Monday, September 30, 2019

Iowa’s senior Senator, @ChuckGrassley, writes another sternly worded letter demanding wait for it...you know it’s coming...another investigation into @HillaryClinton!


House lawyers say they have reason to believe that Mueller’s grand jury information shows Trump lied under oath.


Just in: Sebastian Gorka is traveling with @SecPompeo to Europe, @Abs_NBC reports. He was seen getting into a State Department van headed to Joint Base Andrews for departure


NEW: DOJ official said Trump initiated the calls at Barr’s request. The recent call with Australia was one of a “number of times” the president made similar calls for the AG as part of probe into the origins of the special counsel’s Russia investigation


Not normal is an understatement. It's off the hook, The wheels have come off the bus. The AG investigating US intel services, via foreign intel services? ,.. what?


Remember the Saturday Night Massacre? Pretty lame compared to this, eh?


UPDATE: In a statement this afternoon, the intelligence community inspector general responded to the hoax story, noting that not only was there no change in requirements, but Trump’s whistleblower used the old version of the form


.@AprilDRyan on how Trump has created a "national security crisis" and a "hot, steamy, stinking mess."


Don’t lose focus over bad actors like Barr, Pompeo, etc. @realDonaldTrump extorted another country using YOUR tax dollars to help himself. And he’s actively covering it up. President Trump would love to distract us with the lawlessness of others. Stay focused.


RNC solicited money for Trump’s reelection with forms that look a lot like the official


CNN’s Jim Acosta: Administration officials are warning Trump that he’s probably going to be impeached


JUST IN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that has come under scrutiny after a whistleblower complaint, a source says


Breaking via WaPo: Attorney General Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intel officials seeking their help in a DOJ inquiry that Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intel agencies' examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election.


NEW: President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent call to help Attorney General Barr gather information for a Justice Department inquiry that Mr. Trump hopes will discredit the Mueller investigation


Breaking via WaPo: Attorney General Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intel officials seeking their help in a DOJ inquiry that Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intel agencies' examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election.


Attorney General Barr personally asked foreign officials to aid inquiry into CIA, FBI activities in 2016


New Quinnipiac poll IMPEACH TRUMP? 47% of Americans say YES 47% of Americans say NO That's a net 20-point swing in one week Last week: 37% impeach, 57% don'


NEW: Rep. Chris Collins is resigning from his seat ahead of an expected guilty plea in an insider trading case in which he was accused of leaking confidential information during an urgent phone call made from a White House picnic.


According to the pool report, Trump just said, "'We're trying to find out' who the whistleblower is."


Jeff Flake: "Republicans, it is time to risk your careers in favor of your principles. Whether you believe the president deserves impeachment, you know he does not deserve reelection...you can go elsewhere for a job. But you cannot go elsewhere for a soul."


New: Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry has announced that he will not run for reelection next year, Dallas Morning News reports, making the 13-term lawmaker the 6th Texas Republican in Congress to head for the exits ahead of the 2020 election.


Pompeo announces new sanctions on Russian election meddlers; implicit rebuke to Trump’s skepticism


Excellent explainer or why moving the transcript of POTUS calls to a codeword server is shocking.


There goes another one... Mac Thornberry not running for re-election.


Jamal Khashoggi: A missing voice, a growing chorus


.⁦@RepChrisCollins⁩’ resignation letter.


BREAKING: Rep. Chris Collins, the first Trump-supporting congress member, will change his plea tomorrow in insider trading case. His accused co-conspirators will change their pleas on Wednesday.


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Chris Collins of New York is resigning from Congress ahead of expected guilty plea, Speaker Pelosi's office says.


Trump is calling for the arrest and prosecution of a U.S. Congressman on charges of treason, for which the penalty is death. He needs to be removed from office and it needs to happen as soon as humanly possible.


Sen. Gary Peters, Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member: "This is basically an existential exercise for the Ukrainians. They need to have that assistance. That's why Congress provided it ... then suddenly, it came to a halt. We need to find out why."


As Netanyahu fights to retain power, he faces a pretrial hearing on allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust


Analysis: Welcome to Week II of House Democrats' impeachment inquiry


This retroactive reclassification to go after a defeated political opponent after the statute of limitations has run is itself an abuse of power, one we’d expect in a banana republic. These people are growing desperate. And more dangerous by the day.


‼️NEW‼️ Trump Attorneys, Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, Worked with Rudy Giuliani to Dig Up Ukraine Dirt on Joe Biden. All 3 were “working off the books” to get oppo research on Biden and his son. Only Trump knew about their assistance.


By Colludy Rudy’s own definition, Trump withholdin’ 390 million of military aide to Ukraine to encourage an investigation into Joe Biden is “Bribery”, a Constitutional ground for impeachment. Thanks for the help, Colludy Rudy!


