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The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry
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5 key developments today in the impeachment inquiry
Here are the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump:
- Trump is not participating in Wednesday’s hearing: The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday on the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment,” which will have a panel of expert witnesses who will testify “on the application of the constitutional framework of high crimes and misdemeanors to the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of the President,” according to a Democratic aide. White House counsel to the President Pat Cipollone said neither Trump nor his attorneys would participate in Wednesday’s hearing.
- Democrats in prep mode: Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will hold a mock hearing tomorrow to prepare for their public hearing. The hearing will include testimony from four Constitutional law experts.
- Republicans issue rebuttal: Republicans wrote a 123-page report that rejected the Democratic allegations that Trump abused his office in his dealings with Ukraine. The Republicans argued there was nothing wrong with Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, which has served as the basis of an anonymous whistleblower complaint into Trump and Ukraine that sparked the Democratic impeachment inquiry. Trump later took to Twitter to praise the Republicans for their report.
- What the Ukrainian president said: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky denied he spoke with Trump “from the position of a quid pro quo” in an interview published Monday. “Look, I never talked to the President from the position of a quid pro quo,” Zelensky said, according to a partial transcript released by Time.
- What happens next: The House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on its impeachment report tomorrow.
Schiff says GOP impeachment rebuttal report "intended for an audience of one"
Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the GOP’s impeachment rebuttal report was “intended for an audience of one.”
He continued: “Tellingly, the minority dismisses this as just part of the President’s ‘outside the beltway’ thinking. It is more accurately, outside the law and constitution, and a violation of his oath of office.”
About the GOP’s rebuttal: Republicans gave a full-throated defense of President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine in a 123-page report published today that rejects the Democratic allegations that the President abused his office or committed any other impeachable offense.
The Republican report does not acknowledge any wrongdoing surrounding the central allegations in the impeachment inquiry, putting forward a narrative that’s likely to be used by congressional Republicans and the White House in their fight against the Democratic impeachment push. The report largely ignores or downplays testimony from career officials who raised serious questions and concerns about the conduct of the President and some of his top aides.
House Intelligence Committee members have 24 hours to review the report
Members of the House Intelligence Committee will have 24 hours to review the impeachment report.
More on this: The report is a chance for Democrats to make their case against President Trump after weeks of testimony and document collection and is expected to serve as the basis for articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee will consider.
House Democrats’ impeachment investigation is based on a whistleblower complaint from a US intelligence official about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 candidate. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden.
This Republican senator says he thinks Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election
Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, told reporters that he does believe Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election despite the fact that the intelligence community concluded in early 2017 that Russia interfered in the election to help President Trump.
Kennedy said that he doesn’t think Ukraine is as bad as Russia, but he does think they interfered. He also said that he spoke to Trump this morning. He wouldn’t answer if they talked about Ukraine.
Kennedy flip-flopped recently on whether he believes Ukraine interfered.
He called Putin a Thug and an SOB. He kept saying he didn’t think reports he read from were fake news.
Minutes after Kennedy said that Ukraine did meddle in the 2016 US elections, Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, reiterated the conclusions from the committee’s report that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections.
Warner said in their report they found that Russian agents “appeared to be spreading these fake rumors about Ukraine,” referring to the rumors that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election in support of the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Podcast: The impeachment inquiry is America's Rorschach test
December marks the potential beginning of the end for the impeachment inquiry.
With a self-imposed deadline looming, Democrats are likely preparing to draft articles of impeachment. Yet the White House is still resistant to participation. And why won’t Republicans stop talking about the debunked theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election?
In today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast, CNN political director David Chalian looks ahead at the inquiry with CNN senior writer and publisher of the Impeachment Watch Tracker Zach Wolf and impeachment expert and national security analyst at The Washington Post, Shane Harris.
Trump praises GOP for its impeachment rebuttal report
President Trump praised the Republicans for their report rejecting allegations that he abused his office in his dealings with Ukraine.
“Prior to landing I read the Republicans Report on the Impeachment Hoax. Great job! Radical Left has NO CASE,” Trump tweeted.
He also questioned whether the US Supreme Court could halt the inquiry.
Read his tweet:
Democrats will hold a mock hearing tomorrow
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will have a mock hearing Tuesday starting mid-morning to prepare for their public hearing Wednesday with four Constitutional law experts.
This comes as Democrats believe they have momentum coming off of a set of explosive House Intelligence Committee hearings. The hope, according to one source familiar with the preparations, is to keep the momentum going.
