How Republicans Are Reacting To Developments In The Impeachment Inquiry
- EmbedEmbed
Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy discussed the ongoing impeachment inquiry on Thursday.
I want to bring in NPR political reporter Tim Mak, who is on Capitol Hill and has been with us this hour, if you heard that.
Tim, what did you hear there from Senator Cassidy in terms of the message that Republicans are crafting as this inquiry moves forward?
TIM MAK, BYLINE: A few things. On process, a lot of Republicans are saying that, hey, Democrats are filled with this hatred of the president, that this process is preordained. It doesn’t matter what the substance of the president’s behavior is; they want to remove him regardless. And on the substance of the allegations against the president, Republicans have been arguing, hey, the president may have done something wrong, but he didn’t do anything particular that – in particular that was criminal.
Now, Democrats have argued that, hey, we have kept an open mind this entire process. And if you talk to a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party and the House, they will say, look – we have not wanted an impeachment process. Over the last two years – or approximately two years – a lot of Democrats have not wanted to go down this road. It’s just that, they say, the president’s behavior warrants that kind of inquiry.
KELLY: All right. Thank you for watching them for us. NPR’s Tim Mak at the Capitol. Thank you, Tim.
MAK: Thanks a lot.
White House Blasts Unfair Unconstitutional And Fundamentally Un
11:34 a.m.: Moments after Pelosi announced the passage of the resolution, the president fired off a tweet and the White House issued a lengthy statement objecting to the Democrats’ impeachment process.
“The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History!” tweeted the president, who watched the vote from the White House residence.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham described the Democrats’ impeachment process as “unfair, unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American,” insisting the new impeachment rules do not validate the process.
“The president has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it,” Grisham said in the statement. “Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people … With today’s vote, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have done nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules.”
Grisham said Democrats “voted to authorize a second round of hearings that still fails to provide any due process whatsoever to the administration.”
“The Democrats want to render a verdict without giving the Administration a chance to mount a defense,” she said. “That is unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American.” — Kathryn Watson
House Of Representatives Investigations
| External video |
|---|
Maguire, who had delayed the whistleblower complaint from reaching Congress, testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee on September 26. Maguire defended his decision not to immediately forward the whistleblower complaint to Congress and explained that he had consulted the White House Counsel and the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department , but was unable to determine whether the document was protected by executive privilege. Democrats on the committee questioned his actions, arguing that the law demands the forwarding of such complaints to the committee. Maguire countered that the situation was unique since the complaint involves communications of the president. Members of the House Intelligence Committee also asked Maguire why he chose to consult with White House lawyers when he was not required to do so by law, to which he responded that he believed “it would be prudent to have another opinion.”
Recommended Reading: Who Is Right Republicans Or Democrats
Mcconnell Says Democrats Setting A New Low On Impeachment
12:53 p.m.: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced House Democrats earlier on the Senate floor, criticizing them for denying the president “basic due process rights” in their upcoming resolution.
“Any such inquiry must be conducted by the highest standards of fairness and due process, but thus far this time around instead of setting a high bar, House Democrats seem determined to set a new low,” McConnell said. “‘No due process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it’ is not a standard that should ever be applied to any American and it should not be applied here to the president of the United States.” — John Nolen
Witnesses Scheduled To Testify Next Week
9:49 a.m.: An official working on the impeachment inquiry confirmed the following witnesses are expected to testify in closed session on Monday, November 4:
- John Eisenberg, deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs and legal adviser to the National Security Council
- Robert Blair, assistant to the president and senior adviser to the acting chief of staff
- Michael Ellis, senior associate counsel to the president and deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council
- Brian McCormack, associate director for natural resources, energy and science at the Office of Management and Budget
Blair was originally expected to testify on Friday, November 1. — Rebecca Kaplan
You May Like: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid
Limbaugh Wrongly Claims Republicans Are Being Shut Out Of Impeachment Hearings
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh wrongly claimed that House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump are keeping Republicans out of their hearings.
More than 40 Republican lawmakers disrupted witness testimony on Oct. 23 by storming a secure room and chanting, “Let us in!”Manynewsoutlets and topDemocrats quickly pointed out that roughly a dozen of the protesting Republicans already had access to the depositions they were demanding to hear.
Still, Limbaugh and others have charged that Republicans have been shut out of the Houses impeachment inquiry into Trumps actions on Ukraine.;
“The thing that, of course, is top-drawer today and has been all week is what little Adam pencil-neck Schiff is doing behind closed doors in a so-called impeachment inquiry that doesnt feature the opposition party, it doesnt feature cross-examination, no transcripts are released, everythings being done in private, only selected leaks, you know the drill,” Limbaugh;said Oct. 25;on his radio show.
