Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Elizabeth Warren is launching scathing new ads on CNBC that tear into the rich and push her wealth tax plan


Schiff says the new witness Friday is "potentially very important" bc he overheard the conversation Taylor revealed b/w Trump and Sondland in which Trump wants Ukraine to probe Biden. "What this call indicates .. is that the instructions are coming from the president on down."


Bill Taylor: I'm not here "to decide about impeachment." That's Congress' job


Fox News anchor Chris Wallace noted that top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor was a “very impressive witness” and that his testimony was “very damaging” to President Donald Trump


“I do not believe the United States should ask other countries to engage in selective politically associated investigations or prosecutions against opponents of those in power because such selective actions undermine the rule of law.”


What we're really seeing now is Republicans carrying forward the same scheme Trump has tried to implement all along. They are trying to make Trump's lies about 2016 and the Bidens into truths, just as Trump tried to extort Ukraine into doing.


Taylor and Kent are dedicated public servants. The story they shared is deeply troubling—for our national security, and for the very health of our democracy. On Friday, we'll hear from Ambassador Yovanovitch. The American public deserves the full picture of Trump's misconduct.


Testimonies of George Kent & Ambassador Taylor were devastating to @realDonaldTrump. When main response of Rep Nunes is the Steele Dossier & let's out the whistleblower, it's clear @POTUS is in big trouble. No one is above the law, not even the President


I asked our witnesses: "was Mr. Giuliani promoting official U.S. interests?" Both answered no. Said Mr. Kent: "I believe he was looking to dig up political dirt." Ambassador Taylor: "I agree"


The attorney general said he couldn’t recall whether Trump requested him to hold a press conference clearing him of wrongdoing in the July 25 call


Rep. Himes on Trump's transcript vs. a real anti-corruption push: "’There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son’… When you hear those words, do you hear the President participating in or requesting a thoughtful and well calibrated anti-corruption program?” Mr. Kent: “I do not.”


Trump, with Erdogan next to him, on Syria: "We are keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil."


HUGE MOMENT in #ImpeachmentHearings Taylor confirms the extortion and bribery: Taylor: "It was not just the White House meeting that was dependent on the investigations. He said it was EVERYTHING. Included the security assistance."


BREAKING: The DoJ has no plans to indict McCabe and will not block the release of documents related to the case


This is bloody appalling. Erdogan just tried to b*tch slap the US Congress over the Armenian Genocide resolution, and he's doing it from the White House. He also called Kurds terrorists with Trump nodding on. Disgusting


NEW: Mitch McConnell tells reporters he’s not watching today’s hearings. He added "there’s no question" the Senate will have a trial to consider the almost-certain impeachment charges from the Democratic House. He has predicted Trump will be acquitted


Dem. Rep. Eric Swalwell: "You described in your text message exchanges that engaging in a scheme like this is 'crazy.' Can we also agree that it's just wrong?" William Taylor, after a pause: "Yes."


"Yes, Putin is a Russian problem, but unless he is deterred he will soon be a regional problem and eventually everyone's problem. So stop helping him."—Me to the W Bush admin in 2005


Let's set the record straight: Trump wasn't working to help Ukraine root out corruption. On the July 25 call, he didn't ask Zelensky about any issue related to Ukraine's oligarchs. He did ask about the Bidens. Trump's only focus was his own personal, political gain.


The top intel committee Republican pushed debunked claims about Ukraine to excuse the president’s actions


Rep. Jordan’s mantra that Amb. Taylor has to be wrong because the aid was in fact released without Zelinski ever making a public announcement is absurd. What happened in-between to release the aid was that Trump was caught red-handed when the whistleblower spoke up!


As I said on air, the R argument these witnesses don't have 1st hand knowledge is bizarre. The only reason we don't have the 1st hand knowledge witnesses is b/c Trump blocked them from testifying. That itself, as I argue in @nytimes today, is impeachable.


George Kent on Ukraine: "You can't promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing off corrupt people." Rep. Andre Carson: "Some of those people helped Giuliani smear (Amb. Marie Yovanovitch), did they not?" Kent: "Correct."


Banner headline at the Washington Post right now. Let's just say this isn't going well for Donald Trump


As you watch this, please keep in mind: More than one journalist in DC made a career off of information leaked from/provided by Devin Nunes.


Devin Nunes's defense of Trump is the Ukraine collusion conspiracy -- hook, line, sinker. That he is still ranking member of the *intelligence* committee in an indictment of all Republicans. Even worse that their designated hitter is Jim Jordan.


Legitimately surprising to me that the GOP counsel appears to be asking a bunch of freeform basic factual questions to which he doesn’t know the answer.


