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Ivanka Trump: Whistleblower’s ID irrelevant to impeachment

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Ivanka Trump on Friday echoed her father’s view that the House impeachment investigation is an attempt to overturn the 2016 election. But, in an interview with The Associated Press, she parted ways with President Donald Trump by calling the identity of the impeachment whistleblower “not particularly relevant.”

The Republican president and some of his allies have been pressing the news media to publicize the whistleblower’s name, but Ivanka Trump said the person’s motives were more important. And she declined to speculate on what they may have been.

“The whistleblower shouldn’t be a substantive part of the conversation,” she told the AP, saying the person “did not have firsthand information.”

She added that, “to me, it’s not particularly relevant aside from what the motivation behind all of this was.”

In a wide-ranging, 25-minute interview, Ivanka Trump also addressed her family’s criticism of Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter, whether she wants four more years in the White House and the possible future sale of her family’s landmark Washington hotel, which she helped develop and referred to as “my baby.”

She said she shares her father’s oft-repeated view that the impeachment investigation is about “overturning the results of the 2016 election.” House Democrats, by contrast, maintain the inquiry is about whether Trump abused his office by putting his political interests first.

“Basically since the election, this has been the experience that our administration and our family has been having,” Ivanka Trump said of persistent criticism of the president. “Rather than wait, under a year, until the people can decide for themselves based on his record and based on his accomplishments, this new effort has commenced.”

Asked whether impeachment marked a low point for the president, she demurred: “I think when Americans are winning, we’re feeling great, so I wouldn’t consider it a low point. I think Americans are prospering like never before.”

Ivanka Trump noted that the whistleblower was not among administration officials who heard the president ask Ukraine’s leader during a July 25 telephone conversation to investigate Biden, a former vice president who’s currently a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination to challenge Trump.

While her brothers Don Jr. and Eric have been vocal critics of the impeachment inquiry, Ivanka Trump has largely stayed out of the discussion. She did recently tweet a quote from Thomas Jefferson about the “enemies and spies” who surrounded him and added that “some things never change, dad.”

In the interview, she again placed her father in august company when it comes to being the target of criticism, saying, “This has been the experience of most.”

“Abraham Lincoln was famously, even within his own Cabinet, surrounded by people who were former political adversaries,” she said.

She rejected any suggestion that her family has been profiting off the presidency even as President Trump and his allies have criticized the involvement of Biden’s son with a Ukrainian oil venture when Biden was vice president.

Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kyiv. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.

Still, Ivanka Trump said the Bidens had “created wealth as a derivative” of public service while her family had made its money in business before her father became president.

Good government groups, however, have criticized the president for unethically mixing official business with promotion of his own interests.

Trump is the first president in modern history who has not separated himself from his business holdings. He makes frequent trips to his for-profit golf clubs, collects dues at his members-only properties and hosts fundraisers and foreign delegations at hotels that bear his family’s name.

Ivanka Trump said she hasn’t been involved in discussions about the possible sale of the president’s landmark Washington hotel after nearly three years of ethics complaints and lawsuits accusing him of trying to profit off the presidency. She led the acquisition and development of the hotel a few blocks from the White House.

But, a possible future sale “should satisfy the critics,” she said.

The president’s daughter is wrapping up a three-day visit to Morocco, where she has been promoting a U.S. program aimed at empowering women in developing countries.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Yovanovitch communicated with Dem staffer on 'delicate' issue after complaint, emails show, despite testimony

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a key witness in House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, communicated via her personal email account with a Democratic congressional staffer concerning a "quite delicate" and "time-sensitive" matter -- just two days after the whistleblower complaint that kickstarted the inquiry was filed, and a month before the complaint became public, emails obtained Thursday by Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" show.
The emails appear to contradict Yovanovitch's deposition on Capitol Hill last month, in which she told U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., about an email she received Aug. 14 from the staffer, Laura Carey -- but indicated under oath that she never responded to it.
The communication came "from the Foreign Affairs Committee," and "they wanted me to come in and talk about, I guess, the circumstances of my departure," Yovanovitch testified, describing Carey's initial email. "I alerted the State Department, because I'm still an employee, and so, matters are generally handled through the State Department."
Yovanovitch continued: "So, she emailed me. I alerted the State Department and, you know, asked them to handle the correspondence. And, she emailed me again and said, you know, 'Who should I be in touch with?'"
Fox News is told it is a breach of normal procedure for congressional staff to reach out to a current State Department employee at their personal email address for official business.

