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Trump causing constitutional crisis by denying Congress its oversight power: Analyst

Political analyst Myles Hoenig

President Donald Trump is causing a constitutional crisis in the United States by denying Congress its oversight power, says a political analyst.

Myles Hoenig made the remarks in an interview with Press TV when asked about a phone call between Trump and Ukraine's president during which the US president discussed former Vice President Joe Biden.

On Sunday, Trump acknowledged that he had discussed Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his July 25 call.

"We had a great conversation. The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption -- all of the corruption taking place, was largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son (adding to the corruption)," Trump told reporters.

Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son, according to The Wall Street Journal. Trump told Zelensky nearly eight times to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on a probe related to Hunter Biden, the Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The news reports about the phone call have intensified demands by Democratic lawmakers for the House of Representatives to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump.

The interactions between Trump, Giuliani and Ukraine have come under scrutiny in recent days in the wake of a whistleblower complaint that a person familiar with the matter said involves the president’s communications with a foreign leader.

The complaint, which The Washington Post reported centers on Ukraine, has prompted a new standoff between Congress and the executive branch.

“Withholding such evidence as what Trump discussed with the Ukrainian president regarding pressure to investigate his political opponent’s son could be the final straw for impeachment or just another example of how unethical the US media is, and not just regarding their relations to Trump. First on the impeachment,” Hoenig said on Sunday.

“This is a Constitutional crisis we’re in now that the president continues to deny Congress its power of oversight. This has gone on for as long as Trump has been president and is no different. He has prevented people from testifying using dubious claims of executive privilege; he has withheld documents; and he has smeared Congress and its Constitutional role to his base.”

Hoenig went on to say Congress should stop claiming it needs more evidence to initiate formal impeachment hearings for Trump and act.

“Congressman (Adam Bennett) Schiff has to make the decision, along with Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi, whether to do their job or not. Sen. (Elizabeth) Warren is correct in saying that Congress is complicit by not initiating formal impeachment hearings. If Schiff and Pelosi keep stalling, claiming to wait for more evidence, as if none existed already, then this Democratic Congress will go down as had completely abdicated its responsibility regarding its Constitutional obligations.”

“This Washington game of impeachment will or will not soon be swallowed up in the 2020 elections and will have to go one way or the other. The media, on the other hand, knows which way it’s going.”


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