Sondland calling Trump on a cellphone from Kyiv is extraordinary for all sorts of reasons. Normally EU Ambos don’t call presidents. They never do so to discuss Ukraine policy. Doing so on a cellphone from Kyiv means whole world was listening in.


What if every move Devin Nunes has made since that fateful Uber ride two years ago was done with the objective of saving his own skin? NOT Trump's, but HIS OWN? Suddenly his actions & statements make much more sense.


CARSON: "In all of your combined decades at the State Dept., have you ever before seen an instance where an ambassador was forced out by the president following a smear campaign of misinformation orchestrated by the president's allies?" KENT: "I have not." TAYLOR: "Nor I."


"The good news so far for American democracy is that America’s public servants are protecting the rule of law and the national interest. The bad news is that their chief opponent is the Republican Party,"


Trump offers trade deal, sanctions workaround to Erdogan


Trump's Ukraine scandal is a Fox News story: Fox -- and especially Sean Hannity -- was central to everything that occurred.


Looming over the public impeachment hearings is the shadow of Robert Mueller’s halting testimony. Here’s why Dems say this time will be different.


Rep. Gerry Connolly previews the impeachment hearing by saying that we'll hear about "abuse of power," a deliberate scheme to shake down a foreign leader led by Giuliani. Rep. Jim Himes says there will be "ample evidence” of extortion, bribery, and/or a quid pro quo.


Trump & Erdogan are scheduled 30 minutes alone. Then a congressional delegation and a press conference. Outwardly appears a disaster in the making. Another thought is Putin already dictated the deal & the two stooges are just going through the motions.


If you’re talking about Dan Goldman, he worked for DOJ, which is NOT the same as working for you. People at DOJ work for the people & the rule of law. The fact that you don’t know that is exactly one of the reasons why you should be impeached


I don’t think this piece gets across the phenomenon that is the John Solomon special as we’ve experienced it for the last few years. It’s far from just a Ukraine thing—driving misleading coverage of Uranium One, Wikileaks, Strzok/Page, Veselnitskaya, etc.


Before joining the Trump campaign, did you commit crimes with Paul Manafort? Rick Gates: "I did."


This is complete bullshit -- flaky amateur CI fabrications that help the Kremlin and make serious counterspy work look partisan and ridiculous


FoxNews will apparently not show the impeachment hearings.


GOP aide tells me one plan discussed is for Gym Jordan and others to repeatedly use the whistleblower's name as one of several strategies to blow up the hearings and make the media report on his identity. Be prepared for stunts.


Who is Bill Taylor, and why does his public testimony matter in the impeachment inquiry?


Who is George Kent and why does his public testimony matter?


Rudy Giuliani's op-ed defense of Donald Trump is going viral for the wrong reasons.


Trump Claims Ivanka 'Created 14 Million Jobs' But Only 5.5 Million Have Been Created During His Presidency


Trump’s Deal Allowing 3D-Printed Guns Online Deemed Illegal


On this week’s “Trump, Inc.” podcast, we’re looking at what happened in Ukraine from a different vantage point: not the politics but the finances.


Please WATCH and SHARE this new Impeachment Task Force ad


White House aides reportedly begging Trump: Now is not the time to fire Mick Mulvaney


“The US govt regulates everyday consumer products more tightly than it does the nation’s voting systems: balloons, colored pencils & hair dryers—and the companies that make them—are subject to stricter fed oversight than America’s election infrastructure.”


University of Florida’s student president faces impeachment after bringing Donald Trump Jr. to campus for $50,000


The RNC has batsh*t crazy ads on CNN. Trump = Victory; impeachment = defeat etc I think it's really hard for normal Americans -- who didn't, say, write an undergraduate thesis on Soviet propaganda -- to understand how unmoored the Republican communications campaign has become.


Factbox: What people in Hong Kong are saying after days of violence


Tomorrow, we ALL need to get out of the way - including the media. We need to let guys like Bill Taylor - who served in Vietnam, graduated West Point & spent 40 years in the foreign service - tell the story. Folks need to see it unfiltered. That's the way forward here.


Seema Verma funneled money from Medicare & Medicaid to Trump allies, & herself. She hired contractors to burnish her personal brand. 40 PR consultants earned $2.25 million —meant for Medicare & Medicaid!


A witness in U.S. custody is detailing a multi-billion-dollar sanction-busting scheme involving Iran and Turkey. But President Trump keeps protecting Turkey.


People died while Trump played games with Ukraine’s military aid


“US military officials watched live drone feeds last month that appeared to show Turkish-backed Arab gunmen targeting civilians during their assault on Kurdish fighters in NE Syria, attacks the Americans reported to their commanders as possible war crimes”


Trumps Tax Cuts Gave To The Rich(Himself) Added To The National Debt And Did Not Stimulate The Economy


I'm not gonna lie. Watching @JudyWoodruff shut down Mike Pompeo's biased/fake news narrative like he was being a petulant child was the highlight of my week.


