October 31, 2019

"A top National Security Council (NSC) official who listened to President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky testified to Congress today..."

"... that he did not believe Trump had discussed anything illegal during the conversation. 'I want to be clear, I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed,' former NSC Senior Director for European Affairs Tim Morrison testified today.... Morrison testified that Ukrainian officials were not even aware that certain military funding had been delayed by the Trump administration until late August 2019, more than a month after the Trump-Zelensky call, casting doubt on allegations that Trump somehow conveyed an illegal quid pro quo demand during the July 25 call. 'I have no reason to believe the Ukrainians had any knowledge of the [military funding] review until August 28, 2019,' Morrison said. That is the same day that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chief anti-Trump inquisitor in the U.S. House of Representatives, disclosed on Twitter that funding had been held up. Although Schiff claimed that neither he nor his staff ever spoke to the anti-Trump whistleblower, The New York Times reported that the complainant, whom RealClearInvestigations identified as Eric Ciaramella, coordinated with Schiff’s office before filing his complaint with the intelligence community inspector general on August 12. While Schiff initially demanded that the anti-Trump complainant be allowed to publicly testify, he quickly changed course following the reports that he and his staff had secretly colluded with the whistleblower and then lied about the interactions."

From The Federalist.

That's quite an important time line!
July 25 — Trump talks to Zelensky
August 12 — Schiff coordinates with the whistleblower
August 28 — Schiff reveals that the funding to Ukraine is held up, and Zelensky (according to Morrison) first learns this fact

104 comments:

Drago said...

Its a new World Record For Collapse Of Another Lefty Hoax Impeachment effort!!

Well done dems/leftys/LLR-lefties!!

After the collapse of the Kavanaugh gang rape hoax claims I didnt think you guys could improve on your implosion timeline, but somehow you did!!

And to have forced vulnerable dems to go on the record with this latest fantasy??!!

Outstanding!!

LOLOLOL

LYNNDH said...

DOTS DOTS DOTS connecting that will go no where. What a setup. Dems are pure sleaze.

Unknown said...

So... Collusion V. 2 is collapsing? Once again, Trump is fortunate in his enemies.

Bay Area Guy said...

Althouse is working her intellectual magic in pursuit of the truth. Poseurs like Adam Schiff beware!

LYNNDH said...

From another Blog - The New NEO


Former White House officials said Ciaramella worked on Ukrainian policy issues for Biden in 2015 and 2016, when the vice president was President Obama’s “point man” for Ukraine. A Yale graduate, Ciaramella is said to speak Russian and Ukrainian, as well as Arabic. He had been assigned to the NSC by Brennan.
He was held over into the Trump administration, and headed the Ukraine desk at the NSC, eventually transitioning into the West Wing, until June 2017.
“He was moved over to the front office” to temporarily fill a vacancy, said a former White House official, where he “saw everything, read everything.”
The official added that it soon became clear among NSC staff that Ciaramella opposed the new Republican president’s foreign policies. “My recollection of Eric is that he was very smart and very passionate, particularly about Ukraine and Russia. That was his thing – Ukraine,” he said. “He didn’t exactly hide his passion with respect to what he thought was the right thing to do with Ukraine and Russia, and his views were at odds with the president’s policies.”
“So I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the whistleblower,” the official said.
In May 2017, Ciaramella went “outside his chain of command,” according to a former NSC co-worker, to send an email alerting another agency that Trump happened to hold a meeting with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office the day after firing Comey, who led the Trump-Russia investigation. The email also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had phoned the president a week earlier.
Contents of the email appear to have ended up in the media, which reported Trump boasted to the Russian officials about firing Comey, whom he allegedly called “crazy, a real nut job.”
In effect, Ciaramella helped generate the “Putin fired Comey” narrative, according to the research dossier making the rounds in Congress, a copy of which was obtained by RealClearInvestigations.

Beasts of England said...

Whoopsie!!

Sebastian said...

"That's quite an important time line!"

Why "important"? I can't believe you would assume Dems need evidence! It's so sad you would think Dems argue in good faith! Why, o why, would you think they find your bourgeois sensibilities "important"?

wild chicken said...

Ahhh HA! Another *Russian asset*!

Gretchen said...

