Wednesday, December 4, 2019

.@DavidCicilline eviscerates GOP defenses of Trump: Q: "It is not hearsay when [Trump] tells the president of Ukraine to investigate his political adversary?" A: "It is not." Q: "It is not hearsay when [Trump] then confesses on national television to doing that?" A: "It is not"


I commend Matt Gaetz for helping prove that Trump's Ukraine machinations are so awful, they have really brought skeptics around to favor impeachment. They don't call him #PizzaGaetz for nothing, his shtick really falls flat.


Harvard law school alum Neil Gorsuch hardest hit


Some Republicans and conservatives as well as George Papadopolous have believed and asserted that Mifsud was a plant designed to bait Papadopolous and kick off the criminal investigation. Here’s the Post’s story with more details


Trump & Melania all smiles as they pose with Jeffrey Epstein's madam Ghislaine Maxwell at a hookers and pimps-themed party in a never-before-seen photo obtained exclusively by https://t.co/s8uPkafIx2 Maxwell procured children for Jeffrey Epstein to rape


William Barr is bad at being a bad Attorney General.


Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were named 144 times in the Democratic report. They weren't mentioned at all in the Republican assessment


Michael Gerhardt: "If what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable." Full #ImpeachmentHearing video here


The prosecutor Barr picked to lead probe of origin of Trump-Russia investigation has said he sees no evidence to back right-wing conspiracy theories that it was a trap or set-up. scoop from


BREAKING: Trump admin. has formalized work requirements for recipients of food stamps, a move that will cause nearly 700,000 people to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).


Collins finishes up by saying it’s OK to attempt to commit crimes as long as you bungle it and get caught and it doesn’t actually happen. Oh, and also a stream of lies, aimed at the low information voter GOP base.


Breaking news: Barr’s handpicked prosecutor tells inspector general he can’t back right-wing theory that Russia case was U.S. intelligence setup


They laughed this idiot out of the NATO Summit.


Trump is using trade war tactics as an extortion tool with our NATO allies. He told Germany that if they didn’t comply with the amount HE thinks they should be contributing, then he’s going to punish them with tariffs. The man thinks he rules the world


Here is an article from Jonathan Turley from 2014 explaining some "myths" about impeachment and using President Obama for context. Under his own arguments Congress should move forward with impeaching Trump immediately.


The Traitors Among Us — Rick Wilson


Rep. Matt Gaetz called this remark “mean.” Does anyone believe this was a slight against Barron Trump rather than a play on a word?


Karlan did not attack Barron. She was asked to draw a parallel between the behavior of a king and that of Trump and she used that context to show that Trump has always had projected a grandiose version of himself to paint himself as nobility, right down to how he named his child.


Ah. Of course. "Rep. Duncan Hunter is showing no signs of stepping down from office despite his guilty plea Tuesday on a felony charge. Asked about when he intended to resign, Hunter blew off the question. 'Good talk,' Hunter told a Politico reporter."


Pamela Karlan: “What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistance that Congress has provided, the President responded, ‘I would like you to do us a favor.’ I’ll... send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal.”


TURLEY: "I've been friends with Bill Barr for a long time."


Melania's Dad went out to play golf in one of Trump’s discarded red baseball caps. When Trump spotted him, he blew up & ordered his father-in-law—in front of other golfers—to remove the hat & get off the course. “Nobody could wear the red hat but [Trump].”


Matt Gaetz argues that with the time consumed by this impeachment process, Congress could do things that Republicans declined to do when they controlled all three elected branches of the federal government


President Trump’s campaign released a Thanksgiving-themed ad earlier this week celebrating America’s inherent greatness. But some of the video’s Americana imagery was taken from foreign countries


Feldman: “Lt. Col. Vindman...states very clearly that you have to understand that the POTUS has so much more power than the President of Ukraine, that when the President uses the word ‘favor,’ the reality is he’s applying tremendous pressure, and that relates to abuse of office.”


Opinion: Senate Republicans won’t remove Trump, but they might not lie for him


AG Barr reportedly traveled to Italy in pursuit of information that could help discredit the Mueller investigation. We’ve requested documents to show how much this excursion cost taxpayers


Who’s paying Rudy to do this? Who’s his client?


