Thursday, January 16, 2020

Chief Justice John Roberts swears in all 100 Senators to do impartial justice in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Essentially every GOP Senator will violate that oath


Georgia election server showed signs of tampering: Expert


FBI investigators visit Robert Hyde's home and office - CNNPolitics 😳🚨🚨This is a great news!


Schiff: "In the history of the Republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry, or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors."


Trump’s head is exploding


Schiff: "In the history of the Republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry, or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors."


"Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye: all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, president."


WATCH LIVE: Trump impeachment trial begins with senators' swearing in PBS


WATCH LIVE: Trump impeachment trial begins with senators' swearing in

This bombshell legal opinion from the independent @USGAO demonstrates, without a doubt, that the Trump Administration illegally withheld assistance from Ukraine and the public evidence shows that the president himself ordered this illegal act.


GAO confirms Trump broke the law when he withheld Ukraine aid. Ukraine opens a criminal probe of the harassment campaign of the U.S. Ambassador, run by Trump aides. That’s just TODAY. This is most corrupt Administration in the history of the country. — Chris Murphy


Dara urges Graham's constituents to vote him out by supporting @harrisonjaime: Let's end this crap πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡ as quickly as possible.


Pelosi on Parnas: "Does anyone think that the rogue A.G. is going to appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he's implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president's henchmen. And I hope that the senators do not become part of the president's henchmen."


Senate Impeachment Trial, Part 1 The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump begins at noon viewed live in C Span 2 link


Senate Impeachment Trial, Part 1 The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump begins with the reading of the impeachment articles and swearing-in of Chief Justice John Roberts & Senators. Final vote on the U.S., Mexico, Canada trade agreement is also expected. Noon C Span 2 link

 https://www.c-span.org/video/?468210-2/senate-impeachment-trial

Pelosi: "When I was at grade school, there was a sign on the wall ... it said, 'What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.' You see this more and more and more in all of this, this tangled web to deceive that the administration is engaged in."


The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has found the Trump Administration broke the law by withholding military aid from Ukraine. Trump’s willingness to break the law to coerce Ukraine to help him cheat in the next election shows the magnitude of his abuse of power.— Adam Schiff


Any Presidential Candidate who is not bold enough to know cleaning up Trump/Putin mess is going to be HARD AND NEED BRAVE MOVES, is not the right candidate. It's not winning, not getting along with gop, BUT IMPEACHING ALL THE TRUMP JUDGES, reinstating all erased laws. ETC ETC


FBI arrests alleged members of white supremacist group "the Base"


How will the "hear no evil" GOP react to this news? The band is gathering on the deck of the Titanic. #MoscowMitch has the baton.


The White House budget office violated the law when it froze US aid to Ukraine, a new GAO report concludes: “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law."


bad mantra for a juror — but an excellent #scsen campaign slogan for @harrisonjaime


Trump Tax Break That Benefited the Rich Is Being Investigated. The Treasury Department’s watchdog said it was looking into the Opportunity Zone program, a multibillion-dollar tax break that is supposed to help low-income areas.


When the jurors announce the verdict ahead of time, that's not a "fair trial." That's a cover up.


i literally hate kaitlin bennett so much she came to pride, started harassing and questioning the people there god i LOVE this cop


The China deal is a weird pile of mostly nothing. Doesn’t mean it won’t turn into good politics for Trump.


.@SenatorCollins LIED to a constituent. Collins’ campaign received $2300 from Jonathon Sackler & insists she is not influenced by campaign contributions. I disagree. She must return the funds NOW and apologize for lying to her constituent


Rudy Giuliani's son makes $95,000 working as a sports liaison for the White House


C-SPAN calls on Senate to allow its TV cameras & crew to cover the impeachment trial. For now, only government-controlled Senate cameras are permitted. Letter here:


The responsibility rests with the Senate to allow relevant evidence to be presented. The question is whether Collins will read from the White House script or uphold her oath.


