Politics

President Trump is still upset that next year’s G-7 summit will not be held at his golf resort in Doral, Fla.

The president on Sunday took to Twitter to boast that his resort — Trump National Doral Miami — was picked as the Resort of the Week by Golf.com, and then took a shot at the “very stupid people” who worried that Trump would be breaking the emoluments clause in the Constitution.

“Too bad we didn’t have the G-7 here. I offered to pick up the entire cost, would have saved at least $35,000,000 for the USA,” Trump tweeted. “Best location. Very stupid people thought I would gain. Wrong! Looking at Camp David. Will announce soon.”

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced in October that next year’s G-7 meeting was going to be held at the Doral resort between June 10 and 12, but then – during his infamous “We do it all the time” press conference – Mulvaney later rescinded the move. No new location has yet to be announced.

RICK PERRY, OTHER OFFICIALS CALLED TO TESTIFY IN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Trump first made a pitch to have next year’s summit at the resort during August’s G-7 conference in France – and stirred up controversy amid concerns over the ethics of the president personally profiting off an official government event.

“I used to make money off giving speeches. Now, I make speeches all the time and you know how much I make? Zero,” Trump said in August while defending his call to have the meeting in Doral.

The president added: “From my standpoint, I’m not going to make any money…I don’t want to make any money.”

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Since assuming office, the president has faced repeated pushback from a number of his aides regarding his official visits to properties he owns in New Jersey and Florida. They are worried about the appearance that Trump is using taxpayer dollars to turn a profit at his own resorts.

Trump, who has not divested from his properties, spends many weekends at his resorts in either Florida or New Jersey and has regularly dined at his organization’s restaurant in Washington, D.C. A Washington Post analysis found that the president’s trips to his properties have brought his businesses at least $1.6 million in revenue since he took office – mostly from federal officials and GOP campaigns who follow Trump.

While the Constitution prohibits presidents from taking “emoluments,” or payments, from foreign states, Trump says that clause refers to a ban on outright bribes, not business transactions, and that he will continue to do business with foreign governments at his hotels.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who promised to sue CNN and the Daily Beast, said this week on “Sunday Morning Futures” that the only way to hold the “corrupt” media accountable is to challenge them in federal court.

Nunes first threatened legal action on Friday, after both outlets published stories claiming the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee had met with Ukranian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in Vienna in 2018 to push for an investigation into Hunter and Joe Biden. Both stories cite former Rudy Guliani associate, Lev Parnas, who was indicted in October for conspiring to violate the ban on foreign donations, prompting Nunes to question the validity of the source.

“I’ve been used to this for the last three years,” Nunes told Fox News. “The House Intelligence Committee Republicans, we continue to expose Democrat corruption over and over again. And what always happens is right when we expose them… they go out to kill the messenger.”

“So this week — another fake news story. The problem with this week’s fake news story is — we actually caught them,” he continued. “And we caught them badly and it also involves criminal activity… We are going to take both CNN and the Daily Beast likely into federal court, right after Thanksgiving and we hope they cooperate.”

The Daily Beast originally broke the story about Nunes’ alleged meeting on Thursday, citing Parnas’ lawyer Ed MacMahon as their source. The Beast also cites congressional travel records which it claims shows Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2018, along with three of his aides. CNN followed up with an article on Saturday, citing Parnas’ other lawyer, Joseph A. Bondy, who said Nunes was put in touch with officials who could help him dig up dirt on the Bidens.

NUNES AT IMPEACHMENT HEARING: INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE ‘HIJACKED’ BY ‘PARTISAN EXTREMISTS’ TO REMOVE THIS PRESIDENT

Nunes told Fox News it was inappropriate for a news organization to take the word of someone who is attempting to smear a congressman, while still under federal indictment.

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“It is not OK to work with someone who has been indicted on [a] serious federal crime, to build a media narrative and dirty up a member of Congress,” he said. “You’ve seen it, the American people have seen it over the last three years. We out them, and then they come out with a media narrative to try to dirty up the people who are doing the work on behalf of the American people.

