Live political reporting continues on Wednesday’s blog:
Evening summary
- GOP lawmakers circulated an internal memo outlining arguments in defense of Trump. Democrats rebutted, releasing their own memo debunking each argument.
- Republican senators said they’d all be too busy to tune into the public impeachment hearings coming up this week.
- Donald Trump reportedly considered firing the intelligence community watchdog, because the complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry was taken seriously.
- A new poll found that Pete Buttigieg was leading in Iowa, ahead of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
- The president teased, “We’re close” on a trade deal with China
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John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, reportedly told Morgan Stanley’s hedge fund clients that he believed the president’s Turkey policy was motivated by personal or financial interests.
- The supreme court deliberated the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or Daca today.
Tune in tomorrow morning for live coverage of the first public impeachment hearings.
Democrats respond to GOP memo, rebutting Republicans’ defense of Trump
In the memo, posted on CNN, Democrats rebut each of the four arguments the Republicans put forth in their internal memo in the impeachment inquiry.
The Republican memo, obtained by Axios, put forth these points:
The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;
President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;
The Ukrainian government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call; and
President Trump met with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019 — both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating President Trump’s political rivals.
These arguments are “patently false” the Democrats’ memo says:
1) The July 25 call does show evidence of conditionality and pressure.
2) Ukraine did know about the hold on assistance, based on testimonies from Defense Department official Laura Cooper and State Department official Katherine Croft.
3) Security assistance only came after Congress intervened, and Ukraine’s president publicly said on September 25th that Trump had not set a date for a White House visit.
Republican senators say they won't be watching the impeachment hearing
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he’s got other plans: Tomorrow I’m going to be paying attention to what we’re doing in the Senate,” he told reporters.
The same goes for Senator John Cornyn of Texas, “I’ve got other things to do,” he said.
Senator Roy Blunt said his schedule is too packed. “I don’t see any time in my schedule that I would be likely to watch any of it tomorrow” he said.
We’re all so busy these days...
Foreign policy officials endorse Joe Biden
133 foreign policy officials and experts are backing Joe Biden, according to his campaign. Many of them are national security officials from the Obama-Biden administration.
The endorsements help cast Biden as a return to more centrist, traditional foreign policy, writes Washington Post’s opinion columnist Josh Rogin:
The Biden campaign is releasing the names of these former officials and experts, who have served in seven different presidential administrations, as part of Biden’s strategy to run as the Democratic candidate with (by far) the most foreign policy experience in the field. But the list of endorsers also reinforces Biden’s call for a return to a more centrist, traditional foreign policy — not a progressive break from the norm — as a response to the Trump administration’s mismanagement of a host of international crises.
“America’s standing in the world and our ability to advance the interests and values of the American people have taken a big hit these past three years. We need a new president in 2020, and Vice President Biden is the best candidate to bring us back to stable ground, repair the damage done, and restore our place in the world from his first day in office,” said Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state, now a senior adviser to Biden’s campaign.
Indeed, in a new ad campaign, Biden’s campaign casts him as a “tested and trusted” leader:
Adam Schiff on impeachment: What matters is Trump tried to scheme with Ukraine
In an interview with NPR, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff said that it doesn’t matter whether Trump’s Ukraine scheme worked, or resulted in an actual investigation into the Bidens, pushing back on the Republicans’ latest defense of the president.
Schiff told NPR’s Steve Inskeep:
In terms of whether the president has committed an impeachable offense, the fact that the scheme was discovered, the fact that the scheme was unsuccessful, doesn’t make it any less odious or any less impeachable. If the president solicited foreign help in the U.S. election, if the president conditioned official acts on the performance of these political favors, whether Ukraine ever had to go through with it really doesn’t matter. What matters is, did the president attempt to commit acts that ought to result in his removal from office?
Late afternoon summary.
There’s plenty more politics action to come and west coast reporter Maanvi Singh will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Donald Trump has been privately discussing the prospect of firing the intelligence community watchdog, reportedly because he’s aggrieved at the whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry was taken seriously.