Dmitro Firtash isn't a whistleblower but a Russian Mobster. You joined his team and you let your FARA filing elapse; a new one isn't filed. That's a felony.


From Trump on down, prominent Republicans used part of their weekend to falsely accuse Trump’s hand-picked intelligence community inspector general (IC IG) of secretly changing the requirements for intelligence workers to submit whistleblower tips


Unfortunately for @realDonaldTrump, Article I, Section 6 of the US Constitution would prevent his arrest, since it clearly states that “for any Speech or Debate in either House, they [members of Congress] shall not be questioned in any other Place.” Also, it’s not treason.


You were cheating on your second wife with the woman who is now your third wife even while impeaching Clinton for cheating on his wife. Show yourself out


Historic snowstorm buries seven western states


Note: Even if Jordan’s claim were true (and Tapper is right that it is not) it would not be a defense to the allegation that Trump solicited campaign dirt from Zelensky. So Jordan isn’t even defending Trump here. He’s just amplifying a false narrative against Biden.


We've never seen anything quite like this, @SBG1 says -- a concerted, real-time effort to "spread propaganda and conspiracy theories, coming directly from the Oval Office"


It took a hero - a whistleblower willing to risk it all for the truth - to shine a light on the cowards of the Trump era, the ex-generals and the insiders who took the easy path and just followed orders. History will be unkind. My new column names names


GOP congressman slams Trump for warning of "civil war" over impeachment


Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers militia, is already embracing Trump's "Civil War" tweet.


Funny, Boris Johnson suggested the same for the UK if it decides to remain in the EU. Who is playing these puppets? Bannon?


Now @realDonaldTrump is threatening every American with national doom. He is daring the nation to use its constitutional right and power to impeach and remove him. That, too, is a grave abuse of his bully pulpit. He is a menace to our democracy. Look at what he just said


"The president's daughter right now is having all sorts of copyrights granted in foreign countries; that doesn't alarm you. The president's sons are doing all sorts of business all over the world; that doesn't alarm you. Either there's a principle or there isn't."


Opinion: Why the world won’t forget the horror of Khashoggi’s murder


What did Attorney General William Barr know about Trump's Ukraine call, and when did he know it? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks "he's gone rogue."


The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1974 that Nixon had to comply with a subpoena for his tapes. Congress will get the Trump-Putin tapes. And they will be . . . spectacular.


Trump is inciting domestic insurrection to protect himself from legal consequences of his own illegal acts. It is in itself a high crime, and impeachable.


Another way to put this: everyone who is trying to work for this president in good faith while keeping silent as he breaks the law is damaging the country. Time to tell the world what you know


My new column is the story I heard from Ukraine pros in USG about how they were steamrollered by Giuliani and Trump.


House impeachment inquiry is set to intensify this week with testimony from witnesses concerning allegations made by a whistleblower in the U.S. intelligence community.


We're dealing with a very disturbed sociopath. When finally faced with impeachment for his abuses, he is lashing out and accusing everyone of treason, setting off new investigations, calling for civil war. Should've expected it. Don't be too afraid of it. That's what he wants.


FUN FACT: Cambridge Analytica (in possible consultation with Russians) was testing “DRAIN THE SWAMP!” & “BUILD THE WALL!” long before Trump ran in the 2016 election. They told him those words worked, so he repeats them like a malfunctioning robo


John Bolton will encourage the GOP to turn on Trump now that he’s reeling from impeachment: MSNBC panel


“I DO think he should be in trouble!” On The #AxeFiles, up Monday, legendary retired Admiral Bill McRaven speaks out about @realDonaldTrump contacts w/Ukrainian president. Here’s a clip:๐Ÿ‘‡ Listen to the whole podcast when it comes up tomorrow!


Boris Johnson battles allegations of sexual impropriety as his Brexit opponents plot to oust him


ICYMI: "With each passing day, the Trump administration trades patriots for sycophants who will support anything this president says or does to stay in his good graces."


Trump calls for treason inquiry into House impeachment leader and demands to meet whistle-blower


Here's why John Oliver thinks 'Stupid Watergate II' might actually take down Trump


Trump’s illegal investigation into legal acts & his subsequent threats to the whistleblower have necessitated putting them under federal protection due to real fear of retaliation. After trump’s recent threat, shouldn’t we protect @RepAdamSchiff⁩ too?


