The Russians are calling it “Ukrainegate.”
“I never thought I’d say it, but CNN is right,” remarked one pundit on Russia 1, the county’s most-watched television station. “The person who wins in this situation is Putin.”
Commentary in Russian media about the impeachment investigation of U.S. President Donald Trump in many ways echoes the language of U.S. coverage. Just a few of the jokes are different.
“As you know, you have designed and implemented your [impeachment] inquiry in a manner that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process. For example, you have denied the President the right to cross-examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to receive transcripts of testimony, to have access to evidence, to have counsel present, and many other basic rights guaranteed to all Americans.”
— White House counsel Pat Cipollone, in a letter to House Democratic leaders, Oct. 8, 2019
“Even Salem witch trials didn’t use anonymous testimony. The accused had to be confronted by a witness willing to put their name and reputation behind the charges and then had to be available for cross examination. Ah, the Soviet Union had trials with anonymous, unnamed witnesses. Welcome to McCarthy II.”
— Rudolph W. Giuliani, personal attorney to President Trump, in a pair of tweets, Oct. 8, 2019 Continue reading “Trump defenders’ misleading claims about the House impeachment inquiry”
Trump’s impeachment is forcing people to see where the GOP has been headed for years.It’s hard to believe that barely three weeks have passed since Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a mysterious subpoena to the acting director of national intelligence, demanding that he produce a whistleblower complaint filed by someone in the intelligence community.
Since that subpoena was issued, the impeachment of Donald Trump has gone from implausibility to near certainty; I at least find it hard to see how the House can fail to impeach given what we already know about Trump’s actions. Conviction in the Senate remains a long shot, but not as long as it once seemed.
And the whole tenor of our national conversation has changed. It looks to me as if we’re witnessing the rapid collapse of a powerful faction in U.S. public life, one whose refusal to accept facts at odds with its prejudices has long been a major source of political dysfunction.
Before European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland could reply to a text message from a colleague about the “crazy” plot to hold military aid to Ukraine hostage for political favors, he consulted with Donald Trump, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
In early September, Bill Taylor, America’s top diplomat in Ukraine, texted Sondland about concerns related to withholding military aid from Ukraine.
“As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor wrote to Sondland, according to texts released by the House of Representatives.
View the complete October 9 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.
Republicans in Congress are coalescing around a slow-down strategy designed to stifle the Democrats’ impeachment investigation into President Trump.
It’s a strategy that mimics the administration’s largely successful efforts to hamper investigations into Trump’s role in Russia’s 2016 election interference. The White House refused requests for disputed information in those probes, and the battles are now bogged down in the courts.
Republicans are now pulling a page from that playbook in hopes of smothering the impeachment inquiry arising from Trump’s communications with Ukraine before it gains any more steam.
View the complete October 9 article by Mike Lillis on The Hill website here.
A key witness the State Department blocked from an impeachment deposition on Tuesday has messages on a personal device that has not been provided to Congress, according to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
The House Intelligence Committee chairman ripped the State Department for blocking the deposition of Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and said the messages being withheld were relevant to the House impeachment inquiry.
“Not only is the Congress being deprived of his testimony, and the American people are being deprived of his testimony today, but we are also aware that the ambassador has text messages or emails on a personal device which have been provided to the State Department,” Schiff told reporters shortly after the State Department blocked Sondland’s appearance.
View the complete October 8 article by Cristina Marcos on The Hill website here.
Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources on a day when the White House refused to provide the morning cable TV shows with anyone who might defend Donald Trump, a former high-ranking executive in the Trump Organization said it is apparent the president is unraveling at the prospect of being impeached.
Speaking with CNN host Brian Stelter, Barbara Res — who was a principal in getting Trump Tower built — said Trump seems to be in a downward spiral.
“Telling the Russians that he didn’t care about election meddling, that was a stupid thing to have said,” she explained. “I never thought of him as stupid, that surprised me. Otherwise, no, this is Trump. Sometimes I say Trump-squared, since I knew him. He’s had many, many years of fame and fortune, getting richer, now he does believe he’s a stable genius and does believe he can shoot somebody on 5th Avenue, and so far it looks like he can.”
View the complete October 7 article by Tom Boggioni from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.
An attorney for the whistleblower who sounded the alarm about President Trump’s pressure on Ukraine said Sunday that “multiple” whistleblowers have come forward, deepening a political quagmire that has engulfed the president as well as several of his Cabinet members.
The news comes as House Democrats are accelerating their impeachment inquiry and subpoenaing documents related to Trump’s efforts to push foreign countries to investigate one of his political opponents, former vice president Joe Biden.
“I can confirm that my firm and my team represent multiple whistleblowers in connection to the underlying August 12, 2019, disclosure to the Intelligence Community Inspector General,” the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, said in a tweet. “No further comment at this time.”
President Trump is in new and dangerous territory this week, as some Republicans and administration veterans express unease about his actions, and polls show rising support for impeachment.
Voices that are normally supportive of the president have fallen silent, partly out of fear that new revelations could be around the corner.
A CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday showed majority support for an impeachment inquiry, with 55 percent of respondents nationwide in favor and 45 percent opposed.
View the complete October 2 article by Niall Stanage on The Hill website here.
Nearly 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed an open letter calling for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
The signatures were gathered by National Security Action, an organization founded by officials from the Obama administration concerned about Trump’s “reckless leadership,” but the list includes many others who served as career officials in Republican and Democratic administrations, reported the Washington Post.
“To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress’ deliberative process,” the statement says. “At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings.”
View the complete September 27 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.
