# 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:** 51
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1001 "2019-09-28T01:31:34Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > It’s good advice for folks to barrage their congressperson with phone calls and emails. But my congressperson is Nancy Pelosi. She doesn’t need any nudging from her constituents. who am I supposed to call? Some random representative in Kansas or Virginia? Congresspeople don’t give much credence to messages from people outside their district, do they? Mine is Mitch McConnell ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1002 "2019-09-28T01:36:31Z")
With the revelation that even more “secret transcripts” were improperly stored on this server, I would like to offer my congratulations to Donald Trump for making a previously-unknown top-secret classified server the key repository of evidence in the bigliest criminal case(s) of the Millennium. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1003 "2019-09-28T01:39:19Z")
Sorry: > [@](#): > > BREAKING: Trump told 2 senior Russian officials in 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the US election because the US did the same in other countries [https://twitter.com/traciemac\_Bmore/status/1177746565626302464?s=19](https://twitter.com/traciemac_Bmore/status/1177746565626302464?s=19) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1004 "2019-09-28T01:40:25Z")
Beginning to think Mueller may have missed a few things guys. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1005 "2019-09-28T01:42:11Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Yeah, maybe. And there may be some hope on the horizon . . . > > . . . I just read an interesting article making a good case that FOX may soon change its tune and dump Trump. That would go a LONG way to softening Senate (and House) Republicans’ stance against impeachment or at least lessening their support of Trump. > > Paul Ryan (who despises Trump now) has been recently appointed to the FOX board and Murdoch’s son is now at the helm. Presumably, as the article points out, he’s aware that the median age of FOX viewers is 65 and so, as a business, FOX better find a way to remain viable and enduring. I read that Ryan told the board to start preparing for a post-Trump world. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1006 "2019-09-28T01:43:37Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sorry: > > [https://twitter.com/traciemac\_Bmore/status/1177746565626302464?s=19](https://twitter.com/traciemac_Bmore/status/1177746565626302464?s=19) What’s it called when so much bad news comes out so fast you have to stop paying attention because you cannot intellectually or emotionally absorb it all? My buddy and I spoke today around 2 pm about the NRA/Russian asset scandal, the WH admitting they put the Ukraine transcript on a top-secret server, and how Rudy literally provided the world proof of a scandal involving the State Dept with TIME STAMPED SCREEN GRABS OFF HIS PHONE, like some golden goose of evidence. Since then Pompeo was subpoenaed, the Envoy resigned, Trump asked the NRA for help in his defense, he’s told Russia he doesn’t care if they meddle, and I can’t even keep track of what else. Things are going at a frightening pace. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1007 "2019-09-28T01:47:03Z")
Preet Bharara on Twitter > [@Preet Bharara](#): > > It is all going to come out. All of it. The dam has broken. > > Watch for lots of people people in Trump’s orbit now try to transition from cowardly to courageous. It’s CYA time. ---
**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 28, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1008 "2019-09-28T01:48:34Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Mine is Mitch McConnell Holy crap. Sorry. You must be surrounded by people that…that…support that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1009 "2019-09-28T01:51:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Now Trump is [meeting with the NRA](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/trump-lapierre-nra-impeachment.html) to try to deal with his legal problems over impeachment. I wonder how that will work out for him. At last note, the NRA was probably under FBI scrutiny for laundering money to the RNC and Trump. If they’re still under such scrutiny, I hope that Trump’s meeting with them went real well and that they go active in their efforts to aid him by any and all means. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > What keeps me up at night is… and I’ve said it elsewhere… whatever Trump’s other shortcomings, the man is a wizard at corrupting people (and/or identifying corrupt allies). When I look at how McConnell, Barr, Graham have all fallen in line to lick his boots, when I look at the conservative-packed SCOTUS, if I am Trump then I am thinking there must be a way to mobilize his toadies to delay, disrupt, or invalidate the 2020 election. Trump’s process is pretty easy, I imagine. Say that he wants to launder some money. He goes out and meets with a bunch of people and talks about how much money they’d make laundering money. Later, some percentage of those people get back to him. The remainder assume that he was joking. ---
**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 28, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1010 "2019-09-28T01:53:29Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > \ > > Things are going at a frightening pace. Don’t know if you’re old enough to recall, but Nixon was like this, too. When the tipping point is reached, it happens fast. In this case, it’s even more urgent for it to happen fast, because the subject of the impeachment/removal quest is unhinged and very dangerous. I predict Senate Republicans will take advantage of this gift and sadly, reluctantly vote to remove. They’ll never have a better opportunity to get rid of him for an easily understood reason. Kind of like the disgusting “peace with honor” withdrawal undertaken by Nixon, pledged first in 1968 as a campaign promise to end the Vietnam War, and then again in 1973 at the Paris Peace Accords as a promise to… end the Vietnam War. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1011 "2019-09-28T01:55:11Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Prison rape being called off due to the limitations of aging isn’t as hilarious as you think. Next time, just make that your personal masturbation fantasy rather than share it with us? I believe that was an insult rather than a fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1012 "2019-09-28T02:01:05Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Beginning to think Mueller may have missed a few things guys. Wondering how much of what we’re learning now was in that Super Deluxe Limited Special Unredacted Edition that Congress got to view in the SCIFs. Remember how they all came out of there acting like they’d just seen something disturbing? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1013 "2019-09-28T02:32:24Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > With the revelation that even more “secret transcripts” were improperly stored on this server, I would like to offer my congratulations to Donald Trump for making a previously-unknown top-secret classified server the key repository of evidence in the bigliest criminal case(s) of the Millennium. Problem is it’s next to Hillary’s in the Ukraine, and it’s really, really hard to find. Seriously funny and serious at the same time though. So, this is where you keep all the records of your criminal activities? Thanks for the tip. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1014 "2019-09-28T03:12:30Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I predict Senate Republicans will take advantage of this gift and sadly, reluctantly vote to remove. They’ll never have a better opportunity to get rid of him for an easily understood reason. You really think so? To me it seems like Nixon taught the GOP that if they want to stay power, they have to circle the wagons early and fiercely. That’s what they are doing. Whoever breaks ranks first… that will be the really interesting political story of our time. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1015 "2019-09-28T03:18:51Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You really think so? To me it seems like Nixon taught the GOP that if they want to stay power, they have to circle the wagons early and fiercely. That’s what they are doing. Whoever breaks ranks first… that will be the really interesting political story of our time. And yet…[McConnell encouraged Trump to release transcript of Zelensky call: report](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/463483-mcconnell-encouraged-trump-to-release-transcript-of-zelensky-call-report) > [@The Hill](#): > > Two people familiar with the conversation told The Washington Post that McConnell encouraged the White House to release the reconstituted transcript to reinforce Trump’s claim that nothing improper happened during the conversation, explaining that speculation about the call had escalated too far. Now, while McConnell is relentlessly partisan, amoral, and seeks only power, he’s not stupid. I can think of very few people who think releasing that memo did Trump any favours at all - if anything, it was worse than any of the previous reporting/speculation of it. Perhaps he’s preparing the spot under the bus for Trump? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1016 "2019-09-28T03:19:47Z")
> [@](#): > > “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that if the House does vote for impeachment, the Senate ‘has no choice’ but to hold a trial to decide whether to remove Trump from office.” > > **[Trump, caught off guard, struggles to fight impeachment storm](https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-27/white-house-caught-off-guard-scrambles-to-fight-impeachment-storm)** > > President Trump didn’t see it coming. And his aides have no plan. That’s the situation at the White House three days after Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1017 "2019-09-28T03:23:55Z")
From your LA Times link:”I think he’s badly wounded right now,” said a Trump campaign advisor who is in frequent contact with the president, one of several aides who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions. “I’m suddenly very worried about 2020.” Uh, you suddenly should be very worried about _2019_. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1018 "2019-09-28T03:32:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that if the House does vote for impeachment, the Senate ‘has no choice’ but to hold a trial to decide whether to remove Trump from office.” > > [https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1177776878901501952?s=19](https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1177776878901501952?s=19) > [Trump, caught off guard, struggles to fight impeachment storm](https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-27/white-house-caught-off-guard-scrambles-to-fight-impeachment-storm) Whoa! That’s big! I know that doesn’t mean (yet) that they would convict, but a short time ago we were discussing whether Mitch would find a way not to bring it to a vote at all. ---
**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 28, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1019 "2019-09-28T03:34:06Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You really think so? To me it seems like Nixon taught the GOP that if they want to stay power, they have to circle the wagons early and fiercely. That’s what they are doing. Whoever breaks ranks first… that will be the really interesting political story of our time. Here’s why I think he will: The Mueller report was damning, but it was based on things that happened in the past, was dense in the extreme and hard for the public to grasp. The Ukraine criminality is current, egregious, easy to understand and explain to constituents. McConnell has always known the Trump dumpster fire would eventually destroy the Republican “brand.” He could only ride this sick pony so far. Dems have made it clear they will bring an impeachment vote quickly. Republicans can take a swift vote to remove and still have a full year before November 2020 to regroup. The longer Trump stays in office, the longer he defiles the Republican “brand.” As previously noted by **galen ubal** , McConnell is relentlessly partisan, amoral, and seeks only power – but he’s not stupid. He does not want to give Trump the opportunity to destroy the country by disputing the results of the 2020 election, which we all know he will. “Rigged,” just like 2016. _But a clean removal by the Senate Republicans is indisputable. Trump will not be able to fight against it._ Moreover, if Dems fail with articles of impeachment/removal over the Ukrainian criminality, it does not in any way preclude them from bringing new articles of impeachment once they obtain Trump’s tax returns and bank records, widely expected to reveal gross criminal abuses such as money laundering, bank and tax fraud. Dems _will_ get them. The law is entirely on their side. If Republicans fail to remove on the first articles of impeachment, Dems will simply continue to bring new ones again and again, right up until November 2020. More time to demolish the Republican party. The only hope Moscow Mitch has of retaining his majority in the Senate – his top priority – is to jettison Trump with enough time to form a new line of attack. Nominee Mittens Romney, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1020 "2019-09-28T03:36:26Z")
ThelmaLou: is it, though? Isn’t he just betting on a Senate no-removal vote, which would be interpreted by the base and presumably enough “independent” voters as “total exoneration”? Or, if the Senate does remove Trump, the Pubbies have plenty of time to regroup, as Aspenglow said? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=50) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=52)