The Democrats are looking for anything to impeach Trump. They must know there is no way to beat him at the ballot box.

I would like to know if Harris, Klobuchar, Booker, Sanders and Warren all plan to recuse themselves if this is voted on in the Senate. If they really believe asking the Ukrainians to get to the bottom of payments made to Biden's kid, is interference with an election, and using the office of the presidency for political advantage, then certainly any Senator running for their party's nomination must not seek to impeach their opponent, and in fact must never even speak about it to the American people.

However, Democrats never have to play be their own rules.

Marshall Rose said...

But, but, but, but....

OrangeManBad!

Clayton Hennesey said...

Ace at AOSHQ

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/384071.php

claims that there are four transcribers in addition to Vindman who each refute Vindman's claims of missing incriminating conversation by Trump.

That is, the consensus among all those who transcribed the call is that none listening to the same call at the same time heard what Vindman claims he heard.

gbarto said...

Wait a minute? So Zelensky didn't know about the quo until Schiff announced it?

Not much of a quid pro quo there.

What strikes me most about this is how much it feels like a Tom Clancy novel. I always enjoyed the novels, but it struck me as totally unrealistic that the same well-developed characters kept having some connection or another to every plot point, and all of them nested within the same in-group. Now it's beginning to appear that this wasn't a plotting device to keep the action moving: Washington really is a couple dozen well-connected people playing tug of war with the country.

Tank said...

Cruel neutrality.

Swede said...

Anybody can read the transcripts and see for themselves that Trump said nothing wrong.

Zelensky himself says there was nothing in their conversation that led him to believe a quid pro quo was on the table.

The entire goal of this "investigation" is to keep the word "impeachment" in the daily press running up to the election.

After Trump wins again, the impeachment investigation will disappear faster than Christine Blasey Ford.

Todd said...

OK, so why is this still going on? No quid pro quo by Trump. Nothing illegal on the call by Trump. Done. Right? Nancy, right?

Howard said...

Congratulations, you people need your happy talk.

Gk1 said...

How many times do the democrats/media get to run the same play, down the middle for no gain or negative yardage? Even with their willing accomplices in the media its not changing anyones minds and is become predictably boring and tiresome. Also its a little sad its left of blogs and smaller online mags like The Federalist to do the yeomans work of researching and reporting on what a crock of shit this latest scam is. Does the NYT and Washpo feel bad they are being scooped daily by people the consider no bodies? At some professional level does this bother them, just a little?

Dave Begley said...

This so-called whistleblower is the type of person that is pure Deep State and needs to be rooted out. He's from CT and went to prep school there. His dad is a banker, read, investment banker. He's a Dem and went to Yale. He speaks Russian. So does my daughter! And he is trying to take out the duly elected President based upon his political opinions and TDS.

This is an outrage.

Who elected Eric President of the United States?

Michael K said...

As we are getting into this Intel hall moof mirrors, it is worth reading this interview with Codevilla.

How do you understand the seemingly unchecked growth of this globe-spanning American surveillance apparatus, and how do you understand the danger of that apparatus being turned to domestic political purposes?

There’s always danger inherent in secrecy. And you know secrecy of course is central to intelligence operations. Secrecy most often is used not for the good of the operation, but to safeguard the reputations of those who are running the operations.

The agencies, like all bureaucracies, have always tried to aggrandize themselves, build their reputations, in order to make and spend more money. Get more high-ranking positions. Get more post-retirement positions for their people in the industries that support them. They’ve done exactly what bureaucrats in other agencies have done, neither more nor less.

But the business they’re in, which involves surveillance, is uniquely dangerous, because surveillance is inherently a political weapon. Inherently so. And there is never any lack of appetite for increasing the power of surveillance, and for increasing the reach of surveillance.

Fortunately, especially in my time on the Hill, we had pretty good resistance against bureaucratic attempts to increase the reach of government surveillance over the rest of the country.

