Friday, January 17, 2020

Jeffrey Toobin accuses his former law professor, Alan Dershowitz, of pretending to be “some sort of outside objective observer instead of Donald Trump’s lawyer.” “No. I am an advocate against impeachment,” replied Dershowitz. “...I want the impeachment to fail.”


JUST IN: New impeachment documents show more texts about possible surveillance of former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch


IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Three Epstein survivors are sharing traumatic experiences they say happened with Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 as 17-year-olds. They spoke on condition that @ABC News not name them.


JUST IN: New evidence filed by House Intel Committee shows frequent contact between Parnas and top Nunes aide Derek Harvey.


House releases new impeachment evidence linking Nunes aide to Parnas


BREAKING: Chris Collins, the first Member of Congress to endorse Trump, was just sentenced to more than two years in jail. Duncan Hunter, the second endorser, just pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.


Trump has threatened Europe with a new trade war if it defies him on Iran. Now European leaders are talking openly about cutting back on their ties to the US


Friday night news: House Dem aides say there will be another Lev Parnas document dump TONIGHT as they prepare to file their first brief Saturday evening


Attached is the first page of a five page letter in which the lawyer for @DevinNunes threatens that Rep Nunes will sue me. Attached is my response


Breaking: A judge has sentenced former Republican Rep. Chris Collins, an early and staunch ally of Trump, to 26 months in prison after he pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to commit securities fraud.


NEWS: I just received a shocking declassified FBI memo confirming that the Saudi government has been helping fugitives flee the U.S. justice system after being accused or convicted of violent crimes.


This supercut of all the way Trump is already a “loser” is a fun 60 seconds from Team Bloomberg.


Intriguing on the Michael Cohen docket. (Remember: He’s been sharing his cooperation with various investigations in the hopes of catching a sentencing break.)


The Supreme Court agrees to hear Electoral College cases concerning whether states can force electors to vote for that state's popular vote winner


The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee threatened to subpoena Secretary of State Pompeo to testify about U.S. policy in the Middle East


“It seems liked Pres. Trump has gone to the edge of insane without crossing over into insanity,” says @PreetBharara on the fact that Rudy Giulani is so far not a part of Trump’s impeachment legal team. “...having Rudy Giuliani to defend him in the Senate does not make sense.”


“Jeffrey Epstein defense team rallies to protect donald.” Fixed it for you.


Companies burned by Big Tech plead for Congress to regulate Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google


A piece that makes a ridiculous argument - "you can't prosecute a murder without the guy who called 911!" - and then offers a name for the whistleblower again just to make the point that whistleblowers should be outed.


D.C. lawyer Charles Cooper takes over Jeffrey Epstein-related libel suit against Dershowitz


Second Woman Says Jeffrey Epstein ‘Directed’ Her to Have Sex With Alan Dershowitz


USDA proposes changing school menus to allow more fries and fewer vegetables, reversing a Michelle Obama effort


Dewey, Traffickem, and Howe


Voting isn't a privilege. It's a right. And requiring voters to pay off fines and fees to exercise that right is a modern-day poll tax.


"Oh, I'm not going to vote for Trump, I could never do that, but I won't vote for the Democrat either." That's how you get more Trump.


Trump doesn't want free trade. He wants *managed* trade with himself as the manager and toll collector.


Travelers at 3 U.S. airports to be screened for new, potentially deadly Chinese virus


History shows Chief Justice John Roberts could cast tie-breaking votes at Trump's impeachment trial, meaning it might only require three Republican votes to call witnesses


Trump-loving GOP candidate implicated by Parnas says ‘scumbag’ Adam Schiff set him up in conspiratorial rant


Not only are Barclays bankers flat-out wrong about my #WealthTax—they’re scared. The wealthy and the well-connected are terrified of losing their power and profits, but it’s time to put power where it belongs: In the hands of working people


Worth watching in the context of Mr. Sekulow now being announced as defense counsel for the Senate impeachment trial


“[Dershowitz] always, always brings it up, and says, ‘I hate massages.'" Normal thing to walk around saying all the time.


Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham are the faces of Republican treachery. “If we don’t get to call meaningful witnesses ... you’re basically changing impeachment.” Ironic, no?


On Ken Starr, @SenatorLeahy: "I'm looking at it as a former prosecutor, lawyer. He pushed the weakest impeachment case certainly in my lifetime and now he's up here to defend the strongest impeachment case in my lifetime. That's their choice. But it's a weird choice."


Ex-congressman Chris Collins to be sentenced in New York for insider trading


“Flood the zone with shit”: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy The impeachment trial probably won’t change any minds. Here’s why.


Lev Parnas was disillusioned by his experience with Trump lawyers


I guess if you can get a great deal for a serial pedophile (allowing him to go free and continue to molest more children) — anything is possible. #JeffreyEpstein


Parnas: Dowd advised me not to cooperate with Congressional investigations and because I worked for Toensing & Giuliani, and Giuliani worked for the president, we had “3 way privilege,” and Pat Cipollone would write a letter to Congress re that.


As for new PM Mishustin, the only qualifications to be Putin's prime minister are to have no ambition, be shorter than Putin, and have an eight-letter name starting with M. (In Russian! "Мишустин")


Lewinsky was forced to obtain immunity back in 1998, presumably because Kenneth Starr threatened to criminally indict her during his investigation of Bill Clinton. Now he's defending Donald Trump.


Tucker Carlson on CNN host Brian Stelter producing HBO documentary: He "should be parking my car"


I remember when we were mad at Obama's disrespect for the military because he saluted with a coffee cup in his hand. This is the new GOP. >> ‘You’re a bunch of dopes and babies’: Inside Trump’s stunning tirade against generals


Reince Priebus: "Sometimes the best defense is the 'so-what' defense which is, if everything the Democrats said is true it's still not impeachable. If everything Lev Parnas said is true, it's still not impeachable"


The same Ken Starr who impeached a president for lying about an affair and then got fired as Baylor's president after a "fundamental failure" in the way his school responded to sexual assault allegations? THAT Ken Starr? Oh


BREAKING: Trump impeachment defense team to incl. Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr & Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz First Dershowitz’s endless defenses of Trump on Fox News. Now defending IMPOTUS & his indefensible abuses of power, defiant obstruction


New members of Trump's impeachment legal team: Ken Starr—lost his job as Baylor president amid allegations the university mishandled cases of football players accused of sexual assaults Alan Dershowitz—accused of having sex w/ an underage girl provided to him by Jeffrey Epstein


Nothing says “solid legal strategy” like putting Jeffrey Epstein’s friend on your defense team, @realDonaldTrump


A REGISTERED FOREIGN AGENT FOR QATAR WILL BE ON THE DEFENSE TEAM


Excellent discussion long term dangers of criminal probe of Intelligence, if analysts at risk of being jailed/fired for missing assessments, they’ll either not make assessments at all or be overly conservative = not helpful but hurtful to national security


Senators soon will be asked to consider the overwhelming evidence that President Trump obstructed Congress’ Ukraine investigation. They would do well to remember that on obstruction the President is a repeat offender. We explain in @usatodayopinion.


Trump’s Evil Is Contagious


#BREAKING: The Virginia Senate passes universal background checks 23 to 17 with 2 Republican senators joining the Democrats in voting YES


A Kansas City area radio station can broadcast Russian state-owned media programming, the type that U.S. intelligence called a “propaganda machine,” for six hours a day through a lease agreement struck by a local radio operator


Sputnik, along with Russian television outlet RT — formerly Russia Today — “contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences,”


I stand with the Sikh community in Orangevale against this hateful display of white supremacy. This has no place in America and it’s on every one of us to call out and condemn this hate wherever it occurs.


BREAKING: Lev Parnas said to Maddow he was in Paris with Giuliani. Here is video I found confirming his story.


In remarks not reported until now, Trump raged during a 2017 meeting at the Pentagon. Trump stunned nearly everyone; some vowed to never repeat his words. "I wouldn't go to war with you people," Trump barked. "You're a bunch of dopes and babies."