Russia is paying Trump. That's a fact. A reminder after Maddow's interview w/ Lev Parnas: Russia bankrolled the operation with money flow through Firtash to Parnas to Rudy to work for "free" for Trump. Doing the dirty work for free for Trump is the same as paying him.


Breaking: Ukraine announces it is probing possible surveillance of US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, expects US cooperation in the investigation.


Trump wanted Ukraine to announce an investigation. Mission accomplished!


Doubts persist whether the U.S. trade strategy will bear fruit in next phase of negotiations with China


Me thinks President Zelensky has just about had enough of this shit. Come clean with it, Vol. America has your back.


Dear @RepAdamSchiff , Move to strike McConnell + Graham today. CJ Roberts will grant the motion to protect his legacy, as the evidence is indisputable. Yes, the Senate can overrule by majority vote. WE THE PEOPLE will be able to read between the lines. The COI will be staggering.


President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. makes a stunning allegation tonight: That Ambassador Yovanovitch was monitoring him personally and other US citizens


If there was no ‘imminent’ attack from Iran, killing Soleimani was illegal


While Trump’s instincts are incoherent and illogical, they are not entirely random. Highly trained Trumpologists are able to spot patterns just as zoologists do when they study primate behavior.


Media keeps walking up to the line but never says the name of the Ukrainian oligarch connected to Trump we've been yelling about for *years*: DMITRY FIRTASH.


Seems like this should be investigated by the Justice Department....Oh, wait.


BREAKING: Ukraine's Interior Ministry announces criminal probe into alleged illegal surveillance of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch after text messages released by House investigators showed Robert F. Hyde and Lev Parnas discussing her being tracked in Kyiv.


Robert Stryk. Remember the name.His lobbying firm Sonoran Policy Group is up to shady crap worldwide & Stryk appears to have been with Giuliani when he visited the Interior Minister in Bahrain


Lev Parnas said Giuliani and Trump once came up with a plan: Giuliani would represent Parnas and Fruman, as well as the president, a move that might allow them to hide their Ukraine efforts through the confidentiality of attorney-client privilege.


New House Judiciary Committee docs, including: Victoria Toensing voicemail: "Hey Lev, VT here, uh we’ve got a request to talk to the big one." Giuliani voicemail: "Hi Lev, it’s Rudy. When you get a chance, give me a call and bring me up to date, okay?"


Maybe, like half of the rest of the senior political appointees, he’s a volunteer in the admin and his salary is being paid by outside vendors of undisclosed motivations. As if that is normal.


How many bankers tied to Trump at Deutsche Bank have to "kill themselves" before a real journalist digs into this and makes it a story? Or do we wait til Trump does a mob hit on an Ambassador for reals.


This morning: GOP presidential candidate Joe Walsh, former #Illinois Rep., “will protest RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel’s refusal to meet with his campaign to discuss the cancellation of nearly twenty Republican primary contests in 2020” in front of RNC Republican headquarters in DC


Iranians would kindly like Donald Trump to "shut up"


“Estonian authorities have expanded their investigation into alleged money laundering through Danske Bank's local branch to cover transfers of up to $2 billion.”


This denial is being made by a man who has been impeached


Analysis: One way to break the impeachment tangle would be to suspend the trial and draft legislation to make clear that it’s illegal, going forward, for any president to use foreign governments to meddle in U.S. elections


Hong Kong's teachers say they are living in fear over democracy protests. Some are too scared to discuss it, others fear they could lose their jobs if caught supporting it


We live in Trumpland now, writes @brianklaas. "The unthinkable has become routine."


The issue has taken on urgency as the current contract, known as the Special Measures Agreement, expired at the end of the year, leaving the U.S. military operating with residual funds from the South Koreans


Lev Parnas described two occasions on which he delivered messages to Ukrainians that amounted to quid pro quos, demanding the announcement of an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for benefits from the White House


Anyone who read the vague statement issued at the time would know Kim made no such commitment. Pompeo is either being played as a fool or being purposely misleading.


