"Biden’s testimony would have bearing on a key question in an abuse-of-power trial. Trump insists that he raised the issue of Hunter Biden’s relationship with a Ukrainian energy firm to the Ukrainian president as part of an overall concern he had about ongoing corruption in that country. If that contract with the son of a former vice president could be shown to be a corrupt scheme to advance the interests of a foreign company or country, it might be Trump’s best defense. Trump’s position is that he did not arbitrarily ask a country to investigate a possible political rival. Had Trump called for an investigation into Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) husband, for example, without a scintilla of proof of corruption, it would be entirely indefensible.... Schumer knows that neither Biden nor his contract will show well under the glare of a public impeachment trial... The worse that Hunter Biden looks, the better Trump looks in raising the contract. That is the problem with asking for witnesses in a Senate trial...."
From
"Chuck Schumer wants witnesses. Hunter Biden could be a disaster" by Jonathan Turley (WaPo).
Meanwhile:
President Trump highlighted objections Tuesday to the prospect of testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, as Bolton’s announcement that he is prepared to appear at a Senate impeachment trial continued to roil Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was facing increased scrutiny for the delay in transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The House will convene Tuesday night for its new session....
If the Democrats look like they are basing these decisions on what will help them in the elections, it dilutes the outrage we're supposed to feel about the idea that Trump may have taken into account what will be good for him politically. When it all looks political, we retreat to supporting the party whose politics we like best. And who has not yet retreated?
Posts
133 comments:
It's illegal to dig into democratic corruption and international money whoring.
I feel like the only one left observing the absurdity of the idea of Trump investigating a 'political rival'.
...and Benghazi was caused by a youtube video.
Okay, second one left...
I like Turley's blog. He sticks almost entirely to legal issues, unlike Althouse.
But, overall, I still prefer Althouse. Volokh comes in third.
Turley really (and I mean really) dislikes Trump, but he's fair. Althouse is much more neutral in respect to the president.
The Dude sums it all up.
@Althouse, do the Democrats have to hit you over the head with a brick before you can see their corruption? Retreat, Hell. I just got here.
When it all looks political, we retreat to supporting the party whose politics we like best. And who has not yet retreated?
Of course each person has to deal with the cognitive dissonance created by the conflict between your personal desires versus reality.
There's a large number of people who just want Trump gone and they don't care how. They don't care if he's framed or railroaded or if powerful people have to lie, cheat, and steal in order to make it happen. They don't care about corruption as long as it's in their sides favor and it can be successfully supressed and covered up or, failing that, excused and downplayed. Like Golem with the One Ring, they're completely obsessed with the precious and seem unable to see the destruction their obsession has wrought.
They believe the ends justify the all the means.
@Althouse, do the Democrats have to hit you over the head with a brick before you can see their corruption? Retreat, Hell. I just got here.
You know, I am close to agreeing with your conclusion, but I like Althouse's style of not coming to a conclusion for you.
Her comments section is very successful because of this strategy.
You know, I am close to agreeing with your conclusion, but I like Althouse's style of not coming to a conclusion for you.
Her comments section is very successful because of this strategy.
Yes. She educes thought and opinion as a good educator should.
Hugh Hewitt this morning had an interview with Sen and they agreed that calling Bolton would be a disaster for Democrats,
He is inviting them to throw him in that briar patch,
Senator Cornyn. Somehow that got deleted,.
Professor Turley, of course, is correct. CJ Roberts would allow Hunter's testimony.
Hunter, of course, would either take the 5th or get destroyed on the stand. Either way, the Bidens are ruined. Hunter and Joe should be in jail. Along with Hillary, Barack, Brennan, Comey and Clapper.
Obama ordered the FBI and CIA to spy on Trump and he had no basis for that order. He knew that the DNC and Hillary paid for the fake Steele Dossier in order to con the FISC to grant the warrant.
And why did Obama want Hillary to win? So that all the payoffs made by Iran to the Obama Administration would remain hidden. Hillary got her cut from the Iranians.
Does anyone seriously not think that some of that $150 billion didn't filter back to Barack and his crew?
Had Trump called for an investigation into Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) husband, for example, without a scintilla of proof of corruption, it would be entirely indefensible.
Similarly, that's why I thank Schiff for reciting his "fantasy transcript" of the Ukraine call:
It elucidated what Trump didn't do.
BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
It's illegal to dig into democratic corruption and international money whoring.
No it's not. But the way to do those investigations is to turn them over to the FBI, the DoJ, and their counterparts in foreign countries with whom we have law enforcement cooperation agreements via treaty.
So what happened to Trump's important investigation into corruption? We gave Ukraine the aid (when the holdup became public); why? What changed? What progress was made in the corruption investigation to earn that aid?
Trump handed off his Ukraine "corruption" investigation to Giuliani, who has no warrant from the government of the United States and no investigative team apart from a couple of Russian guys who are now in federal custody, charged with felonies.
I would not be dissuaded for one second from the imperative to call Mulvaney, Duffey, Pompeo and Bolton as witnesses, no matter what sort of pointless threat was made about calling Hunter Biden as a witness. I could not care less, whether any member of the Biden family might be guilty of some offense (although none has been charged). I care about a finding that Trump should be removed in an impeachment trial. And the longer things drag out, the better it seems to get for the impeachment prosecution of Trump.
