The US House of Representatives impeachment report on US President Donald Trump was to be unveiled yesterday behind closed doors for key lawmakers as US Democrats push ahead with the inquiry, despite the White House’s declaration it would not participate in the House’s first Judiciary Committee hearing.
The Democratic majority on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has said that the report, compiled after weeks of testimony, would speak for itself in laying out what US Representative and committee Chairman Adam Schiff called the evidence of “wrongdoing and misconduct” by Trump over his actions toward Ukraine.
The report was being made available for committee members to review ahead of a vote today to send it to the Judiciary Committee for tomorrow’s landmark hearing.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Sunday denounced the “baseless and highly partisan inquiry.”
In a letter to US Representative and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Cipollone also declined the invitation for Trump’s counsel to appear before Nadler’s panel tomorrow.
As the impeachment inquiry intensifies, tomorrow’s hearing is to be a milestone. It is expected to convene legal experts whose testimony, alongside the report from the Intelligence Committee, could lay the groundwork for possible articles of impeachment, which the panel is soon expected to draw up.
Democrats are focused on whether Trump abused his office by withholding military aid approved by the US Congress and a White House meeting as he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch investigations into Trump’s political rivals.
The report is also expected to include evidence of possible obstruction of Congress by Trump’s instructions that officials in his administration defy subpoenas for documents or testimony.
Trump maintains that he did nothing wrong and as the House presses forward on an ambitious schedule toward an impeachment vote, Trump and his US Republican allies are aligned against the process.
House rules provide the president and his attorneys the right to cross-examine witnesses and review evidence before the committee, but little ability to bring forward witnesses of their own.
Republicans want Schiff to testify before the Judiciary Committee, although they have no power to compel him to do so, as they joined the White House effort to try to cast the Democratic-led inquiry as skewed against Trump.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was