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Impeachment Inquiry


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I just read on the bbc that he said this was the  "single greatest witch hunt in American history".

Errr....... 

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Trump (on transcript)

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"Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that's really unfair."

Wait a gosh-darned minute! Is this referring to the staggeringly corrupt prosecutor [Shokin?] who was shut down in Ukraine? And he's saying this to the new president who ran on an anti-corruption platform?  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

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Just read this interesting article on CNN.com titled How Zelensky can triumph in his meeting with Trump

It's written by Michael Bociurkiw, who "is a global affairs analyst and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe."

It does a good job laying out the details and dynamics of what Zelensky is up against with Putin, Trump and Ukrainian domestic politics in the next days and weeks. 

The Republicans are busy screwing Ukraine by characterizing it as a hopelessly compromised state, I guess to keep Putin happy?  There's an upcoming meeting, put together by Macron, to try to put an end to the low boil conflict with Russia in Ukraine. 

 

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51 minutes ago, LittleOwl said:

I just read on the bbc that he said this was the  "single greatest witch hunt in American history".

Errr....... 

Spoiler

1614053467_witchhunt.jpg.6fda3d962991f67f14aeb274883c1ee1.jpg

 

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Well - In comparison to the other stuff, I suppose this is minor.

But the first thing that came to my mind was, OMG, when he talks to the leaders of other nations, he sounds just as unhinged he does at one of his rallies.

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It's going to be a very interesting day tomorrow.

Acting director of national intelligence threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress

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The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might attempt to force him to stonewall Congress when he testifies Thursday about an explosive whistleblower complaint about the president, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The revelation reflects the extraordinary tensions between the White House and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence official over a matter that has triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

The officials said that Joseph Maguire, who was thrust into the top intelligence post last month, warned the White House that he was not willing to withhold information from Congress, where he is scheduled to testify in open and closed hearings on Thursday.

The move was in part designed to force the White House to make an explicit legal decision on whether it was going to assert executive privilege over the whistleblower complaint, which centers on a call that Trump made with the leader of Ukraine in late July.

In essence, Maguire was serving notice that he intended to cooperate with lawmakers unless the White House moved forward with a legal case to prevent him from doing so, the officials said.

The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maguire has been caught in the middle of a fight between Congress and the executive branch over the contents of the whistleblower report since it reached his office late last month.

He has at times expressed his displeasure to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and others that the White House had put him in the untenable position of denying the material to Congress over a claim that it did not fall within his jurisdiction as leader of the intelligence community.

The contents of Trump’s call were released by the White House on Wednesday, showing that Trump repeatedly pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue investigations that might yield political dirt against Trump’s adversaries including former Vice President Joe Biden.

Maguire became DNI last month after the resignations of previous director Daniel Coats and Trump’s refusal to allow the deputy director, Sue Gordon, to step into the senior job.

Since the whistleblower controversy erupted earlier this month, Maguire has been the target of harsh criticism from Democratic lawmakers who accuse him of blocking the complaint from being transmitted to Congress.

It was unclear whether Maguire’s threat had forced the White House to acquiesce and allow him to testify without constraint. But officials said Maguire has pursued the opportunity to meet with lawmakers to defend his actions and integrity.

In his only public statement on the matter, issued Tuesday evening, Maguire said, “In light of recent reporting on the whistleblower complaint, I want to make clear that I have upheld my responsibility to follow the law every step of the way.”

“ I am committed to protecting whistleblowers and ensuring every complaint is handled appropriately,” Maguire added. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Administration and Congress to find a resolution regarding this important matter.”

 

Edited by fraurosena
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-trump-ukraine-email-democrats_n_5d8b987ee4b0c6d0cef53efe?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABXvzQHvz7psTfZVask7qiVyxoDxJGRvpFPIxwVHx4BBlk-Pby_lZ_kAdzpODSbt9kLkFtqy1uNOaXbpskOaeCRtTX9K5vHxzvTsYi-i1v-onrmabuuXo0cxqtqlztlSlfqEQ-XSWO03cGpHjOGIGcDR0txhODdz-ryxzEKOHQ1o

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In what sounds like a scene straight out of “Veep,” the White House on Wednesday accidentally emailed all of its talking points on President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president to House and Senate Democrats ― and then followed up with a “recall” email hoping lawmakers would ignore what just happened.

The White House even sent those GOP talking points to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), her office confirmed ― a day after she announced a formal impeachment inquiry spurred by Trump’s Ukraine call.

