Yeah it’s hard to hear his testimony over the clunk of bodies.
He apparently has the smartest lawyer in DC – we all realize that the perjury defense that he had no access to documents is laughable, but it’s a nice double-edged sword. If he’s lying, release the documents. Otherwise, he must be telling the truth.
When Trump says he hardly knows you, the writing is on the wall. Time to burn it all down to save your own ass.
9.
Yarrow
Shorter Sondland is, “I’m not going to prison for you assholes.”
10.
MattF
We’re now going to see how cultists behave when they are truly fucked beyond the limits of the observable universe. Theory says that they try to strengthen the bonds of the in-group. We shall see.
@zhena gogolia: Damn! That wasn’t even on my bingo card.
12.
Baud
“Everyone was in the loop.”
13.
laura
tic Tic BOOM!
14.
mistermix loves your ass
He had no access to documents, except those he uses to cherry pick to support his side of the story. He was supposed to be on the inside of the conspiracy but now he’s on the outside. So fucking funny.
15.
Bruce K
I’m only getting bits and pieces over various sources on Teh Intarweebs, but if it’s all true … Juliet Foxtrot Charlie, could this be the tipping point? Could this be what finally convinces the GOP that Trump is a net liability for their political survival?
But…but…Hunter Biden! the Whistleblower! those emails! the Ukrainian meddling to throw the election to Hillary! Hoax! Hearsay!
Something’s going to stick to the wall, keep throwing.
19.
Yarrow
Personally, I love that Rick Perry is mixed up in this. He’s been crooked for years. Decades.
20.
LAO
Wow. Sondland is throwing everyone under the bus while maintaining a veneer of righteous indignation. Kudos to his lawyer.
21.
Baud
If I didn’t have meeting to attend, I would get no work done today.
22.
mistermix loves your ass
I’m reading his statement while he’s testifying, and he’s ad-libbing to emphasize how much Perry and Bolton were in the loop. Special explanation on how Pompeo’s secretary/assistant prints out emails and gives them to him.
@Cheryl Rofer: Good opposing counsel could find a lot of openings in his selective recollection. We’ll see if Nunes, the R counsel and Gym Jordan are up to it.
35.
eric
@LAO: He is also giving them an obstruction count by saying that his “potentially” untruthful testimony was the result of the WH refusing access as required as part of the effort to hide the crimes. Seems like a mucho smart lawyer
36.
Avalune
I had just looked at a headline and texted Leto “Dang, Sondland is expected to throw Trump under the bus!” Then thought I’ll see what BJ has to say…and buses everywhere!
37.
TS (the original)
Ah – Sondland’s big goal was to solve the problem and get the aid to Ukraine – what a guy.
Wow…this is finally getting interesting! And I gotta go to work in 30 minutes (I’m on the west coast).
40.
Yarrow
Man, Pompeo is in trouble.
41.
Mikeindublin
Kinda hoping they’d pan over to Nunnes so I can watch his eyes pop out
42.
mistermix loves your ass
I think he’s going to be a tough witness on cross examination. He is clearly loving unburdening himself fully, he wants to be the hero now, and he’s got all the documents. He’s now a true believer in the Gordon Sondland story.
43.
Avalune
I was at work and really didn’t get to follow the hearings yesterday but I caught enough to hear people continually saying DID HE SAY LETS DO BRIBES? As if that settled the matter that there were no bribes. Because that’s how bribes work.
I want someone to write a noir book where the bad guy is always like “Let’s do bribes! Just in case it’s not clear, when I say I need you to do me a favor, and I’m waving this money around while I’m saying it, that’s a bribe because we’re doing bribes and this is definitely how you do bribes.”
44.
Mr. Mack
Reposting: Can we expect minority counsel to try and paint Sondland as a liar? Seems there is nowhere else to go.
45.
LAO
@eric: Sondland’s statement is the result of the best lawyering I have ever seen. And I’ve been a defense attorney for 20
@mistermix loves your ass: He is definitely taking care of himself first. Gonna take some work to unravel what he’s said, but he’s damaged the Trumpies badly, and that’s not going to change.
51.
zhena gogolia
Schiff gets a little Javert expression now and then. I hope he sings “Stars” before the day is out.
52.
Yarrow
@Baud: Giuliani has already said he’s got “insurance.” Mobsters turning on each other.
53.
eric
@LAO: it also helps that he is a millionaire and will remain as such so long as he is a free man. Avoiding the pokey is the win here. Period. Interesting if the DOJ (controlled by Barr and Trump) decide to go after him for perjury rather than the House. Though, i would leave this guy alone were i them….
54.
mistermix loves your ass
He’s not fully acquainted with the testimony of others because he’s been sequestered with his lawyer threading this needle.
@LAO: Prepping a client for a deposition is an art. You gotta have a client you can work with, of course. I think what we’re watching here is that a great lawyer has met a great client. You don’t see this sort of thing too often
ETA: where did all these buses come from? I thought we didn’t have much mass transit in this country.
57.
Kelly
@LAO: That’s the best news. They’re turning their fire on each other and they’re well armed.
So, he brought his own bus and is throwing them all under it???
60.
Adam L Silverman
@Bruce K: No. The only thing that will convince them, or more specifically McConnell, is when he gets internal polling telling him he’s going to lose at least four GOP Senate seats and thereby lose his majority. That’s the only thing that will cause any movement by any Republicans away from the President.
61.
LAO
I love ya Schiff but turn over the questioning to Goldman.
62.
Mainmata
@mistermix loves your ass: Needless to say, you always make copies of critical documents and your email archive. I think this is selective forgetting/remembering going on
63.
Raoul
I had never heard Sondland speak before. He has that breezy arrogance of a stupid rich man.
@Raoul: His a glib guy convinced he’s a master of the universe. Pretty typical of the uberwealthy
67.
Kent
@Avalune:I was at work and really didn’t get to follow the hearings yesterday but I caught enough to hear people continually saying DID HE SAY LETS DO BRIBES? As if that settled the matter that there were no bribes. Because that’s how bribes work.
It was really extortion not bribery despite what the Dems have been saying. Bribery is when you offer something good (illicit money or other favor) in exchange for a favor. Extortion is when you threaten something bad in exchange for a favor. In this case, Trump was threatening to withhold Congressionally appropriated military aid. That is extortion. It would have been bribery if Trump was offering illicit money in exchange for the favor. I think they keep saying bribery because that is specifically mentioned in the Constitution. But that was probably more along the lines of a president taking bribes rather than bribing a foreign leader.
