TODAY IN CONGRESS (TIC):
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Today’s Impeachment/Subpoena HeadlineS:
SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL — THE TRUMP TEAM CLOWN SHOW CONTINUES
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Arg Matey! There Be Tapes!
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Pompeo Blows A Gasket!
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Bolton Book Manuscript Beginning To Leak!
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: I have changed the TIC format a little to accommodate the news evolving out of the Senate Impeachment Trial. Immediately following this notice I will post a recap of what happened in the Senate trial on the previous trial day. That will be followed by a preview of what will/might happen in the trial on that day. After that you will find the usual run down of the day’s C-Span TV viewing, a recap of recent votes and the Committee Activity.
NOTE: Since like many of you, I don’t work Saturdays, I wasn’t able to recap Friday’s trial proceedings nor preview Saturdays. So to catch you up, I have recapped both Friday’s and Saturday’s proceedings below, as well as previewing Monday’s proceedings.
Senate Impeachment Trial — Day Five Recap — January 24 — The House Managers Opening Arguments began the day with a wrap up of Article I and then went into Trump’s attempt to cover up his Article I crimes by committing Article II crimes (i.e., Obstructing Congress). They started where they left off on Thursday, by totally dismantling many of the arguments that the President’s Defense Team is likely to make, including the debunking of all the false, after-the-fact reasons for why the Ukraine Aid was withheld. The Managers went on to subtly slide into Article II be describing the Trump cover up beginning in early September when the Trump White House first learned about the Whistleblower Report. The cover up argument contained 3 main elements: 1) Over-classifying Trump's call and hiding the call record on a super secret server; 2) Hiding the hold on military aid and creating bogus after the fact excuses; and 3) Taking illegal steps to conceal the whistleblower complaint. They then go on to cite the Cipollini letter to link all of the obstruction directly to Trump. The Managers then make the historical argument about how extreme Trump’s obstruction was, beyond Clinton and even beyond Nixon, who except for the infamous tape, turned documents over to Congress and allowed (even encouraged) witnesses to testify. Finally, they wrapped up their Article I and Article II arguments with an appeal to give America a Fair Trial. You can view Adam Schiff’s January 24 Closing Remarks HERE courtesy of C-Span. You can also read the transcript HERE.
Here are some of what I consider to be the highlights and lowlights of Trial Day Five:
- Highlight — The Ghost of John McCain Haunts the GOP Senate — To emphasize the dual points of the degree to which Ukraine is under constant threat from its much more powerful Russian neighbor and how essential US Support and Aid to Ukraine is needed to hold Russia at bay, Schiff played a video of John McCain discussing the promise and peril of Ukraine. Seeing McCain make strong arguments for the necessity of continued support for Ukraine back in 2015 made me wonder if he had a premonition of our current mess. I also have to wonder if Lindsey Graham was squirming in his seat during the video (if he was in his seat at all) and if he felt haunted by his deceased friend.
- Highlight — Trump Teams Catch 22 — House Managers pushed back on Trump Team’s anticipated defense against Article II by saying that it was not Congressional Obstruction because Congress could have just waited for the Courts to decide Trump’s legal “arguments” for blocking documents and witnesses. Besides laying out how long such Court proceedings would take, the Managers smartly brought up how Trump’s DoJ is arguing in the McGahn case that differences between the Legislative and Executive Branches over “whatever” cannot be resolved by the Courts. So while Trump’s right hand is saying differences over Congressional subpoenas can be resolved by the Courts, his left hand is saying the Courts have no business in the resolving of Legislative and Executive Branch squabbles over subpoenas. Crazy, Ain’t It!
- Highlight — IMPORTANT Preview of Battles To Come — During his closing statement, Adam Schiff brought up some rumored arguments against the subpoenaing of documents and witnesses. The rumor is that if the Senate voted to consider subpoenas for documents and/or witnesses, the Trump Team would invoke claims of “Executive Privilege” and tie the whole matter up in the Courts for months. But Schiff, proving he has read the Rule VII of the Standing Rules of the Senate for Impeachment Trials. said (I’m paraphrasing, but here’s basically what he said):
If Team Trump throws out the “Executive Privilege Claim” roadblock in front witnesses/document subpoenas, Schiff said “we have the Chief Judge sitting behind me to rule on such claims” in accordance with the Standing Rules of the Senate pertaining to impeachment (specifically Rule VII), and such decision can be overruled by a Senate majority under such rules.
