Members of the House Intelligence Committee on Monday will review a report on the panel’s investigation into whether President Trump
committed an impeachable act, specifically by allegedly withholding
military aid to Ukraine until the country investigated former Vice
President Joe Biden and his son, Fox News has confirmed.
Lawmakers
will then approve the report before sending it – along with minority
views – to the House Judiciary Committee, which will draft and consider
articles of impeachment in the weeks ahead.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
right, shown with committee staffer Daniel Noble at left, speaks at the
conclusion of public impeachment hearings last month. (Associated Press)
Intelligence panel Chairman Adam Schiff,
D-Calif., sent a letter to his colleagues last week that report would
be coming “soon” from his committee but did not provide a specific time
frame.
He has also said the report would summarize the panel’s
two-month investigation into President Trump and Ukraine and list the
likely articles of impeachment.
The House has moved swiftly to investigate the president since Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the formalization of an impeachment inquiry in September.
This
week's first impeachment hearing is scheduled for Wednesday and will
feature a panel of constitutional experts who will offer what
constitutes an impeachable offense.
Hunter Biden
filed a protective order this week in an effort to seal his financial
records from being released publicly -- amid his fears that the
information would be used “maliciously” by the media and cause him
public “embarrassment,” according to a report.
Former Vice
President Joe Biden’s son filed the motion in Arkansas on Wednesday as
part of an ongoing child support suit, according to the Daily Mail.
His attorneys claim the details would be used by the media, considering
his high public profile, to cause him "undue prejudice, annoyance,
embarrassment, and/or oppression."
"The
likelihood that [Biden's] private records will be used in an
inappropriate or malicious manner for reasons that have absolutely
nothing to do with these proceedings is exceedingly high and should not
be tolerated by the court," the filing reads.
"Due to the
extraordinary circumstances surrounding the parties involved in this
matter, it is in the interest of justice and necessary for a Protective
Order to be in place," Biden's attorney says.
An earlier court
filing in the case alleged that DNA tests confirm with “scientific
certainty” that Hunter is the biological father of a child whose mother
he denied having sex with.
A paternity suit filed by Lunden Alexis
Roberts was first filed on May 28 when she alleged that she and Hunter
Biden “were in a relationship” and that “Baby Doe” was born in August
2018 “as a result of that relationship,” according to reports by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Roberts
is demanding $11,000 in legal fees as well as child support, and has
agreed that a protective order is appropriate, according to the Daily Mail.
In
a sworn statement, Biden goes on to say he has incurred “significant
debts” in part due to his 2017 divorce from Kathleen Biden, that he is
unemployed and has had no monthly income since May 2019.
The suit comes amid increased scrutiny on Hunter over his links to a Ukrainian energy company where he once sat on the board.
An
apparent effort by White House officials and President Trump to get
Ukraine to launch investigations into Hunter’s link to the company --
and Biden Sr.’s push in 2016 to get a prosecutor fired who
had investigated the company -- is the current focus of an impeachment
inquiry in the House.
The former VP was asked about the paternity suit on the campaign trail last week, and called it a “private matter” on which he had no comment. Fox News' Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 4:00 PM PT — Saturday, November 30, 2019
President Trump is returning to the state that helped secure the
first Republican victory in nearly three decades. The president is
getting ready to hold a ‘Keep America Great’ rally at the Giant Center
in Hershey, Pennsylvania. On Saturday, he provided a link to official
tickets for his Pennsylvania rally on December 10th.
Before President Trump, Democrat presidential candidates had previously won the state in every race since 1992.
In a recent statement, Trump campaign Chief Operating Officer Michael
Glassner said the state is booming thanks to the president. He noted
the president is delivering on his promises and looks forward to
celebrating his successes with the great men and women of Pennsylvania.
“I think we’re going to do great in Pennsylvania,” stated President
Trump. “We won Pennsylvania last time, (for) the first time in many
years.”
People
listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Sunrise,
Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
During his August political rally in Manchester, New Hampshire,
President Trump highlighted some of his accomplishments in Pennsylvania.
“We have incredible things going on in Pennsylvania,” he said. “We
just opened up a $10 billion plant, we have many of them going up (and) a
lot of jobs.”
In a recent tweet, the president showed gratitude for the energy, construction and craft workers of Pennsylvania.
“We are relying on American workers
to build our own future right here on American soil. Industry is booming
and the hearts of our workers the American spirit is soaring higher,
stronger, freer and greater than ever before. It’s an honor for me to be
with you in Pennsylvania.” — President Donald Trump
Meet on top of a parking garage. Pack warm. Pack light.
