‘Over the last three days, finishing up today, the House Impeachment Managers have thoroughly argued their case for the removal of Donald John Trump from office. Using visual aids and clips from testimony and public statements the managers have made an impressive comprehensive case the Trump circumvented the normal government processes and procedures, going against the advice of the Pentagon, State Dept and NSC, in order to implement an extortion scheme on Ukraine which was not part of US policy, not a benefit for the American people, but was implemented instead part of his own personal and political benefit. They’ve proven that there was a Quid Pro Quo of a White House meeting and defense aid in exchange for Ukraine announcing investigations.
Whether or not they manage to gain access to additional witnesses and documents, the managers have made a compelling impressive case describing chapter and verse how Trump put our national security interest at risk by blocking defense funds for Ukraine while they are engaged in a shooting war with Russia. They have clearly and succinctly shown that this scheme was systematically implemented by Rudy Giuliani and Gordan Sondland to have Ukraine announce a set of bogus Investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden as well as Crowdstrike.
This effort was corrupt. This effort was illegal and a violation of the Impoundment Control Act as well as Logan Act violations by Rudy Giuliani.
But will all of that ultimately make any difference at all in the end?
It is of course, beyond all reasonable hope that Trump will be removed from office. It’s massively clear that he did this. It's clear from the Zelensky call memo, it's clear from his own comments after-the-fact where he has essentially doubled-down on the call for investigations of the Bidens and bragged about blocking documents from congress that he is absolutely, completely guilty.
He did this. That much is clear.
The only question is whether this is a removable High Crime and misdemeanor. The case for this argument was made expertly by Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler who used past quotes from Lindsay Graham, Alan Dershowitz, Bill Barr and Jonathan Turley to make his point.
In their legal brief, Trump’s lawyers argued that “abuse of power” was a theory “newly invented” by Democrats that “collapses at the threshold” of impeachment “because it fails to allege any violation of law whatsoever.”
[...]
To rebut Trump’s claim that abuse of power is not an impeachable offense, Nadler played a Dershowitz clip from 1998, when the House was considering Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
“It certainly doesn’t have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of President and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don’t need a technical crime,” Dershowitz said then.
Nadler also presented a 2018 memo written by Barr, before he was appointed by Trump, that referenced impeachment while arguing against criminally indicting a President.
Barr wrote that the fact that the President “is answerable for any abuses of discretion and is ultimately subject to the judgment of Congress through the impeachment process means that the president is not the judge in his own cause.”
Nadler went on to point out that Bribery wasn’t a Federal Crime until the 1830s, yet it was included as a reason for Impeachment in the constitution. A High Crime is a crime against the people using the power of the state. It can only be accomplished by someone in power and does not normally fit within strict criminal statutes.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia made the argument that Trump's primary alibi, that he was attempting to pursue a set of legitimate investigations for the benefit of the American people, is completely and totally bogus.
The nub of the conspiracy theory is that Joe Biden abused his power as vice president to have a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma fired. Biden withheld a U.S. government loan to Ukraine on the condition that the prosecutor be fired; Giuliani and others take this as evidence of bribery.
Relying on footage of testimony from the public portion of the House’s impeachment inquiry and other documentary evidence, Rep. Garcia demolished the theory, pointing out that the timeline does not add up, that Biden pushed for the prosecutor’s firing because it was “consistent with U.S. policy,” and that the loan had to do with shoring up anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. Hunter Biden had nothing to do with what happened.
“Vice President Biden’s conduct was uniformly validated by the witnesses in the House investigation who confirmed his conduct was consistent with U.S. policy,” Garcia said. “Every single witness who was asked about the allegations again and said that Biden had nothing to do with it and it was false. They testified that he acted properly and every witness with knowledge of this issue testified that Vice President Biden was carrying out official U.S. policy.”