68.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: “Oh Senator McConnnnnnnnnnell…FexEx package from US Polling Co…will you please sign for it?”
Watch Schiff’s closing statement from yesterday. He’ll explain it to ya.
70.
Mainmata
@mistermix loves your ass: Pence has always been involved in Trump’s many crimes but he keeps quiet about much of it. But he was deeply involved in this mess from early on. Pence doesn’t have good judgment and he never pushes back on Trump.
71.
sherparick
The SS Trumptanic has struck the Iceberg Sondland. Not looking good.
72.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: I saw your note about this in the thread below, LOL. Great minds and all that. Also, a drink WOULD be nice at this point in time but in theory I’m working today.
Saw a couple tweets to this effect, too. “If you woke up from a four-year coma, turned on the TV, and heard a US ambassador talking about ‘ASAP Rocky’…you might just go back into the coma”
LOLOL
November 2020 is, um, still 12 months away, GOP. Think this is going to get any better?
73.
JGabriel
For the inevitable Hollywood black comedy about the Trump administration, I’m thinking Max Perlich for the role Gordon Sondland.
74.
Yarrow
@Kent: Agreed. I wish they’d use the word extortion.
75.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: And I’m not even sure that would save McConnell’s majority. The base has been so thoroughly propagandize by the President, Fox News, talk radio, conservative digital and social media, Sinclair, and by McConnell’s own senators in his caucus that if McConnell moves to separate the GOP from the President, the base, especially the evangelical and religiously conservative portions of that base, may not move with him. I think it is highly likely they won’t move with McConnell at all. McConnell, of course, has to ride the tiger until he feels it is safe to get off. It is, most likely, never going to be safe to get off the tiger even if it becomes clear that it is not safe to stay on the tiger.
76.
Tony Jay
Wow. From the looks of things Sondland hasn’t so much thrown Trump’s circle of mooks under the bus as he’s barreled right through them and is still doing wheel-spins over their twitching corpses.
Nice!
77.
Elizabelle
Schiff’s going after Morrison not being truthful??
78.
bemused
This is amazing. I guess Sondland quit the 3 amigo club and doesn’t recall telling the others he was dumping them.
I wonder if trump will head to Walter Reed for phase two of his physical exams.
79.
orchid moon
Going to be a boost in the economy with all the busses purchased by Sondland.
80.
Baud
“official act”
81.
LAO
Bingo! Finally testimony that the investigations need not be real but must be made public. Hallelujah
@amorphous: Yep. Particularly, our New York oligarchs of finance and real estate. They have been laundering Russian oligarchs money for 25 years now.
84.
Kent
So I live in the Portland metro area and my wife’s employer used to frequently use the Heathman and Sondland’s other hotel for putting up out-of-town guests and physicians that they are recruiting. In fact we stayed there when we flew out a few years ago when she was being recruited.
That stopped recently. They found other hotels because Sondland has gotten toxic here in PDX and they don’t want to offend anyone or come across as political either way. Oops. I gotta imagine that other businesses and individuals are doing the same thing. Perhaps not out-of-town guests who might not know. But here in the relatively small world of Portland business. No one wants their choice of hotel to make a political statement when you are doing business negotiations or bringing in clients. Heh.
I wonder how much his business is dropping off. At least he wasn’t stupid enough to put his damn name on them like Trump.
85.
Jeffro
Hmm I see “President Pelosi” is trending on Twitter…
Schiff’s completely calm voice and demeanor is amazing to watch.
89.
Shalimar
@Avalune: That bad guy gets knifed to death on page 3 by the other bad guys because he’s clearly wearing a wire.
90.
Baud
Got him on the #logjam.
91.
Avalune
@Kent: Ok, perhaps bribery isn’t the precise word but the sentiment remains the same – no one goes around shouting they are doing bribes, or extortion if you prefer, as they are doing it, so their argument is almost hysterical.
@Kent: Soliciting a bribe(investigations) for the performance of an official act(aid release) is also bribery, under the law.
96.
Avalune
@Shalimar: I hope the guy knifing him runs in shouting that he’s knifing him because he’s the knife guy.
97.
Jinchi
@Bruce K: Could this be what finally convinces the GOP that Trump is a net liability for their political survival?
I doubt it. The Republicans of 2019 are essentially the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas, or the People’s Temple in Jonestown. They’re with Trump to the end.
@Mike in DC:@Kent: Soliciting a bribe(investigations) for the performance of an official act(aid release) is also bribery, under the law.
OK, so Trump was extorting a bribe from Ukraine. I can live with that! Just too much crime to keep track of.
100.
Leto
Haha, what refreshes his memory was “A$AP Rocky”… what fucking timeline am I in? Is this my stop?
Haha, “it’s up to the President to decide what’s unclass/class” in regard to having unsecured phone calls and not worrying about foreign intel services. JFC…
Edit: “”he loves your ass”, yeah, sounds like something I’d say…” As LAO has said: stupid, rich, white dude syndrome. It’ll be the death of us all.
101.
Adam L Silverman
Is must hurry for get dress and have pitcher of the Mimosa bring up for watch the Sondland try no go jail. Is watch in my room this day because nice Secret Service man no on duty yet.
@Shalimar: I’m doing the murders! I’m doing the murders by knifing! By sleeping with fishes I mean I’m murdering you, just to be clear!
104.
Elizabelle
Zelensky loves your ass.
G: “that sounds like something I would say. (audience laughter.) Pres. Trump and I communicate with a lot of four letter words. In this case, 3-letter words.”
105.
Yarrow
Sondland seems almost gleeful as he throws everyone under the bus. It’s kind of surreal.
106.
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: If McConnell loses 4 or more seats, his is going to be one of them. All he needs to watch is his own polling.
107.
Baud
“I don’t recall any information that might incriminate me.”
108.
TS (the original)
He surely is running the bus over the president* – who will be sure they never met in 10, 9, 8, …
109.
Yarrow
I see John Dean is trending on Twitter. Heh.
110.
Leto
@Avalune: “I’m going to extort you now!” – stupid Bond villain, monologuing, with steepled fingers. Def a bald cat in his lap. Did I say Bond villain? I meant Dr Evil.
Are the additional impeachable offenses implicated.
There may also be some obscure violation of an anti-propaganda statute implicated by trying to get Ukraine to legitimize a Russian lie about Crowdstrike/DNC to the American public.
Boy, having a selective memory and no notes lets you weasel around a lot.
115.
Just Chuck
@Shalimar: Right. Mitch figures he has a better job of holding his seat if he doesn’t enrage the Trumpanzees, so he’ll ride this all the way down.
