Trump impeachment hearing opened by Congress for first time

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by zukusenryuuu

Corey Lewandowski, the outspoken Republican operative who served as Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, is appearing before Congress as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s first official hearing in a Democratic-led impeachment investigation.

Mr Lewandowski, a 45-year-old political commentator currently mulling a bid for Senate in his home state of New Hampshire, was unlikely to provide Democrats with much new information as they decide whether to draft articles of impeachment against the president, however. Two other witnesses who were subpoenaed alongside Mr Lewandowski — former White House aides Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter — were not expected to show up at all after the White House ordered them to decline the request.

In his opening statements, Mr Lewandowski claimed the country "spent over three years and $40m (£32m) taxpayer dollars on these investigations."

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"It is now clear the investigation was populated by many Trump haters," he added. He described Mr Trump’s campaign as “one of the greatest political revolutions” in American history, calling it “a historical and unprecedented political juggernaut.”

Prior to the Tuesday hearing, Mr Lewandowski tweeted: “Excited about the opportunity to remind the American people today there was no collusion no obstruction.”

Shape Created with Sketch. Mueller investigation: The key figures Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Mueller investigation: The key figures 1/12 Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS 2/12 Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images 3/12 Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP 4/12 Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP 5/12 Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA 6/12 Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP 7/12 Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP 8/12 Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes — in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP 9/12 George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP 10/12 Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images 11/12 Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP 12/12 Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS 1/12 Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS 2/12 Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images 3/12 Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP 4/12 Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP 5/12 Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA 6/12 Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP 7/12 Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP 8/12 Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes — in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP 9/12 George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP 10/12 Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images 11/12 Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP 12/12 Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS

The preceding tweet and opening remarks echoed Mr Trump’s analysis of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The special counsel found that there was not enough evidence to establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, and he also found that Mr Trump could not be exonerated on obstruction of justice.

Attorney General William Barr later made his own decision on obstruction, saying there was insufficient evidence.

A close friend and supporter of the Republican president, Mr Lewandowski is likely to fiercely defend the president — and he isn’t expected to elaborate much beyond what he told Mr Mueller’s investigators last year.

He was a central figure in Mr Mueller’s report, as investigators detailed two episodes in which the president asked Mr Lewandowski to direct then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the special counsel investigation. Mr Trump said that if the attorney general would not meet with Mr Lewandowski, then Mr Lewandowski should tell him he was fired.

Mr Lewandowski never delivered the message but asked Mr Dearborn, a former aide of the ex-attorney general, to do it. Mr Dearborn said he was uncomfortable with the request and declined to deliver it, according to the report.

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Still, the Judiciary panel is moving ahead, approving rules for impeachment hearings last week. Among those guidelines is allowing staff to question witnesses, as will happen for the first time with Mr Lewandowski.

In letters to the committee on Monday, the White House said that Mr Dearborn and Mr Porter were “absolutely immune” from testifying.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote that the Justice Department had advised, and Mr Trump had directed, them not to attend “because of the constitutional immunity that protects senior advisers to the president from compelled congressional testimony.”

In a separate letter, Mr Cipollone said that Mr Lewandowski, who never worked in the White House, should not reveal private conversations with the president beyond what is in the report. He wrote that his conversations with Mr Trump “are protected from disclosure by long-settled principles protecting executive branch confidentiality interests.”

In his own prepared remarks, Mr Nadler called out the White House for over its efforts to curtail the committee’s first impeachment investigation hearing.

“I think we should call this what it is, an absolute cover-up by the White House," he said.

Mr Lewandowski then refused to answer questions about meetings he had with the president, saying he wanted to respect the White House’s requests to avoid discussing information not included in the report.

Democrat Sheila Jackson asked him about specific portions of the Mueller report, posting the content she referred to on a large display screen for him to read, and yet he still refused to answer her questions.

Jos3ph on September 17th, 2019 at 21:00 UTC »

He actually said “haters” in his statement.

Choco319 on September 17th, 2019 at 20:18 UTC »

You don’t even need the juicier stuff like possible treason and conspiracy

Trump has obstructed Justice multiple times and has violated the Emolument clause his entire presidency

Edit. Well stating the obvious blew up again.

SirSmashySmashy on September 17th, 2019 at 18:14 UTC »

In letters to the committee on Monday, the White House said that Mr Dearborn and Mr Porter were “absolutely immune” from testifying.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote that the Justice Department had advised, and Mr Trump had directed, them not to attend “because of the constitutional immunity that protects senior advisers to the president from compelled congressional testimony.”

This is such a load of bunk. Absolutely immune my ass.

"We worked for the government, therefore we couldn't possibly legally report to Congress on anything that had gone on there, because the government said so!"

So clear and transparent.