Friday, January 31, 2020

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”


Sad day all around.


.@SenSchumer "To not allow... no witnesses, no documents, in an impeachment trial is a perfidy. It's a grand tragedy. One of the worst tragedies that the Senate has overcome. America will remember this day unfortunately."


The US Senate is required by the Constitution to hold a trial when the US House votes to impeach any federal civil official. Since 1787, the Senate has in all cases of impeachment discharged its Constitutional duty. Until today. — Gov. Bill Weld


For years, Republican extremists in the Tea Party & "Freedom" caucus have called the Democratic Party the "Democrat Party" as a slur. They've normalized the slur over time. From now on, fine. Lexicon wars it is. There is no Republican Party. There is only the Trump Party.


You told him he can do anything. He will. Now, you are complicit. Forever.


GIULIANI in May consulted MANAFORT's lawyer KEVIN DOWNING on ways to undermine the MUELLER probe, as I revealed in Sept. https://t.co/6HhR2KfNJH Downing later passed greetings from an incarcerated Manafort to IGOR FRUMAN & LEV PARNAS


BREAKING: Brexit’s done. The United Kingdom has officially left the European Union more than three years after a referendum that left the country bitterly divided.


McConnell statement laying out “next steps” doesn’t really have any. Says senators will confer among themselves about how to wrap this up “in the coming days.”


From the Editorial Board: Republican senators who voted against witnesses have rendered the trial a farce


JUST IN: Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, has retired from the State Department. She was abruptly removed from her post in May 2019 and was a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.


49-51. No witnesses. 23 of them are up for re-election. You know what to do.


Here are the 6 Republicans Lev Parnas says are part of the Ukraine conspiracy — and he has the evidence


BREAKING: Opera singer danced on an SUV, then crashed through Mar-a-Lago barricades. Cops opened fire


NPR reporting: Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until last spring when she was ousted following a disinformation campaign by the president's private lawyer, is retiring — not resigning — from the Foreign Service.


Zelenskiy-Pompeo press conference was an awkward dance around impeachment. Zelenskiy still wants date for WH visit and at the very least a replacement for Kurt Volker; Pompeo named neither today.


In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty, unless of course you’re Donald Trump, who is innocent after being proved guilty.


‘What Trump is proposing is no more than an Apartheid system.’ The Trump admin gave Israel the green light to expand illegal settlements around Palestinian territories


JUST IN: US President Trump has rescinded restrictions on the US military's ability to use landmines, weapons that have been banned by more than 160 countries due to their history of killing and wounding civilians, the White House says


WATCH: U.K. PM Boris Johnson addresses the nation, as the countdown to Britain's departure from the EU begins


The Senate of the United States is on the verge of granting Trump a political 007 license. Be afraid, be very afraid.


Just so we're all clear: This is a sitting senator fully acknowledging that what Trump did was impeachable, and then admitting he could care less. The state of American democracy.


Senate chaplain: "Remind our senators that they alone are accountable to you for their conduct. Lord help them to remember, that they can't ignore you and get away with it. For we always reap what we sow."


Marco Rubio: "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office."


Traveling with Trump to Maralago for the weekend: Melania, her parents, Stephanie Grisham, Joe Grogan.


President Trump departs the White House without taking questions from reporters, breaking with his usual style. He hasn’t stopped to speak on the South Lawn since Jan. 13.


Charities steered $65 million to Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and family


Gun rights activists carrying semi-automatic firearms walk through the Capitol Building on January 31, 2020 in Frankfort, Kentucky.


The President's legal team has argued, "We all know just what the president did. No one really disputes that anymore. So what? ... The president can do no wrong." "God help us if that argument succeeds." - @RepAdamSchiff


BREAKING: Parnas lawyer writes letter to McConnell, basically a proffer, with extensive details on what he'd testify to if allowed. Says Parnas would detail "the thousands of micro-steps he took in connection with this plan” to gather dirt on the Bidens


Murkowski Dooms Push for Witnesses in Trump Impeachment


American traitor and republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said today she would not vote for more witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial. Shame on you #LisaMurkowski, enjoy your retirement you #coward


Now, TWO potential witnesses, John Bolton and Lev Parnas, in separate accounts, say that Trump's Ukraine extortion scheme – demanding politically motivated investigations in exchange for US aid – was already ongoing in May and that Trump was directing it


The President's legal team has argued, "We all know just what the president did. No one really disputes that anymore. So what? ... The president can do no wrong." "God help us if that argument succeeds." -


