If we do not defend the nation, there is no Constitution. But if we do not defend the Constitution, there is no nation worth defending. Schiff added that the founders allowed a remedy for such "flagrant abuse of office": impeachment. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, called the whistleblower complaint a "hoax" and called it another "Steele dossier". Will Hurd, another Republican on the committee, tweeted the following: "There is a lot in the whistleblower complaint that is concerning. We need to fully investigate all of the allegations addressed in the letter, and the first step is to talk to the whistleblower." During questioning, Maguire stated "I think the whistleblower did the right thing" by coming forward. Representative Joaquin Castro asked Maguire "Would you say that the whistleblower complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript that was released?" to which Maguire responded "The whistleblower's complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president." Maguire pointed out during the hearing that the "greatest challenge facing the United States is safeguarding "the integrity of the election system". Mike Turner, a Republican Representative from Ohio tweeted: "I want to say to the president: This is not okay. That conversation is not okay." In an interview with the Washington Post, Yuri Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian president, said "Hunter Biden cannot be responsible for violations of the management of Burisma that took place two years before his arrival."Larry Kudlow, Trump's senior economic adviser, called the whistleblower's claims "hearsay" and "highly suspicious". Trump sent the following tweet: "A whistleblower with second hand information? Another Fake News Story! See what was said on the very nice, no pressure, call. Another Witch Hunt!" Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, was asked about the whistleblower complaint, to which he responded "I haven’t had a chance to actually read the whistleblower complaint yet. I read the first couple of paragraphs, but I got busy today. But I’ll ultimately get a chance to see it. If I understand it right it was someone who has secondhand knowledge." Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "Adam Schiff has zero credibility. Another fantasy to hurt the Republican Party!" Adam Schiff responded to Trump's tweet saying he is "always flattered" when he is attacked by a person of the president's character. While speaking to reporters, Trump claimed the investigation into the Ukraine call is a "disgrace" and then said "There should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts." In audio obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Trump can be heard saying "Who’s the person that gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days, when we were smart, right? The spies and treason? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now." At the same event where the recording was made, Trump referred to the media as "scum". Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont has voiced support for impeachment of Donald Trump saying he wasn't surprised by the allegations because he's "watched him over the years." Trump sent the following tweet: "Liddle’ Adam Schiff, who has worked unsuccessfully for 3 years to hurt the Republican Party and President, has just said that the Whistleblower, even though he or she only had second hand information, 'is credible.' How can that be with zero info and a known bias. Democrat Scam!" A fundraising email sent out by the Trump campaign and signed by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr states "What Democrats are doing to President Trump is simply UN-AMERICAN. My father has done NOTHING wrong, but we all know that won’t stop Democrats and their good friends in the FAKE NEWS from spreading LIES for political purposes. Don't let the unhinged left-wing MOB win." The Senate has confirmed Eugene Scalia as the new secretary of labor. During an interview with an Atlantic reporter, Rudy Giuliani stated "It is impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons – when this is over, I will be the hero." According to Politico, a former White House official has confirmed that after the Mexico and Australia phone call transcript leaks that occurred in 2017, the White House began redirecting the transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders to a codeword system to avoid future embarrassment. Kate Bedingfield, Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager, released a statement today that says in part: "And now we know that President Trump's response to all of this was to privately issue a thinly veiled threat this morning to execute the national security professionals who followed their oath to uphold the Constitution by bringing this to light. Donald Trump’s abuse of power makes him one of the most divisive, unfit individuals to occupy the Oval Office in our nation's history. His willingness to sell out our national interest for his personal gain endangers our security and his attempts to cover it up put the stability of our democracy at risk." A new NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll found that 49% of Americans approve of the impeachment inquiry. Kamala Harris has requested an investigation by the State Department's inspector general to determine if any Department of State officials enabled Rudy Giuliani in violation of restrictions against engaging in partisan political activities.
September 25, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have. The Democrats are frozen with hatred and fear. They get nothing done. This should never be allowed to happen to another President. Witch Hunt!" Trump also tweeted the following: "Will the Democrats apologize after seeing what was said on the call with the Ukrainian President? They should, a perfect call - got them by surprise!" The White House released a partial transcript of the call between Trump and the president of Ukraine. Here are some key exchanges in the transcript:
Trump: "We do a lot for Ukraine ... the United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine."
Zelensky: "Yes you are absolutely right ... We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes."
Trump: "I would like you to do us a favor though ... I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... The server, they say Ukraine has it ... I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it ... that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible."
Zelensky: "Yes it is very important for me ... We are ready to open a new page on cooperation in relations between the United States and Ukraine ... one of my assistants spoke to Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine ... We are great friends and you Mr. President have friends in our country so we can continue our strategic partnership."
Trump: "Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that's really unfair ... some very bad people involved ... Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man ... I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General ... The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news so I just want to let you know that ... The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that ... Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me."
Zelensky: "The next prosecutor general will be 100% my person ... He or she will look into situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue ... with regard to the ambassador to the United States from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovitch. It was great that you were the first one who told me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree with you 100%"
Trump: "Well, she's going to go through some things. I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it ... I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor ... Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets."
Zelensky: "Actually last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the Trump Tower ... we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation."
Trump: "Good. Well, thank you very much and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call."
Note: In the transcript, Trump mentioned Crowdstrike, which is the name of the US based cybersecurity firm that conducted analysis of the hack against the Democratic National Committee in 2016, and concluded that two groups connected to the Russian government were behind the attack. Trump also mentioned a server, which is believed to be a DNC server that's at the center of a conspiracy theory, which claims there is a missing server that probably ended up in Ukraine. In reality, there is no missing server. Here are some select responses to the transcript:
"The president of the United States has betrayed our country. That’s not a political statement—it’s a harsh reality, and we must act. He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment." - Hillary Clinton, Former First Lady, and Former Secretary of State
"This 'transcript' itself is a smoking gun. If this is the version of events the president's team thinks is most favorable, he is in very deep jeopardy. We need to see the full whistleblower complaint and the administration needs to follow the law. Now." - Elizabeth Warren, Democratic US Senator
"I did read the transcript, it remains troubling in the extreme, it's deeply troubling." - Mitt Romney, Republican US Senator
"The transcript of the call reads like a classic mob shakedown: – We do a lot for Ukraine – There’s not much reciprocity – I have a favor to ask – Investigate my opponent – My people will be in touch. Nice country you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to her." - Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative
"How the fuck did Trump think this transcript was going to help him???" - Rick Wilson, Republican Strategist
"This transcript is an Orwell Test. Do you reject the evidence of your eyes and ears?" - Amanda Carpenter, Former senior adviser to Senator Ted Cruz
"The phone call is...considerably worse than I thought it would be." - Chris Hayes, MSNBC Host
"Here’s what’s clear: Trump does not observe or recognize important legal distinctions. Not between official business and his campaign. Between private attorney and gov attorneys. Between taxpayer money and his money. Everything is an extension of himself, to be used for his ends." - Asha Rangappa, Former FBI Special Agent
"Any other presidency would be over. Today." - Joyce Alene, Unversity of Alabama Law Professor
"I asked Attorney General Barr in May: did the White House ever ask him to investigate anyone? He wouldn't answer. Barr needs to come back to Congress and answer that question again. Under oath. This time, he better have an answer." - Kamala Harris, Democratic US Senator
"Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in the modern history of this country." - Bernie Sanders, Democratic US Senator
The Justice Department released a statement saying in part "The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son. The President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine – on this or any other matter". According to the New York Times: "After a whistle-blower raised concerns about Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, the director of national intelligence and the inspector general for the intelligence community each referred the complaint for a possible criminal investigation into the president’s actions, according to a Justice Department official. The department’s criminal division reviewed the matters and concluded that there was no basis for a criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s behavior. Law enforcement officials determined that the transcript of the call did not show that Mr. Trump had violated campaign finance laws by soliciting from a foreign national a contribution, donation or thing of value." Speaking to reporters, Trump made the following statement: "The way you had that built up, that call, it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said I never knew you could so nice." Trump sent the following tweet, which quotes Bret Baier, a Fox News host: "You don't see a direct quid pro quo in this." Representative Jerry Nadler, the democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, sent the following tweet: "The President dragged the Attorney General into this mess. At a minimum, AG Barr must recuse himself until we get to the bottom of this matter. #UkraineTranscript". Speaking to reporters, Adam Schiff stated "The notes of the call reflect a conversation far more damning than I or many others had imagined." Schiff also stated "This is how a mafia boss talks. And it’s clear that the Ukraine president understands exactly what is expected of him." Schiff also stated that the whistleblower is "eager" to speak to the House intelligence committee. According to the Washington Post "Three Senate GOP aides said Wednesday that their bosses were grousing and frustrated by the White House’s decision and the sense that Republican lawmakers were being forced into the difficult position of defending Trump while contending with what many see as an alarming or at least problematic transcript." The White House sent out talking points on the Ukraine call to fellow Republicans, but accidentally included House Democrats. A combined statement from Adam Schiff, chair of the intelligence committee, Jerry Nadler, chair of the judiciary committee, Elijah Cummings, chair of the oversight committee and Eliot Engel, chair of the foreign relations committee, states in part: "The record of the call released by the White House confirms our worst fears: that the President abused his office by directly and repeatedly asking a foreign country to investigate his political rival and open investigations meant to help the President politically ... Let’s be clear: no quid pro quo is required to betray our country. Trump asked a foreign government to interfere in our elections—that is betrayal enough." Trump held a joint news conference with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. During the news conference, Trump deflected attention from his own situation by blaming Obama for Ukraine having "lost" Crimea, but failed to mention that Crimea was lost after Russia invaded, not because of anything the Obama administration did. Trump also expressed his belief that some of Hillary Clinton's emails may be located in Ukraine. Trump also voiced anger over Pelosi's move to announce a formal impeachment inquiry by saying she had "lost her way" and had been "taken over" by the "radical left". Trump also stated "Nancy Pelosi, as far as I’m concerned, unfortunately, she’s no longer the speaker of the House." Trump tweeted "Wow!" after it was uncovered that the attorney for the Ukraine call whistleblower had donated money to Joe Biden. Through the same source, which is called OpenSecrets.org, it was uncovered that Trump himself had donated money to Biden in 2001. The whistleblower complaint has been transmitted to the leaders of the House and the Senate. Trump sent the following tweet: "I have informed @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy and all Republicans in the House that I fully support transparency on so-called whistleblower information but also insist on transparency from Joe Biden and his son Hunter, on the millions of dollars that have been quickly and easily taken out of Ukraine and China. Additionally, I demand transparency from Democrats that went to Ukraine and attempted to force the new President to do things that they wanted under the form of political threat." Abby Phillip, a CNN reporter responded to Trump's tweet saying "Trump is trying to turn the tables on Dems by making false claims. The facts are, Democrats wrote to Ukrainian officials urging them to cooperate with the Mueller probe. They did not ask for Ukraine to initiate investigations." Trump held a lone news conference, in which he made the following statements:
"No push, no pressure, no nothing" regarding conversation with Ukranian president.
Claimed the "so-called" whistleblower doesn't have "first class" or "first rate" information. Was probably trying to say "first hand".
"It's a joke. Impeachment for that? When you have a wonderful meeting or a wonderful phone conversation?"
Trump claimed, without offering any evidence, that former president Barack Obama asked foreign leaders for information on him.
Trump accused the media of being "fake" and "corrupt".
"I used to be the king of getting good press, all of the trauma that all of these fakers have caused".
Adam Schiff spoke to reporters after reviewing the whistleblower complaint. What follows are his response, and a few other select responses from the reviewers:
"I found the allegations deeply disturbing. I also found them very credible. I want to thank the whistleblower and let the whistleblower know that we are going to do everything we can to protect you." - Adam Schiff, Chair of the House judiciary committee
"Having read the documents in there, I'm even more worried about what happened than I was when I read the memorandum of the conversation. There are so many facts that have to be examined. It’s very troubling." - Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
"Really troubling things here. Republicans ought not just circle the wagons, and democrats ought not have been using words like impeachment before they knew anything about the actual substance." - Ben Sasse, Republican Senator
According to a report from ABC: "'It was clear that [President Donald] Trump will only have communications if they will discuss the Biden case,' said Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine's Parliament, who now acts as an adviser to Zelenskiy. 'This issue was raised many times. I know that Ukrainian officials understood'". Sharice Davids, Democratic Representative from Kansas, has joined those supporting impeachment, bringing the total to 218, which is the number needed to pass articles of impeachment if all members of the House vote. According to a report from the New York Times: "The intelligence officer who filed a whistle-blower complaint about President Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine raised alarms not only about what the two men said in a phone call, but also about how the White House handled records of the conversation, according to two people briefed on the complaint. The whistle-blower, moreover, identified multiple White House officials as witnesses to potential presidential misconduct who could corroborate the complaint, the people said — adding that the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, interviewed witnesses. Mr. Atkinson eventually concluded that there was reason to believe that the president may have illegally solicited a foreign campaign contributions — and that his potential misconduct created a national security risk, according to a newly disclosed Justice Department memo."
September 24, 2019 - Regarding reports that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, Seven freshman House Democrats penned an op-ed in the Washington Post expressing openness to impeachment saying in part "If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of ‘inherent contempt’ and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security. ... These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do." News surfaced that prior to the call with the Ukrainian president, Trump instructed his chief of staff to hold back military aid from Ukraine. According to the Washington Post "Officials at the Office of Management and Budget relayed Trump's order to the State Department and the Pentagon during an interagency meeting in mid-July, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. They explained that the president had 'concerns' and wanted to analyze whether the money needed to be spent. Administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an 'interagency process' but to give them no additional information — a pattern that continued for nearly two months, until the White House released the funds on the night of Sept. 11. Trump's order to withhold aid to Ukraine a week before his July 25 call with Volodymyr Zelensky is likely to raise questions about the motivation for his decision and fuel suspicions on Capitol Hill that Trump sought to leverage congressionally approved aid to damage a political rival." When asked about the aid that was withheld, Trump explained that he held the money back because he felt our allies should contribute more. Trump also called House Democrats' "demands" to investigate his call with the Ukrainian president "ridiculous" and a "witch hunt". Trump added that "When you see the read out of the call, which I assume you will at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect." Trump spoke at the UN today where he told the assembled group that "The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots." Trump also used the platform to attack immigration advocates who he said "cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice" but whose policies are "cruel and evil." Note: this is exactly the same language that immigration activists have used to describe Trump's family separation & remain in Mexico policies. Trump sent a tweet that included video of a very emotional and angry Greta Thunberg addressing the UN with the following caption: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" Trump's tweet is seen by many as mocking the young climate activist. Thunberg responded to Trump's tweet by changing her twitter bio to "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future." While speaking with reporters, Trump insisted there was no "quid pro quo" with Ukraine when he held up funding. Democratic Representatives Lizzie Fletcher and Don McEachin have joined the call for impeachment, putting the number of pro impeachment House members at 161. A number of Democrats, including former vice president Joe Biden, say they will call for impeachment if the White House does not hand over information about Trump's call with the Ukrainian president. With pressure increasing towards impeachment, Trump announced that he has authorized the release of the transcript of his phone call with the Ukranian president, saying "I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine. You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!" Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee sent the following tweet: "We have been informed by the whistleblower's counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so. We're in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower's testimony as soon as this week." The US Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, passed a resolution 100 to 0 calling for the whistleblower complaint on the Ukraine controversy to be shared with the intelligence committees. Nancy Pelosi held a press conference and announced that House Democrats are moving forward with a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald J Trump, calling his actions "a breach of his constitutional responsibilities". Pelosi also called Trump's actions a "betrayal of his oath of office, a betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry" Donald Trump responded to Pelosi's announcement tweeting "They never even saw the transcript of the call. A total Witch Hunt!" and "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!" Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, sent the following tweet: "Democrats have officially paved the way for a @realDonaldTrump landslide victory. The witch-hunt continues..." News surfaced that prior to Nancy Pelosi's impeachment announcement, Trump contacted her and said "Hey, can we do something about this whistleblower complaint, can we work something out." To which Pelosi responded "Yes, you can tell your people to obey the law."
September 23, 2019 - Jarrett William Smith, a 24 year-old soldier stationed in Kansas, was arrested by the FBI for distributing information online to educate others in making explosive devices. Smith also provided instructions for how a major news network like CNN could be targeted, and also discussed killing members of Antifa. Bill Weld, a Republican challenger of Donald Trump, weighed in on the whistleblower controversy saying "Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election. It couldn't be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason. It's treason, pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death. That's the only penalty." Trump was asked about the appropriateness of his conversation with the president of Ukraine, to which he responded "It's very important to talk about corruption. If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt? ... It’s very important that on occasion you speak to somebody about corruption." Trump sent the following tweet regarding the whistleblower controversy: "'The very thing that they are accusing President Trump of doing (which I didn’t do), was actually done by Joe Biden. Continues to be a double standard.' @RepDevinNunes @foxandfriends These people are stone cold Crooked. Also, who is this so-called 'whistleblower' who doesn't know the correct facts. Is he on our Country's side. Where does he come from. Is this all about Schiff & the Democrats again after years of being wrong?" Trump spoke today at the UN on the subject of Protecting religious freedom. The irony wasn't lost on his critics who were happy to point out that Trump once called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the U.S. Greta Thunberg spoke to the UN General Assembly today saying in part "This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words." According to the Washington Post "Trump has claimed that Biden in 2016 pressured the Ukrainian government to fire Viktor Shokin, the top Ukrainian prosecutor, because he was investigating a Ukrainian gas producer, Burisma Holdings, that had added Biden's son Hunter to its board. But it turns out that the investigation had already been shelved when Biden acted and may have even involved a side company, not Burisma. The Ukrainian prosecutor was regarded as a failure, and 'Joe Biden's efforts to oust Shokin were universally praised,' said Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist heavily involved in Eastern European market reforms. Moreover, Yuri Lutsenko, a former Ukrainian prosecutor general who succeeded the fired prosecutor, told Bloomberg News that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden." Trump made the following statement to a group of journalists today: "Joe Biden and his son are corrupt ... but the fake news doesn't want to report it because they're Democrats. If a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair probably right now. You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves." Trump also stated the following regarding his call with Ukraine "There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. I put no pressure on them whatsoever. I could have. I think it might probably, possibly have been okay if I did, but I didn't." News surfaced that Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Mitch McConnell urging him to hold hearings on whether Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to incentivize launching a probe into Biden. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings, sent a joint letter to Mike Pompeo, demanding the release of information related to the whistleblower complaint, stating in part: "Seeking to enlist a foreign actor to interfere with an American election undermines our sovereignty, democracy and the constitution, which the president is sworn to preserve, protect and defend. Yet the president and his personal attorney now appear to be openly engaging in precisely this type of abuse of power involving the Ukrainian government ahead of the 2020 election." Trump made the following statement to reporters today: "I think I’m gonna get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t. They gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it. And you know what? That was the only thing I agreed with him on." Obama actually received the award for his "efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Michael Knowles, a Conservative Daily Wire podcaster, made the following statement during a guest appearance on a Fox News program: "None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science. If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left." Fox News issued an apology to Greta Thunberg for Knowles' comments. John Ocasio-Nolte, a Breitbart.com editor, sent the following tweet: "I can’t tell if Greta needs a spanking or a psychological intervention... Probably both." Benny Johnson, of Turning Point USA, sent out a tweet calling Greta Thunberg an "annoying, foreign, communist."
September 22, 2019 - Dinesh D'Sousa, a Conservative author, sent a tweet today with a picture of Greta Thunberg next to a painting of a red headed girl with braided hair standing in front of a Nazi flag, with the following commentary: "Children—notably Nordic white girls with braids and red cheeks—were often used in Nazi propaganda. An old Goebbels technique! Looks like today’s progressive Left is still learning its game from an earlier Left in the 1930s." Adam Schiff made the following statement today "Why doesn’t the President just say, ‘Release the whistleblower complaint.’ Clearly he’s afraid for the public to see. This would be the most profound violation of the presidential oath of office, certainly during this presidency, which says a lot, but perhaps during any presidency. There is no privilege that covers corruption. There is no privilege to engage in underhanded discussions. We may have crossed the rubicon here. I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment ... but ... that may be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil that that conduct represents."
September 20, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "The Radical Left Democrats and their Fake News Media partners, headed up again by Little Adam Schiff, and batting Zero for 21 against me, are at it again! They think I may have had a 'dicey' conversation with a certain foreign leader based on a 'highly partisan' whistleblowers statement. Strange that with so many other people hearing or knowing of the perfectly fine and respectful conversation, that they would not have also come forward. Do you know the reason why they did not? Because there was nothing said wrong, it was pitch perfect!" Ben Carson, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, is being criticized for making transphobic comments during an internal meeting. According to the Washington Post "Carson expressed concern about 'big, hairy men' trying to infiltrate women's homeless shelters." News surfaced that a US Marine Corps unit in South Florida is planning to hold its annual ball at Mar-a-Lago, one of Trump's resorts. Trump announced that the US has sanctioned Iran's national bank "at the highest level of sanctions." During a discussion with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump called the whistleblower controversy a "ridiculous story". Trump was then asked if he had discussed Joe Biden in conversations with Ukraine, to which Trump responded "It doesn’t matter what I discussed". Trump then said: "Someone ought to look into Joe Biden." Trump also called the whistleblower "partisan" then admitted "I do not know the identity of the whistleblower." Trump also told the assembled reporters that he is showing restraint with Iran saying "[I could] knock out 15 different major things in Iran. I could do that and [...] it’s all set to go. It would take place in one minute. I could do it right here in front of you. [...] I think it shows much more strength to do it the way we’re doing it." Adam Schiff, the chair of the House intelligence committee, said the following to the press regarding the ongoing whistleblower complaint "This involves something more sinister, something involving a serious or flagrant abuse or violation of law or misappropriation, and the IG underscored the seriousness of this, and also that this needs to be looked into. And right now, no one is looking into this." News surfaced that 24 states are suing the Trump administration to stop them from revoking a state's authority to set auto emission standards. This lawsuit marks the 60th that California has been a part of since the beginning of the Trump administration. According to the Guardian "The Trump administration is planning to sign an agreement to help make one of Central America’s most violent countries, El Salvador, a haven for migrants seeking asylum" by sending asylum seekers there, even though many Salvadorans are fleeing their nation and seeking asylum in the United States. Walmart announced that it will stop selling e-cigarettes. Nancy Pelosi made the following statements regarding the ongoing whistleblower complaint: "We must be sure that the President and his Administration are conducting our national security and foreign policy in the best interest of the American people, not the President’s personal interest." Pelosi also stated "We will continue to follow the facts and explore every possible option to ensure the American people get the truth. We would hope that Republicans would join us in supporting the Constitution." According to the Wall Street Journal, during a July phone call with the Ukrainian president "[Trump] told [Zelensky] that he should work with [Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know," whether allegations were true or not. According to the Journal, Trump asked Zelensky "about eight times" during the call to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation into Hunter Biden. Here are some select responses to the ongoing whistleblower issue:
"Colleagues in Congress: if this isn't impeachable abuse of power, what is? I'm sick of the parsing, dithering & political overcalculating. We are verging on tragic fecklessness. Time to do our job!" - Jared Huffman, Democratic Representative
"We all need to think hard about what to do. Republicans need to put country, not party, first. If the President, in his official capacity, asked a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political opponent, Congress cannot let that stand. Our silence could doom the republic. To ask a foreign leader to interfere in a presidential election - right after a year long investigation into potential foreign interference in a presidential election - would be pretty extraordinary. Even for these times." - Chris Murphy, Democratic Senator
"Just one word: impeachment." - Ilhan Omar, Democratic Representative
"In 2016, President Trump asked Russia to interfere in our elections. In 2020, he's asking Ukraine to do the same. If no one is above the law, then we have no choice but to impeach this president. When will Congress have the courage to act?" - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"If these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and abase our country." - Joe Biden, Former Vice President, and Current Democratic Presidential Candidate
The Department of Homeland Security has added white supremacist violence to its list of major national security threats. Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary announced the addition saying "The continuing menace of racially based violent extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is an abhorrent affront to our nation, the struggle and unity of its diverse population, and the core values of both our society and our department." Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, announced that the US will be sending additional air forces to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying they are "defensive in nature". Approximately 4 million people in 4,500 locations in 150 cities participated in a global climate strike. The participants are calling on world leaders to take action against climate change. Greta Thunberg, who started the School Strike for Climate movement last year, spoke to a large gathering in New York. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, made the following statement: "I don't know what the law is on it, but no president should ever utilize or use American power in any way like to affect an election." Kinzinger also said "It's one thing to go after corruption, and we should, that's a huge problem in Ukraine. But if you say go after it specifically for a political target, that affects somebody in office in the United States, that's a major problem."
