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-

US congressman John Lewis, civil rights icon, dead at 80

WASHINGTON - John Lewis, the civil rights warrior who died Friday aged 80, excelled at what he liked to call "good trouble" -- standing up against racial injustice to forge a better United States.

The African-American icon marched with Martin Luther King Jr., was nearly beaten to death by police, and later as a sitting congressman was arrested multiple times for protesting genocide or leading immigration reform sit-ins.

"From a historical standpoint, there are few who are able to become giants," Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the civil rights icon, told CNN. "John Lewis really became a giant through his examples that he set for all of us." 

Lewis was a sharecropper's son whose fights for justice helped define an era, and whose moral authority as an indomitable elder statesman left a permanent imprint in Congress.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in late 2019.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted on Saturday: "Rep. John Lewis was an icon of the civil rights movement, and he leaves an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten. We hold his family in our prayers, as we remember Rep. John Lewis' incredible contributions to our country."

But Lewis had clashed with President Donald Trump on multiple occasions -- boycotting his inauguration and citing Russian interference in the 2016 election to question his legitimacy.

Trump in turn said Lewis's Georgia district was "horrible" and the congressman was "all talk" and "no action."

In a statement announcing he was ordering flags lowered to half staff at the White House and other public buildings and embassies for a day, Trump's only mention of Lewis was to say he was acting "as a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative John Lewis, of Georgia."

He tweeted later: "Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing, Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family."

- Risked 'life and blood' -

Lewis was just 21 when he became a founding member of the Freedom Riders, who fought segregation of the US transportation system in the early 1960s, eventually becoming one of the nation's most powerful voices for justice and equality.

He was the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington, in which King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech.

Two years later Lewis nearly died while leading hundreds of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama when state troopers, seeking to intimidate those demonstrating for voting rights for black Americans, attacked.

Lewis suffered a fractured skull that day, which would become known as "Bloody Sunday." 

Fifty years later in 2015, he walked across the bridge arm in arm with Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, to mark the march's anniversary.

Obama presented Lewis with the Medal of Freedom, among the nation's highest civilian honors, in 2011.

"Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did," Obama tweeted early Saturday.

"He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise," Obama added.

Another civil rights giant also died Friday. 

Reverend CT Vivian staged anti-segregation sit-ins in the 1940s, was an early advisor to King and helped organize the Freedom Rides. He died early Friday at 95.

- 'Conscience of Congress' -

John Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama on February 21, 1940, the third of 10 children. 

His community was almost entirely black, and he quickly learned about the segregation that afflicted Alabama. 

Lewis, who organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and was arrested two dozen times for non-violent protests, was a founder and eventual chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, where he wrote speeches against police brutality and campaigned to register black voters.

He was elected to Congress in 1986 and quickly became a figure of moral authority.

Tributes poured in from Democrats and Republicans alike.

"Today, America mourns the loss of one of the greatest heroes of American history," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the 17-term congressman. She described Lewis as "a titan of the civil rights movement."

Republican Senator Mitt Romney called Lewis a man of "unwavering principle, unassailable character, penetrating purpose, and heartfelt compassion."

In recent months, Lewis stepped away from congressional duties as he underwent cancer treatment.

But he returned to Washington in early June, in the midst of fiery demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, to walk in Black Lives Matter Plaza, the renamed intersection near the White House that was the site of protests against injustice.

"The winds are blowing, the great change is going to come," Lewis said days earlier during a lawmakers' discussion on race.

Agence France-Presse

Federal Reserve ramps up help to US economy on life support

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve launched an unprecedented effort on Monday to flood the US economy with money amid the chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as Congress debated a rescue plan for American workers and companies.

Like patients around the world battling the disease itself, the US economy is on life support, with some forecasters projecting a 14 percent contraction in the April-June quarter while the global economy could shrink 1.5 percent this year.

About a third of Americans have been ordered to stay at home, and the Fed warned of "severe disruptions" from the virus as it rolled out another series of measures to pump funds into the economy, including buying unlimited amounts of government debt -- a move akin to printing money.

But while that should provide oxygen to the financial system and keep businesses open, lawmakers continued haggling over an emergency aid package, with Democrats in the House unveiling a proposal that would cost a whopping $2.5 trillion as they demanded more funds to help workers directly and more strings on any aid going to corporations.

President Donald Trump signaled his approval of the Fed's move last weeks to slash the benchmark lending rate to zero, saying central bank chair Jerome Powell had "done a really good job," in a reversal of previous criticism over his refusal to lower rates.

