House of Representatives 5: The Clown Caucus is Throwing Their Toys Out of The Playpen

[AnywhereButHere]

Attempt #2 at impeaching Mayorkas was successful. Because, you know, that's so important to the service of the people. 🙄 Of course, it won't get very far in the Senate (I'm assuming), so it's just another waste of time. Which they're really good at, so,,,

On a good note, my district managed to get their act together and got Suozzi reelected. This narrows the gap in Congress and now the republicans can only afford to lose 2-3 votes (I think) on any given issue. 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

So the GOP just wants to double down on ridiculous nonsense.  refusing to vote for a border security thing that benefits them, impeaching people cuz you don't agree with them....on and on. I struggle to understand this. I struggle to understand how they're basically at the beck and call of trump. I struggle to understand where we go from here even if trump is not re- elected. Is it just stop anybody from doing anything unless their republicans? is that just how we will be from now on? 

[Xan]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:23 PM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

So the GOP just wants to double down on ridiculous nonsense.  refusing to vote for a border security thing that benefits them, impeaching people cuz you don't agree with them....on and on. I struggle to understand this. I struggle to understand how they're basically at the beck and call of trump. I struggle to understand where we go from here even if trump is not re- elected. Is it just stop anybody from doing anything unless their republicans? is that just how we will be from now on? 

Short answer:  Yes.

Longer answer:  Yes -- because they know that they can never legitimately win another election with their current views.  The population has changed and no one wants what they're selling.  All they have left is to stall, delay, refuse to do their elected jobs, and whine about how unfair everything is.

[Audrey2]

I think they also realized they were the dog who caught the car. For many many years the Republicans campaign on anti-abortion platforms. Finally they got the supreme Court stacked so abortion has been all but eliminated in some states which has really angered a lot of people. They have lost some votes over this and I believe even some elections. They might be slightly smarter (I know I'm giving them way too much credit) and realize that if they actually do something about the immigration problem instead of just campaign on it then they won't have more hot button issues to unite the people. Even though some of them scream about lgbtq+ rights, I'm not convinced that as a whole enough Republicans care about it to have the drawing power on the election that abortion or immigration did.

[GreyhoundFan]

I hope Burchett gets sued and has to pay a bunch of money.

 

[fraurosena]

Disgraceful indeed, but not surprising.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

They’ll probably send an invite to their real boss, Putin. 

[SPHASH]

On 2/26/2024 at 10:56 AM, fraurosena said:

Disgraceful indeed, but not surprising.

 

Biden could do an FDR and have a fireside chat.

[GreyhoundFan]

More of this, please 

 

[fraurosena]

Hunter Biden's opening statement of the testimony he gave yesterday left nothing to the imagination of what he thinks of the maga-republicans.

Spoiler

I am here today to provide the committees with the one uncontestable fact that  should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business, not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions, domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist, never.

You read this fact in the many letters that have been sent to you over the last year as part of your so-called impeachment investigation. You heard this fact when I said it weeks ago standing outside of this building. You heard this fact from a parade of other witnesses, former colleagues, and business partners of mine, including my uncle, who has testified before you in similar proceedings. And now, today, you hear this fact directly from me.

For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism, all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face: You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn't any.

You have built your entire partisan house of cards on lies told by the likes of Gal Luft, Tony Bobulinski, Alexander Smirnov, and Jason Galanis. Luft, who is a fugitive, has been indicted for his lies and other crimes; Smirnov, who has made you dupes in carrying out a Russian disinformation campaign waged against my father, has been indicted for his lies; Bobulinski, who has been exposed for the many false statements he has made; and Galanis, who is serving 14 years in prison for fraud.

Rather than follow the facts as they've been laid out before you in bank records, financial statements, correspondence, and other witness testimony, you continue your frantic search to prove the lies you and those you rely upon keep peddling. Yes, they are lies.

To be clear, I have made mistakes in my life, and I have squandered opportunities and privileges that were afforded to me. I know that. I am responsible for that. And I am making amends for that. But my mistakes and my shortcomings are my own and not my father's, who has done nothing but devote his entire life to public service and trying to make this country a better place to live.

During my battle with addiction, my father was there for me. He helped save my life. His love and support made it possible for me to get sober, stay sober, and rebuild my life as a father, a son, a husband, and a brother. What he got in return for being a loving, supportive parent is a barrage of hate-filled conspiracy theories that hatched this sham impeachment inquiry and continue to fuel unrelenting personal attacks against him and me.

