WASHINGTON: The US House launched the first public hearing Wednesday of Donald Trump’s impeachment investigation, the extraordinary process to determine whether the 45th president of the United States should be removed from office.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, immediately outlined the question at the core of the impeachment inquiry — whether the president used his office to pressure Ukraine officials for personal political gain.
“The matter is as simple and as terrible as that,” Schiff said. “Our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself, and what kind of conduct or misconduct the American people may come to expect from their commander in chief.”
It was a remarkable moment, even for a White House full of them. The hearing is the first chance for America, and the rest of the world, to see and hear for themselves about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine and consider whether they are, in fact, impeachable offenses.
The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, accused the Democratic majority of conducting a “scorched earth” effort to take down the president after the special counsel’s Russia investigation into the 2016 election failed to spark impeachment proceedings.
“We’re supposed to take these people at face value when they trot out new allegations?” said Nunes, a top Trump ally. He derided what he called the “cult-like atmosphere in the basement of the Capitol” where investigators have been interviewing witnesses behind closed doors for weeks. Transcripts of those interviews have been released.
Nunes called the Ukraine matter a “low rent” sequel to the Russia probe. “Democrats are advancing their impeachment sham,” he said.
The proceedings were being broadcast live, and on social media, from a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill. The country has been here only three times before, and never against the 21st century backdrop of real-time commentary, including from the Republican president himself.
Testifying will be two seasoned diplomats, William Taylor, the graying former infantry officer now charge d’affaires in Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary in Washington, telling the striking, if sometimes complicated story of a president allegedly using foreign policy for personal and political gain ahead of the 2020 election.
So far, the narrative is splitting Americans, mostly along the same lines as Trump’s unusual presidency. The Constitution sets a dramatic but vague bar for impeachment, and there’s no consensus yet that Trump’s actions at the heart of the inquiry meet the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Trump calls the whole thing a “witch hunt,” a retort that echoes Nixon’s own defense. “READ THE TRANSCRIPT,” he tweeted Wednesday.
At its core, the inquiry stems from Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy when he asked the Zelenskiy for “a favor.”
Trump wanted the Ukraine government to investigate Democrats in the 2016 election and his potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden, all while holding as leverage military aid the young democracy relies on as it confronts an aggressive Russia.
An anonymous whistleblower first alerted officials to concerns about the phone call. The White House released a rough transcript of the conversation, with portions deleted.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was initially reluctant to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. But she pressed ahead in September after the whistleblower’s complaint.
The White House has instructed administration officials not to testify in the inquiry. But over the past month, witness after witness has appeared behind closed doors to tell the investigators what they know.
Most received subpoenas to appear, and both Taylor and Kent had fresh subpoenas Wednesday.
Trump lashed out at the witnesses, tweeting they were “NEVER TRUMPERS,” but the two are career diplomats working for both Republican and Democratic administrations. There’s no evidence they engaged in partisan activity opposing Trump.
Whether Wednesday’s proceedings begin to end a presidency or help secure Trump’s position, it was certain his chaotic term had finally arrived at a place he could not control and a force, the constitutional system of checks and balances, that he could not ignore.
Unlike the Watergate hearings and Richard Nixon, there is not yet a “cancer-on-the-presidency” moment galvanizing public opinion. Nor is there the national shrug, as happened when Bill Clinton’s impeachment ultimately didn’t result in his removal from office. It’s perhaps most like the partisanship-infused impeachment of Andrew Johnson after the Civil War.
Democrats, Republicans assail each other as Donald Trump impeachment opens in Washington
Democrats, Republicans assail each other as Donald Trump impeachment opens in Washington
- The proceedings being broadcast live and on social media
- The White House has instructed administration officials not to testify in the inquiry
UPDATE 2-Walk for peace: Buddhist monks arrive in Washington after 2,300-mile journey
- Monks started in Texas, walked through nine states
- Walkers trod daily through frigid winter weather
WASHINGTON: Draped in burnt-orange robes, two dozen Buddhist monks arrived in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday on a 2,300-mile “Walk for Peace,” a self-described spiritual journey across nine states that has been cheered on by crowds of thousands. “People want this,” said Joan Donoghue, 59, from Silver Spring, Maryland, who had come out with four of her friends on Tuesday to see the monks. “I went on Sunday in Virginia and I waited outside for a long time and I talked to so many people and they all said the same thing: that our country needs this. We feel divided and people want more kindness and more compassion and more peace.”
The monks began their walk in Texas more than three months ago, at times braving frigid winter temperatures, sometimes with bare feet, to raise “awareness of peace, loving kindness, and compassion across America and the world.” The marchers continued on despite a powerful winter storm that spread a paralyzing mix of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Ohio Valley and mid-South to New England, compounded by bitter, Arctic cold gripping much of the US Accompanied by Aloka, a rescue dog from India who has gained a following on social media as “the Peace Dog,” their journey comes at a time of growing tensions in the US President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policy has seen surges of immigration agents and National Guard troops deployed in some cities, with both American citizens and immigrants killed by federal agents.
“We walk not to protest, but to awaken the peace that already lives within each of us,” said Bhikkhu Pannakara, spiritual leader of the Walk for Peace. “The Walk for Peace is a simple yet meaningful reminder that unity and kindness begin within each of us and can radiate outward to families, communities, and society as a whole.”
They will spend Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington and end their journey in nearby Annapolis, Maryland on Thursday.
The walk has garnered support from millions of people on social media, with many sharing messages of support for the monks. Supporters have braved snow and rain to meet and offer flowers to the monks as they passed through their cities. In Washington, hundreds of people came out to see the monks as they walked along a road informally known as Embassy Row because of the high number of embassies and diplomatic residences.
Coleman O’Donoghue, 62, of Washington, caught the attention of many of those onlookers as he carried a large flag with the peace symbol on a sea of blue. Tuesday was the fourth time he and his wife, Bonnie, had seen the monks.
“They are beautiful distraction from the chaos that is taking place in the city, the country and in the world right now,” O’Donoghue said. “It gives everyone a second to pause and think about something that is not as stressful as what the chaos is creating.”
While they waited hours just to see the monks for less than a minute, many of the spectators said the camaraderie and good energy made the experience worthwhile.
Julie Segor, 58, of Washington, made friends with a couple she met while waiting. Carl, 61, and Christine Varner, 65, of Maryland, pooled their flowers and fruit with her to give to the monks as they passed.
“It was a shared common interest to see the monks on the peace walk and give them some fruit and flowers,” Christine said.
During their stop in North Carolina, the state’s governor, Josh Stein, thanked the monks for bringing hope to millions with their message of peace, equality, justice and compassion.
“You are inspiring people at a time when so many are in need of inspiration,” Stein said. The Walk for Peace has made stops in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The monks met with spiritual and other leaders after arriving in Washington. They also held an interfaith ceremony at the National Cathedral.
During the ceremony at the cathedral, Kimberly Bassett, the District of Columbia’s secretary of state, presented the monks with a proclamation honoring them on behalf of the Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“Today may mark the end of a 2,300-mile walk but it is not the end of our journey for peace. Your pilgrimage has brought people together across cities, states and communities,” Bassett said.
Although the walk has been positive, it has not been without obstacles. While walking through Dayton, Texas, a truck struck the monks’ escort vehicle, injuring several people, according to local media. Two monks sustained serious injuries and one had his leg amputated.
Despite the accident, the group continued to trek across the US to honor not only their original message of peace but also their brothers.