Here's Trump's answer, submitted to Mueller's team, in which he says he does not recall discussing WikiLeaks with Roger Stone, and he doesn't recall being aware Stone discussed WikiLeaks with any campaign aides. Gates just testified that both happened.


Roger Stone Trial Testimony



Gates says Stone told him as far back as April that information would be leaked out by WikiLeaks. So they had been hoping and waiting for it since then.
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6/13/16, day after Assange announcement, Stone emailed Gates: “need guidance on many things, call me” Did you understand WikiLeaks to be one of those things? Gates: It was one of many things in the conversation, yes.
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Zelinsky: 6/14/16: DNC announced it had been hacked by Russian government. 6/15:16: Stone texts Gates: "Call me, important" Gates says he then spoke with Stone. Stone said more information would be coming out of the DNC hack.
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6/15/16, Stone emails Gates asking for contact info for "Murphy" and "Jared" Gates: Mr. Stone indicated that he wanted to reach out to Mr. Kushner and Mr. Murphy to debrief them on the developments of the DNC announcement.
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But as June went on, Gates says, he and Manafort were skeptical. No information came out. Wondered whether Stone's info was reliable. So now Zelinsky moves to July 2016.
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Zelinsky: Did Stone indicate whether his information that WikiLeaks would be releasing things was public or private? Gates: It was not public information.
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Gates said the campaign had "brainstorming sessions" for what to do if WikiLeaks info came out. Participants: Gates, Manafort, Jason Miller, Stephen Miller. Based both on Assange's public statements and what Stone had told them
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After DNC email release on 7/22/16, Gates says “the campaign was in a state of happiness.” “Anytime you’re in a campaign and damaging information came out about your competitor, it’s helpful.” Zelinsky asks what Manafort's reaction was, defense objects, and ABJ sustains
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After the release, Gates says Manafort put a call with Stone on speaker. Stone indicated that additional information would be coming out down the road. Manafort said that would be great.
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Gates says he also had a conversation with Stone after the DNC release. Where Stone said this was the start of the information coming out that he had spoken of months earlier.
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Manafort asked Gates to follow up with Stone occasionally to find out when the other WikiLeaks info would come out. Manafort indicated he would update others on the campaign, "including the candidate," Gates says. Zelinsky: The candidate would be Mr. Trump?"  
Gates: Yes.

Zelinsky: Did you understand Mr. Stone's updates to be public information? Gates: He never indicated where the information was from but I believed it was non-public information. No further questions from prosecutors.
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Rogow is up for cross-examination. Did you ever tell the government that Stone never talked about WikiLeaks to you and that he never talked about WikiLeaks to Manafort. Gates: I never said that. Rogow: Let me show you something. Prosecutors object.
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Rogow brings up questioning of Gates on January 30, 2018. Rogow: Did you answer that you did not speak to Stone about WikiLeaks? Gates: I do not recall answering that way. In fact on a number of occasions I indicated he had.
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Rogow: Do you know what Mr. Stone said to Mr. Trump? (on the call) Gates: I do not. Rogow asks, is this the call where you were going from Trump Tower to LaGuardia Airport? Gates says yes.
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Rogow: The other crimes that were dropped against you in Alexandria, do you recall what they were? Gates: Most of them pertained to foreign bank accounts and not submitting accurate tax returns. Rogow pressing him on specifics. More than $100K not reported on his tax returns
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Rogow: "Have you committed other crimes besides those crimes for which you were not prosecuted?" Objection, bench conference.
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Rogow continues to focus on Gates and Manafort's finances, crimes. "Accounts in Cyprus." Rogow: Did you take any steps to avoid taxes in Cyprus? Gates: "Actually, in Cyprus, taxes were paid."
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Rogow: Mr. Stone never indicated his source of information (on WikiLeaks) to you, and you don't know his source of information. Gates says that's right.
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Rogow: How much time elapsed between the Trump/Stone call in the car and Trump's statement (re: more information coming)? Gates: Less than 30 seconds
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Rogow: Mr. Stone's role in the campaign related to primarily voter registration lists, didn't it? Gates: Not sure. He didn't have a role by the time I joined campaign. But he often asked about voter registration lists
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Rogow: Mr. Stone, before any information was released, did not tell you this specific information would be released? Gates: That's correct.
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On redirect, Gates says that he assumed Stone's source was WikiLeaks, that his inside info was coming from WikiLeaks. Says again that he didn't think it was public information.  
And Gates is done.