January, 23 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Editorial Board Memorandum: Fate of a Fair Impeachment Trial Rests with a Handful of Senators
To: Editorial Board Editors & Writers
From: Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause President
Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause VP Litigation and Policy
Aaron Scherb, Common Cause Director of Legislative Affairs
Re: Background Memorandum: Fate of a Fair Impeachment Trial Rests with a Handful of Senators
WASHINGTON
To: Editorial Board Editors & Writers
From:Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause President
Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause VP Litigation and Policy
Aaron Scherb, Common Cause Director of Legislative Affairs
Re: Background Memorandum: Fate of a Fair Impeachment Trial Rests with a Handful of Senators
Americans expect and deserve a fair impeachment trial of President Trump. The charges that led to the President's impeachment are serious and the Senate owes the American people a fair trial. The House found that the President withheld military aid to Ukraine, an imperiled U.S. ally, in order to extort personal political favors to aid Trump's reelection efforts. But to date, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made no secret of the fact that he is working hand-in-glove with the White House counsel's office to coordinate strategy during the impeachment trial. This is the equivalent of a jury foreman coordinating with a defense attorney on how best to acquit a defendant. A number of Senators have expressed publicly and privately their concerns with the Majority Leader's work with the President's defense team. One stated outright that she was "disturbed" by McConnell's comments and actions to coordinate with the White House.
But on January 21st and into the morning of the 22nd, every Republican in the United States Senate voted 11 times to block first-hand witnesses from testifying and to prevent relevant evidence from being included. There have been numerous reports that over the course of the trial a number of GOP Senators are troubled enough by the rush to judgement that they may break ranks and vote to call witnesses and take other steps to allow a fair trial. That dissent within the GOP echoes overwhelming support in this nation for the Senate trial to include witness testimony. According to a recent Monmouth poll, more than 75% of Americans say that Trump officials, as well as the president himself, should be invited to testify at the Senate trial. A similar CNN poll found that 69% of Americans, including 48% of Republicans, say that the impeachment trial should include testimony from new witnesses who did not testify in the House trial.
There is still time for a fair impeachment trial. We strongly encourage you to write or editorialize to urge your Senators to put their country before their party and cast votes to ensure a fair impeachment trial. Americans expect and are entitled to the facts. This nation deserves far better than a show trial that attempts to whitewash President Trump's impeachment for his withholding of vital military aid to Ukraine in an attempt coerce the U.S ally into launching an unnecessary investigation of his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found the Trump Administration violated the law by withholding aid to Ukraine.
Your commentary is particularly important as the full Senate is expected vote on whether to call witnesses and allow evidence in the next week.
Every United States Senator swears an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; ... and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter[.]" In addition, every senator sitting as a juror in an impeachment trial swears to "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws[.]"
Each and every senator, regardless of party affiliation, must fulfill their oaths to "support and defend the Constitution" and "do impartial justice" by meeting the following basic requirements for a fair Senate trial - including all the available evidence and firsthand witnesses to the events in question relating to the withholding of aid to Ukraine.
Every effort is being made by to predetermine the outcome of the trial and limit what Americans can see and hear of the proceedings. President Trump has even sought to influence the jury by ramping up fundraising for Republican Senators ahead of he trial. Those Senators who benefitted from the President's fundraising should either return those funds or they should recuse themselves from serving as jurors in the impeachment trial.
The Majority Leader has even taken extreme and unprecedented steps to restrict media coverage of the impeachment trial and insisted that it drag on into the night when many Americans are already asleep. Reporters are even kept in pens and denied their normal access allowing Senators to avoid questions. Cameras are prohibited. Even the ever-present C-SPAN cameras have been shut down so that Senator McConnell controls all video - providing only a single angle and no crowd shots to show sleeping Senators or empty seats.
In the weeks since the U.S. House of Representatives formally impeached President Trump, there has been a series of new revelations that confirm what multiple witnesses testified during the House's impeachment investigation. Much of this new information has added significantly to a compelling case laid out by witnesses in the House impeachment proceedings showing a consistent pattern of abuse of power and obstruction of investigations by President Trump. The new information points toward President Trump's directing the White House efforts to withhold military aid to force an imperiled U.S. ally to do the President political "favors" to aid his own reelection efforts.