Asked directly whether she responded to Carey's overtures, Yovanovitch testified only that someone in the "Legislative Affairs Office" at the State Department had responded to Carey, to the best of her knowledge.
Yovanovitch did not indicate that she had responded to Carey's first email in any way, and testified explicitly that she did not reply to Carey's follow-up email concerning whom she should contact at the State Department.
However, emails obtained by Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" showed that in fact, Yovanovitch had responded to Carey's initial Aug. 14 email, writing that she "would love to reconnect and look forward to chatting with you."
On Aug. 14, Carey reached out to Yovanovitch with pleasantries about the last time the two had "crossed paths" -- "when I was detailed to" the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- before noting that Carey had resigned from the State Department to join the House Foreign Affairs Committee staff performing oversight work.
"I'm writing to see if you would have time to meet up for a chat — in particular, I’m hoping to discuss some Ukraine-related oversight questions we are exploring," Carey then wrote to Yovanovitch. "I'd appreciate the chance to ground-truth a few pieces of information with you, some of which are quite delicate/time-sensitive and, thus, we want to make sure we get them right."
Carey continued: "Could you let me know if you have any time this week or next to connect? Happy to come to a place of your choosing, or if easier, to speak by phone at either of the numbers below. I'm also around this weekend if meeting up over coffee works."
On Aug. 15, Yovanovitch responded: "Thanks for reaching out -- and congratulations on your new job. I would love to reconnect and look forward to chatting with you. I have let EUR [Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs] know that you are interested in talking and they will be in touch with you shortly."
On Aug. 19, Carey wrote, "Great -- thanks for the response and I look forward to hearing from them. As mentioned, it would be ideal to connect this week... assuming this week is doable for you schedule-wise?"
Zeldin told Fox News on Thursday it was "greatly concerning" that Yovanovitch may have testified incorrectly that she did not personally respond to Carey's email.
"I would highly suspect that this Democratic staffer's work was connected in some way to the whistleblower's effort, which has evolved into this impeachment charade," Zeldin said. "We do know that the whistleblower was in contact with [House Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam Schiff's team before the whistleblower had even hired an attorney or filed a whistleblower complaint even though Schiff had lied to the public originally claiming that there was no contact. Additionally, while the contents of the email from this staffer to Ambassador Yovanovitch clearly state what the conversation would be regarding, Yovanovitch, when I asked her specifically what the staffer was looking to speak about, did not provide these details."
Zeldin added: "I specifically asked her whether the Democratic staffer was responded to by Yovanovitch or the State Department. It is greatly concerning that Ambassador Yovanovitch didn't answer my question as honestly as she should have, especially while under oath."

"It is greatly concerning that Ambassador Yovanovitch didn't answer my question as honestly as she should have, especially while under oath."
— U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.

A Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson, however, characterized the outreach as innocuous, saying it was related to Yovanovitch's public ouster as the envoy to Ukraine.
"The committee wanted to hear from an ambassador whose assignment was cut short under unusual circumstances," the spokesperson said. "This staff outreach was part of monthslong efforts that culminated in the September 9 launch of an investigation into these events. Congress has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight. The State Department doesn’t tell Congress how to do that job, and should be more concerned with the culture of retaliation and impunity that has festered under this administration."
Neither Carey nor the State Department immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment.
President Trump ordered Yovanovitch to be recalled from her post this past May following allegations of partisanship and political bias. Democrats have suggested her service was terminated so that the Trump administration could carry out illicit foreign policy with Ukraine.
George Kent, a career official at the State Department, told House investigators conducting the impeachment inquiry that a Ukrainian official told him Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani had conspired with Yuriy Lutsenko, the then-prosecutor general of Ukraine, to "throw mud" as part of a “campaign of slander” against Yovanovitch.
That accusation came out in testimony released earlier Thursday.
"Well, Mr. Giuliani was almost unmissable starting in mid-March," Kent told investigators. "As the news campaign, or campaign of slander against, not only Ambassador Yovanovitch unfolded, he had a very high media presence, so he was on TV, his Twitter feed ramped up and it was all focused on Ukraine."
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" investigative producer Alex Pfeiffer contributed to this report.

Reps. Hunter and Gohmert: War crimes charges against 3 military combat veterans should be thrown out by Trump

