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The Trump administration has recalled the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine abruptly and ahead of her scheduled departure, after she became a target of political attacks by conservative media outlets and Donald Trump Jr. Democrats see her early departure under pressure as the unfair targeting of a career Foreign Service officer by Team Trump. According to an internal State Department management notice that I obtained, U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch will leave her post permanently on May 20, with no replacement in place and no nominations to fill that position. The House Democratic leadership thinks that Yovanovitch’s early departure under pressure is...

Something big happened to President Trump this week, and it’s not the Ukraine scandal. His job approval ratings have returned to where they were before his big August slump — and that’s bad news for the Democrats. Trump clearly had a terrible late summer. Starting with his tweet that the four progressive Democratic House members who call themselves “the Squad” should “go back” to the countries they purportedly were from (only one of the four, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, is an immigrant), Trump’s job approval ratings declined significantly. From a pre-tweet high of 45.1 percent in the RealClearPolitics average on...

WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday blocked two more former aides to President Trump from testifying in House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, but cleared a third witness, Corey Lewandowski, to appear publicly on Tuesday and answer questions about potential obstruction of justice by the president. The White House decisions amounted to mixed news for the House Judiciary Committee as it tries to crank up the intensity of an investigation devised to determine whether to recommend Mr. Trump’s impeachment for obstruction of justice and abuse of power — and to convince the public that such action is warranted. In Mr. Lewandowski,...

KEY POINTS Three House committees are investigating reported efforts by President Trump and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani “to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist” Trump’s re-election campaign. Giuliani has repeatedly urged Ukraine to probe former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had a role with a Ukraine gas company. Three House committees on Monday began investigating reported efforts by President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to pressure “the government of Ukraine to assist” Trump’s re-election campaign by having Ukraine probe former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The investigation comes weeks...

A federal judge on Thursday issued an order blocking New York state from turning over President Donald Trump's tax returns to congressional Democrats for now, should the House Ways and Means Committee request them through a newly passed New York law. The limitation will be in place, Judge Carl Nichols wrote, while allowing New York to challenge whether Nichols' courtroom in Washington is the proper place for this case, brought by Trump, to move forward, and in what form it could proceed. In a court hearing on Wednesday ahead of the order, Nichols said that his intention was to ensure...

During Wednesday's "Hannity," Levin thanked the Democrats, claiming they had "impeached themselves" with Mueller's hearings. "I'd like to thank the Democrats, because they've really revealed themselves as the clowns they truly are," he said. "They've impeached themselves today and forevermore."

If Donald Trump has to be acquitted, much better for it to come at the hands of a group of people as corrupted and partisan as the Senate Republicans. Robert Mueller remained tight-lipped and cautious during his much-hyped testimony Wednesday morning. But the hearing highlighted two things: First, there is a real opportunity for a televised trial of President Donald Trump's behavior; and second, such a trial, if it harnessed all the theatrics and color that Democrats can muster, could seize control of the news cycle from the man who has dominated it for years. It has been a tough...

Voters are growing more skeptical about the propriety of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. A new Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals that 37% of all voters say that the investigation was carried out “very” or “somewhat fairly” — compared with 42 percent who say the probe was not conducted “too fairly” or “fairly at all.” The poll was conducted July 19-29, in advance of Mr. Mueller’s congressional testimony on Wednesday. The sentiment is significantly changing, despite non-stop media coverage on “Russian collusion” which is primarily hostile to President Trump and his administration. A...

What exactly were Democrats hoping to gain at Wednesday's hearings with former special counsel Robert Mueller? They already have his 448-page report. He's already given a public statement about his conclusions. He's already said, matter-of-factly, that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia to win the 2016 election. Yet, with a series of subpoenas, Democrats have dragged Mueller to Capitol Hill to try and squeeze some new information out of him that will incriminate President Trump. And their Republican colleagues are sick of it. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) didn't have many questions for the witness because, again, he already...

On Wednesday morning, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee about his 448-page report. It was released to the public in April after a two-year-long investigation. Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe didn't waste any time with his brief, five minute questioning period and ripped Mueller for making up a standard of guilt only applicable to President Trump. "Now your report, and today you said that, 'All times the Special Counsel team operated under, was guided by, and followed Justice Department policies and principles,' so which DOJ policy or principle sets forth a legal standard...

