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The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

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#524

The Office of the Speaker of the House released a press report today accusing the President of corruption. (Nancy comes back swinging!)

Trump Violates the Constitution, Lavish Properties are a Cesspool of Corruption

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

BLOG

President Trump is violating the Constitution by making money off of his lavish, ritzy resort properties, ultimately prioritizing his profits over the interests of the American people.

First, Trump suggested holding the G7 Summit at his Doral golf resort in Florida.

Now, the White House is walking back their previous statements that Trump personally suggested Pence stay at his Doonbeg hotel in Ireland, which would be yet another example of the President’s self-dealing.

Vice President Pence promised that their Administration would defend the Constitution and stand by a “strict constructionist”interpretation of the Constitution. Instead the Trump-Pence Administration is ignoring the text itself and selling out the Constitution to line Trump’s pockets.

Trump properties are a cesspool of corruption, a black hole for taxpayers’ money, an exploiter of immigrant labor and a national security threat with a suspected foreign spy walking the halls. Here is just some of what we know about the extent of the corruption at Trump’s properties:

  • Violating the Constitution, Emoluments Clause: President Trump is violating the domestic and foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting and encouraging foreign governments to pay to stay at Trump resort properties without Congressional approval. More than 200 Members of Congress are fighting in the courts to defend our Constitution and put an end Trump’s abuse of power.
  • Influence Peddling: Three members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago inner circle of billionaire donors have undue influence over policy, projects and decision making by VA leadership, including impacting a $10 billion dollar contract.
  • American Taxpayers Footing Bill for Trump’s Extravagance: According to the GAO, Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago cost, on average costs $3.4 million per visit and his golf outings have cost taxpayers at least $105 million as of July 2019 due to security expenses, travel on Air Force and Marine One and the frequency of his games.
  • Trump Exploits Undocumented Workers: For decades, the Trump organization exploited undocumented immigrants to pad its bottom line. It did so in possible violation of civil and criminal law. And yet, the Trump Administration hypocritically attacks immigrants to score political points and refuses to work constructively with Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform that would help bring undocumented workers out of the shadows.
  • Suspected Chinese Spy Causes National Security Threat at Mar-a-Lago: Trump’s properties are a national security risk, between a “credible threat”of espionage when a suspected Chinese spy gained access to Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s reckless handling of sensitive information during publicly-attended events at his properties.

Pence is just the latest Republican elected official to enable President Trump’s violations of the Constitution – and his corruption, self-dealing and lack of regard for the rule of law to threaten our national security, cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and diminish the stature of the United States.

The American people deserve a government that serves their interests, not one that’s being exploited to line the President’s pockets.

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#525

U.S. congressional investigators have identified possible failures in Deutsche Bank AG’s (DBKGn.D) money laundering controls in its dealings with Russian oligarchs, after the lender handed over a trove of transaction records, emails and other documents, three people familiar with the matter said.

The congressional inquiry found instances where Deutsche Bank staff in the United States and elsewhere flagged concerns about new Russian clients and transactions involving existing ones, but were ignored by managers, two of the people said.

Lawmakers are also examining whether Deutsche Bank facilitated the funneling of illegal funds into the United States as a correspondent bank, where it processes transactions for others, one of the sources said.

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#526

House Democrats are investigating Vice President Mike Pence’s stay at President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Ireland, as well as Trump’s recent promotion of another property he owns as a possible venue for the next G-7 summit.

In letters made public Friday, leaders of two Democrat-led House committees requested documents and other information from the White House, the Secret Service and the Trump Organization about the two matters. Both committees raised concerns about possible violations of the Constitution’s so-called emoluments clauses, which bar federal officials from accepting payments from foreign governments or profiting beyond their salaries.

The new lines of inquiry are the just the latest in a growing list of investigations into the Trump administration, his current and former associates, his businesses, his 2016 presidential campaign and his inaugural committee that have been launched by state and federal prosecutors and Democrat-led House committees.