Fox News reported this week that President Trump plans to take “imminent action” regarding war crimes charges against three former members of the U.S. military. We urge the president to throw out the charges against all three.
The three brave Americans who stepped forward to defend our country are: former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, former Army Green Beret Maj. Matt Golsteyn, and former Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher.
Fox News’ Pete Hegseth, who spoke with President Trump about the cases over the weekend, said the president is keen to act before Veterans Day, which is Monday.
Every commonsense, patriotic American would undoubtedly celebrate the dismissal of all the charges against Lorance, Golsteyn and Gallagher.
So it should not come as a surprise that Washington establishment-types are already attempting to derail action by the president that would clear the three men.
Unfortunately, rather than working diligently to implement the commander in chief’s decision, some news reports said Defense Secretary Mark Esper has urged the president not to intervene in the cases, claiming he has “full confidence in the military justice system.”
According to these reports, Pentagon leaders believe presidential intervention would be “damaging to the integrity of the military judicial system.”
What these Washington elites fail to acknowledge is that the military justice system has neglected our nation’s warriors time and time again. President Trump’s instincts to act on their behalf are further proof of his tireless commitment to our rank-and-file men and women in uniform.
We and other members of the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus stand wholeheartedly in favor of dismissing the charges against the three former service members. We’ve reviewed their cases, met with the accused and have seen the evidence. Or, more accurately, the lack of evidence.
These three men are American heroes who have been accused of crimes during combat far from our shores, when they were risking their lives on behalf of the rest of us here at home. When the circumstances are viewed holistically, they did what our country asked of them.
The three deserve our gratitude and thanks. Instead, they find themselves at the mercy of a broken military justice system for simply doing their jobs.
We created the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus not just to help warfighters like Clint, Eddie and Matt, but also to make the structural reforms needed to ensure miscarriages of justice like those suffered by these men never happen again.
The blind confidence in the military justice system by some at the Pentagon is grossly misplaced. We have seen firsthand the politicized nature of the military judicial process and have discovered more instances of prosecutorial misconduct than we can mention.
Moreover, our broken Uniform Code of Military Justice denies our service members basic rights and weights the scales of justice against the accused.
Take these examples:
In the Lorance case, the prosecution claimed Afghans killed during a combat patrol in their country were simply civilians. However, prosecutors failed to disclose or produce fingerprint and DNA evidence proving that at least two of the three “victims” were Taliban bombmakers with ties to improvised explosive devices that detonated at locations where U.S. troops were killed.
In the Gallagher case, prosecutors purposely installed spyware on the defense team’s computers. If that wasn’t enough, the prosecution’s own witness admitted to the crime Gallagher was accused of committing. Rather than dismiss the charges, the prosecutors stuck with their theory and unnecessarily prolonged the trial.
In the Golsteyn case, Army prosecutors pursued charges years after an investigation cleared Golsteyn of wrongdoing. When their case began to fall apart, they changed their theory weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin by enlisting possible members of the Taliban in Afghanistan as their key witnesses. Let us repeat that: the U.S. Army is working to have Taliban terrorists testify against an American soldier.
One cannot be aware of these grave injustices and still believe that the military judicial process is a flawless institution that administers justice fairly in every case. These cases illustrate why we joined with our colleagues in forming the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus.
In addition to commending President Trump for reportedly planning to take action in the cases of Lorance, Gallagher and Golsteyn, we respectfully request that the president come to the aid of other American heroes: Army Sgt. Derrick Miller and Master Sgt. John Hatley. This appeal is sure to rattle the top echelon at the Pentagon.
In the case of Sgt. Miller, he was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison for killing a Taliban operative who had grabbed Miller’s gun during an interrogation.
Prosecutors threatened Miller’s witness with potential life in prison as an accessory to get him to implicate Miller.
Miller’s other witness was an Afghan interpreter who was promised U.S. citizenship in exchange for changing his testimony to incriminate Miller. It is worth noting that Miller is out on parole now, but still carries the stigma of a murder conviction and deserves to have his name cleared.
Hatley was a respected and highly decorated soldier who was convicted of the premeditated murder of four Iraqi detainees. Despite a thorough investigation by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), no physical or forensic evidence was uncovered to support the allegations against him.
There were no bodies, no casings, and no one reported missing. All it took was one accusation in the wake of the Abu-Ghraib prison scandal from a soldier he had recently disciplined.
Hatley was ultimately convicted based on the testimony of soldiers who changed their stories after prosecutors threatened them with potential life sentences as co-conspirators.
Over the coming months, we will continue working as a caucus to make needed reforms to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and stand with our service members who are wrongly accused.
In the meantime, President Trump has the opportunity to take action immediately. We hope and pray he does the right thing and follows through on utilizing his executive authority on behalf of our heroes. We hope Americans across the country let their voices be heard on behalf of our brave and patriotic warriors as well.
Rep. Louie Gohmert is a Republican representing Texas in the U.S. House.

6 GOP House members: Democrats obsessed with impeachment, ignore border crisis

House Democrats are so obsessed with impeaching President Trump and trying to undermine the Trump administration that they are doing nothing to fix real problems Americans care about, like border security.
In fact, House Democrats are so determined to undercut the president’s agenda that they refuse to recognize the national security vulnerabilities on our southwest border.
We saw these vulnerabilities firsthand as part of a trip last weekend to the Rio Grande Valley, the most trafficked part of the border.
The Rio Grande Valley was at the heart of the spring migrant crisis, accounting for nearly half of the families and children law enforcement apprehended in the past year.
To paint a fuller picture of how cartels, gangs and other bad actors are taking advantage of weaknesses in the Rio Grande Valley, here are a few recent examples.
In only three days last week, law enforcement seized nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana worth over a quarter-million dollars. In a five-day period last week, agents interdicted more than $3 million worth of cocaine.
Border Patrol agents arrested known members of the MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang in the sector earlier this fall.
The area is also a hotbed for human smuggling. Last month, agents stopped four separate smuggling attempts, catching a total of 28 illegal immigrants, including five Chinese nationals.
These are only examples of what law enforcement was able to accomplish.
Securing the Rio Grande Valley is one of President Trump’s top priorities. Fortunately, we’re making progress in achieving that goal.
The administration is in the process of building more than 100 miles of a border wall system in the region, updating inadequate barriers and filling gaps in existing wall – all making it harder to cross undetected.
Our group was among the first people to see new construction in areas where no wall existed before.
This new wall is made of steel bollards filled with concrete and designed to make it extremely difficult to defeat. It’s also equipped with sensors and cameras.
Additionally, the administration is building a levee wall system in floodplains to stop illegal traffic and help manage flooding.
We know that walls work. Illegal traffic has dropped at least 90 percent in San Diego, El Paso, Tucson and Yuma since wall went up in the 1990s and 2000s.
In addition, agents and operators in the field – as well as Department of Homeland Security leadership – have consistently told Congress that building walls is a crucial part of securing the border.
We also visited facilities that housed a record number of migrant families and children who arrived at our border this year.
We saw the Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center, which was designed in 2014 with this demographic shift in mind. This facility is much larger than Border Patrol station facilities. It was staffed with personnel trained to care for children and stocked with necessary supplies like snacks, children’s clothing and diaper-changing stations.
Thankfully, President Trump and his administration have acted to stem the flow of migrants that overwhelmed these facilities and drained resources and personnel from across the department.
The administration secured critical agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to improve security cooperation across the region and reduce exploitation of our immigration laws.
While the administration has successfully reduced border apprehensions in recent months, we are still stuck working with a broken system that only Congress can fix.
On the border, we heard time and time again from law enforcement that legislative fixes are needed to improve border security and stop the exploitation of our immigration laws.
Regrettably, House Democrats have no interest in closing loopholes that smugglers, criminals, and cartels are abusing at the expense of vulnerable children and families.
On top of that, government funding talks have stalled over Democratic opposition to future border wall funding.
Border security and closing immigration loopholes used to be bipartisan priorities. Even President Barack Obama supported securing the border. In fact, the Obama administration bragged about its efforts to crack down on illegal border crossings.
In 2014, Obama said: “Our message is absolutely don’t send your children … on trains or through a bunch of smugglers. That is our direct message to families in Central America … if they do make it, they’ll get sent back.”
The only thing that has changed is that President Trump was elected on a pledge to secure the border.
Now, instead of working on a bipartisan basis to both secure the border and prevent a humanitarian crisis from happening again, House Democrats are focusing all their energy on trying to impeach the president. It’s shameful that they are putting a partisan exercise over our national security.