In the final moments before Robert Mueller’s appearance before House committees, President Trump blasted a sudden change in plans that will allow the former special counsel to have one of his top aides accompany him. On Tuesday, House Democrats permitted Mueller’s former chief of staff and Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley sit at the witness table. Fox News is told the Intelligence Committee will swear in Zebley before its hearing. “It was NEVER agreed that Robert Mueller could use one of his many Democrat Never Trumper lawyers to sit next to him with his answers,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “This...

Need a master class on the Mueller report before Robert Mueller testifies before Congress? Join PBS NewsHour correspondent and producer William Brangham, senior broadcast producer Mike Melia and digital politics editor and senior writer Daniel Bush on July 24 as they answer questions and walk viewers through the Russia investigation and Mueller's findings. The livestream kicks off at 7:40 a.m. EDT with a breakdown of the major findings and moments from Mueller's report. Between deep dives on parts of the report, your hosts will answer select questions from the live chat and social media. To ask a question, use our...

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Sunday said Robert Mueller's report presents "very substantial evidence" that President Donald Trump is "guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors" -- an impeachable offense. "We have to ... let Mueller present those facts to the American people, and then see where we go from there, because the administration must be held accountable," Nadler, whose committee would lead impeachment proceedings, said on "Fox News Sunday." Mueller, the former special counsel for the Department of Justice and former director of the FBI, will testify before Congress on July 24 after House Democrats issued a subpoena for...

After Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway failed to appear to testify on her Hatch Act violations before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday, Democrats, watchdog and advocacy groups called for her to be fired and even put in prison. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, in a letter to the committee's chairman Elijah Cummings, wrote, "Ms. Conway cannot be compelled to testify before Congress with respect to matters related to her service as a senior adviser to the president" and that "the President has directed Ms. Conway not to appear at the Committee's scheduled hearing on Monday, July...

UPDATE : Conway reacted to Rep. Cummings's threat to hold her in contempt during a Fox News interview on Tuesday. "This is the latest example of harassment and embarrassment," she said. She has every right to not show up to the House Oversight hearings because as a White House senior adviser she has the right to immunity. But, she's "happy to testify" because she's "done nothing wrong." "This about me going on TV and stating facts," she insisted, referring to her statements about 2020 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. They are old, white career politicians, she noted. ORIGINAL...

House Judiciary Committee Democrats announced Tuesday that they plan to authorize subpoenas later this week for a dozen individuals connected to President Trump as part of the panel’s escalating probe into obstruction of justice, public corruption and other alleged abuses by the president. The list of targets includes Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his old deputy Rod Rosenstein. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that the panel is moving forward with “efforts to request information from critical witnesses as part of our ongoing investigation into obstruction, corruption, and abuse of power...

Outspoken Trump critic Jeff Flake offered a rare defense of President Trump in response to former President Jimmy Carter's remarks suggesting the current president isn't a legitimate one. Speaking at a Democratic forum on Friday, Carter weighed in on Russia's interference in the 2016 election and expressed his belief that it played a much bigger role in the election of Trump than Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded. "I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016," the 94-year-old former president said. "He lost the election, and he was put into office because the...

A trove of vetting documents leaked to the news organization Axios on HBO shows “red flags” the administration uncovered as President Trump put together his cabinet and the top levels of government following his shocking White House win and his decision to fire transition director Chris Christie. With Christie’s departure, much of the vetting of candidates was left up to “20-something [Republican National Committee] staffers,” according to Axios’ Jonathan Swan. The documents show what aides worried would be problematic. For instance, both Mick Mulvaney, now the acting White House chief of staff, and former Defense Secretary James Mattis got dinged...

Fifty-five pages of texts between Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort make their way online.

Hope Hicks spent yesterday being abused and harassed by Jerry Nadler and his gang of misogynist perverts. Three times Nadler referred to Hope Hicks as "Ms. Lewandowski"Nadler "apologized", saying he was "preoccupied." By what, we do not know. Personally, I think it was quite intentional and misogynistic. Others have suggested that Nadler is suffering from diminished faculties. It was sexual harassment: The perverted democrats, irritated by Hicks' refusal to answer questions about the White House, then turned to another issue- Hicks' love life. Devin Nunes: “Nobody quite understood why she was back in the U.S. Capitol yesterday doing essentially another deposition,”...