Joe Biden was implementing U.S. and international policy. Donald Trump was not. To her credit, Rep. Garcia pointed out that at the time that Biden helped push Viktor Shokin out of his position at head Ukrainian prosecutor, the investigation of Burisma head Mykola Zlovchesky for having directed contracts to his own companies back in 2012 while he was Secretary of the Ecology for Ukraine — two years before Hunter Biden joined their board in order to advise them on good corporate governance at the behest of the President of Poland after he had been providing them the same advice as their attorney working with the law firm of Boies Schiller and Flexman —had been rendered dormant by Shokin.
There was no investigation.
In fact, she showed testimony from various members of the Ukrainian diplomatic core who said that the removal of Shokin was more likely to REOPEN the investigation of Zlochevsky and Burisma not end it. The result of Biden’s action in removing Shokin was likely to put more scrutiny on Burisma, and hence Hunter Biden, than to remove it which is exactly the opposite of what Trump and Giuliani have been claiming for months, and what his defense team is likely to claim when they have a chance to testify.
Rep. Garcia also pointed out that it was the unanimous determination of all of Intelligence Agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Mueller report that the U.S. election was attacked by Russia, not by Ukraine, and that the ridiculous idea that cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike had faked the evidence against Russia then spirited the hacked DNC server away to Ukraine is just plain laughable.
I would have liked for her to have pointed out the Crowdsrike’s CFO was not born in Ukraine, he’s a naturalized American citizen was born in Moscow, Russia. I would have liked for her to have pointed out the DNC server system was largely cloud-based and that the review that Crowdstrike performed of these systems was using system images which were exactly the same as what the FBI was provided. However, she did a fine job all around.
It can be argued that merely bringing up Joe Biden as part of their case opens the door for Biden and his son Hunter to be called as witnesses. This is an argument that was made by Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.
“If we’re going to call witnesses, I think it’s now clear we absolutely must call Hunter Biden, and we probably need to call Joe Biden,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters Thursday.
[...]
Republicans, nonetheless, have argued that House managers’ own trial strategy makes the Bidens relevant. “It begs questions like, does that mean the Bidens are completely off limits, to where you couldn’t even touch it?” Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said Thursday.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the managers made a “very serious strategic error” by involving the Bidens.
“It is directly relevant, I got to say, the need for the Senate to hear the testimony of Hunter Biden,” Cruz said, adding: “The House Democrats have now made Hunter Biden central to the question of the President’s interests.”
Frankly, and I've said this directly, I think a witness trade of the Bidens for John Bolton and Mike Mulvaney’s testimony without the claim of executive privilege, is a good deal — but this has already been ruled out as “off the table" by Chuck Schumer. Lindsay Graham is also against Hunter Biden testifying.
So be it.
The defense had argued that the request for witnesses and documents was a cry for help based on the weakness of the manager's case. They’ve proven quite convincingly that this isn’t the case. Witness after witness has already testified that this effort was illicit and did not follow the normal path and procedures. If Trump seriously wanted to have an investigation of the Bidens, Burisma and Crowdstrike for alleged wrongdoing he should have made a referral to the FBI to look into the matter and possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by going through his White House Counsel.
Except that the FBI had already investigated the Russia matter. The FBI would have clearly looked askance at the White House asking for an investigation of Joe Biden while the election was happening. They had already worked with and certified the work of Crowdstrike, why would they go back and re-investigate their own investigation now?
Also, the FBI would not have publically announced that this investigation was taking place.
If they would have taken up the case, they would have done so quietly, very quietly. They wouldn’t have announced it, and they wouldn’t (normally) have leaked out drips and drabs of their partial findings all the while that Joe Biden was also running for the Democratic nomination.
But that is exactly what Trump wanted to happen. He didn't care about the results of the investigation, he just wanted the smear of the announcement of an investigation to stick to Biden and to stick to Mueller in order to take the pressure off himself and also, off Russia.