Democratic Coup Cartoons

Mexico farm town prepares funerals after 9 Americans slain

Framed by heavily armed Mexican authorities, relatives of the LeBaron family mourn at the site where nine U.S. citizens, three women and six children related to the extended LeBaron family, were slaughtered when cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road near Bavispe, at the Sonora-Chihuahua border, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov 6, 2019. Three women and six of their children, related to the extended LeBaron family, were gunned down in an attack while traveling along Mexico's Chihuahua and Sonora state border on Monday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

LA MORA, Mexico (AP) — Under a strong security presence, this remote farming community prepared to hold the first funerals Thursday for some of the nine American women and children killed by drug cartel gunmen.

Dozens of high-riding pickups and SUVS, many with U.S. license plates from as far away as North Dakota, bumped across dirt and rock roads over desert, arid grasslands and pine-covered mountains Wednesday as night fell on this community of about 300 people. Many of the residents are dual U.S. and Mexican citizens who consider themselves Mormon but are not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At least 1,000 visitors were expected to bunk down in the hamlet overnight ahead of Thursday’s funerals, filling floor space in the 30 or so homes or sleeping in tents they brought with them. At least one cow was slaughtered to help feed the masses, as well as the few dozen Mexican soldiers guarding the entrance to La Mora.

Steven Langford, who was mayor of La Mora from 2015 to 2018, said he expected the killings to have a “major” impact on the community. Once upon a time he didn’t think about moving around the area in the middle of night, but in the last 10 to 15 years things “got worse and worse and worse.” As many as half of the residents could move away, he feared.

“It was a massacre, 100% a massacre,” said Langford, whose sister Christina Langford was one of the women killed. “I don’t know how it squares with the conscience of someone to do something so horrible.”

When gunmen opened fire on them Monday, the Mexican army, the National Guard and Sonora state police were not there to protect them. It took them about eight hours just to arrive.

To many, the bloodshed seemed to demonstrate once more that the government has lost control over vast areas of Mexico to drug traffickers.

“The country is suffering very much from violence,” said William Stubbs, a pecan and alfalfa farmer who serves on a community security committee in the American-dominated hamlet of Colonia LeBaron. “You see it all over. And it ain’t getting better. It’s getting worse.”

The lack of law enforcement in rural areas like the northern states of Chihuahua and Sonora once led the dual U.S.-Mexican residents of places like Colonia LeBaron to form their own civilian defense patrols.

Stubbs said that after the 2009 killing of anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron, residents positioned themselves each night for two years with high-powered binoculars to keep watch from the large “L″ for “LeBaron” that stands on a hillside above the town.

Since then, he said, the cartels have left Le Baron and the town of Galeana a few kilometers to the north alone. But he said they have watched the cartels get stronger in the past two decades, with nearby communities in the mountains suffering from violence and extortion.

This week, he said, the military told him that the town of Zaragoza had been about 50% abandoned.

The army’s chief of staff, Gen. Homero Mendoza, said Wednesday the attack that killed three American mothers and six of their children started at 9:40 a.m. Monday, but the nearest army units were in the border city of Agua Prieta, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) and 3½ hours away.

Soldiers didn’t start out for the scene until 2:30 p.m. and didn’t arrive until 6:15 p.m. — even while five surviving children lay hiding in the mountains with bullet wounds.

“There are areas where the government’s control is very fragile,” said Alejandro Hope, a Mexican security analyst.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador created the militarized National Guard after he took office last December to help law enforcement, but its 70,000 troops have to cover a vast territory.

“The government’s main policy tool, the National Guard, is not where it should be,” Hope said. “It should be in the mountains, and it’s not there.”

He noted that Sonora and Chihuahua states, with over 160,000 square miles (420,000 square kilometers) between them, have only about 4,100 National Guard agents stationed there, or about one for every 40 square miles.

Questions have also arisen over whether the army can do its job even when it is present. On Oct. 17, in Sinaloa state, soldiers were forced to release the captured son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to avoid further bloodshed after Sinaloa cartel gunmen counterattacked in greater numbers in the city of Culiacan.

Colonia Le Baron is a place where the U.S. influence is evident everywhere: pickup trucks with license plates from California, Idaho, Colorado, Washington, and English-speaking customers eating hamburgers at Ray’s Restaurant, Coffee & Grill. Many of the dual citizens were born here, and their families have been here for decades.

Stubbs predicted that some people will move their families to the United States out of fear but will ultimately come back, as happened after the 2009 killing.

