15 thoughts on “‘Tis The Season”

  2. season schmeason, impeachment showtime this a.m. 9:00 EST

    the hill:

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said early Monday that the impeachment case against President Trump is unique in that the president is the strongest witness to prove the allegations he’s denying.
    “This is a fairly clear-cut case where the president himself is the smoking gun,” Jayapal said  on CNN’s “New Day.” 
    “I just want to say that this is an odd situation, where we have the first and best witness very early on, on national television, saying exactly what he wanted from that call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. And that was Donald Trump, when he came out and he said he wanted an investigation into the Bidens,” she added.
    Jayapal was referring to Trump’s remarks in early October, speaking to reporters on the White House lawn. When asked what he hoped Zelensky “would do about the Bidens” after their phone call, Trump said, “Well, I would think that, if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer.”
    Jayapal said the clip will be played during the Judiciary Committee’s final impeachment hearing later Monday.

    [continues]

     

    NYTimes:

    Who: The House Judiciary Committee will hear presentations of the evidence by Democratic and Republican lawyers.
    What: The “opening arguments” will be made by Barry H. Berke for the committee Democrats and Stephen R. Castor for the Republicans. Daniel S. Goldman, the Democratic counsel for the House Intelligence Committee, will then present the evidence for impeachment, and Mr. Castor will present the evidence against it. Judiciary Committee members will then ask questions.
    When and Where: The morning proceedings start at 9 Eastern in the House Ways and Means Committee chambers. They will most likely last until late in the afternoon.

  3. I hope there is a very strong presentation about obstruction of justice and obstruction of Congress.  IMHO that is an easier case to make.

  5. Hey, Poobah, I’m down with that.  I think there is ample evidence of SFB’s violations of the emoluments Clause.  I’d think that “jurors” with 3 functioning brain cells could convict him on all 3 counts.

  6. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember Democrats being this obstructive for Clinton.  The GOP is doing a show and tell of “If you don’t have the facts or the law, pound the table”.  There is a whole lot of empty table pounding going on. 

  7. Well, Congressional Republicans are as stupid and infantile as the people that vote for them.  Yay, representative government! 

  9. wapo’s take on IG report:

    A long-awaited Justice Department inspector general’s report examining the FBI’s investigation into possible coordination between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia rebuts some of conservatives’ most sensational allegations about the case — including that top FBI officials were motivated by political bias and illegally spied on Trump advisers — but finds serious faults in other areas.

    The 434-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, into the Trump campaign, and rejected the assertion that the case was opened out of political animus or that informants were used in violation of FBI rules.

    It asserted, though, that as the probe went on, FBI officials repeatedly decided to emphasize damaging information they heard about Trump associates, and play down exculpatory evidence they found.

    Conservatives and liberals alike claimed victory in the report — with Democrats saying it validated the Russia investigation while Republicans asserted it exposed serious wrongdoing.

    Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the inspector general had “completely demolished” some of conservatives’ assertions about the origins of the probe, though his investigators did find some problems.

    “Clearly, there was a legitimate, factual basis; in fact the FBI had a moral imperative to begin this investigation,” Blumenthal said. In particular, he said the inspector general had rebutted claims that Trump campaign advisers were illegally surveilled or entrapped, or that political motive was “in any way a factor.”

     

    In a statement, Attorney General William P. Barr disagreed with one of the inspector general’s key conclusions, saying the FBI launched an investigation of a presidential campaign “on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory.” So, too, did Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who Barr handpicked to conduct an investigation similar to that of Horowitz.

    [continues]

  10. the hill:

    Christopher Steele, the author of the Steele dossier, had a “cordial” relationship with Ivanka Trump ahead of his investigation into her father’s campaign’s connections to Russia, ABC News reported Monday.

    The dossier writer has been accused of being biased in his report connecting President Trump’s 2016 campaign to Russia. But he told investigators for the Horowitz report that he had a “personal” relationship with an unnamed Trump family member, making the accusations “ridiculous,” according to the report. ABC News identified this unnamed person as Ivanka Trump. 

     Steele’s reported relationship with the president’s daughter came out amid the release of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on whether political bias influenced the launch of the Russia probe. The report was released Monday.  

    [continues]

  11. more on above re steele/ivanka:

    Steele, a former British intelligence officer, met Ivanka Trump more than a decade ago in 2007 to discuss potentially working together, but that never came to fruition, a source familiar with their past contacts told ABC News. 

    The two exchanged emails obtained by ABC News in which they discussed meeting up near Trump Tower in 2008. Their discussions evolved after Steele co-founded his private company Orbis Business Intelligence into how Steele’s firm could assist the Trump Organization’s desire to expand into foreign markets, two sources familiar with the meetings told ABC. 

    He told investigators when interviewed in June that, “If anything he was ‘favorably disposed’ toward the Trump family before he began his research because he had visited a Trump family member at Trump Tower and ‘been friendly’ with [the family member] for some years.”

    [continues]

  12. …must admit i listen a little more intently to Republican questioning, but only because it’s simultaneously fascinating and horrifying how deliberately mendacious and obfuscatory they can be.   
     
    …am glad Jim Jordan was brought back to regurgitate 2-week old material.  Now he understands how difficult stand-up comedy can be. 

    …like toddlers tired from throwing tantrums, after a long day, the Republicans have calmed down, a bit.

  14. Bink, I cannot imagine that SFB won’t be impeached and I can’t imagine that he will be convicted in the senate. 

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