US Senate Democrats plan debt-limit vote, Biden hints filibuster could go

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are set to try again on Wednesday to extend the US government's borrowing authority to head off a catastrophic default, after President Joe Biden suggested they could change the chamber's rules to bypass a Republican roadblock.

Republicans for months have refused to help raise the self-imposed $28.4 trillion borrowing cap, instead trying to force Democrats to use a different parliamentary maneuver to do so in hopes of scoring political points with voters.

With less than two weeks to go before the Treasury Department expects to run out of ways to meet the government's expenses, Democrats are looking at all their options.

Biden said on Tuesday that it was "real possibility" that Democrats might use their current razor-thin majority to drop the Senate's filibuster rule, which requires 60 of the chamber's 100 members to agree to pass most legislation.

Biden, himself a former Senator, had previously opposed changes to the filibuster, which is meant to help maintain government stability through election cycles.

If Democrats follow through, they could easily suspend the debt ceiling before the deadline of about Oct. 18. That would head off the risk of a crippling default and allow them to focus on passing two mammoth spending bills that make up the bulk of Biden's domestic agenda.

In an effort to underline the severe economic risks of a default, Biden will meet on Wednesday with a group including CEOs of major corporations including JPMorgan Chase & Co , Intel Corp and Nasdaq Inc.

Many Democrats have long argued that the Senate should dump the filibuster entirely, saying it prevents progress on climate change, voting rights and other priorities. The chamber already allows federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, to win approval on a straight majority vote.

Centrist Democratic senators including Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have said repeatedly they are not willing to dump the filibuster, which would leave the party short of the votes they need to change the rule, however. They could not be reached for comment on whether Biden's words would change their minds.

Democratic Senators John Hickenlooper and Ron Wyden on Tuesday said they were open to dropping the filibuster requirement for the debt-limit vote. Manchin declined to comment when asked about it prior to Biden's remarks.

The Senate was due to hold a Wednesday afternoon procedural vote that would allow them to begin debating a bill that would suspend the debt limit until December 2022, after the elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.

That passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last week but Republicans have stalled it in the Senate with the filibuster.

Without a quick resolution, some government services might be suspended, such as delivering Social Security benefit checks to the elderly.

Even a close call would likely be damaging. A 2011 debt ceiling dispute, which Congress resolved two days before the borrowing limit was due to have been reached, caused stocks to tumble and prompted a first-ever credit downgrade for US debt.

The Bipartisan Policy Center on Wednesday issued forecasts on when some federal payments could be postponed as a result of the standoff. Among them: Unemployment insurance payments due Oct. 20 could be delayed five days, federal salaries for civilian employees due Oct. 29 could be pushed back to Nov. 9 and Medicare payments to doctors could be delayed from Nov. 1 to Nov. 19.

Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday it expects Washington will raise the debt limit.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Congress was already risking US creditworthiness, however.

"We're in the danger zone right now," he told reporters on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Susan Cornwell, additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Steve Holland; Editing by Scott Malone, Sonya Hepinstall and Nick Zieminski)

-reuters-

Michelle Obama makes rousing call to dump Trump at Democratic convention

MILWAUKEE - US Democrats opened their nominating convention Monday with a show of unity behind Joe Biden and former first lady Michelle Obama delivering a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump as she urged voters to reject his politics of "division."

"Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country," former US President Barack Obama's wife said in a keynote speech on the first night of a convention that has shifted entirely online due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

"Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership, or consolation, or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy."

The pre-taped remarks came as unprecedented criticism by a former first lady of a sitting US president, painting him as a man who lacks the competence, character or decency for the job.

It was a potent message for voters who tuned in unsure of what to expect from a virtual convention that lacked the showstopping pizzazz and stagecraft of a live event.

With the Democratic Party poised to officially anoint the 77-year-old Biden as its nominee, Trump defied coronavirus concerns and staged a competing event in Wisconsin, the state where Democrats were supposed to hold their in-person convention.

The carefully choreographed opening for the four-day unifying gathering featured actress Eva Longoria as convention moderator. 

"Every four years we come together to reaffirm our democracy," she said. "This year we've come to save it." 

Dozens of speakers, including a host of Republicans opposed to Trump, offered a similar message.


In a poignant moment, everyday American Kristine Urquiza described how her father died from coronavirus after going out with friends when he believed the pandemic was not serious.

"His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life," Urquiza said.

'Truth and trust' 

Obama also took pains to describe Biden as a "terrific vice president" she grew to know well during the eight years he served as her husband's number two.

"He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country," she added.

Biden "will tell the truth, and trust science," she said in a jab at Trump, who has been accused of repeatedly ignoring the advice of his scientific advisors on how to respond to the pandemic.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who challenged Biden for the nomination from the progressive left, also addressed the convention by videolink, and warned that Trump is "leading us down the path of authoritarianism."

"The future of our democracy is at stake," and electing Biden over Trump is an absolute necessity, he stressed. 

"My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine." 

 'Crazy socialist policies' 

Trump flew on Air Force One meanwhile to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and delivered remarks to supporters gathered on the airport tarmac.

He accused Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris of seeking to enact "crazy socialist policies" and warned the 2020 election will be "the most dangerous" ever.

"The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged," added the president, who trails Biden in nearly all national polls as well as multiple battleground states.

The Democratic convention is taking place amid a furor over Trump's own efforts to limit mail-in voting.

Insisting without proof that it fosters fraud, Trump has threatened to block extra funding that Democrats say is urgently needed to allow the US Postal Service to process millions of ballots.

Obama addressed the controversy in her remarks, warning that Trump and Republicans were "lying about the security of our ballots."

Oshkosh, where Trump spoke, is about a 90-minute drive north of the Milwaukee arena where Democrats had intended to gather in a sign of eagerness to win back Wisconsin, one of multiple Democratic strongholds which flipped to Trump in 2016.

But the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed some 170,000 people in the United States, upended election campaigning.

Biden did not speak live on Monday, but he tweeted his support afterward.

"Tonight we saw that Americans are ready to come together, and that we the people can overcome these crises and emerge stronger than ever," he wrote.

While some speeches Monday were clearly pre-taped, Biden and Harris, 55, will address the convention live via videolink, according to the campaign.

Biden, whose poll leads over Trump remain significant, despite a slight tightening of the race, is hoping Harris -- the first woman of color on a major party's presidential ticket -- will invigorate Democrats.

Tuesday will see addresses from former president Bill Clinton and Jill Biden, the nominee's wife.

On Wednesday, Barack Obama will speak, and Harris will have her spotlight moment before the convention culminates Thursday when Biden formally accepts the Democratic nomination and delivers his acceptance speech.

Agence France-Presse

Bloomberg ends US presidential campaign, endorses Biden

US media tycoon Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday he was quitting the Democratic primary race and instead endorsing front runner Joe Biden for the White House after being snubbed by voters on Super Tuesday.

"Three months ago, I entered the race for president to defeat Donald Trump. Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump -- because it is clear to me that staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult," he said in a statement.

The billionaire former mayor of New York spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his presidential run, but failed to win any of the 14 states on offer on Super Tuesday -- the most important day in the Democratic primary season.

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Sanders wins New Hampshire primary

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is accompanied by his wife Jane O’Meara Sanders and other relatives as he arrives to speak at his New Hampshire primary night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States on Tuesday. The left-wing senator narrowly edged out moderate rival Pete Buttigieg in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary. 

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US Senate rejects witnesses in Trump impeachment trial, clearing way for acquittal

WASHINGTON - The US Senate voted on Friday against calling witnesses and collecting new evidence in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, clearing the way for Trump's almost certain acquittal next week.

By a vote of 51-49, the Republican-controlled Senate stopped Democrats' drive to hear testimony from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton, who is thought to have first-hand knowledge of Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Those actions prompted the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to formally charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December, making Trump only the third president in US history to be impeached.

He denies wrongdoing and has accused Democrats of an "attempted coup."

The Senate approved on a party-line vote a timeline for the rest of the trial that calls for a final vote on the impeachment charges at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) on Wednesday.

Closing arguments will begin at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on Monday, with 4 hours split between the prosecution and defense. That will give the 4 Democratic senators who are running to be their party's presidential nominee time to get to Iowa for that night's first nominating contest.

In between the closing arguments and final vote, senators will have an opportunity to give speeches on the Senate floor, but the trial will not formally be in session. Trump will deliver his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

The Senate is almost certain to acquit Trump of the charges, as a two-thirds Senate majority is required to remove Trump and none of the chamber's 53 Republicans have indicated they would vote to convict.

Trump is seeking re-election in the Nov. 3 vote. Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face him.

In Friday's vote on witnesses, only 2 Republicans - Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and Susan Collins, who faces a tough re-election in November in her home state of Maine - broke with their party and voted with Democrats.

"America will remember this day, unfortunately, where the Senate did not live up to its responsibilities, where the Senate turned away from truth and went along with a sham trial," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.

After the first vote on calling witnesses, Schumer offered more amendments seeking to call witnesses and obtain more evidence, but the Senate rejected them all. Romney and Collins were again the only Republicans to support calling Bolton as a witness.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said the trial should end as soon as possible. 

"The cake is baked and we just need to move as soon as we can to get it behind us," he told reporters.

NEW DETAILS

Friday's vote on witnesses came hours after the New York Times reported new details from an unpublished book manuscript written by Bolton in which the former aide said Trump directed him in May to help in a pressure campaign to get Ukraine to pursue investigations that would benefit Trump politically.

Bolton wrote that Trump told him to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to ensure Zelenskiy would meet with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a key player in the campaign, the Times reported.

Robert Costello, a lawyer for Giuliani, called the Times report "categorically untrue." Bolton's lawyer and spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

The Times previously reported that Bolton - contradicting Trump's version of events - wrote the president told him he wanted to freeze $391 million in security aid to Ukraine until Kiev pursued investigations of Democrats, including Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

Democrats had said the news illustrated the need for the Senate to put Bolton under oath.

But Republicans said they had heard enough. Some said they did not think that Trump did anything wrong, while Senators Lamar Alexander and Rob Portman said his actions were wrong but did not amount to impeachable conduct. Sen. Marco Rubio said impeachment would be too divisive for the country, even if a president engaged in clearly impeachable activity.

Lisa Murkowski, a Republican moderate who Democrats had hoped would vote with them to extend the trial, said the case against Trump was rushed and flawed. She told reporters she was "angry at all sides" and the prospect of a tie vote on witnesses weighed heavily on her decision.

After the Senate adjourned on Friday, she said she knew how she would vote on the charges but she would not reveal it yet.