Last night Lead Manager Adam Schiff made an impassioned argument that we can’t trust that Trump won't put his own needs and concerns ahead of the needs of the nation because we know clearly that he won't.
“You know you can’t count on him,” the Democrat said. “None of us can.”
Schiff cited impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s declaration that he was doing what’s right by testifying against Trump because “right matters” in the U.S.
“If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost,” the Schiff said. “If truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost.”
Schiff warned that acquitting Trump would give the President license for future wrongdoing and imperil the U.S.
“This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed, because right matters,” he concluded. “Because right matters, and the truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.”
Admittedly the manager's presentation has been redundant, it's been pedantic. It’s covered the same issues again, and again, which is a risk because although repetition is often how you can make a point stick it also can have the opposite effect by putting your audience off.
Some GOP Senators have complained that there's “nothing new” in the manager’s presentation, but of course, if they want to hear something new - they should call witnesses.
Starting tomorrow Trump's team gets there chance. It's certain they will argue even if Trump did everything he's been accused — "So what?” It’s not a criminal offense so it doesn't count. This is entirely political. It's all based on hatred. The House process was “totally unfair” and didn’t offer Trump his due process, even though it was the same process that Republicans had previously established, the Dems somehow had a duty to offer White House attorneys access to the depositions and witnesses in a manner that would have never occurred in a Grand Jury.
They'll say it doesn’t matter. The aid was, eventually, released. President Zelensky didn't make the announcement of investigations. Ukraine has not investigated the Bidens or Crowdstrike. What does it matter? No harm, no foul.
Will that argument work on GOP Senators who also been told that if they turn on Trump "Your head will be on a Pike?”
One of President Donald Trump’s confidantes said GOP senators were warned not to vote for impeachment — or else, reported CBS News.
“Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike,” senators were told, according to the confidante.
Yeah. Will GOP Senators honor their constitutional duty or will they cave into Trump's pressure?
I'm not hopeful, but I am proud that the managers have made a strong presentation for their case so far. They've made it clearly plausible that Trump needs to be removed.
That will remain true no matter what the final vote turns out to be.
Here are the detail events for the remainder of this week:
January 16th —
- Giuliani distances himself from Parnas: “Believe him at your peril.”
- Ukraine announces a criminal investigation into the surveillance of Yovanovich.
- The GAO reveals that the OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding aid to Ukraine on Trump’s orders.
- Morning Joe accuses Trump and Bolton of conspiring on his testimony and says that Parnas “tore the lid off Impeachment” with his interview.
- Former prosecutor Joyce Vance says that Bill Barr can't do an investigation of himself. [But he won't assign a Special prosecutor either.]
- Former prosecutor Gene Rossi says Barr should consult a defense attorney.
- WH insists Trump still doesn’t know Parnas despite his interview and numerous pictures.
- New texts from Parnas' phone show Giuliani’s frustrations with an interview between Soloman and Lutsenko. “The anti-corruption prosecutor made some very weak comments that are equivocal at best. And not consistent with the facts. Story would get blown up. Don’t want to lead with my weakest hand.” They also show that it was Lutsenko who had problems with Yovanovich — because he was corrupt and she was fighting him — and removing her was a gift to get him on board with the investigations.
- Another dump of Parnas data shows that the push to get investigations announced by Ukraine went back long before Zelensky to the previous president Poroshenko as Parnas described to CNN: “The first quid pro quo was when we met with President Poroshenko,” in February of 2019. Also “In April 2018, Lutsenko reportedly froze the country’s investigations into Manafort and halted any pending cooperation that it had with the Mueller investigation,” just as Trump implemented security assistance and sold them Javelin missiles.
- the Senate begins the Impeachment trial with the reading of the articles by Rep. Adam Schiff, the Senators are sworn in while Chief Justice Roberts presides. Proceedings will continue on Tuesday (1/21).
- McConnell is reportedly planning a minefield of procedural moves to save Trump's ass.
