The US House Judiciary Committee has called President Donald Trump’s refusal to participate in an impeachment hearing “unfortunate” and said that it is a sign that Trump has something to hide.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler’s response came after the White House sent a letter to him informing that the Trump administration would not participate in the hearing in the Wednesday impeachment hearing.

 “Late last night, the President and his counsel turned down our invitation to participate in Wednesday’s hearing,” read Nadler’s letter.

“His response is unfortunate because allowing the President to participate has been a priority for the House from the outset. That is why the House included the opportunity to participate in H. Res 660,” Nadler said.

“The American people deserve transparency. If the President thinks the call was ‘perfect’ and there is nothing to hide then he would turn over the thousands of pages of documents requested by Congress, allow witnesses to testify instead of blocking testimony with baseless privilege claims, and provide any exculpatory information that refutes the overwhelming evidence of his abuse of power,” he noted.

Nadler also urged Trump not to block witnesses from testifying.

Nadler’s response came a day after White House counsel Pat Cipollone issued a five-page letter to the chairman, saying that Trump and his lawyers will not participate in the impeachment hearing this week due to a lack of “fundamental fairness.”

The judiciary committee is set to hold an impeachment hearing on Wednesday following weeks of hearings by the House Intelligence Committee that saw testimonies from 12 current and former administration officials.

The US president is accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September after a whistleblower alleged the Republican president pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

The impeachment probe shifted to a public phase on November 13 after weeks of closed-door interviews in the House.

An overwhelming 70 percent of US adults think Trump’s action towards Ukraine was wrong, and a slim majority of Americans, 51 percent, believe Trump’s actions were both wrong and he should be removed from office, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on November 19.

Three investigating panels, led by the House Intelligence Committee, are due to release a formal report this week when lawmakers return on Tuesday from a Thanksgiving recess. The report will outline evidence gathered by the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees.

Members of the intelligence panel will review the report in a classified setting on Monday evening, and the full committee will consider and vote on it on Tuesday before forwarding it to the Judiciary Committee, according to an Intelligence Committee official and a person familiar with the matter.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing, calling the impeachment inquiry a “witch hunt.”

Source: Presstv

A senior Iranian official has suggested in an interview with AFP that authorities may be more open than in the past in approving candidates for a looming parliamentary election.

“We don’t consider ourselves immune from criticism. We may also accept that mistakes have been made in the past,” said Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee.

“But for the next legislative elections we are trying to reduce our mistakes and respect the rights of candidates.”

Kadkhodaee was speaking to AFP on the eve of the opening on Sunday of the registration of candidates for the parliamentary election to be held on February 21.

The Guardian Council, which is under the control of ultra-conservatives, is responsible for organising and monitoring elections in Iran, including vetting candidates.

“If we insist on enforcing the law, we’ll be able to satisfy as many candidates as possible,” said Kadkhodaee.

In the past, the council has faced accusations in Iran, particularly by reformists, of barring candidates more on political than constitutional grounds.

In November, President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate conservative, called on the council to stick to the letter of the law in view of the forthcoming election.

At Iran’s last parliamentary election in February 2016, the Council authorised 6,229 candidates for the 290 seats at stake — just over 51 percent of those who sought to stand.

In the interview, Kadkhodaee said a higher number of successful candidates should also lead to a “higher participation rate”.

Source: AFP

Thousands of Israeli protesters have held demonstrations in Tel Aviv to demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation over his corruption charges.

At least 6,000 people were at the gathering in the Habima Square of Tel Aviv, Israel’s Channel 12 estimated.

Netanyahu is “the most cowardly prime minister we’ve ever had,” a demonstrator told Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet), adding that the premier “needs to resign and go plead his case in court.”

Israel is “sick of the corruption”, another protester said. “We need to send Bibi home,” she said.

A same rally had been held last Saturday in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of demonstrators urged Netanyahu to leave office.

Protesters chanted “Bibi go home,” and waved signs reading: “Netanyahu, let go already,” “Netanyahu, you should quit,” and “The corrupt should go home.” 

“What you see here is absurd. We have a man who is charged with three major crimes. And he still believes he wants to be [a] prime minister. I mean this is crazy,” a protester said.