"When it all looks political, we retreat to supporting the party whose politics we like best."
Retreat? The most important and hopeful development of the last decade is the increasing number of people who are coming to realize that the Democrats and the MSM are evil trolls who cannot be dealt with like normal human beings. That is not a retreat, that is an advance. Next we have to figure out how we stop them without becoming them. That is not going to be easy.
Serious question: Is there a statute of limitations on the Articles of Impeachment being presented to the Senate? One should think that after a couple of weeks the articles could be declared null and void.
The Democrats want to call witnesses? Fine. Unlike in the House impeachment process, Republicans would also get to participate, so let them call some witnesses, too. Start with Nancy Pelosi and Schift for Brains and question them on the entire House impeachment proceedings. Call Joe and Hunter Biden and, under penalty of perjury, make them testify on their corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere. Call Comey and the others in the FBI about their shenanigans and the FISA judges who approved the warrants. I'm sure there are others to hear from, too.
Schumer is bluffing, and all but certainly being played by Bolton anyway. The Democrats don't want any witnesses they don't directly call themselves. I think Pelosi is holding the articles up in order to blame the Senate when the Senate dismisses them preemptively. She plans to claim that the dismissal proves the Senate is corrupt while, at the same time, try to claim Trump is still in danger of being removed because the House hasn't yet transmitted the impeachment to the Senate for adjudication- it would go something like this- "We see the Senate is in the President's pocket, so we will wait for the election to seat a Senate that will take the matter seriously."
I don't think this plan works, though- you can't claim the matter is urgent, and then delay, delay, delay. The best political play for Pelosi now is just get the matter resolved before the end of the month.
"Like Golem with the One Ring, they're completely obsessed with the precious"
Good one!!
Maybe Hunter Biden is the only undecided voter who hasn't retreated to a politics he's comfortable with. He's hoping Trump ensures no witnesses are called to the Senate. Out of gratitude, who knows, he may vote Trump. No one knows Joe Biden's disqualifications better than Hunter.
And remember that the Democrat cries that it was "Urgent! Urgent!" weren't merely rhetorical. It was used to justify pretty much completely cutting off nearly all Republican participation in the House hearings.
IMO that is one of the primary issues that should be raised in any Senate trial. Put Schiff up there and ask, since it is now obvious that "Urgent!" was a complete lie, on what basis were Republicans denied cross examination and their own witnesses? If they can't answer, reject the Impeachment out of hand on that basis.
Dave Begley said...
Professor Turley, of course, is correct. CJ Roberts would allow Hunter's testimony.
Hunter, of course, would either take the 5th or get destroyed on the stand. Either way, the Bidens are ruined. Hunter and Joe should be in jail. Along with Hillary, Barack, Brennan, Comey and Clapper.
I can just see that one:
"Hunter Biden, what did you do for Burisma for the $50,000 a month they paid you?"
"I invoke my 5th Amendment right against self incrimination."
"You understand that you can't invoke that right to prevent yourself, or your father, former Vice President Joe Biden, from being embarrassed? That the only grounds you have for asserting that right is because you engaged in criminal acts?"
"I invoke my 5th Amendment right against self incrimination."
It would make a very lovely campaign ad.
Greg, it was 83,000 per month. It came out quite neatly to a million a year. About 4x the compensation that a member of Exxon's board gets. Nothing suspicious at all there.
Chuck said...
BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
It's illegal to dig into democratic corruption and international money whoring.
No it's not. But the way to do those investigations is to turn them over to the FBI, the DoJ, and their counterparts in foreign countries with whom we have law enforcement cooperation agreements via treaty.
Seriously? We're going to turn this over to the FBI & DoJ who performed a complete whitewash of Clinton's crimes, up to and including lying to the American people about Weiner's laptop emails being checked, when they hadn't been?
To the FBI and DoJ that blatantly and repeatedly lied to the FISA Court in order to spy on the Trump campaign and Presidency?
Wow, Chuck, you really are special
"Like Golem with the One Ring, they're completely obsessed with the precious"
Who is Sauron in this scenario?
Larry J said...
The Democrats want to call witnesses? Fine. Unlike in the House impeachment process, Republicans would also get to participate, so let them call some witnesses, too.
No, no, no.
The Democrats got to call and question witnesses in the House proceedings. The GOP did not effectively get to do so. So the Democrats are done calling witnesses. They had their go in the House hearings.
So, in the Senate Trial, Trump gets to call and question witnesses, and the Democrats do not. If the House Managers don't show up, then the witnesses don't even get cross examined.
Turnabout is always fair play
Good, the more the merrier. Let it all hang out. they would be doing the Democrats a huge favor by going after the Biden family at this point. Who knows what the state of Joe's mental faculties will be in August September and October of this year
Where I grew up the Lord of the rings was considered a girl's book. It always makes me chuckle when grown men use it to make strategic political points.
The Biden’s would look terrible in a Senate trial.
The Dems don’t know what Bolton would say (nor does the GOP). So his testimony could be interesting. But Trump fired him before this Ukraine stuff so he could be in for some tough cross examination.
I doubt anyone calls Bolton. I also doubt the Dems want to drag this trial out that long.