What sanctimonious blather. If the impeachment process was "partisan" it's because Republicans have made it so. When you only care that the President extorted a foreign country in order to CHEAT in an election WHEN the president is in the OTHER party, that's partisan


Read this piece by @DavidPepper on why Senator Portman is a direct witness to the machinations of the White House on Ukraine — and potentially an accomplice in an attempted cover up. He has a clear conflict of interest that disqualifies him as a juror


Charities steered $65M to Trump lawyer Sekulow and family


Schiff: "We came here very prepared for trial. I would submit to you the president's team came here unprepared for trial, unprepared for the fact that there would be, as we all anticipated, a daily drip of new disclosures that would send them back on their heels."


I saw it.


Authorities fired shots at a intruder vehicle outside Mar-a-Lago ahead of President Trump's arrival. Two people are in custody.


John Bolton is telling the truth. If he wasn’t the defense and Senate Republicans would call him. The cover-up gets worse by the minute


The Trump administration said Friday it will add six new countries to its travel ban, including Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country


Schiff: Roberts can't decide issues of privilege, says GOP. Wrong, sez Schiff, and he says GOP's own rules permit it. We have a perfectly good judge RIGHT HERE.


Now that Cipollone has been implicated as fact witness in Trump's scheme, House managers should ask Roberts to remove him from Trump's team and let them cross examine him, law prof Stephen Gillers tells us. How this would work, from @paulwaldman1 and me


LindseyGrahamSC calls for a fair Trump impeachment trial, demands witnesses, and begs Trump supporters to give the Senate “a chance to document what the president did.” Oh wait, that was 1998 Lindsey Graham


Breaking: US bars entry to foreigners who have travelled to China and declares public health emergency


But of course, he isn't seeking that kind of exoneration, because he knows he wouldn't ever get it. The moment the witnesses testify, it's game over for Trump


Schumer and McConnell have told their members that the two leaders have agreed to a proposal that would culminate in a final impeachment vote on Wednesday — after the State of the Union.


Just on @MNSBC: The attorney for Lev Parnas has sent a letter to McConnell saying, "If Lev Parnas was called as a witness, he would provide testimony based upon personal knowledge, corroborated by physical evidence ... directly relevant to the President's impeachment inquiry."


From the former President of Estonia:


Bingo. Just b/c people tuned out of this forgone conclusion doesn’t mean they want 4 more years of this craziness. As I’ve said for a while; the real question is: do Dems really want to win, or shout into the black void of social media for likes & retweets?


Every Senator swore an oath to do impartial justice... but whatever. They're going to hide behind critiques of the House Judiciary Committee's drafting skills to avoid seeking the truth.


“For we always reap what we sow” warns the senate chaplain.


The difference with a Soviet show trial is GOP members pathetically trying to explain why there will be no justice and how it’s not their fault instead of bluntly admitting the Leader and the Party are always right. It’s not an improvement. — Garry Kasparov


Won't anyone out there help the United States in her most dire time of need? You really want us gone and Trump transnational crime org instilled for the rest of your life?


This picture was obtained from Lev Parnas' phone. Why is Jay Sekulow (left) not being asked questions about his relationship with Parnas and how is he not conflicted in his representation of Trump given his proximity to all of this?


Murkowski comments here


Congratulations to Lisa Murkowski, who will go down in history as the deciding vote to complete Trump's corrupt coverup


.@RepAdamSchiff is literally reading @maggieNYT and @nytmike's newest story into the Senate trial record. What a moment


Murkowski is a NO on witnesses, I repeat Sen @lisamurkowski will vote AGAINST hearing from more witnesses and examining documents in the trial against Donald Trump


Cipollone and Mulvaney were in a meeting in May where Trump directed Bolton to help with his pressure campaign to get dirt on Democrats from Ukraine, according to Bolton’s new book


Rand Paul’s actions serve no purpose except to further Trump/Russia conspiracy about Ukraine. It’s time to investigate the letter he delivered to Putin for Trump.


Boy, did Stephen Gillers have it right: Cipollone Should Be a Witness, Not a Trump Lawyer


More dirt will always co e out in Trump world. It’s a rule. Every Senator knows this now. The lead WH defense counsel is also part of the corruption. McConnell will drive hard to slam it shut today.


Impeachment trial live updates: Final verdict could be delayed to next week, after Iowa caucuses and Trump’s State of the Union, officials say.


The NYT story throws Cipollone in a hornet's nest of legal ethics issues.


