September 24, 2019

How is it a "formal impeachment inquiry" when it was a "closed-door meeting" of only the Democratic Congress.

I'm trying to understand the terminology, as reported in The Washington Post, in "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry of Trump, says his actions were a ‘betrayal of national security.'"

What does "formal" mean? Pelosi made an announcement "after a closed-door meeting with her caucus." Shouldn't formality entail an open proceeding, with participation of all members of the House?

It's funny, there's criticism of Trump for withholding things Congress that he did outside of the public ver and for acting for his own political benefit, but they're operating as a single party behind closed doors, and it certainly seems that what they talked about was their own political advantage.

148 comments:

rehajm said...

They used Obama’s pen and phone. So, legit.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Laws, rules, - bah - not applicable to democrats.

See: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and family and the rest.

BTW - I'd like to see nancy's tax returns.

FullMoon said...

Transparency

wendybar said...

It was really just another press conference to get their base excited. Nothing is any different than what they were doing 15 minutes before she had the "press conference". It's a freaking joke, and we are sick and tired of their tired games. Democrats are going down in a landslide....bye bye!!!!

Michael K said...

You have to get everyone to agree when a suicide pact is being decided.

Jonestown, for example.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

How is Joe Biden's bragging about his own corruption get a pass?

and who are the assholes in the audience who are laughing?

I guess democratic corruption on full open display is one back-slapping laugh fest.

mccullough said...

Pelosi trying to figure out what Trump is up to.

Knows she’s being played but doesn’t know how. Trump got rid of Paul Ryan. Now he’s getting rid of Pelosi.

She sees the writing on the wall.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Listened to Nancy. This is a woman who hides behind the constitution but has no idea what it says and means.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

The Democrats have been working on impeachment from the start of the Mueller inquiry.

mccullough said...

Trump is releasing the transcript.

And now the Dems are whining.

The whistleblower’s lawyer is a Dem operative — a former Schumer lackey with ties to Hillary.

The Trump tweets write themselves at this point.

wendybar said...

She called Trump a Domestic enemy. Where is the MEDIA?? Isn't it wrong to call people enemies, or is it only when Trump or his supporters do???

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Democrats are already saying the content of the transcript isn't important.

Clyde said...

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Impeachment inquiry?
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Bring it on!
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Bay Area Guy said...

Declaration of War ~ Authorization of Force

Articles of Impeachment ~ Impeachment Inquiry

Spiros Pappas said...

Oh my God. If Ruth Ginsburg dies, all tell is going to break loose.

Gospace said...

Diogenes of Sinope said...
The Democrats have been working on impeachment from the start of the Mueller inquiry.


The Mueller investigation started May 2017.

Democrats have been working on Trump's impeachment since early morning 9 November 2016 when Trump became the projected winner.

With groundwork laid before the election that were going to use to prosecute Trump.

MeMySelf said...

Wow...just wow the Democrats have gone full bat shit crazy. Not just skirting around the edges crazy but FULL.BAT.SHIT.CRAZY!

Leland said...

Formal inquiry into what? Conducting foreign relations as a Republican President?

MeMySelf said...

Wow...just wow the Democrats have gone full bat shit crazy. Not just skirting around the edges crazy but FULL.BAT.SHIT.CRAZY!

Bay Area Guy said...

The Democrat Party has no loyalty or fidelity to the US Constitution or the country. They are a loose collection of warped socialists.

wendybar said...

Bahahahhahha….IMPLOSION!!!!

effinayright said...

My guess is, assault weapons are banned at Democrat circular firing squads.

Wince said...

Althouse said...
...but they're operating as a single party behind closed doors, and it certainly seems that what they talked about was their own political advantage.


When is it time to officially start referring to "progressive Democrats" as "projectionist Democrats"?

Browndog said...

Trump brought this on himself.

A coup was conducted against him, and a scorched Earth campaign waged against his supporters and members of his administration, and he does nothing.

Lives ruined, careers destroyed. Yet, nothing.

Remember when he was going to declassify all this stuff? Now he's going to declassify a phone call from a foreign leader. Thanks, but they're no longer interested. Oh, and good luck having a phone conversation with any foreign leader ever again.

Trump surrounded himself with deep staters, let NeverTrump Bushies do all of his hiring, now here we are.

But, he's got a mean Twiiter game.

MayBee said...

Wait....so the Democrats are saying pushing someone to investigate their political opponent is an impeachable offense. Does that apply to Warren? To the Dems pushing to investigate their political opponent for 2020?

MayBee said...

Investigating your political rival is a crime! Let's investigate Trump!

MayBee said...

Spiros Pappas said...
Oh my God. If Ruth Ginsburg dies, all tell is going to break loose.


Maybe that's what this is all about.

AOC actually brought up the Emoluments Clause just now.

