January 1, Trump Cancels Taliban Meeting | Dems Plan to Formalize Impeachment | Warren & Clinton Talking

This Day in History | 1974

President Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office. 

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

– President Gerald Ford

Good Morning Middle Americans!

Please don’t forget about the Bahamian relief efforts and take a moment to visit the official Hurricane Dorian relief page for the Bahamas here.  You can also read more about the devastation in the Bahamas from the Associated Press here.

Meanwhile President Trump says he canceled secret peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David due to a bombing claimed by the Taliban in Afghanistan last week. Also today we have a story about House Democrats’ plans to formalize their impeachment probe of the president. And what do you think Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren are talking bout “behind the scenes”? Read all about it. 

– Fraser Dixon  

Trump Cancels Secret Taliban Meeting at Camp David

(AP) – “They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” he wrote.

Read more from the Associated Press here

House Democrats Plan to Formalize Impeachment Probe 

(Reuters) – As early as Wednesday, committee members could vote on a measure that would better define the investigation, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The new procedures could be in place for a Sept. 17 hearing at which Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is scheduled to testify, along with former Trump White House aides Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn.

Find out more from Reuters here

Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton Are Talking Behind the Scenes 

(NBC News) – Clinton is a fraught subject for the Democratic contenders — perhaps for none so much as Warren, who, in the shadow of Clinton’s defeat, is seeking to become the second woman to win the party’s nod and the first woman elected president. 

As she seeks to blend her movement-based progressive campaign with a Democratic establishment long wary of her populist brand of politics, Warren has been maintaining and creating relationships with a wide array of Democratic establishment figures. And if the race for nomination goes long — as many Democrats now predict — Clinton could become pivotal as an ally, an adversary or a neutral observer.

Learn more from NBC News here