WTF Just Happened Today

Your essential guide to the daily shock and awe in national politics.

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com

subscribe
share






Day 1041: Bleak.


Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of Trump. The Dec. 4 hearing on the "constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment" will feature a panel of expert witnesses who will testify "on the application of the constitutional framework of high crimes and misdemeanors to the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of the President." Chairman Jerry Nadler has invited the White House to also question witnesses. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to release its report summarizing the findings of its investigation to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess next week. The report will also detail how the White House refused to cooperate with the inquiry and argue that the refusal may warrant an additional article of impeachment against Trump. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Reuters)

2/ A federal judge ruled that the Defense Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget must turn over hundreds of documents related to Trump's decision to withhold security aid from Ukraine. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered OMB and the Defense Department to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for 211 pages of records containing communications between the Pentagon, the Pentagon's comptroller, and OMB. The preliminary injunction requires the first half of the documents to be turned over by Dec. 12, and the second half by Dec. 20. (Axios)

3/ The Office of Management and Budget officially started withholding $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine on July 25 – the same day Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone. According to a summary of OMB documents provided to the House Budget Committee, the hold on the aid was initially placed at the beginning of July. Agencies were notified at a July 18 meeting that it had been frozen at the direction of the White House – a week before the Trump-Zelensky call. (CNN)

  • ???? Day 994: Trump gave a politically appointed official the authority to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine after career staff at the Office of Management and Budget questioned the legality of delaying the funds. Trump shifted the authority over the funds to Michael Duffey, who serves as associate director of national security programs at OMB. The aid in question is at the center of the House's impeachment inquiry, and it was put on hold just days before the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Duffey was also allowed to oversee the apportionment of funds for other foreign aid and defense accounts. "It is absurd to suggest," said an OMB spokesperson in a statement, "that the president and his administration officials should not play a leadership role in ensuring taxpayer dollars are well spent."...

    Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.


fyyd: Podcast Search Engine
share








 November 27, 2019  6m