Schiff and other democrats say in his july conversation mr. Trump president under pressured joe biden. And his son hunter over hunters financial dealings in ukraine. They claim with improperly asking a foreign leader with help, he actually held up military aid to make it clear to president that he should comply. President trump is come out with guns blazing. As you would expect. Blasting the investigation with every opportunity even using a curse word on twitter to describe it he denied he did anything wrong and said it was biden who should be investigated adding along with ukraine, china should be looking into bidens actions as well. China should start an investigation into the bidens. Because what happened to china is just about as bad as will happen with ukraine. In addition he has been attacking congressma congressmaf saying he should resign or be charged with treason. Others have been drawn into the impeachment trap including secretary state mike pompeo and the personal attorney reading giuliani. On thursday the House Committee doing the investigations released a number of investigations. Including special envoy kurt volker. Some of them seem to indicate that the ministration was trying to condition diplomatic and other support for ukraine on corporation investigating President Trumps complaints about ukraines role in the 2016 u. S. President ial election. So where exactly are we now in the process . Did the president improperly use his office to promote his own political interests . And how is what is happening a country compared to impeachment inquiries. With me now is republican congressman of texas the member of the House Intelligence Committee and a former cia officer. They stand for joining me. You have been in hearings and sessions most of them this week on the matters related to ukraine. Have you heard anything yet so far, i know you wont give specific details, have you heard anything so for that worries you the president of the United States abused his power and proper way . I think in the original whistleblower complaint there was a number of obligations and thats what they are allegations concerning that needs further investigation and that is why the House Committee on intelligence but i said on is doing these investigations. I think its premature to state whether or not theres an opinion one way or another. Until what able to collect all the facts. This is something that i support and looking forward to continuing and making sure that all the folks we interview come to the committee. Let me get straight to the text that the committee did release on thursday. Which some of the democrats under committee are suggesting they do indicate that there was an operation by President Trump and his allies essentially to bully the ukrainians to do an investigation. And let me use a quote from one of them. One is kurt volker who is a special envoy to ukraine. And it says, heard from white house assuming president xi will get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to washington. Does not indicate that the administration was exercising leverage based on an investigation by the ukrainians in order to get the relationship ukrainians wanted . The text by itself is indeed troubling but i dont understand or know the context in which that was shared. I know ambassador volker went into that with his deposition yesterday. I was not involved in the deposition and how it had the chance to read the transcript. We should make sure were looking at this as a context in which all of these texan conversations are happening. But at face value, it is concerning. But this is why we need to continue with the hearings to make sure we understand all of the information in full tally before we can come to a final conclusion. Would be concerning again weve seen a lot on the question whether or not there was a quid pro quo. In setting that aside, would be concerning if it was just the u. S. President asking a Foreign Government to investigate joe biden . I would say this, there are a lot of times when the federal government is working with other government on investigation. And this was an investigation of corruption that involved an elected official and that is normal process. I think the question is, was this being done in order to gain a political edge. In these other motivations that we have to explore. There are some of my colleagues that one brush that there should be impeachment and other colleagues and say this is exoneration. For me this is about getting to the bottom and understanding peoples motivations and what happened in the context within that. I believe we were trying to get to the bottom and understand the truth and chairmanship would be handling this investigation a little bit differently. And having everything in the open, we should be pursuing this and i do believe in full transparency but i also believe that we should protect the people providing evidence and being involved in these investigations. We need to take a very short break. We will consider where the impeachment inquiry may eventually go. Stay with us. Great riches will find you when Liberty Mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Wow. Thanks, zoltar. How can i ever repay you . Maybe you could free zoltar . Thanks, lady. Taxi only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Congressman, also this week President Trump said china should start an investigation into joe biden and his son. What is your reaction . I would not have done that. We should not be wishing and congratulations on 70 years of communism, historians have indicated over the last 70 years, 50 Million People have been killed because of the communist purges in that country, we are currently involved in a