John Oliver: “This particular Trump scandal does start to feel a little different, and something that is absolutely meriting of impeachment”


Donald Trump has made clear his main 2020 tactic will be publicly ratcheting up his grievances against opponents


Abortion cases are coming to the U.S. Supreme Court, and they’re only getting harder for the justices to avoid


Ex-prosecutor laughs off Giuliani’s latest ‘ridiculous’ defense of Trump and advises him to lawyer up


Deflection. You bury the dispositive fact: 1. The President has admitted he leveraged the Presidency and U.S. foreign military assistance to have a foreign leader investigate his political opponent. His purpose was to benefit personally. That is Abuse of Power, and impeachable.


Republican House minority leader goes down in epic flames during ’60 Minutes’ interview


"Tัump is obsessed with me because he is an illegitimate president.” -Hillary Rodham Clinton


Giuliani: I paid my own way to Madrid, Paris, and Warsaw to try to get dirt on Joe Biden


Trump is trying to scare us. We must remain non-violent. We should be asking why the GOP won't use the #25Amendmenth


With the news coming rapid-fire, I want to make sure we target Wayne LaPierre and the NRA. These are despicable traitors, worse in their own way than even Trump, and I want to explain exactly why their villainy is singularly evil.


Sajid Javid promises billions to cushion effect of no-deal Brexit


BREAKING: A suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the gate of a U.S. military base in Somalia, AP reports


A reminder! If you are confused about Ukraine, the country now being dragged into US politics, my book RED FAMINE will give you some background


UK can leave the EU on October 31 without a deal, Javid says


Another bit of news on 60 Minutes: Schiff says he expects to subpoena Rudy for documents as soon as early this week. A request for testimony may come later.


The New York Times has officially endorsed impeachment


Donald Trump May Have Intervened With Colin Kaepernick's Signing And Fans Are Furious


"Graham repeated the term 'hearsay' 11 times, as though it were an incantation that, by magic, would cause the pile of evidence against Trump to disappear. You can’t just dismiss a bunch of proven facts by calling them 'hearsay.'"


"Trump spent much of his day tweeting about the impeachment proceedings, claiming he’s been framed, lashing out at the whistleblower & calling for Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff to be investigated for treason." "Civil War" is trending #1 at the moment.


It’s empty talk, but the president threatening the entire country with bloodshed is but another reason to impeach and remove him from office


A reminder that Iowa Senator @SenJoniErnst wholeheartedly and unequivocally supports, enables, and protects a corrupt @POTUS who is threatening the United States with civil war if he is held accountable. What kind of Senator does that?


Boris Johnson could be forced out as UK Prime Minister next week


It nearly defies belief how the White House has sunk itself in conspiracy theories normally only found on the very fringes of the debate in more normal countries.


Why can't Stephen Miller answer questions from Chris Wallace? Because FACTS. It is illegal & unAmerican for @POTUS to solicit a foreign power to help his re-election campaign, and to use private lawyers (and maybe Barr) to pressure Ukraine. Trump also blocked aid to Ukraine.


Wall Street warns against bets on any October U.S.-China trade truce


Hello, @Twitter, at what point does calling for civil war count as incitement to violence that's a violation of your terms of service?


Hundreds of people have rallied in Elista, the capital of Russia's southwestern Kalmykia region, to protest the appointment of a former leader of Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Dmitry Trapeznikov, as acting city mayor.


A president of the United States accusing a member of Congress of treason is literally unconstitutional and presumptively impeachable. Imagine this was happening in another country—it would signify a massive breakdown. You’d expect someone to fix it. And if not, you’d worry a lot


This focus on the whistleblower is a tactical diversion. It’s about the phone call itself and the other evidence around it (withholding funds, hiding the records). The whistleblower attacks are a red-herring distraction tactic


Lawmakers on Capitol Hill couldn't figure out over this past summer why nearly $400 million in aid they'd voted to go to Ukraine still wasn't in the country's coffers.


The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board stands in favor of the impeachment inquiry


Jacob Wohl’s first victim committed suicide, after being swindled out of his life savings. He & Jack Burkman tried to set up Robert Mueller for rape & Mayor Pete for sexual assault. Now they’re offering a $50k bounty for the Whistleblower. Why are they not charged or in prison?


It gets worse — “@FoxNews has learned that ⁦@DeptofDefense⁩ , ⁦@StateDept⁩ ⁦@WHNSC⁩ were “unanimous” in supporting the aid to Ukraine, and that ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ acted alone in withholding the aid over the summer.”


Sometimes I can't decide who is the most corrupt, embarrassing, shameful Californian, @DevinNunes or @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy


The president’s civil war talk makes me suspect he may not go quietly into that good night.


"President Trump was repeatedly warned by his own staff that the Ukraine conspiracy theory that he and his lawyer were pursuing was “completely debunked” long before the president pressed Ukraine this summer to investigate his Democratic rivals..."