116.
Yarrow
“If we wanted to get anything done on Ukraine it was clear we had to talk to Rudy.” So many buses.
117.
JGabriel
Remember when Nixon’s four-letter words on the White House tapes were an OMG pearl-clutching moment?
And now Trump’s lackeys laughingly brag to Congress about four-letter words being how they communicate with the President of the United States.
Yet another way in which Trump has degraded the office of the President, and the United States of America.
118.
Betty
@mistermix loves your ass: Robert Luskin. Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) has been saying he is one of the best for this kind of problem.
119.
LAO
Honestly, if Rudy winds up in jail, it’ll be like Christmas comes early.
120.
hells littlest angel
I don’t ordinarily enjoy the operations of the right-wing slime machine, but Sondland is a Trump-level shit-head, and he’s going to deserve everything he gets. For all the backstabbing he’s doing right now, he’s not even a very good witness, just because of how obviously full of it he is.
121.
Avalune
@Leto: We’ll hold the ransom for…one million dollars…
122.
TS (the original)
Almost 2am in my world – I’ll have to watch a replay some time tomorrow
@Yarrow: “It wasn’t me! It was the one armed Ghouliani! Oh and Pompeo. And Trumov. Basically everyone around me. I was just in Brussels eating waffles, throwing 4th of July parties in June, and watching shit burn all around me.”
But that was probably more along the lines of a president taking bribes rather than bribing a foreign leader.
They may well have considered a President trying to bribe members of Congress, though. There are a few things in the Constitution that are clearly there to prevent the President from using the power of his office to entice members of Congress to go along with him, and bribery would just be a slightly cruder approach.
@Roger Moore: Since Pelosi started with using the word “bribe” or “bribery” and others have followed suit, it does make one wonder if there is other evidence of Trump bribing people, not just related to Ukraine.
I’m not sure exactly what I said, but I’m certain it was whatever best exonerates me and implicates everyone else.
140.
patroclus
So all of the upper echelon were in on it (the extortion) and not one of them pushed back at all. And what outed it were the underlings like Vindman and Taylor. In a sane world, this would be the end of it right now. Are the Republicans gonna continue to blather about hearsay and Hunter Biden now?
This is riveting stuff!
141.
Yarrow
@MattF: We know this is not the only time Trump has done a bad thing. This is just the first time during his presidency that he’s potentially being held accountable.
We considered staying at the Heathman this summer when we were in Portland. We ended up staying at the Paramount instead.
I had a slight freakout a few weeks ago and checked to make sure the Paramount’s not a Sondland hotel. It isn’t — phew! ?
143.
Timurid
Executive summary of Sondland’s testimony:
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Beaten why for (why for)
Can’t take much more
(Here we go, here we go, here we go)
One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
One, something’s got to give
Two, something’s got to give
Three, something’s got to give now
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Push me again (again)
This is the end
(Here we go, here we go, here we go)
One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
One,…
144.
Leto
@MattF: and beer! Man, now I want chocolate waffles and a kriek! =/
@Yarrow: a #2 tape? =| Him actually showing affection to a dog tape? Him eating a salad?
145.
Matt McIrvin
@Kent: You’re right. And extortion is really worse than bribery.
146.
Yarrow
@patroclus: The Republicans are tied up in this whole mess. Taking Russian money. Kompromat on them. Etc. They don’t know what to do because either way they’re fucked.
@Adam L Silverman: “McConnell, of course, has to ride the tiger until he feels it is safe to get off. It is, most likely, never going to be safe to get off the tiger even if it becomes clear that it is not safe to stay on the tiger.”
Dare we hope that the tiger will eat him?
148.
Yarrow
@Leto: I’m uncomfortable discussing the rumor, but it’s bad.
149.
Leto
@Yarrow: Exactly. Russian money via the NRA, or other illegal Russian campaign contributions laundered through various shell corporations. They’re up to their receding hairlines in it.
Edit: it’s showing affection to Eric, isn’t it? :p
(No clue what the rumor is, but I’ll take your word that’s it’s bad. I’m enjoying just throwing out silly things that might be “bad”. You know, normal human interaction/feelings.)
150.
Elizabelle
Glad to see Giuliani getting thwacked so hard. He needs to go to prison.
I wish Sean Hannity’s ass would get thrown under the bus, too. He’s credible to Fox World, and his downfall would be epic. And deserved. I hate that weasel. He is an enemy of democracy in the United States. And no less.
This is fascinating. Sondland is clearly lying about his own knowledge and willingness to lead so much of this, but there isn’t much they can do to call him on it. They can send him to prison too, but only by admitting so much that they essentially confess to everything else he is saying.
153.
Marcopolo
According to someone in the hearing Nunes went out for a time then came back looking like he’d seen a ghost. Guessing he was getting his revised marching orders. I know it’s just a step above gossip but I wish we had more insight on what is happening in the room.
154.
Elizabelle
@Raven Onthill: Poor tiger. How unpalatable. But geaux, Tiger!
We’re now going to see how cultists behave when they are truly fucked beyond the limits of the observable universe. Theory says that they try to strengthen the bonds of the in-group. We shall see.
Double down! W did it ALLA TIME.
156.
PPCLI
@LAO: As David Frum tweeted listening to this testimony:
“Successful real estate entrepreneur sees no reason to go to prison for unsuccessful real estate entrepreneur”
Don’t listen to Sondland. Look over there! Whistleblower!!
Assholes. But I suspect it works, with the lizard brain, or they would not do it.
166.
patroclus
Even Fox is saying this is very damaging for the Republicans and what they’ve been saying.
167.
Yarrow
@Leto: Yep. They’re owned via kompromat by Russia. They don’t have easy choices because owning up to their guilt puts them and their families in personal danger.
168.
MattF
@Elizabelle: Wisdom in ancient runes says that ‘yellow tie’ symbolizes power. In Jordan’s case it probably symbolizes the exact opposite, but no one has bothered to tell him.
The only thing that will convince them, or more specifically McConnell, is when he gets internal polling telling him he’s going to lose at least four GOP Senate seats and thereby lose his majority. That’s the only thing that will cause any movement by any Republicans away from the President.
I think this is pretty close to right. Where I’d probably differ is that the polling has to indicate that they aren’t at risk in the primaries if they vote to remove Trump (or, alternatively, that the primaries already are over at that point). The GOP is more scared of its own voters than of general election voters, and probably with good reason. And if it happens, it will be all at once – there won’t be onesy and twosie defections.
