Pompeo might be interested in testifying now.
Without reading ahead (for all I know Pompeo has already resigned), if Pompeo is still Secretary of State next year when Trump loses the election (:)), he is done politically. As I feel Pompeo is as at least as smart as I am, he realizes Trump cannot win next year. Therefore, getting out now is his only hope for a future career in politics. As an aside, the political futures of Pence and Giuliani are tied to Trump winning again. So for them, they cannot resign. They can only hope and pray that somehow Trump pulls off a miracle. Not to belabor my prediction that Trump loses, but I am already experiencing massive levels of schadenfreude that Pence, and especially Giuliani, will be gone from the scene forever. Now if only Pompeo is in fact a moron and tries to hang on until the bitter end, he too will then disappear.
Just to note that Giuliani, of course, does not currently hold a political office, or even a governmental position, nor has he done either since his mayoral term ended in 2001.
He has, obviously, remained in the political sphere, but largely as a commentator (and, of course, as Trump’s personal attorney).
It’s expected that Pompeo will run for the Senate from Kansas. He’s going to have to decide whether hanging on to Individual 1’s coattails will help or hurt him.
Thanks. Not sure why it needed noting, but okay.
Given that Giuliani lobbied for the head job at DoJ soon after Trump was elected, I suspect he still harbors such ambitions. Hence what I wrote.
Or I would say more precisely, whether or not Trump will even have coattails.
This is exactly correct. While Kansas hasn’t elected a Democratic Senator since 1932, there’s a slight chance that it might happen next year. And given how Kris Kobach lost the Governor’s race last year despite being loudly endorsed by Trump, Pompeo would be wise to cut his losses sooner rather than later.
And I would be open to a charge of obstruction of justice for exactly that reason.
Now if there’s a good reason to hold back the officials and documents… but I can’t think of one.
~Max
Fair enough. I don’t think he really has any political future, regardless of what happens to his client, but that’s another topic.
lol
Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
There are different transliterations of Зеленський, but he settled on Zelenskyy, and that’s what’s on his passport. The position of his administration is that they are not offended by different spellings, and unlike some Ukrainian translations, there are no political implications. The BBC uses Zelensky.
Matt Lewis, The Daily Beast:
Trump’s read on Sondland: He was perfect. Everything he said exonerated me.
My guess would be that Trump believes that, so long as he said, “I’m not ordering them to do it”, his average voter will ignore everything demonstrating that those words were false.
Trump is probably correct.
I can envision the day when Trump punches someone in the face, on camera, shouting “I’m not punching you!” and people have to argue the matter like it’s a real question to his supporters.
Eli Stokols, LA Times:
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney was having none of Sondland’s BS during questioning.
I think someone told Trump that “No Quid Pro Quo” is a magic spell that means he won’t have to go to jail. Just chant it over and over again, and all will be well.
Next he’s going to be shouting “Expelliarmus!” at people.
I must say… I absolutely loved that moment. It was epic.
Good point from Weissman:
Eventually, even if it takes a year or two, you’ll win all your document requests and they’ll come through. At that point in time, if it’s discovered that people were lying to you in your hearings today, those people will then go to jail for perjury.
If you don’t ask for the documents, people can lie now with impunity, figuring that no one will ever double-check.
so both my SO and bf both thought this exchange cast the democrat Rep as a “bully,” but both were basing that on his tone and firm stance. Neither fully caught the substance of the exchange, just the tone of exchange (one was working and one was just getting in the car).
I think it was great–I laughed very hard at the “third time, first time didn’t go well,” and I thought he was sharp and witty for having that bullet in the chamber. I think Sondland was being ridiculously evasive to the point of being belligerent.
To that end, my take-away from Sondland in general was he wasn’t about to perjure himself, but seemed to walk the razor’s edge of “hey maybe Trump will let me keep my job.”
What’s your take-away from the exchange? Video Link