Limbaughs comments were made before House Speaker Nancy Pelosis to bring the probe to a more open phase, starting with an on a resolution to affirm the ongoing investigation and start public hearings.
Limbaugh, who did not respond to requests for comment, has a point that the impeachment hearings have so far taken place behind closed doors, without transcripts being formally released. ;
Featured Fact-check
White House Official Wasn’t Concerned Anything Illegal Occurred On Trump’s Ukraine Call
1:24 p.m.: Tim Morrison, the outgoing National Security Council official who listened to President Trump’s July call with the president of Ukraine, told lawmakers he “promptly” brought concerns about the call to White House lawyers, but did not think “anything illegal was discussed.”
CBS News learned the substance of his opening statement to the committees, which ran six pages. Morrison said the summary released by the White House of the call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accurately reflects his memory and understanding of the call, but said he had three concerns about a potential leak of the summary.
“irst, how it would play out in Washington’s polarized environment; second, how a leak would affect the bipartisan support our Ukrainian partners currently experience in Congress; and third, how it would affect the Ukrainian perceptions of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship,” Morrison told lawmakers. “I want to be clear, I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed.”
Read his full statement here.
Also Check: Did The Republicans And Democrats Switch Platforms
Giuliani Ally Says He’ll Testify About Alleged Ukraine Role In 2016 Election
From CNNs Mary Ilyushina in Kiev, Ukraine
Former Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko told CNN today that hes been;contacted by US Senate staff and has agreed to be interviewed on the topics of “Ukraine,;2016 election and DNC.
Earlier today, Republican lawmakers, who chair three Senate committees, announced today they were;seeking the interview to examine what they allege were efforts in 2016 to undermine the Trump;campaign.
Telizhenko is a former junior diplomat who previously worked in the Ukrainian Embassy in;Washington and has promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia,;conspired to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.
He previously told CNN he spent about six hours in New York with President Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in May this year and;discussed a range of issues including the business dealings of Hunter Biden in Ukraine as;well as what he called the DNC Ukraine collusion.
Telizhenko has been been attending meetings with Giuliani in Kiev this week as part of;Giulianis trip to Europe;in a continued bid to dig dirt on Trumps political rivals.
Did Americans Support Impeaching Trump
A calculation of support for and opposition to impeachment, accounting for each poll’s quality, recency and sample size, from Mar. 1, 2019, to Feb. 13, 2020
We collected all the polls we could find that asked respondents some version of a yes-or-no question about whether they supported impeaching Trump, though some polls also gave respondents a dont know or no opinion option. If the same poll asked more than one impeachment question , we included both questions, but the results of those questions were averaged together, then input into the model, so the poll was not double counted.
The buttons below the impeachment tracker allow you to toggle between three separate views: First, the default view is an average of all polls asking about the impeachment process. The other two views filter the polls to show you a subset of all impeachment polls. The middle button shows an average of polls that asked whether respondents supported Congress beginning an impeachment inquiry or whether they approved of the impeachment process. The final button shows an average of polls that asked whether respondents thought Trump should be impeached or impeached and removed; this view also includes polls conducted after the Houses impeachment vote about whether respondents approved of the vote.
You May Like: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans
Efforts To Impeach Barack Obama
| This article is part of a series about |
During Barack Obama‘s tenure as President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, certain Republican members of Congress, as well as Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich, stated that Obama had engaged in impeachable activity and that he might face attempts to remove him from office. Rationales offered for possible impeachment ranged from Obama allowing people to use bathrooms based on their gender identity, to the 2012 Benghazi attack, to Obama’s enforcement of immigration laws, and false claims that he was born outside the United States.
Multiple surveys of U.S. public opinion found that a near supermajority of Americans rejected the idea of impeaching Obama, though a bit more than a simple majority of Republicans did support such efforts. For example, CNN found in July 2014 that 57% of Republicans supported impeachment, but in general, 65% of American adults, disagreed with impeachment with only 33% supporting such efforts.
House Votes To Impeach Trump But Senate Trial Unlikely Before Bidens Inauguration
9. Rep. John Katko, New Yorks 24th: Katko is a moderate from an evenly divided moderate district. A former federal prosecutor, he said of Trump: It cannot be ignored that President Trump encouraged this insurrection. He also noted that as the riot was happening, Trump refused to call it off, putting countless lives in danger.
10. Rep. David Valadao, Californias 21st: The Southern California congressman represents a majority-Latino district Biden won 54% to 44%. Valadao won election to this seat in 2012 before losing it in 2018 and winning it back in the fall. Hes the rare case of a member of Congress who touts his willingness to work with the other party. Of his vote for impeachment, he said: President Trump was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on January 6. He added, His inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense.