Then along came 9/11, and congressmen, senators, who didn’t know any better, were rather easily persuaded, and for that matter Presidents—George W. Bush being exhibit number one—were very easily persuaded, that giving the agencies something close to carte blanche for electronic surveillance would help to keep the country safe. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was amended in 2008 to accommodate the practices which had evolved extralegally under George Bush, which essentially allowed the agencies to wiretap at will, so long as they claimed that this was for foreign intelligence purposes. In this regard, they claimed that what they were doing was within the spirit, if not the letter, of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which stated that any warrantless collection of electronic intelligence, bugging and other means of collection in finding intelligence, could capture the communications of U.S. persons, only incidentally in the course of capturing the communications of foreign targets.
<

Very important interview.

Rick said...

Also in August:

Disclosure of Urgent Concern forms revised

Michael K said...

claims that there are four transcribers in addition to Vindman who each refute Vindman's claims of missing incriminating conversation by Trump.

Vindman appears to me to violate the FARA and is acting as a Ukraine agent.

LA_Bob said...

This is consistent with Kurt Volker's reported testimony earlier in the month, where Schiff reportedly said, “Ambassador, you’re making this much more complicated than it has to be.”

So, now I've heard about two witnesses who question the impeachment narrative -- to Chairman Adams's face. I hope Nancy is taking notes.

Francisco D said...

After Trump wins again, the impeachment investigation will disappear faster than Christine Blasey Ford.

Uff Da!

You are wrong on both counts, Swede.

Impeachment will be the Democrats game plan for the next five years to muddy the waters when Obama officials go on trial.

CBF will reappear when Trump nominates Amy Barrett to the SCOTUS. She will claim that Amy made a pass at her at some party at someone's house at a time she cannot remember. The NYT will herald this scandal as a surefire deal breaker.

It is what Democrats do. It's in their DNA.

steve uhr said...

No there there. I guess we can all go home. Maybe next time. Drat.

narciso said...

so it would seem, specially as a special pleader for burisma's no. 1 client, naftogaz, now you see why they went after forman and parnas, they were offering competion, we can't have that,

narciso said...

and since morrison was Bolton's protégé, I'm guessing the vapors spread by Fiona hill, are just that,

stevew said...

"Who elected Eric President of the United States?"

Exactly. Also, working as he did to subvert and undermine the foreign policy plans of the duly elected POTUS is or approaches treason. His only legit action would be to publicly resign in protest.

narciso said...

note who did not complain, and who did, klimkin who spoke to the times, was the outgoing defense minister, another deputy, hladecky, was dismissed back in march, in a procurement scandal, and indicted two weeks ago,


https://112.international/ukraine-top-news/new-faces-of-ukrainian-cabinet-who-is-who-in-government-under-pm-honcharuk-43103.html

Big Mike said...

claims that there are four transcribers in addition to Vindman who each refute Vindman's claims of missing incriminating conversation by Trump.

Point of information. Vindman was not one of the transcribers. He listened in on the conversation, but did not contribute to the transcription. At this point the best spin I can put on Vindman is that he heard something in what Zelensky said in Ukrainian and it gave him concerns. That spin assumes Zelensky spoke Ukrainian (some foreign heads of state speak the English language better than any of the recent Presidents) and like to show it off. Otherwise Lt. Colonel is simply lying, and needs to be ordered to exchange his uniform for an enlisted man's uniform and be busted down to Easy Deuce.

DavidUW said...

Why it’s almost as if there are many many bureaucrats nestled deep into the apparatus of the state that wish to resist the outcomes of a free and fair election.

Perhaps we can just shorten that up to “Deep State” bullshit.

tim in vermont said...

“That’s above your pay grade”. Joe Biden to someone who complained about Clinton policy.

tim in vermont said...

"steve uhr said...
No there there. I guess we can all go home. Maybe next time. Drat”

Oh you guys will invent something. We know how much you hate to see the accused walk free.

tim in vermont said...

Video of Pelosi released.

https://twitter.com/RobertZakchloe/status/1190006776072220672

narciso said...

based on his background, he's the Emmett fitzhume of spies like us, which may have been the optimum story, it is striking they aren't going to the pantomime of presenting him, unlike plame, Richard Clarke et al,

Drago said...

Howard: "Congratulations, you people need your happy talk."

LOL

Tell us more about the 5,000 gang rapes Kavanaugh supposedly committed!

Ken B said...

Wow, is Trump ever dumb! Blackmailing a guy without telling him! Without even making a hint! And in front of witnesses too, who can testify he was too dumb to make a threat or a hint or a warning.