I agree with you McCulloch this is going to be a huge nothing Burger. Not to be confused with the impossible Burger which actually taste good but with all that estrogen I think I'm going to quit at 1.
Since Joe will be the nominee, it’s wise to avoid the circus.
Sanders and Warren have avoided discussing Joe’s money making in Ukraine.
They will vote to remove Trump because they know they won’t face him in the general election.
"Who is Sauron in this scenario?"
The Democrats have been holding auditions. They aren't going well.
Where I grew up the Lord of the rings was considered a girl's book.
The Lord of the Rings was written by the very great scholar of English mythology, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien was a close friend of C.S. Lewis, the greatest Christian writer of the modern era. Tolkien's work was profoundly influenced by Lewis.
Where I grew up, in rural Illinois, both of these men were considered to be titanic geniuses.
The closing scenes of the trilogy, in which Sauron is defeated, but is slowly regathering his shape and power, is one I think about often.
"Where I grew up the Lord of the rings was considered a girl's book."
That sounds like an interesting place to grow up. Explains a lot, actually.
Howard--
Your comment really surprised me since LOTR was considered with Dune the nerdiest of books when I was growing up in Midwest in 70s; I don't think I knew ONE girl who read either then. Where did you grow up that that wasn't true?
Ninja'd by Jupiter...
In the House, the democrats only allowed prosecution testimony (there were no witnesses).
In the Senate, democrats only want to allow prosecution witnesses.
Do they really think they can get away with it?
Absolutely.
They get away with everything. Batting 1000.
So, let me get this straight, Howard...
Men who are literate and who are versed in the great literature...
Are just sissies?
"No it's not. But the way to do those investigations is to turn them over to the FBI, the DoJ, and their counterparts in foreign countries with whom we have law enforcement cooperation agreements via treaty."
LOL. The trusted FBI and DOJ is definitely the way to go. Better yet have Obama or Clinton decide this for us. Or (channeling my inner Drago) have Rachel Maddow figure it all out for us. You're a hoot Chuck.
and their counterparts in foreign countries with whom we have law enforcement cooperation agreements via treaty.
US has a treaty with Ukraine on mutual assistance in investigations. Zelensky is Trumps counterpart.
Sorry for feeding the troll but this stupidity is breathtaking.
Qwinn said...
...it was 83,000 per month. It came out quite neatly to a million a year. About 4x the compensation that a member of Exxon's board gets.
Sure, but what's that after taxes?
Howard is the this commentariat's Grima Wormtongue. Howard obviously grew up in a brothel.
Qwinn said... Greg, it was 83,000 per month. It came out quite neatly to a million a year.
--
That was "fair share" based on Kerry's kid Devon Archer getting the same, iirc.
Hunter sure has a busy life what with a new stripper baby and one incoming via his wife of all things.
Don't ask him to open his kimono in the Senate. He just might do it.
Howard said...
Where I grew up the Lord of the rings was considered a girl's book. It always makes me chuckle when grown men use it to make strategic political points.
I suspect Howard was an early devotee of video games. Some of us read books. Do you know anything about Tolkein's life ? Of course not.
Serious question: Is there a statute of limitations on the Articles of Impeachment being presented to the Senate? One should think that after a couple of weeks the articles could be declared null and void.
I presume that the articles are void once a new congressional term begins.
Pelosi's strategy may be to wait until 2021 (after Trump is re-elected) to start impeachment again, in hopes that the Dems take the senate. IOW, the Schiff/Nadler scam was a practice run and she will never submit those articles to the senate.
The Dems are terrified of a 2020 senate trial, but they can make it seem chaotic like their Kavanaugh hearing theatrics.
Suppose Trump flies Zelinski in over night to spill the beans on the Dems under age child trafficking industry run through Ukraine. All the TV and internet’s would suddenly be cut off and the rest of the DC bad guys would suddenly retire.
Wince,
According to the news, it's still $83m after taxes because hunter apparently didn't report it.
John Henry
I haven't retreated. My standards are what they always were--if the Democrats can show that Trump sought an unjustified investigation in an effort to undermine a political opponent, then that is an abuse of power and impeachment may be justified.
But the Democrats didn't even try to prove that. Let alone succeed (even arguably).
The correct position, the only thinking person's position, is that the House did not demonstrate that Trump committed offenses tat merit impeachment.
And yet they impeached. Given what we know, the most plausible explanation is that they are hoping to use the impeachment process to damage a political opponent.
I always viewed The Hobbit as a children's book. The tone of the book is significantly different from the trilogy that followed. The trilogy has a much darker tone, and is definitely not juvenile in any manner. I read all four books in the Spring of 1981 when I was 14 (borrowed them my oldest sister who was almost 12 at the time). I almost stopped reading The Hobbit about midway through because it struck me as too juvenile (I was hard core science fiction directed), but was glad I hadn't stopped when I reached LotR.
This whole BS about "investigating a political rival" has to unravel soon. Not for the ravenous Trump haters, but within the process. It will be interesting to see when it becomes clear the Senate will not convict Trump (it already is); will Warren, Sanders, and Booker (if he's still in the race) will vote present?
This is such a joke.
Blogger tim maguire said...