The president also praised the strong US dollar but acknowledged it makes "trade much tougher" -- an unusual statement from an American president, who typically don't comment on the currency's value.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spent the day meeting with congressional leaders, and played down Democratic concerns about taxpayers coming to the rescue of major corporations. 

"I want to be clear, there are no bailouts," he said on Fox Business Network. "This isn't corporate welfare. This helps all American workers."

EXISTENTIAL THREAT

Mnuchin said the Fed's measures would provide $4 trillion in needed liquidity into the US economy.

The Fed had already announced it would buy at least $500 billion of Treasury debt as well as $200 billion of mortgage-backed debt, but now has committed to buying "in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning." 

The Fed's New York branch, which handles the financial transactions, said it would start out by purchasing $75 billion per-day in Treasuries and $50 billion per-day in mortgage-backed securities.

In the latest action, the Fed revived facilities it last used during the 2008 global financial crisis, and expanded others announced in recent days, including buying debt issued by US municipalities and by corporations. 

In addition, the Fed said it would soon unveil a program to lend directly to small- and medium-sized companies -- those that have been hardest hit by the near complete shutdown of the US economy as authorities fight to contain the spread of the virus.

"While great uncertainty remains, it has become clear that our economy will face severe disruptions," the Fed said in a statement, pledging to use all available tools to contain the damage.

"Aggressive efforts must be taken across the public and private sectors to limit the losses to jobs and incomes and to promote a swift recovery once the disruptions abate."

CONGRESSIONAL INTERVENTION

Economists praised the effort, but said massive stimulus from Congress is still needed.

"The downturn is not avoidable. The economic carnage associated with downturn can be mitigated so that there is an economy left to ramp up," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, offered an equally dire warning: "The near-term threat to the economy is existential."

The central bank actions represent "an all-out effort to ensure that the business sector can continue to exist even as economic activity temporarily collapses. The Fed is now effectively the direct lender of last resort to the real economy, not just the financial system."

The central bank pledged to "continue to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses."

One of the programs, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), will help backstop recent student loans, car loans and credit card debt as well as small business loans.

Agence France-Presse

First US Congress member tests positive for coronavirus

WASHINGTON - A Florida lawmaker became the first member of the US Congress to test positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.

Representative Mario Diaz-Balart's office said in a statement that "just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19."

The Republican, who represents part of Miami, follows Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus last week.

Diaz-Balart said that he had entered into quarantine and was working from his Washington apartment.

"I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better. However, it is important that everyone take this extremely seriously and follow CDC guidelines in order to avoid getting sick and mitigate the spread of this virus," he said.

The United States so far has just over 7,300 cases and more than 110 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Agence France-Presse

Trump celebrates acquittal

President Donald Trump holds up a newspaper with the headline that reads "ACQUITTED" at the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast, at the Washington Hilton, Thursday. The US Senate voted 53-47 for his acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress Wednesday.

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Trump’s acquittal

Protesters sit on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda and shout shortly before being arrested, to demonstrate against US President Donald J. Trump possibly being acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA on Wednesday. The Senate acquitted Trump on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress with 53-47 votes.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump slams House's impeachment delay as 'so unfair'

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida -- President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for holding off on sending the articles of impeachment against him to the Senate.

"It's so unfair," Trump said, days after he was impeached by the House, during a speech to conservative student group Turning Point USA, saying that Pelosi adopted the strategy because she has "no case."

"They are violating the Constitution," Trump said.

The Democratic-controlled House voted on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate. Trump is very unlikely to be convicted and removed from office by the upper chamber of Congress because it is controlled by his Republican Party. A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is needed for a conviction on impeachment charges.

Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads over how the trial will play out. Pelosi and other Democrats want to call top Trump aides as witnesses and are seeking assurances that the trial will be held on terms they consider fair.

Pelosi has not yet sent the impeachment package to the Senate in a bid to increase pressure on Republicans there. Pelosi has also not yet announced the managers, or prosecutors, who will present evidence in the trial.

"Until the House gets a clearer picture of what a Senate trial will look like, the Speaker will not be in the position to appoint managers and take the next steps in holding this President accountable and ensuring the Senate fulfills its constitutional duty," Pelosi's office said in a statement on Saturday.

Pelosi's office said senators have a constitutional obligation to conduct a "fair process that provides both the Senators, who will act as jurors, and the public with the opportunity to understand the full extent of President Trump’s abuse of power."

Trump is accused of abusing his power by holding back $391 million in security aid to Ukraine in an effort to get Kiev to announce a corruption investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the November 2020 election.

The president is also charged with obstruction of Congress for directing administration officials and agencies not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and has dismissed his impeachment as a partisan bid to undo his 2016 election win. 