Whoever is leaking the Bolton stuff is a genius, vicious, and hates McConnell.. Every time McConnell has the caucus in line, they drop the next thing


According to Bolton’s book, Pat Cippolone was IN THE MEETING where Trump told Bolton to get Zelensky to meet with Rudy!!


“Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included ... Mick Mulvaney... Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone.”


Officials are now saying that the verdict in Trump's impeachment trial could be delayed as late as Wednesday. That means as many as five more days of incriminating information about Trump's extortion scheme his defenders will have to pretend to ignore.


The other day, Mr. Philbin kept referencing “Impeachment: A Handbook." So I did some digging. Turns out, in that same book, the authors call conspiring with foreign governments to assist a campaign a HIGH CRIME.


NEW Bombshells in #BoltonBook Adds great pressure to why Senate must let Bolton testify. 1. Changes the Timeline as we know it 2. Direct evidence of Trump instructing Bolton himself to convey quid pro quo 3. Implicates Cipollone, lead impeachment lawyer


PAID attendees at a Trump rally tonight walk out after their 1 hour is up. This is great!


The Trump administration’s latest rule massively restricting immigration is based on lies, @crampell writes. "But don’t take my word for it. Just ask the Trump administration, whose own actions rebut the argument it gave for putting the rule in place."


They have 4 hours of debate, beginning at 1:00. Then, they vote against witnesses and for acquittal. All over by prime time.


Sen. Sherrod Brown on press rules during impeachment: "My whole career in the Senate, you've been able to roam free and talk to any of us in the halls." "Most of us believe in a free press, most of us...know that you're not an enemy of the people."


Chief Justice Roberts will forever be known as the "Kangaroo Court Justice" if he does not insist that witnesses be called and declare a mistrial if witnesses are not called. The Constitution requires a trial. This is not a trial.


There is definitely hysteria among Rs about alienation & "standing." To break ranks with a cult, when you've been steeped in its logic, feels like it will ruin you. See: stories of survivors of NXIVM, Scientology, Jim Jones, sexual abuse in the Amish, Witnesses, Catholic Church.


If you had told me 4 years ago this would end with -- well he did all the crimes, but meh -- I would never have believed it. POTUS lawyers argued he can to anything to win. The Senate seems to agree. And now POTUS will.


Out of the 53 Republican senators in the chamber today, 43 voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 that included the Ukraine funding.


“There is no point in only reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home, if we increase the import of CO2 from abroad,” says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen


If Republicans refuse to even consider witnesses and documents in this trial, the president’s acquittal will be meaningless, because it will be the result of a sham trial.


Farm bankruptcies rose by nearly 20% in 2019. This was despite Trump's farmer trade bailout, which was more than double the size of the 2009 auto bailout.


The Republicans are throwing themselves in front of a 60/30 train heading down the tracks in an election year.


They have mutilated the Constitution so they can claim its broken remains.


Agreed. @RepAdamSchiff was nothing short of brilliant. Law students should watch his arguments and learn. Concise, factual, compelling. I hesitate to say “performance” because that inaccurately suggests it was just a show. He was effective because of his conviction.


If Senate Republicans block witnesses and acquit this guilty president today, they’ll be complicit in his lawlessness and corruption, and the damage it causes. This is the most consequential decision they’ll ever make and they should be remembered for it forever.


We’re witnessing the raw, partisan pursuit of power by Senate Republicans, most of whom appear willing to destroy the Constitution if it serves their personal interests. I never thought I’d see such an unpatriotic display in America, let alone the Senate. Never.


Steve Doocy says Sen. Rand Paul's question naming the alleged whistleblower was a "good question," and proceeds to read the question -- without either naming the individual himself, or mentioning that that's why Paul asked the question.


There were a record 8,204 Afghan enemy attacks in the final three months of 2019


"I think there were some people who were actually hoping a few spasms of character would break out during the trial. No luck. This trial will end as it began..." -


After tonight, I never want to hear another Democratic voter complain about not feeling "energized" or "heard" or "enthused" or "excited." Vote for your primary choice, and then be ice-cold in your determination to show up at the polls and vote for the nominee, whoever it is.


At the start of this process, the idea that any Republican would have accepted as "proven" that Trump withheld aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival was unimaginable. To accept it as 'proven, but not impeachable' was not on anyone's bingo card.


“Warm ocean water has been discovered underneath a massive glacier in West Antarctica, a troubling finding that could speed its melt in a region with the potential to eventually unleash more than 10 feet of sea-level rise.”


