TODAY IN CONGRESS:
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
IMPEACHMENT HEADLINE:
No Mr. Trump, Your Call With The President of Ukraine Was NOT Perfect,
But Your Impeachment Hearing Conducted By Adam Schiff And The Democrats was PERFECT!
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.
Today’s Events:
House —
10:00 am — House Budget Committee Hearing on the U.S. economy and monetary policy (Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies on the U.S. economy and monetary policy before the House Budget Committee.)
10:00 am — House Ways and Means Committee Hearing on Caring for Elderly Americans (The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing the cost of caring for aging Americans.)
10:00 am — House Morning Session (General Speeches)
12:00 pm — House Session (The House is scheduled to work on a bill reauthorizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s charter for 10 years (through Sept. 30, 2029) and rename the agency to the United States Export Finance Agency.)
2:00 pm — House Oversight and Reform Committee holds Hearing on Reproductive Health Care (The House Oversight and Reform Committee holds a hearing on how some states are restricting reproductive rights and reproductive health care services.)
Senate —
10:00 am — Senate Rules and Administration Committee Hearing on Museums (Lonnie Bunch, the new secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, testifies on museum operations before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.)
10:00 am — Senate Session (The Senate will continue to work on the nomination of Steven Menashi to be a U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the 2nd Circuit.)
10:30 am — Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Energy Secretary Confirmation Hearing (Dan Brouillette, President Trump’s nominee to serve as energy secretary, testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.)
Wednesday’s Votes:
House —
1. House Resolution 3537 (H.R. 3537): H.R.3537 - Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Act of 2019 (You can read the Full text HERE.)
Democrats- 228 Yes 0 No 0 Present 4 Not Voting
Republicans- 196 Yes 0 No 0 Present 1 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 1 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 424 Yes 1 No 0 Present 5 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
2. House Resolution 499 (H.R. 499): H.R.499 - Service-Disabled Veterans Small Business Continuation Act (You can read the Full text HERE.)
Democrats- 228 Yes 0 No 0 Present 4 Not Voting
Republicans- 194 Yes 0 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Independents- 1 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 423 Yes 0 No 0 Present 7 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
3. House Resolution 3734 (H.R. 3734): H.R.3734 - Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists and Veterans (SERV) Act (You can read the Full text HERE.)
Democrats- 228 Yes 0 No 0 Present 4 Not Voting
Republicans- 193 Yes 2 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 1 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 421 Yes 3 No 0 Present 6 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Senate — No significant votes, only Trump nominations
Comments:
Today’s Events – Looking at today’s C-Span TV schedule it’s kind of a let down after yesterday’s blockbuster Hearing. But if you have a need to view more Hearings, I would recommend the House hearing on Fed. Monetary Policy at 10:00 am and the House Hearing on Reproductive Health at 2:00 pm.
Wednesday’s Votes — I posted 3 House votes on Bills to help Veterans that passed almost unanimously in each case. So even in the height of partisanship at least they can all agree that giving help to Veterans is still a bipartisan thing.
COMMITTEE SUBPOENA WARS & IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS —
Today’s Impeachment/Subpoena HeadlineS:
Public Impeachment Hearing Day One = Huge Democrat Success & Huge Republican Failure
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Taylor Reveals New Evidence Linking Trump To Bribery Scheme & New Star Witness
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
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 — There was supposed to be an Appeals Court Hearing on November 12 on granting Congress access to the Mueller Grand Jury materials. However, so far, I have not been able to find any news reports as to what went on (all are too busy with the impeachment thing I guess). I will continue looking and will post anything I can find in a later update. If any of you come across any news on this court hearing, please post in a comment.
New Developments — Well I found my answer. According to this article from The Law:
A federal appeals court in Washington has set a Nov. 18 hearing to consider a trial judge’s order validating the House’s impeachment inquiry and requiring the U.S. Justice Department to disclose now-secret grand jury materials that were part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
I am not sure if it was me that got the date wrong or if the Hearing was rescheduled from the 12th to the 18th. Either way we will see what happens on Monday.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Waiting on Judge’s ruling due any day.
House Judiciary Committee Hicks and Donaldson Subpoenas —
Background — CLICK HERE
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, waiting in McGahn ruling.
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 (McAleenan) Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Intelligence Committee (Flynn) 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, Oversight & Foreign Affairs Committees’ Impeachment Investigation —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”, but I have changed the heading to include the other committees involved and to allow for a broadening of the scope of the investigation.