September 19, 2019 - The Washington Post is reporting that a member of the intelligence community has made a whistleblower complaint asserting that Trump made a "troubling" promise to a foreign leader. Trump responded to the report tweeting "Another Fake News story out there - It never ends! Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there may be many people listening from various U.S. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. No problem! Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially 'heavily populated' call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA! Presidential Harassment!" Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the Intelligence community, met with congressional leaders to discuss the whistleblower complaint, but refused to release any details saying the Office of Legal Counsel advised against it. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, met with reporters after the meeting with Atkinson, and made the following points:
- The inspector general found that the whistleblower's concern, which involved multiple acts, was urgent and met the criteria for a flagrant issue
- Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence (DNI) made the unprecedented decision not to share the whistleblower's concerns with congress
- If the subject of a complaint can essentially quash a complaint, or keep it from congress, then the system is broken.
Schiff stated "I believe that there is an effort to prevent this information getting to Congress. And if the assertion is accurate, then at one level or another, it likely involves either the president or people around him." Schiff added: "There is no privilege that covers whether the White House is involved in trying to stifle a whistleblower complaint." According to additional reporting from the Washington Post, the whistleblower complaint "centers on Ukraine" and possibly is related to conversations Trump had with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky a couple weeks ago. In May of this year, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, was criticized for suggesting that Ukraine should pursue investigations that could potentially benefit Trump in his reelection bid, specifically by investigating Joe Biden's son and his connections in Ukraine. The Trump administration announced that it will revoke California's authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards. The standards being set by California are more strict than federal regulations require. In making the announcement, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said in part "No state has the authority to opt out of the nation’s rules and no state has the right to impose its policies on everybody else in our whole country. To do otherwise harms consumers and damages the American economy." Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general, responded to the news tweeting "Our message to those who claim to support states' rights is: don't trample on ours. Doing so would be an attempt to undo the progress we've made over decades." Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, responded with this tweet: "Hi, @realDonaldTrump. Let me break it down in simple terms for you... Reducing emissions:
-Protects our air & health -Is good for the economy -Allows families to pay less at the pump. We’re here in the 21st century. Let us know when you decide to join us." Trump's attorneys filed a lawsuit in US District Court in New York to block prosecutors there from obtaining Trump's tax returns. AG Ferguson, the Washington state attorney general, filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from diverting billions of dollars to his wall project, that were initially approved for other military construction projects. During an interview with CNN, the following exchange occurred between Rudy Giuliani and CNN's Chris Cuomo:
Cuomo: "Did you ask the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden?"
Giuliani: "No. Actually I didn't."
30 seconds later...
Cuomo: "So, you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?"
Giuliani: "Of course I did."
September 18, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!" Trump has named Robert C. O'Brien to replace John Bolton as National Security Advisor. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teen climate activist, appeared before a Congressional panel today. Greta did not prepare any testimony, choosing instead to submit the IPCC climate report. In her opening remarks, Greta told the panel: "I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists and I want you to unite behind the science". In prepared remarks to the congressional panel, Jamie Margolin, an American youth activist, stated "People call my generation Generation Z as if we are the last generation, but we are not, we are the GND Generation - the green new deal generation". Terrence K Williams, a conservative commentator and comedian, tweeted a video of Ilhan Omar dancing, and falsely claimed that Omar "partied on the anniversary of 9/11". The video was actually filmed on 9/13. Trump re-tweeted William's tweet, which has since been deleted. Omar responded to the re-tweet stating "This is from a CBC event we hosted this weekend to celebrate black women in Congress. The President of the United States is continuing to spread lies that put my life at risk. What is Twitter doing to combat this misinformation?" The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by one quarter of one percent. Trump, who wanted the rates dropped even further, sent the following tweet: "Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve Fail Again. No 'guts,' no sense, no vision! A terrible communicator!" While speaking at a technology event, Barack Obama was asked how he parsed information as president. Obama responded: "The presidency is like drinking out of a firehose - you can’t absorb that information yourself,” he said. “You can make sure you have a team that is distilling info as effectively as possible so you can get a basic framework for what the problem is. The other thing that’s helpful is not watching TV or reading social media,” he added. “Those are two things I’d advise, if you’re a good president, not to do." Many saw this as a swipe at Trump, who is known to be obsessed with cable news channels and tweets about them at all hours of the day. While visiting Los Angeles, Trump announced that his administration will be "adding some very significant sanctions onto Iran" but offered no details other than to say those would be released "over the next 48 hours". While addressing a group of people in a committee room in the capitol, Greta Thunberg told the crowd "The USA is the biggest carbon polluter in history. It is also the world’s number one producer of oil. It is also the only nation to signal its intention to leave the Paris climate agreement because it was ‘a bad deal’." Thunberg also stated that "This is, above all, an emergency, and not just any emergency. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced and we need to treat it accordingly... Stop telling people ‘everything will be fine’... Stop pretending you, your business idea, your political party or plan will solve everything."
September 17, 2019 - In a newly released study from two economics professors at the University of Texas at Austin, it is shown that "Republicans will win nearly one in six presidential races where they lose the popular vote by 3 points." The study also suggests that Republicans even have a small chance of victory even in elections where Democrats win the popular vote by about 6 points. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2 points in 2016. In a speech to the Heritage Foundation, Vice President Mike Pence said officials are still trying to determine if Iran is behind the Saudi oil facility attack, despite claims from his administration just hours after the attack that Iran is responsible. Corey Lewandowski testified before congress today. The following was part of his opening statement: "Anyone illegally attempting to impact the outcome of an election should spend the rest of their life in jail." Lewandowski wasn't referencing Trump's fake claims of voter fraud, or Republican voter suppression efforts, or Russian tampering in 2016, but rather the right-wing conspiracy theory of the deep state investigation into Trump. Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish climate activist, spoke to a group of Senators today. The lawmakers praised Greta and other activists, then asked for recommendations on how Congress might combat climate change. Greats responded: "Please save your praise, we don’t want it. Don’t invite us here to tell us how inspiring we are without doing anything about it. It doesn’t lead to anything. If you want advice for what you should do, invite scientists, ask scientists for their expertise. We don’t want to be heard. We want the science to be heard. I know you are trying but just not hard enough. Sorry." According to the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will revoke California’s right to set stricter air pollution for cars and light trucks on Wednesday, according to two senior administration officials, as part of a larger effort to weaken an Obama-era climate policy curbing greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s auto fleet. The move sets up a legal battle between the federal government and the nation’s most populous state, which for decades has exercised authority to put in place more stringent fuel economy standards. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have vowed to adopt California’s standards if they diverge from the federal government’s, as have several major automakers."
September 16, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet this morning: "'The New York Times walks back report on Kavanaugh assault claim.' @foxandfriends The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh - Assaulted by lies and Fake News! This is all about the LameStream Media working with their partner, the Dems." According to the Guardian, "more than a dozen people said they could provide information about incidents involving Kavanaugh, while he was a student at Yale University, but were not interviewed by the FBI because of constraints on the investigation place by the White House and senate Republicans." Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, sent the following tweet: "The @Newyorker can confirm this: Sen. Chris Coons personally alerted FBI Dir. Chris Wray of an additional eyewitness alleging Kavanaugh exposed himself to a 2nd woman at Yale- but the FBI never interviewed the witness, Max Stier, or investigated it." Donald Trump sent the following in a tweet: "They failed on the Mueller Report, they failed on Robert Mueller’s testimony, they failed on everything else, so now the Democrats are trying to build a case that I enrich myself by being President. Good idea, except I will, and have always expected to, lose BILLIONS of DOLLARS for the privilege of being your President - and doing the best job that has been done in many decades. I am far beyond somebody paying for a hotel room for the evening, or filling up a gas tank at an airport I do not own. These Radical Left Democrats are CRAZY! Obama Netflix?" Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, made the following statement today: "In my personal opinion, impeachment is imperative not because he’s going to be removed from office — the Senate won’t do that — but because we have to vindicate the Constitution. We have to show that the kind of self-dealing enrichment that this president is engaged in ... that the kind of public corruption he’s been involved in, that the kind of obstruction of justice that the Mueller report documented — five instances of which met all the requirements for an indictment and the president would have been indicted for those five instances had the Justice Department not had a policy of not indicting presidents no matter what -- we have to show that this kind of behavior … cannot be normalized." The Manhattan district attorney's office has subpoenaed 8 years of Donald Trump's personal corporate tax returns. News surfaced that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is being investigated by the House Oversight and Reform Committee over whether she is using her office to benefit herself and her family. White House counsel sent letters to the House Judiciary Committee saying ex White House aids Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn "may not be compelled" to testify about the Mueller report. White House counsel also sent a letter stating that Corey Lewandowski cannot talk about conversations with Trump that are not contained in the Mueller report. Critics were quick to note that Lewandowski was never a White House employee.
September 15, 2019 - Trump sent out the following tweet: "Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Trump also sent the following tweet: "The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, 'No Conditions'. That is an incorrect statement (as usual!)." Critics were quick to point out the following exchanges that have taken place between the media and Trump officials, and the media and Trump:
"The president has made clear he is happy to take a meeting with no preconditions, but we are maintaining the maximum pressure campaign" - Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, during a September 10 White House briefing.
Trump "has made very clear he is prepared to meet with no preconditions." - Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, during a September 10 White House briefing.
The president "has been clear that he wants to have conversations with the leaders of Iran without preconditions" - Hogan Gidley, the White House deputy press secretary, during an August 28 interview with Fox News.
the administration is "prepared to talk to Iran without preconditions." - Mike Pence, Vice President during a June 23 interview with CNN.
"No preconditions." - Donald Trump during a June 23 interview with NBC after being asked "No preconditions?"
The U.S. is “prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions." - Mike Pence during a June 2 press briefing.
"If they want to meet, I’ll meet. Anytime they want. Anytime they want. It’s good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world. No pre-conditions. If they want to meet, I’ll meet." - Donald Trump during a July 30 press briefing.
September 14, 2019 - According to the New York Times, a new claim of sexual assault has surfaced against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from his days at Yale. According to the claim, Kavanaugh was seen at a dorm party with his pants down, and other males who were present were seen pushing Kavanaugh's penis into a girl's hand. This story is similar to the one told by Deborah Remirez, who claimed that Kavanaugh had thrust his exposed penis at her at a dorm party. Here are some select responses to the news story:
"It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath. He should be impeached. And Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter." - Julian Castro
"Nothing terrifies this corrupt president more than the idea of Congress upholding the rule of law. We must open impeachment inquiries against Trump and Kavanaugh immediately. It’s our constitutional duty." - Ilhan Omar
"The Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again. Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for liable [sic], or the justice department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!" - Donald J Trump
Abqaiq, the world's largest oil processing facility, located in Saudi Arabia, was hit by as many as 19 missiles. Houthi Rebels in Yemen, which are aligned with Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack. Within hours, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, accused Iran of being responsible saying "Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while [President Hassan] Rouhani and [foreign minister Javad] Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy". Democratic senator Chris Murpgy, a member of the foreign relations committee responded to Pompeo's comments saying "This is such irresponsible simplification and it’s how we get into dumb wars of choice. The Saudis and Houthis are at war. The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back. Iran is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor, but it’s just not as simple as Houthis = Iran." Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister responded to Pompeo's remarks saying "Having failed at ‘max pressure’, [Pompeo is] turning to ‘max deceit’".
September 13, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, joined other youth activists to lead a protest outside the White House. During a Democratic presidential debate that took place last evening, Beto O'Rourke, in response to a question said "Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47, and we're not going to allow it to be used against your fellow Americans anymore." Briscoe Cain, a Texas Representative, tweeted the following in response to O'Rourke's comment: "My AR is ready for you Robert Francis." Twitter removed Cain's comment within minutes, citing it as a threat of violence. A decision by a district court to dismiss an Emoluments Clause case against Donald Trump, has been reversed on appeal. ABC is being criticized for its decision to air an ad during the Democratic debate that showed a picture of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burning, and which equated socialism to dictatorship. According to Politico "At a mid-August fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Ivanka Trump was asked to name the personality traits she inherited most from her parents. Without much of a pause, Trump told the crowd of roughly 120 high-end donors that her mother gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman. And her father? He passed onto her his moral compass, she said, according to two event attendees." Stephen Miller, a Conservative blogger, sent the following tweet in reference to Great Thunberg's participation in a protest at the White House: "Tase and arrest her."
September 12, 2019 - Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary committee chair, laid out his case for impeaching Trump:
- Trump "went to great lengths to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation"
- Trump's "attempts to remove the special counsel and encourage witnesses to lie and to destroy or conceal evidence. Anyone else who did this would face federal criminal prosecution."
- "The Mueller report resulted in 37 criminal indictments, 7 guilty pleas, and revealed 10 possible instances where President Trump obstructed justice, at least five of which we now know to be clearly criminal."
- "Trump’s crimes and corruption extend beyond what is detailed in the Mueller report. The president is in violation of the emoluments clauses of the constitution as he works to enrich himself, putting the safety and security of our nation at risk. He has dangled pardons, been involved in campaign finance violations and stonewalled Congress across the board, noting that he will defy all subpoenas"
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it will no longer collect information on the wage gap by race and gender. The ACLU responded to the news saying "This is a complete betrayal of @USEEOC's mandate to ensure equality in the workplace. We urge the commission to reverse this decision immediately." News surfaced that the Trump administration is finalizing plans to revoke an Obama-era regulation which provided federal protection to many US wetlands and streams.
September 11, 2019 - Trump lashed out at Federal reserve leader tweeting "The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt. INTEREST COST COULD BE BROUGHT WAY DOWN, while at the same time substantially lengthening the term. We have the great currency, power, and balance sheet. The USA should always be paying the the lowest rate. No Inflation! It is only the naïveté of Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve that doesn’t allow us to do what other countries are already doing. A once in a lifetime opportunity that we are missing because of 'Boneheads.'" Trump sent the following tweet: "In a hypothetical poll, done by one of the worst pollsters of them all, the Amazon Washington Post/ABC, which predicted I would lose to Crooked Hillary by 15 points (how did that work out?), Sleepy Joe, Pocahontas and virtually all others would beat me in the General Election. This is a phony suppression poll, meant to build up their Democrat partners. I haven’t even started campaigning yet, and am constantly fighting Fake News like Russia, Russia, Russia. Look at North Carolina last night. Dan Bishop, down big in the Polls, WINS. Easier than 2016!" Critics were quick to point out several falsehoods in the tweets:
- The Washington Post/ABC News poll is highly regarded, earning an A+ rating from FiveThirtyEight.
- The final poll from that outlet in 2016 predicted Hillary would beat Trump by 4 points. She actually beat him by 2 points, which was within the margin of error.
- There is no evidence that pollsters are skewing their results in an attempt to undermine Trump.
- Trump has been holding campaign rallies consistently since he took office.
- Russia's interference in the 2016 election has been confirmed, and is therefore not "fake news".
- Dan Bishop was not down big in the polls. The polls showed him leading, but by a very small margin.
According to a story in the New York Times regarding sharpiegate: "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, to have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly disavow the forecasters’ position that Alabama was not at risk. NOAA, which is part of the Commerce Department, issued an unsigned statement last Friday in response, saying that the Birmingham, Ala., office was wrong to dispute the president’s warning. In pressing NOAA’s acting administrator to take action, Mr. Ross warned that top employees at the agency could be fired if the situation was not addressed, The New York Times previously reported. Mr. Ross’s spokesman has denied that he threatened to fire anyone, and a senior administration official on Wednesday said Mr. Mulvaney did not tell the commerce secretary to make such a threat." In other sharpiegate news, the Washington post confirmed the Times report saying "President Trump told his staff that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration needed to deal with a tweet that seemed to contradict his statement that Hurricane Dorian posed a significant threat to Alabama as of Sept. 1, in contrast to what the agency’s forecasters were predicting at the time, senior administration officials said. This led chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to call Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to tell him to fix the issue, the officials said. Trump had complained for several days about the issue, according to the senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Mulvaney then called Ross but did not instruct him to threaten any firings or make any punitive threats, officials said. He simply told Ross that the agency needed to fix the matter immediately, leading to a new statement that was issued Friday, Sept. 6." When Trump was asked about the stories, he responded "I never did that. That’s a whole hoax by the fake news media, when they talk about the hurricane and when they talk about Florida and when they talk about Alabama. That’s just fake news … it’s a fake story." The Trump administration has announced that it will not be granting Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians who were affected by Hurricane Dorian. This decision prompted the following responses from some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates:
"Let’s be clear: This decision is racist and cruel. We should grant Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians fleeing Hurricane Dorian. A Warren administration will reinstate TPS to protect refugees who are at risk in their home countries. " - Elizabeth Warren
"More than 70,000 Bahamians are suddenly homeless after Hurricane Dorian. They've lost practically everything. Denying TPS status to them is heartless. We can't grant Trump a second term" - Kamala Harris
"Racist. Heartless. Cruel. TPS status should be granted immediately. The moral vandalism of this administration is bottomless. We need a new president." - Cory Booker
Trump has nominated Eugene Scalia, son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to the position of labor secretary. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can deny asylum to asylum seekers who pass through another country before arriving at the southern border, while legal challenges to that policy are underway. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonya Sotomayor dissented saying in part "Once again the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution. Although this Nation has long kept its doors open to refugees—and although the stakes for asylum seekers could not be higher—the Government implemented its rule without first providing the public notice and inviting the public input generally required by law."
September 10, 2019 - According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, Trump'a approval is at 38%, slipping 6 percentage points since June. The decline is being attributed to fears over an impending recession. News surfaced that the high-level source that was extracted from Russia in 2017, partly due to concerns that his identity might be revealed by Trump or his administration, was a key informant on Russia's 2016 election interference. Trump responded on twitter to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll saying "ABC/Washington Post Poll was the worst and most inaccurate poll of any taken prior to the 2016 Election. When my lawyers protested, they took a 12 point down and brought it to almost even by Election Day. It was a Fake Poll by two very bad and dangerous media outlets. Sad!" Daniel Dale, a CNN reporter responded to Trump's tweet with a tweet of his own saying "This is not what happened. - WaPo and ABC told me in June they do not recall a legal complaint (?) over their polls - WaPo wasn’t involved in the ABC tracking poll that had him down 12 - Obviously no basis for the claim they fixed subsequent poll results because he complained." Trump also tweeted: "One of the greatest and most powerful weapons used by the Fake and Corrupt News Media is the phony Polling Information they put out. Many of these polls are fixed, or worked in such a way that a certain candidate will look good or bad. Internal polling looks great, the best ever!" According to Bloomberg News, the US uninsured rate rose by 0.6% last year saying in part "The Census report indicates that the biggest decrease in coverage in 2018 came among those covered by Medicaid, the state-federal health program for low-income Americans. Almost two million fewer people were covered by Medicaid in 2018 than in the prior year." Here are some select responses to the higher uninsured rate:
"Trump and Republicans sabotaged the Affordable Care Act at every turn. They played politics with health care and now Americans are paying the price." - Kamala Harris
"Mr. Trump lied. He promised to strengthen health care—instead, he has done everything he can to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. The result: Nearly two million people joined the ranks of the uninsured last year, the first increase in the uninsured rate in a decade." - Bernie Sanders
Donald Trump sent the following tweet: "I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week." John Bolton, contradicted Trump's timeline of events by sending the following tweet: "I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, 'Let's talk about it tomorrow.'" Following Trump's tweet that Bolton was out, oil prices dropped immediately. Charlie Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, has been named acting national security adviser. According to Al Jazeera: "Kupperman served on the board of directors for the Center for Security Policy (CSP) between 2001 and 2010, according to tax records. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an Alabama-based hate monitor, designates the CSP as an anti-Muslim hate group, pointing to the group’s promotion of conspiracy theories claiming that Muslims have infiltrated the US government and seek to establish Islamic law in the country. The Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the Trump administration to revoke Kupperman’s appointment. ‘Once again this is an example of Trump elevating foxes into the hen house, where Islamophobes are well placed to direct our nation’s national security priorities,’ Robert McCaw, director of CAIR’s government affairs department, told Al Jazeera." CNN released a poll showing Trump's approval rating at 39%, which mostly corroborates the Washington Post-ABC News poll showing a drop in Trump's overall approval. News surfaced that the Trump administration has expanded fishing and hunting in wildlife refuges.
September 9, 2019 - President Donald Trump lashed out at musician John Legend, his wife Chrissy Teigen, and NBC News host Lester Holt, after the latter hosted a special report on American prison culture. Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "When all of the people pushing so hard for Criminal Justice Reform were unable to come even close to getting it done, they came to me as a group and asked for my help. I got it done with a group of Senators & others who would never have gone for it. Obama couldn’t come close. A man named @VanJones68, and many others, were profusely grateful (at that time!). I SIGNED IT INTO LAW, no one else did, & Republicans deserve much credit. But now that it is passed, people that had virtually nothing to do with it are taking the praise. Guys like boring musician @johnlegend, and his filthy mouthed wife, are talking now about how great it is - but I didn’t see them around when we needed help getting it passed. “Anchor”@LesterHoltNBC doesn’t even bring up the subject of President Trump or the Republicans when talking about the importance or passage of Criminal Justice Reform. They only talk about the minor players, or people that had nothing to do with it...And the people that so desperately sought my help when everyone else had failed, all they talk about now is Impeaching President Trump!" The tweets were contradicted by a segment of the show in which Trump was shown signing a criminal justice reform bill into law, while surrounded by many Republicans who are shown applauding. Tiegen responded to Trump's twitter rant tweeting: "lol what a pussy ass bitch. tagged everyone but me. an honor, mister president." The tag pussyassbitch began trending on twitter immediately following Tiegan's tweet. Trump responded to news that the Air Force is investigating why in recent months, flights have refueled at a small airport near Trump's Scotland resort, as government personnel stayed at the property. Trump tweeted: "I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I do not own and have nothing to do with) near Turnberry Resort (which I do own) in Scotland, and filling up with fuel, with the crew staying overnight at Turnberry (they have good taste!). NOTHING TO DO WITH ME" Trump also denied having anything to do with vice president Mike Pence staying at his golf club in Ireland saying "I had nothing to do with the decision of our great @VP Mike Pence to stay overnight at one of the Trump owned resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland. Mike’s family has lived in Doonbeg for many years, and he thought that during his very busy European visit, he would stop and see his family!" According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 89% of Americans support universal background checks for gun ownership, 86% support red flag laws, 56% support a ban on military-style assault weapons, and 52% support a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, claimed during an interview with Fox Business that the Trump administration has "not yet seen any impact on the U.S. economy" from Trump's trade war with China, and that there are "no signs" of a looming recession. The impact statement is undercut by the billions in subsidies Trump has approved to compensate farmers affected by the trade war. According to CNN, the US extracted a valuable covert source that had infiltrated the Russian government, partly over concerns that Trump, or his administration, may compromise the source's identity. From the report "A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel. The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter." According to CNBC "In an attempt to quantify the impact of Trump’s tweets on the bond market, J.P. Morgan devised a ‘Volfefe Index’ to analyze how the president’s tweets are influencing volatility in U.S. interest rates. J.P. Morgan found that the index, named after Trump’s infamous and still mysterious ‘covfefe’ tweet, explains a measurable fraction of the moves in implied rate volatility for 2-year and 5-year Treasurys. ... Out of about 4,000 non-retweets occurring during market hours from 2018 to the present, only 146 moved the market." News surfaced that security adviser John Bolton and vice president Mike Pence had voiced opposition to Trump's plan to invite the Taliban to come to the US to engage in peace talks. Trump reacted to the news tweeting: "A lot of Fake News is being reported that I overruled the VP and various advisers on a potential Camp David meeting with the Taliban. This Story is False! I always think it is good to meet and talk, but in this case I decided not to. The Dishonest Media likes to create the look of turmoil in the White House, of which there is none. I view much of the media as simply an arm of the Democrat Party. They are corrupt, and they are extremely upset at how well our Country is doing under MY Leadership, including the Economy, where there is NO Recession, much to the regret of the LameStream Media! They are working overtime to help the Democrats win in 2020, but that will NEVER HAPPEN, Americans are too smart!" Sharpiegate surfaced again today after the New York Times reported that Wilbur Ross, Trump's commerce secretary, threatened firings at the NOAA after that agency contradicted Trump's false claim about Hurricane Dorian affecting Alabama. According to the report "Mr. Ross phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president. Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed, according to the three individuals, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the episode." News surfaced that Todd Palin, husband of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has filed for divorce. The Commerce Department issued a statement denying the New York Times' story that Wilbur Ross had threatened firings over NOAA's contradicting Trump. The Sierra Club issued a statement calling for Ross to resign saying "This shameless abuse of power could have devastating results now and in the future, demonstrating that Ross is unfit to continue in the cabinet and that he does not care that he is supposed to represent the American public above Trump’s fragile ego". News surfaced that the Commerce Department's inspector general is now looking into the statement NOAA put out last week in defense of Trump's false claim.
