Live political reporting continues on Monday’s blog:
Summary
Here’s what’s happened today:
- Trump signed legislation backing Hong Kong protestors despite opposition from the Chinese government.
- The US Navy has dropped the reviews of three other officers after Trump intervened in the disciplining of Navy Seal Edward Gallagher.
- Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU and a key witness in the impeachment inquiry has been accused of sexual misconduct. Three women have said he retaliated against them after they rejected his advances.
- Trump was briefed about the whistleblower complaint about his dealings with Ukraine before the White House released military aid to Kyiv.
- Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani reportedly pursued business from Ukrainian, even as he pushed officials there to investigate Trump’s political rivals.
- Don McGhan won’t have to testify to the House — for now. A judge issued a temporary stay as she considers whether to grant the justice department a longer stay as it challenges her ruling that he must comply with the House’s subpoena.
Report finds that the government separated families knowing that it didn’t have the technology to track them
The government separated thousands of families as part of a Trump administration policy, even though it lacked the technology to document and track their whereabouts, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security watchdog.
Border officers took children from parents being criminally prosecuted for entering the country as part of a policy to deter illegal immigration. A U.S. judge eventually ended the practice and ordered officials to reunite families. The report by the DHS Inspector General’s office says that officials knew that they wouldn’t be able to track the whereabouts of parents and children, and continued with the practice regardless.
Reunification has been chaotic and coordinated via email instead of through a shared system that various government agencies could all access, the report found.
Trump signs legislation backing Hong Kong protestors despite objections from China
The president signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was almost unanimously approved by both legislative houses, despite objections from the Chinese government.
The law requires the State Department to certify that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy, and threatens sanctions for human rights violations.
Trump also signed another law that prohibits the export of teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and stun guns to Hong Kong.
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” Trump said in a statement. “They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”
Updated
Navy drops scrutiny of three more officers following Trump's intervention in Gallagher case
The US Navy has thrown out plans to review three officers under scrutiny following Donald Trump’s decision to intervene in a related case.
Trump issued a direct order to halt disciplinary measures against a Navy Seal accused of war crimes in Iraq. On Sunday, defense secretary Mark Esper fired the navy secretary Richard Spencer after Spencer resisted pressure to intervene in the case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher.
Now the reviews of three other Navy Seals — Lieutenant Jacob Portier, Lieutenant Commander Robert Breisch and Lieutenant Thomas MacNeil — who were being scrutinized as Gallagher’s supervisors, have been dropped.
Gallagher was found to have posed for a “trophy” photo with the corpse but acquitted of more than a dozen other charges, including ones related to the staping of an Isis militant.
Ousted Navy secretary Spencer has now published a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post, writing that Trump’s involving himself in the Gallagher case “ was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review”.
“It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices,” he wrote.
Immigration officers have arrested an additional 90 students at fake university created by Homeland Security
As part of a sting operation, federal agents enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to a Detroit school that marketed graduate programs in technology and computer science. The students paid about $12,000 in tuition and fees per year to attend the university, which was created in 2015.
Agents have since arrested about 250 students, many of whom have been deported.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
The students had arrived legally in the U.S. on student visas, but since the University of Farmington was later revealed to be a creation of federal agents, they lost their immigration status after it was shut down in January. The school was located on Northwestern Highway near 13 Mile Road in Farmington Hills and staffed with undercover agents posing as university officials...
Attorneys for the students arrested said they were unfairly trapped by the U.S. government since the Department of Homeland Security had said on its website that the university was legitimate. An accreditation agency that was working with the U.S. on its sting operation also listed the university as legitimate...
No one has filed a lawsuit or claim against the U.S. government for collecting the money or for allegedly entrapping the students.
Attorneys for ICE and the Department of Justice maintain that the students should have known it was not a legitimate university because it did not have classes in a physical location. Some CPT programs have classes combined with work programs at companies.
Updated
Here’s who’ll be moderating the next Democratic primary debate
The next Democratic presidential primary debate, which will take place at Loyola Marymount University on December 19, will be co-moderated by PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff, Amna Nawaz, and Yamiche Alcindor and Politico’s Tim Alberta.