Netanyahu’s political opponents and demonstrators have moved to capitalize on the indictment on charges relating to corruption, bribery and breach of trust against him, hoping to strip the weakened 70-year-old leader of power.

Netanyahu has vowed to stay in office while he fights the criminal charges, which include bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in one case, and additional fraud and breach of trust charges in another two cases.

Last Saturday, Benny Gantz, the leader of center-left Blue and White political alliance and Netanyahu’s main challenger in the two elections this year, called on the Israeli premier to step down, but still offered to form a coalition administration with his Likud political party if there are any chances.

“In light of the circumstances, I call to form a unity administration that is as broad as possible under my leadership,” Gantz said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

He added, “I will be prime minister for the first two years while Netanyahu can work on his legal issues. If he is acquitted, he can come back and be prime minister.”

An opinion poll recently revealed that more than half of people in the occupied territories believe that Netanyahu must quit after being indicted on a series of corruption charges.

According to the survey conducted by Channel 13 and published last Friday evening, 56% said the charges leveled against Netanyahu were too much for him to continue as the Israeli leader, while 35% said he needed not step down and the remaining 9% of the respondents said they didn’t know.

Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspected of wrongfully accepting $264,000 worth of jewelry, cigars, champagne and other gifts from wealthy businessmen for political favors in one case.

The Israeli prime minister is also accused of interfering with regulatory bodies and lawmakers on behalf of the biggest selling newspaper in the occupied territories, Ynet, in exchange for positive news coverage and favorable stories about him.

Israeli lawmakers have less than a month to organize a coalition and select a lawmaker to lead a majority administration. There are strong indications that the legislators will not succeed.

Israel will have to hold elections for the third time this year in case Knesset members fail to garner 61 seats in the 120-seat legislature.

Source: Presstv

The impeachment inquiry by the US House of Representatives against President Donald Trump is tightening the noose around “Trump’s political neck,” according to Myles Hoenig, an American political analyst in Maryland.

The US House Judiciary Committee has invited Trump to its first impeachment hearing due next week. Jerry Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, wrote a letter to Trump on Tuesday and invited the Republican president and his counsel to participate at the hearing scheduled for December 4.

The hearing is the first in the third phase of the investigation into whether Trump abused his powers in pressing Ukrainian leaders to find dirt on his political opponents.

The US House Judiciary Committee has invited President Donald Trump to its first impeachment hearing due next week.

Hoenig, who ran for Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate, said, “President Trump has done and said some pretty dumb stuff, even for a president. Right now he’s in a position to counter Nadler in calling his bluff about him not being available to face his accusers. Question is whether Trump will testify or not, or allow his team to be part of the Judiciary’s role in his own prosecution. Whatever he does, it will work against him.”

“Everyone seems to compare the impeachment to a court case, but acknowledging that the rules of evidence are different and that it’s more of a political rather than a legal proceeding. What has happened already in the Intelligence Committee and now Judiciary is more akin to a Grand Jury, where defendants have no say in its process and the cards are always stacked against the defendant. It’s the actual trial, in this case the Senate, in which the defendant has a modicum of defense. When the state prosecutes nearly anyone, they have all the powers of the state and usually win. If the defendant is powerful and wealthy enough, the odds improve on their acquittal. Trump will have the powers of the presidency and some limited powers of the bully pulpit to make his case,” he said.

“If he allows his people to take part in overseeing the hearings in Judiciary, the committee is bound to have certain expectations that certain people must testify. Trump will lose if that happens. If Trump testifies himself, as a way of defending his actions, he’d be fully open to perjury charges, which is why his own lawyers never wanted him to testify in the Mueller investigation,” he stated. 

“If he refuses and continues to call it a witch hunt, or look the other way when his neo-nazi supporters and handlers call it a Jew coup, public opinion will see him in even a worse light,” he noted.

“The noose is tightening around Trump’s political neck. Although the needle of public opinion hasn’t moved much after weeks of riveting public hearings under Congressman Schiff, the tide can certainly change when the Trump team actually has an active role in its own demise,” the analyst concluded.

Source: Presstv

Former US President Barack Obama has reportedly said that he might speak up to prevent 2020 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders from becoming the Democratic nominee.

The Tuesday report by Politico on was not confirmed by a close adviser to the Democratic president.