- Rick Gates, who served as Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016, testified during the trial of Roger Stone that he learned of WikiLeaks’ planned release of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton much earlier than previously acknowledged.
- A new poll from Iowa found Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic 2020 field in the first caucus state, pulling just ahead of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
- The president teases once again that there might be a trade deal with China “soon”. He said today: “We’re close.”
- During a private speech in Miami last week, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, reportedly told the audience that he believed the president’s Turkey policy was motivated by personal or financial interests.
Trump mulls firing intel community watchdog - report
The president apparently feels so wronged that the original whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry was taken seriously by Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, that the president has been discussing the prospect of ousting this key official.
Trump appointed Atkinson in 2017 and, instead of accepting that it’s a watchdog’s job to weigh such a complaint on its merits and follow a nonpartisan procedure, the president is accusing him of disloyalty, Joanna Walters writes.
The New York Times has just broken this story.
Trump has discussed dismissing the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, because Mr. Atkinson reported a whistle-blower’s complaint about Mr. Trump’s interactions with Ukraine to Congress after concluding it was credible, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
Mr. Trump first expressed his dismay about Mr. Atkinson around the time the whistle-blower’s complaint became public in September. In recent weeks, he has continued to raise with aides the possibility of firing him, one of the people said.The president has said he does not understand why Mr. Atkinson shared the complaint, which outlined how Mr. Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals at the same time he was withholding military aid from the country....
....Mr. Trump believes he has the power to fire anyone in the executive branch, though aides say they have learned to ignore many of his private rants, unless the president brings up the subject repeatedly and appears on the precipice of making a move they feel could be damaging.
Updated
With public hearings set to start tomorrow, a House Democratic aide working on the impeachment inquiry told congressional reporters that the lawmakers leading the investigation would “continue to make news every day.”
"For those who continually ask, you should just expect that we will continue to make news every day. So don't ask 'what's on tap?' Just know something's on tap." — Democratic aide working on the impeachment inquiry just now to a conference call of Hill reporters
— Phil Elliott (@Philip_Elliott) November 12, 2019
The first public hearing in the investigation is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and former US ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch will testify Friday.
Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, also said in a memo to members today that additional witnesses would be announced later this week.
After their press conference on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on Mitch McConnell to take up the House bill that would establish a path to permanent resident status for DACA recipients.
Happening now: Pelosi and Schumer hand-deliver #HR6 to McConnell’s office to protect Dreamers. They’re calling on him to bring it for a vote on the Senate floor pic.twitter.com/r4bNyCYiSv
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) November 12, 2019
The bill, formally called the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, passed the House in June, but it has not yet been considered in the Republican-controlled Senate.
George Kent, one of the officials scheduled to testify in tomorrow’s public impeachment hearing, intends to deliver a different opening statement than the one he gave during his closed-door interview.
George Kent’s lawyer tells me he anticipates Kent will have a different opening statement tomorrow than the one he used in his depo
— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) November 12, 2019
Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state overseeing European and Eurasian affairs, previously told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, led a “campaign of lies” against former US ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch.
Democrats hold press conference on DACA
Democratic lawmakers are holding a press conference on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy shortly after the Supreme Court heard arguments about Trump’s decision to end the program.
Longtime Democratic senator Dick Durbin slammed Trump for falsely saying in a morning tweet that some DACA recipients are “very tough, hardened criminals.”
“Take a good look at these criminals, would you?” Durbin sarcastically said, gesturing to the DACA recipients gathered for the press conference. “You’re looking at some of the most determined and courageous people in the United States of America.”
Despite Pete Buttigieg’s strong showing in the latest Iowa poll, the Indiana mayor is still struggling to attract the support of non-white voters who make up a sizable share of the Democratic electorate.
The caveat remains that Buttigieg's support is almost all white in a party that's ~40% non-white. Lucky for him, IA and NH are overwhelmingly white and vote first.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 12, 2019
Last week's Economist/YouGov poll of Democrats found Buttigieg at 6% with Latinos and 0% with black voters.
