The Trump Impeachment Inquiry

I’m not sure that I agree. Sure it would be better to live in a world where Khashoggi wasn’t killed, where we didn’t abandon our Kurdish allies, or where the president of the United States would see taking the actions described as morally unacceptable. But we don’t live in such a world. The first two are factually true and whether or not Trump was actually involved in such a conspiracy, based on what I have seen of Trump, his reported actions match how I would expect him to behave under those circumstances.

So all of the negative aspects of a world in which such an event actually occurred are already baked into our reality. The only change is that if there were inconvertible evidence of these charges, it would represent a charge so dire that even the Republicans could not ignore it.

It should be noted that he says “anti-corruption statement” not “anti-Biden statement”.

It is almost certainly true that the White House does and has - even in the time of Barack Obama - been choosy on scheduling when to perform the actions that they were obligated to by Congress as a sort of tug of the leash on any country that was misbehaving.

Y’all need to rein in your reality distortion fields on this one.

Almost certainly true. Please, tell me more.

Keep in mind that impeachment isn’t a criminal trial. No-one is going to prison as a direct outcome of impeachment.

Impeachment is a decision on whether or not an individual is someone that we continue wanting to give *sole nuclear strike launch authority *to.

I think the standard of proof on whether or not a crime has been committed should be lower for the latter.

The more relevant part of my post was the “anti-corruption” part. Do you oppose anti-corruption measures?

I see upon a glance at your link that it isn’t at all what Trump did with Ukraine. But the “look over here” about cutting aid was insightful. I suppose Obama also put his shoes on, just like Trump did. Same old thing, you know?

Well goodness.

I guess the Trumpist chant will have to focus on:

" It’s not a crime if the president does it"

I mean, that worked before, right?

Didn’t it get a Frosty reception the first time around?

No kidding.

Obama: We’re withholding aid because you’re ruthlessly suppressing protesters.

Trump: We’re withholding aid because I want you to investigate my potential rival in next year’s election.

“He?” He who? Sondland?

Actually, what Sondland says is

Emphasis mine.

Pretty sure I heard that those “discussions” actually did mention one or both of the Bidens. I could be mistaken, of course.

Does this quote from Sondland help?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/gordon-sondland-kurt-volker-transcripts-impeachment-inquiry/index.html

But that’s not quite right is it? They are much more concerned that Ukraine announce the existence of investigations than the investigations themselves. They really don’t care about corruption any more than being able to say that Joe Biden is being investigated for corruption. As a general rule this group is A-OK with corruption.

Maybe edit your quote to…

Trump: We’re withholding aid because I want you to say you’re investigating my potential rival in next year’s election.

I’m not swallowing anything. How do you get that?? And I don’t give a shit about it. It was just an aside. I simply meant not just quoting directly, but literally making up stuff, played right into the hands of the fake news crowd. It was a stupid thing to do.

Oh, and it’s quite interested that this was send by Sondland on Monday as AN ADDITION TO HIS PREVIOUS TESTIMONY, where he said " he had remembered a September 1 conversation in which he told a top aide to Zelensky that the security aid and investigations were linked."

Yes, that’s the money quote. But to repeat - this was NOT in his original testimony. He just “remembered it” afterward.

Hopefully, this is going to happen more and more, as we dig deeper and deeper into this festering pile. More folks “remembering” stuff, and more people deciding that telling the truth is probably the only way to avoid jail. (last one to flip gets to spend quality time in prison!)

Agreed. I was merely responding in the context of what Putin may or may not have to do with the Russian mob. Nothing more.

Yep. Thanks for fixing it for me!

[QUOTE=Fiddle Peghead;21956973I simply meant not just quoting directly, but literally making up stuff, played right into the hands of the fake news crowd. It was a stupid thing to do.[/QUOTE]
If you call “paraphrasing” “literally making stuff up,” I’m afraid it’s you, not Schiff, playing into the hands of the fake news crowd.

Lindsey Graham a few weeks ago:

Lindsey Graham today:

As a simple Canadian this BLOWS MY MIND! How can these people sleep at night or look in the mirror?

I’m really curious how these people will be represented by historians in 20-30 years?

MtM

The right’s just going to spin this as Trump was trying to fight corruption.

Never mind that “fighting corruption” wasn’t something he cared about before he happened to have a country with a connection to his political rival.

Never mind that “fighting corruption” isn’t something he’s stressed with any other countries.

Never mind that we have the entire frickin’ State Department for this kind of thing.

Oh no, Trump was being honorable, and trying to force a country to be just as honorable. You know that’s how they’re spinning it.

Because the right hates America and everything it stands for just as much as they’ve accused the rest of us for all these years.