House Impeachment Inquiry

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Another annotated version, with slightly different corroborations

 

[PhantomWolf]

Aren't the democrats doing "half the work" because they are so focused on Trump that they neglect their own duties? Pelosi's district is a shameful slum.

Yeah we can read Trump's texts too...

Here's a neat little page where you can see what the House has been doing. Note how many of these have been passed by the House and are waiting on the Senate to act.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Trumpanzees never let facts get in the way of their claims.

 

[Delvo]

Holy wow, just plain quoting a Trumpasm right after he trumped it? That's not even trying to pretend to be anything other than an echo.

 

[Craig4]

Aren't the democrats doing "half the work" because they are so focused on Trump that they neglect their own duties? Pelosi's district is a shameful slum.

What higher duty could the real Americans in Congress have than getting rid of Trump. He's a filthy Russian whore and a traitor. To paraphrase Edward Longshanks, "One does good business when one rids oneself of a turd."

 

[dasmiller]

Aren't the democrats doing "half the work" because they are so focused on Trump that they neglect their own duties? Pelosi's district is a shameful slum.

I was there last week and I have to say that, for a slum, the people were driving very nice cars. Has it deteriorated a lot in the last week?

 

[Babbylonian]

Aren't the democrats doing "half the work" because they are so focused on Trump that they neglect their own duties? Pelosi's district is a shameful slum.

How has nobody mentioned that people who are elected to Congress aren't responsible for the conditions of their home district? You might as well be saying that the district can't be represented at the federal level until some rich ******* in the pocket of foreign interests gives permission.

 

[quadraginta]

I was there last week and I have to say that, for a slum, the people were driving very nice cars. Has it deteriorated a lot in the last week?

The median income is barely over $110,000. They're probably all on food stamps.

 

[Belz...]

Oh, for ****'s sake...

It's just that Trump started saying it a lot in the last couple days. I didn't claim he invented the term (like he did "priming the pump").

Call it his Meme of the Week. Whatever you like.

If it makes any difference, I understood exactly what you meant.

 

[Belz...]

At least it's an ethos!

Nope. Democrats have passed many bills since they took control 10 months ago only to have Mitch kill the bills in the Senate.

And I'm sure they then use that to say the Democrats aren't doing anything. It's the most insane kind of lie, but it's effective.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

The NYT has published an annotated version of the whistleblower reports, with colour-highlighting showing where each part of it has been corroborated

This was interesting:

22. The president listened to Mr. Giuliani over other advisers.
“It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the President’s mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani,” according to Mr. Sondland’s statement.

And here the rest of us think Giuliani is off his rocker. Trump thinks Giuliani's a qualified advisor.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

A catalogue of 82 instances of the Trump administration refusing to comply with a Congressional Committee request for testimony or documents in 2019

The author says this list will get longer as they add smaller instances not yet catalogued.

 

[kellyb]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...510698-f75f-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

In hushed conversations over the past week, GOP senators lamented that the fast-expanding probe is fraying their party, which remains completely in Trump’s grip. They voiced exasperation at the expectation that they defend the president against the troublesome picture that has been painted, with neither convincing arguments from the White House nor confidence that something worse won’t soon be discovered.

“It feels like a horror movie,” said one veteran Republican senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the consensus.

“There’s frustration. It feels to everyone like they’re just digging a hole and making it worse. It just never ends. . . . It’s a total [expletive] show,” said one Republican strategist who has been advising a number of top senators and who, like several others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.

For now, Trump’s near-absolute control over his party’s base makes it difficult for Republicans to do anything but cheer him or be uneasy in the shadows, even though polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of his job performance.

“Everybody in their heart is nervous,” said former senator Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania. “During the Clinton impeachment, he tried to endear himself to the public as much as possible. But this is the opposite. The base loves him but the president isn’t doing anything to win [other] people over, and that troubles Republicans who have to win support next year from people beyond the base.”

 

[Belz...]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...510698-f75f-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

For now, Trump’s near-absolute control over his party’s base makes it difficult for Republicans to do anything but cheer him or be uneasy in the shadows, even though polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of his job performance.

Or they could, you know, do the right thing, their jobs be damned, like those who resigned from the administration. I mean, nothing's forcing the GOP to court the minority deplorable base.

 

[Stacyhs]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...510698-f75f-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

They're cowards who care more for their own careers than for the good of the country.

Some Trump supporters are now attacking Major General Vindman's patriotism for daring to report his concerns about the Ukraine phone call that he personally heard to the proper authorities. How dare he!

...a clip from Ingraham's show on Monday night in which she and Yoo, a law professor and former Justice Department official, suggested Vindman may be a Ukrainian double agent.

Ingraham

noted how Vindman and his family emigrated from Ukraine to the United States when he was a child and that he was able to speak fluent Ukrainian and Russian.

"Now, wait a second, John," Ingraham said, talking to Yoo. "Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine, while working inside the White House, apparently against the president's interest, and usually, they spoke in English. Isn't that kind of an interesting angle on this story?"

Yoo responded that it was "astounding" and that "some people might call that espionage."

https://www.newsweek.com/msnbc-fox-news-laura-ingraham-vindman-white-house-espionage-1468385

This shows just how low these people will go to protect Dear Leader.

 

[Armitage72]

Objections were raised to the Republican questioning of Alexander Vindman, arguing that they were attempting to determine the identity of the whistleblower. Republicans responded that they were just innocently trying to get a list of every person he had ever spoken to about the situation. Nothing suspicious at all.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff objected to a line of questioning from Republicans, which Democrats contended was an effort to out the whistleblower during today's closed deposition with White House official Alexander Vindman, according to five sources from both parties.