“So we hope that CNN and Daily Beast will cooperate with the court,” Nunes continued. “They should comply with the subpoenas once we file this and go through different depositions. It should be fun.”

Host Maria Bartiromo asked Nunes if he wished to elaborate further on his involvement in the case, but he declined to go any deeper, saying he would not debate the issue through the media.

“I really want to answer all these questions,” he said. “But I think you can understand that I can’t compete by trying to debate this out with the public media when 90 percent of the media are totally corrupt. And because this is criminal in nature and because it’s so bad, it’s so slanderous — we’ve got all the facts on our side and we’re going to file in federal court, because I’m not going to sit here and try to compete against the media that I have no chance of winning this. I will win in court.”

NUNES SLAMS IMPEACHMENT ‘THREE-CARD MONTE,’ THEN YIELDS TO SCHIFF FOR ‘STORYLINE HOUR’

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Nunes did, however, say it’s “likely” that CNN and the Daily Beast committed criminal activity, and claimed the only way to find out the truth is to have them answer questions under oath.

“It’s very likely [they committed a crime], or they’re an accessory to it,” he said. “So none of this is true… We will get to all the facts when it’s filed in court. But somehow they’re either witting or unwitting of listening to somebody who’s been indicted and not only that, but it’s their lawyers. So you’re talking about third and fourth hand hearsay to do what? To dirty up the leader of the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee that just destroyed their complete narrative that they’ve been pushing.”

Nunes provided a statement to Breitbart on Friday when news of a lawsuit first broke, calling the charges “demonstrably false” and “reckless.”

“These demonstrably false and scandalous stories published by the Daily Beast and CNN are the perfect example of defamation and reckless disregard for the truth,” Nunes told Breitbart News. “Some political operative offered these fake stories to at least five different media outlets before finding someone irresponsible enough to publish them. I look forward to prosecuting these cases, including the media outlets, as well as the sources of their fake stories, to the fullest extent of the law. I intend to hold the Daily Beast and CNN accountable for their actions. They will find themselves in court soon after Thanksgiving.”

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., defended President Trump taking action on reviewing the case of disgraced Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher – saying he was “very comfortable” with the president making the final choice on whether Gallagher will keep his rank despite objections from top naval brass.

“I think the president as commander in chief can make this decision,” Wicker said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I feel very comfortable with him making it.”

Earlier this weekend, the New York Times reported that Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Commander Rear Adm. Collin Green had threatened to resign if the Navy carries out the request by Trump to restore Gallagher’s rank to chief petty officer after he was demoted last summer. Spencer has denied the claim.

TRUMP DECLARES NAVY WILL NOT TAKE AWAY EDDIE GALLAGHER’S SEAL TRIDENT, AS ATTORNEY BLASTS ADMIRAL

Gallagher was found not guilty of murdering an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter during a 2017 deployment to Iraq, but was convicted of posing for a photo with the corpse. His case and trial made international headlines and caught the attention of President Trump, who tweeted on Wednesday in support of Gallagher.

“The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” Trump said.

“This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!” he added. The Trident pin signifies membership of the elite SEAL force.

There is concern at the Pentagon that the president is micromanaging the military justice system, according to multiple officials who asked not to be identified. This, following the president’s recent pardons issued to two Army officers, as well as ordering Gallagher’s rank be restored.

Officials say the president should not be deciding who can or cannot be a Navy SEAL.

However, Spencer told reporters the president has every right to intervene in military justice proceedings.

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“The president of the United States is the commander in chief, he’s involved in every aspect of government and he can make decisions and do things and give orders as he deems appropriate,” he said.

On Nov. 15, Trump granted clemency to Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, six years after he was found guilty of murder for ordering his soldiers to open fire and kill three men in Afghanistan. His supporters say the men they killed were Taliban fighters. However, nine members of his unit testified against him, saying the men were innocent.