Buttigieg’s lack of support among voters of color will not be much of a drag on his campaign in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where the electorates are mostly white.
However, the demographics of the mayor’s base may not translate into success once the primary moves beyond Iowa and New Hampshire.
Top Trump campaign aide testifies to early knowledge of WikiLeaks release
Rick Gates, who served as Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016, testified during the trial of Roger Stone that he learned of WikiLeaks’ planned release of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton much earlier than previously acknowledged.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
[Gates] testified Tuesday as part of Mr. Stone’s criminal trial, suggesting that Mr. Trump and his close aides may have been aware of a hacking and dumping operation directed against the Democratic Party far earlier than previously known.
A Russian intelligence operation stole emails and documents belonging to the Democratic Party and members of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign in March and April of 2016, according to an indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Months later, in June, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange publicly announced that he planned to release Clinton-related material. He would go on to dump documents allegedly stolen by the Russian hackers.
Mr. Stone, who left his official position on the Trump campaign in 2015, was in communication with Mr. Gates about WikiLeaks’ possible release of damaging materials since April 2016, according to Mr. Gates’s testimony Tuesday. ...
Mr. Gates also testified that he was present with Mr. Trump in July 2016 when the candidate received a phone call from Mr. Stone. Mr. Gates couldn’t hear the conversation, but he said he saw Mr. Stone’s name on Mr. Trump’s caller ID. Seconds after Mr. Trump hung up, he told Mr. Gates that more information would be coming—a comment that appeared to refer to additional email releases that would embarrass Democrats.
In written responses to questions from the special counsel’s office, Mr. Trump said he didn’t recall discussing WikiLeaks with Mr. Stone. Mr. Stone has denied speaking to Mr. Trump about the organization.
Buttigieg tops new Iowa poll
A new poll from Iowa found Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic presidential field in the first caucus state, narrowly pulling ahead of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
According to the Monmouth University poll, Buttigieg is attracting the support of 22% of the state’s likely caucus-goers, compared to Biden’s 19% and Warren’s 18%. Bernie Sanders is polling just behind his fellow frontrunners at 13%, and no other candidate hit more than 5%.
Buttigieg appears to be benefiting from his campaign’s intense focus on Iowa, where the Indiana mayor has drawn massive crowds as he hosts town halls and rallies across the state. But the 37-year-old veteran has not seen similar growth in national polls, raising questions about whether he can succeed past the early voting states.
Updated
Trump says US-Chinese trade deal coming 'soon'
Trump has wrapped up his speech at the Economic Club of New York and is now taking questions after touching on everything from trade to the Federal Reserve to foreign leaders.
The president remained vague on the details of his trade talks with China, disappointing those who had hoped he’d voice confidence in the negotiations. “We’re close. A significant phase one deal with China could happen,” Trump said. “It could happen soon.”
The president also repeatedly attacked the Federal Reserve, once again accusing the central bank of putting the US at a competitive disadvantage economically.
WATCH: At a NYC economic forum, President Trump says he meets with kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents and dictators: "Anybody who wants to come in -- dictators, it's OK -- come on in, whatever's good for the United States." https://t.co/LjP8hIdTKE pic.twitter.com/J7ekPEZQCt
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 12, 2019
And Trump said he felt comfortable meeting with any kind of foreign leader, including dictators. “Anybody who wants to come in -- dictators, it’s OK -- come on in, whatever’s good for the United States,” Trump said.
That comment comes one day before Trump is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who launched a violent military operation in northern Syria just weeks ago.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Republicans are unifying around an attack strategy to push back against the public impeachment hearings, which begin tomorrow morning.
- Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney abandoned his effort to seek a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry, saying he would follow Trump’s guidance and refuse to testify.
- The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case to determine whether Trump was wrong to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The blog will have much more coming up, so stay tuned.
Bolton reportedly suggested Trump's Turkey policy tied to personal interests
During a private speech in Miami last week, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, reportedly told the audience that he believed the president’s Turkey policy was motivated by personal or financial interests.
