Trump Impeachment, Oct 28: President Scores Political Points With Baghdadi Killing As Democrats Stew

It was one of those rare days when frenzied partisan headlines on impeachment were overtaken -- by those on the killing of the elusive Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the world's most dangerous terrorist till the time U.S. special forces took him out in a raid. The audacious raid in Syria and the death of Baghdadi caught Democrats flat footed, scrambling to balance praise for the troops with criticism for the President. A stark contrast to their responses when they lavished praise on President Barack Obama and his team when U.S. forces took out Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

The President managed to score solid political points, in addition to the huge lift he got from eliminating Baghdadi, by first not informing the Congressional leadership including Speaker Pelosi of the impending raid, and twisting the knife in, saying in repsonse to complaints from Democrats, that he did so because of worries about leaks. It was a brilliant display of the President's political acuity and a warning to Democrats on what lies ahead.

Meanwhile, according to CNN, killing a terrorist won’t make much difference for Trump on the impeachment front.

Also on Sunday, but buried by Trump's success: The President was called an “idiot” by rival Joe Biden. International Business Times brings to you key developments Sunday on around the Congressional impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Trump met with boos and 'lock him up' chants at World Series

Trump was attending the Game 5 of the World Series with his closest Republican allies including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.). Other GOP members of Congress present included Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and David Perdue (Ga.) on Sunday night.

According to reports, the crowd began booing after Trump and his party were shown on the Jumbotron. It was later followed by “lock him up” chants by the audience for a brief period.

Biden calls Trump an 'idiot'

Biden called Trump an idiot and said that “everybody knows this. Everybody knows it. Nobody doubts it," for saying that the Russian intervention in the presidential elections were a hoax.

"Everybody knows what's going on. Trump not only doesn't want to do anything about it, he's going out and asking for help. ‘Come help me. Come help me defeat — keep Biden from being the nominee,’” Biden told “60 minutes” host Norah O’Donnell.

Baghdadi surprise won’t help supress calls for Trump’s impeachment

According to CNN, Trump not informing Congress but the Russians about the operation to take down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi won’t certainly help to ease the tensions with the Democrats.

"We were going to notify them last night, but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I've never seen before. There's nothing -- there's no country in the world that leaks like we do. And Washington is a leaking machine. And I told my people, we will not notify them until the -- our great people are out. Not just in, but out. I don't want to have them greeted with fire power like you wouldn't believe. So we were able to get in. It was top secret," said Trump on not informing the Congress.

On the other hand, Fox News pointed out that the Democrats were caught flat footed by President Trump's action to take down the terrorist.

No doubt Ukraine felt pressure: Sen. Chris Murphy

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Sunday that Ukraine was indeed pressurised to conform to Trump's wishes and that there was clear evidence proving the same.

“No doubt they felt pressure. Of course they would feel pressure. And, of course, (Ukriaine President Volodymyr) Zelensky is going to try to put the best spin on this that he can because he is still in a dependent relationship with the United States,” Murphy said.

Meanwhile, here is a very informative timeline on the events around Ukraine and Congressional Democrats move to impeach Trump, published by The Hill.

John Bolton is a very important witness: Adam Schiff

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said John Bolton, former National Sevurity advisor to President Trump, was a key witness in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the President.

“Obviously he has very relevant information and we do want him to come in and testify,” Schiff said.

Schiff added that White House would probably "fight us having John Bolton in."