In his closing statement, Rep. Doug Collins comes to President Trump’s defense, and says the Democrats have not revealed sufficient evidence to support the impeachment inquiry. » Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC
On a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Thursday, President Trump said that the United States has reopened peace talks with the Taliban – just three months after the president scuttled negotiations between Washington and the Afghan insurgents following a terror attack that killed 11 people, including one U.S. soldier.
Trump, who made his first trip to Afghanistan under a veil of secrecy for security reasons, told troops gathered at the Air Force base for Thanksgiving dinner that the Taliban “wants to make a deal very badly.”
“We’re going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make a deal very badly,” Trump said. “The Taliban wants to make a deal — we’ll see if they make a deal. If they do, they do, and if they don’t they don’t. That’s fine.”
President Trump’s Tuesday night rally near Miami, billed by his campaign as a “homecoming” extravaganza, follows his recent decision to move his formal residence from New York to Florida — and underscores the state’s importance to his reelection efforts as he grapples with the impeachment proceedings that threaten his presidency.
Florida is now not only Trump’s home but what Republicans hope is an emerging GOP bastion. His strategy in the state reflects his broader push to galvanize his core voters ahead of next year’s election by unleashing an incendiary defense of his conduct, be it on Twitter, cable news or in front of thousands in an arena.
Economists warn that a prolonged trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies is elevating risks to the global economy by disrupting supply chains, curtailing investment and curbing business confidence.
Completion of a phase one deal could slide into next year, trade experts and people close to the White House have told Reuters, with Beijing asking for more extensive tariff rollbacks and Washington countering with increased demands of its own.
“We want to work for a ‘phase one’ agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality,” Xi told representatives of an international forum, according to a pool report.
President Donald Trump on Thursday approved a measure that would temporarily stave off the threat of a government shutdown.
But the spending bill expires on December 20.
The White House and Congress have struggled to negotiate a bitter dispute over border security, preventing longer-term legislation to fund the government.
Eight current and former officials are scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee this week to testify about Trump’s pressure on Ukraine for investigations that could benefit him politically.
President Trump said Monday that he will “strongly consider” testifying in writing as part of the impeachment inquiry at the outset of a week in which eight current and former officials are scheduled to publicly testify about his controversial actions regarding Ukraine.
In morning tweets, Trump said he might take up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on a suggestion she made over the weekend. Trump also claimed that the rules of the inquiry had been “rigged” by Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who has summoned four witnesses to appear before his panel on Tuesday alone.
Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is no doubt sincere in her belief that President Trump has weakened U.S. relations with Ukraine to the benefit of Russia. But there’s one thing: Ambassadors don’t determine what our international relations are like. The president makes that determination, and his name is Donald Trump.
During her opening testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, Yovanovitch talked at great length about her harrowing life as a career foreign service officer, even describing the time she dodged bullets in Eastern Europe. I’m sure she did a fine job, but what did any of it have to do with the price of tea in China?
We’re talking about the way Trump did his job. We’re talking about the way the president of the United States spoke with a foreign leader on the phone and what he wanted out of their relationship.
Yovanovitch suggested that there was corruption at play. But so far, we haven’t seen any proof of Trump attempting to enrich himself or anyone close to him.
President Donald Trump is willing to give House impeachment investigators the transcript of an April call he had with Ukrainian President Volodimyr Zelensky.
“I have a second call, which nobody knows about, and I guess they want that to be produced as well,” Trump said.
Trump’s then-envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, posted a tweet about the call at the time.
Trump Jr. discussed his family’s financial earnings from their private business while his father is president, Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine and who he hopes will be the Democratic nominee.
Donald Trump Jr. on Who He Hopes Will Win Democratic Presidential Nomination | The View
Trump is winning at least 95 percent support against each of five possible Democratic opponents. But among the 58 percent of voters who disapprove of Trump, he receives no more than 7 percent support.Democrats’ current margins point to a substantial popular-vote advantage, but the party still faces obstacles when it comes to the electoral college.
One year out from the 2020 election, President Trump trails some potential Democratic rivals in head-to-head matchups, with his national support level currently fixed at about 40 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Donald Trump has threatened to cut off emergency funding to California as wildfires rage across the state, telling governor Gavin Newsom to “get his act together”.
However California’s governor was quick to highlight the role of the environmental crisis in spreading the fires. In response to the president, Mr Newsom tweeted: “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday redirected an attack from President Donald Trump on Twitter, turning a photo he had tweeted of her during a contentious White House meeting with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” into her Twitter cover shot.
“Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO! Must testify to explain why he got my Ukraine conversation sooo wrong, not even close,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Did Schiff tell him to do that? We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA.”
Trump’s attack on Pelosi came during a weekend of angry tweets against Democrats, journalists, whistleblowers, and others involved in the impeachment drama.
Rep. Maxine Waters said President Trump deserves to be impeached and then imprisoned.
The California Democrat made the statement on Twitter on Tuesday. She accused Trump of suggesting that whistleblowers should be killed as he faces scrutiny triggered by a whistleblower complaint. The complaint alleged Trump set up a quid pro quo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for American military aid.
“I’m calling on the GOP to stop Trump’s filthy talk of whistleblowers being spies & using mob language implying they should be killed. Impeachment is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned & placed in solitary confinement. But for now, impeachment is the imperative,” Waters said.
Two campaign officials sent a letter to the networks complaining that Giuliani is being allowed to spread falsehoods.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is asking the networks to stop booking Rudy Giuliani, writing in a letter that President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer “has made very clear that his only obligation is to protect Donald Trump, and that he will willingly lie to do so.”