What we know: They are preparing members for a more rambunctious set of House Republicans like Reps. Louis Gohmert and Matt Gaetz who could easily seek to take the hearing off its course.
According to one source familiar with preparations, members have been told to be prepared to stay in Washington between Dec. 3 and 13 including the weekend. The source familiar with preparations said there was no reason to believe there would necessarily be weekend hearings, but the person speculated it may be more that members may need to be in town for discussions about articles of impeachment or other work.
Judge who ordered Don McGahn to testify says she won't pause his testimony
Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said she won’t pause former White House counsel Don McGahn’s testimony while he appeals her order that he must appear before the House.
But her decision today has little immediate effect because the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington has given his testimony a temporary pause and agreed to hear his case in early January.
The appeals court placed an administrative stay on McGahn’s case “pending further order” of the court. The higher court said it is considering keeping his testimony on pause as well as considering his main arguments.
In her opinion today, Jackson wrote that the White House attempt to stop McGahn from testifying is even weaker than when the Bush administration unsuccessfully tried to stop then-White House counsel Harriet Miers’ testimony.
4 law professors will testify at Wednesday's hearing
The House Judiciary Committee has announced its list of witnesses for Wednesday’s hearing.
Entitled “The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment,” the hearing will include testimony from law professors from four schools. It starts at 10 a.m. ET.
Here’s a list of witnesses:
- Noah Feldman of Harvard Law School
- Pamela S. Karlan of Stanford Law School
- Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina School of Law
- Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School
Republicans issue a rebuttal to Democrats' impeachment report before it comes out
Republicans have written a 123-page report rejecting the Democratic allegations that President Trump abused his office in his dealings with Ukraine.
They issued the rebuttal ahead of the Democrats’ plans to release their own account.
CNN has obtained a copy of the GOP report.
The Republicans argued there was nothing wrong with Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which has served as the basis of an anonymous whistleblower complaint into Trump and Ukraine that sparked the Democratic impeachment inquiry.
The Republican report — which serves as a rebuttal to the House Intelligence Committee’s Democratic report that the committee will vote on tomorrow — said that Trump’s concerns about Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and Burisma are valid. Multiple witnesses testified the claims were not legitimate.
The report said that Trump did not pressure Ukraine to investigate Burisma or the Bidens and that the evidence does not support that Trump withheld a meeting or US security assistance.
“President Trump has a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption,” the report said.
The report also claimed there is “indisputable evidence that senior Ukrainian government officials opposed President Trump’s in the 2016 election and did so publicly.”
White House in preparation mode as it gears up for Wednesday's hearing
White House officials say they are in preparation mode as they gear up for Wednesday’s hearing, the House Intelligence committee report and the Trump administration’s response to Rep. Jerry Nadler’s second letter by week’s end.
The officials say there is “constant communication” between senior administration officials and lawmakers in both the House and Senate.
Pam Bondi and Tony Sayegh, who joined the administration last month, are on Capitol Hill today meeting with House lawmakers ahead of the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearing this Wednesday to coordinate on messaging.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone is also engaging regularly with lawmakers as well, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Sources say it is likely Cipollone will take the lead as the main lawyer in a potential Senate trial and officials are still trying to game out what a trial might look like and how long it should last.
CNN previously reported the White House has urged Republican Senators to not drag it out.
White House officials also say the administration is working on the outlines of its second letter to Nadler, the committee’s chairman, arguing once again due process can’t be given retroactively. They are also arguing that if Nadler gives ample opportunity to the White House for cross-examination and a list of fact witnesses well ahead of time, it may participate.
However, White House officials concede it is unlikely President Trump or the White House lawyers will end up participating because participation would legitimize the process and take away a key White House talking point.
GOP report on Ukraine investigation rejects Democratic allegations against Trump
Republicans have written a 123-page report rejecting the Democratic allegations that President Trump abused his office in his dealings with Ukraine.
Top Republican on the judiciary committee sends letter complaining about this week's hearing
Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, has written a letter to Chairman Jerry Nadler, complaining about Wednesday’s hearing.
Collins said that with 48 hours to go before the committee’s hearing, Nadler has not provided a witness list, the House Intelligence Committee report from Chairman Adam Schiff, or any underlying materials to the Schiff report.
He wrote:
Jerry Nadler calls White House refusal to participate in impeachment hearing "unfortunate"
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, has issued a statement regarding the White House’s refusal to engage in Wednesday’s hearing, saying the response “is unfortunate because allowing the President to participate has been a priority for the House from the outset.”
