TODAY IN CONGRESS:
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
I have to say with the Record Breaking Pace of BREAKING NEWS on the Impeachment front it seems very difficult, if not impossible for me to keep up. So if I missed anything, let me apologize in advance.
In addition, I have a Special Commentary for you at the end. Worth the read if you ask me.
NOTE: Except for the House Intelligence Committee, Congress is on a two week recess, so I will only be posting if something is happening on the Impeachment front with respect to that Committee. So since you are reading this post, something is happening.
I also will you these infrequent Congressional Recess posts to update you on any behind the scenes action with respect to the other Committees working on the Impeachment Inquiry (e.g., subpoenas, court proceedings, etc.) and to posts previous significant votes.
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
House & Senate: Nothing officially happening in front of the C-Span cameras today.
Yesterday’s Votes:
House & Senate — No Votes.
Comments:
Today’s Events – Nothing officially happening, but I’m sure there will be more breaking news because today is a day that ends in “y”.
COMMITTEE SUBPOENA WARS & IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS —
Today’s Impeachment/Subpoena HeadlineS:
White House Pulls The Plug On The Sondland Deposition At The Last Minute
Committee Issues Subpoena To Sondland For Testimony and Documents
White House Issues Letter Saying They Will NOT Cooperate With Impeachment Investigation
Judge Howell Expresses Disbelief At DoJ Position On Release Of Mueller Grand Jury Transcripts
Whistleblower Post-Call Memo Leaked To Press
Details below under “COMMITTEE ACTIVITY”.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction: Before I get started with today’s long list of subpoena and impeachment activity, let me say that I have decided to do away with posting the repetitive “Background” section here on each Committee activity, in an effort to shorten an already too long post. Instead each background section will include a link to my September 26 Diary containing the full backgrounds for those who need to get up to speed. I will keep editing that Diary as time goes on to keep the background up to date. Below, I will post only recent developments (stuff that happened the day before) and any new developments.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Unredacted Mueller Report —
Background - CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — On October 8, there was a “Motion Hearing” at the DC District Court in front of Judge Beryl Howell according to the DC Court Calendar. The case is about getting the Mueller Grand Jury transcripts released to the Judiciary Committee, since a number of the redactions in the Mueller Report are due to Grand Jury proceedings.
New Developments — On Tuesday (October 8), lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee and the DoJ appeared before DC Circuit Court Judge Beryl Howell in a Hearing over the release to Congress of the Mueller Grand Jury transcripts. It didn't go well for the Trump DoJ whose claims for why the transcripts should not be shared with Congress were beyond the pale. Here are some details from this POLITICO Report:
A federal judge signaled Tuesday that she might give House Democrats access to some of Robert Mueller’s remaining secrets.
During a two-hour hearing, Beryl Howell, chief judge for the U.S. District Court, challenged the Justice Department to explain its “extraordinary position” of trying to block lawmakers from seeing the special counsel’s grand jury materials, which include testimony and evidence that has been kept private since the Mueller probe ended in March. Grand jury material is protected by law, but judges can release information under special circumstances.
Howell on Tuesday said that under both Supreme Court and federal appellate court precedent, she must give “enormous deference” to House Democrats and their interest in the grand jury materials because of their impeachment inquiry. She even indicated that the impeachment probe is a precursor for releasing the Mueller materials.
Then, we got this crazy historical claim by the Trump DoJ:
"Frankly, we’re baffled why suddenly this practice over many decades is now reversed," Letter [Judiciary Committee lawyer] said.
Howell picked up on that point by pressing DOJ to say whether then-U.S. District Court Chief Judge John Sirica was wrong in 1974 to let Congress access a detailed “road map” of the Watergate grand jury materials as it considered President Richard Nixon’s impeachment.
Shapiro [DoJ lawyer] argued that if the same Watergate road map arose today, there'd be a "different result" because the law has changed since 1974. She said the judge wouldn't be able to do the same thing absent changes to the grand jury rules and statutes.
Howell sounded skeptical. "Wow. OK," she replied.
The judge did not say when she would rule on this case, but she did order DoJ to disclose by this Friday whether the Mueller team disclosed grand jury information to foreign entities when it requested assistance from foreign countries during its investigation, in order to establish whether the Justice Department was refusing to give Congress information it had already disclosed to other nations. I would say we will get a ruling soon, and the Judge left little doubt that it will be in Congress’s favor. Then on to the US Court of Appeals I would expect.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, waiting for October 31 Court Hearing.
