Trump news: White House 'is in fast competition' with Nixon administration on obstruction, Watergate accuser says
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump is facing a renewed onslaught from House Democrats, who will begin picking over the Mueller report‘s obstruction of justice evidence on Monday as the party continues to weigh up launching impeachment proceedings against the president.
The House will stage a vote on whether to hold attorney general William Barr and ex-White House adviser Don McGahn in contempt of Congress on Tuesday after the pair ignored congressional subpoenas. Meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee will review the ramifications of 2016 Russian election hacking for national security on Wednesday.
With those actions in mind, the House Judiciary Committee heard from former Watergate witness John Dean, and former US attorneys, who repeatedly told Congress that they believe that Mr Trump had attempted to obstruct justice. If he were anyone other than the president, they said, he would have been charged with the crime.
Mr Dean, during his prepared remarks, said that the Mueller report is very similar to a "Watergate Road Map", meaning it could help the panel as it investigates Mr Trump for obstruction or collusion.
He continued to say that Mr McGahn, should he not testify before Congress, would be perpetuating a "cover up" for the president.
"I sincerely hope that Mr McGahn will voluntarily appear and testify," he said. "His silence is perpetuating an ongoing cover-up, and while his testimony will create a few political enemies, based on almost 50 years of experience I can assure him he will make far more real friends."
Mr Trump had blasted Mr Dean, and Republicans on the committee likewise questioned why he should be trusted to give testimony, since he had pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice related to the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.
The president has also threatened China with further tariffs during a phone interview with CNBC, saying the Asian nation will ultimately make a deal “because they have to”, while also warning the tech giants of Silicon Valley he could take action against them over the “discrimination” he believes he and other prominent conservatives have been subjected to.
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Ms Vance says that a congressional inquiry is "very different" from a special counsel investigation.
She notes that US prosecutors, in their investigation, must find a statute to charge a suspect. She says that Congress has "much broader" abilities, saying that they could prosecute behaviour that is "lawful but awful".
There's a nice exchange between representative Jim Jordan and Mr Dean now. Mr Dean refused to discuss his previous tweets about Donald Trump, eliciting laughs from the room.
Mr Nadler is now defending Mr Dean, saying that he was truthful in the 1970s, even though he pleaded guilty to obstruction then.
Matt Gaetz is attacking Mr Dean for repeatedly comparing top politicians to Richard Nixon.
He then noted that Mr Dean isn't actually knowledgeable about the Mueller report. Then asks if he knows about other things, like how Democrats plan on paying for their Medicare for All plan.
Mr Dean interjected: "Actually Nixon did have a healthcare plan."
Mr Dean has now accused the White House of attempting to get Mr McGahn to write a non-truthful letter, which could have been used as a piece of evidence to impeach the former White House counsel.
Ms Vance has called Mr Trump's efforts to fire Mr Mueller a "cascading" effort on behalf of the president to obstruct justice.
Republicans today have repeatedly focused on the Steele Dossier, and have suggested that the report was itself a form of conspiracy against the United States.
Here's a brief report we have on that issue:
It is worth noting that this congressional hearing has been usurped on many national cable networks by a helicopter crash in New York City. One person is believed to have been killed in that crash, which officials say was not a terrorist incident.
Mr Dean says he has not seen any administration obstruct more justice than the Nixon administration.
"No, I gave a few samples in my witness statement and there are probably books will be written comparing these two" administrations, Mr Dean said.
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