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On Politics | IMPEACHMENT. 2020 ELECTION. WASHINGTON. AND MORE FROM THE POLITICS WORLD. | Tuesday, November 26 | | |
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| Happy Tuesday-before-Thanksgiving! Office buildings usually packed with busy workers and highways usually packed with annoyed commuters are starting to thin out, but news from the House Democratic impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and the world of politics packs the OnPolitics newsletter. |
| Let's get started with some late-in-the-day developments. |
Trump denies sending Giuliani to Ukraine to pressure officials on probes |
| Trump on Tuesday denied sending his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to dig up dirt on his opponents, or for any other reason. "No, I didn't direct him," Trump told former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly in an online interview. Giuliani agreed with the president's remarks, telling USA TODAY Tuesday, "He never did and I never did." |
Remaining transcripts reveal official left job in part due to Ukraine aid hold |
| The remaining transcripts from closed-door interviews i were released late Tuesday and they helped shed light on questions about the suspension of security assistance to Ukraine. Here are some key takeaways from the testimonies from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official Mark Sandy and Philip Reeker , acting assistant secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia: |
| • | Sandy stated he was aware of an official in the legal office of OMB who resigned in part because of concerns over the hold on security assistance. | | • | According to Sandy, the OMB office started the process of withholding security assistance to Ukraine on July 25, the day of Trump's infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. | | • | Reeker praised Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, as an "outstanding" and "very professional" diplomat who was the victim of "outrageous smears" before Trump removed her in April. He also recalled Fiona Hill's concerns about Gordon Sondland and the frustration that Hill, a former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, voiced with Sondland's "irregular" role. | | • | Reeker also confirmed Giuliani's pressure for Ukraine investigations. "I know there was an understanding, certainly, from Kurt (Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine) and others that were there that Rudy Giuliani is feeding the president a lot of very negative views about Ukraine," Reeker said. | |
More news from the world of the impeachment inquiry |
| Just because the days of closed-door interviews, released transcripts and open hearings are over - for now - doesn't mean the coverage of the inquiry ends. This is what else is in the news: |
| • | The House Judiciary Committee scheduled its first hearing in the inquiry of Trump for Dec. 4. No witnesses were announced. But Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., explained in a letter to Trump that the hearing will discuss the historical and constitutional basis for impeachment. | | • | Trump was welcomed by supporters Tuesday night to his new home state of Florida as he took the stage at a rally in Sunrise. He angrily attacked Democrats, telling supporters "their sinister plans are failing" and "their crimes are being revealed." | | • | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to answer questions about two phone calls he had with Giuliani. The State Department released emails late Friday showing Pompeo and Giuliani spoke by phone in late March, as Giuliani was ramping up pressure on Ukrainian officials to open two investigations that would benefit Trump politically. | | • | Support for Trump's impeachment remains at about 50% despite two weeks of testimony in public hearings that Democrats felt strongly bolstered their case, according to a new CNN poll. | |
The inquiry is focused on Ukraine, but there's more than that |
| USA TODAY's Bart Jansen and Christal Hayes explained that while the Ukraine matter will remain at the heart of the impeachment effort, a group of congressional committees have been working quietly in the background to outline what they've found after months of tangential probes that could bolster House Democrats' impeachment effort . Those panels have investigated whether Trump obstructed justice, abused the power of his office, profited unconstitutionally from his business or violated campaign-finance laws. |
Wrapping it up |
| We've got more than impeachment inquiry news here at OnPolitics. See what else made headlines: |
| • | Former Vice President Joe Biden has rebounded to take the lead of the field of Democratic contenders in a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. The November poll has Biden leading at 24%, with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg receiving 16%, up 6 points from October. Senators Elizabeth Warren (14%) and Bernie Sanders (13%) round out the top four. | | • | Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, whose demotion for posing for a photo with a combatant's corpse Trump reversed, will retire and a planned review of his status has been canceled, the Navy announced. | | • | The Secret Service placed the White House on lockdown for about 20 minutes Tuesday morning amid reports of an unauthorized aircraft in the area. | | • | On the lighter side: Before heading to Florida for the Thanksgiving weekend, Trump engaged in the tradition of turkey pardoning - this year, Bread and Butter were saved - and cracked jokes about efforts to impeach him. | |
| - Until Wednesday, OnPolitics readers |
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