impeachment inquiry hearings thread

[henrygandorf 29,227]

1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

Unfortunately, the Constitution allows the Senate to handle the trial in any way it sees fit.

mcconnell’s original plan was way smarter. i really hope he lets trump call the shots. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

4 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

mcconnell’s original plan was way smarter. i really hope he lets trump call the shots. 

At first, I was like "Oh crap," but then I remembered that this is the same WH lawyer who sends the atrocious 'Sharpie' letters (Pat Cipollone). So, that's either a dodge and Pat is way smarter than he appears or he is the WH version of Blue Steel Castor and is out of his depth. Maybe McConnell has figured out a way to make the Senate slip off the hook?

I have a full day today, but I'mma try and catch the vote.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

Also Collins.

Sorry Doug, that your plan of hiding the vote after Americans were preparing for some shut eye after PAYING YOUR SALARY didn't work out. All that yelling and shouting and now you'll have to regenerate it in the morning and waste everyone's time again. Sad.

 

[HenryJames 67,401]

These are serious people.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

Ratcliffe in the background:

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

7 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

mcconnell’s original plan was way smarter. i really hope he lets trump call the shots. 

Trump wants the Senate to put the Bidens on trial for weeks because he thinks Biden would beat him. 

McConnell wants to get the shit over with as quickly as possible. Mitch probably feels good about Biden as the Democratic nominee too because they have an arsenal of unused oppo research and hit pieces to use in the general election.  

The democrats aren’t vetting Biden properly either because Obama legacy and hitting Biden is seen as hurting the party’s chances in the general election.  

Moscow Mitch has the correct strategy.  Trump is a fucking moron. 

[Huckleberry 34,684]

11 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Just heard on C-Span "He got it big enough to put in a dump truck and they don't like that". 

Come on.  Are you not entertained. 

Uh, everyone's is big enough to put in a dump truck. If somebody had it big enough that he couldn't put it in a dump truck now that would be news.

[Anastasis 23,723]

[GopherRock 1,773]

So what time is the restart this morning? 9?

[workswithseed 2,204]

11 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Uh, everyone's is big enough to put in a dump truck. If somebody had it big enough that he couldn't put it in a dump truck now that would be news.

Sorry, but what does everyone own?

[jimmyjazz 47,221]

This morning's episode of "Manufactured Outrage:  The Doug Collins Story" should be entertaining.

[HenryJames 67,401]

Still interfering.

[GopherRock 1,773]

And here we go. 

[sachick 1,189]

Aww, the republicans have put on their serious face this morning.

[jimmyjazz 47,221]

Louie is blaming everyone but Trump for "abuse of power".  Poor Donald, poor Louie.  So misunderstood.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,873]

19 hours ago, sachick said:

 

Ds are fucking this up, and it basically comes down to this chart.  Every time they should say "ANNOUNCE an investigation of my opponent."  Even when they think they are doing a mic drop, they are fucking up and making Trump's actions seem defensible.

[Biff Tannen 46,170]

3 hours ago, HenryJames said:

These are serious people.

incorrect

[David Dennison 19,554]

At least he's going to have to wear this around his neck for history.

That's something, I guess.

Getting re-elected after being impeached would also be something.

Maybe Malarky Joe will save us.

 

[Red Five 41,752]

4 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Ds are fucking this up, and it basically comes down to this chart.  Every time they should say "ANNOUNCE an investigation of my opponent."  Even when they think they are doing a mic drop, they are fucking up and making Trump's actions seem defensible.

Correct. I would also accept "find a camera and talk shit about Biden". 

[hayden_horn 11,402]

17 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Ds are fucking this up, and it basically comes down to this chart.  Every time they should say "ANNOUNCE an investigation of my opponent."  Even when they think they are doing a mic drop, they are fucking up and making Trump's actions seem defensible.

i agree with this. but i think republicans are fucking this up even more. they have no defense. it's the strangest thing.

what's o bad about president pence?

that question, i think, distills their motivations. they MUST lay out for trump. 

why is that, i wonder?

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,873]

1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

i agree with this. but i think republicans are fucking this up even more. they have no defense. it's the strangest thing.

what's o bad about president pence?

that question, i think, distills their motivations. they MUST lay out for trump. 

why is that, i wonder?

brand equity.

[David Dennison 19,554]

1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

i agree with this. but i think republicans are fucking this up even more. they have no defense. it's the strangest thing.

what's o bad about president pence?

that question, i think, distills their motivations. they MUST lay out for trump. 

why is that, i wonder?

They know they will get punished by Republican primary voters if they do not protect Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with Mike Pence. Donald Trump leads a cult of personality in the electorate and it scares the shit out of Republicans on the Hill.