I bet he is so dumb he didn’t even intend to blackmail Zelensky. Gotta impeach a guy that dumb.

iowan2 said...

I cringe when others ask our gracious host questions, but I can't stand it anymore.

Ann, how can you vote for any Democrat? If this scam wasn't so stupid and transparent I would be going nuts.

First Obama sics the CIA and the FBI on political rivals. Then Comey leaks phony notes to get a special counsel installed. Mueller spends 2 years hoping to get President Trump to bite on an obstruction charge. Now Schiff, uses plants from the intel community in the WH to leak a phone call, Schiff was positive would never see the light of day.

Schiff and others need to be in jail. I know it will never happen

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Schitt is Hillary's corrupt liar henchman. Up next on Maddow.

narciso said...

david samuels, the interviewer in the last piece, was the one that uncovered the Rhodes echo chamber, lee smith and this academic, helped expand our understanding of it


https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/293286/michael-doran

Shouting Thomas said...

If a liberal, feminist and Hillary voter like Althouse has turned furiously against this impeachment farce, the Democrats are finished.

I’ve been skeptical about the potential for prosecution of the villains in the FBI, DOJ and CIA who cooked up the Russia collusion hoax and tried to overturn the 2016 election.

But, prosecutions must on the way. There’s no other explanation for the Dem’s refusal to let go of this BS.

The Dems are using these theatrics as a form of plea bargaining and to further their argument that prosecutions will be “Trump’s revenge.”

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...


Strokz's insurance policy marches on. The grand lies are all for the queen of grand lies.

tim in vermont said...

Can’t the Democrats get down to the serious business of America, like ending women’s sports as we know it. That one is long overdue.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why are we giving millions of dollars to Ukraine anyway?

Clyde said...

Facts? Timelines? Inquisitor Shifty Schiff don't need no stinkin' facts and timelines! We have an auto-da-fe to conduct here!

narciso said...

he's been a little ornery lately,

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/10/a-tough-trump-policy-on-russia-that-no-one-talks-about.php

clint said...

So... it turns out that the person who threatened the Ukraine was Adam Schiff and he used Twitter to do it?

I think I've heard this story before. It's like when we learned that the person who colluded with the Russians to fix the 2016 election was Hillary Clinton by way of Christopher Steele.

Amadeus 48 said...

So, they want to impeach Trump more than they want to beat him at the polls and keep their majority in the House. These are some really deep thinkers on the Dem side. I like their style. They need to keep it up through November 2020.

In other news, did Althouse blow her 2016 cover for naught? Her analysis only harvested two negative Dem votes on the Empower Schiff Act. There could be some weaseling on the "procedures" vs. "authorize the inquiry" axis, but I don't believe Althouse would play that game. Unlike Comey, she is not a weasel. Most of America thinks that the Dems just authorized the impeachment inquiry.

Will Althouse come over to the Dark Side? Will she vote Trump in 2020? Shouldn't the Dems pay some price for this nonsense they are foisting on their own voters and the rest of the American people. Is anything getting done in DC by the Dems to help their 2016 supporters? I think the answer has to be no, unless the most important thing to voters like Althouse is to see Trump impeached.

Come on, Althouse. Trump has earned your vote, and the Dems have abused you. Trump just wants to Make America Great Again.

Help him out in 2020.

BUMBLE BEE said...

In all this leftist BullShit, I seek relief and truth. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you
James Brown in a patriotic tribute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeO0GVy01GI.
You're welcome!

Greg the class traitor said...

Howard said...
Congratulations, you people need your happy talk.

Talking to yourself again, Howard?

It's not the GOP that's hiding transcripts that blow apart fantasies, it's you Democrats

bagoh20 said...

How many TDS victims' minds will be changed by any facts or evidence that exonerates Trump? How many have so far? Didn't they all just change the subject to the new football Lucy put down?

They would't have TDS if they could change their minds or accept facts. That's the primary symptom. Is there any cure? Not likely. It might be the only debilitating syndrome that the victims don't want cured.

Greg the class traitor said...

Francisco D said...
After Trump wins again, the impeachment investigation will disappear faster than Christine Blasey Ford.

Uff Da!