I haven't retreated. My standards are what they always were--if the Democrats can show that Trump sought an unjustified investigation in an effort to undermine a political opponent, then that is an abuse of power and impeachment may be justified.
Treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors.
If you want to take the criminal element out of impeachment, and use a subjective standard of "abuse of power", fine.
Every single President, past and future, is impeachable.
@Shouting Thomas (9:11), fair point, but after a certain point the contortions needed to do "on the one hand this, on the other hand that" would qualify her for a starring role in Cirque de Soleil.
Biden is going through a divorce. He can’t testify in front of Congress. Lololol
I’m surprised they haven’t taken his passport. That guy is a flight risk .
He must think he’s going to skate because he skated for so long.
Trump needs to run on tightening up the ethics. Your wives, ex-wives children spouses ex-spouses are not allowed to sit on any boards while you are in office and 5 years after.
There should also be an extra 10% tax On the money earned from said board.
Chelsea earned $9 mil.
Or As long as you sit on a board, that company cannot do business with US government maybe that would be cleaner?
Call it a revolving surcharge.
That's true. Mike. My folks would take me out to dinner at The chart House in Malibu which had the first Pong video game and my dad and I would play it while we waited for supper. For a while I was the space Invaders champion at Fort Belvoir.
John Henry glad to see you posting here I read on the news this morning that a 6.3 rocked Puerto Rico I hope you and your family and all your stuff made it through unscathed
Chuck - Does Christopher Steele have a warrant from the government?
Nobody seriously thinks the Lord of the rings The Hobbit and all the other fantasy world novels are great literature, Thomas.
Yeah exactly I should have mentioned dune. I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 60s and 70s. The only books the boys read were about war and sports heroes. Most of the time we were playing outdoors. The girls however would read those books.
Actually Chuck - you made my point.
It's extra legal for the collective corrupt left to investigate Trump with a corrupt FBI, Fusion GPS- Steele Dossier - filled with bunk, to fool a foolable FISA court.
But it's illegal for Rudy to instigate anything because he doesn't have the proper credentials from the corrupt assholes who run the deep state.
How come Hunter Biden doesn’t have a vasectomy? Is that not a thing anymore?
Howard--
They read Dune too? I wish they all could have been California girls.
But certainly you're not saying that DUNE was considered mostly a girls' book?
I have previously proclaimed that Prof. Alan Dershowitz is a national hero. I have also proclaimed that our hostess, Prof. A. Althouse is a national hero.
I now proclaim that Prof. Jonathan Turley is a national hero.
In these sort of disputes about rule breaking, I find it helpful to clarify the rule by considering alternative - mostly hypothetical -- cases. Is the hypothetical case equally in, or outside, the scope of the rule?
If the president asks a foreign power to investigate a rival of HIS PARTY -- say asking Ukraine to investigate Bristol Palin -- is that against the rules>
Does it matter that the child of the rival public figure is not running for anything at present? Say asking Ukraine to investigate Chelsea Clinton?
Does it matter if the president asks someone outside his chain of influence -- but still domestic -- to do the investigation? So if he asked Deleware Attorney General's office to investigate Hunter Biden?
Does it matter if the foreign power is an ally or neutral or competitive nation? If the president (say, Obama) asks the UK to investigate Don Trump Jr, is that okay? If President Trump asked the Cayman Islands to investigate Hunter Biden -- given the assumption the US has no undue influence over that nation -- is that okay where asking Ukraine would not be?
Ann, isn't the sort of dialog you'd be doing in a classroom?
Nobody seriously thinks the Lord of the rings The Hobbit and all the other fantasy world novels are great literature, Thomas.
I do. And I am the possessor of dual degrees in English and Russian literature from the University of Illinois.
I grew up playing football, basketball and baseball. So did my sisters. I was all conference in football and basketball for my entire tenure in high school and I pitched a no-hitter in American Legion ball.
Your Biggus Dickus routine is absurd, Howard. Do you speak with a lisp?
Beowolf isn't great literature, don't you know, nor is War of the Worlds, The Time Machine etc. Nor any of Shakespeare's plays.
Allow witnesses to be called. Let Hunter Biden testify, let Bolton testify, let’s hear what they have to say.
You have to wonder if impeachment ever would have happened at all without a complicit media mechanism that fails to provide even a modicum of push back to this one sided partisanship crusade. The democrats wanted to impeach and then run off the field of battle like the craven cowards they are. A trial with witnesses is the last thing they want. But it little matters at this point as no one is fooled as to what is going on and what the outcome will be.
Jupiter said...
"Retreat? The most important and hopeful development of the last decade is the increasing number of people who are coming to realize that the Democrats and the MSM are evil trolls who cannot be dealt with like normal human beings. That is not a retreat, that is an advance. Next we have to figure out how we stop them without becoming them. That is not going to be easy."
Thread winner.
And yet, you are so fragile about your manhood, Thomas. Always going of with hysterics. Didn't Updyke write about your High School hero syndrome?
Dave Begley said...
And why did Obama want Hillary to win? So that all the payoffs made by Iran to the Obama Administration would remain hidden. Hillary got her cut from the Iranians.
Does anyone seriously not think that some of that $150 billion didn't filter back to Barack and his crew?
