WTF Community

The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

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Senator Hirono’s letter asking the IG to investigate Barr.

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:boom:

Barr’s going to be brought to task about his conduct, even BEFORE the public became aware of Mueller’s letter to Barr.

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called on Attorney General William Barr to resign after it was revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller believed the chief law enforcement officer publicly misrepresented the findings of the Russia probe.

Schiff’s appeal stems from his belief that Barr last month “willingly misled the Congress” when he told members of a House Appropriation subcommittee he did not know what was behind reports that the special counsel’s team was frustrated with the four-page memo he sent to Congress summing up Mueller’s report almost a month ahead of its release.

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Attorney General Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee on Mueller Report Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the Mueller report.

Watch :point_down:

https://www.c-span.org/event/?459922/attorney-general-testifies-senate-judiciary-committee-mueller-report&live

Recess until 12:50pm E

And they’re back. Sorry I’m a little late.

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The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to allow staff to question Attorney General William Barr during his hearing on the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, raising the possibility that he won’t show up.

Barr warned Democrats days ago that he won’t appear before the committee, scheduled for Thursday morning, if they stick to the format.

"I don’t know what he’s afraid of," said House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat.

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  • Attorney General William P. Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not misrepresent the report by Robert S. Mueller III, despite Mr. Mueller’s complaint that the attorney general’s initial public letter describing the investigation’s findings did not capture its full context.
  • In a letter from the special counsel to the attorney general, released on Wednesday, Mr. Mueller wrote that Mr. Barr’s summary of his office’s work failed to capture “the context, nature and substance” of his report and had left the public confused about “critical aspects of the results.”
  • Mr. Barr said that President Trump did not obstruct justice by telling his White House counsel to have the special counsel removed from office.
  • Democrats pressed Mr. Barr on why he had not publicly acknowledged concerns about his original summary when asked about them and why he asserted that Mr. Trump had cooperated fully with the investigation when he tried to thwart it.
  • The House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to allow staff lawyers to question Mr. Barr at a hearing scheduled for Thursday. Mr. Barr has said he will not appear under that format.

Barr is off his rocker, he came out of retirement for this?! We don’t need more Honey badgers in politics. :woman_shrugging:t2:

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Can’t watch this anymore, I’m just yelling at my iPad every time Barr lies or evades actually answering the question. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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same, same.

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Barr gaslights like an abusive ex husband. Dude, I’m so pissed.

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I’ll save you some time, Barr is a Trump crony, who thinks the President is above the law. He should have never have been confirmed in the first place.

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The White House has rejected a House committee’s request for documents related to possible abuses of the security clearance system.

The request came after accusations that the Trump administration granted security clearances to more than two dozen officials over the objections of career officials.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone called the House Oversight Committee’s attempts to obtain FBI background investigation files “highly improper” and that it shows a “total disregard for individual privacy,” according to a nine-page letter dated Wednesday and obtained by POLITICO.

“Respectfully, it is not within the authority of Congress to second guess how the President selects his advisors or who has access to the information necessary to provide the President with fully-informed advice,” Cipollone wrote to Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).

While career officials give recommendations on whether individuals are eligible for a security clearance, the president has the ultimate authority on the matter.

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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are discussing holding Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress, according to several lawmakers and officials familiar with the plan.

During a pair of closed-door meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the committee decided that it would probably make a push for a Barr contempt citation if he skips a scheduled Thursday hearing or ignores their subpoena for the full report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Lawmakers and officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss private deliberations, cautioned that no final decision has been made. Barr has until the end of the day to hand over the full Mueller report but is not expected to comply.

:bangbang:Update: Attorney General William Barr declines to testify before House panel, says Judiciary Committee aide :bangbang:

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And here’s additional reporting from CNN. Nadler is now confirming that Barr has refused to appear.

OK, House Democratis, enough is enough – so these are the next steps:
Step 1 - Contempt charges for Barr. Step 2 - Impeach Barr.

Nadler has also said May 15 is a possible date for Mueller’s testimony, but it’s not confirmed.

Attorney General William Barr is no longer expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, chairman Jerry Nadler announced.

The decision comes after Democrats on the committee demanded that Barr face questions from the committee’s lawyers.

Nadler said in comments to reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill that they are looking at May 15 as a possible date for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify.

The committee voted earlier Wednesday to allow staff to question Barr during his hearing on the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The vote was 21 to 14.

"I don’t know what he’s afraid of," Nadler said earlier.

Nadler asks: What is Barr afraid of? My answer: Going to prison – just like Attorney General John Mitchell did when he obstructed justice for Richard Nixon.

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And that’s a crime.

House Democrats, decrying what they called an erosion of American democracy, threatened on Thursday to hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear at a hearing of the Judiciary Committee and ignored a subpoena deadline to hand over Robert S. Mueller III’s full report and evidence.

“What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters, referring to a House hearing in which he said he was unaware that the special counsel had protested his portrayal of his conclusions. “And that’s a crime.”

Convening in a nearly empty hearing room despite his absence, the Judiciary Committee’s chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, called on Republicans to join Democrats in standing up for the rights of Congress against an administration that he said was trying to “make it that much harder for us to hold the executive branch accountable.”

But mostly he trained his ire at the attorney general, who objected to Mr. Nadler’s insistence that staff lawyers be allowed to ask questions at the hearing.

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:raised_hands: :raised_hands: :raised_hands:

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/02/politics/empty-chair-william-barr-hearing-chicken/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fcurrentstatus.io%2F

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, brought in a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a ceramic chicken, sharing his food with his Democratic colleagues.

"Chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions," he told reporters while holding the ceramic chicken.

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OK – good. But let’s not just threaten, let’s do it! Now!

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Former White House personnel security director Carl Kline took responsibility for a security clearance process criticized for overruling multiple recommended denials for senior government officials, according to members of Congress who privately interviewed Kline on Wednesday.

“He’s basically trying to say that the buck pretty much stopped with him,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat. “There’s much more information that we need to dig into.”

Tricia Newbold, whom Democrats describe as a whistleblower, has accused Kline of approving security clearances for White House officials despite recommended denials, including for the President’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. In 2018, Trump reportedly directed his then-chief of staff John Kelly to give Kushner a top-secret security clearance.

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President Donald Trump said Thursday that he did not want former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress about allegations that the president obstructed justice.

“Congress shouldn‘t be looking anymore. This is all. It‘s done,“ Trump told Fox News. “Nobody has ever done what I‘ve done. I‘ve given total transparency. It‘s never happened before like this. They shouldn‘t be looking anymore. It‘s done.“

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler is making what he calls a final “counter offer” to Attorney General William Barr’s refusal to grant immediate access to the underlying evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

In a new letter to Barr on Friday, Nadler (D-N.Y.) is giving the Justice Department until 9 a.m. Monday to comply with his adjusted request before moving forward with an effort to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a committee subpoena demanding Mueller’s full unredacted report and underlying documents by May 1.

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