WTF Community

The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

General Discussion
, , , ,
#2414

Summary of the Impeachment

01/29 - 02/06

So that was an impeachment :flushed: WTF, right?

5 Likes
#2415

Here’s What’s Happening In Republicans’ Biden–Ukraine Investigation

In November, Grassley and Johnson, who lead the Finance and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, wrote to a powerful law enforcement agency within the Treasury Department seeking information on any suspicious financial activity by Hunter Biden, Burisma, and others.

Schapitl declined to say what the agency, known as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN, turned over to the lawmakers. Treasury did not return a request for comment.

The documents sought by the senators, known as suspicious activity reports, or SARs, are filed regularly to FinCEN by banks when they spot transactions that bear the hallmarks of financial crimes. Though the reports themselves are not evidence of a crime, they can be used to support investigations and intelligence gathering. It’s unclear if the materials provided to the committees are SARs and if so, to whom they pertain.

“It’s strange that any senator would complain about receiving responses to oversight requests in a timely manner,” the Grassley spokesperson said Thursday. “As a general matter, most oversight requests do not involve material protected by Executive Privilege, so it can be more rapidly provided to Congress. If the administration were to claim privilege over requested material, as the Obama administration did in during the ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ investigation, members of Congress can use other tools at their disposal – including the courts – to compel cooperation. In the case of impeachment, the House chose not to do so.”

Omg, this will never end. :confounded: Read this whole thing.

3 Likes
#2416

Cross-posting

3 Likes
#2417

Cross-posting

I was prepared to let this thread go this week but because of the petty payback that’s happening, I feel it would be a shame to leave it out.

4 Likes
Who The Fuck Has Left The Trump Administration
#2418

This headline belongs on this list.

4 Likes
#2419

A day late and a dollar short. But I’m sure she’ll continue to be “very concernced” as Trump’s mafia-style acts of vengeance roll on.

And this is so laughable: She ends the interview by saying she hasn’t decided if she’ll support Trump for re-election. So yet again, she’s going to milk everything she can from a public display of “anguished decision making” before she lands on whichever side benefits her most. I just hope Maine voters are as sick of her self-serving grandstanding as is the rest of the country. Let’s give Collins the boot! :boot:

Collins’s leading Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, recently won the endorsement of Planned Parenthood. This is a big deal and carries a lot of clout. See the 2020 Primary thread for more. :muscle:

4 Likes
#2420

Miranda Yaver nails Collins’s infuriating duplicity:

tweet%20re%20collins

4 Likes
#2421

Republican Senators Tried to Stop Trump From Firing Impeachment Witness

Among the Republicans who warned the White House was Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who after voting to acquit Mr. Trump said she thought he had learned a lesson. Others included Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday but a senior administration official confirmed the senators’ outreach.

Ms. Collins said Saturday that her lesson comment had been misinterpreted and that she had earlier noted that she did not support retribution. “The lesson that I hoped the president had learned was that he should not enlist the help of a foreign government in investigating a political rival,” she said in a statement to The New York Times. “It had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he should fire people who testified in a way that he perceived as harmful to him.”

“The lesson that I hoped the president had learned was that he should not enlist the help of a foreign government in investigating a political rival,”

–Susan Collins days after acquitting the President

2 Likes
#2422

The Cover-Up Continues… :zipper_mouth_face:

Bolton’s team accuses White House of suppressing his book

Former national security adviser John Bolton’s team on Friday accused the White House of trying to suppress his unpublished book after word surfaced that the National Security Council had sent him a letter expressing concerns that the manuscript contained classified information.

The White House has been scrutinizing Bolton’s book, which is due out next month, for classified materials as part of a standard pre-publication review process.

Sarah Tinsley, a senior adviser to Bolton, issued a statement Friday acknowledging that a letter from the NSC had been sent to Chuck Cooper, Bolton’s lawyer. News that the letter had been sent had started circulating in Washington earlier in the day.

“This latest leak from the NSC’s pre-publication review process raises even more serious concerns that the process has been thoroughly breached, and that it is more about suppressing Ambassador Bolton’s book than about classification issues,” Tinsley said.

She said Bolton was reviewing the letter and would respond. She said Bolton continues to believe “that the manuscript contains no legitimately classified material.”

Bolton is expected to respond soon. Watch this space…

At the same time, let’s not forget Bolton’s fundamental duplicity in all this. He’s had ample opportunity to come clean on what he knows and assist the investigations, but has refused to do so:

4 Likes
#2423

Here is an ad running now…even on Fox

6 Likes
#2424

Sen Joe Manchin stands up to T…good for him.

Sen. Joe Manchin defended his vote to convict President Donald Trump on the two articles of impeachment approved by the House after the president attacked him on social media as “weak” and “pathetic.”

…

I’ve read the transcripts thoroughly & listened to the witnesses under oath," Manchin replied.

