WTF Community

The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

General Discussion
, , , ,
#375

Sater was a no show, a subpoena has been issued.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-intel-panel-to-subpoena-former-trump-business-partner-felix-sater-after-no-show/2019/06/21/bf1bbdba-9432-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html?utm_term=.87d695896ac9

The House Intelligence Committee will issue a subpoena for the testimony of Felix Sater, a former business associate of President Trump, after he failed on Friday to appear for a scheduled interview with panel staff.

“The Committee had scheduled a voluntary staff-level interview with Mr. Sater, but he did not show up this morning as agreed. As a result, the Committee is issuing a subpoena to compel his testimony,” panel spokesman Patrick Boland said in a statement.

But Sater’s attorney said Friday that he had failed to appear because of health complications — and is ready to give his testimony to the panel voluntarily.

“Due to health reasons, Mr. Sater was unable to appear today,” Sater’s lawyer, Robert Wolf, said. “He looks forward to voluntarily appearing at the next rescheduled date.”

3 Likes
#376

Wolf also explained that Sater’s dog ate his testimony.

4 Likes
#377

I wish they would stop talking about taking McGahn, Barr and Mueller to court and actually do it, get those subpoena served. Congress has the right to everything, it’s compulsory, they will win even without these examples of the made-up-bullshit-blanket-immunity-proclamations coming from the White House.

Hicks wouldn’t answer questions as basic as where her desk was located in the White House or whether an Israel-Egypt war broke out while she worked in the government — something that clearly never happened. She also declined to discuss interactions she had with figures outside the White House, including former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former Trump legal team spokesman Mark Corallo.

“It’s very useful to show the judge what this means in practical reality… what an incredible assertion of executive supremacy and of congressional irrelevance,” Nadler said.

“In effect what it’s saying is, you can’t really investigate fraud, waste, abuse of power in the White House because anyone in a position to talk about it, we’re blocking,” he added. “And the [Hicks interview] was very useful to give us the record that we can show the judge how extreme it really is.”

Nadler emphasized that the committee’s inability to get Hicks to answer any questions about the Trump White House offered a long-term strategic victory, too.

If a court finds that the administration’s conception of “immunity” goes too far and orders McGahn to testify, it’s a precedent Nadler said could be used to speed the appearances of Mueller witnesses like Hicks and other former White House officials who testified about Trump’s efforts to thwart the special counsel’s investigation of his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russia.

4 Likes
#378

Absolutely! WTF is going on with the Democrats? I worked like a dog for months and invested funds in helping to flip CA-49. My primary motivation was giving Congress the power to go after Trump like attack dogs – now they’re all acting like a bunch of tea cup poodles – even Nadler is just paying lip service. And I’m tired of hearing “they know something we don’t, just be patient” – The same was said of Mueller’s investigation. After two and a half years, Trump is more entrenched than ever, his approval rating has not budged, he actually has a shot at being re-elected – and he’s dismantling our democracy day-by-day – not to mention that a delusional, temperamental, immature, sociopath has his finger on the nuclear button.

3 Likes
#379

I volunteered too, watching the glacier like movements of the House is not reassuring.

3 Likes
#380

The House Judiciary Committee appears to have reached a deal with former White House aide Annie Donaldson that would allow her to not appear before the committee by a Monday deadline and answer written questions instead, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The testimony of Donaldson, who was chief of staff for then-White House counsel Don McGahn, has been of high interest to House Democrats given her first-hand knowledge of key events. Donaldson said she took copious notes, which the committee believes will bolster its probe into potential obstruction of justice.

The committee [issued a subpoena in May](House Judiciary issues subpoenas for Hope Hicks, Annie Donaldson - CNNPolitics) for her testimony by Monday. But Donaldson’s attorney and Democrats have discussed allowing her to answer written questions instead, in part because she is pregnant and lives in Alabama.

Under the terms outlined, Donaldson would be required to answer questions within a week and the committee would reserve the right to bring her in for testimony after November 1, according to one of the sources. She has yet to receive the written questions from the committee but will consult with the White House on which questions she can answer, the source said.

1 Like
#381

I agree…watching the Dem’s being steamrolled by R’s and holding off on any real big impeachment inquiry is unnervingly slow.

Seeing that Dems are not being successful getting a full court press on getting the Mueller Report re-exposed, AND that the 2020 election is taking shape, these stall tactics make it even worse.

I tend to believe like Alan Lichtman (13 keys to WH) that Impeachment proceedings would create the scandal necessary to unseat this lothario/lug not to mention dangerous, corrupted and immoral president.

