Serve the damn subpoenas.
Keep the pressure on but letās not become so focused here that we miss all the other misdeeds of this administration!
Josh has an essay on Barr which is quite alarming entitled āSubservient Barrā
Good job by Nadler to keep the issue in the news cycle. Itās time to issue the subpoenas this week for the full report.
As I see it, Barr is going to release the report but he will redact the exhibits, not move on the GJ info, and redact certain incriminating portions of the 400 pg text. I also wouldnāt put it past him to selectively edit the text and deceive the public. Need the whole report and need people to testify.
Where can the power of the purse come in on this? Not pay the power bill on Barrās office?
Itās also important for the Congressional Dems to understand how a narcissistic administration works. This govāt and the entire GOP is in a L. Ron Hubbard like trance, subservient to the whims of Trump. He is literally in their heads and each of them acts out a part of his badly damaged psyche on every single issue.
Narcissists do not understand subtlety. If you do not draw clear lines and act with robotic dispassionate execution, the narcissist will always assume that there is a path to keep doing what he/she wants to do and will look at any silence or lack of clarity as weakness.
Here, I think Pelosi made a mistake in prematurely commenting on impeachment and sounding more emphatically against it. Just 2 weeks later, Barr executed the Trump plan to whitewash the report. Had Pelosi stayed consistent with her prior rhetoric and tone on the topic and had simply waited things out to the end of April, Mueller might still be on the job right now with a target to finish a few months later (I had predicted May). At minimum, Barr wouldāve been given more pause before deciding to issue the whitewash memo. We know heās soft because he issued a CYA memo just 5 days later after the blowback. More preemptive blowback like they did when Whitaker was at DOJ wouldāve been much better, in my view, than preemptive downsizing of impeachment expectations.
Since then, I think Pelosi has recovered well, with the help of Nadler, Cummings and Schiff. One thing Trump understands is subpoenas. He knows they have the force of law and can be immediately enforced with jail. You notice that Trump hasnāt said very much about the subpoenas that Cummings issued and is issuing? Thatās because Cummings operationalized his threats and there aināt a damn thing they can do about it. You have to pull the trigger on subpoenas because itās the only language Trump understands.
This is where the Founding Fathers fucked usā¦ Gave the Legislature powers, but minimal enforcement power. Had they at least left the military under them, they could have posed a credible threat to a rogue President.
Right now, the palpable (and justifiable) concerns we have are going to have to get communicated to the non-wonk public.
WE NEED THE FULL MUELLER REPORT
WE NEED SOME PEOPLE TESTIFYING
yeah, still not sure why they havenāt scheduled time with Mueller and the 13 angry democrats.
Better to have the redacted report in hand when you get them in. Then you can ask point-blank whatās being covered up on page 253, second paragraph. Since thatās supposed to be here within the next week (why do I picture probably 5 oāclock on Friday as the most likely)ā¦
It only takes one traitor to deliver us to our enemies. We have Chump, McConnell, Barr, Mulavaney and many others. They now are prepared, with Chump using Barr as a shieldā¦to ride roughshod over every rule and they know Barr can squash just about anything the law-abiders chooseā¦and hope to take their chances on anything else with Chump appointees in courts or IRS appointee for ex.
Now they are preparing extreme measures against leakers and whistleblowers, knowing that is another possible weakness. Yes Chump is one of the most stoopid, incompetent, and horrible examples of humanity. But he is ruthless, without any conscience whatsoever, desperate, and animated and backed by Putin as his fallback/bailout position. We think he isnāt thinking three moves aheadā¦well he is when his hide is concerned and some of the people around him are not idiots and are implicated now. There are concrete and effective things he can do, and he is doing them. There are no rules. There are no bounds. This is a thoroughly illegal, treasonous, rogue administration bent on destruction and there was never a more perfect tool than Chump. His one true calling. He is 100% in this arena. Nothing has ever survived him. Shame shame shame those who voted for him.
Sitting around asking for the report, and saying every one of our next moves depends on the report and seeing the full reportā¦that will probably never happen. I said so two weeks ago. Those eggs are probably lost and we need a new basket. Certainly putting any of our next moves dependent on The Report is throwing good eggs after bad. I am not saying all is lost, but time for playing nice is gone. Long gone.
Here is a very short article on RawStory. Wonder what D Collinsā game is?
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) is pushing House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) to ask special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress āwithout delay.ā
In a letter sent to Nadler on Monday, Collins argued that inviting Mueller to testify was the best way to āseek both transparency and for the American public to learn the full contours of the special counselās investigation.ā
I think to a certain degree Trump is convinced he can survive any scandal or revealed crimes on his part. He was elected after many previously disqualifying stories surfaced. The very fact he won the nomination despite confessing on tape to commiting sexual assaults should have tipped all of us of we were entering new territory. Yes, heād rather not suffer the embarassment of some of this stuff, and heād surely like to avoid true legal jeopardy for the commission of crimes. But that damned OLC advisory against indicting a sitting President may have him emboldened. Also, Trump welcomes just about any reason his name is forefront in the media. If itās because of a protracted, nasty legal battle so be it he may be thinking. āDo your worst, Nadler, Schiff and Cummings, Iāll beat you, like Iāve beaten everyone else in my life.ā
In a twisted sense Trump likes every damned bit of drama and controversy and legal battles facing him. Itās his oxygen. He lives for all this. Consequently heāll be fully on board with fighting and litigating and arguing and defending himself to the public, 24/7/365. He is in his element. Not looking at it like that may cause some blindspots for those opposing him. The man that doesnāt have a rational fear for his safety, welfare and mortality is often the most dangerous opponent you can face.
Exactly. Because no matter how many crimes come out, heās always got another, bigger one in his back pocket to reveal, and drown out the smaller oneā¦ And the Republicans have moved the goalposts so far out that Iām literally at a loss for anything heād do which would actually make them turn on him.
This is not hyperbole: Trump could be caught on tape and on camera selling nuclear secrets to Putin for cash and guarantees of a post-Presidency greenlight on Moscow property developments and 67 votes could not be cobbled together in the Senate to convict him in an impeachment trial. He would dig in and stay and survive it.
ā¦ And McTurtle would determine that as it was with Putin as a Private Citizen, and not Putin as the President of Russia, there was NO COLLUSION!
But letās be fair about this: the Founding Fathers never anticipated someone like Trump, because mostly they were all honorable men. Just like the second amendment which has now been perverted into everyone can own military grade weapons and shoot anyone they feel like.
The Constitution was a social experiment that lasted for more than 200 years. The sick minds among us Americans found the loopholes and are taking advantage of those holes to do crap like this.
Thatās not to say I want to tear the whole document up. We Americans, as a whole (not just here on TPM), need to restore honor to the government and ensure that a maniac (Mango maniac, anyone?) never inhabits this office again, nor anyone as subversive and self-aggrandizing as McConnell. McConnell is how we got here - Trump came much later.
Trump would concoct some story he gave them worthless intel, in an operation testing the vigilance of the U.S. intelligence agencies. Barr would say sure, thatās what it looks like to me. Canāt prove otherwise.
If true, itās likely that Collins wants Mueller to come before the Committee would be ready for him (i.e. without even a redacted copy in hand). Then they would not be prepared to ask the ārightā questions about what they donāt know, and ups the chances of the hearing producing a nothingberder, which Collins would leverage to scream about witch hunts.
The more detail that the Dems have in advance of a Mueller appearance, the more likely that theyād get the ārightā and pointed questions answered.