Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Two years ago, Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist from Malta, was killed in mysterious circumstances.

Last month, there was a break in the slow-moving case.

Now, high-level government figures are being questioned about her death.

And we look back at the life of Raymond Pulidor, a renowned French cyclist who never quite won the Tour de France.

He was beloved at home, even more than the competitors who wore the winner's yellow jersey.

But first... Today in America, impeachment proceedings roll into their next phase with the House Judiciary Committee's first public hearing. It comes after the House Intelligence Committee released a sweeping report of its findings yesterday.

It involves a scheme in which Donald Trump withheld official acts, a White House meeting,

as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of needed military assistance,

in order to compel that power to deliver two investigations that he believed

would assist his re-election campaign.

The chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Mr. Trump had tried to prevent

Congress from investigating his actions.

If the Congress allows a president to so fully and blanketly obstruct the work of Congress, even involving an impeachment

investigation, into the president's own misconduct, then we are begging for more of the

same.

We are signaling to any future president that can engage in whatever corruption, malfeasance,

or negligence, and they are beyond accountability.

The president has denied any wrongdoing, and he's criticized the proceedings.

I think the Democrats should be ashamed of themselves.

...