Democrats’ intensifying impeachment fervor exploded Wednesday after the White House released a summary of President Donald Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian president that showed he explicitly sought a “favor”: an investigation of Joe Biden.
The memo confirmed Democrats’ most prominent suspicions: That Trump pushed a foreign government to investigate his political rival, while hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine was being held up. Notably, Trump offered the aid of the Justice Department in that investigation and emphasized his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was acting as his emissary on the matter.
“The release of the memo is devastating for the president’s defenders,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a longtime impeachment advocate who sits on the Judiciary Committee.
The call with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky is just one piece of a whistleblower’s complaint that the Trump administration has been withholding from Congress — a move that prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi and dozens of House Democrats to call for formal impeachment proceedings on Tuesday.
“This should shock the conscience of every American — and we still don’t have the full story,” added Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a member of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. “The administration continues to illegally withhold the full whistleblower complaint.”
What the White House provided was not a verbatim transcript of Trump’s call, though Democrats saw it as damaging enough.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, quipped: “Read the ‘transcript.’ And remember that it is what the White House voluntarily provided.”
In a statement, the Justice Department revealed that the intelligence community’s inspector general cited a potential campaign finance violation related to the whistleblower complaint about the call. But the department ultimately concluded that no criminal activity occurred, according to Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Barr — based on his role in evaluating the Trump transcript — must recuse himself from any oversight of the matter.
Some of Trump’s GOP allies were already jumping to his defense, with Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, saying: “There was no quid pro quo and nothing to justify the clamor House Democrats caused” when they launched a formal impeachment inquiry.
Even without the complete substance of Trump’s call, more than 200 members of the Democratic caucus — nearly enough to form a majority of the House — had embraced impeachment proceedings as of late Tuesday, citing Trump’s refusal to provide the whistleblower complaint related to the phone call.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said that lawmakers have discussed the possibility of returning to Washington next week for hearings, despite the scheduled recess.
“An ideal timeline is as soon as possible,” added Bass who sits on the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees.
Later Wednesday, the House will take its first formal legislative action related to the Ukraine controversy when it votes on a non-binding resolution to disapprove of the Trump administration’s refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint to the congressional intelligence committees. Democrats largely see that vote as a placeholder for its impeachment push ahead of a planned two-week House recess that starts Friday.
The Senate passed a related measure on Tuesday demanding the whistleblower complaint be provided to Congress. The White House is expected to release the full whistleblower complaint and the accompanying inspector general’s report later this week, but House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told POLITICO late Tuesday that he had not received word from the administration.
“The White House hasn’t told us anything about their intentions,” said Schiff, who is seeking an interview with the whistleblower.
The Intelligence Committee is also gearing up for a hearing Thursday with Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to demand details about the whistleblower complaint and his decision to allow the White House and the Justice Department to block it from Congress.
Schiff’s meeting with the whistleblower could happen as soon as Thursday, after Maguire testifies before the panel. Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, has requested guidance from the DNI’s general counsel regarding what his client can tell the committee.
Trump, who is scheduled to meet with Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later Wednesday, was quick to trash Democrats for escalating their impeachment drive.
Democrats held a full caucus meeting Wednesday morning as their leaders continued to hash out an impeachment strategy. Rank-and-file lawmakers were vexed at the lack of details about how to carry out Pelosi’s call to action.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a longtime impeachment supporter who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said her panel would not be doing anything differently when it comes to its investigations, which center on potential financial crimes.
According to several lawmakers and aides, Pelosi did not provide a timetable for the completion of its inquiry, leading some to question whether Democrats’ new phase would be any different than the already-ongoing investigation being led by the House Judiciary Committee and supported by other congressional panels.
Democrats view the emergence of the whistleblower as the motivation needed to accelerate efforts to impeach Trump. The White House’s role in blocking the complaint — which was characterized as “urgent” by an intelligence community watchdog — from reaching Congress motivated even Democrats in swing districts to come off the sidelines in favor of impeachment proceedings, citing urgent national security concerns.
News reports citing current and former intelligence officials have suggested the whistleblower provided details about a July 25 call between Trump and Zalensky in which Trump pressured the Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden — a direct solicitation for foreign interference in the 2020 election, Democrats say. The White House also held up a package of military aid to Ukraine days before the call.
Trump has called the conversation a “perfect call,” but his comments sidestep reports that the whistleblower described a much larger set of troubling facts that suggested inappropriate pressure on a foreign leader.
Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan and Zachary Warmbrodt contributed to this report
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/25/trump-ukraine-memo-1510895
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