RIVLIN GIVES NETANYAHU MANDATE TO FORM GOVERNMENT

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Rivlin-meeting-with-Netanyahu-Gantz-602868

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has another chance to form a government after failing to do so following the April election.

President Reuven Rivlin formally gave Netanyahu four weeks to form the government after a meeting at the President's Residence with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz failed to bring about a breakthrough.

Trump pushed Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, transcript shows

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-transcript/index.html

President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to investigate a potential 2020 political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, during a July 25 phone call, according to a transcript of the conversation released by the White House.

Trump also asked the Ukrainian leader to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and US Attorney General William Barr on the issue, the call transcript reveals.

"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me," Trump says, according to the document.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told reporters Wednesday that the President's message to the Ukrainian President was clear, despite some debate over whether there was quid pro quo.

"There is no quid pro quo necessary to betray your country or your oath of office. Even though many read this as a quid pro quo. I'm not concerned whether it is a quid pro quo or not. Ukraine understood what this President wanted," the California Democrat said.

Napolitano: Trump's admitted contact with Ukraine is a crime

‘Shut up, moron. Shut up. Shut up’: Trump lawyer Giuliani abuses fellow TV guest live on air as impeachment rocks White House

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-impeachment-news-latest-ukraine-rudy-giuliani-fox-news-chris-hahn-a9119401.html

Rudy Giuliani hurled abuse at a fellow Fox News guest, calling him a “serial liar” and a “moron” as the president’s opponents pledged to seek Donald Trump’s removal from office.

With the threat of impeachment hanging in the air, Mr Giuliani’s outburst on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle came as he looked to defend Donald Trump and himself from allegations the president had offered to trade aid for political favours with the government of Ukraine.

The lawyer lambasted fellow guest Chris Hahn, a former aide to senior Democrat Chuck Schumer, saying he should “sue him for libel” after the liberal commentator implied Giuliani was asked by the US State Department “to dig up political dirt on Trump’s opponent”.

In Extraordinary Step, Pelosi Announces Democrats Will Open Formal Impeachment Inquiry

https://time.com/5685104/pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-trump-ukraine/

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday that House Democrats would launch an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, an extraordinary step that came in the wake of a whistleblower complaint that Trump sought to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival for personal gain.

“The President must be held accountable,” Pelosi said in a televised statement outside her office on Capitol Hill, against a pointed backdrop of six American flags. “No one is above the law.”

After months of wavering, House Democrats have inched closer and closer in recent days to beginning a full-fledged impeachment process. On Tuesday the floodgates finally opened. A rapidly growing number of lawmakers who previously had reservations about impeachment came forward in support of launching proceedings.

Trump changes story on withholding Ukraine aid

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/24/donald-trump-ukraine-military-aid-1509070

President Donald Trump on Tuesday shifted his explanation for temporarily withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, citing what he criticized as a lack of similar financial contribution by other Western powers to the Eastern European nation.

Trump’s latest remarks are at odds with his assertion Monday that he denied the assistance because he feared bureaucratic corruption within Ukraine’s government. The new claim also comes after weekend reports that he repeatedly pressured newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July phone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son.

“As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, ahead of his address to the United Nations General Assembly.

“But my complaint has always been, and I'd withhold again, and I'll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine,” he continued. “Because they're not doing it. Just the United States. We're putting up the bulk of the money. And I'm asking, why is that?”

Trump Ukraine call: What's this story all about?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181

There's a new political controversy in the US - involving Donald Trump, foreign nationals, questions about legal and ethical behaviour, and allegations against a political rival.

This feels a bit like déjà vu from 2016, with Russia, then-candidate Trump and Hillary Clinton, but it's a new country (Ukraine) and a new cast of characters (Joe Biden and his son Hunter).

Mr Trump is still right smack in the middle, of course.

The story can be difficult to follow, so here are some answers to the most pressing questions.

Leah Litman Trump's Ukraine call mentioning Biden is the strongest reason yet for impeachment

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-ukraine-call-mentioning-biden-strongest-reason-yet-impeachment-ncna1057921

Even if Trump did not explicitly dangle a quid pro quo over Ukraine to get the country to launch an investigation into Biden’s son, the fact that Trump as president has control over foreign aid and military assistance to Ukraine distinguishes this scenario from his request to Russia. Candidate Trump didn’t hold the keys to Russia’s security in his hands; President Trump does with respect to Ukraine. And his request that a foreign government investigate a political opponent under those circumstances is troubling. (Ukraine reportedly stopped cooperating with the Mueller investigation because it was concerned about losing U.S. military support.)

FOX BUSINESS NETWORK'S LOU DOBBS BLASTS TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER BRAD PARSCALE'S 'DYNASTY' BRAGGING

https://www.newsweek.com/fox-business-networks-lou-dobbs-blasts-trump-campaign-manager-brad-parscales-dynasty-bragging-1458296

Fox Business Network host and frequent defender of Donald Trump, Lou Dobbs, ridiculed the president's 2020 campaign chief for bragging about the establishment of a Trump "dynasty."

"The great Lou Dobbs," as Trump once referred to the cable news host at a Missouri campaign rally, lashed out at Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale Sunday for making the bizarre claim the Trump family is setting themselves up to run the country "for decades to come!" The former digital media director for the successful 2016 Trump campaign was quoted telling the Associated Press over the weekend he believes Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are preparing to take over the U.S. government for decades.

