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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Vivian Ho in San Francisco (now) and Erin Durkin in New York (earlier)

IRS memo report: Trump can keep taxes from Congress only by invoking 'executive privilege' – as it happened

The Washington Post reported that a copy of a confidential IRS memo states that Donald Trump can defy a congressional subpoena only if he invokes executive privilege.
The Washington Post reported that a copy of a confidential IRS memo states that Donald Trump can defy a congressional subpoena only if he invokes executive privilege. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Evening summary

  • The Washington Post obtained a copy of a legal draft memo from the Internal Revenue Service that stated that President Trump must invoke executive privilege to get out of providing his tax returns to Congress.
  • With protests unfolding nationwide today against the abortion bans happening in various states, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers vowed to veto any bill to come across his desk. Alabama state senator Vivian Davis Figures introduced a bill to repeal the near-total ban signed into law in her state earlier this week, and the neighboring Louisiana senate passed legislation that would amend the state constitution to say it doesn’t protect abortion rights.
  • Former White House counsel Don McGahn defied a congressional subpoena today and didn’t testify, a move that has many Democrats calling for impeachment.
  • President Trump sent a letter to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for Congress to pass his Mexico-Canada trade deal before passing any bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Louisiana senate passes bill to remove constitutional protections for abortions

Louisiana is the latest state making a move to ban abortions, with the senate voting Tuesday to to amend the state constitution to say it doesn’t protect abortion rights.

State lawmakers also passed a bill limiting medication-induced abortions:

Last week, the neighboring Alabama enacted a near-total abortion ban with no exemptions for rape and incest. Missouri’s legislature also passed an eight-week abortion ban, which is now awaiting the governor’s signature. Wisconsin governor Tony Evers tweeted today in solidarity with the nationwide protests against these abortion bans, vowing to veto any bill to come across his desk.

Make sure to take a full read of Sabrina Siddiqui and David Smith’s writeup about former White House counsel Don McGahn defying a congressional subpoena today and all that came after that.

The White House released a letter from President Trump to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for Congress to pass his Mexico-Canada trade deal before passing any bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Trump has to invoke executive privilege to keep tax returns from Congress

The Washington Post has obtained a copy of a confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo stating that President Trump can only defy a congressional subpoena for his tax returns if he “takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege”.

US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin stated earlier this week that the subpoena was “unprecedented” and “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose”, and that the IRS had an “unambiguous legal obligation” to comply. This memo, the Post pointed out, directly contradicts that.

The disclosure of the tax returns to the committee “is mandatory, requiring the Secretary to disclose returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing Chairs,” according to the memo:

The 10-page document says the law “does not allow the Secretary to exercise discretion in disclosing the information provided the statutory conditions are met” and directly rejects the reason that Mnuchin has cited for witholding the information.

“[T]he Secretary’s obligation to disclose return and return information would not be affected by the failure of a tax writing committee ... to state a reason for the request,” it says. It adds that the “only basis the agency’s refusal to comply with a committee’s subpoena would be the invocation of the doctrine of executive privilege.”

The memo is the first sign of potential dissent within the administration over its approach to the tax returns issue. The IRS said the memo, titled “Congressional Access to Returns and Return Information,” was a draft document authored by a lawyer in the Office of Chief Counsel and did not represent the agency’s “official position.” The memo is stamped “DRAFT,” it is not signed, and it doesn’t reference Trump.

The agency says the memo was prepared last fall. At the time, Democrats were making clear they would likely seek copies of Trump’s tax returns under a 1924 law that states that the IRS “shall” turn over tax returns to Congress.

Updated

Alabama lawmaker introduces bill to repeal abortion ban

Alabama state Senator Vivian Davis Figures, filed a bill Tuesday that would repeal the near-total abortion ban that was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey this week.

Alabama’s law, which has no exemptions for rape or incest, has divided the Republican party, with President Trump signaling that he thinks the law goes too far.