I don’t want to see it, but I want to hear about his cult followers seeing it :)
185.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@cmorenc: Ah, you do not understand the Trump 2016 conspiracy theory; his belief is the Democrats saw the awesome Trump-tastic victory that was coming, went to the Ukranians and got them to hack the election for Trump so it make it look like Trump cheated. Yes, Dumb Ass Donny really believes he is the real victim in the election rigging.
NEW statement from Pence chief of staff Marc Short:
“The Vice President never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations. pic.twitter.com/kZTt4RO9q1
Staffers running out to get industrial strength antiperspirant sprays for their bosses.
192.
Leto
@germy: “No collusion! No collusion! You’re the collusion!” – official statement from the VP, hoping the bus passing all around him passes him by…
*narrator: no, your time is coming, MOTHERfucker.
193.
Alien Radio
@Mnemosyne: Might be the content of NDA attached to the Divorce Settlement from Ivana. Which might include things like incest.
194.
Avalune
@WereBear: Wouldn’t his cult followers just say his kinks are just his business, nothing to see here, at least he isn’t doing the gay stuff… I mean that’s pretty much what they said about the porn star/adultery/multipledivorce/grabeminthepussy stuff. Assuming we are still talking about the pee tapes…I was skimming.
195.
Gelfling 545
@Yarrow: I always figured that was because he knew Pence was stupid & malleable with no immediate career prospects at the time though not necessarily corrupt. I guess he’s been able to acquire new skills.
196.
Just Chuck
@MattF: That would explain the aide that brought up a big pitcher of koolaid.
@WereBear: haha, well I’m following your lead ? Yeah, I don’t want to see it either but I want it to shatter them. I want every single “diner” to have to defend it and talk about it. Fuck them all.
@Avalune: Yup, they’ll hand wave it all away, talk about how Trumov is in the mood of David (imperfect vessel doing God’s work), and at least it wasn’t icky gay stuff… traitors, all the way down.
@Avalune:Wouldn’t his cult followers just say his kinks are just his business
Cult followers will believe anything, because they already have. But they were ashamed of W’s incompetence and so re-branded as The Tea Party.
We can’t let them get away with it again. They own this. Let them go down with him or cut him loose: either way it’s a disaster that has to keep being revealed and revealed and revealed.
Dig alllllll the way down until they are ashamed to show their faces at the polls.
204.
Ladyraxterinok
@JGabriel: Nixon always made a super big deal of the need to set a good example ‘for the children’
Always thought his cursing that could be heard on the released tapes cost him much of his base.
Now let’s hear him say the same thing with his hand on a Bible. ?
206.
catclub
@Yarrow: Given that Trump instigated – Bill Barr gladly followed through on investigations of ‘what happened in 2016 when they spied on the Trump campaign-
I think Sondland better be squeaky clean or he will STILL see the inside of a prison.
Shorter Sondland is, “I’m not going to prison for you assholes.”
The only thing that will convince them, or more specifically McConnell, is when he gets internal polling telling him he’s going to lose at least four GOP Senate seats and thereby lose his majority.
True. And I think that if the senate race polling shows that, Trump’s re-elect numbers will be even worse.
Don’t we have a SuperMax with a Goombah Wing? Toss Ghouliani in with the same sort of last-names-ending-in-a-vowel he helped send up a generation back?
The prison system could do pay-per-view & support itself…for a while. Probably a very short while.
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mistermix loves your ass
Yeah it’s hard to hear his testimony over the clunk of bodies.
He apparently has the smartest lawyer in DC – we all realize that the perjury defense that he had no access to documents is laughable, but it’s a nice double-edged sword. If he’s lying, release the documents. Otherwise, he must be telling the truth.
Baud
Rats, sinking ship.
The Dangerman
Trump: “Giuliani? Barely knew him”
AxelFoley
Bury all of those fuckers.
MazeDancer
Laugh riot was not expected from Gordo, but gotta admit I like it.
hells littlest angel
Time for another trip to Walter Reed.
zhena gogolia
ASAP Rocky! DRINK!
TaMara (HFG)
When Trump says he hardly knows you, the writing is on the wall. Time to burn it all down to save your own ass.
Yarrow
Shorter Sondland is, “I’m not going to prison for you assholes.”
MattF
We’re now going to see how cultists behave when they are truly fucked beyond the limits of the observable universe. Theory says that they try to strengthen the bonds of the in-group. We shall see.
TaMara (HFG)
@zhena gogolia: Damn! That wasn’t even on my bingo card.
Baud
“Everyone was in the loop.”
laura
tic Tic BOOM!
mistermix loves your ass
He had no access to documents, except those he uses to cherry pick to support his side of the story. He was supposed to be on the inside of the conspiracy but now he’s on the outside. So fucking funny.
Bruce K
I’m only getting bits and pieces over various sources on Teh Intarweebs, but if it’s all true … Juliet Foxtrot Charlie, could this be the tipping point? Could this be what finally convinces the GOP that Trump is a net liability for their political survival?
Baud
@mistermix loves your ass:
This.
Release all the documents!
zhena gogolia
@mistermix loves your ass:
He and Volker are really profiles in courage.
Nevertheless, I’m grateful to this guy.
cmorenc
But…but…Hunter Biden! the Whistleblower! those emails! the Ukrainian meddling to throw the election to Hillary! Hoax! Hearsay!
Something’s going to stick to the wall, keep throwing.
Yarrow
Personally, I love that Rick Perry is mixed up in this. He’s been crooked for years. Decades.
LAO
Wow. Sondland is throwing everyone under the bus while maintaining a veneer of righteous indignation. Kudos to his lawyer.
Baud
If I didn’t have meeting to attend, I would get no work done today.
mistermix loves your ass
I’m reading his statement while he’s testifying, and he’s ad-libbing to emphasize how much Perry and Bolton were in the loop. Special explanation on how Pompeo’s secretary/assistant prints out emails and gives them to him.
laura
@Bruce K: yes, it certainly should.
amorphous
@Bruce K: no, because the entire GOP is complicit in the crimes and Russian mob. they can’t turn lest they go under themselves.
Baud
No mention of Pence though.
@LAO:
Cheryl Rofer
So much here – it’s not going to be completely unraveled until people pick over the transcript.
mistermix loves your ass
@Baud: It’s coming next in the testimony. Pence is going under the bus, too.
Gin & Tonic
@Bruce K: No.
Baud
@mistermix loves your ass:
Oh, nice.
