TV News LIES

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said it would reconsider an earlier ruling that handed victory to U.S. President Donald Trump in a Democratic-backed lawsuit that accuses him of violating anti-corruption provisions of the U.S. Constitution with his Washington hotel.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order that it would rehear arguments in the case, which was brought by the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

A three-judge panel of the court ruled on July 10 that the attorneys general lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit, which alleged violations of constitutional provisions known as the Emoluments Clauses that bans the president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional consent.

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Former Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) received a subpoena over his contacts with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani from a grand jury in connection with a Manhattan federal criminal investigation of the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the subpoena, said that it sought documents “related to Mr. Giuliani’s business dealings with Ukraine and his involvement in efforts to oust the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, as well as any interactions between” Sessions, Giuliani, and four of his associates who were indicted last week in a campaign finance scheme.

Matt Mackowiak, a Sessions spokesman, told TPM that the former congressman was “cooperating with the U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York and will be providing documents to their office related to this matter over the next couple of weeks as requested.”

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Semyon Kislin, an associate of President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has reached a deal with the House Intelligence Committee to cooperate with its impeachment investigation and avoid being deposed behind closed doors, according to CNN.

The panel reportedly sent Kislin a letter earlier this month asking for information on Giuliani’s efforts to solicit potentially damaging information from Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s work in the country.

Jeff Dannenberg, a lawyer for Kislin, reportedly told CNN that the Giuliani associate is “being cooperative” with the Intelligence Committee.

Dannenberg also said that his client has reached an agreement with the intelligence panel to avoid having to appear for a deposition

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President Donald Trump’s former top Russia aide testified on Monday before House impeachment investigators, as Democrats accelerate efforts to unearth the facts of Rudy Giuliani’s shadow diplomacy with top Ukrainian officials.

Democrats viewed Fiona Hill’s closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees as critical to their understanding of the extent to which Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, bypassed official U.S. government channels by pressuring Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s possible opponent in the 2020 presidential election.

Details of Hill’s testimony were closely guarded, as Democrats vehemently defended the secrecy of the evidence-gathering process. Republicans, meanwhile, renewed their attacks over the impeachment procedures, accusing Democrats of keeping witness transcripts under lock and key and depriving the public of an opportunity to hear the evidence.

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U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will testify before the House on Thursday in compliance with a congressional subpoena, according to his counsel.

"Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the Committees’ subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday," according to a statement from Sondland's attorneys, Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley.

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The 2-1 ruling by the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a federal district court judge’s decision denying Trump’s effort to stop the House committee from getting his tax returns from the accounting firm Mazars USA.

Friday’s dissent came from Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump to the DC appeals court.

The ruling does not mean that Trump’s tax returns will immediately be released to the House committee.

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