September 7, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following in a series of tweets: "Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?" The death of the American soldier referred to in Trump's tweet was the 16th US soldier killed in Afghanistan this year. More than 1,200 Afghan civilians have been killed this year. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, responded to the tweets saying in part: "This will lead to more losses to the US. Its credibility will be affected, its anti-peace stance will be exposed to the world, losses to lives and assets will increase." Adam Kinzinger, Republican congressman from Illinois, responded to Trump's tweet saying "Never should leaders of a terrorist organisation that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country. NEVER. Full stop." Critics were quick to point to a tweet that Trump posted in 2012 when news surfaced that Obama was negotiating with the Taliban. Trump's tweet in 2012 said "While @BarackObama is slashing the military, he is also negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban--who facilitated 9/11." Here are a few select responses to Trump's tweet:
"Reasonable minds can and will disagree about the desirability of any agreement with the Taliban. But when a pathologically narcissistic hypocrite who negotiates like a three-year-old is in charge, a nuanced debate over substance gets drowned out by empty theatrics and spectacle." - Steve Vladeck
"If Trump was this upset at Obama in 2012, he should talk to the current president who tried to invite the Taliban leaders to meet face to face at Camp David." - Josh Jordan
"And it’s just another example of the president treating foreign policy like it’s some kind of gameshow: “This isn’t a gameshow. These are terrorists." - Amy Klobuchar, 2020 Presidential Candidate
According to Politico: "Congress is investigating Donald Trump over a potential conflict of interest involving increased US military spending at Prestwick airport near Glasgow and visits to his Trump Turnberry resort". "The house oversight committee has been investigating whether increasing expenditure at the airport and allegations of US military personnel being offered discount deals at Trump’s Ayrshire golf resort represent a violation of the US constitution." According to the Guardian: "A Salvadoran woman who was eight and a half months pregnant and experiencing contractions was apprehended by US border patrol after crossing the Rio Grande and forced to go back to Mexico" as part of the Trump administration's Remain in Mexico program.
September 6, 2019 - In a continuation of sharpiegate, Trump is continuing to claim on twitter that his inaccurate warning that Dorian was going to hit Alabama was, accurate, saying "The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit. They went Crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn’t). Check out maps. This nonsense has never happened to another President. Four days of corrupt reporting, still without an apology. But there are many things that the Fake News Media has not apologized to me for, like the Witch Hunt, or SpyGate! The LameStream Media and their Democrat partner should start playing it straight. It would be so much better for our Country!" According to the Washington Post: "It was Trump who used a black Sharpie to mark up an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map, which he displayed during an Oval Office briefing on Wednesday, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. ‘No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie,’ the official said of the map, which added Alabama into the hurricane’s potential pathway inside the loop of the marker." The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the four car companies that struck a deal with California to heighten emission standards. Here are a few select responses to the new DOJ investigation:
"This is a really disturbing abuse of power and another sign of how politicized DOJ has become. Antitrust law doesn't exist to punish companies for adopting policies you don't like." - Matthew Miller, former spokesman for DOJ under Barack Obama
"Wow, this is a total weaponization of the DOJ against Trump antagonists happening right before our eyes. In keeping with the possible charging of McCabe, the hounding of Bruce Ohr, the IG report on Comey, etc. Two and a half years in, Trump and his acolytes are figuring out how to use the apparatus of the state to reward friends & punish enemies. A direct attack on the rule of law." - Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica editor
The communications arm of NOAA sent out the following statement: "From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link. The Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time. NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources." Dan Sobien, the president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization responded to NOAA's statement saying in part "I’m absolutely shocked at what NOAA did tonight. Never, never has the agency undermined its employees like that. It’s unheard of that they would – with no scientific basis whatsoever – undermine their own employees for political reasons. That’s never happened before under any administration ... This doesn’t happen. This is a scientific agency. People gather data and they make the best decisions they can make from that data."
September 5, 2019 - A CNN graphic incorrectly labeled Alabama as Mississippi, which inspired Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary to tweet: "Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography?" This prompted CNN to send this tweet: "Thanks, Stephanie. Yes, we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime." According to Mother Jones "Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking. Yet a Mother Jones investigation has uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes—a move that could constitute tax fraud." Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, issued a statement arguing that Mike Pence's stay at Trump's Ireland golf club violated the constitution saying in part "Vice President Pence promised that their Administration would defend the Constitution and stand by a ‘strict constructionist’ interpretation of the Constitution. Instead the Trump-Pence Administration is ignoring the text itself and selling out the Constitution to line Trump’s pockets. Trump properties are a cesspool of corruption, a black hole for taxpayers’ money, an exploiter of immigrant labor and a national security threat with a suspected foreign spy walking the halls. ... The American people deserve a government that serves their interests, not one that’s being exploited to line the President’s pockets." Not willing to let sharpiegate go, Trump sent the following tweet today: "Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!" The tweet included photos of early projections that included Alabama in the outer bands of the projections. However, 24 hours prior to Trump's claim, Alabama had been eliminated from the projections. CVS, Walgreens and Wegmans are now asking that customers refrain from openly carrying guns while shopping in their stores. In a continuation of sharpiegate, the White House released a statement from Trump's homeland security and counter-terrorism advisor, who says he briefed the president on Hurricane Dorian with maps that "showed the possibility of storm force winds hitting parts of Alabama". The statement does not explain who altered the weather map with a sharpie. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Trump administration illegally diverted national park fees to keep parks open through the government shutdown, resulting in damage to some parks that could take hundreds of years for parks to recover from.
September 4, 2019 - An inspector general's report from Health and Human Services concluded that children affected by the Trump administration's family separation policy experienced "heightened feelings of anxiety and loss." Also "According to program directors and mental health clinicians, separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated." In another report by the Health and Human Services inspector general, it was pointed out that many of the case managers did not meet minimum education requirements for the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Reports coming out of the Bahamas, which was hit by hurricane Dorian with category 5 winds when it made landfall, are that the destruction is significant. Trump provided a brief to reporters and then added this "I must tell you, over the years there have been some hurricanes that were bigger and stronger and more powerful that hit us very hard also". Trump was asked about Pence's stay at his golf course in Ireland, to which Trump responded "Well, I had no involvement other than it’s a great place. People like my product. What can I tell you?" During a hurricane briefing for reporters, Trump held up a map showing the projected path of hurricane Dorian, which had been edited with a sharpie to include Alabama in the projection, an act that has been dubbed sharpiegate. When reporters asked Trump about the edited hurricane trajectory map, Trump claimed he didn't know who had edited it, but insisted there are "other better maps" that show Alabama was in the area that could be affected, although the weather service disputes this claim. Trump also insisted that Alabama was a part of the forecast when he first sent his tweet September 1st. But, according to the AP: "In fact, forecasts from overnight last Friday showed a small sliver of Alabama at the edge of the five-day cone of uncertainty. But by Saturday morning — more than 24 hours before Trump’s warning about Alabama — the storm was predicted to pose no threat to the state. Trump was getting multiple daily briefings about the storm." Jerrod Nadler, the chair of the the House Judiciary committee, issued a statement describing subpoenas that have been issued to the Department of Homeland Security, regarding reports that Trump offered to pardon officials at the border that violate the law in order to enforce his immigration policies. The statement reads in part "The dangling of pardons by the president to encourage government officials to violate federal law would constitute another reported example of the president’s disregard for the rule of law." The Trump administration announced new rules to roll back Bush-era requirements for energy-saving light bulbs. Noah Horowitz, the director of the Center for Energy Efficiency Standards responded to the news saying in part: "We will explore all options, including litigation, to stop this completely misguided and unlawful action." Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, released a statement accusing Trump of violating the constitution by using is position to promote his resorts and properties.
September 3, 2019 - According to Axios, Trump's allies are trying to raise millions for an effort to engage in "oppo research" against mainstream journalists to expose alleged biases. "The group claims it will slip damaging information about reporters and editors to ‘friendly media outlets’, such as Breitbart, and traditional media, if possible". Kurt Bardella, a former spokesman for Breitbart News and congressional Republican, responded to the Axios story saying "Time and again the president’s tactic is to try to undermine the message so the facts are not deemed credible by his supporters. If this effort delves into the personal lives of reporters, that’s crossing a line because it has nothing to do with their work as reporters." Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America responded to the Axios story saying "It’s insidious, it’s aimed to intimidate, it’s a kind of dragging through the mud effort, a character assassination from as best as we can tell, and it’s alarming. We need the press to do its job. We depend on them to hold politicians to account, to cover what’s going to be a very fractious campaign. If they have to live in fear that their personal lives or ancient communications are going to be dredged into the open in an effort to discredit them and destroy their career, who wants to work under that kind of cloud? The idea that this is being carried out by individuals who are associated with the administration or the campaign makes it all the more sinister." John Farrell, the author of Richard Nixon: The Life, responded to the Axios report saying "The actions of the current president are very much reflections of actions made by a previous president that he has said he much admires and that is Nixon, right down to the phrase ‘the press is the enemy’. There’s a famous White House tape where you have Nixon telling [Henry] Kissinger, write on the blackboard over and over again, ‘the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy’. If you listen to the tapes, they talk a lot about going after individual reporters with their personal foibles, but talking it about on the tapes and actually doing it was different." News surfaced that during vice president Mike Pence's trip to Dublin Ireland, he stayed at Trump's golf club in Doonbeg, an hour away by plane. Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff, said that Trump had made a "suggestion" that Pence stay there. This incident has raised concerns about Trump personally profiting from the presidency. Trump, who cancelled a trip to Poland in response to hurricane Dorian, spent some of his time this past weekend on the golf course, which prompted this comment from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who was present in Poland for the ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the country's Nazi invasion: "He’s clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course." Trump responded to the comment tweeting: "The incompetent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was bothered that I played a very fast round of golf yesterday. Many Pols exercise for hours, or travel for weeks. Me, I run through one of my courses (very inexpensive). President Obama would fly to Hawaii. Kahn should focus on knife crime,” which is totally out of control in London. People are afraid to even walk the streets. He is a terrible mayor who should stay out of our business!" Khan wrote an essay in the Observer, saying in part "Vulnerable, often minority, communities are being demonised and scapegoated for all society’s ills. This comes as a new wave of extremist far-right movements and political parties are winning power and influence at alarming speed – fuelled by Donald Trump, the global poster-boy for white nationalism." Leif Olson, a senior policy adviser at the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, who was appointed by Trump and began work on August 12th, resigned today after Bloomberg Law raised questions about some anti-Semitic posts on Olson's facebook account. According to Reuters, Walmart announced that it will discontinue selling some of its ammunition, saying in part "Walmart will stop selling short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber after clearing current stock. While this type of ammunition is commonly used in some hunting rifles, they are also used in large capacity clips on military style weapons, the company said." According to reports, 1 out of 5 bullets were purchased at a Walmart. Walmart has also asked that customers not open carry in any of their stores. The NRA responded to Walmart's decision to end the sale of certain kinds of ammo saying in part "The strongest defense of freedom has always been our free-market economy. It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites." They also stated "The truth is Walmart’s actions today will not make us any safer. Rather than place the blame on the criminal, Walmart has chosen to victimize law-abiding Americans. Our leaders must be willing to approach the problems of crime, violence and mental health with sincerity and honesty." A bill passed by House Democrats would close the loophole which allowed the Odessa shooter to obtain his gun, but Trump has said he would veto the bill, and Mitch McConnell stated he won't bring the bill to the floor of the Senate unless he can get a guarantee that Trump will sign it. Beto O'Rourke, Democratic candidate for president, responded to McConnell's refusal to take up a gun bill saying "What’s the point of your office and your branch of government if you have to wait for permission from the president to act? This is not leadership, it’s cowardice." A panel of judges in North Carolina ruled that state political maps are so badly gerrymandered to benefit republicans that they violate the state's constitution, and the maps must be redrawn before the 2020 election. The Trump administration has issued sanctions against Iran's space agency, accusing it of developing ballistic missiles under cover of a civilian space program. The Trump administration is reallocating $3.6bn in military funds to build Trump's border wall. Chuck Schumer, responded to the news tweeting "It is a slap in the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country that @realDonaldTrump is willing to cannibalize already allocated military funding to boost his own ego, and for a wall he promised Mexico would pay to build." A court has ruled that the White House must restore a press pass for Playboy correspondent Brian Karem who got into a heated exchange with Sebastian Gorka, a pro-Trump radio host and former White House aide. Kroger has joined Walmart in asking customers not to openly carry firearms in their stores.
September 2, 2019 - Several news outlets reported that Trump's information about hurricane Dorian affecting Alabama was incorrect. Trump responded to the news outlets that called out his incorrect information by tweeting "I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true. They made a big deal about this ... when in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some 'hurt.' Always good to be prepared!" Critics were quick to point out that at no time had the government forecast that hurricane-force winds could reach any part of Alabama.
September 1, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet regarding hurricane Dorian: "In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!" Since Alabama is not one of the states projected to be affected, critics have suggested that Trump's error represents a fundamental misunderstanding of geography. Within 20 minutes of Trump's tweet, the Birmingham, Alabama branch of the National Weather Service tweeted "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east." Within half an hour of Trump's tweet, James Spann, a veteran Alabama forecaster tweeted "Alabama will not be impacted by Dorian in any way." At a press briefing around 20 minutes or so after Trump's initial tweet, Trump said this to reporters: "We have a lot of great people working right now. We don't know where it's going to hit, but we have an idea. Probably a little bit different than the original course. The original course was dead into Florida. Now it seems to be going up to toward South Carolina, toward North Carolina. Georgia is going to be hit. Alabama is going to get a piece of it, it looks like. But it can change its course again and it could go back more toward Florida." About an hour later, Trump stated that Dorian "may get a little piece of a great place: It's called Alabama." Trump added that Alabama "could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that, it could be. This just came up, unfortunately." Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for NOAA, later confirmed for reporters that Alabama was not forecast to be affected by Dorian.
August 31, 2019 - Greta Thunberg, a teen climate activist, responded to critics who mocked her for having Asperger's syndrome, saying: "When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning! I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower." Thunberg has dealt with attacks from science deniers before, like when Andrew Bolt, an Australian News Corp columnist referred to her in an article mockingly as "deeply disturbed". Thunberg responded to Bolt with "I am indeed 'deeply disturbed' about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on and on just because we children communicate and act on the science. Where are the adults?" Seth Ator, who was pulled over for failing to use his blinker, went on a shooting rampage in Odessa, TX, killing 7, and wounding 22. Ator obtained his weapon through a private sale. According to ABC News "Authorities stated the suspect, Seth Ator, was considered a ‘prohibited person’ barred by law from purchasing or possessing a firearm because he was diagnosed as being mentally ill. It was further confirmed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said the shooter failed a background check. According to federal and state sources, the private sale loophole allows the sale or purchase of any kind of weapon, including handguns and automatic rifles. The seller may not sell a weapon if he or she knows the buyer is flagged, but is under no obligation to do a background check or ask about the buyer’s status."
August 30, 2019 - Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's personal assistant, was let go today following Trump's discovery that she had shared details about his family and Oval Office operations with reporters. According to Politico, Westerhout purportedly told a reporter that Trump does not like taking pictures with his younger daughter Tiffany Trump, because he thinks she is overweight. She also bragged that she has a better relationship with Trump than either of his daughters, and that Trump couldn't pick Tiffany out of a crowd. News surfaced that White House staff are looking into ways to satisfy Trump's concern that more mental institutions are needed to combat gun violence. Mental health officials have come out against the idea saying it reflects outdated thinking on the treatment of mental illness. Neil Cavuto, a Fox News host, responded to Trump's comment that "Fox isn't working for us anymore!" saying "Mr. President, we don’t work for you. I don’t work for you. My job is to cover you, not fawn over you or rip you. Just report on you." Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to Barack Obama, responded to Cavuto's statement saying "Mr President: we don't work for you. We work WITH you in a racism for profit scheme. Cavuto/Shep Smith et al are massively overpaid by Fox explicitly so they will do this performance once in a while so Fox can continue to get American corporations to help pay for White nationalist propaganda at all hours of the day." Kay Ivey, Alabama's Republican governor, apologized after it became public knowledge that she had worn blackface in a skit at Auburn University when she was a student there. One select response to Ivey's apology on twitter was this one from K Tully-McManus "There are more governors who have apologized for black face than black governors." News surfaced that the Trump administration plans to ease requirements on oil and gas sites to monitor for methane leaks and plug them. Trump, who cancelled a trip to Poland so that he could monitor hurricane Dorian, which is bearing down on the Bahamas, sent the following tweet regarding the IG's report about James Comey's memos: "One of the most disgraceful examples of an abuse of power by a government official…when you read this report…this is a systematic effort to go after Candidate Trump, President Elect-Trump, and President Trump....you could virtually call this an attempted coup."
August 29, 2019 - The Justice Department's office of the inspector general concluded in a report that James Comey's "retention, handling, and dissemination of certain Memos violated Department and FBI policies, and his FBI Employment Agreement." James Comey responded to the report tweeting: "DOJ IG 'found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.' I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a 'sorry we lied about you' would be nice. And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me 'going to jail' or being a 'liar and a leaker'—ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president." Donald Trump responded to the IG's report saying on twitter: "Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!" The Trump administration is proposing a policy that would allow Customs and Border Protection officials to perform DNA testing on undocumented immigrants in government custody.
August 28, 2019 - As Tropical Storm Dorian heads toward Puerto Rico, Trump sent out the following tweet: "We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico. FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You - Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!" According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump, has offered to pardon administration officials who break the law trying to get a wall built along the US-Mexico border. Regarding concerns about eminent domain, Trump has said "take the land". When asked about this story, the White House didn't deny it, but instead said that when Trump says these things, he is only joking. Trump complained on twitter that "Fox isn't working for us anymore" after a network anchor wasn't sufficiently negative towards the DNC Communications Director. Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, announced that he intends to resign due to mounting health problems. Trump sent the following tweet regarding Puerto Rico, which is currently under threat from a tropical storm: "Puerto Rico is one of the most corrupt places on earth. Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked Pols. No good! And by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!" Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist from Sweden has arrived in New York, after crossing the Atlantic on a sail boat. Trump responded on twitter to the Washington Post story that he had offered pardons to to aides who broke the law saying: "Another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post (lobbyist) which states that if my Aides broke the law to build the Wall (which is going up rapidly), I would give them a Pardon. This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage - FAKE NEWS!" Trump also sent a tweet that falsely claimed his border wall is currently being built: "The Wall is going up very fast despite total Obstruction by Democrats in Congress, and elsewhere!" Regarding Trump's proposed wall, according to the Washington Post: "Trump has repeatedly promised to complete 500 miles of fencing by the time voters go to the polls in November 2020, stirring chants of ‘Finish the Wall!’ at his political rallies as he pushes for tighter border controls. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed just about 60 miles of ‘replacement’ barrier during the first 2½ years of Trump’s presidency, all of it in areas that previously had border infrastructure." According to the Post's Fact Checker, Trump has claimed 190 times that the border wall is being built, making that claim his most frequently repeated lie. The Trump administration has moved to revoke automatic citizenship for children of US service members born overseas. Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic presidential contender for the 2020 race responded to the citizenship news saying "This is how President Trump honors the bravery and sacrifice of our service members."
August 27, 2019 - George Conway, husband of senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, sent the following tweet today: "Trump even obstructed justice about obstructing justice. He tried to get his White House counsel to get rid of Mueller using a bogus excuse and for an improper reason. He then later tried to get the White House counsel to create a false record about it. He’s meta-impeachable." Critics of Trump's idea to host the 2020 G7 summit at his Doral resort began tweeting using the hashtag #TrumpBedBugs regarding a 2016 incident in which the Doral was sued by a patron over a bed bug problem in one of the rooms. According to Ismail Ajjaw, an incoming Harvard freshman from Lebanon, he was deported and had his student visa revoked after immigration officials uncovered social media posts by some of his friends that officials considered anti-American. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has encouraged Trump to meeting with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani announced that he will not meet until sanctions against Iran are lifted. Howard Sachs, a federal judge, has temporarily blocked Missouri's abortion ban, which made it illegal for doctors to perform abortions after 8 weeks of pregnancy, saying "While federal courts should generally be very cautious before delaying the effect of state laws, the sense of caution may be mitigated when the legislation seems designed, as here, as a protest against supreme court decisions. The hostility to, and refusal to comply with, the supreme court’s abortion jurisprudence is most obviously demonstrated in the attempt to push ‘viability’ protection downward in various weekly stages to eight weeks." The ban was set to go into effect tomorrow. News surfaced that the Trump administration has redirected $155m from federal disaster relief funds to pay for immigrant detention space. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, the chair of the House homeland security appropriations subcommittee, released a statement condemning the move saying in part "I strongly disagree with DHS’s decision to transfer and reprogram funds to pay for more ICE detention beds and for hearing facilities to support the Administration’s inhumane Migrant Protection Protocols program."
August 26, 2019 - Trump, who is currently attending the G7 summit, skipped a climate meeting in which world leaders discussed wildfires in the Amazon - wildfires that have increased dramatically since right wing leader Jair Bolsonaro became president of Brazil, and which many attribute to Bolsonaro's policies. Trump was asked by a reporter after the meeting ended if he had attended the climate meeting, Trump's response: "We're having it in a little while." While speaking at the G7 summit, Trump suggested hosting the 2020 G7 summit at a Trump property called Trump National Doral Miami in Florida. Trump was asked by reporters about the potential emoluments clause violation of hosting the G7 at his resort, to which Trump responded "I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money." Trump then went on to repeat his unsubstantiated claim that the presidency is costing him between $3bn and $5bn. Trump was asked by one reporter why he considered it appropriate to invite Russia to the G7 summit after that country meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Trump then blamed Barack Obama for the removal of Russia saying it was because Putin outsmarted him. The reporter then pointed out that Russia was excluded because of Putin's annexation of Crimea. When Trump was asked about his trade war with China, and the negative affect it has on global markets, Trump responded: "Sorry! It’s the way I negotiate. It’s the way I negotiate. It’s done very well for me over the years, and it’s done even better for the country." When Trump was asked about the climate crisis, he responded with this statement: "I’m an environmentalist. People don’t understand that." When asked what he thinks the world should be doing about climate change, Trump responded "I feel the US has tremendous wealth... I'm not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills - which, frankly, aren't working too well... I think I know more about the environment than most." Representative Sean Duffy, a Wisconsin Republican announced his retirement, making him the 8th House Republican to announce plans to leave office in recent weeks. The White House Correspondents' Association has filed a court brief on behalf of Brian Karem, whose press pass was suspended for 30 days by the White House. Nineteen states have filed suit against the Trump Administration over indefinite detention of migrant children. According to the New York Times, in an attempt to discredit news organizations, conservative operatives tied to the Trump Administration are pursuing an "aggressive operation" of digging into social media posts and other public statements made by journalists and organizations deemed unfriendly to Trump, in the hopes of finding potentially embarrassing information.
August 23, 2019 - According to the Washington Post, citing 25 people in or tied to the Trump administration: "Administration officials have scrambled this week to assemble a menu of actions Trump could take to avert an economic downturn. Few aides have a firm sense of what steps he would seriously consider, in part because he keeps changing his mind." David Koch has died of prostate cancer. The billionaire industrialist and Republican mega donor was 79. Jean Cramer, a city council candidate in Marysville, Michigan, created a stir after she was asked if Marysville should do more to attract foreign-born residents. Cramer's response: "Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible." When asked to clarify, Cramer responded "Husband and wife need to be the same race. Same thing with kids. That’s how it’s been from the beginning of, how can I say, when God created the heaven and the earth. He created Adam and Eve at the same time. But as far as me being against blacks, no I’m not." Dan Damman, the Marysville mayor, called the comments "vile" and "jaw dropping". Trump continued his assault on Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, by sending the following tweet following a speech by Powell: "As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can 'speak' without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work 'brilliantly' with both, and the U.S. will do great. My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?" China announced that it will impose $75bn in tariffs on American exports that affect more than 5,000 products. Trump responded to news of the Chinese tariffs with a twitter tirade: "Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop - it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!" During an interview with the Guardian, singer Taylor Swift described the atmosphere in the country as "gaslighting the American public into being like, 'If you hate the president, you hate America.'" In retaliation for the newly announced Chinese tariffs, Trump tweeted that his administration will increase tariffs on Chinese goods from 25% to 30% starting October 1st. The Trump administration has filed a brief with the Supreme Court declaring that federal law allows private companies to fire workers based on sexual orientation.
August 22, 2019 - News surfaced that on the day before a gunman carried out the deadliest attack against Latinos in modern US history in El Paso, Texas, Greg Abbott, the governor of that state, sent out a fundraising letter calling on Republicans to "DEFEND TEXAS NOW" and "take matters into our own hands" in response to "illegal immigrants". Here are some select responses to the news of Abbott's fundraising letter:
"It’s disgusting. They know exactly what they are doing when they are using this kind of language and using this racist rhetoric to energize their base. It’s really disturbing. It’s alarmist, it’s threatening, it’s hostile.” - Manny Garcia, Executive Director of the Texas Democratic party
"If the leader of the government in Texas is utilizing these types of words, and talking about defending our country and having to take matters into their own hands, that sounds to me like a call to folks to do exactly that. This is what this guy who came to El Paso from Dallas was trying to do. He was trying to defend what he thought he needed to defend, and to take things into his own hands. It’s really, really upsetting." - David Stout, El Paso County Commissioner
News surfaced that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's former press secretary, will be joining the Fox News cast of Fox & Friends. According to BuzzFeed, the Executive Office for Immigration Review sent out a morning briefing that included a link to blog post on the white nationalist website VDare. The post refers to the New York Times as "lugenpresse", which is a German term meaning "lying press" that was adopted by the Nazis to stigmatize Jews, communists and critics of Adolf Hitler. That slur has regained popularity among the far right and white nationalists. The post also uses the term "kritarch" which is used perjoratively in the blog post as an anti-semitic trope.