NBC News reports:
Bolton told the gathering of Morgan Stanley’s largest hedge fund clients that he was most frustrated with Trump over his handling of Turkey, people who were present said. Noting the broad bipartisan support in Congress to sanction Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan purchased a Russian missile defense system, Bolton said Trump’s resistance to the move was unreasonable, four people present for his speech said.
Bolton said he believes there is a personal or business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey because none of his advisers are aligned with him on the issue, the people present said.The Trump Organization has a property in Istanbul, and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump attended the opening with Erdogan in 2012. Though it’s a leasing agreement for use of the Trump name, Trump himself said in a 2015 interview that the arrangement presented ‘a little conflict of interest’ should he be elected.
Senior Trump official embellishes resume, including fake Time cover
A senior Trump administration official currently serving in the state department reportedly embellished her resume, falsely claiming to be a Harvard graduate and even creating fake Time covers of herself.
NBC News reports:
An NBC News investigation found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, has inflated her educational achievements — like claiming, falsely, to be a Harvard grad — and exaggerated the scope of her nonprofit’s work.
Whatever her qualifications, Chang had a key connection in the Trump administration. Brian Bulatao, a top figure in the State Department and longtime friend of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, attended a fundraiser for her nonprofit in Dallas and once donated $5,500 to her charity, according to a former colleague of Chang’s.
Chang, who assumed her post in April, also invented a role on a UN panel, claimed she had addressed both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and implied she had testified before Congress. ...
In a 2017 video posted on her nonprofit’s website, Chang can be heard describing her work while a TIME magazine cover with her face on it scrolls past. ...
TIME magazine spokesperson Kristin Matzen said the cover is ‘not authentic.’
Chang is not alone in creating fake Time covers. In 2017, the magazine asked the Trump organization to remove fake covers bearing the president’s image after the Washington Post discovered a framed version of the cover hanging in one of the president’s golf clubs.
Mark Sanford’s announcement that he would suspend his campaign to challenge Trump in the Republican presidential primary comes just two months after the former South Carolina governor launched his bid.
The Charleston Post and Courier has more:
In a noon press conference at the New Hampshire Statehouse, Sanford announced his long-shot run is ending after previously declaring he would spend most of November campaigning in the Granite State, site of the nation’s first primary.
The move came after Sanford failed to collect much of a following, especially as President Donald Trump remains the favorite of most Republican voters nationally and while Washington is gearing up for impeachment hearings.
Sanford said the impeachment inquiry surrounding the president had sucked the proverbial oxygen out of the 2020 debate.
‘You gotta be a realist, and what I did not anticipate is an impeachment,’ he said, adding he is suspending the campaign and will look for other ways to advance his stance against the deficit.
Sanford drops out of Republican presidential primary
Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor and congressman who intended to challenge Trump in the Republican presidential primary, is suspending his campaign.
Calling his decision a “casualty of the impeachment process,” Sanford said there is “no appetite on the right for a nuanced conversation on the fiscal deficit.”
BREAKING: Fmr. South Carolina Governor Marc Sanford announces he is suspending his presidential primary campaign.
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) November 12, 2019
Calls his bid a “casualty of the impeachment process.”
Adds there‘s “no appetite on the right for a nuanced conversation on the fiscal deficit.”#nhpolitics #FITN pic.twitter.com/xynQ1H7BsY
Haley insists Trump is a 'truthful' person
Nikki Haley, Trump’s former UN ambassador, defended the president’s honesty and criticized the impeachment inquiry during a “Today” show interview about her newly released book.
“In every instance that I dealt with him, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with,” Haley said. “I never had any concerns on whether he could handle the job ever.” In fact, Trump has told thousands of falsehoods and misstatements since taking office.
"I think it's never a good practice for us to ask a foreign country to investigate an American." — Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley pic.twitter.com/DEvmz5CK37
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 12, 2019
Haley also argued against the House impeachment inquiry, asserting Democrats should allow the 2020 election to settle the matter.