The American people deserve, and the Senate must demand, testimony from the witnesses from President Trump's inner-circle who witnessed the President's repeated efforts to coerce Ukraine into doing political dirty work in exchange for military aid already appropriated by Congress. The President stonewalled and obstructed the House investigation, so it is now the Senate's obligation to the rule of law to ensure it hears the testimony of those who witnessed the acts in question.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has stated that he will testify before the impeachment trial if subpoenaed. The Senate should also hear from Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who admitted repeatedly on live television, that the White House withheld military aid to the Ukraine as a quid pro quo until the country launched an unwarranted investigation into Joe Biden and his son. The Senate should also hear from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr, Rudy Giuliani business associate Lev Parnas, and a number of other officials with critical first-hand information concerning the President's Ukraine bribery scheme.
The constitutional questions presently being weighed by the Senate extend far beyond President Trump and the current circumstances. Allowing any White House to block witness testimony, evidence, and transparency in a presidential impeachment trial sets a dangerous precedent for any future Congress attempting to hold a President accountable to the Constitution of the United States. Today it is a Republican ignoring the Constitution, but if these abuses of presidential power are permitted to stand, then the day will inevitably come when a Democratic president follows the lead set by President Trump and refuses to cooperate with the United States Congress, a coequal branch of our system of national government.
It falls to the Senate to get to the bottom of this evolving scandal, to get the facts and to render judgement accordingly. Members of both parties must put their duty to their country before their duty to their party.
We urge you to editorialize to encourage your United States Senators to vote to call the necessary witnesses to fully and fairly investigate the abuse of the powers of the presidency by Donald Trump for personal political gain. It is time for every member of the United States Senate to take a deep breath and put their duty to their nation before their fealty to their political party. Their constituents and the nation are watching closely.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
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US Dodges Growing Calls for Probe of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," said one legal expert.
Apr 24, 2024
While continuing to give Israel billions of dollars in support to wage war on the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration this week has declined to join the growing global demands for an international probe into mass graves discovered at hospitals in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Two journalists on Tuesday questioned Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, about the administration's response to the hundreds of bodies found at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's call for an independent investigation.
"Would you support such an independent investigation?" Said Arikat asked during a press briefing. Patel responded, "Right now, Said, we are asking for more information... That is squarely where we are leaving the conversation."
Patel added that "I don't have any details to match, confirm, or offer as it relates to that. We're aware of those reports, and we have asked the government of Israel for additional clarity and information. And that's where I'm at."
When Said asked a follow-up about potential U.S. support for a probe, Patel reiterated that the administration is awaiting information from the Israeli government.
Later, Niall Stanage asked Patel to explain U.S. "resistance" to supporting a probe, the spokesperson insisted that "it's not about resistance to this particular situation, it is me not wanting to speak in detail about something which Said posed as a hypothetical question when, from the United States' perspective, I don't have any additional information on this aside from the public reporting."
After Patel again stressed that the administration has asked Israel for more information, Stanage inquired, "And do you believe the government of Israel is a credible source in enlightening you?"
The spokesperson interrupted Stanage to say, "We do."
While supporting the six-month Israeli assault on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has found to be plausibly genocidal, the Biden administration is also arming Ukrainians' resistance to a Russian invasion. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program and a former legal adviser at the State Department, pointed to the latter.
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," Finucane said on social media in response to Stanage's questioning.
Meanwhile, European Union spokesperson Peter Stano made clear Tuesday that the E.U. supports an independent probe.
"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," Stano said. "That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."
Human rights groups around the world joined the call for an independent investigation on Wednesday, as the official death toll in Gaza hit 34,262 with 77,229 people injured and thousands more missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble.
In an Arabic statement translated by Al Jazeera, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the number of bodies found in the mass graves is "alarming, and requires urgent international action, including the formation of an independent international investigation committee."
The group added that some of those killed were subjected to "premeditated murder as well as arbitrary and extrajudicial executions while they were detained and handcuffed."
