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.
Ursula Perano, politics reporter at the Daily Beast, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the wave of 30 House Democrats retiring or not seeking re-election in November.
Jimmy Hoover, Supreme Court editor-at-large for Law360, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the high court's latest ruling in an Alabama gerrymandering case that could end up further chipping away at the Voting Rights Act.
GLAAD, the media watchdog for the LGBTQ community, released its “Where We Are on TV” report last week, with updated data on the entertainment industry. Rich Ferraro, chief communications officer for the non-profit organization, joined Cheddar News to talk about the progress that has been made on media representation and what's at stake in the process of humanizing queer people in popular culture as a recent backlash in legislative trends demonstrated. "We just saw the news yesterday in Texas, a move from Governor Abbott that would try to pull trans youth away from their parents for receiving gender-affirming care," Ferraro said. "And television and entertainment can be a frontline to preventing such anti-LGBTQ legislation from moving forward."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has begun. Explosions and sirens were reported across the country early Thursday morning, as Russia launched a wide-ranging attack with shelling, tanks, and missile strikes. Lauren Baer, former State Department Senior Adviser and current Managing Partner at Arena, joined Cheddar to provide the latest update on the crisis.
A six-year battle over equal pay has finally come to an end-- as U.S. Soccer and The United States Women's Soccer Team have agreed to settle their lawsuit. Under the terms of the deal, the athletes will receive $24 million from U.S. Soccer, and a pledge from the federation to equalize pay for the men's and women's national teams. Lily Roberts, Managing Director of the Poverty to Prosperity Team at the Center for American Progress joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has hit back against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unleashing robust new sanctions, ordering the deployment of thousands of additional troops to NATO ally Germany, and declaring that America will stand up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Grant Stark, Director of Research at CapWealth, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that his firm is closely monitoring oil prices amid the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and elaborates on how inflation will continue to be a problem across multiple sectors.
A private prison company plans to run a new pilot program that would place hundreds of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border under house arrest. The "home curfew" pilot program is part of "impactful detention reforms," according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Jacinta Gonzalez, senior campaign organizer with Mijente, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
