Trump/Russia 2016 election investigation (continued, now with Ukraine!)

[Menzo]

And the Democratic response is:

So you are willing to let the President continue to flaunt the law for more than a year? What happened to your stance on lawbreaking you so vehemently pushed for women and children seeking asylum here in the US?

[Gordon_Cameron]

“flout”

(sorry to be that guy)

[Timex]

Shaun King (shaunking)

[Gordon_Cameron]

Christ, I’d almost forgotten what moral authority looks like in American politics.

[vyshka]

The Hill (thehill)

Bringing out the big guns

[Wallapuctus]

That’ll stop him!

[triggercut]

This is gonna sound dumb, but…

…this is an apolitical mainstream big-name comedian who is well noted for trying to steer clear of controversy:

Jim Gaffigan (JimGaffigan)

When you’ve got Gaffigan tweeting about impeachment, this may be a thing.

[playingwithknives]

Watching the Brexit and Trump duo fail at the same time will be pretty sweet. Fingers crossed for you guys.

[rowe33]

Wait, so they’re just voting on “condemning” him today, instead of to begin the actual impeachment process? Is this the first real step or is it just more shaking of fists and useless posturing?

[Telefrog]

I thought we already had an impeachment inquiry going? Like, I was told it’s happening, just really slowly and strategically. Did I dream that?

[Pyperkub]

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

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/opinion/press-freedom-arthur-sulzberger.html#click=https://t.co/dWv4Bfuo5B

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.

Seriously, no one else is concerned about this? This may actually be worse than Russia/Ukraine if you think that the Trump Administration also had intel about the Saudi’s plans for Jamal Khashoggi, but the WaPo didn’t have as good a contact to save him.

Essentially, it seems as if the Trump Admin is allowing American Journalists to be imprisoned and maybe even murdered by Totalitarian Governments because their News Organizations have been critical of the Administration.

Here’s another quote:

When we protested the move, a senior official at the United States Embassy in Cairo openly voiced the cynical worldview behind the Trump administration’s tolerance for such crackdowns. “What did you expect would happen to him?” he said**. “His reporting made the government look bad.”**

[Dan_Theman]

I thought we already had an impeachment inquiry going? Like, I was told it’s happening, just really slowly and strategically. Did I dream that?

We do. Honestly, this afternoon is largely theater but it’s needed theater because the Dems have really botched the PR aspect of the whole bit. We’ll soon find out if this attempt is any better.

[Timex]

Essentially, it seems as if the Trump Admin is allowing American Journalists to be imprisoned and maybe even murdered by Totalitarian Governments because their News Organizations have been critical of the Administration.

One thing that is important to note, I think, is that in these cases the journalists aren’t actually Americans.

Now, before folks freak out, I’m in no way defending this. We should advocate for free journalists no matter what, but it’s not accurate to say these are American journalists. They are foreign journalists, who had residency in the US.

[jpinard]

I’m terrified of this. I’ve been terrified since trump took office.

[triggercut]

Adam Schiff (RepAdamSchiff)

Insert Anchorman “That escalated quickly” gif.

[antlers]

Trump evidently has agreed to release the phone call transcript.

Trump says he has authorized release of transcript of call with the Ukrainian...

This would be in agreement with my prediction here:

The transcript is what the Trumpists want to release. They’ll pretend they don’t want to, but they will be “persuaded” to release some redacted POS that they will have a plan to spin, like the Barr summary of the Mueller report.

What must be released (to the Intel committee) is the whistleblower complaint as reviewed by the IG. Anything less demands impeachment of Barr and Trump both.

I hope the press avoids the trap this time.

[Gordon_Cameron]

narrator says…

[triggercut]

Start the clock.

Kyle Griffin (kylegriffin1)

[rowe33]

Why should we trust anything this administration releases? He’s been proven to lie about literally anything so not sure why this would be any different.

[Telefrog]

Yup. No doubt the transcript will show that Trump did not explicitly offer quid pro quo out loud. Trumpists and GOP will triumphantly point to that and moderate news will go back to both-sidesing this like idiots.