August 21, 2019 - Wayne Allyn Root, a far right crank who promoted the Obama 'birther' conspiracy, and who pushed the notion that Obama was a Muslim, and gay, and who claimed the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was a "Muslim terror attack" sent the following tweet: "President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God...But American Jews don’t know him or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that’s OK, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s good for all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job." Trump re-tweeted Root's tweet saying "Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words." The Trump administration announced a new regulation that allows the government to detain families crossing the border indefinitely. The new rule replaces the current 20-day limit imposed by what is known as the Flores agreement. The ACLU responded to the proposed rule change saying "The government should NOT be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn’t be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer. This is yet another cruel attack on children, who this administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies. Congress must not fund this." According to the Idaho Statesman "The Community Council of Idaho plans to remove and conceal signage on buses they use to transport local children of farm workers and Head Start participants, after repeated experiences of harassment from motorists across the state, including the Treasure Valley. The buses are used to transport children to the Community Council, where they can take part in non-profit programs. The vehicles are labelled 'Migrant and Seasonal Head Start', and staff say drivers are harassing the buses because they 'assume that migrant means undocumented'". Trump was asked about his cancelled trip to Denmark, to which he responded "I looked forward to going but I thought the prime minister’s statement that [Trump’s plan to buy Greenland] was ‘absurd’ [...] I thought it was nasty. I thought it was a very not nice way of saying something. They could have told me no. It was not a very nice statement the way she blew me off." Trump also stated "We treat countries with respect she shouldn’t treat the United States that way." Trump announced that the US is looking at scrapping birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the US constitution, saying "We are looking at birthright citizenship very seriously. It’s frankly ridiculous." News surfaced that the Trump administration is considering an executive order that would allow states and cities to deny entry to refugees. News surfaced that Trump mocked the accents of the leaders of South Korea and Japan at a recent fundraiser. While speaking to reporters about trade with China, Trump turned and looked skyward and announced "I am the chosen one". This comment prompted many to accuse Trump of having a "messiah" complex. Trump sent the following tweet as part of an ongoing campaign to pressure Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, into dropping interest rates: "Doing great with China and other Trade Deals. The only problem we have is Jay Powell and the Fed. He’s like a golfer who can’t putt, has no touch. Big U.S. growth if he does the right thing, BIG CUT - but don’t count on him! So far he has called it wrong, and only let us down".
August 20, 2019 - A report released by the Department of Defense claims that Isis militants are regaining strength, due in part to the Trump administration's withdrawal of troops from Syria and other policy shifts in Iraq. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, was asked about the report, and how it squared with Trump's claims that he defeated Isis, to which Pompeo responded "It’s complicated. There are certainly places where Isis is more powerful today than they were three or four years ago. But the caliphate is gone and their capacity to conduct external attacks has been made much more difficult." The feud between Trump and Anthony Scaramucci continued as Scaramucci published an op-ed in the Washington Post which reads in part "I broke from Trump because not only has his behavior become more erratic and his rhetoric more inflammatory, but also because, like all demagogues, he is incapable of handling constructive criticism. As we lie on the bed of nails Trump has made, it’s often difficult to see how much the paradigm of acceptable conduct has shifted. For the Republican Party, it’s now a question of whether we want to start cleaning up the mess or continue papering over the cracks." Trump responded to the op-ed with a series of twitter attacks, like this one: "Just another disgruntled former employee who got fired for gross incompetence!" Tucker Carlson, who has been absent from his prime time show on Fox News since dismissing white supremacy as a "hoax", returned today, but with fewer advertiser's. According to Media Matters for America, at least 5 advertisers ditched Carlson's show over the last 11 days. Trump sent the following tweet in response to a press conference held by Rashida Tlaib in which she became emotional while talking about being barred from entering Israel: "Sorry, I don’t buy Rep. Tlaib’s tears. I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears? She hates Israel and all Jewish people. She is an anti-Semite. She and her 3 friends are the new face of the Democrat Party. Live with it!" Jennifer Horn, a board member of the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans, resigned today in response to that group's endorsement of Trump for president in 2020 saying "I could never endorse him for President of the United States and still look my children in the eye. In order to maintain favor with this unprincipled, unscrupulous President, too many in our party are fast abandoning the moral high ground, and I fear that in this endorsement, the Log Cabin Republicans have damaged our ability to effectively advocate for equal rights for all." According to a story at HuffPost, which cites US financial disclosure statements filed by Trump in 2018, Trump inflated the value of his Scottish golf resorts by $165m. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump had this to say regarding stricter background checks: "We have very, very strong background checks right now. A lot of the people who put me where I am are strong supporters of the second amendment." Trump also claimed that expanding background checks was a "slippery slope" that could lead to a situation where "everything gets taken away". Trump also told reporters that Russia should be allowed to rejoin the G7. Russia was suspended in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea. Trump made the following statement regarding Israel's action of blocking two US congresswomen from entering their country: "It was all going to be a propaganda tour against Israel, so I don't blame Israel for doing what they did." Trump also spoke of Rashida Tlaib saying "All of a sudden, she starts the tears, and I don’t buy it for a second. I’ve seen her in a very vicious mood. I saw a woman that was violent and vicious and out of control. And all of a sudden I see this person who’s crying because she can’t see her grandmother." Trump then made this remark: "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty". This comment by Trump, which suggests that Jewish Americans have dual loyalty, is widely considered antisemitic. According to the Atlantic, Trump called Wayne LaPierre, the NRA CEO, to tell him that any push to expand requirements for background checks on gun sales is off the table. Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister reacted to news that Trump is interested in purchasing Greenland by saying "Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously." Frederiksen also called the idea "absurd". Trump responded to Frederiksen's comments by calling off a scheduled visit to Denmark saying "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time". Eva Flyvholm, the foreign policy chair for Denmark's Red-Green Alliance, responded to the issue over Greenland saying "There are already many good reasons to think that the man is a fool, and now he has given another good reason". Villy Sovndal, the former Denmark foreign minister said Trump's decision "confirms that Donald Trump is a narcissistic fool. If he had been a clown in a circus, you could probably say that there is considerable entertainment value. The problem is that he is the president of the most powerful nation in the world". According to the Guardian, law enforcement officials have thwarted six separate mass shootings in the last two weeks. The groups that were going to be targeted were LGBTQ people, Jewish people, black Americans, Latinos and Muslims. Four of the suspects are white and in their 20's.
August 19, 2019 - According to a survey by the National Association of Business Economics, 34% of economists surveyed believe the US will slip into a recession in 2021. 34% believe a recession will happen in 2020.Two major areas of concern for economists are Trump's tariffs, and high budget deficits. Trump's response to the news of a potential recession is that there must be some sort of conspiracy saying "The Fake News Media is doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election. The problem they have is that the economy is way too strong and we will soon be winning big on Trade, and everyone knows that, including China!" Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's former communications director, announced that he will be working against Trump's re-election saying "I’m in the process of putting together a team of people that feel the exact same way that I do. This is not a ‘Never Trump’ situation. This not just screeching rhetoric. This is — OK, the guy is unstable. Everyone inside knows it, everyone outside knows it. Let’s see if we can find a viable alternative." Trump responded to Scaramucci's comments saying "He was a mental wreck. We didn’t want him around. Now Fake News puts him on like he was my buddy!" Donald Trump, who proclaimed shortly after the El Paso massacre that "There is a great appetite, and I mean a very strong appetite, for background checks" was asked whether he would support universal background checks right now. Trump's response: "I’m not saying anything. I’m saying Congress is going to be reporting back to me with ideas. And they’ll come in from Democrats and Republicans. And I’ll look at it very strongly. But just remember, we already have a lot of background checks. OK? Thank you." The chair of the Federal Elections Commission made the following statement "Academics have studied this. Lawyers have studied this. The government has studied this. Democrats have studied this. Republicans have studied this. No one can find any evidence of rampant voter fraud". On the heels of the FEC chairs statement about voter fraud, Donald Trump sent the following tweet, which amplifies a baseless conspiracy theory: "Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought!" Hillary Clinton responded to Trump's voter fraud conspiracy tweeting "The debunked study you’re referring to was based on 21 undecided voters. For context that’s about half the number of people associated with your campaign who have been indicted." Steve King, the Iowa Republican who wondered if there would be anybody left in the world were it not for rape and incest, demanded an apology for the negative reaction to his comments saying "when we have a national, viral attack that comes out on a misquote, and it’s absolutely proven, all the folks that did that attack, I think they owe me an apology, including my own leadership." Representative Ben Ray Lujan, is the 127th House Democrat to back impeachment proceedings. Planned Parenthood announced that it will no longer accept funds from Title X health care funding due to a Trump administration rule that prohibits Title X recipients from providing abortion counseling. Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood called the change an "unethical and dangerous gag rule".
August 18, 2019 - Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor to Trump, stated "I sure don't see a recession" in response to a question about a possible economic downturn. NBC's Chuck Todd then reminded Kudlow of comments Kudlow made in 2007, right before the second-worst downturn in American history, in which Kudlow had stated "There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen… The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come." Trump echoed Kudlow's remarks telling reporters "I don’t see a recession. We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are tremendously rich. They’re loaded up with money. Walmart is through the roof. We’re not going to have a recession – the world is in a recession right now." Trump also talked about his trade war with China saying "China’s doing very poorly – the worst in 27 years – because of what I’ve done. They are losing millions of jobs in China. We’re not paying for the tariffs, China is paying for the tariffs. Other countries maybe but in the case of China, China is eating the tariffs – at least so far."
August 16, 2019 - Rashida Tlaib released a statement in which she declined Israel's offer of allowing her to visit her family in the West Bank on "humanitarian" grounds, writing "these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice." Tlaib also wrote "In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government. I have therefore decided not to travel to Palestine and Israel at this time. Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart." Israel's interior minister responded to Tlaibs' announcement tweeting "I approved her request as a gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis, but it was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the State of Israel. Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother." This tweet prompted a response from Matt Duss, a foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders who tweeted: "What an absolutely disgusting remark. Emerging right wing narrative that 'Tlaib's painful decision not to give up her rights as a condition of seeing her grandmother just shows this was all a cynical publicity stunt' is typical of the dehumanization of Palestinians as unfeeling machines programmed to attack Israel." Nine nonprofits serving immigrant communities have sued the Trump administration over its "public charge rule", which penalizes green-card applicants who use public benefits, saying that the rule is an unconstitutional effort to discriminate against nonwhite immigrants. Xavier Becerra, California's Democratic attorney general, stated that the rule "would force working parents and families across the nation to forego basic necessities like food, housing and healthcare out of fear." Congressional Republicans were found to be circulating a memo with instructions on how to respond to questions about gun violence. One of the suggested responses on the memo was for this question: "Do you believe white nationalism is driving more mass shootings recently?" The suggested answer in the memo is this "White nationalism and racism are pure evil and cannot be tolerated in any form. We also can’t excuse violence from the left such as the El Paso shooter, the recent Colorado shooters, the Congressional baseball shooter, Congresswoman Giffords’ shooter and Antifa." The chair of the Federal Elections Commission is claiming that the agency's Republican members shut down an effort to further investigate Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election by funneling money to the National Rifle Association. New York City's chief medical examiner released a statement saying that Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy revealed that he died as a result of suicide by hanging. The Trump administration submitted a brief to the Supreme Court today arguing that transgender people should not be protected by Title VII's ban on "sex" discrimination.
August 15, 2019 - According to a Fox News poll, 90% of Americans believe criminal background checks should be required for all gun purchases, and 81% believe red flag laws should be in place which allow judges to take guns away from those deemed dangerous. Donald J Trump, the president of the United States, urged the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to block United States Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel during a planned trip later this week, saying on twitter "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!" This tweet directly contradicts an official statement put out an hour before by Stephanie Grisham, Trump's press secretary, that said "The Israeli government can do what it wants" regarding the representative's planned trip, and that reports that Trump was urging Netanyahu to barr Omar and Tlaib are "inaccurate". Tzipi, Hotovely, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, announced that Omar and Tlaib would be prevented entry into Israel saying "The decision has been made, the decision is not to allow them to enter." Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of the nonprofit J Street, which calls itself "the political home of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans" issued a statement saying "We may disagree with the views that the Members hold on such questions as BDS or with Rep. Tlaib on the two-state solution, but the right approach for a state that values democracy is to welcome criticism and debate, not to shut it down. The fact that President Trump has already tweeted out his own call for these representatives to be denied entry illustrates that this decision is motivated purely by politics and ideology – not by the interests of the State of Israel. It is an affront to Congress and the American people and does severe damage to the US-Israel relationship – and it must be reversed immediately." Here are some other selected responses to Israel blocking entry to two US Congresswomen:
"Israel has always banned Palestinians from their land and separated us from other Palestinians, but this time the Palestinian is a U.S congresswomen.@RashidaTlaib didn't even have to land to expose the true face of Israel's occupation." - Ayman Odeh, Palestinian Parliamentarian in Israel
"The Tlaib / Omar story is only incidentally about Israel. It's about a flagrant abuse of presidential power to control travel by elected members of Congress. It's a made-in-America scandal, by Americans, for Americans." - David Frum, former speech writer for George W Bush
"Just when you thought we reached rock bottom, the President of the United States tries to block legal U.S. citizens — members of Congress — from traveling to another country. This is unconstitutional and un-American. A despicable abuse of power." - Keith Boykin, former White House staffer for Bill Clinton
"Banning Congresswomen Omar and Tlaib from entering Israel and Palestine is a sign of enormous disrespect to these elected leaders, to the United States Congress, and to the principles of democracy. The Israeli government should reverse this decision and allow them in." - Bernie Sanders, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"The close relationship enjoyed by the United States and Israel should extend to all its government representatives, regardless of their views on specific issues or policies" - Jerry Nadler, Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee
"President Trump, you show great weakness every single day—when you attack women of color, when you degrade the office of the president, and when you ask our allies to stoop to your level." - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Prsidential Candidate
"I’m calling this like I see it: bigoted, short sighted and cruel. Any leader committed to advancing democracy would welcome with open arms two democratically elected United States Congresswomen. And every single member of Congress should be calling this out." - Representative Ayanna Pressley
"I want to tell you a secret: A month ago when Netanyahu decided to allow Omar and Tlaib into the country they alreadty supported BDS and he knew it back then. There is only one reason for Netanyahu's backtracking today - the pressure from Donald Trump" - Barak Ravid, Reporter for Israeli News Channel 13
"First he tells Congresswoman Tlaib to 'go back' to 'her' country, and then he tells that country not to let her in." - Representative Tom Malinowski
"Israel’s denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel. The President’s statements about the Congresswomen are a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President." - Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker
"MoC are frequently asked to visit Israel to 'see things for ourselves.' But Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women in Congress from entering tells the US that only *some* Americans are welcome to Israel, not all. Trump is exporting his bigotry &making matters worse." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"I have always been a stalwart supporter of Israel—a vital partner that shares our democratic values. No democracy should deny entry to visitors based on the content of their ideas—even ideas they strongly object to. And no leader of the free world should encourage them to do so." - Joe Biden, former Vice President and 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying "There is no country in the world that respects the U.S. and the American Congress more than Israel. However, the itinerary showed that the congresswomen’s sole intention was to harm Israel." Netanyahu added that Tlaib may be allowed to travel to the West Bank if she submitted a request on humanitarian grounds to visit family there. Trump tweeted that "Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!" The House judiciary committee has issued subpoenaes for Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, and Rick Dearborn, a former White House official. A panel of judges has ruled that migrant children must have access to soap, toothpaste and a place to sleep. The ruling comes in response to a Trump administration official's arguments that detained immigrant children, who are required to be provided with "safe and sanitary" conditions, didn't also need basic hygiene products. In the ruling, the judges wrote in part "Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleep deprived are without doubt essential to the children’s safety." According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has shown an interest in the US acquiring Greenland, and has asked White House counsel to look into the idea. The State Department's internal watchdog released a report that found "evidence of leadership and management deficiencies and mistreatment of career employees" within the State Department. The report identified the work environment as "vindictive", and found that Kevin Moley, the assistant secretary of state, and his former senior advisor Marie Stull, retaliated against employees they believed were not sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Career employees described to the inspector general incidents in which Stull "referred to them or to other career employees as ‘Obama holdovers,’ ‘traitors,’ or ‘disloyal,' and some were accused of being part of the "Deep State" and of "undermining the president's agenda." After seeing the report, Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for Moley to be fired or to resign. Trump spoke to reporters today about the ongoing trade war with China saying "I think the longer the trade war goes on, the weaker China gets and the stronger we get". Todd Starnes, who hosts a show on Fox News, told viewers of his show "I do believe that we have been invaded by a horde. A rampaging horde of illegal aliens. This has been a slow-moving invasion. When you go back in time and when you look at what an invasion is. Whether it is the Nazis invading France and western Europe. I mean, whether the Muslims were invading a country back in the early years. It was an invasion." Trump mocked a guy at a rally in Manchester, NH, saying "That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising." Moments later Trump told the crowd "Our movement is built on love." Trump had mocked the guy because he thought he was a protester, but it turned out that the guy was actually a Trump supporter. Representative Anthony Brown became the 126th House Democrat to back impeachment proceedings against Trump.
August 14, 2019 - The DOW Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 800 points over recession fears. A primary indicator of an impending recession is an inverted yield curve, which preceded every recession for the past five decades. The inversion has now occurred. Trump blamed the federal reserve for the recession fears tweeting "We are winning, big time, against China. Companies & jobs are fleeing. Prices to us have not gone up, and in some cases, have come down. China is not our problem, though Hong Kong is not helping. Our problem is with the Fed. Raised too much & too fast. Now too slow to cut. Spread is way too much as other countries say THANK YOU to clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. Germany, and many others, are playing the game! CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE! We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!" Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services was asked about his recent comments regarding the statue of liberty poem, Cuccinelli's response: "Well, of course, that poem was referring back to people coming from Europe, where they had class-based societies, where people were considered wretched if they weren’t in the right class". Here are a few select responses to Cuccinelli's comment:
"This administration finally admitted what we’ve known all along: They think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people." - Beto O'Rourke, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"Not only disgusting, but factually inaccurate. The Statue of Liberty was created to celebrate emancipation." - Mara Gay, New York Times Editorial Board Member
"The whole point of the Trump political experiment has been to make subtext text. This is just the latest installment. (P.S. It's funny how now all of Europe is okay, but 100 years ago, a man with a name like Cuccinelli was from the 'wrong' part of that continent.)" - Julia Loffe, Writer for GQ Magazine
"This man is acting Director of Citizenship & Immigration Services. For the love of everyone, double check your voter registration status + register if you haven’t" - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Representative
While explaining his opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, Republican Representative Steve King told a conservative group in Iowa "What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that? Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that." Here are a few select responses to King's comments:
"You are a disgrace. Resign" - Kirsten Gillibrand, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
"Just a reminder that every Republican presidential candidate coveted Steve King’s endorsement in the last cycle." - Brian Schatz, Democratic Senator
"You would think it would be pretty easy to come out against rape and incest. Then again, you’d think it would be pretty easy to come out against white nationalism. This is just one more example why there needs to be a sane representative in that district, and it’s why I think J.D. Scholten will be an excellent public servant for that district." - Pete Buttigieg, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate
Representative Deb Haaland, of New Mexico, became the 122nd Democrat to call for impeachment hearings against Trump. Congressional democrats have subpoenaed Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan, to testify at a deposition in September. 8chan is a far-right website that has been linked to at least three deadly white supremacist acts of violence in the last 6 months, including the killing of 22 people in El Paso, Texas. Trump sent a tweet in praise of President Xi of China saying "I know President Xi of China very well. He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a 'tough business.' I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?"
August 13, 2019 - Julie Golob, a member of the NRA's board of directors, resigned her position today. Golob is the 4th board member to resign in the past two weeks. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, responded to news of Golob's departure saying "Now another board member is calling it quits. At this rate, they may be answering subpoenas rather than paying for political ads in 2020." Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, announced that some products affected by Trump's tariffs aginst China will be delayed until December 15th. Lighthizer also announced that products related to "health, safety, national security and other factors" will not be subject to the 10 percent tariffs. Trump himself claimed the delay in imposing the tariffs was precautionary "just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers" leading up to the Christmas shopping season. Ben White, a reporter for Politico responded to news of the delay saying "I mean this is just giving away the game and admitting tariffs are bad for Americans and that you have a pain threshold the Chinese can easily exploit." According to the Washington Post: "Trump’s escalating trade war has spooked business executives. There’s already been a noticeable decline in business investment as corporate leaders say Trump’s tariffs and unpredictability are creating too much uncertainty, dissuading them from spending large sums on new buildings or equipment. Now there are early signs that business leaders are beginning to pull back on hiring, too." Trump claimed on twitter today in reference to tariffs that "the tens of billions of dollars that the U.S. is receiving is a gift from China." Representative Ted Lieu, of California, responded to Trumps' tweet saying "Today is Tuesday. That means @realDonaldTrump is lying, again. US is not getting billions of dollars from China as a gift. US importers pay US tariffs, not China. Also, US farmers are getting a fraction of what they would be getting if there was no trade war. #TuesdayThoughts" Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, offered an edited version of the poem that appears on the Statue of Liberty saying: "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge." Pro Democracy demonstrators have been clashing with police in Hong Kong for weeks, and today those clashes intensified as demonstrators took over the Hong Kong airport. Both Democrats and Republicans have come out in support of the demonstrators. Speaking to reporters regarding the Hong Kong situation, Trump said "The Hong Kong thing is a very tough situation, very tough. We'll what see what happens. But I'm sure it'll work out. I hope it works out for everybody, including China, by the way." While speaking to a group about energy on an official White House event, Trump claimed the presidency has cost him billions of dollars. Trump also attacked some of his Democratic rivals saying "We'll have to hit Pocahontas very hard again if she does win... What a group: Pocahontas and Sleepy Joe." Also complains that Barack Obama was paid for his book.
August 12, 2019 - Conspiracy theories continue to be promoted online regarding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, despite the results of a New York City medical examiner's autopsy which found no indications of foul play. The Trump administration introduced a new policy that penalizes green card applicants who use public benefits, like food stamps. Numerous studies determined that a rule of this sort, which affects legal immigration, would result in many legal immigrants dis-enrolling from public benefits programs, even if they are not affected by the rule. According to the Urban Institute, 1 in 7 adults in immigrant families eschew public benefits out of fear it could affect their chances of getting a green card. Researchers also found that not receiving public benefits caused increased financial difficulties, as well as mental and physical health problems. Explaining the new policy, Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, told reporters "Through the public charge rule, President Trump's administration is re-enforcing the ideals of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility ensuring immigrants are able to support themselves and become successful here in America". One reporter asked Cuccinelli "Is that sentiment, give us 'your tired, your poor,' still operative in the United States, or...should the plaque come down from the Statue of Liberty?" Cuccinelli responded "I'm certainly not prepared to take anything down off the Statue of Liberty." Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's former communications director, announced that he no longer supports Trump's re-election bid saying "For the last three years I have fully supported this president. Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100% litmus test. Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country. To those asking, ‘What took so long?’ You’re right. I tried to see [the] best in [Donald Trump] based on private interactions and select policy alignment. But his increasingly divisive rhetoric – and damage it’s doing to fabric of our society – outweighs any short-term economic gain." According to the Washington Post, Trump has made more than 12,000 false or misleading statements since becoming president, averaging about 13 or so claims per day. His most repeated false claim - 190 times - is that his border wall is being built. Another big one - 186 times - is that the US economy today is the best in history. News surfaced that some of Trump's evangelical supporters are distraught that Trump repeatedly used the word "goddamn" at a rally in Greenville, NC. According to Business Insider, FBI agents are not happy with Donald Trump for amplifying conspiracy theories regarding the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein. One anonymous agent told the magazine: "The last thing investigators need is the president of the United States fanning the flames with these bullshit theories that have no basis in reality". The Trump administration announced new rules regarding the implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Under the changes, species categorized as "threatened" will not automatically receive the same protections as those listed as "endangered". The new rules will also allow officials to draw more attention to the economic impact of protecting a species. This change comes in the wake of a United Nations report released this spring which found that humans are disrupting the natural world, and putting a million species at risk of extinction worldwide.
