The post Donald Trump’s no racist, as past acts and presidential record prove first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In a letter to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., gave the White House until Oct. 18 to produce documents.

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“We deeply regret that President Trump has put us — and the nation — in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena,” the chairmen wrote.

The subpoena was issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee as part of Democrats’ impeachment investigation of Trump and came as The West Wing was set to allow the similar request for documents from the president’s staff to go unfulfilled, likely forcing Democrats to make good on their threat to issue a subpoena for the records.

That inquiry is looking into whether Trump pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election by freezing military aid, then urging newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and their business dealings in the Eastern European country. Democrats have claimed that the call revealed a quid pro quo in which Trump tied the request to nearly $400 million in frozen military money.

Trump has resisted Democratic attempts to produce documents and administration witnesses for the impeachment inquiry. The subpoena seems likely to escalate the clash between the two branches of government. The president said he would formally object to the impeachment investigation, even while acknowledging that House Democrats “have the votes” to proceed.

The White House was expected to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as early as Monday arguing that Congress could not mount its impeachment inquiry without first having a vote to authorize it. The letter was expected to say the administration wouldn’t cooperate with the probe without that vote. Pelosi has said such a vote is unnecessary, claiming the House is well within its rules to pursue the inquiry without it.

“The existing rules of the House provide House Committees with full authority to conduct investigations for all matters under their jurisdiction, including impeachment investigations,” Pelosi wrote Thursday in a letter to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after he, too, pressed for a floor vote.

Pelosi has sought to avoid a vote on the impeachment probe for the same reason she resisted, for months, liberal calls to try to remove the president: It would force moderate House Democrats to make a politically risky vote.

EX-ENVOY TESTIFIED UKRAINE NEVER RAISED QUID PRO QUO CONCERNS WITH HIM: SOURCE

Cummings had threatened the subpoena Wednesday after the White House ignored two letters in September seeking the documents. In Friday’s letter, the chairmen warned the White House that “Speaker Pelosi has confirmed that an impeachment inquiry is underway, and it is not for the White House to say otherwise.”

The letter added that the White House’s “failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena … shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you [Mulvaney] and the President.

Earlier Friday, House Democrats sent a letter requesting documents from Vice President Mike Pence as part of the impeachment inquiry by Oct. 15.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-committees-subpoena-white-house-in-impeachment-inquiry

The post House Oversight Committee subpoenas White House in impeachment inquiry first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

WASHINGTON — The Senate failed Monday in a bid to override a trio of vetoes issued by President Trump, allowing the administration to move forward with plans to sell billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump’s decision to sell the weapons in a way that would have bypassed congressional review infuriated lawmakers from both parties. In a bipartisan pushback, Democrats and Republicans banded together to pass resolutions blocking the $8.1 billion weapons sales to the U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf.

Votes to override Trump’s vetoes failed, 45-40, 45-39 and 46-41. A two-thirds vote was needed in each case.

The White House argued that stopping the sales would send a signal that the United States doesn’t stand by its partners and allies, particularly at a time when threats from hostile countries such as Iran are increasing. Saudi Arabia has long been a regional rival to Iran. Its strategic importance has grown as tensions with Iran have mounted after Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from a 2015 accord that restricts the Iranian nuclear program.

The Senate votes came as the House Oversight Committee released a report criticizing the Trump administration over its apparent willingness to allow the president’s friends and allies undue influence over policy toward Saudi Arabia.

New documents obtained by the committee “raise serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the president’s friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,” the report said.

The report “exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the panel’s Democratic chairman.

Cummings, who has repeatedly targeted the Trump administration in a series of investigations, came under sharp attack from Trump this weekend when the president called the congressman’s district a “disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess” were “no human being would want to live.”

The 50-page Oversight report, released Monday, says Trump’s longtime personal friend, campaign donor and inaugural chairman, Tom Barrack, negotiated directly with Trump and other White House officials to seek positions within the administration, including special envoy to the Middle East and ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, Barrack was promoting the interests of U.S. corporations seeking to profit from the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; advocating on behalf of foreign interests seeking to obtain U.S. nuclear technology; and taking steps for his own company, Colony NorthStar, to profit from the proposals, the report said.

One of the companies leading an effort to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia, IP3 International, repeatedly pressed the Trump administration not to require Saudi Arabia to commit to a rigorous “gold standard” in any agreement with the U.S., complaining it would lock them out of lucrative nuclear contracts, the report said.

IP3 officials had “unprecedented access” to the highest levels of the Trump administration, including meetings with Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Cabinet Secretaries Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, Mike Pompeo, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, and Wilbur Ross, the report said.

