Ambition is being made to counteract ambition.
October 3, 2019 2:07 PM Subscribe
"It’s not a pretty picture, but in a sense, it’s Federalist 51 in action." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff is in delicate negotiations over testimony by the anonymous whistleblower whose detailed complaint launched an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. “I can tell you it’s going to be a very busy couple weeks ahead,” Schiff told reporters Friday. “We’re going to be trying to schedule hearings, witness interviews. We will be working on subpoenas and document requests. We’ll be busy.” Today, Trump made their schedule busier by openly calling for Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in a presser on the White House South Lawn.
On Capitol Hill today, Trump’s former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, the recently resigned Kurt Volker, told House investigators in closed-door testimony that he warned President Trump’s personal attorney and freelance investigator, Rudy Giuliani, that Ukrainian claims of Bidens’ misconduct were not credible (WaPo). ABC News further reports, "In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, [Kurt Volker] writes [...] "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign” [in] what appears to be encrypted text messages he exchanged with two other American diplomats in September regarding aid money President Donald Trump ordered to be held back from Ukraine."
And more details emerge on the second major whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration: IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence (WaPo) "An Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president or vice president’s tax returns, according to multiple people familiar with the document. [...] The whistleblower’s account focuses on the integrity of the government’s system for auditing the president and vice president’s tax returns. [...] The whistleblower, a career official at the IRS, confirmed in an interview with The Washington Post this week that he had filed a formal complaint and sent it to the tax committee chairs in both houses of Congress, including Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), and to the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on July 29."
THE WEEK IN IMPEACHMENT
‘We’re Not Fooling Around’: House Democrats Vow to Subpoena White House (NYT) "House Democrats moved on Wednesday to compel the White House to cooperate in their impeachment inquiry, announcing plans to issue a subpoena by Friday if it did not comply with requests for documents related to President Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate a leading political rival, and any attempt to conceal his actions." According to Reuters,"Trump seemed to make light of the request, telling reporters that Pelosi “hands out subpoenas like they’re cookies.”"
Margaret Taylor, writing at Lawfare, provides background on several upcoming witnesses in What the House Has Planned on Impeachment This Week. USA Today reports Democrats accuse Pompeo of 'stonewalling,' after he pushes back on impeachment requests.
In addition, CBS News reports Giuliani subpoenaed for Ukraine documents in impeachment probe "Three House committees issued a subpoena on Monday demanding documents related to Ukraine from Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, as part of the House's impeachment inquiry." According to the related U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Press Release on September 30, the Chairmen also sent separate letters seeking documents and noticing depositions with three of Giuliani’s business associates. In related news, according to John E. Bies at Lawfare, Giuliani Cannot Rely on Attorney-Client Privilege to Avoid Congressional Testimony.
Politico reports Democrats turn eye to Rick Perry in Ukrainian probe "Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey posed the questions in a letter to Perry as House Democrats push forward with their impeachment inquiry [...] "President Trump's phone call and the allegations in the whistleblower complaint raise serious questions about the messages that were communicated on behalf of President Trump to the government of Ukraine," Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Perry. He sent a similar letter to Pence." CNN reports Perry, who has met on at least three times with Zelensky, will cooperate: "We are going to work with Congress and answer all their questions."
The Guardian reports "Schiff indicated that Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community who alerted Congress to an “urgent concern” raised in the whistleblower complaint, will be called back to testify in private. Schiff and his fellow Democrats hope that will allow Atkinson to hand over names of key White House witnesses." Meanwhile, Politico reports Pentagon Ordered to Set Aside All Documents on Ukraine Aid Freeze "“Today, the general counsel of the department, in keeping with past practice on matters of importance and to ensure that all appropriate department information is available on this matter directed that DoD offices should provide any pertinent documents and records to the Office of General Counsel for cataloguing and review,” Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman told reporters."
Politico also reports Trump team throwing sand in impeachment gears, but "“There’s no reason in this case Congress has to go down that path at all,” said Phil Barnett, who served for more than a decade as a top aide to Democratic oversight heavyweight Rep. Henry Waxman and is currently informally advising party leadership on its efforts. “They know the key facts already, so this is like trying to close the barn door after the horse has already left.”"
IN OTHER IMPEACHMENT HEADLINES:
• What’s next in the Trump impeachment inquiry, and will Trump cooperate with it? (WaPo) "The House has begun a formal impeachment investigation of President Trump, but amid disagreements about witnesses and subpoenas, there's no clear indication of how long it will take." • Trump Impeachment Inquiry (WaPo) Reporting and analysis on Congress’s investigation into President Trump’s request for help from the Ukrainian president and whistleblower report
• Trump Involved Pence in Efforts to Pressure Ukraine’s Leader, Though Officials Say Vice President Was Unaware of Allegations in Whistleblower Complaint (WaPo) "Perhaps most significantly, one of Pence’s top advisers was on the July 25 call and the vice president should have had access to the transcript within hours, officials said."
• New Reports Reveal Wider Role for Barr and Pompeo in Impeachment Scandal (Guardian) Attorney general and secretary of state both reportedly took part in contacts between Trump and foreign leaders • In Italy, Pompeo says he listened in on Trump’s Ukraine call (AP) "U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he was on the phone call in which President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden."
• Australian Ambassador to Washington Rejects Key Claim by Lindsey Graham (Guardian) "Graham, an influential Republican senator, wrote to the prime ministers of Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom calling for their continued cooperation with the US attorney-general William Barr’s investigation – a controversial probe established by Donald Trump aimed at discrediting the Mueller inquiry."
• House Judiciary Committee Requests Grand Jury Materials Related to Mueller Investigation (Lawfare) In the D.C. District Court, the House Judiciary Committee filed a brief in support of their application for a judge to release certain grand jury materials relevant to the Russia investigation. The brief argues that the grand jury materials [...] are particularly crucial to determine whether President Trump provided false statements to Mueller’s office in his written answers to the special counsel’s questions. The committee also claims that the information might be relevant to the House’s investigation of “the President’s solicitation of Ukrainian interference in the 2020 election.”
• Democrats Shouldn’t Get Greedy on Impeachment (Renato Mariotti, Politico Magazine) To convict Trump, they must first persuade the public. And that means sticking to the simplest story: Ukraine. • How to Win Republican Support for Impeachment (Elizabeth Drew, NYT Opinion) Don’t rush the inquiry, and make it about more than Trump’s Ukraine scandal. • Even Getting Caught Red-Handed Isn’t Enough (Marty Lederman and Benjamin Wittes, Atlantic) One way or another, members of Congress should condemn Trump’s abuses of power. By defending his own misdeeds as no big deal, he is eroding norms of acceptable presidential behavior.
• Trump’s impeachment defiance spooks key voting blocs (Politico) "“I really don’t like where we are right now,” said one prominent Republican pollster."
Previously on Metafilter:
• Does Trump *want* to be impeached? (AskMe)
• It Begins (formal impeachment inquiry announced by Pelosi)
• "Need to find different words for unprecedented." (Trump whistleblower complaint)
• "How Do You Impeach a President?" (impeachment investigation begins in House Judiciary Committee)
Want to chat? MeFi Chat and the Unofficial PoliticsFilter Slack are available.
Many thanks to Doktor Zed for helping to create this post.
On Capitol Hill today, Trump’s former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, the recently resigned Kurt Volker, told House investigators in closed-door testimony that he warned President Trump’s personal attorney and freelance investigator, Rudy Giuliani, that Ukrainian claims of Bidens’ misconduct were not credible (WaPo). ABC News further reports, "In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, [Kurt Volker] writes [...] "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign” [in] what appears to be encrypted text messages he exchanged with two other American diplomats in September regarding aid money President Donald Trump ordered to be held back from Ukraine."
And more details emerge on the second major whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration: IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence (WaPo) "An Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president or vice president’s tax returns, according to multiple people familiar with the document. [...] The whistleblower’s account focuses on the integrity of the government’s system for auditing the president and vice president’s tax returns. [...] The whistleblower, a career official at the IRS, confirmed in an interview with The Washington Post this week that he had filed a formal complaint and sent it to the tax committee chairs in both houses of Congress, including Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), and to the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on July 29."
THE WEEK IN IMPEACHMENT
‘We’re Not Fooling Around’: House Democrats Vow to Subpoena White House (NYT) "House Democrats moved on Wednesday to compel the White House to cooperate in their impeachment inquiry, announcing plans to issue a subpoena by Friday if it did not comply with requests for documents related to President Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate a leading political rival, and any attempt to conceal his actions." According to Reuters,"Trump seemed to make light of the request, telling reporters that Pelosi “hands out subpoenas like they’re cookies.”"
Margaret Taylor, writing at Lawfare, provides background on several upcoming witnesses in What the House Has Planned on Impeachment This Week. USA Today reports Democrats accuse Pompeo of 'stonewalling,' after he pushes back on impeachment requests.
In addition, CBS News reports Giuliani subpoenaed for Ukraine documents in impeachment probe "Three House committees issued a subpoena on Monday demanding documents related to Ukraine from Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, as part of the House's impeachment inquiry." According to the related U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Press Release on September 30, the Chairmen also sent separate letters seeking documents and noticing depositions with three of Giuliani’s business associates. In related news, according to John E. Bies at Lawfare, Giuliani Cannot Rely on Attorney-Client Privilege to Avoid Congressional Testimony.