August 10, 2019 - Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of girls as young as 14, died in jail of an apparent suicide. Donald Trump re-tweeted a conspiracy theory that former president Bill Cinton is somehow connected with Epstein's death. Here is the original tweet: "Died of SUICIDE on 24/7 SUICIDE WATCH ? Yeah right! How does that happen#JefferyEpstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this! RT if you’re not Surprised #EpsteinSuicide #ClintonBodyCount #ClintonCrimeFamily" According to those familiar with Epstein's incarceration, he was not on suicide watch when he killed himself. Another important thing to note here, is that Epstein was in federal custody at the time that he died, which means he was under the purview of Trump's justice department. A white man carrying two shotguns and a pistol, and wearing body armor, entered a mosque in Oslo, Norway and opened fire. One man was injured before the shooter was overpowered by members of the mosque. The man claimed inspiration from the Christchurch and El Paso shootings. Race Imboden, who took a knee during the raising of the American flag while standing on the podium where he received a Gold Medal in the Pan-Am Games, explained his action on twitter saying "We must call for change. This week I am honored to represent Team USA at the Pan-Am Games, taking home gold and bronze. My pride however has been cut short by the multiple shortcomings of the country I hold so dear to my heart. Racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list. I chose to sacrifice my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed. I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change." For a change of pace, guess which of the following quotes is from Tucker Carlson, a Fox News Host, and which one is from a far-right shooter who killed 51 people in a New Zealand mosque:
"When confronted or pressed for details, [proponents of diversity] retreat into a familiar platitude, which they repeat like a zen koan: diversity is our strength. But is diversity our strength? The less we have in common, the stronger we are? Is that true of families? Is it true in neighborhoods or businesses? Of course not. Then why is it true of America? Nobody knows. Nobody’s even allowed to ask the question."
"Why is diversity said to be our greatest strength? Does anyone even ask why? It is spoken like a mantra and repeated ad infinitum … But no one ever seems to give a reason why. What gives a nation strength? And how does diversity increase that strength? What part of diversity causes this increase in strength? No one can give an answer."
Are you stumped? Tucker Carlson gets credit for the first of the two quotes.
August 9, 2019 - A photo surfaced from Trump's visit to a hospital in El Paso showing Trump and the first lady Melania posing with a baby who lost both of its parents in the El Paso shooting. POTUS and FLOTUS are both smiling broadly in the picture, Trump also has his thumb extended up. Criticism of the photo was swift. This from Georgetown professor Don Moynihan "This child just lost both parents to a white supremacist who drove 10 hours to a Walmart to kill Hispanics because, like Trump, he was concerned about an immigrant invasion. Why, exactly, are the President and First Lady smiling? Why the hell is he doing the thumbs up sign?" Trump sent out the following tweet: "Serious discussions are taking place between House and Senate leadership on meaningful Background Checks. I have also been speaking to the NRA, and others, so that their very strong views can be fully represented and respected. Guns should not be placed in the hands of mentally ill or deranged people. I am the biggest Second Amendment person there is, but we all must work together for the good and safety of our Country. Common sense things can be done that are good for everyone!" While speaking to reporters, Trump stated that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is "totally on board" with considering a background checks bill. Trump also told the press he had a received a "beautiful" three-page letter from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Trump also mentioned that North Korea is still participating in the repatriation program for the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War, which is not true, as the Pentagon announced in May that that program had been suspended due to a lack of communication from North Korean officials. Trump was also asked about the ICE raids at Mississippi food processing plants that left some children abandoned. Trump's response: "I want people to know that if they come into the United States illegally, they’re getting out. They’re going to be brought out. And this serves as a very good deterrent. ... They’re not coming in illegally and staying. They may get in, but it doesn’t matter because they’re going out." Beto O'Rourke posted a video on twitter of a young girl sobbing and pleading for the return of her dad, who had been swept up in the ICE raids in Mississippi. O'Rourke made the following comment about the video: "She is not a 'rapist' or a 'criminal.' She is not an 'animal' or an 'infestation.' She's a daughter who misses her father—and has no idea when she'll see him again. She will struggle with this trauma for the rest of her life. We’ll have it on our conscience for the rest of ours." The 21-year-old El Paso shooter, who was taken into custody without incident after the shooting, has confessed to being the shooter, and also to targeting "Mexicans". According to a new Reuters poll:
- 69% of Americans back "strong" or "moderate" restrictions on guns.
- A majority of Americans, but only a third of Republicans believe that "the way people talk about immigration encourages acts of violence."
- 78% of Americans believe it is likely another mass shooting will take place in the next three months.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen has ruled that a school board's transgender bathroom ban discriminated against former student Gavin Grimm. Trump responded to news that some countries are issuing travel advisories against the US by threatening to issue "reciprocal" advisories saying "We are a very reciprocal nation, with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them". South Korea's military has reported that North Korea has launched multiple projectiles into the sea. According to the AP "The North Korean missile tests, which U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly played down, come amid stalled diplomatic talks with the United States on the North’s nuclear program. So far, North Korea has stuck by its unilateral suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, which came during a diplomatic outreach to Washington last year." Eight Democratic US Senators signed onto a letter to some major tech firms asking them to halt the sale of gun accessories on their sites saying in part: "America is in the throes of a gun violence epidemic and it is incumbent upon corporate America to do its part to help end the carnage."
August 8, 2019 - Former president Bill Clinton sent the following tweet: "We have talked, tweeted, and delayed long enough. This is about who we are as a country, and what America will look like years from now. It’s time to reinstate the assault weapons ban and make background checks universal." Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia has come out in favor of impeachment, bringing the number of pro-impeachment Democrats to 119. Trump is once again toying with the idea of commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich saying "I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly". Blagojevich was caught on tape trying to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat saying "I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing". News surfaced that while meeting with medical staff in El Paso yesterday, Trump bragged about the size of the crowd at his rally in the city in February. News also surfaced that 5 victims refused to meet with Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, some major Wall Street banks have handed over thousands of pages of documents to congressional committees who are looking into Trump's financial ties with Russia. The NRA issued a series of tweets pushing back against background checks and "red flag" legislation. Beto O'Rourke responded to Trump's crowd size remark at an El Paso hospital saying "This community is focused on healing. Not hatred. Not racism. Certainly not crowd sizes. Our community — and our country — will not be defined by @realdonaldtrump’s smallness. We will be defined by the love, compassion, and strength of El Paso." Curt James Brockway, 39, was arrested and charged with felony assault on a minor after he picked up a 13 year-old boy and body slammed him on his head, after the teenager failed to remove his hat for the national anthem at a rodeo in Superior, Montana. According to the police report, the boy suffered a concussion and a fractured skull, and had blood coming out of his ears. Speaking through his attorney, Brockway claimed he had heard Trump speak out against athletes who protest during the national anthem, and felt he had been "given an order from commander in chief to make sure people are patriotic".
August 7, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet today: "Meanwhile, the Dayton, Ohio, shooter had a history of supporting political figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and ANTIFA. @OANN I hope other news outlets will report this as opposed to Fake News. Thank you!" According to the FBI, investigators have uncovered no evidence of a racial motivation in the Dayton attack, but have in the El Paso attack, where the shooter posted an anti-immigrants screed which echoed Trump's own anti-immigrant rhetoric. As he was leaving the White House to travel to Dayton and El Paso, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he was concerned about hate groups. Trump's response: "I am concerned for any group of hate. I don’t like it ... whether it’s white supremacy or any other kind of supremacy, whether it’s antifa, whether it’s any group or kind of hate ... I am concerned about it and I’ll do something about it." It should be noted here that the Southern Poverty Law Center does not list antifa as a hate group because the group does "not promote hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity." An open letter to Trump was posted online by the Border Network for Human Rights asking the president to not visit El Paso saying in part "Your presence would bring no comfort, no respite from the pain so brutally and callously imposed upon us. We ask, instead, for your absence. We say this because we recognize that it is your rhetoric and your actions that led us to this terrible moment." The letter has attracted more than 17,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. Trump told reporters "I think we can do something on background checks like we've never done before." Critics were quick to point out that after the Parkland shooting in 2018, Trump said "We’re going to be very strong on background checks. We’re going to be doing very strong background checks." Trump told reporters today "My rhetoric brings people together". Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, responded to Trump's comment on twitter saying "Ironically, he's right, people of all stripes come together over how disgusting his rhetoric is." Tucker Carlson, a Fox News host, attracted criticism when he said the following "If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns, problems this country has, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America. This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power." Reporters traveling with Donald Trump were not allowed to accompany him while he visited with first responders and victims at a Dayton hospital because they were told "the visit was not a photo opp". After the visit, Trump posted photos online of himself posing with first responders and hospital staff. Michael Gerson, a former top aide to George W. Bush, wrote an op-ed about racism, which reads in part "Racism is the fire that left our country horribly disfigured. It is the beast we try to keep locked in the basement. When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame." Representative Elijah Cummings has extended an invitation to Trump to visit Baltimore saying "I want him to come and look at my entire city. I’ll ride with him for hours if I have to." Joe Biden delivered a speech in Burlington, Iowa condemning Trump for having "fanned the flames of white supremacy." Trump responded to Biden's speech on twitter saying "Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring! The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy. It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!" Biden then responded to Trump's tweet by tweeting: "Thank you for tuning in! We hope you learned a thing or two about what it takes to be an effective leader who can unify the nation." In a joint statement, Claudia Ordaz Perez, El Paso's mayor pro tempore, and Vincent Perez, a county commissioner, called on Trump to condemn racial terrorism saying in part "If the President fails to strongly condemn this racially-motivated terrorist attack and fails to call for an end to the use of violence against minority groups by radicalized white nationalist terrorists during his visit, his continued depiction of immigrants and migrants as a threat to our nation will only place our community at greater risk for racially-motivated attacks." The House judiciary committee has asked a federal judge to force testimony from Don McGahn, Trump's former White House counsel. Amnesty International issued a travel warning for visitors to the US saying "Today we issue a travel warning calling for travelers & visitors to the United States to exercise extreme caution & have a contingency plan when travelling throughout the country. This is due to ongoing rampant gun violence in the United States." In what is being called the largest workplace sting in at least a decade, Immigration officials arrested 680 workers at food processing plants in Mississippi. Most of those arrested were Latino. Responding to the raid, the ACLU sent the following tweet: "ICE cruelly swept through Mississippi, leaving children stranded without parents or knowledge of when they could be reunited. THIS is what happens when you want to achieve an anti-immigrant agenda no matter the cost." Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director, has sued the Justice Department claiming he was fired as part of a plot to root out officials who were not loyal to Trump. McCabe was fired 24 hours before he was set to retire. Sue Gordon, the deputy director of national intelligence will be stepping down next week, along with Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence (DNI). Trump announced that Joseph Maguire, the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center will serve as acting director of national intelligence.
August 6, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet to address criticism that he is racist: "It’s political season and the election is around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative. @ainsleyearhardt @foxandfriends And I am the least racist person. Black, Hispanic and Asian Unemployment is the lowest (BEST) in the history of the United States!" Trump also responded to a statement released by Obama yesterday saying "Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres. @kilmeade @foxandfriends" Dave Stout, an El Paso County Commissioner, responded to news that Trump is planning to visit the city saying "It’s ridiculous and unconscionable. The city of El Paso is an economically challenged community. He’s going to be throwing salt into the wound -- a very, very deep wound. And this community needs healing, not Donald Trump." According to the city of El Paso, Trump's reelection campaign still owes the city $569,204 for a rally held in February. News surfaced that some foreign countries have begun warning their citizens about travel to the US. Uruguay warned of "growing indiscriminate violence", and Japan warned of "the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States" A coalition of progressive groups held a rally against white supremacy and gun violence in Lafayette Square just north of the White House. The group released a statement saying "The impact of Trump’s racist rhetoric and policies cannot be ignored when white supremacists— many of whom name him in their attacks and cite him in their hate manifestos— murder innocent people of color. It is not enough for Republican leadership in Congress to offer thoughts and prayers, nor should they repeatedly blame gun violence on mental illness — an unfounded and harmful trope. They must unequivocally denounce this violence, pass laws to stop it, and prevent the rise of white supremacy." During an interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar stated the following regarding Trump's plan to visit El Paso: "From my perspective, he is not welcome here. He should not come here while we are in mourning. I would encourage the president’s staff members to have him do a little self-reflection. I would encourage them to show him his own words and his actions at the rallies." The Trump campaign sued the state of California over the new law that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns if they want to run in the state's primary. News surfaced that Trump's re-election campaign has described immigration as an "invasion" in more than 2,000 facebook ads this year. A picture surfaced of 7 young men wearing shirts with "TEAM MITCH" written on them. In the picture the men are holding a cardboard cutout of AOC, and some of them are mimicking groping and choking the image. The caption on the picture is "break me off a piece of that." AOC tweeted the picture to Mitch McConnell with the following statement: "Hey @senatemajldr - these young men look like they work for you. Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?" The ACLU sent the following tweet today: "BREAKING: We’re challenging the Trump administration’s new rule that massively expands fast-track deportations without a fair legal process such as a court hearing or access to an attorney. This is an illegal escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants." David Stout, an El Paso county commissioner, made the following statement regarding Trump's planned visit tomorrow: "Regardless of what happened here on Saturday, he has constantly demonized, vilified the type of people who live in this community. I don’t understand why in the world anybody would think it would be a good idea for him to be in El Paso, Texas." Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who was terminated over text messages he sent that disparaged Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit over his dismissal saying "This campaign to publicly vilify Special Agent Strzok contributed to the FBI’s ultimate decision to unlawfully terminate him, as well as to frequent incidents of public and online harassment and threats of violence to Strzok and his family that began when the texts were first disclosed to the media and continue to this day." Representative Veronica Escobar was invited to join Donald Trump during his visit to El Paso, but she declined the invitation after she was told that Trump was "too busy" to honor her request to speak to him about his racist comments.
August 5, 2019 - Donald J Trump, who is facing a lot of criticism following two mass shootings over the weekend - one which was carried out by a man who echoed Trump's own rhetoric in an anti-immigration screed posted to 8chan - blamed the media today saying in a tweet: "The Media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our Country. Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years. News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!" Critics were quick to point to this line from the El Paso shooter's screed which Trump echoed in his statement: "The media is infamous for fake news". Trump also sent out the following tweet: "We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!" The responses to these tweets were swift:
"Nah. News coverage has got to start calling you what you are. A traitor. A liar. A racist. A coward. A fool. #WhiteSupremacistInChief" - Ava DuVernay, Filmmaker
"This is sinister. Why do shootings mean we need immigration reform? By linking them, Trump blames the victims for the terrorism that took their lives. He throws red meat to his base-let’s keep Hispanics out of our country-in response to the crimes of a white supremacist." - Joyce Alene, Law Professor at the University of Alabama
"What's the connection between background checks & immigration reform? That we have to keep guns out of the hands of the invading hordes? Of less than human people coming cross our borders? That's the implication. That's disgusting. It reminds me of the 1930's in Germany." - Jerry Nadler, US House Judiciary Committee Chair
"Let me see if I got this: A white supremacist comes to my community with a weapon of war, murders my neighbors because they are Latino, and we should tie tepid gun measures to honoring a terrorist's grievances?" - Bob Moore, El Paso News Reporter
"Marrying a backgrounds check bill with immigration reform would almost certainly doom both efforts. After Parkland, Trump promised to be 'very strong' on background checks." - Manu Raju, CNN Reporter
"That’s an absolute freaking joke that he’s going to tie this to the most polarized issue happening in the United States. Mitch McConnell needs to get off his ass and do something." - Tim Ryan, Democratic Presidential Candidate
"This president’s open racism is an invitation to violence. The writing has been on the wall since his maiden speech coming down that escalator calling immigrants 'rapists and criminals.' The actions that follow cannot surprise us." - Beto O'Rourke, Democratic Presidential Candidate
"That is what a lack of leadership in the White House looks like. He is not only egging on white supremacy and white nationalism, but he is one himself. He has been using racist language as a candidate and as president for two years, especially against immigrants." - Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic Presidential Candidate
The New York Post, a right leaning paper owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch is out with the following front page headline "BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS" The editorial board of the National Review, another conservative media outlet, wrote the following: "the patterns on display over the last few years have revealed that we are contending here not with another ‘lone wolf,’ but with the fruit of a murderous and resurgent ideology — white supremacy — that deserves to be treated by the authorities in the same manner as has been the threat posed by militant Islam." Candice Keller, a Republican, State Representative from Ohio, received a torrent of criticism after posting the following to facebook: "After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs? The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed public schools (hello parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you Obama); hatred of our veterans (thank you, professional athletes who hate our flag and National Anthem); the Dem Congress, many members whom are openly anti-Semitic, the culture, which totally ignores the importance of God and the church (until they elect a President); state officeholders, who have no interest whatsoever in learning about our Constitution and the Second Amendment; and snowflakes, who can't accept a duly-elected President." Trump, while reading from a prepared statement, blamed violent video games and lack of mental health care among other things for the violence last weekend. Trump also called for the country to come together, and also, Trump said this: "In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" Here are some select responses to Trump's statements:
"Sure, it’s good to finally use the words. But let’s be clear: no figure in modern American history has done more to encourage and embolden these hateful ideologies than Donald Trump. It defined his campaign. It has defined his presidency. A reluctant sentence changes none of that" Brian Klaas, Political Scientist
"Trump is on TV blaming the Internet, social media, video games and mental health for the mass shootings. Nonsense! Every country has Google, Facebook, video games and people with mental health issues. What they don’t have is easy access to guns and a racist, xenophobic president." - Keith Boykin, former Clinton White House aide
"Again, if fascism and white nationalism is a 'mental illness' requiring involuntary commitment, then Trump needs to be committed right now." - Amanda Marcotte, Writer for Salon
"Donald Trump is never as passionate, spontaneous or animated when discussing white nationalist attacks as he is when attacking Latinos, blacks and Muslims" - Jason Johnson, Political Editor for the Root
"Not enough. A few words written by a press flack do nothing for the families of these victims. Trump says we should “reject bigotry”, but he’s the notorious bigot that cowards like these are inspired by." - Sawyer Hackett, Press Secretary for Democratic Presidential Candidate Julian Castro
"Donald Trump is unfit to lead our nation. His words could not be more hollow. He says 'we must condemn racism, bigotry and white nationalism' — but often serves as their national spokesperson. In this national emergency, our president is morally bankrupt. We deserve better." - Julian Castro Democratic Candidate for President
"You can’t speak out of one side of your mouth about the need for us to come together as a country but consistently do things that divide this nation and pit us against each other, that fuel racial bigotry and hatred" - Cory Booker, Democratic Candidate for President
"You blamed the media. You blamed video games. You blamed everybody but yourself.
Look in the mirror today. You have the power to heal a wound that you re-opened. Will you stop describing Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders’ as the terrorist did?" - Joaquin Castro, Representative from Texas
"President Trump’s words today are meaningless. We know his vile and racist words have incited violence and attacks on Americans." - Bennie G. Thompson, Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
"White supremacy is not a mental illness. We need to call it what it is: Domestic terrorism. And we need to call out Donald Trump for amplifying these deadly ideologies." - Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Candidate for President
"We have a racist president, who is prejudiced, and misogynistic, who doesn’t value anyone outside of himself." - Carl Lewis, Nine-time Olympic Gold Medalist
Politico Reporter Michael Calderone sent the following tweet comparing Trump's reaction to these recent mass shootings - which were carried out by white guys - with those carried out by Islamic extremists: "Trump took no questions after his statement today. Compare to San Bernardino, where Trump was calling into one TV news show after another to talk about the shooting. Reminder: Trump not only called for banning all Muslims from entering the US in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting in Dec. 2015, but he was over TV news shows stoking fears of future attacks on U.S. soil:" Calderone included these statements that Trump made during those calls to various news shows in 2015:
"We have to use vigilance in our country or we're going to have many more World Trade Centers and our country will never be the same. We will have many, many more World Trade Centers" - Donald Trump speaking to ABC's George Stephanopoulos
"You're going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it, many, many more, and probably beyond the World Trade Center" - Donald Trump speaking to CNN's Chris Cuomo
"You will have more World Trade Centers and you will have more, bigger than the World Trade Center, if we don't toughen up, smarten up and use our heads" - Donald Trump speaking on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
In a joint statement, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on Mitch McConnell to bring the Senate back from its recess to pass some basic background check bills that passed in the House more than 5 months ago, but were never taken up by the Senate. The bills are the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act. While speaking at a press conference, Lopez Obrador, the president of Mexico said "We have great respect for the decisions of other governments, but we believe these appalling events that have taken place in the United States should lead to contemplation, discussion and a decision to control the indiscriminate sale of guns" Kellyanne Conway told reporters outside the White House that Trump put politics aside in his response to the shootings, but critics quickly pointed out that blaming mental illness echoes a key talking point from the National Rifle Association. Barack Obama released a statement today expressing condolences for the victims of the recent shootings, and also demanding action on gun control. The statement also called on Americans to "soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don't look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people. Such language isn't new- it's been at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it's time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much - clearly and unequivocally." Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man who mailed pipe bombs to critics of Trump, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. News surfaced that many Hispanic Texans are lining up to buy firearms for self protection. The Dow dropped 2.9 percent, in response to Trump's escalating trade war with China. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has declared China a currency manipulator under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Dee Margo, El Paso's Mayor has announced that Trump will be visiting the city on August 7th.
August 4, 2019 - Connor Betts, who was wearing body armor and carrying 100-bullet magazines, opened fire in Dayton, OH, killing 9. Six of the 9 victims were black. Betts was shot dead by police within 30 seconds of the beginning of his shooting spree. Trump responded to this attack and the one in El Paso yesterday by tweeting "I want to extend our condolences from El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. They’re incredible people, they’ve been through a lot. Hate has no place in our country. We’re going to take care of it." Trump also blamed mental illness for the shootings saying "This is also a mental illness problem, if you look at both these cases … both these people are very ill." Rosie Phillips Davis, the president of the American Psychological Association, released the following statement: "Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness. The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them. One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster. If we want to address the gun violence that is tearing our country apart, we must keep our focus on finding evidence-based solutions. This includes restricting access to guns for people who are at risk for violence and working with psychologists and other experts to find solutions to the intolerance that is infecting our nation and the public dialogue."
August 3, 2019 - Patrick Crusius, a resident of Allen, TX, drove 650 miles to El Paso, TX, where he opened fire in a crowded Walmart store, killing 22, and injuring dozens more. Shortly before the shooting, Crusius left a message on the website 8chan, which expressed sympathy for a white nationalist who opened fire in two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The message also stated "This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas." Trump tweeted to "condemn today's hateful act" and called it an "act of cowardice". Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter tweeted "White supremacy, like all other forms of terrorism, is an evil that must be destroyed."
August 2, 2019 - The US officially pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with Russia, saying "Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise. Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that the world has lost "an invaluable brake on nuclear war" and also that "This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles." The NYPD's deputy commissioner of trials has recommended that Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired for his role in the chocking death of Eric Garner in 2014. Garner's last words were "I can't breath." News surfaced that there was an attempted break in at congressman Elijah Cummings' house, prompting Trump to send this tweet: "Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!" Nikki Haley, Trump's former US ambassador to the United Nations responded to Trump's tweet with "This is so unnecessary." Following news that North Korea hs launched more missiles, Trump sent the following tweet: "Kim Jong Un and North Korea tested 3 short range missiles over the last number of days. These missiles tests are not a violation of our signed Singapore agreement, nor was there discussion of short range missiles when we shook hands. There may be a United Nations violation, but Chairman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country, and only the United States, with me as President, can make that vision come true." As of today, 118 of 235 House Democrats support impeachment of Donald Trump. John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, has withdrawn his name from consideration after questions were raised about his experience, qualifications, and ability to be non-partisan. News also emerged that Ratcliffe had exaggerated his national security credentials.Ratcliffe was even referred to be Republicans in the Senate as "an inexperienced but loyal partisan". Responding to the news, Trump sent the following tweet: "Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people."
August 1, 2019 - Trump announced, via twitter, that beginning September 1st, the US would impose a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports that aren't already affected by the 25% tariff on $250 billion worth of goods. Following Trump's tweet announcing the new tariffs, the stock market plunged. Steve Liesman, a CNBC reporter, sent the following tweet: "Probably needs to be stated again: the president is increasing tariffs the day after the Fed Chair (whom the president chose) warned that tariffs represent the single biggest threat to the us and global economies. And he said it repeatedly." Regarding Trump's attacks on Baltimore, Nancy Pelosi made the following statement: "The president – this comes as no surprise – really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who’s a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations." State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed Trump's family business regarding hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Representative Will Hurd announced that he will not be seeking reelection to Congress. Hurd is the 3rd Republican in the past week to announce that he is retiring. In newly released audio, Ronald Reagan and then president Richard Nixon can be heard talking about how an African delegation to the United Nations danced in response to a vote. Reagan can be heard saying "To watch that thing on television, as I did, to see those, those monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!" Nixon responds by erupting with laughter.
