Nancy Pelosi Announces Impeachment Inquiry

[Vash01]

Without even reading this yet, I'm with most of the responsible, knowledgeable and thought-provoking commentators regarding Repubs simply being cowardly, scared of Trump and deplorables, and still unable to figure out what hit them during the 2016 election campaign. They are all hoist by their own petard, and by their lousy, 'follow the deplorables' bullshit, instead of scraping up enough courage to actually show even a hint of moral leadership.

In one of my earlier links, I believe it was Jon Meacham who said Repubs need to think about what history and their own children and grandchildren will think of them and say about them, instead of falling prey to self-interested, self-pitying weak-kneed enabling because of Trump's cruel bullying and the utter stupidity and bigotry of most deplorables.

I don’t think they are capable of thinking of history. I also don’t think they have morals or ethics.

 

[aftershocks]

This is a good point:

Asha Rangappa on Twitter

“Then WHY IN THE WORLD would he want them investigating a U.S. citizen?!?!? this is getting so exhausting https://t.co/kH0M5SDHna”

twitter.com

^^ Seriously, the whole pile of mess, distraction tactics, and Trump circus narcissism and bullying has been hugely exhausting since way even before Mueller Time, and well before the first WTH! and Why? non-debate with 'foregone conclusion' debate winner, and long-suffering battle-weary warrior, Hillary. The exhaustion tremors began as soon as l'orange fatso and trophy Melania stepped on the down escalator in 2016... As we know, the rest is some scary-ass history America will never be able to run away from, no matter how hard the responsible among us try to gain some distance, some perspective and some sanity from.

 

[Zemgirl]

I loved that movie, but the president in it was a decent guy who was very ill.

It's time for a rewatch, then.

Bill Mitchell was not a decent guy, he was a selfish jerk who had a stroke while cheating on his wife. Several of his associates are indicted for their role in a savings and loans scandal; he's simply not in a position to be held accountable. It is true that he's not as awful of Trump, but that would probably been seen as unrealistic back in 1993.

 

[Vash01]

It's time for a rewatch, then.

Bill Mitchell was not a decent guy, he was a selfish jerk who had a stroke while cheating on his wife. Several of his associates are indicted for their role in a savings and loans scandal; he's simply not in a position to be held accountable. It is true that he's not as awful of Trump, but that would probably been seen as unrealistic back in 1993.

I will rewatch. I had forgotten the details.

 

[missing]

I'll take the worst possible president who looks like Kevin Kline over the best possible president who looks like Donald Trump.

Meanwhile: Banks can hand Trump financial records to House Democrats, court rules.



NEW YORK — Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp can hand over U.S. President Donald Trump's financial records to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

 

[caseyedwards]

I'll take the worst possible president who looks like Kevin Kline over the best possible president who looks like Donald Trump.

Meanwhile: Banks can hand Trump financial records to House Democrats, court rules.



NEW YORK — Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp can hand over U.S. President Donald Trump's financial records to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

I don’t like the courts have to pretend democrats don’t plan to leak them. That even though everyone knows they will be leaked the courts can’t take into consideration “possible” behavior. When democrats get them of course WAPO and NYT will get them to publish all the details. This is allowed because of expectation of privacy protection for trump. Lol

 

[Sparks]

The impeachment report is out

Breaking: House Intel Cmte’s impeachment report is out, finding "President Trump, personally and acting through agents within and outside of the U.S. government, solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his reelection." https://intelligence.house.gov/report/

 

[Sparks]

"The President placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security."

 

[Sparks]

Devin Nunes is up to his eyeballs in this.

Jim Sciutto on Twitter

“This is new: Inpeachment report shows multiple phone calls between @DevinNunes and Rudy’s now indicted former partner Lev Parnas”

twitter.com

 

[ErikWilliam]

Devin Nunes is up to his eyeballs in this.

Jim Sciutto on Twitter

“This is new: Inpeachment report shows multiple phone calls between @DevinNunes and Rudy’s now indicted former partner Lev Parnas”

twitter.com

Holy crap. And he had the audacity to not recuse himself from his position on these hearings??? I am so tired of the complete and utter dishonesty and hypocrisy demonstrated by the Republican party. I understand politics is politics, but this is beyond the pale.

 

[DFJ]

Schiff is speaking. He sounds really fed up.

 

[Sparks]

Page 46: "Over the course of the four days following the April 7 article, phone records show contacts between Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Parnas, Rep. Devin Nunes, and Mr. Solomon. Specifically, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Parnas were in contact with one another, as well as with Mr. Solomon."

 

[sk9tingfan]

Listening to Adam Schiff presenting a prologue/overview to the House Intel Report. He is looking and sounding very presidential.

 

[BlueRidge]

I wonder of the Dem report will be published in book form?

 

[Vagabond]

I wonder if the Office of Congressional Ethics will investigate Rep. Nunes, if it isn't already going so.

 

[rfisher]

I wonder if the Office of Congressional Ethics will investigate Rep. Nunes, if it isn't already going so.

Mitch is being hard pressed to find someone to chair the Senate ethics committee when the current chair leaves at the end of the month. None of them want it because they expect to have to investigate their own party members.

 

[BlueRidge]

Sen. Blumenthal lays out the case here:

Yes, Trump is guilty of bribery (Washington Post)

But even under the narrower definition of bribery currently in the criminal code, Trump’s actions clearly qualify. Federal law defines bribery as the solicitation of “anything of value personally” by a public official “in return for” an official act. It also specifies that a bribe can be a reward for an act the public official would have done anyway. In short, merely soliciting a bribe is bribery.

...did Trump seek something of personal value from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?

He most certainly did. Everything from information about the whereabouts of a witness to the promise of future campaign contributions has been identified as a “thing of value” in bribery law.