He continued: “The American people deserve transparency. If the President thinks the call was ‘perfect’ and there is nothing to hide then he would turn over the thousands of pages of documents requested by Congress, allow witnesses to testify instead of blocking testimony with baseless privilege claims, and provide any exculpatory information that refutes the overwhelming evidence of his abuse of power.”
What we know: The Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday on the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment.” The hearing will feature a panel of expert witnesses who will testify “on the application of the constitutional framework of high crimes and misdemeanors to the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of the President,” according to a Democratic aide.
In a letter to Nadler, White House counsel to the President Pat Cipollone said neither President Trump nor his attorneys would participate in Wednesday’s hearing.
Trump tweets praise for top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee
President Trump tweeted praise for Republican Rep. Doug Collins, who made an appearance on FOX News Sunday and defended the President over the impeachment inquiry.
Why is this important: Collins is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which will be holding its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday.
Trump would also prefer that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp name Collins to the soon-to-be vacated Senate seat that Sen. Johnny Isakson is expected to resign from on December 31. But Kemp is expected to name businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to the vacancy this week.
Why this GOP congressman wants to see the House intel report
Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, who is not on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he has requested to review the committee’s report with his colleagues tonight.
He said he hasn’t heard back and there is no reason to believe he’d ever be allowed to review the report early.
Why this matters: Meadow’s actions highlight the lengths that some of President Trump’s allies are going to in order to be prepared to defend Trump.
Meadows clearly wants to be in the loop so that he is equipped to rebut the Democrats’ report. His argument is that he was present for more of the depositions than anyone other than House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and therefore he should be allowed to review the report before it’s publicly released.
Meadows is one of the President’s closest allies on Capitol Hill and has kept the White House regularly informed about the progress of the investigation.
Trump tweets impeachment is bringing GOP "even closer together"
President Trump tweeted today that the impeachment inquiry is unifying the Republican party and “only bringing us even closer together.”
Trump’s tweet comes after House Democrats spent last week preparing a report that will spell out the case for impeachment. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to allow members to review it today ahead of a vote scheduled for tomorrow to approve the report.
Read his tweet:
Kellyanne Conway blasts upcoming House judiciary hearing
President Trump’s senior counselor Kellyanne Conway defended the White House’s decision not to send a lawyer to Wednesday’s hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, claiming the White House has been left in the dark as to what the proceedings this week will entail.
“It’s not just a hoax — what is the process, what will they be discussing?” Conway said.
Conway was asked whether the White House will send attorneys to participate in future House Judiciary Committee proceedings. The committee’s chairman, Jerry Nadler, has given the White House a deadline of Friday to decide whether they will send lawyers to upcoming hearings.
“It depends on what the process is,” Conway said of sending lawyers to future hearings.
Conway called House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff a “fact witness” who should testify before the House Judiciary Committee. The ranking Republican on that Committee has called for Schiff to testify.
Trump tweets: "Not nice" to hold impeachment hearing on same day as NATO summit
President Trump just tweeted a video of Air Force One’s departure from Joint Base Andrews and said, “The Do Nothing Democrats purposely scheduled an Impeachment Hoax hearing on the same date as NATO. Not nice!”
Trump is on his way to London for a NATO summit.
The President, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, and other allies have complained about the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing — scheduled for Wednesday morning — beginning as Trump is overseas for the NATO summit.
Remember: The White House was invited to participate in the first hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Trump and his attorneys declined.
President Trump criticizes Democrats for holding an impeachment hearing during his NATO trip
President Trump slammed House Democrats for scheduling an impeachment hearing during his upcoming trip to London for the NATO summit.
“And for them to be doing this, saying this and putting an impeachment on the table, which is a hoax…” Trump said, before pivoting to argue that the impeachment proceedings had united Republicans.
“It really a great thing in some ways but in other ways, it’s a disgrace,” he said.
Trump was asked why he chose not to send a White House lawyer to the House Judiciary hearing on Wednesday, despite an offer from Chairman Nadler to allow the White House to do so.
“Because the whole thing is a hoax, everybody knows it,” Trump said.
The President referred repeatedly to the comments Ukrainian President Zelensky made in a recent interview with a German publication, in which he again denied he was facing a quid pro quo from Trump.
“All you have to do is look at the words of the Ukrainian president, which he just issued,” Trump said.
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