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Trump says 'we're trying to find out about a whistleblower' amid impeachment inquiry – live
Trump reportedly pushed Australian PM to investigate Mueller inquiry – live
(about 3 hours later)
A new poll found that Americans are evenly split on whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office.
The whistleblower responsible for revealing Donald Trump’s call to Ukraine was within their rights to do so, the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community said in a statement released Monday.
According to the Quinnipiac University poll, 47 percent of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 47 percent say he should not. Those numbers represent a 20-point swing from less than a week ago.
The statement comes after Trump baselessly claimed the whistleblower who publicized his Ukraine call was able to do so due to a recent rule change enabling it. The ICIG said the disclosure was submitted in the same form it has had in place since May 24, 2018.
A narrow majority of Americans approve of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, with 52 percent of respondents supporting it while 45 percent oppose it.
Any individual who wants to report an urgent concern “need not possess first-hand information in order to file a complaint,” according to the rule.
The numbers confirm that impeachment remains a hotly contested issue among Americans, but the ground is clearly shifting rapidly on the subject.
Attorney General William Barr has held private meetings with foreign intelligence officials in an attempt to discredit ongoing investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 elections, the Washington Post reports.
One of the whistleblower’s lawyers has sent a tweet defending the person’s anonymity despite Trump’s claim that the White House is trying to find about more about the official.
The investigation reveals the administration’s troubling dedication to investigating adversaries, the Post reports:
The lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, warned that retaliating against the whistleblower would be a violation of federal law.
Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct.
IC WB UPDATE: The Intel Community Whistleblower is entitled to anonymity. Law and policy support this and the individual is not to be retaliated against. Doing so is a violation of federal law.
Barr reportedly made personal appeals to British intelligence officials, Italian officials, and Australian officials to help discredit the Mueller investigation, the report says.
This post has been updated to add more context about Trump’s comments.
Capitol Hill reporters are “mourning” the end of representative Chris Collins’ congressional career. His pending guilty plea for insider trading means that two of Trump’s earliest congressional endorsers have now been indicted.
The whistleblower’s lawyers have raised concerns about their client’s safety in a letter to the office of the direction of national intelligence.
Chris Collins was an early Trump surrogate in 2016 - and one of the only handful of Hill Rs who were vocal in their support during the primaries and soon after. He held weekly Trump surrogate meetings along with Duncan Hunter. Both have been indicted, Collins now pleading guilty
Here’s the letter to DNI Maguire. Whistleblower attorney @MarkSZaidEsq says 60 minutes “completely misinterpreted” its contents, but letter does say “we appreciate your office’s support thus far to activate appropriate resources to ensure their safety.”https://t.co/OFNtLUxq8p https://t.co/vzdTDenZ4S
RIP to the political career of Chris Collins, who once accidentally copied @mj_lee on a reply-all to the pharma CEO whose company was at the heart of Collins's subsequent indictmenthttps://t.co/5JT7egAG90 pic.twitter.com/3cIJ6VpSJq
Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, similarly expressed fear for the whistleblower’s safety earlier today.
And many people looked back at this moment from January 2017, when Collins bragged about trading in on insider secrets while standing in the Capitol.
Mark Warner says "any rational person would be concerned about the whistleblower's safety after the president's comments," calling Trump's attacks "outrageous" that will have a "chilling effect." The Senate Intel Committee, he said, is starting to map out potential witnesses pic.twitter.com/KMb2ymtxFt
OH in the speaker's lobby: 'Do you know how many millionaires I've made in Buffalo the past few months?' -@RepChrisCollins on his cellphone
Trump’s comment that the White House was trying to find out more about the whistleblower raised concerns that the president would defy the federal protections the anonymous person is entitled to.
The US issued new economic sanctions against a number of Russian nationals on Monday in response tomeddling in past elections.
During the House intelligence committee’s hearing last week with the acting director of national intelligence, Democrats voiced fear that Trump’s handling of the complaint could scare off future whistleblowers.
Seven Russians targeted by the sanctions were involved in an internet “troll factory” that manufactured news and online activity meant to manipulate American voters.
Whistleblowers who follow the rules, as this one did, are vital to protecting our safety and our freedoms.For the president to threaten this patriotic American with death demonstrates what prosecutors call “consciousness of guilt.” https://t.co/apA4nw61Xh
The sanctions come as social media sites and the US government seek to prevent election interference ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move is meant to make clear the US “will not tolerate foreign interference” in elections.
This post has been updated to add more context about Trump’s comments.
“The United States will continue to push back against malign actors who seek to subvert our democratic processes,” Pompeo said, “and we will not hesitate to impose further costs on Russia for its destabilizing and unacceptable activities.”
When asked by a reporter whether he knew the identity of the whistleblower, Trump said that the White House is “trying to find out” about the whistleblower.
Hello readers, Kari Paul here in San Francisco, taking over the blog for the next few hours. Stand by for more news.
Q Do you know who the whistleblower is? TRUMP: “Well we're trying to find out about a whistleblower. We have a whistleblower that reports that things that were incorrect." pic.twitter.com/jKX1J87wrg
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
The whistleblower has remained anonymous, but the New York Times controversially reported last week that he is a CIA official with an expertise on Ukraine.
