Panel releases report on ‘constitutional grounds’ for impeachment of Trump
The report, written by the panel’s majority staff, detailed the history, purpose and meaning of the US Constitution’s Impeachment Clause
WASHINGTON: The US Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee released a report on Saturday explaining the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The report, written by the panel’s majority staff, detailed the history, purpose and meaning of the US Constitution’s Impeachment Clause.
It also addressed legal questions about the impeachment process and rebutted false claims about impeachment.
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler tweeted the accusation that Trump “abused his power, betrayed our national security and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain.”
Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House before leaving for a trip to Florida Saturday afternoon, called the impeachment proceeding “a total hoax” and
PYONGYANG: North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Sunday that “a very important test” had been carried out at its the Sohae Launch Facility.
“The results of the recent important test will have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future,” KCNA reported.
Pyongyang has not revealed any additional details about the nature of the test.
The Sohae Launch Facility, located near the country’s northwestern border with China, was supposed to have been decommissioned in 2018, but reports emerged earlier this year indicating it had been rebuilt.
The new development comes as a year-end deadline North Korea had imposed is fast approaching. Pyongyang has warned that it could take a “new path” if no progress is made in denuclearization talks with the US before the deadline.
According to recent media reports, a new satellite image indicated that North Korea could be readying to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers at the Sohae Launch Facility.
Missile experts have said it appeared likely Pyongyang conducted a static test of a rocket engine, instead of a missile launch.
“If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud siga continuation of the Russia probe, which he has consistently labeled as “witch hunt.”
In addition, the president claimed “nothing came out” of nal that the door for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn’t already,” Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, said. “This could be a very credible signal of what might await the world after the New Year,” he added.
Negotiations between the US and North Korea on denuclearisahis July phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, an episode standing at the center of the impeachment proceeding initiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in late September.
“We had a perfect conversation. It was only a conversation. Nothing came out of the conversation, except for the relationship with Ukraine,” Trump said.
House Democrats are looking into whether Trump abused his office by pressuring Zelensky into launching investigations that could benefit him politically.
Lawmakers are also examining whether the Republican president conditioned a White House meeting or a military aid to Ukraine on those probes. tion have so far been stalled since the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in February.
Disputes over how much sanctions relief the North must get in return for disarmament steps have marred the talks.
On Saturday, prior to the test, North Korea’s ambassador to the
Pelosi announced on Thursday she was asking Nadler’s panel to write articles of impeachment against Trump, which could be released and voted on as soon as this coming week.
The White House has warned Democrats in the House of their likely adoption of articles of impeachment.
“Adopting articles of impeachment would be a reckless abuse of power by House Democrats,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a letter to Nadler on Friday.
The move “would constitute the most unjust, highly partisan, and unconstitutional attempt at impeachment in our Nation’s history,” Cipollone argued.
According to the nation’s constitution, the House shall have the sole “Power of Impeachment,” while the Senate shall have the sole “Power to try all impeachments.”
Trump will be impeached if the House approves any of the articles of impeachment the House Judiciary Committee has recommended by a simple majority vote.
But conviction can only happen in the Senate and requires at least two-thirds of its members, or 67 senators, to vote in favor. Currently, the Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents. -
Trump called the impeachment proceeding “a total hoax” and a continuation of the Russia probe, which he has consistently labeled as “witch hunt”
UN said denuclearisation was now off the negotiating table with the US, adding that talks with Washington were no longer needed. In recent months, Pyongyang has performed several shortrange missile and other weapons launches and even hinted at lifting its moratorium on bigger weapons tests, such as nuclear and longrange missiles. -