You are wrong on both counts, Swede.

Impeachment will be the Democrats game plan for the next five years to muddy the waters when Obama officials go on trial.


For the Dems to keep impeachment going, they need a majority in the House. And, post 2020, they won't have that

Iman said...

narciso, as he has long done, is on top of the story... the facts of the matter.

Howard is so full of Schiff...

stephen cooper said...

Nobody treated Obama this way.

gilbar said...

he did not believe Trump had discussed anything illegal during the conversation.

This is Ludicrous! The VERY FIRST HE SAID, was: "Hello, I'm President Trump"
You do NOT get More ILLEGAL than that!!!!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

How many TDS victims' minds will be changed by any facts or evidence that exonerates Trump?

As many as the number of Trump Fellators' minds who will be changed when looking at Article II of the Constitution and seeing that it doesn't grant Trump the power he claimed to "do whatever he wants."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Nobody treated Obama this way.

Nobody who treated any president who never said that Article II gives him the power to "do whatever he wants" this way. But that's because no other president than Trump ever said that. Hello.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Exactly. Also, working as he did to subvert and undermine the foreign policy plans of the duly elected POTUS is or approaches treason. His only legit action would be to publicly resign in protest.”

I respectfully disagree. Ritual suicide on his part would also be acceptable.

Achilles said...

President Toilet Paper Shoe's Perfect Phone Call said...
How many TDS victims' minds will be changed by any facts or evidence that exonerates Trump?

As many as the number of Trump Fellators' minds who will be changed when looking at Article II of the Constitution and seeing that it doesn't grant Trump the power he claimed to "do whatever he wants."

You are pathetic.

Nobody made any such claim anywhere. You are listening to goblins in your head.

You are at war with reality. The entire democrat party has been outed as corrupt traitors and rather than admit you were wrong you buy whatever the media feeds you like a good little tool.

Trump has been the most open and transparent president in modern history.

You can't name a single thing he has actually done that is illegal.

Not one thing.

Achilles said...

bagoh20 said...
How many TDS victims' minds will be changed by any facts or evidence that exonerates Trump? How many have so far? Didn't they all just change the subject to the new football Lucy put down?

They would't have TDS if they could change their minds or accept facts. That's the primary symptom. Is there any cure? Not likely. It might be the only debilitating syndrome that the victims don't want cured.



At this point it should be clear to everyone. Even Ann.

The democrats are corrupt and empty. They don't have a single core principle that they will hold to.

The only thing they care about is power and control of other people.

They can never be allowed to have power. The farce in the House shows how deranged not only the leadership, but the core supporters of the democrat party are.

Bill Peschel said...


"Article II of the Constitution and seeing that it doesn't grant Trump the power he claimed to "do whatever he wants."

You right! In fact, he said, "I've got a pen and I've got a phone…and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions."

Oh, wait, that's Obama, who stood by while the IRS attacked his political opponents, and the FBI and CIA collaborated to bring down an elected president.

Try again.

Lydia said...

Morrison in his opening statement:

I had three concerns about a potential leak of the MemCon [transcript of the phone call]: first, how it would play out in Washington's polarized environment; second, how a leak would affect the bipartisan support our Ukrainian partners currently experience in Congress; and third, how it would affect the Ukrainian perceptions of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.

That no. 1 concern implies that he obviously did think something was not totally on the up-and-up in that call.

Kevin said...

The intelligence communities have six ways from Sunday of blowing up Adam Schiff's impeachment of the President.

Yancey Ward said...

What was so hilarious about the Morrison testimony were the stories from this morning that made promises about what Morrison would say that would bury Trump, and none of those stories turned out to be true. The same thing happened with Vindman's testimony. It has happened repeatedly. These people just never pay a price for being colossally wrong time after time.

Michael K said...

Ritmo ! Back from Schiff's castle !

Michael K said...

That no. 1 concern implies that he obviously did think something was not totally on the up-and-up in that call.

Not the call; the leaks ! Are you trying for the Ritmo chair ?

Michael K said...

I interpret Vindman's actions as working as an agent for Ukraine.

FARA violation worse than Flynn.

phantommut said...

To be totally Machiavellian, I wonder if Pelosi is 100% behind keeping this entirely a Schiff Show.