So what Schiff is saying here is there’s no need to go to Court, the Senate Rules can quickly deal with such claims. Now according to Rule VII, the Chief Judge can rule on a motion to invoke “Executive Privilege” in favor or against such a motion, which can be overruled by a Senate majority vote (i.e., 51 Senate votes needed to overrule CJ). But overruling the Chief Judge may be a hard vote to take for at least some GOP Senators. Afterall, overruling the Chief Justice who sits on the highest court in the land on a legal issue, isn’t a small matter. On the other hand, the Chief Justice could directly punt the question to the Senate for a vote. But the Senate Rules DO NOT give the Presiding Officer (Chief Justice) the option of punting to the question out of the Senate and into the Courts, nor do I think he would. First because he would likely be reluctant to make a ruling that is not specifically allowed by the Senate Rules, and second because he knows that Courts would be very reluctant to get involved and would likely refuse to hear the case. We will see how this will play out later in the week.
- Lowlight — GOP Senators Upset At A Reported Remark — So Lisa Murkowski and apparently some other GOP Senators got all bent out of shape about Schiff simply repeating a remark reportedly made by some White House Staffer about Trump retribution against any GOP Senator that turns on him (i.e., “Any GOP Senator who votes against Trump will have his head on the end of a pike”). Remember, Schiff is just repeating a rumored Republican remark. He made that clear while saying he hopes its not true. Still, some GOP Senators expressed outrage over Schiff’s repeating of the remark even though they all know the premise of the remark is true, whether it was actually made by White House Staff or not. Funny, that when it comes to Pompeo screaming at and trying to intimidate a reporter with a barrage of expletives or the President caught on tape in 2018 remarking about Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch that someone needs to “Take Her Out” (more below on these two new outrages), the reaction so far from these same GOP Senators has been, CRICKETS!
- Ultra-Highlight — A Closing Appeal For Fairness — So the “Ultra-Highlight” for me came at the very end during Schiff’s closing remarks of the House Managers Opening Arguments. It wasn’t some big, long, epic oration like the Gettysburg Address. It was this one short but powerful line:
“I ask you, I implore you … give America a fair trial. She’s worth it. Thank you.”
Very rarely have so few words said so much. DROP THE MIC!
Senate Impeachment Trial — Day Six Recap — January 25 — Full Disclosure here, I didn’t watch Day One of the Trump Clown Show, so I am not a first hand witness. I had something better to do (went on a soup stroll). Anyway, I guess they decided to speak for only two hours on Saturday because Trump wants his Defense Team to present his case in “Prime Time” (Weekday evenings), even though his team is made up of the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players”. So anyone who thought they were just having mercy on our souls by limiting our torture to 2 hours, don’t worry, the worst is yet to come.
As I said, I did not watch Saturday’s arguments by Team Trump, but I think Adam Schiff summed it up pretty well. In his recap he said that the Trump legal team did not contest the basic facts the House Managers put forth. They did not contest that Trump solicited (extorted) a Foreign government to help him CHEAT in an election. He also says the Trump Team argued that the President did not explicitly state a Quid-Pro-Quo in the July 25th call so there was none. As Schiff points out, this completely ignores the fact that the President’s famous “I need you to do us a favor, though” remark came right after Zelinsky’s remark about needing US javelin missiles, as well as the sworn testimony of numerous credible witnesses. So as I predicted a few TICs ago, they mainly used their time so far to bash Democrats for wanting to take Trump down and raising the thoroughly debunked Burisma/Biden conspiracy theory. Also, although they didn’t argue explicitly for the calling of witnesses like the Biden’s they did, inadvertently, help the House Manager’s case for witnesses. Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin in his attempt to emphasize that the House Manager’s case is built on “second hand” witnesses, made a remark that seemed to support the Manager’s argument for the need to call “first hand” witnesses (e.g., Bolton, Mulvaney, etc.). I’m sure he later wished he could take it back, but rest assured the House Managers will pounce on it when it comes time to argue for witness subpoenas.
Finally, Trump Team indicated that their overall opening argument would be “short”, although they didn’t offer a specific time period. They are blatantly using the old defense lawyer trick of saying there is no need for a lengthy defense since the Prosecutors have failed to make a credible case against their client. Of course, it apparently doesn’t matter to them that a High School student can see that this is just a poor excuse. It is likely a very thinly veiled attempt to hide the fact that they don’t have much of a real defense at all. I suspect that the House Manager’s “pre-butal” of many of the Trump Defense Team’s anticipated points have caused them to leave the bulk of their case on the cutting room floor, leaving them with only a few hours of BS to present.
Senate Impeachment Trial — Day Seven Preview — January 26 — Well, welcome to Day Two of the Trump Clown Show. I have to be honest again. I don’t know how much of this BS I will have the stomach to watch today, but I’ll try to catch a few minutes. It’s not as much of the fact that I can’t stand listening to these ReThugs, its more because I can’t stand constantly being lied to. Anyway, I expect they will fill time in the afternoon with something, and save their best BS for the Prime Time evening audience. So I expect a long day/evening. If you decide to watch all day/evening, I suggest keeping your barf bucket handy.
