Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo missed Friday’s deadline to comply with a subpoena issued
by three Democrat-led House committees last week to hand over documents
related to the department’s dealings with Ukraine and President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, Fox News has confirmed.
The
subpoena came as Congress conducts a probe into a whistleblower’s
complaint to the national intelligence community over Trump’s July 25
phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- the incident
that has since touched off the Trump impeachment inquiry.
The president is under fire for urging Zelensky, during that call, to investigate Democratic 2020 presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and the Ukrainian firm Burisma, where Hunter Biden held a board position.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens during an event hosted
by the Department of State's Energy Resources Governance Initiative in
New York, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (Associated Press)
Last week, the chairmen of the three House panels -- Reps. Adam Schiff,
D-Calif., of the Intelligence Committee; Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., of the
Foreign Affairs Committee; and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., of the Oversight
and Reform Committee -- demanded a list of State Department officials
who might have been involved with the Ukraine conversation. The chairmen
additionally requested any State Department records about Giuliani, and
any records relating to U.S. military aid to Ukraine. (Giuliani had
traveled to Ukraine on business on behalf of the president, he told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday.)
Fox
News confirmed the State Department is in touch with the three House
panels regarding the deadline breach. Trump told reporters he would send
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
a letter Friday, saying the White House would not comply with the
impeachment inquiry until it is made official by a vote before the
entire chamber. It was unclear if the State Department failed to comply
with the subpoena at Trump's request.
Pompeo confirmed Wednesday
-- while in Rome -- that he was on the July 25 call, describing his
involvement as appropriate, and within the purview of his role as
secretary of state. As a stand-off between the executive branch and
Congress escalated, he also said he would fight a request from the
Democratic chairmen for depositions from five State Department
officials. He accused the lawmakers of not giving department employees
enough time to prepare and voiced concern that the committee was trying
to prevent State Department counsel from participating.
"What we
objected to was the demands that were put that deeply violate
fundamental principles of the separation of powers," Pompeo said. "They
contacted State Department employees directly and told them not to
contact legal counsel at the State Department.”
"What
we objected to was the demands that were put that deeply violate
fundamental principles of the separation of powers. They contacted State
Department employees directly and told them not to contact legal
counsel at the State Department.” — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Lawmakers
from the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees moved
forward with testimony from their first key witness Thursday --- former
U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who resigned last week after
receiving word his name had surfaced in the whistleblower complaint.
Text messages released by Volker to Congress show U.S. officials
involved with Ukraine arguing internally last month over whether Trump
was engaged in a quid pro quo. Fox News on Friday also obtained Volker’s
prepared testimony, in which he details his interactions with Trump
lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was probing whether Burisma had sought to
garner influence with Biden by paying high fees to his son.
A
memorandum of the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky released last
month showed that while Trump sought a Ukrainian probe into the Biden
family, he did not explicitly use the $400 million in military aid as
leverage. Trump tweeted Thursday that he had an "absolute right, perhaps
even a duty, to investigate or have investigated corruption, and that
would include asking or suggesting other countries to help us out!"
Joe
Biden has acknowledged on camera that in spring 2016, when he was vice
president and spearheading the Obama administration's Ukraine policy, he
successfully pressured Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At
the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings — where Hunter had a
lucrative role on the board despite limited relevant expertise. Biden
allies maintain his intervention was driven by corruption concerns.
Michael
Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, gave
testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, as he was
the first to receive the whistleblower complaint. The complaint was
eventually declassified by the Trump administration and a redacted
versions sent to Congress. House Democrats are scheduled to hear
testimony from several other officials next week. Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Brooke Singman, Alex Pappas and Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
Former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy blasted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., saying Schiff made himself a "fact witness" with the revelation that his office had contact with the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower.
"Right now he's made himself a fact witness," Gowdy told "The Story with Martha MacCallum" on
Friday. "He is in the evidentiary chain for what happened with this
whistleblower and I hope the Republicans make him testify."
Gowdy
also mocked Schiff for being awarded “Four Pinocchios” by the
Washington Post on Friday, claiming he hadn't told the truth about his
knowledge of the whistleblower.
Schiff has played a leading role
in investigating the Trump-Ukraine scandal but hasn’t been truthful in
the process, according to Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler.
