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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2019)
A6 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 Democratic demands test Trump impeachment strategy WASHINGTON — Pres- ident Donald Trump is rap- idly confronting a decision at the core of House Demo- crats’ nascent impeachment inquiry: Should he comply with congressional demands and risk disclosure of embar- rassing information? Or should he delay and possibly deepen his legal and political predicament? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence commit- tee chairman, issued a blunt warning to the president Wednesday, threatening to make White House defi ance of a congressional request for testimony and documents potential grounds for an arti- cle of impeachment. With the prospect of new subpoenas coming as soon as Friday, Trump’s offi cial pol- icy of deliberate non-cooper- ation, and his view of exec- utive power, could be tested quickly. “We want to make it abundantly clear that any effort by (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo), by the pres- ident or anyone else to inter- fere with the Congress’ abil- ity to call before it relevant witnesses will be consid- ered as evidence of obstruc- tion of the lawful func- tions of Congress,” Schiff said in a Wednesday news conference. For his part, Trump main- tained, “Well, I always cooperate,” without explic- itly saying he would com- ply with the request. He then derided Pelosi, saying she “hands out subpoenas like they’re cookies.” The White House strat- egy toward congressio- J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff , D-Calif., joins Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., right, at a news conference as House Democrats move on depositions in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. In an unusual show of anger, Trump defended his phone call with the president of Ukraine and said Schiff may have committed treason by investigating the matter. nal oversight has often been open scorn. The president’s aides have ignored docu- ment requests and subpoe- nas, invoked executive privi- lege — so far as to argue that executive privilege extends to informal presidential advisers who’ve never held White House roles — and all but dared Democrats to hold them in contempt. As the impeachment inquiry accelerates, the White House’s stonewalling appears likely to continue. “This is a hoax,” Trump said, immediately after pro- fessing his commitment to cooperation. He then launched into a diatribe on the impeachment inquiry, which has centered on his request for Ukraine’s pres- ident to assist in digging up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. “This is the great- est hoax. This is just a contin- uation of what’s been play- ing out since my election.” In public and private, Trump has angrily dismissed the impeachment investi- gation as an illegitimate, purely partisan effort to top- ple him, according to three White House offi cials not authorized to speak about private conversations. And he praised Pompeo’s ini- tial, combative response to the Democrats’ requests this week, one of the offi cials said. It’s part of an emerging political and legal strategy informed by Trump’s time in the two-year crucible of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. The president’s fi rst team of lawyers was inclined to cooperate with Robert Muel- ler, believing it would help bring the investigation to a swift conclusion. But once Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani took over, they largely ceased cooperation, attacked Mueller’s integrity and shielded Trump from testifying in person. They believe the moves inoculated the president legally and solidifi ed his standing polit- ically. Giuliani and Sekulow remain part of the president’s outside counsel. Rentals: Process was somewhat unusual Continued from Page A1 rectly . When the roll was called again, Risley and Ogilvie changed their votes . City c ouncilors then moved to adopt the ordi- nance as amended. “What I was objecting with was that we didn’t get the information for the pub- lic in time, and so I wanted to make a point of that,” Ris- ley said afterward. “B ut as I saw how everyone was vot- ing, I thought, ‘L et’s move on. ’” Continued from Page A1 The highest priority is repairing the rapidly dete- riorating Pier 2, where sea- food processing companies employ hundreds during busy fi shing seasons . Port staff have estimated the pier needs at least $7 million in repairs. Commissioner Robert Stevens had taken issue with references throughout the document to the Port’s past misdeeds and political dra- mas. McArthur took a hard line that the references to the past were a necessary acknowledgement to show the Port is making amends and moving forward. Ste- vens on Tuesday asked for some minor, last-minute changes but otherwise joined other Port commissioners in praising McArthur’s work. “It’s just my job,” McAr- thur responded with a smile. “I think she’s done more than her job,” said Dirk Rohne, the commission’s president . “I think she’s gone above and beyond to help us move forward.” Melanie Olson, a regional development offi cer with Business Oregon, said it would take four to six weeks to approve the plan. Approval could be delayed by the recent retirement of Dave Harlan, former direc- tor of ports for Business Oregon. Rohne called on the Port to continually refer to the strategic plan and make changes as the agency’s sit- uation hopefully improves. “If there’s more good than bad, we’ll take out bad and put in good,” he said. Sue Transue, the Port’s director of terminal and commercial services, said the Port is reviewing its pro- fessional services agree- ment with Bruce Conner, the agency’s cruise ship marketer. Conner was recently George on Duane Street . With a growing reputa- tion as one of the Pacifi c Northwest’s top craft breweries, the partners in 2009 purchased the entire city block, including the