[hayden_horn 11,402]

Just now, David Dennison said:

They know they will get punished by Republican primary voters if they do not protect Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with Mike Pence. Donald Trump leads a cult of personality in the electorate and it scares the shit out of Republicans on the Hill.

for a moment, allow me to put on my former republican hat: fuck that.

they should be working on eroding the donald trump cult of personality, because it is fucking toxic.

but i guess those who have a long term view of politics in this country have retired, because they have read the tea leaves, or they've left the party, a la amash.

but to me, it's beyond obvious those that are left are trump enablers, for whatever reason. because i believe most people are human and not reptiles, i have to think that they are somehow corrupted, because i cannot really consider the alternative, which would be that we are led by cynics. 

[hayden_horn 11,402]

5 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

brand equity.

well, they are running their brand into the fucking ground.

[David Dennison 19,554]

1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

for a moment, allow me to put on my former republican hat: fuck that.

they should be working on eroding the donald trump cult of personality, because it is fucking toxic.

but i guess those who have a long term view of politics in this country have retired, because they have read the tea leaves, or they've left the party, a la amash.

but to me, it's beyond obvious those that are left are trump enablers, for whatever reason. because i believe most people are human and not reptiles, i have to think that they are somehow corrupted, because i cannot really consider the alternative, which would be that we are led by cynics. 

I think they know the Republican Party as we know it is on its last legs. This country is about to go hard left for a generation or two and they know it. It's all about the short term electorally and judges for the long haul.

 

[hayden_horn 11,402]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

I think they know the Republican Party as we know it is on its last legs. This country is about to go hard left for a generation or two and they know it. It's all about the short term electorally and judges for the long haul.

 

i don't disagree with this take

[jimmyjazz 47,221]

4 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

but to me, it's beyond obvious those that are left are trump enablers, for whatever reason. because i believe most people are human and not reptiles, i have to think that they are somehow corrupted, because i cannot really consider the alternative, which would be that we are led by cynics. 

I guarantee that plenty of them -- Devin Nunes, anyone? -- are corrupt, and they've seen how Trump will turn on a former ally in a heartbeat.  They have to stay loyal or they will be exposed.

[hayden_horn 11,402]

3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I guarantee that plenty of them -- Devin Nunes, anyone? -- are corrupt, and they've seen how Trump will turn on a former ally in a heartbeat.  They have to stay loyal or they will be exposed.

it's the members of the judiciary committee that amazed me the most. every single republican was so....defiant in the face of facts. impeachment is political, but it seems that even republicans are taking partisanship to a whole new level.

then you have mcconnell admitting in a televised interview that the senate republicans will be coordinating with the fucking white house during impeachment proceedings.

i mean, fuck.

[jimmyjazz 47,221]

Just now, hayden_horn said:

then you have mcconnell admitting in a televised interview that the senate republicans will be coordinating with the fucking white house during impeachment proceedings.

What's so bad about that?  Judges coordinate with the accused all the time.  #trump

[henrygandorf 29,227]

3 hours ago, HenryJames said:

the right is getting better at comedy something something. 

[Brisketexan 106,929]

it's the members of the judiciary committee that amazed me the most. every single republican was so....defiant in the face of facts. impeachment is political, but it seems that even republicans are taking partisanship to a whole new level.
then you have mcconnell admitting in a televised interview that the senate republicans will be coordinating with the fucking white house during impeachment proceedings.
i mean, fuck.

Yes, it’s that bad and absurd. But remember Brisket’s Rule: no matter how bad it seems, it’s actually worse.

Imagine if the mob ran our courts, and made no bones about it. That’s where we are here.

[pyrohornIII 4,846]

 

7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I guarantee that plenty of them -- Devin Nunes, anyone? -- are corrupt, and they've seen how Trump will turn on a former ally in a heartbeat.  They have to stay loyal or they will be exposed.

And Putin took advantage of all their corruptibility, from Trump down.  Trump is just, I daresay, Putin's puppet?

1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

it's the members of the judiciary committee that amazed me the most. every single republican was so....defiant in the face of facts. impeachment is political, but it seems that even republicans are taking partisanship to a whole new level.

then you have mcconnell admitting in a televised interview that the senate republicans will be coordinating with the fucking white house during impeachment proceedings.

i mean, fuck.

Either they are scared of being exposed, or they are working hard to be a charter member of the Vichy style government, beholden to Putin. 

Or, they could just be idiots elected by idiots.