The only Deep State that exists is the deep state of DENIAL on display by Trump’s supporters right now


Rep. Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Trump tweeting pastor's remarks that Dems would cause a "Civil War like fracture" if he's removed from office: "I have visited nations ravaged by civil war. ... I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President"


Which leads to the next logical question: Does Mitch secretly want this impeachment to happen so there's a chance of salvaging the Republican Party post-Trump?


18 USC 2383 "Whoever incites... any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."


When Trump's not threatenin' WhistleBlowers and federal witnesses, he's promotin' blood in the streets. Trump is a clear and present danger to the safety of the nation.


“for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place” Art. 1, Sec. 6 the language of tyranny is so invariable that the founders could word-perfectly anticipate this tweet 230 years ago.


Our president and his free lawyer are threatening a civil war because that’s what happens in a normal democracy....


Two newspapers have now run editorials calling on @realDonaldTrump to resign.


I mean... someone could still ask him what it’s like to date your cousin. That would stop the spin


Here's this part of the phone call which you've heard a million people quote: "I would like you to do us a favor, though." The word "though" doing a lot of work here, right? (From Wednesday's show:


I think we have enough and should put it on for a vote in the next two weeks. His civil war tweet was another grounds for impeachment. Enough. Just impeach him. And @TwitterSupport doing nothing is grounds for Congress to seize its assets.


An attorney for a city in Mississippi said in court documents a man who was shot by police in a case of mistaken identity has no Fourth or 14th Amendment protections because he was not a US citizen


Here's how the markets reacted to previous impeachments


Sure, Jan.


Trump is panicking tonight and tweeting about "civil war" if he's removed from office. It tells us one very important, immediate thing: He's not convinced McConnell's Senate won't vote to convict him.


On a day the sitting president called for the outing of a confidential whistleblower, the whistleblower’s lawyers write the Acting DNI Maguire “..to formally notify you of serious concerns we have regarding our client’s personal safety”.


In other words, if you don’t let me get away with all my crimes against American democracy I’ll instigate an armed insurrection. Republicans are ok with this?


Nice little republic you got there. Be a shame if it were torn apart in a Civil War.


Did Blackwater's founder lie to the U.S. Congress and our audience? In March, @mehdirhasan asked Erik Prince about his ties to Trump's 2016 campaign:


Ivanka is like a wedding crasher Nobody invited her She's not in the guest list She didn't bring a gift She tries really hard to blend in She takes advantage of all the perks Nobody knows why she's there


On @Breakingviews – China turns 70, to forced applause: President Xi Jinping has bought compliance and crushed resistance. His cowing of internal critics, however, is becoming a risk to economic resilience


Rudy Giuliani claims that if President Trump did not ask Ukraine to investigate former VP Biden, it would have violated the Constitution.


There’s not an ounce of integrity or patriotism in @GOPLeader McCarthy’s body.


In pushing probe of rival, did President Donald Trump enlist the U.S. government?


A prominent bodyguard of Saudi King Salman was killed following a personal dispute, state-run media reports


Never in the history of American Politics, has it been so obvious that a Person is being blackmailed. What do Trump and the Russian's have on you, Lindsey?


What’s that...about a hundred tweets in the past 24 hours? He’s flailing at shadows. He’s talking to himself. He’s screaming into the wind. He’s impaired. He’s unfit. Hey Republicans, it’s going to get worse. Much worse.


Yemen's Houthi rebels have released video claiming responsibility for a 72-hour attack on Saudi Arabian and Yemeni forces that purportedly left hundreds dead


Guys...what if this scandal ends up taking down, like, everyone in the Republican Party?


18 USC 2383 "Whoever incites... any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."


Great piece by ⁦@AshaRangappa_⁩ breaking down the twisty turny corrupty crazy events & Special Agent Fruity G (aka Rudy) bizarro role in the mess


Sen. Harris calls for AG Barr to testify before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry, saying Barr "is the top lawyer of the United States of America. If he is subpoenaed by a court or Congress to testify ... he better show up."


Friendly reminder that retaliation against a whistleblower is a federal crime.


Katie Johnson


In terms of Civil War, we're not going to see the massed armies of 1861-65 but something that's already happening: sporadic white nationalist violence inspired by rhetoric from Trump and his circle. Stochastic terrorism.


I have visited nations ravaged by civil war. @realDonaldTrump I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant.


“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” Kevin McCarthy said in June 2016 before he became a trump zombie.


How seriously is Boris Johnson taking Brexit? Not very, is the view of a growing number of people


More than 80 ethics complaints against Brett Kavanaugh dismissed because he's now a Justice


As you watch Trump’s defenders lie, deflect, and distract today and in the coming weeks, remember that they don’t care about being caught in obvious lies. Calling bullshit still means you’re talking about the bullshit, not the facts.