Fort George and Lovell buildings. Harris and Nemlow- ill also purchased a plot of land at the North Coast Business Park in Warren- ton for a distribution center and pub. But rumors have long swirled they had eyes for Astoria Warehousing. “We saw 25 people let go, and what we’re really trying to do is kind (of) more of what we’ve already been doing at Fort George,” Nemlowill said. “We walk into an aban- doned property, pick it back up (and) create jobs.” The property near Uniontown, listed at $8.8 million, includes more than 5 acres of land, 7 acres over the Columbia River and four large ware- houses totaling 120,000 square feet. Fort George’s purchase depended on get- ting $1 million from Busi- ness Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, to clean up con- tamination from an adja- cent properties. City councilors shared their joy at the property going to a local company with a proven track record of creating jobs and giv- ing back to the commu- nity. Mayor Bruce Jones thanked state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, for helping secure the grant in the last legislative session. “I really think this is looking like this is going to be a great outcome for the property, both in local ownership, which is a pos- itive, and that that ware- house area will actually have activity as opposed to no activity,” City Coun- cilor Tom Brownson said. “I couldn’t ask for a better solution for that property.” facebook.com/dailyastorian Save the Date 1 year Anniversary Party SATURDAY OCT. 5 TH 5 PM - 7 PM FREE Giveaway Bag to the first 50 people! -Yarn, Notions & other Goodies •Raffles (including Knitting Needle Set worth $180!) OREGON CAPITAL INSIDER •Prizes •Daily Flash Sales all Week (Check our social media or stop by in person, now through 10/11) Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! 1 0 N . H O L L AD AY D RIVE , ST E A, SE ASID E , O R 9 7 1 3 8 re s are b m a e o r r d .. . Port: Moving out of Pier 1 offi ces next month Continued from Page A1 n Tiffi ny Mitchell, D-Astoria . She said she came to see the City C ouncil discuss what she thinks “impacts so many of our smaller com- munities, particularly vaca- tion communities.” The council unanimously voted to approve the ordi- nance as amended, however, the process was somewhat unusual. Earlier in the meeting, there was not unanimous approval of the amendment. Councilor Robin Risley and Councilor Brandon Ogilvie voted against the changes, with Risley citing fl aws she saw with the procedure. The councilors decided to table the motion for the next meeting. However, later in the evening , the city attorney asked councilors to re do the motions to make sure the procedure was done cor- Trump’s legal team pri- vately cheered as the Muel- ler investigation bled into its third year in 2019 — in part because of their stall tactics on whether Trump would consent to the Mueller inter- view. Now they are bent on ensuring the current probe is anything but the quick pro- cess desired by Democrats, who are wary of its impact on the 2020 presidential campaign. “We’re not fooling around here,” Schiff said. “We don’t want this to drag on for months and months, which appears to be the administra- tion’s strategy.” White House allies argue that the Democratic demands are overly broad and raise issues of executive privilege and immunity, jeopardizing the longstanding interests of the co-equal branch of gov- ernment. But Democrats are making the precise count- er-argument, that Trump is claiming superiority of the executive branch over the legislative in a manner that defi es the Constitution. It’s a foot-dragging response that also serves Trump’s political interests — he has hoped to use impeach- ment as a rallying cry for his supporter base in the election year. Democrats have sought to use their declared impeach- ment investigation to bol- ster their case to access all sorts of documents from the administration, most recently secret grand jury information that underpinned Mueller’s report. And where courts have generally required con- gressional oversight requests to demonstrate a legiti- mate legislative purpose, impeachment requests could be wide-ranging. W he By ZEKE MILLER, JONATHAN LEMIRE and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Brewery: ‘We walk into an abandoned property, pick it back up (and) create jobs’ fi ned by the Oregon Govern- ment Ethics Commission for not disclosing his role with the Port and how it might benefi t his company, Sun- dial Travel, which markets shore excursions to cruise lines. The Port is also work- ing on new leases for Sun- dial Travel and the Clatsop Cruise Hosts, she said. The Port will begin next month moving out of its offi ces on the third fl oor of Pier 1 and back into its for- mer headquarters in the Gateway Building on Gate- way Avenue. The Port will lease the third-fl oor offi ces on Pier 1 to health care group Watershed Wellness starting in December. The Port is keeping open applications for a permanent advisory fi nance committee it is forming to help advise the agency. Applications for the committee closed Wednesday with only three candidates from the commu- nity out of the fi ve necessary. Shooting Stars: Process will take six months Continued from Page A1 “Because if I’m expe- riencing this then I’m sure there’s other directors hav- ing the same issues and run- ning into the same stum- bling blocks, ” she said. Giliga said the state issued Shooting Stars a 30-day temporary license. H owever, the process out- lined in the settlement agree- ment will take six months. Giliga is thankful for a resolution , but she said par- ents are still a little on edge. “The parents are set- tled,” she said. “B ut I think they’re still kind of wary because they had that scare and they know it could hap- pen again to anywhere they go. ” columbiamemorial.org/having-a-baby 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321 www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree-Designated Hospital