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You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeach the Motherfucker! / Impeachment Round Up

Impeachment Round Up

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Here are a few impeachment-related links and observations:

In a real shocker, it turns out that the White House is going to release a redacted version of the whistleblower complaint. That’s why Pelosi was smart to focus not just on the complaint but also on Trump’s bad acts in general – it doesn’t leave room for Trump to say “we gave them what they wanted, why are they still unsatisfied?”. (Nancy also said he needs to turn over the full complaint, since it ain’t her first rodeo with this asshole.) Contrast that with Biden’s conditional statement that if Trump doesn’t comply with Congress, they will have to start impeachment hearings. The Trump administration has shown, and will continue to show, malicious compliance – they’ll let people testify, but have them assert executive privilege, they’ll release documents with all of the incriminating parts blacked out – in short, they’ll do anything to run out the clock on oversight.

Chuck Todd was a little bit stern with Senator Foghorn Leghorn John Kennedy last night, but Lord Baby Jesus does he get a lot of attention for a very little effort. Basically, Todd made the elementary point that “whatabout Hunter and Joe” and “both sides need investigating” is not a defense for Trump’s bad acts. Maybe Joe read Margaret Sullivan’s piece in the Post, where she points out that Trump’s strategy on the Ukraine scandal counts on the press engaging in their usual both-sides bullshit when it comes to the completely unfounded accusations about Biden.

The Senate’s unanimous consent resolution to have Trump release the whistleblower report has spawned a lot of speculation about McConnell’s decision to allow the vote. My theory was that it was another Lucy and the football move by McConnell – along with being the least he could do other than nothing, the wording of the resolution would allow Trump’s redacted version to be spun as complying. Others have speculated that it was a last-ditch attempt to entice the Democrats into delaying a bit more, but that seems pretty far-fetched. Since there wasn’t really a vote on the resolution, I don’t think it tells us anything about where the Republicans have moved. I doubt that a single one of them will vote to convict after Trump is impeached, not even St. Mitt or Sister Susan of the Order of the Perpetually Furrowed Brow and Look of Concern.

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  2. 2.

    HypersphericalCow

    I would make a joke about what the writers and show-runners are doing/drinking/snorting, but this is actually happening.

    My mom watched the Watergate hearings during her college history class, because the professor thought it was more important than whatever lecture he had prepared. I kind of feel the same way now.

  3. 3.

    Nicole

    I really thought Pelosi might stretch it out a bit longer to maximize effect on 2020, but as she’s much smarter than I am, I trust she felt things were at a point where it was time to move forward. On Twitter, I saw a lot of grousing that it took a white man going after another white man’s son to make a white woman do something, but in Pelosi’s case, I really think it’s that this is so blatant it’ll be challenging, even with the media doing their very best to protect Trump, to obfuscate what happened. As horrible as everything else Trump has done is, it’s been very hard for Democrats to make the case that he’s flat-out breaking the law in a way that risks the nation. Which is crazy, but that’s the media and the American public for you.

    Pelosi gets blamed a lot for not going after the Bush cabal and the “rearview mirror” stuff, but I recall reading pieces at the time that said that it would have been very hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the terrible things Bush and Cheney did were, in fact, illegal. Which says a lot of stuff that’s pretty bad about American government, more than it does Pelosi. Even with Clinton, as fucking stupid as it was to go after a blow job, it wasn’t the blow job; it was the lying about it that the GOP used as their excuse, because the lying was clearly provable.

    Side thought- remember when Giuliani was “America’s Mayor”? Oh, I laugh. I also laugh at the memory of Queen Elizabeth knighting him, but seeing as how she’s spent quite some time protecting her son from consequences of his assaults on teenage girls, perhaps I should not be surprised.

  5. 5.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Did they already successfully shift the conversation to it being the White House’s decision what to release? So now we’re just discussing whether or how much Trump will release of somebody else’s report?

    It’s not his report.

    He doesn’t have a say in what is and isn’t released.

  6. 6.

    kindness

    Maybe that is the 11th dimensional chess move Nancy made. She realized that even with insurmountable data showing Trump is guilty, Senate Republicans vote to not impeach Trump. And that is what Senate Democrats will run against in 2020 and win.

    It could happen.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    @WereBear: Totally.

    I’m still wondering what happened to all those money-laundering and RICO-related angles that Mueller’s team was supposedly investigating? Did those get ‘handed off’ to other US attorneys (and if they did, did Barr quietly squash those investigations?)

    Anyway, I’m actually glad that Mr Hand-In-The-Cookie-Jar thinks he’s going to only release a ‘redacted’ whistleblower complaint. Good luck with that, Donnie! It doesn’t make you look guilty as hell or anything.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    The complaint itself shouldn’t be made public yet because it might actually contain real national secrets. But not providing the whole complaint to the Intel committees is not going to cut it.

  10. 10.

    zzyzx

    I don’t think there’s some massive strategy here. I think it’s simply that the Russian investigation turned out to be too confusing and nebulous to sell to the public at large, requiring pretty in depth knowledge of tampering and collusion laws, whereas threatening an ally who was in danger for personal gain is easy to explain.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    ????