July 31, 2019 - The Washington National Cathedral released the following statement regarding Trump's racist attacks: "This week, President Trump crossed another threshold. Not only did he insult a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality for all persons; not only did he savage the nations from which immigrants to this country have come; but now he has condemned the residents of an entire American city. Where will he go from here? Make no mistake about it, words matter. And, Mr. Trump’s words are dangerous. These words are more than a 'dog-whistle.' When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human 'infestation' in America. They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation. Violent words lead to violent actions. When does silence become complicity? What will it take for us all to say, with one voice, that we have had enough? The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of ours. As leaders of faith who believe in the sacredness of every single human being, the time for silence is over. We must boldly stand witness against the bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and xenophobia that is hurled at us, especially when it comes from the highest offices of this nation. We must say that this will not be tolerated. To stay silent in the face of such rhetoric is for us to tacitly condone the violence of these words. We are compelled to take every opportunity to oppose the indecency and dehumanization that is racism, whether it comes to us through words or actions." Trump sent the following tweet today: "CNN’s Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television, insinuated last night while asking a debate 'question' that I was a racist, when in fact I am 'the least racist person in the world.' Perhaps someone should explain to Don that he is supposed to be neutral, unbiased & fair, or is he too dumb (stupid} to understand that. No wonder CNN’s ratings (MSNBC’s also) have gone down the tubes - and will stay there until they bring credibility back to the newsroom. Don’t hold your breath!" It should be noted here, that Don Lemon is one of the most prominent black TV journalists in the US. For the first time in more than a decade, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter point, which many economists see as an indicator that the US economy may be running out of steam. In a newly released Quinnipiac University poll, 51% of voters believe Donald Trump is a racist. Harry Enten of CNN provided the following analysis of the poll: "Compare these numbers to a Harris poll from September 1968. Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist, was running for president as an opponent to the Civil Rights movement. As he campaigned, 41% agreed when asked whether Wallace was a racist. That was basically even with the 40% who disagreed with the statement. There are a few ways to look at these numbers, and none are complementary to Trump. You can say that more voters believe Trump is racist than believed a segregationist running for president in 1968 was. You could be generous to Trump and say that the spread between racist and not a racist (5 points in Trump’s case and 1 point in Wallace’s case) is closer because more voters were undecided on Wallace. Even so, the net margin for Trump being a racist is wider than it was in Wallace’s case." The Trump administration imposed sanctions against Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister. Zarif responded to the news with the following tweet: "The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world'. Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda." The Senate has confirmed Kelly Craft to succeed Nikki Haley as Trump's ambassador to the UN. Kraft came under heavy criticism earlier this year for spending more than half her time as ambassador to Canada absent from her post.
July 30, 2019 - California has passed a law that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns to qualify for California's primary ballot. The ACLU sent the following tweet: "BREAKING: Today we filed a motion to block the Trump administration from continuing to separate families at the border. More than 900 parents and children — including babies — have been separated since the court blocked the cruel policy over a year ago." Leslie McCrae Dowles, a Republican political operative from North Carolina, has been charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and illegal possession of absentee ballots. Dowles was indicted last year on charges that he was running a scheme to illegally collect and forge mail-in ballots from voters in rural North Carolina.
July 29, 2019 - A gunman opened fire at the Gilroy garlic festival in northern California, killing three. The gunman was shot and killed by police. In an ironic twist to Trump's attacks on the city of Baltimore, news surfaced that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, owns more than a dozen apartment complexes in Baltimore, which have been cited for, among other things, rodent infestations. In another ironic twist, House Republicans have scheduled their annual policy retreat in Baltimore. Speaking to reporters in Baltimore, Al Sharpton spoke of Trump's attacks on the city saying "He attacks everybody. I know Donald Trump. He’s not mature enough to take criticism. He can’t help it. He’s like a child. Somebody says something, he reacts. He’s thin-skinned and not really matured that well. But he has a particular venom for blacks and people of color. He doesn’t refer to any of his other opponents or critics as ‘infested.’ He does not attack their districts." Representative Dina Titus has come out publicly for impeachment, bringing the number of pro-impeachment Democrats to 109, which is nine short of a majority for the Democratic caucus.Nancy Pelosi referred to Mitch McConnell as "Moscow Mitch" over his opposition to taking up election security bills. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell complained that criticism of his refusal to take up election security bills is equivalent to "modern day McCarthyism". The Senate tried but failed to override Trump's veto of a resolution blocking US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries without Congressional approval.
July 28, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet: "I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence. A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves. Dan Coats, the current Director, will be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly." Here are some noteworthy responses to Trump's announcement:
"Trump is consolidating his personal control over the intelligence community ... I fear that there is a slow takeover of the norms and procedures of governance by this president, amassing unprecedented executive power. To do that he needs to neutralise or at least silence the intelligence community. He has been doing that for three years, but this takes it to the new level." - Rolf Mowatt-Larsen, Former CIA Intelligence Officer
"So you're forcing #DanCoats out as DNI because he has continually warned about Russian interference in our elections and you're ensconcing Ratcliffe who attacked Mueller when he supported Coats? Pretty obviously laying the groundwork for stealing another election in 2020." - Victoria Brownworth, Investigative Journalist
"So Coats, who has warned over and over about threats from Russia, is out. And Ratcliffe, who auditioned by attacking Mueller during the hearings is in. You are the epitome of corruption and a danger to this country, it can’t be said enough." - Michelangelo Signorile, Journalist, Commentator, Author
July 27, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place. Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!" Elijah Cummings responded to Trump's tweet with a tweet of his own saying "Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents." Gerald Stansbury, the president of the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP responded to Trump's tweet saying "America deserves a president who lifts our cities up, not one who heaps trash talk on them".
July 26, 2019 - The Commerce Department announced that US economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2019. The GDP grew at an annual rate of 2.1% During a House judiciary committee hearing, Brian Hastings, a senior Border Patrol official, claimed Francisco Erwin Galicia, an American citizen, was detained by immigration officers for more than 3 weeks because he never presented himself as an American citizen. That statement was later contradicted by Galicia's attorney who produced a notice to appear at DHS which reads in part "On or about June 27, 2019, you were found at the Falfurrias, Texas, Border Patrol Checkpoint, a distance of more than 25 miles from the United States border with Mexico ... You did not receive the permission of an immigration officer to proceed beyond that 25 mile limit ... At that time, you falsely represented yourself to be a citizen of the United States for the purpose of furthering your entry into the United States". Representative Annie Kuster became the 100th lawmaker to come out in support of an impeachment inquiry. The House judiciary committee has filed suit to obtain the "grand jury material underlying the Mueller report" citing the need for the committee to recommend one way or the other regarding articles of impeachment against Trump. The Commerce Department released data today showing economic growth last year was 2.5% The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can spend $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on the border wall. The Trump administration signed an agreement with Guatemala to restrict asylum applications to the US. Amnesty International reacted to the agreement saying "any attempts to force families and individuals fleeing their home countries to seek safety in Guatemala are outrageous". RAICES, a Texas-based group that provides legal services to refugee families responded to the agreement saying "This new agreement with Guatemala puts 100s of thousands of people's lives at risk. What Trump is doing with these third country agreements violates the principle of asylum and directly leads to people being kidnapped, beaten and sexually abused."
July 25, 2019 - Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, announced he will resign effective 2 August. After a nearly two-decade lapse, the Justice Department said in a statement that it will resume capital punishment. Attorney General William Barr asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of five death-row inmates, with the first to take place December 9. Amid reports that some Trump administration officials have been communicating using personal email accounts and encrypted apps, the House oversight committee has voted to authorize subpoenas of all White House work communications sent via personal email and cellphone. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the committee, stated during a contentious debate with Republicans "I don’t know how to say this any differently: We have laws. And the laws say we keep official records." Representative Ilhan Omar, who was the target of the "send her back" chant at one of Trump's rallies, wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she stated in part: "The president’s rally will be a defining moment in American history. It reminds us of the grave stakes of the coming presidential election: that this fight is not merely about policy ideas; it is a fight for the soul of our nation. The ideals at the heart of our founding — equal protection under the law, pluralism, religious liberty — are under attack, and it is up to all of us to defend them." While Trump addressed the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, the image projected behind him was a doctored version of the presidential seal, which included a two headed eagle (similar to the Russian Federations state seal) which is clasping golf clubs instead of arrows with one foot, and holding a wad of cash with the other, and includes the phrase "45 is a puppet" in Spanish, and also includes 5 instances of the hammer and sickle on the shield across the eagle's chest. The member of TPUSA's AV team who was responsible for accidentally projecting that image rather than the real seal was fired. The doctored image was created by a Republican voter who does not like Trump. The Senate intelligence committee has released the first volume of its report on Russia election interference which documents in detail how Russia coordinated "an unprecedented level of activity against state election infrastructure" which targeted all 50 states. Senate Republicans blocked US election security legislation aimed at strengthening US election security. Representative Peter Defazio has announced support for an impeachment inquiry against Trump saying "I believe that the time has come for the Judiciary Committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry and collect the evidence necessary to build a strong case against President Trump. His presidency is a danger to our national security and a threat to our democracy." After some viral videos surfaced showing police officers in New York city being doused with water, Trump demanded via twitter that mayor "Bill de Blasio should act immediately!" de Blasio responded to Trump's tweet saying "Crime’s gone down year after year in New York City and it’s not just because you finally left town." Daniella Stella, a pro-Trump Republican who is looking to unseat Ilhan Omar, is facing felony charges over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from Target and a grocery store. Representative Katherine Clark has announced that she is in favor of impeaching Trump saying "I deeply respect the committee work of @HouseDemocrats to hold the President accountable, including hearings, subpoenas and lawsuits. All of our efforts to put the facts before the American people, however, have been met with unprecedented stonewalling and obstruction. That is why I believe we need to open an #ImpeachmentInquiry that will provide us a more formal way to fully uncover the facts."
July 24, 2019 - Today is the day that Robert Mueller will be testifying on Capitol Hill, which explains the overnight twitter storm from Donald Trump. Here's a sample of the types of tweets sent out by Trump: "So why didn’t the highly conflicted Robert Mueller investigate how and why Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted and acid washed 33,000 Emails immediately AFTER getting a SUBPOENA from the United States Congress? She must have GREAT lawyers!" Here are some quotes made by Robert Mueller during today's testimony, as well as some of the exchanges that took place:
"We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term. Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not." - Robert Mueller
"I am unable to address questions about the opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called ‘Steele Dossier'." - Robert Mueller
Jerry Nadler - "Did you actually totally exonerate the president?"
Robert Mueller - "No. It is correct that my report does not exonerate President Trump for obstruction of justice."
Cedric Richmond - "So it's fair to say that the president tried to protect himself by asking staff to falsify records relevant to an ongoing investigation?"
Robert Mueller - "I would say that's generally a summary."
Ken Buck - "Could you charge the President with a crime after he left office?"
Robert Mueller - "Yes"
Ted Lieu - "The reason you did not indict Donald Trump... is because of the OLC decision. Is that correct?"
Robert Mueller - "That is correct."
Trump, who claimed he would not be watching Mueller testify, sent tweets during the testimony that showed he was in fact watching him testify. The following was one of them: "Mueller was asked whether or not the investigation was impeded in any way, and he said no.” In other words, there was NO OBSTRUCTION". Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for PBS NewsHour, asked Trump about Robert Mueller's characterization that he and his aides were "generally" untruthful regarding the special counsel's questions, to which Trump responded: "If you were ever truthful, you'd be able to write the truth."
July 23, 2019 - Boris Johnson became Britain's new prime minister. Ivanka Trump sent a tweet congratulating Johnson "on becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingston." Trump sent the following tweet: "In 2016 I almost won Minnesota. In 2020, because of America hating anti-Semite Rep. Omar, & the fact that Minnesota is having its best economic year ever, I will win the State! 'We are going to be a nightmare to the President,' she say. No, AOC Plus 3 are a Nightmare for America!" Trump administration proposes new rule that could cut more than 3 million people from being eligible for free food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Mark Esper has been confirmed as secretary of Defense. While speaking to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Trump continued his verbal attacks on "the squad", and specifically singled out Representative Rashid Tlaib of Michigan who he referred to as "vicious" and a "crazed lunatic". Here are some other highlights from Trump's speech to Turning Point USA:
- Trump claimed "they have no collusion", despite the report specifically stating that what was being investigated was conspiracy, and the report states that there wasn't enough evidence to bring conspiracy charges.
- Trump claimed "they did a report, and there was no obstruction" even though the report outlined several instances of attempts to obstruct justice.
- Trump said that Democrats "hate our country".
- Trump, speaking of "the squad" said "We don't like when they talk about 'evil Jews.' We don't like when they say horrible things about Israel."
- Trump called the media "really dishonest" and "totally unhinged."
- Trump claimed that Article II of the US Constitution gives him the right do "whatever I want as president."
The Pew Research Center released a poll regarding attitudes towards the Russia investigation. The poll found that the majority of Republicans "are confident in the fairness of the investigation." FBI director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate judiciary committee today stating that "A majority of the domestic terrorism cases we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence". Wray has on a previous occasion said that white supremacy poses a significant and "pervasive" threat to the United States. A spokesperson later clarified that what Wray was referring to was the majority of "racially motivated" cases. Donald Trump has filed suit against the House ways and means committee, and New York state officials, to block the disclosure of his state tax returns. Today the Senate passed the 9/11 victims fund, which will provide lifetime compensation to the victims. The leaders of the NAACP have voted unanimously for the impeachment of Donald Trump. The group accuses the president of leading "one of the most racist and xenophobic administrations since the Jim Crowe era." According to Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, "The pattern of Trump’s misconduct is unmistakable and has proven time and time again, that he is unfit to serve as the president of this country." According to the Guardian "Protesters from the climate crisis group Extinction Rebellion are causing havoc at the US Capitol in Washington, confronting politicians and gluing themselves to doorways in order to block them." Kaela Bamberger, a spokesperson for the group said "We believe the issue is so urgent it should be treated as a top priority. Petitioning and lobbying have been shown to be ineffective in the past, so we are taking extreme action to reflect the extreme nature of the crisis. The climate emergency should be treated with the gravity it deserves." Representative Julia Brownley of California has come out in favor of impeachment saying "This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, and I believe President Trump presents an existential threat to our democracy. I am, therefore, calling for the immediate opening of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump."
July 22, 2019 - Donald J Trump tweeted the following message today: "The 'Squad' is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart. They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border...And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country!" Joe Kaeser, the CEO of the German industrial giant Siemens wrote the following in response to Trump's racist attacks on "the squad" saying "I find it depressing that the most important political office in the world is turning into the face of racism and exclusion". A new poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist showed that following Trump's racist attack, his poll numbers have hit 44%, their highest point since Trump took office. While sitting with Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, Trump said he had a winning strategy on the war in Afghanistan: "I could win that war in a week. I don’t want to kill 10 million people.... Afghanistan could be wiped off the face of the earth. I don’t want to go that route. ... I have a plan that could win that war in a very short period of time." Trump also told reporters he would not be tuning in when Robert Mueller testifies later this week saying: "I’m not going to be watching Mueller. We had a total no-collusion finding." Representative Joyce Beatty, a House Democrat, has joined the call for impeachment saying in part "As the Mueller report makes crystal clear, this president believes he is above the law and it is the responsibility of Congress to hold him accountable for his words and actions". Protests continue in Puerto Rico as hundreds of thousand of people are calling for the resignation of mayor Ricardo Rossello. The Trump administration announced a new policy to fast-track deportations of undocumented immigrants by bypassing immigration judges. According to the Guardian "The new policy will take effect immediately and apply to those who have illegally entered the United States within the past two years. The current process for “expedited removal” has only been applied to migrants who have been in the country for less than two weeks and were caught within 100 miles of the US-Mexico border. The new policy will apply anywhere in the United States." The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a statement saying all the fencing completed since Trump took office was "in place of dilapidated designs", and that no new border fencing has been put in place. This statement contradicts Trump and other administration officials who regularly claim the government has built "new border wall". An Illinois Republican group removed a post from its facebook page that referred to members of "the squad" as the "Jihad squad" saying "Political jihad is their game" and “If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist." Officer Charlie Rispoli, a police officer in Gretna, Louisiana, posted a comment to his facebook page saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "needs a round" and not "the kind she used to serve". The post was accompanied by a fake story that made it appear as if Ocasio-Cortez had said "We pay soldiers too much." Arthur Lawson, the Gretna police chief said that while the post was "disturbing", he didn't believe it constituted an actual threat.
July 21, 2019 - Donald J Trump attracted criticism after he shared a series of tweets by Katie Hopkins, a far right British commentator who was fired by LBC radio in May of 2017, after calling for a "final solution" during an anti-Muslim tirade in the wake of a deadly suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester. Hopkins is also known for comments which liken immigrants to cockroaches and proposing that gunships be used to stop them from crossing the Mediterranean. Trump also drew criticism for his continued attacks on "the squad" tweeting: "I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!" Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's statements remind him of abuse he received as a black child in the 1960's during the civil rights struggle saying "I heard the same kind of chant, ‘Go home, you don’t belong here.’ And they called us the N-word over and over and over again" AOC responded to Trump's latest twitter attack by tweeting: "We fight to guarantee: - healthcare - public college & student loan forgiveness - enviro protections - living wages - basic human rights. We don’t take a dime of corporate money, either. You: - Jack up drug prices - Appoint Betsy DeVos to scam student loans - Hurt immigrant kids".
July 19, 2019 - Trump sent the following in tweets today: "It is amazing how the Fake News Media became 'crazed' over the chant 'send her back' by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen. Mainstream Media, which has lost all credibility, has either officially or unofficially become a part of the Radical Left Democrat Party. It is a sick partnership, so pathetic to watch! They even covered a tiny staged crowd as they greeted Foul Mouthed Omar in Minnesota, a State which I will win in #2020 because they can’t stand her and her hatred of our Country, and they appreciate all that I have done for them (opening up mining and MUCH more) which has led to the best employment & economic year in Minnesota's long and beautiful history!" Julie Davis, a reporter for the New York times sent out the following response to Trump's tweet: "So much for that disavowal. Trump basically admits here that his public rejection of "send her back" was under duress, saying the reaction to the phrase was an overblown media narrative." Rabbi Avi Olitzky, said of the Trump/Omar controversy: "This is a very eerie wave of similar situations in history, be that Nazi Germany or elsewhere." Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, responded to the Trump/squad controversy saying: "I firmly distance myself from (the attacks) and feel solidarity towards the attacked women. The strength of America lies in the idea that people of different origins contribute to what makes the country great." There are reports that Ivanka and Melania Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence have urged Trump to disavow the "send her back" chant, but all have so far remained publicly silent regarding Trump's racist comments. In total abandonment of his disavowel of a racist chant at his North Carolina rally, Trump had this to say in the oval office: "I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can hate our country. I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can say anti-Semitic things. She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country. Those people in North Carolina -- that stadium was packed. It was a record crowd ... Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots." Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the Stena Impero, a British oil tanker, in the strait of Hormuz after the tanker veered into Iranian waters while en route to Saudi Arabia. Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy, both Republican Senators, have introduced a resolution that would designate Antifa as a hate group. Side note: The Southern Poverty Law Center does not classify Antifa as a hate group. The Trump administration announced that it will implement its "Remain in Mexico" policy in Brownsville, TX. Under the policy, migrants would be sent back across the border to Matamoros to wait for their hearing. Matamoros, which is dominated by crime gangs, is part of a Level 4 travel advisory issued by the State Department which urges Americans not to travel there "due to crime and kidnapping." Trump dismissed as "fake news" reports that members of his inner circle encouraged him to disavow a racist chant at his rally in North Carolina. The United States court of appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the Trump administration's request to dismiss an emoluments lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats saying the administration did not show "a clear and indisputable right to dismissal of the complaint".
July 18, 2019 - Both Democrats and Republicans spoke out against the nativist chant that occurred at Trump's North Carolina rally yesterday. Among those speaking out was Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and conservative radio host who tweeted: "It saddens me beyond belief that the standard-bearer for the Republican Party, my Party, is making 'Send her back' his re-election rallying cry. It’s so ugly. It’s so un-American. It just saddens me beyond belief." Ilhan Omar, responded to news of the "send her back" chant by tweeting a photo of herself presiding over the House chamber with accompanying text that read "I am where I belong, at the people’s house and you’re just gonna have to deal!" Omar also sent a tweet with the following quote: "You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. -Maya Angelou". Here are some Democrat responses to the "send her back" chant:
"It’s vile. It’s cowardly. It’s xenophobic. It’s racist. It defiles the office of the President. And I won't share it here. It’s time to get Trump out of office and unite the country." - Kamala Harris
"Trump knows that when we stand together and fight for racial, social, economic and environmental justice, we have the power to defeat him. So the demagogue is doing what he knows best: Divide and conquer through hate. His attacks only make us stronger." - Bernie Sanders
"Our children are listening. We’ve heard it before throughout our history, but it has no place in America in 2019. It’s clear that Donald Trump is trying to divide us by race and gender. It’s immoral. These members of Congress — children of immigrants, just like so many of us — are an example of exactly what makes America great." - Joe Biden
"It’s bad enough that the president didn’t stop the chant last night. But he started it. It’s instilling fear, it’s going to instill violence" - Ben Ray Lujan
Representative Peter Welch, a congressman from Vermont, issued a statement calling for Trump's impeachment, saying "I did not arrive at this conclusion lightly. However, after 30 months in office, President Trump has established a clear pattern of willful disregard for our Constitution and its systems of checks and balances. His presidency has wrought an unprecedented and unrelenting assault on the pillars and guardrails of our democracy, including the rule of law on which our country was founded." Bobby Rush, a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has called for authorities to elevate security for Ilhan Omar saying "It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger. He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level". Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr sent the following tweet today: "Putting targets on the backs of the 4 Congresswomen&the women in the press who have been attacked is violent in its tone&is life-threatening. It violatesEEOClaw workplace conditions&moral law.The other women inCongress&the press must not allow the 4Congresswomen to stand alone." News surfaced that ICE HQ in Washington, D.C. has gone into "lockdown" in anticipation of the arrival of marchers who are walking from Capitol Hill. Thousands have taken to the streets in Puerto Rico, demanding that governor Ricardo Rossello resign after some of his online chats were leaked (scandal now known as "RickyLeaks") showing him mocking women, the disabled and victims of Hurricane Maria. Trump tweeted about the event, but oddly used the moment to attack San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz "A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico. The Governor is under siege, the Mayor of San Juan is a despicable and incompetent person who I wouldn’t trust under any circumstance, and the United States Congress foolishly gave 92 Billion Dollars for hurricane relief, much of which was squandered away or wasted, never to be seen again. This is more than twice the amount given to Texas & Florida combined. I know the people of Puerto Rico well, and they are great. But much of their leadership is corrupt, & robbing the U.S. Government blind!" Cruz responded to Trump's tweet calling him "unhinged". During a protest at the U.S. Capitol, a group of Catholics - including Catholic nuns - were arrested while protesting "to pressure the Trump administration and Congress to end the immoral and inhumane practice of detaining immigrant children." House Democrats passed a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Trump was asked by White House pool reporters why he did not stop the "send her back" chants at his rally, to which Trump responded, "I think I did - I started speaking very quickly. I was not happy with it - I disagree with it." A Rohingya muslim refugee who fled persecution in Myanmar to a regional refugee camp, told Trump that his people were hoping to "go back home as quickly as possible". He then asked Trump what was the US's "plan for that?" Trump then asked "And where is that exactly?" An aide then leaned in and told him "Right next to Burma." Trump then responded "Thank you, I appreciate it" then moved on to speak with someone else. Representative Ilhan Omar made the following statement today: "We have said this president is racist. We have condemned his racist remarks. I believe he is fascist." Omar also responded to comments made by Lindsey Graham in which he said "I don’t think a Somali refugee embracing Trump would be asked to go back. If you’re racist, you want everybody to go back because they are black or Muslim. That’s not what this is about." Omar's response: "If I was wearing a MAGA hat, if there was a Somali person wearing a MAGA hat, they would not be deported, but because I criticize the president I should be deported. I want to remind people that this is what this president and his supporters have turned our country [into]" The US was “supposed to be a country where we allow democratic debate and dissent to take place. This is not about me. This is about us fighting for what our country truly should be and deserves to be." AOC made this comment to reporters today: "The president put millions of Americans in danger last night. His rhetoric is endangering lots of people. This is not just about threats to individual members of Congress, but it is about creating a volatile environment in this country through violent rhetoric that puts anyone, like Ilhan, anyone who believes in the rights of all people, in danger. And I think that he has a responsibility for that environment." Michele Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, made this comment today regarding "the squad": "I believe that those four women are fantastic. I see bright women who dare to say what they think." Bachelet also said this: "It is not good for leaders, global leaders, (to use) hate speech, saying things that are bad examples or bad models, because it permits and gives license to many others to be xenophobic, to be anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-everything, anti-foreign. That’s one of the dangers in the world today." Trump claimed today that the US shot down an Iranian drone near the Strait of Hormuz, saying it was "the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters". In a court filing that was unsealed today, Trump and former communications director, Hope Hicks, spoke on several occasion with Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, about hush payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Hicks had told an FBI agent that "she did not learn about the allegations made by Clifford until early November 2016" raising the prospect that she may have lied to the FBI. The Trump EPA has denied the conclusions of its own experts regarding chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that studies have associated with brain damage in children, and rejected a call for ban on the toxic substance from environmental and public health groups. California has moved to ban the pesticide in that state. Under Barack Obama, the EPA had moved to ban the chemical. Representative Bennie Thompson called for an emergency meeting with the Capitol police board regarding what he called "heightened threats" against four lawmakers known as "the squad". Martha Barcena, the Mexican ambassador to Washington, says that her country is not ready to sign a "safe third country" agreement with the US. House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler has requested that Trump's former press secretary Hope Hicks, explain why her previous testimony regarding hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels is inconsistent with new evidence from the FBI. Trump announced today that he will be nominating Eugene Scalia, son of former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, for labor secretary saying in part "He will be a great member of an Administration that has done more in the first 2 ½ years than perhaps any Administration in history!" Dan Le Batard, of the Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN criticized Trump and the "send her back" chanters saying: "It is antithetical to what we should be, and if you’re not calling it abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric, you’re complicit."