Here’s Trump on December 3 saying he would “love” for Pompeo and Mulvaney and Perry to testify in the Senate, where “it will be fair.” Democrats should talk about that!


The US Ambassador in Ukraine must expect some degree of surveillance, mostly from Russian agents but also from other countries. The one country you don’t expect it from is the United States, and especially from the President’s associates. This needs urgent investigation.


Trump, Nunes, Barr, Pence... and Parnas.


Devin Nunes should resign. He defrauded the American people, failing to disclose a titanic conflict of interest, namely his involvement in the underlying fact pattern.


Reminder: Rudy was working for "free" for Trump. But he WAS BEING PAID $500,000 by Lev Parnas, who failed to disclose a $1 million payment from .... Dmytro Firtash, described in 2017 U.S. fed. court papers as an associate of RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME.


This armed mob includes people who believe that “the UN is in cahoots w/ the Democratic Virginia Legislature on a covert mission to disarm Americans and overthrow the United States with the end goal of establishing a New World Order run by global elites” Aka QAnon guns edition


NEW: So if #JeffreyEpstein was doing this for TWO DECADES where were USVI officials? Were they sleeping or were they being paid off? Where were the feds? Who was watching this registered sex offender's planes as he traveled the world over the past 10 yrs?


Because you’re up against a cult led by a mafia, and you are going to have to be better, more organized, and make far fewer mistakes, because they’re better at this than you are. That’s why.


Picture of Trump co-conspirator Robert Hyde the same day Amb. Yovanovitch was recalled after threats to her safety, April 24, 2019.


WHOOOOOAAAA. So Giuliani and Firtash were tasked by Solomon to try to establish a relationship with Firtash to damn Andrew Weissman who was on Mueller's team to destroy the Mueller investigation. Follow? This is a new count of obstruction of justice.


In 2017, Trump told Tillerson he wanted to get rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prevents U.S. firms and individuals from bribing foreign officials for biz deals. "It's just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas."


.@douglaslondon5, who retired from CIA at the end of 2018, writes that he and his team “often struggled in persuading the president to recognize the most important threats” because of Trump’s “focus on celebrity, headlines, and immediate gratification.”


Donald Trump will announce new guidance on prayer in public schools, in another appeal to evangelical Christian voters


Nancy Pelosi: “Time has been our friend in all of this.”


Courtney Friel appeared in none of her regularly scheduled KTLA anchoring slots the weekend after publicly accusing the president of making a pass at her


Trump’s China deal: -China agrees to buy $50B of ag products this year. -That's a gain of $29B from before Trump tariffs. -Trump tariffs have cost U.S. farmers $11B. -U.S. taxpayers have spent $28B on emergency payouts to farmers. -So loss to U.S. is $39B. You do the math.


Yall know now that Mike Pence should be impeached This is why the Republican party is trying to run a corrupt Senate trial..they KNOW that trump and Pence should be immediately removed from their offices


Maybe Robert Hyde didn’t pose a serious threat to Amb Yovanovitch. And maybe he was just a drunk clown. But if he was merely a loony hanger-on, why the heck would he be privy to info about Trump’s animosity to her and the WH’s desire to have her removed?


Thank God for the whistleblower. — Joe Walsh


Researchers found that the oceans are dramatically changing due to climate change.


POTUS tried to blackmail Europe, UK, likely others into backing his moves on Iran — and failed in every respect. Our allies are moving troops back from Iraq, POTUS has no support. This is a failed approach to alliance and it will cost us everything if it continues.


When the issue is a woman being assaulted or threatened, you can always count on Susan Collins to be part of the cover-up.


Lev: Barr is in on it Collins: See this just proves that the Democrats fucked this whole impeachment thing up, and the Senate will be right to dismiss it. Nobody: Okay yeah that sounds about right nothing to see here


A group of bipartisan senators on Wednesday introduced legislation aimed at punishing Beijing for blocking American citizens from leaving that country, on the same day that the White House signed an initial trade deal with China


Lev Parnas tells @maddow he witnessed "lots of conversations" between Joe diGenova and William Barr, and Rudy Giuliani and the attorney general.