Now onto the Other Good Stuff!
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 —
2:00 pm — House Session (The House of Representatives meets for legislative business.)
Senate —
1:00 pm — Senate Impeachment Trial, Day 7 (The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump continues with opening arguments from the President’s defense team. Other legislative work is possible.)
Friday’s Votes:
House — No votes
Senate — No votes due to trail.
Comments:
Today’s Events – Senate Trial Day 7 is of course the C-Span watch pic of the day. But remember, this is likely to be an all day/evening dose of BS from Trump’s team of Clowns, so you might want to keep a Barf Bag handy. But if you decide you can’t take the BS any longer, you can turn to the House Session. I don’t know what legislative business they will be working on today, but it should be something that will settle your stomach. HAPPY VIEWING!
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction:
NOTE #1: 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. Below, I will post only recent developments (stuff that happened the day before) and any new developments.
NOTE #2: I have removed the Committee subpoenas that have been inactive for weeks. You can still find out about them in my September 26 Diary (CLICK HERE). Also, I will still keep a check on them and if something new happens in any of them, I will post it in future TIC diaries.
NOTE #3: Well my September 26 Diary containing the full backgrounds on each of the subpoena and impeachment activities has gotten too long, so the character limit has made it impossible for me to use this diary to post new background information. So starting November 22, I have posted background information from November 22 going forward in this November 22 Background #2 Diary and I will keep it updated until I run out of space again. I have put in a new link to the November 22 TIC for you to access it in each Committee Activity below. I have also kept the old link to the September 26 Diary so you can obtain the pre-November 22 background information.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Mueller Grand Jury Materials —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. Awaiting decision by Appeal’s Court Three Judge Panel.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background —Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. Awaiting decision by Appeal’s Court Three Judge Panel.
House Oversight Committee Files Lawsuit to Enforce its Subpoenas to Wilbur Ross (Commerce Secretary) and AG William Barr —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, waiting on Court date for House subpoena lawsuit.
House & Senate Impeachment Proceedings —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House Intelligence, & Judiciary Committees’ Impeachment Investigation” But I have changed the heading to keep up with the progress of the impeachment process.
Background —Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here are some recent developments:
All the recent developments have to do with the Senate Impeachment Trial which I pretty well covered above and won’t repeat here, except for this. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he would testify in the Senate impeachment trial against President Trump if compelled by law.
“If I am legally required to testify, as I’ve said before, I’d be happy to do it,” the secretary said when asked during a press conference alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a visit to Kingston.
I guess that all depends on what your definition of “legally required” is!
New Developments — All the new developments have to do with the Senate Impeachment Trial which I pretty well covered above and won’t repeat here, except for this stuff:
- As in the Nixon Case, We Now Have A TAPE — The saga of the Trump TAPE began Friday evening when ABC News stated they had in their possession an audio tape of an April 2018 Dinner where Trump is discussing Ukraine with his guests (i.e., Big Money Donors). On Saturday, we learned from Lev Parnas’s attorney Joseph Bondi who appeared on MSNBC, that it is actually a 1 hour and 23 minute video/audio recording made by Igor Fruman (Giuliani Thug #2) during an April 30, 2018 private dinner with the President which his client, Lev Parnas (Giuliani Thug #1) acquired from his buddy Fruman. Bondy confirmed that Parnas has provided the entire tape to the House Intelligence Committee. During the show, it was learned that the tape was publicly released by a source other than Parnas and Bondy. You can watch/listen to the Full tape HERE courtesy of the Washington Post or HERE from Fox News if you don’t have a WaPo subscription. The money quote everyone is talking about occurs at about the 39 minute mark in the tape. Here’s the rough transcript from CNN:
The person who appears to be Parnas later says, "the biggest problem there I think, where you need to start, is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration."
Trump responds, "the ambassador to Ukraine?"
"Yeah, she's basically walking around telling everybody, 'wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait,' the man says.
Amid some laughter from the table, someone replies, "she'll be gone tomorrow."
About 10 seconds later, an agitated Trump says, "Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Ok? Do it."
Although the media is interpreting Trump’s remarks as asking for Yovanovitch to be fired, the phraseology used by Trump, “Take Her Out”, is straight Gangster talk for ordering a hit. SCARY!
In addition, there is also this exchange which sounds like it’s between Parnas and President Trump:
Trump asks a person who appears to be Parnas how long Ukraine would "last in fight against Russia." Parnas says "without us, not very long," and another person chimes in, "about 30 minutes."