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House Democrats subpoena White House for documents in Trump impeachment probe

WASHINGTON - US House Democrats on Friday subpoenaed the White House for documents they want to see as part of their impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump.

The chairmen of 3 House of Representatives committees said they want documents related to a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that is at the heart of their inquiry.

The three said they were forced to issue the subpoena after the White House failed to produce documents they requested in a Sept. 9 letter.

"We deeply regret that President Trump has put us - and the nation - in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena," said Representatives Elijah Cummings of the Oversight Committee, Adam Schiff of the Intelligence Committee and Eliot Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

They gave the White House until Oct. 18 to produce the information, including who else besides Trump was on the phone call with Zelenskiy.

"This subpoena changes nothing - just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the President did nothing wrong," White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

White House lawyers believe Trump, a Republican, can ignore lawmakers' demands until the Democratic-controlled House holds a full vote of the chamber to formally approve of the impeachment inquiry, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Earlier, the committees asked Vice President Mike Pence to hand over documents relating to a meeting he held with Zelenskiy and the call between Zelenskiy and Trump.

They gave Pence until Oct. 15 to produce any records relating to the July call and a meeting he held with Zelenskiy on Sept. 1.

According to a partial transcript of the call, Trump asked Zelenskiy the "favor" of investigating former US Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, and his son, Hunter Biden, who had served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

At the time, the Trump administration was withholding hundreds of millions in aid for Ukraine and Democrats said they suspect Trump was using US foreign policy and taxpayer money for his personal political gain. Trump is running for re-election.

"Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the president's stark message to the Ukrainian president," Cummings, Schiff and Engel wrote in a letter to Pence.

A spokeswoman for Pence said the broad nature of the request showed that it was not "serious."

SECURITY ASSISTANCE

When Pence met with Zelenskiy, the 2 discussed the $250 million in security assistance that the US Congress had approved but that the Trump administration had not disbursed.

The investigation could lead to the approval of articles of impeachment - or formal charges - against Trump in the House. A trial on whether to remove him from office would then be held in the US Senate. Republicans who control the Senate have shown little appetite for ousting Trump.

A cache of diplomatic texts Democrats received as part of their impeachment inquiry showed US officials pressured the Ukrainian government to launch investigations that might benefit Trump's personal political agenda in exchange for a meeting of the 2 countries' leaders.

Kurt Volker, who resigned last week as Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, gave the messages to the House committees in a closed-door meeting on Thursday, and the chairmen released them later in the day.

ROMNEY PUSHES BACK

Trump has said Biden and his son are "corrupt" but has shown no evidence to back that up. The president on Thursday went a step further in his attacks on Biden when he called on China to investigate the former vice president and his son, who had business interests there.

US senator and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Friday it was "wrong and appalling" for Trump to push other nations to investigate Biden.

"When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China's investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated," Romney said on Twitter.

Trump said on Friday he would not tie a much-anticipated trade deal with China to his desire for Beijing to investigate Joe Biden.

"One thing has nothing to do with the other," he said.

Biden leads in most opinion polls among the 19 Democrats seeking the party's nomination. His campaign has blasted Trump's efforts as desperate.

In a signal of how Kiev will handle investigations being watched in Washington, Ukrainian prosecutors said they would review 15 old probes related to Burisma's founder but added that they were unaware of any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden's son.

The White House plans to argue that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, must have the full House vote to formally approve an impeachment inquiry, a source familiar with the effort said.

Without a vote, White House lawyers believe Trump, who has called the impeachment probe a "hoax," can ignore lawmakers' requests, the source said, meaning the federal courts would presumably have to render a decision and potentially slow the march toward impeachment.

A White House letter arguing Pelosi must hold a House vote will probably be sent to Capitol Hill next week, an administration official said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

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.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Impeachment probe on US President Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California steps away from a podium after reading a statement announcing a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday. Pelosi announced the launch of the House of Representatives’ impeachment probe against US President Trump for allegedly seeking Ukraine’s help on a smear campaign against former US Vice President Joe Biden.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'It's our America,' reminds Michelle Obama

WASHINGTON, United States - Former first lady Michelle Obama added her voice Friday to the Democratic outcry following President Donald Trump's attack on four ethnic minority congresswomen, saying "there's a place for all of us."

"What truly makes our country great is its diversity... Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there's a place for all of us," Obama tweeted, without mentioning Trump.

"We must remember it's not my America or your America. It's our America."

Trump has come under intense fire after he attacked four first-term Democratic congresswomen known as the "Squad."

In a rare move, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday rebuked Trump for "racist comments" after he said the four should "go back" to their countries of origin if they are not happy in the United States.