Parnas chose to come forward because of what happened to Jeffrey Epstein. Jeff was killed because he kept EVERYONE’S secrets. When he died, those secrets died with him. It makes no sense to kill Parnas if everything he knows is public.


New map shows international airlines avoiding Iranian airspace at all costs.


Bernie really under-estimated the rage many still feel at him for 2016. The tragedy is,Bernie is so short-sighted, he not only doesn't see what he did wrong, but he is doing it all over again--which is tapping into that anger. Folks who don't even support Warren are angry at him


Lev Parnas said GOP figures and Trump insiders would mingle with some unusual characters at the president's Washington hotel


Trump Tower was described in a Documentary on the History Channel as "A money laundering paradise. Many Russians own properties at Trump Tower.


Pence involvement in using his public office for private gain — aka corruption — was a big new bombshell tonight. Eager to hear Pence response.


Anyone who read the vague statement issued at the time would know Kim made no such commitment. Pompeo is either being played as a fool or being purposely misleading.


Eric Trump on Fox News about Robert Hyde: “I have no idea who this guy is.” Eric Trump and Robert Hyde 8 days ago.


Klobuchar voted to confirm nearly two-thirds of Trump’s judicial nominees that came up for a vote, far outpacing every other Democratic senator currently seeking the nomination


We are in the midst of Earth's sixth mass extinction. Almost a third of the Earth will need to be protected by 2030 and pollution cut by half to save our remaining wildlife, the UN warns


New: Three years into President Donald Trump’s term, the roster of his cabinet members and top advisers continues to churn at an unprecedented rate


4 takeaways from the Lev Parnas interview and revelations


Former Deutsche Bank Exec Connected to Trump Loans Dies by Suicide in Malibu No kidding. Don't think Trump ordered his demise by any chance?


BREAKING: Slovakia’s former Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka was arrested this morning for “misuse of public authority”, according to a video posted by Slovak police on Facebook


U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Iran, Syria, and Libya during a phone call, both administrations said in separate statements


Trump says Puerto Rico has to pay workers less than $15 an hour if it wants disaster aid: The Trump administration is withholding $8 billion in disaster aid until Puerto Rico agrees to certain conditions, including paying workers less


'Bill Barr can't do a criminal investigation on a matter he's involved in': Ex-federal prosecutor calls for special prosecutor


VERY unusual. Prosecutors (in this case, SDNY) would normally oppose such an appearance. If SDNY is OK with it, we should ask ‘why ?’ Might it be a pre-emptive move to get the story out before it’s smothered by DOJ ? Is this a sign of an SDNY-DOJ struggle ? Pure speculation.


Vladimir Putin’s surprise visit to Syria delivered an unequivocal message Meeting with Assad sent clear messages to the countries of the region.


“[I’m] conservative more than Republican. There is no Republican Party anymore – it’s dead. Donald Trump killed it. He’s like a parasite that ate its host from the inside out.” - @therickwilson


Wait a minute! I’m rewatching tonight’s #MaddowParnas interview, and Lev just referenced “McCarthy” as being a regular at the Trump hotel bar, along with Hyde, Stone, Giuliani, etc. Are we ignoring this? @GOPLeader got serious (and corroborated) $ donations from Lev.


.@Maddow: "Does it strike you as unusual or inappropriate that Devin Nunes would be one of the lead investigators?" PARNAS: "I was in shock when I was watching the hearings and when I saw [Nunes] sitting up there...Because they were involved in getting all this stuff on Biden."


It all feels so Sopranos, both the corruption and the bungling. It’s like they’re Paulie and Chris, stranded in the cold after blowing a job and having to eat ketchup packets from an old fast food bag someone left in the van.


Beijing had balked at committing to buy set amounts of U.S. farm goods earlier, and has inked new soybean contracts with Brazil since the trade war started.


