The Latest: Pelosi says Trump "most afraid" of Schiff
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):
7:30 p.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are "afraid" of the chief impeachment investigator, following a failed effort to censure him.
Pelosi said "the GOP has not even tried to deny the facts" of Trump's pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrats. In a statement, Pelosi added a stiff defense of Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the "the person of whom the President is most afraid."
She issued the statement after majority Democrats blocked a Republican effort to censure Schiff.
Schiff later tweeted that Republicans will be remembered for lacking the courage to confront Trump. So, he said, "they consoled themselves by attacking those who did."
Republicans are criticizing Schiff in part for the secretive way he is conducting the impeachment investigation, which includes some classified material.
7 p.m.
Majority Democrats have blocked a bid by House Republicans to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a leader of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona sponsored the resolution, which criticizes the way Schiff is conducting the investigation. Biggs and other Republicans say Schiff misled voters when he recreated a conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a committee hearing last month. Schiff has said his words were meant as a parody.
Republicans also complain that the inquiry is being conducted in secret and that they've been unable to see transcripts of closed-door interviews.
Democrats say Schiff has acted in a fair and bipartisan manner. The House voted 218-185 Monday to postpone the vote.
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4:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump is lashing out at the House impeachment inquiry and also criticizing Republicans for not sticking together.
Trump offered the lengthy screed during a Cabinet meeting Monday in which he repeatedly defended his phone call with the Ukrainian president that sparked the impeachment inquiry. And he called out Republicans, too, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, for failing to adequately defend him as the inquiry moves forward.
Trump says while he disagrees with Democrats' policies, he respects them for sticking together, adding: "They don't have Mitt Romney in their midst."
Trump told reporters the Democrats only opened the impeachment investigation because they believe it will help them in the 2020 election.
He says: "I think they want to impeach me because it's the only way they're going to win."