Trump also granted clemency to Maj. Matt Golsteyn, a former Green Beret, and said the murder charges will be dropped against him. Golsteyn was charged in the 2010 premeditated murder of a suspected Taliban bomb maker. His trial was expected to begin next month.

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., defended on Sunday the hasty pace of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump – arguing that with the 2020 presidential election less than a year away, and the start of Democratic primaries only a few months ahead, it is pertinent to discover whether Trump asked a foreign government to interfere in the country’s election process.

“Most importantly the president invoked an upcoming election – there’s an urgency to make sure the election and the ballot box have integrity, and if he’s asking a foreign government to interfere, we are on the clock to make sure that election is protected,” Swalwell said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee that is holding the hearings in the impeachment inquiry, said that if lawmakers let the issue go to the courts “we could lose everything we value in our democracy” by waiting for the process to play out. He added that the witnesses who have come before the committee over the past two weeks have already laid out damning evidence against Trump.

IN TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, SENATE REPUBLICANS COULD TURN TABLES ON DEMS

“This court process is a 9-to-12-month process; we could lose everything we value in our democracy waiting on the courts,” he said.

Anchor Chris Wallace brought up the Watergate scandal, arguing that no witnesses with first-hand knowledge have come forward to testify that there was a quid pro quo between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.  The panel is working to determine whether Trump threatened withholding military aid and a one-on-one meeting if Kiev didn’t publicly announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine.

“We don’t have as many courageous men in the White House, but we do have a lot of the president’s appointees who have come forward,” Swalwell said.

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Wallace also asked Swalwell if he was concerned about the recent polls that show overall support for impeachment has dropped significantly since the hearings began.

“I’m not focused on the polls, I know my colleagues aren’t either,” Swalwell said. “This president used his great vast power to ask a foreign government to help him cheat an election.”

A video released on Sunday by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg marks the official start of the billionaire’s 2020 presidential run, a top adviser to Bloomberg told Fox News.

The one-minute ad, which was posted on social media and features images of Bloomberg campaigning alongside those during his younger years, shots of New York City and unflattering images of President Trump, is “the launch ad,” according to one of his top advisers.

Along with the video, Bloomberg posted a written statement on his campaign website in which he laid out why he was the best candidate to defeat President Trump next November.

“I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Bloomberg wrote.

BLOOMBERG LAUNCHING ‘MASSIVE’ COAST TO COAST TV AD BUY

“We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” he continued. “He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.”

There has been speculation for months that Bloomberg, who donated millions of his own dollars to Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, would enter the 2020 fray, but rumors hit a frenzied point earlier this month when he completed the paperwork to be on the Democratic primary ballot in Alabama.

Bloomberg had announced earlier this year that he would not seek the party’s nomination. But, in a statement obtained by Fox News in early November, his political adviser Howard Wolfson said Bloomberg was worried that the current crop of Democrats seeking the White House was “not well-positioned” to defeat President  Trump.

“In 2018 [Bloomberg] spent more than $100 million to help elect Democrats to ensure that Congress began to hold the President accountable,” Wolfson said. “And this year he helped Democrats win control of both houses of the Virginia legislature.”

He added: “We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated — but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that.”

Bloomberg’s expected move has come amid increasing concern about the leftward drift of the major Democratic candidates, the departure of candidates who failed to gain traction – and talk of other potential late entries.

BLOOMBERG WON’T CAMPAIGN IN EARLY VOTING STATES IF HE RUNS

Bloomberg’s entrance comes just 10 weeks before primary voting begins, an unorthodox move that reflects anxiety within the Democratic Party about the strength of its current candidates.

As a centrist with deep ties to Wall Street, Bloomberg is expected to struggle among the party’s energized progressive base. He became a Democrat only last year. Yet his tremendous resources and moderate profile could be appealing in a primary contest that has become, above all, a quest to find the person best-positioned to deny Trump a second term next November.

Forbes ranked Bloomberg as the 11th-richest person in the world last year with a net worth of roughly $50 billion. Trump, by contrast, was ranked 259th with a net worth of just over $3 billion.