He dismissed López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” security strategy of trying to solve underlying social problems instead of battling drug cartels with military force.

“I’m really shocked actually of his way of thinking, and it ain’t going to solve the problems,” Stubbs said.

Residents know they can’t fight the cartels on their own.

“We’re not experts in military and war and weapons,” Stubbs said. “We’re farmers, and we have great families and big families, and we definitely want our families to be peaceful.”

Mexican officials said the attackers may have mistaken the group’s large SUVs for those of a rival gang. The Juarez drug cartel and its armed wing, known as “La Linea,” or “The Line,” are fighting a vicious turf war against a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the “Salazar.”

“Those who attacked the occupants (of the vehicles), they let the children go, so we can deduce that it was not a targeted attack” on the families, said Mendoza, the army chief of staff.

Most of the victims lived in La Mora, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Douglas, Arizona. Many in the hamlet are related to the extended LeBaron family.

The killers were believed to be from La Linea, whose gunmen entered Sinaloa cartel territory the previous day and set up an armed outpost on a hilltop near La Mora and an ambush farther up the road. The Juarez cartel apparently wanted to prevent Sinaloa gunmen from entering their territory in Chihuahua state.

On Wednesday dozens of army soldiers, federal and state police and National Guard troops provided security along the bumpy route from Chihuahua state to La Mora, in neighboring Sonora, retracing in reverse the route the victims were on when they were ambushed. People in the caravan clapped the agents on the back in thanks and gave them food, bottles of water and baseball caps.

Langford said he and others come and go frequently between La Mora and the United States, working north of the border to build lives and families in a place he described as a “paradise” for children to grow up. Behind the lot where he and his wife raised 11 kids, they are fond of fishing and swimming.

“We’ve always known the dangers. We’ve seen the people doing their deal. We always had the policy, ‘We don’t bother them.’ We never dreamed something like this could happen,” said Langford. “Now this place is going to become a ghost town. A lot of people are going to leave.”

Trump, at Louisiana rally, hits 'disgraceful' whistleblower's attorney who tweeted of 'coup' in 2017

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President Trump, at a campaign rally in Louisiana Wednesday night, unloaded on whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid, after a Fox News article from earlier in the day revealed that Zaid had tweeted about the beginning of a "coup" against the president back in 2017.
The president extensively quoted from the article, which reported that Zaid has long called for Trump's impeachment -- even promising two years ago, "We will get rid of him."
Zaid now represents the intelligence community whistleblower who is at the center of Democrats' impeachment inquiry against the president. The whistleblower has alleged that, earlier this year, Trump improperly threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine for political reasons.
"Democrats must be accountable for their hoaxes and their crimes," Trump said, holding a printout of the Fox News piece.
"I don't know if you saw, I'm just coming off the plane, and they hand me -- look at this character. They just hand me this story, ''Coup has started,' whistleblower attorney said in 2017.'"
Trump added: "That was a long time ago. It's all a hoax. They say, January 2017 -- a 'coup has started,' and the 'impeachment will follow ultimately.' It's all a hoax. It's a scam. And, you know who helps them? These people back here -- the media."
Calling Zaid a "sleazeball," Trump further noted that Zaid had declared CNN would play a role in impeaching Trump.
Fox News reported hours before the rally that in July 2017, Zaid tweeted, "I predict @CNN will play a key role in @realDonaldTrump not finishing out his full term as president."
And, amid a slew of impeachment-related posts, Zaid assured his Twitter followers that "as one falls, two more will take their place," apparently referring to Trump administration employees defying the White House.
Zaid asserted in his social media posts that the "coup" would occur in "many steps."
"Can you believe this?" Trump asked. "Just came out. It's a disgrace. These people are bad people. They rip the guts out of our country."
Trump also hammered The Washington Post, saying, "19 minutes after I took the oath of office, the horrible, disgusting Washington Post -- which is a terrible paper -- an article comes out, 'The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.'"
With the stars of the reality television show "Duck Dynasty" in attendance, Trump was in the northern Louisiana city of Monroe boosting Republican businessman Eddie Rispone in his effort to keep Democrat John Bel Edwards from a second term as governor in a crimson state Trump won by 20 percentage points. Early voting ends Saturday in the Nov. 16 election, which will mark the last governor's race of the year.
"If you're pro-God and pro-America and pro-gun and pro-duck hunting, that's all I want," Phil Robertson, one of the "Duck Dynasty" stars, said at the microphone.
"You're going out to replace a radical liberal Democrat as your governor," Trump said as the crowd booed. "John Bel Edwards has not done the job."
But, the president and other speakers at the rally also placed heavy emphasis on the upcoming 2020 election. Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy, after praising Trump's time in the White House as a boon to the country, colorfully accused Democrats of trying to distract from the administration's successes.
"Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to impeach him," Kennedy said. "I don't mean any disrespect, but it must suck to be that dumb."
At one point, the president identified an 8-year-old in the crowd and said the child probably knew more about the energy industry than Hunter Biden did.

Willie Robertson, left, of the reality TV series Duck Dynasty, addressing the crowd the campaign rally for President Trump in Monroe, La., on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The younger Biden routinely obtained lucrative jobs, including with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, while his father handled relevant policy as a senator and, later, vice president.
The president went on to tout his accomplishments in office, including record-low unemployment numbers and the killing of ISIS' leader, before turning to a critique of Hillary Clinton.
"Is there any place you would rather be than a Trump rally, on a beautiful evening in Louisiana?" Trump asked, as the crowd chanted, "Lock her up," and cheered. "Would you rather be at LSU vs. Alabama, or a Trump rally?"
"I'm gonna take one more liberty," Rispone told attendees later in the evening. "Go Tigers! Beat 'Bama!"

