House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delivered a statement Dec. 5 outlining next steps in the House impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that President Trump’s wrongdoing strikes at the heart of the Constitution and asked House committee chairs to proceed with articles of impeachment, saying lawmakers have “no choice but to act.”
Her address, in which she invoked principles espoused by the nation’s founders, came shortly after Trump went on Twitter to urge House Democrats to impeach him quickly, if they plan to do it, and suggested he would call an expansive list of witnesses during a trial in the Republican-led Senate.
At the heart of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that President Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine in the face of Russian military aggression, to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
●White House gears up for aggressive effort to defend Trump in Senate as House moves toward impeachment vote
●Impeachment goes to college.
●Attorney General William P. Barr’s handpicked prosecutor tells inspector general he can’t back right-wing theory that Russia case was U.S. intelligence setup.
Who’s involved in the impeachment inquiry | Key documents related to the inquiry | What’s next in the inquiry
9:15 AM: Pelosi asks committee chairs to proceed with articles of impeachment
Pelosi said Thursday that Trump’s wrongdoing strikes at the heart of the Constitution and asked House committee chairs to proceed with articles of impeachment, saying lawmakers have “no choice but to act.”
Her morning address is a clear sign that the Democratic-led House intends to impeach Trump in coming weeks.
“The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit,” Pelosi said in remarks at the Capitol.
“The president has engaged in abuse of power undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections. His actions are in defiance of the vision of our founders and the oath of office that he takes to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our Founders and our heart full of love for America, today I’m asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment.”
In her remarks, Pelosi gave no indication of how quickly the process would move. Nor did she say how narrowly crafted the articles of impeachment would be.
Democrats have been divided over whether to focus solely on Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine or to include other questionable conduct, including his alleged obstruction of the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian election interference in the 2016 election.
Pelosi’s comments come a day after a panel of law professors testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Three called by Democrats said Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine met the threshold for impeachment. A fourth called by the GOP cautioned against moving quickly, saying a solid case has not been established.
Earlier this week, the House Intelligence Committee released a 300-page report contending Trump had placed his personal political interests above the national interests.
By: John Wagner and Mike DeBonis
8:40 AM: Ukraine lawmaker seeking Biden inquiry meets with Giuliani in Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani met Thursday in Ukraine with one of the key figures working to build a corruption case against Hunter Biden, the Ukraine official said in a Facebook post.
The lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, posted photographs of himself meeting Giuliani in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, vowing to set up an anti-corruption group in the Ukraine parliament.
Derkach gave no further details of the meeting in the Facebook post. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
But Giuliani’s presence in Ukraine advances efforts of Trump allies to create an alternative narrative in the rapidly moving impeachment investigation — tapping some of Ukraine’s most controversial figures who have spread theories of corruption and impropriety around Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and Ukraine interference in the 2016 election.
Read more here.
By: David L. Stern and Robyn Dixon
8:10 AM: Trump urges House Democrats to impeach him quickly if they’re going to do it
Trump on Thursday urged House Democrats to impeach him quickly, if they plan to do so, and accused them of “demeaning our country.”
“[N]othing matters to them, they have gone crazy,” Trump said in morning tweets. “Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business.”
Trump suggested he would call a wide array of witnesses in a Senate trial, including Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the Bidens and “many more.”
Trump said the trial would “reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is.”
In his tweets, he also panned the Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday in which three law professors called by Democrats said his conduct toward Ukraine met the threshold of impeachment.
“The Do Nothing Democrats had a historically bad day yesterday in the House,” Trump said. “They have no Impeachment case and are demeaning our Country.”
By: John Wagner
8:00 AM: Hoyer says ‘facts will dictate’ when impeachment inquiry ends
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) declined to put a timeline on the House impeachment inquiry, saying only that it could come to a close “in the relatively near future.”
“We don’t know what that near future is,” Hoyer said on CNN. “We’re not going to put a timeline on it. The facts will take dictate how quickly the Judiciary Committee can reach a conclusion.”
Hoyer also declined to preview the statement Pelosi plans to make at 9 a.m.
“She’s going to make whatever announcement she intends to make,” he said.
By: John Wagner
7:50 AM: ‘Oh, yippee!’ Kellyanne Conway says of Pelosi’s planned statement
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway offered her thoughts Thursday on Pelosi’s planned statement on the impeachment inquiry.
“Oh, yippee!” Conway said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”
Conway argued that Pelosi should go ahead and say that Democrats plan to impeach Trump because “the fix has been in for a long time.”
“Let’s stop pretending it has a damn thing to do with the 15 witnesses over two committees the Democrats have called over the last couple of weeks,” Conway said. “These witnesses mean nothing.”