Lev Parnas is spilling his guts on national TV because he doesn’t want to be “Jeffrey Epsteined” in his prison cell one night.


This is a damn frightening account that demonstrates @realDonaldTrump’s unfitness for office. Mattis and Tillerson owe it to the American public to speak out. They are hurting the nation and putting it at risk by not doing so. They are not patriots. (Pass it on.)


Trump describes association with Felix Sater

ICYMI

“Nearly one dozen American troops were wounded in Iran’s Jan. 8 missile attack on Iraq’s al-Asad air base. This week, they were medically evacuated to U.S. military hospitals in Kuwait and Landstuhl, Germany, to be treated for traumatic brain injury ....”


A Georgia election server contains evidence that it was possibly hacked before the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 vote that gave Brian Kemp a narrow victory over Stacey Abrams


The Trump administration told South Korea it needed to pay more for hosting U.S. troops, delivering its message in a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper


This means Mick Mulvaney personally oversaw a crime.


Federal prosecutors explore years-old media disclosure, raising fears Trump is using Justice Dept. for political gain


Several U.S. troops were treated for "concussion symptoms" following the January 8 Iranian missile attack on a base in Iraq, and some were sent to a medical center in Germany. President Trump said after the attack that "no Americans were harmed."


Saudi Arabia has paid the US approximately $500 million to begin to cover the cost of US troops operating in the country, according to a US official


The Treasury Department's inspector general has opened an inquiry into a controversial tax break used by close allies of President Trump


In 1987, a young real estate developer, Donald Trump, traveled to the Soviet Union. The KGB made the trip happen

ICYMI

Lev Parnas has gone public, and he’s ready to take the Trump White House down. — Kyiv Post


Russia & China, friends forever: 1st Q at Russian foreign minister's press conference goes to Chinese radio. "Our approach to all critical issues is identical. Our views on the world & modern era coincide" Lavrov says of 🇷🇺🇨🇳 ties. "At the UN we try to always support each other"


Senators have been given a flashcard with suggested phrases to use to avoid reporters


HEADLINE: "Matt Gaetz accused of creating sex game w/ 'points'. 1 point for sex w/ a lobbyist, 2 for a staffer, 3 for another legislator & 6 for a married legislator." -- Scum. How does Matt fit this in between shilling for Trump & drinking and driving?


A WAPO Exclusive: New book by @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig portrays Trump as erratic and "at times dangerously uninformed,"


Linking Pat Cipollone’s letter to Lev Parnas and his defense is devastating to the President’s claims


Laura Ingraham spent most of her interview with Martha McSally mocking CNN and @mkraju, but even she got frustrated when McSally wouldn’t answer the simple question: do you want witnesses or not?


Did Russian Prime Minister Medvedev Drop a Grim Hint About Putin’s Latest Power Grab?


Remember when William Barr couldn’t answer this question?


.@realDonaldTrump, you must be so proud of Jared being on the cover of @TIME bragging about his "power!" Almost makes you wonder who's really in charge at the White House...


‘What Mr. Parnas is talking about here is corroborated by some of the documentation that he has handed over to the House Intel Committee. This letter from Jay Sekulow saying that he, Sekulow got Trump’s express permission for Parnas to be represented legally by John Dowd’


Parnas says he has a significant fear of Barr and the DoJ, and that’s why he’s telling his story. He believes he’s safer telling his story than leaving it in the hands of Barr. “I’m more scared of our own justice department than I am of these criminals”.


The FBI arrested three alleged neo-Nazis for carrying an assault rifle and planning to incite violence at a gun-rights rally in Virginia


Ron DeSantis narrowly won in 2018 in an election in which more than 20% of black citizens were not allowed to vote. His legacy will be that he fought tooth-and-nail to make sure he gets to wage his re-election bid under that same Jim Crow-era rules of mass exclusion.


The OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act in the summer of 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.


