I hope all of the Democrats who voted to confirm Barr get primaried out in their next elections. I hope their primary opponents make these votes a cornerstone of their election campaigns.
I don’t think bypassing this battle is necessarily a bad strategy. They risk looking hysterical and over-reaching, by escalating a fairly routine pissing match into unprecedented territory. They stand to gain … what? It’s not likely there’s a smoking gun in the redacted portion of the Mueller report; and they can get Mueller to cover much of the same ground in his testimony.
Cite Barr, and then move on to Trump’s taxes and taking Mnuchin to court.
That comes across to me as “appear weak and ineffectual and unable to do what they say”. I get that we differ on this and I guess the key difference is here:
I don’t think this is “a fairly routine pissing match” now should there be such a thing as “a fairly routine pissing match” where the White House tries to evade oversight. The Dems should fight and win IMO.
I can only speculate about the GOP blowback to such blatant regard for the law.
Doug Jones (won’t get primaried but will lose his reelection bid to a Republican who is only slightly more palatable than Moore), Joe Manchin (won’t get primaried) and Kyrsten Sinema (probably won’t get primaried, may lose to a Republican).
Ah yes, the Donald Trump theory that bluster and the appearance of strength is more important than the real thing.
Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Orange Chimp Junior over questions of whether he lied to Congress.
My guess is that this is more bullshit too from the GOP. Even the subpoena will give them the opportunity to say “See? We respond to legitimate enquiries!”
House Judiciary moves to hold Barr in contempt, now goes to House floor where it will certainly pass.
You know what would be nice? If House or Senate subpoena meant automatically that an appearance was mandated for both bodies. A witness was not permitted to only appear for the softball committee.
CNN was just reporting that Jr. may be planning to plead the 5th.
Because [Admiral Ackbar]: It’s a perjury trap!!! [/Admiral Ackbar]
Does this mean Jr. was not honest? Shocking!
"The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
Donald J. Trump, Campaign Rally, September 2016
Those of us outside the decision-making group (and I wonder who those are?) can debate whether the Democrats have a good strategy, bad strategy, or any strategy at all.
IMHO, they’re playing their hand as well as they could. An actual impeachment vote is pointless as long as the R’s are in charge of the Senate – it will only produce party line votes and give Trump more fodder to whine about at his rallies (partisan witch hunt!).
That being the case, the House should work to present all the damning evidence they can find by using all their investigative bodies. By 2020 the bloated stinking corpse of the Trump Administration will be tainting all Republican candidates, not just the one at the top of the ticket. Don’t give any Republican a chance to cast a vote against him – let him take the whole party down.
Everything Trump Touches Dies.
One can only hope this is the fate of the entire Republican Party.
Is it just me or does anyone else think Trump’s description of his tax returns is an admission to tax fraud? He says he listed profits as losses because that’s the way the tax code works. I don’t buy that. One lists things as tax write-offs. I’d be interested in seeing what happens to his CPA.
Isn’t it just great that at times like this, the US is considering attacks on Iran and North Korea because…“freedom”.
America loves its “freedom.”
America is “free”
God, what fucking bullshit.
“Because… DISTRACTION!”
I have a feeling that CFSG would love to have the Democrats rush headlong into impeachment, and in fact may be trying to goad them into doing just that. The articles would fail — perhaps miserably — in the Senate (and Yertle the Majority Leader would be certain to fast-track them); even better, CFSG would have a more-or-less legitimate “persecution card” to haul out when needed during the election.
MHO, the Democrats should investigate wherever they can, and push back using every legal means available. Then if/when they do impeach, they will be in a much stronger position.
(I’m not sure how to look it up, but ISTR that in 1974 the country was still deeply divided over impeachment as late as the beginning of the House Judiciary Committee hearings. Opinion started to swing during the hearings, aided by a) a mountain of evidence, b) John Doar, and c) Peter Rodino, who kept the Southern Democrats on board — which in turn enabled him to bring a number of Republicans around.)
Yes. Trump will try to goad the House Democrats into holding that impeachment vote, because that means, effectively, the end of all meaningful oversight and investigation into his wrongdoing.
The House won’t have a justification for holding hearings that’s convincing to the majority of voters, once they’ve sent the matter over to the Senate. Trump is practically drooling at that prospect.
Expect lots of blatant incitement-to-vote-to-impeach—even more egregiously outrageous conduct than usual from the rancid clown and his dancing imps.
An expert on NPR this afternoon pretty much confirmed Trump’s statement – the tax code, especially in the '80s, is full of loopholes that benefit real estate developers. But he said that Trump had both “paper” losses and real losses – he really is bad at business-stuff.
He also said that Trump campaigned on closing those loopholes. Two guesses how that went.