Already, Bloomberg has vowed to spend at least $150 million of his fortune on various pieces of a 2020 campaign, including more than $100 million for internet ads attacking Trump, between $15 million and $20 million on a voter registration drive largely targeting minority voters, and more than $30 million on an initial round of television ads.

Even before the announcement was final, Democratic rivals like Bernie Sanders pounced on Bloomberg’s plans to rely on his personal fortune.

“I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy elections,” Sanders tweeted on Friday.

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Elizabeth Warren, another leading progressive candidate, also slammed Bloomberg on Saturday for trying to buy the presidency.

“I understand that rich people are going to have more shoes than the rest of us, they’re going to have more cars than the rest of us, they’re going to have more houses,” she said after a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire. “But they don’t get a bigger share of democracy, especially in a Democratic primary. We need to be doing the face-to-face work that lifts every voice.”

Fox News’ Ed Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on Sunday slammed the House’s impeachment inquiry into President Trump for chasing after a “red herring” when trying to determine whether the president tied foreign aid to Ukraine to an investigation into his political rivals, and he attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for making impeachment proceedings a “political weapon.”

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Kennedy dodged a question by Chris Wallace on whether Trump was asking Ukraine to investigate corruption or to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and instead called out Pelosi for politicizing the impeachment process.

“Speaker Pelosi is acting in a manner that is insincere, even by the standards of Congress,” Kennedy said. “She is turning impeachment into a routine political weapon.”

READ: GORDON SONDLAND’S IMPEACHMENT HEARING OPENING STATEMENT

Kennedy went on to criticize House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s move to bar Republicans from calling witnesses in the impeachment inquiry and “not allowing the president to defend himself.”

A number of Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have commented that the president is welcome to testify before the committee during the impeachment hearings.

On the issue of if there was quid pro quo between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the president asked his Eastern European counterpart to look into the Ukraine business dealings of Biden and his son Hunter, Kennedy made his feelings clear.

“The quid pro quo is a red herring,” he said. “President Trump asked for an investigation of possible corruption by someone who happens to be a political rival. The matter, if proven, would be in the national interest.”

The impeachment inquiry into Trump began when a whistleblower reported that Trump had pushed Zelensky to launch a public investigation into the Biden family’s dealings in Ukraine — specifically, why the former vice president pressured former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to fire a top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings.

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Hunter Biden worked for a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kiev. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president or his son.

Kennedy’s comments come two days after his fellow Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, sent a letter Thursday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting the release of any documents related to contacts between Biden, his son and Poroshenko.

Graham’s letter, which was released as the final day of public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump wrapped up, asked Pompeo to release a series of documents and transcripts of conversations in 2016 between Biden and Poroshenko in relation to an investigation into Burisma Holdings.

Progressive environmental activists continued ratcheting up pressure on elected Democrats in November, demanding they embrace more aggressive policies to curb emissions and address the effects of climate change.

On Friday, nearly 260 groups sent a letter requesting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Ill., pursue policies like the Green New Deal instead of “incremental or isolated policy tweaks.”

“We are also prepared to hold legislators accountable if they fail to support bold action,” the letter, signed by groups such as CODEPINK, said. “With millions of lives at stake, we need leaders in Congress with the courage to move beyond the decades-old political status quo that protects corporate interests over the health and well-being of our communities.”

The groups’ letter came amid an internal debate in which Democrats wrestled with how ambitious their climate proposals should be. Activists’ fears likely intensified earlier in November when President Trump filed paperwork to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, a multilateral pact aimed at reducing temperature increases during the century.

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The Green New Deal, proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has become a rallying cry for more progressive elements of the party and a symbol of the need to overcome congressional stagnation on the issue.

In January, the House of Representatives created the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which Castor chairs, but activists were apparently dissatisfied with the progress made since its launch. Pelosi, who created the panel, faced another round of sit-ins at her D.C. office this week, which ended with several arrests.

