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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Monday, December 10, 2018 3A
Dems raise prospect of impeachment
BY HOPE YEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Top
House Democrats on Sun
day raised the prospect of
impeachment or almost-cer-
tain prison time for President
Donald Trump if it’s proved
that he directed illegal hush-
money payments to women,
adding to the legal pressure
on the president over the
Russia investigation and
other scandals.
“There’s a very real pros
pect that on the day Donald
Trump leaves office, the
Justice Department may
indict him, that he may be
the first president in quite
some time to face the real
prospect of jail time,” said
Rep. Adam Schiff, the incom
ing chairman of the House
intelligence committee. “The
bigger pardon question may
come down the road as the
next president has to deter
mine whether to pardon Don
ald Trump.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the
incoming chairman of the
House Judiciary Commit
tee, described the details in
prosecutors’ filings Friday in
the case of Trump’s former
personal lawyer, Michael
Cohen, as evidence
that Trump was “at
the center of a mas
sive fraud.”
“They would
be impeachable
offenses,” Nadler
said.
In the filings, pros
ecutors in New York
for the first time link
Trump to a federal crime of
illegal payments to buy the
silence of two women during
the 2016 campaign. Special
counsel Robert Mueller’s
office also laid out previ
ously undisclosed contacts
between Trump associates
and Russian intermediaries
and suggested the Kremlin
aimed early on to influence
Trump and his Republican
campaign by playing to both
his political and personal
business interests.
Trump has denied wrong
doing and has compared the
investigations to a “witch
hunt.”
Nadler, D-N.Y., said it was
too early to say whether Con
gress would pursue impeach
ment proceedings based on
the illegal payments alone
because lawmakers would
need to weigh the gravity of
the offense to justify “over
turning” the 2016
election. Nadler
and other lawmak
ers said Sunday they
would await addi
tional details from
Mueller’s investiga
tion into Russian
election interfer
ence and possible
coordination with
the Trump campaign to
determine the extent of
Trump’s misconduct.
Regarding the illegal
payments, “whether they
are important enough to
justify an impeachment is
a different question, but
certainly they’d be impeach
able offenses because even
though they were committed
before the president became
president, they were commit
ted in the service of fraudu
lently obtaining the office,”
Nadler said.
Mueller has not said when
he will complete a report of
any findings, and it isn’t clear
that any such report would
be made available
to Congress. That
would be up to the
attorney general.
Trump on Fri
day said he would
nominate former
Attorney General
William Barr to the
post to succeed Jeff
Sessions.
Nadler indicated that
Democrats, who will control
the House in January, will
step up their own investiga
tions. He said Congress, the
Justice Department and the
special counsel need to dig
deeper into the allegations,
which include questions
about whether Trump lied
about his business arrange
ments with Russians and
about possible obstruction of
justice.
“The new Congress will not
try to shield the president,”
he said. “We will try to get to
the bottom of this, in order to
serve the American people
and to stop this massive con
spiracy — this mas
sive fraud on the
American people.”
Schiff, D-Calif.,
also stressed a need
to wait “until we
see the full picture.”
He has previously
indicated his panel
would seek to look
into the Trump fam
ily’s business ties with Russia.
“I think we also need to see
this as a part of a broader pat
tern of potential misconduct
by the president, and it’s that
broad pattern, I think, that
will lead us to a conclusion
about whether it rises to the
level to warrant removal
from office,” Schiff said.
In the legal filings, the
Justice Department stopped
short of accusing Trump of
directly committing a crime.
But it said Trump told Cohen
to make illegal payments to
porn actress Stormy Daniels
and former Playboy model
Karen McDougal, both of
whom claimed to have had
affairs with Trump more
than a decade ago.
In separate filings, Muel
ler’s team detail how Cohen
spoke to a Russian who
“claimed to be a ‘trusted
person’ in the Russian Fed
eration who could offer the
campaign ‘political synergy’
and ‘synergy on a govern
ment level.’” Cohen said he
never followed up on that
meeting. Mueller’s team
also said former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort lied
to them about his contacts
with a Russian associate and
Trump administration offi
cials, including in 2018.
Sen. Angus King, an inde
pendent from Maine and a
member of the Senate intelli
gence committee, cautioned
against a rush to impeach
ment, which he said citizens
could interpret as “political
revenge and a coup against
the president.”
“The best way to solve a
problem like this, to me, is
elections,” King said. “I’m a
conservative when it comes
to impeachment. I think it’s a
last resort and only when the
evidence is clear of a really
substantial legal violation.
We may get there, but we’re
not there now.”
Democratic Sen. Chris
Murphy of Connecticut urged
Mueller to “show his cards
soon” so that Congress can
make a determination early
next year on whether to act
on impeachment.
‘The best way to solve a problem
like this, to me, is elections.’