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#527

Wait there’s more…why is the military stopping to refuel in Glascow to re-fuel at a very small airport and have all on board stay at T’s property?

Why? Because it is a grifting WH…

Thankfully it is being investigated by the House Oversight Committee.

On Maddow’s show tonight (msnbc)

Since April, the House Oversight Committee has been investigating why the crew on the C-17 military transport plane made the unusual stay — both en route to the Middle East and on the way back — at the luxury waterside resort, according to several people familiar with the incident. But they have yet to receive any answers from the Pentagon.

The inquiry is part of a broader, previously unreported probe into U.S. military expenditures at and around the Trump property in Scotland. According to a letter the panel sent to the Pentagon in June, the military has spent $11 million on fuel at the Prestwick Airport — the closest airport to Trump Turnberry — since October 2017, fuel that would be cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base. The letter also cites a Guardian report that the airport provided cut-rate rooms and free rounds of golf at Turnberry for U.S. military members.

Taken together, the incidents raise the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump’s Turnberry resort afloat — the property lost $4.5 million in 2017, but revenue went up $3 million in 2018.

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#528

Ok…bring it on…

The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to take its first formal vote to define what Chairman Jerry Nadler calls an ongoing “impeachment investigation” of President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources briefed on the discussions.

The panel could vote as early as Wednesday on a resolution to spell out the parameters of its investigation. The precise language is still being hammered out inside the committee and with House leaders. A draft of the resolution is expected to be release Monday morning.

Thx @rusticgorilla

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#529

And more on this…Dems mean business re: impeachment, following the same rules as were utilized during Nixon’s and Clinton’s impeachment.

Ok guys…bring it on…shake it up…DO SOMETHING!

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee plans to vote this week to formalize procedures for a growing impeachment inquiry, clarifying its investigative authorities and granting President Trump new due process, a draft resolution shows.

The Judiciary Committee took similar steps in the 1970s and 1990s when it conducted impeachment inquiries into Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton. Now, as then, Democrats believe the resolution, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times, will allow the panel to speed up its work and potentially elicit more information than it otherwise could about instances of possible obstruction of justice and abuses of power by Mr. Trump.

The development carries significant symbolic weight, as well.

Though the committee has already informed federal courts and the public that it is in the midst of a full-scale impeachment inquiry, the three-page resolution will be the first time lawmakers have recorded a vote to that effect. Committee leaders hope the move will send a signal to Congress and the White House that their investigation is not only proceeding but intensifying, even as the broader Democratic Party caucus remains divided over the merits of ultimately voting to impeach Mr. Trump.

Based on the committee’s investigative plans, the new procedures could be put to the test quickly in the coming weeks.

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#530

And Congress is back. Well almost, we’re still a few hours away but who will notice? Amirite?

The vote, expected Thursday and confirmed to NBC News by a source familiar with the committee’s plans, will include language that is expected to follow the procedures the Judiciary Committee used in 1974 during the Nixon impeachment proceedings.

The resolution, should it pass, would make the following four changes to the committee rules governing hearings:

  • It would allow the chairman to designate full committee or subcommittee hearings as part of the impeachment probe.
  • It would allow staff to question witnesses for an additional hour, equally divided between the majority and minority.
  • It would allow for secret grand jury material to be reviewed in closed executive session.
  • It would allow for the president’s counsel to respond to information and testimony presented in committee in writing and give the chairman authority to invite the president’s counsel to review and respond in writing to executive session materials.

These procedures are expected to follow those the Judiciary Committee used in 1974 during the Nixon impeachment proceedings.

“President Trump went to great lengths to obstruct Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation, including the President’s attempts to remove the Special Counsel and encourage witnesses to lie and to destroy or conceal evidence,” Nadler said in a statement accompanying the release. “Anyone else who did this would face federal criminal prosecution.”

“No one is above the law,” Nadler added. “The unprecedented corruption, coverup, and crimes by the President are under investigation by the Committee as we determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment or other Article 1 remedies. The adoption of these additional procedures is the next step in that process and will help ensure our impeachment hearings are informative to Congress and the public, while providing the President with the ability to respond to evidence presented against him.”