“I felt that the least I could do was to offer a bill to repeal HB314 with the hopes that it would help to heal some of the wounds that my Republican brothers and sisters have inflicted on the great state of Alabama,” Figures said in a statement. “Unfortunately this bill is serving as a detriment to the entire state of Alabama in terms of revenues and in terms of healthcare, particularly for women.”

Though the legislation was signed into law, it is not expected to go into effect as it will be immediately challenged in court by civil rights groups. Figures makes note of the upcoming legal battles in her repeal bill, listing a number of things our resources would be better preserved to address,” such as infant mortality, the rural healthcare crisis and health insurance.

The calls for impeachment continue:

“Congressman Amash’s brave public statement makes support for an impeachment inquiry bipartisan, and I have privately spoken to other Republicans who believe he is right but are unwilling to say so publicly.”

Updated

Reuters is reporting that the State Department sees signs that the Syrian government may be using chemical weapons, including an alleged chlorine attack on Sunday, and that

Washington and its allies would respond “quickly and appropriately” if this were proven, the State Department warned:

“Unfortunately, we continue to see signs that the Assad regime may be renewing its use of chemical weapons, including an alleged chlorine attack in northwest Syria on the morning of May 19,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

“We are still gathering information on this incident, but we repeat our warning that if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately,” she said.

Ortagus said the alleged attack was part of a violent campaign by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces violating a ceasefire that has protected several million civilians in the greater Idlib area.

“The regime*s attacks against the communities of northwest Syria must end,” the statement said. “The United States reiterates its warning, first issued by President Trump in September 2018, that an attack against the Idlib de-escalation zone would be a reckless escalation that threatens to destabilize the region.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has twice bombed Syria over Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons, in April 2017 and April 2018. In September, a senior U.S. official said there was evidence showing chemical weapons were being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

The State Department statement accused Russia and Assad’s forces of “a continuing disinformation campaign ... to create the false narrative that others are to blame for chemical weapons attacks.”

“The facts, however, are clear,” the statement said. The Assad regime itself has conducted almost all verified chemical weapons attacks that have taken place in Syria * a conclusion the United Nations has reached over and over again.”

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will be visiting Ireland while they are in Europe next month.

Trump: I allowed everyone to testify

Reminder that the White House blocked former counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress this morning.

Washington bureau chief David Smith had a quick question-and-answer session today with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House corridors:

Q: DO YOU SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT?

“I do. I have for quite some time now and I think that the grounds have been there for quite some time but the case is really getting to a larger point that we haven’t seen before.”

Q: WHAT OF NANCY PELOSI’S RELUCTANCE?

“I mean, we’ll see. I know that the conversation is really changing this week in the caucus and so we’ll see where the speaker lands.”

Q: WOULD YOU ENDORSE BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT?

“I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon. I’m still trying to get a handle on my job. It seems like ages but I’m just five months in and we have quite some time. The debates are in the summer and our first primary election for the entire country isn’t until next year.”

Q: WOULD YOU ENDORSE JOE BIDEN?

“I’d be hard pressed to see that happen, to be honest, in a primary.”

With protesters nationwide rallying against the various abortion bans passing across the country, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers vowed Tuesday to veto the anti-abortion bills heading to the state Senate.

Updated

Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over for Erin Durkin. Let’s see where the day takes us.

Summary

  • Former White House counsel Don McGahn, defying a subpoena, refused to appear for testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. It’s another escalation in the feud between the White House and Congress, which has more Democrats moving toward support for impeachment. Later, the Judiciary Committee issued two more subpoenas, to Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson.
  • Protesters in Washington, DC and around the country rallied against state legislation to ban or severely restrict abortion. The #StoptheBans event drew several Democratic presidential candidates.
  • HUD Secretary Ben Carson, when questioned about REOs - a real estate term for foreclosed property - thought he was being asked about Oreo cookies. At the same congressional hearing, Carson defended his plan to evict undocumented immigrants and their US citizen children from subsidized housing.