By: John Wagner
7:30 AM: Judiciary vice chairwoman says it ‘seems as though’ a full House vote will occur by Christmas
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa..), the vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said that she expects Pelosi will announce that the impeachment inquiry is “moving forward” and said it “seems as though” a full House vote on impeachment will take place by Christmas.
“At this point it’s quite clear that there is a clear and present danger,” Scanlon said during an interview on MSNBC, referring to Trump’s presence in office and allegations that he sought foreign interference in the 2020 election.
Asked about Pelosi’s scheduled statement Thursday morning, Scanlon said she expects the speaker to say “that we are moving forward.”
Scanlon said she was hesitant to predict if a full House vote will take place before the Christmas holiday, but added: “It seems as though that is the way we are moving.”
In an earlier interview on CNN, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said that Democrats have “a sense of urgency” in impeaching Trump.
“[Trump] has attempted to intervene in the next election, and he needs to be stopped immediately,” she said. “We need to act now.”
Bass, a member of the Judiciary Committee and Pelosi ally, said the timing of a full House vote could depend on whether the White House decides to participate in the process. If it does participate, it could move more slowly, she said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has given Trump a deadline of Friday to announce his intentions.
By: John Wagner
7:00 AM: Pompeo says Intelligence Committee report’s description of his role is ‘just all wrong’
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday dismissed the characterization in a House Intelligence Commitee report of his alleged role in a campaign to pressure Ukraine for political favors benefiting Trump, saying it was “just all wrong.”
Pompeo, who is traveling in Portugal, was asked by a reporter about the description of him in the 300-page report released this week as being “a knowledgeable or an active participant to extract from a foreign nation the political benefits sought by the president.”
“Your question has as a basis for the question some language that you suggested was in the report,” Pompeo said. “I’ll answer only this: It’s just all wrong.”
Pompeo appeared alongside Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva at a news conference in Lisbon.
By: John Wagner
6:40 AM: Trump draws more attention to use of his son’s name in hearing
Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to draw more attention to an episode from Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing in which one of the law professors testifying invoked the name of Trump’s youngest son, Barron.
During her testimony, Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan, making a point that Trump is not a king, said, “While the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.”
In a tweet, Melania Trump condemned Karlan for invoking the name of a minor, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) later introduced the first lady’s tweet as part of the hearing record.
On Thursday morning, Trump retweeted a tweet by Johnson sharing that he had done so.
Later in Wednesday’s hearing, Karlan apologized for what she had said.
By: John Wagner
5:30 AM: Pelosi to deliver statement on status of impeachment inquiry
Sarah Silbiger
AFP/Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during the Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the west front lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Pelosi plans to deliver a 9 a.m. statement on “the status of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry,” her office announced early Thursday.
The statement is part of a busy day of public appearances by Pelosi as House Democrats seek to build public support for the case to oust Trump from office. Pelosi has a news conference scheduled later Thursday morning and plans to appear Thursday night at a CNN town hall, where she is expected to field questions on impeachment.
During a closed-door meeting Wednesday with fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill, Pelosi announced no firm decision or timeline in moving toward a vote on Trump’s impeachment, according to multiple Democratic lawmakers who attended.
But, a day after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) delivered a 300-page report detailing charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against Trump, Pelosi made clear what lies ahead in the House.
“Are you ready?” she asked her colleagues, after describing grave constitutional circumstances posed by Trump’s alleged wrongdoing surrounding his dealings with Ukraine and his subsequent decision to stonewall the House investigation into it.
Read more about Wednesday’s meeting here.
By: John Wagner, Mike DeBonis and Rachael Bade
5:15 AM: Trump to make public appearances in Washington
Having returned from a meeting with NATO leaders in London, Trump has a couple of public appearances on his schedule in Washington on Thursday.
He is scheduled to attend a luncheon with the permanent representatives of the United Nations Security Council before delivering remarks later Thursday afternoon at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
By: John Wagner
5:00 AM: A look inside Trump’s anti-impeachment spin factory
On a recent morning, more than a dozen Trump administration officials watching television in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House spontaneously stood up and applauded.
Trump had just yelled to reporters on the South Lawn, “I want nothing. I want nothing.” He had read from notes written in Sharpie in a small notebook, selectively quoting his own comments in a call with his ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who had described the conversation in otherwise damaging testimony to the House Intelligence Committee.
The clip played on a loop for the rest of the afternoon on cable news channels. It provided cause for celebration for the group of Trump staffers, who are part of a rapid-response operation set up just weeks ago to bend opinion against the effort to impeach the president.
Read more here.
By: Sarah Ellison
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