Section: The Atlantic (USA)
The Atlantic Politics Daily: Impeachment Comes to a Screen Near You
It’s Wednesday, November 13. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was at the White House today visiting President Trump. Why do the two get along, though their countries are so at odds?In today’s newsletter: ❖ A revelation from the first public-facing impeachment hearings. ❖ A new candidate for Obama’s heir—and for the 2020...
Republicans Need to Live Within the Truth
The first day of public hearings into the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump included an explosive revelation. William B. Taylor, Jr., the senior American diplomat in Ukraine, tied Trump even more directly than we previously knew to the effort to pressure Ukraine to probe his political opponent.But as damaging as Taylor’s...
The Made-for-TV Impeachment
They’re both silver-haired septuagenarians, Vietnam veterans, Ivy League–educated public servants for Republican and Democratic presidents alike, with reputations for unswerving rectitude. But Robert Mueller and William Taylor could not have made for more different congressional witnesses. On July 24, in the glare of television lights,...
It’s Not What the President Did—It’s Why He Did It
In his opening statement at today’s first public impeachment hearing, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee argued that the real story of the Ukraine scandal is not any inappropriate behavior by Donald Trump, but rather the actions of a deep state that hates the president and is determined to subvert his...
The System Was Blinking Red
George Tenet, the former CIA director, told the 9/11 Commission that, given the stream of intelligence warnings about potential terrorist attacks against the United States before 9/11, “the system was blinking red.” Those words reflected just how widespread the concern was across the U.S. government that something bad was unfolding—in that case,...
The Big New Revelation in the First Impeachment Hearing
It took all of about 90 minutes for the public phase of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump to yield its first big new revelation.Appearing this morning before the House Intelligence Committee, Ambassador William Taylor told lawmakers—and the millions of people watching around the world—that on the day...
Read Adam Schiff’s Opening Statement in the First Impeachment Hearing
The public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump kicked off today, with Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and State Department official George Kent testifying before the House Intelligence Committee. Representative Adam Schiff of California, who heads the committee, has been a central figure in the...
Joe Biden Has a Hillary Clinton Problem
What the Ukraine scandal reveals about Donald Trump is by now well known: He elevated his political interest above the national interest and demanded foreign interference in an American election. What’s received less attention is what the scandal reveals about Joe Biden: He showed poor judgment because his staff shielded him from hard...
Trump’s Real Offense Was Outsourcing Diplomacy
The House of Representatives begins televised impeachment hearings today, an, if Republicans weren’t so desperate to avoid holding President Donald Trump accountable, they could add their own count to the indictment. Each of the three branches of government—the executive, legislative, and judiciary alike—has vital constitutional duties to...
The Atlantic Politics Daily: America’s Divisions May Get a Whole Lot Worse
It’s Tuesday, November 12. We’re watching: ❖ The Supreme Court heard arguments in the Trump administration’s bid to end the Obama-era DACA program, case that hinges on a question of administrative law. ❖ The first public impeachment hearings begin Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.In today’s newsletter: ❖ Where the public, the GOP,...
