Tag: Trump bribery

Fox News uses bizarre graphics to smear impeachment witnesses in real time

AlterNet logoSaying that Fox News is a mouthpiece for right-wing disinformation is not a revelatory statement. But the depth of the network’s entanglement with conservative forces cannot be understated. As the first public impeachment hearings take place Wednesday, Fox News has made it clear that, as much as possible, it will lean on the scales to present damning testimony against Donald Trump in a perverse light.

It might seem like satire but as Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff opened the proceedings, Fox News put up graphics alongside Schiff’s face with “information” like: “House GOP has supported censuring Schiff for actions during inquiry;” “9/26: Schiff publicly exaggerated substance of Trump-Zelensky call; “10/13: Schiff admitted to not being clear about contact w/ whistleblower.” If Fox News could, it would likely play ominous music beneath the proceedings any time a Democratic official spoke.

The same treatment was afforded to acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor during his opening statement. Similar graphics presented “factoids” like: “Oct 23: President Trump dismissed Taylor as a ‘Never Trumper;’ “WH called Taylor’s closed-door testimony ‘Triple hearsay;’ “GOP says Taylor had no first-hand knowledge about Ukraine aid.”

View the complete November 13 article by Walter Einenkel from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

How Trump supporters justify supporting the president in full knowledge that he’s a criminal

AlterNet logoIt’s been nearly two months since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and Republicans still haven’t figured out a way to justify their predetermined conclusion: Trump is innocent. Their problem, of course, is the overwhelming evidence that Trump personally conducted an extortion and bribery scheme against Ukraine’s political leadership. As the record clearly shows, he threatened to withhold military aid and promised a White House visit in order to strong-arm President Volodymyr Zelensky into backing Trump’s false accusations against former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic Party leaders.

On Tuesday morning, the Republicans unveiled their supposed impeachment defense strategy, which amounts to little more than a command that Trump’s defenders in Congress keep a straight face while lying their heads off. GOP House leadership circulated a memo making flat-out laughable claims, such as the claim that the now-infamous July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky “shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure,” even though Trump literally says, “I would like you to do us a favor though” immediately after Zelensky asks him to release aid that Congress had already authorized. Continue reading “How Trump supporters justify supporting the president in full knowledge that he’s a criminal”

GOP senator: Republicans don’t have votes to dismiss impeachment articles

The Hill logoSen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to Senate Republican leadership, says there are not enough votes in the Senate to immediately dismiss any articles of impeachment passed by the House against President Trump.

Republicans have discussed the possibility of quickly dismissing charges against Trump, which would just require 51 votes. But Cornyn said that would be a difficult hurdle for the GOP, which holds 53 seats in the Senate.

“There’s some people talking about trying to stop the bill, dismiss charges basically as soon as they get over here. I think that’s not going to happen. That would require 51 votes,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday.

View  the complete November 13 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

New testimony adds 2 stunning and previously unknown details about the Ukraine quid pro quo

AlterNet logoNew testimony released Monday from the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of the Ukraine scandal included at least two new stunning details about the quid pro quo scheme at the heart of the matter.

Overall, the transcripts for depositions of Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson, who were advisers to U.S. envoy Kurt Volker, built on the story of that we already know: that President Donald Trump pushed a shadow foreign policy to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political opponents, a scheme that involved using his office and military aid as leverage over the country in opposition to the official policy.

But testimony from Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, included two new details about the scheme that we hadn’t previously been aware of.

View the complete November 12 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

“This is a very strong case of bribery’: Democrat Jackie Speier explains why the evidence against Trump is ‘very simple’

AlterNet logoThis past weekend, Republicans went on the news shows to try and spin Trump’s treasonous, criminal, impeachable offenses as president, as alternately something everybody is doing, and … crimes aren’t crimes. Honestly, that’s basically it. Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California is on the House Intelligence Committee that is getting to sit in and watch a parade of government officials testify to about the garbage fire that is our current president’s administration. Since the conservative disinformation team is out in full force, so must Democratic officials spend time “making their case” to the public about how and why Donald Trump broke the law and should be impeached.

The traditional media, for their part, is restrained in its capacity to simply tell the truth because of a perverse belief that simply having a second opinion means you have an opinion worth sharing—regardless of the irrefutable facts. Rep. Speier went on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos to remind everyone that while much of the testimony connected to this impeachment inquiry has been behind closed doors, what has already leaked makes for a very plain and simple case of criminal, impeachable action on the part of Donald Trump. Having been asked how this is different from the Mueller report, Speier tried to remind the world that getting bogged down in BS is the only reason Trump wasn’t impeached 1,000 times already. Continue reading ““This is a very strong case of bribery’: Democrat Jackie Speier explains why the evidence against Trump is ‘very simple’”