Pelosi and Schiff say any attempt to ‘stonewall’ inquiry ‘will be considered obstruction of justice’, while Bernie Sanders undergoes heart surgery
Bernie Sanders has tweeted his thanks to well wishers after he underwent heart surgery for a blocked artery. He has suspended campaign appearances but used his condition remind supporters of a key campaign goal: medicare for all.
Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm feeling good. I'm fortunate to have good health care and great doctors and nurses helping me to recover.
None of us know when a medical emergency might affect us. And no one should fear going bankrupt if it occurs. Medicare for All!
OK - here are some takeaways from that press conference. It was a long one involving a lot of incoherent and rambling answers from the president. But here’s my best shot of at some of the most important comments relating to impeachment and the ongoing Ukraine scandal.
Firstly, Trump responded to a New York Times report, published earlier today, stating that the whistleblower had approached a House Intelligence Committee staff aide days before filing his complaint. The report states that the committee chairman, Adam Schiff, was later made aware of the nature of the allegations but was not given any information on the whistleblower’s identity. A spokesman for Schiff has confirmed parts of this reporting, and stated it is standard procedure for the committee to offer advice to whistleblowers on how to file complaints.
Trump engages in contentious back and forth with @JeffMason1 after he dodges Ukraine question:
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Trump: We have the president of Finland, ask him a question.
Mason: I have one for him, I just wanted to follow up on the one I asked you—
Trump: Did you hear me? Ask him a question! pic.twitter.com/Co64SmxOmk
Donald Trump
Trump suggests House intelligence chair should face ‘arrest for treason’ – live news
- Trump hits out at Adam Schiff over impeachment inquiry
- Sanders to roll out new proposal on chief executive pay
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator, has written a Washington Post op-ed imploring fellow members of his party to oppose Trump’s re-election.
Two years ago I stood in the Senate chamber and said: ‘There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles.’ ...
Now, two years later, it is my former Republican Senate colleagues who have a decision to make. Or, as I see it, two decisions to make. The first is difficult; the second is easy. ...
“TrumpCare” does not exist – this has not stopped some firms from advertising insurance products under this banner, according to a new report from Axios.
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House committee to vote on impeachment procedures – live
House judiciary panel to consider procedures for future hearings in first step towards possible impeachment of Trump
The Trump administration has reportedly given up efforts to write an Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) replacement bill.
After campaigning to repeal the law for eight years, Republicans have struggled to piece together a cohesive strategy for caring for the staggering 27.5m Americans locked out of the healthcare system.
A little live fact-checking from the Guardian’s reporter Joan Greve.
It appears this is the Al Green quote (from May) that Trump is referring to, which is different in both wording and meaning than the president claims here. https://t.co/FdpxlXsJeY pic.twitter.com/zlN1iTKrva
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Jeffrey Epstein: officials await more information before releasing cause of death – live
- Multimillionaire financier was facing sex trafficking charges
- Donald Trump on vacation with no public events scheduled
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2.42pm BST
According to the Urban Institute, 1 in 7 adults in immigrant families are eschewing public benefits out of fear that it could affect their chances of getting a green card.
Respondents of the organization’s survey reported choosin...
Before Trump criticized the urban poverty he uses to attack Democrats, he profited from it
Cities are the problem, President Donald Trump told a typically riled-up crowd Thursday night in Cincinnati, and their problems are Democrats’ fault.
The latest iteration of the president’s evolving attack on urban — and specifically majority-black — communities expanded past Baltimore to encompass Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. In each case, he said, “these communities have been run exclusively by Democrat politicians” whose tapping of federal programs amounts...
There’s a party running on unpopular ideas in 2020, and it’s not the Democratic Party
The Republican Party has a problem. It’s abandoned the kind of popular reforms that will appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, and insists on running on unpopular ideas.
Worse, instead of rallying behind a sensible, moderate candidate with a history of winning elections in a blue state, the GOP frontrunner for the 2020 nomination is an unpopular former reality show host with little experience in elected office, and who has literally never won the popular vote in any election.
Trump, who has declared war on poor people, wants you to believe he cares deeply about Baltimore
President Donald Trump is said to be very concerned about the “rat and rodent infested” city of Baltimore, a place “no human being would want to live.”
Yet he failed to mention, in his string of tweets Sunday, the city’s proud history, its recent economic growth, and the fact that Maryland’s 7th District — which he attacked as a whole — has a median income above the national average. One must assume he was referring mainly to the black-major...
Trump renews attack on Baltimore congressman Elijah Cummings – live
- Trump on Twitter goes after Cummings and Al Sharpton
- Director of national intelligence Dan Coats to leave post
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Trump’s comments this morning to 9/11 first responders that he “spent a lot time” at Ground Zero are raising serious doubts.
A New York Times reporter who spent years covering the fallout of the attacks for the New York Post tweeted this:
So, I covered rebuilding at the WTC for three years after covering the immediate aftermath of the attacks for NYPost. Giuliani was a frequent presence w families, as was Pataki. I recall one instance where Trump was at the site. https://t.co/7Ish98CX1g
Trump’s reference to ‘7/11’ was a slip of the lip. News accounts from days just after 9/11 include references to Trump giving high-fives to police officers and volunteers on their way to the World Trade Center site. ‘I have a lot of men working down here. I want to make sure they’re OK,’ he said. Trump said his employers were cleaning and digging out, but declined to say where they were working.
Joe Biden’s campaign has released its own blistering criticism of Kamala Harris’ health care plan.
A statement from Biden’s campaign accuses the California senator of having “released a health care plan that both backtracks on her long-promised – but then-hedged – support of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation while at the same time committing to still unraveling the hard-won Affordable Care Act that the Trump Administration is trying to undo right now.”
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Trump’s real 2020 weakness: healthcare | Lloyd Green
The Affordable Care Act – AKA Obamacare – is more popular than Trump and the Republican party realize. They’ve opened themselves to an ambush
Unemployment and inflation are low. America growls, but its sword is sheathed. Donald Trump should be preaching peace and prosperity. Instead, the president appears determined to make his re-election bid about healthcare and relitigate the 2018 midterms. If past is prelude, that tale doesn’t come with a happy ending for Trump or his party.
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