TS (the original)
@Baud: You spoke too soon
VP pence now mentioned
Yarrow
@mistermix loves your ass: Pence is guilty as hell. Remember Manafort picked him for VP.
Palindrome
Working from home today so I can listen. Wow!
Cheryl Rofer
@Baud:
mistermix loves your ass
@Cheryl Rofer: Good opposing counsel could find a lot of openings in his selective recollection. We’ll see if Nunes, the R counsel and Gym Jordan are up to it.
eric
@LAO: He is also giving them an obstruction count by saying that his “potentially” untruthful testimony was the result of the WH refusing access as required as part of the effort to hide the crimes. Seems like a mucho smart lawyer
Avalune
I had just looked at a headline and texted Leto “Dang, Sondland is expected to throw Trump under the bus!” Then thought I’ll see what BJ has to say…and buses everywhere!
TS (the original)
Ah – Sondland’s big goal was to solve the problem and get the aid to Ukraine – what a guy.
Baud
@TS (the original):
Not all heros hear capes.
kent
Wow…this is finally getting interesting! And I gotta go to work in 30 minutes (I’m on the west coast).
Yarrow
Man, Pompeo is in trouble.
Mikeindublin
Kinda hoping they’d pan over to Nunnes so I can watch his eyes pop out
mistermix loves your ass
I think he’s going to be a tough witness on cross examination. He is clearly loving unburdening himself fully, he wants to be the hero now, and he’s got all the documents. He’s now a true believer in the Gordon Sondland story.
Avalune
I was at work and really didn’t get to follow the hearings yesterday but I caught enough to hear people continually saying DID HE SAY LETS DO BRIBES? As if that settled the matter that there were no bribes. Because that’s how bribes work.
I want someone to write a noir book where the bad guy is always like “Let’s do bribes! Just in case it’s not clear, when I say I need you to do me a favor, and I’m waving this money around while I’m saying it, that’s a bribe because we’re doing bribes and this is definitely how you do bribes.”
Mr. Mack
Reposting: Can we expect minority counsel to try and paint Sondland as a liar? Seems there is nowhere else to go.
LAO
@eric: Sondland’s statement is the result of the best lawyering I have ever seen. And I’ve been a defense attorney for 20
Cheryl Rofer
And over to the committee
Baud
Guliani will not go quietly into that good night.
Marcopolo
Btw, Josh Marshall is having a lot of fun with gifs in his twitter thread. If you need a break from all the seriousness & a good laugh, check it out:
https://mobile.twitter.com/joshtpm?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
LAO
@Mr. Mack: Sure. They have to go after his credibility. It’s standard.
Cheryl Rofer
@mistermix loves your ass: He is definitely taking care of himself first. Gonna take some work to unravel what he’s said, but he’s damaged the Trumpies badly, and that’s not going to change.
zhena gogolia
Schiff gets a little Javert expression now and then. I hope he sings “Stars” before the day is out.
Yarrow
@Baud: Giuliani has already said he’s got “insurance.” Mobsters turning on each other.
eric
@LAO: it also helps that he is a millionaire and will remain as such so long as he is a free man. Avoiding the pokey is the win here. Period. Interesting if the DOJ (controlled by Barr and Trump) decide to go after him for perjury rather than the House. Though, i would leave this guy alone were i them….
mistermix loves your ass
He’s not fully acquainted with the testimony of others because he’s been sequestered with his lawyer threading this needle.
TaMara (HFG)
@Baud: I’ve been following The Hoarse Whisperer on twitter, otherwise I wouldn’t get any work done He’s does all the watching so I don’t have to.
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer
The Moar You Know
@LAO: Prepping a client for a deposition is an art. You gotta have a client you can work with, of course. I think what we’re watching here is that a great lawyer has met a great client. You don’t see this sort of thing too often
ETA: where did all these buses come from? I thought we didn’t have much mass transit in this country.
Kelly
@LAO: That’s the best news. They’re turning their fire on each other and they’re well armed.
eric
@eric: CNN…..LIVE UPDATES Ambassador says he pushed Ukraine to investigate Bidens at Trump’s ‘express direction’
that sounds bad
rikyrah
So, he brought his own bus and is throwing them all under it???
Adam L Silverman
@Bruce K: No. The only thing that will convince them, or more specifically McConnell, is when he gets internal polling telling him he’s going to lose at least four GOP Senate seats and thereby lose his majority. That’s the only thing that will cause any movement by any Republicans away from the President.
LAO
I love ya Schiff but turn over the questioning to Goldman.
Mainmata
@mistermix loves your ass: Needless to say, you always make copies of critical documents and your email archive. I think this is selective forgetting/remembering going on
Raoul
I had never heard Sondland speak before. He has that breezy arrogance of a stupid rich man.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: So true and sad.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Or a cigar bar.
LAO
@Raoul: His a glib guy convinced he’s a master of the universe. Pretty typical of the uberwealthy
Kent
It was really extortion not bribery despite what the Dems have been saying. Bribery is when you offer something good (illicit money or other favor) in exchange for a favor. Extortion is when you threaten something bad in exchange for a favor. In this case, Trump was threatening to withhold Congressionally appropriated military aid. That is extortion. It would have been bribery if Trump was offering illicit money in exchange for the favor. I think they keep saying bribery because that is specifically mentioned in the Constitution. But that was probably more along the lines of a president taking bribes rather than bribing a foreign leader.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: “Oh Senator McConnnnnnnnnnell…FexEx package from US Polling Co…will you please sign for it?”
zhena gogolia
@Kent:
Watch Schiff’s closing statement from yesterday. He’ll explain it to ya.
Mainmata
@mistermix loves your ass: Pence has always been involved in Trump’s many crimes but he keeps quiet about much of it. But he was deeply involved in this mess from early on. Pence doesn’t have good judgment and he never pushes back on Trump.
sherparick
The SS Trumptanic has struck the Iceberg Sondland. Not looking good.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: I saw your note about this in the thread below, LOL. Great minds and all that. Also, a drink WOULD be nice at this point in time but in theory I’m working today.
Saw a couple tweets to this effect, too. “If you woke up from a four-year coma, turned on the TV, and heard a US ambassador talking about ‘ASAP Rocky’…you might just go back into the coma”
LOLOL
November 2020 is, um, still 12 months away, GOP. Think this is going to get any better?
JGabriel
For the inevitable Hollywood black comedy about the Trump administration, I’m thinking Max Perlich for the role Gordon Sondland.
