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Trump tweets that the favor was meant to be for the U.S. President Trump took to Twitter late Wednesday to offer a take on what he meant by asking Ukraine's newly elected leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for a "favor" on their July 25th phone call. ....”I would like to have the Attorney General (of the United States) call you or your people.....” This, based on what I have seen, is their big point - and it is no point at a all (except for a big win for me!). The Democrats should apologize to the American people! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2019 Share this -







Article II: Impeachment 101 — Wednesday, December 4th Four constitutional law experts testified in the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearing in the inquiry on Wednesday, treating lawmakers and the public to a lesson on impeachment. Guest Josh Lederman, national political reporter for NBC News, walks through how Democrats and Republicans used their witnesses to argue the constitutional case for and against impeaching President Donald Trump. Click here to listen Share this -







Legal scholars: Conduct like Trump's is the reason Congress has impeachment power There's no question that President Donald Trump violated the Constitution's limits on his power or that the House should respond by impeaching him, three legal scholars told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. That's exactly what majority Democrats were hoping to hear, and it's the testimony they will cite as the House moves toward drafting articles of impeachment against Trump based on his solicitation of Ukraine to launch investigations with political implications in the U.S. and possibly other matters. "How we respond will determine the character of our democracy for generations," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said. Ultimately, three of the witnesses portrayed Trump as abusing the powers of his office for personal gain — and in contravention of U.S. interests — in ways envisioned by the founding fathers when they gave Congress the authority to remove the chief executive. The reason to impeach Trump isn't to punish him, law professors Pamela Karlan of Stanford, Noah Feldman of Harvard and Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina said, but to prevent further damage. Karlan and Gerhardt leaned hard into the idea that Trump sought to deprive Americans of their basic democratic rights by pursuing the establishment of political investigations in Ukraine that would benefit his re-election campaign. At the same time, Feldman emphasized Trump's decision to freeze aid to Ukraine, a U.S. partner at war with Russia, as a dangerous and impeachable subversion of national interests. "If you don’t impeach a president who has done what this president has done ... then what you’re saying is that it’s fine to go ahead and do this again,” Karlan said. “It’s your responsibility to make sure that all Americans get to vote in a free and fair election next November.” They all said Trump's actions met the threshold for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and for "bribery" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. A fourth witness, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, argued that Democrats' impeachment push was being rushed at the expense of fact-gathering and that the House Intelligence Committee's end of the investigation had not produced clear and convincing evidence of impeachable offenses by Trump. Read the full analysis here Share this -







'Compelling' or 'sham?': Differing viewpoints of the day's hearing from both sides of Congress Following the first day of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, members of Congress offered varying takeaways from the testimony. "The facts presented at the hearing today were overwhelming and compelling,” Nadler said to reporters. But Collins and other Republican lawmakers saw it a different way. “The majority right now, frankly, is lost," he said. "They don't know which way to go because the facts are not in their favor. And the American people are not on their side.” Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Arizona, derided the process as "a total sham" and accused Nadler and the Democrats of "tearing the country apart." Democrats, Republicans react after House Judiciary hearing Dec. 5, 2019 03:20 Share this -







Biden won't appear voluntarily at potential Senate trial Former Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday he wouldn't appear voluntarily as a witness during a potential Senate impeachment trial because he doesn’t want lawmakers to “take their eye off the ball.” "The president is the one who has committed impeachable crimes and I'm not gonna let him diverse from that," Biden said from the campaign trail in Iowa. Share this -







Nadler urges GOP to uphold constitutional oath; Collins blasts process After more than eight hours of member questions and witness testimony, Nadler closed the hearing by detailing the alleged abuse of power by the president and urging Republican members to "stand behind" their oath of office. Nadler, D-N.Y., said the three scholars Democrats invited to testify clearly established that soliciting foreign interference in American elections and obstructing a formal congressional probe are both impeachable offenses. He argued that Republicans, however, have not mounted a vigorous defense of the president's actions, but instead have focused on the process. He called them out, however, for what he suggested was their hypocrisy, noting that they complained over time about not having a floor vote, not being able to call witness and not extending an invitation to the president for this hearing — all of which he said the Democrats have since done. Nadler also conceded that Democrats need to bring a number of Trump supporters over to their side of the aisle as the process continues, but noted that polling shows a majority of Americans support the process. Collins, the ranking member, continued to excoriate Democrats for the way in which he said the hearings have been conducted, saying Wednesday's hearing only included expert witnesses, not fact witnesses. Collins, R-Ga., also said Democrats have not revealed sufficient evidence to support the impeachment inquiry. "This is not a time to play hide the ball," he said. "The facts talked about have not been delivered." Collins called on Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to testify about his panel's report on its findings in the impeachment inquiry, which it voted to send to the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night. Share this -