"Will I share it with you tonight? I’ve had so much drama today, I’m just going to chill. How’s that? Was that fair?" Murkowski told reporters.

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Democrats to send Trump impeachment articles to Senate next week

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she intends to transmit articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate next week, moving to end a taut standoff with Republicans over terms of the president's trial.

The top Democrat's announcement virtually assures that a historic trial of Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress begins this month, as anticipated.

But she declined to provide a specific timeline for the next steps and did not announce which House Democrats she will ask to spearhead the case in the Senate, saying lawmakers should be ready to vote to appoint the managers some time next week.

"I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate," Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic caucus.

"I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further," she added.

Pelosi has withheld the articles since Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 18 over allegations that he improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 election rival Joe Biden, and that he obstructed the subsequent congressional probe.

The top Democrat in Congress had hoped Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, of Trump's Republican Party, would provide assurances of what she described as a "fair" trial in which Democrats can subpoena witnesses and documents.

But McConnell who, like Pelosi, is seen as a wily political strategist, refused to budge, announcing this week he had sufficient Republican votes to conduct a trial without acceding to Democratic demands.

"There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure," he said on Wednesday.

For weeks Pelosi had worn a poker face, leaving Democrats and Republicans alike guessing what and when her next move would be.

On Thursday she revealed only a sliver, saying she could "soon" send the articles to McConnell.

Democrats argue that her delay allowed dramatic new information to emerge before the trial, including Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton announcing on Monday that he was prepared to testify before the Senate if subpoenaed.

But as Democrats mulled what benefits, if any, there were to further postponing the trial, Pelosi came under increasing pressure to act.

McConnell has said he wants to set initial trial parameters first, then address possible witnesses once the procedure has begun. Pelosi wanted such assurances up front.

"Clearly, Leader McConnell does not want to present witnesses and documents to senators and the American people so they can make an independent judgment about the president's actions," Pelosi said in her letter.

'Impartial justice'

Democrats want to hear from four current or former administration officials, including Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who have direct knowledge of Trump's Ukraine dealings.

Getting McConnell to allow witnesses later in the trial would require support from at least four Republicans.

"In an impeachment trial, every senator takes an oath to 'do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws,'" Pelosi said. "Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the president or the Constitution."

Some Republicans saw Pelosi's announcement as a sign she had backed down in the staring contest with McConnell.

"There is no way to spin it," added conservative congressman Mark Meadows. "Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat Caucus spent weeks playing games with what is effectively their attempt at overturning an American election."

The Senate is expected to start its trial this month before the political temperature quickly rises as the nation turns to the 2020 presidential race.

The first vote of the Democratic nomination process, in Iowa, is just weeks away, on February 3.

Five of the candidates -- Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and Michael Bennet, are US senators and their constitutional duty requires them to be seated in the chamber serving as jurors during the impeachment trial.

That will curtail their campaigning in the run-up to Iowa, handing an advantage to former vice president Joe Biden, who is the Democratic frontrunner, and others in the race.

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Trump impeachment sets stage for trial in Senate

WASHINGTON - The impeachment of President Donald Trump in the US House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress sets the stage for a historic trial next month in the Republican-controlled Senate on whether he should be removed from office.

But it was unclear on Thursday how or when that trial would play out after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might delay sending over the articles of impeachment to the Senate in order to pressure that chamber to conduct what she viewed as a fair trial.

Trump said the ball was now in the Senate's court.

"Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but it’s Senate’s call!" Trump said on Twitter. "If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!"

Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said on MSNBC that Democrats would like the Senate to first approve a $1.4 trillion spending plan and a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico before turning to impeachment.

He said Democrats were also concerned that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell may not allow a full trial. McConnell has predicted there is "no chance" his chamber will convict Trump.

"It's very hard to believe that Mitch McConnell can raise his right hand and pledge to be impartial," Hoyer said.

The mostly party-line votes on Wednesday in the Democratic-led House came after long hours of bitter debate that reflected the partisan tensions in a divided America, and made Trump the third US President to be impeached.

Republicans argued that Democrats were using a rigged process to nullify the 2016 election and influence Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, while Democrats said Trump's actions in pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, a leading Democratic presidential contender, were a threat to democracy.

Trump is certain to face more friendly terrain during a trial in the 100-member Senate, where a vote to remove him would require a two-thirds majority. That means at least 20 Republicans would have to join Democrats in voting against Trump - and none have indicated they will.

Pelosi said after the vote she would wait to name the House managers, who will prosecute the case, until she knew more about the Senate trial procedures. She did not specify when she would send the impeachment articles to the Senate.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said it would not bother him if Pelosi did not send over the impeachment articles.

"My attitude is OK, throw us in that briar patch, don't send them, that's all right," he said on Fox News. "We actually have work to do."

Trump, 73, is accused of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden, a former US vice president, as well as a discredited theory that Democrats conspired with Ukraine to meddle in the 2016 election.

Democrats said Trump held back $391 million in security aid intended to combat Russia-backed separatists and a coveted White House meeting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as leverage to coerce Kiev into interfering in the 2020 election by smearing Biden.

Trump is also accused of obstruction of Congress by directing administration officials and agencies not to comply with lawful House subpoenas for testimony and documents related to impeachment.

Trump, who is seeking another four-year term in the November 2020 presidential election, has denied wrongdoing and called the impeachment inquiry launched by Pelosi in September a "witch hunt."