    Giuliani was on Laura Ingraham’s show about 10:30pm last night, tweeted this three hours later, then got less than six hours of sleep before appearing in studio on Fox & Friends. He’s 75 years old.
    https://t.co/dqmiA9Bzpp

    — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2019

  14. 14.

    OldDave

    @HypersphericalCow:

    My mom watched the Watergate hearings during her college history class

    Similarly, the first day of my PolSci class way-back-when the professor stated we wouldn’t be using our text books that semester. Instead the class effectively was Watergate 101, taught from the pages of WaPo and NYT.

    I never thought I’d live to see a replay.

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    @rikyrah: What is wrong with Aaron that he does not realize that people sleep less as they age? Also, I would not sleep well if I was in deep doo doo like these folks.

  18. 18.

    germy

    @Starfish:

    What is wrong with Aaron that he does not realize that people sleep less as they age?

    Young.


    (I consider six hours of sleep a good night. Usually, I’m lucky to get four)

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    in other news, you know how we’ve heard for a couple years about the fabled independence of the US Attys in the Southern District of New York?

    southpaw @ nycsouthpaw
    SDNY is considering getting into the protecting Trump’s tax returns game, and it asks for Vance’s subpoenas to be held up until the office figures out what its arguments are.

    Joyce “No Relation To The Cys” Vance makes it sound like they’re doing more than considering. Really looks to this non-lawyer like Barr is doing more institutional damage faster than trump

  21. 21.

    The Moar You Know

    Really looks to this non-lawyer like Barr is doing more institutional damage faster than trump

    When you destroy the faith of the electorate in your judicial system for short-term political gain, you’ll probably win the moment…and lose the nation.

    This is the course of action the British Conservative (Tory) party has decided to embark upon as of this morning. “Activist judges!” is the new rallying cry there.

    We’re seeing the end stage of what happens when you do that here, with goons like Barr taking a wrecking ball to whatever’s left of accountability and the rule of law while the president, daily, commits acts that would have gotten him locked up – for real – forty years ago.

    I keep thinking about something Adam Silverman said here a few weeks ago that has haunted me ever since. When you destroy a society, there is no “back to normal”.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    Trumpov is tweeting his tiny nuts off, mostly retweeting kiss-assy clips from Fox News. He’s also claiming that the transcript is going to vindicate him now and forevermore, amen – oh, and we apparently don’t need to see the whistleblower complaint because that wasn’t someone with direct knowledge of his crimes.

    Sorry Donnie, that shit won’t fly. Cough it all up or we’ll have no choice but to keep chugging right along to impeachment.

  24. 24.

    ET

    While this likely won’t be unanimous, I have not seen the talking head class – including the press specifically- make more out of the Biden thing. What I have seen hasn’t really been both-siderer-ism. That could of course change, but stories usually start with the both-siderer-ism and then evolves into a less of that when more of the story is known, not the other way around.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: – oh, and we apparently don’t need to see the whistleblower complaint because that wasn’t someone with direct knowledge of his crimes.

    I have no idea what happened to my life-insured wife, officers. And don’t you dare look in the trunk of my car!

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    @Ule

    Meanwhile, the fiscal years ends on Monday and the Senate has taken no consequential action on either appropriations bills nor on a continuing resolution.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Looks like the transcript is out. Again, not a lawyer, but this doesn’t look exculpatory or exoneratious

    Philip Rucker @ PhilipRucker
    Breaking — Trump told his Ukrainian counterpart to work with AG Barr to investigate Biden’s conduct and offered to meet with Zelensky at the White House after he promised to conduct such an inquiry, according to a newly-released transcript of the call.

    ETA: maybe they’re going with an insanity defense, President Vinnie “The Chin” Gigante. Was he wearing a bathrobe during the call?

    The call begins with Trump congratulating Zelensky on his election victory, but quickly devolves into the president pressing for an investigation of his political rivals and endorsing an apparent conspiracy theory. He seems to suggest Hillary Clinton’s private email server is in Ukraine and asserts that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation started with that country.
    “I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it,” Trump says, according to the transcript.

  29. 29.

    Aleta

    The redacted version has been leaked.

    On Friday, the Special Counsel Telephone Notetaker submitted to me a “confidential report on transcript explaining the prosecution or declination decisions of the very friendly and totally appropriate phone call,” as required by 28 C.F.R. $ 600.8(c) as requested by (redacted). This report transcript is entitled “Report on the Transcript of the Investigation Very Innocent Phone Call into Russian Interference to Ukrainian Government in the 2016 Presidential Election Who Just Said They Weren’t Pressured at All.”

    Although my review is ongoing, I believe that it is in the public interest to describe the report transcript and to summarize the principal conclusions reached by the Special Counsel and the results of his investigation (redacted) (redacted) (redacted) (redacted) (redacted) — to wit, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!

  32. 32.

    Uncle Jeffy

    A twofer to start my day – Senator Foghorn Leghorn and Sister Susan of the Order of the Perpetually Furrowed Brow and Look of Concern. Sweet!