[ndawg 1,242]

20 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

but to me, it's beyond obvious those that are left are trump enablers, for whatever reason. because i believe most people are human and not reptiles, i have to think that they are somehow corrupted, because i cannot really consider the alternative, which would be that we are led by cynics. 

There are plenty of true believers among their ranks. I'd put money on Collins being a true believer. That's the most repugnant part about this to me.

Edited December 13, 2019 by ndawg

[SmokeyTheBear 5,569]

When you run dirty money through lobbyists, and know you risk jail time without Trump to protect you, you kind of do everything you can to protect yourself. Country be damned.

[Biff Tannen 46,170]

4 minutes ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

When you run dirty money through lobbyists, and know you risk jail time without Trump to protect you, you kind of do everything you can to protect yourself. Country be damned.

NRA!  NRA!

[atomheartbevo 90,656]

15 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

12 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Collins having a temper tantrum and is stuck on the words ‘bush league.’ 

 

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

This morning's episode of "Manufactured Outrage:  The Doug Collins Story" should be entertaining.

Reminder: Doug Collins is still a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve.  A lieutenant colonel at that.   Because he’s acting exactly like a chaplain should.   

[jimmyjazz 47,221]

10 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Reminder: Doug Collins is still a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve.  A lieutenant colonel at that.   Because he’s acting exactly like a chaplain should.   

He's acting like most evangelical Christians in the public eye act.  Nothing new here.

[Anastasis 23,723]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/inside-jockeying-prosecute-donald-trump-s-impeachment-n1100506

Inside the jockeying to prosecute Donald Trump's impeachment

Behind the scenes, House Democrats battle to influence Speaker Nancy Pelosi's picks for the team that will take the case to the Senate.

 

Dec. 12, 2019, 10:00 AM CST

By Jonathan Allen

WASHINGTON — In furtive conversations with senior colleagues on the House floor, with their own aides and in private conclaves like Wednesday's weekly Congressional Black Caucus luncheon, Democratic lawmakers have been quietly trying to game out how to become one of the "managers" who will prosecute the case in the Senate if the House impeaches President Donald Trump.

"There are a lot of discussions going on and rumors," Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the CBC, said after the panel's impeachment meeting Wednesday night. "I’m told that my name is on the list [for consideration], but I have not actively sought to be one of the floor managers. ... If the speaker would like for me to do that, I would be happy to do it."

The allure of being named to a select group for a historic mission — no matter the cautionary tale provided by the last Senate trial of a president — is as self-evident as most lawmakers' desire to carve out a personal legacy, get more airtime on television and raise more campaign money.

At the same time, it's a complicated task for the politically ambitious because the picks will be made solely at the discretion of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and many House members presume that it could be disqualifying to lobby too hard — especially publicly — for posts that require the utmost solemnity.

What’s the state of Trump’s impeachment legal team?

DEC. 11, 201907:37

"I don't even want to comment on it, if that's all right," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, said when asked if he had heard of any jockeying or was interested in being considered himself.

"I'm happy to talk about the substance of anything that's going on," Raskin, who is on the Judiciary Committee, added. "We're very focused on what's happening in Judiciary right now."

After months of hearing House Democrats brag that they can walk and chew gum at the same time — meaning they haven't abandoned their legislative work to impeach Trump — it might be surprising to find that they had suddenly lost their ability to multitask at just the moment one of the pressing matters involves their own interests.

But a senior Democratic aide who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record said that behind the scenes, lawmakers are using all the familiar means to try to influence Pelosi, from drafting letters to her to lining up support from colleagues.

"Everyone is doing everything," the aide said.

At the CBC meeting, talks centered on trying to ensure that the set of managers includes African American representation, according to several attendees. Black lawmakers reviewed the history of President Bill Clinton's impeachment, when Republicans named 13 managers — all white male members of the Judiciary Committee — to take their case to the Senate.

"There was discussion about if we keep the same number, it certainly should be a diverse group of people," Demings said.

Demings, a former Orlando police chief, is one of eight CBC members on the Judiciary Committee, which also has several Latino and Asian American lawmakers. Of the handful of Democrats in the House with experience as prosecutors, only two are black women: Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-U.S.Virgin Islands, who was an assistant district attorney in the Bronx and a Justice Department official, and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, who worked in the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

One factor that might restrict Pelosi's choices: electoral politics. Some of Democrats' top recruits in the last election cycle — who took over Republican seats — are former prosecutors who now have to worry about winning re-election in districts that favored Trump in 2010. Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Conor Lamb of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively, are veterans and former federal prosecutors. But the partisan limelight that accompanies an impeachment trial may not be helpful to their political careers.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a onetime federal prosecutor who is thought by many of his colleagues to have an inside track to a spot as a manager, first won his seat in 2000 by defeating then-Rep. James Rogan, who had been a manager in the Clinton impeachment trial.

