Ah, thanks. Multitasking and missed that.
@abidingdude didn’t say it was ok, just that it wouldn’t amount to anything, which it wouldn’t if there were not some promise or threat attached to it.
Oh, I was kind of agreeing with you! You’re right, no promises made, so not strictly quid pro quo, and that’ll be the “What the definition of ‘is’ is” thing here…even though yeah, it looks REALLY bad.
I think my favorite line from that memo is “It is suggesting that allegations of an abuse of office merit looking into.” Finally, something we can all agree on.
I’m just relieved the emergency is over.
ShivaX
5113
Taking the funds from McConnell was his biggest mistake.
Skipper
5114
Trumper tantrum in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …
They had this same vote in March, and it was vetoed. 12 Republicans voted to terminate the emergency in March, and 11 today, so if anything it’s going backwards.
Why exactly do you imagine that is, you putz? But then again, you know why, don’t you, putz?
Later in the interview, when speaking of the late Alphonse Capone, Graham said “I’ve never seen a businessman who had that many problems with people.”
Finally, a kernel of TRUTH from Senator Lindsey Graham, albeit not in the way he intended.
Honestly, IF (and it’s still a capital IF in my opinion) the Democrats can win back the White House in 2020, they need to begin a campaign of intense focused targeting of piece of shit GOP reps like Graham and McConnell. I don’t care how red or gerrymandered their districts are, a campaign of consistent advertisements and media coverage of exactly how awful they are, and how much their actions are hurting EVERY American, regardless of political ideology, could be enough to poison the well and at least get them primaried if not replaced by a charismatic enough Democratic candidate.
jpinard
5119
This is exactly what needs to happen. Exemplify what anti-American traitor’s the trump supporting legislators are. As a voter do you claim to be a Patriot and protector of the Founding Father’s decrees? Or do you want to throw all that in the trash, along with the Constitution so you can have your corrupt dictator?
Djscman
5120
Fun thread where a civil servant gets a little disobedient in the face of… well, you’ll see.
@FEC 2/
This week, I published a “Draft Interpretive Rule Concerning Prohibited Activities Involving Foreign Nationals" on the https://t.co/mzijOnYRLg web site:
https://t.co/pf3ByC8AnZ
Matt_W
5121
Here is the memo she published, buried a few dozen tweets down in her tweetthread of the digest:
gruntled
5122
And here is the part that got it squashed by the GOP Commisioner:
In addition, although goods or services provided at the usual and normal chargedo not constitute a contribution under the Act, soliciting, accepting,or receiving information in connection with an election from a foreign national, as opposed to purchasing the information at the usual and normal charge or hiring a foreign national in a bona fide commercial transaction to perform services for a federal campaign, could potentially result in the receipt of a prohibited in-kind contribution.
Which directly contradicts the DoJ’s rationale for determining that there was no campaign finance violation - that they could not put a specific value on the information being solicited by Trump in the phone call.
The thing is, this is already settled law per the FEC.
Relevant excerpt follows:
Question 4. May your authorized committee accept election materials used in previous Canadian campaigns that are provided without charge by Canadian third party candidates?
No, your authorized committee may not accept election materials used in previous Canadian campaigns that are provided without charge by Canadian third party candidates. Your authorized committee may, however, expend campaign funds to purchase the materials. You may also use personal funds to purchase such materials.
As noted above, the Act and Commission regulations prohibit foreign nationals, directly or indirectly, from making a “contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal State, or local election.” 2 U.S.C. 441e(a)(1)(A); see also
11 CFR 110.20(b). “Anything of value” includes all in-kind contributions, including the provision of goods or services without charge or at a charge that is less than the usual and normal charge. See 11 CFR 100.52(d)(1). “Usual and normal charge” is defined as the price of goods in the market from which they ordinarily would have been purchased at the time of the contribution, or the commercially reasonable rate prevailing at the time the services were rendered. See 11 CFR 100.52(d)(2).
Sounds like they really may have her this time.
More seriously, when Michael Bennett was on Preet Bharara’s podcast a few weeks ago, he noted all the stuff China was doing in tech across the world, and he said we don’t have time for Donald Trump. That resonated with me. We also, as a nation, don’t have time for this nonsense, and other nonsense which seems to be all the Trump party is interested in doing. We don’t have time for Ted Cruz’s brand of climate denialism. We don’t have time for this shit.
