WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, December 12, 2019

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1/ After more than eight hours of impeachment debate, the House Judiciary Committee has yet to vote on whether to approve articles of impeachment against Trump. Lawmakers have sparred at length over the two articles, including an amendment to remove charging Trump with abuse of power as well as hours of debate on amendments proposed by the Republicans intended to gut the impeachment resolution. The panel, however, is expected to eventually vote along party lines today to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump: a charge that Trump abused the powers of his office by pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rivals while withholding U.S. security aid and a White House meeting; and a charge of obstructing Congress for refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry into his conduct and for failure to respond to congressional subpoenas. Trump would become the fourth president in American history to face impeachment by the House for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Once the Judiciary votes, the full House is expected to debate and vote on the articles next week with a trial set to begin in the Senate in early 2020 – about 10 months before the next election. [Editor's note: I will update this blurb once the panel votes.] (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)

• TAKEAWAYS: House Judiciary Committee impeachment markup. (Washington Post / NBC News)

• Live Blogs: Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News

2/ Senate Republicans are pushing for a short impeachment trial that would include calling zero witnesses. The plan contradicts Trump's desire to stage a theatrical trial with public defense of his conduct by calling "a lot of witnesses," including Joe and Hunter Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and the anonymous whistleblower, whose compl...

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