"While the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron," said Pamela Karlan.


Esper rebuked in Trump impeachment report for failing to provide documents


Wow. I just watched Republicans lie about my book in the impeachment hrng. Compare what they said my book said w/what I actually said. They’re trying to distract from their cowardice re a lawless president who tried to cheat to win reelection. They omitted the yellow highlighted


SCOOP: Federal prosecutors investigating Giuliani interviewed the CEO of Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz and have sought in recent weeks to talk to a key US embassy staffer


Turley: "The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid. That is the concentration of power in every single branch."


Here is Prof. Turley in 1998 arguing that President Clinton should be impeached because he had "deprived himself of the perceived legitimacy to govern" with his conduct. Turley thinks oral sex triggers impeachment but abuses of power involving national security don't.


Jonathan Turley is not finding support from Fox News legal analysts Andy McCarthy and Andrew Napolitano. Both have said that he is “simply wrong."


In 1998, Jonathan Turley argued that Clinton should be impeached and told Congress "Your function is to find conduct which we cannot tolerate -- conduct that it incompatible with the president's office."


Turley wrote a piece for WaPo in 2014, declaring that it was a myth that an impeachable offense must involve a violation of criminal law


This video of other world leaders mocking Trump behind his back is funny, but also very important: It suggests the rest of the world no longer feels the need to take Trump seriously anymore.


Hey impeachment hearing veterans: Am I misremembering or did Jonathan Turley 20 years ago go off on a long riff during the Clinton impeachment hearing about how he likes to daydream about being James Madison?


TRUMP on House Dems' impeachment report: "I saw it & it's a joke. Everybody is saying it. And I watched reviews. I watched Sean Hannity, I watched Laura Ingraham, I watched Tucker Carlson, I watched a lot of other legal scholars, frankly ... Alan Dershowitz, & many more"


Defeated Kentucky governor anguishes: Are we as a society prepared to allow elections to be decided on the simple, crude basis of getting the most votes?


Seems Turley has been in on “Ukraine collusion” for some time


This is the same man on our TV today. Expert producers will do side by sides bc like dude is on tape saying lying about an affair is impeachable but trying to cheat in an election by bribing another country is not


Holy shit, Doug Collins just made an accusation of "pandering to the camera."


United States v. NADER Case No 1:85-cr-00033 District Court, District of Columbia 🚨warning do not read that filing if you have a weak stomach- the details are disgusting


Chairman Nadler: "I note that this is the moment in which the White House would have had an opportunity to question the witnesses, but they declined their invitation."


Republicans using their time in this hearing to do exactly what Trump started -> damage Joe Biden's campaign by propagandizing the public with false debunked allegations about the Bidens.


Turley: This is one of the thinnest of records to go forward for impeachment compared to Nixon and Clinton. Might have been shorter if Nixon and Clinton kept confessing in public the way Trump does.


Turley is doing 17th century European history and the GOPer who asked him about it has no real idea what he's talking about.


OMG... Rudy Giuliani is in Kyiv TODAY continuing his pursuit of dirt on the Bidens. could there be any greater proof that Trump & his inner circle believe they're above the law?


The future King of England flipped off Donald J. Trump today.


Democratic counsel Norm Eisen referenced the House Intel’s report and asked the Dems’ three constitutional scholars if Trump committed the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power. Gerhardt: We three are unanimous. Yes


The Democrats should use a few rounds of their time just allowing the other witnesses to respond to Turley. Each one can and will thoroughly demolish it as nonsense.


Prof. Karlan cites Kavanaugh before he was on SCOTUS: "It is fundamental to the definition of our national political community that foreign citizens do not have a constitutional right to participate in..democratic self- government." Legal lady burn.


Uhh it seems pretty relevant that, even back in February, Jonathan Turley was tweeting and writing in the Hill about “Ukraine collusion”?


Bottom line. If this isn’t Impeachable than nothing is impeachable.