Over the last year, Republicans have taken my communications out of context, relied on documents that have been altered, and cherry-picked snippets of financial or other records to misrepresent what really happened. Examples of this include a few references to my family in emails or texts that I sent when I was in the darkest days of my addiction.

If you try to do that today, my answers will reveal your tactics and demonstrate the truth that my father was never involved in any of my businesses. My testimony today should put an end to this baseless and destructive political charade. You have wasted valuable time and resources attacking me and my family for your own political gain when you should be fixing the real problems in this country that desperately need your attention. Thank you.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love when the GQP Congress critters are called out ion their crap. 

[GreyhoundFan]

These are the people who whine about senator Fetterman wearing a hoodie…

[thoughtful]

Many of the dickwads on the right spent the speech checking their phones, yawning, and otherwise not bothering to pay attention.

[Audrey2]

41 minutes ago, thoughtful said:

Many of the dickwads on the right spent the speech checking their phones, yawning, and otherwise not bothering to pay attention.

In other words they behave the same way as they did in school minus the phones, which is why they are driving this country off into the ditch.

[fraurosena]

GOP margins in the House are getting even tighter: Ken Buck has announced he's resigning Congress next week.

 

[fraurosena]

Meanwhile,  during Robert Hur's hearing:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

GOP margins in the House are getting even tighter: Ken Buck has announced he's resigning Congress next week.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[fraurosena]

12 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

That House Republican could simply switch sides if he hates his own party so much. 

[Becky]

Didn’t know where to put this one. The house hurriedly passed a bill, requiring TikTok to be sold or banned in the US. The bill does nothing to protect privacy, or hold TikTok responsible for false information posted on the platform. It all seems very suspicious, but perhaps this is why:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/former-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-putting-together-investor-group-buy-rcna143361

with Mnuchin and a cabal of right wing millionaires in charge of TikTok, it can become a fire hose of election misinformation. 

[fraurosena]

Clutching my pearls.

US firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates, records reveal

Quote

An American company that paid the now indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents.

Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, alleging that they engaged in a bribery scheme with executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov’s accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that federal prosecutors now say are fabrications, served as a major justification of the House impeachment investigation into the Bidens.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly touted Smirnov as a reliable informant, and the chairman of the House oversight committee, James Comer, even threatened to hold the FBI director, Christopher Wray, in contempt unless he “handed over” a June 2020 FBI form with Smirnov’s claims to the committee.

Back in 2020, Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Economic Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to the indictment.

ETT’s CEO is the American Christopher Condon, who is also one of three shareholders in ETT Investment Holding Limited in London. Other shareholders in the UK include the Pakistani American investor Shahal Khan and Farooq Arjomand, a former chairman and current board member of Damac Properties in Dubai who is also listed as an adviser on ETT’s American website.

Last month, Smirnov was charged with lying to the FBI, and is being held without bail. Prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk because of his contacts with Russian officials in the Middle East and access to millions of dollars.

Smirnov’s indictment alleged that the assertions in a document, known as a 1023, and other statements made to his FBI handler beginning in 2020 and continuing until December 2023, were factually impossible.

The exact business model of Texas-based ETT is murky. Its mission statement reads in part: “ETT set up the chess board to bring in top notch executives from those sectors to help implement its vision of love and social impact to improve the quality of human existence through the application of ‘new age’ technologies.”

The current CEO, Condon, is a California man who has been involved in several civil lawsuits, including a civil Rico case in 2010 that he won on appeal. Condon’s official biography says he is “a former professional tennis player, financial advisor, and currently is an entrepreneur focused on social-impact projects, public-private partnerships, and creating smart communities that benefit both individuals and governments”.

Condon, Arjomand and Khan registered ETT Investment Holding Limited in the UK on 6 March 2020. Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza hotel in 2018, and Arjomand have ties to Donald Trump through Trump associates and Damac, a major Middle East developer that has partnered with Trump for a decade. Arjomand, Khan and Condon owned 34%, 33% and 33% of ETT Investment Holding Limited respectively, according to UK business filings. No other information on the UK company is readily available.

The former Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani is also close to Trump and has been described as his friend in multiple news reports. Trump has called the billionaire a “friend” and a “great man”, and his family “the most beautiful people”.

Sajwani attended Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump attended the 2017 ribbon-cutting of the Trump International golf club in Dubai, licensed by Damac in 2014. Sajwani and his family also attended a party in 2017 at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s sons would go on to attend Sajwani’s daughter’s wedding in 2018.

In 2017 FEC filings, Trump disclosed making up to $5m from the Damac licensing deal, but said he would no longer do personal business deals when he became president. The two continued at least talking business into his presidency, however, according to multiple reports.

