Category Archive

Neither President Donald Trump nor his attorneys will participate in Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, they said late Sunday. In a letter to Chairman Jerrold Nadler, White House counsel to the President Pat Cipollone said, “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 … Read More

LISTEN: President Trump is now distancing himself more than ever from lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claiming he did not direct Giuliani to act on his behalf in Ukraine in a new interview with Bill O’Reilly. pic.twitter.com/6JaP9oOLMI — TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) November 26, 2019 Funny, but also deeply absurd, based on the known facts: Trump told Zelensky on July 25 call: … Read More

Breaking — some more to add to the timeline. The Office of Management and Budget’s first official action to withhold $250M in aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25—the day of the now-infamous call between Trump and Ukrainian president Zelensky. The Office of Management and Budget’s first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to … Read More

It might seem like ages ago that former White House Counsel Don McGahn blew off the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena seeking his testimony related to the Mueller report. That’s because, well, it was ages ago. On Monday evening, a federal judge resolved the dispute between the executive and the legislature. And D.C. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nearly 120-page ruling couldn’t … Read More

ABC News: The House Intelligence Committee is in possession of audio and video recordings and photographs provided to the committee by Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who reportedly played a key role in assisting him in his efforts to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. The … Read More

Another bad day for Republicans. Here are the key takeaways: Holmes’s succinct explanation of two quid pro quos The explanation by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, of how the Ukraine quid pro quos worked got lots of attention Wednesday — remember “2 plus 2 equals 4?” Sondland’s point was basically that everyone understood why a White … Read More

“I thank the gentleman, always, for his remarks,” a bemused committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said to laughter in the hearing room after Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), ranking member, completed his remarks after a long day of impeachment inquiry testimony. Nunes hits all his marks during these now-familiar derisive opening and closing speeches before the House Permanent Select Committee … Read More

People will remember today as they remember say John Dean’s testimony. It’s a historic moment. Kind of fun to take a breath and register that. — Harry Litman (@harrylitman) November 20, 2019 Yup. Is there a mercy rule for congressional hearings? — Justin Amash (@justinamash) November 20, 2019 Nope. It’s over. Gordon Sondland’s devastating testimony must end the Trump presidency. … Read More

Busy day on the hill. But here were the key takeaways: Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both testified that they were never aware of any other national security officials in the United States government who supported the decision to withhold nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine, which both said was directed by the White House chief of staff, … Read More

As Special Advisor to VP Pence on Europe and Russia, Williams testified that the President’s requests were ‘unusual and inappropriate’ and shed light on ‘possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold.’  She also confirmed, like Lt. Col. Vindman, that the Ukrainian President specifically mentioned ‘Burisma’ during the call, even though the White House call record does not reflect that.  Importantly, Ms. Williams also testified … Read More

David Holmes, the guy who overheard Trump when he called Sondland in a restaurant, spilled a lot more than that. Holmes says he clearly heard the President’s voice and Sondland made clear he was talking to the President. Sondland told Holmes the President didn’t “give a shit about Ukraine” and only cared about the “big stuff” like the “‘Biden investigations’ that Mr. … Read More

WE start with a Trump tweet: He makes a rare point about the Foreign Minister of Ukraine’s statement (the President did not say anything). This is what he was referring to: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on Thursday that U.S. ambassador Gordon Sondland did not explicitly link military aid to Kiev with opening an investigation into former Vice President … Read More