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The mishap means that Democrats (and the public) now have insight into how Republicans are being coached behind the scenes to defend Trump pressuring President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter while Trump withheld military aid approved for Ukraine.

The White House sent out its original email, with the subject line “What You Need To Know | President Trump’s Call with President Zelenskyy,” at 11:21 a.m. It took less than an hour for the follow-up email to go out.

Are they really that moronic, is someone trying to secretly help the dems, is this some sort of strange, reverse psychology attempt at playing the dems? All this and more on the next episode of "WTF, America!?"

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Poor Zelenskyy. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place...

 

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@Dandruff, it looks like there is more reason for optimism!

 

And oh boy, it's coming quick and fast today:

https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/whistleblower-complaint-to-be-sent-to-congress-by-4-pm-et-69897285772

Here's a link to a written article if you don't want to watch the video:

 

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President Fucknut is set to give a press conference at 4:00. I just can't imagine what he'll be slurring about.

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@fraurosenaI'm encouraged - if the Senate is turning on him then we may just be at the pivot point.

24 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

President Fucknut is set to give a press conference at 4:00. I just can't imagine what he'll be slurring about.

Himself, I'd guess.  I tend to doubt he'll deviate much from his usual deflections.

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Ugh, I hate listening to his voice, but if anyone is feeling brave, here's a link to him live. 

 

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1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

@Dandruff, it looks like there is more reason for optimism!

 

And oh boy, it's coming quick and fast today:

https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/whistleblower-complaint-to-be-sent-to-congress-by-4-pm-et-69897285772

Here's a link to a written article if you don't want to watch the video:

 

I'm super trying not to get my hopes up since there have been so many disappointments, but this is a pretty huge step. Canceling his fake national emergency and taking away his border wall money is going to make him blow up in anger. He is going to lash out at them and apparently they don't care. So whatever the hell is in that whistle blower report must be very, very bad. 

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. 

ETA: So it seems like they have voted like this before and it isn't veto proof so he it probably isn't canceled. Unless I'm misunderstanding something. 

Edited by formergothardite
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6 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

ETA: So it seems like they have voted like this before and it isn't veto proof so he it probably isn't canceled. Unless I'm misunderstanding something. 

I don't know how it works exactly, and if it isn't veto proof, then it's almost a certainty that Trump will veto. Of course that's bad news for the border wall funding. But what I'm taking away from these votes in the Senate is that they are signalling they can (and just might) vote against him when the evidence is undeniable. Remember, they are all about their own political power and positions. If the tides turn against Trump, then so will they.

So yeah, whatever is in that whistleblower complaint is very probably extremely bad. So bad that they can't see a way to talk themselves out of it. If so, Trump is as good as toast. It's my fervent hope that Pence is also implicated. 

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I flipped over to the narcissist's press conference for about two minutes. He sounds like they drugged him with Xanax or Valium.

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Well, if  George Conway is anything to go by, then optimism is indeed warranted.

George Conway predicts Republicans will vote against Trump on impeachment

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George Conway, husband to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and a frequent critic of President Trump, on Wednesday predicted that Republicans in the Senate would break with the president and vote to remove Trump from office if the House votes to impeach.

Conway tweeted that Republican senators would hide their decision to vote against the president until the last possible minute on the issue.

"I agree with this. There may be Republican senators who won’t say a word until the moment they say 'guilty' when the roll is called at the end of an impeachment trial," he tweeted, responding to a political commentator who argued that Republican senators would vote to impeach the president because many "privately hate" Trump.

Conway has in the past called for Trump to be removed from office by members of his Cabinet via provisions in the 25th Amendment.

His tweet comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the beginning of a formal impeachment inquiry Tuesday afternoon, with Pelosi saying Trump "must be held accountable" for his actions.

Calls for impeachment proceedings have reached a fever pitch in Washington following reports of call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, who is the Democratic front-runner to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

After those reports, Conway over the weekend once again called on the House to begin impeachment proceedings.

“Trump has already done more than enough to warrant impeachment and removal,” Conway wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post. “The current whistleblowing allegations, however, are even worse.”

The White House released a transcript of the call with the Ukrainian president on Wednesday. 

Biden’s name is mentioned twice on the call, according to the document, which is titled formally as a “memorandum of telephone conversation.” The document makes clear it is not a verbatim transcript of the conversation.

 

Rufus heard me-- or read my earlier post! ?