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here are some recent developments:
- Televised Public Impeachment Hearings Begin With Taylor & Kent — Not much to say here that you probably haven’t already heard. So I will try to be brief so you can get to your respective Watch Parties. Here are just a few of my tidbits to chew on:
— Watch for Committee Republicans to pull some crazy procedural stunt early on, like within the first few minutes. Since their allotted time does not occur until hours after the Hearing begins, I don’t expect them to wait until then to pull their crap since they know some viewers will have tuned out by then. So while Schiff will attempt to block their crap, I would guess they will force him into some sort of procedural vote early on (maybe a vote on ordering pizza. HA!)
— The witnesses may or may not read opening statements. If they do, pay close attention, because such remarks will be a preview of how they will conduct themselves and will set the tone for the rest of the day.
— Since a lot has been testified to behind closed doors and transcripts of those testimonies have already been released, don’t be disappointed if there aren’t any new bombshell revelations. These Hearings are for the majority of the public who has not read the transcripts, not for us. So a lot of what they hear today will be new to them.
— Finally, if you're looking for a drinking game word for your watch Party, may I suggest “BRIBERY”. WARNING: If you use this word as your drinking cue, you may lose consciousness before the Hearing ends.
- The Impeachment Hearing Witness List is out for the rest of this week and next week — Here is the schedule as released by MSNBC:
— Friday (morning) Nov. 15 — Marie Yovanovitch, Fmr. US Ambassador to Ukraine
— Tuesday (morning) Nov. 19 — Jennifer Williams, Aid to VP Pence and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (in full Dress Blues I would assume), Director for European Affairs at the NSC
— Tuesday (afternoon) Nov. 19 — Ambassador Kurt Volker, Fmr. US Special Envoy to Ukraine and Tim Morrison, White House Aid within NSC Focusing on Europe & Russia
— Wednesday (morning) Nov. 20 — Ambassador Gordon Sondland, US Amb. to the EU
— Wednesday (afternoon) Nov. 20 — Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine and David Hale, Under Secretary of State
— Thursday (morning) Nov. 21 — Dr. Fiona Hill, Former NSC Senior Director for Europe and Russia.
A very ambitious schedule to say the least. I have to say I am a little concerned that Dems. seem to be rushing things a bit. I worry that this may be all too fast & furious for the public to get and retain all the important facts. The highly successful Watergate Hearings went on for months and folks got a clear picture of Nixon’s crimes. I just hope Democrats are not speeding through this thing on some artificial timeline which does not allow for a pause should more incriminating facts or new crimes emerge. The facts should dictate the timeline, the timeline should not dictate the facts.
- Schiff Announces “Quid-Pro-Quo” Is Out “Bribery” Is In — As posted in this DK Diary by Jamess, courtesy of The Hill, Schiff had this to say:
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) suggested President Trump’s possible impeachable offenses include bribery in an interview set to air Wednesday with NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
This is great news for all the reasons I mentioned in my pet peeve yesterday. I hope they drive this home during the Hearings.
New Developments — THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS HAVE ARRIVED! And Other Stuff:
- Day One of Impeachment Hearings Huge Success for Democrats and for the Country — By now you have likely watched some or all of Impeachment Hearings Day One and have had your fill of the MSM punditry telling you what you heard. So in giving you what I thought were the highlights, I will try to keep it brief:
— The witnesses, Taylor and Kent, truly were the stars of the show. They stoically put forth the facts in true Dragnet, Joe Friday style (“Just the facts Mam”). They told the whole story as they saw it unfold from a career diplomats perspective whose only concern was the welfare of our country. They also didn’t wilt under the Republican spin and often silly conspiracy theories. They either pushed back or simply avoided going down the crazy Republican road.
— Schiff ran the Hearing BRILLIANTLY. He remained calm, cool and steadfast, and kept Republicans from making the Hearing into a Clown Show. He simply shut them down.
— Goldman, Democratic Counsel, was obviously better than his Republican counterpart. Granted he had the easier job since all the facts were on his side, but he got the witnesses to tell a coherent story hitting all the important facts.
— The hearing was a total disaster for Republicans, scoring no points and often looking silly, which is what scares me. It reminded me of the Kavanaugh Hearing on the day Christine Blasi-Ford testified. They couldn’t get the witnesses to go where they wanted and their counsel was totally in effective, just like the Kavanaugh Hearing. What scares me is what they will do next. Will they turn up the crazy in the next Hearing? Will Gym Jordan do a Lindsey Graham type tirade and start yelling and scolding the Dems. and media? Who knows, but if they have more days like yesterday, they and Trump will be toast, and they know it.
— I have to give the quote of the day to George Kent:
“You can’t promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing off corrupt people.”
PRECIOUS!