highstakes negotiation on a trade deal and we should not be giving them any ammunition in order to potentially be used against us in the trade deal. I would not be sufficed in the summer before the election if we see the Chinese Government do something in order to impact a u. S. Market in order to strengthen the negotiation position. So it is concerning. I think we need to be tough with china because its very clear that china to surpassed the United States as a world superpower and they are trying to make sure their economy is the most poor economy in the world. The president says is interesting when after corruption, not because biden is the opponent next year, he wants ukrainians in the chinese to get cracking down on corruption. First of all do you believe that . And if that is true, is it not reasonable negotiation. Experiencing corruption is a reasonable motive for doing these things. But because of a number of problems over the last three and half years, there are many folks that question whether that was the motivation. I think that is why the ukraine issue specifically trying to get a better understanding of what was mayor giuliani saying and what were the communications between the state department and the Ukrainian Government, what did the Ukrainian Government think that would be expected of them. These are whole lot of questions that we should get to and understand specifically on the ukraine issue. As you know the president and others have insisted for a long time that the reason for all of this because they believe they were set up with the Mueller Investigation and everything that led to the Mueller Investigation. There was really not russian interference designed to help him but a set up and thats what he wants ukraine to investigate. What is your reaction to that. You work and intelligence yourself, your former colleagues in the intelligence agencies, theyre pretty clear there was russian interference but what your reaction to the idea that it was a big fake . Its very clear, the russian government tried to manipulate our election. They are trying to erode trust in a democratic institution. Guess what they are still winning. When i had bobbled her in front of the committee at the conclusion of the Mueller Report and i asked him was this a onetime deal by the russians he said it is going on as we sit here. When i had the acting director of National Intelligence in front of the Committee Last week, he said the intelligence concern is with the russians will try to do in the 2020 election. Republicans and democrats in the house agree with the russian trying to manipulate our election. They were trying to use this information and i wish we who were having more hearings on things like this so how we know to prepare and get set for future elections. These are major issues that will be defining our generation and unfortunately were getting sidetracked by a number of sideshows. How do you think it unfolds, where does the impeachment process and . I think the speaker calling this an impeachment inquiry is to appeal to a more extreme members of her party. The last three times there was an impeachment inquiry was an actual vote on the house floor done in a bipartisan way. Ethic is premature to talk about impeachment but we should pursue the allegations that the whistleblower comes to ukraine. Thank you very much indeed. Next well talk to a key player in the last president ial inquiry. Its what gives audible theresmembers an edge. Ening; it opens our minds, changes our perspective, connects us, and pushes us further. The most inspiring minds, the most compelling stories audible. Its been a long time since andrew dusted off his dancing shoes. Luckily denture breath will be the least of his worries. Because he uses polident 4 in 1 cleaning system to kill 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria. Polident. Clean. Fresh. And confident. Ll sale on the of odor causing bacteria. Sleep number 360 smart bed. You can adjust your comfort on both sides your sleep number setting. Can it help keep us asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. And snoring . No problem. And done. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise, prove. And now, the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only 1,399, save 300. Plus 0 interest for 24 months on all smart beds. Only for a limited time. Someone who knows a thing about impeachment is ken starr, the independent counsel whose investigation in the 1990s led to the impeachment of bill clinton. He was a Fox News Contributor and he joins us from houston. Thank you. My pleasure. You are the only living person who is led an investigation that led darkly to the impeachment of a sitting president. From what youve seen so far of the evidence of been assembled against President Trump by the house of representatives, do you think what youve seen rises to the level of impeachment customer. I do not. It is ultimately a judgment call for the house of representatives but given what we have seen i think the president did not exercise good judgment in the call, i dont think hes exercising good judgment now. But that is why we have electoral contests, thats why we have nominations and debates and finally in 13 months we go to the polls and thats a referendum under the president. We learned that in the clinton years, wait for the referendum and dont go to impeachment. Would you say, you have to have something firmer, what would it take. If the president uses his office to advances full local prospects in an election by enlisting the support of a Foreign Government to obtain information about one of his opponents, would that not represent an abuse of power . Oh yes, im not saying that would not constitute