Crosstalk: November 18, 2019

Here’s the larger body of news stories Jim presented to the Crosstalk listening audience:

–Another White House phone call transcript was released today from April showing that there were no preconditions or ‘quid pro quo’ in the Ukraine controversy. 

–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims that if President Trump has anything that shows his innocence, he should make that known.

–Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says impeaching President Trump serves many purposes such as holding him accountable for violating laws in the Constitution.

–Senator Rand Paul signaled yesterday that he could force a vote in the U.S. Senate that would impel Hunter Biden to testify as part of the House Democrats’  impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

–Representative Jim Jordan mentioned that Ukraine didn’t even know that aid was being held back at the time of President Trump’s July 25th phone call with President Zelenski.

–2 U.S. diplomats to Ukraine testifying in the impeachment investigation of President Trump pressed Ukraine during the 2016 election to stop its investigation of a non-profit funded in part by the State Department and George Soros.

–Representative Ilhan Omar sent out a ‘tweet’ after Wednesday’s impeachment hearing activities expressing her confidence that the House was going to impeach President Trump.

–Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip.

–As of Thursday, over 450 rockets had been indiscriminately fired from Gaza into the densely populated Israeli cities.  90% of them have been intercepted by Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ system. A tenth of them have caused significant damage.

–A tragic shooting at Saugus High School in California has left 2 students dead and 4 wounded.

–America’s voter registration rolls are woefully out of shape, yet well-funded liberal organizations are working to stop states from cleaning up their voter rolls.

–Former Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts announced Wednesday that he will enter the presidential race.

–Mark Sanford has dropped his challenge to President Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

–Elizabeth Warren received an endorsement from the black women’s group called ‘Black Womxn For.’

–Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled a sweeping immigration plan that would stop deportations, dismantle agencies and bring into the U.S. at least 50,000 so-called ‘climate migrants.’

–Senator Bernie Sanders told ABC News that his new campaign trail-mate, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, would play a significant role in his White House if he’s elected president.

–California Senator Kamala Harris’ new plan to help modernize schools appears to ramp-up the public school system to even greater proportions, helping the government to slowly take more control of children’s lives.

–Republican Congressman Peter King has said he will not seek re-election in New York’s 2nd Congressional District.

–The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in 3 cases challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to roll back the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

–Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments Wednesday due to illness.