At a raucous rally for his re-election in Battle Creek, Michigan, as the House voted, Trump said the impeachment would be a "mark of shame" for Democrats and Pelosi, and cost them in the 2020 election.

"This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party," Trump said. "They're the ones who should be impeached, every one of them."

DEEP DIVISIONS

Trump's election has polarized the United States, dividing families and friends and making it more difficult for politicians in Washington to find middle ground as they try to confront pressing challenges like the rise of China and climate change.

The impeachment vote comes ahead of Trump's re-election campaign, which will pit him against the winner among a field of Democratic contenders, including Biden, who have repeatedly criticized Trump's conduct in office and promised to make it a key issue.

Reuters/Ipsos polls show that while most Democrats wanted to see him impeached, most Republicans did not. Televised hearings last month that were meant to build public support for impeachment appear to have pushed the two sides further apart.

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Pelosi: Democrats will draft articles of impeachment vs Trump

WASHINGTON - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said she has directed a House committee to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump over his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival, a historic step that sets up a fight over whether to oust him from office.

"The President abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our national security by withholding military aid and (a) crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival," Pelosi said in a televised statement.

The impeachment fight undertaken by House Democrats is unfolding even as the Republican president is running for re-election in 2020.

"Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our Founders and our hearts full of love for America, today I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment," she added, referring to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

Pelosi made the remarks a day after the Judiciary Committee held a hearing in which three constitutional law experts called by Democratic lawmakers said Trump had engaged in conduct that represents impeachable offenses under the Constitution. A fourth expert called by Republican lawmakers called the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry rushed and flawed.

Articles of impeachment represent formal charges against Trump and would originate in the Judiciary Committee before going to the full House. If the Democratic-led House passes articles of impeachment as expected, that would lead to a trial in the Senate on whether to convict Trump of those charges and remove him from office. Republicans control the Senate and have shown little support for Trump's removal.

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said on Twitter that Pelosi and other Democrats "should be ashamed," adding that Trump "has done nothing but lead our country - resulting in a booming economy, more jobs & a stronger military, to name just a few of his major accomplishments. We look forward to a fair trial in the Senate."

The three law professors chosen by the Democrats made clear during Wednesday's hearing that they believed Trump's actions constituted impeachable offenses including abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice.

The House Intelligence Committee this week submitted findings from its inquiry into Trump's push for Kiev to launch an investigation related to former US Vice President Joe Biden, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Trump also asked Ukraine to look into the discredited theory promoted by the president and his allies that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 US election.

Democrats have accused Trump of abusing his power by withholding $391 million in security aid to Ukraine - a US ally facing Russian aggression - to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce the investigations.

"Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. The president has engaged in abuse of power, undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections," Pelosi said.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called the impeachment investigation a hoax.

The House may vote by year's end on the formal impeachment charges, but Democrats, who control the chamber, say no decision has been made at this point on the specific charges. Those could include abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice.

Judiciary panel Democrats on Wednesday said they may look beyond Trump's relations with Ukraine to include Trump's earlier alleged efforts to impede former US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into his 2016 campaign's relations with Russia, but they stopped short of saying that could trigger a separate charge.

IMPEACHMENT HISTORY

No president has ever been removed from office through impeachment, though Republican Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 after the House began the impeachment process in the Watergate corruption scandal. Two other presidents were impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

The last impeachment effort in the United States came in 1998 when a Republican-led House passed articles of impeachment against Democratic President Bill Clinton - charges arising from a sexual relationship he had with a White House intern. The Senate then acquitted Clinton in 1999, leaving him in office.

The other president who was impeached was Andrew Johnson, impeached by the House in 1868 - three years after the end of the US Civil War - but left in office by the Senate.

Trump's fellow Republicans in both chambers have stood by him, and have accused Democrats of seeking to overturn the 2016 election.

Republican Representative Andy Biggs, who sits on the House Judiciary panel, told Fox News earlier on Thursday: "What we are seeing is a rush - rush - to impeachment."

"I think you're going to see several articles of impeachment so there's a menu there. ... That's the type of political shenanigans that are going to go on here to undermine the election of 2016," Biggs said.

Republicans in the Senate have given no signs they would break with the president now.

Ahead of Pelosi's statement, Trump urged House Democrats to move quickly if they were going to impeach him so that the Senate could take up the issue.

"If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business," Trump tweeted.

Polling has shown Americans are also largely divided along party lines over impeachment.

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Joe Biden to blitz Iowa back roads by bus in 800-mile hunt for support

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will crisscross Iowa by bus for eight days starting on Saturday, the longest trek of his campaign, to make a personal appeal for support in a critical state where he has lost ground in polls.

Biden, who served as vice president to Democratic former President Barack Obama, is seeking the party's nomination to face Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election but is battling a historically large field of rivals, many with better-financed operations.

Iowa, the state that hosts the first nominating contest on Feb. 3, will be a key test. Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and U.S. agriculture secretary, said many of the state's Democrats are still weighing their options.

"They're going to be looking for somebody who, at the end of the day, understands how to move the country forward in a way that's realistic but also progressive," said Vilsack, who endorsed Biden earlier this month.

Public opinion polls show Biden's one-time double-digit lead in the state has disappeared, and he is now fighting fast-rising Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for first place.

Biden, 77, still enjoys a lead in national public opinion polls.

