Impeachment watch: Trump reportedly 'surprised' to be impeached over 'Ukraine thing'

Donald Trump is “surprised” that his attempt to use the office of the presidency to force an American ally to do his political bidding is what will ultimately lead to his impeachment, CNN reported Wednesday night.

“Frankly, I think he’s a little surprised it’s the Ukraine thing that’s done it,” an unnamed Trump adviser told CNN.

The comment suggests Trump thinks other actions he’s taken could have led to his impeachment, though it’s unclear what actions those are.

Of course, former special counsel Robert Mueller found at least 10 instances in which Trump obstructed justice, but left it up to Congress to decide whether Trump should face punishment for those actions through the impeachment process.

Ultimately, CNN reported that Trump is “stewing” over the fact that he’s almost assured to become the third president in United States history to be impeached.

And he’s angry about how the media is covering the impeachment proceedings.

“The coverage bugs him,” an unnamed Trump campaign adviser told CNN.

This is unsurprising, as Trump and his top defenders in Congress and elsewhere demanded that CNN cover in full a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday about the Department of Justice inspector general report that found the Trump-Russia investigation was legitimate and that Trump did not face unfair political bias.

Here’s what else is happening in impeachment news:

• The House Judiciary Committee worked through the night on Wednesday as it considered the two articles of impeachment that Democrats announced Trump will face. Lawmakers each made speeches about why they believe Trump should or should not be charged with these articles of impeachment.

• During the House Judiciary Committee markup, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) repeated the name Republicans purport to be the whistleblower — a move Democrats warned could earn him an ethics investigation.

• Senate Republicans plan to ignore Trump’s demand to call irrelevant witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial and will instead move to quickly acquit him of the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice that the House is poised to pass, the Washington Post reported.

• Lev Parnas — the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani who helped lead the effort to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch — was paid $1 million by a Russian-linked account, Bloomberg News reported. Prosecutors say Parnas did not disclose this income, and asked a judge to jail Parnas as he awaits trial. It’s unclear why Parnas received the large sum of Russian money. However, the Russians have tried to pin the 2016 election interference on Ukraine, even though it was Russia that was behind the effort.

Come back tomorrow for more impeachment news.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.