Those were my only instructions as I headed out on a top-secret Thanksgiving trip with the president of the United States.
“Are
you Kristin?” said a man on top of the parking garage who looked like
he was in the Secret Service, but wouldn’t confirm it. Once we were
rolling to Joint Base Andrews, he hit me with the bomb that I knew was
coming. “In a few minutes, I’m going to need to take all of your cell
phones, iWatch, iPad, MiFi -- anything that can transmit a signal.”
I
had prepared for this moment. I’d written down about a dozen phone
numbers in a notebook that I never use. I scribbled out the names of
people and places I might encounter without access to Google for a spell
check. I printed out pages and pages of articles that might be relevant
for wherever we were going. And yet, I still felt like I was giving
away bodily organs as I said goodbye to my three cell phones. “Maybe a
digital detox will be good for me!” I quipped, but didn’t mean it. I was
really thinking about all the content-that-could-have-been for my
Instagram feed.
I was still compulsively checking my pockets for
my ghost phones by the time I boarded an aircraft that I can’t disclose
and shook hands with people that I cannot name (not because I don’t want
to name them, but because most of them wouldn’t tell me their
names). Someone asked me if I’d brought food. No. Someone else asked if I
brought ear protection. Definitely no. Someone else told me that if I
need to use the restroom, use the aircraft’s built-in restroom and not
the moderately fancy port-a-potty that had been brought in for the VIPs
we were picking up. Noted.
After a two-hour flight to an
undisclosed airport in Florida, I was instructed to move up to the
cockpit. “The boss is coming.” The move was meant to give the president
and the handful of senior advisers traveling with him some privacy from
the only member of the press on the plane. But shortly after boarding,
President Trump climbed into the cockpit and said, “Where’s the
press?” We shook hands and he asked if I was going “all the way.” Yes
but, all the way ... where?
Suddenly, there was a pesky dividing
wall between us. The president was taking a seat behind the pilot, while
I was getting strapped into a seat facing the opposite direction with
no way to see or hear the commander-in-chief. I strained my neck as far
as the restraints would let me, to the point one crew member told me,
“Don’t worry, we’ll let you look out the window after takeoff when the
president leaves.” Wait, he’s staying in the cockpit for takeoff? The
crew member nodded like he too couldn’t believe it.
I later
learned that the crew had no idea who they would be transporting that
day until mere hours before the flight. Imagine being that pilot. You
wake up one morning having no idea that a few hours later the president
of the United States will be sitting behind you, watching your every
move as you help him secretly escape from Mar-a-Lago?
When we
landed back at Joint Base Andrews, I learned I wasn’t the only one going
through communication withdrawals. The highly wired West Wing staffers
were too.
Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media,
seemed particularly jittery. As for the tweeter-in-chief, the White
House scheduled pre-planned tweets to be sent from the president’s
Twitter account during the many hours that he was in the dark.
I
scoured the tarmac for the bright lights that usually shine on Air Force
One before departure, but didn’t see any. After a short drive, we
pulled up to a large hangar with Air Force One hidden inside. I’d never
been on the plane before and I was trying to savor the moment, but the
rest of the White House press corps was already on board and they were
peppering me with questions about the secret flight from Florida before I
even found my seat. They’re a feisty bunch and one of the best parts of
every trip is getting to know the other journalists that cover this
beat.
We all had fears that the embargo would be broken before we
were allowed to report on the trip. We all wanted to know when we were
going to get our cell phones back. And most of all, we all wanted to
know where we were going.
A few hours after the plane took off in
total darkness with windows drawn and lights off, White House press
secretary Stephanie Grisham came to the back of the plane to brief
us. “We’re going to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.” This would be
President Trump’s second trip to a conflict zone, his first to
Afghanistan. The highly clandestine nature of this trip underscored just
how dangerous the country remains, 18 years after the U.S. war in
Afghanistan began.
After a 13-hour flight, we descended in total
darkness – lights off, windows drawn – and touched down on a pitch-black
tarmac. As I stepped off the plane, I tried to take a second to soak it
in. This is a country I’ve always wanted to come to. When I first met
my future mother-in-law 10 years ago, I told her, much to my future
husband’s horror, that my dream was to be a war correspondent in
Afghanistan. Dreams change, but the desire to visit this country has
not. I’d only be getting about three hours on the ground at night due to
security concerns, but I was thrilled to be here. I spotted two
surveillance blimps in the sky above Air Force One. I smelled the wood
(and garbage) that often burns on base. And then, we were off.