This post has been updated to add more context about Trump’s comments.
In non-impeachment news, representative Chris Collins, a Republican of New York, has reportedly sent a letter of resignation to Nancy Pelosi a day before he was expected to plead guilty to insider trading charges.
The Washington Post reports:
Collins, 69, allegedly tipped off his son to confidential information about an Australian biotechnology company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, that he learned as a member of its board. Collins and several others used the information to avoid more than $700,000 in losses, according to prosecutors.
He is scheduled to change his plea Tuesday afternoon in a Manhattan federal court. ...
Collins won reelection last year after initially suspending his campaign, then reversing that decision despite pressure from Republicans to step aside and allow another GOP candidate on the ballot. Collins was sworn in for a fourth term in January but was not seated on any House committees pending resolution of his indictment.
Several candidates have announced campaigns to challenge Collins in 2020, including GOP state Sens. Chris Jacobs and Rob Ortt as well as Democratic lawyer Nate McMurray, who came about 1,000 votes shy of unseating Collins last year.
In addition to calling Trump a “corrupt human tornado,” Hillary Clinton also reacted to reports that the State Department is still investigating the email practices of her employees while she was secretary of state.
The Washington Post reported Saturday:
As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post.
In virtually all of the cases, potentially sensitive information, now recategorized as ‘classified,’ was sent to Clinton’s unsecure inbox.
State Department investigators began contacting the former officials about 18 months ago, after President Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, officials said.
Clinton’s reaction to this news was ... dismissive.
But my emails. (Thank you.)
Hillary Clinton has once again weighed in on the impeachment inquiry against Trump, this time in as concise a way as possible.
The president is a corrupt human tornado.
The former Democratic presidential candidate has voiced support for House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, applauding Nancy Pelosi for formally launching it last week.
Clinton said Thursday at an event for the abortion rights group NARAL: “This is a moment of reckoning, a historic moment, and I’m very grateful to Speaker Pelosi for her leadership.”
Democratic lawmakers and commentators have sharply criticized Trump for suggesting that the House intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, should be arrested for treason.
A Democratic presidential candidate argued it presented more evidence for Trump’s impeachment:
This is obstruction of justice.He should also be impeached for this. https://t.co/Trn39IlFx6
A former senior adviser to Barack Obama compared Trump’s actions to those of Vladimir Putin:
Arresting public officials for TREASON?Apparently, @realDonaldTrump is looking to Putin for modeling on how to handle a scandal of Trump’s own making. https://t.co/s5E4fL9vIB
A former Clinton White House aide pointed out that the true treason may lie elsewhere in this controversy:
Presidents don't get to arrest political opponents for treason just because they disagree with them.If they could, Trump could have been in prison for birtherism.We do, however, Arrest for Treason, when someone gives aid and comfort to an enemy, as Trump has done with Russia. https://t.co/sprs0HlEyc
But one senior lawmaker, the Republican Senate majority leader, seems entirely unconcerned about Trump pondering the imprisonment of a political opponent:
CNBC host: Trump has called for a civil war and charging Adam Schiff with treason as the impeachment investigation ramps up. Any comment on Trump's rhetoric?Mitch McConnell: "What I want to do is spend our time accomplishing things for the American people."
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Trump has suggested that the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee should be arrested for treason over his opening statement at a congressional hearing last week, an idea that flies in the face of the Constitution.
Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer who reportedly played a key role in trying to convince Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, has been subpoenaed by three House committees.
Mitch McConnell confirmed that the Senate would be obligated to hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office if the House impeaches him.
Trump similarly asked the Australian prime minister to assist in a Justice Department investigation of the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to the New York Times.
Another House Republican, Mac Thornberry of Texas, announced he would not seek re-election – again signaling the GOP’s low expectations of retaking control of the chamber next year.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo was present for Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president, the Wall Street Journal reported. The news could throw even more of a spotlight on the state department in the impeachment inquiry.
The blog is still covering the latest on impeachment, so stay tuned.
Trump was denounced for threatening the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, with imprisonment for treason.
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, dismissed House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry as a “skirmish” in comparison to the “war” that was special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Mitch McConnell confirmed the Senate would follow through on its constitutional duty and hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office if the House impeached him.
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow just now on his radio show re. impeachment: "We won the Mueller probe. We're going to win this one. Here we go! I tell you what. If Mueller was a war this is a skirmish."
Kari will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.
Sekulow helped guide Trump through Mueller’s investigation, which ended earlier this year after nearly two years and has largely receded into the background as concerns over the president’s Ukraine call came into focus.
NBC News has now confirmed the New York Times’ reporting that Trump asked the Australian prime minister for assistance in a Justice Department investigation of the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator, has written a Washington Post op-ed imploring fellow members of his party to oppose Trump’s re-election.
NBC News: A Justice Department official confirms that President Trump recently asked the Prime Minister of Australia, over the phone, for help in a Justice Department effort to look into the origins of the Mueller probe, @PeteWilliamsNBC reports. First reported by the NY Times.
