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Recap: Trump impeachment story, where are we now?

The Lower House has voted in favour to impeach US president Trump on two accounts earlier today

Trump

 

He is certainly not having a good day but it isn’t the end of the world for Trump, not even close in fact. The House of Representatives (Lower House) may have voted to impeach him on the two accounts above but it will not happen unless Senate also votes similarly.
And to that note, it is extremely unlikely to happen especially since the Republicans still hold a majority there and 2/3 votes are needed for the impeachment charges to succeed.
If you’re wondering why markets aren’t reacting to the news, that is the main reason why. Greg also gave a bit of an overview of the situation yesterday here.
The Democrats themselves know how this can all play out in the new year, which is leading to the suggestion that they may just prolong the process of passing things over to Congress – in hopes that the impeachment news will brew and bubble up among the public.
That said, it shouldn’t make much difference to markets unless this spills over to damage Trump’s election chances – which is also seen as unlikely at this stage.
So in short, Trump is one step closer to actually being impeached but it is almost certainly still not going to happen. As you were..

Trump: US in final throes of reaching a trade deal with China

Positive comments

Reuters is carrying comments from Trump:
  • Trump says in final throes on reaching trade deal with CHina
  • Trump says US wants to see democracy in Hong Kong
This is a slightly different language. It’s the first time in a few days the President has been so optimistic.
I’m reminded that the previous line was that they were in the ‘short strokes’. The modest market reaction suggests that this kind of talk isn’t enough alone to boost sentiment.

Trump impeachment drama muddles China deal timeline

As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares for high-level trade negotiations with China next month, a sharp turn of events has blurred the timeline of a deal.

On Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shocked the nation when she announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump. Pelosi had resisted calls to start formal proceedings against the president during and after the Mueller investigation, but the latest allegations about Trump pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former U.S. Vice President and Trump’s political rival Joe Biden’s family pushed her to act.

Trump on Wednesday sought to shift the focus away from the inquiry, praising the U.S. economy and an imminent trade deal with China.

“We have created the greatest economy in the history of our country, the greatest economy in the world…. Right now China is way behind us and they will never catch us if we have smart leadership,” Trump told reporters. “We have picked up trillions of dollars and they have lost trillions of dollars and they want to make a deal very badly. It could happen. It could happen sooner than you think.”

The comment came an hour after Trump released a transcription of his phone call with Zelensky from July 25. The president was under pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to make public the transcript after a whistleblower filed a complaint saying he pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden’s son Hunter Biden as well as a Democratic National Committee computer server related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump said last week that China would like to see someone else win the 2020 presidential election, but they think he is going to win. He has warned Beijing that if the deal comes after the Nov. 3, 2020 election, trade talks will be on “far worse” terms.

U.S. President Donald Trump said a China trade deal could come “sooner than you think.”   © AP

(more…)

Trump impeachment update – House has enough votes to impeach (no update on Senate)

Its going to be a job keeping up with developments on the impeachment inquiry.

Latest is
  • 218 House Members now support impeachment inquiry
  • Which is enough to impeach Trump in the House
As you’d all know, the numbers are not there in the Senate, where Trump’s party is in the majority).
Its going to be a job keeping up with developments on the impeachment inquiry.
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