"It really is time to start turning over our government to a younger generation," said Linda Murken, chair of the board of supervisors in Story County, Iowa, where Biden is expected to campaign on Wednesday. Murken has endorsed Buttigieg, saying younger leaders may inspire younger voters and have a greater sense of urgency about climate change.

Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz told donors earlier this month on a conference call the campaign does not have to win Iowa to secure the nomination. But Biden's fundraising pleas underscore the need to counter a wave of ads in Iowa for Trump and Biden's Democratic opponents.

"Our opponents' advertising blitzes and cash-on-hand advantage have turned into real support for them in Iowa," said one Biden campaign email to supporters last week.

Biden's campaign ended September with under $9 million in cash on hand, trailing Trump, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg and Senator Kamala Harris, according to the most recent filings with the U.S. Federal Election Commission.

The post-Thanksgiving holiday bus tour by Biden will cover 18 counties and more than 800 miles (1,287 km). Biden is slated to start it with an appearance alongside his wife, Jill, at his campaign's field office in Council Bluffs.

"The goal is to have him connect with people one-on-one," said campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo. "It is a very close race as we get close to voting with the four folks. And that was always the expectation."

Biden won't have the state to himself. Buttigieg, Warren, Sanders, Harris and other candidates are all expected to campaign in Iowa at points during the same eight-day stretch. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by John Whitesides and Cynthia Osterman)

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Bloomberg calls for Trump defeat, takes new step towards 2020 run

WASHINGTON — Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg called Tuesday for President Donald Trump's defeat in 2020 as he took a new formal step towards joining the Democratic presidential race.

"Officially filed in Arkansas to be on the ballot for the Democratic primary," tweeted the former New York mayor along with a photograph of himself submitting the paperwork -- four days after doing the same in Alabama.

Both states have early deadlines to register for the primaries.

"We must defeat Trump. He has failed us at every turn," the 77-year-old added.

Bloomberg's personal appearance to sign his ballot papers in Little Rock is a strong public signal that the centrist tycoon will officially leap into the already-crowded Democratic primary field.

"Mike wanted to go and do the filing himself" in Arkansas, Bloomberg spokesman Jason Schechter told The New York Times.

"If he runs, he's going to go to states that Democrats never go to in the primary campaign. We're starting that today in Arkansas."

Bloomberg, who like Trump is a septuagenarian white New York billionaire, said back in March that he wouldn't run, but more recently has been toying with the idea of throwing his hat in the ring, according to an adviser.

He has changed his political affiliation on multiple occasions, including switching from Democrat to Republican when he successfully ran for mayor of New York in 2001. He became an independent 6 years later.

Bloomberg is believed to be concerned that the Democratic Party has shifted too far left in recent years, and that a progressive nominee like senators Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren would lead to Trump's re-election.

Experts say a Bloomberg candidacy could hurt the current frontrunner Joe Biden, the former vice president who is the leading centrist in the race.

Trump last week predicted that Bloomberg would "hurt Biden" if he ran, saying "there's nobody I'd rather run against than Little Michael."

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How Trump's impeachment will unroll

WASHINGTON - The start of open hearings in the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump on Wednesday will give the American public their first chance to witness live the explosive showdown between Democrats and Republicans over the US leader's future.

The hearing before the House Intelligence Committee marks the second phase of the impeachment investigation into allegations that Trump abused his powers by seeking help for his 2020 reelection campaign from Ukraine.

Trump is under threat of becoming only the third president in US history to be impeached -- formally charged with violating his duties as president or committing crimes, and placed on trial in the Senate.

With Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, impeachment appears highly likely, as soon as the end of 2019.

But the Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, a bulwark against him being convicted and removed from office -- unless they turn against him.

There is still much to do, but analysts believe the entire process could be completed before the end of January.

Evidentiary hearings

On Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee takes the impeachment investigation public after six weeks of closed-door depositions from White House, State Department and other officials.

Those depositions have already painted a fairly complete picture of how Trump and aides, including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, pressured Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations that could conceivably find political dirt against the Democrats and Trump's possible 2020 election rival Joe Biden.

Some of the witnesses who already testified privately will be recalled to face the public panel, starting with Ambassador William Taylor, Washington's top diplomat in Ukraine, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent on Wednesday, and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch on Friday.

The aim is to further compile the evidence against the president, or, for Republicans, in his support.

Democrats chose all the witnesses for the initial private depositions phase. 

In the open hearings, both parties can propose and subpoena witnesses -- although Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff will be able to prevent Republicans from inviting witnesses who have no relation to the core allegations or who simply seek to stall the proceedings.

Setting the charges

The next step is hearings by the Judiciary Committee, under Chairmen Jerry Nadler, a longtime Trump nemesis, to decide whether the evidence is strong enough to support formal charges, or articles of impeachment.

Trump and his lawyers will be able to appear, cross-examine witnesses, and submit evidence in their favor.

At the end of those hearings, the Democratic-controlled committee will vote on specific articles of impeachment, based on the US Constitution's standard of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," and whether Trump's actions constituted abuse of presidential power. 

Currently, the charges are expected to be abuse of power and obstruction of the investigation. 

The impeachment vote

The Judiciary Committee then sends the articles of impeachment to the entire House for a vote.

Only a basic majority of the 435 member House is required to approve impeachment. Democrats currently hold a solid majority, 233 seats to 197 for Republicans, with four seats currently vacant and one held by an independent.