Donald Trump says he’ll be nominating Barbara Barrett as Secretary of the Air Force.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is going to Israel with a large contingent of business leaders — not surprisingly, especially as the GOP woos Jewish voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. But DeSantis’ plan to hold a meeting with his elected Cabinet while he’s there has raised concerns about whether officials are violating the state’s open-meeting laws. The Associated Press reports:

When DeSantis first announced the trade mission, he noted that his attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner would accompany him, and that the Cabinet would hold a meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem during the trip, which runs from May 25 to May 31.

Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had previously planned a trade mission to the country, but there was no apparent reason why the other two were going, except for the Cabinet meeting.

“I see no reason to hold a Cabinet meeting in Israel,” said Barbara Petersen, president of the open-government watchdog group First Amendment Foundation. “And we still don’t have an agenda, so I don’t know what they will be doing at that meeting.”

By law, the state has to post an agenda seven days before the independently elected Cabinet members meet, except during an emergency. As of Tuesday, the Cabinet website not only didn’t list an agenda for the meeting, it didn’t even have the meeting on the calendar.

DeSantis’ office isn’t talking about his Israel plans, citing security issues. The Associated Press has made several requests to interview the governor about the trip by phone or in person, and his office said he wasn’t available.

The Republican National Committee paid $2 million last month to the law firm where former White House counsel Don McGahn now works, the Washington Post reports.

The RNC said the payment to law firm Jones Day was for two years of legal work. Jones Day is the main law firm for Donald Trump’s campaign. Trump told McGahn to defy a subpoena and refuse to appear Tuesday at the House Judiciary Committee, and he followed those instructions and skipped the testimony.

The House Judiciary Committee has sent subpoenas to Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director, and Annie Donaldson, the chief of staff to ex-White House counsel Don McGahn, the Washington Post reports.

The subpoenas come after McGahn, who was also under subpoena, refused to testify earlier Tuesday, heeding instructions from Donald Trump.

It’s unclear if the two new witnesses will comply, setting up further confrontation between the committee and the White House.

Donaldson in particular was known to document daily conversations and meetings in detailed notes.

Updated

HUD Secretary Ben Carson makes light of his slip-up at a hearing earlier today - where he mixed up the real estate term REOs and the cookie Oreos - and offers up a pack of the cookies for Rep. Katie Porter, who questioned him.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson defended his plan today to evict undocumented immigrants and their US citizen children from subsidized housing.

“It seems only logical that taxpaying American citizens should be taken care of first,” Carson said during congressional hearing, the Washington Post reports.

“It’s not that we’re cruel, mean-hearted. It’s that we are logical. This is common sense. You take care of your own first.”

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Pennsylvania Democrat, shares a text exchange with her son after coming out in favor of impeachment proceedings.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday making Washington the first state to approve composting of human bodies, as an alternative to burying or cremating the remains. The Associated Press reports:

It allows licensed facilities to offer “natural organic reduction,” which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into about two wheelbarrows’ worth of soil in a span of several weeks.

Loved ones are allowed to keep the soil to spread the same way they might spread the ashes of someone who has been cremated.

Supporters say it’s more environmentally friendly than embalming or cremation, and it makes sense in cities where land for burials is scarce.

The law takes effect in May 2020.

Brian Ballard, a Florida lobbyist and top fundraiser for Donald Trump, is hosting a fundraiser Tuesday for Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch, Politico reports.

The fundraiser is being hosted by Ballard and several lobbyists at his firm, Ballard Partners, at a Washington steakhouse, according to an invitation obtained by Politico.

Amash says he could run against Trump as Libertarian

Rep. Justin Amash, the Republican who said Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses, isn’t ruling out running against Trump as a Libertarian.