Browndog said...

Oh, and Trump doesn't have any allies in the Senate, contrary to the narrative.

RNB said...

“Formal” = “double-secret”

narciso said...

oh and btw, podesta and weber. the lobbyists paid by the Hapsburg group, get off scot free,

Lydia said...

This just happened:

@SenSchumer

BIG.

The Senate by unanimous consent passed my resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be provided to Congress as required by law.

That means every GOP Senator supports the whistleblower report being immediately provided to the Senate and House Intel Committees.


https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1176609918977228800?s=20

Seeing Red said...

So Biden Biden’s son partners ex-wife lobbyists who had contact and any government official in State Commerce, etc. is eligible.

They want to burn it down?

So be it.

Ken B said...

Lydia
Why is that big? If it’s already required by law it’s vacuous. It’s like voting to not smother children.

Browndog said...

@paulsperry_

BREAKING: Speaker Pelosi was shot down by her caucus in her bid to form one impeachment committee, similar to the Hyde Committee or the Rodino Committee, and capitulated to no fewer than 6 committee chairs to jointly "lead" the investigation, including volatile Rep. Maxine Waters

3:12 PM - 24 Sep 2019

The Godfather said...

It's 2020, and Cong. D is running for reelection.

Constituent: Cong. D., a year ago, a year before the people of this District and this State would have the opportunity to decide whether we wanted Mr. Trump to continue as President, you joined a gang of Democrats who tried to take away from us the right to make that decision. Why should we return you to a position where you can continue to interfere with our right to decide who to elect to public office?

cubanbob said...

It's funny, there's criticism of Trump for withholding things Congress that he did outside of the public ver and for acting for his own political benefit, but they're operating as a single party behind closed doors, and it certainly seems that what they talked about was their own political advantage."

In my reading this blog for a number of years the above quote from Althouse is a close to her having spittle flecks in her speech that I can recall. Now it may be just for today, or perhaps for a while , but it is becoming apparent ( to me) that Althouse just might be mad enough to vote for Trump just to punish the crazies to hopefully get them back to sanity. Of course there is a high probability that I could be wrong. Trump is Trump and his style can be grating. Still, this crowd makes the 1972 Democrat's look positively sane and that is a tall order. I'll say this for Trump; I have never seen a man so blessed with the right sort of enemies. Or God is setting him up for a mighty fall, but folks even Wile E. Coyote is a genius compared to the NeverTrumpers and deranged Leftists. What a Cosmic Joke it will be when Trump gets re-elected and Trump Republicans regain the House. The Senate Republicans will see the light when they feel the heat.

Known Unknown said...

Wouldn't it be easier to hire some loon to assassinate Trump? Then, maybe they can get the gun control they desire too?

Mike Sylwester said...

This is the first time an impeachment ever happened!

Nancy Pelosi can make up the rules!

Seeing Red said...

Good God! The world is ending in 11 years and they focus on this?

Maillard Reactionary said...

"Formal" means that if they believe in it really, really hard, it will come true.

Kind of like wishing on a star:

"When you wish upon a star
Doesn't matter who you are
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true."

--Jiminy Cricket

Michael said...

A "formal" impeachment inquiry? Bring it on. Jerry Nadler in white tie and tails would be something to see.

narciso said...

now the Ukrainian parliament (rada) is declassifying that part of the conversation, the place is thick with deep state (sbu) connection, the oligarch probably funded a good chunk of the candidates, this guy is king kong over there,

narciso said...

like the penguin, (burgess Meredith version) sitting in his perfectly jerrymandered district,

gilbar said...

What does "formal" mean? Pelosi made an announcement "after a closed-door meeting with her caucus."

Formal means, they've noticed that President Trump's approval rating is STILL 53%
Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
In other words, They've Formally decided, that they are FUCKED, and that NOTHING they do can hurt their 2020 chances... Because they have NO 2020 chances

Beasts of England said...

Second look at double secret probation?

Matt Sablan said...

It means they hope these magic words mean they get the tax records.

Just pull the trigger and do the impeachment. Let's get it over with.

Howard said...

Polling data exclusive to the Speaker shows impeachment to be a winner for the Democrat party

narciso said...

what fate did marmalard summer, well dragging by horse, or was it Niedermeyer?

steve uhr said...

He’s history.

Howard said...

You people are the Omegas

MarkThomas said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
rhhardin said...

Formal means Pelosi agreed. Democrat formal.

Howard said...

Formal means it's going to happen

Known Unknown said...

You people are the Omegas

If so, I'd like to be Kenny Omega.

Known Unknown said...

Is there discovery in an impeachment trial? Are they sure they want to do this?

mccullough said...

“Formal inquiry” means Pelosi threw up her hands. She’s getting ready to retire. Not worth being Minority Leader again. Time to go have a few highballs with Boehner and Ryan.

narciso said...

this suggests the statement they've made about the end of the oligarch's case is untrue,

archive.is/tq19t

Stephen McIntyre, has the translation of the statement from the prosecutor, shokin,

narciso said...

look who made a deal with the oligarch,


https://www.kyivpost.com/business-wire/zlochevskyis-burisma-atlantic-council-sign-cooperative-agreement.html

narciso said...

yes atlantic council, whose tentacles include crowdstrike, it does take a little research, to find this,

Bay Area Guy said...

Question 1: Has the House voted on Articles of Impeachment?

Question 2: Has the House Judiciary voted on Articles of Impeachment?

If not either, did anything happen today besides Nancy-Pants at a podium?

narciso said...

McIntyre points out, that the deputy, they've been leaning on, kasko, has ties to some nasty character like ablazyov (sic) involved with uranium one,

narciso said...

how about that:

https://twitter.com/SaraCarterDC/status/1176596876155654146

steve uhr said...

He admits that he asked a foreign country to investigate his chief political rival. This after all that Russia shit went down. That is enough to get rid of them. And he used military aid as a bargaining chip. Not suppose to work this way. Once he is the former president I wonder what the over under is for days till he is arrested?

narciso said...

I don't read Ukrainian, but I try to find contemporaneous accounts, not just 'these are not the oligarchs you're looking for,'

Leland said...

I read Lydia's comment, and I agree with Ken; what is big about this? It is required by law, so yeah for the Senate for being willing to follow the law they passed? That's, um, big of them? And by the various accounts, it is an anonymous source with 2nd hand knowledge about a call that has an available transcript. As Bay Area Guy notes; so far, nothing has happened other than national news media having a wet dream. In the meantime, Trump's approval is climbing and there are at least twice as many people opposed to impeaching Trump than support his impeachment.

I'm coming around to the theory this is about RBG. If so, I think today's action, particularly closed door discussions by Democrats, will discourage bipartisanship by Republicans when naming the replacement.

Yancey Ward said...

Pelosi is trying to have it both ways, but she has made a tactical error here. She could have waited until tomorrow before saying anything- she could have waited to see what is in the phone call transcript before making her "formal" impeachment inquiry statement- it would have, at least, ensured that she was standing on solid ground before going forward.

However, she actually crossed the Rubicon with today's statement- it is now a formal death match even if she didn't actually make it, technically, a formal impeachment inquiry. I don't care now if this is a truly formal impeachment inquiry or not, and neither will anyone else in the country- if the Democrats don't impeach and convict the President, Trump and the Republicans will crush the Democrats next November. It really is that simple- if you shoot at the king, and Pelosi did that today, then you had better fucking kill him. If this turns out like the Mueller investigation, the Democrats are toast next November.

tim in vermont said...

when the Obama White House unexpectedly invited Ukraine’s top prosecutors to Washington to discuss fighting corruption in the country.

The meeting, promised as training, turned out to be more of a pretext for the Obama administration to pressure Ukraine’s prosecutors to drop an investigation into the Burisma Holdings gas company that employed Hunter Biden and to look for new evidence in a then-dormant criminal case against eventual Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a GOP lobbyist.
. - The Hill

Steve, are you saying that Obama, now that he is a former president, should be frog marched off to jail?

tim in vermont said...

Shortly after the Ukrainian prosecutors returned from their Washington meeting, a new round of Democratic pressure was exerted on Ukraine — this time via its embassy in Washington.

Valeriy Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States at the time, confirmed to me in a statement issued by his office that, in March 2016, a contractor for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) pressed his embassy to try to find any Russian dirt on Trump and Manafort that might reside in Ukraine’s intelligence files.
. - The Hill

Sounds like we can send Hillary to jail too!

Bay Area Guy said...

@Uhr,

"He admits that he asked a foreign country to investigate his chief political rival."

Show us the quote where he admits this.

"This after all that Russia shit went down."

Mueller found no evidence of Russian collusion.

"That is enough to get rid of them."

Don't you believe in elections? Don't you believe in democracy?

"And he used military aid as a bargaining chip."

Umm. How do you know this?

"Not suppose to work this way."

Right. Once you lose an election (2016), you're supposed to accept the results.

"Once he is the former president I wonder what the over under is for days till he is arrested?"

Well, you have to have evidence of a crime first, right?



bagoh20 said...

I've heard this story reported entirely dishonestly all day long. Reporters are repeatedly implying that Trump's phone call is "troubling" or some other veiled charge, despite the fact that they have no idea what it was or if the whistleblower is believable, as they always leave out that it was heresy. At the same time they act like what Biden did is just an unsubstantiated charge that he denies. He was freaking bragging about doing it in great detail and with obvious pride on video for us all to see.

If you believe that truthful reporting is important to the people and democracy, then you are forced to accept that the media in general is definitely the enemy of both.

tim in vermont said...

Howard said...
You people are the Omegas


Bigots live for that sweet sense of superiority. That’s why they are unable to process normal facts. It threatens their stash of feel good hormones.

bagoh20 said...

When the President says they are the enemy of the people, he's being generous.

Automatic_Wing said...

Failure Theater. Now they can go to their loony activist base and say "Look, we tried to impeach him. There was a formal inquiry that, unfortunately, didn't work out. Now, can you spare $20 for Hillary 2024: The Electric Boogaloo?"

tim in vermont said...

Well, you have to have evidence of a crime first, right?

They arrested the Governor of Texas for trying to get a prosecutor, who abused her power when pulled over for driving drunk, fired, so my bet is that Steve Uhr is right. They will arrest him.

bagoh20 said...

Just like with Clinton, it seems that the left believes if you are running for President you cannot be accused or investigated for a crime, even when we all know you did it, unless..., well you know what the rest is.

tim in vermont said...

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told me that, soon after he returned from the Washington meeting, he saw evidence in Ukraine of political meddling in the U.S. election. That's when two top Ukrainian officials released secret evidence to the American media, smearing Manafort.

The release of the evidence forced Manafort to step down as Trump’s top campaign adviser. A Ukrainian court concluded last December that the release of the evidence amounted to an unlawful intervention in the U.S. election by Kiev’s government
. - The Hill

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections

tim in vermont said...

Have you figured out yet, Howard, why we find this sport so entertaining?

steve uhr said...

BAG — don’t you believe in the Constitution?

Clyde said...

Leland said...
I'm coming around to the theory this is about RBG. If so, I think today's action, particularly closed door discussions by Democrats, will discourage bipartisanship by Republicans when naming the replacement.


Yup, scorch the earth, plow the fields with salt and make the rubble bounce.

FullMoon said...

Keep Hope Alive !

Yancey Ward said...

I know a lot of you skim past narciso's posts (I don't- he is a good lead to follow all the time).

If you really want as much information about Ukraine and their connections to Biden, Clinton, and the Obama Administration, this twitter thread is a MUST READ. If you want to bury your head in the sand, then don't read it. Just remain ignorant like Inga, Steve Uhr, ARM, Howard, and the other trolls. Trump had good reason to not just trust Zelensky- the people backing Zelensky were some of the same people Biden, Nuland, the Clinton Foundation, and the Obama Administration were working with in getting dirt Manafort and others in 2016.

McIntyre basically proves the claim that the Burisma investigation was dormant at the time of Biden's negotiation, as published in the last day by Bloomberg, is a flat out lie, and McIntyre musters the evidence in a clear and easily followed manner by actually finding and linking the evident to prove his case.

ALP said...

This is how the Democrats win the election. They don't have the confidence they can beat Trump but they do think they can beat a President Pence.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Uhr,

"BAG — don’t you believe in the Constitution?"

Umm, yeah. But that Is another non-sequitur in your series of erroneous conclusions and evidence-free assertions.

narciso said...

Thanks yancey, the story is not in plain sight, but you have to know where to look, mcintyre is a big anti interventionist, gives props to tulsi all the way, but he helped crack the ecru matter years ago, the rosetta of the skydragon.

Mark said...

Reporters are repeatedly implying that Trump's phone call is "troubling" or some other veiled charge

They have plenty of help from wobbly people who supposedly support Trump.

Yancey Ward said...

Browndog,

Trump doesn't need friends in the Senate- all he really needs is the Republicans' own self-interest. Unless there is an actual crime that can be proven, it would be political suicide for even a single Republican to vote for conviction. I don't think there is a single Republican that believes there is any benefit to convicting Trump absent an actual crime- the voters certainly won't reward such a Republican.

tim in vermont said...

"BAG — don’t you believe in the Constitution?”

So Steve Uhr, if Trump should go to jail, why shouldn’t Obama and Hillary, cases where we have actual proof that they did what you only have flimsy hearsay and weak circumstantial evidence that Trump may have done?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The US constitution does not declare that The US president is a employee of the FBI or the CIA.

Bay Area Guy said...

The walls are closing in.......

This is the beginning of the end.......

Blah, blah, blah, blah, Putin, blah, blah, recession, blah, blah, blah, blah, Ukraine!

Yancey Ward said...

In other news today, one of Mueller's cases went a acropper. Michael Flynn's business partner convinced a federal judge to issue a judgment of acquittal for lack of evidence he violated FARA. This was exactly the same case Mueller used to get Flynn to plea guilty to lying to Strzok- he held the exact same charges over Flynn and his son, so Flynn pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against his partner, Rafiekin. However, when Flynn realized he was being asked to lie in his testimony, he refused say what Mueller wanted him to say. In any case, Mueller's prosecutors got the jury to convict Rafiekin on literally zero evidence (I am not making this up- there was zero evidence presented that Rafiekin knew he was representing the Turkish government). In any case, the trial judge vacated the verdict and acquitted Rafiekin. At least the US Justice system isn't completely corrupt yet.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The media are full on in democrat pockets. Follow the money.

Danno said...

"Formal means Pelosi agreed. Democrat formal."

It is the level right below double secret probation for President Trump. Lots of hot air coming out of DC. Too bad we can't harness that energy.

Lazarus said...

The impeachment inquiry begins with behind the scenes work to formulate articles of impeachment. The Nixon impeachment committee did much of its work behind closed doors before the televised hearings began.

Yancey Ward said...

Narciso,

Yes, I have been a reader of McIntyre for over 12 years now- ClimateAudit.org is still in my top line bookmarks even though it has gone mostly dormant in the last 3 years (only updated 2 3 times a year now). I will occasionally see what he is doing on Twitter, but the last couple of days is the first time I have checked in there in the last 8 or 9 months. The man is probably one of the top most brilliant people who have ever blogged. The man's IQ has to be close to 200- he sometimes makes me feel like a chimp scratching its ass.

Bay Area Guy said...

Nancy Pelosi just made one of the most colossal blunders in modern American politics



narciso said...

See you need to 'dial down the ambiemt noise' past the real story.

Bruce Hayden said...

“BAG — don’t you believe in the Constitution?”

Article II first sentence:
“The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”


WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Talking to Ukraine about Biden and son's “high crimes and misdemeanors" is “high crimes and misdemeanors.”!!!

Michael K said...

Blogger steve uhr said...
BAG — don’t you believe in the Constitution?


Poor Steve. Damned to wander the earth unaware of all that is happening around you.

Danno said...

Blogger Yancey Ward said...I know a lot of you skim past narciso's posts (I don't- he is a good lead to follow all the time).

I sometimes have trouble with narciso's use of English, but he is no doubt an extremely well- read person on both current and past events, worldwide. So I agree totally.

Gk1 said...

It sounds more and more likely the deep state moles have leaked the FISA OIG report and they want to drown out the air waves with horseshit before it breaks next week. Otherwise this declaration doesn't make a lot of sense. Pelosi and the dems are not any closer to getting red state democrats to cut their own throats than they were last week. This Ukraine leak has less legs than the emoluments crap or Stormy Daniels so why now?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

btw- Jason Crow of Colorado - he is a piece of shit.

narciso said...

Only guy whose even greater intellect is apelbaum, and hes got the full spectrum toolkit.

tim in vermont said...

"It's hard to imagine Joe Biden wasn't aware of it," Bremmer said. "I expect that President Obama, if he had known about the reality of the situation, would've probably told Biden ‘get rid of this, we shouldn't have your son working in this situation.’ That would have cost him something. I fear even if maybe Biden wasn't aware but Biden should've been aware that that would cause an issue for him.". - CNN

If only the Tsar knew!

Of course Biden has said that he discussed this with his son so the part about Biden not knowing is nonsense.

narciso said...

I do follow ee cumings punctuation rules, on occasion.

Yancey Ward said...

Bay Area Guy,

I could have written that essay by Walther- pretty much hits every point I was thinking about as I watch Pelosi's issue her statement. The baffling thing to me is why didn't she wait for the transcript? A single day could have saved her from making this potential blunder.

Laslo Spatula said...

Anton Chekhov's famous book writing advice: 'If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired."

The Democrats have been talking impeachment since the first act. They finally have realized that they have to fire it: it is what their audience demands.

But if they miss, then Trump gets to write Act Three.

Which I then expect to sound more like "The Godfather" than "Uncle Vanya".

I am Laslo.

Hagar said...

...but they're operating as a single party behind closed doors,...

That is how this Democratic Party has operated in Congress. The "leadership" meets behind closed doors, then Pelosi emerges and issues the marching orders for the troops. Floor debate is not allowed.

What this means is that the "leadership" is throwing in the towel; they have lost control of their members, and it is every man and woman for themselves.

Seeing Red said...

We have to remember Soros is also involved.

tastid212 said...

In the other AA impeachment post I posited that Pelosi is moving forward on this because she wants to amputate the crazy left from the mainstream Dems. This fits with the Professor’s view that the Dems are resigned to losing in 2020. Pelosi, the “hot octogenarian”, probably won’t run for Speaker again, so I think she’s trying to set up the centrists for a comeback in 2024. This is her final move. Survive Trump, knock off Biden, and position moderates to regain power. She is giving rope to the alt-left wing of the Dems and telling them to go hang themselves.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

So she's letting them sign their "longest suicide note in history" and positioning things for a Blair?