Earlier this month, NBC reported that some at the DNC were fretting over having Alberta moderate the debate due to this previous work for the National Review, a conservative magazine, and the fact that he’s spent much of his recent career writing about the Republican party.
So far, six candidates appear to have qualified for the debate: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Candidates have until December 12 to meet the criteria to qualify.
Evening summary
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU who has become a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women. The accusers said the wealthy hotel owner professionally retaliated against them after they rejected his advances.
- The highly anticipated report from the justice department inspector general on the origins of the Russia investigation is expected to debunk Trump’s repeated claim that the FBI attempted to spy on his 2016 campaign.
- Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, was reportedly pursuing business opportunities with Ukrainian officials as he pressured the country to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 campaign, raising questions about whether he was simultaneously trying to advance the interests of both Trump and leaders in Kyiv.
- Giuliani called Trump this week to reassure him that he was joking when he told multiple media outlets he had “insurance” in case the president turned against him.
- A federal judge has granted a temporary stay in the case of Don McGahn and will now consider whether to approve the justice department’s request for a longer stay as it appeals her ruling that the former White House counsel must testify to Congress about his time working in the Trump administration.
The blog will be off for Thanksgiving tomorrow and Friday, so I will be back on Monday. And Maanvi will have much more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.
A third woman, Natalie Sept, said Gordon Sondland offered to help her with her career in 2010 but he cut off communication after she rejected a forcible kiss from the hotel owner.
Sept told ProPublica that Sondland dangled a job with the Oregon governor’s film board and arranged a dinner to discuss the opportunity. After the dinner, during which the job only came up briefly, Sondland invited her to have a drink at a nearby bar.
“When I come back [from the bathroom], he is sitting on the booth side of this big table,” she recalls. “He says, ‘Come sit next to me.’ And I thought, ‘Oh my god, this isn’t good.’ So I said, ‘Oh, I forgot, I have to go home.’”
Sondland insisted on walking Sept back to her car and then leaned in for a hug. “So I give him a quick hug and he holds onto my shoulders and looks at me and pushes himself into me and tries to kiss me,” Sept said. She managed to speed off in her car, but the job opportunity did not come up again.
Jana Solis claimed Gordon Sondland exposed himself to her and forcibly kissed her when she was inspecting some of his properties and possessions in 2008.
Sondland had asked Solis to evaluate his personal art collection, even though she didn’t have expertise in art valuations. At one point, Sondland asked her to meet him in the pool house.
“I get out to the pool house, and he is now naked from the waist down,” Solis told ProPublica. “He said something about, ‘I thought we could chat.’ And I said something, trying to keep his ego intact — not that he needed that, not that it wouldn’t have been anyway — I said something like, ‘I can’t have that conversation.’”
The situation did not escalate beyond that, but Solis encountered Sondland a few months later as she was inspecting some of his other properties and holding training sessions with hotel staff. On the last day of the trainings, Sondland invited her to the penthouse, which served as his private living quarters. Solis remembers Sondland asking her to have a drink on the couch with him, which she agreed to.
“The next thing I know, he’s all over me,” Solis said. “He’s on top of me. He’s kissing me, shoving his tongue down my throat. And I’m trying to wiggle out from under him, and the next thing you know, I’m sort of rising up to get away from him, and I fall over the back of the couch.”
Solis said Sondland later called her at work to yell about her job performance, which she blamed on her rejection of his advances. (Sondland denied the allegations detailed in the ProPublica report, inclduing Solis’.)
Updated
The three women accusing Gordon Sondland of sexual misconduct all shared their names and allegations on the record with ProPublica.
One of Sondland’s accusers is Nicole Vogel, the owner of Portland Monthly, which co-published the report about the allegations against the ambassador. (An editor’s note specifies that Vogel was not involved in editorial decisions about the piece.)
Vogel said Sondland tried to forcibly kiss her when she was raising money to start the magazine in 2003. Sondland, who owns five hotels in Portland with his company Provenance Hotel Group, had already said he would invest in the magazine when he invited Vogel to see one of the rooms at his nearby property.