Amnesty International senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas said in a statement that "the harrowing discovery of these mass graves underscores the urgency of ensuring immediate access for human rights investigators, including forensic experts, to the occupied Gaza Strip to ensure that evidence is preserved and to carry out independent and transparent investigations with the aim of guaranteeing accountability for any violations of international law."
"Lack of access for human rights investigators to Gaza has hampered effective investigations into the full scale of the human rights violations and crimes under international law committed over the past six months, allowing for the documentation of just a tiny fraction of these abuses," she noted. "Without proper investigations to determine how these deaths took place or what violations may have been committed, we may never find out the truth of the horrors behind these mass graves."
Guevara Rosas continued:
Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains.
The absence of forensic experts and the decimation of Gaza's medical sector as a result of the war and Israel's cruel blockade, along with the lack of availability of the necessary resources for the identification of bodies such as DNA testing, are huge obstacles to the identifications of remains. This denies those killed the opportunity to have a dignified burial and deprives families with relatives missing or forcibly disappeared the right to know and to justice—leaving them in a limbo of uncertainty and anguish.
Noting that the International Court of Justice directed Israel to preserve evidence in its initial genocide case order, Guevara Rosas said that "amid a total vacuum of accountability and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Israeli authorities must ensure they comply with the ICJ ruling by granting immediate access to independent human rights investigators and ensuring that all evidence of violations is preserved."
"Third states must pressure Israel to comply with the ICJ orders by allowing the immediate entry into the Gaza Strip of independent human rights investigators and forensic experts, including the U.N.-appointed Commission of Inquiry and investigators of the International Criminal Court," she added. "There can be no truth and justice without proper, transparent independent investigations into these deaths."
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Sanders Launches Probe of 'Outrageously Overpriced' Ozempic and Wegovy
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee chair said that the popular medications "will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them."
Apr 24, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday opened an investigation into an "outrageously overpriced" medication manufactured by a Denmark-based company whose value by market capitalization is larger than the Scandinavian country's gross domestic product.
Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, sent a letter to Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk. The company makes semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist used to treat Type 2 diabetes under the brand name Ozempic and, when sold as Wegovy, to treat obesity in adults with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
"The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for developing these drugs that have the potential to be a game-changer for millions of Americans struggling with Type 2 diabetes and obesity," Sanders acknowledged. "As important as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them."
"Further, if the prices for these products are not substantially reduced they also have the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire healthcare system," he added.
Sanders continued:
Today, Novo Nordisk is charging patients in the United States up to 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy than it charges patients in Canada, Europe, or Japan. For example, your company charges $969 in the United States for one month of Ozempic but just $155 in Canada and just $59 in Germany. Further, Novo Nordisk charges Americans $1,349 for one month Wegovy but just $140 in Germany and just $92 in the United Kingdom.
"Meanwhile," the senator noted, "researchers at Yale University estimate that both of these drugs can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 a month."
"The result of these astronomically high prices is that Ozempic and Wegovy are out of reach for millions of Americans who need them," Sanders said. "Unfortunately, Novo Nordisk's pricing has turned drugs that could improve people's lives into luxury goods, all while Novo Nordisk made over $12 billion in profits last year—up 76% from 2021. That is unacceptable."
As of March 2024, Novo Nordisk was Europe's most highly valued company by market capitalization. Its $554 billion market cap is significantly higher than Denmark's annual gross domestic product of approximately $410 billion, according to International Monetary Fund figures.
Sanders also pointed out that Novo Nordisk is charging different prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, even though they're "the exact same drug."
"Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity nearly $400 more every month than those with Type 2 diabetes for the same product provided in similar doses," he wrote.
"The unjustifiably high prices of Ozempic and Wegovy are already straining the budgets of Medicare and Medicaid and severely limiting access for patients who need these drugs," the letter says. "Last year, researchers at Vanderbilt University's Department of Health Policy and the University of Chicago's Department of Medicine estimated in the New England Journal of Medicine that it would cost Medicare over $150 billion a year to cover Wegovy and other similar weight loss drugs."