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#531

The House Oversight Committee is investigating and Air Force spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Thomas says the Air Force is reviewing "all guidance pertaining to selection of airports and lodging accommodations during international travels."

The reviews follow a Politico reportabout a seven-member crew of a C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane staying at Turnberry earlier this year.

The crew was flying the C-17 from Alaska to Kuwait and stopped for refueling at Prestwick airport, a struggling commercial airport that is key to Turnberry’s business model. The airport entered into an official partnership with the Trump organization in 2014.

Before taking office, President Trump turned day-to-day operations of his companies over to his adult sons. But breaking with the practice of past presidents, he did not divest or otherwise distance himself from his businesses.

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#532

Three U.S. House of Representatives committees said on Monday they had begun “a wide-ranging investigation” into reports that President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and possibly others pressured Ukraine’s government to assist Trump’s re-election campaign.

The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wrote to the White House and State Department seeking records related to what they described as efforts to “manipulate the Ukrainian justice system.”

Trump and some of his fellow Republicans have questioned whether it represented a conflict of interest that Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, a presidential candidate, had served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

White House aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement of the probe by the Democratic-led House committees.

Committee press release,

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#533

The House Intelligence Committee is accusing former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn of failing to comply with its subpoena as part of its Russia investigation.

The committee is now demanding that Flynn appear on September 25 and provide documents by September 18, according to a letter Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, sent to Flynn on Friday.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation back in 2017, but he is still awaiting sentencing. Flynn had long been a cooperating witness for the government since his guilty plea, but earlier this year Flynn obtained a new legal team and has accused federal prosecutors of withholding significant documents and audio recordings related to his criminal charge and the Mueller investigation.

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#534

The Trump administration told a federal court today that House can’t use the courts to enforce its subpoenas, in this case for President Trump’s tax returns. Instead, it says that if Congress wants to make the administration comply, it should ask DOJ to file contempt charges.

Here’s the filing ->

DOJ says only the executive branch can decide whether to go to court to enforce Congressional subpoenas served on the executive branch.

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#535

It’s heating up…pretty darn close to T…unethical…yes but is it impeachable? Pundits are saying no.

WASHINGTON — Back in 2014, soon after acquiring a golf resort in Scotland, Donald J. Trump entered a partnership with a struggling local airport there to increase air traffic and boost tourism in the region.

The next year, as Mr. Trump began running for president, the Pentagon decided to ramp up its use of that same airport to refuel Air Force flights and gave the local airport authority the job of helping to find accommodations for flight crews who had to remain overnight.

Those two separate arrangements have now intersected in ways that provide the latest evidence of how Mr. Trump’s continued ownership of his business produces regular ethical questions.

On Monday, President Trump sought to tamp down a growing controversy over a stay at the resort by United States military personnel who were traveling through the airport in Scotland in March. First on Twitter and later speaking to reporters at the White House, he said he was not involved in any decision to put an Air Force flight crew at the resort, known as Trump Turnberry.

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#536

Um, yeah this should have been bigger news…

Did you know that a whistleblower has come forward with evidence that Trump administration officials are interfering with the mandatory audits federal law requires for all Presidents and Vice Presidents? I didn’t either! Or at least I didn’t until I was talking to TPM’s Josh Kovensky and he mentioned it to me in passing. And yes, this is really true! (Josh wrote the story up here back on August 27th. Definitely read his analysis for a deeper look at the details.) On July 29th a federal employee came forward to the House Ways and Means Committee with “credible allegations” of possible misconduct tied to the mandatory audits of the President’s and Vice President’s taxes.

Why isn’t this a bigger deal?

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#537

C’mon Dems get a clear message together.

Anyone else frustrated after reading this article? :raised_back_of_hand:

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#538

:clap: won’t pass the senate but at least Dems are together on gun control.

House Democrats are moving forward on a package of gun control bills following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

The House Judiciary Committee passed three bills late Tuesday evening that seek to address the gun violence epidemic, preparing them for consideration in the full House, as Democrats push Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take up any gun control legislation.

