Tag: Moscow Mitch

George Conway: McConnell’s ludicrous claim that impeachment distracted officials from coronavirus preparation is ‘gaslighting of the highest order’

AlterNet logoMany critics of President Donald Trump have attributed the United States’ failure to prepare for the coronavirus pandemic back in January and February to the fact that Trump and so many of his sycophants in right-wing media didn’t take it seriously. But when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on fellow Trump supporter Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Tuesday, March 31, he found a way to blame that lack of preparation on Democrats — arguing that they were too obsessed with impeachment to focus on a health crisis. And Never Trump conservative attorney George Conway, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, slams McConnell’s assertion as “gaslighting of the highest order.”

On March 31, Conway asserts, McConnell “added to the disgrace by claiming that impeachment distracted officials from dealing with the coronavirus. Speaking to radio host and Post columnist Hugh Hewitt, McConnell said the virus ‘came up while we were, you know, tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything, every day, was all about impeachment.’”

McConnell’s theory, according to Conway, is ludicrous. Continue reading.

Senate Democrats go around Mitch McConnell to do something about Russia election interference

AlterNet logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has addressed the great purge of intelligence officials who have warned about Russia’s ongoing efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election on behalf of impeached president Donald Trump—leaving out the part, of course, that it’s Trump it’s trying to help. “Recent reports suggest that adversaries including Russia are likely continuing efforts aimed at dividing Americans,” he said, “sowing chaos in our politics, and undermining confidence in our elections.” Then he issued this bucketload of bullshit: ”Fortunately, in stark contrast to the failures of the Obama admin in 2016, the Trump admin once again appears to be doing the right thing—in this case, by promptly providing a specific counterintelligence briefing to the Democratic presidential candidate in question.” Like the briefing McConnell got in 2016, the one where he threatened the CIA under President Barack Obama with all-out partisan warfare if the public was warned that Russia was trying to help Trump win. Of course, the Trump campaign didn’t need to be briefed that Russia was intervening on Trumps’ behalf—the campaign leadership was in on it!

McConnell won’t do a damn thing now to try to stop Russia, so Democrats in the Senate are going over his head, or attempting to. Sens. Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez, and Sherrod Brown are demanding that the Trump administration impose sanctions on Russia, an action that does not require Senate approval under existing authority. They’ve written to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking them “to immediately and forcefully impose sanctions on Russia’s government, any Russian actors determined to be responsible for such interference, and those acting on their behalf or providing material or financial support for these election interference efforts.”

The three write that “it is long past time for the administration to send a direct, powerful and unmistakable message to President Putin: the US will respond immediately and forcefully to continuing election interference by the government of the Russian Federation and its surrogates, to punish, deter and substantially increase the economic and political costs of such interference.” Continue reading.

What did Mitch McConnell know about Bolton bombshell — and when did he know it?

AlterNet logoSenate Republicans are reportedly feeling “blindsided” by the revelation from John Bolton’s upcoming book that Donald Trump personally told the former national security adviser that he was withholding aid to Ukraine until he got his investigations into Democrats and the Bidens. They want to know who in the White House knew about this and why it was withheld from them, they say. They should be looking closer to home, at their majority leader, Mitch McConnell, if indeed this news came as a total shock to them.

Bolton’s lawyer said he provided the manuscript of his book to the White House on Dec. 30. That’s two weeks after McConnell promised Sean Hannity on Fox News, “Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with White House Counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.” Just a few days after that interview, McConnell told reporters, “I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There’s not anything judicial about it. […] I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.” He also said that it was the House’s “duty to investigate” and not the Senate’s, and that “we certainly do not need ‘jurors’ to start brainstorming witness lists for the prosecution.” Continue reading.

 

Senate rejects Democratic effort to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mulvaney for testimony in Trump’s impeachment trial

Washington Post logoSenators began debate Tuesday afternoon over the rules that will guide the impeachment trial of President Trump — just the third in history of a U.S. president — focused on his conduct toward Ukraine.

The Senate rejected Democratic amendments to subpoena records from the White House, State Department, Defense Department and Office of Management and Budget related to the Ukraine probe. The White House stonewalled requests for those records by House investigators during their inquiry.

The Senate also rejected amendments to subpoena Trump administration officials, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; his senior adviser, Robert Blair; and top Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey. Each amendment was tabled on a 53-to-47 party-line vote. Continue reading.

McConnell drops two-day limit on opening arguments

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in the face of strong criticism from Democrats, is backing off his proposed requirement that House impeachment managers and President Trump’s lawyers each fit their opening arguments into two-day windows.

McConnell amended his organizing resolution for Trump’s impeachment trial at the last minute to give each side three days to make their opening arguments, which can last for up to 24 hours, the same amount of time given to the prosecution and defense during the 1999 impeachment trial of President Clinton.

