Localpolllosses add to Trump’s headaches
Republicans lose Kentucky governor race, Virginia legislature
WASHINGTON: US Republicans lost a key gubernatorial race and conceded a state legislature in local elections seen as the first test of President Donald Trump’s mounting troubles stemming from the impeachment inquiry.
Matt Bevan, the governor of the deeply Republican state of Kentucky, lost to Democratic challenger Andy Beshear.
Republicans also conceded the assembly and senate in Virginia for the first time in a quarter century, with Democrats now in charge of all the major state-wide offices. But a defiant Trump tweeted, “Won 5 out of 6 elections in Kentucky, including 5 great candidates that I spoke for and introduced last night. @Mattbevin picked up at least 15 points in last days, but perhaps not enough (Fake News will blame Trump!).”
IMPEACHMENT PUBLIC HEARINGS NEXT WEEK
The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry are scheduled for next week, the investigators announced on Wednesday. Acting US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor will testify next Wednesday and former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch on Friday, Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee, told reporters.
Public hearings will move the impeachment inquiry into the open and a new phase, as they will be aired live, in a throwback to hearings from the impeachment inquiries into President Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
On Tuesday, another Trumployalist handed him a fresh set of troubles. US ambassador to EU Gordon Sondland told impeachment investigators that he had indeed conveyed to an Ukrainian official that there were conditions that had to be met to get the security aid, laying out, in effect, a quid pro quo: probing Joe Biden in exchange for aid. Congressional investigators have called for acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify. He is unlikely to oblige.