Impeachment inquiry: Trump claims he wants aides to testify – live news – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

The pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey obviously could not take place withoutTrumpcriticizing the House intelligence committee chairman for his handling of the impeachment inquiry.

Meanwhile,Trumpis about to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey, an annual tradition at the White House, and the president is marking the occasion by celebrating the state of the stock market.

InJerry Nadler’sstatement about his panel holding its first impeachment hearing, the committee chairman offeredTrumpan ultimatum: either participate in the process or quit complaining about it.

“I have also written to President Trump to remind him that the Committee’s impeachment inquiry rules allow for the President to attend the hearing and for his counsel to question the witness panel,” Nadler said in the statement.

“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. ”

Trump has until 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 to notify the judiciary committee about whether he intends to have counsel represent him at the hearing.

The announcement of the judiciary committee’s first hearing in the impeachment inquiry brings House members one step closer to voting on articles of impeachment against (Trump) .

Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee , said in a “Dear Colleague” letter yesterday that his panel intended to transmit its report on the impeachment inquiry to the judiciary committee shortly after Thanksgiving.

That timeline could set the Senate up for a January trial to determine whether to remove Trump from office. However, Senate majority leaderMitch McConnellsaid again yesterday that he could not imagine two- thirds of senators voting to remove Trump.

The chairman of the House judiciary committee,Jerry Nadler, sent a letter toTrumpinviting him to participate in the 4 December hearing, which is entitled The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment.

Nadler wrote in his letter that the hearing would give his committee the chance to explore the meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, the constitutional standard for impeachment.

The hearing will also reportedly include a panel of constitutional experts who will testify about the founders ’interpretation of impeachable behavior.

The House judiciary committee has just announced it will hold its first impeachment hearing next Wednesday.

It appears the airspace violation in Washington this morning, which caused a brief lockdown at the White House and the Capitol, may have been caused by a flock of birds appearing on the radar.

Mark Penn, a former top strategist toBill Clinton, reportedly visited the White House last week to offerTrumpadvice on how to combat the impeachment inquiry.

The Washington Postreports:

Penn came to the Oval Office for more than an hour last Monday, three people familiar with the meeting said, and brought polling data and impeachment advice for the president. Penn reassured Trump that he wouldn’t be removed from office, according to people familiar with the meeting, and encouraged him to travel the country like Clinton did when he was fighting impeachment over 20 years ago, officials said.

Vice President Penceand counselorKellyanne Conwaywere also present for the meeting, where Diet Cokes were served. Penn was escorted byAndrew Stein, a longtime Trump friend from New York who recently penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling forNikki Haleyto replace Pence on the ticket .

Penn recommended that Trump ‘stay focused on the substance’ of the allegations surrounding trading access and aid for political favors from Ukraine, according to Stein, ‘and not respond to everything.’

It seems Trump has had trouble following that advice, given his many tweets attacking the HouseDemocratsleading the inquiry and resharing Fox News clips of his allies defending him against the allegations at the center of the investigation.

RepresentativeBrenda Lawrence, a Democrat from Michigan, has quickly backtracked on comments she made over the weekend about preferring a censure ofTrumprather than impeachment.

“I was an early supporter for impeachment in 2017, ”Lawrence said in a new statement. “The House Intelligence Committee followed a very thorough process in holding hearings these past two weeks. The information they revealed confirmed that this President has abused the power of his office, therefore I continue to support impeachment.

“However, I am very concerned about SenateRepublicansand the fact that they would find this behavior by the President acceptable. ”

Over the weekend, Lawrence said in an interview that she was wary of impeaching Trump with less than a year to go until the 2020 election. “We are so close to an election,” Lawrence initially said. “I will tell you, sitting here knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of taking him out of office. I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable. ”

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Trumpclaimed he wanted administration officials to testify in the impeachment inquiry but worried about the repercussions for future presidents, an assertion that was met with heavy skepticism given the White House’s refual to cooperate with the investigation and Trump’s avoidance of an interview with special counselRobert Mueller.
• Speaking to reporters at the state department, secretary of stateMike Pompeoonce again dodged questions about the impeachment inquiry. Asked whether he would consider testifying before House investigators, Pompeo vaguely said, “When the time is right, all good things happen.”
• The House oversight committee is suing to enforce subpoenas of attorney generalWilliam Barrand commerce secretaryWilbur Rossin connection to the administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, indicating that (Democrats) feel emboldened after a judge ruledDon McGahnmust testify about his time as Trump’s White House counsel. But the justice department filed an appeal in the McGahn case this morning.

The blog will have much more coming up, so stay tuned.

Democratson the House foreign affiars committee lashed out againstMike Pompeoafter the secretary of state claimed his department was complying with the impeachment inquiry.

The panel, one of three overseeing the inquiry, noted that the state department has not yet turned over any documents in connection to a subpoena from the inquiry.

Speaking at a youth summit in Baltimore meant to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic,Melania Trumpwas loudly booed by the crowd.

A reporter who has covered the first lady for three years said it was the first booing she has witnessed at an event where Melania Trump appeared without her husband.

According to the pool report, the first lady was “greeted with some cheers but also a resounding chorus of loud boos, which lasted for about one minute. ”Melania Trump still deliverd her prepared remarks, but attendees continued to talk while she spoke.

The Trumps have a controversial history with Baltimore, which the president once called “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” as he criticized the city’s longtime congressmanElijah Cummings. (Cummings passed away last month.)

Multiple defense officials have now confirmed Conan, the military dog ​​who participated in the al-Baghdadi raid, is definitely male. One official said they had “triple checked” to make sure, which the blog does not want to dwell on.

With that, this controversy is hopefully settled, and Conan can continuehisvery important duties with the US military without further interruption.