Daily Caller patriots exclusive content
Politics

Patriots Impeachment Round-Up: Mulvaint’y

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor

Empowered by an official House vote, Democrats have continued to push forward with their impeachment probe absent support from any Republicans.

Closed-door hearings continued, several key transcripts were released and President Donald Trump blasted the whole process from stages in Kentucky and Louisiana while he rallied to support Republicans running in those states.

As always, the Daily Caller wades through the most recent stories to break down the most important details and new information.

The key players:

  • Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whose testimony from mid-October was released to the public. While admitting concern over the role of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, she also said that she never “directed, suggested, or in any other way asked, for any government or government official in Ukraine or elsewhere to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption.”
  • The testimony of Michael McKinley, former senior aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, indicated that he had resigned over the treatment of Yovanovitch. “State Department officials, if not the State Department itself, were being drawn into the domestic political arena in some way,” he complained.
  • Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman linked to Giuliani, agreed to cooperate with House Democrats. “We are willing to comply with the subpoena to the extent that it does not violate any appropriate privilege that Mr. Parnas may properly invoke,” his attorney said.
  • White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney defied requests to testify before the House Democrats, making good on Kellyanne Conway’s assertion earlier in the week that he would not testify.
  • House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff shared a tentative schedule for the first public hearings on impeachment.

The White House response:

President Trump took direct aim at Schiff as he spoke to reporters Friday on the White House lawn. “Adam Schiff is a corrupt politician. He is corrupt. He made up a speech and he put my voice in it. He made up a speech. Had nothing to do with what I said. Adam Schiff is a corrupt politician,” Trump said. “That’s not giving us Due Process, not giving us lawyers, and despite all that we are kicking their ass.”

Vice President Mike Pence sat down with Fox Business host Trish Regan, and reaffirmed the president’s claims that he had “done nothing wrong.”

The hot takes:

  • Fox News political analyst Brit Hume warning Democrats to “be careful what they wish for” with regard to a potential interview with former National Security advisor John Bolton.

  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell effectively announced that continuing to push impeachment would be a waste of time. “I will say I’m pretty sure how it’s likely to end. If it were today I don’t think there’s any question — it would not lead to a removal. So the question is how long does the Senate want to take? How long do the presidential candidates want to be here on the floor of the Senate instead of in Iowa and New Hampshire?” he asked reporters.
  • Fiona Hill, the White House’s top expert on Russia, cast serious doubt on the Steele Dossier. “Because if you also think about it, the Russians would have an ax to grind against him given the job that he had previously. And if he started going back through his old contacts and asking about, that would be a perfect opportunity for people to feed some kind of misinformation,” she said.
  • House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy threw Schiff a curveball, appointing Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan to the Intelligence Committee specifically for the duration of the impeachment hearings.

  • Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks drew attention to everything that wasn’t getting done while impeachment loomed.

  • Ivanka Trump, while traveling in Morocco, voiced support for her father but broke with him on one point: she did not believe the identity of the whistleblower was important.

Public response:

In spite of a series of polls that show the American public warming to the idea of impeachment and even removal, Democrats still appear to be struggling going into their 2020 presidential primary. Monmouth polling from October 30-November 3, with the impeachment proceedings all underway, showed Trump with better favorability than most of his potential Democratic rivals.

Check back next week for the latest up-to-the-minute information, commentary and related content.

RELATED CONTENT: