Our live coverage on the impeachment probe has ended. Follow the latest updates here.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden announced that he will resign at the end of the month from his role in the management company of a private equity fund backed by Chinese state-owned entities, according to a statement released Sunday by his attorney.
The announcement comes as President Trump continues to lash out at the Bidens amid a House impeachment inquiry into his attempts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president during a July 25 phone call.
That call is the focus of a whistleblower complaint at the center of Democrats’ probe.
Some background: Trump has pushed an unproven accusation that Joe Biden was improperly trying to help Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, when the then-vice president pressured the Ukrainian government to fire the country’s prosecutor general.
The Obama administration, American allies, the International Monetary Fund and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, among others, had all made clear that they were displeased with the performance of Viktor Shokin, who became prosecutor general in 2015.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
President Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had lunch together yesterday at the President’s golf course in Sterling, Virginia, a person familiar with the meeting confirmed to CNN.
The source did not provide additional details of the lunch. The New York Times first reported the meeting.
The Saturday meeting, in what appears to be a sign of solidarity between Trump and his lawyer, came at the end of a news-filled week in which questions swirled about whether Trump was cutting professional ties with Giuliani, who has been at the center of the impeachment inquiry into Trump headed by House Democrats.
On Friday, a source close to the President’s legal team told CNN Giuliani is still the President’s attorney but will not be dealing with matters involving Ukraine, and the Saturday lunch was evidence of their continued relationship.
Some more context: Giuliani is facing an investigation by federal prosecutors into whether his involvement with Ukraine violated federal lobbying laws, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Citing two people familiar with the inquiry, the paper builds on CNN’s previous reporting on Thursday that Giuliani’s financial dealings with two associates indicted on campaign finance-related charges were under scrutiny by investigators overseeing the case.
Law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told CNN that the FBI and prosecutors in Manhattan are examining Giuliani’s involvement in the broader flow of money that has become the focus of alleged violations that are at the center of the charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week with House Democrats set to accelerate their impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Here’s what to expect:
Monday, October 14
Tuesday, October 15
Wednesday, October 16
Thursday, October 17
Friday, October 18
In past impeachment proceedings, the courts have undermined the President’s wishes. During Whitewater, President Bill Clinton was forced by a unanimous Supreme Court to testify under oath in a civil lawsuit, which led to his impeachment for lying and obstruction. During Watergate, President Richard Nixon faced multiple fast-moving court cases that ultimately forced details to Congress and prosecutors that prompted his resignation before the full House voted on articles of impeachment.
In a hearing Tuesday, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court, the first-line trial court in most separation of powers fights, grilled a Justice Department lawyer who argued to keep information known to the executive branch away from the House.
Howell pressed the administration attorney on legal precedent – what Howell must decide under the law based on past decisions from courts above. When the lawyer suggested that a judge in 1974 would have not handed a grand jury’s collection of evidence to the House of Representatives during Watergate if the case had arisen today, “Wow,” Howell exclaimed.
Howell also bluntly told the Justice Department’s legal team she would need to back the House in its needs during a formal impeachment proceeding.
“By my reading of the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit law, I owe enormous deference, if not absolute deference, when it comes to the exercise of the impeachment power to how the House decides to conduct itself,” Howell said Tuesday.
Michael Gerhardt, a CNN analyst and University of North Carolina law professor, pointed to moments in the Howell hearing as an example of how far Trump’s legal team has swerved from history.
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Saturday that he’s not aware he’s under investigation for his involvement in the unraveling Ukraine scandal, calling it a “political attack.”
When asked if he was, Giulani told CNN: “No, nothing but leaks, which has to tell you whether they are or are not investigating, it’s a political attack. Otherwise, why leak it?”
Earlier Saturday, the President defended Giuliani – a day after Trump tried distancing himself from his lawyer – in the wake of a report that the former New York mayor is the target of federal investigators. The New York Times reported Friday that federal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking into whether Giuliani violated foreign lobbying laws in his dealings with Ukraine.
The House inquiry into President Trump continues as Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer, faces a federal investigation.
If you’re just tuning in, here’s the latest on the inquiry:
