House launches Trump impeachment inquiry

By Veronica Rocha, Fernando Alfonso III, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 10:40 a.m. ET, September 26, 2019
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2:20 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Sen. Chris Coons rebuts Lindsey Graham's claim that Trump's call was a "nothing burger"

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons disputed Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s assertion that President Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian president is a “nothing burger” in a tweet today and pushed back that Democrats could be overblowing the call.

"I don't think I'm overblowing anything. The memorandum of this call in black and white, there is a summary of a conversation where President Trump is asking the president of Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden, and implicitly former Vice President Biden and then is asking if the current attorney general of the United States and President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, can go and engage in meetings in Ukraine, notionally to pursue this investigation, among other issues. That's pretty striking. I find it hard to believe anyone could conclude that that's a nothing burger,” Coons said.

The Delaware senator continued: “The President of Ukraine clearly says we're in a position where we want to buy more javelins defensive missiles from the United States — an anti tank defensive system — and our president's next sentence is, ‘Do me a favor.’”

2:17 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Scaramucci: Trump is having "a nervous breakdown" over impeachment inquiry

From CNN’s Kate Trafecante and Alison Kosik

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci says President Trump is having "like a nervous breakdown" over the impeachment inquiry.  

Speaking to CNN’s Alison Kosik, Scaramucci also explained why the stock market isn’t reacting to the latest news out of Washington.  

The markets, Scaramucci said, rallied early on from deregulation and the tax cuts but now is looking “at this situation with some level of relief.”

2:49 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Lindsey Graham wants someone to investigate Biden allegations — but not Robert Mueller

From CNN's Ted Barrett

Sen. Lindsey Graham said today that the Ukraine-related charges against Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden need to be investigated. However, he said he won’t use the Judiciary Committee he chairs to do it because he is close to the former vice president and his late son, Beau.  

Graham said there should “not be a political circus around this” and “there should be somebody outside of politics looking at this.”

Remember: There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son.

When he was told PolitiFact and other journalistic outlets had examined the charges against the Bidens and no wrongdoing was found, Graham rejected them as unfair arbiters.  

 “I think that’s a bunch of garbage. Nobody in the Republican Party trusts outside journalists to be fair. You’re from CNN. I like your network. But no one believes this has been scrutinized,” Graham said. 

“Somebody should look at this like Mueller looked at Trump,” Graham suggested.  

A reporter asked if he wanted a special counsel named: “Somebody that everybody can trust who can be fair about it. Somebody like Mueller,” Graham said.  

After a half-beat delay, Graham called out “not him,” with a nervous laugh, making clear he doesn’t think Robert Mueller should be called to reprise his special counsel duties. 

Hear Graham defend Trump:

2:15 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Former FBI Director James Comey suggests lawmakers may now need to act on impeachment

Former FBI director James Comey tweeted on impeachment, suggesting lawmakers may now need to act:

What Comey said last week: In a radio interview, Comey said he hoped Trump was not impeached "because I think the American people would be let off the hook," USA Today reported.

1:52 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Attorney General William Barr was not recused from Ukraine call referral

From CNN's Evan Perez and David Shortell 

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

Attorney General William Barr was not recused from a Department of Justice referral regarding President Trump's call with Ukraine's president. Despite the fact that Barr’s name comes up in the call, there was no consideration of a recusal.

Senior officials from the Justice Department’s public corruption unit were involved in the determination that the call didn’t add up to a campaign finance violation. Part of the analysis centered on how to establish what is a “thing of value” in campaign finance law. 

The Justice Department’s examination centered on the July call. The prosecutors interviewed White House officials involved in producing the transcript to establish it was a reliable record of the call. No other interviews were done. The FBI received a separate referral from the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community but deferred to the Justice Department's criminal division, which was doing its analysis.

In the ICIG’s assessment of the whistleblower complaint, they noted that “some indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the complainant in favor of a rival political candidate.” The ICIG still determined that the complaint was credible. 

1:52 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

2 US presidents have been successfully impeached, but neither was removed from office

An engraving showing the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in the Senate on March 13, 1868.
An engraving showing the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in the Senate on March 13, 1868. Library of Congress

The House has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. While many US presidents have been threatened with impeachment, Congress has only conducted two presidential impeachment trials.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • How impeachment works: A sitting US president can be impeached for treason, bribery or “other high crimes and misdemeanors." The House of Representatives votes for impeachment, and if a majority of members vote in favor, the Senate conducts a trial. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is required to convict and remove a president from office — which has never successfully happened.
  • Richard Nixon wasn’t actually impeached: He faced possible impeachment for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress during the Watergate scandal. He resigned before the House could vote. 
  • But Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were: Congress has only conducted two presidential impeachment trials: Johnson in 1868 for firing a cabinet secretary without the consent of Congress, and Clinton in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice. Both presidents were acquitted and stayed in office. 
  • The impeachment threat comes up a lot: Every president since Ronald Reagan has been threatened with impeachment by members of the House — including Trump, who faced three separate resolutions for impeachment in 2017. 
1:50 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Sen. Chuck Schumer says Ukraine call transcript was "even worse" than Mueller

From CNN's Lauren Fox

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said the transcript of a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was “even worse” than the allegations from the Mueller report. 

"The President is directly involved here. It’s pretty clear what has happened as bad as the other stuff was this was even worse," he said.

Asked what the Senate’s role will be in the next few months, Schumer said the Senate intel committee should pursue the facts. 

Schumer also said that the transcript “validates the wisdom” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce an official impeachment inquiry yesterday.

1:29 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Senator says Republicans who reviewed the White House transcript before release did not raise concerns about the call

From CNN's Manu Raju

Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Sen. David Perdue tells CNN that he was among a small group of House and Senate Republicans who reviewed the rough transcript at the White House before it was released 

Perdue said White House Counsel Pat Cippolone was in the room, and that the President called in and said everything was fine about his conduct. 

When asked if any Republicans raise concerns, Perdue said “no.”

2:47 p.m. ET, September 25, 2019

Graham challenges Pelosi to bring an impeachment vote to the House floor

From CNN's Sunlen Serfaty and Kristin Wilson 

Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should bring an impeachment vote to the House floor if she’s confident the President committed impeachable offenses.

“I’m challenging Nancy Pelosi to have a vote on this. Moderate Democrats are hiding behind her. So if you really believe that this is an impeachable offense or other things are impeachable subject to an inquiry, vote on it,” he said.

"If you think the President has soiled the office, do something about it. If you think this is an impeachable offense, vote. Go on the record. The one thing that makes me crazy is to talk in the abstract. Have the courage of your convictions, read the phone call for yourself. Do you think this was out of bounds? That this was a quid pro quo? Whatever you think, go public with it. Let’s vote.”

When asked how he thinks this will turn out for the Democrats, he said he didn’t know, but did offer a little if-past-is-prologue.

“I just know this. I know how it turned out for us in 1998. We got our ass kicked,” he said. “All I can tell my Democratic friends: You’re going down a dangerous road here for the future of the presidency as well as your own future, but that’s up to y’all.”