The report also criticized the White House for refusing to produce any documents in the investigation and said communications obtained from outside sources indicate Kushner and other officials used personal email or text accounts to communicate about Saudi-related deals.

The private communications appear to violate White House policy and the Presidential Records Act, the report said.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

A spokesman for Barrack said he has been cooperating with the Oversight panel and provided documents the committee requested.

The spokesman, Owen Blicksilver, said Barrack’s investments and business activities are well known and are intended to “better align” the Middle East and U.S. objectives. Barrack has never served in the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has approved seven applications for U.S. companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the U.S. technology is transferred without proper safeguards.

Congress is increasingly uneasy with the close relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia. Trump has made the kingdom a centerpiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran. In the process, Trump has brushed off criticism over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudis’ role in the war in Yemen.

“From the start, this administration has failed to demonstrate what kind of national security threat or quote-unquote ‘emergency’ from Iran warranted fast-tracking the sale of these weapons to Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.,” said Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The pending sale “not only is a Saudi jobs program, but it is also a giveaway of sensitive U.S. military technology,” Menendez said.

Source: https://triblive.com/news/world/senate-bows-to-trump-vetoes-allows-saudi-arms-sales/

The post Senate bows to Trump vetoes, allows Saudi arms sales first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Jim Jordan Shuts Down Dem’s Attempt to Demonize Border Patrol Agents first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated in a meeting with top Democrats earlier this week that she doesn’t want to see President Donald Trump impeached — she wants him behind bars.

“I don’t want to see him impeached. I want to see him in prison,” confirmed multiple Democrat sources, described by Politico as people familiar with Tuesday night’s meeting.

She clashed with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., over whether to launch impeachment hearings while meeting with him and top Democrats who are pursuing investigations.

Nadler reportedly pushed Pelosi to allow his committee, for the second time in recent weeks, to start an impeachment inquiry against Trump, but Pelosi once again refused his demands.

The sources told Politico that Pelosi wants Trump to be defeated in the 2020 election, and after that to face prosecution. She continues to argue that there must be public support and strong bipartisan backing before impeachment proceedings can begin.

Pelosi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne said the speaker and the committee chairmen had a “productive meeting” and “agreed to keep all options on the table and continue to move forward with an aggressive hearing and legislative strategy, as early as next week, to address the president’s corruption and abuses of power uncovered in the [Mueller] report.”

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md.; Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.; and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., were at the meeting but Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has often called for Trump’s impeachment, was not there.

Schiff and Neal both reportedly argued that if an impeachment inquiry was opened, then Democrats should be ready to impeach the president, and Cummings sided with Pelosi.

Source: https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pelosi-trump-nadler-impeachment/2019/06/06/id/919165/

The post Pelosi: I Want to See Trump ‘In Prison’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, Trump said complying with further investigations was not necessary after the White House cooperated with Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion in 2016 and possible obstruction of justice into subsequent probes.

“There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,” Trump said.

The comments come amid reports that the White House is preparing to go to legislative war with several House committees as they continue their sprawling probes into the Trump administration.

White House officials are reportedly planning on exerting executive privilege after the House Judiciary Committee filed a subpoena for testimony and documents from former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who was known to have a contentious relationship with Trump and played a starring role in Mueller’s report.

The administration directed former security clearance official Carl Kline to ignore a subpoena from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding its probe into the White House security clearance process. The direction prompted a threat from panel Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to hold Kline in contempt of Congress.

The Treasury Department also missed a second deadline to hand over six years of the president’s tax returns.

The newest back and forth between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue has brought the White House’s relationship with Capitol Hill into arguably its most combative position to date.

Trump told The Post that he has not yet made a decision regarding exerting executive privilege over testaments from aides already called upon by Congress, though to officials familiar with internal plans said that White House lawyers intend to use the tool to bar congressional testimony.

“I don’t want people testifying to a party, because that is what they’re doing if they do this,” Trump said.

“I allowed my lawyers and all the people to go and testify to Mueller — and you know how I feel about that whole group of people that did the Mueller report,” Trump added. “I was so transparent; they testified for so many hours. They have all of that information that’s been given.”

However, Democrats appear emboldened in their investigative efforts in the aftermath of the Mueller report. While the party remains divided on impeachment, with its upper echelons expressing skepticism about the prospect, House Democrats are united in their resolve to find answers to lingering questions from the special counsel’s probe.

“As to the President’s conduct, we will scrupulously assert Congress’ constitutional duty to honor our oath of office to support and defend the Constitution and our democracy.  That includes honoring the Article I responsibility of the legislative branch to conduct oversight over the other branches of government, unified in our search for the truth and in upholding the security of our elections,” Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote in a letter to her colleagues Monday.

