💬 Add your voice: Comment on today’s post
Author: patd
“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland View all posts by patd
which president though – prez putin or prez poop-on?
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daily beast:
Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, Parnas’ lawyer Ed MacMahon told The Daily Beast.
Nunes aide Derek Harvey participated in the meetings, the lawyer said, which were arranged to help Nunes’ investigative work. MacMahon didn’t specify what those investigations entailed.
Nunes is the top Republican on the House committee handling the impeachment hearings—hearings where Parnas’ name has repeatedly come up.
Congressional records show Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2018. Three of his aides—Harvey, Scott Glabe, and George Pappas—traveled with him, per the records. U.S. government funds paid for the group’s four-day trip, which cost just over $63,000.
The travel came as Nunes, in his role on the House Intelligence Committee, was working to investigate the origins of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election-meddling.
[…]
Nunes has been at the center of the broader story about foreign influence in President Donald Trump’s Washington. When congressional investigators began probing Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Nunes made a late-night visit to the White House and announced the next day he’d found evidence of egregious wrongdoing by Intelligence Community officials. The move appeared to be an effort to corroborate a presidential tweet claiming that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Nunes then stepped back from the committee’s work scrutinizing Russian efforts. Instead, he ran a parallel probe looking at the origins of Mueller’s Russia probe. The undertaking made him a hero to the president and Sean Hannity, and a bête noire of Democrats and Intelligence Community officials. That work was still underway when he traveled to Europe in 2018.
Last month, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Parnas and Fruman with illegally moving money from foreign donors to American political campaigns. Both men maintain their innocence.
[…]
When Nunes traveled to Europe in 2018, Giuliani—who is Trump’s personal attorney—was working to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Kyiv. The Justice Department indictment of Parnas and Fruman alleges they illegally moved money into American elections to “advance the political interests of… a Ukrainian government official who sought the dismissal of the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine.”
Allegations against Yovanovitch blew up in American conservative media, including at The Hill and on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. Donald Trump Jr. even joined the chorus of voices calling for Yovanovitch to be recalled. And on May 20, she was.
Numerous U.S. officials, however, have testified to the impeachment inquiry that the claims against her were baseless. Yovanovitch herself testified to investigators last week. As with all the other impeachment hearings, Nunes led Republicans’ questioning of her.
Now we know why he has been sweating so much.
Jennifer Rubin’s take on the debate:
From what I saw (maybe half of the debate) sounds about right.
quoted by NYTimes in “best of late night”:
“If you don’t know, Sondland is a lifelong Republican with no prior political experience who owns a bunch of hotels. Yes. Afterward, Trump said, ‘I hate guys like that.’” — CONAN O’BRIEN
“In order to catch a selfish, idiotic hotel business guy, you have to send a selfish, idiotic hotel business guy.” — SAMANTHA BEE
“He threw everybody under the bus: Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, John Bolton’s mustache — even John Bolton’s mustache’s mustache.” — TREVOR NOAH
“This was like the ‘Wizard of Oz’ of impeachment testimony. [imitating Sondland] ‘You were there and you were there and you were there, too, Mike. You were the scarecrow!’” — SETH MEYERS
“[imitating Sondland] I’d also like to incriminate my agent — baby doll, I love you! Marcie from wardrobe, everybody at the RNC, Mick Mulvaney — we couldn’t have suppressed Ukraine without you! Oh God, they’re playing me off. I want to thank the whistle-blower, everybody at HBO. Crime is crime is crime is crime. This is for you, mom. We did it! Good night!” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“So many guys went under the bus today, there wasn’t even room for all of them under there. They had to go under in shifts.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
“I mean, it was incredible. If he were a ‘Real Housewife,’ he would have finished by throwing a glass of rose in someone’s face, and just walking off.” — JAMES CORDEN
“Even the White House janitor was like, ‘Am I gonna go to jail?’” — SETH MEYERS
“I’ll tell you something: I don’t think Gordon Sondland’s getting his million dollars back.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
[… re debate…]
“In the meantime, as if that all wasn’t enough political theater, there was a Democratic debate tonight. This is the first debate ever to begin with a round of tequila shots.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
“Why are they even having a debate today? The White House is imploding — just take a knee and run out the clock.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
“Going into it, Biden was in first and Warren was in second, but after what happened today, the new Democratic favorite is Gordon Sondland.” — JIMMY FALLON
“So now between Buttigieg, Biden, Warren, and Bernie, this has become a four-way race. And if you include Cory Booker, it is still a four-way race.” — TREVOR NOAH
“And I’m not going to lie, I’m not gonna lie: A lot of tonight’s debate sounded exactly like what we heard in the previous four. You know, Medicare for all, versus a public option; pragmatism versus revolution; Joe Biden versus his own mouth.” — TREVOR NOAH
“You know somewhere out there Donald Trump is going, [imitating Trump] ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I risked impeachment over Joe. Someone please tell me there’s a Hunter Buttigieg.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“The White House is imploding — just take a knee and run out the clock.”
