After months of fiery tweets, partisan language, and closed-door and public testimonies from dozens of witnesses, Donald Trump has become the third president to ever be impeached by the House of Representatives.
"Last night was historic," Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif. 43rd District) told Cheddar a day after the House voted in favor of two articles of impeachment, straight down party lines.
Historic, it was.
In an America starkly divided in national politics and a presidential election less than a year away, Trump will now hit the campaign trail to seek re-election as an impeached president. Never before has this been done.
Now the Republican-controlled Senate awaits the articles of impeachment so it can play its role — holding the impeachment trial.
Democrats, like Waters, are concerned that a GOP-majority Senate, run by Leader Mitch McConnell is allying itself with the president.
"They are going to do whatever they need to do to support the president," said Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.
While Democrats have argued the president engaged in quid pro quo by halting military aid to Ukraine in an effort to get President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into 2020 hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden, Republicans have largely argued against the process.
"The Republicans had no substantive defense. They did not talk about why this president shouldn't be impeached," Waters said.
She also added, "Some of the arguments [Republicans] made were ridiculous. To get on the Floor of Congress and liken him to Jesus Christ? And have a moment of silence?"
Waters was referring to Rep. Barry Loudermilk's (R-Ga. 11th District) floor speech, where he compared the impeachment vote to that of the trial of Jesus: "When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers,"
"During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than Democrats have afforded this president in this process," Loudermilk stated.
Throughout this process, Republican have also noted that some Democrats have been calling for impeachment since his election.
Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga. 9th District), one of the most vocal opponents in the conference against impeachment, stated in his opening remarks Wednesday, "One of our members, Ms. Tlaib, said on the night she was sworn in, 'We're going to impeach…' Well, you know the rest. In May of 2019, Al Green said, 'I'm concerned if we don't impeach the president, he'll get reelected.' That is probably the most prescient thing said by the majority in the last year, is they said, 'We can't beat him if we don't impeach him.'"
Collins, using Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich. 13th District) and Rep. Al Green (D-Texas 9th District) as examples, argued that because the Democrats lost the election in 2016, they never gave Trump a real shot at the presidency. Now he, and the Republican Party, say the Democrats are using impeachment to get him out of office before the upcoming election.
As early as May of 2017, Waters called for the impeachment of Trump. Two years later, she stands by that decision.
"When people say I started early, I started early to learn more about this president. I started early to understand why he acted the way he does, I started early to determine that there was nothing presidential about him," she said Thursday.
Inflation remains hot as the January PPI has increased by 1 percent, twice what analysts had been expecting with a jump of 9.7 over the year. Beth Ann Bovino, the U.S. chief economist, for S&P Global Ratings, joined Cheddar News to discuss the rapid pace of inflation alongside higher wages, predicting the Federal Reserve will act quickly and forcefully this year. "They haven't changed their forecast, yet, that's gonna come out soon. But we expect that a March rate hike is basically pretty much baked in the cake," she said. "We think six rate hikes in total for 2022."
For black history month, Cheddar is highlighting black business leaders who are driving the need for representation forward. On February 10, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted an event called 'Developing the Black-Owned Business Ecosystem.' The virtual event was organized under the lobbying group's two initiatives -- the Equality of Opportunity Initiative, and the Coalition to Back Black Businesses. The event highlighted the developments needed to develop more black-owned businesses in the U.S. Dr. Anthony Wilbon, Dean of the School of Business at Howard University, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss his experience as a speaker at the event.
A newly declassified letter by senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich claimed the CIA. has been conducting a Secret Surveillance Program which has been collecting a bulk of data from American citizens. The letter which was written in April of 2021 urges the CIA to come clean about the kind of data it collects and how many Americans have been impacted. According to these two senators, the program did not have the safeguards of congressional oversight.
Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at National Securities, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says investors are taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the situation between Russia and the Ukraine and elaborates on the impact higher oil prices stemming from the conflict would have on the market.
Last week, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a a letter airing concerns that the CIA is collecting the data of American citizens without their consent. The lawmakers fear that the program might be exploiting private data. Morgan Wright, the chief security advisor at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ramifications of the letter. "We don't have all the dots in one place to connect them," said Wright, cautioning against jumping to conclusions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that diplomacy is still possible, while U.S. officials warn that an attack on Ukraine is imminent. Cheddar News speaks with James Astill, Washington bureau chief of The Economist on the latest developments in Eastern Europe.
As the number of Russian troops rose to 130,000 along its Ukrainian border, hopes for a diplomatic solution remain among world leaders. Jason McMann, head of geopolitical risk analysis at Morning Consult, joined Cheddar News to break down the fluid situation. "We saw signs pointing towards an increase in tensions between Ukraine and Russia, whereas today we're seeing some signs that the Russian government may be willing to continue down a path of diplomatic negotiations to try and find some sort of non-military solution," he said.
Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders are now planning to amend the stop trading on congressional knowledge act, otherwise known as the 'Stock' Act. This 2012 law governs how members disclose the purchase or sale of stocks and amending it would close a loophole, eliminating the trading of individual stocks by members of congress. Pelosi has consistently opposed a ban on stock trading by lawmakers and congressional staff...so what's changed? Kedric Payne, Vice President of Campaign Legal Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for a controversial new version of the Alabama congressional map to remain in place. The lower court had previously ordered that the state must redraw that congressional map because it violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters. Redistricting expert Yurij Rudensky joins Cheddar News to weigh in.
