I haven’t read through the complete embedded doc, nor all the comments here…but it seems that just this WB and their 2nd hand accounts isn’t enough for a slam dunk Impeachment.
I hope Pelosi’s “narrow scope” doesn’t mean it will all hinge on this. There is some wiggle room for Chump and plenty of the American people will be able to say So What or that this is fairly thin gruel.
I feel it is pretty damn bad and I would impeach Chump for much less; but I don’t want them hanging the weight of the world off just this WB stuff. I also understand there may be some real smoking guns in there…and then we are GOOD. But if it is just Giuliani meeting with 2nd tier staffers and winks and nods and Ukrainian officials “understanding what is being implied” doesn’t seem like the Slam Dunk that will convince the populace.
This is where you get into “Election Backfire” territory. We need to highlight over and over in The Impeachment how horribly Chump breached his Oath Of Office and how he coerced many in our govt. to do so as well, how he profited monetarily, and how he gave other countries leverage over him and the US with his lawless and corrupt behavior…not that he pressured for a favor.
Dems have to ask McGuire and all future Trump defenders where in the constitution, statute or case law is executive privilege to be found, and where it grants the president the rightful power to obstruct DoJ or congressional investigations into crimes he may have committed.
When the fucking president is the subject or target of an investigation and is being accused of having possibly committed crimes he doesn’t enjoy executive privilege and there’s not a judge in the country who’d honestly argue otherwise! Trump is destroying executive privilege!
If Trump is openly shaking down the Ukrainian leader with at least a dozen US official’s listening in, one can only imagine what he’s saying in private meetings with Putin without any Americans present. I’m willing to bet the contents of those conversations would be absolutely devastating.
This also shows Trump directing his personal attorney, Guliani, and his other “personal attorney” Barr to take the lead instead of the State Department showing consciousness of mind, in my view. He knew this was wrong.
So many people could be subpoenaed here. From those White House attorneys who buried the transcript (there is a real transcript!) to the Ambassadors to all the others who listened in. Not to mention Barr and Guliani.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump were discussing gun violence over the telephone Tuesday morning when the president abruptly changed the topic to an intelligence community whistle-blower complaint that had Democrats talking about impeachment.
Ms. Pelosi stopped him short.
“Mr. President,” she declared, according to a person familiar with the conversation, “you have come into my wheelhouse.”
@playitagainrowlf And the woman who came in for even more trashing than the other important woman on the political scene, HRC, has been vindicated. Sweet, very sweet
Schiff is doing a masterful job exposing the DNI head of his failure to provide the IG’s report to Congress. DNI head went to the WH first, the subject of the complaint to see if it should be released…and then held it up while they decided if it fell under Executive Privilege. Kinda the cart before the horse in other words. Really weak tea from the DNI head as an explanation for his rationale not to release it to Congress. All the guy’s background in gov’t doesn’t justify his toadying approach to what he did vis a vis this administration. Major fail on his part. Whether it was a nefarious move on his part is still to be determined. Bottom line: He didn’t do what was required by law.
Which is why I’ve always believed that at the end of this process, very, very few Repubs will want to be associated with or be seen defending and protecting a Russian asset, spy, collaborator and saboteur. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting closer. Impeachment has always been about forcing Repubs to make some really tough choices and discredit them in the public mind, not merely removal. This is really about the modern GOP, which spawned Trump, not Trump himself.
I was never worried in all the leadup to calling for impeachment…that we would be setting ourselves up for Electoral Impeachment Backlash…because we had all kinds of tax dodging, emoluments, obstruction, conspiracy, and election malfeasance.
I have no doubt we can make an Impeachment Article out of this Ukraine busines. But now I am worried, if this becomes the sole “narrow” focus…that it could lead to electoral backlash. 1 year from now, it could look like very thin gruel to a good chunk of the electorate…so I am hoping Pelosi widens her scope. I am not too worried…but it does worry me some.
“…one can only imagine what he’s saying in private meetings with Putin without any Americans present.”
I have no doubt their are transcripts, if not recordings, of those, too. And Putin will release them at the moment that it is most advantageous to him (though it better be soon or they won’t be worth much).
