On Politics: House Divided on Impeachment

2019年7月26日星期五

On Politics: House Divided on Impeachment

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July 26, 2019

Morning Edition

Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

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• Robert S. Mueller III’s long-awaited congressional testimony has inflamed divisions among Democrats over impeaching President Trump, with some senior lawmakers pushing on to begin formal hearings soon, and vulnerable moderates pleading to rest the case.

• Mr. Trump’s answers to Mr. Mueller, submitted in writing and under oath, are receiving new scrutiny after Mr. Mueller agreed in his testimony this week that some of the president’s responses were untruthful. They are becoming additional fodder for the internal impeachment debate among House Democrats.

• Mr. Trump was probably never going to be impeached by the House of Representatives before the 2020 elections, Carl Hulse writes in an analysis. The testimony by Mr. Mueller makes that a near certainty.

• The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016, an effort that was largely undetected and more far-reaching than previously acknowledged.

• Inequality and history are dominating the Democratic presidential race, as the two leading black candidates, Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, directly challenge Joe Biden over his decades-long record.

• No one on federal death row has been executed since 2003, but on Thursday, William P. Barr, the attorney general, announced that the government was resuming executions, starting with five men convicted of killing children.

• The House passed a two-year budget deal that would allow the government to keep borrowing and raise spending, amid grumblings from fiscal conservatives over the measure’s impact on the national deficit.

• It took just two weeks for his administration to reach the point of collapse, undermined by a popular uprising that the governor initially thought he could withstand. Yet Ricardo A. Rosselló misread the anger brewing among his people after years of economic stagnation and broken promises.

• With the departure of Mr. Rosselló as Puerto Rico’s governor, uncertainty remains over who will take over. But the reality is that whoever takes the job will have to be nominated by the man most Puerto Ricans wanted out.

• The House Oversight Committee voted to authorize a subpoena for all work-related texts and emails sent or received by White House officials — including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — on personal accounts, part of a long-running probe into whether aides have violated federal records laws by using private messaging services for official business.

• The Google ad account for Representative Tulsi Gabbard’s presidential campaign was suspended for several hours after the first Democratic debate. Now her campaign is suing the internet giant.

• The Trump administration unveiled details of a $16 billion aid package to help farmers hurt by Mr. Trump’s trade war with China on Thursday as soybean growers from around the country converged on Washington to tell lawmakers that rural America is growing impatient.

• Mr. Trump got onstage with a fake presidential seal this week. It included a two-headed eagle, similar to Russia’s national emblem, and instead of arrows, the eagle clutched a set of golf clubs.

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Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Alana Herlands in New York.

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