The bills passed by the Judiciary Committee included legislation to regulate magazine purchases, restrict criminals convicted of hate crimes from purchasing firearms, and adopt national red flag laws which allow local authorities to remove firearms from individuals believed to be a danger with a court petition.

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#539

Yes! And disgusted.

But…

Congress lead by Pelosi will only give up ground to impeachment inquiry. I think Rep Chris Himes put it best…about her needing to cover the “four quarters” of her field of Congressional reps -those most vocal for impeachment and those who can not afford to stick their necks out. Holding onto their power is the big win for her and moderates ie 2020.

Unclear how much leverage House Judiciary can or will have…yes, we all believe there are impeachable offenses…and seizing on all of the intolerable grifting, unstable temperament and horror show may be the best win they can expect.

But big picture - 2 yr terms, no greater impeachment win vis-a-vis getting Senate on board. Pelosi is a pragmatist …

I think Nadler can get on a roll with getting his impeacment process going…but it does need a united groundswell of support.

No one thinks this is normal except the 38% who approves of him.

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#540

It’s kinda zombie investigation so far, I feel like the risk is pretty low at this point. I feel like this is the bare minimum to meet oversight obligations. I know it’s because Dems have limit power and capabilities but it brings up a larger point, if we can’t impeach a president like Donald Trump, who is impeachment for and is this a problem for America?

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#541

Agree with you…Dems have not been able to get traction on getting their witnesses - McGahn on down, and they are getting slammed by T, Barr…Fox News feeds. It is a real showdown…and Dems are getting kicked to the curb.

But in our lifetime, we have NEVER seen our democracy so upended…the constitutional provisions and laws just thrown out the window. For every move the Dems have made the clown chorus of Reps Jordan, Gaetz and McConnell re-orient the argument and call Mueller out, fbi, and call the media Fake. It is diabolical.

So ideally…we would have an impeachment inquiry…we would have McGahn testify…BUT all these norms seem shunted to the sidelines.

For every Dem candidate who hopes we can do all these positive things - improve healthcare, keep abortion legal, save the envirment there is someone on the right calling it too radical…or giving away the store.

I hope all disgruntled farmers, women who see through T and know he is an ogre backed by creeps (s miller) - will tire of all this chaos.

Do not want to sound like a passive bystander…but the future lies within the 2020 race. All or nothing…double down on this charade.

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#542

I’m frustrated on more than one level:
There’s frustration with how this is being reported
There’s frustration with the Democrats
There’s frustration with people who are not appalled by this administration
There’s frustration with the courts
Mostly I’m frustrated that there doesn’t seem to be an end to the madness.

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#543

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to intensify its investigation of Republican President Donald Trump on Thursday, as lawmakers edged closer to deciding whether to recommend his impeachment.

The 41-member panel adopted a resolution allowing it to designate hearings as impeachment proceedings, subject witnesses to more aggressive questioning and quicken the pace of an investigation that is expanding into areas that could prove politically explosive for both Trump and Congress.

“With these new procedures, we will begin next week an aggressive series of hearings investigating allegations of corruption, obstruction and abuse of power against the president,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters after the 24-17 vote.

A more aggressive probe could also increase pressure on House Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has resisted impeachment as a politically risky step for moderate Democratic freshmen from swing districts where ousting Trump is an unpopular idea.

Republicans rejected the notion that the panel was pursuing an impeachment inquiry and dismissed the resolution as a “fantasy” intended to distract from Democrats’ unwillingness to have the full House authorize a formal impeachment inquiry, as occurred during the Watergate era and the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

Republicans said Democrats lacked the votes to obtain formal House authorization and denounced Thursday’s action as a show intended to pander to Democratic voters who want Trump removed from office.

Representative Doug Collins, the panel’s top Republican, said the resolution simply reiterates powers that the committee has had all along.

“These rules are not new,” he said. “This is to make you believe something is happening, more than what’s actually happening.”

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