"I
think you got four [Pinocchios] only because you can't get five," Gowdy
joked. "He got the maximum sentence you could get from the Washington
Post fact checker -- and don't you know how hard that was for the
Washington Post to give Adam Schiff four Pinocchios?"
"He
got the maximum sentence you could get from the Washington Post fact
checker -- and don't you know how hard that was for the Washington Post
to give Adam Schiff four Pinocchios?" — Trey Gowdy, former congressman from South Carolina
The
former congressman from South Carolina called Schiff a "career
offender" when it came to the truth and asked how long House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would put up with Schiff.
"The
same guy that had the parody a week or so ago, the same guy that says
he has evidence that even [former Special Counsel Robert] Mueller
couldn't find," Gowdy said. "The question I had is, How long is Speaker
Pelosi going to put up with Adam mishandling this investigation?" Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Former Vice President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter Friday after being asked whether his son Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine -- while the elder Biden was diplomatically involved with the country as vice president -- represented a conflict of interest.
“It’s
not a conflict of interest. There’s been no indication of any conflict
of interest,” Biden said while at a Service Employees International
Union forum in Los Angeles.
The
reporter then asked if Biden's son's work created the appearance of a
conflict of interest -- prompting Biden to attempt to shift the focus to
President Trump.
“I’m
not going to respond to that,” Biden said. “Focus on this man. What
he’s doing that no president has ever done. No president.”
“I’m not going to respond to that. Focus on this man. What he’s doing that no president has ever done. No president.” — Joe Biden
Biden
told reporters he and his son had not discussed Hunter Biden's business
in Ukraine when reporters asked about a photo of the two Bidens taken
at a golf course with one of Hunter Biden's former Ukrainian business
partners. Again, Biden turned the conversation to Trump.
“This is
the guy that's unhinged,” Biden said about the president. “He is
unhinged. I worry about what he's going to do -- not about me or my
family. I'm worried about what he'll do in the next year in the
presidency, as this thing continues to rot on his watch."
"The American people know me, and they know him," he added.
"He is unhinged. I worry about what he's going to do -- not about me or my family." — Joe Biden
Hunter
Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his
father was vice president. Trump and fellow Republicans have questioned
Biden's role pushing for the dismissal of a Ukrainian prosecutor who had
been looking into corruption at the company (though the prosecutor was
viewed by officials in several countries as being corrupt himself).
There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son in Ukraine.
Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry
last week regarding a July phone call between Trump and the president
of Ukraine during which Trump asked him to investigate Biden and his
son's ties to the country.
Biden has slipped in the polls recently but is still one of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
QUEENS,
New York — A seemingly troubled woman at a town hall hosted by
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her district stood up to demand the congresswoman support drastic measures to combat climate change, such as "eating babies."
“We’re
not going to be here for much longer, because of the climate crisis,"
the woman pleaded. "We only have a few months left. I love that you
support the Green Deal, but it’s not gonna get rid of fossil fuel. It’s
not going to solve the problem fast enough. A Swedish professor said we can eat dead people, but it’s not fast enough! So, I think your next campaign slogan needs to be this: We’ve got to start eating babies."
Many of Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents appeared confused by the woman’s declarations.
Removing
her jacket to reveal a T-shirt with the phrase “Save the planet Eat the
Children,” the woman continued, “We don’t have a enough time. There’s
too much Co2."
"All of you!" she went on, turning to those around
her, "You’re a pollutant! Too much Co2. We have to start now. Please —
you are so great. I’m so happy that you are supporting a Green New Deal,
but it’s not enough. Even if we were to bomb Russia, it’s not enough.
There’s too many people, too much pollution. So, we have to get rid of
the babies. That’s a big problem. Just stopping having babies just isn’t
enough. We need to eat the babies. This is very serious. Please give a
response.”
Staffers of the New York congresswoman approached the
woman toward the end of her remarks, as attendees in the room became
increasingly uncomfortable.