It
was quite possibly the fastest three-and-a-half hours of my life. The 13
reporters and photographers on the trip were raced from place to
place. First, to a dining facility decked out in Thanksgiving
decorations to watch President Trump serve turkey to the troops; then, a
hastily arranged bilateral meeting with the president of Afghanistan,
who had been informed of this trip only a few hours earlier due to, once
again, security concerns. At this point, the trip went from being
mostly a holiday story about turkey and troops, to – in the words of
another reporter - “We’re going to get some real news on this trip!”
With
microphones on and shutters snapping, President Trump said, “The
Taliban wants to make a deal and we are meeting with them, and we are
saying there has to be a cease-fire.” It was another one of those
hard-to-hear, did-he-just-say-that? moments. I followed up by asking him
if this meant that the United States has officially restarted
negotiations with the Taliban after he’d called the peace talks “dead”
in September. The president nodded and said, “We are talking with the
Taliban.”
We were still scrambling to jot down all of the newsiest
bits as we were handed back our cell phones and rushed to our final
stop: a massive hangar filled with hundreds of troops waiting to hear
President Trump deliver a Thanksgiving address. This was also the stop
where the embargo would be lifted and we would be filing our reports to
let the world know what President Trump had really been up
to. Everything I had been writing on my laptop, and all of the video we
had been shooting, hinged on our ability to connect to whatever internet
the White House advance team had set up for us. There have been
problems on past trips, but this time the White House went all out to
establish a full filing center. And yet … when the “Go! Go! The
embargo’s been lifted” moment came, I couldn’t access my email to hit
send. Gmail deemed me to be suspicious and locked me out of my account.
Time
slowed. My pulse quickened. Every expletive in the world was begging to
be shouted. My bosses back in D.C. and I had discussed at length this
very moment. Our plan was to use my personal email because my work email
required a cell phone to connect, and we weren’t supposed to get our
cell phones back until after … Wait! My cell phones! After more than
24 hours without them, I’d almost forgotten that they were back in my
pocket. The ghosts glowed to life and I hit send.
At the same
time, my crew, Craig Savage and Ed Lewis, two of the most experienced
photographers in the business, were beginning to feed their footage and
all the cable networks were taking it live. We were supposed to have a
full 30 minutes to feed, but we’d already been on the ground in
Afghanistan longer than the Secret Service would like. “You’ve got seven
minutes!” deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere shouted to the
press.
Seven minutes?! This was my only window to shoot a standup,
that, 'Hey-look-at-me-I’m-on-the-ground-in-Afghanistan' moment, but we
still had over 30 minutes of video left to feed. The standup was dead.
Deere,
who was spending his birthday dealing with our constant demands for
more time, more access, more internet, had warned us that when he said
go, we had to stop our fingers and feeds and move. Air Force One was not
going to wait for us. I still begged for more time. “How much time do
you need?” asked Deere. As much time as you can give me. “You’ve got two
minutes.”
Two minutes?! We fed as much as we could, promised to feed more as soon as possible, grabbed our gear, and ran to the plane.
We
were still trying to feed as Air Force One took off. I was standing in
the middle of the aisle, shouting over the engines to my desk back in
D.C., and marveling that no one had told me to buckle up. Sweating
through my silk shirt and dusting sawdust from somewhere off my pants, I
took a second to smile at the coolest Thanksgiving Day I’ll ever have.
These days it seems everyone’s a fashion critic – especially on social media. The latest target: Mick Mulvaney.
The acting White House chief of staff drew numerous critical comments Friday after being photographed at a Florida airport while wearing an American-flag-themed shirt and U.S. Space Force cap.
Mulvaney had just returned to the U.S. after accompanying President Trump on a top-secret visit to Afghanistan to spend Thanksgiving Day with American troops.
The
Twitterati didn’t seem to care whether Mulvaney was inspired by the
trip to express some patriotic spirit. They just let him have it.
“This
is what disrespectful white trash Americans look like,” one Twitter
critic wrote. “He thinks that this offensive shirt ‘owns the Libs’. It
doesn’t.”
“This is what disrespectful white trash Americans look like. He thinks that this offensive shirt ‘owns the Libs’. It doesn’t.” — Twitter commenter
“Mulvaney’s shirt direct from the Walmart clearance rack,” another wrote.
“Trump made Mulvaney wear that sniper-target shirt the whole time they were in Afghanistan,” a third critic wrote.
