Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Opinion: How can Republicans get away with not forcing Giuliani to testify?


A large crowd in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.


BREAKING: House Rules Committee passes rules for debate on articles of impeachment tomorrow — rule provides for one hour of debate on the rules for debate, six hours of debate on H. Res. 755, articles of impeachment against @realDonaldTrump.


Trump protest happening now at Camelback and 24th street in Phoenix.


"Hey, hey, ho, ho, @senatemajldr has got to go!"


This NYC crowd keeps growing in Times Square. Taking up six whole blocks now.


I thought 45 would throw @RudyGiuliani under the bus, but it looks like Rudy is throwing Trump under the bus instead. Giuliani Provides Details of What Trump Knew About Ambassador’s Removal


Pouring rain and 38°, but 100+ people showed up in Short Pump, Virginia


How to tune in to Lisa Page's interview with Rachel Maddow tonight


Chants of “lock him up” at pro-impeachment rally at the Michigan Capitol.


NORAD & NORTHCOM closely track vessels of interest, including foreign military vessels such as Russian ship VICTOR LEONOV, in our area of responsibility. We're aware of Russia's naval activities, including deployment of these intelligence collection ships in the region.


Trump is scheduled to testify under oath in January. Like the Trump University fraud case, the Trump options are perjury or settle the case.


I'm excited to announce that I'm joining @OversightDems. I've worked hard during my time in Congress to hold CEOs and top officials accountable to everyday Americans. I'll be using this new position to continue speaking up for working families. Stay tuned for updates.


It keeps getting better... -Firtash pays Parnas -Parnas pays Rudy -Rudy works for free for Trump. So Firtash/ Russia are really the ones covering Rudy’s large legal bills to Trump. Remember Trump’s tell- “Rudy does it out of love” Netting it out- Russia is paying Trump


Firtash sent Parnas the million, according to prosecutors


"I am incapable of expressing how crazy this letter is."


"Manafort has been recovering since last Thursday at a local Pennsylvania hospital under the watch of correctional officers..."


ED BOARDS CALLING FOR IMPEACHMENT:


"Trump Will Be Impeached But Trumpism Will Fuck Us Forever." It's my newest article, and if you're frustrated with how impeachment in the Senate is going, read on.


uhhhhh why is a Supreme Court justice doing a TV interview


"The Republican Senate, led by Mitch McConnell, is now flagrantly, overtly telling America to fuck itself, hard. Oh well. It was a nice republic while we had it."


What a hot mess of a letter.


Whew this angry, nasty, lying screed by President Trump to Speaker Pelosi is really concerning. We’d better pray harder for his well-being.


Schiff says Pence’s office may have purposefully misled panel about contents of his Zelensky call


Rick Gates was just sentenced to 45 days in jail (to be served on weekends!) & 3 yrs probation for lying to the FBI. Indigent client (who happens to be a person of color) recently got 2-4 years in prison for stealing a jacket. There is no justice in our criminal legal system.


Concerns about Peter Thiel's outsize influence over Mark Zuckerberg (and by extension, Facebook policy) as first-investor appear to be well-founded as new details emerge, including internal investigations into Thiel, Palantir, and Cambridge Analytica.


Convicted Russian secret agent Marina Butina landed a job hosting a program on state-run TV in Russia after being deported from the U.S. Butina told CNN earlier this year that she would not become a TV personality, insisting that “I’m not a circus bear.”


Trump's source for affirmation delivers bad news on impeachment


Swalwell: Three words capture Trump's actions: 'Abuse of power'


Americans plan demonstrations in support of impeaching Trump


Rick Gates faces sentencing for conspiracy and lying to FBI in Mueller probe


Amigo Rick Perry + Giuliani were using their access to the office of the President to concoct a slew of corrupt deals in Ukraine. Kinda like what Rudy and donald are accusing the Bidens of doing. Weird how that happens.


Giuliani is a train wreck for Trump. Trump is a train wreck for the GOP. Trump impeachment process 'to kill Republican Party' as Giuliani makes extraordinary confession - follow live


Matt Gaetz’s corrupt father Don Gaetz founded VITAS Hospice. In 2013—US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against VITAS for committing Medicare fraud since 2002 — Gaetz still worked at the company, & paid $75 Million FCA Settlement. Largest-ever for a Hospice


By what authority does a private attorney “force out” a US Ambassador?


Panic from the @GOP as they crunch the numbers. The party of treason can’t win based on it’s draconian policies and abysmal politicians. They must cheat. Or at least try. They are their own best argument for demolishing the party all the way down to the local level.


