Impeachment inquiry live updates: Graham defends probe of Bidens; court ruling on McGahn testimony expected – The Washington Post, The Washington Post

“Remember, when Richard Nixon was being investigated with all those 51 days of hearings that they had on Watergate, he was not being opposed by the American people until the end, ”Speier, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an MSNBC appearance.

Speier said that after hours of testimony in the impeachment inquiry, a “mountain of evidence” shows that Trump attempted to bribe the Ukrainian president into investigating the Bidens, adding that the Constitution is “very clear about impeachment.”

“It was specifically meant to deal with a president who was placing his personal interests in front of the country interests,” she said. “And that certainly appears to be what the president was doing.”

Speier also addressed the argument that impeachment is unnecessary with the 2020 presidential election less than a year away, likening Trump to a cheating high school senior.

“If someone cheats on a test and is a senior in high school, do you let him have a pass because he is about to graduate? ”she asked. “It is a violation of the Constitution, and that is what we’re here to protect.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.) on Monday sought to defend his probe of Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine at the same time that House Democra ts are investigating Trump’s pressure on the country’s leadership.

“I’m doing this because somebody needs to do it,” Graham said during an appearance on Fox News Radio. “We’re not going to allow a system in America where only one side gets looked at.”

Graham requested new documents Thursday from the State Department, attempting to uncover additional information related to Hunter Biden’s activities when he served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Trump has pressed Zelensky to investigate those activities, as well as a claim that Joe Biden, as vice president, put pressure on Ukraine to fire its lead prosecutor to protect his son. That claim has been widely disputed by people familiar with the investigation.

Joe Biden lashed out at Graham, a longtime friend, during a television interview on Friday, saying he was “embarrassed by what you’re doing. ”

Graham told host Brian Kilmeade that he was disappointed in Biden’s reaction.

“ My friendship with Joe Biden – if it can’t withstand me doing my job, then it’s not the friendship I thought, ”Graham said.

He echoed those sentiments shortly afterward on Twitter.

“I love Joe Biden as a person but we are not going to give a pass to what is obviously a conflict of interest,” Graham tweeted. “I believe Hunter Biden’s association on the Burisma board doesn’t pass the smell test. If a Republican was in the same position, they’d certainly be investigated! ”

Rep. Lee Zeldin (RN.Y.) renewed GOP attacks on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) During a Monday appearance on Fox News, claiming that the leader of the impeachment inquiry is motivated by “bad intentions.”

“He always aspired to be a fiction writer,” Zeldin said of Schiff. “He wanted to be a screenwriter, and now he has the opportunity to write the world’s greatest parody.”

One of Trump’s most steadfast defenders in the impeachment probe, Zeldin claimed Schiff loves the opportunity for “story time” during opening and closing statements of the impeachment hearings.

He suggested Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are enjoying the impeachment effort, saying it’s “a party” behind closed doors.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Released acampaign-style videotouting Trump’s presidency and accusing Democrats of trying to “undo the 21016 election ”and impeach Trump“ regardless of the facts. ”

“What if I told you he won the election?” The narrator says in the 35 – second spot, which includes footage of election night in 2016. “That he spoke for millions who didn’t have a voice. That there are some who hate him. Resist him. Investigate him and want to impeach him regardless of the facts. What if I told you that despite their attempts to undo the 2016 election he is getting things done for you? ”

The chairman of one of the committees involved in the impeachment inquiry claimed in tweets Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s apparent involvement in the Ukraine pressure campaign explains why he did not defend the former US ambassador to Ukraine.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (DN.Y.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, shared a New York Times story that detailed Pompeo’s involvement in Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens, including phone calls with the president’s personal attorney Rudolph W .Juliani as Giuliani pushed for the investigation.

Engel said he had been puzzled when the State Department let attacks on former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch go unanswered.

“Hindsight is 20 / 20, ”Engel wrote. “Now that we know more facts – incl that @SecPompeo & Giuliani were in contact – it’s clear why Pompeo was silent when Amb. Yovanovitch was being smeared: Pompeo was assisting in the scheme to pressure Ukraine to help Trump politically. ”

The congressman added that Yovanovitch had been recalled“ for no good reason ”less than a month after he and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) sent Pompeo a letter urging public support for the ambassador. That prompted the Foreign Affairs Committee to look into “this situation and Giuliani’s involvement,” he said.

“We know a lot more now, but @SecPompeo continues to ignore a duly authorized subpoena, ”Engel wrote on Twitter. “What else is he hiding? Why is he covering for the President instead of standing up for American diplomats and our national security? ”

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) On Monday widely distributed by email a New York Times editorial that recounted the evidence against Trump in the impeachment inquiry, praised Democr ats for conducting it and chided Republicans for turning it “into a partisan dogfight.”

Pelosi’s email highlighted several passages of the lengthy editorial, published Sunday.