There are no rules governing the size of Pelosi's squad or which pools she draws from within the House, and even senior lawmakers say they don't know when she will make a decision.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., declined to say whether he thinks the manager list should be limited to members of his committee, but there's no indication that Pelosi will stick to what her Republican predecessors did more than two decades ago.

In 1868, seven Republicans were appointed to prosecute President Andrew Johnson, including several prominent members of the Judiciary Committee and Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, R-Pa., a lawyer who was best known as chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Nadler also said he doesn't know when Pelosi will announce a decision.

"No idea," he said, as he stepped onto an elevator.

Until then, the jockeying will continue.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

1 hour ago, ndawg said:

There are plenty of true believers among their ranks. I'd put money on Collins being a true believer. That's the most repugnant part about this to me.

It's weird, though. I'm in District 17 and our rep, Bill Flores, is stepping down just as many Republicans are. But he was actually on the record going back quite some time ago as not willing to serve more than four or five terms at most. Now he could have been lying or hedging as politicians do, but for heaven's sake, I wish he would take a stand against what is so blatantly obvious as to be laughable. He's 65 years old.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 hour ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

When you run dirty money through lobbyists, and know you risk jail time without Trump to protect you, you kind of do everything you can to protect yourself. Country be damned.

This is what’s going on. Self preservation is a great motivator. 

[atomheartbevo 90,656]

1 hour ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

When you run dirty money through lobbyists, and know you risk jail time without Trump and Bill Barr to protect you, you kind of do everything you can to protect yourself. Country be damned.

Fixed.  If Trump didn't have Barr running point, who knows where things would be at this point.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

Bill Barr is one corrupt motherfucker, that’s for sure. 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,590]

1 hour ago, ndawg said:

There are plenty of true believers among their ranks. I'd put money on Collins being a true believer. That's the most repugnant part about this to me.

Collins district is R+27. When you represent a gerrymandered hyper-partisan district like that your only risk of losing your seat is getting primaried from the right. So you either end up with a true believer idiot, or someone willing to go along with the true believer idiots in order to retain their seat. Not sure which Collins is, but I have my suspicions. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

2 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

This is what’s going on. Self preservation is a great motivator. 

Those are good points, yours and @SmokeyTheBear. In addition, now that the hearings for the two committees are done, all of America has seen that some of these light 'bubs' are a little dim and going back to their old jobs gets a lot harder. Nunes can go back to being a pretend farmer, but Gym would have to find either a wrestling program (Helloooo Baylor!) that doesn't mind ignoring the accusations about his past malfeasance or study up and pass the bar. No, they are going to hang on and hope for tyranny.

[henrygandorf 29,227]

1 minute ago, JimmyJames said:

Bill Barr is one corrupt motherfucker, that’s for sure. 

the whole donny/wriggle/nevertheless meme has gotten a ton of usage - and rightfully so - but there really should be one for the appointees.  how many times have we all thought/hoped the next one wouldn't be some crooked trump-enabling, corrupt mother-fucking piece-of-shit, only to be like, oh, yeah, he is too.  oh well.

[AnTiM 1,695]

The man who said "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" should have a picture of Trump on his headstone so every last person would know exactly what he meant.  Please get rid of this sorry SOB asap.

[henrygandorf 29,227]

if the senate ever manned up and said enough is enough, it would be like the end of casino, with trump and barr getting buried alive.

[Red Five 41,752]

Joe Scarborough was saying this morning what I’ve been saying: why are they impeaching the president and not including the obvious crimes he’s committed?

[Chad Fuck 18,153]

28 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

the whole donny/wriggle/nevertheless meme has gotten a ton of usage - and rightfully so - but there really should be one for the appointees.  how many times have we all thought/hoped the next one wouldn't be some crooked trump-enabling, corrupt mother-fucking piece-of-shit, only to be like, oh, yeah, he is too.  oh well.

I've never hoped this.  It was imminently clear from the outset that the first generation of enablers/appointees were going to be the most capable.  Because after it was shown that (a) they couldn't wrangle him to their ends and (b) he was sure to stab them in the back, the only way left was down.

Barr is the worst though.  Most of the others are incompetent yes men.  But he's a true Rasputin who has the ear of the czar, mixed with the intelligence to know how to kowtow enough, but otherwise stay out of the spotlight and get his agenda (whatever dominionist shit that may be) working behind the scenes.  All with an underlying air made up of equal parts malevolence and arrogance.  He's what Steve Bannon could have been had Steve known not to upstage Dotard.