The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry

By Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 8:10 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019
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4:49 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

McConnell on impeachment: "We will take it up, because we have no choice"

From CNN's Manu Raju and Ali Zaslav 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will take up the looming impeachment trial "because we have no choice."

“We will take it up, because we have no choice,” McConnell said. “And how long we’re on it will be determined by the majority of the Senate.”

He also repeated again that he “can’t imagine a scenario under which 67 members of the Senate would remove a president from office in the middle of a presidential election.”

Talking about the rules of a Senate trial, McConnell said, “One thing that would be good therapy for senators, they’re actually not allowed to speak, they’ll actually have to sit there and listen.”

As for how long the trial would last, McConnell said “there’s really no way to know, there’s no set time. We'll just have to turn to it when we get it and work out the way forward.”

Asked if President Trump acted appropriately with his handling of Ukraine, McConnell dodged the question and said, “Like I said we’ll deal with the matter when it comes from the House as we're supposed to.“

4:35 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Trump says he doesn’t know what "insurance policy" Giuliani has on him

From CNN's Maegan Vazquez

 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Trump said that he didn’t know what his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, meant when he mentioned having “insurance” in case Trump turns on him.

When Trump was asked what Giuliani meant when he said he has an “insurance policy” if the President turns on him, Trump said, “I don’t know.”

“Rudy’s a great guy,” he told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Bulgaria.

The President called Giuliani “a great crime fighter,” adding, “Rudy’s a great person and I think that maybe the press isn’t treating Rudy very well.” 

Giuliani has publicly suggested having “insurance” in case Trump turns on him more than once. 

Most recently, on Fox News, he said, "You can assume that I talk with (the President) early and often and have a very, very good relationship with him, and all these comments — which are totally insulting — I mean, I've seen things written like he's going to throw me under the bus … When they say that, I say, 'He isn't, but I have insurance.’”

Giuliani, however, has maintained that his “insurance” line is meant as sarcasm.

 

 

3:04 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Schiff says impeachment inquiry report coming soon after Thanksgiving 

From CNN's Manu Raju 

Rep. Adam Schiff
Rep. Adam Schiff ANDREW HARRER/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN today that an impeachment report will be coming "soon after" Thanksgiving.

"As required under House Resolution 660, the committees are now preparing a report summarizing the evidence we have found this far, which will be transmitted to the judiciary committee soon after Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess," Schiff said.

Schiff added that he thinks the evidence of wrongdoing and misconduct by President Trump that the intel committee has gathered to date "is clear and hardly in dispute."

"What is left to us now is to decide whether this behavior is compatible with the office of the Presidency, and whether the Constitutional process of impeachment is warranted," he added.

1:09 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Trump says he has confidence in Mulvaney

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Trump said he still has confidence in his acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Trump was asked about Mulvaney at an impromptu event in the Rose Garden with hero dog Conan. 

 “Yes I do, of course,” he said of his confidence in Mulvaney.

Why this matters: Last month, Mulvaney made a stunning admission at a White House press conference and confirmed Trump froze nearly $400 million in US security aid to Ukraine in part to pressure that country into investigating Democrats. Hours later, Mulvaney attempted to backtrack and denied ever making the admission.

12:49 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Meanwhile, Trump welcomed Conan, the hero dog, to the White House

From CNN's Betsy Klein

As the House and Senate are on a holiday break, President Trump, the First Lady and Vice President Mike Pence welcomed hero dog Conan — who was injured during the al-Baghdadi raid — to the White House today.

Press was unexpectedly called to cover the event, which was not on the President’s schedule.

Conan is a Belgian Malinois. 

12:10 p.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Former GOP congressman says Devin Nunes could be facing a "very serious problem"

Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry
Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry ANDREW HARRER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Former congressman Charlie Dent, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said today on CNN that if the allegations that Rep. Devin Nunes traveled to Europe to dig up dirt on Joe Biden are true then Nunes has "a very serious problem."

Dent, the former Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, pointed out that the accusations against Nunes are serious "because one cannot use official resources or taxpayer resources for a campaign purpose." 

Dent said that if a complaint is filed, he expects the ethics committee would take up the matter at some point. 

What's this all about: A lawyer for an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, told CNN that his client is willing to tell Congress about meetings the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee had in Vienna last year with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden.

The attorney, Joseph A. Bondy, represents Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine. Bondy said that Parnas was told directly by the former Ukrainian official that he met last year in Vienna with Rep. Devin Nunes.

"Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December," said Bondy.

Shokin was ousted from his position in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including then-vice president Biden, over concerns that Shokin was not pursuing corruption cases.

Read more about these accusations here.

9:56 a.m. ET, November 25, 2019

Here's what President Trump is doing today

The House and Senate are out this week, but today President Trump welcome the Prime Minister of Bulgaria to the White House at 2 p.m. ET.

8:12 a.m. ET, November 25, 2019

A judge will decide today in a case that could be pivotal for the House impeachment inquiry

From CNN's Katelyn Polantz

Today, a federal judge plans to make the first major court ruling in the fight between the House and the White House over impeachment witnesses.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson says she will decide by the close of business whether former White House counsel Don McGahn must testify about President Trump to Congress. 

Until this point, the case has lingered in the background, stemming from a subpoena the House Judiciary Committee sent to McGahn in April, well before the Ukraine impeachment scandal kicked House proceedings into high gear this fall.

Why this matters: Depending on Jackson's ruling, McGahn's case could be pivotal for the House as it considers impeaching the President on multiple counts. 

A ruling in the House's favor, for instance, could encourage resistant witnesses from the administration to testify and could bolster any case the House makes to impeach the President for obstructing its impeachment efforts.

8:00 a.m. ET, November 25, 2019

It's Thanksgiving week. Here's what to expect in the impeachment inquiry.

From CNN's Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb 

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

A handful of leadership aides and senior committee officials plan a busy week of deliberations behind the scenes to prepare for a momentous December that will likely lead to President Trump being impeached by year’s end.

Here's what you can expect:

  • They're writing the report: Democratic House aides are spending Thanksgiving week preparing a report that will spell out the case for impeachment. The report, which will be released by the House Intelligence Committee and two other panels, is likely to be a guiding document as the impeachment proceedings move through the House Judiciary Committee. It will detail the evidence that was gathered over the course of the eight-week investigation and is expected to make recommendations about the path forward.
  • There are unlikely to be any big surprises in the report: Almost all of the evidence is public already. Lawmakers released 15 of 17 transcripts from their depositions, the text messages they obtained from Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine, and the emails provided by Ambassador Gordon Sondland. It's not clear what other documents they would have to include in the report, given the stonewalling from the Trump administration. The final two transcripts — from Philip Reeker of the State Department and Mark Sandy of the Office of Management and Budget — could be released as soon as Monday.
  • What they'll be considering: Senior aides on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees plan to continue deliberation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff to determine the size and scope of the articles of impeachment. Ultimately, the decision will be made by Pelosi. They are looking at multiple articles of impeachment – including abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice and bribery. There is a debate underway about whether to include the episodes detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report within an article of obstruction of justice.