According to The Washington Post, the group Extinction Rebellion held a hunger strike in an attempt to force the speaker into video-recording the meeting. When they realized she was planning to leave D.C., the protesters attempted to storm past her office’s entrance and into a broader room where her chief of staff sat.

The protests served as yet another indication of tension between the progressive base and Democratic leadership. Pelosi only created the climate committee after an earlier climate sit-in that took place in her office in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez joined that sit-in and has since been a leader in challenging establishment Democrats, like former Vice President Joe Biden, to pursue more ambitious proposals.

Friday’s letter critiqued the Select Committee’s efforts as self-defeating.

“By framing its request for input myopically, the Select Committee has created a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby the solutions it is likely to recommend only partially address the climate crisis,” the letter said.

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Protesters also occupied Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s office on Friday, similarly demanding bolder action than what the 2020 hopeful outlined in his climate plan from September. That event was planned by the Sunrise Movement, a group that has cooperated with Ocasio-Cortez in pushing her Green New Deal.

Meanwhile in D.C, actress Jane Fonda led yet another climate demonstration in which police arrested protesters after they blocked traffic in front of the Supreme Court. Fonda, a vocal activist, has been arrested at least four times this year.

It’s unclear how Pelosi intended to react, as her caucus has also been pushing a high-profile impeachment inquiry that included public hearings this week. She previously downplayed the potential of passing the Green New Deal, noting that she couldn’t “say we’re going to take that and pass it.”

More than 150 House Democrats have signed on to legislation introduced Thursday that would seek net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A similar bill emerged in July utilizing a carbon tax.

Although leading presidential candidates have endorsed the Green New Deal, the candidates and congressional Democrats could scale back their climate advocacy in an attempt to shore up moderates before 2020. While existing plans likely inspired hope among activists, that attempt at moderation might inflame the progressive base.

Friday’s letter called for sweeping action beyond just emissions reductions.

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“We must take a holistic approach to healthy communities that addresses the disproportionate burden of pollution and environmental degradation, as well as other threats, such as mass incarceration and militarization,” the letter said. “We need policies rooted in justice that protect the right to housing and healthcare. And to foster a healthy democracy, we must reverse the erosion of voting rights, including ending partisan gerrymandering.”

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital on Friday night after experiencing chills and a fever, the Supreme Court said Saturday night.

Ginsburg, 86, was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., before being transferred to Johns Hopkins for further evaluation and treatment of any possible infection, the Supreme Court said in a press release.

Her symptoms have abated after intravenous antibiotics and fluids and she is expected to be released from the hospital as early as Sunday morning, according to the release.

Ginsburg has suffered a number of hospital stints recently.

RUTH BADER GINSBERG MISSES SUPREME COURT ARGUMENTS DUE TO ILLNESS

She missed oral arguments before the high court on Nov. 13 — which she almost never does — due to a stomach bug.

Ginsburg has also had two separate bouts with cancer in the past year. Her recovery from lung cancer caused her to miss court sessions in January, her first time doing so in her quarter-century as a justice.

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In August, she had radiation treatment for a tumor on her pancreas. 

“Ambassador Sondland,” warned Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., from the dais on day four of the open impeachment hearings. “You are here to be smeared.”

Nunes is the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee. But it wasn’t clear at that moment to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, that Republicans may be doing the smearing.

IN TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, SENATE REPUBLICANS COULD TURN TABLES ON DEMS

Sondland told lawmakers that there was indeed a quid pro quo. He testified that Rudolph Giuliani said requests for a quid pro quo were linked to possible White House meetings for Ukrainian leaders and to prompt investigations of the Bidens. Sondland announced that U.S. aid would not flow to Kiev unless there were probes. Sondland even testified he told Vice President Mike Pence in early September of harboring concerns about connecting the aid to investigations.

But then Mark Short, Chief of Staff to the Vice President, unloaded on Sondland.

“The Vice President never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations,” said Short. “Ambassador Gordon Sondland was never alone with Vice President Pence on the September 1 trip to Poland.  This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened.”

