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Established 1961 7 International Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Trump under pressure in the 2nd week of impeachment hearings Pelosi: The president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump faces more the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, potentially damning testimony in the Ukraine scandal strongly consider it!” Pundits were skeptical and said as a critical week of public impeachment hearings the likelihood of Trump following through was low, but opens in the House of Representatives. Trump’s sug- there were no other signals one way or another from gestion that he might himself testify in the investigation the White House and Congress. In Special Counsel which threatens his presidency had no impact on the Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s House Intelligence Committee’s plans to interview nine 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, Trump hinted witnesses this week. early on that he would testify and then stalled for Most significantly, they include Gordon Sondland, months before answering written questions. Even so, the US ambassador to the European Union, who his lawyers negotiated strict limits on what kind of allegedly transmitted to the Ukraine government questions could be put, and in dozens of instances, Trump’s demands for help in finding dirt on his Trump said he could not “recall” the facts. Democratic rivals ahead of next year’s presidential election. The hearings also include diplomats who have Rising impeachment support already testified privately that Trump and Sondland Democrats signaled they would plow ahead with the repeatedly pushed Kiev to open investigations into inquiry, scheduling nine witnesses this week. On Democrat Joe Biden — Trump’s potential 2020 reelec- Tuesday morning the Intelligence Committee will hear tion challenger — and withheld nearly $400 million in from Jennifer Williams, an advisor to Vice President aid and a White House meeting requested by Ukraine Mike Pence, and Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert President Volodymyr Zelensky as pressure. on the National Security Council. Both listened in on House leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday in a letter Trump’s key July 25 phone call with Zelensky, in which to fellow Democrats that Trump engaged in “extortion the US leader pressured his counterpart to launch and bribery.” “The facts are uncontested: that the investigations into Biden and a wholly unsupported president abused his power for his own personal, polit- theory that Kiev aided Democrats in the 2016 race. ical benefit, at the expense of our national security In the afternoon Kurt Volker, the former special US WASHINGTON DC: Republican Representative from Ohio Jim Jordan (C), Republican legal counsel Steve interests,” she said. envoy to Ukraine, and National Security Council offi- Castor (L) and Republican Representative from Texas Mike Conaway (R) listen to testimony during the cial Timothy Morrison will testify. Conceivably this House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence public hearing on the impeachment inquiry into US Trump could testify in writing week could wrap up the Democrats’ investigation and President Donald J. Trump. —AFP Trump, who faces becoming only the third president see them prepare the evidence collected to send to the in US history to be impeached, tweeted early Monday House Judiciary Committee to draw up articles of in a long court battle to force the testimony, Democrats politics and public sentiment. that he is “strongly” considering testifying to defend impeachment. Democrats have also demanded testimo- have suggested they will simply consider adding An ABC-Ipsos poll released Monday showed a bare himself against allegations that he abused his powers ny from several senior White House and State depart- obstruction of the investigation to the charges against majority of Americans, 51 percent, believe Trump in seeking foreign help for the 2020 election. He tweet- ment officials, especially Trump’s chief of staff Mick Trump and push ahead toward a vote on impeachment should be impeached and removed from office, up from ed that Pelosi suggested “that I testify about the phony Mulvaney, who personally discussed Ukraine policy by the full House. That would likely pass the Democrat- around 48 percent in polls before last week’s initial Impeachment Witch Hunt.” “She also said I could do it with Trump, and have also subpoenaed internal controlled House, to place Trump on trial in the Senate, public testimony in Congress. The poll suggested as in writing,” he said. records. where a Republican majority could protect him from well a drop in the number of people opposing “Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like But so far the White House has refused to let them removal. But with presidential and congressional elec- impeachment, to 38 percent, below the previous aver- giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like testify and release the records. Rather than engaging tions now less than one year away, much depends on age of about 46 percent. —AFP describing the checkup as “routine, Trump’s doctor planned.” The statement included details of the president’s cholesterol results and added that after the checkup, Trump had dismisses spoken to the family of a soldier undergo- More than 100,000 ing surgery at the hospital as well as to speculation of hospital staff. White House press secre- children in tary Stephanie Grisham on Saturday said Trump took advantage of a free weekend chest pain to complete part of his annual physical migration-related examination before “a very busy 2020” WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s doctor when he faces a tough re-election race. on Monday denied reports that the US US detention president had recently suffered chest ‘Mysterious hospital visit’? GENEVA: More than 100,000 children are currently pain after he attended an unannounced On Monday, the Washington Post ran being held in migration-related detention in the United medical checkup in Washington. Trump, an editorial casting doubt on the official States, often in violation of international law, the UN said 73, spent just over an hour on Saturday reason for the medical examination. Monday. Lead author of the United Nations Global Study having “examinations, labs and discus- Under the headline “Trump’s mysterious on Children Deprived of Liberty, Manfred Nowak, said sions” at the Walter Reed National hospital visit raises many questions,” the the figure refers to migrants’ children currently in custody Military Medical Center, his physician paper said that US citizens had the right who reached a US border unaccompanied, as well as Sean Conley said in a statement issued to know about their president’s health and those detained with relatives and minors separated from by the White House. if it impacted his work. “Wasn’t his last their parents prior to detention. “The total number currently detained is 103,000,” “Despite some of the speculation, the checkup in February?” the paper asked. Nowak told AFP, calling it a “conservative” assessment, President has not had any chest pain, nor “When did his annual physical MARYLAND: US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Air Force One before was he evaluated or treated for any departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on November 14, 2019. —AFP based on the latest available official data as well as “very become a phased affair? Why was reliable” additional sources. Globally, at least 330,000 urgent or acute issues,” Conley said. Saturday’s visit, unlike previous check- “Specifically, he did not undergo any children across 80 countries are being held for migration- ups, not announced or listed on his pub- related reasons, according to the global study that specialized cardiac or neurologic evalu- lic schedule?” On Sunday, the day after in February, Conley had declared him to held an unusually detailed press confer- ations.” Some Washington reports had launched Monday, meaning the US accounts for nearly a the checkup, Trump tweeted that he had be in “very good health.” Trump, who ence in which he declared Trump to third of such detentions. suggested that the checkup was started his annual physical examination has confounded health experts with his have “incredibly good genes.” Soon The study in part looked at violations of the UN’s unscheduled and had been triggered by — reporting “everything very good penchant for junk food and avoidance afterwards, Trump appointed him to Convention on the Rights of the Child, which mandates Trump suffering chest discomfort. (great!)” He added that he would com- of strenuous exercise, weighed 243 lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, that child detentions be used “only as a measure of last “Due to scheduling uncertainties, the plete the examination next year. pounds at that time. In 2018, Trump’s before Jackson withdrew his name from resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.” trip was kept off the record,” Conley said, At Trump’s last routine examination then-chief physician, Ronny Jackson, consideration. —AFP The US is the only UN member state that has not ratified the convention which took effect in 1990. But Nowak said that did not absolve President Donald Trump’s adminis- boy) or a pink one (for a girl). tration of wrongdoing with respect to the detention of Boy or girl? With the rise of social media, gender migrant children at the southern border with Mexico. reveals have become more and more “Migration-related detention for children can never be sophisticated and “extreme,” according considered as a measure of last resort or in the best inter- US parents to Carly Gieseler, a professor of gender est of the child. There are always alternatives available,” and media studies at City University of Nowak told reporters in Geneva. He added that even go too far in New York (CUNY). She has studied the though the US has not ratified the child rights convention, gender reveal trend since its birth at the it is bound by the convention on civil and political rights, end of the 2000s.