That suggests that, if the evidence is strong enough, Democrats will easily pass the impeachment resolution.

The trial

The resolution would then go to the Senate, where Trump would stand trial, with the 100 senators his jury.

Democrats from the House would act as the prosecuting team, while Trump's lawyers would defend him, and Trump could argue in his own favor. Both sides can call witnesses and present testimony.

Presiding over the trial would likely be Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed to the court by Republican President George W. Bush in 2005.

A trial could take a few weeks. The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999 lasted five weeks, and ultimately ended in his acquittal: while Republicans had a majority in the Senate, Clinton had enough support among Democrats to easily beat the required two-thirds majority to convict.

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Trump fury grows against rising impeachment storm

A bellicose Donald Trump on Wednesday unleashed furious attacks on the impeachment inquiry launched against him by Democrats, amid an intensifying standoff between the president and Congress.

Trump -- accused of leaning on Ukraine's president to dig up dirt on one of his main 2020 election rivals -- resorted to coarse language in his broadsides against the investigation and his adversaries conducting it.

Democrats should be "focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone's time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016," Trump tweeted.

Adam Schiff, the impeachment probe's Democratic point man in the House of Representatives, told reporters there is a "real sense of urgency" to press forward.

Trump fought back in terms once inconceivable for a president, including his claim late Tuesday on Twitter that this is "not an impeachment, it is a COUP."

He amplified the message Wednesday standing next to Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in the White House, branding the impeachment process -- announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week -- as "the greatest hoax."

Trump aimed his wrath directly at Schiff, deeming the House Intelligence Committee chairman "a low life" who should be arrested for "treason."

But at the same time Trump acknowledged he may yet cooperate with the latest move by Democrats, who threatened to subpoena the White House for documents related to the president's efforts to get Ukraine to probe a political rival.

"We'll work together with 'shifty' Schiff and Pelosi and all of them and we'll see what happens," he said.

Trump insists he did nothing wrong in a phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and on Wednesday got support from Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who said he saw "nothing compromising" in the conversation.

Given Trump's controversial history with Putin, it was unlikely that the Kremlin leader's backing would do much to calm waters in Washington.

Congress pushes back
Trump is accused of having pressured Zelensky to help him by opening a corruption investigation against leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in a July 25 phone call. 

Trump is alleged to have suggested that military equipment Ukraine sought to beef up its defenses against Russia would be contingent on him getting that favor.

A whistleblower, so far only identified as someone from the intelligence services, went to authorities with concerns about the call, triggering the impeachment inquiry.

Trump has likened the whistleblower to a spy and called for his or her identity to be made public, although by law whistleblowers are protected. 

He has also retweeted a warning that his removal from office could trigger "civil war."

Schiff on Wednesday called Trump's comments about the whistleblower a "blatant effort to intimidate witnesses."

The intelligence chairman urged Trump and the White House to treat the pending subpoena with the utmost gravity.

"We're not fooling around here," Schiff said, adding that efforts to stonewall the collection of related data will be considered "evidence of obstruction of justice."

Meanwhile, the State Department's inspector general met behind closed doors with a bipartisan group of staffers from House and Senate committees.

The State Department is closely caught up in the probe, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirming Wednesday that he listened in during the Zelensky call.

Pompeo had earlier accused Democrats of trying to "intimidate" and "bully" State Department employees. 

First testimony
Pompeo as well as Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been subpoenaed to provide documents. Five diplomats have so far been summoned to testify.

Pompeo suggested that the committees could be forced to subpoena the five officials, and that State and the White House could seek to limit what they can talk about.

"I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead," Pompeo said.

The State Department's former special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, will testify Thursday and the ex-ambassador to Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch, appears behind closed doors October 11, according to Schiff.

Volker had been sought by Giuliani to help pressure Zelensky, while Yovanovitch was removed earlier this year as ambassador after she reportedly resisted that effort.

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Trump calls Democratic impeachment inquiry a 'joke'

NEW YORK - A downbeat Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed as a "joke" the grounds laid out for the impeachment inquiry into him, as Democrats stood firm in accusing the US president of a "mafia-style shakedown" of his Ukrainian counterpart.

Trump denied claims he abused his office by repeatedly urging President Volodymyr Zelensky to probe his rival Joe Biden -- as confirmed in a call transcript released by the White House.

"They are getting hit hard on this witch hunt because when they look at the information, it's a joke," said the president, who struck an uncharacteristically subdued tone at his first news conference since Democrats launched an official impeachment inquiry.

"Impeachment for that? When you have a wonderful meeting or you have a wonderful phone conversation?"

A more defiant Trump had earlier insisted he exerted "no pressure" on Kiev -- a claim echoed by Zelensky, who appeared side-by-side with the US leader at a long-planned meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

But the publication of the transcript sent new shockwaves through Washington, including within the ranks of Trump's Republican Party, with Senator Mitt Romney calling it "deeply troubling."

Two competing narratives immediately took hold.

Trump and his allies claimed the July 25 call contained no evidence of a quid pro quo pressuring Zelensky to probe the president's top Democratic rival for the White House.

Democrats meanwhile held it up as a smoking gun.

"This is how a mafia boss talks," charged senior lawmaker Adam Schiff. 

"'What have you done for us? We've done so much for you but there's not much reciprocity. I have a favor to ask you.'" 

