Political Wire

An Impeachment Inflection Point

October 23, 2019 at 10:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

John Podhoretz: “Remember when I said last week that October 17 was the worst day of the Trump presidency? Well, October 22 and has now come along to break the record. This is the day that, I think, has ensured Donald Trump’s impeachment. Not his removal. But impeachment will be bad enough.”

“Today’s key sentence: ‘Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance.'”

“It comes from the testimony of acting U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine William Taylor before House impeachment investigators, and it instantly makes all but impossible the task of anyone seeking to defend Trump against the charge that he held up American military aid to Ukraine to secure a political advantage in the 2020 election.”

Trump Repeatedly Tried to Cut Anti-Corruption Programs

October 23, 2019 at 10:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration has sought repeatedly to cut foreign aid programs tasked with combating corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere overseas, White House budget documents show, despite recent claims from President Trump and his administration that they have been singularly concerned with fighting corruption in Ukraine,” the Washington Post reports.

Quote of the Day

October 23, 2019 at 10:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“What evidence of a crime do you have? Abuse of power is not a crime… The constitution is very clear that this has to be some pretty egregious behavior.”

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Mitt Romney Alone Can Fix It

October 23, 2019 at 9:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sarah Longwell: “Part of any collective-action problem is the disincentive to go first. Senators who want to vote against Trump will want to wait until the last minute, letting their more courageous colleagues take the political hit by going first. The senator going first might get hailed as a hero when the history books are written. But in the moment, he or she will be used as a human shield. It won’t be fun, and it’s a big ask for any sitting Republican.”

“Romney is best suited for the job. We already know, from The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins, that Romney is ‘taking the prospect of a Senate trial seriously—he’s reviewing The Federalist Papers, brushing up on parliamentary procedure, and staying open to the idea that the president may need to be evicted from the Oval Office.’ He’s not up for reelection until 2024, which gives him the maximum amount of leeway to make difficult votes. Even then, he represents Utah, a deep-red state where Trump’s approval rating has been underwater for much of his presidency. And that’s all assuming that Romney would even want to run for another six-year term at age 77. This all points to Romney as the perfect person to overcome the collective-action problem—he has more stature and political capital than anyone else in the Senate, but he also has the least to lose.”

Democrats Seek More Witnesses for Impeachment Probe

October 23, 2019 at 9:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The three House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine have sent at least 8 letters — obtained by Axios — to key Trump administration officials over the past few days to demand that they appear as part of the rapidly expanding impeachment inquiry.”

Trump to Make Statement on Syria

October 23, 2019 at 9:36 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump announced in a tweet that he would deliver a statement from the White House at 11 a.m. E.T. on the situation in Syria, which he called a “big success.”

The statement comes a day after Russia and Turkey agreed to joint control of the northern part of the country.

Will Trump Shut Down Government to Fight Impeachment?

October 23, 2019 at 9:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NBC News: “With funding for federal operations set to expire Nov. 21, the political class here is beginning to plan for the possibility — likelihood, in the eyes of some — that President Donald Trump will shut down the government to try to turn public opinion against House Democrats and their push to impeach him.”

“Trump has a history of seeking dramatic means to alter storylines.”

Scaramucci Predicts Trump Will Be Forced Out

October 23, 2019 at 9:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Anthony Scaramucci predicted to Vanity Fair that President Trump “will be out of office before the next election.”

Said Scaramucci: “In the next three to six weeks, there will be more damning information related to the president… He’s aware of it. I believe that McConnell will eventually go to him and say, ‘Hey, man. You’ve gotta take one for the team… you’ve gotta go back.’ He’ll probably end up back at Mar-a-Lago or something.”

He added: “We’ll eventually uncover that something happened between him and the president of Turkey to have him disavow the Kurds the way he did. I believe there’s a personal transaction embedded there as well.. I do believe he’s cornered now, and as the facts unfold, they’re so overwhelming in their criminality that he’ll be out of office.”

Anxiety Rises Among Democrats

October 23, 2019 at 9:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “In conversations with 17 state and national party leaders, nearly all expressed some level of unease with where the field stands and a deepening concern that, even as Trump suffers through one of the darkest phases of his presidency, the leading presidential contenders would struggle mightily in a one-on-one contest with him.”

“For all of his challenges, Trump commands a gigantic operation that has vacuumed up unprecedented sums of money, an unparalleled megaphone to lure in voters and a lock on most of the Republican Party. Democrats face the possibility of a long primary fight that could cleave the party along ideological and generational lines and leave the nominee campaigning against an incumbent whom Democrats see as simultaneously weak and hard to beat.”

