Impeachment inquiry: Trump’s actions constitute bribery, says witness – live | US news

Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic representative from Washington, is now questioning Pamela Karlan. Jayapal asked Karlan what Trump’s behavior reveals about the credibility of his claim that he was most concerned about corruption. What, for example, does it mean that Trump allegedly insisted that the Ukrainian president publicly announce an investigation?

“Generally you don’t announce the investigation in a criminal case before you conduct it, because it puts the person under notice that they’re under investigation,” Karlan said.

As for credibility, Karlan said, “I think you ought to make that credibility determination because you have the sole power of impeachment. if I were a member of the House of Representatives I would infer that he was doing it for political reasons.”

The House judiciary committee is still holding its first public impeachment hearing, but I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague Maanvi Singh for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Three legal experts called by Democratic members of the House judiciary committee testified that Trump’s actions toward Ukraine constituted impeachable offenses, a position that was contradicted by the only witness called by Republican members of the panel.
• The first lady, the White House and Trump’s reelection campaign denounced one of today’s legal experts, Pamela Karlan, after the Stanford law professor made a pun out of Barron Trump’s name. “The president can name his son Barron, but he can’t make him a baron,” Karlan said.
• Democratic congressman Denny Heck, a member of the House intelligence committee, announced he would not seek reelection — citing his desire to spend more time with family and his chagrin over the Republican response to the impeachment inquiry.
• Rudy Giuliani reportedly traveled to Europe this week to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutors who helped spread baseless corruption allegations against Joe Biden, even though the president’s personal lawyer is under a microscope because of the impeachment inquiry.
• Trump canceled his final press conference at the Nato summit in London after a video surfaced of world leaders mocking the president’s lengthy comments to reporters yesterday.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

The first lady has now added her voice to the Republican chorus criticizing Pamela Karlan, accusing the Stanford law professor of invading the privacy of her son by making a pun out of Barron Trump’s name.

Karlan said earlier at today’s hearing, “The president can name his son Barron, but he can’t make him a baron,” making a point about the Constitution not allowing the president to distribute titles of nobility.

Republicans are now arguing that the mere mention of Barron’s name equates to a political attack meant to drag the first son into the impeachment inquiry.

Republican congressman Tom McClintock began his five minutes of questions by asking the legal experts testifying today if they had voted for Trump in the 2016 election.

This question sparked immediate pushback from Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, who argued the witnesses should not have to disclose how they cast their ballots.

Chairman Jerry Nadler interjected to say that McClintock was free to ask the question but witnesses were not obligated to answer. None of the witnesses raised their hands to say they voted for Trump, but Harvard law professor Noah Feldman emphasized the lack of response should not be taken as a sign that they oppose the president.

The House judiciary committee has reconvened its first public impeachment hearing, and members of the panel have resumed their five-minute rounds of questioning of today’s witnesses.

Republican congressman Andy Biggs kicked off questioning after the brief recess, and Democratic congressman Ted Lieu is now speaking. After Lieu, there should be 18 members of the panel left, so the hearing could conclude around 6 p.m. ET, but it may stretch even longer.

The House judiciary committee has once again recessed its impeachment hearing for five minutes, with more than a dozen members of the panel still needing to question today’s witnesses.

Just before chairman Jerry Nadler briefly adjourned the hearing, Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell accused George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley of acting as the Republicans’ defense attorney in support of the president. “That’s not my intention, sir,” Turley replied.

The president’s reelection campaign has now called on Democrats to repudiate Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan for making a pun out of Barron Trump’s name to make a point about the Constitution not allowing presidents to distrubute titles of nobility.

“Every Democrat in Congress should immediately repudiate Pamela Karlan and call on her to personally apologize to the President and the First Lady for mocking their son on national TV,” said Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary.

Karlan initially said at today’s hearing, “The president can name his son Barron, but he can’t make him a baron,” prompting some laughter in the hearing room.

Republican congressman Matt Gaetz used his five minutes of questioning to criticize the three legal experts called by Democrats on the House judiciary committee for previously donating to Democratic candidates.

Gaetz especially went after Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, asking why she donated $2,000 to Hillary Clinton. Karlan responded that she had been donating a lot of money at the time because of all the “poor” people in the United States.

Gaetz also accused Karlan of being “mean” for making a pun out of the name of the president’s son, Barron Trump. As Karlan was trying to respond to Gaetz’s questions, the congressman told the only woman on the panel, “You don’t get to interrupt me on this time.”

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham lashed out against Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan for making a pun out of Barron Trump’s name during today’s impeachment hearing.

Grisham accused Karlan of disrepecting the first son’s privacy by making his name a punchline. “What is being done to this country is no laughing matter,” Grisham said.

It’s important to note Karlan was not at all mocking Barron Trump himself. She used his name to make a light-hearted joke about how presidents cannot distribute titles of nobility. “The president can name his son Barron, but he can’t make him a baron,” Karlan said, prompting some laughter in the hearing room.

Meanwhile, as the House judiciary committee’s impeachment hearing continues, a Republican congressman is pressing Senate judiciary committee chairman Lindsey Graham to subpoena the phone records of Adam Schiff and Joe Biden, among others.

The request comes after the release of the House intelligence committee’s report on the impeachment inquiry, which included call records from Rudy Giuliani and one of his former associates, Lev Parnas.

The records showed Giuliani in contact with Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, and an official at the office of management and budget as the president’s personal lawyer started peddling baseless corruption allegations againt Biden.

Republican congressman Jim Jordan, who also participated in the House intelligence committee hearings, complained that Democrats were overseeing a “pre-determined impeachment.”

Like the previous two Republican members, Jordan did not pose a single question to today’s witnesses during his five-minute round of questioning, instead choosing to simply criticize the inquiry writ large.

Republican congressman Louie Gohmert used his five minutes of questioning to criticize the process of the impeachment inquiry and demand that other witnesses linked to Joe Biden be made to testify, which has 0% chance of approval by the panel’s Democratic majority.