“The other side of this is we are less than a year away from the election,” Haley said. “Instead, let the people decide. Let them hear the testimony, that’s fine, but let them decide.”
And Haley stood by her claim that former secretary of state Rex Tillerson tried to undermine Trump’s decisions while running the state department, which Tillerson has vigorously denied.
Bloomberg files for Arkansas primary ballot
Michael Bloomberg has officially filed to appear on Arkansas’ Democratic presidential primary ballot, the latest sign he is preparing to launch a White House bid.
Can confirm Mayor @MikeBloomberg will be on the Arkansas Primary Ballot for U.S President pic.twitter.com/S2OYAmMmQ1
— Reed Brewer (@reedobrewer) November 12, 2019
The billionaire and former New York mayor has also filed paperwork to appear on the ballot in Alabama, another Super Tuesday state. Bloomberg’s advisers have said he intends to skip campaigning in the four states that vote first (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina).
However, those backing other candidates in the Democratic primary argue it is too late to launch a bid, considering other contenders have been campaigning for months.
Mulvaney drops potential impeachment lawsuit
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has abandoned his effort to seek a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry.
Mulvaney had initially sought to join the lawsuit filed by Charles Kuppermen, the former deputy to John Bolton at the national security council. But Kupperman’s lawyer argued Mulvaney’s central role at the White House conflicted with his request to join the lawsuit.
The acting chief of staff weighed filing his own lawsuit, but Mulvaney’s lawyers have now said he will follow Trump’s guidance and not comply with the subpoena.
“Mr. Mulvaney does not intend to pursue litigation regarding the deposition subpoena issued to him by the U.S. House of Representatives. Rather, he will rely on the direction of the President, as supported by an opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, in not appearing for the relevant deposition,” Mulvaney’s lawyers said in a court filing.
Schedule released for impeachment inquiry
Reporters have obtained a schedule of the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry, which will be gaveled in at 10 a.m. E.T. tomorrow.
The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, and the ranking member, Devin Nunes, will be allowed extended questioning before other members are given the chance to speak.
The schedule also interestingly notes that Democratic members will use screens to display portions of transcripts, social media posts and text messages.
Schedule for tomorrow's public impeachment hearings, per an official working on the impeachment inquiry pic.twitter.com/D64C4znHjT
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) November 12, 2019
Carter recovering from brain surgery
Former president Jimmy Carter is now recovering from a surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, the Carter Center said in a statement.
The center said that there were “no complications from the surgery,” and another update is not expected until after the former president is released from Emory University Hospital.
Statement on President Carter’s Health pic.twitter.com/Yn8iIYVWZc
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) November 12, 2019
The center announced last night that Carter, 95, had been admitted to the hospital to “relieve pressure on his brain, caused by bleeding due to his recent falls.” Carter has fallen twice in recent weeks.
Adam Schiff told the House intelligence committee in his memo on the public impeachment hearings that additional witnesses would be announced later this week.
On the subject of whether Republicans’ witness requests would be granted, the chairman said, “The Committee is evaluating the Minority’s requested witnesses and will give due consideration to witnesses within the scope of the impeachment inquiry.”
However, Schiff warned there could be severe consequences if any member attempts to name the whistleblower whose complaint kicked off the Ukraine controversy.
“The Committee has a long, proud, and bipartisan history of protecting whistleblowers—including from efforts to threaten, intimidate, retaliate against, or undermine the confidentiality of whistleblowers,” Schiff’s memo reads.
“[T]he Code of Official Conduct for Members of Congress requires that every Member ‘shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.’ The Committee on Ethics has historically viewed this provision as ‘encompassing violations of law and abuses of one’s official position.’”
Schiff releases memo outlining impeachment hearing procedures
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, has released a memo outlining procedures for the public impeachment hearings that begin tomorrow.
“The House’s inquiry into whether grounds exist for President Trump’s impeachment has been, and will continue to be, a sober and rigorous undertaking,” Schiff’s memo reads. “The hearings will be conducted in a manner that ensures that all participants are treated fairly and with respect, mindful of the solemn and historic task before us. ...
