Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) got cut off at the end of a brief House Judiciary Committee the attorney general refused to attend.
Attorney General William Barr notified the Democratic-led panel that he would not attend the hearing because lawmakers intended to have committee lawyers question him, rather than individual lawmakers.
The Republican minority complained bitterly during the brief hearing, which featured an empty chair in place of the attorney general, saying they were deprived from hearing Barr’s testimony due to demands they insisted were unreasonable.
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Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), however, disagreed and said the panel had constitutional authority to conduct oversight of an executive branch that refuses to comply with lawful requests.
“We will make sure that no president becomes a monarch,” Nadler said, bringing the hearing to a close. “We need the information without delay. The hearing is adjourned.”
Gaetz, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest defenders, tried to comment before Nadler gaveled the hearing to an end.
“Mr. Chairman,” he said.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), who had complained at length about the Democratic conditions set for Barr’s testimony, groused again.
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“And we’ll do so trampling minority rights,” Collins said.
“If it’s going to be, Mr. Chairman,” Gaetz said, “that there is not going to be a recognition of members who seek legitimate inquiry as to the procedures –”
That’s when the microphones, which are controlled by the committee’s leadership, were shut off.
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On CNN Saturday, Rudy Giuliani's former mayoral press secretary Ken Frydman harshly criticized his former boss for his ongoing efforts in the Ukraine scheme.
"As you've watched the former mayor over the last several years, have you identified a point at which things shifted for the man who I guess still is for some known at America's Mayor?" asked anchor Victor Blackwell."
"Well, yeah. I think when he went into business with Donald Trump," said Frydman. "You saw a — a severe change in his personality. He had a zealous need to make money, to be relevant. To be part of the political process. And you know right now he's making, I think, ill-advised decisions, like returning to the scene of the crime, Ukraine, to make a propagandist documentary. Almost as if he's playing, he and the president, are playing, 'catch me if you can.' The president will not participate in the impeachment hearings, and Rudy is off in the Ukraine doubling down."
In a Washington Post report on the continuing attempts by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on political opponents -- at the same time that President Donald Trump is facing impeachment for pressuring Ukraine with the promise of aid for the same -- a former Trump administration official expressed shock that Giuliani hasn't been told to stop.
A Texas consultant who devised a controversial approach to addressing homelessness in San Antonio a decade ago was tapped by President Donald Trump this month to bring his strategy to the rest of the country.
Robert Marbut Jr., the founding president of San Antonio’s homeless shelter Haven for Hope, will lead the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates with 19 federal departments and agencies to address homelessness.
But aspects of Marbut's approach to addressing homelessness have garnered blowback from housing advocates. He calls feeding homeless people on the street “enabling” them, and once while working in Florida, he went undercover as a homeless person to study them.