kimmel’s advice also applicable to today’s hearings. might as well cross the t’s and dot the i’s on the articles, take the full house vote, put a bow on it and send it to mitch for christmas.
bet we’ll be seeing this blooper on a loop in GOPer ads for the next few months given the GOPwarroom went to the trouble of posting it on youtube
more fireworks for today
wapo:
Fiona Hill, the former White House adviser on Russia, is expected to open her testimony before the impeachment inquiry Thursday with a withering attack on House members seeking to sow doubt that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propogated by the Russian security services,” Hill says in her opening statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
The statement amounts to an apparent rebuke of Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and others who have used the hearings to advance claims that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that waged information warfare against the United States in 2016.
But Hill’s remarks also appear to be aimed at President Trump, who has been depicted by numerous witnesses as either convinced that Ukraine sought to defeat him in 2016 or intent on advancing that conspiratorial claim as a way of deflecting attention from Russia’s involvement.
“The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions,” Hill says. “It is beyond dispute.”
Poor Uncle Joe just can’t get through a debate without a gaffe. Said he had the support of the “only” black woman elected to the Senate (Carol Moseley Braun). Harris begged to differ, and there was much laughter at Biden’s expense. As usual, not really a biggie, but reinforces the narrative that he’s gaffe prone, especially in debates.
patd, thanks for all the quotes. I can’t stand Nunes or Jordan or any of ’em. I saw a bit of Biden. He’s 77. Old. Sorry, just too old. Nice guy, but too old. I’m still waiting for Sondland’s other shoe to fall.
At a loss. Gave up on Biden, went to Warren, gave up, went back to Biden, giving up again. Think I’ll just be for Yang for a few days. Could use $1000 a month.
Sting is giving testimony? 🙂
I’m exhausted after watching impeachment proceedings and then the debate all day yesterday. Not gonna watch any of it today.
I like Jennifer Rubins’ take on the debate too. I’d rather have an old gaffe machine than an old asshole in the WH any day of the week. That doesn’t mean I’ve made up my mind… I haven’t yet.
and oh yeah… I really hate Gabbard. If the election were between her and trumpty, I’d leave my vote for prez blank. Luckily… I’m confident it won’t come to that.
Joe needs to pack it up & go home. It’s not just gaffes, but he slurs a bit, too. Maybe if he didn’t try to get ALL of his words out at the same time.
Bernie looks better (his lips weren’t blue at this debate), and, made the best point about party unity in the general.
Is there room for Bloomberg & Patrick? I have no interest in either of them getting into the race.
If I watched all of OJ I reckon I can watch all of this. I do enjoy the flop-sweat, though. Some of those old white breads are sweatin’ more than Imus at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
It all leads me to re-conclude that I’ve seen some flat-out crazy shit on the teevee. I could list it all again but it will suffice that I’ve been “glued to the teevee” since 1952.
yes, I must have watched a dozen hours of TV yesterday, exhausting. just got back from an echocardiogram, was a nice break.