McConnell Seeks to Defend Trump on Process

October 23, 2019 at 8:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is urging Republicans to focus on Democrats and their tactics in seeking to mount an effective defense of President Trump on impeachment, The Hill reports.

Said one GOP lawmaker, summing up McConnell’s message: “This is going to be about process.”

“McConnell recognizes that some members of his conference are uncomfortable defending Trump on charges his administration linked aid to Ukraine to that country’s government running politically motivated investigations meant to help the White House. As a result, he’s telling his members they have plenty of reason to offer a vigorous defense of Trump, as the president publicly urged them to do Monday, by focusing on Democratic tactics that McConnell and Trump view as unfair.”

‘Everyone Has a Breaking Point’

October 23, 2019 at 8:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Chris Cillizza: “It’s worth remembering that fact at this moment as congressional Republicans find themselves confronted with a cavalcade of troubling news stories about President Trump and his conduct in office. Because while elected GOP officials have almost totally capitulated to Trump’s hostile takeover of their party, there is always a point at which you simply cannot look even quasi-objectively at the actions of this president and conclude that standing behind him remains the right (or even defensible) thing to do.”

“And this week sure looks like just that sort of breaking point moment.”

Philadelphia Mayor Endorses Warren

October 23, 2019 at 8:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jim Kenney – the mayor of Philadelphia, where Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is based – announced he was throwing his support behind Elizabeth Warren’s bid.

The Case Against Donald Trump

October 23, 2019 at 8:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Coming next month: Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump by Neil Katyal.

“Why President Trump has left us with no choice but to remove him from office.”

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Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump – The New York Times Bestseller on Presidential Accountability and Democracy

How a Political Newcomer Learned to Thrive In Trump Era

October 23, 2019 at 8:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When Brad Parscale was looking for advice about how to navigate Washington after running the digital strategy for Donald Trump’s upstart presidential campaign in 2016, the brash political newcomer turned to a Beltway power couple,” the Washington Post reports.

“Katie Walsh and Mike Shields, both former chiefs of staff at the Republican National Committee, advised him on how to make the most of his new perch… Since then, the three have helped each other flourish inside the Republican Party ecosystem, recommending each other’s services to top GOP officials and candidates. Together, the trio have broad influence across the party — drawing millions of dollars from 23 party committees and organizations since the beginning of 2017, according to campaign finance filings and people familiar with their work.”

“Their dominance has alarmed other Republican Party strategists, who say the three have a disproportionate amount of sway — and have helped each other sustain that power.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Mulls White House Bid

October 23, 2019 at 7:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Ed Stack, the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods and a longtime Republican donor, is testing the waters for a possible third-party presidential bid that could scramble the dynamics of the 2020 general election,” Politico reports.

“The prospect of a well-funded, third-party candidate could have a significant impact in a race where Trump is expected to be unable to win a majority of the vote.”

Pompeo’s Dilemma

October 23, 2019 at 7:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “On Tuesday, the White House called the State Department diplomats who have testified in recent days “radical unelected bureaucrats.” Might this include Taylor, a fellow West Point graduate who fought in Vietnam and has served administrations of both parties? He was last appointed ambassador to Ukraine by George W. Bush.”

“Pompeo asked him to come out of retirement to replace Marie Yovanovitch, another State Department veteran who was ousted amid a campaign of rumors that have been discredited. At some point, does Pompeo stand up for his own diplomats? Or is he that unwilling to get crosswise with Trump?”

Republicans Face New Calculus on Impeachment

October 23, 2019 at 7:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Balz: “It is no longer a question of whether this happened. It is now a question of how the president explains it and how lawmakers — especially Republicans — choose to respond to it.”

“Republican lawmakers face a new calculus as they digest the contents of the Taylor testimony. They will have great difficulty denying that the suspension of the aid was being linked to an investigation of a political rival of the president. Will they conclude that what the president did was legitimate? Will they attempt to point in other directions? Will they argue that what Trump did wasn’t right but isn’t impeachable? There’s less room for equivocation about what happened today than there was before.”

White House Tries to Coordinate with GOP Lawmakers

October 23, 2019 at 7:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “President Trump has signed off on regular conference calls between senior White House aides and select Republican lawmakers to coordinate messaging and legal strategies on the House impeachment probe, one of the few proactive measures undertaken so far by West Wing officials who have been unwilling to cooperate in the investigation.”

“The weekday calls started recently as a response to criticism from conservative allies that the White House was leaving them out of the loop, according to White House officials familiar with the calls. But from the White House perspective, there has been little to be looped into.”

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