But chants of "Send her back!" directed at Somali-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar broke out at Trump's "Make America Great Again" rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Wednesday night.

Trump claimed to reporters in the Oval Office the following day that he was not pleased by the taunts and attempted to cut them short.

Television footage, however, showed he let the chant continue for more than 10 seconds before he resumed speaking.

"Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday when asked about the chants.

"She's lucky to be where she is, let me tell you," he added about Omar.

The first-term lawmakers -- all but one of whom, Omar, were born in the United States -- are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.

Some Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric, but the president has made it clear that attacks on the "Squad" will be a centerpiece of his 2020 re-election strategy -- despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide.

Omar responded to the chants by condemning Trump's "racist remarks" and branding him a "fascist."

The president's "nightmare is seeing a Somali immigrant refugee rise to Congress," she told supporters when she returned home to Minnesota Thursday night.

"We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president, because his policies are a nightmare to us," she said through a megaphone to the cheering crowd at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

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Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defies subpoena for House testimony

WASHINGTON - White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway defied a subpoena and failed to appear on Monday at a congressional hearing about allegations she violated federal law, prompting a Democratic threat to hold her in contempt of Congress.

The top White House lawyer directed Conway not to appear at the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing, arguing that current and former White House officials were “absolutely immune” from being required to testify before Congress, according to a letter released by the committee.

Past presidential administrations from both parties have adopted similar arguments, but some legal experts have said such immunity claims would be rejected by a judge if challenged in court.

Three weeks ago, Conway declined to appear voluntarily at a similar hearing before the committee, prompting it to vote 25-16 to subpoena her testimony. The committee wants to question her about allegations she violated the Hatch Act, a law that limits federal employees’ political activity.

The White House said in a statement that Monday's hearing was part of a "purely political campaign to harass the President and his close advisers."

President Donald Trump is stonewalling multiple congressional inquiries into him, his policies, family and business holdings.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said at Monday's hearing that it was "clear-cut" that Conway was required to comply with the subpoena.

"We are not requiring her to testify about advice she gave the President or about the White House’s policy decisions," Cummings said. "We are requiring her to testify before Congress about her multiple violations of federal law, her waste of taxpayer funds, and her actions that compromise public confidence in the integrity of the federal government."

Cummings said that if Conway did not reconsider, the committee would convene a meeting on July 25 to hold her in contempt, a move that could lead to a lawsuit seeking to force her compliance.

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a U.S. government watchdog agency, last month recommended Conway be fired for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.

Henry Kerner, a longtime Republican Party lawyer who runs the OSC, told last month's committee hearing that Conway left him “no choice” but to recommend her termination because she had committed “at least 10 separate Hatch Act violations, expressed no remorse and continues to express disdain” for the law.

The White House has argued that the OSC has adopted a legally dubious interpretation of the Hatch Act that chills the free-speech rights of U.S. government employees.

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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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US House Democrats move to block Trump's emergency declaration on border

WASHINGTON - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to introduce a resolution on Friday to end President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration on border security, according to aides to Representative Joaquin Castro.

So far, 92 lawmakers have joined Castro in backing the legislation, which under House rules could advance within weeks to a debate by the full chamber, which is controlled by Democrats.

Trump declared a national emergency last week in order to take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump's move came after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall this year.

Both the House and the Republican-led Senate could pass a resolution terminating the emergency by majority vote. However, any such measure would then go to Trump, who would likely veto it. Overriding the veto would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California sued Trump and top members of his administration on Monday to block his decision to declare the emergency.

The lawsuit said Trump's declaration was a misuse of presidential power.

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US states sue Trump administration in showdown over border wall funds

WASHINGTON - A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California sued President Donald Trump's administration on Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California came just days after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday.

Trump has built his base of support in the Republican Party on taking a hard line against illegal immigration, calling the wall necessary to stop crime and illicit drugs.

He invoked the emergency powers on Friday after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise. His move aims to let him spend money appropriated by Congress for other purposes.

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No decision made on spending for Trump's wall: Pentagon chief

WASHINGTON - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday that no decision has been taken on funding President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico, a project that may come partly from redirected military funds.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to address what he called an "invasion" of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over the US border with Mexico.

The declaration means he would be able to sidestep Congress to access federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for building the border wall. The move however was immediately challenged in court.

"So very deliberately, we have not made any decisions. ... There has been no determination by me," Shanahan said on the way home from Germany.

Trump wanted Congress to authorize $5.7 billion for a wall along parts of the border, but lawmakers provided just $1.375 billion for barriers, not a solid concrete wall.

The White House said Friday that Trump will access $6.1 billion from two Pentagon sources: $3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-drug activity funds.