An
atheist group that has counted Ron Reagan Jr. among its members says it
was inappropriate for a judge to give a Bible to Amber Guyger, the
former Dallas police officer who convicted this week of murdering a neighbor last year.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) – the atheist group for which the 61-year-old son of former President Ronald Reagan has appeared in television ads – filed a formal complaint Thursday with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct, FOX 4 of Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
The Wisconsin-based group objected to Judge Tammy Kemp giving one of her Bibles to Guyger after the former officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for the shooting death of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old accountant.
“You
just need a tiny mustard seed of faith,” Kemp said to a tearful Guyger,
handing the Bible to her before the convicted former officer left the
courtroom. “You start with this.”
Kemp also hugged Guyger – as did
a brother of the murder victim, in actions that some observers said
showed compassion for the newly convicted defendant.
State District Judge Tammy Kemp gives former Dallas Police Officer
Amber Guyger a hug before Guyger leaves for jail, Wednesday, Oct. 2,
2019, in Dallas. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)
But in a letter Thursday to the Texas commission, the
atheist group objected to what it termed the judge’s “proselytizing
actions,” saying they “overstepped judicial authority,” and were
“inappropriate” and “unconstitutional.”
“It is perfectly
acceptable for private citizens to express their religious beliefs in
court,” the letter states later, “but the rules are different for those
acting in a governmental role.”
In a separate Twitter message, FFRF attorney Andrew L. Seidel further explained the group’s position.
“We
need more compassion in our criminal justice system,” Seidel wrote,
“but here, compassion crossed the line into coercion. Judges cannot
impose their personal religion on others.”
“We need
more compassion in our criminal justice system, but here, compassion
crossed the line into coercion. Judges cannot impose their personal
religion on others.” — Andrew L. Seidel, attorney, Freedom from Religion Foundation
Seidel is the author of “The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American.”
Neither
the group nor Seidel appeared to demand punishment for the judge. Their
messages seemed aimed only at drawing attention to a “possible
violation” of rules of judicial conduct.
However, another group –
the Texas-based First Liberty Institute, which supports religious
freedom – came to the judge’s defense.
“We should all be thankful
the law allows Judge Kemp’s actions,” said Hiram Sasser, legal counsel
for the First Liberty Institute. “We stand with her and will gladly lead
the charge in defending her noble and legal actions.”
“We
should all be thankful the law allows Judge Kemp’s actions. We stand
with her and will gladly lead the charge in defending her noble and
legal actions.” — Hiram Sasser, legal counsel for the First Liberty Institute
Guyger
claimed she mistakenly entered Jean’s apartment, one floor above hers,
thinking it was her own home, and shot Jean because she believed he was
an intruder in her apartment.
But
on Tuesday, a jury decided that Guyger, 31, was guilty of murder.
Guyger had been a member of the Dallas force for nearly five years.
Also
on Thursday, the atheist group posted a Twitter message objecting to
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s support of “Bring Your Bible to School Day,”
saying the Republican governor’s stand was “narrow-minded and totally
inappropriate.”
The White House will send House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a letter on Friday "daring" her to hold a vote on Democrats' impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Fox News has confirmed.
The
letter will say the White House won't comply with the Democrats'
investigation because Pelosi hasn't codified the probe with a formal
vote on the House floor. Its tone will be consistent with that of the
letter House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sent to the speaker on Thursday, Fox learned.
In his letter, McCarthy called on Pelosi to end the impeachment inquiry until “equitable rules and procedures” are set up.
“Unfortunately,
you have given no clear indication as to how your impeachment inquiry
will proceed -- including whether key historical precedents or basic
standards of due process will be observed,” McCarthy wrote. “In
addition, the swiftness and recklessness with which you have proceeded
[have] already resulted in committee chairs attempting to limit minority
participation in scheduled interviews, calling into question the
integrity of such an inquiry.”
McCarthy referred to reports that
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was
limiting Republicans' ability to ask questions during Thursday’s
testimony by former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who resigned last
week.
Pelosi shot back at McCarthy, saying that "existing rules
of the House provide House committees with full authority to conduct
investigations for all matters under their jurisdiction."
She
later tweeted: "The fact that the [House Republicans'] loyalty is to
Trump and not to the Constitution is not going to slow down or impair
our ability to keep the republic of our founders envisioned."
The
letter prompted a response from President Trump, who tweeted Thursday:
"Leader McCarthy, we look forward to you soon becoming Speaker of the
House. The Do Nothing Dems don’t have a chance!"