House Judiciary Committee Hicks and Donaldson Subpoenas —
Background — CLICK HERE
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, apparently waiting on results of the McGahn case.
House Judiciary Committee Subpoenas of Sessions, Kushner and Other Trump Staff —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. Waiting to see if Nadler holds Lewandowski in Contempt.
House Judiciary Committee Rob Porter & Rick Dearborn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, likely waiting for McGahn ruling on “Absolute Immunity”.
House Judiciary Committee Homeland Security Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. No word on what Nadler might do to enforce the subpoena apparently being ignored by McAleenan. Here’s another good candidate for Inherent Contempt.
House Intelligence Committee Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — No reports saying Flynn turned over the requested documents on September 18 nor on whether he showed up to testify yesterday (September 25) that I could find. I will continue looking, but my guess is the session was either postponed or he was a no show.
New Developments — None.
House Intelligence Committee Whistleblower Investigation —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here’s a brief summary of what has happened in recent days:
- Deposition of EU Ambassador Sondland Scheduled for October 8 — Trump appointee (and political hack who donated millions to Trump campaign to be appointed EU Ambassador) Gordon Sondland was scheduled to be deposed (behind closed doors) on October 8 by Members and Staff from the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees. But of course that didn’t happen (read below as to why).
- House Committee Releases All US/Ukraine Diplomatic Text Messages Provided By Volker — The texts reveal the plan to pressure the Ukrainian President to enter into a Investigations for Military Aid deal began with Rudy well before the July 25 call. There is a great run down of these texts and their meaning in this POLITICO Report. Well worth the read!
- IG Interviewed Second Intelligence Community Whistleblower — The head of the intelligence community's internal watchdog office, Michael Atkinson, interviewed a second whistleblower about President Trump's communications with Ukraine's government. This second whistleblower reportedly has first-hand knowledge of Trump's dealings with Ukraine and could support the initial whistleblower's complaint that spurred the congressional impeachment inquiry.
- Ukraine’s Current Prosecutor General To Audit Burisma (Hunter Biden) Case — The new Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ruslan Riaboshapka, reportedly announced his office is undertaking an audit of all cases closed or settled under his predecessor, including investigations into the oil and gas company Burisma connected to Hunter Biden. The Prosecutor General said the review is being conducted “to make a decision on cases where illegal procedural decisions were taken.” BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, Jonah Fisher, wrote in a tweet, “Important to stress – this is an audit not a re-opening of the investigations. No suggestion (that I’ve seen) that Biden’s are being looked at.”
- Trump Blames Rick Perry for Ukraine Mess and Perry Promptly Announces He May or May Not Resign — President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make. In the wake of being thrown under the bus by Trump, Perry reportedly will announce his intention to resign as Energy Secretary in November. Then he comes out and denies resignation reports. He says he will cooperate fully with Congressional investigators. No way to tell if he really means it and will spill more beans on Trump or if he means it in the way Trump does when Trump says he will “fully cooperate”.
- Pompeo Subpoena Compliance — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has not yet come into compliance with a subpoena for documents in the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment probe, a top Democrat helping to lead the inquiry said on Sunday. “He’s not complying with the inquiry so far,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel told the CBS news program “Face the Nation.” Engel’s panel issued a subpoena for Pompeo on Sept. 27. The deadline for those documents expired on Friday October 4.
- Judge Orders White House to Preserve ALL Documents — Even though the White House voluntarily announced that it would preserve all documents related to Trump’s interactions with foreign leaders, this judge apparently did not take them at their word, and took the rare step of issuing a Preservation Order.
A federal judge has ordered the White House to preserve a wide range of evidence about President Donald Trump’s dealings with foreign leaders, including his interactions related to Ukraine that have fueled an impeachment investigation in the House. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the order Thursday, directing that White House officials not destroy records of “meetings, phone calls, and other communications with foreign leaders.” The judge’s order also appears to specifically address reports that the Trump White House set up a special system to limit access to certain records of presidential conversations with foreign leaders.
