COVID-19 "CASE AGAINST TRUMP"
US civil rights groups on Thursday filed a case suing President Donald Trump after security forces fired pepper balls and smoke bombs to clear peaceful demonstrators outside the White House.
Law enforcement officers forced protesters back before Trump walked to a nearby church for a photo op on Monday that divided the United States amid nationwide protests over police brutality.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups accused the president and top officials of violating the constitutional rights of Black Lives Matters campaigners and individual protesters.
"Police conducted a coordinated and unprovoked charge into the crowd of demonstrators and deployed several rounds of chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and sound cannons," the ACLU said.
St John's Episcopal church is across the street from Lafayette Park, which faces the White House and has been the focus of protests in Washington.The church was defaced with graffiti and damaged in a fire during demonstrations on Sunday night.
Trump posed with a Bible outside the building after vowing to dispatch thousands of heavily armed soldiers to stop rioting.Protesters have taken to the streets across the US in recent days to voice anger over the killing of African American George Floyd by Minnesota police.
The president's "frankly criminal attack on protesters because he disagreed with their views shakes the foundation of our nation's constitutional order," said Scott Michelman, ACLU legal director.Attorney General Bill Barr on Thursday defended security forces and said clearing the protesters was not linked to Trump walking to the church.
Donald Trump, who rocketed to the top of the polls in the early GOP primary race, is an unlikely Republican front-runner: a longtime supporter of Democratic politicians with a history of taking views opposed to those of mainstream conservatives.
A household name for his reality-television show and his tawdry tabloid history, he has connected with an underappreciated strain of right-wing populists by focusing his fire on a single issue: immigration.
In this Broadside, Kevin D. Williamson takes a hard look at the Trump phenomenon and the failures of the national Republican leadership – and defects in our national character – that gave it life.
Mr Trump became only the third president in US history to be impeached after two votes in the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives - but more on what that means below.
President Trump, who is a Republican, strongly denies any wrongdoing.
What is he accused of doing incorrect?
President Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to dig up damaging information on one of his main Democratic challengers for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter.
Hunter worked for a Ukrainian company when Joe Biden was US vice-president.The president is accused of dangling two things as bargaining chips to Ukraine - withholding $400m of military aid to Ukraine that had already been allocated by Congress, and a White House meeting for Ukraine's president.
This, Democrats say, amounts to an abuse of presidential power, using the office for personal political gain and to the detriment of national security.
Ukraine was using that money in its ongoing conflict with Russia.Mr Trump is also accused of obstructing Congress by refusing to co-operate with the congressional inquiry.
What is the evidence against him?
A formal complaint from a whistle blower - an unnamed intelligence official who wrote a letter expressing concern about Mr Trump's 25 July call with President Volodymyr Zelensky - kicked off the impeachment process in early September.
A rough transcript of the call revealed that Mr Trump had urged President Zelensky to investigate discredited allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden.
The call came shortly after Mr Trump had blocked the release of millions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine. A senior official later testified that the president made clear the release of the aid was conditional on Mr Biden being investigated, but the White House denies this.
In a series of public hearings, a procession of US officials have testified that there was a White House shadow foreign policy led by the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
What is his say?
Mr Trump denies using US military aid as a bargaining chip with Mr Zelensky and has repeatedly insisted his call with Ukraine's leader was "perfect".He has called the impeachment inquiry a "witch hunt" by Democrats and elements of the media.
He also says it was appropriate to ask Ukraine to investigate "corruption", referring to the energy firm where Hunter Biden worked.The Republican defense comes in three parts:-
- Ukraine's president said he felt no pressure
- The Ukrainians were unaware the aid was held back
What is impeachment anyway?
To impeach, in this context, means to bring charges in Congress that will form the basis for a trial.
The US constitution states a president "shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors".It's important to note this is a political process, rather than a criminal one.
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