Trump news: Republicans attempt to stonewall impeachment hearing as witnesses outline damning evidence to remove president
Follow the latest updates, as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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.
Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
Devin Nunes is conferring with Jordan and Ratcliffe during the break (photo via The Independent's Andrew Feinberg).
The House Judiciary Committee has returned with a rebuttal statement from GOP counsel Steve Castor.
The House Intelligence Committee has tweeted its "key findings" along with a video of Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman testifying today:
Steve Castor drew criticism during his questioning of key impeachment witnesses during the House Intelligence Committee's initial public hearings last month. It appears the GOP counsel is once again stirring controversy online over his performance at today's hearings:
Steve Castor claims the House impeachment inquiry is historic in its short length, despite Democrats having led investigations into Donald Trump for nearly three years:
"This impeachment would stand out among modern impeachments as the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a President."
Here's some analysis from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the proceedings from within the room where the hearings are being held:
Steve Castor is claiming that President Trump was justified in his concern that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election because Ukrainian officials “worked against” Donald Trump by publishing an op-ed criticizing Trump’s statement excusing Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory, and saying mean things about him in the Ukrainian press.
But the way Castor is describing the “interference,” it comes off more like he’s saying that Trump was justified in exacting revenge against Ukraine because he didn’t like being criticized.
Steve Castor claims the Democrats are advancing the impeachment inquiry despite lacking the evidence to go forward with the process -
Here's some analysis from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the hearings from within the proceedings:
Castor is now talking about how President Trump was, as the Republicans are telling the story, concerned about whether the Ukrainian government’s anti-corruption efforts were sufficient enough to justify releasing the military aid.Here’s the problem with that. Congress passed the 1974 Impoundment and Budget Control Act to expressly prohibit the President from withholding funds appropriated by Congress after the impoundment ability president’s previously made use of was abused by Richard Nixon.Because of that, President Trump didn’t have the authority to withhold funds.
Moreover, the legislation which appropriated the funds to Ukrainian security assistance required the Defense Department to certify that Ukraine had taken certain steps to fight corruption, and as DOD official Laura Cooper (and others) testified, the Defense Department sent a letter to congress attesting to having made that certification.
Steve Castor has ended his statement. The House committee will now conduct 45 minutes of questioning by the Democratic and Republican counsels. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler is beginning with the majority questioning.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments