Schiff is smart; Nunes sounds like a dairy farmer.
It’s worth restating explicitly the mischief of ‘collusion’ that this inquiry is aimed at. Note that I’ve just written this in 5 minutes, so it will be likely be inadequate.
- A foreign power cannot interfere with a US election.
- Interference is not a legal concept. It is a basic political concept that our constitutional democracy must operate elections that wholly reflect the will of American citizens and not the will of a foreign power.
- Interference is much more readily to be inferred if the foreign government in question is hostile to the USA. The Russian Federation is a such a hostile foreign power.
- It follows that a presidential candidate must not invite, aid, encourage, or authorize such interference. (I would argue that this has already been established).
- ‘Collusion’ occurs when the invitation to interfere occurs secretly.
- Collusion need not involve a bilateral agreement. It can be unilateral, e.g., a general or standing promise to any foreign power that the foreign power will be rewarded should it interfere with the US election on behalf of the promisor (Trump).
- Nor does collusion have to involve an express agreement or quid pro quo. Like any agreement, it can involve actions that result in a tacit or implied understanding that the foreign power should feel free to interfere in the election.
- An express quid pro quo is not necessary, because a quid pro quo automatically follows from the invitation to interfere. Because, once the invitation has been received and accepted, the interfering power is in a position to demand favors in return on the threat of revealing the interference.
Close. he’s the descendent of Potuguese IMMIGRANTS from the Azores. The family operates a farm near Tulare, CA.
Harvard Law U.S. Attorney vs. actual cattle farmer.
schiff’s narrative is pretty (circumstantially) devastating and eye-popping.
I doubt anyone’s going to get much B.S. past him. And the country may know his name better as time goes on.
56 Days
56 Days and this is what we have
Usually it takes a couple of years for the corruption and scandal to set in.
Right out out the gate from day one.
How much longer?
I loved the “could be a coincidence” rhetorical acquiescence.
I trust Comey about as far as I can throw Donald Trump. He’s first and foremost a Republican. Democrats will have to pry everything out of him.
“Unafraid to compel witnesses to testify…”
Nunes has a degree in Agriculture and Ag-business. The Central Valley farmers get into Republican politics because, a. they’re farmers and hate govt regs on pesticide/herbicide use, etc. and b. water politics. they believe they are owed cheap or free irrigation water coz they make food. They deeply resent govt restrictions on water use for the common good. Also anti-union, exploitation of immigrant labor, etc.
BOMBSHELL by COMEY!
I drove through the Central Valley once years ago. Doesn’t make me an expert of course but it had a vibe I recognized from lots of other rural parts of the country. You’re a long way from San Francisco in any part of it.
Flipped to Fox News, they are actually airing this hearing for now
bullshit, comey. the clinton email investigation wasn’t closed – remember the whole, “it isn’t reopened, because it was never closed” shit? so stop with the whole “the difference between then and now is that this is an ongoing investigation, and that was a closed investigation” bullshit.
Clearly understood. That may very well be why Comey has been so (almost criminally) quiet about any investigation into the T rump regime. He very clearly participated in throwing the election to T rump by disclosing fake news against HRC two weeks before the election, ergo he’s complicit in helping to elect the monster he’s charged with investigating. Republican or not, he obviously sees the damage that his complicit actions have unleashed upon this nation. He knows he’s guilty of collusion with the T rump campaign. If he investigates too deeply, he’ll expose his own guilt. If he does nothing, he’ll enable the end of America as we know it. That’s a tough choice, if you are a Republican. My guess is that he’s stalling for time, hoping and praying that T rump does something that is so painfully obvious and illegal that it will negate any need for any investigation to the Russia ties, thus preventing any need to expose his own involvement.
Deflection in the first sentence. Nobody seriously thinks the Russians changed vote tallies. Now more deflection and water-muddying.
no kidding. although Rogers having to think, state by state, was interesting.
Russia? Directly, no. Comey? Most definitely YES!