# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/561 "2019-09-26T14:22:54Z")
Thanks. I’ll refrain from commenting on what I’m not seeing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/562 "2019-09-26T14:24:21Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I’m at work and can’t see the testimony, but if the witness is throwing around phony “privilege” I have no problem with him being treated as hostile. If Schiff asks questions regarding Maguire’s handling of the memo, Macquire is going to attempt a CYA. There’s no strategic point in litigating the legality of his initial witholding now that it’s been released. Given his press release yesterday and his opening statement today , it appeared Maguire was ready to throw Trump under the bus if Macquire wasn’t included in the cover-up. Instead Schiff goes the route of blaming him for holding it back rather than moving on and saying “We understand why you felt you had to hold it back given the pressure sure you received. Having said that, do you think the allegations so are serious, blah, blah,blah.” He should be turned as a witness, not prosecuted as a perpetrator. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/563 "2019-09-26T14:27:33Z")
Well, it’s completely established with this report that this is not just about one phone call and one whistleblower. The IG had been tracking concerning developments as far back as this spring, and he attributes this to talking to more than a dozen people. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/564 "2019-09-26T14:38:14Z")
Just a thought, but wouldn’t it be really fucked up if Russia’s recent aggressions in Ukraine were intended from the start to give Trump leverage over Ukraine? I mean, its not implausible. Wanting to help Ukraine fight Russia doesn’t fit with the image of a President who acts like he and Putin are besties. We need to consider whether this is mafia-style extortion in its truest, most vilest form. If so, woah nelly. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/565 "2019-09-26T14:38:43Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Thanks. I’ll refrain from commenting on what I’m not seeing. 😃 I’m sorry, I should have been more clear about my comment re executive privilege. Schiff was questioning Maguire about what caused him to disregard the very clear “shall” language of the law that compels him to bring the whistleblower’s complaint to the Intelligence Committee. Maguire responded that he saw issues of “executive privilege” that he wasn’t authorized to waive, and so kicked it over to the White House OLC for a determination – basically permitting the wrongdoers to police themselves. Of course what is not being said is that executive privilege asserted for a corrupt purpose is not a valid use of the privilege. Mr. Maguire surely knew that before rabbiting over to the White House OLC. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/566 "2019-09-26T14:38:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > That wasn’t really the case, **bobot**. Much of Schiff’s questioning centered around the fact that Maguire was faced with a whistleblower complaint about the POTUS and the AG and he went to the White House and then the DOJ for advice on whether and how to proceed with the complaint. Schiff was establishing the timeline of events and showing us all how insane the situation was; the fact that Maguire (who may well have been merely trying, in his judgement, to act properly in balancing what he saw as competing priorities) seems to have sought counseling from the people who were accused of wrongdoing was definitely notable. From what I’ve been reading (in the few moments I could spare from work this morning), it seems as if it took a bit of work just to get Maguire to say that he’d checked with the White House. Is that off base? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/567 "2019-09-26T14:42:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > How about taxing the shit out of the top **20** %? Works for me. That’s gonna be a “no” from me. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/568 "2019-09-26T14:43:25Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > If Schiff asks questions regarding Maguire’s handling of the memo, Macquire is going to attempt a CYA. There’s no strategic point in litigating the legality of his initial withholding now that it’s been released. There’s a very important strategic point if Schiff demonstrates that there was a concerted effort by the WH and DOJ to suppress this. He wasn’t attacking Maguire for the actions he took, he was attacking Trump and Barr for possible obstruction. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/569 "2019-09-26T14:47:50Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > I propose no theories. I note he has gone to great effort to conceal his finances. I strongly suspect that ‘transparency’ would reveal connections to (ownership by) domestic and foreign mafiyas and state players, to the extent of actual treason as Constitutionally defined. I fear he can and will **pull nutz shit** like nuking easy targets as a self-protectve measure. > > You may see a constitutional crisis. I see an existential crisis. I sure focking hope I’m wrong. This is patently absurd. Treason requires enemies. Which “enemies” do you think President Trump may have adhered to / given aid and comfort to? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/570 "2019-09-26T14:53:07Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > There’s a very important strategic point if Schiff demonstrates that there was a concerted effort by the WH and DOJ to suppress this. He wasn’t attacking Macguire for the actions he took, he was attacking Trump and Barr for possible obstruction. I agree that is an important point, but the questioning was clearly targeting Maguire’s handling of the matter. If you let Macquire off the hook, you can allow him to shift blame to Barr and the WH. It’s the same concept of letting the little guy off the hook to get him to roll on the higher-ups. Macguire seems like a decent guy who was under intense pressure from his entire branch. I’m not convinced he wouldn’t have found a way to get this info public eventually. If you force him to defend his actions rather than Barr’s and Trump’s, he will, and Trump will have someone else defending him. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/571 "2019-09-26T14:53:35Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Just a thought, but wouldn’t it be really fucked up if Russia’s recent aggressions in Ukraine were intended from the start to give Trump leverage over Ukraine? I mean, its not implausible. So Russia’s plan in 2014 was too create leverage for a guy that nobody would realistically have expected to become president in 2017? I would call that a prime example of implausible. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/572 "2019-09-26T14:56:20Z")
