The News
Where to begin? Here are new developments in the impeachment inquiry, with a Texas twist.
- A Washington Post poll out Tuesday is beginning to show a pattern: A majority of Americans support opening an impeachment investigation into Trump’s illicit activities. What’s new-ish is that almost half support fully booting him from office.
- Energy Secretary and former Texas governor Rick Perry has been ensnared in Trump’s impeachment imbroglio. Trump says Rick Perry told me to call the Ukraine president — as if that has anything to do with his criminal activity. Perry, for his part, says, yes I told him to call to talk about energy policy — not the Bidens!
- More whistleblowers — secret weapons in modern American history — are coming forward to call out wrongdoing of this president. A second whistleblower with firsthand of Trump’s dealing with Ukraine is talking. (The Washington Post, by the way, is reporting there is an IRS whistleblower alleging the White House interfered with an audit of the president or vice president’s tax returns.)
- On Tuesday, the Trump Administration ordered a U.S. ambassador not to show up to a congressional deposition on his role on the Trump-Ukraine matter. House Democrats sought to ask the ambassador about a series of text messages that corroborate the allegation that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine in until he got dirt on Joe Biden.
What It Means
The president and his allies, including John Cornyn, are losing the public opinion battle so far. And it may only get worse. Democrats have warned previously that any efforts by the Trump administration to block the impeachment inquiry would be considered obstruction of justice. Three House Committee chairs issued a joint statement on Tuesday responding to the Administration blocking the ambassador, saying “We consider this interference to be obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.”
In a late breaking development, the New York Times is reporting the White House, in an unprecedented move, is refusing to cooperate with the House’s investigation.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
