House Testimony Could Push Trump Impeachment Forward

Last week’s testimony of long-time foreign service officer Bill Taylor in the House of Representatives appears to have made even more certain the lower house will approve a bill of impeachment against the President before year-end.

Meanwhile, this all might look like an American version of a Kabuki play, as the Senate seems poised to conduct a quick trial and not convict the President. This week Senator Graham (R, SC) introduced a bill critical of the House impeachment process and he got all but six Republican Senators to sign on. Trump only needs 19 of the 53 Republican Senators to vote against impeachment to prevail.

The focus on the impeachment debate means that the needed bipartisan talks to prevent a government shutdown on November 21 have not moved forward. While both sides would like to see the higher spending levels agreed to in the plan approved last August, the U.S. government has been operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that maintains spending at FY 2019 levels, which neither side supports.

Of course, as is so often the case under President Trump, no one can predict where he will end up on the new spending legislation and on avoiding a government shutdown on November 21. The President has an uncanny instinct on how to control the news cycles and a tweet that favors a shutdown over new spending could move attention away from impeachment. It might be a strategy the President wants to pursue.

Vice President Pence gave a highly anticipated speech this week on China. There had been some concern that Pence, a human rights hawk, would make strong attacks against China over Hong Kong and the detention of the Uighurs, and that China could have been forced to retaliate and withdraw from trade talks.

Instead, the Veep steered clear of that line and both sides have issued recent statements that point to an agreement to be signed when President Trump and Xi meeting in Chile on November 16-17.

Figure: Top Trump Tweets

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1187373187820130306
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1187708411309375488
House Testimony Could Push Trump Impeachment Forward
Disclosures (show)

Sign in to read the report!

We have detected you are an active member!

Ray: f5f1fa-516a4b-ca73de-1b9a8a-fb0244

Don't Miss Out
First Month Free

Trending tickers in our research