"We always anticipated that this would create a lot of attention and since money potentially could be redirected, you can imagine the concerns this generates," Shanahan said.

The Pentagon chief said he would "review that analysis now that the emergency has been declared. Based on that analysis, we can do an assessment of what would be appropriate."

He added: "We are following the law. We are using the rules. We are not bending the rules."

As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall.

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CEOs call for laws to protect US 'Dreamers'

WASHINGTON -- More than 100 corporate leaders and other prominent figures on Monday called on US lawmakers to protect immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children.

In an open letter to Congress, the heads of General Motors, Facebook, Coca Cola, Apple, Amazon, Google, AT&T and Microsoft, among others, said these immigrants, known as "Dreamers," were a boon to the US economy and a dedicated workforce.

"These are our friends, neighbors and co-workers and they should not have to wait for court cases to be decided to determine their fate when Congress can act now," the executives said in the letter, which appeared a full-page ad in The New York Times on Monday.

In a campaign lasting nearly 20 years, activists have pressed for lawmakers to pass legislation, known as the DREAM Act, that would make the "Dreamers" legal US residents, and create a path to citizenship.

Former president Barack Obama allowed more than 700,000 Dreamers to apply for protection from deportation, and to work legally if they met certain conditions. But President Donald Trump moved to cancel that policy in 2017, although it remains in effect under court order.

The executives -- who say they represent half of private US workers -- echoed many of the arguments in favor of protecting immigrants who were raised in the United States and know no other country.

"Studies by economists across the ideological spectrum have determined that if Congress fails to act, our economy could lose $350 billion in GDP and the federal government could lose $90 billion in tax revenue," the letter said.

"We have seen time and again that the overwhelming majority of Americans of all political backgrounds agree that we should protect Dreamers from deportation."

Trump last month offered to extend protections for Dreamers as a bargaining chip in the current talks with Congress over funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, but Democrats have largely prevented the issue from entering the negotiations.

The demand for a wall threatens to result in another government shutdown as soon as Saturday. 

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Fears of tax chaos loom as US IRS readies for filing season

WASHINGTON - The US Internal Revenue Service is due to start sifting through an avalanche of annual tax returns on Monday, with a workforce hard-pressed by the partial government shutdown and Congress uncertain how to avoid chaos for taxpayers.

In what could be a politically explosive chapter in the shutdown saga that already is 34 days long, analysts said at least one in 10 taxpayers could face problems with their returns due to the IRS funding shortfall. The analysts said the situation may worsen if the impasse drags on even longer.

The annual tax filing season for Americans to file their 2018 returns is scheduled to open on Jan. 28 and run through April 15, the annual filing deadline. The IRS has designated more than 46,000 employees, or nearly 60 percent of its workforce, to work without pay on jobs such as staffing taxpayer help lines and processing tax returns and refunds.

"People have figured out how explosive it could be, in terms of not being able to pay down Christmas debt," said Representative Richard Neal, Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy.

"But when you call back 40,000 people arbitrarily, without any guarantee of remuneration, and ask them to pay for gas and things of that sort, their lives aren't getting any easier because of it," Neal told reporters.

Lawmakers on Neal's committee hoped to learn details about the situation at a hearing with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week. But it was canceled by Neal after Mnuchin, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, declined to attend. Neal said he would propose more dates for Mnuchin to consider and hoped a hearing could be set for as early as next week.

"The fact that they've called people back is an indication of a chaotic situation," Representative Bill Pascrell, a committee Democrat, said of the IRS. "It's not just getting returns back to people in time, but getting the taxes reviewed in time. That's very, very important."

Representative Kevin Brady, the panel's top Republican, said lawmakers need to hear about the shutdown's impact on the IRS from the administration. "This is a bipartisan area of interest, to make sure this tax-filing season goes well," Brady told reporters.

The IRS issued a statement saying it continues to prepare for next week's start of the tax-filing season by recalling employees.

Most taxpayers filing electronically or using professional preparers should not face major problems, but delays could await people with returns flagged for potential issues and lower-income filers who use IRS assistance, analysts said.

There could also be problems within the agency as it tries to guide taxpayers through a new tax policy landscape created by Trump's sweeping 2017 tax overhaul.

"The longer you make people work without paying them, the more problems you're going to have," said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center think tank.

The National Treasury Employees Union, a union that represents IRS employees and has sued in court to prevent the government from forcing them back to work without pay, said increasing numbers of workers are facing financial hardship as bills mount.

Representative Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, said he expects Trump and Congress to reopen the government within the next week or so. "If it doesn't, we're going to have to find a way to work with people financially, because there are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck," Buchanan said.

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