Yarrow
@Kent: Agreed. I wish they’d use the word extortion.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: And I’m not even sure that would save McConnell’s majority. The base has been so thoroughly propagandize by the President, Fox News, talk radio, conservative digital and social media, Sinclair, and by McConnell’s own senators in his caucus that if McConnell moves to separate the GOP from the President, the base, especially the evangelical and religiously conservative portions of that base, may not move with him. I think it is highly likely they won’t move with McConnell at all. McConnell, of course, has to ride the tiger until he feels it is safe to get off. It is, most likely, never going to be safe to get off the tiger even if it becomes clear that it is not safe to stay on the tiger.
Tony Jay
Wow. From the looks of things Sondland hasn’t so much thrown Trump’s circle of mooks under the bus as he’s barreled right through them and is still doing wheel-spins over their twitching corpses.
Nice!
Elizabelle
Schiff’s going after Morrison not being truthful??
bemused
This is amazing. I guess Sondland quit the 3 amigo club and doesn’t recall telling the others he was dumping them.
I wonder if trump will head to Walter Reed for phase two of his physical exams.
orchid moon
Going to be a boost in the economy with all the busses purchased by Sondland.
Baud
“official act”
LAO
Bingo! Finally testimony that the investigations need not be real but must be made public. Hallelujah
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: Sure looks that way.
sherparick
@amorphous: Yep. Particularly, our New York oligarchs of finance and real estate. They have been laundering Russian oligarchs money for 25 years now.
Kent
So I live in the Portland metro area and my wife’s employer used to frequently use the Heathman and Sondland’s other hotel for putting up out-of-town guests and physicians that they are recruiting. In fact we stayed there when we flew out a few years ago when she was being recruited.
That stopped recently. They found other hotels because Sondland has gotten toxic here in PDX and they don’t want to offend anyone or come across as political either way. Oops. I gotta imagine that other businesses and individuals are doing the same thing. Perhaps not out-of-town guests who might not know. But here in the relatively small world of Portland business. No one wants their choice of hotel to make a political statement when you are doing business negotiations or bringing in clients. Heh.
I wonder how much his business is dropping off. At least he wasn’t stupid enough to put his damn name on them like Trump.
Jeffro
Hmm I see “President Pelosi” is trending on Twitter…
bemused
@mistermix loves your ass:
All I want for Christmas is President Pelosi.
Marcopolo
@Kent: Why not both?
Yarrow
Schiff’s completely calm voice and demeanor is amazing to watch.
Shalimar
@Avalune: That bad guy gets knifed to death on page 3 by the other bad guys because he’s clearly wearing a wire.
Baud
Got him on the #logjam.
Avalune
@Kent: Ok, perhaps bribery isn’t the precise word but the sentiment remains the same – no one goes around shouting they are doing bribes, or extortion if you prefer, as they are doing it, so their argument is almost hysterical.
Elizabelle
@bemused: Me too! President Nancy Smash.
Sandia Blanca
I pick Chris Evans to play Goldman in the movie.
Baud
Notes trap.
Mike in DC
@Kent: Soliciting a bribe(investigations) for the performance of an official act(aid release) is also bribery, under the law.
Avalune
@Shalimar: I hope the guy knifing him runs in shouting that he’s knifing him because he’s the knife guy.
Jinchi
I doubt it. The Republicans of 2019 are essentially the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas, or the People’s Temple in Jonestown. They’re with Trump to the end.
low-tech cyclist
@bemused: Simulpeachment!!
Kent
OK, so Trump was extorting a bribe from Ukraine. I can live with that! Just too much crime to keep track of.
Leto
Haha, what refreshes his memory was “A$AP Rocky”… what fucking timeline am I in? Is this my stop?
Haha, “it’s up to the President to decide what’s unclass/class” in regard to having unsecured phone calls and not worrying about foreign intel services. JFC…
Edit: “”he loves your ass”, yeah, sounds like something I’d say…” As LAO has said: stupid, rich, white dude syndrome. It’ll be the death of us all.
Adam L Silverman
zhena gogolia
First time I’ve seen Goldman smile.
Bye, guys! I hate to tear myself away from this!
Avalune
@Shalimar: I’m doing the murders! I’m doing the murders by knifing! By sleeping with fishes I mean I’m murdering you, just to be clear!
Elizabelle
Zelensky loves your ass.
G: “that sounds like something I would say. (audience laughter.) Pres. Trump and I communicate with a lot of four letter words. In this case, 3-letter words.”
Yarrow
Sondland seems almost gleeful as he throws everyone under the bus. It’s kind of surreal.
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: If McConnell loses 4 or more seats, his is going to be one of them. All he needs to watch is his own polling.
Baud
“I don’t recall any information that might incriminate me.”
TS (the original)
He surely is running the bus over the president* – who will be sure they never met in 10, 9, 8, …
Yarrow
I see John Dean is trending on Twitter. Heh.
Leto
@Avalune: “I’m going to extort you now!” – stupid Bond villain, monologuing, with steepled fingers. Def a bald cat in his lap. Did I say Bond villain? I meant Dr Evil.
Mike in DC
@Kent:
To keep track for those playing the home game:
Bribery
Extortion
Soliciting a foreign campaign contribution
Misappropriation of public funds
Obstruction of Justice
Conspiracy to commit all of the above
Are all the crimes implicated thus far.
Obstruction of Congress
Abuse of Power
Are the additional impeachable offenses implicated.
There may also be some obscure violation of an anti-propaganda statute implicated by trying to get Ukraine to legitimize a Russian lie about Crowdstrike/DNC to the American public.
bemused
@Elizabelle:
Hail to the Chief is ringing in my head.
LAO
@Baud: exactly
mistermix loves your ass
Boy, having a selective memory and no notes lets you weasel around a lot.
Just Chuck
@Shalimar: Right. Mitch figures he has a better job of holding his seat if he doesn’t enrage the Trumpanzees, so he’ll ride this all the way down.
Yarrow
“If we wanted to get anything done on Ukraine it was clear we had to talk to Rudy.” So many buses.
JGabriel
Remember when Nixon’s four-letter words on the White House tapes were an OMG pearl-clutching moment?
And now Trump’s lackeys laughingly brag to Congress about four-letter words being how they communicate with the President of the United States.
Yet another way in which Trump has degraded the office of the President, and the United States of America.
Betty
@mistermix loves your ass: Robert Luskin. Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) has been saying he is one of the best for this kind of problem.
LAO
Honestly, if Rudy winds up in jail, it’ll be like Christmas comes early.
hells littlest angel
I don’t ordinarily enjoy the operations of the right-wing slime machine, but Sondland is a Trump-level shit-head, and he’s going to deserve everything he gets. For all the backstabbing he’s doing right now, he’s not even a very good witness, just because of how obviously full of it he is.