Phil Robertson, second from right, with wife Marsha "Miss Kay" Robertson, third right, before the start of the rally. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Over a thousand people were gathered outside the Monroe Civic Center early Wednesday morning, and over 40,000 people obtained tickets for the event. However, tickets have not guaranteed entry to Trump's rallies, and the arena would hold up to 10,000 people.
At the rally, Trump announced he would be back in Louisiana on Thursday for another rally at the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City.
Some members of the NAACP Monroe/Ouachita Parish Branch were protesting Trump's arrival just outside of the arena, the Monroe Star reported. Echoing the chants at a recent rally hosted by Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., the demonstrators also yelled, "Lock him up."
But, pro-Trump enthusiasm was largely high among attendees in a festival-like atmosphere.
"He's the best president we've had in quite a long time," Darlene Smith of Mississippi told the paper. "He's in it for the people. He's not in it for the money. He's not getting paid."
An endorsement video circulated by the state GOP showed Trump describing Rispone as "a fantastic man, a great success. Everything he's touched has turned to gold." The president, who also has planned a Nov. 14 rally in Bossier City for Rispone, called Edwards "a disaster."
Republicans have aimed to reclaim the governorship in a Deep South state where they've claimed Edwards won in a 2015 fluke election against a flawed candidate beset by a prostitution scandal. Democrats have said securing a second Edwards victory could demonstrate competitiveness in states where the party rarely has achieved a statewide office.
A GOP loss could raise questions about the strength of Trump's political coattails, but not necessarily his reelection chances, particularly since Louisiana is expected to back the president for reelection in 2020.
Trump was visiting the heart of the congressional district represented by Republican Ralph Abraham, the third-place finisher in the gubernatorial primary. Both Rispone and Edwards have been competing for Abraham's voters. Polls showed a tight race, with few undecided voters and both campaigns hoping Trump will mobilize their bases.
"Most people have made up their mind. This is essentially a tie race at this point. It's who gets out the vote," Rispone told a Republican women's luncheon Tuesday.
A longtime Republican political donor who has poured millions of his own money into the campaign, Rispone has tied his candidacy to Trump, introducing himself to voters in TV ads by talking about his support for the president.
The owner of an industrial contracting firm, Rispone has avoided many specifics about what he would do in office. Rispone's campaign strategy has involved panning Edwards as a "liberal, tax-and-spend, career politician and trial lawyer" and nationalizing the race. He regularly has compared himself to Trump, declaring both were "conservative outsiders."
Edwards, a former state lawmaker and military veteran, has downplayed national issues in favor of a defense of his own performance. He's reminded voters about his Medicaid expansion program that dropped Louisiana's uninsured rate below the national average and his work on a bipartisan tax deal that ended years of budget instability.
Both anti-abortion and pro-gun, Edwards in many ways hasn't matched the platform of the national Democrats, but he holds positions that helped him draw support in 2015 from the Republican and independent voters he'd need to win again.

Eddie Rispone, speaking with supporters at in Lake Charles, La., on Monday. (Rick Hickman/American Press via AP)

Even as Trump has campaigned against him, Edwards has sidestepped criticism of the president, describing a good working relationship with the White House.
"The president is doing what his party expects him to do. When it was time for governing, he invited me to the White House nine times," Edwards said.
He called Trump's criticism "general talking points" he's used no matter the state or candidate. He noted, for example, that the president claimed Edwards threatened Second Amendment rights — but Edwards, Trump and Rispone haven't differed much in their positions on guns.
At a campaign stop Wednesday in Monroe, Edwards pointed to the Kentucky governor's race, where results showed Democrat Andy Beshear in the lead by a few thousand votes over Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, a Trump ally. Edwards said Kentucky voters didn't cast their ballots based on Trump's visits, and he expected Louisiana voters wouldn't either. Trump had joined Bevin at a Kentucky rally hours before Tuesday's vote.

Eddie Rispone, left, and John Bel Edwards shaking hands before a debate last week in Baton Rouge. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP)

"The people of Louisiana, like the people of Kentucky, they will decide this race based on Louisiana issues, not Washington, D.C. issues," Edwards said.
Ahead of Wednesday's rally, Rispone blamed Edwards for anti-Trump radio ads recently released by a New Orleans organization. One ad linked the president and Rispone to white supremacist David Duke and encourage minority voters to "vote against hatred" by choosing Edwards. Rispone called it fearmongering. Edwards said he had nothing to do with the advertising.
Trump's visit came a day after historic elections in Mississippi and Kentucky. The gubernatorial race in Kentucky has remained too close to call, while Republicans decisively held onto the governorship in Mississippi and elected Kentucky’s first black attorney general.
Democrats, meanwhile, took complete control over the Virginia statehouse for the first time in 26 years.
Fox News' Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Surging Warren gets 'Squad' member's backing as she fends off Dem rivals, billionaires