"And what is that favor? Of course, the favor is to investigate his political rival, to investigate the Bidens."

The call summary -- which is not a verbatim transcript -- shows Trump saying US Attorney General Bill Barr and the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani would be in touch about probing the Ukraine-related activities of Biden and his son.

In announcing the impeachment probe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump's actions amounted to a betrayal of his oath of office and of national security.

'NOBODY PUSHED ME' 

As Barack Obama's vice president, Biden and other Western leaders pressured Ukraine to get rid of the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, because he was seen as not tough enough on corruption.

"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great," Trump told Zelensky in the call.

"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me." 

The transcript did not show Trump explicitly tying aid to Ukraine to Zelensky probing Biden, which has fed the calls to impeach him.

But the two did discuss a major aid package, which had been frozen by Trump at the time and was only released in recent weeks.

The memo also shows Trump asking Zelensky for a "favor" on an issue unconnected to Biden -- just after noting that the US had been "very, very good to Ukraine."

Analysts noted that the transcript uses ellipses -- denoting words or entire passages are missing -- on three occasions, all when Trump is making requests of Zelensky.

Others pointed out that it was supposed to summarize a 30-minute call, yet the transcript runs to around just 12 minutes.

"There was no pressure whatsoever," Trump told reporters earlier Wednesday, saying Democrats had built up the exchange as the "call from hell" but that "it turned out to be a nothing call."

Zelensky insisted meanwhile that he had not been "pushed" by Trump during the controversial call.

'A DISGRACEFUL THING' 

Faced with the possibility of becoming the third US president in history to be impeached, Trump has pushed back hard -- branding the probe the "single greatest witch hunt in American history... a disgraceful thing." 

Pelosi had for months resisted pressure from the party rank-and-file for impeachment, preferring to focus on next year's election fight.

But on Tuesday, she relented, 11 days after news that an anonymous US intelligence official had filed a whistleblower complaint on Trump's alleged double-dealing with Ukraine.

Democrats made clear the White House's release of the call record would not satisfy their investigation into whether the US leader broke the law, and the complaint has now been reviewed by lawmakers.

Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer told reporters after reading the whistleblower complaint that "it's very troubling" -- an assessment echoed by Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who said that "there's obviously lots that's very troubling there."

Trump told Thursday's news conference that he supported "transparency" over the whistleblower, adding however that the source's information was "supposedly second-hand."

The next explosive episode in the rapidly unfolding impeachment drama is set for Thursday, when acting director of national intelligence Joseph McGuire testifies on Capitol Hill.

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California governor signs bill requiring Trump to release tax returns

LOS ANGELES - California's Democratic governor signed a law on Tuesday requiring U.S. presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns before they can appear on the state's ballot, a move aimed squarely at President Donald Trump.

The law, which passed both houses of the Democrat-controlled state legislature earlier this month, marks the latest effort by Democrats to expose still-murky details of Trump's financial empire.

"These are extraordinary times and states have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards, and to restore public confidence," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement announcing the bill signing.

Representatives for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the measure, which was expected to face legal challenges.

Newsom's predecessor as California governor, Jerry Brown, in 2017 vetoed similar legislation passed by state lawmakers on the grounds that it might run counter to the U.S. Constitution and set a precedent for requiring presidential candidates to disclose personal information.

Despite suggesting during his successful 2016 run for the presidency that he would release his tax returns once an audit was complete, Trump has refused to make them public.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has rejected requests by the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee to the Internal Revenue Service to turn over six years of Trump's returns.

The committee sued Mnuchin and the Treasury Department last week to appeal Mnuchin’s decision.

Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, signed an amendment to a state law requiring the Department of Taxation and Finance to release any returns sought by the appropriate congressional committees.

Last week Trump sued New York over the legislation, saying it was enacted to retaliate against the president because of his "policy positions, his political beliefs, and his protected speech, including the positions he took during the 2016 campaign." (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Bill Tarrant and Tom Brown)

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Democrats warn Trump ahead of planned immigration raids

WASHINGTON - Democrats in the US Congress demanded Thursday that President Donald Trump protect families and children ahead of expected immigration raids this weekend.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will launch sweeping deportation operations on Sunday as the administration expands its crackdown on undocumented immigrants, the New York Times reported.

ICE has obtained court orders for the removal of about one million undocumented migrants, according to a senior administration official, but the initial raids will target some 2,000 across at least 10 cities, the Times said.

Democrats lashed out at the plans, saying they threaten people who have lived in the United States for many years and built families that include US citizens.

House leader Nancy Pelosi called the ICE plan "heartless" and said Sundays are when many Hispanic immigrant families are in church.

"These families are hardworking members of our communities and our country. This brutal action will terrorize children and tear families apart," she told reporters.

"Many of these families are mixed-status families," she added, referring to families who include members in the United States legally and illegally, such as migrants with children born inside the country.

Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Wednesday that ICE has nowhere near the resources needed to pursue the full one million cases.

"They are absolutely going to happen," he said of the raids, however.

MIGRANTS STILL ARRIVING AT HIGH RATE

The removal orders can be issued on the completion of court cases involving the migrants, whether for minor civil infractions or their own citizenship or asylum cases.

Fearing arrest and deportation, migrants often don't show up for cases and judges summarily rule against them.

Senior Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer warned the Trump administration that ICE should not split families with young children if it carries out the raids.