- FBI visits the home of Robert Hyde to ask him about his text messages about Yovanovich.
- Devin Nunes finally admits that he does know Lev Parnas and claims he’s a “person who doesn’t tell the truth.”
- Senate GOP blows off the GAO finding that Trump’s hold of Ukraine aid was illegal. “The GAO report identifies the OMB and not the President and said it was for policy reasons, not for political reasons,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told reporters Thursday. “I don’t think that it changes anything.” [The OMB was acting on Trump’s orders, and the reasons don’t matter since he doesn’t have the power to hold the aid.] “They shouldn’t be deciding who broke the law,” Sen. Shelby said. [Yeah, they should just like CIA counsel who made a criminal referral to the DOJ.]
- Judge postpones Michael Flynn’s sentencing while considering the withdrawal of his guilty plea.
- Kellyanne says she doesn’ t know Parnas, but pictures tell a different story.
- The View’s audience gasps as Parnas rains bombshells on Trump.
- Sen. Martha McSally calls Manu Raju a “liberal hack” when he asks about the documents released by Lev Parnas.
- Trump snaps “Quiet” at a CNN’s Jim Acosta asking about Lev Parnas as he denies knowing him and claims again that his Zelensky call was "perfect”, the economy is great and “it’s a hoax.”
- Laura Ingraham suggests Pelosi has "dementia" for her handling of Impeachment.
- Don Jr. spread another debunked theory that Yovanovich was “monitoring me.”
- The DOJ is again investigating James Comey this time for supposedly “illegally leaking information about the Russian investigation” to reporters. [As head of the FBI he had the authority to permit leaks to the press, so this is bogus.]
- Sen. Collins says she’s “likely” to vote for additional witnesses. [Oh, show us another football why don’t cha Lucy!!]
- Legal experts agree with the GAO: Trump broke the law.
- Intelligence leaders as Congress to cancel scheduled briefings to avoid angering Trump by telling them things he refuses to believe.
- Fathers torn from their children for months sue the Trump admin over their separation policy and national group sue over the policy of flying asylum seekers to Guatemala.
- Trump admin finally releases $billions in relief funds for Puerto Rico, but with strings.
- Maddow broadcasts part 2 of her interview with Parnas
January 17th —
- Eleven US Troops were Medevac’d out of Iraq for potential brain injury following the Iran missile attack, while Trump was tweeting “All is well” and said no soldiers were harmed. Trump and Esper misled the nation.
- Trump is furiously grilling his staff on how well Impeachment is playing with voters, Trump lashes out at Mike Bloomberg for not qualifying for the debates, he declares himself "exonerated of the GAO complaint” because Alan Dershowitz said on Fox News that the "GAO has it backward, the Congress has no right to dictate foreign policy for the President” [Yeah, they do, it's called "the law.”] and a new book states he unleashed an expletive-filled rant at his military leaders. “You’re all dopes and babies.” He claimed we’re getting ripped off by NATO, that they didn’t know how to win in Afghanistan, and he demanded we get out of the Iran deal, Pence was silent as a wax museum. The book also documents that Trump doesn't know basic geography or history, such as the fact that India and China share a border or the meaning of the Pearl Harbor attack. Trump apparently wants to repeal the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act so US companies can accept and pay foreign bribes and he also orders cuts to Michelle Obama’s nutritious school lunch program on her birthday because he’s shitty like that.
- Morning Joe claims Trump doesn’t realize how much trouble he’s in and the GOP is unsure how to defend him. GOP Senators are apparently weighing their allegiance to Trump.
- Fux and Fools floats a conspiracy theory about the GAO finding that Trump violated the Impoundment Control Act. “A senior administration official said they are doing this so they can insert themselves into the impeachment when there is so much media attention,” Earhardt said. “If you look at all the networks, and we’re going to go through it in a moment, and their coverage of the impeachment trial, they love to hear this. They love to hear that this watchdog agency, they love to hear that they have determined that the president violated the law when it withheld that aid to Ukraine.” “However the Office of Management and Budget disagrees with it,” she added. “They say the president has a right to do this.” [The Pentagon said OMB was breaking the law also.]