Avalune
@Leto: We’ll hold the ransom for…one million dollars…
TS (the original)
Almost 2am in my world – I’ll have to watch a replay some time tomorrow
President Pelosi looking good
bemused
@low-tech cyclist:
That would be fantastic! Not going to get too excited but this is the most political fun I’ve had since Obama got elected.
Yarrow
@LAO: Remember that Rudy said he has “insurance” so they can’t go after him. Really wonder what that insurance is.
Shalimar
@Avalune: That would indeed be hilarious!!!
Leto
@Yarrow: “It wasn’t me! It was the one armed Ghouliani! Oh and Pompeo. And Trumov. Basically everyone around me. I was just in Brussels eating waffles, throwing 4th of July parties in June, and watching shit burn all around me.”
Roger Moore
@Kent:
They may well have considered a President trying to bribe members of Congress, though. There are a few things in the Constitution that are clearly there to prevent the President from using the power of his office to entice members of Congress to go along with him, and bribery would just be a slightly cruder approach.
p.a.
@LAO:
Defense atty paid for by ???
Oh right, Sond is a real billionaire, isn’t he?
Sandia Blanca
@Tony Jay: brilliant!
eric
from fox….seems bad
FOLLOW LIVE: Sondland testifies ‘everyone was in the loop,’ implicates top echelon on Ukraine talks
Leto
@Yarrow: it’s the pee tape. I’m calling it now.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore: Since Pelosi started with using the word “bribe” or “bribery” and others have followed suit, it does make one wonder if there is other evidence of Trump bribing people, not just related to Ukraine.
MattF
@Leto: Waffles and chocolate.
Yarrow
@Leto: It’s not a pee tape. It’s worse.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m not even sure that would work if McConnell feels confident that they can cheat to win again like they did in 2016.
eric
@eric: from the daily caller….this tells me the testimony was easy to digest on the important points.
Sondland Says He Reluctantly Worked With Giuliani, Who Sought ‘Quid Pro Quo’ From Ukrainians On Behalf Of Trump
MattF
@Yarrow: It’s a serious question. It’s not plausible to assume that this is the only time Trump has done a bad thing.
Gozer
https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/1197177277668372480?s=21
hells littlest angel
I’m not sure exactly what I said, but I’m certain it was whatever best exonerates me and implicates everyone else.
patroclus
So all of the upper echelon were in on it (the extortion) and not one of them pushed back at all. And what outed it were the underlings like Vindman and Taylor. In a sane world, this would be the end of it right now. Are the Republicans gonna continue to blather about hearsay and Hunter Biden now?
This is riveting stuff!
Yarrow
@MattF: We know this is not the only time Trump has done a bad thing. This is just the first time during his presidency that he’s potentially being held accountable.
Mnemosyne
@Kent:
We considered staying at the Heathman this summer when we were in Portland. We ended up staying at the Paramount instead.
I had a slight freakout a few weeks ago and checked to make sure the Paramount’s not a Sondland hotel. It isn’t — phew! ?
Timurid
Executive summary of Sondland’s testimony:
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Beaten why for (why for)
Can’t take much more
(Here we go, here we go, here we go)
One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
One, something’s got to give
Two, something’s got to give
Three, something’s got to give now
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Push me again (again)
This is the end
(Here we go, here we go, here we go)
One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
One,…
Leto
@MattF: and beer! Man, now I want chocolate waffles and a kriek! =/
@Yarrow: a #2 tape? =| Him actually showing affection to a dog tape? Him eating a salad?
Matt McIrvin
@Kent: You’re right. And extortion is really worse than bribery.
Yarrow
@patroclus: The Republicans are tied up in this whole mess. Taking Russian money. Kompromat on them. Etc. They don’t know what to do because either way they’re fucked.
Raven Onthill
@Adam L Silverman: “McConnell, of course, has to ride the tiger until he feels it is safe to get off. It is, most likely, never going to be safe to get off the tiger even if it becomes clear that it is not safe to stay on the tiger.”
Dare we hope that the tiger will eat him?
Yarrow
@Leto: I’m uncomfortable discussing the rumor, but it’s bad.
Leto
@Yarrow: Exactly. Russian money via the NRA, or other illegal Russian campaign contributions laundered through various shell corporations. They’re up to their receding hairlines in it.
Edit: it’s showing affection to Eric, isn’t it? :p
(No clue what the rumor is, but I’ll take your word that’s it’s bad. I’m enjoying just throwing out silly things that might be “bad”. You know, normal human interaction/feelings.)
Elizabelle
Glad to see Giuliani getting thwacked so hard. He needs to go to prison.
I wish Sean Hannity’s ass would get thrown under the bus, too. He’s credible to Fox World, and his downfall would be epic. And deserved. I hate that weasel. He is an enemy of democracy in the United States. And no less.
SFBayAreaGal
@Tony Jay: Your comment is today’s winner.
I laughed out loud.
Shalimar
This is fascinating. Sondland is clearly lying about his own knowledge and willingness to lead so much of this, but there isn’t much they can do to call him on it. They can send him to prison too, but only by admitting so much that they essentially confess to everything else he is saying.
Marcopolo
According to someone in the hearing Nunes went out for a time then came back looking like he’d seen a ghost. Guessing he was getting his revised marching orders. I know it’s just a step above gossip but I wish we had more insight on what is happening in the room.
Elizabelle
@Raven Onthill: Poor tiger. How unpalatable. But geaux, Tiger!
WereBear
Double down! W did it ALLA TIME.
PPCLI
@LAO: As David Frum tweeted listening to this testimony:
“Successful real estate entrepreneur sees no reason to go to prison for unsuccessful real estate entrepreneur”
Shalimar
@Raven Onthill: and eat his wife too.
Elizabelle
@Marcopolo: A break, and then we get the Nunes.
Cheryl Rofer
Nunes looks unhappy.
Five minute break.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Worse than Trump being a known party buddy of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein?
Elizabelle
Jim Jordan is in his urine yellow tie again. And no suit jacket. What is the significance of the yellow?
And Nunes does not look all puffed up as usual. He looks … quite mortal. If an inhumane and crazed mortal.
WereBear
We’re gonna need BIGGER busses!
eric
cnn…in big bold letters….they can do nuance all they want, that is a baaaaaaaaaad headline
WITNESS IMPLICATES TRUMP
germy
Sorry, Libs.