Other Republicans recently targeted over their attire include former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
The Spicer comments were triggered by his recent stint as a contestant on TV’s “Dancing with the Stars,” which involved wearing various costumes for different dance routines.
Perhaps drawing the most scorn was a bright neon rumba shirt.
“Sean Spicer is basically wearing the Puffy Shirt from Seinfeld,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Anytime that image of Spicer in a lime green rumba shirt pops up I question if this isn’t purgatory,” another wrote.
“Anytime that image of Spicer in a lime green rumba shirt pops up I question if this isn’t purgatory.” — Twitter commenter
After wearing it, Spicer placed the shirt up for auction to raise money for the “Yellow Ribbon” fund, which assists the caregivers of wounded service members.
Jordan,
a member of the House Intelligence Committee, which recently conducted
impeachment hearings, is known for opting against wearing a jacket while
performing his congressional duties. Earlier this month, The Washington
Post let Jordan know it disapproved.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has often faced criticism for opting
against wearing a jacket during committee hearings on Capitol Hill.
(Associated Press)
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“For dignity’s sake, Jim Jordan, put on a jacket,” the Nov. 13 piece was titled. It later described Jordan’s fashion choice as “his power move” and his “sartorial chest thump.”
For his part, Jordan claims that shedding his jacket simply helps him do his job better.
“I can’t really get fired up and get into it if you’ve got some jacket slowing you down,” he told the Post.
Former President Barack Obama's choice of a tan suit did not go over well in Washington in 2014.
Fashion comments have also run in the opposite political direction: For example, former President Barack Obama was once taken to task over a tan-colored suit, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been the butt of many jokes about her pantsuits.
A Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in 2020 blasted Twitter
on Friday after having her accounts permanently suspended this week
following a tweet suggesting that the incumbent congresswoman should be
hanged if found guilty of treason.
Danielle Stella wrote on her
campaign Twitter account Tuesday, “If it is proven @IlhanMN passed
sensitive info to Iran, she should be tried for #treason and hanged,"
The Washington Examiner reported.
She later added a link to a blog post that included a drawing of a stick figure being hanged.
Stella's tweet followed media reports that Omar's name came up in a Canadian businessman's deposition in a Florida court case.
The
businessman, Alan Bender, claimed that Qatari officials told him Omar
was the "jewel in the crown" of U.S. politicians who allegedly were
Qatari assets and shared information with Iran, the Washington Examiner reported.
But
several journalists have tweeted that they have found no evidence to
support any of Bender's claims about Omar, the Examiner added.
Meanwhile,
a Twitter spokesperson said Stella's accounts were closed for “repeated
violations of the Twitter rules," The Examiner reported.
“To clarify, I said, "If it is proven ____ passed sensitive info to Iran, she should be tried for #treason and
hanged". Treason is the only thing mentioned in the constitution for
the death penalty, punishable by hanging or firing squad," Stella wrote
in a statement posted on Facebook on Friday. "I believe all involved
should be thoroughly investigated. I did not threaten anyone.”
Stella
said people were “making this into something it's not. You are making
it about race, about religion, about anything but the truth.”
“My
suspension for advocating for the enforcement of federal code
proves Twitter will always side with and fight to protect terrorists,
traitors, pedophiles and rapists,” she told The Examiner.
She added that she’s received death threats over her comments.
Omar
tweeted in response, “This is the natural result of a political
environment where anti-Muslim dogwhistles and dehumanization are
normalized by an entire political party and its media outlets. Violent
rhetoric inevitably leads to violent threats, and ultimately, violent
acts.”
Stella’s website describes her as a special-education-needs
professional who has dedicated her life to “teaching, supporting, and
caring for children with Autism.”
Stella also claism she is a strong supporter of President Trump and free speech.
A couple takes in the view of the San Francisco, California skyline. (Reuters Photo/Robert Galbraith)
Tamara Mitchell, a volunteer for the Coalition on Homelessness, said
it’s becoming impossible to live in San Francisco as the country’s
housing crisis is only getting worse. Major cities in the Bay Area,
including San Francisco, have the third largest population of people
experiencing homelessness.
“We’ve been homeless, we’ve been staying in hotels, we’ve been staying with family members – it’s been a lot,” she explained.
However, help may soon be on the way. That’s because companies such
as Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have promised to pay more than
$3 billion to help solve the problem. This comes as many blame the
housing crisis, in part, on Big Tech for building companies like the
ones in Silicon Valley without considering where their employees would
live with factors like strict house zoning laws and the possibility of
prices skyrocketing.