...The bribery statute makes clear: Soliciting a bribe is illegal even if the bribe is never paid.

...That no witness heard Trump utter the words “please solicit a bribe from Ukraine” should not be shocking. Anybody who has watched a mob movie knows criminals don’t spell out their illegal plans to every subordinate. More importantly, individuals who might have heard Trump say those words may have unlawfully refused to testify, at Trump’s request. When a defendant improperly withholds evidence, courts instruct juries to assume that the evidence would not help the defendant. Americans should make the same assumption here.

I just pulled out some parts that answer some of the objections of Trump supporters, but the whole column is very succinct. If you can access it, read it.

 

[ErikWilliam]

I wonder if the Office of Congressional Ethics will investigate Rep. Nunes, if it isn't already going so.

If the Ethics committee doesn't investigate him, then what is it there for? This is a prime example.

 

[Vagabond]

I just pulled out some parts that answer some of the objections of Trump supporters, but the whole column is very succinct. If you can access it, read it.

You are perhaps unaware of the saying in Latin, "Zalophus obiicit sed non legit."

 

[BlueRidge]

You are perhaps unaware of the saying in Latin, "Zalophus obiicit sed non legit."

I am perhaps but a little google and

On another note, Trump apparently said this today:

"I had legal scholars looking at the transcripts the other day and they said 'these are absolutely perfect, Trump is right when he uses the word.'"

He is so obsessed.

 

[Sparks]

Rep. Schiff on his thought on Rep. Nunes being on the phone with Lev Parnas: It is deeply concerning that at a time when the president was using power to dig up dirt on political rival that there may be evidence of members of congress being complicit.

 

[caseyedwards]

But who in the American government has the right to investigate Americans dealings in foreign countries? Biden’s were making millions in Ukraine. Being appointed to corporate boards there and possibly benefiting from US aid to ukriane! So who has ability to investigate that? Not the president?

 

[Sparks]

Grasp meet Straw

 

[Vash01]

Holy crap. And he had the audacity to not recuse himself from his position on these hearings??? I am so tired of the complete and utter dishonesty and hypocrisy demonstrated by the Republican party. I understand politics is politics, but this is beyond the pale.

Not surprising that he didn’t recuse himself. Bill Barr shamelessly manipulated the Mueller report.

I am not defending either of the two, but breaking laws and ethics has become the norm.

 

[Vash01]

Rep. Schiff on his thought on Rep. Nunes being on the phone with Lev Parnas: It is deeply concerning that at a time when the president was using power to dig up dirt on political rival that there may be evidence of members of congress being complicit.

I suspect many republican members are complicit in almost every misdeed by Trump. It may not be just a cult. There could be crimes involved. Let the truth come out.

 

[BlueRidge]

I agree with the Washington Post on this:

While saying the intelligence committee’s investigation will continue, the Democrats argue that they are unable to wait to refer the impeachment case to the Judiciary Committee because of the “threat of further presidential attempts to solicit foreign interference in our next election.”

While that fear is not unwarranted, the speedy referral smacks of political expediency. The Judiciary Committee may well have enough evidence to draw up articles of impeachment. But the witnesses and documents that Mr. Trump is improperly blocking might well provide a fuller and, to many Americans, more persuasive picture of his guilt — and American democracy cannot afford for Congress to fail to establish its right to obtain them. The fight for them must not be given up.

I know that Dems have not wanted to allow Trump's "stonewalling" to "run out the clock" but rushing to impeachment and throwing the ball to the Senate will allow Trump's stonewalling to succeed in keeping us in the dark on the information that could fill in the gaps that Republicans are trying to exploit to cast doubt on Trump's guilt.

The sooner this goes to the Senate for trial, the less information will be available to show the public what Trump has done.

Democrats should not give up the fight to hear from more witnesses

 

[Sparks]

When the impeachment referral is submitted, it doesn't mean the investigations will stop.

 

[Prancer]

But who in the American government has the right to investigate Americans dealings in foreign countries? Biden’s were making millions in Ukraine. Being appointed to corporate boards there and possibly benefiting from US aid to ukriane! So who has ability to investigate that? Not the president?

The Executive branch is not an investigatory body. If US laws were broken, then wouldn't the Department of Justice investigate? And if no laws were broken--and not once have I heard anyone say so, but if you have a legitimate reference, post it--then what is there to investigate?

Hunter Biden made millions in Ukraine. If you know of another Biden who made millions in Ukraine, then your use of the (not quite) plural there is justified, so what other Biden made millions in Ukraine?

Is it corrupt and unethical? I think so, but I think it's highly unlikely that Congress will ever make it all officially corrupt and unethical because Hunter Biden is far from alone in taking advantage of his parent's political position.

 

[ballettmaus]

But who in the American government has the right to investigate Americans dealings in foreign countries? Biden’s were making millions in Ukraine. Being appointed to corporate boards there and possibly benefiting from US aid to ukriane! So who has ability to investigate that? Not the president?

As has been pointed out on and by the news media time and again, if Trump was so concerned, he should have referred it to the DOJ.

 

[caseyedwards]

US law doesn’t have jurisdiction in Ukraine. Only when Ukraine started an investigation could they ask for assistance from US. They had to get the info as to why the Ukrainian company wanted a Biden on its board for some reason. Trump could have called barr and asked for an investigation first of hunter Biden taking bribes from a Ukrainian company but the issue was the aid to Ukraine that couldn’t be given if Ukraine was corrupt not if hunter Biden was corrupt. He didn’t just call Barr to demand he target hunter for accepting bribes. He went to president of Ukraine and talked about Burisma DNC server emails Chalupa etc etc