“I’m just focused on defending the Constitution, it’s not something I’ve thought about,” Amash told the Hill. “I don’t take things off the table like that, but it’s not something at the forefront of my considerations right now, I’m just focused on my job. I wouldn’t take running for governor off the table or Senate or state house, I don’t take things off the table.”

Updated

Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied for nearly two hours outside the supreme court on Tuesday, applauding fiery speeches from senators, members of Congress, activists and six presidential candidates who made clear the issue is likely take centre stage in the 2020 election.

Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan and Eric Swalwell, all competing in the Democratic primary, described the anti-abortion drive as an attack on human rights and attempted by Trump-emboldened Republicans to turn back the clock. Another candidate, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was also in attendance but did not make remarks.

The mood among the crowd in bright sunshine was defiant, energetic and hopeful. Protesters waved signs saying “We won’t be punished” and “Protect Safe, Legal Abortion”. A small counter-demonstration also took place.

“We are not going to allow them to move our country backward,” Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota, told the crowd through a megaphone. “You know who’s with us? The American people are with us.”

Gillibrand, senator from New York, said Trump is turning women into “second class citizens” in America. “This is the beginning of President Trump’s war on women. If he wants this war, he will have it and he will lose.”

Booker, senator from New Jersey, said: “We must wake up more men to join this fight and it’s not because we have mothers and wives and daughters. But because this is an assault on human dignity, on freedom.”

Warning of the danger of apathy, Booker added that current generation cannot rest on the laurels of what previous generations achieved for civil rights. “This is a day in America when we must understand there can be no neutrality... Today is a day in our land when we see people trying to take us backwards, but we must go forwards.”

Ryan, Congressman from Ohio, acknowledged that he used to be “pro-life” but, having worked with politicians and advocacy groups, and heard the stories of women, he had changed his position. “I find it insulting that some white male legislator is going to accuse women of infanticide and not caring about these kids.”

Several speakers argued that Congress must take action to codify Roe v Wade into law. Leaders of NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood also addressed the gathering.

One of the most powerful speeches of the day came from Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. “I am outraged because this is outrageous,” she said. “This nation was built on the backs and grown in the wombs of women and our rights are not up for debate.”

Among those in attendance outside the supreme court was Kathy Kleeman, 66, from South Brunswick, New Jersey. She said: “For all women in this country, it’s essential we protect these rights. I remember before Roe v Wade and it wasn’t good: it was very spotty and dangerous for a lot of women, and we mustn’t go back to that.”

She added: “Right wingers are in the ascendent. I don’t believe Donald Trump cares about the issue one way or another, but this is red meat for his supporters.”

The Justice Department is offering the House Intelligence Committee some additional materials related to the Mueller report if the committee drops its threat to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt.

“To be clear, should the Committee take the precipitous and unnecessary action of recommending a contempt finding or other enforcement action against the Attorney General, then the Department will not likely be able to continue to work with the Committee to accommodate its interests in these materials,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote to the committee, the Hill reports.

A comedian who asked Elizabeth Warren for a comprehensive plan to fix her love life now says she talked to the candidate and they’ve got it all figured out.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency is calling Joe Biden a “snob bereft of elementary quality as human being,” Bloomberg News reports.

“He is self-praising himself as being the most popular presidential candidate. This is enough to make a cat laugh,” the agency wrote in a commentary piece, also calling Biden a a “fool of low IQ.”

Robert Mueller balking at public testimony before Congress

Special counsel Robert Mueller is balking at testifying publicly before Congress and pushing for a closed door hearing, Bloomberg News reports.

Mueller has said he’s hesitant to discuss his report on Russian election interference publicly and doesn’t want to be dragged into a political fight, people familiar with his position told Bloomberg.

Rep. Katie Porter asked HUD Secretary Ben Carson about REO - that is, real estate owned, which refers to property that has been taken in foreclosure. He appears to think she was saying oreo, the cookie.