While Mueller found insufficient evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow to bring charges, he neither implicated nor exonerated the president regarding obstruction of justice, saying that while he found 10 “episodes” of possibly obstructive behavior, Congress would ultimately decide whether or not to charge Trump in light of Justice Department guidelines that sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

Sources: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/440343-trump-no-reason-for-white-house-to-comply-with-congressional

The post Trump: ‘No reason’ for White House to comply with congressional investigations first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“How do you impeach a Republican President for a crime that was committed by the Democrats? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump tweeted shortly after arriving in Washington following an Easter Sunday spent at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Trump’s tweet came after several Democratic leaders in Congress made clear on Sunday that the possibility of impeachment was still on the table, despite opposition from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others.

“Impeachment is likely to be unsuccessful,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s “This Week,” before adding, “It may be that we undertake an impeachment nonetheless.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed similar views on the Sunday show circuit, insisting Democrats would continue to look into the issue.

The possibility of impeachment gained new urgency after the release of Mueller’s redacted report on Thursday. Though the special counsel’s team concluded there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, it also outlined in vivid detail ways in which Trump had possibly sought to interfere with the investigation, raising questions over whether he obstructed justice.

Mueller himself declined to draw a conclusion one way or the other on that matter. But the open-ended nature of that section of the report has led to renewed calls by congressional Democrats to look into whether Trump should be impeached.

Shortly after the report’s release, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), arguably the most influential of the current crop of progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said she would sign on to a resolution from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) that would examine the issue of impeachment.

Then, on Saturday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) became the first 2020 presidential hopeful to explicitly call for the House to begin impeachment proceedings.

Those new calls are likely to cause friction with Democratic leaders such as Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who have sought to quell talk of impeachment, arguing it would be too divisive going into a heated presidential election.

Pelosi has repeatedly said pursuing impeachment against Trump “is not worth it,” echoing the argument made by figures who have said the best way to defeat Trump is to vote him out of office, including former FBI Director James Comey, who played a key role in Mueller’s investigation.

That view was also endorsed by a more moderate 2020 hopeful, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who on Sunday argued Congress should not pursue impeachment just yet.

“Let the process play itself out,” Ryan said on CNN. “And let’s educate the American people too. This is a very nuanced document. Let the American people really see what’s going on here.”

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/439937-trump-takes-aim-at-dem-talk-of-impeachment

The post Trump takes aim at Dem talk of impeachment first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

They are gearing up for comprehensive probes that could go far beyond the narrow Mueller scope of Russian collusion that just concluded and extends into Trump’s presidency, campaign, business practices, and personal life.

But first, Democrats want to dig into Robert Mueller’s full report, which has not been made public.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is working with the Justice Department on a time frame for Attorney General William Barr to testify before the committee.

Nadler, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., are demanding Mueller’s findings be released in full so that Congress can evaluate it.

The House unanimously passed a resolution earlier this month calling for the Mueller report to be released.

Barr is reviewing the report, but it’s not clear how much of it will be made public or provided to Congress.

Democrats are questioning the validity of Barr’s summary and say they need to see Mueller’s full report.

“It is clear that, even after a 22-month investigation, Special Counsel Mueller was not able to exonerate the President from the charge of obstruction of justice,” Rep. Pramila Jaypal, D-Wash., said. “Equally disturbing is the fact that Attorney General Barr took less than 48 hours to determine that he will take no further action on this very serious charge. The attorney general has made it clear through his broad support for sweeping presidential power and authority and his past criticism of the Special Counsel’s inquiry that he is not an unbiased participant.”

Top Democratic leaders are also questioning Barr and want to see the full report.

“Far from the ‘total exoneration’ claimed by the President, the Mueller report expressly does not exonerate the President. Instead, it ‘sets out evidence on both sides of the question of obstruction, including the evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct justice,” Pelosi, Nadler and Schiff said in a statement.

While Mueller cleared Trump of colluding with the Russians, Democrats think they can nab him for wrongdoing elsewhere, and they are ramping up those investigations.

The House Oversight Committee is investigating $130,000 in hush money Trump allegedly paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, in pursuit of possible campaign finance law violations.

And the committee is battling White House lawyers over Trump’s refusal to turn over information about how the administration issued security clearances, which Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., believes is deeply flawed.

“The White House security clearance system is broken, and it needs both congressional oversight and legislative reform. I will be consulting with members of the committee to determine our next steps,” Cummings said earlier this month after the White House declined a request to turn over documents or provide witness testimony to the panel.

Nadler earlier this month launched an even wider investigation into the president, which is now quickly accelerating.

Nadler has summoned testimony and information from more than 80 “individuals, agencies and entities” as part of what he is calling a Judiciary Committee investigation into “public corruption, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration.”