Republicans pushed back, arguing they were simply asking questions about who Vindman might have spoken with — and it was not an effort to out the whistleblower.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Could the GOP be anymore predictable? They demanded a whole House vote or it is not legit, and now that Pelosi is giving them one, they've immediately changed to, "that's an admission the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate."


And the usual speech today given by a GOP rep at a press conference repeated the same falsehoods they've been repeating for weeks: The impeachment is illegal (obviously it is not); it's being held in secret (no it isn't, dozens of Republicans are in the hearings); the House is not following its own rules (they are); Trump is not allowed to have his cross exam of the witnesses (they are not at the trial stage yet and those GOP Reps in the hearings surely can ask said cross-examination questions) and the Republicans cannot call their own witnesses (if they want to name potential witnesses that actually have more than to contribute than whataboutisms, I'm sure the committees would agree to call those witnesses).

All of these claims have been rebutted. When you are spewing falsehoods for low information voters you are not interested in facts.

Can any of our resident right wingers/conservatives/Trump supporters name a witness not being called and what they might offer the impeachment investigation?

Anyone want to debate Schiff's call that the reason for interviewing witnesses in private is so they don't contaminate testimony of subsequent witnesses?

Anyone want to debate the legality of the impeachment process?

Anyone got any proof the House rules aren't being followed?

Anyone want to debate why this should be conducted more like the trial phase with Trump's lawyers cross-examining witnesses?



Trump, of course, continues to say the whistleblower statement about the phone call is full of falsehoods despite the fact the version Trump himself released corroborates the whistleblower charges. And he keeps trying to make the issue about Schiff's parody version of the phone call that was clearly recognizable as 'reading between the lines' parody.

 

[WilliamSeger]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...510698-f75f-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

... “Everybody in their heart is nervous,” said former senator Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania. “During the Clinton impeachment, he tried to endear himself to the public as much as possible. But this is the opposite. The base loves him but the president isn’t doing anything to win [other] people over, and that troubles Republicans who have to win support next year from people beyond the base.”

Well, that proves that not all Republicans are as dumb as Trump, but their cowardice raises other questions about their fitness for office. The Party of Trump must be burned to the ground.

 

[acbytesla]

Could the GOP be anymore predictable? They demanded a whole House vote or it is not legit, and now that Pelosi is giving them one, they've immediately changed to, "that's an admission the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate."


And the usual speech today given by a GOP rep at a press conference repeated the same falsehoods they've been repeating for weeks: The impeachment is illegal (obviously it is not); it's being held in secret (no it isn't, dozens of Republicans are in the hearings); the House is not following its own rules (they are); Trump is not allowed to have his cross exam of the witnesses (they are not at the trial stage yet and those GOP Reps in the hearings surely can ask said cross-examination questions) and the Republicans cannot call their own witnesses (if they want to name potential witnesses that actually have more than to contribute than whataboutisms, I'm sure the committees would agree to call those witnesses).

All of these claims have been rebutted. When you are spewing falsehoods for low information voters you are not interested in facts.

Can any of our resident right wingers/conservatives/Trump supporters name a witness not being called and what they might offer the impeachment investigation?

Anyone want to debate Schiff's call that the reason for interviewing witnesses in private is so they don't contaminate testimony of subsequent witnesses?

Anyone want to debate the legality of the impeachment process?

Anyone got any proof the House rules aren't being followed?

Anyone want to debate why this should be conducted more like the trial phase with Trump's lawyers cross-examining witnesses?



Trump, of course, continues to say the whistleblower statement about the phone call is full of falsehoods despite the fact the version Trump himself released corroborates the whistleblower charges. And he keeps trying to make the issue about Schiff's parody version of the phone call that was clearly recognizable as 'reading between the lines' parody.

It's worse than all that. They really have painted themselves into corner.

Let's look at their complaints without merit.

1. The impeachment inquiry is illegal. Judge not only said it was legal but the DOJ was WRONG.
2. Said that the inquiry was illegitimate without a full House vote. Not only did the judge say this was false, history says it is false with impeachment inquiries regularly proceeding without full House votes. But guess what? The Republicans are going to get their full House votes. Are they no going to cooperate with Congress? My guess is no.
3. Said it was wrong for the hearings to be private. Not only is this false, it's the right thing to do. But be careful what you wish for. Because now there are going to be public hearings.

Say what you want. Pelosi outplayed the GOP.

 

[Trebuchet]

They're cowards who care more for their own careers than for the good of the country.

Some Trump supporters are now attacking Major General Vindman's patriotism for daring to report his concerns about the Ukraine phone call that he personally heard to the proper authorities. How dare he!

...a clip from Ingraham's show on Monday night in which she and Yoo, a law professor and former Justice Department official, suggested Vindman may be a Ukrainian double agent.

Ingraham


https://www.newsweek.com/msnbc-fox-news-laura-ingraham-vindman-white-house-espionage-1468385

This shows just how low these people will go to protect Dear Leader.

That would, of course, be the same John Yoo who's known for this shameful occurrence:

He is best known for his opinions concerning the Geneva Conventions that attempted to legitimize the Bush administration's War on Terror. He also authored the so-called Torture Memos, which provided a legal rationale for so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques", including waterboarding, which are widely considered torture.