Updated

A new national poll of the Democratic primary race shows Joe Biden far ahead of the rest of the field with 35% of the vote, followed by 16% for Bernie Sanders and 13% for Elizabeth Warren. Also notable: a dozen of the declared candidates do not hit 1% of the vote.

The poll also has bad news for new candidate Bill de Blasio, whose net favorability rating is the worst of any candidate.

Updated

A proposed bill in California would offer tax breaks to film and TV productions that pull out of states with abortion bans and come to California instead.

Democratic Assemblywoman Luz Rivas introduced the legislation, which would allow the productions to qualify for tax breaks even though California’s film and TV tax credit program is otherwise full, CNBC reported.

“There are actors and actresses that are refusing to be part of a production in one of those states,” Rivas told CNBC. “I think it really puts pressure on the industry to reconsider whether they want to do business in those states.”

Updated

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy blocked a bipartisan move to limit Chinese companies from contracting with US transit systems, the Washington Post reports. His action benefited a Chinese government-backed manufacturer with a plant in his district.

As part of a proposed spending deal, new rules would have prevented the company in McCarthy’s district, BYD Motors, from winning federal contracts. The company is run by a McCarthy donor. Lawmakers agreed to remove the language to avoid endangering the spending deal.

Updated

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to meet with leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in New York next week, Jewish Insider reports.

The meeting comes ahead of the Trump administration’s expected roll out of a proposed Middle East peace plan.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the alleged threat from Iran is “on hold” after the US stepped up military presence in the region.

“We’ve put on hold the potential for attacks on Americans,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean that the threats that we’ve previously identified have gone away,” Shanahan added. “Our prudent response, I think, has given the Iranians time to recalculate. I think our response was a measure of our will and our resolve that we will protect our people and our interests in the region.”

Updated

Congressional leaders from both parties and White House officials, after meeting for budget talks Tuesday, agreed that raising the debt limit will be part of a broader deal on budget caps, the Hill reports.

They plan to resume negotiations later this afternoon.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is joining ABC News as a contributor, the Daily Beast reports.

Emanuel opted last year not to run for re-election. Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was sworn in Monday.

Protests are under way outside the Supreme Court and around the country against laws banning and restricting abortion.

House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters tore into HUD Secretary Ben Carson Tuesday during his first appearance before her committee, Politico reports.

She blasted his “outrageous plan” to cut rental assistance and a “cruel proposal” to evict undocumented immigrants from subsidized housing.

“The department is actively causing harm,” she said.

Tennessee’s House speaker will resign after he was caught exchanging sexually charged text messages with his former chief of staff.

Speaker Glen Casada will step down from his leadership post in the coming weeks, the Tennessean reported. The paper earlier revealed that Casada and his then-top aide, Cade Cothren, exchanged text messages that included sexually explicit comments about women.

A federal judge in Mississippi expressed deep skepticism Tuesday about the state’s law banning abortions around six weeks into pregnancy, CNN reports.

Judge Carlton Reeves has already struck down a 15-week ban, but the state responded by passing an even more restrictive law. Reeves said the measure “smacks of defiance” of the court.

A group of 23 states and cities sued the Trump administration over its move to expand the “conscience rule” which healthcare workers to refuse to participate in medical procedures they oppose, such as abortion or birth control.

The suit argues Trump’s rule is so broad, it would force a hospital to hire a nurse who refuses to give measles vaccines in the midst of an outbreak of the disease.

Ken Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner and former attorney general of Virginia, is expected to be tapped as Donald Trump’s point person on immigration, the New York Times reports.

Kris Kobach was a leading contender for the immigration czar job - formal title TBD - but as the Times revealed, he came with a lengthy list of demands including full time access to a government jet.

As MSNBC notes, Cuccinelli is also a one-time Trump opponent who at the 2016 Republican National Convention tossed his credential on floor in disgust with “Trump RNC team.”