"To put this in perspective, the cost of all retail prescription drugs covered by Medicare in 2022 was less than $130 billion," Sanders added.
"As chairman of the committee, I am asking Novo Nordisk to substantially reduce the price of Ozempic and Wegovy so that these important drugs can be available to Americans with Type 2 diabetes and obesity," he wrote.
Existing law empowers the government to step in to lower drug prices in service of the public interest. Under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980—legislation meant to promote the commercialization and public availability of government-funded inventions—federal agencies reserve the right to "march in" and authorize price-lowering generic alternatives to patented medications developed with public funding.
However, U.S. administrations—including President Joe Biden's—have been loath to exercise "march-in" rights.
Under pressure from the public and lawmakers led by Sanders, Novo Nordisk last year announced that it would cut prices by up to 75% for some of its insulin products.
Responding to Wednesday's letter, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America—Big Pharma's leading lobbyist—accused Sanders of "attacking an innovative company to advance a political agenda instead of addressing the real cause of affordability challenges."
Noting Novo Nordisk's bigger-than-Denmark market cap, Warren Gunnels, the HELP Committee's majority staff director, wrote on social media that the company "made over $12 billion in profits last year by, among other things, charging Americans $969 for Ozempic while it can be purchased for $59 in Germany and costs $5 to make."
"Our political agenda is to end this greed," he added. "Guilty. As. Charged."
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Texas State Troopers in Riot Gear Crack Down on UT Students' Gaza Protest
"Why do we even have these institutions of higher learning if we won't let students speak their conscience and protest?" said one University of Texas professor.
Apr 24, 2024
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Civil rights advocates on Wednesday expressed alarm at a rapid escalation by Texas state troopers who descended on a student-led protest at University of Texas at Austin, which was organized in solidarity with Gaza and other U.S. college students taking part in a growing anti-war movement.
UT students gathered on campus at midday and were promptly given two minutes to disperse by state troopers, who had already been called to the scene.
The troopers were equipped with riot gear, with some carrying assault rifles and several stationed on horses.
Erick Lara, a 20-year-old sophomore, told The Dallas Morning News that the nonviolent protest transformed "within minutes" after the police began arresting demonstrators.
"I didn't think it would escalate this far," he told the outlet. "And I didn't think there would be this much police intervention from what's supposed to be a peaceful protest. Not very peaceful when there's a bunch of aggressors around, especially on horses."
The organizers called the gathering "The Popular University" and said it was aimed at pressuring UT to "divest from death."
The protesters walked out of their classes to demand UT divest from weapons manufacturers in order to end its complicity in Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
Student-run newspaper The Daily Texanreported roughly 50 state troopers were deployed to stop the initial protest of about 150-200 people.
Ryan Chandler, a reporter for NBC affiliate KXAN-TV and UT alum, reported that there were at least 10 students detained.
"Went here for four years, never saw anything like this," said Chandler, posting a video of a group of police pushing one student to the ground and arresting them.
Joseph Pierce, a Stony Brook University professor who attended graduate school at UT, also said the escalation was an unusually "drastic response to students advocating for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people."
"It is a response that did not occur when in 2005 we protested the anti-gay marriage bill; in the late 2000s when we protested anti-immigration bills; in the 2010s when we protested the open-carry bill," Pierce said. "It is a clear attempt at silencing Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish voices."
The students faced the state troopers in a standoff on the university's main street.
"This violence against peaceful student protesters at UT Austin is absolutely horrifying—and should be condemned in the strongest terms by every politician and mainstream journalist," said former New Yorker editor Erin Overbey.
UT media and Middle East studies professor Nahid Siamdoust said the university "brought out everything but the kitchen sink to make sure" students couldn't erect an anti-war encampment like students at Columbia University, New York University, and other schools across the U.S. have in recent days.
The university had informed organizers with the on-campus Palestine Solidarity Committee on Tuesday that exercising their First Amendment rights in support of Palestinians in Gaza would "violate our policies and rules."
"The freedom to protest is integral to our democracy," said the ACLU of Texas Wednesday amid reports of the crackdown. "UT Austin students have a First Amendment right to freely express their political opinions—without threats of arrest and violence."
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