Lindsey Graham rages at Democrats and the impeachment process on Fox News — hours after taking an oath to be impartial


Why would Parnas agree to an interview? 'He's worried,' says Maddow to Lawrence


Katyal: Parnas' interview & new evidence is ‘damning’ for Trump


Ben Rhodes: Giuliani associate shows ‘abnormal corruption’ of Trump admin.


Rachel to Lawrence: Lev Parnas put Bolton, Pompeo, and others on witness list


Laurence Tribe: ‘The question of not listening to witnesses is off the table’


Ukrainian police open probe of possible surveillance of ambassador and invite FBI to participate


Lev Parnas started working for Fred Trump at age 16. His son, who worked on the Trump campaign, made it to law school by age 18. He wants to be President of the United States.


Dear @Comey - WE GOT YOU. Fundraising, open source investigation, messaging. WE GOT YOU


All of this, because 63 million Americans thought it would be a hoot to elect a reality TV star


Parnas sold condos for Donald’s father, Fred Trump


A vulnerable Republican Senator having a meltdown before the trial even starts suggests that maybe McConnell’s position on impeachment is not the winner Republicans want you to think it is.


Breaking: Government Accountability Office says Trump administration broke the law when it withheld US security aid to Ukraine. In its decision, GAO said WH violated Impoundment Control Act, which says funds appropriated by Congress cannot be withheld by WH.


NYT editorial page editor James Bennet: "We talk a lot about the Richard Spencer test, you know: Would we publish Richard Spencer in the pages of The New York Times?" Today, the Times editorial page moved closer to a "yes." Kammer is a member of an anti-immigrant hate group


The FBI has arrested 3 members of a neo Nazi group in Virginia on their way to to a gun rally. They stated that the reason they were equipped with guns was because they anticipate a Race War.


.@MikeBloomberg and @TomSteyer now have a way of making a difference without making it about them. Let’s see if they do it


The weaponization of law enforcement as a political weapon is one of the most dangerous things autocrats do. It’s a violation of the oath of everyone involved. Media should cover it as such. And Congress should stop it if DOJ won’t.


Americans tuning in to witness exchanges in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump might be in for a shock themselves: Lawmakers could pull the C-Span plug and go into closed session at critical moments of debate


Rupert Murdoch thinks his viewers are stupid enough to fall for this obvious diversion. What say you, #MAGA?


Cowardly, unprecedented and unannounced move—without consulting the press galleries—by @senatemajldr to use Capitol Police to keep reporters away from senators during the impeachment trial. It’s prelude to his eventual effort to permanently ban the press from Capitol hallways.


#BREAKING: Ukrainian PM Honcharuk says he has tendered his resignation to President Zelenskiy.


If the Vice President believes all of the witnesses who testified before the House contradict Mr. Parnas, why won’t he let the public see the supplemental testimony of his own staffer, Jennifer Williams? There is no reason it should be classified. Release it, Mr. Vice President.


FBI shows up at Parnas associate Robert Hyde’s home and business after he’s implicated in Ukraine scandal


Dozens of Chinese nationals without proper papers have been smuggled from the Bahamas to South Florida by operators of luxury yachts. The smugglers are charging them thousands of dollars each for the short Atlantic journey, according to federal cases.


Sen. Martha McSally insulted CNN correspondent Manu Raju when he attempted to ask her whether or not she’d consider new evidence in the impending Senate impeachment trial: “You’re a liberal hack—I’m not talking to you."


F—k you, Kevin. “There’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump … swear to God.” — @GOPLeader


What a sad end to a career.


Parnas on Night Two: "It was like…being in a cult….I don’t think Trump is like organized crime. I think he’s a cult leader…..He became that powerful when he got Barr….I am more scared of our own Justice Department."


The whitewashing of Lev Parnas's Russian mafia connections is in full effect. The media will play along, just like they did with Manafort, Sater, Michael Cohen etc etc etc and like they continue to do with Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump. See it for what it is. Complicity.


