Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday a "steady drip-drop of information" and "the truth" are "leaking out" in media reports, bolstering Democratic calls for more witnesses and documents in the trial for the U.S. president.
He said the president and Bolton said "diametrically opposed things," but only one "is willing to testify under oath. Who do you believe?"
Speaking before President Donald Trump's attorneys begin their third and final day of defense arguments in the impeachment trial Schumer maintained Democrats would not bargain on witnesses and said he believes the chamber's minority is in "better shape today" than it was a month ago.
Borrowing a term from the president's defense lawyer Jane Raskin, who yesterday warned Senators that Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is a "shiny object designed to distract," Schumer said Republicans are always "looking for a shiny object to divert attention from the facts and the president."
Schumer also repudiated a new idea from prominent Trump supporters who are trying to figure out how to handle a New York Times report that claims former National Security Advisor John Bolton has written a manuscript in which he says the president said he was holding back Ukraine aid in exchange for an investigation into political adversaries. Senators Lindsey Graham and Senator James Lankford have suggested Senators be allowed to read the manuscript in a classified setting.
"What an absurd proposal," Schumer said. "It's a book. There's no need to be read in the SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility]."
Schumer cited news reports that alleged the president ordered former national security advisor John Bolton not to testify, and that Bolton was concerned Trump was granting favors to autocratic leaders.
"Did the president have financial interests at stake?" Schumer asked. "Maybe his kids had some economic interest at stake."
Though Schumer noted those questions are not at the center of today's trial, he asked if they had impacted the nation's foreign policy.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
