The Trump Impeachment Inquiry

[iiandyiiii]

@CarnalK

I’m not sure of the strategy though of not allowing a full house vote. It would definitely make things look a little more legit. Is she afraid of some softness in her caucus?

I expect she sees no need to subject swing-district members to such a vote at this point when more information is likely to come out.

So far, I trust her instincts. AFAICT she’s been “right”, in the sense of being politically effective, on almost all the “engagements” with the GOP and Trump so far in her Speakership.

[YamatoTwinkie]

@Skypist

Giuliani Cronies with Ukraine Ties Arrested over Campaign Donations

A Ukrainian official wanted ambassador Yovanovich removed and Giuliani’s fixers are accused of giving money to “congressman 1” to put pressure on to get rid of her. Rumors are that the congressman may have been Rep Pete Sessions of Texas, who received $3 million from a pro trump PAC and wrote a letter to Pompeo to complain about the ambassador.

Things that make you go hmm .

Apparently these two fixers are Eastern European born but US citizens. Curious how they got citizenship when people who just want honest work are kept away.

At this point, I’m guessing Rudy is going to be facing prison time rather shortly.

[Czarcasm]

@YamatoTwinkie

At this point, I’m guessing Rudy is going to be facing prison time rather shortly.

If Rudy doesn’t get a pardon, then I’m guessing there is going to be a lot of ship-jumping.

[guizot]

@Euphonious_Polemic

I fully expect that if the Republicans are allowed to call witnesses, issue subpoenas etc, what we’ll see is the issues muddied and trampled on to such an extent that the entire investigation will be bogged down forever. Which is exactly their game plan.

If the Republicans are offered this olive branch, they will set it on fire and use it to burn down whatever they can find. I expect that most of the witnesses they call, and subpoenas they issue would probably be related to Benghazi or Hillary’s emails.

Yes, there will never be a truly “bipartisan” process in this, because the Republican Party has degenerated into a massive spin machine, which exists for no other purpose than to keep its members in office, and has no interest in running the government.

@Max s.

This strategy will backfire on voters like me, who place heavy value on fairness and reject consequentialismx

Very few voters have the slightest clue about what is actually happening–the majority are viewing this with about as much discernment as they watch reality TV shows. They wouldn’t know “fairness” from their back end–not even the fantasy fairness you think would happen with Republican input.

[Ravenman]

@Max_S

I think it’s unfair if, as is alleged, the Republicans aren’t allowed to issue subpoenas, call witnesses, ask questions, or generally participate in the inquiry at all, simply because the Democrats have the majority in the House.

Who suggested that Republicans can’t ask questions?

What subpoenas did Democrats issue in 1998?

[Thing_Fish]

@Max_S

I do, to an extent, depending on what you mean by “to go after the Bidens”. I would subpoena the Department of Justice and ask if they had an open investigation on the Bidens before the phone call. If not, I would almost certainly impeach the president, absent some compelling reason provided by him to ask a foreign country to open an investigation of a political rival. If they did have an investigation, I would ask for the reasons. If there aren’t valid reasons, I would impeach the president for abusing his power for political gain.

~Max

Well, I agree that the House investigators need to rule out the possibility that there was an actual, legitimate criminal investigation into the Bidens, and that Trump hasn’t mentioned the existence of this investigation so far for, um, reasons. But do you actually think there is some* realistic* chance that this will turn out to be the case?

[SmellMyWort]

@Max_S

The Representative wants a full House vote on whether to authorize the impeachment inquiry. The Senator said he had not yet seen evidence that the president should be impeached, and would like to see the “facts”.

~Max

@iiandyiiii

The impeachment inquiry is the process by which those facts are gathered.

This. And isn’t the House still in recess? Can they even take the vote that the republicans are demanding at this point?

[Czarcasm]

@Thing_Fish

Well, I agree that the House investigators need to rule out the possibility that there was an actual, legitimate criminal investigation into the Bidens, and that Trump hasn’t mentioned the existence of this investigation so far for, um, reasons. But do you actually think there is some* realistic* chance that this will turn out to be the case?

More importantly, should this totally unrelated(and unevidenced) topic be brought up at all during the impeachment proceedings?

[wolfpup]

It was mentioned above, but I must say that the arrest of two Giuliani henchmen today on charges that include “conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of records” all connected with illegal contributions to a pro-Trump super PAC is big news. The websites of the major networks I monitor are all covering it, of course, and you can tell it’s bad news for Trumpists because at this time there’s not a peep about it out of Fox News, which is busy reporting on the sexual misconduct of Matt Lauer and the head of NBC (also, Joy Behar is mad at Ellen DeGeneres – have to keep up with the important news!)

As they say, the hits just keep on coming. And there’s more to come – investigators weren’t planning to arrest this pair yet but had to do it now because they were planning to abscond from the country. This sordid corruption seems par for the course for anything in any way connected with Trump.

[bobot]

@iiandyiiii

…
So far, I trust her instincts. AFAICT she’s been “right”, in the sense of being politically effective, on almost all the “engagements” with the GOP and Trump so far in her Speakership.

So far her record vs. Trump is unimpeachable.

[Skypist]

Jay Sekulow made a statement that none of this has anything to do with trump! :rolleyes:

Never mind that these turkeys were doing Giuliani’s bidding in Ukraine, which was requested by trump. And there are pictures of them with trump so he can’t say he never met them.

This does feel like a big deal but I’m scared trump can stop it.

I really am curious about these guys being US citizens. Did they come here as children and become naturalized? Or have an American parent? Or were they naturalized as an adult? They sure have a lot of foreign ties and no compunction about working for the good of foreign entities to screw over US laws.

[wolfpup]

^^
To be fair, the Fox News site does have the story, but it’s way down on the page among a large number of minor stories and easy to miss, which I guess is the idea. Other sites have it as a lead headline or at least a major headline, even foreign media.

[Dinsdale]

How does Trump keep THESE schmucks from having to testify?

[SmellMyWort]

Hum, it seems that a Trump appointee at the Office of Management and Budget was involved with signing off on some of the paperwork required to delay the aid for Ukraine, which supposedly is a deviation from the normal protocol there.

Trump appointee put a freeze on Ukraine aid despite concerns from career...

[Fiveyearlurker]

I’ve actually come to believe that Trump genuinely doesn’t believe that he’s done anything wrong. And, that he genuinely believes all of his conspiracy theories. That’s both terrifying and sad to consider.

[Aspenglow]

@Fiveyearlurker

I’ve actually come to believe that Trump genuinely doesn’t believe that he’s done anything wrong. And, that he genuinely believes all of his conspiracy theories. That’s both terrifying and sad to consider.

Respectfully disagree. He knows well enough to try and keep his misdeeds secret. That demonstrates a consciousness of guilt. Re the conspiracy theories, he has admitted at various times his awareness that they aren’t true, only that they work well on weak minds. Birtherism is one example of that.

[Dinsdale]

@Fiveyearlurker

I’ve actually come to believe that Trump genuinely doesn’t believe that he’s done anything wrong. And, that he genuinely believes all of his conspiracy theories. That’s both terrifying and sad to consider.

I’ve got a good friend who had quite a bit of experience dealing w/ big money New Yorkers. In his opinion, Trump typifies a significant subset of such folk, who will say whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They honestly don’t think of it as “lying.” The concept of truth just doesn’t enter into it.

I have no personal experience one way or the other.

[YamatoTwinkie]

@Skypist

Jay Sekulow made a statement that none of this has anything to do with trump! :rolleyes:
Never mind that these turkeys were doing Giuliani’s bidding in Ukraine, which was requested by trump.

And had lunch with Giuliani at the Trump Hotel, right before getting arrested fleeing the country…

[MikeF]

If it this difficult to to hold accountable the dumbest President in history along with his dufus lawyer, imagine would it be like if the people currently in power were actually competent at being crooked.

[JohnT]

Trending on Twitter, a Trump tweet 7 years-old today:

Has Barack Obama been caught red handed laundering money into his campaign from illegal online foreign donations? Media?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/256092879401934850?s=19