In a letter to the networks, campaign officials Anita Dunn and Kate Bedingfield wrote the networks in the letter that “while you have been aggressive in pushing back on him in real time, it is well known that the dedicated liar always has the advantage, pushing out outlandish falsehoods and disinformation in the knowledge that it is hard for the corrections to catch up. Giving Rudy Giuliani valuable time on your air to push these lies in the first place is a disservice to your audience and a disservice to journalism.”
President Donald Trump signed a temporary spending bill Friday to avoid another government shutdown, a White House spokesman said.
The so-called continuing resolution will keep the government running through Nov. 21. It will keep spending at current levels and head off a lapse in funding that would have occurred at the end of the month.
“It turned out to be a nothing call,” President Trump told reporters after the White House released the official memorandum of his call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. He decried the controversy as the “single greatest witch hunt in American history.”
The Pentagon provided few details on the deployment. The announcement appears to indicate that the president has not made a decision whether to take military action against Iran
President Trump has authorized the deployment of additional U.S. forces to the Middle East to strengthen air and missile defenses around Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon announced late Friday.
Workers fix the damage in the Aramco’s Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia, Sept. 20, 2019, after it was hit during Sept. 14 attack the U.S. alleges Iran carried out. Amr Nabil/AP
Defense Secretary Mark Esper called the move a first step and said that the deployment would be defensive in nature. He said the deployment comes in response to requests for help from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Trump, in California for a two-day visit, is likely to address homelessness, which he has used to bash the deep-blue state before the 2020 election.
President Trump arrived in California late Tuesday morning amid growing questions over his administration’s plans to get involved in the state’s homelessness crisis.
After a visit to the Bay Area, the president landed at Los Angeles International Airport at roughly 4:15 p.m.
Trump is in the state for a two-day visit, with stops for fundraising in Palo Alto, Beverly Hills and San Diego. The fundraisers are expected to bring in $15 million and will benefit Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee composed of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Trump’s call comes only three days before Israel’s election. Netanyahu faces a tough re-election bid after a more than 13-year tenure as Israel’s prime minister.
KEY POINTS
President Trump’s call comes just three days before Israel’s election. Netanyahu faces a tough re-election bid after a more than 13-year tenure as Israel’s prime minister.
The right-wing leader has promised that if re-elected, he would extend Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements and up to a third of the occupied West Bank.
The controversial move would encircle the 2.5 million Palestinians living there and make a two-state solution more difficult.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are planning a step Thursday to make their de facto impeachment inquiry into something more formal. They’re doing it, however, in what Greg Sargent describes as a “muddle.” He has it right: This isn’t a messaging failure as much as it is a substantive one.
The basic problem is that House Democrats can’t seem to agree on where their impeachment effort stands. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says that “formal impeachment proceedings” are underway. Others, including in the House leadership, have expressed much more ambiguous views of what’s happening.
The Trump administration is preparing to ban flavored e-cigarettes as federal health officials call for restrictions to combat an outbreak of a mysterious lung disease that has sickened hundreds and killed at least six people, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar told reporters Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration is currently finalizing its guidance to remove all non-tobacco flavors of e-cigarettes, including mint and menthol, from the market. Vaping companies like Juul have been criticized for hooking children on e-cigarettes with their fruity flavors like mango and creme. The surge in underaged vaping, which U.S. health officials have labeled as an “epidemic,” is one of the reasons why they plan to ban them — at least until the FDA can thoroughly review their safety, Azar said after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on the issue.
The president’s “Space Force” must receive congressional approval
President Trump is holding a Rose Garden event to commemorate the establishment of the U.S. Space Command, as the president pushes for the creation of his sixth branch of the military, the Space Force.
Since the Space Force the president wants to create requires congressional authorization, the administration is establishing a U.S. Space Command that will draw from other parts of the armed forces. One “Space Command” already exists. The Air Force Space Command reports to STRATCOM, which reports to the Pentagon, just as the Pacific Command and the European Command do.
AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND FACTS
Air Force Space Command, activated Sept. 1, 1982, is a major command with headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. AFSPC provides military focused space capabilities with a global perspective to the joint warfighting team.
Priorities 1. Build Combat Readiness
2. Innovate and Accelerate to Win
3. Develop Joint Warfighters
4. Organize for Sustained Success
People More than 26,000 space professionals worldwide.
Eight current and former officials are scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee this week to testify about Trump’s pressure on Ukraine for investigations that could benefit him politically.
Trump is winning at least 95 percent support against each of five possible Democratic opponents. But among the 58 percent of voters who disapprove of Trump, he receives no more than 7 percent support.Democrats’ current margins point to a substantial popular-vote advantage, but the party still faces obstacles when it comes to the electoral college.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday redirected an attack from President Donald Trump on Twitter, turning a photo he had tweeted of her during a contentious White House meeting with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” into her Twitter cover shot.
Donald Trump’s scorched-earth defense tactics during impeachment include accusing investigators of ‘treason.’
Trump, who has been largely critical of Medicare for All, is issuing his version of how Medicare should work.
Two campaign officials sent a letter to the networks complaining that Giuliani is being allowed to spread falsehoods.
Trump, in California for a two-day visit, is likely to address homelessness, which he has used to bash the deep-blue state before the 2020 election.
Trump’s call comes only three days before Israel’s election. Netanyahu faces a tough re-election bid after a more than 13-year tenure as Israel’s prime minister.
KEY POINTS
The president’s “Space Force” must receive congressional approval