This comes at the heels of a bipartisan initiative in Congress called
the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which would give
incentives to purchase homes by setting a locked-in tax credit rate. The
bill would also create more housing units, which would hopefully drive
down prices.
So far, a large number of house legislators and U.S. senators from
both parties have backed the bill. Lawmakers say the legislation would
also make the country’s housing credit more effective for veterans,
rural residents and Native American communities.
FILE – A man stands outside his tent on Division Street in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Business leaders say it’s about time Big Tech owns up to its role in
causing the housing crisis and that Congress also finally takes action
to remedy the issue.
“As long as I’ve lived here, and that’s 30 years, people have said,
‘oh the housing is just out of control, it’s no longer connected to
reality, this can’t continue’ and yet here we are,” said Russell
Hancock, president and CEO Joint Ventures. “What’s happening most
recently though is now we’re referring to it as a crisis.”
Hancock suggested that the most marginalized communities will
continue to be hit the hardest by the housing crisis if action isn’t
taken soon by Congress, Big Tech or both.
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s first visit to Afghanistan (all times local):
12:20 a.m.
President
Donald Trump is returning to the U.S. after an unannounced trip to
Afghanistan, his first visit to the site of America’s longest war.
Trump
took off after midnight from Bagram Air Field after several hours with
the troops and a brief meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Trump says the U.S. and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and he thinks the Taliban want to make a deal.
Trump
abruptly broke off peace talks with the Taliban in September, canceling
a secret meeting with at Camp David after a bombing in Kabul that
killed 12 people, including an American soldier. It was not immediately
clear how long or substantive the U.S. reengagement with the Taliban has
been.
White
House spokesman Judd Deere said Ghani was notified of the president’s
visit a few hours before Trump’s arrival and accepted an invitation to
meet at the base.
___
11:50 p.m.
President
Donald Trump is thanking U.S. troops in Afghanistan during a surprise
visit to Bagram Air Field in his first trip to the site of America’s
longest war.
He
says he flew 8,331 miles to be there to tell them the U.S. has never
been stronger. He says, “There is nowhere I’d rather celebrate
Thanksgiving.”
Trump
spoke to a crowd of about 1,500 troops gathered in a hangar on the
base. He stood behind a podium surrounded by army green sandbags and
flanked by military equipment.
Trump
at one point invited Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to join him onstage.
Ghani wished the troops a “Happy Thanksgiving” and commended Trump for
his leadership.
Tens
of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 American service
members have been killed since America’s longest war began 18 years ago.
___
11:40 p.m.
President
Donald Trump had a Thanksgiving meal with U.S. troops at Bagram Air
Field in Afghanistan, where he traveled secretly Thursday.
Trump’s
first stop was a dining hall decked out in paper Thanksgiving
decorations where he plated turkey for the troops at the largest U.S.
base in the country.
He
was then greeted by a round of loud cheers as he headed into a main
dining area and sat down for a meal, chatted and posed for photos.
He also thanked the troops and joked that, “It’s a long flight, but we love it.”
The
meal included turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and
candied yams. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Entertainment Tonight
and a Harry Potter movie played on dining hall TVs.
___
11:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump is making a surprise visit to Afghanistan to spend time with U.S. troops on Thanksgiving.
Trump
arrived at Bagram Air Field shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time and
spent more than two-and-a-half hours on the ground. Reporters were under
strict instructions to keep the trip a secret to ensure his safety.
The
visit comes more than two months after Trump abruptly broke off peace
talks with the Taliban after a bombing in Kabul killed 12 people,
including an American soldier.
And it comes at a pivotal moment in Trump’s presidency, with the impeachment inquiry moving quickly.
The president and first lady made a similar trip last year to Iraq on Christmas night — their first to an active conflict zone.
Vice President Mike Pence also visited troops in Iraq this week.
___
11 p.m.
The
White House went to great lengths to keep the president’s surprise
Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan secret after his cover was blown last
year.
Cell
phones were confiscated from everyone traveling aboard Air Force One to
Bagram Air Field. And Thanksgiving-themed tweets were teed up to publish
ahead of time from the president’s account to prevent suspicions
arising about his silence.
The
president first flew back to the Washington area secretly from Florida,
where reporters had been told he’d be spending Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile,
the plane he’d flown to Florida remained parked on the tarmac at West
Palm Beach Airport to avoid revealing the president’s movement.
Last year, Air Force One was spotted en route to Iraq by an amateur British flight watcher.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
right, shown with committee staffer Daniel Noble at left, speaks at the
conclusion of public impeachment hearings last month. (Associated Press)