____________+++++++++++++++++
how much would be typical vs standard vs strongly negotiated skim or finders fee cut of $15billion.>>> 10% 15% 20% 25%
For a change Howard wrote something reasonable, at 10:41. @John Henry, we are all hoping you're okay after the string of earthquakes.
Giovan: girls and the sensitive boys read dune, which was also popular in Jr High whereas Hobbit was a 5th grade passing fancy.
I don't understand why Trump felt the need to ask the new Ukrainian president to investigate the Biden corruption. Whatever they came up with would be suspect. It would be easily challenged as just a small-time politician seeking favor.
Trump had (and still has) a major weapon which is the recording of Joe Biden bragging about his role in getting an Ukrainian prosecutor fired for the benefit of a company paying his son $50,000 a month for doing nothing.
Trolls are insatiable. Feeding them just whets their appetite.
"If" the Democrats ...???
LOL!!
Biden corruption is relevant to Trump’s intent. Their corruption can be evidenced by documentation as exceptions to the hearsay rule relating to Trump’s intent, including the Uncle Joe extortion video from Trump’s tweet. Hunter need not testify. Despite the Obama/Iran imbecility it is not appropriate to hand money over to a corrupt regime or one that has been complicit in corrupting the United States government - the latter being the case of the Bidens.
Trump’s gift to us is exposing corruption; the media, the Democrats, even Chuck. Chuck’s would be small time intellectual corruption. Chuck, the LLR/lawyer, who thinks that despite the absence of a valid constitutional claim and despite the bias and corruption of the House impeachment proceedings, Trump should be convicted and removed.
AZ Bob said...Whatever they came up with would be suspect.
--
Sure about that? Depends on the nature/specifics of it.
"Allow witnesses to be called. Let Hunter Biden testify, let Bolton testify, let’s hear what they have to say."
In a certain respect I agree with this, but shouldn't that have been the House's responsibility? It would help if the Democrats hadn't been calling for impeachment from day one. It would help if the corrupt investigations hadn't have happened. It would help if we had a fair press. It seems like a call to respond to bad faith with good faith. My response is fuck you.
Trump needs to prove (not merely insinuate) that the Bidens are dirty for a clean win on impeachment. Otherwise, the impeachment will be a tie.
If Trump does prove the Bidens are dirty, that helps Bloomberg. So does Trump want to face Biden or Bloomberg?
put Humper on the stand--
... C'mon, man! Let's get this party started!!
I don't recall Schumer criticizing the sham House process such that a do-over is warranted in the Senate
Humper: "C'mon, man! Let's get this party started!!"
Move those goal post Charles. ;-) And why do we think the Bidens are the only DC creatures skimming from the top of all of our foreign aid? The tell is the MSM waving its hands and merely declaring the Bidens are clean or the charge has been "debunked". Most americans who are not political junkies know foul play where they see it. There was no reason for coke head Hunter to get that kind of money. That doesn't even pass the laugh test.
Yes. She educes thought and opinion as a good educator should.
Interesting word. The father of my high school girlfriend was a physics professor at Bennington whose approach to teaching physics, and even physics itself, was what he called eductive reasoning. He was brilliant, but a weirdo. I still have the hots for that girl. She is/was gorgeous and got her dad’s brains.
- Krumhorn
Frankly, if there’s corruption on the part of Hunter Biden and potentially Joe Biden, Trump not only didn’t do anything wrong, he actually did his job by asking for cooperation with the US DOJ.
One question that’s never been asked in the House hearings - “At the time when Trump made the second call to Zelensky, was the department of justice, FBI, state department, or any other law enforcement or national security related agency investigating Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, or anyone from the prior administration’s connection to potential criminal activity related to Ukraine, Burisma, or other foreign business interests?” If yes,Trump did exactly what he’s supposed to do - he used a diplomatic conversation with a foreign leader to advance American interests.
Whoopos..went more like this:
At the time, Hunter Biden, now 49, and Christopher Heinz, the stepson of then-Secretary of State John Kerry, co-owned Rosemont Seneca Partners, a $2.4 billion private equity firm. Heinz’s college roommate, Devon Archer, was managing partner in the firm. In the spring of 2014, Biden and Archer joined the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that was at the center of a U.K. money laundering probe. Over the next year, Burisma reportedly paid Biden and Archer’s companies over $3 million.
Hours after Biden’s board appointment went public on May 13, 2014, Heinz emailed Matt Summers and David Wade, two of his stepfather’s top aides at the State Department.
“Apparently Devon and Hunter both joined the board of Burisma and a press release went out today,” wrote Heinz. “I cant speak why they decided to, but there was no investment by our firm in their company.”
The email was obtained through a public information request filed by the conservative nonprofit group Citizens United. The organization said the email raises questions about why Heinz was in touch with the State Department about Biden’s business dealings.
<
In 2014 and 2015, Burisma paid $3.4 million to a company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC, according to the New York Times. That company paid Biden up to $50,000 a month, according to the report. During the same time period, Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to fire its lead prosecutor who was investigating wrongdoing at Burisma, raising questions from critics about whether this was related to his son’s position at the gas company.
Biden stepped down from the Burisma board this year, before his father announced his presidential run. Archer was convicted for his role in an unrelated Ponzi scheme last November, but was recently granted a new trial.