House Democrats
launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump after a whistleblower
complaint suggested the president took part in a quid pro quo scheme
during a July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, using $400
million in military aid as leverage to induce officials there to
investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, his son Hunter
and their business dealings in that country.
Trump
has said his call with President Volodymyr Zelensky was "perfect." On
Thursday, he repeated his contention that the Democrats' investigation
"the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country."
Trump
said there "wasn't anything said wrong" in his phone call with Zelensky
and called the impeachment probe a "Democrat scam."
He later
tweeted that, as president, he has an "absolute right, perhaps even a
duty, to investigate or have investigated corruption, and that would
include asking or suggesting other countries to help us out!"
Schiff made a formal request on Sept. 10 to transmit the whistleblower complaint to Congress. Trump has said Schiff is a "lowlife" who should resign. Fox News' Chad Pergram and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
Ukraine’s top prosecutor said Friday that his office is "conducting an audit" of closed cases that had been previously investigated, including the probe involving the energy giant Burisma, where Hunter Biden had served on the board.
Ruslan
Ryaboshapka, the country's prosecutor general, said at a news
conference that his office was instructed to review cases that have been
closed, fragmented or investigated earlier to make sure they were
fairly and thoroughly handled. He said no one attempted to influence him
to call for the new investigations. DOCUMENTS HEIGHTEN SCRUTINY ON BIDEN-UKRAINE DEALINGS, INDICATE HUNTER MAY HAVE MADE 'MILLIONS'
His comment came as the Trump White House fights an impeachment inquiry
that involves allegations that President Trump used military funding as
part of a "quid pro quo" proposal with Kiev to investigate Biden and
his father, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump has denied
wrongdoing. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who participated in a
scrutinized phone call with Trump in July, said he never felt pressure
from Trump.
Trump's key focus has been how Hunter Biden, who
reportedly knew little about the energy business and the country, ended
up on Burisma’s board while his father was vice president under Barack
Obama. The elder Biden later pressured Ukraine to oust a prosecutor who
had been looking into the company's founder, though Biden allies say
this intervention was driven by corruption concerns.
Ryaboshapka is considered a reformer and “the father of the anti-corruption strategy in Ukraine,” a former associate told the Washington Post. Another peer called him an “honest person” but expressed doubts that he has the ability to weed out corruption in the country.
"Being a good guy is not always enough,' the source said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some have regrets. A few can’t talk about it. Others would do it all again.
But
the Republicans who carried out President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in
1998 are unanimous in urging caution and restraint as Congress embarks
on yet another impeachment struggle, this time over accusations that
President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son.
The
impeachment veterans of two decades ago were thrust into a seismic
political event that was sober and circus-like at the same time. It
opened a new, angry chapter of American politics that strained
Washington institutions that were stronger then than now. They urge a
pause in the tribalism of the Trump era.
“You’ve
got a race to judgment, people apparently have already made up their
minds, and I don’t think there’s a lot of openness about this. And I
think there should be,” said former Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., one of
14 House impeachment “managers” who presented the case against Clinton
to the Senate.
“People ought to wait before
they make judgment on whether or not there’s even an impeachable offense
out here to be considered until all the facts are on the table,” He
added. “That’s not been the case for a number of congressmen on both
sides of the aisle that I can see.”
The
managers during Clinton’s impeachment were all solidly conservative
white men. Most are out of politics. A few are judges. Some do some
lobbying, while others have simply retired. The chairman, Henry Hyde of
Illinois, died in 2007.
The best-known is
Lindsey Graham, a former Air Force prosecutor who was among those most
aggressively gunning for Clinton. In 1999, speaking from the well of the
Senate, the South Carolina congressman made the case: “Impeachment is
not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office.
Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
Now a senator, Graham seems to be part of the defense rather than the prosecution
“I have zero problems with this phone call” with Zelenskiy, Graham said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
The
only Clinton prosecutor remaining in the House is Rep. Jim
Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, a 41-year veteran of Congress who is
retiring at the end of next year. He insists charges that Trump abused
his office are nowhere near being proven.