The GOP leader made another significant amendment to his resolution by allowing the House impeachment inquiry to be entered into the Senate’s official trial record — subject to hearsay objections — something McConnell declined to greenlight in his initial proposal. Continue reading.

House managers accuse McConnell of setting up ‘rigged’ trial

The Hill logoThe team of House Democrats arguing their case for impeachment in the Senate are slamming the trial resolution put forward by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), describing the compressed schedule as an attempt to cover up President Trump‘s conduct.

The resolution, circulated by McConnell on Monday night, would give the House Democrats 24 hours over the course of two days to make their opening arguments to impeach and remove Trump from office over his contacts with Ukraine. The same time constraints would be placed on the White House team defending Trump.

“A White House-driven and rigged process, with a truncated schedule designed to go late into the night and further conceal the President’s misconduct, is not what the American people expect or deserve,” the impeachment managers wrote in a statement. Continue reading.

‘Weak’: Former White House counsel breaks down why McConnell’s arguments on impeachment ‘precedent’ are deeply flawed

AlterNet logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t consider himself an “impartial juror” in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and that he will be coordinating with Trump in the weeks ahead. One of the Kentucky Republican’s arguments is that Trump’s impeachment, unlike the impeachment of Present Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, has not been handled in a fair way. But former White House Counsel Bob Bauer, in a January 16 article for Benjamin Wittes’ Lawfare website, lays out some of reasons why McConnell’s arguments on impeachment “precedent” are misleading.

McConnell has argued that Trump’s impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives was handled in an overtly “partisan” manner by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and other Democrats — while Clinton’s impeachment in the late 1990s was not. Bauer totally disagrees.

“McConnell’s history is weak,” Bauer asserts. “More than 90% of the House Republicans voted for Clinton’s impeachment; more than 90% of Republican senators voted for convicting him. By any measure, among lawmakers, there was overwhelming Republican Party support for ousting a Democratic president from office. McConnell’s professed claims of historically unprecedented partisanship is founded on the pointless distinction between fully party-line and just-over-90% party-line support.” Continue reading.

Trump’s trial a major test for McConnell, Schumer

The Hill logoThe stakes for McConnell and Schumer, who have been longtime political adversaries, are high.

In 1999, Democrats scored a big victory in President Clinton’s impeachment trial by convincing a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle and vote against the two articles of impeachment passed by the House. Ten Republicans voted against Article I charging Clinton with perjury and five Republicans voted against Article II charging the president with obstruction of justice.
Clinton and his allies hailed it as an acquittal and saw depriving Republicans — who controlled the chamber with 55 seats — of a majority vote for impeachment as a major victory. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was spotted exchanging high fives on media row in the Russell Rotunda immediately after the vote.

If Schumer can convince four Senate Republicans to vote to subpoena additional witnesses and documents, as he has demanded for weeks, it would be a big win. And if he can convince any Republicans to vote for articles of impeachment — something that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) failed to do in the House — it will be a bigger victory. Continue reading.

Impeachment Trial Witnesses: Who the Senate Should Call and What They Know

Center for American Progress logoPresident Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are engaged in a cover-up by trying to prevent the Senate from holding a fair impeachment trial. They are attempting to block witnesses from testifying because it is clear that these witnesses will provide damning evidence against the president.

Most of what we know about these potential witnesses’ roles has come from testimony or press reports. In some cases, such as those of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, it also comes from public statements they themselves have made.

Pompeo, Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence can testify to the president’s direct involvement in the plot to extort Ukraine. The other witnesses, who played roles in implementing the White House’s scheme, can shed light on what they did and on whose orders they did it. Furthermore, the documents they possess could corroborate the allegations against Trump. It is vital that Congress and the American public learn the truth—which means it is vital that the Senate hold a full trial and demand that the administration produce the witnesses and documents it is trying desperately to hide. Continue reading.

More bad news for McConnell: Two-thirds of voters want to see John Bolton testify

AlterNet logoIn the wake of multiple polls showing strong majorities of Americans believe the Senate impeachment trial should include witnesses and documents, a Quinnipiac survey finds that 66% of voters want to hear from one person in particular: former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. That 66% includes 39% of Republicans, 71% of independents, and 91% of Democrats.

Bolton’s willingness to testify in the Senate if subpoenaed is among the biggest prizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acquired while delaying transmission of the articles of impeachment. Along with being quoted by his subordinates as calling Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani a “hand grenade,” Bolton had unique proximity to Trump during some of the most critical episodes in the Ukraine scandal. His testimony could send shockwaves through the GOP, based on his outsized stature within the party and all the information he was privy to. Continue reading.