Craig, it isn’t often that ya hear that an echocardiogram, was a nice break. LOL. Hope it went well.
In honor of Chic Fil A’s current travails:
The Annual Stroszek
Jamie say computer fritzing she shall return.
Crippled by computer crash and teeny tiny aggravating cellphone. May be back semi saner tomorrow
the holmes & hill opening statements this morning were worth the watch. too bad they were on a day after that marathon hearing & a late debate with everybody bummed/burned out.
we have the attention span of a gnat these days. no wonder trump got elected.
Anybody else just hear “Monty” on C-Span? lol
^your impeachment livestream
See? Just put on the stream, stick your phone in your pocket, and you’re a walking impeachment hearing! No TV required. Your friends and coworkers will love it!
Wow, Dr. Hill takes zero bullshit. This hearing is amazing.
Watching Dumbo Nunes interview Fiona Hill like Wile E. Coyote tying an anchor to his foot.
Funny how Nunes keeps interrupting his counsel to change the subject when Fiona Hill wins the moment.
Hill makes great faces.
Fiona Hill is Bolton’s proxy. Very clear if he decides to testify goose is cooked.
The dream of the heist-man is to pull off the biggest heist ever.
Apropos
Book of the Day: THE FLASHMAN PAPERS, following the life of one Harry Flashman, who, as a minor character in TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS, is summarily expelled from that school after being caught out in bullying Tom Brown, and is thus heard from no more. George McDonald Fraser takes up the rest of this character’s life in a series of novels beginning with The Flashman Papers.
An extraordinary feat, for Mr Fraser to chronicle the life of this character. Bully. Abject coward. Tall and handsome. Sir Harry Flashman. Sole survivor of the charge of the Light Brigade.
How about this one?
So SFB’s team organizes a meeting and meets with the leading jurors at SFB’s office about planning SFB’s trial in the Senate? WTF is that? I can’t wait to hear Joyce Vance’s take on this shit.
Well…. after running around all day to get errands done that I’ve been ignoring all week… I did watch the last 2 hours of testimony. Nancy Pelosi, Maria Yovanovich, and now Fiona Hill…. all women I am very, very proud of who made trumpty look like the Putin puddle that he is.
At least Dems have learned how to play hard-ball. Nice job, Rep. Schiff👍
…exclusive footage of Schiff’s closing statement:
I’ve never seen nor heard diplomatic or foreign service people. Impressive!
What do they have on Linsey Graham that he’s waist deep in Trumpsky’s poo-tin?
And, yeah, how can the ~good~ senators be involved in strategy meetings?
cooked goose yum…..stuffed with prunes soaked in armagnac and stuffedn with pate
The question is how deep into the Russian spy agencies are the greedy old perverts? Why would some, definitely not all, republicans all of a sudden turn into SFB supporters and syncopates? Look at the Russian connections. Although the greedy old pervert had been anti-soviet for a few decades, all of a sudden they support the KGB/FSB/SVR/GRU rather than these United States. Why? Follow the money.
Let ‘em strategize. Best case scenario is Trump being deposed, Senate Republicans exposing themselves for the cowardly pawns they are, and the electorate defeating the snakes, including the head-snake, in 2020.
Then we get to say, “elections have consequences”.
Ms Renee,
Re your opinion of gabbard : I’m with you 100%. She’s sitting eyeball deep in the poo tin, too. Apparently, there is room in the poo tin for the entire repub party AND tulsi.
BlueBronc, I agree totally. The greedy repubes are all probably getting some $$$$ from the Russians, or something else. Help with their re-elections? Who knows, but there’s a reason why. Follow the money, indeed.
Excellent cartoon, patd! And SO true!
I think there’s no doubt that Lindsay is a Russian asset, also! I’m waiting for someone to ask all these guys if they’ve received anything from the Russians..like money…or something else.