What the Actual Fuck. These cats are off the chain. Impeachment inquiry in progress, Parnas and Fruman arrested, and bloody US Ambassador to Hungary still meets Rudy. These guys are dead set morons


Giuliani, Facing Scrutiny, Travels to Europe to Interview Ukrainians: President Trump’s personal lawyer has been in Budapest and is now in Kyiv to talk with former Ukrainian prosecutors


The 3 Democratic Constitutional scholars thunder like warriors astride fiery stallions. Jonathan Turley sounds like he's ridin' that little horsie outside a Wal-Mart.


Imagine killing a child because he's black and then suing his parents for $100 million.


Meanwhile, as constitutional scholars testify that Trump should be impeached, fire alarms sound at the White House.


Feldman: The abuse of power occurs when pres uses his office for personal advantage...If we can't impeach a president who abuses office, we no longer live in a democracy.


Hamilton’s warning was more specific and more dire. In the Federalist Papers, he wrote that the “most deadly adversaries of republican government” would almost certainly attempt to “rais[e] a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union.”


Another day where old white Republican men cower at the specter of a smart, powerful, well-spoken woman


Turley tries to weasel his way out of a yes or no question. Eisen calls him on it. You're not on CNN anymore!


Thanks to Noah Feldman for helping me understand a "high crime" actually means "a crime committed by a high office" and not "a really bad crime."


"That was funny," Trump says about insulting our ally.


WATCH: GWU Law professor Jonathan Turley warns about the consequences of lowering the bar for impeaching a president


Interesting moment as one of the #impeachment witnesses calls out the committee's top Republican. The congressman starts to key his microphone to respond, but instead turns his attention to his cellphone.


Prof. Gerhardt is now discussing the British system (upon which US law is based) and the threat of tyranny from a king trying to usurp too much power. Reminder that three judges have compared Trump to a king in their rulings against him as well.


Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman: “Soliciting the leader of a foreign government to announce the investigation of an electoral rival for personal gain on its own constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution.”


Prof. Pamela Karlan: "Here Mr. Collins, I would like to say to you, sir, that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses ... I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts. I'm insulted by the suggestion that as a law prof I don't care about those facts."


Prof. Karlan: "Everything I read on those occasions tells me that when President Trump invited, indeed demanded, foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this a republic to which we pledge allegiance."


Watch live: The impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee is beginning now.


We need a President who isn't a laughing stock to the entire World. We need a truly great leader, a genius at strategy and winning. Respect!


Snowflake


Today marks four months since the Dayton shooting — and President Trump and Mitch McConnell still refuse to stand up to the gun lobby and #DoSomething to stop gun violence. Shameful. We need action.


Today, the @HouseJudiciary committee will hold its first hearing as part of our impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. No one is above the law, not even the president.


‘Outright treason’: Rick Wilson scorches Trump’s ‘suicide cult’ of GOP defenders


It's worth noting that this isn't even Barr's call to make. Our federal laws and law enforcement are limited in their jurisdiction (remember that whole states' rights thing)? This is an insult to local and state PDs, who can speak for themselves, and they should say so


Saying the quiet part loud again and again and again


LIVE: House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing


More than 45,000 defrauded students were forced to repay loans in violation of a court order, the Dept. of Education revealed in a court filing Tuesday.


Republican donor handed $400 Million border wall contract, trump subverted the bidding process and handed this guy the contract. Any tax payers have a problem with this?


The President of the United States is such a complete embarrassment for our country. And it’s not just the fact that he is President, it’s the fact that we elected him President.


NEW: Trump and Erdogan apparently had a 30 minute side meeting in London at the NATO conference on Wed. but the White House has yet to confirm the meeting.


Happy anniversary to President Trump’s full-throated endorsement of Roy Moore


Think of the hubris it took for Devin Nunes to sit on the impeachment panel day after day & call it a “circus” & a “charade.” Suddenly, he’s not so assertive: Asked by Hannity about Lev Parnas, he “doesn’t really recall that name” & hasn’t “gone through all my phone records.”


“Unlawful command influence, often called the “mortal enemy of military justice,” occurs when a commander uses his position of authority to influence court proceedings.”


Trump just canceled his press conference at the end of NATO meetings. Here’s the empty stage where he would have taken our questions.