Accordig to Vogel, she lavished praise on the rather mundane room and was turning to leave when Sondland asked for a hug. “And as I pulled back, he grabs my face and goes to kiss me,” Vogel said. “I said, ‘Ooh Gordon, you’re a married man, and you’d just break my heart.’”
Vogel then hurried to leave the hotel. A few weeks later, after another uncomfortable encounter in which Sondland put his hand on her thigh, he told Vogel he would not be investing in the magazine after all.
Sondland accused of sexual misconduct
Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU who has become a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women who say he retaliated against them after they rejected his advances.
ProPublica reports:
In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business.
Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance.
A third woman, 27 years Sondland’s junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. She says his job help stopped.
Sondland, who testified last week that he considered Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 election as Trump held up the country’s military aid to be a definite case of quid pro quo, denied the allegations in a statement.
“These untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe, coordinated for political purposes,” Sondland said. “They have no basis in fact, and I categorically deny them.”
Sondland’s lawyer even suggested the women may be retaliating against the ambassador after failed business opportunties. “Notably, what each of these three women share in common is that they pursued Ambassador Sondland for financial and personal gain — an investment, a job, and insurance brokerage work — and he declined their proposals,” said lawyer Jim McDermott.
McDermott added that the timing of the article’s publication could be viewed as “veiled witness tampering,” but the authors of the piece noted they began reporting on the story last month.
However, the report from justice department inspector general Michael Horowitz is not expected to completely let FBI leaders off the hook for their handling of the Russia investigation.
The New York Times reports:
[Horowitz] found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page — eavesdropping that Mr. Trump’s allies have long decried as politically motivated.
M r. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report. The draft contained a chart listing numerous mistakes in the process, one of the people said.
DOJ inspector general debunks Trump's claims of FBI spying on his campaign
The highly anticipated report from the justice department’s inspector general on the origins of the Russia investigation is expected to debunk Trump’s repeated claim that the FBI attempted to spy on his 2016 campaign.
The New York Times reports:
The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said.
The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump’s phones tapped. The startling accusation generated headlines but Mr. Trump never backed it up.
Previous reports have also indicated that Horowitz did not find any evidence of FBI senior leadership acting out of anti-Trump bias in their handling of the investigation, although the inspector general harshly criticized some decisions made early on by lower-level officials.
Put all together, it’s looking like Horowitz’s report may not turn out to be the bombshell Trump was hoping for. However, if history is any indication, the president will likely cherry-pick the worst anecdotes from the report and simply repeat the claims debunked by Horowitz’s other findings.
Former Bolton deputy seeks to add House sergeant-at-arms to lawsuit
Charles Kupperman, who served as John Bolton’s deputy at the national security council, has filed a motion to add the House sergeant-at-arms to his lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with his congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry.
JUST IN: KUPPERMAN has moved to add the House sergeant-at-arms as a defendant in his lawsuit.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 27, 2019
The theory is that if the House were to try to fine Kupperman into submission, the sergrant at arms would be the one to enforce it and should therefore be part of the suit. pic.twitter.com/UnHWrUznEi
Kupperman argues in his lawsuit that he is in “imminent and substantial risk” of being held in inherent contempt by the House and that, because the sergeant-at-arms would enforce such an order, he should be added to the lawsuit.
However, there have been no signs as of yet that House Democrats are preparing to hold anyone in contempt for defying congressional subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry.
Kupperman also noted in a separate brief that he did not believe the ruling in Don McGahn’s case applied to him because the former White House counsel had been suibpoenaed by the House, while Kupperman’s subpoena was withdrawn.
Giuliani calls Trump to reassure him over "insurance" comment
Rudy Giuliani called the president this week to reassure him that he had been joking when he told media outlets he had “insurance” if Donald Trump turned on him in the Ukraine impeachment scandal, Giuliani’s lawyer said today.
The attorney, Robert Costello, said Giuliani “at my insistence” had called Trump “within the last day” to emphasize that he had not been serious when he said he had an “insurance policy, if thrown under the bus.”