Link
Howard,
Thanks for asking. We live on the northeast corner of the island (Fajardo, on the border with Ceiba) the quakes were on the sw coast about 100 miles away. No damage here AFAIK but horrific damage over there. A fairly new 3 story pancake, a major highway overpass collapsed, a number of homes damaged and destroyed.
Power is still off here and I think over the entire island until the power company can determine the damage to their system (downed wires, generator damage and such. Hopefully back later today.
Grandkids stayed with us last night. GD felt the quake and woke up. My wife, gs and I felt nothing.
This follows a similar quake yesterday.
PR is very active seismologicly. Hundreds of small quakes annually. Seldom one that is felt. Never, in the 50 years I've been here one that caused significant damage.
This has everyone spooked.
John Henry
“And yet they impeached. Given what we know, the most plausible explanation is that they are hoping to use the impeachment process to damage a political opponent.”
Keep this in mind. Palsi, Schifty, Wadler, etc hired Lawfare people in the fall of 2018, and rewrote committee rules in December after just winning a majority in the House, to neuter the Republican minority in committees. They were planning on impeachment from the first. That is a big part of why they got so much money thrown their way, essentially buying the election. Those big money donors who had bought themselves a House majority desperately wanted an impeachment so they were going to get themselves an impeachment, hell or high water. Despite of course, most of the Democrats downplaying the possibility.
They had been promised a lot of dirt for their impeachment from their Mueller SC investigation. And, likely there is some dirt there, very likely illegally obtained through use of either Title VII, or later Title I of FISA, which is very likely why they have three lawsuits going, the most important probably being to unseal the Mueller grand jury testimony - since the rabidly partisan Mueller prosecutors apparently ran the dirt that they wanted to pass onto the House Dems for impeachment through the multiple grand juries that they were running. Nevertheless, the Republicans beat them out, got Barr confirmed early in the year, before the House Dems were fully organized. And Barr almost immediately shut down the Mueller investigation before they could pass their evidence to the House Dems. Calling Mueller himself to testify didn’t help them, since it just made obvious that he had been the doddering front man for the rabidly partisan Prosecutors actually running the investigation. And, it had the further downside of completely discrediting and beclowning Jerry Wadler, the Judiciary chair, who by historical precedent and House rules was supposed to run impeachment investigations. That is when the responsibility shifted to HSCI chair Adam Schifty.
Schifty was all set up for an impeachment inquiry, with Lawfare staff ready to go etc., but nothing remotely impeachable on the horizon. What to do? In retrospect, the answer is obvious - fabricate something impeachable, which he appears to have done. It had to come from the Intelligence Community, where he had Oversight so Shifty hired some Obama Admin NSC alums, and heard about the Ukranian phone call. It isn’t clear whether they reached out to their CIA (and former NSC buddy) Eric Ciaramella who apparently worked with them to draft his “whistleblower” complaint, which was illegally then sent back to Schifty and his HSCI by ICIG Atkinson, who had just changed the rules to allow WB complaints consisting only of 2nd, 3rd, etc level hearsay (Both DNI and DOJ have stated that he had no jurisdiction or legal justification for sending the complaint back to Schifty). Oh, and to cap it all off, ICIG Atkinson was freshly transferred from being lead attorney for the DOJ NSD - where he essentially oversaw the filing of the four FISA warrants on Carter Page that the DOJ IG recently found to have been fraudulently procured. In any case though, Schifty now had his “impeachable” offense.
"How come Hunter Biden doesn’t have a vasectomy? Is that not a thing anymore?"
To someone who thinks with his pecker, a vasectomy is like a lobotomy.
The 3 story pancake is a new Dennys offering.
I meant to say a 3 story school pancaked.
John Henry
Trump needs to prove (not merely insinuate) that the Bidens are dirty for a clean win on impeachment. Otherwise, the impeachment will be a tie.
I suspect that the Media will make it a tie no matter what happens. On second thought, they will make it a win for the Democrats. That is their job after all.
There really is no way to prove that the Bidens are dirty because this sort of thing is done with a wink and a nod. What the Republicans need to do is to expose these deals. However, there are probably a few Republicans who are as dirty as Biden, Pelosi, Kerry et al.
If Biden is proved guilty, it's not enough that the impeachment get dismissed. Every single act leading up to the impeachment, the entire impeachment itself, would be a primary fascia case of Obstruction of Justice. What the hell else could you call it? Democrats did everything in their power to obstruct Trump's perfectly legitimate inquiry into Biden's corruption. Open and shut case, isn't it?
ICIG Atkinson was freshly transferred from being lead attorney for the DOJ NSD - where he essentially oversaw the filing of the four FISA warrants
I hadn't read that before. Who the fuck appointed him?
Inga said...
Allow witnesses to be called. Let Hunter Biden testify, let Bolton testify, let’s hear what they have to say."
Agreed. It would make great television to also have the Clintons, the Bidens, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Glen Simpson, Yates, Lynch, Rosenstein and Obama testify. I'm sure you would agree to these and other relevant witnesses testifying.
Howard said...
Where I grew up the Lord of the rings was considered a girl's book.
