The Daily - The Latest: The Mueller Question

To mention the Mueller report in articles of impeachment against President Trump, or not? That’s the question Democrats have been asking. Today’s impeachment hearing before the House Judiciary Committee gave us a clue about which way they’re leaning. “The Latest” is a series on the impeachment inquiry, from the team behind “The Daily.” You can find more information about it here.

Duration: 6m
Broadcast on: 09 Dec 2019
Audio Format: other

“The Latest” is a series on the impeachment inquiry, from the team behind “The Daily.” You can find more information about it here.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"It started with a whistle blower's complaint about President Trump's contact with a foreign leader." "Had a perfect phone call with the president of Ukraine, like, I mean perfect." "Today, I am asking our chairman to proceed with the Articles of Impeachment." "You need to call the ball of those rocks in the right way." "You don't interrupt either one of those, you're your commander or the witness." "Mang it harder, it's still doesn't make the point that you're not doing it right." It's Julie Davis in the Washington Bureau of the New York Times. Today the House Judiciary Committee took the next step in building an impeachment case against Donald Trump. As they worked toward drafting Articles of Impeachment, they heard from attorneys who work for the two congressional committees leading this charge. "We will hear 30-minute opening arguments from councils for the majority and the minority of this committee." "Prolators from the Judiciary Committee, which has been thinking about impeachment for months." "Then we will hear 45-minute presentations of evidence for a majority and a minority council from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence." "And from the Intelligence Committee, which wrapped up its work last week investigating this Ukraine matter, they're recapping for the Judiciary Committee everything that's come out of the hearing so far, so the committee can figure out if they can translate that into actual Articles of Impeachment and if so, what they should say." "Mr. Burke is recognized." "Just being welcome." "Mr. Burke has the floor." "Thank you Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Collins and all the members." There was Barry Burke, the lawyer who's been working with Judiciary since February to investigate whether Trump abused his power and obstructive justice. He started with this anecdote about his young son as a way to boil this whole investigation down. "Before I had the great honor of being a council for this committee, my young son asked me a question. He said, "Dad, does the president have to be a good person?" Like many questions by young children, it had a certain clarity but it was hard to answer. I said, "Son, it is not a requirement that the president be a good person but that is the hope. It is a requirement that the president be a person who does not abuse his power." And if you're discussing this with a kid, the simplest explanation is that the president can be a bad guy, that's not what this is about, Burke says, but he can't be a corrupt person, somebody putting his own interests ahead of the country's interests. It is a requirement that the president not be a person who acts as though he is above the law and putting his personal and political interests above the nation's interests. That is the lesson of the Constitution, that is the lesson of the Founders. And then the committee also heard from Daniel Goldman, who's the Democratic lawyer on the House Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating the Ukraine affair. Great to meet you, Mr. Goldman, you may begin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And he has sort of the line of the day about how the president's ongoing efforts to get a foreign country's help in his reelection effort amounted to what he called a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security. That's just the starkest way you can put that.

Transcription truncated.