“He shouldn’t joke, he is not a funny guy. I told him, ‘Ten thousand comedians are out of work, and you make a joke. It doesn’t work that way,’” Costello told Reuters.
Giuliani has already said that he was being sarcastic when he made the comments. Trump, too, has brushed them off, telling reporters in the Oval Office this week that “Rudy is a great guy.”
The White House declined to comment on Costello’s remarks, Reuters writes.
As the Guardian reported earlier this month, Giuliani had said he was confident the president will remain loyal to him as the impeachment inquiry unfolded - in which the former New York mayor has become a central figure.
But he joked that he had good “insurance” in case Trump did turn on him, amid speculation Republicans will seek to frame Giuliani as a rogue actor.
In a telephone interview with the Guardian at the time, in response to a question about whether he was nervous that Trump might “throw him under a bus” in the impeachment crisis, Giuliani said, with a slight laugh: “I’m not, but I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid.”
Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who was also on the call, then interjected: “He’s joking.”
Updated
Judge grants temporary stay in McGahn case
US district judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has granted a seven-day stay in the case of former White House counsel Don McGahn as she considers whether to approve a similar stay requested by the justice department as it appeals her decision.
Jackson ruled Monday that McGahn must comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about his time as Trump’s White House counsel, despite the administration’s claims that the former senior adviser was “immune” from such requests. “Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings,” Jackson said in her ruling.
The House did not oppose the temporary stay, but the chamber’s lawyers have filed a briefing opposing a longer stay in the case, arguing such a delay would prevent lawmakers from considering McGahn’s testimony before voting on articles of impeachment.
By asking judge not to stay McGahn decision, House Dems are asking her to honor their self-imposed "fast-moving" impeachment timetable.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 27, 2019
Unclear why judge won't just say 'If McGahn is so crucial, slow down a little'
House court filing doesn't explain need for speed. pic.twitter.com/kZYpgSYlFJ
Georgia governor Brian Kemp pushed back against a Wall Street Journal report that he has clashed with Trump over who to appoint to the state’s open Senate seat
I stand with hardworking Georgians and @POTUS. The idea that I would appoint someone to the U.S. Senate that is NOT pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-freedom, and 100% supportive of our President (and his plan to Keep America Great) is ridiculous. (1 of 2) #gapol
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) November 27, 2019
The attacks and games are absolutely absurd. Frankly, I could care less what the political establishment thinks. Happy Thanksgiving! More information after the holiday! (2 of 2) #gapol
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) November 27, 2019
According to the Journal, Kemp intended to appoint Atlanta businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to the seat, which has been open since late August after Republican senator Johnny Isakson stepped down due to health issues.
But Trump has been pushing GOP reprentative Doug Collins for the seat becuase of the congressman’s aggressive efforts to push back against the impeachment inquiry. The president’s allies have assured him that Collins, currently the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, would be a guaranteed vote against removing Trump from office if the Senate was forced to hold a trial.
Loeffler, on the other hand, has been criticized by some Trump advisers for occasionally donating to Democratic candidates and spending more than $750,000 to support the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, one of the president’s few Republican critics.
The Trump administration initially estimated that 26,000 migrant children wold be separated from their families at the southern border if the president’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy were allowed to continue through 2018, according to a new report from the department of homeland security’s internal watchdog.
NBC News reports:
Officials at Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for separating families under the May-June 2018 policy, estimated in May of that year that it would separate more than 26,000 children by September, according to the report from the DHS Office of Inspector General, released publicly on Wednesday. After mounting pressure, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the policy on June 20, 2018.
Previously, the administration has said in court that an estimated 2,800 children were separated as a result of zero tolerance. But the report released Wednesday said that the lack of technology to track which children had been separated meant the agency had to revise that estimate to 3,014. ...
Wednesday’s report said CBP officials forged ahead with the policy even though they knew ahead of time that the agency lacked the proper technology to track and reunify children with their parents.
‘Because of these IT deficiencies, we could not confirm the total number of families DHS separated during the Zero Tolerance period,’ the report said.
