Trump Says Republicans Benefit From Inquiry: Impeachment Update
Trump said Wednesday he planned to release a summary of the call as soon as Thursday, though he hasn’t yet done so.
(Bloomberg) -- The House Intelligence Committee plans a public hearing Friday on its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is scheduled to testify.
Here are the latest developments:
Trump Says Impeachment Effort Helps GOP (9:20 p.m.)
Trump said the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry has been “very hard on my family” but that Republican lawmakers say the opposition party’s efforts have helped the GOP.
Trump, speaking Thursday at a rally in Bossier City, Louisiana, just outside Shreveport, said Republican lawmakers have told him: “Sir, our poll numbers are going through the roof. Do you think you could keep this going?”
The president repeated his criticism of Democrats for their impeachment efforts, saying the party is trying to “overturn” the results of the 2016 election.
Trump also said an evangelical leader recently called him to say that his followers “had never been more energized” because of the impeachment proceedings.
Second Aide Who Heard Call May Not Testify (5:46 p.m.)
A second staff member from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv who allegedly overheard a phone call in which Trump asked diplomat Gordon Sondland about the status of “investigations” probably won’t be called to testify -- at least not in public -- according to an official familiar with the impeachment probe.
This person was previously scheduled to testify in private, before news of the Trump-Sondland call emerged. But the witness didn’t appear on that date, and the committees have not rescheduled.
Even if the person did overhear the Trump-Sondland call, the testimony may not be needed, said the official. It will depend on what information is provided by David Holmes, the other embassy staff member who heard the call, and Sondland himself.
Holmes will testify before House committees behind closed doors on Friday. Sondland is scheduled to appear in a public hearing on Nov. 20.
The top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, William Taylor, said in a public hearing Wednesday that a member of his staff overheard Trump talk to Sondland by phone in a restaurant on July 26. That was the day after Trump’s call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, now at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
Without identifying Holmes by name, Taylor said his staff member could hear Trump asking Sondland about “the investigations,” in reference to probes of political rivals sought by Trump and his allies. Taylor said Sondland told Trump the Ukrainians “were ready to move forward.”
Trump Shows Call Transcript to GOP Senators (4:02 p.m.)
Trump showed a group of Republican senators a transcript of his April 21 call congratulating Volodymyr Zelenskiy on his election as the president of Ukraine.
“It was a very nice congratulatory call,” Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters Thursday after the president’s lunch meeting with about 10 GOP senators.
“He just shuffled it across the table, I read it and gave it back, as did a few others,” Cramer said. “It was a very short read.”
Trump said Wednesday he planned to release a summary of the call as soon as Thursday, though he hasn’t yet done so. A whistle-blower’s complaint about his July 25 call with Zelenskiy set off the House impeachment inquiry.
Cramer said that based on the facts he’s seen so far, “there’s no way” Trump would be convicted in the Senate if impeached by the House.
GOP Has ‘Faulty Defense,’ Democrat Says (2:42 p.m.)
Democrat Jim Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Republicans showed at Wednesday’s public hearing that they have a “faulty defense” of Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine.
Their defense “is that the president has powers that he can exercise,” Himes said. “That is a faulty defense because power can be exercised in a corrupt way and that’s what happened here.”
Himes of Connecticut said bribery and extortion are “cousin offenses” that can represent an abuse of power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier Thursday that Trump’s actions amount to bribery.
The Intelligence Committee plans to hear from eight more witnesses next week, including Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. U.S. envoy William Taylor testified that Sondland was overheard talking with Trump on the phone about Ukraine and “investigations.”
“He’s pretty important to us” because Sondland is a firsthand witness to Trump’s conduct, said Himes. He said committee members “want this to move along very quickly.”
Pelosi Says Testimony Reveals Bribery (12:02 p.m.)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday’s testimony in the House inquiry revealed that Trump committed bribery, one of the criteria for impeachment named in the Constitution.
“The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That’s bribery,” Pelosi said. She noted that the witnesses who testified, State Department officials George Kent and William Taylor, were appointed by the president.
Pelosi said the House hasn’t decided whether to impeach the president and added that as the inquiry goes forward, Trump is welcomed to bring witnesses in his own defense. But given the evidence currently before the House, she said what Trump has done by delaying aid to Ukraine “makes what Nixon did look almost small.”
Durbin Expects 2020 Democrats at Senate Trial (11:01 a.m.)
Second-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin said he expects all six senators running for president in his party will be in Washington for the duration of any impeachment trial.
Their election considerations are “secondary” given the historic importance of any Senate proceedings, he said in an interview Thursday.
“This is a constitutional responsibility that we have far and above anybody’s political agenda,” Durbin said. “I believe they will take this as seriously as I do.”
Some Senate Republicans, including John Cornyn of Texas, have said that a trial would take weeks. The 1999 Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton lasted about a month.
Lawmakers expect a trial early next year. That could hamper campaign plans for the six Democrats running for president, including top-tier contenders Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, because it could coincide with the weeks leading up to balloting in the first primary states.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said Wednesday it’s up to senators to decide how long the proceedings would last. It’s “impossible to predict how long we’ll be on it,” he said. -- Laura Litvan
Catch Up on Impeachment Coverage
Key Events
- U.S. envoy to Ukraine William Taylor testified Wednesday that an aide overheard Trump on a phone call stressing his desire for Ukraine to conduct “investigations.” Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said that makes clear the instructions “are coming from the president on down.”
- Republicans attacked the testimony by Taylor and State Department official George Kent because they had no firsthand knowledge of the events. Democrats said that’s because Trump ordered top officials not to cooperate.
- The Gordon Sondland transcript is here and here; former special envoy Kurt Volker’s transcript is here and here. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s transcript is here and here; the transcript of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to the secretary of state, is here. The transcript of William Taylor, the top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, is here and here. State Department official George Kent’s testimony is here and here. Testimony by Alexander Vindman can be found here, and the Fiona Hill transcript is here. Laura Cooper’s transcript is here; Christopher Anderson’s is here and Catherine Croft’s is here.
- Taylor’s opening statement is here; Kent’s statement is here.
--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis, Laura Litvan, Erik Wasson, Evan Sully and Billy House.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Gallu in Washington at jgallu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John Harney
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