Trump news: Republicans attempt to stonewall impeachment hearing as witnesses outline damning evidence to remove president
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has claimed victory after Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz released his report claiming that the FBI did not pursue a politically motivated investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign — but that agents did tend to favour damaging evidence over exculpatory evidence as the investigation continued.
The report was released as House Judiciary Committee presented and reviewed the evidence accumulated so far in the impeachment inquiry, with charges against the president expected to be drawn up by the end of the week ahead of a potential pre-Christmas vote in the House of Representatives.
During the hearing, Democrats sought to impress upon the American people that the evidence against Mr Trump was nearly undeniable.
Republicans, meanwhile, did their best to throw the hearing off the traicks and raise as many distractions as possible.
The president is meanwhile under fire for hosting pardoned war criminals - army first lieutenant Clint Lorance and major Mathew Golsteyn - at a Florida Republican Party fundraising dinner over the weekend.
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Steve Castor has ended his opening remarks. Barry Berke was replaced by Daniel Goldman, another House Democratic counsel, who will now deliver his presentations as well.
I interviewed Daniel Goldman before he was hired by the Democrats to help spearhead the investigation into the president:
Another roll call vote requested by Republicans in an apparent attempt to interrupt the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Daniel Goldman says the allegations against Joe Biden and Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election are "patently false" and yet that has not stopped the president "even today".
"We are here today because Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, abused the power of his office, the American presidency, for his political and personal benefit", he said. "President Trump launched an unprecedented campaign of obstruction of Congress."
Daniel Goldman says the president "obstructed" the investigation and refused to allow key witnesses to testify.
Daniel Goldman notes there was at least one supporter of Donald Trump's conspiracies about Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election:
"Although no one in the U.S. government knew of any factual support for this theory, it did have one significant supporter: Russian President Vladimir Putin."
A helpful breakdown of the points House Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman has laid out in his presentation thus far:
As The Independent's Andrew Feinberg notes, some Republicans don't appear to be focused on House Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman's presentation:
Daniel Goldman lays out exactly how the president obstructed the investigation:
"Following President Trump's order, not a single document was produced by the W.H. the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of State, the Department of Defence, or the Department of Energy in response to 71 specific ... requests or subpoenas. In total, 12 witnesses did not appear."
He also said Mr Trump wanted the Ukrainian president "in a public box" by announcing the investigations.
Daniel Goldman's presentation has ended. The committee called for a temporary recess, before Florida Republican Matt Gaetz demanded a roll call.
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