Impeachment

“William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president. First of all, as you pointed out, he took very copious notes at almost every conversation, I think very nonpolitical. He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a …

The Associated Press reports: The Kremlin has drawn a parallel between the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump and accusations of Russia’s interference in his election. Asked about the hearings opening Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that “there are a lot of things far-fetched.” Peskov compared the proceedings to the U.S. claims of Russian interference in …

USA Today reports: The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump moved into public view Wednesday as the House Intelligence Committee heard from two witnesses, Ambassador William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, read his Sept. 1 text message out loud, asking …

Vox reports: In the hours leading up to an especially pivotal day in his presidency — the House begins public impeachment hearings Wednesday morning — President Donald Trump indulged in an epic Fox News binge. Trump started watching Lou Dobbs on Fox Business sometime around 7:30 pm last night. He later flipped the channel over to Fox News to catch …

Law & Crime reports: Kellyanne Conway’s attorney husband George Conway, daily Trump nemesis and critic, made an appearance Wednesday morning on MSNBC ahead of the first public impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives. “The problem with Donald Trump is, he always sees himself first,” he said. “Trump is all about Trump. And that’s why it was inevitable he’d get …

The Associated Press reports: The closed doors of the Trump impeachment investigation are swinging wide open. When the gavel strikes at the start of the House hearing on Wednesday morning, America and the rest of the world will have the chance to see and hear for themselves for the first time about President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine and consider …

Axios reports: Top House Republican sources tell Axios that one impeachment survival strategy will be to try to distance President Trump from any Ukraine quid pro quo, with Rudy Giuliani potentially going under the bus. What they’re saying: A Republican member of one of the impeachment committees told Axios: “[T]his is not an impeachment of Rudy Giuliani, it’s not an …

You know he won’t be able to resist: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says he will be paying attention to the Senate’s business Wednesday instead of the first day of the House’s public impeachment hearings. McConnell is one of several Republican senators who said Tuesday that they don’t plan to watch. “Tomorrow, I’m going to be paying attention to …

The Morning Consult reports: Most voters say there is little to no chance they will change their minds about the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s conduct, even as public hearings are set to kick off on Wednesday, according to a new Morning Consult poll. A majority of voters, 62 percent, say there is no chance they could change their …

An interesting hypothesis from a GOP strategist: A secret impeachment ballot might sound crazy, but it’s actually quite possible. In fact, it would take only three senators to allow for that possibility. According to current Senate procedure, McConnell will need a simple majority — 51 of the 53 Senate Republicans — to support any resolution outlining rules governing the trial. …

Axios reports: Confronted with a mountain of damaging facts heading into tomorrow’s opening of the public phase of impeachment, House Republicans plan to argue that “the President’s state of mind” was exculpatory. “To appropriately understand the events in question — and most importantly, assess the President’s state of mind during his interaction with [Ukrainian] President Zelensky — context is necessary,” …

Deadline reports: CBS is the first U.S. broadcast network to announce its plans to pre-empt regular daytime programming for coverage of next week’s first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry. All of the broadcast networks are expected to join cable news channels and news streaming services to cover the hearings, which will start Wednesday with the testimony of Bill Taylor, …

CNN reports: House Democrats are signaling they are now on a fast-track in their impeachment proceedings, avoiding court battles that could delay their inquiry and limiting the number of witnesses at public hearings — all signs that President Donald Trump could be impeached as soon as next month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not shared her thinking on the final …

Axios reports: Republicans formally made Rep. Jim Jordan a member of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, a move that will allow him lead the party’s defense of President Trump during public impeachment hearings next week. Privately, GOP members have said they think Jordan — one of Trump’s fiercest allies — is a stronger defender of the party and the …

The Daily Beast reports: President Trump is reportedly hiring former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and an ex-Treasury Department spokesman as temporary aides to help on impeachment-related matters, The Wall Street Journal reports. Bondi and former spokesman Tony Sayegh were reportedly offered jobs this week to join the West Wing and assist on communications, strategy, and other special projects. Details …

The New York Times reports: House Democrats will begin convening public impeachment hearings next week, they announced on Wednesday, initially calling three marquee witnesses to begin making a case for President Trump’s impeachment in public. The hearings will kick off on Wednesday, with testimony from William B. Taylor Jr., the top American envoy in Ukraine, and George Kent, a top …

The Morning Consult reports: As House Democrats begin to release transcripts of closed-door testimony and prepare for public hearings as part of their impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, public support for impeaching the president has fallen. The latest Morning Consult/Politico poll found that 47 percent of voters favor the House voting to impeach Trump, down 4 percentage points from the …

CBS News reports: As the impeachment inquiry enters its public phase, top Republicans in the House are weighing whether to temporarily assign Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the panel that will conduct the initial public hearings. Discussions about adding Jordan to the committee are “active and serious,” a senior Republican involved in …

The Associated Press reports: Energy Secretary Rick Perry is being called to testify in the House impeachment inquiry. Perry, the first member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet who has asked to appear before House investigators, is scheduled for Wednesday, according an official working on the impeachment inquiry but unauthorized to discuss it publicly. The person was granted anonymity. It’s unclear …

Bloomberg reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she expects the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump to begin public hearings this month but insisted there’s no deadline to finish the investigation. “I would assume there would be public hearings in November,” Pelosi said in a roundtable with Bloomberg reporters and editors. Any case that is made to impeach …