Elizabelle
Chart up behind Jim Jordan. Visual cue.
Don’t listen to Sondland. Look over there! Whistleblower!!
Assholes. But I suspect it works, with the lizard brain, or they would not do it.
patroclus
Even Fox is saying this is very damaging for the Republicans and what they’ve been saying.
Yarrow
@Leto: Yep. They’re owned via kompromat by Russia. They don’t have easy choices because owning up to their guilt puts them and their families in personal danger.
MattF
@Elizabelle: Wisdom in ancient runes says that ‘yellow tie’ symbolizes power. In Jordan’s case it probably symbolizes the exact opposite, but no one has bothered to tell him.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: In that area and then worse.
germy
This brief clip shows Nunes and the Republican lawyer’s reaction to Sondland:
Matt McIrvin
This all sounds so bad for Trump, it’s gonna take 36, maybe 48 hours for all Republican-leaning outlets and politicians to get 100% behind him again.
Amir Khalid
@Leto:
I read your comment, and it occured to me that Trump has an abundance of Scott Evils.
Elizabelle
@germy: Yeah. I thought it might be interesting to see how the GOP on the committee reacted. Moar of this.
Amir Khalid
@JGabriel:
Yeah, but Hillary once said “Fuck the White House Correspondents Dinner!” so both sides do it.
feebog
I think the bus analogy is inadequate at this point. More like Sondland has napalmed the entire Trump Administration.
Elizabelle
NY Times subhead:
I read that as “in the poop” at first (all those Ps), but it’s all the same.
Kelly
@WereBear: Yesterday Phoebe decided Martin is her kitten and all is well in our household
Gravenstone
@The Moar You Know: They borrowed some of the buses that Democrats use to shuttle illegal voters around the country…
Sebastian
@Adam L Silverman:
Wasn’t it four US Senators that went to Russia for the Fourth of July?
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: I thought yellow was the “power tie” back in Bonfire of the Vanities time.
Mary G
Oh noes, I fell asleep and missed it! Starting these things at 6 am PST sucks for a night owl. Comments have been delightful to read.
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
I think this is pretty close to right. Where I’d probably differ is that the polling has to indicate that they aren’t at risk in the primaries if they vote to remove Trump (or, alternatively, that the primaries already are over at that point). The GOP is more scared of its own voters than of general election voters, and probably with good reason. And if it happens, it will be all at once – there won’t be onesy and twosie defections.
yellowdog
@Bruce K: Short answer: NO
WereBear
@Leto: I called that a few days ago.
I don’t want to see it, but I want to hear about his cult followers seeing it :)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@cmorenc: Ah, you do not understand the Trump 2016 conspiracy theory; his belief is the Democrats saw the awesome Trump-tastic victory that was coming, went to the Ukranians and got them to hack the election for Trump so it make it look like Trump cheated. Yes, Dumb Ass Donny really believes he is the real victim in the election rigging.
WereBear
All the yays! It is okay to be a bit “I told you so” now :)
I got the kitten for YOU and that’s my story.
Ella in New Mexico
OMG Castor just now
Trump didn’t even say “go talk to Rudy” he just said “Talk to Rudy” so that wasn’t an order to work with Rudy, right?
Leto
@Ella in New Mexico: yeah. This is just insanity. It’s so fucking dumb.
germy
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, ’80s and ’90s. More recently purple had its place in the pantheon.
bemused
@germy:
Staffers running out to get industrial strength antiperspirant sprays for their bosses.
Leto
@germy: “No collusion! No collusion! You’re the collusion!” – official statement from the VP, hoping the bus passing all around him passes him by…
*narrator: no, your time is coming, MOTHERfucker.
Alien Radio
@Mnemosyne: Might be the content of NDA attached to the Divorce Settlement from Ivana. Which might include things like incest.
Avalune
@WereBear: Wouldn’t his cult followers just say his kinks are just his business, nothing to see here, at least he isn’t doing the gay stuff… I mean that’s pretty much what they said about the porn star/adultery/multipledivorce/grabeminthepussy stuff. Assuming we are still talking about the pee tapes…I was skimming.
Gelfling 545
@Yarrow: I always figured that was because he knew Pence was stupid & malleable with no immediate career prospects at the time though not necessarily corrupt. I guess he’s been able to acquire new skills.
Just Chuck
@MattF: That would explain the aide that brought up a big pitcher of koolaid.
Just Chuck
@Elizabelle:
The GOP’s true colors.
Leto
@WereBear: haha, well I’m following your lead ? Yeah, I don’t want to see it either but I want it to shatter them. I want every single “diner” to have to defend it and talk about it. Fuck them all.
@Avalune: Yup, they’ll hand wave it all away, talk about how Trumov is in the mood of David (imperfect vessel doing God’s work), and at least it wasn’t icky gay stuff… traitors, all the way down.
Ladyraxterinok
@Bruce K: SAYSQ??
Always wanted to use this!
Ladyraxterinok
@Ladyraxterinok:And of course did it wrong,
SATSQ
germy
Elizabelle
@Just Chuck: Laughing. That is so perfect.
Yellow is the GOP’s true color.
WereBear
Cult followers will believe anything, because they already have. But they were ashamed of W’s incompetence and so re-branded as The Tea Party.
We can’t let them get away with it again. They own this. Let them go down with him or cut him loose: either way it’s a disaster that has to keep being revealed and revealed and revealed.
Dig alllllll the way down until they are ashamed to show their faces at the polls.
Ladyraxterinok
@JGabriel: Nixon always made a super big deal of the need to set a good example ‘for the children’
Always thought his cursing that could be heard on the released tapes cost him much of his base.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Now let’s hear him say the same thing with his hand on a Bible. ?
catclub
@Yarrow: Given that Trump instigated – Bill Barr gladly followed through on investigations of ‘what happened in 2016 when they spied on the Trump campaign-
I think Sondland better be squeaky clean or he will STILL see the inside of a prison.
catclub
@Mnemosyne: I wonder what happens if you say “No”
when they ask you to swear to tell the truth the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
and that is really the most honest answer – no one can tell or even knows the whole truth.
James E Powell
@Adam L Silverman:
True. And I think that if the senate race polling shows that, Trump’s re-elect numbers will be even worse.
Uncle Cosmo
@LAO:
Don’t we have a SuperMax with a Goombah Wing? Toss Ghouliani in with the same sort of last-names-ending-in-a-vowel he helped send up a generation back?
The prison system could do pay-per-view & support itself…for a while. Probably a very short while.