- Rick Santorum gets flattened by Rick Burman after claiming Parnas’ revelations are “extraneous” to Impeachment. “It seems to me that you’re saying even if President Trump came up today and said, ‘you know what? I did this. I withheld the aid. I’m guilty of this. I admit to all of it,’ you would say ‘you know what? It’s inadmissible because it didn’t come up at the House impeachment investigation.”
- Treasury's Inspector general is looking into abuse of the Opportunity Zone program for low-income housing by high-end luxury condos.
- Trump pics Fox News lawyers Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz and Robert Ray to join Cippilone, Sekolow, Pam Bondi and Jane Raskin on his defense team. Dershowitz is in a defamation lawsuit fight over allegations he assaulted a woman in connect with Jeffrey Epstein and Starr was forced out as head of Baylor university after a sexual harassment scandal.
- Sen McSally [who was appointed to John McCain’s seat after he died and she lost against Kysten Sinema] takes a victory lap and fundraises after calling Manu Raju a “Liberal Hack” and faces a tough election against former Astronaut Mark Kelly this year.
- Rand Paul threatens GOP Senators with “severe consequences” for any rogues who won’t stay in line.
- Robert Hyde distances himself from Parnas in a furious tweetstorm. [We have the receipts, Bob]
- Three Neo-Nazis are arrested in a plot to kill an Antifa couple.
- Pompeo finally begins to look at the surveillance of Yovanovich.
- House Foreign Affairs Chair Elliot Engle says he will use “all legal means” to force Pompeo’s appearance at an Iran briefing.
- FBI releases a new batch of FBI memos from the Mueller probe. The documents include heavily redacted pages from the interviews of Stephen Miller, Peter Aven, Michael Cohen, Bob Forseman, Denis Klimentov who worked with NES and described how excited the Russians became when they heard Carter Page was working with Trump, Dmitri Klimentov who is Denis brother and only knew Page by reputation, Andrej Krickovic, communications with KT McFarland, Sam Patten, Anotoli Samochornov who was in litigation with Natalia Veselnitskaya, Shlomo Weber and Paul Manafort.
- Robert Ray claimed “Contempt of Congress” is illegal, just days before being selected as a member of the Trump defense team.
- Manafort client Serhiy Lyovochkin told him that the US Embassy in Kyiv had asked for information about him from the Ukraine anti-corruption group, and this he considered “interference by Ukraine” into the 2016 election.
- Dershowitz claims on CNN that he’s a non-partisan civil libertarian and he’s support Trump because the articles are “not impeachable.” He says that “Abuse of Power” is not a High Crime and that “Obstruction of Congress” isn’t in the constitution and they could have resolved the issue in the courts even though this was an attempt to attack the 2020 election and courts take months. He argues that they could have “expedited” the issue even though the Judge in the Kupperman case didn’t even schedule an initial hearing for three weeks. Jeffrey Toobin says that’s all a load of crap. [Also the DOJ is currently arguing that the courts can’t resolve a fight between Congress and the WH in the McGahn subpoena case, so how ya like dem apples?]
- A Kansas City radio station strikes a deal that allows them to broadcast Russian funded propaganda for six hours a day.
January 18th —
January 19th —
January 20th —
- NYT Editorial board endorses both Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobachar.
- Thousands descend on Virginia’s Capitol for a huge pro-gun rally in opposition to some proposed gun control laws. Unfortunately, Neo-Nazis also attend the rally which causes actor Jeffrey Wright to compare it to a Klan Rally.
- CNN’s John Berman blasts Dershowitz as being “wrong on the law, wrong about history.”
- Morning Joe argues that Devin Nunes keeps getting caught in “one lie after another.”