- Democrats Looking Into Ways To Keep Whistleblower's Identity Secret During Testimony —Democrats fear that revealing the Whistleblower’s identity to GOP Committee Members sympathetic to Trump could cause them to leak that person’s identity to the White House. So, lawmakers have determined that the upcoming interview would not take place on Capitol Hill. The interview would happen at another government location, specifically designed to handle classified briefings. Also, Democrats have discussed other ways to mask the official's identity, including obscuring the person's voice and appearance. The concern, sources say, is that congressional Republicans close to the president could seek to reveal their identity.
Bottom Line is you can’t trust Republicans to obey the (Whistleblower) law.
New Developments — Once again a lot of new stuff to try to summarize:
- Trump White House Issues Letter Making its Stonewalling Operation Official — On Tuesday the White House issued a letter to Congress saying they will be blocking all witnesses under their control and stop all documents from going to Congress in their effort to OBSTRUCT Congress’s Impeachment Investigation. Their reason was that this was not an official impeachment investigation since the House has not voted to open such an investigation. This is of course pure poppycock since neither the Constitution nor the Law require such a vote to start an impeachment process. Also, its likely even if Pelosi had the House take such a vote, Trump would just move the goalposts and come up with some other cockimanny excuse to prevent witnesses and documents from going to Congress. You can read the whole piece of garbage HERE.
- Sondland Deposition Blocked and Subpoena Issued — As part of its overall stonewalling campaign to give the House NOTHING, the Trump White House, at the last minute, blocked EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland from being deposed on Tuesday by Committee members and staff. Sondland’s lawyer told the Committees that his client would love to appear if he was not being blocked by the White House. But how cooperative a witness he would be is a matter of debate. Although he did travel from Europe to make his deposition, he is a Trump appointee who has shown nothing but loyalty to Trump so far. It was also revealed on Tuesday, that Sondland had turned over a number of personal e-mails and texts regarding the Ukraine matter to the State Department. This is what Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff had to say about the situation:
"Not only is the Congress being deprived of his testimony, and the American people are being deprived of his testimony today, but we are also aware that the ambassador has text messages or emails on a personal device which have been provided to the State Department," Schiff told reporters shortly after the State Department blocked Sondland's appearance.
"Although we have requested those from the ambassador and the State Department is withholding those messages as well," Schiff continued. "Those messages are also deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry."
It’s also been revealed that Sondland spoke directly with Trump right before he texted Ambassador Taylor telling him there was no “Quid-Pro-Quo” between Trump and the Ukraine President and that any further discussion of the matter should only be verbal.
Now the Committee has subpoenaed Sondland for his testimony and documents that they say are being withheld by the State Department. The subpoena demands those documents be turned over by Oct. 14, and that Sondland sit for a deposition on Oct. 16 before three congressional panels. Sounds like we are going to Court again.
- Contents of Whistleblower Memo Leaked To Press — A Memo written by the Whistleblower the day after Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian President has been described to a Reporter by an unknown source. According to this CBS News Story:
The memo, dated July 26, is based on a conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed White House official who listened to the call.
According to the memo, the White House official described the contents of the call as "crazy," "frightening" and "completely lacking in substance related to national security."
The whistleblower said the official was "visibly shaken by what had transpired and seemed keen to inform a trusted colleague within the U.S. national security apparatus about the call."
It is important to note that the full text as it appears in the CBS News Story:, is a description of the memo, not necessarily the actual text of the memo.
House Committees Issue NEW Subpoenas to DoD and OMB -
Recent Developments — The chairmen of three House Committees— Oversight and Reform, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs—sent similar
letters to subpoena documents from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought. The requested documents pertain to President Trump’s
reported decision to withhold security assistance from Ukraine. In addition to the letters, the chairmen provided a schedule of the documents
Esper and
Vought need to supply.
The deadline for producing the subpoenaed documents is October 15.
New Developments — None.
House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee Deutsche Bank and Capital One Subpoenas (Trump’s Banking Records) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Mazars Subpoena (Financial Records) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, as far as I can tell we are still waiting for the Appeals Court decision in this case.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoenas of White House Staff Documents —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — On October 4, House Democrats subpoenaed the White House on Friday for documents and records related to President Donald Trump's July phone call with Ukraine's president, escalating their standoff as the impeachment inquiry continues. House Democrats subpoenaed the White House on Friday for documents and records related to President Donald Trump's July phone call with Ukraine's president, escalating their standoff as the impeachment inquiry continues. The subpoena is presented within the ABC News Report, and requires the documents to be provided by October 18. But since the White House issued its “You Get Nothing” letter to Congress, I am sure they will blow this off.