Politico reports Democrats turn eye to Rick Perry in Ukrainian probe "Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey posed the questions in a letter to Perry as House Democrats push forward with their impeachment inquiry [...] "President Trump's phone call and the allegations in the whistleblower complaint raise serious questions about the messages that were communicated on behalf of President Trump to the government of Ukraine," Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Perry. He sent a similar letter to Pence." CNN reports Perry, who has met on at least three times with Zelensky, will cooperate: "We are going to work with Congress and answer all their questions."
The Guardian reports "Schiff indicated that Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community who alerted Congress to an “urgent concern” raised in the whistleblower complaint, will be called back to testify in private. Schiff and his fellow Democrats hope that will allow Atkinson to hand over names of key White House witnesses." Meanwhile, Politico reports Pentagon Ordered to Set Aside All Documents on Ukraine Aid Freeze "“Today, the general counsel of the department, in keeping with past practice on matters of importance and to ensure that all appropriate department information is available on this matter directed that DoD offices should provide any pertinent documents and records to the Office of General Counsel for cataloguing and review,” Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman told reporters."
Politico also reports Trump team throwing sand in impeachment gears, but "“There’s no reason in this case Congress has to go down that path at all,” said Phil Barnett, who served for more than a decade as a top aide to Democratic oversight heavyweight Rep. Henry Waxman and is currently informally advising party leadership on its efforts. “They know the key facts already, so this is like trying to close the barn door after the horse has already left.”"
IN OTHER IMPEACHMENT HEADLINES:
• What’s next in the Trump impeachment inquiry, and will Trump cooperate with it? (WaPo) "The House has begun a formal impeachment investigation of President Trump, but amid disagreements about witnesses and subpoenas, there's no clear indication of how long it will take." • Trump Impeachment Inquiry (WaPo) Reporting and analysis on Congress’s investigation into President Trump’s request for help from the Ukrainian president and whistleblower report
• Trump Involved Pence in Efforts to Pressure Ukraine’s Leader, Though Officials Say Vice President Was Unaware of Allegations in Whistleblower Complaint (WaPo) "Perhaps most significantly, one of Pence’s top advisers was on the July 25 call and the vice president should have had access to the transcript within hours, officials said."
• New Reports Reveal Wider Role for Barr and Pompeo in Impeachment Scandal (Guardian) Attorney general and secretary of state both reportedly took part in contacts between Trump and foreign leaders • In Italy, Pompeo says he listened in on Trump’s Ukraine call (AP) "U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he was on the phone call in which President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden."
• Australian Ambassador to Washington Rejects Key Claim by Lindsey Graham (Guardian) "Graham, an influential Republican senator, wrote to the prime ministers of Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom calling for their continued cooperation with the US attorney-general William Barr’s investigation – a controversial probe established by Donald Trump aimed at discrediting the Mueller inquiry."
• House Judiciary Committee Requests Grand Jury Materials Related to Mueller Investigation (Lawfare) In the D.C. District Court, the House Judiciary Committee filed a brief in support of their application for a judge to release certain grand jury materials relevant to the Russia investigation. The brief argues that the grand jury materials [...] are particularly crucial to determine whether President Trump provided false statements to Mueller’s office in his written answers to the special counsel’s questions. The committee also claims that the information might be relevant to the House’s investigation of “the President’s solicitation of Ukrainian interference in the 2020 election.”
• Democrats Shouldn’t Get Greedy on Impeachment (Renato Mariotti, Politico Magazine) To convict Trump, they must first persuade the public. And that means sticking to the simplest story: Ukraine. • How to Win Republican Support for Impeachment (Elizabeth Drew, NYT Opinion) Don’t rush the inquiry, and make it about more than Trump’s Ukraine scandal. • Even Getting Caught Red-Handed Isn’t Enough (Marty Lederman and Benjamin Wittes, Atlantic) One way or another, members of Congress should condemn Trump’s abuses of power. By defending his own misdeeds as no big deal, he is eroding norms of acceptable presidential behavior.
• Trump’s impeachment defiance spooks key voting blocs (Politico) "“I really don’t like where we are right now,” said one prominent Republican pollster."
Previously on Metafilter:
• Does Trump *want* to be impeached? (AskMe)
• It Begins (formal impeachment inquiry announced by Pelosi)
• "Need to find different words for unprecedented." (Trump whistleblower complaint)
• "How Do You Impeach a President?" (impeachment investigation begins in House Judiciary Committee)
Want to chat? MeFi Chat and the Unofficial PoliticsFilter Slack are available.
Many thanks to Doktor Zed for helping to create this post.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Hey, this is absolutely structured like a megathread and we are not doing that any more. If you want to pick a focused angle and make a thread (or a couple of threads) about that, that's much more workable for us. -- restless_nomad
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