July 17, 2019 - During an interview on CBS this morning, AOC had this to say "America has always been about the triumph of people who fight for everyone versus those who want to preserve rights for just a select few... There is no bottom to the barrel of vitriol that will be used and weaponized to stifle those who want to advance rights for all people in the United States." From USA Today: "A clear majority of Americans say President Trump’s tweets targeting four minority congresswomen were 'un-American,' according to a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll. But most Republicans say they agreed with his comments, an illustration of the nation’s sharp partisan divide on issues of patriotism and race." In the same poll, Trump's approval rating with Republicans rose 5 percentage after he made the racist tweets attacking four Democratic women of color. The ACLU released the following statement regarding its lawsuit challenging Trump's new asylum ban saying: "The Trump administration is trying to unilaterally reverse our country’s legal and moral commitment to protect those fleeing danger. It’s patently unlawful under U.S. law as well as international human rights law – and it’s an unacceptable assault on our country’s values. Our team has been working around the clock to file this suit and stop the new rule in its tracks. The Trump administration has been tearing apart families and stoking fear and racism across the country for over two years now. Last weekend, the president reminded us of what fuels his anti-immigrant agenda when he told Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – four women of color and new members of Congress – to 'go back' to where they came from. This is racism, plain and simple." Articles of impeachment were filed by Texas Representative Al Green, and will be voted on later today. The articles say in part: "The form of the resolution is as follows: Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, of high misdemeanors. Resolved, that Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is unfit to be President, unfit to represent the American values of decency and morality, respectability and civility, honesty and propriety, reputability and integrity, is unfit to defend the ideals that have made America great, unfit to defend liberty and justice for all as extolled in the Pledge of Allegiance, is unfit to defend the American ideal of all persons being created equal as exalted in the Declaration of Independence, is unfit to ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare and to ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity as lauded in the preamble to the United States Constitution, is unfit to protect the government of the people, by the people, for the people as elucidated in the Gettysburg Address, and is impeached for high misdemeanors that the following Article of Impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:" The mayor of Kallstadt Germany, the ancestral home town of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, made the following statement: "Everyone has his or her roots somewhere — and to demand of others to simply leave the country is paradoxical for him. I can only wish Americans that they will elect someone who turns on his mind before saying something." Joe Biden delivered this zinger today: "If Trump doesn't have a racist bone, that means he has no bones". Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blocked the passage of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund saying the new spending should be offset by cuts to other spending. A Pew research poll found that Republicans increasingly see immigration as an existential threat to "our identity as a nation." The House voted 332 to 95 in favor of tabling the impeachment resolution. The House also voted to block Trump's attempt to sidestep Congress and complete several arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump is expected to veto the legislation. The House also voted 230 to 198 to hold the attorney general and the commerce secretary in criminal contempt for obstructing a probe into Trump's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Trump held a rally in North Carolina where he falsely accused Ilhan Omar of praising Al Quaeda, and told the crowd that "She looks down with contempt on the hardworking Americans saying that ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country. And obviously, and importantly, Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds." The crowd responded by chanting "SEND HER BACK! SEND HER BACK!" The chant continued unabated for 13 seconds.
July 16, 2019 - Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have decided not to bring charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who used a banned chokehold on Eric Garner, who then suffered a fatal asthma attack. Garner's last words were "I can't breathe" and his death sparked a national movement against police violence. House Democrats are poised to take a vote today condemning Trump for his racist tweets over the last few days in which he told congresswomen of color to "go back" to their country. Trump responded to the upcoming vote by tweeting the following: "Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show 'weakness' and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!" Kellyanne Conway told reporters outside the White House that Trump's tweet did not mean that the congresswomen should visit countries once inhabited by their ancestors, which led to this exchange:
Reporter: "So, what countries was the president referring to, then?"
Conway: "What's your ethnicity?"
Reporter: "Uh, why is that relevant?"
Conway: "Because I'm asking you a question. My ancestors are from Ireland and Italy."
Reporter: "My ethnicity is not relevant to the question."
Conway: "It is, because you're asking about, he said 'originally'. He said 'originally from'."
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Roger stone, Trump's former adviser, to refrain from using social media, after he violated a previous gag order forbidding him from discussing his case online. Trump was asked where the "squad" should go if they leave the United States. Trump responded by saying "It’s up to them. Wherever they want – or they can stay. But they should love our country. They shouldn’t hate our country. I have clips right here. The most vile, horrible statements about our country. About Israel. About others. It’s up to them. Do what they want. They can leave. They can stay. They should love our country, and they should work for the good of our country." During a news conference, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was asked if the president's tweets were racist, to which he replied: "The president’s not a racist. And I think the tone of all of this is not good for the country. But it’s coming from all ideological points of view... to single out any segment of this I think is a mistake". Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House press secretary, sent the following tweet: "Would @realDonaldTrump ever tell a white immigrant - whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th+ generation - to "go back to your country"? No. That's why the comments were racist and unacceptable. America is a nation of immigrants founded on the ideals of free thought and free speech." Speaking on the House floor, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, made the following statement: "These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist." Republican Doug Collins responded to Pelosi's statement demanding that it be deleted from the official record of the House proceedings. Ron Wright, a Republican congressman from Texas released a statement saying "When one becomes a citizen of this country, it no longer matters where they came from". Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, published an op-ed in the Washington Post saying in part "I served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and currently serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yet I still experience people telling me to 'go back' to China or North Korea or Japan. Like many immigrants, I have learned to brush off this racist insult. I never thought the president of the United States would tell members of Congress to 'go back' to another country ... The suspicion that immigrants are not to be trusted or are unpatriotic is not just wrong, it is un-American. And dangerous." Two lawsuits were filed today challenging Trump's new asylum restrictions. One was filed by the ACLU, the other was filed by two immigration advocacy groups. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have voted to officially condemn Trump's racist attack on four congresswomen. Democrats were joined by 4 Republicans in a vote of 240 to 187.
July 15, 2019 - According to the Associated Press, the White House has published a new rule in the Federal Register, that asylum seekers who pass through another country first will be ineligible for asylum at the US southern border. Trump continued his attack on the "squad" sending out this tweet: "When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions! If Democrats want to unite around the foul language [and] racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular [and] unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out." Some Republicans came forward and criticized Trump's tweets: Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Trump's comments were "wrong" and that the congresswomen's ideas should be defeated "on the merits, not on the basis of their ancestry". Susan Collins, a senator from Maine called the tweets "way over the line". Tim Scott of South Carolina called the tweets "unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language". Will Hurd of Texas called the tweets "racist and xenophobic" and "unbecoming of the leader of the free world". John Kasich of Ohio, called the tweets "deplorable". Jeff Flake, of Arizona, called the tweets "so vile and offensive it is incumbant on Republicans to respond and condemn". Trump was asked by a reporter if he thought his tweets were racist, his response: "Not at all. If somebody has a problem with our country, if someone doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave." Trump was asked if it concerned him that many thought his tweets were racist, Trump's response: "It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me." Charlie Sykes, an editor at the Bulwark website responded to the racist tweet controversy saying "There was a time when GOPers like Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, Nikki Haley, Jeff Flake, even Reince [Priebus] would have denounced this kind of racism. Who will speak out now? Will any elected Republican push back?" Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, called the Trump administration's new asylum policy "patently unlawful". Trump continued his twitter attack on "the squad" tweeting: "We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own Country, they’re calling the guards along our Border (the Border Patrol Agents) Concentration Camp Guards, they accuse people who support Israel as doing it for the Benjamin’s, they are Anti-Semitic, they are Anti-America, we don’t need to know anything about them personally, talk about their policies. I think they are American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that is disgusting, that the American people will reject. What does it mean for America to have free Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants, no criminalization of coming into our Country - See how that works for controlling Immigration! They talk about Israel like they’re a bunch of thugs, not victims of the entire region. They wanted to impeach President Trump on DAY ONE. Make them the face of the future of the Democrat Party, you will destroy the Democrat Party. Their policies will destroy our Country! @LindseyGrahamSC Need I say more?" Republican Congressman Andy Harris from Maryland offered a defense of Trump's tweets saying they were "clearly not racist" and that "he could have meant go back to the district they came from-to the neighborhood they came from". AOC sent the following tweet: "It’s important to note that the President’s words yday, telling four American Congresswomen of color 'go back to your own country,' is hallmark language of white supremacists. Trump feels comfortable leading the GOP into outright racism, and that should concern all Americans." AOC also tweeted: "Until Republican officials denounce yesterday’s explicitly racist statements (which should be easy!), we sadly have no choice but to assume they condone it. It is extremely disturbing that the *entire* GOP caucus is silent. Is this their agenda?" Ayanna Pressley made this comment today to a reporter: "I never use the word you used – president – to describe him. I refer to him as ‘the occupant.’ He simply occupies the space. He embodies zero of the qualities and the principles, the responsibility, the grace, the integrity, the compassion, of someone who would truly embody that office. It’s just another day in the world under this administration." Texas Republican Will Hurd in an interview on CNN said this: "Those tweets are racist, and xenophobic... It’s also behavior that’s unbecoming of the leader of the free world. He should be talking about things that unite, not divide us." After Trump was asked about his angry racist tweets, he said this: "These are people who hate our country. All I am saying is if they’re not happy here, they can leave. They can leave and you know what I’m sure there’ll be many people that won’t miss them. They have to love our country." Trump also accused Nancy Pelosi of racism saying it was racist of her to suggest last week that he wants to "make America white again." Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski weighed in on Trump's tweets saying "There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments –they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop." Donald Trump nominated Mark Esper as the successor to former defense secretary Jim Mattis. The "squad" held a press conference to address Trump's racist tweets, here are some highlights:
"This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous, chaotic and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way down. We want to get down to the business of the American people and why we were sent here." - Ayanna Pressley
"I have not made impeachment central to my election or my tenure. But it’s not if he will be impeached, but when. It is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery of this country." - Ilhan Omar
"The president can’t defend his policies so what he does is attack us personally." - AOC
"Many members of Congress have called for his impeachment. I urge House leadership, many of my colleagues, to take action to impeach." - Rashida Tlaib
While the press conference was taking place, Trump sent the following tweet" "We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America. Certain people HATE our Country. They are anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda, and comment on the 9/11 attack, 'some people did something.' Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders, which means drugs, crime, human trafficking, and much more. Detention facilities are not Concentration Camps! America has never been stronger than it is now – rebuilt Military, highest Stock Market EVER, lowest unemployment and more people working than ever before. Keep America Great! The Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four 'progressives,' but now they are forced to embrace them. That means they are endorsing Socialism, hate of Israel and the USA! Not good for the Democrats! The Obama Administration built the Cages, not the Trump Administration! DEMOCRATS MUST GIVE US THE VOTES TO CHANGE BAD IMMIGRATION LAWS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" In a 405 to 7 vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation to hold accountable those responsible for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi Arabia Human Rights and Accountability Act now heads to the Senate.
July 14, 2019 - Trump sent out the following tweet today: "So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!" While Trump did not name the targets of his tweet, it was obviously directed at the group of congresswomen known as the "squad": Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. All 4 women are minorities, and all 4 women are American citizens. Omar is the only one of the 4 who was born in a foreign country, having been born in Somalia, and came to America at the age of 12. What follows is a select group of responses to Trump's racist tweet:
"The country I ‘come from’, and the country we all swear to, is the United States. You are angry because you don’t believe in an America where I represent New York 14, where the good people of Minnesota elected [Omar], where [Tlaib] fights for Michigan families, where [Pressley] champions little girls in Boston. You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"The worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen" - Ilhan Omar
"This is what racism looks like. We are what democracy looks like" - Ayanna Pressley
"Want a response to a lawless [and] complete failure of a president? He is the crisis. His dangerous ideology is the crisis. He needs to be impeached." - Rashida Tlaib
"When I call the president a racist, this is what I'm talking about" - Bernie Sanders
"Racist and disgusting" - Justin Amash, former Republican congressman
[Trump's comments are] "absolutely racist and un-American" - Kamala Harris
Trump responded to the outcry against his remarks by tweeting: "So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, “RACIST.” Their disgusting language and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged. If the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!"
July 12, 2019 - Alexander Acosta, the US labor secretary, who granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008, has resigned. Patrick Pizzella, the deputy labor secretary, will serve as acting labor secretary. The House voted 251 to 170 to limit Trump's authority to make war with Iran. The house also voted 402 to 12 to approve a bill that would ensure funding for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Megan Rapinoe had this to say regarding her and the rest of the US Women's Soccer Teams refusal to accept an invitation to the White House: "I don’t think anyone on the team has any interest in lending the platform that we’ve worked so hard to build and the things that we fight for and the way that we live our life, I don’t think that we want that to be co-opted or corrupted by this administration." News surfaced that Jeffrey Epstein engaged in witness tampering by wiring $350,000 to two potential witnesses shortly after the Miami Herald published an investigative report about a secret deal he had reached with authorities in Florida to avoid federal prosecution. According to the AP: "The NRA is involved in a number of legal tangles, some that threaten its very future. The New York attorney general’s office is similarly investigating to determine if it has run afoul of laws that govern its nonprofit status. The NRA is chartered out of New York, while the NRA Foundation is chartered out of Washington. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee also has launched an investigation into the NRA’s operations. At the same time, there is an ongoing factional war within the NRA, pitting some of its most ardent gun-rights supporters and loyalists against one another. The NRA has traded lawsuits with Ackerman McQueen, its longtime marketing firm that crafted some of its most prominent messages for decades. Months after filing its first lawsuit against the Oklahoma-based firm, the NRA officially severed ties last month."
July 10, 2019 - Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to Washington, resigned. The House oversight committee is holding a hearing today called "Kids in Cages: inhumane treatment at the border". Trump sent the following tweet regarding Iran: "Iran has long been secretly 'enriching,' in total violation of the terrible 150 Billion Dollar deal made by John Kerry and the Obama Administration. Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years. Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!" According to the Washington Post, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, sent a letter to Trump warning him that his Fourth of July event cost the DC government $1.7m, and has completely drained a fund used to "protect the nation's capital from terrorist threats and provide security at events such as rallies and state funerals". While signing an executive order on kidney health, Trump exclaimed "Very special, the kidney has a very special place in the heart." After Fox News host Tucker Carlson delivered a three-minute monologue riddled with anti-immigrant rhetoric and personal attacks against congresswoman Ilhan Omar, she responded by saying "Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress. No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect. They will just have to get used to calling me congresswoman!" In the monologue, Tucker accused Omar of being ungrateful for "everything America has done for Omar and her family" and of hating "this country more than ever." A federal appeals court in Virginia sided with Trump in a lawsuit accusing the president of illegally profiting off the presidency as a result of not divesting himself from his business interests while in office.
July 9, 2019 - Donald Trump, the president of the United States, sent the following tweets today: "The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy. He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled. I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done. A disaster! I don’t know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger.....Thank you, Mr. President!" News surfaced that labor secretary Alexander Acosta played a role in securing a lenient 2008 plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein, leading many prominent Democrats to call for his resignation. In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Chuck Schumer stated in part "It is now impossible for anyone to have confidence in Secretary Acosta’s ability to lead the department of labor. If he refuses to resign, President Trump should fire him". A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter, and that doing so violates the first amendment of the US constitution. In the unanimous decision, Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote "The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees." Kellyanne Conway sent the following tweet regarding a disagreement between five Democratic congresswomen: "Major Meow Mashup with @SpeakerPelosi brushing back anti-humanitarian border aid fresh-women @AOC @IlhanMN @AyannaPressley @RashidaTlaib" That tweet prompted the following response from congresswoman Ayanna Pressley: "@KellyannePolls oh hi Distraction Becky. Remember that time your boss tore babies from their mothers’ arms and threw them in cages? Yeah take a seat and keep my name out of your lying mouth."
July 8, 2019 - Trump, who had recently invited the USA Women's Soccer Team to the White House "win or lose" via a tweet, told reporters after they won the World Cup that the White House had not thought to invite the team for a visit, but would "look at it". Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, and good friend of Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of sex trafficking for his role in molesting dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14. In 2002, Donald Trump made the following statement about Epstein: "I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Elliot Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser, is being investigated in New York to examine whether he used his position as vice chair of Trump's inaugural committee to drum up business deals with foreign leaders in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A press conference was held today regarding the child molestation charges against Jeffrey Epstein. During the press conference, Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney in the southern district of New York, praised the "excellent investigative journalism" that helped his team build their case. Critics of Trump were quick to point out that Allen Dershowitz, a prominent Trump defender, and good friend of Epstein, had mounted a public campaign against the Miami Herald's reporting on Epstein, calling it "Fake News". According to Elora Mukherjee, the director of Columbia Law School's immigrant rights clinic, and one of six attorneys to visit the detention center in Clint, TX "I’ve been visiting children detained in federal immigration custody for 12 years. I have never seen anything like this before. I have never seen, smelled, had to bear witness to such degrading and inhumane conditions." William Barr, the US Attorney General, accused Democrats of trying to create a "public spectacle" by subpoenaing Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress. Barr also said the "Supreme Court decision was wrong" regarding the citizenship question on the US census saying he believes there is "an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that." The U.S. Census Bureau's experts have argued that asking about citizenship would discourage immigrants from participating in the survey, which would result in a less accurate census. Trump sent a tweet saying of ambassador Kim Darroch: "I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him." Trump also disinvited Ambassador Darroch from a dinner with the emir of Qatar. Ned Price, former special assistant to the president for national security affairs under Barack Obama responded to Trump's response to critical statements made by the British Ambassador saying "The UK ambassador didn’t write anything that wasn’t already patently obvious to an informed observer. He spoke of Donald Trump as someone with thin skin, as someone with a delicate ego, as someone who would be receptive to pandering, and just look at Trump’s reaction. He has proved the ambassador right in every respect — by proving he is ego driven, by proving he is thin-skinned, and by proving he will quite literally refuse to deal with people who don’t say nice things about him." Regarding Trump's renewed attempts to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, accused the Trump administration of having a goal of "making America white again" saying "They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted. It's really disgraceful and it's not what our founders had in mind." Representative Justin Amash, the first Republican to back impeachment of Trump, sent formal notification today that he is withdrawing his membership from the House Republican Conference, and resigning from the House oversight and reform committee. Downing Street released a statement saying "Sir Kim Darroch continues to have the Prime Minister's full support." The House Judiciary Committee released the written responses that Annie Donaldson, the former chief of staff to former White House counsel Don McGahn. According to the Committee, the White House blocked her from answering questions 212 times.
July 7, 2019 - Trump responded to the leaked Kim Darroch memos saying Britain's ambassador to the US has "not served the UK well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man ... I can say things about him, but I won't bother."
July 6, 2019 - In memos written by Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's Ambassador to Washington, which were leaked online, Trump is described as "inept", "insecure" and "incompetent". Darroch also warned London that the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional", that the President's career could end in "disgrace", that Trump's economic policies could wreck the world trade system, and that Trump could have been indebted to "dodgy Russians". In one memo, Darroch wrote "We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept." Darroch also said that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" inside the White House – dismissed by Trump as "fake news" – are "mostly true". Darroch also weighed in on Trump's claim that he had called off a retaliatory strike against Tehran at the last minute saying the claim "doesn't stand up".
July 3, 2019 - Trump sent the following tweet today: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question." This tweet directly contradicts the following statement made yesterday by Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary "The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question." Here are some select responses on twitter to Trump's census tweet:
"So the government lawyers who formally advised different courts yesterday that the 2020 Census will _not_ include a citizenship question were all lying? That’s not exactly going to help convince the courts to take seriously any of the government’s representations going forward." - Steve Vladeck
"And here is what DOJ told lawyers for the challengers yesterday: 'We can confirm that the decision has been made to print the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire without a citizenship question'" - Zoe Tillman
In response to Trump's tweet, plaintiffs in a New York case which challenged Trump's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census have requested an immediate conference with a federal judge to resolve the contradiction between Trump's tweet, and the administration's lawyers representations in court yesterday. New York's Attorney General, Latitia James tweeted "Another day, another attempt to sow chaos and confusion. The Supreme Court of the United States has spoken, and Trump’s own Commerce Department has spoken. It’s time to move forward to ensure every person in the country is counted." Responding to the request for clarification, District court Judge Jesse M Furman ordered the government to state its "position and intentions". Trump responded to the claims that migrants face horrible conditions in border patrol facilities with the following tweets: "Our Border Patrol people are not hospital workers, doctors or nurses. The Democrats bad Immigration Laws, which could be easily fixed, are the problem. Great job by Border Patrol, above and beyond. Many of these illegals aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions. No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked & aghast at how terrible things are. Just Pols. If they really want to fix them, change the Immigration Laws and Loopholes. So easy to do! Now, if you really want to fix the Crisis at the Southern Border, both humanitarian and otherwise, tell migrants not to come into our country unless they are willing to do so legally, and hopefully through a system based on Merit. This way we have no problems at all!" The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that family separations harms children's short and long-term health. A federal judge in Ohio has issued a preliminary injunction preventing Ohio's six-week abortion ban from going into effect next week. During a conference call, a lawyer for the DOJ told a federal judge that the agency has "been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward" to include a citizenship question on the census in 2020. During an interview with Yahoo News, AOC said she believes we are heading in a fascist direction under President Trump.
July 2, 2019 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the following: "I can’t understate how disturbing it was that CBP officers were openly disrespectful of the Congressional tour. If officers felt comfortable violating agreements in front of their *own* management & superiors, that tells us the agency has lost all control of their own officers." And "When you pair: - 9,500 current + former CBP officers are part of a violently racist & sexually violent secret Facebook group - Corroborating accounts of abuse - CBP couldn’t control their own officers for a Congressional tour, What else do you call that but a rogue agency?" The House's tax-writing committee has sued the Treasury Department and the IRS for access to Trump's tax returns. Regarding the lawsuit, Lloyd Doggett, US Representative from Texas and member of the Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement "This long-overdue legal action is needed to keep this bad president from setting a bad precedent. It should not take a court order to affirm that ‘shall’ means ‘shall.’ But Trump will do what it takes to delay the inevitable, hiding his tax returns as long as he can. Republican silence and Democratic timidity will not produce the documents we need to ensure accountability. Trump must learn that no President can ignore laws he doesn’t like." The House Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing next week on the separation and treatment of immigrant children. Elijah Cummings, the committee's chairman made the following statement "The Trump administration’s actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing. There seems to be open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency." News surfaced that the printer of the 2020 census questionnaire has been instructed to begin printing without a citizenship question. News surfaced that large NRA donors are threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in support for that group until Wayne LaPierre, the group's chief executive, steps down. AOC sent the following tweet today: "Last week, we called the concentration camps at the border for what they are. In the week since: - Acting director of Customs & Border Patrol resigned - Bank of America announced they will stop financing for-profit immigrant detention & private prisons. Words matter." In an open letter to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, almost 500 scholars asked the museum to rethink a statement in which it rejected comparisons between migrant detention facilities and concentration camps. Regarding AOC's comparison of migrant facilities to concentration camps, Liz Cheney sent the following tweet: "Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this." Steven Groves, the White House Deputy Press Secretary, released the following statement regarding the filing of a lawsuit today for Trump's tax returns: "While the crisis at our southern border worsens, Democrats continue to focus their efforts on Presidential harassment. Chairman Neal's willingness to use his powerful Committee to go after his political opponents is a danger to democracy. The Committee has no legitimate legislative purpose for which it can demand the President's tax returns, and it is evident that they are only interested in partisan games. The only thing more political than the Committee's crusade for the President's tax returns is its sham lawsuit." News surfaced that the National Park Service is diverting $2.5m in entrance and recreation fees that are "primarily intended to improve parks across the country" to cover costs associated with Trump's Fourth of July celebration. The ACLU is reporting that "A federal court just ruled the Trump administration cannot arbitrarily detain people exercising their legal right to seek asylum without a hearing. Try as it may, the government can’t circumvent the Constitution in an effort to deter and punish asylum-seekers applying for protection.
This ruling will provide much-needed relief for people being detained in cruel and inhumane conditions while going through the asylum process." In a report released by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, there are warnings of "dangerous overcrowding" that requires "immediate attention". In one facility auditors found "some single adults were held in standing room only conditions for a week and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells". The report included pictures, one of which showed 88 men squashed in a cell meant for 41.
