The “letter of the law” as far as impeachment goes is what Congress decides constitutes “high crimes” and/or “misdemeanors”. There’s no case law to rely on, no SCOTUS decisions, no nothing, except for what Congress decides. It’s explicitly designed as a political process – what these politicians decide to do.
I know this isn’t what you meant, but it’s still another probable lie.
There were criminal referrals made to DOJ re the Trump/Zelenskyy call and Trump’s withholding of the aid. (CNN) Three, even. They were ignored.
And it does make you wonder about that Trump reference in the call summary (Vox, p. 4) telling Zelenskyy he will direct Barr to give Zelenskyy a call.
Those two facts taken together, along with the evidence of Barr flitting around the world trying to personally “investigate” the origins of the Mueller report, makes it a bit hard to swallow that Barr wasn’t aware of what was going on.
Yeah. What I mean, and shit it seems to be glossed over by everyone, is that before the Trump/Ukraine call, Trump didn’t ask for a US investigation about “his concerns”. I seem to read, time and again, people “just asking” what’s so wrong about Trump wanting an investigation? As if it mattered not who he asked. If I had a giant cartoon frying pan, I swear I would flatten some faces with it! Aargh!
FINALLY some good news for Trump’s defense team: Giuliani kept a book of all his Ukraine contacts
Wait. Did I say good news for Trump’s defense? Bad. I meant bad news.
[shredder whirring] Book? Contacts?? Wha…???
It’s gone. If it isn’t, when the subpoena comes… [shredder whirring]
I get your frustration. Drives me nuts, too. As if circumventing the usual channels of investigation, in secret, to pursue an agenda that benefits only Trump via his personal attorney who has no security clearance and no defined role within the diplomatic community was just… no biggie.
The obfuscation works on some people, as is evidenced in this thread.
Trump and Co. have shit that HAS been subpoenaed that hasn’t come to light, too.
I don’t doubt that Giuliani will consider shredding it. But if there are multiple witnesses (“IF” I said please don’t anybody try to nitpick the word “multiple”), and if it’s subpoenaed, then the book’s sudden disappearance will be evidence of obstruction.
Giuliani has a fun choice to make.
Oh, Admissions are SO endearing… especially when they were filmed live and are easily linked.
I know that Leno used to say “shred all you want; we’ll make more” and that’s still true. But you might break the machine clutch shredding these…
Sorry, but I was on a hiking and wine country trip in PDX for the last week and didn’t see much news.
I’ve done my best to catch up and have read the last few pages of this thread.
My question is, when exactly did Mick Mulvaney suffer this traumatic head injury? Recently right?
Because that press conference performance cannot be explained in any other way without slandering morons.
It pushed the Sondland testimony off the top news spot, and the Sondland testimony was damning. So a cynic might say that Mulvaney was trying to get ahead of the news by saying the guilty stuff, that was coming out anyway, out in the open and downplaying it, the idea being to persuade the public that if what he was saying was actually bad, then why would he be saying it out loud?
No, sorry. Damning testimony isn’t drowned out by a defiant and dramatic confession. It’s of a piece.
It’s the same strategy Trump used to try and deflect from the Ukraine controversy, by asking China to investigate Biden, said while speaking to reporters on the White House lawn. Remember they’re trying to convince the base that this is all normal and above board, not the rest of us, so a different level of standard applies. It also gives Republican Congresspeople something to work with, as they can’t really argue against the facts any more. McConnell is standing firm, so removal from office by the Senate is not the worry, whereas keeping the base in thrall is, for the next election.
Well, I’ll certainly admit that it’s possible they think that’s a strategy and they’re going for it.
I personally think Mulvaney might just be clueless. Here’s the thing: Biden’s brag about forcing the prosecutor’s firing in exchange for funding, is undeniable quid pro quo. The US puts contingencies on money all the time. So I think this was an uninformed “if they can do it, so can we!” ie. sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Ancient saying (probably): “Do not ascribe to cunning what may also be explained by stupidity.”
Yeah. It’s a riff on, “Is it Soup Yet?”
Like, “So… is the Impeachment over yet?” And as we all learned in Sunday school, one of the signs of the Trumpocalypse is the ascension of Mike Anti-Christ.
Love the Huff Post headline: “QUID PRO DOH!”
What the Democrats should do is offer to hold the impeachment hearings at Mar-A-Lago. The administration may change its tune about internal witness testimony if they could make a buck off of them.
The stages of White House denial:
1- Of course I didn’t do that!
2- I didn’t do it, and it wouldn’t be a crime if I did
3- Of course I did it and I did so for a higher purpose so it was my duty
4- I’m going to keep on doing it, grow the fuck up
5- But her emails!
I’ve never accused Rick Perry of being smart, but I’m hopeful that he’ll come clean and expose what he knows of this whole mess. If I’m him I’m going to do what I can to minimize my legal exposure and if that means ratting out the whole crooked cabal, so be it.
What additional steps do you think will be taken to walk back Mulvaney’s ‘damn right I ordered that code red’ moment? We’ve now heard Mulvaney say that he didn’t say what millions heard him say yesterday. Is the new claim going to become it was just a slip of the tongue?
He was wearing a gray suit! That’s almost as bad as a tan one! You can’t take a guy seriously when he’s not wearing a dark suit!
I admit to being a bit fixated on this point but has anybody asked any of the witnesses why, if everything was perfect and it happens all the time, the record of the infamous phone call was placed on the super secret server? And who ordered it? And what other stuff is hidden there that isn’t related directly to national security? I want to see someone, anyone, try to tap dance around those questions.