Sen.Angus King
Independent, Maine
Nadler
Trump
China summons US envoy to protest exec detention
JANE WOLSAKI Associated Press
In this courtroom sketch, Meng Wanzhou, right, the chief financial officer
of Huawei Technologies, sits beside a translator during a bail hearing at
British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, on Friday, Dec. 7. Meng
faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of trying to evade U.S. sanctions
on Iran. She appeared in a Vancouver court Friday to seek bail.
BY CHRISTOPHER B0DEEN
Associated Press
BEIJING — China summoned
the U.S. ambassador to Beijing on
Sunday to protest the detention of
an executive of Chinese electronics
giant Huawei in Canada at Wash
ington’s behest and demanded
Washington cancel an order for
her arrest.
The official Xinhua News
Agency said Vice Foreign Minister
Le Yucheng “lodged solemn rep
resentations and strong protests”
with Ambassador Terry Branstad
against the detention of Huawei’s
chief financial officer, Meng Wan
zhou. Meng, who is reportedly sus
pected of trying to evade U.S. trade
curbs on Iran, was detained on Dec.
1 while changing planes in Vancou
ver, Canada.
The Xinhua report quoted
Le as calling Meng’s deten
tion “extremely egregious” and
demanded the U.S. vacate an order
for her arrest. It quoted Le as call
ing for the U.S. to “immediately
correct its wrong actions” and said
it would take further steps based on
Washington’s response.
The move followed the summon
ing of Canadian Ambassador John
McCallum on Saturday over Meng’s
detention and a similar protest
warning of “grave consequences”
if she is not released.
The Canadian province of British
Columbia said in a statement Sun
day it cancelled a trade mission to
China because of Meng’s detention.
The announcement came amid
fears China could detail Canadians
in retaliation.
Huawei is the biggest global sup
plier of network gear for phone
and internet companies and has
been the target of deepening U.S.
security concerns over its ties to
the Chinese government. The U.S.
has pressured European countries
and other allies to limit use of its
technology, warning they could be
opening themselves up to surveil
lance and theft of information.
Meng’s arrest has threatened to
increase U.S.-China trade tensions
and shook stock markets globally
last week. But U.S. Trade Repre
sentative Robert Lighthizer, speak
ing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,”
downplayed the impact of the
arrest on trade talks between the
two countries aimed at defusing
the tensions.
“It’s my view that it shouldn’t
really have much of an impact,” he
said.
Roland Paris, a former foreign
policy adviser to Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, said that
Chinese pressure on Canada’s gov
ernment won’t work.
“Perhaps because the Chinese
state controls its judicial system,
Beijing sometimes has difficulty
understanding or believing that
courts can be independent in a rule-
of-law country. There’s no point in
pressuring the Canadian govern
ment. Judges will decide,” Paris
tweeted in response to the com
ments from Beijing.
A Canadian prosecutor urged
a Vancouver court to deny bail to
Meng, whose case is shaking up
U.S.-China relations and spooking
global financial markets.
Meng, also the daughter of Hua
wei’s founder, was detained at the
request of the U.S. during a layover
at the Vancouver airport on the
same day that President Donald
Trump and his Chinese counter
part, Xi Jinping, agreed over din
ner to a 90-day cease-fire in a trade
dispute that threatens to disrupt
global commerce.
The U.S. alleges that Huawei
used a Hong Kong shell company to
sell equipment in Iran in violation
of U.S. sanctions. It also says that
Meng and Huawei misled Ameri
can banks about its business deal
ings in Iran.
The surprise arrest raises doubts
about whether the trade truce will
hold and whether the world’s two
biggest economies can resolve
the complicated issues that divide
them.
Canadian prosecutor John Gibb-
Carsley said in a court hearing Fri
day that a warrant had been issued
for Meng’s arrest in New York on
Aug. 22. He said Meng, arrested en
route to Mexico from Hong Kong,
was aware of the investigation
and had been avoiding the United
States for months, even though
her teenage son goes to school in
Boston.
Gibb-Carsley alleged that Hua
wei had done business in Iran
through a Hong Kong company
called Skycom.
Meng, he said, had misled U.S.
banks into thinking that Huawei
and Skycom were separate when,
in fact, “Skycom was Huawei.”
Meng has contended that Huawei
sold Skycom in 2009.
In urging the court to reject
Meng’s bail request, Gibb-Carsley
said the Huawei executive had vast
resources and a strong incentive to
bolt: She’s facing fraud charges in
the United States that could put her
in prison for 30 years.
GM fights to retain key tax credit amid plant closing plans
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
General Motors CEO Mary Barra speaks to reporters after
a meeting with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen.
Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to discuss GM’s announcement it
would stop making the Chevy Cruze at its Lordstown, Ohio,
plant, part of a massive restructuring for the Detroit-based
automaker, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5.
BY RICHARD LARDNER,
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Gen
eral Motors is fighting to
retain a valuable tax credit
for electric vehicles as the
nation’s largest automaker
tries to deal with the political
fallout triggered by its plans
to shutter several U.S. facto
ries and shed thousands of
workers.