Rick said...

If a liberal, feminist and Hillary voter like Althouse has turned furiously against this impeachment farce, the Democrats are finished.

Untrue, almost no one else acts like Althouse. About a third of Dem voters would classify Althouse a conservative because (among other things) she doesn't think America deserved 911. The other 2/3 don't even know impeachment is happening.

Drago said...

Lydia: "That no. 1 concern implies that he obviously did think something was not totally on the up-and-up in that call."

Sure it does toots. Sure it does.

Narayanan said...

I'm interested in what makes Free and fair :

D's don't consider 2016 Election to be so.

Trade with China for past 30 odd years is touted as such!

Narayanan said...

working as an agent for Ukraine or any country.

Does it make legal different paid or unpaid!?

Hagar said...

Morrison, like Vindnman, seems to have been mostly worried that the Democrats would get pissed if Ukraine divulged any information about the Bidens' doings there and proceed to cut their aid budget.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Francisco D said...

Impeachment will be the Democrats game plan for the next five years to muddy the waters when Obama officials go on trial.

Bingo! And if you want to get an idea why; read this.

Jared Polis has appointed Shoshana Lew head of Colorado Dept. of Transportation. She's 35 and has an MA in History from Northwestern. No Transportation background, no civil engineering background, no construction background. She is a former senior advisor for the US Dept of the Interior, White House Domestic Policy Advisor, and former CFO of USDOT. All while in her 20's and with zero governmental and financial experience and all during the Obama administration.

How'd she pull this off, you ask? She's the daughter of Jack Lew, Obama's SecTreas. How'd she get the CDOT job? Michelle Obama called in a favor from Polis.

You can bet your sweet bippy that The Swamp is full of leftovers like this from the Obama days and they are all shitting themselves at the prospect of a 2020 Trump victory. They know the gloves will be off then, they'll all be exposed for what they are and they'll all end up having to do the only thing they're qualified to do; fuck up your coffee order at Starbucks.

This impeachment brouhaha is their last,desperate hope and they're making the most of it.

Narayanan said...

Does Senate have any oversight power responsibility similar to House?

Why can't R's hold parallel parade of same witnesses after they have brave the D's velvet gauntlet?

That's : if they want to give Trump some fighting space!?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Nobody made any such claim anywhere.

Here's some blonde guy named "Trump" making that very claim, actually:

https://www.newsweek.com/article-2-trends-after-trump-falsely-claims-it-grants-him-unlimited-powers-president-i-can-do-1450798

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/23/trump-falsely-tells-auditorium-full-teens-constitution-gives-him-right-do-whatever-i-want/

https://theweek.com/speedreads/854487/trump-have-article-2-where-have-right-whatever-want-president

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-claim-article-2-right-whatever-want-president

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/24/impeachment-donald-trump-constitution-violation-emoluments/4056323002/

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-constitution-gives-me-the-right-do-whatever-i-want

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-falsely-says-constitution-gives-him-unlimited-power-president-2019-7

What have you got? FOX Noise? The Daily Caller? Hot Air?

Hahahahahahahahha!!!!! Etc.

Keep not reading. It's a look that really suits you. Especially when it comes to the things that come right out of Trump's big fat mouth. In fact, all the power he has depends on your inability to perceive a single thing he says.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Try again.

Try to do what? To change the goalpost?

Hey, Goalpost Changer: No one doubts that you're as great a goalpost changer as any other Republican. But the post was Trump's declaration that the Constitution gave him the right to do whatever he wants - and no, Obama never said such a thing. And neither did any other president.

Because they could read, apparently.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

I just glad that our long national nightmare is over. The Federalist is an unimpeachable source, so even one thinly sourced article from them should be enough to finish this thing for good. I am going to sleep much better tonight.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The democrats are corrupt and empty. They don't have a single core principle that they will hold to.

Except the Constitution. Ever read it?

Which part of Trump's actions did not violate it?

In schools they teach about something called The Federalist Papers. There are records of the debates over the constitution by the Founders, as well as early proceedings for judges, etc. One of Madison's own arguments for including an impeachment provision was, among others: He might betray his trust to foreign powers. Ever hear of James Madison? Ever read anything he wrote down? Or are Republicans no longer originalists or textualists and instead deciding that the constitution means whatever they want it to mean. Or that bribing foreign governments to pervert federal election laws is ok if it means it helps Trump.

