In past impeachment proceedings, the courts have undermined the President's wishes. During Whitewater, President Bill Clinton was forced by a unanimous Supreme Court to testify under oath in a civil lawsuit, which led to his impeachment for lying and obstruction. During Watergate, President Richard Nixon faced multiple fast-moving court cases that ultimately forced details to Congress and prosecutors that prompted his resignation before the full House voted on articles of impeachment.
In a hearing Tuesday, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court, the first-line trial court in most separation of powers fights, grilled a Justice Department lawyer who argued to keep information known to the executive branch away from the House.
Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court pictured on April 13, 2018. Alex Wong/Getty Images
Howell pressed the administration attorney on legal precedent -- what Howell must decide under the law based on past decisions from courts above. When the lawyer suggested that a judge in 1974 would have not handed a grand jury's collection of evidence to the House of Representatives during Watergate if the case had arisen today, "Wow," Howell exclaimed.
Howell also bluntly told the Justice Department's legal team she would need to back the House in its needs during a formal impeachment proceeding.
"By my reading of the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit law, I owe enormous deference, if not absolute deference, when it comes to the exercise of the impeachment power to how the House decides to conduct itself," Howell said Tuesday.
Michael Gerhardt, a CNN analyst and University of North Carolina law professor, pointed to moments in the Howell hearing as an example of how far Trump's legal team has swerved from history.
The "argument shows not just how aggressive the President is being, but how much disdain they have for settled law. Most judges would just recoil at that," Gerhardt said.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish forces targeted areas around two Syrian border towns with fresh shelling on Sunday, pressing on with their offensive against Kurdish militia for a fifth day in the face of fierce international opposition.
Smoke rises near the border town of Tel Abyad, Syria, October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Turkey is facing threats of possible sanctions from the United States unless it calls off the incursion, while the Arab League has denounced the operation and NATO allies Germany and France said they were halting weapons exports to Turkey.
Ankara launched the cross-border assault against the YPG militia after U.S President Donald Trump withdrew some U.S. troops from the border region. Turkey says the YPG is a terrorist group aligned with Kurdish militants in Turkey.
Gunfire resounded early on Sunday around Ras al Ain, one of two Syrian towns which are the focus of the attack, while Turkish artillery continued to target the area, a Reuters reporter across the border in the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar said.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels advanced into Ras al Ain on Saturday. Turkey has said it took control of the town center, while Kurdish-led forces denied that and said they were counter-attacking.
At Tel Abyad, the operation’s other main target some 120 km (75 miles) to the west, Turkish howitzers shelled outlying districts, a witness in the neighboring Turkish town of Akcakale said.
The assault has raised international alarm over its mass displacement of civilians and the possibility of Islamic State militants escaping from Kurdish prisons.
In the latest criticism, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed “grave concern” about the offensive to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, saying it may worsen the humanitarian situation and undermine progress against Islamic State.
“He urged the President to end the operation and enter into dialogue,” a spokesman for Johnson said after the telephone call between the two leaders on Saturday evening.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that 480 YPG militants had been “neutralised” since the operation began, a term that commonly means killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organization which reports on the war, said 74 Kurdish-led fighters, 49 Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and 30 civilians have been killed in the fighting.
In Turkey, 18 civilians have been killed in cross-border bombardment, Turkish media and officials say.
President Trump on Saturday defended his decision to withdraw troops from the Syrian border region, telling conservative Christian activists that the United States should prioritize protecting its own borders.
“Let them have their borders, but I don’t think our soldiers should be there for the next 50 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can’t guard our own borders at home,” Trump said in a speech in Washington.
“Don’t forget: they are fighting for their land. They haven’t help us fight for our land,” Trump said. “They’re fighting for their land and that’s good, but we’ve helped them.”
The Kurdish-led administration in Syria’s northeast has said nearly 200,000 people had been uprooted so far by the fighting, while the U.N. World Food Programme said more than 100,000 had left Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad.
Turkey’s stated objective is to set up a “safe zone” inside Syria to resettle many of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees it has been hosting. Erdogan has threatened to send them to Europe if the EU does not back his assault.
He has also dismissed the growing condemnation of the operation, saying that Turkey “will not stop it, no matter what anyone says”.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in which the YPG comprises the main fighting element, holds most of the northern Syrian territory that once made up Islamic State’s “caliphate” in the country.
The SDF has been keeping thousands of fighters from the jihadist group in jail and tens of thousands of their family members in camps. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a car bomb on Friday in Qamishli, the largest city in the Kurdish-held area, where some IS militants fled from a jail.
The SDF accused Turkey-backed rebel fighters of killing a Kurdish politician in a road ambush on Saturday. The rebel force denied it, saying it had not advanced that far.
Slideshow (7 Images)
The Syrian Observatory said Turkey-backed groups had killed nine civilians on the road, including Hervin Khalaf, co-chair of the secular Future Syria Party.
For a graphic on 'Turkey hits Kurdish militia targets' click here
Reporting by Daren Butler and Reuters correspondents in the region; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
Typhoon Hagibis, the most powerful tropical storm to hit Tokyo in decades, plowed a large portion of Japan’s main island on Saturday evening and early Sunday, bring torrential rains and high-speed winds that paralyzed the capital and neighboring prefectures.
Millions of residents in a dozen prefectures were affected by the highest level of emergency evacuation notices on Saturday night and early Sunday.
Unlike last month’s Typhoon Faxai, whose high-speed winds caused extensive structural damage, flooding Flooding from storm surges and overflowing rivers appears to account for a large part of damage from Hagibis, the 19th typhoon of the season in Japan.
Emergency workers around the country are currently working to rescue people still stranded in flood-inundated areas.
Here are but a few scenes of the destruction from Typhoon Hagibis.