New Developments — None.
House Ways & Means Committee Subpoena (Trump’s Tax Returns) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here’s what’s happened in recent days:
- Treasury Department IG to Investigate Handling of Trump’s Taxes — Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar said he will investigate who was consulted on the issue and how the department came to reject Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s demands for the records, a decision the Massachusetts Democrat is now fighting into court. Delmar said it’s unclear yet whether his inquiry will also consider a whistleblower's allegations that someone tried to improperly influence the IRS's audits of Trump.
- Judge Rules Against Trump in Tax Case — US Southern New York District Court Judge Victor Marrero DISMISSED Trump’s lawsuit against Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. to block the DA’s subpoena for 8 years of Trump’s tax returns from Mazars, Trump’s former financial firm. You can read the Judge’s scathing ruling against Trump HERE. Then, the president filed an emergency appeal with a federal appeals court. Then, the 2nd Circuit wasted no time in issuing a temporary stay for Trump’s tax returns. So no tax returns! Let’s be clear, this case is about getting the Trump tax returns turned over to the Manhattan DA who is investigating violations of New York State law associated with these returns. It is different from the case being pursued by the House Ways & Means Committee to get Trump’s taxes. Even if the DA were to get Trump’s tax returns, there is no guarantee the DA will be released to the public.
New Developments — None.
COMMENTARY:
Legal or Political Rant — I am fed up with hearing the Media Pundits say impeachment is not a legal process, its a political process. IT’S NEITHER!
First, they are correct that impeachment is not a legal process in that it doesn’t go through the established court system and does not necessarily require that the President break the law to be initiated. It can be based solely on abuses of Power. But, they are wrong in that it is not a political process. A political process involves things like elections, policy positions, support by majorities of the people. Impeachment does not involve any of these things.
So what is it?
IT’S A CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS!
It’s a process laid out in the Constitution to deal with a President (or other governmental official) who breaks the law or abuses his/her power. It’s as simple as that!
Impeachment Process —
There is a lot of Media buzz going on about how the Democrats should proceed with the Trump Impeachment process. The two extremes being discussed seem to be: 1. “The Strike While The Iron Is Hot” approach, meaning proceed immediately with drafting Articles of Impeachment on the President’s Ukraine extortion and his obstruction of the investigation; or 2. “The Full Investigation” approach, meaning get all the evidence of all Trump’s crimes before drafting a full set of Impeachment Articles. I come down somewhere in the middle, but more towards the latter approach.
I don’t think Democrats should rush into drafting a single Ukraine based Article of Impeachment when there are so many other Trump crimes out there, some of which may be worse. On the other hand I don’t think its necessary to wait for every bit of evidence on every single crime to be gathered before proceeding into drafting Articles of Impeachment. I think the key pieces of evidence we need to get, most likely through the Courts, are as follows:
- The actual transcripts of all Trump’s phone calls with foreign leaders;
- Sondland’s E-mails and Texts;
- McGahn’s Testimony on Trump’s Obstruction;
- Testimony from all Intelligence Community and IRS Whistleblowers; and
- If possible within a reasonable time period, Trump’s Tax Returns.
Back a few posts ago, I issued a commentary saying “In Politics, Timing Is Everything”. While I fully stand by my statement, after some careful consideration I think I got the timing wrong. In my previous post I argued that the House should wait until after the Senatorial Primaries to send over Articles of Impeachment (probably Summer of 2020) in order to put those GOP Senators running in 2020 on the political hot seat. But, I think that’s wrong. I think the best timing to send over the Articles is in the early Spring of 2020, before the 2020 Senatorial Primaries. This will force these GOP Senators in a position of having to stay loyal to Trump or likely face a Trumpian opponent in the Primaries. If such a Senator were to vote to convict Trump, he/she would likely lose to Trump’s challenger in the Primary, and give us a challenger who would be easier to beat in November. If such a Senator were to vote to acquit Trump, he/she would likely survive the GOP Primary, but that vote will make him/her easier to beat in November. Yes, this is ruthless politics. But the GOP has been playing this ruthless game on us for years. It’s time to fire back!
That’s All for today! If I missed some new development, I apologize. This this thing is now moving so fast in so many new directions I am finding it hard to keep up. I will continue to try my best.