Heavy tariffs and the president s quest to end decades of chinese predatory trade practices and the outright theft each year of hundreds of billions of dollars of American Intellectual property. Well have more on this. Joining us in an exclusive interview, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin. Trying to deflect attention from trumps successes, nancy pelosi will have a venal vote on whether the two articles of impeachment will be sent over to the senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell announced the radical dimms and the nation can expect the senate trial to start a week from today. While the president tweeted he would like to see the senate outright dismiss the impeachment articles, Mitch Mcconnell says thats unlikely. Our members feel we have an obligation to listen to the arguments, and we laid out in this resolution an opportunity for everybody remember senators cant say anything, so they have to sit there and listen. Lou mcconnells announcement possibly Opening Senate testimony
Testimony was bad for trump, but hes now the democratic frontrunner [ laughter ] during his testimony today Gordon Sondland said that he was involved in efforts to pressure ukraine, because he and other diplomats, quote, followed the president s orders. And then trump said, look, i dont know the president ive never met the president. [ laughter ] President Trump this morning addressed sondlands testimony saying, quote, i dont know him very well. I have not spoken to him much. This is not a man i know well. He seems like a nice guy, though. [ laughter ] even worse, he stole that statement line for line from the speech he gave at erics wedding. [ laughter ] singer mariah carey has released her own Christmas Wish list on amazon oh, oh okay so i see so you were just blowing smoke up my ass when you said all you wanted for christmas is me [ laughter and applause great. Good to know [ laughter ] according to experts, thanksgiving turkeys are best paired with red wine that way theyre more rel
You talk about a political spin. You know, they were blaming it on a video. You know, i know, the American People know it wasnt a video. Did that have a political consequence . Yes, it was right before an election. And yet he didnt get impeached for that. So when we Start Talking about the standards, ill be glad to come back on and debate those standards all day long. But heres the bottom line. No facts, no credible facts, three of the top people in ukraine that continue, they continue to say, there was no linkage, no pressure. I mean, at what point do you say, where is the victim of this crime . Its not the American People, because the president was looking out for their best interest. I want to ask you about that because you say no facts, but we heard from the u. S. Ambassador to the eu, we heard from the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine, we talked to the Top State Department official who oversees ukraine, we heard from yeah, none officials appointed by the president. All of them said t
Assess over the last 76 days is this whether President Trump abused the power of his office through a quid pro quo robbery extortion or whatever by withholding a meeting or Security Assistance as a way of pressuring ukrainian president selenski to investigate the president s political rival former v. P. Biden for the president s political benefit in the upcoming election a secondary allegation that has been levied is whether President Trump obstructed congress during the inquiry. Evidence of taim during the inquiry does not support either of those allegations the republican report of evidence lays out the reasons in more detail but i will summarize i will begin with the substantive allegation about an abuse of power. The inquiry has returned no direct evidence of President Trump without a meeting or Security Assistance in order to pressure president alinsky to investigate former v. P. Biden witnesses who testified in the in korea have denied having awareness of criminal activity or eve
Them in the right direction. Witnesses in the impeachment inquiry testified that the allegation of ukrainian influence in the 2016 election was appropriate to examine. Ambassador volker testified that he thought it was fine to investigate allegations about 2016 influence. Ambassador taylor said, for example, that the allegations surprised and disappointed him, on this record i do not believe one could conclude that President Trump had no legitimate basis to raise a concern about efforts by ukrainians to influence the 2016 election. Let me now turn to the first assertion that President Trump withheld a meeting with president zelensky as a way of pressuring him to investigate the former vp. Here it is important to note ukraines long, profound history of endemic corruption. Several witnesses during the inquiry have testified about these problems. Ambassador marie yovanovitch, for example, said ukraines corruption is not just prevalent but, frankly, is the system. Witnesses testified to ha