See #9 Scandal - what would be exposed during an Impeachment inquiry?

electoral college results (as happened in 2000 and 2016), it has an excellent predictor of political trends, successfully anticipated election outcomes since 1984. The “keys” to power, as summarized by PBS, include:

  1. Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.

  2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.

  3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.

  4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.

  5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.

  6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.

  7. Policy change: The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy.

  8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.

  9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.

  10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.

  11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.

  12. Incumbent charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.

  13. Challenger charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.

1 Like
#382

I try to keep a positive outlook, but this is so discouraging. That one sentence tells us everything we need to know about where this testimony is headed. She will not be answering one single question that would be damaging to Trump. Period. We know that in advance. So this is just another stall tactic.

We need to impeach and we need to impeach now!

3 Likes
#383

And Politico is already confirming that Trump will be blocking any significant testimony from Donaldson.

The White House is expected to move to block former top aide Annie Donaldson from answering the House Judiciary Committee’s written questions about her tenure as White House deputy counsel, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Donaldson, who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, struck a deal with the committee that would allow her to submit written responses instead of showing up for her scheduled public testimony on Monday. Donaldson is pregnant and lives in Alabama, her attorney Sandra Moser said, adding that it’s difficult for her to travel to Washington at this time.

Donaldson negotiated a deal with the committee that would require her to submit written answers within a week of receiving the questions. The committee is able to schedule in-person testimony after Nov. 1. CNN first reported the terms of the agreement.

But the White House, which has been involved in the negotiations, is expected to assert its claims that former aides have “absolute immunity” from testifying to Congress about their service in the White House, sources said. Democrats have said that claim is legally baseless and are vowing to defeat it in federal court.

3 Likes
#384

The House Oversight Committee will vote on Wednesday to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway for testimony connected to her violations of the Hatch Act if she does not voluntarily show up to the committee’s hearing.

Context: The Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in political activity that could influence the results of an election while operating in their official capacity. The Office of Special Counsel, a civil service watchdog, determined earlier this month that Conway violated the Hatch Act by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in an official capacity during television interviews and on social media,” and recommended she be removed from office.

What they’re saying:

  • Following the release of the OSC report, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings said in a statement: “Trump should terminate Ms. Conway’s employment immediately in light of these dozens of violations of federal law. Allowing Ms. Conway to continue her position of trust at the White House would demonstrate that the President is not interested in following the law.”
  • The White House, meanwhile, has dismissed the allegations: “OSC’s draft report is based on multiple fundamental legal and factual errors, makes unfair and unsupported claims against a close adviser to the president, is the product of a blatantly unfair process that ignored statutory notice requirements, and has been influenced by various inappropriate considerations.”
3 Likes
#385

I am uncertain where to put this, but it feels related:

The Truth About Trump Collusion and Obstruction in the Mueller Report | Opinions | NowThis

In US news and political news, celebrities including Rob Reiner, Sophia Bush, Stephen King, Jonathan Van Ness (JVN), Robert De Niro, Laurence Fishburne, Kendrick Sampson, Chrsitine Lahti, Martin Sheen, Rosie Perez, and George Takei sat down with NowThis News to cut through the Trump administration’s lies about collusion and obstruction of justice as a result of the report by Robert Mueller. Trump has repeated no collusion, no obstruction over and over since the release of the Mueller report and the subsequent Robert Mueller testimony (at the famous Robert Mueller press conference). Trump has said no collusion so many times you could make a no collusion remix. But Trump collusion is easy to see according to these stars and the Mueller report itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDf5YIojJfA

2 Likes
#386

Yes…saw this as well. It was engineered by Rob Reiner who had done daily updates on his Committee to Investigate russia

Reiner has stopped updating this web presence and created these actors discussing snippets of the Mueller Report. These will help to keep the T crimes in the public eye per The Mueller Report.

4 Likes
#387

Hopefully they have already taped all those records back together. :smirk:

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is demanding that the White House’s records chief testify about President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal documents detailing his private conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a letter to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said the White House has ignored his requests for information about Trump’s compliance with the Presidential Records Act, which mandates that such documents be preserved.

“These actions do not serve the interests of the American people, and they obstruct and frustrate the committee’s review,” Cummings wrote in his letter, which comes just a few days before Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin at the G-20 summit in Japan.