I think this investigation has to include talking to Barr to find out if he contacted anyone in Ukraine on Trump’s behalf about this. Also, Guiliani needs to be brought in to testify. Who did he talk to in Ukraine, and what did they talk about? What promises or threats did he make on Trump’s behalf? Followup needs to be made on anyone else in the Trump administration who had contact with officials in Ukraine on behalf of Trump. Also, a lot of attention should be paid to the disposition of the note of the phone call Trump made. Who made the decision to hide it by moving it to different (more classified/restrictive) computer servers? Who authorized the move? Who knew about it? Everyone involved in burying this phone call needs to be brought in front of the committtee. Finally, enough with this hiding behind “executive privilege” Executive privilege does not come into effect when you are covering up a crime. This is now an impeachment investigation for criminal activities. The person under investigation does not get to tell witnesses they’re not allowed to testify about their criminal actions. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/573 "2019-09-26T14:57:36Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This is patently absurd. Treason requires enemies. Which “enemies” do you think President Trump may have adhered to / given aid and comfort to? Trump 2020; It’s not technically Treason! ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/574 "2019-09-26T15:00:50Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > They were ready to impeach Nixon because of some blank tape. Can you believe it, just eighteen minutes of blank tape? “Over a lousy blowjob…now if it had been a good blowjob…” ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/575 "2019-09-26T15:01:23Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > I propose no theories. I note he has gone to great effort to conceal his finances. I strongly suspect that ‘transparency’ would reveal connections to (ownership by) domestic and foreign mafiyas and state players, to the extent of actual treason as Constitutionally defined. I fear he can and will **pull nutz shit** like nuking easy targets as a self-protectve measure. > > You may see a constitutional crisis. I see an existential crisis. I sure focking hope I’m wrong. Yeah, you’re proposing President Trump might nuke San Francisco. That’s insane! And there’s no need to “sure focking hope” because you ARE wrong. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/576 "2019-09-26T15:01:29Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > They were ready to impeach Nixon because of some blank tape. Can you believe it, just eighteen minutes of blank tape? And his enemies list, too. Well, who doesn’t have one of those? [Individual-1 certainly does.](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/lock-them-trump-turns-his-attention-enemies-his-state-n988711) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/577 "2019-09-26T15:04:01Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Just a thought, but wouldn’t it be really fucked up if Russia’s recent aggressions in Ukraine were intended from the start to give Trump leverage over Ukraine? I mean, its not implausible. Wanting to help Ukraine fight Russia doesn’t fit with the image of a President who acts like he and Putin are besties. What is far \*more \*plausible is that Putin did it because he knew he could get away with it, having the US President (and therefore NATO) under his control. He, and his many genuine supporters, have chafed under the geographic restrictions of modern Russia following the end of the USSR, and he has the same imperial impulses as so many other ethnically-motivated dictators in history to get all of “his” people under his control. He wants all Russians to be in Russia the same way an earlier dictator wanted all Germans to be in Germany, and for pretty much the same reasons. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/578 "2019-09-26T15:04:16Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > \*\* nods \*\* > Hmm, when Republicans participated in puncturing Nixon, they weren’t exiled to the wilderness for a generation or anything… They _were_. The liberal wing of the Republican party pretty much was destroyed, it was struggling before that, but remember when the regained power in 1980, it was the conservative Reagan wing. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/579 "2019-09-26T15:12:06Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > So Russia’s plan in 2014 was too create leverage for a guy that nobody would realistically have expected to become president in 2017? > > I would call that a prime example of implausible. Russia started significantly [escalating](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/04/us-russia-navy-ukraine-putin-226538) since November last year, though. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/580 "2019-09-26T15:22:24Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This is patently absurd. Treason requires enemies. Which “enemies” do you think President Trump may have adhered to / given aid and comfort to? Best. President. Evah. Amarite? Sarcasm aside: Did you ever imagine yourself having to defend a U.S. president so uniquely incompetent, ignorant, corrupt and dishonest? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=30)