The impeachment saga will not end when Republicans vote to acquit President Trump. The consequences to the 2020 election and US democracy remain to be seen.


“Democrats in the House of Delegates on Thursday passed seven of the eight gun-control measures advocated by Gov. Ralph Northam, a significant step for an issue that Republicans had blocked for decades.”


America's latest "national nightmare" will not end when Republicans vote to acquit President Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors

The punishment will commence shortly and it will be awful

Runaway juror Rand Paul, where are you? (202) 224-4343. In a real trial, you’d be replaced and could not cast a vote. Still, Lev Parnas is happy to answer your questions—just let us know.


Let’s be clear that our troops suffered 64 casualties...and their commander in chief wanted to hand out a couple of aspirin. He acted as if the casualties didn’t exist. How could any military person support this asshole?


Let’s remember that the deciding votes to block firsthand witnesses were actually Martha McSally, Joni Ernst and Corey Gardner earlier this week. They must not escape blame. We must hold them accountable at the ballot box for betraying our democracy.


A US Senator at the end of his career acknowledges that Trump used taxpayers money, and the US foreign policy apparatus, to smear one of his rivals. He also says it doesn't matter.


El Chapo Outraged That His Trial Included Witnesses


“YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!” — Adam Schiff Top 3 moment of the entire trial. Epic.


EXCLUSIVE: The web of connections between ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and Giuliani ally Igor Fruman, who tried to dig up dirt on Trump's political rival, runs tighter and longer than previously understood


NEW: Former Senator John Warner, a Republican and elder statesman of Virginia politics, has issued a statement calling on fellow Republicans to follow “judicial norms” by “welcoming relevant witnesses and documents” in President Trump’s impeachment trial.


Alexander says the House managers proved their factual case, and that the president acted inappropriately, but that the behavior doesn’t warrant removal of the president. That’s all, folks. The president will be acquitted at some point tomorrow night. On to November.


The minute Trump is exonerated in Senate, the White House and the Justice Department are going to come down on John Bolton lole 20,000,000 tons of bricks. To choke out his manuscript, prosecute him for some imaginary security violation, and generally do what they do: destroy.


That's why I (finally) went public about the stuff the FBI was investigating that Trump and his thugs did to me, it's why Lev Parnas is singing like a canary. @AmbJohnBolton you are safer running out into a crowded, well-lit street. Do it. @maddow will give you the best venue.


Stop patting Susan Collins on the back. This was all part of the plan.This time Alexander is playing the role she played in Kavanaugh vote. Collins is now playing the role that Murkowski played in the Kav vote. And Murkowski is giving Alexander cover in this vote.


Dear Susan Collins, we know you put out your bullshit statement after you got your permission slip signed by Moscow Mitch. Enjoy retirement/your despicable lobbying career.


Lamar Alexander just loaded the gun Trump used to shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and as soon as the body was cold Susan Collins told Trump not to shoot


Romney will do the same. Like he always does.


Susan Collins yes vote was orchestrated by Moscow Mitch the whole time. He counted in advance & gave the purple candidates hall passes. There still won't be enough GOP votes for a fair trial. She looks good & the cover up rolls on. 🙄 Vote these traitors out of office, STAT!


In other words, Collins only voted YES because she knew Alexander would be a NO and her vote wouldn’t matter. Every day is a new profile in cowardice by the GOP.


75% of us decided WE WANT WITNESSES. Your words do not reflect the will of the people.


You sold out your country as one of your final acts as a public servant.


You are a HISTORIC coward.


The hedge in the first few words is as cowardly as politics get. You're not going to allow more evidence, but you "worked" for "the right" to it. Empty words, empty suit, empty man, empty soul.


“Nine long days” CHRIST think how long the days are for the rest of us. Unbelievable cowardice.


That you’d codify the corruption of your legacy in tweets is so... trumpian. You are Trump, now. That’s all you’ll be remembered as. And he’s a money-laundering rapist, owned by the Kremlin. Congratulations.


New: 64 US military personnel have now been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury in wake of Jan 8 Iranian missile attack on US base in Iraq. Earlier this week the Pentagon reported 50 diagnosed cases.


The legacy of @SenAlexander is cemented for all of history ... he chose to bow to a king rather than stand for his country.


GOP senators are saying 10hr days are taking a toll, so they want to hurry up & end the #ImpeachmentTrial. Do these muthafukkas think about the MILLIONS of Americans working 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet? Coupled w/taking care of their family?


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