The more they stonewall, the worse it looks, the more obvious the obstruction is, and information is STILL pouring out despite all of that.
Let them drag their feet. It’s their one and only strategy right now aside from the Mike Pence Anti-Impeachment Town Halls, and I can’t WAIT to see how long those last after the first few hecklers get through with him.
The White House has reached out to outside counsel for impeachment advice. Trey Gowdy turned them down, and the internet loves it.
White House is still in ‘tirade’ mode and sending an 8 page letter to Pelosi and Schiff saying they will not cooperate with impeachment inquiry.
Ok…battle lines are drawn.
Letter HERE
In the White House’s letter to Congressional Democrats, President Trump’s lawyers take direct aim at House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff for saying his committee hadn’t had contact with the whistleblower and for reading a dramatized version of Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president.
Some context: The whistleblower first contacted the staff of the House Intelligence Committee for guidance before sending the complaint to the Trump administration. However, the committee said members did not see the complaint before it was submitted.
The White House letter also addresses what White House lawyers contend are irregularities in the way Democrats have moved forward with the impeachment inquiry.
It identifies the current inability for House Republicans to call witnesses or issue subpoenas, or for the President’s own lawyers to cross-examine witnesses.
The letter is expected to be sent to the Hill soon.
Phone calls and texts between Sondland-Taylor and phone discussions with Sondland and T between the time of those texts, makes for a very dicey set of facts.
So basically the White House is confirming they are going to cross their arms, pout, hold their breath, and never ever ever ever ever cooperate with the impeachment process.
Got it.
Cross-posting for the timeline 
Kremlin-directed operatives opened champagne when Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to a communication disclosed in a new Senate Intelligence Committee report outlining Russia’s sweeping social media efforts to help him win.
“We uncorked a tiny bottle of champagne … took one gulp each and looked into each other’s eyes … We uttered almost in unison: ‘We made America great,’” one operative at the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency said in the message obtained by the Republican-led committee.
Trump just posted this. It alleges the whistleblower has connections to one of the Democratic candidates. Trump ignores the fact that Atkinson also said:
“such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern ‘appears credible,’ particularly given the other information the ICIG obtained during its preliminary review.”
Also note that the Washington Examiner has a well-known pro-Trump bias, and even it didn’t really try to spin this the way Trump is.
Stunts like this make me wonder what else is being hidden.
WTF WTF WTF
Trey Gowdy - will represent T.
This world just got a LOT more bizarre.
“Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the executive branch cannot be expected to participate in it,” Cipollone wrote.
The Trump administration’s latest assault on House Democrats’ myriad investigations sets up yet another constitutional clash between the executive and legislative branches — one with far-reaching implications over the powers of the presidency and of Congress.
“All of this violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent. Never before in our history has the House of Representatives — under the control of either political party — taken the American people down the dangerous path you seem determined to pursue,” Cipollone added.
In particular, Cipollone took issue with the fact that the House has not formally voted to authorize the establishment of an impeachment inquiry, calling it a violation of due process.
“In the history of our nation, the House of Representatives has never attempted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the president without a majority of the House taking political accountability for that decision by voting to authorize such a dramatic constitutional step,” he wrote.
Cipollone also echoed Republicans’ criticisms of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whose staff had previous contact with the whistleblower who first sounded the alarm about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Anyone who was involved in the preparation or submission of the whistleblower’s complaint cannot possibly act as a fair and impartial judge in the same matter - particularly after misleading the American people about his involvement,” Cipollone wrote.
The eight-page letter reads more like a political document than a legal one, echoing many of President Donald Trump’s claims about the House Democrats who are investigating him. It also calls on Democrats to dismantle the process they set up to impeach Trump over allegations that he abused his power by pressuring Ukrainian leaders to help discredit his political rivals.
NYT is reporting Trey Gowdy is NOT confirmed…but expected to be.
Wanna bet if the House does take the official leap that they’ll find another excuse?
It’s seems like no one knows what’s going on with Trey Gowdy. 
Pelosi speaks
Giuliani Bails on testimony
Sen Kerry (former sec of State)
The stench keeps getting stronger every hour.
It has become abundantly clear that Trump used his personal lawyer to conduct foreign policy, circumventing official channels and undermining the State Department. That alone should be enough to impeach him and remove him from office.
President Donald Trump directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal with his private attorney Rudy Giuliani when the Ukrainian President sought to meet Trump, in a clear circumvention of official channels, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.
Trump believed Ukraine was still rampantly corrupt and said that if President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to meet with him, Giuliani would have to be convinced first, one source said.
“If they can satisfy Rudy, they can satisfy the President,” a person familiar with the meeting said.
Trump’s push to have Giuliani as gatekeeper is more direct than what was previously disclosed by one of the meeting’s participants in his statement to the House last week. It also further demonstrates how significant Giuliani was in brokering access to the President regarding Ukraine policy and in passing messages to other administration officials.
…
A key accusation in the whistleblower’s complaint that has prompted the impeachment probe into the President’s dealings with Ukraine is that Giuliani, a private citizen, had been presenting to Ukraine a US policy different than that from US diplomats.
I was out for game night. The world went crazy.
Here is Trump reporting what Faux News said… about what was told to them by Trump’s own cronies. It is a shameless effort to smear Robert Mueller with zero corroboration or evidence.
It is literally this:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi released this statement when the White House asserted that the Administration will not comply with House Committee subpoenas as part of the impeachment inquiry, making false claims about the Constitution, House rules and House precedent:
“For a while, the President has tried to normalize lawlessness. Now, he is trying to make lawlessness a virtue. The American people have already heard the President’s own words – ‘do us a favor, though.’ The President’s actions threaten our national security, violate our Constitution and undermine the integrity of our elections. The White House letter is only the latest attempt to cover up his betrayal of our democracy, and to insist that the President is above the law.
“This letter is manifestly wrong, and is simply another unlawful attempt to hide the facts of the Trump Administration’s brazen efforts to pressure foreign powers to intervene in the 2020 elections. Despite the White House’s stonewalling, we see a growing body of evidence that shows that President Trump abused his office and violated his oath to ‘protect, preserve and defend the Constitution.’
“The White House should be warned that continued efforts to hide the truth of the President’s abuse of power from the American people will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction.
“Mr. President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”
