WTF Community

The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

:flame: :thinking:

The State Department’s inspector general is expected to brief staffers from several House and Senate committees on Wednesday afternoon about documents obtained from the department’s Office of the Legal Adviser concerning documents related to the State Department and Ukraine, sources familiar with the planned briefing told ABC News.

Details of the briefing, expected to be conducted by Steve Linick, the inspector general at State, remain unknown. Linick is expected to meet with congressional staff in a secure location on Capitol Hill.

The unusual nature and timing of the briefing – during a congressional recess – suggest it may be connected to a recent intelligence community whistleblower allegation which describes, in part, the State Department’s role in coordinating interactions between Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, and Ukrainian officials.

The State Department has faced criticism in recent weeks for connecting Giuliani to multiple Ukrainian officials about re-opening an investigation into for Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

The State Dept inspector general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment nor did the committees expected to be part of the briefing.

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Mike Pompeo says 5 State Department employees called to give depositions to the House won’t show up, but they seem to be telling a different story:

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Here’s more on this urgent “mystery briefing” from a live stream by the WaPo - scroll to 5pm:

5 p.m. - State Department inspector general to meet with Hill committees Wednesday

Key committees on Capitol Hill were notified Tuesday that the State Department’s inspector general has requested to speak with them Wednesday “to discuss and provide staff with copies of documents related to the State Department and Ukraine,” according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.

The offer by the office of Steve Linick, which operates mostly independently from the State Department and is responsible for investigating abuse and mismanagement, comes amid a standoff between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and House Democrats demanding documents and testimony on Ukraine-related matters for their impeachment inquiry.

Linick’s office “obtained the documents from the acting legal adviser of the Department of State,” the letter said. The inspector general doesn’t have to seek Pompeo’s approval to approach the Hill with information, especially if it is not classified.

It is unclear exactly what Linick will provide the committees, which include the panels in charge of foreign relations, intelligence, appropriations and oversight in the House and Senate. But the demand for any credible information related to Ukraine and the State Department is at a fever pitch as Democrats seek to build the case for Trump’s ouster out of his dealings with Ukraine’s leadership.

So the documents were forwarded to the State Department’s Inspector General, Steve Linick, from the State Department’s acting legal adviser. According to Wikipedia, this is Marik String. I can’t find out much about him, but it is interesting that he at one time worked for the same law firm as Robert Mueller: Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Not sure if they both worked there at the same time.

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This is not how that works!

Kremlin Says Release of Trump-Putin Calls Needs Mutual Consent

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/release-of-trump-putin-calls-needs-mutual-consent-russia-says?fbclid=IwAR2orxedNqSQK1SQ-VzzXw62i3d7lf5gDmHUlvdMtxgy4CnIa6wMrKN8hCY

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Breaking -

Subpoenas for Ukraine documents to the WH if not complied by Friday - sent by House Oversight Committees - Elijah Cummings.

This could relate to the State Dept meeting this morning, which may be urging the House Committees to preserve ALL State (and WH?) records) that may or may not be preserved. (in courts being debated - See @Keaton_James Day 985 )

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-impeachment-whistleblower/2019/10/02/80df829a-e494-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html

House Democrats to subpoena White House for documents in its impeachment inquiry focused on Ukraine

House Democrats announced Wednesday that they would subpoena the White House for documents related to Trump’s July phone call with the leader of Ukraine — a call that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier acknowledged that he was on as well.

Pompeo confirmed during a news conference in Rome that he listened to the call on which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son.

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A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms

House investigators are looking into an allegation that groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to ingratiate themselves to President Donald Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never staying in them.

It’s a previously unreported part of a broad examination by the House Oversight Committee, included in Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties.

“Now we’re looking at near raw bribery,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a House Oversight Committee member who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over Trump’s hotel in Washington. “That was the risk from Day One: foreign governments and others trying to seek favor because we know Trump pays attention to this. … It’s an obvious attempt to curry favor with him.”

[…]

Rep. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said if Trump or his staff solicited the hotel reservations, they could have broken the law. But even if they didn’t, it’s still a problem.

“If true, at minimum, this suggests there is a culture of corruption that the administration has created,” Khanna said. “There’s a sense that to curry favor you have to engage in pay to play. That’s exactly what the American people hate about Washington.”

Connolly confirmed that committee staff is investigating but said he didn’t have the details of the allegations. The committee, the White House and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.

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:eyes: :nerd_face:

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T press conference - NOW with President of Finland.

T is coming out guns-a-blazing…LISTEN :boom:

Live video here :point_down:

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And ANOTHER T news conference coming up - 11a PST/2p EST

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Trump’s most recent bizarro tactic is to claim that the Democrats not only knew about the Whistleblower Complaint from the start, but that they WROTE it, and Adam Schiff was in on that.

Seriously. He is saying that right on in a press conference.

Apparently, this is based on the fact that Schiff got an early copy of the complaint, twisted as usual by Trump logic and lies.

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More T spew from the 2nd Press Conference with the Finnish President.
T on fire…so mad -

T calling everything a “hoax”, “some bad things have gone on…I’ve lived with it” “But no one has done what I have done…so many things I’ve done - Vets have choice, we cherish our Vets,” "I have lived with it (media/Dem) harassment since the beginning of my administration"

Questioned by Jeff Mason Reuters - “Do you think anyone who opposes you is Treasonous?

President - "No the only ones who are lying…like Shift Shift. Believe it or not, I watch my words very carefully…beyond those who think I am a stable genius."

watch T try to tear into Jeff Mason/Reuters for his question…

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Enter clown number 2.



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CNN is just live-blogging impeachment now. :joy:

Justice Department tells White House to preserve all presidential records, including notes of Trump-foreign leader calls

From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz

The Justice Department told White House personnel on Wednesday that they must preserve all presidential records, including any notes regarding President Trump’s meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders.