This is why I warned about letting Parnas on national TV. That he doesn't know he and Trump and Firtash and Giuliani are organized criminals is bullshit. Propaganda.


"After analyzing all the evidence and sitting back and really understanding what's going on, I don't think Vice President Biden did anything wrong. I think he was protecting our country and getting rid of, probably, a crooked attorney general." -Lev Parnas


“He’s not organized crime. I’m just afraid they might knock me off. So are my wife and kids. But, not the mob. A cult, yeah...that’s it.” - summarizing bullshit of Lev Parnas


Whoops


New from Sen. Susan Collins: "While I need to hear the case argued and the questions answered, I tend to believe having additional information would be helpful. It is likely that I would support a motion to call witnesses at that point in the trial just as I did in 1999."


Knowing everything we know about Trump’s Ukraine shakedown, what single part of Lev Parnas’s story seems unusual? None of it. Why? Because every time a witness comes forward, a new arrow points at Trump’s guilt.


Ex-White House Ethics Chief Calls McConnell A 'Perjurer' After Senator Takes Impeachment Oath: He Said 'The Exact Opposite'


President Clinton was impeached in 1999 for lying under oath. How many senators just did the same thing today en masse?


If only 20 Senators could find their man-parts and convict Trump, he’d be gone and they wouldn’t have to live in fear of him any more.


Parnas tossing his co-conspirators under the bus while denying that they are all mob is about as mob as it gets.


Just asked Trump about Parnas claim that admin efforts in Ukraine were "all about 2020." Trump insisted he's only posed for photos with Parnas. Kept repeating that defense. Eventually told me to be "quiet." Video coming... More to come...


GOP Senator’s nasty meltdown shows corruption of Trump defenders


Trump spent more time with Parnas than Clinton did with Monica.


Trump personally gave John Dowd permission to represent Lev Parnas, and it’s documented in an email from Jay Sekulow. But Trump’s never heard of the guy!


New statement from @CNNPR about McSally's comment to @mkraju: "It is extremely unbecoming for a U.S. Senator to sink to this level and treat a member of the press this way for simply doing his job."


Here's to the moments we'll never remember and the friends we'll also never remember @realDonaldTrump


Roman Nasirov, seen in this video with Lev Parnas and Trump at Mar-a-Lago, was arrested for embezzling millions in case linked to fugitive ex Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko - who in 2006 bought the rights to Miss Ukraine from Trump


NEW: Lev Parnas told me this afternoon that part of the reason he's speaking out now is that his old friends––Rudy, DiGenova, and Toensing––were silent after his arrest. "I felt like my family left me."


IF IT WAS SO "PERFECT", WHY ARE YOU BLOCKING WITNESSES? (AND WHY ARE YOU YELLING?)#IMPOTUS


media ignores obvious neurological issues -- serious ones


When asked if she’d consider new evidence, @SenMcSallyAZ, a @GOP facing a very difficult election race in #AZ, replied: “You’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack.”


Chief Justice: "Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?" Senators: "I do."


This is my shocked face. I keep saying to proceed with caution re Parnas. Here’s the thing he could be telling the truth but he has a serious credibility deficit. I do NOT understand why he’s going on a PR blitz. Lev Parnas is the Michael Cohen of Mike Flynn..


14 states (plus D.C. and NYC) are suing the Agriculture Department over a plan to impose stricter work requirements on millions of food stamp recipients


As @SpeakerPelosi correctly points out, @Facebook is in bed with Trump. They’re going to do everything they can to help him win re-election to avoid regulation and paying billions of dollar in taxes. For Facebook, it’s all about the money


I just keep wondering if Trump didn’t know Parnas, why were all of his lawyers rushing to represent him after he was arrested


Trump’s tax cuts have saved the top six U.S. banks a collective total of $32 billion


Opinion: Why Trump caved on China


The military originally said no service members had been hurt in Iran's Jan. 8 missile attack.


Besides Parnas, the other guy Trump is meeting with in this video, Roman Nasirov, was charged with embezzlement in Ukraine and then ran for president, coming in dead last (39th place).