“He hasn’t said that directly to me,” the adviser was cited as saying. “The only reason I’m hesitating at all is because, yeah, if Bernie were running away with it, I think maybe we would all have to say something. But I don’t think that’s likely. It’s not happening.”

Obama said earlier this month that he would support whoever is nominated by the party, comments his spokesperson also referred to.

“Look, we have a field of very accomplished, very serious and passionate and smart people who have a history of public service, and whoever emerges from the primary process I will work my tail off to make sure that they are the next president,” said the former US leader.

A close adviser argued that Obama, who has remained silent amid the Democratic races so far, would not make any comments against a candidate.

“I can’t even imagine with this field how bad it would have to be for him to say something,” said the adviser.

The African American president appeared to criticize those too much on the left at a meeting of fundraisers earlier this month ahead of the 2020 election.

“Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality,” Obama said, according to the New York Times. “The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”

Source: Presstv

The Main challenger of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of Blue & White party Benny Gantz has warned that the premier’s rejection to resign is threatening a civil war in Israel.

Gantz urged Likud party officials to step in to replace the indicted premier as soon as possible in order to resolve the political deadlock over the formation of a new cabinet.

Calls have been growing for a leadership vote in Israel’s ruling party since Thursday when Netanyahu was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a set of corruption cases.

Meanwhile, Likud Knesset member Nir Barkat has presented a plan to hold primaries for a new position of deputy head of the party who would replace Netanyahu if he is forced to take a leave of absence to deal with the indictment.

Also another lawmaker Gideon Sa’ar publicly challenged Netanyahu calling for him to open up the party to new leadership.

A watchdog group has asked Israel’s top court to order Netanyahu to step aside after his indictment, adding to pressure he is facing from within his ruling party.

Israelis will have to go the polls in the coming weeks for the third time in a year if no party can form a coalition cabinet. Netanyahu is under fire to resign following his indictment in a graft scandal.

In politics nothing remains the same, observers say Netanyahu’s legal charges have also boosted voices within his own Likud party calling to overthrow Netanyahu after over a decade at the party’s helm although most still side with the indicted leader.

Source: Presstv

Israeli kingmaker Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday refused to endorse a candidate for prime minister, virtually guaranteeing the country will be forced into a new election, the third in less than a year.ADVERTISING

Lieberman’s comments came ahead of a midnight deadline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz, to form a coalition.

A September election left both Netanyahu and Gantz short of securing a required parliamentary majority to form a government, with Lieberman holding the decisive votes.

But after weeks of negotiations, Lieberman said he could not endorse either side.

“I made every effort. I turned over every stone,” he said.

Lieberman had called for a national unity government between Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gantz’s Blue and White. But the two leaders could not agree on a power-sharing agreement.

Gantz has until midnight to try to seek other partners, but without Lieberman, that appears impossible.

Gantz was given the opportunity to form a government last month after Netanyahu failed in the task.

(AP)

Inside the hearing room, U.S. Republican lawmakers repeatedly thanked Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman for his military service on Tuesday before challenging his testimony about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

But outside the ornate chamber in the House of Representatives, it was a different story, with the White House and its backers unleashing on social media a full-throated attack on the uniformed officer’s credibility and loyalty.

Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran serving as the White House National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, testified before lawmakers in an ongoing impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats.

His family left the Soviet Union for the United States when he was three years old. Vindman testified that Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate a domestic political rival was an improper demand.

“Lt. Col. Vindman was offered the position of Defense Minister for the Ukrainian Government THREE times!” Trump aide Dan Scavino wrote on Twitter.

While factually correct, Vindman told the lawmakers that as a loyal American, he would not consider such an offer. He called it “comical.”

Trump himself was dismissive when asked about Vindman on Tuesday. “I never saw the man, I understand now he wears his uniform when he goes in,” Trump said.

Vindman usually wears a suit, not his uniform, while working at the White House, one Republican lawmaker, Representative Chris Stewart, observed. It is standard practice for military officers to wear their uniforms when testifying on Capitol Hill.

Last month Trump described Vindman as a “Never Trumper,” using a term for Republicans who oppose Trump.

Republican lawmakers at the televised hearing appeared keen not to cross a line that would upset constituents with a background in military service.

“Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, I think all of us would agree that your father made the right move to come here, and we’re glad that he did,” Representative Will Hurd told Vindman in one of the warmer accolades from Intelligence Committee Republicans.

Tensions emerged, however. At one point Vindman instructed the senior committee Republican, Representative Devin Nunes, not to call him Mr. Vindman. “It’s Lieutenant Colonel Vindman please,” Vindman said.

Stewart asked: “Do you always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?”

“I just thought it was appropriate,” Vindman replied.

Representative Mark Meadows, a Republican ally of Trump’s, said critics can question Vindman’s judgment, but should respect his service to the country.

“Every person who serves needs to be applauded for their service. But it doesn’t mean their judgment is 100% above reproach,” Meadows said outside the hearing.

Others saw the attacks on Vindman differently.

“We have never questioned the patriotism of Republicans, but today’s vile attacks on Lt. Col. Vindman, for simply doing his duty as he saw fit, leaves us truly shaken,” Will Goodwin, the director of government relations for VoteVets.org, wrote on Twitter. 

(REUTERS)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in calling on Donald Trump to come forwards and testify before an ongoing inquiry into potentially impeachable conduct by the president.

“Speaker Pelosi invited President Trump to come testify, and I think her invitation is correct,” Schumer said on Sunday during a press conference in New York, The Hill reported.

Earlier in the day, CBS’s Face the Nation aired an interview with Pelosi, during which she had said, “If he (Trump) has information that is exculpatory…then we look forward to seeing it.” “Trump could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants,” she had added.

The inquiry was launched after a whistleblower in the US intelligence community revealed that Trump had asked Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to help incriminate Joe Biden. The former US vice president is expected to pose a serious challenge to Trump’s 2020 re-election hopes.

Trump and allies reportedly made the smear campaign against Biden, a pre-condition for military aide to the former Soviet republic and a gift meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House. According to a rough transcript released by the White House, Trump asked Zelensky during a July call to work with Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, to “look into” the Bidens, namely Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was hired by a Ukrainian gas company named Burisma.

Last week, the impeachment inquiry began taking hearings from key witnesses. The next batch of hearings is due later this week.

The White House has blocked almost everyone from cooperating with the inquiry, which it dismisses as a sham investigation.

Is Trump hiding anything?

Schumer, meanwhile, blasted a delegitimization campaign, launched by the president against the inquiry, which has seen him calling the probe “a witch hunt” and tweeting and retweeting derisive comments about it. Most recently, a tweet by the president bashed “The Crazed, Do Nothing Democrats,” who are behind the investigation.

“If Donald Trump doesn’t agree with what he’s hearing, doesn’t like what he’s hearing, he shouldn’t tweet. He should come to the committee and testify under oath, and he should allow all those around him to come to the committee and testify under oath,” Schumer said.

Schumer also raised the question whether the president was afraid of giving testimony. “When Donald Trump refuses to come to the committee, now that Speaker Pelosi has invited him, when he doesn’t let all the people around him come before the committee, you gotta to ask the question, what is he hiding? Why is he afraid to confront what these people have said?” he asked.

Source: Presstv

Anonymous sources in the White House have told an Israeli news website that US President Donald Trump has become “frustrated” and “disappointed” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel in general.

“Americans are discouraged and frustrated by Israeli politics and the current political crisis, which has prevented the White House from unveiling the political part of the deal of the century,” they were cited as saying by Ynet News, referring to the Trump administration’s so-called peace plan for the Middle East.

They added that the president, who has claimed of having a dream to end conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, has openly talked about feeling “very disappointed” with the Israeli premier.

Trump told his close assistants that Netanyahu should pay millions of dollars in annual aid to the Palestinian Authority if he thinks Washington’s decision to cut it altogether was wrong.

“The president doesn’t like losers,” said a White House source, referencing his failure to secure a clear victory in the April 9 elections.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired by Trump, said at an event at Harvard University two months ago that the prime minister “played” Trump by providing him with incorrect information.

“In dealing with Bibi, it’s always useful to carry a healthy amount of skepticism in your discussions with him,” Tillerson said. “It bothers me that an ally that’s that close and important to us would do that to us.”

Since he took office, Trump has illegally recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the Israeli capital and acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights.

Source: Presstv