"Where I come from a person accused defends themselves with witnesses and evidence," he added, referring to the White House’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation and its order for administration officials not to testify.

4 Likes
#2425

CPAC Chair: Mitt Romney’s ‘Physical Safety’ Would Be At Risk At Conference

Matt Schlapp had previously said the senator wouldn’t be invited after he voted to call witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

The chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference warned in an interview Sunday that he would be “afraid” for the “physical safety” of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) if he attempts to attend this month’s annual convention in Maryland.

The ominous warning follows Chairman Matt Schlapp’s Twitter attack on the senator last month after Romney went against the party line to call for witnesses in Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, subsequently voted last week to convict Trump of abuse of power, the sole member of the GOP to do so. The senator cited his oath to God and the dictates of his religion to do “my duty.”

Schlapp’s tweet notified Romney that he was “not invited” to CPAC — though it was unclear if the senator ever planned to attend. The tweet included an unflattering, almost frightening, image of Romney.

Schlapp told Greta Van Susteren on “Full Court Press” Sunday that Romney might be allowed to attend the conference — as a “nonconservative” — at some point “in the future.” But he noted that it could be too dangerous for Romney to do so now.

“We won’t credential him as a conservative. I suppose if he wants to come as a nonconservative and debate an issue with us, maybe in the future we would have him come. This year, I would actually be afraid for his physical safety because people hate him so much,” Schlapp said.

Romney has been the subject of nonstop attacks from Trump and other Republicans since he voted to convict last week. The president has retweeted inflammatory and unfounded conspiracy theories about the onetime GOP standard bearer, and at least one member of his party has called for Romney to be expelled from the Republican caucus.

Schlapp called the political atmosphere in Washington “cancerous.” Ironically, he also told Van Susteren: “We actually need political leaders that can help all of us get to a better place.”

Romney’s office did not immediately respond a request to comment. But Twitter users had plenty to say.





5 Likes
#2426

Schumer asks inspectors general to investigate whistleblower retaliation after Vindman firing

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is asking that every agency inspector general investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report presidential misconduct, after the firing of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council.

Schumer’s letters to 74 inspectors general, which will be sent Monday, comes after Vindman, a star witness in the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, was removed from his position at the White House on Friday, along with his twin, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, an ethics lawyer at the NSC. Both brothers are active-duty Army officers and were reassigned to the Pentagon.

5 Likes
#2427

Something that was missed in the story on Trump’s budget cuts:

Trump also proposes a 21% cut in U.S. foreign aid.

Not affected in that cut? Aid to Ukraine.

Have to keep the bribes flowing, right?

Also, Vox has a story up about the hypocrisy of the whole thing:

Trump vowed to not cut Social Security and Medicare — hours before proposing just that

The president is either brazenly lying about his 2021 budget or doesn’t know what’s in it.

Trump just saddled himself with a major campaign liability

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/10/trump-just-saddled-himself-with-major-campaign-liability/

4 Likes
#2428

A new whistleblower has come forward in yet another case, this one concerning Trump regime fast-tracking of efforts to exploit public hands while blatantly ignoring environmental regulations.

This time the whistleblower has come forward publicly. His name is Dan Patterson and he’s one of the limited environmental protection specialists who works in the Western region. His complaint details a BLM rife with abusive and profit-oriented practices which, he claims, also happen to run afoul of internal agency rules and federal law.

Per the Patterson complaint:

This…is more than disagreement with the decisions of his superiors, but stems from a sincere belief that the laws of the United States are being disregarded for the professional expediency of his superiors and the benefit of private parties, and that a culture of lawlessness has been engendered.

Specifically, Patterson alleges that numerous BLM functionaries and officials operating under the authority and direction of infamous BLM Director and documented anti-environmental protection zealot William Perry Pendley have ignored their basic obligations under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which was signed into law in 1970 by Richard Nixon .

NEPA is the statutory backbone of all U.S. environmental protection laws and has been credited with several improvements in environmental protection, preservation, restoration and cleanup in the decades since its passage by the liberal Congress and strong support for its implementation by the environmentally-aware Nixon administration.

3 Likes
#2429

FFS



2 Likes
#2430

:eyes:

Watch:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?469289-1/moments-ago-president-trump-speaks-reporters-oval-office&live

2 Likes
#2431

Cross-posting :raised_hands:

3 Likes
#2432

:eyes:

4 Likes
#2433

Repercussions of T’s ire on those who were against him in his impeachment…

Here’s a nugget

We also learned on Tuesday that a Defense Department official who had been nominated to serve as the Pentagon’s chief financial officer would reportedly have that nomination withdrawn. Elaine McCusker was one of a number of officials who raised objections to Trump’s decision to hold aid to Ukraine last year as his team was pushing for the investigations Trump sought.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/11/acquittal-week-one-targeting-witnesses-upheaval-justice-department/

5 Likes