The latest news about Rudy Giuliani raises the possibility that Trump’s personal lawyer was trying to advance the interests of both the president and Ukrainian officials as he pushed for the ouster of Maria Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, which could run afoul of lobbying laws.
The New York Times reports:
Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted the ambassador removed for their own reasons, the people said. It is a federal crime to try to influence the United States government at the request or direction of a foreign government, politician or party without registering as a foreign agent. Mr. Giuliani did not register as one, he has said, because he was acting on behalf of his client, Mr. Trump, not Ukrainians.
Afternoon summary
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, reportedly explored business opportunities with Ukrainian officials as he pressured the country to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 election. (Trump appeared to distance himself from Giuliani in an interview that streamed yesterday, claiming he did not direct his lawyer to push for the probes.)
- Trump reportedly knew of the whistleblower complaint on his communications with Ukraine when he released the country’s military aid, casting serious doubt on one of congressional Republicans’ key criticisms of the impeachment inquiry.
- Another poll showed Joe Biden leading the 2020 Democratic field as his opponents struggle to challenge his frontrunner status.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
The New York Times also reports that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, explored a business deal with Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukraine’s top prosecutor who clashed with Maria Yovanovitch -- the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was removed from her post after being smeard by Giuliani and other Trump allies. Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating Giuliani’s efforts to have Yovanovitch recalled.
The Times reports:
In another unsigned draft proposal that was not on letterhead, Mr. Giuliani looked to enter into a similar deal with Yuriy Lutsenko, who was then Ukraine’s top prosecutor. At the time, Mr. Giuliani had been working with Mr. Lutsenko to encourage investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election.
Mr. Giuliani was critical of Ms. Yovanovitch, whom he and other Republicans have said was opposed to the president. Mr. Giuliani’s moves against her, however, were also aligned with the interests of Mr. Lutsenko, who had butted heads with the ambassador.
Ultimately, Ms. Yovanovitch was removed from her post in May, and Mr. Lutsenko was replaced in August after a new Ukrainian president took office.
Giuliani pursued business in Ukraine while seeking investigations
Reports have emerged that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, was pursuing business opportunities from Ukrainian officials as he pressured the country to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 election.
The New York Times reports:
Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump’s agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.
His discussions with Ukrainian officials proceeded far enough along that he prepared at least one retainer agreement, on his company letterhead, that he signed.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Giuliani played down the discussions. He said that a Ukrainian official approached him this year, seeking to hire him personally. Mr. Giuliani said he dismissed that suggestion, but spent about a month considering a separate deal with the Ukrainian government. He then rejected that idea.
Federal prosecutors have reportedly launched a broad probe into Giuliani’s consulting business to determine whether his activities broke any lobbying laws. Some of the charges being considered include obstruction of justice, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the US.
The office of the US trade representative announced it is moving forward with its investigation of France’s digital tax, which previously prompted threats from Trump that he may impose tariffs on French wine.
The US trade representative just announce that it’s moving ahead with its investigation into France’s digital tax. As a reminder, it was because of this that President Trump threatened to slap tariffs on French wine. pic.twitter.com/XN9d1deppR
— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) November 27, 2019
The US and France had declared a 90-day truce on the dispute, but that has now expired. The New York Times has more context on the feud:
French leaders voted this year to impose a new tax on economic activity that takes place online and crafted it in such a way that it would largely hit large American tech companies like Amazon and Facebook.
In response, the Trump administration opened an investigation into whether the tax posed a threat to national security and should be met with American tariffs on French products.
Mr. Trump vocalized the threat of tariffs in July. Soon after, the countries reached a 90-day agreement that paused the American retaliation, while leaders from wealthy countries including France and the United States pursued negotiations toward an international agreement on digital taxation.
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president’s most loyal defenders against the impeachment inquiry, has once again denounced the process of the investigation over Twitter. The South Carolina criticized Adam Schiff for not allowing Trump to participate in the House intelligence committee’s hearings and claimed, “Salem witches got a better deal than this!”