Sondland testified that he pieced together what was going on: a linkage between aid to Ukraine and an investigation of the Bidens.

“It was a presumption,” said Sondland. “Two plus two equals four in my mind.”

Nunes seized on Sondland, divining President Trump’s approach toward Ukraine – without really grasping the policy.

Nunes said it would be “great” if Sondland actually knew the status of the foreign aid “rather than doing funny little math problems here. Two plus two equals four.”

The Republican attorney for the impeachment inquest, counsel Steve Castor, called into question the veracity of Sondland’s interpretations – since the ambassador conceded he rarely took notes.

“You don’t have records. You don’t have your notes because you didn’t take notes. You don’t have a lot of recollections. I mean, this is like the trifecta of unreliability. Isn’t that true?” hectored Castor. “It’s a lot of speculation. A lot of it is your guessing. And we’re talking about impeachment of the President of the United States. So the evidence should be pretty darn good.”

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, challenged precisely what Sondland thought he may have known about the status of military assistance to Ukraine – and what factors were in play about its release.

“No one on this planet told you that President Trump was tying aid to investigations. Yes or no?” asked Turner.

WHITE HOUSE WANTS ITS LAWYERS TO CROSS-EXAMINE, CALL WITNESES IF IMPEACHMENT GOES TO HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

“Yes,” replied Sondland.

“So you really have no testimony today that ties President Trump to a scheme to withhold aid from Ukraine in exchange for these investigations?” continued Turner.

“Other than my own presumptions,” answered Sondland.

It wasn’t long after Sondland concluded that more Republicans off Capitol Hill began to muddy the ambassador’s testimony.

“Gordon Sondland never told Secretary Pompeo that he believed the President was linking aid to investigations of political opponents. Any suggestion to the contrary is flat out false,” said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry emerged in the Ukraine affair as one of the “three amigos” who were crafting U.S. policy with Ukraine – potentially beyond the bounds of regular diplomatic channels. The other two “amigos” were Sondland and former envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker. But Perry’s team pushed back on Sondland as well.

“Ambassador Sondland’s testimony today misrepresented both Secretary Perry’s interaction with Rudy Giuliani and direction the Secretary received from President Trump,” said Perry spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes. “As previously stated, Secretary Perry spoke to Rudy Giuliani only once at the President’s request. No one else was on that call. At no point before, during or after that phone call did the words ‘Biden’ or ‘Burisma’ ever come up in the presence of Secretary Perry.”

There are problems with Sondland’s testimony. Much of it is predicated on interpretations and perceptions. And, to be fair, Republicans may not really be “smearing” Sondland here. Both sides are fighting to frame their arguments. Like in a court case, GOPers are naturally trying to undercut the credibility of witnesses. Any good counsel would poke holes in testimony, question credibility of the witness and cast doubt.

Before Messrs. Sondland, Perry and Volker rode as the “three amigos,” children of the ‘80s recall a critically-panned, but now cult classic comedy movie titled the “Three Amigos.” The film starred comedy legends Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase. Martin, balladeer Randy Newman and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels wrote the script. But the passing reference to the ‘80s comedy was far from the only pop cultural reference in the impeachment hearings.

Sondland may have lacked concrete information about U.S. Ukraine policy. But what Sondland seemed to remember most from his phone call with President Trump on July 26 from a Kiev restaurant, was discussion of rapper A$AP Rocky. Sondland testified he didn’t initially mention the phone call when House investigators first deposed him in October. But discussion by others about A$AP Rocky jogged his memory.

“That’s the way memory works,” observed Intelligence Committee Democratic Counsel Daniel Goldman.

In fact, Sondland testified that much of his conversation with President Trump centered on the legal status of A$AP Rocky, held by Swedish authorities after an alleged assault.

A$AP Rocky emerged as a fringe figure in the impeachment inquiry after U.S. diplomat to Ukraine David Holmes, lunching that day with Sondland in Kiev, testified that A$AP Rocky’s detention appeared prominently in President Trump’s phone call with the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union.