— At the end of the day, the Committee tabled a GOP motion to have the Whistleblower appear before the Committee in closed session, with a GOP promise to keep his/her identity a secret. HA! (as Chris Matthews would say). The ranking GOP member is David Nunes. The same David Nunes who scampered over to the White House during the Mueller investigation to reveal classified Intelligence Committee information to Trump. So why would we think not to trust Mr. Nunes now.
— And, yes there was an unexpected new information bombshell that I will cover next.
- Taylor Pulls Pin and Tosses New Grenade Into Hearing — Here is the grenade Taylor tossed in his opening statement courtesy of CNN:
Taylor said that on July 26 -- one day after Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that prompted a whistleblower complaint that alleged Trump solicited "interference" from a foreign country to help his 2020 presidential campaign -- Trump spoke by phone with Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, about "the investigations."
Taylor said he was informed of the conversation by an aide, who was accompanying Sondland to meetings in Kiev with a top aide to Zelensky.
Taylor's aide said Sondland called Trump following the meeting in a restaurant. The aide could hear Trump asking Sondland about the investigations, and Sondland "told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward," according to Taylor's opening statement.
Taylor testified that his aide later asked Sondland what Trump thought of Ukraine.
"Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which [personal attorney Rudy] Giuliani was pressing for," Taylor said..
BOOM, goes the dynamite! The Aides name is David Holmes who Schiff has already subpoenaed to give testimony in a closed door deposition on Friday (Nov. 15). This is what I meant in my earlier TODAY IN CONGRESS post when I said, “ The facts should dictate the timeline, the timeline should not dictate the facts.” Getting Holmes to testify in a closed door session before Sondland testifies publicly is BRILLIANT! The only question that remains is should you bring Holmes on to testify publicly before Sondland (Plan A) or the other way around (Plan B)? If you have Sondland go first, he will have no idea what Holmes testified to having heard on the call in his closed door testimony. So Sondland could reveal parts of the phone call that wasn’t overheard by Holmes out of fear falling into a perjury trap. If Holmes goes first, Sondland would simply have to confirm what Holmes heard, but not reveal anything else he might of heard from Trump. I think Schiff is going with Plan A.
House Committees Issue Subpoenas to DoD and OMB -
Recent Developments — None.
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 (Trump Financial Records & Taxes) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. But see Trump Tax Returns below.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoena of White House Staff Documents —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.is
House Ways & Means Committee & Manhattan DA Subpoenas (Trump’s Tax Returns) —
Background — CLICK HERE. BTW — I know this gets confusing but there are really three (3) cases going on aimed at Trump’s tax returns. One is the case brought by the House Committee to get the IRS to turn over Trump’s taxes as required BY LAW. The second is the case brought by Trump against the Manhattan DA to block the DA’s subpoena of Mazars, Trump’s former accounting firm, to provide the DA with Trump’s tax returns as a part of a State criminal investigation. The third is a case brought by Trump against NYS to block his State tax returns from being turned over to Congress in accordance with a recently passed NYS Law. I hope this helps keep things straight!
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — On Wednesday (Nov. 13), Trump was dealt another Court loss in his battle to keep his tax returns secret. This is the case brought by the House Committee to get the IRS to turn over Trump’s taxes as required BY LAW. According to this NPR Report:
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to re-visit an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that allowed Congress to subpoena the president's tax records. The House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed those records in March.
The divided three-judge panel ruled in October that the House had a legitimate legislative pursuit in seeking Trump's personal tax returns. The president's lawyers had asked that the full D.C. Circuit reconsider the case.
This means the ruling by the 3 Judges stands, requiring the IRS to hand over Trump’s taxes to Congress.
But Congress likely will not see those documents soon. The D.C Circuit already had said it would give the president seven days to file an appeal. Trump's outside legal counsel, Jay Sekulow, told NPR that he and his client "will be seeking review at the Supreme Court."
So this is the second case involving Trump’s taxes that is bound for SCOTUS, the first being the Manhattan DA’s subpoena for his taxes as part of their criminal investigation of Trump’s payoffs to women he allegedly had affairs. It will be interesting to see if SCOTUS agrees to hear one, both or none of these cases? If you ask me, a “normal” SCOTUS would likely steer clear of this political mess allowing the lower court rulings to stand. But this SCOTUS with two Trump appointees on it might just take it on. If they do and are thinking about deciding in favor of Trump, they would have to weigh the fact that this would set a precedent making it possible for all future Presidents to hide their tax returns. Of course if they take it on it could be a sign that a majority on the court want to decide against Trump and set an “open government” precedent for the future. We’ll see!
That’s all for today. Corrections and Additions are always welcome!
BTW _ There will be no TODAY IN CONGRESS tomorrow since I have other real life commitments. I hope to be back on Tuesday to catch you up on things and prep you for a busy week in Congress.