Let me see if I have this right.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 27, 2019
Jerry Nadler is inviting President Trump to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings — after all the facts were gathered in Schiff’s Intel Committee — where the president’s team was shut out.
Salem witches got a better deal than this!
That dubious assertion prompted at least one White House reporter to remind Graham of the dozens of people who were executed during the Salem witch trials in 1692.
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) November 27, 2019
Trump has been given the option to provide counsel for the House judiciary committee’s first impeachment hearing next week, but it’s unclear whether the president will choose to do so.
It’s also important to remember that the White House blocked some of Trump’s closest advisers, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and energy secretary Rick Perry, from testifying during the intelligence committee hearings, so it’s not as if the president has been deprived of opportunities to present additional evidence.
Another poll shows Biden leading 2020 field
A new poll out this morning shows Joe Biden leading the rest of the 2020 Democratic field by double digits, the second survey in two days to indicate the former vice president holds a solid lead in the race.
New @CNN national poll just out:
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) November 27, 2019
Biden 28%
Sanders 17%
Warren 14%
Buttigieg 11%
Bloomberg 3%
Harris 3%
Steyer 3%
Yang 3%
Booker 2%
Klobuchar 2%
Everyone else 1% or less
According to the CNN/SSRS poll, Biden has attracted the support of 28% of Democratic voters -- compared to Bernie Sanders’ 17%, Elizabeth Warren’s 14% and Pete Buttigieg’s 11%. This marks the first CNN national poll that has Buttigieg registering in the double digits.
A Quinnipiac poll released yesterday similarly showed Biden hitting 24%, putting him 8 points ahead of Buttigieg, who was in second place at 16%. With about two months left to go until the Iowa caucuses, it appears Biden’s opponents are having a hard time ousting him from the frontrunner perch he has occupied since entering the race in April.
Biden’s lasting support appears to be bolstered by his popularity among African-American voters. According to the Quinnipiac poll, 43% of black Democrats back Biden, putting him more than 30 points ahead of any of his opponents in that category.
In some good news, former president Jimmy Carter has been released from the hospital after a successful surgery to address a brain bleed from a recent fall.
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER DISCHARGED FROM EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL pic.twitter.com/bjkRcNI2j1
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) November 27, 2019
The 95-year-old former president was hospitalized twice last month due to falls, but the Carter Center said he was recovering well and looked forward to spending Thanksgiving at his Georgia home.
More specifically, the photoshopped picture Trump shared appears to be taken from the poster for the movie “Rocky III,” starring Sylvester Stallone. (Stallone actually visited the White House last year when Trump signed a posthumous pardon for the boxing champion Jack Johnson.)
Trump just posted a photo with his head on Sylvester Stallone's body from the Rocky III poster. https://t.co/HCsFwdCIHK
— Dave Clarke (@davecclarke) November 27, 2019
Trump’s tweet of the photo immediately kicked off a caption contest, given that the president did not provide one of his own.
Dating app profile pic vs. reality https://t.co/6q386CgJbz
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) November 27, 2019
When in Florida... https://t.co/GM5CNR0DrC
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 27, 2019
As Trump faces the looming threat of impeachment as well as a difficult reelection, the president is projecting confidence by ... sharing a photoshopped image of himself as a boxing prize fighter.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2019
According to White House pool reports, the president is currently golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, so this photo was likely shared from the links.
Buttigieg returns money from Kavanaugh lawyers
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has returned money he received from lawyers who represented Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation process after being contacted by the Guardian about the donations.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports:
Buttigieg’s campaign received $7,200 from Alexandra Walsh – $3,150 of which had already been returned because it exceeded limits – and attended a fundraiser in July that was co-hosted by the Washington lawyer. Buttigieg also received $2,800 from Beth Wilkinson, Walsh’s law partner, who also represented Kavanaugh.
When asked by the Guardian about the donations, the campaign said it had overlooked the lawyers’ role in the Kavanaugh confirmation and had made a mistake in accepting the donations.
