While lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee each got to have their say during Wednesday’s impeachment inquiry hearings, counsel for both the Democrats and Republicans did much of the legal questioning.
After the dust settled, though, lead counsel for the Republicans Stephen Castor was pilloried by Democrats for inconsistent and sometimes bizarre lines of questioning during the first day of impeachment hearings.
As Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) put it in an interview with Cheddar, Castor was tasked with an impossible job.
“I wouldn’t put as much blame or fault on Mr. Castor,” Swalwell said. “You could resurrect Johnnie Cochran and put him on the Republican side, but the facts are the facts.”
“The President’s own words is the most powerful evidence we have,” Swalwell said.
At Wednesday’s widely-publicized hearing, Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, revealed that he learned from a staffer last Friday that EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland had discussed “investigations” in a phone call with President Trump on July 26th. Taylor said that when he later asked Sondland about Trump’s thoughts on Ukraine, "Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for."
In her weekly press conference Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the testimony from Taylor and State Department official George Kent was “devastating” for the president, adding that it “corroborated evidence of bribery.”
“Is this who we are as a country?” Swalwell asked.
Meanwhile, Sondland is expected to appear before the House Intelligence Committee next Wednesday. Swalwell noted that the ambassador has already updated his closed-door testimony to “reflect what other witnesses had said” and called the “evolution” a “good thing.”
Before Sondland takes the witness stand, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will testify publicly Friday. Yovanovitch was reportedly forced from her position earlier this year because she opposed the president’s Ukraine policy.
Following next week’s eight public testimonies, the House Intel Committee will compile a report, which it will send to the House Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee will deliberate on possible Articles of Impeachment. If articles are drawn up and approved by the full House, impeachment proceedings would move to the Senate which would be responsible for holding a, presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Meet the new generation running for office in the midterm elections. Maxwell Frost, a 24-year-old Democrat, is the youngest candidate running for Florida’s 10th congressional district. A member of Gen Z (those born after 1996) Frost spoke to Cheddar about objectives that he believes are top of mind for his age bracket, including tackling gun violence, healthcare for all, and LGBTQ+ rights, especially in light of his state's recently enacted, so-called “Don’t Say Gay" law.
President Biden has announced a historic release of oil from the U.S. reserves in an attempt to cut down surging gas prices across the country. The administration will release 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months, marking the largest withdrawal in the nearly 50-year history of the country's emergency supply of oil. Patrick DeHaan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, breaks down why the Biden administration is making this unprecedented move, and what impact it could have on prices at the pump.
The Biden administration plans to freeze federal student loan payments through Aug. 31, extending a moratorium that has allowed millions of Americans to postpone payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 5, 2022, with Biden's call for a war crimes trial for Putin, another arrest made in the Sacramento mass shooting, NYC rolling out a campaign against Florida’s "Don’t Say Gay" bill, an aluminum shortage potentially affecting beer and cat food cans, and more.
After a devastating mass shooting in Sacramento over the weekend that killed six people and wounded a dozen more, arguments about gun reform are also resurfacing. David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, joined Cheddar News to talk about efforts to curb gun violence such as community intervention programs — and the more that needs to be done by lawmakers. "One thing that would be really important is at the federal level closing the loopholes that allow for private sales to go forward without a background check," he noted.