In
1998, independent counsel Ken Starr offered up two vanloads of
testimony and evidence, effectively dropping the full case for
impeachment in Congress’s lap.
“I
think that Starr’s report, which said that the president may have
committed impeachable offenses, obligated the Judiciary Committee and
the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry to see if that was
the case,” Sensenbrenner said in an interview. Congress had removed
judges in comparable perjury cases, he said.
History is calling again, this time with accusations that Trump abused his power to help his political fortunes.
Sensenbrenner
in July aggressively questioned special counsel Robert Mueller, whose
report didn’t find criminal wrongdoing by the president in Russia’s 2016
election interference but spelled out 10 instances in which Trump may
have obstructed the probe. Mueller didn’t indict Trump, citing Justice
Department guidelines against charging a sitting president. Nor did he
say whether impeachment could be a remedy.
“You
didn’t use the words ‘impeachable conduct’ like Starr did,”
Sensenbrenner told Mueller. “Even the president is innocent until proven
guilty.” Mueller said his mandate didn’t include offering opinions on
other remedies like impeachment.
McCollum,
who left Congress to lose a 2000 Senate campaign but staged a political
comeback as Florida’s attorney general, cautions that lots of facts,
testimony and evidence have yet to surface. The investigation into
Trump’s festering scandal is in its opening stages.
“There
are really a lot more questions than there are answers,” McCollum said,
adding that so far he sees “just a really weak case.”
Democrats
say they already have their “smoking gun,” having obtained the
transcript of Trump’s call with Zelenskiy, and accuse Republicans of
downplaying a clear-cut abuse of presidential power.
Former
Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat who served in the House from 1965
to 1999 during both the Watergate scandal that brought down President
Richard Nixon and the impeachment of Clinton, has said he’d vote to both
indict and convict Trump if he were in Congress. Hamilton said he’s
“deeply concerned” that more Republicans have not publicly favored
impeachment proceedings against Trump or even spoken out against his
actions with Russia and Ukraine.
Trump’s call was “certainly egregious conduct” because it was for personal gain, Hamilton said.
“If
his conduct is acceptable, then we have lowered the bar on what the
office and public trust really means,” Hamilton said. “If we legitimize
the kind of behavior that he has exhibited, then our political system is
going to be greatly reduced.”
Aside from
Graham and Sensenbrenner, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison is the only one of
the 1998 impeachment managers remaining in political office. Hutchison
was re-elected by a landslide last year.
“The
facts have to be developed,” Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat
Gazette on Saturday, in little-noticed remarks that amount to apostasy
in today’s GOP. “The allegations raised should be taken seriously.”
Three
of the other former managers are now on the bench. Former Rep. Ed
Bryant, R-Tenn., is a federal district court judge, while Charles
Canady, R-Fla., and James Rogan, R-Calif., serve on state courts.
Rogan cheerfully responded to an email seeking an interview but said he couldn’t comment.
“I
would like to help you, but I fear I am rather hamstrung by our Canons
of ethics,” Rogan said. “Not only am I precluded from discussing
anything related to the current situation, I am precluded from saying
anything that might be interpreted that way (such as giving advice).”
Then
there’s former Rep. Bob Inglis, a Republican from South Carolina who
wasn’t an impeachment manager but forced a Judiciary Committee
discussion on easily the most vulgar accusation levied against Clinton
for his conduct. He seemed almost sheepish when encountered in the
Capitol recently.
“We made a mistake” impeaching Clinton, Inglis said, adding that the substance of the matter “wasn’t so very consequential.”
“I
can say that now, in retrospect — I didn’t think that at the time — but
I think that was because I was probably sort of blinded by my dislike
of President Clinton, you know, and wanting to stop him,” Inglis said.
“So there may be some similarities there in this scenario.”
“If
somebody’s the president of the United States and they do something
that’s bad enough, then even their own followers are generally going to
turn on them,” McCollum said. “And that’s not happened yet. It happened
with Nixon. That did not happen with Clinton and that does not appear to
me to be likely to be happening with Trump _ at least on the facts that
are out there right now.”
__
Associated Press writer Andrew Selsky contributed from Salem, Ore.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens during an event hosted
by the Department of State's Energy Resources Governance Initiative in
New York, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (Associated Press)
