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.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine raging on, millions have turned to TikTok to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and get a first-hand look. The social media platform has been so prominent that the war has been dubbed "the first TikTok war" by many publications — and even the White House has taken notice. The Biden administration held a virtual briefing with 30 social media creators to discuss their role in communicating to their followers by countering what it deems as being misinformation. Ellie Zeiler, an 18-year-old TikTok star who attended the briefing, joined Cheddar to talk about the conference and her responsibilities as a social media creator. "How could you not be a little nervous or scared when you're getting your information and media all from this app? But also then you think back to, I guess, when media was changing between newspapers and TV, and I'm sure people were nervous about that too," she said. "So the fact is, is that people do really look to Tiktok and social media for their news."
U.S. markets closed the day at session lows as the Dow marked its fifth straight week of losses. Investors continue to weigh inflation and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and growing economic risk factors. George Seay, CEO of Annandale Capital, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
U.S. stocks ended Thursday's session lower as new CPI data show inflation continues to rise and the Russia-Ukraine war continues. Philip Palumbo, founder, CEO, & Chief Investment Officer of Palumbo Wealth Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
It's been an eventful past few weeks for the WNBA. One of the league's top players, Brittney Griner, remains in Russian custody after being detained at an airport last month. The league is also dealing with a scandal after fining a team for providing charter flights to their players. Emily Caron, sports business reporter for Sportico, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
School nutrition experts warn that millions of children could go hungry as soon as this summer, after Congress excluded waivers that would extend universal lunch for children in school from the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill. Cheddar News speaks with Jessica Gould, chair of the public policy and legislation committee at the School Nutrition Association, about the issue.
The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage has been impacting everything from the purchase of cars to smartphones. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke with Cheddar about the Biden administration's efforts to combat the issue and if the current crisis in Ukraine will have any impact on the global supply chain problems for semiconductors. "We're working very closely with all of our partners and allies around the globe, just as we have on the export controls and sanctions that we've applied to Russia to deal with that needless aggression," he said. "We're also working with them on the challenges of raw materials for a range of industries, including the semiconductor industry. We believe that we are going to be able to meet the demand for the for the near term."
Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke to Cheddar's Alex Vuocolo about the ongoing semiconductor shortages and the push from the Biden administration to cover the supply chain problem as well as look ahead to future-proofing it.
President Maxx Fenning and Vice President CJ Walden of PRISM, a Florida non-profit providing resources for LGBTQ youth, joined Cheddar News to discuss the negative repercussions of a Florida bill banning discussions of sexuality and gender identity in some classrooms.