Months later, Trump would try to cut off military aid to Ukraine. The full tape is worth listening to since it contains a treasure trove of other juicy stuff, some related to Ukraine and some related to other jaw dropping statements. If, how or when the House Managers use this tape has yet to be disclosed. But I would guess it would be among the documentary evidence they will attempt to put into the official Senate trial record. Stay Tuned.
- Pompeo Blows A Gasket — It all started with a Pompeo interview by NPR’s host of “All Things Considered”, Mary Louise Kelly in which Pompeo would not give a straight answer as to whether he defended former Ambassador Yovanovitch in the face of Trump’s push to fire her. You can read the Full Transcript of the Interview HERE. After the interview, according to Kelly and NPR, this is what happened next:
An aide of Pompeo asked Kelly to follow her into Pompeo's private living room at the State Department without a recorder. The aide did not say the ensuing exchange would be off the record.
Inside the room, Pompeo shouted his expletive filled displeasure at being questioned about Ukraine and asked Kelly to identify the country on a map, which she did. He used repeated expletives, according to Kelly, and asked, "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" He then said, "People will hear about this."
After Kelly made her “taken to the woodshed” encounter with Pompeo public, Pompeo fired back Saturday night with this statement:
"NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record," he said. "It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency. This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity."
"It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine."
NPR has since defended their reputable reporter:
In a statement, NPR Senior Vice President for News Nancy Barnes said, "Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report."
Finally, not to be left out of the action, Trump had to pour more gasoline on the fire Pompeo ignited. In a response to this tweet by Mark Lavin:
Why does NPR still exist? We have thousands of radio stations in the U.S. Plus Satellite radio. Podcasts. Why are we paying for this big-government, Democrat Party propaganda operation.
Trump tweeted back by saying:
”A very good question.”
So after being in trouble for withholding Ukraine’s funding, he is now threatening to withhold NPR’s funding. Will the Presidential Extortion Ever End!
- Bolton’s Book Manuscript is Beginning to Leak Out — Bolton has apparently begun circulating a manuscript of his yet-to-be-released book and according to reports from The New York Times, Bolton writes that Donald Trump personally told him he would continue to freeze the nearly $400 million in aid until Ukrainian officials aided his desired investigations into “Democrats” and “the Bidens.” But what is even more shocking is the following for Hunter's FP Sunday Night Post:
Importantly, The Times reports that the Trump White House was sent the manuscript for a standard pre-publication administration review in “recent weeks”—meaning Trump, his legal team, and others implicated have known what Bolton would testify to during this period in which they have loudly and angrily insisted that the Senate call no witnesses. If the White House has intentionally delayed or frozen the book’s publication in an attempt to block it until after the conclusion of the Senate impeachment trial, it could constitute yet another act meant to obstruct justice.
The GOP Senate only has two choices now: 1) Subpoena Bolton to testify and hold as fair a trial as possible; or 2) Dismiss the case and be implicated in the Biggest Political Cover Up of All Time!
House Committees Subpoenas/Requests for Trump Banking/Financial Records &
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
NOTE: In previous TICs, there were 3 separate topic threads (1. Deutsche/Capital One Bank Subpoenas, 2. Mazars’ Subpoena, and 3. Trump Taxes) covering 5 different court cases. Since they are all dealing with the same general topic (Trump’s hidden financial history) and were starting to get intertwined in my brain, I have rolled them all under the single header above to hopefully make things less confusing.
Also, to further help keep things organized, below are the five (5) ongoing court cases dealing with Trump’s Banking/Financial Records and tax returns.
1. Trump vs. Deutsche Bank and Capital One — Case brought by Trump against the the two banks in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees for the Trump Organization’s banking records, including tax returns.
2. Trump vs. Mazars (Congressional Case) — Congressional Mazar’s case brought by Trump against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee for the Trump Organization’s financial records, including tax returns.
3. Trump vs. Mazars (Criminal Case) — Case brought by Trump against against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the Manhattan DA for Trump’s tax returns. The DA has subpoenaed these takes returns in conjunction with his criminal investigation of Trump’s hush money pay off to Stormy Daniels.
4. Congress vs. the IRS & Treasury Department (Trump’s Federal Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by the House Ways & Means Committee against the IRS and Treasury Department for their failure to turn over Trump’s tax returns upon the Committee’s request as required BY LAW.
5. Trump vs. NYS Tax Department (Trump’s State Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by Trump to block NYS from turning over his State tax returns to Congress.
I will use these case #s below to help keep things organized.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Committees’ Iran Assassination Investigation —
Background — Post Nov. 22 CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! HAPPY IMPEACHMENT TRIAL VIEWING!