The Trump Impeachment Inquiry

[Bone]

@Thing_Fish

Wait, we can advocate killing millions of people in Elections now and not get so much as warned for it? Sweet. Or is this one of those special privileges that only special people who belong to the same party as Bone get?

Clearly you know that comments about moderation belong in ATMB. No more in this thread.

[/moderating]

[ThelmaLou]

@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.

Like Mitch, for example?

[jasg]

@MikeF

This morning on NPR I heard a former White House Counsel saying that the President has certain rights (confronting witnesses, for example) during the inquiry. The host repeated the common grand jury analogy, noting and that accused have no rights to confront witnesses during such hearings. The guest said that comparing the inquiry to a grand jury/indictment was not accurate but I missed or didn’t understand why. The guest further said that in order to give the inquiry legitimacy the House should agree to some of the WH demands. One one hand I’ve heard//read that the letter from Cipollone was utterly lacking from a legal standpoint and now this guest was implying that he has a point(s). What’s the straight dope? Is there such a thing or is all dependent on they eyes of the beholder?

Hear are two recent articles that address this issue. The first is from JustSecurity and opens with:

The White House letter of October 8 refusing all executive branch cooperation with the ongoing House impeachment inquiry is, simply put, a public relations exercise. The legal arguments it intersperses between insults to members of the House Democratic leadership and appeals to the President’s base voters are without foundation.

The second is behind the New York Times paywall - Trump Wants a Fight. Pelosi Can Hit Back. and discusses some of the strategic issues the Speaker is dealing with

The House of Representatives has undertaken the impeachment inquiry of a president only four times in American history. Each time, the House has set its own ground rules. The Constitution prescribes no specific process, nor does federal law.
…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to avoid a situation in which the House leadership is conceding that the White House can dictate any of the terms of how an impeachment is conducted, and what sort of process counts as “legitimate.” Once the House makes that concession, the White House will again move the goal posts, undermining Congress’s role as a coequal branch with the authority to manage its impeachment inquiry.

[Walken_After_Midnight]

A question for Bill Barr:

Senate Judiciary Committee’s Dianne Feinstein and all committee Democrats today called on the Justice Dept. to explain why it decided to not investigate “Trump’s solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 election during a phone call with the Ukrainian president.”

[E-DUB]

@Walken_After_Midnight

A question for Bill Barr:

“I figured you guys had this one.”

I am reminded of that old line about history repeating, first as tragedy, then as farce. Johnson’s impeachment was the original case. Nixon’s was tragedy. Clinton’s was farce. And from what I see these days, we’re well into slapstick territory now.

[TroutMan]

Sondland might be regretting getting involved in all this. With the new attention on him, it came out that he lists his residence as a room in one of his hotels in Seattle. His wife is the listed owner of their house in Portland and their beach house on the Oregon coast.

Oregon has a state income tax, Washington does not.

[JohnT]

Someone on MSNBC just mentioned that if Giuliani was meeting the two guys at a public restaurant right before they were arrested that the odds are virtually certain they were being surveilled visually and very high that the conversation was recorded. I didn’t catch who he was (heard on radio, sorry), but he sounded like he’d done this a time or two hundred.

[Aspenglow]

@JohnT

Someone on MSNBC just mentioned that if Giuliani was meeting the two guys at a public restaurant right before they were arrested that the odds are virtually certain they were being surveilled visually and very high that the conversation was recorded. I didn’t catch who he was (heard on radio, sorry), but he sounded like he’d done this a time or two hundred.

Frank Figluzzi and/or Glen Kirchner. And yeah, they have.

[Walken_After_Midnight]

@E-DUB

And from what I see these days, we’re well into slapstick territory now.

The attorney for Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman (the businessmen arrested today) is Trump’s former lawyer, John Dowd, and he uses Comic Sans typeface, including in a legal letter to Congress. Other former Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb, also used it.

[Ravenman]

After Rudy’s two Ukrainian friends were arrested today, I must say that his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee will be so much more interesting.

I think the hearing has been rescheduled to three days after hell freezes over.

[wolfpup]

@Walken_After_Midnight

The attorney for Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman (the businessmen arrested today) is Trump’s former lawyer, John Dowd, and he uses Comic Sans typeface, including in a legal letter to Congress. Other former Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb, also used it.

When you’re a professional clown, you have to get all the details just right.

[Icarus]

@Ravenman

After Rudy’s two Ukrainian friends were arrested today, I must say that his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee will be so much more interesting.

I think the hearing has been rescheduled to three days after hell freezes over.

Remember that the Senate has a very different purpose in this than the House. I am of the opinion that any Senate questioning of Giuliani would be designed as an opportunity for him to gaslight and muddy the waters. Giving it the imprimatur of the hallowed Senate rather than FOX.

[Walken_After_Midnight]

U[COLOR=“Red”]k[/COLOR]raine Clown [COLOR=“red”]P[/COLOR]os[COLOR=“Green”]s[/COLOR]e

[Happy_Lendervedder]

Man, the covfefe is strong today!

[Walken_After_Midnight]

Trump:

Asked about two men with ties to Rudy Giuliani arrested earlier today, Pres. Trump says, “I don’t know those gentlemen. Now, it’s possible I have a picture with them, because I have a picture with everybody.”

“Maybe they were clients of Rudy,” he adds. “You’d have to ask Rudy.”

[Euphonious_Polemic]

Which one will happen first:

1. Guiliani flips on Trump.
2. Trump throws Guiliani under the bus.

[Ulfreida]

@Euphonious_Polemic

Which one will happen first:

1. Guiliani flips on Trump.
2. Trump throws Guiliani under the bus.

3. Guiliani gets arrested, cops a plea.

[Walken_After_Midnight]

Trey Gowdy, announced last night as Counsel to the President as part of the fight against impeachment, can’t start representing Trump until January because of “lobbying rules”, by which time this may all be over.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

#2, obviously.

[JohnT]

@Snowboarder_Bo

#2, obviously.

We have a winnah!

Evan McMurry

Asked about two men with ties to Rudy Giuliani arrested earlier today, Pres. Trump says, “I don’t know those gentlemen. Now, it’s possible I have a picture with them, because I have a picture with everybody.”

“Maybe they were clients of Rudy,” he adds. “You’d have to ask Rudy.”