This is the way true allies send messages! Thanks Canada


#BREAKING NEW @JoeBiden AD ON GUN CONTROL


Trump’s “spiritual advisor “, fraudster & scammer Paula White is at it again. She promised donors last Sunday a spiritual quid-pro-quo: “You're going to get a vision & guaranteed spiritual results in exchange for donations of $2,000.”


We want a trial to be fair, and for the American people to think it is fair. It cannot be a cover-up. It cannot be something where there are witnesses who have direct knowledge of what happened and do not testify.


Another day, another anti-gay church leader busted for trying to buy gay sex on Grindr. He's an elder at the Kirksville Church of Christ, which likes to post about how terrible gay people are and if you have sex outside of marriage, you're going to hell.


"No," Richard Burr said when I asked if he had any desire to hear from Bolton and Mulvaney


Remember, remember: The president’s businesses made themselves appear more profitable to lenders and less profitable to tax officials.


Morale among the country’s roughly 2 million federal workers fell by half a point in 2019, the first drop since 2014


House Democrats are nearing one of the most important decisions in their effort to impeach Donald Trump: Who will bear the historic duty of prosecuting the president in next year’s Senate trial


AM I REGISTERED TO VOTE? CHECK VOTER REGISTRATION


We filed two lawsuits against the Treasury Department for communications to shed light on ties between administration officials, Sen. Mitch McConnell, and a Russian company that announced a $200 million investment in a Kentucky plant:


Tulsi Gabbard Just Hangin' With Mike Huckabee, Like Regular Democratic Candidates Do


If we don’t do something, we could lose everything. — Rep. Eric Swalwell


Asked Mitt Romney if he wants witnesses at a Senate trial, like Mulvaney or Bolton, and he told me: “It’s not that I don’t have any point of view, it’s just that I’m not willing to share that point of view till I’ve had the chance to talk to others and get their perspectives.”


What happens if McConnell never agrees to a real trial with witnesses and documents and Schumer doesn’t cave? Then Trump will have been found guilty by the House of conduct “grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law,” with NO exoneration. He won’t love that.


So, Rudy Giuliani just claimed that AMB Yovanovich denied a US visa to four guys who had damning evidence about Joe Biden. This is what an old guy who doesn't know about air travel, or the internet, says when he's trying to make up a story like it's still 1970.


Russian commentators are also drawing parallels between Trump and ousted Ukrainian president Yanukovych, who fled to Rostov-on-Don in Russia upon his ouster in 2014. “Should we get another apartment in Rostov ready?” joked one


Less than 48 hours before Trump gets impeached, Giuliani reveals he told Trump that Marie Yovanovitch was standing in the way of Ukraine announcing probes that could help Trump politically. She was abruptly recalled from her post by Trump just weeks later.


This week the House will vote on the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump. Our case is powerful and uncontradicted. But most remarkable, it was built with ZERO documents provided by the @WhiteHouse. Just imagine what else we would know if Trump didn’t obstruct


Great report from @clarissaward on how another of POTUS's political appointee Ambassadors is remaking the American image abroad -- this time in Hungary, befriending increasingly authoritarian Viktor Orban, and again reporting "only to the president."


.@adamentous writes about the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine who fed information to Rudy Giuliani, which Giuliani and Donald Trump used in an attempt to smear the reputations of the Biden family.


Yavanovitch’s first call should be to her attorney. Rudy just slandered a faithful civil servant.


Wow. 95 year old former CIA and FBI Director William Webster in an op-ed: "This is not about politics. This is about the rule of law. Republicans and Democrats alike should defend it above all else...Order protects liberty, and liberty protects order."


NEW: Ukraine's state-owned energy company Naftogaz has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a deal in which a US company co-owned by a former donor to Rick Perry got the rights to develop a huge complex of oil and gas fields while he was Energy Secretary


I am dumbfounded by the decision to prominently display a Nazi on military social media on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.


Quick story on this whole debacle here


MFA spox #Zakharova: Reports of #WikiLeaks founder #JulianAssange’s deteriorating health and his cruel treatment in UK prison cause concern. UK should comply with its intl #humanrights obligations.


Flynn has an able judge: Emmett Sullivan. He has new lawyers who are not so good — actually terrible! Judge Sullivan rejected Flynn's whacko attacks on the FBI, accused his lawyers of plagiarism. Mike is making his mess into a disaster.


Democrats only seek to call four witnesses. That should make this trial simple for all to readily follow. There is not one practical reason for Republicans to fight against production of these witnesses who possess knowledge of the facts surrounding Trump’s extortion of Ukraine.


FBI & CIA ex-dir. decries Trump & Barr attacks