I dunno. Whenever someone does something dumb, you'll be right more ofthen than you'll be wrong if you assume it was a bad move. Of course sometimes it *is* a deep strategy, but that's not the way to bet.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

CNN sniffs.... finds a morsel.

Burisma ‘Clearly’ Paid Hunter Biden to Sell Influence, Says CNN Contributor

"
Joe Biden's family ties to an influence peddling scheme at a Ukrainian gas company could hurt the former vice president's 2020 campaign, political scientist Ian Bremmer told CNN on Tuesday.

"[Joe] Biden does have a problem here. I have to say $50,000 a month for Hunter Biden—clearly to be selling influence because otherwise, no one would ever pay him that kind of money—for a company that, frankly, was pretty corrupt and has been before and has been since under investigation," Bremmer said."

CNN? How did they let this guy on?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The democrat party is corrupt from top to bottom. The newbies, the old hags and sad deep state shriveled dick mob bosses. The Clintons have a grasp on the power - like old king pins. The Obama wing is there. The Chicago way.

wildswan said...

Pressed by the left, Pelosi issued a statement using the word impeachment, ordered them to declare a victory, and went home.

Drago said...

And now it is reported that the fake "whistleblower" has already been deemed by the Inspector General to have had political bias against Trump and for "another candidate" (Hillary)

Another FusionGPS/Steele/Lawfare operation trying to launch hoax dossier 2.0.

I can only imagine what the effect on dem politicians is based on dem internal polls and the fears of the IG reports on the FISA abuses that are coming for them to take this step.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Our new Governor Jared Polis(D), who is very wealthy and used his vast fortune to buy his way into politics -- his husband is now on the government payroll.

Tax payers - we are here for the luxury of the corruptocrat party.

Mark said...

it would be political suicide for even a single Republican to vote for conviction

Don't underestimate the crass, self-centered stupidity of people like the junior senator from Utah, Mitt Romney.

Static Ping said...

This is one of those moments where it seems someone said something profound, but once you parse the words you find out that it means basically nothing.

bleh said...

It would be hilarious if Trump got impeached and the Senate voted to convict ... and then still won the GOP nomination and the election. Man DC would implode.

narciso said...

In other business:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/09/eric-felten-how-many-were-surveilled-on-trump-team.php

daskol said...

This is a path into the wilderness for the Dem Party. I hope it’s a quick one because they’re torching everything as they retreat, including what respectability remains of the major media’s reputation. The brazenness of Biden’s Ukrainian corruption ignored by a media and govt focused on Trump impeachment is dissonant like Epstein’s suicide in a jail staffed by exhausted guards on their third shifts and malfunctioning cameras. Infowars indeed.

Mark said...

Well, my visit to that hack Drudge just now ended up with an attempted malware attack.

Bay Area Guy said...

Hunter Biden - what a piece of work.

From NBC News:

"The official said Biden failed the test in 2013, but he was not kicked out until Feb. 14 of this year. Senior U.S. officials told NBC News that Biden, 44, tested positive for cocaine. The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident."

Joins the Navy Reserves at age 38 (age waiver from Daddy, no doubt) and then booted out for cocaine a few years later. What a joke.

Nichevo said...

Pelosi, the “hot octogenarian”, probably won’t run for Speaker again

That happens when you LOSE THE HOUSE.

steve uhr said...

Some reason trump didn’t ask his AG to investigate allegations that Biden and his son committed a crime?

effinayright said...

Skylark said...
Well, you have to have evidence of a crime first, right?

They arrested the Governor of Texas for trying to get a prosecutor, who abused her power when pulled over for driving drunk, fired, so my bet is that Steve Uhr is right. They will arrest him.
**************

Kinda misses the point. A state governor is not the POTUS, a constitutional officer.

Rick Perry was a sitting governor. The DOJ has twice said (in Dem and GOP administraations) that a sitting president cannot be indicted while he's in office. So for now, Trump is OK.

If the Dems impeach and remove Trump, "they" (their puppets in the SDNY, e.g.) will still have to indict him for a crime. What crime is that?

And Perry's case was dismissed, btw. So it's not precedent for anything but the ugliness of Dem state politics.



steve uhr said...

Some reason trump didn’t ask his AG to investigate allegations that Biden and his son committed a crime?

JAORE said...

"Democrats are already saying the content of the transcript isn't important."

Of course it isn't. It has been reported,the whistle blower wasn't present for the conversation. So he got the scoop by hearsay. Therefore the actual words mean nothing.

Lewis Wetzel said...

If the Dems were smart, they would have a strategy in mind if there is no evidence of "Ukrainian Collusion." But, going by history, they probably don't. They are like frenzied mad men (and women).
It's a bit scary that their real anger will be directed against Trump voters. The country has never been doing better, and they have a compulsion to punish people -- the people they see as the rich, global warming doubters, white supremacists, basically half the country or more.