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‘Child’ Trump torn to pieces for storming out of NATO summit after video shows world leaders mocking him


“IMPEACHMENT NEWS... The President said he would like his aides to testify, but only in the Senate, where he believes he will get a fair trial.” You mean the kind of fair where you meet privately ahead of time with Republican “jurors”?


This tweet from 21 minutes ago did not age well


Fox "legal analyst" Gregg Jarrett says that maybe Devin Nunes did *not* have calls with with Giuliani, the White House, and Lev Parnas, because it could've been "somebody else" using Nunes' phone, "we just don't know.


What is the basis for @AdamSchiff posting my phone calls in House Report? This abuse of power is what happens under Democrats. Watch out if Dems take over government. Any political opponent will have privacy invaded. Where is the MSM outrage? #maga


Trump made a complete ass of himself — and the United States — on the world stage today, again refusing to commit to upholding Article 5 if one of our allies is attacked. Reminder: the United States is the only country who has ever actually invoked Article 5.


Active Enabler/Amoeba fence-sitter, in case you were wondering


What a titanically horrible day for the GOP. Rep. Nunes implicated. Giuliani further implicated. Parnas about to light the match. Deutsche Bank case a step closer to delivering fatal blow. Trump embarrasses himself on global stage. The House Intel report was incendiary


Just tried to ask Devin Nunes to react to being named in the Dems’ impeachment report - and he ignored my question. Here are details on phone records suggesting Nunes could be tied to effort to dig up Biden dirt:


Republicans in Washington *don't* want you to know or share this. But House Democrats are doing it all: honoring our oath by rooting out the #CultureOfCorruption, fighting to #LowerDrugCosts and working to improve the lives of the American people.


Instead of upholding his sworn oath to defend the constitution, the evidence shows that @DevinNunes conspired with @realDonaldTrump and his cronies to extort #Ukraine and then served as Trump’s mole during @HouseIntel’s investigation


The first two Republican House members to endorse Trump are now on their way to prison. So, um, who was the third? Uh oh. And the fourth? Yikes. Me in @TheAtlantic on Trump's "team of crooks"


NEW: A group of mental health experts led by 3 preeminent psychiatrists is urging ⁦@HouseJudiciary⁩ to consider ⁦@realDonaldTrump’s⁩ “dangerous” mental state arising from his “brittle sense of self-worth” as part of its impeachment probe.


There is absolutely no factual basis for this Ukrainian election interference/CrowdStrike nonsense. None. Spreading this discredited conspiracy theory only serves to advance Russia's ongoing disinformation campaign against the United States


I just wrote: The party’s transformation into a Russian lickspittle makes me sick; “GOP” might as well stand for “Gang of Putin.”


No word on Trump, but he’s got time to criticize... Bloomberg


Trump, sitting with Merkel, is asked about Trudeau and says, "Well, he's two-faced." After a long pause, he adds that Trudeau is a "nice guy" but was probably "not very happy" that Trump called him out yesterday for Canada not meeting NATO's 2% spending guideline.


The whole point of the NATO alliance is that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.


Trump’s mental state is deteriorating dangerously due to impeachment with potentially ‘catastrophic outcomes’, psychiatrists urgently warn Congress


Best part about Nunes He thinks the POtuS has his back


Harvard Law impeachment expert Noah Feldman: Yup. Impeach Trump. This is what the Framers meant when they put impeachment in the Constitution.


(DOES NO ONE USE A BURNER PHONE??)


Pete Buttigieg is a 37-year-old mayor of the fourth largest city in Indiana with no federal or state government experience. He was elected with 8,515 votes. Kamala Harris is a 55-year-old US senator from California. She was elected with 7.5 million votes.


So we're pirates, now?


Here’s video of Devin Nunes defending protestors who yelled the "n-word" at Congressman John Lewis: "I think people have every right to say what they want. If they wanna smear someone, they can do it." Moooooo.


One thing that’s clear from these bilaterals: Trump is more comfortable with US adversaries Putin & increasingly Erdogan than close allies Merkel and Macron


North Korea will send a "Christmas gift" to the US, but what that present contains will depend on the outcome of ongoing talks between Washington and Pyongyang, a top official has warned


The projection. And the abject fear.