Parscale, who has a long history of public self-aggrandizing and Trump touting, told a convention of Republican Party delegates meeting in Indian Wells, California, that he and the Trumps are helping to transform politics far into the country's future.

"The Trumps will be a dynasty that will last for decades, propelling the Republican Party into a new party," he said. "One that will adapt to changing cultures. One must continue to adapt while keeping the conservative values that we believe in."

According to the AP, Parscale later declined to clarify his comments to reporters before adding, "I just think they are a dynasty. I think they are all amazing people with ... amazing capabilities." But Parscale seemed to enjoy his grandiose commentary, tweeting out the Fox News version of the story with a #TrumpDynasty hashtag.

Dobbs reacted by blasting the Trump digital campaign manager: "This may be one of the dumbest things a campaign manager for a populist candidate ever said: Trump family building 'dynasty' for decades to come #MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs."

Trump instructed administration to withhold military aid for Ukraine days before call with president: report

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/462715-trump-instructed-admin-to-withhold-military-aid-for-ukraine-days

President Trump instructed acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to place a hold on nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine shortly before a phone call in which he allegedly tried to persuade the nation’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Trump Ordered an Aid Freeze Days Before Speaking to Ukraine's Leader

https://time.com/5684661/trump-aid-ukraine-biden-impeachment/

President Donald Trump ordered his staff to freeze nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine a few days before a phone call in which he pressured the Eastern European nation’s leader to investigate the family of political rival Joe Biden, a new revelation that comes as more Democrats move toward impeachment proceedings.

Trump’s order was first reported by The Washington Post and was confirmed to The Associated Press by two people familiar with but not authorized to discuss private conversations. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Unblock whistleblower's complaint on President Donald Trump's call to Ukraine over Biden

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/22/trump-call-ukraine-biden-unblock-whistleblower-complaint-editorials-debates/2410464001/

The intelligence community's inspector general, Trump appointee Michael Atkinson,  was so troubled by the report that he deemed it of "urgent concern." 

The law requires that an urgent-concern whistleblower complaint "shall" be turned over to Congress. But the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, blocked this. His legal response, supplied by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, is that the alleged target of the complaint — presumably Trump himself — is not a member of the intelligence community, so the urgent-concern requirements for the whistleblower law are not applicable.

That justification is painfully reminiscent of the legal gymnastics Mueller employed when he concluded that he was barred from saying whether Trump broke the law by obstructing justice in the Russian influence investigation, but that he also couldn't "exonerate" him.

A system of checks and balances guaranteed by the Constitution should inform the American people when their president violates the law or commits an impeachable offense. That system is being stretched to the breaking point.

Now it's up to members of Congress — not just Democrats but also Republicans who claim to believe in the rule of law — to get to the bottom of this latest tawdry tale by holding hearings, obtaining transcripts, and finding a way to gain access to the whistleblower complaint or that person's testimony. 

Aguna, Get Meusa, Mamzer and Moredet Explained - Meir Kin

Link to my previous video https://youtu.be/_2zklZqhnmE 1. Three documents from Israeli rabbis condemning the practices of the rabbanut as well as other bais dins around the world: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Zkp... and https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Fzh... and https://drive.google.com/file/d/11TBp... 2. Boyfriend Rachmiel Strausberg video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLsR... 3. Hachadoshot Haboker interview: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=353... 4. Murder-for-hire in divorce cases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_... and https://www.gq.com/story/epstein-orth... and https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim... https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-ord... 5. Mamzer reporting site: http://mamzeralert.blogspot.com/

Child-abusing daycare operator released from jail

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/269250

A daycare center operator from central Israel was released to house arrest Sunday, drawing protests from neighbors, as well as the families of the alleged victims.

Carmel Mauda, 25, was released to house arrest Sunday, following a Supreme Court ruling last week enabling her to remain out of prison during her trial.

Last Thursday, the court ruled that because of the very specific nature of the kind of abuse Mauda carried out, she may be permitted to stay in house arrest until the end of her trial.

“Given that the dangers posed by Mauda are limited to the very specific circumstances of children under her care, it is decided that she may be released to house arrest, with limiting conditions,” wrote Justice Yitzhak Amit.

Mauda was originally slated to be released Thursday to house arrest at a home in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Following protests led by parents of the alleged victims, however, the family which was to have hosted Mauda backed out at the last minute.

Whistleblower: Trump 'Urged' Ukraine's President to Investigate Biden's Son

https://time.com/5683001/whistleblower-trump-ukraine-biden-investigation/

President Donald Trump urged the new leader of Ukraine this summer to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Democrats condemned what they saw as a clear effort to damage a political rival, now at the heart of an explosive whistleblower complaint against Trump.

It was the latest revelation in an escalating controversy that has created a showdown between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration, which has refused to turn over the formal complaint by a national security official or even describe its contents.

Trump defended himself Friday against the intelligence official’s complaint, angrily declaring it came from a “partisan whistleblower,” though he also said he didn’t know who had made it. The complaint was based on a series of events, one of which was a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people were not authorized to discuss the issue by name and were granted anonymity.