WASHINGTON – Thursday morning, President Trump tweeted that he never asked Attorney General William Barr to hold a press conference to clear his name with the Ukraine call in which he allegedly pressed the Ukrainian leader to investigate Democrats.
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“The degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story about me asking Bill Barr to hold a news conference. Never happened, and there were no sources!” Trump said, via his Twitter account.
It’s hard to say exactly why the Attorney General wouldn’t hold a press conference to say there was nothing wrong with the phone call. But over the last few months, the Justice Department has made space between them and anything related to the Ukraine events.
The Justice Department had put out a statement in the past to say it wasn't involved and that it didn't know anything about the withholding of any Ukraine aid.
The president maintains that The Washington Post wrote a “fake” story and that the sources in it do not exist.
This all comes as House Democrats announce open hearings will start next week in the impeachment inquiry.
California Congressman Ted Lieu said that although this inquiry is moving forward, it’s an unfortunate situation.
“My view of the impeachment is that it is one of the gravest powers of Congress, second only to our power to declare war,” said Lieu. “It must always be our last option, reserved for one of those rare times, where the misconduct of the president is so high it warrants removal.”
Representative Lieu sits on the powerful Judiciary Committee which will ultimately decide whether to recommend articles of impeachment to the House.
“We might be at one of those rare times and so this impeachment process will let the American people see the facts in public and then collectively as a nation we can make a judgment,” Lieu said.
Open hearings start next Wednesday with two witnesses, including U.S. Diplomat Bill Taylor.
There is another testimony slated for that Friday with Marie Yovanovitch.