Among them: “In conducting this inquiry, the Democrats are doing what people concerned about protecting the nation would do. It is the Republicans who are turning this process into a partisan dogfight, attacking lifelong public servants, implying they have dual loyalty and misstating testimony they heard the day before. Rather than listening to what witnesses were telling them, some of them chose to pound the table and regurgitate conspiracy theories about Ukraine that were long ago debunked by American intelligence as Russian disinformation and misdirection. ”

In atweet, Trump said Monday that support for his impeachment is “dropping like a rock ”and claimed without evidence that support is“ into the 20 ‘s in some Polls. ”

Most recent national polls on impeachment have been relatively stable.

An average of three national polls that were conducted since the start of the first week of public impeachment hearings shows that 47 percent supported impeaching and removing Trump while 42 percent disapproved. That’s roughly similar to the average (percent -) **************************************************************************************** (percent split in the two weeks before public hearings began, and 48 percent – 45 percent average in October overall.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about the polls Trump is referencing.

In his tweet, Trump also urged Democrats to “get down to work” and approve trade legislation with Canada and Mexico, among other measures.

In a later tweet, Trump quoted “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade saying impeachment “is getting less and less popular by the day.”

A federal judge has said she intends to rule no later than the end of the day Monday on whether former White House counsel Donald McGahn must testify under subpoena to Congress.

US District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington entered an order last week about her deadline intent “absent unforeseen circumstances,” shortly after a filing from House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter arguing impeachment hearings before the House Intelligence Committee are grounds for urgency.

House Democrats are debating whether articles of impeachment should include obstruction of justice allegations against Trump detailed in the special counsel report by Robert S. Mueller III.

House Democrats call McGahn, a key figure in Mueller’s investigation, one of the most important witnesses of possible obstruction of justice by Trump. McGahn’s statements are mentioned more than 160 times in the 448 – page final report prepared in the special counsel’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 US election

A ruling on whether McGahn must testify could have implications for other current and former White House officials who so far have resisted appearing before Congress.

Read more about the potential implications in Monday morning’s edition of “Power Up”here.

Trump returned to Twit ter on Monday morning as part of a continuing effort to cast the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry as unfair.

In his firsttweetof the day, he quoted lawyer Sam Dewey, a frequent cable news commentator .

“President Trump is facing a process which is unprecedented for its unfairness,” Trump quoted Dewey as saying.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel went on Twitter early Monday to argue that the Democrats’ case against Trump is dead.

(In a) ************************************ (tweet) , McDaniel pointed to past comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) About what it would take to impeach the president

“Pelosi herself said impeachment must be ‘compelling,’ ‘overwhelming,’ and ‘bipartisan,’ ”McDaniel wrote. “After 2 weeks of sham hearings, the Democrats’ case against @realDonaldTrump is dead – and the only thing that’s’ bipartisan ‘is the opposition to their entire charade.”

Though the public hearings are over – at least for now – House investigators could release transcripts as early as Monday of two closed-door depositions taken as part of the impeachment inq

Still outstanding are the transcripts of depositions taken of Mark Sandy, an Office of Management and Budget official, and Philip Reeker, the diplomat in charge of U.S. policy for Europe.

Sandy testified earlier this month that the White House decision to freeze nearly $ 400 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine in mid-July was highly irregular and that senior political appointees in the OMB were unable to provide an explanation for the delay.

Sandy, the deputy associate director for national security programs at OMB, testified that he was instructed to sign the first of several apportionment letters in which budget officials formally instituted the freeze on funds, according to two people familiar with his testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly.

Reeker said during his deposition that he appealed to top State Department leaders to publicly support Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was the target of a conspiracy theory-fueled smear campaign, a person familiar with his testimony said.

Reeker expressed his concerns over the falsehoods about Yovanovitch to David Hale, the third-highest-ranking official in the State Department, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the closest adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door proceedings. **

The week ahead will provide at least one prime opportunity for Trump to weigh in publicly on the impeachment inquiry.

On Tuesday, he is scheduled to hold a “Keep America Great” rally in Sunrise, Fla. He has used previous campaign rallies to air grievances about the process and take aim at the Democrats leading it.

Otherwise, Trump has a relatively light week planned ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, which he plans to spend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

On Monday afternoon, he is scheduled to meet at the White House with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov . As of now, the White House has not advertised any press access to that meeting. He also plans to sign a couple of bills Monday behind closed doors.

On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to preside over the presentation of theNational Thanksgiving Turkeybefore heading to Florida.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) Claimed Sunday night tha t Trump has “waged an unprecedented campaign of obstruction against our inquiry,” pointing to a new Washington Post report.

The Postreportedthat a confidential White House review of Trump’s decision to place a hold on milita ry 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, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

“Today we learned about more damning evidence that [Trump] is withholding from Congress,” Schiff said in a tweet that linked to The Post story. “If we allow this to stand, Trump will do permanent damage to our system of checks and balances.”

Trump claimed in tweets Sunday night that the impeachment process has been good politically for Republicans.

“Democrats going back to their Districts for Thanksgiving are getting absolutely hammered by their constituents over the phony Impe achment Scam, ”he said in one () “Republicans will have a great # 2020 Election! ”