4115

That’s what I’m thinking too. Faux “concern” but when it comes time to vote to convict/remove from office, he’ll pull a Susan Collins.

BTW, as much as I like Warren for the nomination (not in the gambling sense of that expression, but in the sense of support for her), if she gets it, what I’m afraid of is that the powers that be in the media will sabotage her, because after all, they’re huge corporate entities that like things just as they’ve always been and they’ll feel threatened.

4116

“This is very troubling but the evidence is in dispute and doesn’t rise to the unprecedented step of removal from office. We cannot allow the impeachment process to be politicized. To do so would imperil the future of our democracy.”

Some extremely furrowed brow bullshit like that.

4117

BTW, this one feels like it’ll create the impetus for the formal impeachment inquiry. This one has a totally different feel to it.

Russia was about the last election, which made it easier for voters to be weary of it.

This is about fucking with the 2020 election. I think they’ll move on it.

4118

Yet another reason to impeach. Just when you think they can’t sink any lower :

Two years ago, we got a call from a United States government official warning us of the imminent arrest of a New York Times reporter based in Egypt named Declan Walsh. Though the news was alarming, the call was actually fairly standard. Over the years, we’ve received countless such warnings from American diplomats, military leaders and national security officials.

But this particular call took a surprising and distressing turn. We learned the official was passing along this warning without the knowledge or permission of the Trump administration. Rather than trying to stop the Egyptian government or assist the reporter, the official believed, the Trump administration intended to sit on the information and let the arrest be carried out. The official feared being punished for even alerting us to the danger.

Unable to count on our own government to prevent the arrest or help free Declan if he were imprisoned, we turned to his native country, Ireland, for help. Within an hour, Irish diplomats traveled to his house and safely escorted him to the airport before Egyptian forces could detain him.

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4120

Great piece from seven Democrats with intelligence or security background now speaking out. This is momentum in progress. We’re going to have an impeachment proceeding this go round. There is a ton of traction and it’s GAINING steam. I don’t see where Pelosi can stand to even say no this time, she’d likely face calls to vacate the chair.

If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of “inherent contempt” and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.

As members of Congress, we have prioritized delivering for our constituents — remaining steadfast in our focus on health care, infrastructure, economic policy and our communities’ priorities. Yet everything we do harks back to our oaths to defend the country. These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do.

  • Reps. Gil Cisneros of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia are all freshman Democrats.
4121

More investigation from the NYT…

President Trump personally ordered his staff to freeze more than $391 million in aid to Ukraine in the days before he pressed the new Ukrainian president to investigate the Democrats’ leading presidential candidate, two senior administration officials said Monday.

Mr. Trump issued his directive to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, who conveyed it through the budget office to the Pentagon and the State Department, which were told only that the administration was looking at whether the spending was necessary, the officials said.

4122
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4124

BTW, the biggest issue the Democrats face here (in my opinion) is one you can see right in the thread title here.

Trump/Russia? Meh. People are tired of it. Impeachment is like 35-38% popular, 55-58% unpopular there. Setting aside the merits – which I think are absolutely there – there’s just Russia fatigue. And the notion that impeachment would become more popular as people find out more in impeachment hearings doesn’t seem to be that on point, at least to me. This is the most covered story in politics for 2 1/2 years. If people are going to be educated…they already are. Or aren’t.

Ukraine has to be played as a new thing and its own thing for this to be politically viable I think.

(Unlike Russia, which had a ton of moving parts involving various meetings and fringe-y types that got lumped in, this one’s fairly simple: the President attempted to coerce an foreign power into investigating a domestic political rival to serve his own purposes by illegally withholding congressionally apportioned military aid.)

4125

And lying about it. And forcing others to hold whistleblower complaint pass-along to Congress.

Essentially everything we had him on for Russia, only again, now with Ukraine and now caught (hopefully) on record. And it needs to be said explicitly, now as the President of the United States serving the people of the United States under oath to uphold the Constitution.

4126

Which, sadly, perfectly align with the purposes of the majority of the jury.

4127

Well, yes. There’s not going to be a conviction. That should be understood fully as a key consideration.

4128

It does, but at this point I want them to OWN it. Put their name to their vote to clear Trump. Then when the recession hits and his support crumbles, they’re tainted as well.

If they want to be partisan traitors to their country, they need to own it.

4129

I agree completely. I don’t give a shit if it doesn’t pass the Senate, put it on record. Let’s make this wall of shame for all to see.

4130

I wouldn’t take the Clinton timeline as the example if the articles of impeachment deal with Ukraine. The reason it only took two months from starting the inquiry to the House passing the bill is that the two articles of impeachment dealt with one cut and dried issue - lying under oath - and a bunch of stuff from the already-issued Starr report. Plus of course the goals were different: the whole thing was theater.

By contrast, we don’t know very much at all about Ukraine yet. While it’s simple compared to Trump/Russia, it still involves a bunch of principals - so far at least Trump, Giuliani, Mulvaney, Pompeo, Barr, and the whistleblower. All of them need to testify. That takes time, and of course all of Trump minions are going to be uncooperative witnesses. Plus there are apparently other incidents the whistleblower flagged that we as yet don’t know anything about.

The Watergate timeline seems more appropriate here.

Of course there’s a mountain of other things Trump can be impeached over, including obstruction of justice from the Mueller report, emoluments, etc. But since those were passed over as reasons for impeachment in the past, I’m not sure they’ll make the cut this time. (Unless the House, knowing the Senate will acquit, just says screw it and puts every charge in there they can think of. But then simply drafting the artciles will be a marathon.)

4131

It will also cause DJT to spazz the fuck out. It never goes well with the sane public when DJT shows his war face.

4132

The Feb 12, '99 of this election cycle was last February.

4133

Yes.

You will note that in that tweet, no one said “cycle”. It is a timeline for time of year.

4134

Never has a DJT insulting nickname been more apt than ‘little’ Marco. Littler by the day.