"Stop separating children from their families. Tell your agencies, do not separate a single child from their parents," he said.

ICE hasn't commented on the raids, which would come with Trump seeking to demonstrate toughness on immigration amid a still-strong influx of migrants across the border with Mexico.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said 104,344 migrants were detained after crossing the border in June, down 28 percent from May's 13-year record high but still an extremely high figure, some 60,000 more than the same month last year.

While migrant flows usually ebb in the hot summer, DHS said initiatives with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where most of the migrants come from, and a joint crackdown with Mexico, whose territory most must transit, had contributed to the downturn.

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10 million signatures urging Trump impeachment delivered to Congress

WASHINGTON - Two House Democrats on Thursday joined activists at the US Capitol who presented Congress with signatures of 10 million people calling on lawmakers to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

"We are holding in our hands 10 million reasons for being here today," progressive congressman Al Green said, as he and first-term congresswoman Rashida Tlaib held up a flash drive.

Dozens of cardboard boxes featuring the signatures, gathered on petitions from groups such as MoveOn and the annual Women's March, were delivered to Tlaib, who has introduced legislation that would direct the House Judiciary Committee to begin proceedings to investigate whether Trump has committed impeachable offenses.

"In the face of this time, this remarkably dark time in our country, this to me is a moment of light," she said.

Trump has proclaimed he was fully exonerated by special counsel Robert Mueller's recently released report on Russian election interference.

But some Democrats argue that the document lays out multiple occasions in which the president may have obstructed justice, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 presidential candidate who has called for impeachment proceedings.

Other senior Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have cautioned against such a move, stressing it could deeply divide the nation of about 325 million people.

They warn it could backfire politically in the run up to the 2020 election, especially with the Republican-controlled Senate likely to acquit the president in the event of impeachment by the House of Representatives.

But Green framed the action as a constitutional necessity.

"I say moral imperative always trumps political expediency," he said.

"You can't say you have a constitutional crisis and then do nothing."

The remark appeared to be a direct challenge to Pelosi herself, who said Thursday that Trump's refusal to comply with congressional inquiries into his actions has brought the country to the brink. 

"Trump and his administration's decision to ignore the oath of office has triggered a constitutional crisis," Pelosi said, although she herself has stopped short of calling for Trump's ouster.

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Trump sues to block U.S. Congress subpoena for his financial records

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday filed suit to keep U.S. lawmakers from obtaining his financial records, the first salvo in what promises to be an escalating legal battle with Democrats in Congress.

The suit seeks to block a subpoena issued by the Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee for information about Trump's personal and business finances, alleging Democrats have launched "all-out political war" on Trump with subpoenas as their "weapon of choice."

The committee's subpoena sought eight years of documents from Mazars USA, an accounting firm long used by Trump to prepare financial statements, related to its investigation of allegations Trump inflated or deflated financial statements for potentially improper purposes.

Elijah Cummings, the House Oversight Committee chairman, issued the subpoena to the president's accountant after Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress in February that Trump had misrepresented his net worth.

"Chairman Cummings' subpoena is invalid and unenforceable because it has no legitimate legislative purpose," Trump's lawyers said in a filing, arguing it exceeded constitutional limits on the power of Congress to investigate.

"Its goal is to expose Plaintiffs’ private financial information for the sake of exposure, with the hope that it will turn up something that Democrats can use as a political tool against the President now and in the 2020 election," they said.

In a statement on Monday, Cummings said there was no valid legal basis to try to block the subpoena and accused the White House of "unprecedented stonewalling" in refusing to produce a single document or witness to the committee.

"This complaint reads more like political talking points than a reasoned legal brief, and it contains a litany of inaccurate information," Cummings said.

The filing was the first effort by Trump's legal team to quash multiple investigations of Trump and his finances by Democratic-led committees in Congress. His lawyers made it clear they would resist those efforts.

"Democrats are using their new control of congressional committees to investigate every aspect of President Trump’s personal finances, businesses, and even his family," Trump's lawyers said.

"Instead of working with the President to pass bipartisan legislation that would actually benefit Americans, Democrats are singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to damage the President politically," they said.

The Trump Organization, the president's privately owned real estate company, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Trump is suing in his individual capacity, and is represented by a private law firm rather than government lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Republicans on the Oversight Committee also had objected to the subpoena from Cummings, arguing it was an abuse of congressional authority to target the private financial information of Trump.

"As a firm we will respect this process and will comply with all legal obligations," Mazars said in a statement. "As with all clients, we are precluded by our professional code of conduct and corporate policy from commenting further on inquiries of this nature."

Ross Garber, a Washington lawyer who focuses on political investigations, said the lawsuit might be dismissed because of the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which offers broad legal protection to members of Congress for actions they undertake as legislators.

But Garber also said there was some merit to Trump's argument that the subpoena was brought for the improper purpose of unearthing politically damaging information about him, rather than for a legitimate legislative purpose.

"Congressional authority is vast but it is not unlimited, and the complaint raises potentially legitimate questions,” Garber said, adding that Congress would have a stronger basis for the request if it had initiated impeachment hearings, when courts have said its investigative powers are heightened.

Garber said disputes between the White House and Congress over documents are often resolved through negotiation, rather than lawsuits, and that a compromise was still possible.

The filing said Democrats have issued more than 100 subpoenas and requests "to anyone with even the most tangential connection to the President." 

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