- McConnel is allegedly considering a “Kill Switch” that will allow him to turn off Impeachment at any time. [Perhaps when Trump’s defenders start losing?]
- Trump has been following McConnell's lead on the Impeachment case and whines about the Senate possibly calling John Bolton to testify. “It’s not supposed to be that way.” [Yes, it is.]
- Bloomberg reports that Fiona Hill and Tim Morrison's replacement as Chief WH Russian advisor Andrew Peek is escorted out of the WH due to security concerns.
- Trump's legal team issues a 110-page rebuttal to Impeachment that claims that the entire effort is illegitimate because it doesn’t include a criminal offense [although Impeachment according to Hamilton is for “political crimes which break the public trust”], they claim the entire effort is partisan overreach, they admit that Trump solicited investigations from Zelensky and claim that he “had every right to a make those requests” [even though both cases were bogus and weren't part of US Foreign policy but were for his own personal political gain] and that they had a right to block all testimony and documents because again, the inquiry was “invalid.” They also claim that information and testimony which has come to light outside of the House case shouldn’t be considered and that he can’t be removed even if the House proves every assertion against him. [He can, but will they?]
- 22 years ago Alan Dershowitz argued that you don’t need to commit a crime to be Impeached. [Whoops!!!]
- House Managers provided a 9-page response to the rebuttal and call it "Chilling.” [And was also a confession that admitted that he did the crime(s).] ““The Framers deliberately drafted a Constitution that allows the Senate to remove Presidents who, like President Trump, abuse their power to cheat in elections, betray our national security, and ignore checks and balances. President Trump believes otherwise and insists he is free to engage in such conduct again, only highlights the continuing threat he poses to the Nation if allowed to remain in office. ”
- Geoge Conway says the Impeachment rebuttal reads as if it was written by a 9th grader.
- HUD is making rules changes that disable the ability of black homeowners to sue for being overcharged for taxes under the Fair Housing Act.
- Jennifer Rubin states that Lev Parnas has blocked Trump from denying his central role in the Ukrain plot.
- Bill Kristol blasts GOP Senators for treating their oath like a “joke.”
- A Politico report shows that Trump has multiple foreign conflicts of interests which are violations of the emoluments clause.
- Virginia gun rights activists bum rushes an MSNBC reporter’s live shot by shouting F-Bombs.
- Maggie Haberman catches Trump inflating his poll numbers. [Shocker!]
- NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifil blast Kellyanne Conway for saying Trump is preparing for MLK day [which is today] by “getting ready for Davos.” She also claims that Trump fighting Impeachment is similar to the injustices that MLK fought. [Really man?!]
- Sen. Durbin says just before the trial they still lack “basic information” about the proceedings.
- Some Democrats want to call the GOP’s bluff on calling Hunter Biden to testify in exchange for John Bolton.
- Lev Parnas calls on Bill Barr to recuse himself from any investigation of Trump due to a conflict of interest.
- Trump polls have now tanked; 51% want him removed. 57% don’t approve of his handling of Impeachment. 58% say he's guilty of power, 57% believe he obstructed congress. 67% say Russia is a serious threat.
- McConnel lays out his rules for the Trial which require each side to lay out their case in 24 hours within 2 days. The House witnesses and evidence can be admitted with a vote, additional information can be admitted with a vote, and the entire procedure can be shut down with a dismissal vote at any time. Schumer blasts the rules as a “sham.”
- Trump adds a second Team of defenders from the House including Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY). These defenders are not likely to speak in the Senate but they will show up talking BS on Fixed News.
January 21st —
- Reportedly a Former Ukraine tax chief Roman Nasirov funded a $10 Milion loan to Lev Parnas for a South Florida real estate project.
- Trump travels to Davos.
- The SCOTUS won’t decide on Obamacare's constitutionality until after the election.
- Dems plan to force votes to force document subpoenas to be issued at the beginning of the Impeachment Trial.