Nadler said last week that the panel has received responses from “a large number of people” and they have provided tens of thousands of documents related to their dealings with the president.

In the Senate, the GOP majority will keep Democrats mostly at bay when it comes to investigating Trump.

Republicans are calling on Democrats to give up on endless calls to investigate Trump and instead work with them on bipartisan legislative priorities.

“It’s clear the partisans who will never be satisfied with any investigation will not be appeased by this report or Attorney General Barr’s summary of Mr. Mueller’s conclusions,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Monday.

Late Monday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called up a measure calling on Barr to release the full Mueller report, but was blocked by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who cited Barr’s pledge to review the document and release what he legally could.

Barr’s offer so far is not good enough for Democrats.

“The American people deserve to see the documentation,” Schumer said. “What did they do, who did they approach, what happened? Why sweep an issue like this under the rug, when the security of our elections are at stake?”

Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/mueller-investigation-into-trump-ends-but-house-democrats-are-just-getting-started

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Democrat lawmaker fends off the far-left wing of the party to lead the House.

Nancy Pelosi on Thursday recaptured the speaker’s gavel as her party returned to power in the House of Representatives, overcoming more than a dozen defections from rebellious Democrats.

The political powerhouse from California was elected with 220 votes, to 192 for Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy. In her new role, she will immediately confront the ongoing standoff over the partial government shutdown, even as she tries to set her party’s agenda in the 116th Congress and her deputies wield new power to investigate the Trump administration on multiple fronts.

Pelosi, who previously served as speaker for two terms, has eyed a return to the position ever since Republicans took the House in 2010.

In her floor speech marking her return to power, Pelosi vowed to pursue lower health care costs, address climate change and tackle other Democratic priorities as speaker, saying “the American people spoke, and demanded a new dawn” in November’s elections. She also made reference to the historic number of women serving in the House.

“I am particularly proud to be the woman speaker of the House of this Congress, which marks 100 years of women having the right to vote,” Pelosi said.

Her return, though, wasn’t guaranteed after Democrats flipped control of the chamber in November: some Democrats campaigned on opposing Pelosi’s return to the speakership, calling for new leadership. But in recent weeks, Pelosi, who first entered Congress in 1987, won over enough critics to secure the job again in part by agreeing to term limits for the speaker’s office.

Still, 15 Democrats refused to vote for Pelosi. Others getting votes from Democrats included former Vice President Joe Biden, Georgia Rep. John Lewis, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts.

Several Republicans, too, voted for someone other than California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who becomes House minority leader, with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie both getting votes.

Pelosi’s ascent also marks the return of divided government in Washington — the first time in Donald Trump’s presidency that Republicans do not control both chambers of Congress, though Republicans still control the Senate. That shift in power comes as the White House and Congress have yet to come to a resolution to end the partial government shutdown tied to Trump’s desire for border wall funding.

The House starts with 434 members. The House has not received a certification for North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, where there are allegations of voter fraud in the race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready.

As the first orders of business on Thursday, the House will consider two bills to re-open the government. But Republicans in the Senate and the president are not expected to support that effort, as it doesn’t include new funding for Trump’s proposed border wall.

While their most pressing issue will be trying to find a way out of the partial government shutdown that’s been in effect for nearly two weeks, scrutiny of the Trump administration will be next up on the list of priorities.

Those Democrats armed with subpoena power include Rep. Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee; and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

House committee leaders Jerry Nadler, Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff, from left to right.

In a press release Wednesday, Cummings said his committee plans to “investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in the Trump Administration,” as well as “other issues that affect the American people every day.”

The looming congressional probes amount to another front in Trump’s ever-expanding battle with institutions ranging from the mainstream media to Robert Mueller’s investigation — all coming as Democrats flirting with a 2020 bid also train their political sights on the administration. Areas of interest probed by these committees could cover everything from Trump’s ousting of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Trump’s past tax returns as a businessman to Trump’s relationship with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

On Thursday, one Democratic congressman said he plans to take advantage of the new majority by introducing articles of impeachment against Trump. Rep. Brad Sherman is reintroducing the impeachment articles that he first filed in 2017 with Democratic co-sponsor Rep. Al Green of Texas, a spokesman said.

DEMOCRAT INTRODUCING IMPEACHMENT MEASURE AGAINST TRUMP ON FIRST DAY OF NEW CONGRESS

Still, Democratic party leaders have not committed to pursuing impeachment.

“We have to wait and see what happens with the Mueller report,” Pelosi said in an interview with NBC News’ “Today” on Thursday, referring to Special Counsel Mueller’s probe. “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason. We have to see.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-officially-retake-control-of-house-as-new-congress-begins

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