You May Like: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998
Trump Impeachment May Define The Future Of A Divided Republican Party
WASHINGTON With the impeachment vote Wednesday, Republicans stand on the brink of a historic decision over whether to punish or protect a president who many say incited a deadly mob to overrun the U.S. Capitol in a push to overturn the election result.
The decision could define the party and shape American democracy for generations to come.
Ten House Republicans voted for impeachment, most notably the third-ranking member, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who said President Donald Trump “lit the flame of this attack” and who accused him of an unprecedented “betrayal” of his oath to the Constitution.
The other Republicans who voted to impeach were John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and David Valadao of California.
Schiff: Democrats Take No Joy In Continuing With Impeachment Inquiry
12:36 p.m.: Speaking to reporters after the vote on the impeachment resolution, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Democrats “take no joy” in continuing with the impeachment inquiry.
“This is a solemn day in the history of our country,” Schiff said. “We take no joy in having to move down this road and proceed with the impeachment inquiry, but neither do we shrink from it.”
Schiff also said Republicans will have equal opportunity to question witnesses as Democrats in open hearings, in accordance with the rules established in the resolution. He noted that most of the Republicans “who have been permitted to attend have failed to attend” ongoing closed hearings.
In the same press conference, Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern said the passage of the resolution was historic.
“I truly believe that one hundred years from now, that historians will look back and judge us by the decisions we are making today,” McGovern said. — Grace Segers
Don’t Miss: Who Were The Leaders Of The Radical Republicans?
Pelosi Says Nothing Less Than Our Democracy At Stake
10:19 a.m.: Pelosi, appearing next to a poster-sized American flag, took to the floor and read from the preamble to the Constitution to lay out the stakes of the impeachment inquiry.
“This is something that is very solemn, that is prayerful,” Pelosi said. “I doubt anybody in this place, or anybody that you know, comes to Congress to take the oath of office, comes to Congress to impeach the president of the United States, unless his actions are jeopardizing our honoring our oath of office.”
“Today the House takes the next step forward as we establish the procedures for open hearings,” she said. “What is at stake is nothing less than our democracy.” — Stefan Becket
Gop Rep Reveals How Many Colleagues Actually Believe Trumps Election Conspiracies
Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Friday that only a handful of his Republican colleagues in the House actually believe ex-President Donald Trumps election lies.
The vast majority of House Republicans, Kinzinger told CNNs Jake Tapper, were simply boarding the Trump train in a desperate bid to preserve their jobs.
How many actually believe it? Five, probably, if that, maybe? I dont know, but its in the single, its low, said Kinzinger, a vocal critic of Trump who defied his party to;vote for the impeachment of the former president for inciting the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.
People dont believe it, he continued. But what they are doing is theyre sitting around saying, I need to continue to exist in this job so that I can make an impact. I dont have the courage or the strength or the ability to swing this party, so Im going to just kinda put my head down and go along.
Some people have made the decision that grabbing onto the Trump train again, even though its been derailed, is the best way for us to push whatever, Kinzinger added. Others, meanwhile, just want to destroy the place.
Kinzinger said GOP backing of Trumps conspiracy theories may give the party a temporary hit, maybe youll win the majority, I dont think you will.
But I guarantee you in the long arc of history, this is not going to bode well for Republicans, he added.
Watch the video here:
Also Check: Why Do People Hate Planned Parenthood
Move Marks First Significant Vote Since Probe Began Into Trumps Call For Ukraine To Investigate Joe Biden
WASHINGTONThe House passed a resolution almost entirely along party lines to initiate the public phase of an inquiry into President Trumps dealings with Ukraine, setting a blueprint for the fourth presidential impeachment investigation in U.S. history.
The 232-196 vote underscored the sharp partisan divide in Washington over impeachment. All Democrats but two supported the measure while all Republicans rejected it. The Houses one independent, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, voted yes.
Public Debate Over Impeachment Demands
In terms of background, U.S. public opinion widely opposed efforts made to impeach previous Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. CNN Polling Director Keating Holland has stated that their organization found that 69% opposed impeaching President Bush in 2006.
According to a July 2014 YouGov poll, 35% of Americans believed President Obama should be impeached, including 68% of Republicans. Later that month, a CNN survey found that about two thirds of adult Americans disagreed with impeachment efforts. The data showed intense partisan divides, with 57% of Republicans supporting the efforts compared to only 35% of independents and 13% of Democrats.
On July 8, 2014, the former Governor of Alaska and 2008 RepublicanVice Presidential nomineeSarah Palin publicly called for Obama’s impeachment for “purposeful dereliction of duty”. In a full statement, she said: “Itâs time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment.”
Andrew McCarthy of the National Review wrote the book Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case For Obama’s Impeachment, which argued that threatening impeachment was a good way to limit executive action by Obama .
Recommended Reading: Democratic Nominees Standings