A frequent Trump critic, Flake chose to forego another Senate election last year rather than face a bruising primary against one of the president’s more ardent supporters.
While speaking at the UN General Assembly last week, secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed any concerns that state department officials had acted improperly in its dealings with Ukraine.
Now, the Arizona Republican is encouraging GOP lawmakers to come out against Trump’s potential second term. But he is more cautious when it comes to impeachment.
Q on 9/27 at UNGA: Are you confident that you or none or your staff did anything improper? Pompeo: We have tried to use this opportunity to create a better relationship btwn U.S. & Ukraine, to build on the opportunities...to help end corruption in Ukraine. (h/t @AliRogin) pic.twitter.com/JXpS0Dzdpg
Flake writes:
Pompeo also belittled the whistleblower for relying on “secondhand knowledge” in the complaint about Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president.
Two years ago I stood in the Senate chamber and said: ‘There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles.’ ...
This now seems particularly ironic because, if the Wall Street Journal’s reporting that Pompeo participated in the call is correct, he could have quite easily cleared up any confusion by providing firsthand knowledge of the conversation.
Now, two years later, it is my former Republican Senate colleagues who have a decision to make. Or, as I see it, two decisions to make. The first is difficult; the second is easy. ...
The late-afternoon headlines are really piling up. The New York Times is now reporting that Trump similarly encouraged the Australian prime minister to work with attorney general William Barr in an investigation meant to discredit the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller.
[A]lthough impeachment now seems inevitable, I fear it all the same. I understand others who might have similar reservations. The decision to impeach or not is a difficult one indeed.
The Times reports:
Now for the easy decision. If the House decides against filing articles of impeachment, or the Senate fails to convict, Senate Republicans will have to decide whether, given what we now know about the president’s actions and behavior, to support his reelection. Obviously, the answer is no.
The White House restricted access to the call’s transcript to a small group of the president’s aides, one of the officials said, an unusual decision that is similar to the handling of a July call with the Ukrainian president that is at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump. Like that call, the discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia shows the extent to which Mr. Trump sees the attorney general as a critical partner in his goal to show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins, and the extent that Mr. Trump sees the Justice Department inquiry as a potential way to gain leverage over America’s closest allies.
“TrumpCare” does not exist – this has not stopped some firms from advertising insurance products under this banner, according to a new report from Axios.
And like the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Mr. Morrison shows the president using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests.
“Trumpcare” ads are targeted to the 7% of Americans, numbering roughly 20 million, who buy their insurance directly through brokers.
President Trump initiated the discussion in recent weeks with Mr. Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review of the Russia investigation, according to the two people with knowledge of the discussion. Mr. Barr requested that Mr. Trump speak to Mr. Morrison, one of the people said.
Often, firms selling Trumpcare sell short-term, bare bones insurance coverage likely to leave patients under-covered, Axios found.
Another poll has found that Americans are evenly split on impeaching Trump, even as support has risen in recent days.
Since the president failed to repeal Obamacare legislatively, most of the work he has done on healthcare has happened through arcane rule changes.
According to the CNN/SSRS poll, 47% of Americans are in favor of impeaching the president and removing him from office, compared to 45% who oppose it.
Many of those changes have made it easier for companies to offer cheap, low-coverage plans, effectively encouraging people to roll the dice with their health and finances.
September 24-29Trump Should Be ImpeachedAnd Removed From Office Now May Democrats 74% 76%Independents 46% 35%Republicans 14% 6%
America’s private healthcare system means under-covered patients can be left with thousands, and in some cases hundreds of thousands, of dollars in medical debt.
That nearly matches the Quinnipiac poll released earlier today, which found 47% of Americans backing impeachment and 47% opposing it.
Trump has just finished speaking at a ceremony to welcome Mark Milley, the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
The president began his remarks by noting the rain falling at the Virginia celebration. Trump said he had been told rain signals good fortune and predicted that Milley would be “the luckiest general in history.”
The president was characteristically exuberant in his comments on the US military, calling it the “greatest fighting force, without question, in the history of the world.”
Trump says around 2015 he was at a dinner with Joe Dunford and “believe it or not I was getting a big award from the Marines.” Says he told his wife Dunford was out of central casting.Trump says he asked Dunford if he “had a shot” at WH and Dunford helped him form an opinion. pic.twitter.com/RSsoTyWrag
He also thanked the outgoing chairman, Joseph Dunford. Trump said the Marine general looked the part of a senior military official, joking that he could be straight out of “central casting.”
He also oddly noted that Dunford helped him form an opinion about running for president in 2016.
And the president couldn’t finish a speech without mention the crowd size at his campaign rallies. Noting the thousands of people who attend his events, Trump said that the creation of the Space Force is one of the biggest applause lines.
Trump is currently attending a ceremony to welcome Mark Milley, the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, in Fort Myer, Virginia.
19-gun salute at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall to welcome the new chairman of @thejointstaff Gen. Mark Milley. pic.twitter.com/tdKSHK6FAa
The Army general is succeeding Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who was appointed by Barack Obama.