Proof that Howard slipped in from a parallel universe. This might actually explain some things.
justice hah,
https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/07/michael-flynn-should-serve-up-to-6-months-in-prison-prosecutors-say/
Trump asking for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden did so with no evidence of wrong-doing. None, whatsoever. It's a conspiracy theory.
Hunter Biden being paid $50k/month (or more) for a board seat on a Ukrainian energy company while his dad lead Ukraine policy for Obama? Not evidence.
Hunter Biden's small firm being paid $3.4 million in a few years for some services by said energy company? Not evidence.
People associated with Hunter Biden being worried about his choosing to join the board of Burisma and the apparent problems that created? Not evidence.
The State Department prepping their staff on how to handle questions about Hunter Biden's role with Burisma? Not evidence.
The VP publicly bragging about withholding a billion in aid to get a prosecutor fired - a prosecutor who, corrupt or not, was known to be looking into the VP's son's company? Not evidence and TOTALLY kosher compared to Trump's silent withholding of aid while seeing if Ukraine would launch anti-corruption efforts into, yes, a political rival.
The lack of any investigation by government or press into Hunter Biden's conflicts of interest at Burisma? A lack of investigation is itself evidence of no wrong-doing!!!
...
These are just some of the mental gymnastics needed to avoid asking questions about the Bidens & Ukraine.
Turley is an attention hog. In a conventional trial the defense might put Hunter Biden on their witness list, but the judge would exclude him as relating to a collateral matter. If Trump had reason to believe Hunter Biden broke the law it would be DOJ and FBI he would turn to for his case. He turned to a private citizen, Giuliani, instead.
I see almost no mention of Biden's brother who is the China bagman for the family. He ended up on a $2 billion company board that builds house in Iraq !
It goes all the way back to the 70s
“No sooner was freshman lawmaker Joe Biden seated on the Senate Banking Committee,” Politico reported, “than James became the beneficiary of business loans that were described … as unusually generous because of the relatively large amount of money he was able to borrow with little or no collateral and a lack of relevant prior experience.”
The first series of loans — totaling $165,000 — were provided by Wilmington’s Farmers Bank, which, although privately managed, was partially owned by the public with the state of Delaware having a 49 percent stake. The Wilmington Morning News reported in 1977 that of the total, $60,000 was “unsecured,” meaning that James Biden was “personally liable” for its repayment.
Old DC story,
And not the only one about the brother,
If Trump had reason to believe Hunter Biden broke the law it would be DOJ and FBI he would turn to for his case.
Stay tuned.
Hunter Biden no doubt has a well rehearsed story as to why he sat on that Ukrainian Board. At the impeachment trial he tells it. Then where are you as trump, except to say BS, that's like saying a reality TV star is best qualified to be president of the USA. I'd trade 2 Bidens for a Bolton any day (admittedly I'm rooting against Trump and Biden).
Um, right in the call it says "I would like to have the attorney general call you". That would be Barr at the time. He didn't say "I'll have Guiliani call you."
I remember lefties trying to make something nefarious out of that line in the call when it first came out. Now they're claiming it wasn't legit because the DOJ wasn't involved? THE CALL ITSELF SHOWS TRUMP TRYING TO GET THE DOJ INVOLVED!
How much longer do we need to keep pretending that the Left is even trying to argue in good faith, that everything they say is in the pursuit of advancing treason? When we all finally admit this, what will be done about it? Are there enough lampposts?
then there's allen ho, the cgn employee who rented from devon archer, who was convicted for transferring nuclear secrets to china, well they gave him two years,
Chuck at 9:27 AM
the way to do those investigations is to turn them over to the FBI, the DoJ,
The FBI and DOJ lost their credibility as non-partisan institutions.
The FBI and DOJ spent too much effort trying to prevent Trump from being the US President.
Howard
They do say Los Angeles is paradise
Mike S
Feature not bug for Cuck
Thanks for the update John Henry. Hopefully power will be restored soon. Do you have a generater?
It seems like executive privilege with respect to Trump and Bolton belongs to Trump. Could Trump ask a court to judge the merits of a Bolton subpoena (or request to appear) and have a restraining order placed until the court decides?
Not that I think Bolton has anything on Trump, but as a matter of principle.
John Henry---glad to hear you are OK. Keep us posted.
Giovan:. LA was a great place to grow up, but the central Coast was where I lived as an adult. Now enjoying New England winter. I fit in here just like a native.
See mockturtle sometimes it is a good idea to respond to trolls :-)
Howard: "Giovan:. LA was a great place to grow up, but the central Coast was where I lived as an adult."
SF Bay Area and San Diego for me, with a 3 year chunk spent on the central coast at Monterey while serving.
Howard obviously grew up in a brothel.
You misspelled 'conceived.'
3 generators actually. 2 5kw and a 3kw with inverter from China.
The big one are great. A general with Honda motor and a winward with Briggs & Stratton.
The little one is great fot something like this where all I am running is the refrigerator, coffeemaker
and a multiport usb charger
If it looks like a couple days I will drag out one of the big ones and hook it to the whole house.
John Henry
Howard—
Loved my time in NE and Northern CA too.
Still a middle school full of Dune-reading girls would have improved my teen years. Having to pretend to like the film The Champ was a penance.