and some people would say thats impeachment. Certainly its reasonable to say you are taken advantage of or lets go ahead and use the abuse of power. From what we know from the history impeachment and removal from office and the ultimate Capital Punishment has to be reserved and has been reserved for the severe kinds of offenses. This to me in my judgment call, others are obviously having different judgment calls. This does not rise to the level of treason, bribery and other misdemeanors. We know from the clinton investigation and impeachment drama that you can commit felonies, felonies against the rule of law in light under oath to a federal grand jury, you can obstruct justice and the American People said, we dont approve of that but we do not want to remove the president from office. So you are saying pretty well as far as i can understand, that even if the president did what he is accused of, it is not clear and does not rise to the level of an Impeachable Offense and that is if he got a Foreign Government help. I know the political judgment, but you dont think that given your experience and president clinton for objection, you dont think thats what President Trump would be comparable to what president clinton was . No, i dont think under these circumstances there is any others that will have a different view definable crime. Especially a pattern of feloni felonies, a pattern of felonies and obstruction of justice during the clinton years and again, the American People said we want stay building. I think impeachment to the respect to the president of the United States has become atavistic. We do not need it anymore except for the severe kinds of situations and other president of the United States knows hes broadcasting and wants china to help. This is a question of judgment but not lets remove him from office. Do you think they should make the impeachment process has fallen into disuse . I think you clearly demonstrated to most people satisfaction with president clinton that he did like and maybe obstructed justice. And yet the senate would not convict him in the senate didnt come close to convicting him. Some people say this president has abused his power and committed a series of abuse in office and i dont know anybody who thinks will be removed from office. It is ultimately up to the people to decide in election customer. Exactly right and for the people to decide of impeachment removal. In the American People have in fact set a very high bar. They have not said, this is the standard in a legalistic sense. I think insane perhaps impeachment with respect to executive officers, lets come back to judges if we have time. But just as in other countries, there has been no serious use of impeachment and over two centuries, why, other checks and balances. We are seeing those checks and balances that work. We know what the president is doing, were whistleblowers, oversight committees, lets not bring this to impeachment very quickly, final question, if the president under the Justice Department guidelines understand that he cant be indicted for crimes, and we seem to be getting impeachable, doesnt mean summer hes above the law . No, he cannot be under the department of justice guidelines while he is in office. But president clayton faced that in on his last day in Office President clinton entered a Settlement Agreement with the prosecutor and the independent counsel. He did not get a lot of attention because we had a new president coming in. But he settled the case to avoid criminal indictment. So the president of the United States as soon as he leaves office in the clause in the constitution is clear on this. He cannot escape the Justice System just because of impeachment. Thank you so much. Just ahead, Something Else that was causing wall street this week to worry. We will explain n n n n through ancestry i learned so much about my grandparents that i never knew. Im a lawyer now, but i had no idea that my grandfather was a federal judge in guatemala. My grandfather used his legal degree and his knowledge to help people that were voiceless in his country. That put a fire in my heart. It made me realize where i got my passion for social justice. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com wall street confronted a worry this week, stocks fell sharply after troubling economic data, on tuesday purchase index contracted in september, worst reading in a decade, thursday the much larger Services Sector pmi came weaker than expected. Once again, the r word recession was on the lips of commentators but on friday another drop in Unemployment Rate to 3. 5 , steady and spectacular rise in payrolls, whats the reality . The underlying picture is all solid growth, wages are rising, unemployment is low and inflation is not and stocks despite weeks fall close to alltime highs, they continue to look pretty good. Whats worrying investors and businesses is the potential fallout from u. S. Trade war with china, fears about how bad it could get chilling investment plans, President Trump and president xi jinping on trade deal, the worry will continue to loom large, thats it for us this week, for latest show updates be sure to follow me on twitter, instagram, i will be back next week with slightly less croaky voice, i hope here at wall street journal at large. Thank you very much. Wack to barrons roundtable, im jack otter, we begin with what 3 things investors should be thinking about right now, dow dropped 900 points in two days in response of worrisome economic signals but bounced back after decent jobs number, ipo slides and investors start to do real man and nuclear option, dropping submission to zero and sending
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.