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In a statement, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said that the Justice Department’s criminal division “reviewed the official record of the call and determined, based on the fats and applicable law, that there was no campaign finance violation and that no further action was warranted.”
    “All relevant components of the Department agreed with this legal conclusion, and the Department has concluded the matter,” Kupec said.
    Kupec also said that Trump had never spoken with Barr “about having Ukraine investigate anything related to former Vice President Biden or his son,” nor had he talked about “anything related to Ukraine” with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.

    I am neither a lawyer nor a non-biased observer, but this really does not seem like a good defense. “He spoke to the foreign leader about the Attorney General participating in the investigation, but he didn’t talk to the Attorney General about the foreign leader starting their investigation.” That’s their defense?

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    others share my confusion, but this is up to Willard J Romney and Susan “Dryer Lint” Collins

    vid Frum @ davidfrum
    This is not going to be a very long impeachment inquiry, is it?

    evin M. Kruse @ KevinMKruse
    JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST.

    Rick Wilson @ TheRickWilson
    Wait. How did they think this was a good thing?

    How the fuck did Trump think this transcript was going to help him???

    (I am too generous to Collins, who likes to pretend to be a weak but sincere moderate when in reality she is every bit as cynical and partisan as McTurtle)

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @rp

    Available “at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.'”

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rp: there’s no such thing as a transcript, it’s a memo

    Jeff Zeleny @ jeffzeleny
    Important: This is a “transcript” with quotation marks. The disclaimer reads: CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion.

    but that seems like it was important fifteen minutes ago and not so much now….

  42. 42.

    rp

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Actually, the insanity defense might not be an exaggeration. Trump’s comments are so incoherent that the spin might be “he was just rambling…it can’t be abuse of power if it’s just Grandpa kvetching about his acquaintances.”

  45. 45.

    Aleta

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Intended to be exculpatory for Giuliani?

    Who, in between mopping the sweat running down his face, waved his phone around last night and cried out that his instructions from the State Dept. were “right here.” (iirc)
    https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/do-you-think-im-stupid-rudy-giuliani-says-democrats-walked-into-a-trap-on-impeachment/
    He was so overexcited that Ingraham had to help him, like a 5-year old’s first try at telling a story.

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    Don’t know how to embed Tweets like all the cool kids do.

    ✡️ Josh Shahryar ☪️
    ✔
    @JShahryar
    Ukraine survived a genocide by hunger under Stalin. They survived the Nazis. They survived ravages under the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, Mongols, Turks. You name it, they survived. One fascist cheeto ain’t shit.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rp:

    Dan Pfeiffer
    This transcript is devastating to Trump in both an impeachment and 25th Amendment context.

    He is both corrupt and barely hanging onto reality

    Should I turn on MSNBC for outraged, agog Former Federal Prosecutors, or NPR for “some Democrats are saying that this transcript is problematic”… “if I can interrupt you, Bill, some Democrats are even disputing the word ‘transcript’…” “ha, ha, Mary, that’s why good folk in diners hate Washington!”

  51. 51.

    Kent

    There were two sides to this call.

    Anyone hear anything about whether or not the Ukranians kept their own tape or transcript of the call? I haven’t seen any news or speculation about that but it is an intriguing notion.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @Gin & Tonic: I don’t know anything about Zelensky, but from the summary I just read, it sounds like he was playing his cards skillfully. He knows Trump’s a narcissist, so he flattered him effectively, made vague promises and ignored the conspiracy-mongering bullshit.

  53. 53.

    MattF

    @Kent: It’s likely. Also, y’know, the Russians. The calls were probably conducted over secure speakerphones in classified areas.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    iel W. Drezner @ dandrezner
    “Near the end of the call, Zelensky mentioned that the last time he visited New York — he didn’t say when — he stayed at the Trump Tower.”

    Arieh Kovler @ ariehkovler
    This is a minor thing in the Trump/Ukraine transcript, but foreign leaders know they have to literally PAY the President by staying at the properties he owns.

    and I would argue it is not. a minor. thing.

  55. 55.

    Aleta

    I think, if one wanted to mess with the WH, one might continue planting stories that shift all the blame to Giuliani. Cause he’s probably protected himself with evidence of OPCs (Other People’s Crimes) and might go off if he thinks he’s being cornered by them.

  56. 56.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: My occasional PSA:

    1) Each tweet has a down-pointing arrow in the top right corner. Click it.

    2) Copy the the green text.

    3)Paste it here.

    Now you’re a cool kid too!!!

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: Nina is smart.

    Nina Jankowicz
    @wiczipedia
    Replying to
    @sam_vinograd

    @MaximEristavi
    and
    @ZelenskyyUa
    He was telling Trump what he wanted to hear, and with $400 million in aid hanging over his head, who can blame him?

    I actually don’t read an offer to investigate Biden in his comments. He says they will look into Burisma. Also, he still hasn’t replaced the PG. Empty promises.

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Gin & Tonic: Other commentators are reading it as more committal (is that a word?) on Zelensky’s part and saying it’s not a good look for either President – and these are not Broderist both-sidesers, either.

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