At 11:28, Hombre said:
Trump’s gift to us is exposing corruption; the media, the Democrats, even Chuck. Chuck’s would be small time intellectual corruption. Chuck, the LLR/lawyer, who thinks that despite the absence of a valid constitutional claim and despite the bias and corruption of the House impeachment proceedings, Trump should be convicted and removed.
Help this old fool (and steadfast supporter of LI) out: what means acronym "LLR?" Left-leaning republican??
LI, No! Althouse, yes. Sorry.
Doddering old fool -- q.e.d.
LLR was the name that Drago put to Chuck when Chuck defended himself by saying he was a life-long Republican
Turley’s analysis is incomplete and wrong.
Testimony from Hunter Biden would be irrelevant since does not bear, one way or the other, on President Trump’s state of mind when he sought to induce Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. If the President was aware of incriminating statements from Biden at the time of his interactions with the Ukraine, that would be relevant. Proving after the fact that there was some basis for an investigation by the Ukraine doesn’t bear on whether the request for such an investigation was proper when made although it could be a factor a Member might choose to consider with respect to impeachment, even if, as evidence, it is not probative.
In a Senate trial, Biden’s testimony would not tend to prove or disprove the charges brought by the House since it does not show anything about what the President knew and when he knew it. Woulda, coulda shoulda is not a rule of evidence.
If Senate Republicans wanted to conduct an investigation into Hunter Biden, they could have done long ago. Or they can do so now. Obviously, President Trump could have directed the Attorney General or the FBI, both of whom he appointed, to investigate under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other applicable law. He still can.
Instead, his only efforts to deal with corruption by anyone in the Ukraine or elsewhere involved efforts to induce the Ukraine to investigate Biden under Ukrainian law. Thus far, the Ukraine has not seen fit to do so.
No sovereign state or entity or body has charged or concluded that Biden broke any law, despite widespread claims that he engaged in corruption. I’m not aware that any such state, entity or body is currently investigating Hunter Biden, including any controlled by Republicans. Maybe this is a sheer coincidence or evidence of a deep state conspiracy that includes, well, everybody. Or maybe it reflects a lack of evidence even warranting an investigation.
What he said ....
’If the President was aware of incriminating statements from Biden at the time of his interactions with the Ukraine, that would be relevant.’
How do you know he wasn’t?
If "state of mind" is all that matters and we don't have to actually prove corruption. great!
Anyone who is not a complete partisan tool would acknowledge, freely, instantly, and without caveat that Hunter Biden's million-a-year position on a board of a Ukranian oil company had absolutely no plausible explanation except for the glaringly obvious one: his father ending an investigation of the company, which we have him bragging about on tape.
This is prime fascia evidence of corruption. No one else has even suggested a plausible legal non-corrupt reason for why the utterly unskilled stripper banging widow humping scumbag that is Hunter is independently worth 4x the going rate of an Exxon board member.
It's ridiculous to suggest that position could have been legit in any way. No one has even tried suggesting a plausible justification because there isn't one. The ONLY plausible explanation is corruption.
Just because partisan tools pretend otherwise isn't an argument. It's just fucking gaslighting.
To date, you can't get most of the media to report that Burisma funneled $83,000/month to Hunter Biden starting just a month after his father took over the Ukraine portfolio for the Obama Administration, and ended just as Biden announced his candidacy for President last Spring. Indeed, I think the line still is being advanced that none of this was improper even on its face, or it is reported that the details are all conspiracy theory level conjecture. The impeachment does rest on the fact that Trump asked the Ukrainians to help investigate the matter, and Hunter and Joe Biden's testimony is relevant to Trump's state of mind in that it would be part of Trump's defense to that state of mind, or is one going to argue that the Democrats don't plan to argue state of mind at all?
Drago, NPS or the Presidio?
Operaman at 2:43 PM
No sovereign state or entity or body has charged or concluded that Biden broke any law
That is why President Trump has tried to initiate an investigation.
The US Government has refused to investigate the Ukrainian bribery of Vice President Biden.
This is because of "The Resistance", and it should be discussed during the Senate proceedings.
Operaman said..his only efforts to deal with corruption by anyone in the Ukraine or elsewhere involved efforts to induce the Ukraine to investigate Biden under Ukrainian law.
--
The transcript of the call brings up a number of corruption elements.
I don't see a big issue asking the new prez (put into power in no small part to battle corruption) to do a bit of legwork to demonstrate good faith.
In theory, the US President should be able to order the US Department, the FBI, the State Department, etc., to investigate the Ukrainian bribery of Vice President Biden.
However, "The Resistance" within those supposedly non-partisan institutions has been trying since November 2016 to prevent Trump from being the US President.
The US State Department was complicit in the Ukrainian bribery of Vice President Biden. In particular, the US Embassy in Kyiv will sabotage any attempted investigation.
This is the situation that President Trump has had to deal with and that should be discussed during the Senate proceedings.
Where I grew up, in the 60s, nobody but me had ever heard of the LOTR. I had a part-time job in a store that had book racks containing two different versions--one authorized and one not--along with Ayn Rand philosophy books and Doc Savage adventure novels.
"Trolls are insatiable. Feeding them just whets their appetite."
I think Tolkien had something to say about that.
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