Democrats have long been suspicious of Trump’s private conversations with Putin — most notably, after his meeting with the Russian president in Helsinki last year, when Trump bucked his own intelligence agencies by saying he had no reason to believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

4 Likes
#388

The Trump-appointed ethics official who called for Kellyanne Conway’s firing last week is set to defend that decision in Congressional testimony on Wednesday.

Henry Kerner, the chief of the White House’s Office of Special Counsel, has submitted testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in which he criticizes Conway for allegedly breaking the law by politicizing her post as White House Counselor.

“Her conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government,” reads Kerner’s testimony, which The Daily Beast obtained.

“Ms. Conway’s conduct reflects not a misunderstanding of the law, but rather a disregard for it,” the testimony adds.

Kerner’s submission of testimony indicates that he plans to appear at the hearing––a significant move, given that a host of administration officials have recently stiff-armed Congressional testimony requests and subpoenas. The committee invited Conway as well, and plans to subpoena her if she does not appear, per Politico.

4 Likes
#389

The fate of Donald Trump’s presidency may hinge on Congress’ handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report — yet just three rank-and-file members of the House are allowed to view Mueller’s confidential files.

Reps. Val Demings (D-Fla.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) are the only members of the 435-member House that sit on both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, and so they have access to evidence that underpins both volumes of Mueller’s report — the one on contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign that the Intelligence panel is reviewing, and the one on Trump’s efforts to interfere with the investigation that Judiciary panel is exploring.

Politico’s Kyle Cheney posted a few more clarifying details on twitter. :point_down:

image
image1242×2003 788 KB

image
image1242×1525 586 KB

This is ridiculous, Congress is entitled to all of the evidence and the full report.

3 Likes
#390

:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Senate Democrats will not be granted a vote on an amendment that would require congressional approval for any military intervention in Iran, according to Sen. John Cornyn.

Cornyn’s remarks come amid a push from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to attach the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass Pentagon policy bill that the Senate will take up this week. Democrats argue that the amendment is necessary to prevent the United States from getting into another costly war in the Middle East without congressional approval.

2 Likes
#391

Wow, did not see that coming… :smirk:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kellyanne-conway-says-democrats-seeking-testimony-on-hatch-act-violations-are-retaliating-against-her-politically/2019/06/24/9398d3ea-9689-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html?utm_term=.bc3763cd646e

BREAKING: The move was confirmed by two White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss private deliberations. Anticipating Kellyanne Conway’s noncompliance, the House Oversight Committee plans to vote Wednesday on a subpoena to force her testimony.

A report earlier this month by the Office of Special Counsel — which is run by a President Trump appointee — found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway claimed Monday that House Democrats are seeking to compel testimony from her about alleged violations of the Hatch Act in retaliation for her successfully managing President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The House Oversight Committee is planning to vote Wednesday to subpoena Conway if she does not voluntarily appear at a hearing on allegations of her repeatedly violating the law that bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work.

3 Likes
#392

Cross posting, thank you

1 Like
#393

It’s being slow-walked for sure, but evidence can start being accumulated. A step in the right direction.

A federal judge told US House and Senate Democrats they can begin collecting financial evidence this week about Donald Trump’s businesses for a lawsuit.

Judge Emmet Sullivan, of the US District Court in Washington, denied an attempt by the Justice Department to stop the Democrats from collecting information from the Trump Organization and to appeal early court decisions in the lawsuit, which tests the constitutionality of Trump’s business holdings while he serves as President.

The case is one of several avenues Democrats have to get to Trump’s financial records.

Sullivan said the group of more than 200 members can begin collecting evidence June 28 through late September. Previously, the members of Congress said they plan to seek both documents and depositions from the Trump Organization.

But the Justice Department had hoped to take the case to an appeals court before the evidence collection began.

"This case will be poised for resolution within six months; an immediate appeal would hardly materially advance its ultimate termination," Sullivan wrote on Tuesday.

This may not be the end of the fight for Trump’s records, however.

2 Likes
#394

Mueller to testify July 17th in an open session for both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees

House Democrats negotiated for weeks to get former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to answer lawmakers’ questions about his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.

After the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees issue a subpoena, Mueller will appear Wednesday, July 17, in an an open session, the committee chairmen said.

Nadler’s Letter to Mueller

https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/Letter%20to%20Special%20Counsel%20Mueller%20(6.25.19).pdf

Waiting to see if this will be a joint session or back to back.

Looks like back to back sessions so far… that’s a monster day of testimony!

Plus there’s an extra closed door session for Mueller’s staff with the Intel committee.

3 Likes