- McConnel backs down on his rules, moving the time to 3 days instead of 2 days and saying the House evidence “Will be” included instead of “May be.”
- Nicole Wallace: McConnell’s rules for the Impeachment trial are positively Russian.
- Neal Katyal: McConnell is trying to help Trump “cheat in the 2020 Election.”
- Rep. Schiff gives a substantive opening statement that lays out much of the case against Trump when arguing for upfront subpoenas then Cippolone and Sekulow talk nonsense and talking points.
- Schumer’s first amendment for NSA docs is voted down 53 to 47. He offers a second one for State Department subpoenas which also goes down on a party-line vote. Then the third amendment for OMB docs also goes down. While arguing for the need for these documents the House Managers manage to outline exactly what they need and why which manages to preface many of their case elements into the record, using ample use of visual aids including clips of House testimony.
- Rep. Zoe Lofgren points out that executive privilege can not be used to hide wrong-doing.
- Rep. Hakeem Jeffries argues that Mick Mulvaney was “in the loop” of the shakedown scheme and helped implement it by blocking the aid to Ukraine.
- Adam Schiff argues that America deserves a fair trial, and so does Trump.
- WH Counsel Pat Cippilone argues that “Not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed into the SCIF" — which is a blatant lie.
- John Brennen is shocked by the behavior of Pat Cippilone in the well of the Senate. “I’ve never heard a government lawyer so misrepresent the facts & deceive the American public as WH Counsel Pat Cipollone just did in the Senate impeachment trial.”
- Dershowitz disowns his previous view that Impeachment doesn’t require a crime. [Obstruction of Congress is a crime 18 U.S. Code § 1505. that Roger Stone was convicted of.]
- GOP witness Jonathan Turley says that an Impeachment Offense doesn’t need to be a criminal offense.
- The Guardian reports that Jeff Bezos's phone was hacked after it received a WhatsApp message from Muhammud Bin Salman.
- Susan Collins makes no promises on witnesses after voting against providing them.
- Ellie Honig: This chart showing the number of witnesses who testified at prior impeachment trials is devastating. (There have been witnesses at all 15 trials and average of 33 witnesses per trial).
- Elizabeth Warren: After 3 amendments, every GOP senator has voted:
- No on subpoenas for White House documents
- No on subpoenas for State Dept documents
- No on subpoenas for OMB documents
- This is a sham trial.
- Puerto Rico earthquake victims receive abandoned supplies which were provided for the Hurricane two years ago, but held in a warehouse.
- Stephen Beschloss: As dispiriting as it is to watch Republicans protect the lawlessness of Trump & aid his efforts to hide the truth, think how discouraging this is for the brave public servants who put their lives on the line to share what they know. Then think of all the senior officials hiding.
- #GOPCoverup trends on Twitter.
- TPM reports that the removal of NSC Director for Russia and Eurasia Andrew Peek could be a sign of a serious security breach that could affect his clearance.
- Warren is not promising to "look ahead" over Trump scandals as Obama did for Bush.
- Fox News Chyron states that Dems as "pushing a Hysterical Talking Point" as Rep. Jeffries describes why Mulvaney needs to testify.
- Cippilone claims that the House Dems have only been involved in “phony partisan investigations” since they took over in 2018. “They can't prove their case. They're asking you to remove your political opponent from the ballot.” He doesn't argue why Mulvaney shouldn't testify, he says that “we can decide this later. Can we please start now?”
- While CNN and MSNBC broadcast the proceeding, Hannity, Ingraham and Tucker place it in a silent window while talking crap about Dems.
- The Senate eventually votes down all 6 amendments to the Trial Plan on party-line 53-47 votes, except for once where the vote is 52-48.
January 22nd —
- Trump says he’d “Love for Pompeo, Mulvaney and Perry to testify but it would be a national security problem.” [You could waive that issue if they could prove your innocence.] He makes a bizarre statement about the inventor of the wheel, brags about obstructing Congress and while hobnobbing with billionaires in Davos says he’d be willing to cut Social Security.