Eastern Virginia Medical School will hold a news conference Wednesday to reveal findings of an independent investigation they conducted into the racist photo found on Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook page, according to NBC4.

Advocates in New York are rallying for a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers’ licenses in the state.

Donald Trump says he is “very disappointed” in Mexico for doing “virtually nothing” to stop immigrants from crossing into the US, and vows an unspecified response.

Protesters rally against abortion bans

Reproductive rights activists are holding a day of action Tuesday amid a flurry of near-total abortion bans passing through state legislatures.

Campaigners said 507 events are planned altogether to protest the abortion bans. In addition to major events in New York and Washington DC, events are planned in Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri – two of states where legislators passed near-total abortion bans.

Early last week, Alabama enacted a near-total abortion ban with no exemptions for rape and incest, which has divided national Republicans. Missouri’s legislature passed an eight-week abortion ban, which is now awaiting the governor’s signature. The governor is expected to sign the legislation.

None of the new laws are expected to go into effect. Rather, they will be immediately challenged in court immediately by civil rights groups. Anti-abortion campaigners hope this will setup a US Supreme Court challenge to Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision which established a constitutional right for women to obtain abortion until a fetus can survive outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks. A full term pregnancy is 40 weeks.

Reproductive rights groups are now keeping a close eye on two more states which could pass near-total bans on abortion, including in Louisiana and Michigan. In Louisiana, a bill to ban abortion at six weeks is moving through the legislature. In Michigan, a group is seeking to ban abortion via ballot referendum.

Donald Trump’s campaign is running a number of Facebook ads falsely claiming he will celebrate his 72nd birthday next month, the New York Times report. In fact, he’ll be turning 73. Go figure.

Susan Rice, the national security adviser to President Barack Obama, plans to release a memoir in the fall.

The book is called “Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For” and is scheduled to come out in October, the Hill reports.

California Rep. Jackie Speier said “women are being depicted as chattel” in states that have moved recently to restrict abortion.

“The government has no right in my uterus, has no right in my vagina,” she told CNN.

Speier has spoken publicly about getting an abortion after learning her fetus would not survive outside the womb.

“This has gotten quite absurd, and I think Alabama is just one more example of the many states that have now passed laws to treat women as if they do not have control over their bodies,” she said in the CNN interview. “If we are going to start regulating women and their reproductive health, well maybe we should start regulating men and their reproductive health.”

White House adviser Johnny DeStefano is leaving his job on Friday, the Washington Post reports.

He is one of Donald Trump’s last remaining aides who has been on board since the beginning of his administration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet Wednesday with the entire Democratic caucus to discuss oversight an investigations, as debate heats up among Democrats on whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, Politico reports.

Larry Lucchino, the former president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, will host a fundraiser for former Vice President Joe Biden at his home next month , the New York Times reports.

John Morgan, a major politican donor in Florida, has a fundraiser scheduled for today at his home outside Orlando. “He’ll get my money when he comes to my house,” Morgan told the Times. “He’ll get my children’s money. And all my friends’ money. All in one night.”

The reliance on big money donors is in contrast with some (but not all) of Biden’s rivals, who have imposed limits on their own fundraising and focused on small dollar donors.

More Democrats move toward impeachment support

House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff chairman said the case for impeaching Donald Trump “gets stronger the more they stonewall.”

“I think that the administration is certainly pushing the Congress in that direction,” he told CNN Tuesday.

He’s among a number of influential Democrats becoming more supportive of impeachment as the White House refuses to cooperate with Congressional inquiries, most recently ordering former White House counsel Don McGahn not to show up for subpoenaed testimony this morning.

“I think it’s time,” House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth told CNN.

“I think that’s what it’s come to,” added Rep. Joaquin Castro, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has resisted impeachment, saying Trump is not worth it.

Donald Trump’s attorneys are appealing a ruling that his accounting firm must turn over his financial records in response to subpoenas from Congress.

Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal on Tuesday in DC District Court, CNN reports.

Trump sued in an effort to block his accounting firm, Mazars USA, from handing over the records in compliance with a subpoena from Congress. A judge on Monday rejected the suit.

Senator Mark Warner introduced a bill Tuesday that would require political campaigns to report foreign contacts to the Federal Elections Commission.

The legislation would require campaigns to report it within one weeks if foreign nationals try to make campaign donations or offer information or services to influence the election, the Hill reports.

It’s targeted at incidents like the ones detailed in the Robert Mueller report, where a Russian national got in touch with the Trump campaign dangling dirt on Hillary Clinton.

“Most Americans already know that if a foreign adversary reaches out about interfering in our elections, you should report that contact,” Warner said, according to the Hill.

A coalition of 15 state attorneys general led by Letitia James of New York and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania are urging the Department of Labor not to adopt a Trump administration proposal to roll back overtime rules.

Under the Obama administration, officials ruled that all employees must get overtime pay if they make under $47,476 a year, up from $23,660 under previous rules. Above that minimum salary, employers can avoid paying overtime to employees who are considered managers. The Trump administration is moving to reverse those rules, which could prevent up to 8 million workers from getting overtime pay.

The proposal “will leave millions of workers in our states without the federal overtime protections that Congress intended to extend to them” and “make labor law enforcement in our states significantly more difficult,” the AGs wrote in their comments.

The House Judiciary Committee has now adjourned its hearing where former White House counsel Don McGahn refused to appear.

Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, called today’s hearing “theater.”

He said Democrats are desperate to find dirt on Trump after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report did not find a conspiracy to interfere in the election between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign.

“The majority claims we need to dig deeper than the two years of investigation by what is considered a prosecutorial dream team,” Collins said.

He charged that Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler “orchestrated today’s confrontation when he could have avoided it” in order to generate headlines.

“He does not actually want information. He want the fight, but not the truth,” Collins said.

Nadler: Trump's action "constitutes a crime"

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said Donald Trump’s behavior as outlined in the Mueller report “constitutes a crime.”

Nadler made the declaration after listing incidents detailed in the report in which Trump told then-counsel Don McGahn to have special counsel Robert Mueller fired, and then told him to lie about it.

“But for the Department of Justice’s policy of refusing to indict a sitting President, I believe he would have been charged with these crimes,” Nadler said.

Trump has continued a “pattern of obstruction and coverup” by seeking to block congressional inquiries after the release of the report, he said.

“Let me be clear: this Committee will hear Mr. McGahn’s testimony, even if we have to go to court to secure it,” he said in his opening statement. “We will not allow the President to stop this investigation, and nothing in these unjustified and unjustifiable legal attacks will stop us from pressing forward with our work on behalf of the American people. We will hold this President accountable - one way or the other.”

Updated

Don McGahn skips testimony before Congress

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler has opened the hearing where former White House counsel Don McGahn is refusing to appear.

“The president took it upon himself to intimidate a witness who has a legal obligation to be here today. This conduct is not remotely acceptable,” he said.

When the committee issues a subpoena, he said, “the witness must show up. Our subpoenas are not optional. Mr. McGahn has a legal obligation to be here.”

If McGahn does not immediately reverse course and agree to testify, he said, “this committee will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him.”

Updated

Senator Bernie Sanders will head to a Walmart shareholders meeting next month to call for higher wages, better benefits and more predictable schedules, the Washington Post reports.

At the Bentonville, Arkansas meeting, the presidential candidate plans to introduce a shareholders’ resolution that would give Walmart workers a seat on the company’s board.

“These workers need and deserve a seat at the table,” Sanders told the Post. “If hourly workers at Walmart were well represented on its board, I doubt you would see the CEO of Walmart making over a thousand times more than its average worker.”

Updated

The House Judiciary Committee has an empty chair ready for former White House counsel Don McGahn, CNN reports. McGahn has been issued a subpoena to testify but is expected not to show up after Donald Trump directed him not to.

