Congress returns to work, tackles impeachment, Syria fallout

WASHINGTON — Congress returned Tuesday, pushing the presidential impeachment inquiry into high gear while grappling with the unfolding foreign policy consequences in Syria due the White House decision to pull U.S. troops from the region.

The rapid developments in Syria and the stepped-up attacks by Turkish forces against Kurdish fighters prompted President Donald Trump to call for a cease-fire as he leveled sanctions on Turkey for its military actions.

“We want to bring our soldiers home,” Trump said Tuesday in defense of his initial decision to withdraw. “We’re being very tough on Turkey and a lot of others.”

“They have to maintain their own properties now. They have to maintain peace and safety. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “We’re asking for a cease-fire.”

Trump also announced that he is sending Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a delegation of U.S. officials to Turkey on Wednesday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reach a negotiated settlement to end hostilities.

Still, the Trump administration foreign policy continued to draw a strong rebuke Tuesday from Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate who see the president’s decision as a betrayal of the Kurds who fought with allied forces to battle the barbarism of ISIS.

The sentiments echoed those from last week when Trump first announced the U.S. policy reversal.

“Kurds have fought by American troops’ side and are now being killed as the president turns his back,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said after the president’s initial announcement of U.S. withdraw in Syria.

Bipartisan opposition

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the U.S. abandonment of the fight in the region now would allow and “invite the resurgence of ISIS.”

McConnell said he wants to meet with senators and White House officials to determine how to quickly move forward to avoid a catastrophe in the region.

“It would be a tragedy for both of our nations if Turkey’s escalation in Syria imperils our common fight against ISIS and emboldens adversaries like Iran,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will take up a bipartisan, bicameral resolution this week “to oppose this irresponsible decision.”

Pelosi announced plans to move the resolution after talks with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally but a vocal critic of the president’s decision to pull U.S. troops that has created an “escalation of chaos” in Syria.

Impeachment accelerating

Meanwhile, Democrats are ramping up their impeachment inquiry into allegations the president coerced the newly installed Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

“That pace is only accelerating,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the Intelligence Committee who is heading the impeachment inquiry.

Trump and Republicans in Congress have dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a partisan exercise because Pelosi launched the inquiry without a House vote, like those that preceded the impeachment of former Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Pelosi said neither the Constitution nor House rules require a vote to launch an inquiry. Pelosi, after meeting with the House Democratic caucus late Tuesday, said that no vote would be held to launch the inquiry she has already announced.

Three House committees heard testimony Tuesday from George Kent, a foreign service officer, about the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his involvement in the request by Trump for a Ukrainian investigation of a Democratic political adversary.

Kent told lawmakers he was concerned about Giuliani’s involvement in foreign policy regarding the Ukraine, Rep. Gerald Connally, D-Va., said.

His testimony follows that of Fiona Hill, who served on the National Security Council.

Hill told the House panels, during a closed-door session, that Giuliani and the Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, formed shadow foreign policy that alarmed U.S. intelligence officials, according to unnamed sources who spoke to the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Investigations, hearings ongoing

Giuliani dismissed the claims, saying he reported his involvement with Ukrainian officials to National Security Council officials. His lawyers informed the committees he would not comply with a congressional subpoena to testify.

Sondland is expected to testify before the committees this week.

As well as depositions, the House has set deadlines for numerous departments and officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, to release documents related to the Ukraine inquiry and other investigation into Trump actions or businesses.

One of those investigations is headed by Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., chairwoman of a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee trying to determine if Trump violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by profiting from foreign governments through his Washington hotel.

The clause prohibits presidents from receiving payments from states or foreign governments, other than salary.

Titus has given the General Services Administration a Wednesday deadline to financial records and legal analysis on the Trump International Hotel and its lease of the Old Post Office, which is owned by the federal government.

In addition, Titus is seeking records about Kuwaiti celebrations at the Trump International Hotel in 2017 and 2018, the Philippine Independence Day celebration in 2018 and rooms and meals purchased by then-Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

Titus said failure to disclose the information would result in the issuance of a subpoena for the records issued by Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Calif., of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.