“Defendants today instructed relevant personnel to preserve the information,” DOJ lawyers wrote to a federal judge Wednesday afternoon.

The question of whether the White House was doing this bubbled up in federal court yesterday, following government transparency and historical archivist groups’ emergency request about how the White House treated notes from the Trump-Zelensky July 25 call and other Trump discussions with world leaders.

From the Justice Department’s statement to the court this afternoon:

“Defendants today instructed relevant personnel to preserve the information in the six categories identified in Plaintiffs’ Motion. This preservation instruction is consistent with and supplements the litigation hold already in effect in this action, which instructed relevant personnel to preserve all evidence relevant to the claims and defenses in this case. It further supplements pre-existing instructions to all White House personnel to preserve all presidential records, whether in hard-copy or electronic form.”

Full story

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/10/01/politics/white-house-records-foreign-leader-calls-meetings/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Ftalk.whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com%2Ft%2Fcongressional-committee-investigations-into-trump-2019%2F4547%2F728

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The question as to whether Rep Adam Schiff spoke out about the Whistleblower early and T claims Schiff helped write the Whistleblower complaint is discussed here. Schiff was contacted by a few channels with the Whistleblower’s concerns - originating with the CIA Legal group and then through an aide, who contacted someone in Schiff’s office.

So knocking down that Schiff in any way contributed to the Whistleblower complaint.

T is spinning story (of course) and lying as he is always doing.

WASHINGTON — The Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, learned about the outlines of a C.I.A. officer’s concerns that President Trump had abused his power days before the officer filed a whistle-blower complaint, according to a spokesman and current and former American officials.

The early account by the future whistle-blower shows how determined he was to make known his allegations that Mr. Trump asked Ukraine’s government to interfere on his behalf in the 2020 election. It also explains how Mr. Schiff knew to press for the complaint when the Trump administration initially blocked lawmakers from seeing it.

The C.I.A. officer approached a House Intelligence Committee aide with his concerns about Mr. Trump only after he had had a colleague first convey them to the C.I.A.’s top lawyer. Concerned about how that initial avenue for airing his allegations through the C.I.A. was unfolding, the officer then approached the House aide. In both cases, the original accusation was vague.

The House staff member, following the committee’s procedures, suggested the officer find a lawyer to advise him and file a whistle-blower complaint. The aide shared some of what the officer conveyed to Mr. Schiff. The aide did not share the whistle-blower’s identity with Mr. Schiff, an official said.

“Like other whistle-blowers have done before and since under Republican and Democratic-controlled committees, the whistle-blower contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community,” said Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Mr. Schiff.

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I know this doesn’t belong here normally but…

NYC subway riders greeted by ad hyping ‘crazy’ Rudy Giuliani’s law offices: ‘Will work when drunk!’

Did I mention I love New Yorkers?

OMG, the site is real! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
https://crazyrudylaw.com/

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Adam Schiff’s statement:

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House Democrats said Wednesday they planned to subpoena the White House by Friday if it did not comply with broad requests for documents related to President Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating a leading political rival, and any attempt by the administration to conceal his actions.

Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, notified his panel of the impending subpoena on Wednesday. He said the White House had thus far ignored voluntary requests he submitted with the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.

“I do not take this step lightly,” Mr. Cummings wrote. “Over the past several weeks, the committees tried several times to obtain voluntary compliance with our requests for documents, but the White House has refused to engage with — or even respond to — the committees.”

DOCUMENT:

Read Mr. Cummings’s memo.

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:newspaper: Header has been updated. Breaking news starts below. :point_down:

Y’all should be proud this is all your work. I just put it together. :wink:

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Under the guise of exposing real evidence the Inspector General of the State Department sent House Democrats a envelop full of random conspiracy theories? Perhaps from Rudy Giuliani? :woman_shrugging:t2:

Why does the State Dept. have this binder full of mystery?

So what congressional aides received — a roughly 40-page packet of documents sheathed in a manila envelope decorated with cursive script and manipulated to look aged, with a return address portraying that it had come from the White House — may have been a bit of a letdown.

The packet included documents laying out a record of contacts between Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and Ukrainian prosecutors, as well as accounts of Ukrainian law enforcement proceedings. Some of it was established fact and some was unsubstantiated speculation that cast the Bidens in a bad light.

“We thought this was about something else that the press had widely reported on,” Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, told reporters as he emerged from the chamber reserved for classified briefings. “Instead, we got this.”

Mr. Raskin, apparently the lone member of Congress to attend the briefing — its original audience was intended to be aides — promptly assumed the role of narrator and myth-debunker, brandishing the dossier in disgust for good measure.

“A series of hallucinatory propagandist suggestions,” he said.

There were more questions remaining than answers on Wednesday. The packet contained a mysteriously curated collection of conspiratorial memos, news clippings and pages photocopied so poorly they were barely legible, according to a review of the dossier. The papers, contained in folders that appeared to be from a Trump hotel, were delivered to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s office in May — care of his secretary — by an unknown sender. The inspector general also included a series of emails between State Department officials that were not in the original file.

The memos referred to names that have played prominently in recent weeks, including Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine; Yuriy Lutsenko, the prosecutor general of Ukraine; Hunter Biden; and George Soros, a frequent target of conspiracies.

Perhaps most interestingly, a number of the memos listed a New York address — the Park Avenue office belonging to Mr. Giuliani.

Mr. Giuliani confirmed on Wednesday that the documents summarizing his interviews with the Ukrainian prosecutors were produced by a “professional investigator who works for my company.” Previously, Mr. Giuliani had recounted the interviews in a manner similar to that reflected in the documents. And he had previously described how his team had produced interview summaries modeled after those used by F.B.I. agents.

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