- DC Attorney General Karl Racine sues the Trump inaugural committee for failing to comply with non-profit rules and booking a $1 million ballroom at Trump's DC hotel. This investigation seems to implicate Ivanka in directing inflated payments to the DC hotel.
- Jonathan Turley, the GOP’s defense witness, blasts Trump’s defense against Impeachment. “The developing defense by the White House is also a mistake. It would again ‘expand the space for executive conduct’ by reducing the definition of impeachable conduct to the criminal code,” the lawyer wrote. “It is an argument that is as politically unwise as it is constitutionally shortsighted.”
- Fox's Chris Wallace is unimpressed with the WH defense. “They are basically saying, ‘There’s nothing to see here, all of this is bogus,’ while the House managers are taking every second of their one hour to make whatever case they want to make,” “I don’t know why you wouldn’t take the time and every second you have to make an argument on behalf of the President,” he said. “If I were the President watching this, I would not be especially pleased.”
- Tulsi Gabbard sues Hillary Clinton, her political rival, for $50 million for saying that she is a “Russian asset.”
- FBI complains that Parna's lawyer was supposedly unable to unlock his iPhone when working with them but easily provided information from the phone to the House.
- Flynn's lawyers say he shouldn’t serve any jail time and accuses the DOJ of “vindictiveness.” [Why would they be vindictive since you guys violated your cooperation agreement and accused them of lying and entrapping him in a corrupt coup plot?]
- UN reports that the Saudis sought to silence Khashoggi after he criticized Trump in his column.
- WaPo issues warning that the Senate GOP is "laying the groundwork to sabotage our democracy"
- Lindsay Graham goes berzerk on the Dems: "I'm covering up nothing, I'm exposing your hatred.”
- Schumer blasts Trump's "confused" defense team: It was like watching the ‘histrionics you see on Fox News’ [Exaclty like Fox News.] He also says that a "Witness swap” of Hunter Biden for John Bolton is “off the table."
- Joe Biden says again that he will not testify because he’s not a fact witness.
- Mark Meadows sputters as he's asked about witnesses by CNN’s Dana Bash.
- George Conway tells CNN that Trump has played right into Schiff's hands. “Trump is not very smart.”
- Adam Schiff delivers his opening statement on Impeachment and torches Trump's actions with Ukraine “So we don’t have to fight Russia over there.”
- Jay Sekulow begins spewing persecution fantasies because they have no defense. He also claims that the articles don’t describe a “quid pro quo" when they do exactly that in detail.
- GOP Senators whine that Jerrold Nadler called their voting against all witnesses a “cover-up" [Because it is.] “There was open gasping on the Senate floor when Nadler was saying these things,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). “If the goal was to persuade, they took a huge step backward last night.” “If the Democrats are smart, they won’t put Jerry Nadler on the field again,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said. “He was so out of line. It’s offensive accusing us of a cover-up.” [Hm, Snowflakes R Us.] Even Lisa Murkowski says she was "offended.” [Too F-ing Bad.]
- Asha Rangappa slams Ted Cruz’s claim that there were "serious concerns" about Hunter Biden in Ukraine by pointing out that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and MLAT's would apply, but none do in his case.
- WaPo's E.J. Dionne argues that McConnell has given Dems "a gift" by tainting trump's eventual acquittal.
- Senator John Cornyn complains that the presentation it's repetitive. "Why do we have to keep hearing the same thing over and over and over again?” [Until it starts to sink in.]
- Jason Crow "pulled rank" on Roberts by pointing out that Senators are taking extended breaks away from their seats.
- A protestor screams "Schumer is he Devil” from the gallery as Hakeem Jeffries gives his presentation.
- FBI misses the deadline to provide Kushner interview memos from the Meuller probe.
January 23rd —
January 24th --