Impeachment Inquiry Gives Some Democrats, Voters Pause

Once the dust settled after the release of a whistleblower's report and the testimony of the director of national intelligence on Thursday, more developments surfaced. They included:

• The nation is divided on the House impeachment inquiry, a new poll shows, with 49% supporting it and 46% opposed. "Democrats in the House have work to do to convince people of the usefulness of their case," a pollster said. But 70% of Americans are following developments, NPR reports, so that breakdown could change quickly.
• President Trump's reelection campaign said it raised $13 million in the 24 hours after the impeachment inquiry was announced. The total included $5 million from a Wednesday night fundraiser, $3 million from a Thursday breakfast event and $5 million from online donors in every state, the Republican National Committee said. "I need you on my Impeachment Defense Team," one fundraising text message said, per the AP.

• Democrats who don't consider their seats safe in next year's election met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders, per CNN. Several said they want the impeachment inquiry to focus on Trump's Ukraine call and not other issues; some said they're not willing to vote to impeach at the moment. "I would vote 'no' right now because we haven't seen all the facts," Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania said.
• An attempt by Ukraine's president to please Trump might have caused him another headache. In a July 25 call, Volodymyr Zelensky told the president that the last time he was in the US, "I stayed at the Trump Tower." It's not clear that the stay, newly revealed in a transcript of the call, was illegal, per the Washington Post. But Public Citizen, an advocacy group, tweeted that the revelation is a "reminder that our president violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause every. single. day."
• Two organizations representing diplomats spoke up about the dismissal last May of Marie Yovanovitch, US ambassador to Ukraine, per CNN. The American Academy of Diplomacy expressed alarm at Trump's statement that "she's going through some things." And the American Foreign Service Association asked "all Americans to honor and respect the non-partisan, non-political work" of diplomats.

(More Trump impeachment stories.)