Republicans are ‘terrified’ but the party must ‘get a grip on itself’

American former General Colin Powell says the Republican Party “needs to get a grip on itself” amid the Ukraine scandal engulfing the administration of US President Donald Trump.

"The Republican party has got to get a grip on itself," Powell told a crowd at The Jefferson Series, an event in New Albany, Ohio, on Monday. "Republican leaders and members of the Congress, both Senate and the House, are holding back because they're terrified of what will happen to any one of them if they speak out." 

The former secretary of state, who calls himself a “moderate Republican,” added that the US foreign policy is "in shambles right now."

"I see things happening that are hard to understand," he said.

Trump has apparently pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Jo Biden, his potential opponent for the 2020 presidential election, warning that he would not give Ukraine the promised military aid in case he refused.

Republicans have shown “blind partisan loyalty” to Trump, according to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

"This entire country should be scared that at a moment when we need patriots, what we are getting is blind partisan loyalty," Murphy said in an interview on "Meet the Press."

Democrats controlling the House have launched an impeachment inquiry based on whistleblower complaints that accuse Trump of "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election."

"I feel like this is a moment where patriots need to step up and try to save this country," Murphy said. "And I think there are a lot of regular citizens out there that are going to demand that their members of Congress look at the facts, make a decision on the facts, not make a decision based on their loyalty to the cult of Donald Trump."

Trump has dismissed the impeachment probe as an attempted "coup" and a "witch hunt," and has even asked China to investigate Biden as well.

PressTV-2nd whistleblower in Trump's Ukraine scandal comes forward

A second whistleblower with "first-hand" info on President Donald Trump's Ukraine scandal has come forward.

“You really think he was serious about thinking that China’s going to investigate the Biden family?” Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said on ABC. “I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this. Remember, this is the president who’s been tougher on China than any other president… You would think after ... a few years of following this president, you would understand sort of how this guy communicates. I think that is what he's doing.”

Biden has accused Trump of asking Ukraine to "manufacture lies" about him.

PressTV-Biden vows to beat Trump ‘like a drum’ in 2020

US Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden has censured Donald Trump for his efforts to "destroy" the former vice president and his family, vowing to beat the US president "like a drum" in the 2020 election.

“In my experience, asking a foreign government to manufacture lies about your domestic political opponent is not ‘done all the time,’” said the former vice president.

He was responding to a Trump tweet that alleged: “As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”

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