Holmes told the Intelligence Committee that Sondland said to Mr. Trump “the President of Sweden ‘should have released (A$AP Rocky) on your word,’ but that ‘you can tell the Kardashians you tried.’”

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And you thought all President Trump cared about was an investigation of the Bidens.

But, these discussions may have created a special moment in American history. Neither the Kardashians nor A$AP Rocky came up during the impeachment investigations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. However, the historical record is a little unclear as to whether the Kardashians played a side role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868.

Congress is out until early December for the Thanksgiving recess. Perhaps the biggest thing to watch now is where public opinion goes over the Thanksgiving recess. Expect lots of debate – and maybe actual arguments about impeachment – at dinner tables over turkey, gravy, stuffing, cornbread and pumpkin pie.

Those Thanksgiving conversations could dictate where impeachment is headed.

And there may even be chatter about A$AP Rocky, too.

DONNA, Texas — As the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to build 450-500 miles of border wall by the end of next year, new Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf toured new construction this week, and declared that such efforts to combat illegal immigration are “common sense.”

“Simply put – walls work,” the new acting DHS chief said Thursday, speaking to reporters in Rio Grande Valley sector and surrounded by Border Patrol agents. “We have seen over and over again that when we construct a wall, illegal activity goes down. We saw it in the 1990s in San Diego, and we are seeing it today in El Paso.”

IN SAN DIEGO, OFFICIALS SAY NEW WALL IS HELPING BRING BORDER NUMBERS DOWN

Wolf took over the role from former Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan this month, and has so far shown no sign of backing down or changing course on delivering on Trump’s central 2016 campaign promise.

“It’s common sense,” he said. “No one disputes that we should give our men and women in the military the best equipment to keep them safe and to keep our country safe. Why should things be any different for the men and women of the Border Patrol, who are protecting our homeland?”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ENTERS NEW PHASE FOR BORDER WALL, SETS AMBITIOUS TIMETABLE AFTER SECURING LAND

The administration has been ramping up efforts over the summer to secure critical strips of private land in order to enter a new phase of construction — where they are not just revamping existing structures, but constructing “new linear wall” where no structure existed before.

The wall has faced significant challenges, including the securing of private land, legal challenges, as well as almost entirely united bloc of Democratic support against the wall in Congress. In September, the Supreme Court sided with the administration in lifting a freeze that halted plans to use Pentagon money for wall construction — giving the administration more money to work with.

It has also faced reports that smugglers may be able to cut through the border wall with easily-purchasable power tools. U.S. border agents told The Washington Post that smugglers have been using reciprocating saws to cut through steel and concrete. The saws could cut through beams, regardless of their material, in just a few minutes, they said. The administration has said that no structure is perfect, with Trump arguing “you can cut through anything.”

On Thursday, Wolf said that so far 83 miles of new wall have been built. While critics note that much of that mileage is revamping existing wall, officials have argued that some of the structures it replaces are so flimsy — including Normandy-style landing mats — that it is essentially new wall.

“When we tear down 1970s era landing mat wall that is seven-eight feet high and you put up what’s behind us, that’s not replacement wall — that is a new wall that is a new physical infrastructure,” he said. “So I don’t agree with the assertion that we’re simply replacing wall by constructing what’s behind us in places that have never had this type of physical infrastructure.”

And it is an overpowering structure. While still under construction, the 30-foot structure towered over both Wolf and the officials who accompanied him on the tour. Officials also call it a “border wall system,” noting that it includes lighting, cameras as well as roads with which to be able to access different parts of the wall quickly.

Wolf said that 110 of the 450-500 miles will be built in RGV, and said that they have funded and built more wall in the first three years of the Trump administration. He also dismissed claims by Democrats that the wall is a “vanity project,” saying it had been recommended repeatedly by border agents who called it a “game changer.”

One Border Patrol official touring with Wolf agreed.

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“As an agent for 21 years in Border Patrol, this is what we’ve been asking for, we’ve been Asking for this kind of enforcement system that allows us to really work smarter,” she said.