Drago said...

Mark: "Don't underestimate the crass, self-centered stupidity of people like the junior senator from Utah, Mitt Romney."

Correct. And he might drag Mike Lee along with him.

And if you don't understand that Richard Burr has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mark Warner Inc, then you aren't paying attention.

effinayright said...

steve uhr said...
He admits that he asked a foreign country to investigate his chief political rival. This after all that Russia shit went down.
*****************************************
Yeah, after all that Russia shit went down, when Hillary asked "a foreign country" to investigate her chief political rival.

Steve, you have the self-awareness of a cherrystone clam---an autistic cherrystone clam at that.

Michael McNeil said...

I know a lot of you skim past narciso's posts (I don't– he is a good lead to follow all the time).

Glad to hear it! Given the inconvenience of the links he posts to a great swath of Althouse blog's readers, however, I invite those who share such opinion to repost all of narciso's posts with “hot” (html) links — like the example provided — so that the rest of us can readily appreciate his profferings.

Paul said...

"Formal impeachment inquiry?" Oh, you mean a Kangaroo Court inquiry?

LA_Bob said...

I was expecting Christine Blasey Ford was the whistleblower.

Ray - SoCal said...

Agree with the comments Pelosi’s use of words seems meaningless.

It’s just Rebranding...

New and Improved Orange Man Bad Now with Ukraine!

My guess is Pelosi used the word impeachment, because the justice department through back Nadler’s fishing expedition to get all the Mueller Grand Jury stuff since has not used the word impeachment.

I don’t think Pelosi thinks her use of the word impeachment means anything. No votes, a few committees with hearings, a few more anti Trump found bites. Pelosi probably thinks, Hopefully this makes the far left happy. and may be she will get lucky, enough dirt will be dug up on Trump, his polling will go down, and he won’t be re-elected.

I expect Trump is going to make the a Democrat’s regret their use of the word impeachment. He will use this to brand the Democrats as sore losers, full of TDS, full of crazy ideas, and mesmerized by Trumps impeachment. Trump already released one video on this.

StephenFearby said...

Intelligence community inspector general alleges whistleblower had 'political bias' against Trump

"A senior Trump administration official told Fox News late Tuesday that the administration will release a document showing the intelligence community inspector general found the whistleblower who leveled an explosive accusation against President Trump concerning his talks with Ukraine had “political bias” in favor of “a rival candidate” of the president.

The official did not identify the name of the rival candidate. Separately, a senior administration official told Fox News the White House has been working as quickly as it can to release to Congress the whistleblower complaint involving President Trump's conversations with the leader of Ukraine, as long as it's legally possible."

"...The senior administration official told Fox News that the White House had nothing to hide, that there has been no wrongdoing, and that the White House's general position has been that it will make everything possible available to Congress or the public regarding Trump's conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the complaint to the intelligence community's inspector general.

A source familiar with the matter told Fox News this week that the whistleblower had no firsthand knowledge of Trump's July call with Zelensky. Trump vowed earlier Tuesday to release a "complete" transcript of the call by Wednesday."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry-whistleblower-complaint-release-congress-white-house

Guess that report by the faux whistleblower and the transcript of Trump's call with that new President of the Ukraine will be accompanied by the assessment by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community.

Might the faux whistleblower also be a big fan of Fauxcahontas?

Yancey Ward said...

I know this won't appear until tomorrow (moderation should be off overnight!), but here goes.

Three Democratic Senators wrote this letter to the Ukrainian equivalent of Attorney General. In the letter, the 3 senators- Durbin, Menendez, and Leahy- encouraged the Ukrainian government to aid the investigation of Robert Mueller.

The Ukrainian government was involved since before the last election helping investigate the Trump Campaign, at the urging of the Democrats and the Obama Administration, and they used threat of withholding of funds as cudgel to ensure cooperation. What if the transcript tomorrow has Trump explicitly reversing this policy of coercion, and that he made that point by promising to immediately release the appropriated funds? How would the media play it then?

Jeff said...

Since this is a formal impeachment inquiry, all of the House Republicans should show up tomorrow in morning dress and top hats.

Crazy World said...

I love narcisco comments.

James Sarver said...

"What does "formal" mean?"

Unless they are scheduling a vote it clearly is not referring to legal formality.

Maybe they are going to wear tuxedos and gowns to their next hearing. I'm sure Nancy will have a lovely corsage.

Bruce Hayden said...

"How is it a "formal impeachment inquiry" when it was a "closed-door meeting" of only the Democratic Congress."