Federal law is clear about the statutes he broke - and in order to avoid taking care that the laws regarding elections are faithfully executed. Here's FOX's own Andrew Napolitano on that. He says not even lawyers or politicians seriously contest that. Curious why Ann doesn't mention it.

Republicans are clinging to Trump's coattails for one reason: Without him or a rich lobbyist, they are incapable of winning governing majorities. Or apparently now, a foreign power. Only with the "help" of those things can they win anything. On their own however they are completely impotent, politically. That's why they're "retiring" in record numbers. Well, that and the fact that Trump's a royal pain in the ass and regular tantrum thrower with whom no one can actually work.

We understand you only care about keeping Trump unaccountable and unbesmirched politically or legally. We understand that only elections matter to you. But the law is clear. Bribing foreign officials to subvert U.S. elections is about as high a crime or misdemeanor as a public servant can commit. And he did it and he will be impeached. And history will record how feistily his party wiggled around acknowledging the law and his breaking of it ("Process," they scream!) and that they did this because without him they couldn't win enough elections on their own. Their own subservience is what enables and gives meaning to his tyranny. Every tyrant needs as many blind, impotent followers as possible - or else the concept has no meaning. And the Republicans are Trump's play dolls. And those who vote for them even lower than that.

daskol said...

If Althouse tweeted, and she tweeted that timeline, I'd bet almost anything on. Trump retweet.

daskol said...

Untrue, almost no one else acts like Althouse. About a third of Dem voters would classify Althouse a conservative

Agree with Rick. And I hope meadhouse (which apple autocorrects to madhouse) is ready for your doxxing. I don't want to sound overly paranoid, but I have trouble concealing how I actually feel. In this age of Epstein, it would not surprise me if the bullshit fucking up the comments was more organized than just extremely sensitive prolix lonely folks. There is subversion happening here, on the number one Wisconsin blog in America.

Michael K said...

Ritmo is now into walls of text. That nobody reads.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

So you are saying the whistleblower stopped the wrongdoing by going to Schiff. Trump should thank the whistleblower and Schiff for preventing him from completing the high crime.

Michael K said...

Blogger phantommut said...

To be totally Machiavellian, I wonder if Pelosi is 100% behind keeping this entirely a Schiff Show.


Not a bad theory. She keeps hands off. If it blows up, she knew nothing about it.

Old bureaucratic tactic.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ARM - only buy what Zucker is selling. You go with that.

Drago said...

ARM: "The Federalist is an unimpeachable source, so even one thinly sourced article from them should be enough to finish this thing for good."

Previous Federalist hot takes:

- The Trump/Russia collusion charge is a hoax
- The Steele dossier is completely made up without a single assertion verified
- Brett Kavanaugh is not a gang rapist responsible for hundreds of gang rapes across Maryland for several decades

Hey, the Federalist is looking pretty good!

Things the Federalist never claimed:
- The Average Square footage of midwest homes is responsible for people pooping on the streets of San Francisco
- Large Agri-farms are responsible for people pooping on the streets of San Francisco
- Light bulbs are responsible for people pooping on the streets of San Francisco

Keep up the good work HoaxPPT and ARM. We need you and all your buddies and all your candidates (except for Bernie) to keep the insanity coming.

I'm excluding Bernie because that weak little bitch is simply waiting around for someone in the dem establishment to tell him to shut his yap.....just like Hillary did in 2016.

Bernie, being a big time Soviet-boy, knows how to follow orders from above.

The upside for Bernie?

He might get a 4th house out of all this if he does what he is told.....again.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

LOL - Do lecture us on selling out to foreign powers for money - oh Hillary supporters.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Linus said...
"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.


Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ritmo is now into walls of text. That nobody reads.

Lawyers read them and any American can read the same Constitution that they quote. So while you and the other Republican puppets can ignore words, texts, documents and the written proof of your leader's crimes and impeachability, that ignorance will not save him. And it will not save you from leaving a clear record of your admiration for such lawlessness.