The Trump administration wants to trim the disability rolls, possibly repeating a disastrous Reagan-era move.


THE FLIP IS COMPLETE: LEV PARNAS wants to cooperate with SDNY, which is investigating @RudyGiuliani. “We very much want to provide substantial assistance to the gov't,” said his atty @josephabondy. "We very much want to be heard in the Southern District"


Thunderstorms and heavy rain sweep across parts of Australia’s east coast, bringing hope that some of the fierce bushfires razing the country will be extinguished - or at least slowed


Rich people live healthy, disability-free lives an average of nine years longer than less wealthy people, according to a major study that lays bare the troubling economic inequalities behind lifespans in the US and UK


NEW--> Full early look at "A Very Stable Genius," the new book by @PhilipRucker + @carolleonnig.


"I don't know him" --Kellyanne Conway


Senate restrictions on impeachment press coverage draw backlash


Cease & Desist. After two of R.E.M.'s songs played at Trump's rally on Tuesday -- "“Everybody Hurts” and “Losing My Religion” -- the bassist for the former band, Mike Mills, says it is looking to take legal action against the president.


INBOX: House Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel wants the State Department to provide "documents, information, and a briefing from senior officials" on potential threats to Ambassador Yovanovitch's security, as revealed in yesterday's Lev Parnas probe.


Devin Nunes told Fox News on Wednesday night that he now remembers speaking on the phone with Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani actively involved in the Ukraine scheme at the heart of the president's impeachment


I always send detailed encrypted messages to drunks I just met discussing the location and security arrangements of US Ambassadors Doesn’t everyone?


Here's the context everyone is ignoring: The DOJ has had Parnas's phone & all these damning texts for 3 months. But we learn of them only bc a court order allowed Parnas to give them to the House a few days ago. Seems like Barr is covering up these crimes. And he's implicated.


Parnas says Giuliani told Ukrainian officials that Parnas was a representative of Trump and was acting on his behalf. Parnas says he would call Giuliani, put him on speakerphone, and Giuliani would confirm as Trump’s personal lawyer that Parnas was representing Trump


#PenceKnew#PompeoKnew#TrumpKnew They all knew. Because they never thought they would get caught.


Wow. Watching Lev Parnas interview with @maddow. All I can say is this: Republican senators who refuse to support the calling of fact witnesses and relevant documents should just resign for dereliction of duty under the Constitution.


When listening #Parnas interview on @maddow - keep wondering how many of what seem to be not secure cell phone calls were intercepted by foreign intel services or even U.S. NSA? Giuliani’s phone would appear to be a non-stop kompromat feed for a U.S. adversary


My overall feelings about Parnas thus far is a mixed bag. He destroyed Trump, Pence, Barr, & Rudy. He didn’t want to touch any Bratva issues or personnel like Firtash & he wasn’t completely forthright with his knowledge of Hyde and Nunes. His interview was almost like a proffer.


The house needs to strip this guy of his chair and get him under oath in a deposition - stat.


.@maddow: "Did Rudy Giuliani tell you he'd spoken to the AG specifically about Ukraine?" Lev Parnas: "Not only Rudy Giuliani, I mean Victoria and Joe, they were all best friends. I mean Barr, Attorney General Barr, was basically on the team."


When Lev Parnas was arrested, Giuliani defended him & said he was sticking by him. Tonight he has a different message. “Who cares?” he says in text. “Believe him at your peril.” Adds that he feels sorry for “him and his family.” Does not specify what he sees at falsehoods.


Barr/DOJ withheld all this Parnas stuff from Congress. He is not just part of the President’s illicit conspiracy - he appears to be its architect. He must resign.


Not to mention that Hyde was able to pay a huge amount in child support during April 2019. This is the statement Hyde posted on his TL


Lev Parnas may be lying, but Devin Nunes got over to Fox News damn quick today to remember he'd talked to him.


We lined up the newly released Parnas messages with the records we obtained from the State Department through FOIA litigation, as well as other records and reports. The timeline is troubling. (Thread)


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