According to Trump, Pence spoke with Zelenskyy too.

 

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Oh Lordy, there could be tapes!

The Zelensky Memo Suggests There Might Be Tapes

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Reading the White House memorandum on President Donald Trump’s phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a question comes to mind: Is this it, or is there more?

Of course, there’s quite a lot, as is. The memo shows Trump asking a foreign power for dirt on a possible opponent in next year’s presidential election, recruiting the attorney general to assist in this effort, and at least suggesting (if not quite proving) a quid pro quo between this help and the granting of military assistance.

But the memo is not a comprehensive document. Though many are calling it a “transcript,” that is not at all what it is. The document is titled “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation” (emphasis added). At the bottom of the New York Times’ reproduction of the memo, a fine-print note explicitly says as much:

Note: The five-page document distributed by the White House includes a cautionary note indicating that it was “not a verbatim transcript” but instead was based on “notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty officers” and national security staff. But senior officials said voice recognition software was used in preparing the “memorandum of telephone conversation,” which included long, direct quotations.

This process has long been standard procedure when presidents talk—on the phone or in person—with other leaders or with senior officials in their own administrations. I’ve read a lot of these declassified “MemCons” (memorandums of conversation) in presidential libraries. By historical standards, this one seems quite thorough and more detailed than most.

However, three things are worth noting. First, it is, as the footnote states, based on “notes and recollections” of staff officers who were listening in; as a result, they might be incomplete, possibly for innocent reasons. Second, whoever wrote this document might have deliberately omitted certain bits of dialogue.

Finally, take a close look at the last sentence of the Times’ footnote: “[V]oice recognition software was used” in preparing the document, allowing for “long, direct quotations.” This might explain the extraordinary detail. But it also suggests something else: There might be White House tapes. Are we witnessing this scandal’s Alexander Butterfield moment?

Butterfield was the White House staffer who revealed that President Richard Nixon was secretly recording conversations. The revelation came about entirely by chance: Butterfield was called to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee’s staff on July 13, 1973. Staff members asked him about memos of conversations that the White House had turned over. The quotations seemed far too detailed to be based on notes. One staffer recalled that John Dean, the White House counsel-turned-informer, had speculated that Nixon might have bugged the Oval Office, so he asked Butterfield if there was a tape-recording system. “I was wondering if someone would ask that,” Butterfield replied. It turned out that he had installed the system, and he proceeded to explain how it worked.

Once senators knew about the tapes, they moved to subpoena them. Nixon resisted. The challenge went all the way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled 8–0 that Nixon must turn over the tapes. He did, and the tapes revealed the “smoking gun”—tangible evidence that Nixon had ordered a cover-up for the Watergate break-in—that sealed his fate. Impeachment was clearly inevitable. Nixon resigned before the full House took a vote.

So, what kind of “voice-recognition software” is used to help the current White House aides monitor Trump’s phone conversations? How does this software enable the transcription of “long, direct quotations”? There might not be tapes, per se, but there is almost certainly a digitized record of the phone calls—and not just this call with Zelensky, but other calls with Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and other figures of interest.

Historians will be happy to hear this. Given the fact that many officials use private computers to send emails, I have long worried that vast archives of vital documents—the sorts of documents that have made many political history books possible—might not exist, at least not in a form that’s accessible to government archivists. But now we know that (unless they’re erased) computerized records of these vital phone calls do exist.

Maybe some of them will come to light even before the history books are written. Six House committees are now investigating various aspects of Trump’s presidency under the rubric of an impeachment inquiry. Now that digital records are said to exist, will the committees subpoena more of them? The records and resulting memorandums of conversation are classified. Each page of the Trump-Zelensky MemCon is stamped “SECRET/ORCON/NOFORN.” (ORCON is short for Originator Controlled dissemination, indicating that the document’s originator can track its possessors. NOFORN means the document cannot be distributed to foreigners.)

Trump declassified this memorandum, which is why we are all reading it. Presidents have the right to declassify whatever they want. But in releasing this specific memo, Trump may have created a precedent by which other materials relating to the same inquiry might also be declassified. Or at least he’s given the House Intelligence Committee, which is authorized to see material much more highly classified than this, a good argument for why other related material ought to be released.

In other words, the Zelensky memo may have revealed the existence of a vast and previously unknown trove of information that might be used to help seal the president’s fate. 

 

Is he actually attempting to throw himself (and Pence, don't forget Pence) under the bus?

 

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