July 1, 2019 - A ProPublica investigation uncovered a secret Facebook group used by current and former Border Patrol agents that contains jokes about migrant deaths, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress who were visiting detention facilities in Texas, and among other things, included a vulgar illustrations of New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) engaged in oral sex with detained migrants, and also included messages calling for agents to harm her during a scheduled visit. The group, which is called "I'm 10-15"(10-15 is Border Patrol code for "aliens in custody.") includes 9,500 members. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to news of the Facebook group by tweeting: "9,500 CBP officers sharing memes about dead migrants and discussing violence and sexual misconduct towards members of Congress. How on earth can CBP’s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely? PS I have no plans to change my itinerary & will visit the CBP station today." After departing from a border patrol facility, AOC sent the following tweets: "Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress" and "Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap. This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals." According to ProPublica, Customs and Border Patrol has launched an investigation into the Facebook group "I'm 10-15", and according to the US Border Patrol Chief "Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable." The White House released the following statement today regarding Iran: "The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level. There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms. We must restore the longstanding nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran. The United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime will continue until its leaders alter their course of action. The regime must end its nuclear ambitions and its malign behavior." CNN is reporting claims from whistleblowers that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has used his taxpayer-funded diplomatic security team for personal errands like picking up his dog and take away food orders. From the CNN story: "The whistleblower said this led agents to complain that they are now serving as 'UberEats with guns,' which has created a buzz within the department, according to multiple Democratic congressional aides who cited the whistleblower." For his July 4th speech at the Lincoln memorial, Trump told reporters that there would be "brand new Sherman tanks" on display, despite Sherman tanks not being in service since 1957. Following the Trump administration's loss in the Supreme Court over the citizenship question on the 2020 US census, Trump says he is looking "very strongly" at delaying the 2020 census. Yimi Alexis Balderramos-Torres, 30, a Honduran immigrant, became the sixth detainee to die in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since October.
June 30, 2019 - Donald Trump became the 1st sitting US president to enter North Korea, after meeting Kim Jong-un at the DMZ, and then the two walked back over the border. During the impromptu meeting, the secret service had to intervene after a scuffle broke out between US reporters and North Korean guards. Stephanie Grisham, the new White House press secretary, was bruised up during the scuffle. The CBO estimates that the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will cost the country $1.9tn. According to some prominent Democrats, like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, student loan forgiveness would cost $1.6tn.
June 29, 2019 - Trump responded to criticism from former president Jimmy Carter saying "Look, he was a nice man. He was a terrible president. He’s a Democrat. And it’s a typical talking point. He’s loyal to the Democrats. And I guess you should be. As everybody now understands, I won not because of Russia, not because of anybody but myself." Donald Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, re-tweeted, then deleted, the following tweet, which was initially tweeted by Ali Alexander, an alt-right personality: "Kamala Harris is implying she is descended from American Black Slaves. She’s not. She comes from Jamaican Slave Owners. That’s fine. She’s not an American Black. Period." Trump Jr then wrote "Is this true? Wow." In response to Trump Jr's deleted tweet, Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and US Housing secretary, stated the following: It’s disgusting. It has no place in our politics. This is the game that these folks play. They put something out there. You notice what he did. He tweeted it out and then he deleted it like a coward, so he can say, ‘Oh, that was a mistake.’ But he knows what he’s doing. He’s giving voice to these racist utterances about Senator Harris. We need to dispel them immediately and condemn them and then not give them any more life, because they’re disgusting." What follows are responses to the racist attacks on Kamala Harris by some of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020:
"The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks." - Elizabeth Warren
"@KamalaHarris doesn’t have shit to prove." - Cory Booker
"These troll-fueled racist attacks on Senator @KamalaHarris are unacceptable. We are better than this (Russia is not) and stand united against this type of vile behavior."- Amy Klobuchar
"The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama's American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America." - Joe Biden
"The presidential competitive field is stronger because Kamala Harris has been powerfully voicing her Black American experience. Her first-generation story embodies the American dream. It’s long past time to end these racist, birther-style attacks."- Pete Buttigieg
"The coordinated smear campaign on Senator @KamalaHarris is racist and vile. The Trump family is peddling birtherism again and it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against it." - Jay Inslee
"There's a long history of black Americans being told they don't belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day. @KamalaHarris is an American. Period. And all of us must call out attempts to question her identity for what they are: racist." - Beto O'Rourke
June 28, 2019 - Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), had this response to a widely circulated photo of a drowned migrant and his young daughter "The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because that father didn’t wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion and decided to cross the river and not only died but his daughter died tragically as well. Until we fix the attractions in our asylum system, people like that father and that child are going to continue to come through a dangerous trip." The supreme court announced that it will review the constitutionality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), which the Trump administration has tried to end, but has been stymied by the courts. Trump, who is in Osaka Japan for the G20 summit, Joked with Vladimir Putin about Russian meddling in the US elections, and about getting rid of journalists. Regarding journalists, Trump said to Putin, "Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn't it? You don't have this problem in Russia but we do", to which Putin responded "We also have. It's the same." According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 26 journalists have been murdered in Russia since Putin first became president, many of them investigative reporters scrutinizing governmental abuses. When asked by reporters whether he was going to tell Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election, Trump, who was sitting next to Putin, smiled and said "Yes, of course I will." Then without looking at Putin, said mockingly "Don't meddle in the election, please" then repeated the phrase while wagging his finger. Putin reacted with a laugh, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, reacted with a broad smile. During a conference at the Carter Center, former president Jimmy Carter stated that a full investigation "would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf." When asked if that meant Trump was an illegitimate president, Carter responded "Based on what I said, which I can't retract". At the same conference, former vice president Walter Mondale, said of Trump, "he's got something deep in him that is detestable." Mondale added that "Doctors tell me they think they recognize symptoms of psychological problems." Joe Kennedy, a Massachusetts representative, has come out publicly for impeachment, saying "This is not a decision I made lightly, nor is it one to celebrate. It’s a dark day for our country when its Commander-in-Chief is accused of high crimes. But after reading the Mueller report in full, reviewing the facts and consulting with legal experts, I believe Congress has a responsibility to act decisively." Today is Sarah Huckabee Sanders last day as White House press secretary. According to Reuters "A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the government into mediation to resolve serious concerns about the treatment of migrant children at crowded U.S. border patrol facilities in Texas." This order follows requests by the children's attorneys to issue an emergency order to send public health experts and doctors to the border patrol facilities in the El Paso and Rio Grande sectors. "The judge asked the parties to file a joint status report by July 12 about what has been done to address the conditions described by the children’s attorneys." Trump sent the following tweet today "After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!" James Fields, the 22-year-old neo-Nazi who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring nineteen, was sentenced today to life in prison.
June 27, 2019 - Reddit announced that The_Donald, the largest pro-Donald Trump community on its site, has been "quarantined" due to "repeated rule-breaking behavior" and in recent days, "encouragement of violence towards police officers and public officials in Oregon" following news that Republicans, who had fled the state to delay a vote on a clean energy bill, were being sought by state troopers. Video surfaced of Megan Rapinoe, a member of the US Women's Soccer team, saying "I'm not going to the fucking White House" when asked if she would be excited to go. Rapinoe, who was the first white professional athlete to kneel for the national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, was told by Trump on twitter recently to "never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our flag" at the World Cup. The supreme court issued a ruling in RUCHO ET AL. v. COMMON CAUSE ET AL., regarding districting maps in North Carolina and Maryland, which were determined by lower courts to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The court ruled that " Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts." The ruling was split 5-4 with all of the conservatives in the majority and all of the liberals in the minority. Justice Kagan in her dissent wrote "Of all times to abandon the Court's duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent." The advocacy group Common Cause issued a statement regarding the gerrymandering ruling saying "Today, five Supreme Court Justices turned their backs on hundreds of thousands of people in Maryland and North Carolina stripped of their voice in Washington by power-hungry politicians. The Supreme Court had the opportunity to end partisan gerrymandering once and for all but instead a narrow majority chose to wash their hands of the undemocratic practice. Without recourse to the Supreme Court, the American people must continue to take the battle to the state courts, to the polls, and to the streets, to make their voices heard and to end partisan gerrymandering once and for all. This decision is part of a disturbing pattern from the Roberts Court of undercutting or eviscerating reforms passed by Congress to protect the integrity of our democracy. This Supreme Court has gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act, shredded campaign finance limits in Citizens United, and now it has condoned extreme partisan gerrymandering. Letting politicians manipulate voting maps is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Whether they favor Democrats or Republicans, gerrymanders cheat voters." The supreme court also issued a ruling on the issue of whether the Trump administration can include a question about US citizenship on the 2020 census, ruling with the lower court that the justification used for adding the question was "contrived". Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, appeared in court today to face state-level mortgage fraud charges among other crimes. Manafort pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Rex Tillerson, the former US secretary of state, testified last month in a closed-door session with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he spoke about an incident in which he walked into a restaurant, and discovered his Mexican counterpart dining with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The moment was "awkward" according to Tillerson, because he wasn't even aware that his counterpart was in Washington.
June 26, 2019 - Special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before the House judiciary committee and House permanent select committee on intelligence in an open session on 17 July. A shocking photo surfaced showing the bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria who had drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Bravo [Rio Grande]. The two were seeking asylum in the US, but after discovering that the wait for an asylum interview would take months, decided to cross the river instead. Trump was asked by reporters whether he would confront Putin at the upcoming G20 summit regarding election meddling, Trump's response "What I say to him is none of your business."
June 25, 2019 - Sonny Purdue, Trump's agriculture secretary, acknowledged that farmer's are bearing the brunt of trade war with China saying "We knew going in that when you flew the penalty flag on China, the retaliation, if it came, would be against the farmer." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, called new sanctions announced by the Trump administration "outrageous and idiotic" and said the Trump administration is "afflicted by mental retardation". Trump reacted to Rouhani's statement by tweeting "Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!" Stephanie Grisham, the communications director for First Lady Melania Trump, has been named the new White House press secretary to replace outgoing Sarah Huckabee Sanders. John Sanders, the acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner, has announced he will resign effective July 5th. Charanya Krishnaswami, the advocacy director of Amnesty International USA, responded to news of Sander's resignation saying "Children should never be held in detention at all, let alone in the appalling conditions that were detailed in reports this weekend from a Texas border patrol station. Today’s announcement that the chief of Customs and Border Protection is resigning is an opportunity for steps to be taken, including Congressional hearings and investigations, to provide accountability for these shocking abuses, and compassionate care to children seeking safety in the United States. Any effort to normalize the warehousing of children is unacceptable." According to the Guardian "The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman for allegedly failing to file a required financial disclosure report after she was fired".
June 24, 2019 - Trump sent a tweet today criticizing the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, and claimed it "doesn't know what it's doing". Trump signed an executive order imposing "hard hitting" new sanctions on Iran saying "A lot of restraint has been shown by us. That doesn’t mean we’re going to show it in the future but I felt that we want to give [diplomacy] a chance ... I think Iran has a phenomenal future." Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that additional sanctions will be imposed on Iranian military leaders who were responsible for shooting down a drone last week. Congressman Jim Himes joined the growing list of House members calling for impeachment saying "Impeachment is divisive. The politics of impeachment are messy and uncertain, and might, in the short run, serve the President’s narrow political interests. But look at where we are today. Republicans in this chamber cheer or justify or stand woefully silent in the face of behavior for which they would have impeached a Democratic president many times over. Our best and most proven ideas cannot get even a hearing in the Senate. Unless we restore respect for the law, respect for truth and respect for common decency, we cannot hope to solve any of our other pressing problems. There are moments for careful calculation. For weighing political expediency and conflicting interests. And there moments for clarity and conviction. This is that moment." Ravelry.com, an 8 million strong social network for knitters, crocheters and others in the fiber arts, has banned talk of president Trump and his administration saying that it cannot provide a space "inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy.” The announcement went on to say that support of the Trump administration is “undeniably support for white supremacy." In response to news that a House panel will vote on a subpoena to compel testimony, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway claimed accusations by the independent Office of Special Counsel that she has repeatedly violated the Hatch Act are politically motivated saying "You know what they’re mad about? They want to put a big roll of masking tape over my mouth because I helped as the campaign manager for the successful part of the campaign." Henry Kerner, the chief of the White House’s Office of Special Counsel released a statement saying Conway's "conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government. Ms. Conway’s conduct reflects not a misunderstanding of the law, but rather a disregard for it" Jason Miller, a former top campaign aide and a close adviser to Donald Trump, has announced he is leaving the consulting firm he works for, just days after calling Jerry Nadler a "fat fuck" in a now deleted tweet. The US Treasury Department inspector general will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the delay in replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 with abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Hundreds of kids are being moved out of the Clint Border Patrol station in El Paso county, after a legal team interviewed 60 children and documented kids forced to take care of kids, no clean clothing, weeks of no baths and poor nutrition. Holly Cooper, who co-directs University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic and represents detained youth, told reporters "In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity". The story about Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations against President Trump was removed from the New York Post's website per orders from Col Allen, the New York Post's former top editor, and strong supporter of Donald Trump. During an interview with The Hill, Trump claimed that Jean Carroll is "Totally lying. I don’t know anything about her. I know nothing about this woman. I know nothing about her. She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that." The White House sent oversight committee chairman Elijah Cummings a letter declining "the invitation to make Ms. Conway available for testimony before the Committee". Donald Trump Jr sent the following tweet regarding Jean Carroll's accusation of sexual assault: "Enough is enough with this bullshit! We all get it Media... you hate @realDonaldTrump, but giving every Avenatti like wacko a platform because they will say anything for press kills what little is left of your credibility. Let him do his job. The results speak for themselves!"
June 23, 2019 - Trump was asked during an interview if he would allow the FBI to investigate the assassination of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi as requested by the UN special rapporteur. Trump's response "I think it’s been heavily investigated.” When asked by whom, Trump responded "By everybody. I mean … I’ve seen so many different reports." Trump also suggested Saudi Arabia was no worse than other Middle Eastern countries saying "Look at Iran, look at other countries, I won’t mention names." Trump also suggested that investigating may jeopardize weapons sales to the Saudis saying "I’m not like a fool that says, ‘We don’t want to do business with them.' And by the way, if they don’t do business with us, you know what they do? They’ll do business with the Russians or with the Chinese. We make the best equipment in the world, but they will buy great equipment from Russia and from China." John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, told reporters in Jerusalem that "biting" new sanctions will be imposed tomorrow against Iran, and that "Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, its threats to exceed the limits set in the failed Iran nuclear deal in the coming days … are not signs of a nation seeking peace" Bolton also warned Iran not to "mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness". Regarding the Trump Administration's plan to roll back the Obama era Clean Power plan, and allow states to choose their own emission standards, the following conversation took place between Vice President Mike Pence, and CNN's Jake Tapper:
TAPPER - "Do you think human induced climate emergency is a threat to the United States?"
PENCE - "Well, what I will tell you is that we'll always follow the science on that in this administration."
TAPPER - "The science says it is."
PENCE - "What we won't do, and the Clean Power Plan was all about that, was hamstringing energy in this country, raising the cost of utility rates for working families across this country."
TAPPER - "But is it a threat?"
PENCE - "While other countries like China and India do absolutely nothing, or make illusory promises decades down the road to deal with it. The truth of the matter is with the advent of natural gas, with the natural gas explosion that's developing, the clean coal technology, we're seeing a significant reduction in carbon emissions all across this country."
TAPPER - "But is what people are calling a climate emergency, is it a threat? Do you think it's a threat? Man-made climate emergency, is it a threat?"
PENCE - "I think the answer to that is gonna be based upon the science."
TAPPER - "The science says yes. I'm asking you what you think."
PENCE - "Well, there's many in the science that think"
TAPPER - "The science community in your own administration, at NOAA, at DNI, they all say it's a threat, but you won't for some reason."
PENCE - "What we've said is we are not going to raise utility rates..."
TAPPER - "So, you don't think it's a threat is all I'm saying, you don't think it's a threat."
PENCE - "I think we're making great progress reducing carbon emissions. America has the cleanest air and water in the world."
TAPPER - "Not true. We don't have the cleanest air and water in the world. We don't. You can get back to me with some statistics."
June 22, 2019 - Donald Trump sent the following tweet today: "At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!" Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, responded to Trump walking back his deportation threat, saying "This is all a game to him while people live in deep fear. Human beings as political pawns." Speaking to reporters, Trump made the following comments: "We’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country. They’re going to be so happy, and I’m going to be their best friend. I hope that happens." According to the Guardian "Iran has insisted it has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons and the International Atomic Energy Agency has said there is no recent evidence of development or experimentation with weaponisation. Iran has so far stuck to the limits on its nuclear programme agreed in a multilateral 2015 agreement. But more than a year after Trump pulled the US out of the deal and imposed severe sanctions, the government in Tehran is threatening to break some of those agreed limits."
June 20, 2019 - According to US Central Command, Iran has shot down a US Navy Global Hawk drone in the strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims the drone was flying in their country's airspace. Capt Bill Urban, a CentCom spokesman claimed the drone was flying in international airspace. Responding to the drone incident, Trump sent the following tweet: "Iran made a very big mistake!" Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint against Ivanka Trump, daughter and senior aide to Donald Trump, for violating the Hatch Act, which bans government workers from speaking out on political campaign issues. At issue are tweets Ivanka sent ahead of her father's 2020 presidential campaign launch in which she included the 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" and claimed "the best is yet to come". Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for an investigation into the decision by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to delay by eight years the release of a $20 bank note honoring abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Mnuchin claimed "counterfeiting issues" were the reason for the delay. Trump was asked by reporters if he plans to strike back against Iran for shooting down a US drone. Trump's response: "You will soon find out." During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump made the following comments about the drone downing: "I find it hard to believe it was intentional. I imagine someone made a mistake...in shooting down the drone. We didn’t have a man or woman in the drone. It would have made a big, big difference." The Senate passed measures today to block Trump from using his emergency authority to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. The measures now go to the House, and if passed, Trump is expected to issue a veto. Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican who lost a campaign for US Senate over allegations that he sexually assaulted or pursued teenage girls when he was in his 30's, has declared his intent to run for Senate again in 2020. Trump was asked if he would be willing to apologize to the "Central Park Five" who were wrongly convicted of beating and raping a jogger in New York's Central Park in 1989, to which he responded: "You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Fairstein, and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case, so we'll leave it at that." Roger Stone, a former Trump confidant, who is awaiting trial on charges of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements, has violated a gag order with recent social media posts according to federal prosecutors, who have requested an immediate hearing. The call for impeachment now stands at 70 members of the House, with 3 new members backing the notion. The National Rifle Association has sued its former president, Oliver North, for "conduct harmful to the NRA" and accused North of a "failed coup attempt". All 12 Republican state senators in Oregon fled the capitol today to delay a vote on a clean energy bill. The state's Democratic governor responded by dispatching state troopers to retrieve the Republicans. News surfaced that the US launched a cyber attack against Iranian weapons systems
June 19, 2019 - According to a UN report, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be investigated over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is "credible evidence" that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing. The report states in part "It is the conclusion of the special rapporteur that Mr Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law." Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law has very close ties to the crown prince. Some Democrats have offered censure as an alternative to impeachment proceedings against Trump, to which House speaker Nancy Pelosi responded "No. I think censure is just a way out. If you’re gonna go, you gotta go. In other words, if the goods are there, you must impeach, and censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the Constitution should we decide that’s the way to go." According to California Representative Karen Bass, who was present for a closed-door interview with Hope Hicks, Trump's former senior adviser "She’s objecting to stuff that’s already in the public record. It’s pretty ridiculous." Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, stated in a letter to Jerry Nadler, that Trump had directed Hicks not to answer questions "relating to the time of her service as a senior adviser to the president." A hearing took place today before a judiciary sub-committee on the subject of reparations for descendants of slaves. The congressional chairs, half of which were reserved for Democrats and half for Republicans, were full on the Democrat side, and nearly empty on the Republican side. David Smith, the Guardian's Washington bureau chief, wrote the following summary about Trump's re-election launch that took place last evening: "Trump spent little effort offering a vision of the future. He and his supporters were most energised by his greatest hits: grievance politics, demonising opponents, raging against perceived injustices. There was even a reprise of attacks on Hillary Clinton, his defeated rival in 2016, complete with furious chants of 'Lock her up!' His vicious, often fabricated, attacks implied that while a referendum on his record would likely end in defeat, his campaign believes that whipping up fear of a Democrat in the White House could yet save his skin." The Trump administration is finalizing a plan to roll back an Obama era plan to curb coal-fired power plant pollution. Responding to the news, Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California responded with "President Trump’s Dirty Power Plan is more than just disgraceful and immoral, it is unlawful. There is no justification for gutting a law that would have significantly reduced emissions and prevented thousands of premature deaths per year. While the Trump Administration might lack the necessary courage, we’re prepared to confront the climate crisis head-on." Matthew Kacsmaryk, who signed onto a letter that labeled being transgender a "delusion" and who opposes protections for LGBTQ people in housing, healthcare, and opposes the Violence Against Women Act, was confirmed today to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. Every Democrat voted no, every Republican except Susan Collins voted yes. Reports have surfaced that Donald Trump is seeking to fire or demote Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman. Powell responded to the reports saying "I think the law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it."
June 18, 2019 - The Washington Post is reporting that Trump and senior immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, have been pushing Homeland Security officials to arrest and deport thousands as part of a plan called the "rocket docket". Earlier this year, ICE director Ronald Vitiello and Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were ousted after they expressed concerns about possible public outrage over images of children being taken into custody or separated from their families. Donald Trump is in Orlando Florida today for a rally to officially kick off his 2020 re-election campaign. The Orlando Sentinel published an editorial today that says in part "Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. We’re here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Donald Trump. Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent. Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump. After 2½ years we’ve seen enough. Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies. So many lies — from white lies to whoppers — told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity. Trump’s capacity for lying isn’t the surprise here, though the frequency is. It’s the tolerance so many Americans have for it. There was a time when even a single lie — a phony college degree, a bogus work history — would doom a politician’s career." Among the attendees at the Orlando rally, were members of the Proud Boys, a far-right organization which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many of the Proud Boys were seen wearing MAGA hats, and some were flashing white power gestures. According to Politico "The Trump administration and its domestic political allies are laying the groundwork for a possible confrontation with Iran without the explicit consent of Congress — a public relations campaign that was already well underway before top officials accused the Islamic Republic of attacking a pair of oil tankers last week in the Gulf of Oman." Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense, has withdrawn his name from the confirmation process, and will resign his position, due to news becoming public that he went through a messy divorce that involved accusations of domestic violence. A confirmation hearing scheduled for today, has been cancelled. Mark Esper, the current secretary of the Army, will replace Shanahan. A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a CNN reporter that there were no plans to round up millions of immigrants next week, but that there are tentative plans to target families with removal orders in July. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent the following tweet: "This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis." Walter Shaub, former head of the independent Office of Government Ethics, who quit in disgust over Trump actions, sent the following tweet in response to AOC's: "She's right, and it's time the media started calling them concentration camps. (A year ago this weekend, I saw @AOC in person protesting outside the Tornillo child concentration camp. I didn't know who she was at the time, but her passion in opposing the horror got my attention.)" Lenny Pozner, the father of Noah Pozner, who was one of the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of the book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook. In what is being called a sign that the climate crisis is accelerating faster than scientists had feared, permafrost in the Canadian Arctic has been observed to be thawing 70 years earlier than predicted. According to Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks "What we saw was amazing. It’s an indication that the climate is now warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years." According to Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International: "Thawing permafrost is one of the tipping points for climate breakdown and it’s happening before our very eyes. This premature thawing is another clear signal that we must decarbonise our economies, and immediately." Sarah Fabian, an attorney at the Department of Justice, generated viral online outrage after video was released which showed her arguing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal that the federal government should not be required to provide detained immigrant children with soap, toothbrushes - or even beds, to be "safe and sanitary".
June 17, 2019 - The Supreme Court handed down a number of rulings today. According to the Associated Press, one of those rulings "preserves a long-standing rule that provides an exception to the Constitution’s ban on trying someone twice for the same offense." This ruling, which allows state and federal governments to charge an individual with the same crime, could have direct implications for those involved in the Mueller probe. In another case, the court let stand a lower court ruling that Republican gerrymandering in Virginia diminished the clout of black voters. Iran announced today that it will begin enriching uranium to 20%, unless Europe steps up with relief from sanctions imposed by Trump. US officials called Iran's announcement nuclear blackmail". ABC News released footage from George Stephanopoulos's interview with Donald Trump, showing Trump getting agitated after White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney coughs in the background. Trump shut down the interview, and angrily asked Mulvaney to leave the room. The Trump Administration announced that it is cutting hundreds of millions in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras because thousands of their citizens have been asking for asylum at the Southern border. News surfaced that the Trump Administration is sending approximately 1,000 troops to the Middle East for "defensive purposes". Trump sent the following tweet: "Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, is doing a very good job stopping people long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won't do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!"
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