My campaign to defeat @DevinNunes has raised over $400k since the start of impeachment. That was before we found out about the calls between him & Lev Parnas in the #ImpeachmentReport#DevinNunesGotCaught... again Integrity matters. Help us beat him


After Trump touts his relationship with Erdogan, calling it a good one, Macron rips into Turkey for its purchase of the Russian missile defense system, saying it’s not compliant with the NATO alliance and they could have purchased a European one.


Republican Party bosses in South Carolina, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Minnesota, & Georgia cancelled their 2020 primaries & caucuses. They’ve disenfranchised their voters. To please HIM, they’ve literally cancelled elections.


The Trump impeachment case enters a historic next phase this morning in the House Judiciary Committee. Drawing up articles could begin after members question legal and constitutional experts on the grounds for drafting articles of impeachment.


Keep talking.


‘Very little respect for him — if any’: MSNBC’s Mika breaks down embarrassing video of world leaders mocking Trump


Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third most senior House Democrat, says he wants a vote on articles of impeachment and says the charges against Trump should include obstruction of justice related to the findings of Mueller's investigation.


Hmmm...I could share a few things with Tucker about what makes Putin so bad. Easy to sit in a civilized country without fear of arrest, torture and murder and spout this nonsense. He should walk in my shoes for a day


Host leaders normally come out to greet visiting dignitaries. Johnson avoiding a photo op?


“The U.S. embassy in Moscow failed to issue visas to a Russian delegation of treasury officials who were due to attend an international audit management conference in Washington on Dec. 3.”


The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has rejected Russia's claim that #PaulWhelan, who is being held on spying charges, is feigning illness and lying about his ill treatment.


Documents brandished by Corbyn had been posted weeks earlier by an anonymous user on Reddit. Now experts say the leak and distribution of the classified British-U.S. trade documents are eerily similar to a disinformation campaign that originated in Russia


On 16 August, a Russian aircraft bombed a camp for displaced families just outside Hass, Syria. The attack killed 20 people, mostly women & children. There was no military presence nearby. It's a war crime. Russia must be held accountable.


This is huge. Germany officially expels two Russian diplomats for their role in the Berlin murder of a Chechen refugee. No less significant than Russia’s Skripal assassination attempt in Salisbury.


But Putin and Kim Jong Un are fantastic.


Oh. “The Pega-built website was hacked from IP addresses in Russia during 2018 testing of census systems...One of the sources said an intruder bypassed a “firewall” and accessed parts of the system that should have been restricted to census developers.”


The House Intel. Committee voted along party lines to approve a 300-page report summarizing weeks of investigation, which it will send to the House Judiciary Committee as that panel considers moving forward on articles of impeachment against Pres. Trump.


The Intelligence Committee report sets the gold standard for fairness, clarity, readability, and persuasiveness. Chairman @RepAdamSchiff has put an end to the myth that “government literature” must be an oxymoron.


“Gordon implied that briefing the president frequently left intelligence officials unsure of where else he was receiving information that may have contributed to his doubt.”


Fact Checker: GOP tries to connect dots on Biden and Ukraine, but comes up short


#BREAKING Germany expels two Russian diplomats over exiled murder in Berlin


Having a U.S. senator for a dad means your life is often lived in public. I’m proud of our kids, and their spouses, for so many reasons. In this moment, I’m especially grateful that they understand the privilege of public service, and work hard to lift the lives of others.


Must watch to believe: @DevinNunes is pretending the phone records don’t exist. But they do and they don’t lie.


These are the words of a mob boss


Barr’s divisive comments are unworthy of an AG. We should all be grateful for the sacrifices and service of police officers, but misconduct should be called out and addressed. Blind devotion is not a requirement for receiving police service.


Princess Anne didn't greet Donald Trump and Melania Trump The Queen chastised her Princess Anne just shrugged


U.S. and Russia want a new treaty on nuclear weapons: Trump


“The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.” —Federalist No. 65 on impeachable offenses under our Constitution


At this point, after 3 and a half years of disclosures, from April 2016 onwards, any Republican turning a blind eye to this all, is complicit in the crimes & misdemeanors of the President of the United States, & does not love America


U.S. House passes Uighur bill; vote likely to heighten U.S.-China tensions


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