Roads are flooded due to heavy rains caused by Typhoon Hagibis in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward on Saturday. | KYODOA rescue worker swims as he checks the scene around a residential area in Kawasaki on Sunday that was flooded in Typhoon Hagibis. | REUTERSA car is seen partially submerged in a flooded residential of Kawasaki near the Tama River in Kawasaki on Sunday after Typhoon Hagibis hit the area. | REUTERSAerial photo of rescue workers on Sunday morning in Sakado, Saitama Prefecture, following the heavy rains of Typhoon Hagibis. | KYODOEmergency workers rescue residents in a flooded residential area in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. | KYODOA view of Tama river, which reached flood risk levels Saturday night during the onslaught of Typhoon Hagibis.A car sits in a flooded field in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, after Typhoon Hagibis swept through central and eastern Japan. | AFP-JIJIA flooded neighborhood in Kawasaki following the heavy rains of Typhoon Hagibis. | REUTERSFloating debris is seen in a residential block as floodwaters recede in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Kawasaki. | AFP-JIJIClean-up begins in a flooded residential area in Kawasaki. | REUTERSOverflow from Iruma River in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture | KYODOFlooded apartment buildings in the Takatsu district of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture | KYODOChikuma River in Nagano overflows into a residential area. | KYODO
The Turkish Defence Ministry said that it had seized Ras al-Ayn as part of the operation, code-named 'Peace Spring,' which began Wednesday.
NBC News has been unable to independently verify the claim.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied the town had been captured and appeared to be holding out in some areas, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey's push deeper into Syria comes amid widespread international criticism, fears of a resurgence of the Islamic State group and humanitarian concern for those displaced by the offensive.
The move was met with criticism, which was only likely to intensify after U.S. troops stationed in the region came under artillery fire from Turkish forces late Friday.
An explosion occurred within a few hundred yards outside a security zone known by the Turks to have U.S. forces present, Navy Capt. Brook DeWalt, director of Defense Press Operations, told NBC News.
No American troops were injured in the incident, near Kobani in northeastern Syria.
The U.S. is now warning Turkey to avoid any actions that could result in “immediate defensive action,” DeWalt said.
Related
Turkish troops are fighting the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by the United States.
But the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been crucial U.S. allies in the war on the Islamic State militant group.
The SDF has held more than 10,000 ISIS members in detention centers and prison camps, but they said they are being forced to abandon some of those positions to fight the Turkish invasion.
They reported that a facility in the border town of Qamishli was struck by Turkish artillery on Friday and some prisoners had attempted to escape.
But Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces continued to push ahead, the Anadolu news agency reported early Saturday. They reached a strategic highway that connects the Syrian towns of Manbij and Qamishli — the de facto capital of Syrian Kurdistan.
At least 100,000 people have been displaced within the first three days of the attack, according to the United Nations' Humanitarian Affairs Office.
The number of casualties since the violence began has varied between sources and NBC News has been unable to independently verify any claims.
Turkey’s defense ministry stated early Saturday that 415 “terrorists” have been killed since launching its military operation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that at least 21 civilians have been killed, including six children.
The U.S. set down red lines for the offensive Thursday that would trigger economic sanctions, including ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate fire directed at civilian populations.
“If Turkey acts in a way that is disproportionate, inhumane, or otherwise goes beyond the lines the President has, in his own mind, the United States is willing to impose significant cost,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Linda Givetash
Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda.
Aziz Akyavas , Mac William Bishop, Mosheh Gains, Nancy Ing and Associated Press contributed.
The Turkish Defence Ministry said that it had seized Ras al-Ayn as part of the operation, code-named 'Peace Spring,' which began Wednesday.
NBC News has been unable to independently verify the claim.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied the town had been captured and appeared to be holding out in some areas, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey's push deeper into Syria comes amid widespread international criticism, fears of a resurgence of the Islamic State group and humanitarian concern for those displaced by the offensive.
The move was met with criticism, which was only likely to intensify after U.S. troops stationed in the region came under artillery fire from Turkish forces late Friday.
An explosion occurred within a few hundred yards outside a security zone known by the Turks to have U.S. forces present, Navy Capt. Brook DeWalt, director of Defense Press Operations, told NBC News.
No American troops were injured in the incident, near Kobani in northeastern Syria.
The U.S. is now warning Turkey to avoid any actions that could result in “immediate defensive action,” DeWalt said.
Related
Turkish troops are fighting the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by the United States.
But the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been crucial U.S. allies in the war on the Islamic State militant group.
The SDF has held more than 10,000 ISIS members in detention centers and prison camps, but they said they are being forced to abandon some of those positions to fight the Turkish invasion.
They reported that a facility in the border town of Qamishli was struck by Turkish artillery on Friday and some prisoners had attempted to escape.
But Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces continued to push ahead, the Anadolu news agency reported early Saturday. They reached a strategic highway that connects the Syrian towns of Manbij and Qamishli — the de facto capital of Syrian Kurdistan.
At least 100,000 people have been displaced within the first three days of the attack, according to the United Nations' Humanitarian Affairs Office.
The number of casualties since the violence began has varied between sources and NBC News has been unable to independently verify any claims.
Turkey’s defense ministry stated early Saturday that 415 “terrorists” have been killed since launching its military operation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that at least 21 civilians have been killed, including six children.
The U.S. set down red lines for the offensive Thursday that would trigger economic sanctions, including ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate fire directed at civilian populations.
“If Turkey acts in a way that is disproportionate, inhumane, or otherwise goes beyond the lines the President has, in his own mind, the United States is willing to impose significant cost,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Linda Givetash
Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda.
Aziz Akyavas , Mac William Bishop, Mosheh Gains, Nancy Ing and Associated Press contributed.