Preserving the $7,500 tax
incentive for buyers is cru
cial for GM as the company
pivots from internal com
bustion engines in favor of
building cars powered by
batteries or hydrogen fuel
cells. Yet the layoffs and
plant closings could imperil
GM’s push to keep the incen
tive. It helps make plug-ins
such as the $36,000 Chevy
Bolt more affordable at a
time when competition from
other electric vehicle mak
ers is heating up.
GM faces opposition from
President Donald Trump
and other Republicans who
consider the credit a waste
of taxpayer money and want
it eliminated. Trump, who
has pledged a manufactur
ing rebirth in the Midwest,
reacted angrily to GM’s
“transformation “ announce
ment late last month, declar
ing that his administration
was “looking at cutting all
GM subsidies, including for
electric cars.”
The company already is
on the verge of being phased
out of the tax credit program
unless Congress changes a
law that caps the break at
200,000 vehicles per manu
facturer. Without the incen
tive, GM may be forced to
cut the price of its electric
cars to keep prospective
customers from taking their
business elsewhere, accord
ing to automotive industry
experts.
As evidence of the cred
it’s importance to GM’s
future, the automaker has
expanded its lobbying foot
print in Washington and even
joined forces with two rivals,
Tesla and Nissan, to call for
200,000-vehicle limit to be
scrapped.
Standing in the way of that
goal is Sen. John Barrasso,
R-Wy., the chairman of the
Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee.
Barrasso introduced legisla
tion in October to abolish the
tax credit, a move he said
would save about $20 billion
over the next 10 years. He
has argued the market for
electric vehicles is already
established and “no longer
needs the crutch of govern
ment assistance.”
“The idea of the subsidies
had to do with trying to make
sure that electric vehicles
would be a viable technol
ogy,” Barrasso said. “Well,
that’s clearly there.”
The tax credit came up
briefly during a private meet
ing on Wednesday between
Ohio’s senators, Republican
Rob Portman and Democrat
Sherrod Brown, and GM
chief executive Mary Barra,
according to a congressio
nal aide familiar with the
conversation. As part of the
restructuring, GM said it will
stop making the Chevy Cruze
at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant
by March and is considering
closing the plant for good.
Portman told Barra that
it’s difficult to help with pri
orities such as the electric
vehicle credit when GM is
moving production out of
Ohio, according to the aide,
who was not authorized to
publicly discuss the private
conversation and spoke on
condition of anonymity.
One of the lobbyists work
ing to salvage the credit for
GM is Kent Hance, a for
mer chancellor of Texas
Tech University who is well
connected in GOP circles,
according to his online pro
file . Hance lists his role as a
fundraiser for the campaigns
of outgoing House Speaker
Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Sen
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., House
Majority Leader Kevin
McCarthy, R-Calif., and
others. He has known Rick
Perry, the energy secretary
and former Texas governor,
for nearly 30 years.
GM in early August named
a former Trump White
House official, Everett Eis-
senstat, its senior vice presi
dent for global public policy,
a post that oversees the com
pany’s lobbying operations.
Eissenstat, however, is
not registered as a lobby
ist, according to disclosure
records filed with Congress.
Before coming to GM, he was
Trump’s deputy assistant
for international economic
affairs.
Under federal law, the
$7,500 credit for buyers
begins to phase out after
a manufacturer has sold
200,000 qualifying electric
vehicles. GM has estimated it
will hit that threshold by the
end of December, just as the
Bolt will be facing new and
potentially stiff competition.
Sam Abuelsamid, a
senior analyst at Navigant
Research, said Hyundai and
Kia each will be selling com
pact SUVs in the U.S. begin
ning early next year that can
travel 240 miles on a single
battery charge, about the
same as the Bolt. Ford will
be launching a number of
new plug-in hybrid models
in 2019, including the Lin
coln Aviator, Explorer and
Escape.
“With the intensifying
market shift away from
cars to utility vehicles all
of these are expected to be
more popular than the Bolt,”
Abuelsamid said. To remain
competitive against the new
entries, “GM will likely have
to cut the (retail price) of the
Bolt as well as any additional
EVs they launch next year by
the corresponding reduction
in the tax credits,” he said.
Karl Brauer, executive
publisher of Autotrader and
Kelley Blue Book, said the
credit is “hugely important”
to electric vehicle manufac
turers. Lowering the up-front
cost of the vehicle typically
plays a significant role in
sales, he said, citing surveys
that show more consumers
would buy electric vehicles
if the cars were affordably
priced.
GM joined forces with
Tesla and Nissan as well as
several consumer and envi
ronmental groups to broaden
its lobbying push even fur
ther. The EV Drive Coali
tion, which was launched in
November, urged lawmak
ers in an open letter last
week to put a provision in
the must-pass government
spending bill that does away
with the 200,000-car limit.
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