“Hussein, Damac, a friend of mine, a great guy. I was offered $2bn to do a deal in Dubai, a number of deals, and I turned it down,” Trump said in 2017.

Arjomand was the vice-chairman of Damac when the Trump International golf club, along with adjoining Trump-branded luxury homes, opened, and he replaced Sajwani as chair in 2021 when Sajwani stepped down to privatize the company.

Khan, who owns Dubai-based Trinity White City Ventures, is a New York native who partnered with New York City developer Kamran Hakim to buy the Plaza hotel in 2018 for $600m. He was a board member of ETT from 2019 to June 2020, according to his LinkedIn page, appearing in event photographs with Condon in Miami that year.

Khan is involved in a range of business from AI to mining to cybersecurity, according to his official biographies. In 2019, he was one of a dozen Pakistani American business owners invited to meet the then Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, the day before Imran met with Trump and Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, in Washington DC. The group was there to discuss the expansion of business in Pakistan.

In 2017, Khan reportedly approached Brad Zackson, dubbed Paul Manafort’s “real-estate fixer”, to help him broker a deal to buy the Roosevelt hotel in Manhattan, owned by the Pakistani government via its national airline, for $500m, according to the Real Deal. When the real-estate publication asked Khan about the reports, he denied that Zackson and Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, were involved. Khan purchased the Pakistani embassy building in DC in 2022 for $6.8m.

Khan is also CEO of BurTech Acquisition Group, a “blank check company”, or public shell company. Patrick Orlando, listed as a “special adviser” and shareholder of BurTech in 2021, was the CEO and chair of Digital World, another blank check company, from September 2021 to March 2023. When it began a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in 2021, it was held up by an SEC investigation until given the green light last month.

The finalization of the merger may garner Trump as much as $4bn in shares, and help bolster his finances after his recent civil litigation losses. Orlando has known Trump since at least 2021, according to news reports.

Arjomand and Khan’s relationship is unclear. Arjomand, a former HSBC banker from the United Arab Emirates, also invests in hospitality businesses, including the celebrity Wahlberg brothers’ restaurant chain Wahlburgers, and owns a coffee company called Reborn Coffee.

ETT Investment Holding Limited was dissolved in 2021. Condon and Arjomand also registered a company called Atlas UK Group Limited the same day they registered the UK ETT, now dissolved.

The American ETT, then called Pandora Venture Capital Corp, was first registered in Florida in 2014 by a Wisconsin resident, Boris Nayflish, according to Florida business filings. Ukrainian American Nayflish is the ex-husband of Smirnov’s current partner, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which also claimed Nayflish stayed close to his ex, Diana Lavrenyuk, and Smirnov after the divorce.

Smirnov, born in Ukraine, lived in Israel before coming to the US in 2006.

Pandora changed its name to Skylab in 2017, then in 2018 Skylab seemed to split from what is now ETT, according to a lawsuit, when Condon first registered ETT websites and appeared on ETT’s Florida filings.

An unnamed former business associate told the Wall Street Journal that the $600,000 payment from ETT to Smirnov was “in exchange for a stake in an Israel-based crypto trading platform, called Bitoftrade, [that] Smirnov was working on launching”.

Calls and emails to Condon, Arjomand, Sajwani and Smirnov’s lawyer, and to Trump’s team, were not returned.

Khan told the Guardian: “I was on the board for a very short period, [and] there was no connection on my part.”

Smirnov is scheduled for a jury trial in April, according to court filings.

 

 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I tried to read that. My brain went along with it for a few minutes and then said nope. nopety nope.

I don't feel like a naive person until I start reading this stuff. I struggle to imagine a world of 600,000$ bribes to what is clearly a low level underling. I'm just sitting here being vegan and recycling and slowly paying down my to me very large debts/to them small change debts. I quit using tomato paste in my cooking because it's so much more expensive than diced tomatoes right now.

I can't help thinking why even try to be a good and decent person when obvious scammer snake oil con men billionaires are sucking the life out of society in the name of "capitalism" or "fundamentalism" or whatever their chosen front is. There's  so many layers and layers of corruption/hidden agendas/government manipulation that seem to just be "normal" now. 

It seems worse than the historical usual. But I don't know people have complained forever. But was it even possible to be billionaires through corruption back in the day? I don't know the amount of money that is billions is so big it's hard to understand it contextually.

[GreyhoundFan]

Why am I not surprised?

[fraurosena]

Lev Parnas is testifying today... and killing the GOP lies while he's at it.

 

[thoughtful]

Jared tears those dishonest SOBs down.