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren is expected to be joined at a town hall event in North Carolina on Thursday by Ayanna Pressley, the Massachusetts congresswoman who on Wednesday broke away from her Democratic “Squad” pack to support her home-state senator.
The boost for Warren's candidacy comes as she has spent the week fending off attacks from former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic rivals -- and even from billionaires Bill Gates and Jamie Dimon.
It also comes as Warren has seen a surge in the polls. The newest numbers show her surpassing Sen. Bernie Sanders -- the choice of Squad members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib -- as she now jockeys with Biden for the Democratic Party’s first-place slot.
“This election is a fight for the very soul of our nation. Elizabeth knows how to fight and knows how to win,” Pressley said in a video statement on Twitter. “I’m proud to call her my senator. I can’t wait to call her our president.”
The endorsement from Pressley, who like the other Squad members attracts media attention, can help as Warren battles those both inside and outside her party who oppose her estimated $52 trillion "Medicare-for-all" plan -- and her proposed wealth tax to pay for it.
As Warren's poll numbers have climbed, Biden and other 2020 Democrats have responded with ramped-up attacks against her.
In an op-ed published Tuesday on Medium, Biden slammed Warren as an elitist and representative of “an angry unyielding viewpoint that has crept into our politics.” The former vice president said Warren’s “my way or the highway” approach to politics is “condescending to the millions of Democrats who have a different view” regarding what’s best for the nation’s health care system, as well as other issues.

"[Warren's] my way or the highway [approach is] condescending to the millions of Democrats who have a different view."
— Joe Biden

Last week, Warren unveiled a proposal detailing how she would pay for her health care proposal, including a 6 percent levy on fortunes worth more than $1 billion. Warren frequently rails against the ultra-wealthy and has proposed a wealth tax to fund a number of sweeping plans, including Medicare-for-all, canceling student loan debt for the majority of Americans and providing universal child care, which she’s introduced.
Also targeting Warren this week was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who continued her vocal opposition to her 2020 rival's Medicare-for-all plan.
“'Medicare-for-all' is a worthy idea and my issue is with how that bill works and the fact that you would kick 149 million people off their insurance in just four years -- and I don’t agree with it. And her name is on that bill,” Klobuchar said.

"You would kick 149 million people off their insurance in just four years ... I don’t agree with it."
— Sen. Amy Klobucher, commenting on Warren's Medicare-for-All plan

Klobuchar, who’s seen a boost in energy and fundraising in recent weeks following a well-received performance in October’s Democratic presidential nomination debate, added she disagreed with Biden’s term – “elitist” — to describe Warren’s approach to Medicare-for-all.
Warren has also received pushback from the wealthy.
Jamie Dimon -- the JPMorgan Chase chairman and chief executive who’s worth $1.6 billion – became the latest Wall Street executive to criticize Warren, saying the senator “uses some pretty harsh words" that "some would say vilifies successful people.”
In an interview on CNBC this week, Dimon also said Warren’s proposed Accountable Capitalism Act would change the “complete nature of how you run a corporation.” Warren introduced the measure in April as a way to make it easier to criminally charge and jail corporate executives for alleged abuses by their companies, pointing out that no CEOs were prosecuted after the financial crisis.
“I think we have to look at [how] America was founded on free enterprise; freedom and free enterprise are interchangeable,” Dimon told CNBC. “If people have very specific things that we should do different, then we should think about doing them different.”
Warren fired back in a tweet, saying that “Dimon and his buddies” were successful because of “opportunities, workforce and public services that we all paid for,” and therefore should pay more in taxes.
“The fact that they've reacted so strongly—so angrily!—to being asked to chip in more tells you all you need to know,” Warren said. “The system is working great for the wealthy and well-connected, and Jamie Dimon doesn't want that to change. I'm going to fight to make sure it works for everyone.”
Then on Wednesday, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, during the New York Times/DealBook conference, took issue with Warren’s proposed wealth tax and questioned how willing she would be to “sit down with somebody you know who has large amounts of money” to hear their point of view.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates meets with the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, Dec. 3, 2013. (Getty Images)

Gates said he does not agree with Warren’s stance that billionaires should not exist at all in the U.S.
“Maybe I’m just too biased to think that if you create a company that’s super-valuable, that at least some part of that, you should be able to have – a little bit for consumption, and hopefully the balance to do philanthropic things,” Gates said.
“I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes, I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes,” he continued. “If I’d had to have paid $20 billion in taxes – fine. But, when you say I should pay $100 billion, OK, I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over.”
Warren said on Twitter she was always happy to sit down with people who don't share her opinions, adding that Gates would not have to pay as much as $100 billion under her plan.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Adam Shaw, as well as Fox Business’ Megan Henney and Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.

'Coup has started,' whistleblower's attorney said in 2017 posts calling for impeachment

Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys representing the intelligence community whistleblower at the center of the Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry, tweeted conspicuously in January 2017 that a "coup has started" and that "impeachment will follow ultimately."
Then, in July 2017, Zaid remarked, "I predict @CNN will play a key role in @realDonaldTrump not finishing out his full term as president." Also that month, Zaid tweeted, "We will get rid of him, and this country is strong enough to survive even him and his supporters."
Amid a slew of impeachment-related posts, Zaid assured his Twitter followers that "as one falls, two more will take their place," apparently referring to Trump administration employees who defy the White House. Zaid promised that the "coup" would occur in "many steps."
The tweets, which came shortly after President Trump fired then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates for failing to defend federal laws in court, are likely to fuel Republican concerns that the anonymous whistleblower's complaint is tainted with partisanship. Trump's call with Ukraine's leader, which is the subject of the complaint, occurred in July 2019.
“The whistleblower’s lawyer gave away the game," the Trump campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, told Fox News. "It was always the Democrats’ plan to stage a coup and impeach President Trump and all they ever needed was the right scheme. They whiffed on Mueller so now they’ve settled on the perfectly fine Ukraine phone call. This proves this was orchestrated from the beginning.”
Added House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy: "We should take [Zaid] at his word that this is a coordinated, premeditated plot to overturn the election."
Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats and partisans in the intelligence community of effectively plotting a coup against him, through selective leaks and lengthy investigations.
"45 years from now we might be recalling stories regarding the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump. I'll be old, but will be worth the wait," Zaid wrote in June 2017.
He emphasized his interest in impeachment in a variety of other posts.
"Johnson (1868), Nixon (1973), Clinton (1998) impeachment hearings. Next up @realDonaldTrump (2017)," he said in May.
Fox News has previously reported on social media posts by Zaid that highlighted what appeared to be open animus toward the president.
Although Zaid described Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as a "mature professional," and circulated articles that touted the reliability of the largely discredited Steele dossier used by the FBI to surveil a former member of Trump's campaign, Zaid has repeatedly unloaded on the president in no uncertain terms.
"I'm not a Trump fan," Zaid said on a podcast last year. "I go out of my way on Twitter to say '#Resistance.' It's not a resistance against the GOP or a Republican -- I don't think [Trump] is a Republican, quite frankly." (Zaid also boasted that he has sued "every" president since 1993, and pursues "them all," regardless of party affiliation.)
Also in the podcast, Zaid acknowledged that he had been fishing for plaintiffs to launch a lawsuit concerning the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., alleging unfair competition by the president and his associates.
"The unfair competition becomes, when Donald Trump became president, he has exploited his use of the presidency, of the Oval Office. ... to send business to the hotel. ... We identified this as a cause of action, and we were looking for a plaintiff, and we finally found this one restaurant that was willing," Zaid admitted. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last year.
Zaid also had something of an open casting call for whistleblowers on Twitter as Trump took office, writing that CIA employees should "come to" his law firm "to lawfully challenge" the new president.
Zaid publicly requested that celebrities Debra Messing, Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Rob Reiner help promote his whistleblower law firm.
"@cher please check out our new whistleblower page," Zaid wrote in one tweet, which garnered no response from the famed singer.
In February, Zaid escalated his pitch to Reiner, asserting that "we have a chance to depose" Trump in court. At one point last year, Zaid even pitched his services to Michael Avenatti, after the now-embattled attorney mentioned that he was "now representing whistleblowers within ICE."
Another of the whistleblower's attorneys, Andrew Bakaj, tweeted in August 2017 that Trump should be removed under the 25th Amendment, which applies to incapacitated presidents.
The posts have surfaced as Republicans demand that the anonymous whistleblower come forward and testify. On Sunday, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, rejected an offer from Zaid for the whistleblower to anonymously provide written answers to GOP questions.
"Written answers will not provide a sufficient opportunity to probe all the relevant facts and cross-examine the so-called whistleblower," Jordan said. "You don't get to ignite an impeachment effort and never account for your actions and role in orchestrating it."
Zaid acknowledged in a statement in October that his client "has come into contact with presidential candidates from both parties" -- but insisted that the contact involved the politicians' roles as "elected officials – not as candidates."
His abrupt disclosure came shortly after The Washington Examiner reported that Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson told lawmakers the whistleblower worked “or had some type of professional relationship” with one of the Democratic presidential candidates, citing three sources familiar with Atkinson’s interview with lawmakers last month.
Zaid and the other whistleblower attorneys did assert that the whistleblower "has never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign or party" -- leaving open the possibility that the whistleblower did advise a current 2020 Democratic presidential candidate prior to his or her run for office.
"The whistleblower is not the story," the attorneys said. "To date, virtually every substantive allegation has been confirmed by other sources. For that reason, the identity of the whistleblower is irrelevant."
But Republicans have challenged that claim, noting that various statements in the whistleblower claim have seemingly proved inaccurate. For example, the whistleblower complaint stated that Trump made a “specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and examined by the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike" -- a request that does not appear in the declassified transcript of the call released by the Trump administration. Trump mentioned CrowdStrike, but did not demand the server.
Meanwhile, Democrats on Wednesday released a transcript of testimony from U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor in which he claimed to have a “clear understanding” that  Trump wanted to leverage military aid to Ukraine in return for investigations that could benefit him politically -- while acknowledging he didn't have firsthand knowledge of "what was in the president's mind."
“That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the President [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation,” Taylor said.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT
Taylor is a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine who has emerged as a key figure of interest in the Trump impeachment inquiry, having alleged a quid pro quo was at play despite White House denials.
The transcript shows that Taylor testified he had been told by other officials that the White House was willing to hold up both military aid and a prospective White House meeting with Ukraine's president to extract a public announcement from Kiev that probes related to election interference and a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden's son were underway.

"Coup has started. ... We will get rid of him."
— Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid, in 2017

"That's what Ambassador Sondland said," Taylor said, referring to E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland. "He said that they were linked. They were linked."
But Republicans have countered that Taylor did not have primary knowledge regarding the key events in question, but rather based his testimony off conversations with others.
In one exchange between GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin and Taylor during his deposition, Taylor was asked whether he had any firsthand knowledge of Trump conditioning an investigation into the 2016 election and the Bidens on military aid.
Taylor said he did not speak to the president, or have any direct communication with the president regarding the requests for investigations. Instead, he said he was basing much of his testimony on what former United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Sondland told him.
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.