It said: ‘With nearly 700,000 donors, a contribution we would otherwise refuse sometimes gets through. We believe the women who have courageously spoken out about Brett Kavanaugh’s assault and misconduct, and we thank the Guardian for bringing this contribution to our attention.’
Democratic representative Stephen Lynch -- a member of the House oversight committe, which helped conduct closed-door depositions in the impeachment inquiry -- argued in a CNN interview this morning that the testimony from the public hearings has established clearly impeachable behavior on the president’s part.
“If this is not impeachable conduct, then nothing is,” Rep. Stephen Lynch says to @jimsciutto about the impeachment inquiry. “…There's a greater danger leaving this President in office than taking him out through the legal impeachment process.” https://t.co/QR1x8IYryf pic.twitter.com/ufUbsIktSA
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) November 27, 2019
Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, announced yesterday that his panel would hold its first impeachment hearing next week, which could keep the House on track to vote on articles of impeachment by Christmas.
Officials are still unclear about what caused the airspace violation that triggered yesterday’s brief lockdown at the White House and the Capitol, but one Capitol Police source said a “slow-moving blob” on the radar had sparked concern.
CNN has more:
Senior national security officials across the agencies convened to coordinate and monitor the situation after the mysterious ‘blob’ was seen on radar at the Capitol Police command center flying just south of the National Mall, according to a law enforcement source.
Military aircraft were scrambled in response.
Initial assessments indicated that the ‘blob’ was an unauthorized aircraft entering restrictive airspace, leading to the brief lockdown. ...
But hours after the all clear was given, a defense official told CNN that a final determination had not yet been made as to what exactly caused the event.
There are currently three possible causes being analyzed, a US defense official confirmed to CNN: Birds, an atmospheric anomaly or a drone.
Trump appears to distance himself from Giuliani
In an interview with Bill O’Reilly that streamed yesterday, Trump appeared to be trying to distance himself from Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer who has become increasingly embroiled in the impeachment inquiry for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 election.
Asked whether he directed Giuliani to launch the pressure campaign in Ukraine, Trump said, “No, I didn’t direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior.”
But Giuliani has said he was pursuing the investigations on Trump’s behalf, and Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, testified to the House intelligence committee last week that he only worked with Guiliani because the former New York mayor was clearly doing the president’s bidding.
Trump went on to say in the interview, “Rudy has other clients, other than me. ... He’s done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.”
The president’s comments also come as reports emerge that federal prosecutors have launched a probe broad of Giuliani’s consulting business.
Meanwhile, the White House has not yet provided a clear answer on whether Trump intends to send a lawyer to the House judicary committee’s first impeachment hearing next week, instead simply criticizing the entire inquiry as a “sham.”
Statement from Stephanie Grisham on whether Trump will participate in Nadler’s impeachment hearing/bring counsel: pic.twitter.com/IqNelI9JQy
— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) November 27, 2019
The president has until Sunday to decide whether he wants to send counsel to the Dec. 4 hearing, but some Trump advisers have reportedly advised him not to send a lawyer because it could add credibility to the hearing.
Trump knew of complaint when he released Ukraine aid – report
Good morning, live blog readers!
The drip, drip, drip of revelations from the impeachment inquiry continued last night when the New York Times reported that Donald Trump was aware of a whistleblower complaint about his communications with Ukraine when the president released the country’s military aid.
The Times reports:
Lawyers from the White House counsel’s office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said.
The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump’s thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a ‘quid pro quo’ with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair.
Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing in withholding the aid and in his broader campaign to pressure Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to conduct investigations that could benefit Mr. Trump’s re-election chances.
Trump’s congressional allies have argued he could not have participated in a bribery scheme, as Democrats have alleged, because the funds were eventually released. However, if Trump only released the money in the hope of neutralizing the whistleblower complaint, that sounds more like a cover-up than a defense.
Here’s what else is going on today:
- Trump is at Mar-a-Lago with his family for Thanksgiving and has no events on his public schedule.
- Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are campaigning in Iowa today.
- Deval Patrick is spending the day in Columbia, South Carolina.
The blog will have much more coming up, so stay tuned.