“These procedures are consistent with those governing prior impeachment proceedings and mirror those used under Republican and Democratic House leadership for decades.”
Republicans have criticized the procedures outlined in the resolution passed by the House late last month, but speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the measure offered “more privileges to the president and his argument than were given in the past.”
Updated
Supreme Court allows Sandy Hook lawsuit to move forward
The Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer Remington Arms, which was brought by families affected by the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, can move forward.
The decision is a defeat for Remington, the company that produced the semi-automatic rifle used in the attack.
The AP has more:
The justices rejected an appeal from Remington Arms that argued it should be shielded by a 2005 federal law preventing most lawsuits against firearms manufacturers when their products are used in crimes.
The court’s order allows the lawsuit filed in Connecticut state court by a survivor and relatives of nine victims who died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012 to go forward.
The lawsuit says the Madison, North Carolina-based company should never have sold a weapon as dangerous as the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle to the public. Gunman Adam Lanza used it to kill 20 first graders and six educators. It also alleges Remington targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. Lanza was 20 years old.
People have already started to gather outside the Supreme Court in anticipation of the hearing on Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Crowds gather in the rain before the #SCOTUS arguments in the cases challenging President Trump’s rescission of #DACA. pic.twitter.com/ZyvBLu2FsR
— Kimberly Atkins (@KimberlyEAtkins) November 12, 2019
Trump was defending his decision earlier this morning, claiming on Twitter that some DACA recipients were “very tough, hardened criminals.” However, a CNN anchor pointed out that was not the case.
False. “Under current policy, an individual may be considered for DACA if he or she has not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more “non-significant” misdemeanors..or does not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.” -USCIS https://t.co/DsiCkmDLbN
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) November 12, 2019
White House infighting reportedly intensifies amid impeachment
Trump’s team of advisers have reportedly been increasingly at odds as they argue about how to best push back against House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
The Washington Post reports:
Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has urged aides not to comply with the inquiry and blocked any cooperation with congressional Democrats. Top political aides at the Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney once led, have fallen in line with his defiant stance, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the behind-the-scenes developments.
Mulvaney’s office blames White House counsel Pat Cipollone for not doing more to stop other government officials from participating in the impeachment inquiry, as a number of State Department officials, diplomats and an aide to Vice President Pence have given sworn testimony to Congress.
Cipollone, meanwhile, has fumed that Mulvaney only made matters worse with his Oct. 17 news conference, when he publicly acknowledged a quid pro quo, essentially confirming Democrats’ accusations in front of television cameras and reporters.
This infighting could complicate the White House’s response strategy to the public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, which begin tomorrow.
Republicans reportedly plan impeachment attack strategy
Good morning, live blog readers!
Washington is now just one day away from a major event that could determine the future of Donald Trump’s presidency: the start of public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry.
Democrats have continuously argued the president and his allies pressured Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election as the country’s military aid was held up.
Now, Republicans are unifying around the counterargument they will use to push back against Democrats’ accusations. According to a memo obtained by Axios, Republican lawmakers will make these four points during the hearings:
The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;
President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;
The Ukrainian government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call; and
President Trump met with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019 — both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating President Trump’s political rivals.
As Axios points out, the memo does not touch on the fact that several senior officials within the Trump administration have now testified to the existence of a months-long pressure campaign on Ukraine.
The hearings will give the American public the first chance to hear those details directly from the witnesses themselves, so the question now seems: will Republican voters continue to listen to the lawmakers (and the president) they elected, or will they believe the longtime civil servants testifying to that pressure campaign? The answer will determine public opinion of the impeachment inquiry moving forward.
Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:
- The Supreme Court will hold a hearing on whether the president’s decision to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy was lawful.
- Trump is still in Manhattan, where he will speak to the Economic Club of New York at 12 p.m. E.T. and then attend a fundraiser.
- The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, will continue his book tour at Washington’s Trump International Hotel at 6 p.m. E.T.
That’s all still coming up, so stay tuned.
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