The big reason that they want to call it a "formal impeachment inquiry" is that they desperately want to overcome Executive Privilege (EP). Since most of what they want concerns Trump personally and his close advisors and family, EP is at its strongest. And the only way to overcome that is to pretend that a real impeachment inquiry has been launched, and use Nixon as the precedent. Except of course, it isn’t a formal impeachment inquiry, because the Red State and Trump District Dem House Members haven’t yet put their re-elections in 2020 on the line by voting out an impeachment inquiry without any real evidence of criminality by Trump.

I think though that, as others have pointed out, RGB is likely leaving the Supreme Court, probably feet first. And I think that the argument is sure to be made that Trump can’t expect to get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed while the House is running a impeachment inquiry into his fictitious crimes. Never ind, of course, that the only real crime they have uncovered is #OrangeManBad.

Opening an impeachment inquiry without any real crimes crosses an important line, and violates an over two centuries old civic norm. Ok, maybe just a century and a half, since the impeachment of Andrew Johnson was arguably more political than criminal. But the impeachment inquiries of both Nixon and Clinton were based on well known previously established felonies committed while President.

The Republicans paid a political price for impeaching Clinton, mostly because, while criminal and done with a criminal motive, it still came down to lying about sex, something that supposedly better than half the adult population of either real sex has done at least once. Pelosi and her House leadership are trying to have their cake and eat it too, by using impeachment as a tool with discovery and to prevent Trump replacing RGB, but not lose the House next year by forcing their vulnerable members to vote for a impeachment inquiry without a previous underlying crime having been proven. Would have worked against Romney or even McCain. Likely not against Trump, who will make the underhandedess obvious. The Dems are trying to cheat here, are going to be caught at it and will likely pay a political price for it.

tim in vermont said...

If you have been saving up your clicks on the WaPo, here is one:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/24/democrats-investigation-might-do-more-hurt-biden-than-trump/

Say it ain’t so! Say it ain’t so... This ‘whistleblower’ reminds me of a terrorist who blows himself up mixing TATP in his sink after burgling a hair salon.

tim in vermont said...

Trump must be impeached for violating our democratic norms. Obviously.

daskol said...

I think they had to act fast on impeachment because a key part of their argument will be that Trump admin officials prevented Congress from seeing the whistleblower report. If the White House is planning to release it, they needed to convene their thing before that happened. Clearly there are enough deep state people located within intelligence/state/justice that they figure they can keep the impeachment charade going a bit longer. Trump's own admin, NSC/Intelligence, is still at war with him.

For those who've said Trump has done nothing in the face of previous malfeasance by these bad actors, they're waiting for him to take any dramatic action. To flip the "if you shoot at the King, you better not miss," Trump needs to hold fire until he has a clear shot if he wants to actually end this war against him.

Professional lady said...

Bruce Hayden I agree with you. This is whole charade is largely about the fear that Roe v Wade will be overruled. How that decision has poisoned our country and our politics! What would likely have happened had the Supreme Court not ruled as it did? Had the abortion issue been left to the political process, abortion would be available but there would likely be restrictions similar to those in place in European countries. In other words, no 3rd trimester and partial birth abortions. Instead we have unlimited and unchecked human and political carnage.

Bruce Hayden said...

@professional lady:

Abortion is part of it, but I think that that came a bit later. Before the 2016 election, Trump didn’t really come across as pro-life. Later though he nominated and had confirmed a record number of federal judges, including two Supreme Court Justices. Replacing RBG with a pro life conservative, esp a woman like Amy Coney Barrett, would make the Court 6-3 pro life, and wit her Roman Catholic. Pro choice are, of course, in panic mode, for that very good reason. Roe v Wade was a badly reasoned (but well lawyered) case, and the Supreme Court in making that decision took upon themselves to make a decision that should have been left to the democratic process. Because they didn’t, it has never really been settled.

That said, I think that the push for impeachment goes back to before the 2016 election, when Strzok and Page were discussing their Insurance Policy, put together around Andy McCabe’s $70k conference room table. The end game there always was impeachment, utilizing mostly manufactured evidence. No doubt they would have thought of something else, besides Russian (and now Ukrainian) Collusion, if Trump hadn’t joked that if the FBI had really wanted Crooked Hillary’s missing 30k emails, they should ask the Russians for them (turns out it was the Chinese who seem to have received them in real time, and we still seem to be assuming that the Russians hacked her server too, along with the Israelis, NORKs, etc). Still, never forget that the Steele Dossier that was used for this, was commissioned and funded by the Clintons. It was purely political since probably before the 2016 Dem convention.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"Mark said...
Well, my visit to that hack Drudge just now ended up with an attempted malware attack."

I have been a Drudge reader for more that a decade. Two things:

-- Drudge is simply a news aggregater.

-- You did not get malware from the site.

Professional lady said...

Bruce Hayden - once again you make all great points.