Organizations around the country are holding “Stop the Bans” day of action Tuesday to protest bans and restrictions on abortion in a growing number of states.

There will be a main event in Washington, D.C. outside the U.S. Supreme Court at noon, as well as rallies in all 50 states.

Kris Kobach demanded access to a government jet 24 hours a day and a chance to become homeland security secretary if he takes a job as Donald Trump’s immigration czar, the New York Times reported Monday evening.

The former Kansas secretary of state has given the White House a list of ten conditions. The full list, obtained by the Times:

1. Office in the West Wing.

2. Walk-in privileges with the president.

3. Assistant to the President rank - at highest pay level for WH senior staff.

4. Staff of 7 people (2 attorneys, 2 research analysts, 1 scheduler, 1 media person, 1 assistant).

5. POTUS sits down individually with Czar and the secretaries of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, Ag, Interior, and Commerce, and tells each of the Secretaries to follow the directives of the Czar without delay, subject to appeal to the President in cases of disagreement.

6. 24/7 access to either a DHS or DOD jet. Czar must be on the border every week.

7. Ability to spend weekends in KS with family on way from border back to DC, unless POTUS needs Czar elsewhere.

8. Security detail if deemed necessary after security review.

9. Serve as the face of Trump immigration policy - the principal spokesman on television and in the media.

10. Promise that by November 1, 2019, the president will nominate Kris Kobach to be DHS Secretary, unless Kobach wishes to continue in Czar position.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells CNN that the US is “playing a very, very dangerous game” by boosting its military presence in the region.

He said Iran won’t negotiate with Donald Trump’s administration unless it shows the country “respect” by honoring its commitments under the nuclear deal Trump has scrapped.

“Having all these military assets in a small area is in of itself prone to accidents, extreme prudence is required and the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game,” Zarif said.

New York Mayor and newly minted presidential candidate Bill de Blasio, appearing on CNN’s New Day this morning, says his hometown battles with Donald Trump have prepared him to take on the president.

“You can’t shrink before Donald Trump. You have to be tough enough to take him on,” de Blasio said. “I understand this guy’s game plan. I’ve watched it for so long. And I understand there’s a way to confront him that’s unnerving to him, that throws him off his game.”

De Blasio compared Trump to a “schoolyard bully” who will fold when confronted. “You don’t give any ground,” he said.

The mayor also revealed that his favorite band is the Clash, and his favorite album is London Calling.

Meanwhile, the Daily Show had some fun with de Blasio’s candidacy on last night’s show, crafting an attack ad taking aim at the time dropped and debatably caused the death of a groundhog. Making a brief cameo in the segment is the Guardian’s story on why de Blasio’s candidacy has drawn such a skeptical reaction.

Don McGahn to skip congressional testimony as impeachment pressure grows

Good morning. Former White House counsel Don McGahn has been subpoenaed to testify today before the House Judiciary Committee, but Donald Trump directed him not to show up. McGahn plans to heed his old boss’s order, CNN reports.

“Mr. McGahn again finds himself facing contradictory instructions from two co-equal branches of government,” his attorney William Burck wrote in a letter to Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler. “Under these circumstances, and also conscious of the duties he, as an attorney, owes to his former client, Mr. McGahn must decline to appear at the hearing tomorrow.”

Expect the drama to play out when the Judiciary Committee convenes at 10am. Nadler told CNN the committee plans to hold McGahn in contempt if he fails to appear.

The latest showdown is contributing to growing support among Democrats for impeachment proceedings against Trump. Members of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team pressed her to begin impeachment in Monday night meetings, the Washington Post reports, but she rebuffed the idea.

Nadler was among those making the case to Pelosi for impeachment proceedings, the Post reported, arguing that with the White House stonewalling impeachment would be the only way to get access to necessary documents and testimony.

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