Two of the south Florida businessmen who helped Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani with his pressure campaign against the Ukrainian government don’t intend to voluntarily comply with House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry requests, the Miami Herald reported Monday.
“Won’t voluntarily comply”??
Well, color me shocked and astonished by this news.
Are these the guys who set up “45 Energy Group?”
On what grounds? I’m not sure they can claim any immunity, real or imagined.
Then they get a subpoena, and unlike the rest of the administration staff there is no legal recourse for them to ignore a subpoena from Congress as they have no linkage whatsoever to executive privilege. If they try to fight it they will go down, hard, and it would be a good idea for Congress to make an example of them, first by watching the DoJ refuse to prosecute them for contempt of Congress (you know Barr will ignore them) and then by Congress using its own powers to hold them.
I’m hoping that the Democrats have a plan for handling this, one that both makes the Republicans look stupid and guilty, and one that extracts the information out of them. Push the Republicans to take their subpoenas to the SC…if the Court allows any of them to refuse to testify then they out themselves as the partisans they are, which would be something good to know.
Just how far away from Trump can they go before they can stop claiming his protection? “I’m the poolboy for the guy who’s the lawyer for an associate of Giuliani’s. And I’m not going to pay these parking tickets.”
FriendsOfTrump, it’s a whole new exemption from investigation, prosecution, and conviction.
To answer my own question, it seems like no. But that is not to say they weren’t in on that particular grift in some manner.
They’ll argue that there was no full vote of the House just like the WH is, which is part of the GOP’s attempt to force that vote and then demand that the GOP be allowed to call witnesses and issue subpoenas themselves as part of presenting a “defense” that nobody is really entitled to.
Obviously, given that opportunity, the GOP would simply turn their side of the “investigation” into a farcical attempt to investigate the Bidens and “prove” the fabricated allegations Giuliani has been peddling.
“The two also traveled to Ukraine together in 2019 as part of the Giuliani-Trump pressure campaign to get Kyiv to fabricate dirt about the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and former Vice President Joe Biden.”
Now Dowd is trying to fabricate a bogus privilege or hail-Mary legal argle-bargle reason why these guys don’t have to comply with valid Congressional subpoenas, to be followed by the same for why their asses shouldn’t be thrown in jail.
Question for the legal professionals out there: Can Dowd represent both of these guys? Is there not a conflict representing both when one might want to make a deal that includes throwing the other under one of the buses in the fleet that’s lining up to handle the coming onslaught of throwees?
May I be the fist among many to say: Well DUH!
I hope those subpoenas are already drawn up and ready to go. It is obvious that any trump-pet is going to have to be dragged in kicking and screaming to testify. Don’t let their delay tactics work. Be ready for them!
Can YOU check with Nick Cage to see it’s written in invisible ink on the back of the Constitution?
Don’t need to. You can view it at the National Archives in all its sharpie glory, was just added recently.
On the grounds of “Make Me”.
Holy crap. Trump finally pivoted.
WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed on Monday to pull back from military involvement in the Middle East and leave it to others “to figure the situation out,” even as some of his Republican allies condemned him for abandoning allies and emboldening regional enemies.
…
But after a flood of criticism from congressional Republicans, Mr. Trump pivoted hours later, saying that he would prevent Turkey from going too far, without explaining what he meant or where that line would be drawn.
Giuliani Associate
When organizing a right-wing coup, you take every opportunity to degrade the opposition (Congress) by denying their legitimacy, making them look ineffective (e.g. by having the Senate kill all legislation, then blaming the “do-nothing Democrats”), and certainly refusing any and all compliance with Congressional authority.
Nobody knows what it means yet, they’re basing that on the unhinged tweet about his great and infinite wisdom…
They can’t claim attorney client privilege or executive privilege. I guess they intend to drag this out as long as possible, but they really don’t have any protection.