I think the Republican-puppets are mad that the Constitution wasn't written on Twitter. What fools. The law and the historical record will indict them nonetheless.

h said...

The impeachment process is not tied to this Ukrainian telephone call. We also have Trump taxes, Trump hotels (emoluments) and the fact that a number of rich people made campaign contributions to Trump. The question is not "should Trump be impeached?" the question is "What is the best argument for impeaching Trump?"

Shouting Thomas said...

@Ritmo @ARM

Althouse is a lawyer who voted for Hillary.

Over the past two days, she’s ridiculed the Democrats as losers, demanded that they cease the phony impeachment, and denounced them for harming their country and undermining the electoral process.

You might want to stop beating that strawman.

@h

Are you aware that the courts tossed out the emoluments lawsuit, and that the presiding judge declared that the suit was nothing more than harassment?

daskol said...

If I were trying to avoid getting called a Russian asset, by an outfit that has.a habit of people calling people Russian assets, I might just publicly announce how I'd voted for Hillary Clinton in the last election. Reminds me how Scott Adams came out for Hillar during the 2016 campaign, for his personal safety.

daskol said...

"The law and the historical record will indict them nonetheless.

Stentorian. But the law doesn't enforce itself, nor does the political will. If this horseshit is going to stick, Schiff and Nadler are going to have to indict Trump. The Law is a lazy mistress, requiring people, its loyal servants, to get the indictments. Schiff and Nadler: not that stentorian.

Anonymous said...

Why are we giving millions of dollars to Ukraine anyway?

Let's rephrase that. Why are we borrowing millions of dollars from China and giving it to Ukraine?

Francisco D said...

Ritmo is now into walls of text. That nobody reads.

Who is this Ritmo creature and why should I care?

Anonymous said...

Why are we giving millions of dollars to Ukraine anyway?

Let's rephrase that. Why are we borrowing millions of dollars from China and giving it to Ukraine?

Anonymous said...

narciso, as he has long done, is on top of the story... the facts of the matter.

I must say, for someone whose native language appears not to be English, he has very, very deep knowledge of the seamy side of American politics. I frequently look up what he's talking about if I find it confusing or obscure, and it is always something interesting and illuminating.

LA_Bob said...

h, you left out that Trump kept Hillary from being the first woman president. That's the only argument for impeaching Trump.

Michael K said...

Awwwww. Ritmo and ARM are annoyed that nobody pays attention.

effinayright said...

h said...
The impeachment process is not tied to this Ukrainian telephone call. We also have Trump taxes, Trump hotels (emoluments) and the fact that a number of rich people made campaign contributions to Trump. The question is not "should Trump be impeached?" the question is "What is the best argument for impeaching Trump?
************

Whaaa?....have you just emerged from a week-long bout of the delirium tremens? Or from a medically-induced coma to prevent you from having one?

Or do you just speak in political glossolalia all the time?

Narayanan said...

Thanks for timeline.
Makes clear game of QuidProQuo is not only multi-player but also multi-layered and multi-threaded tangle. Many movies should be playing in politics theater screen but we're being told just one story.

PluralThumb said...

Trump: Hey Zelensky, how are they hanging.

Zelensky: We don't use that method anymore.

= Business as unusual

Rusty said...

h said...
"The impeachment process is not tied to this Ukrainian telephone call. We also have Trump taxes, Trump hotels (emoluments) and the fact that a number of rich people made campaign contributions to Trump. The question is not "should Trump be impeached?" the question is "What is the best argument for impeaching Trump?"
Because he won. Since you can't prove any of those other things.
I wish ritmo would choose somewhere else to pleasure himself.

tim in vermont said...

32% or so want him actually impeached and removed based on what is known so far. A number that probably hasn’t changed much since election day. It isn’t us that need to do the convincing. I don’t get how secret hearings are supposed to move the needle.

tim in vermont said...

“He might betray us to foreign powers” - Pee Pee Tapes

“Let Vladmir know that if he eases up on me during the election, I can be much more flexible with American security after the rubes have voted” - Barack H Oboma.

That’s a far better paraphrase than Schiff’s, BTW.

Now Democrats want to gin up a proxy war with Russia over a country that has been in Russia’s orbit since the ‘70s.

“All we are saying, is give peace a chance.”