The legal battle over former White House counsel Don McGahn’s congressional testimony will last through at least the end of October, Politico reported, citing a new schedule issued by Judge Ketanji Brown Tuesday.
So not only is there slow-walking from the House, now the Justice system is slow walking this? How hard of a decision is this? It’s a subpoena. If the justice system drags its feet on whether the subpoena is legit or legal or warranted or whatever, then there’s no hope of this really ever getting off the ground.
As I recall, this judge has typically been on the side of getting to the facts and not obstructing, so why the slow walk here? And what about all the other subpoenas that have been issued and flagrantly ignored?
I hope they reveal the excuses for this because the next time I get a subpoena, I’m going to invoke these excuses and see how long I last. You know darned well none of us could get away with this nonsense.
. [The federal judge’s new timetable will put the panel in a bit of a time crunch, given there are only 16 days that Congress is still in session after Oct. 31. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has previously said he wants his committee to decide whether to recommend impeachment before the December recess begins].
(1) Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
(2) Most grown-ups can tell stalling and obfuscation
(3) As Trump devolves, some of this will be a moot point next year
(4) Moscow Mitch (AKA Mitchie Moscow) should be looked at intently, for his actions in the Summer of 2016. Does “Executive Privilege” apply to HIM, too?
Congress could stay in session to do its job, but probably not.
They have made it abundantly clear that they have no intention of challenging Trump and the GOP.
Pelosi’s slow-waking strategy to avoid impeachment continues to be executed perfectly.
She is the master of strategy, after all.
The only way Moscow Mitch could be reached prior to the election is by the Senate. Two-thirds vote to remove him. What odds would you put to that? The House can’t touch him. How do you suggest they tie him to the impeachment inquiry? Not gonna happen.
ETA: Nadler’s “deadline” is BS. The process will run into the new year, and the closer to the election the more effect on voters.
I’m feeling a bit defeated already. And no one is going to take the blame - “we just ran out of time.”
Plus the mad woman Pirro. Could be a long day. All the ugly people, where do they all come from?
This is a re-post of mine responding to @lizzymom, whose post I have in quotes:
" I just realized a few days ago (hey, I’m getting old and slow) that I am almost completely unaware of Herr Twitler’s tweets – they seldom seem to be the headline generators they once were. For a while we were treated in large boldface to every damned brain fart he produced. Not sure how much is a conscious effort on the part of the media to silence him on that or whether they’ve noticed that it’s all getting old and boring. Like, you know, even the best and hottest TV shows (or games or fashion or…) suddenly turn passé and nobody wants (to watch/play/buy) them anymore. Is Hair Twitler starting to get boring enough that only his most fanatical supporters are awaiting his next double-thumbed lie?? Ratings go down. Shows get cancelled. Could Hair Twitler be next?"
My response:
“It it that and also a combination of our fury. We are energized. Even the Boo Birds are.
One little item that is rarely discussed publicly is that people tend to complain more when things are getting better .Most people can sense that Trump is Damaged Goods. At some point, more of those around Trump will realize it as well.”
Addendum:
This story about McGahn is tailor-made for lamenting and name-calling of Democrats. But Trump is significantly weaker now that at the time of the 2018 elections. This is an unusual war: One not with guns but with courts, procedure and norms. I have the same doubts as most.
But I am not going to spread them around as though they constitute expertise. The only people who can stop Trump are the same people we are complaining about.
oohhh to have the notes on how this was gamed out …
You are normally not.
Good days bad days. Thank you.
If (yes, if) McGahn testifies he’ll defer answering most questions, citing various reasons provided him by Barr. It’ll be a worthless exercise on the part of Democrats. Certainly anything rising to the level of providing evidence to support impeachment charges will be withheld. He’ll weather whatever threats are issued for his non-cooperation, become a hero to the Right, and ultimately protect Trump.
Gee, I think I just ID’d a part of Our Problem. Congress is in session “only 16 days after Oct. 31”. Huh?! According to my calculations, there are 61 days just to Jan 1, 2020. And some more after that. Who in the hell- might I add, in the midst of the WORST CRISIS in the history of Our Country- who else has to show up for work so goddam little?
I agree with you. It seems our entire system of governance is being dismantled as no one appears to be able to execute the constitutional power of oversight.
Telling someone to comply with a subpoena is a no brainer.
The judicial system has loss their integrity and DC judges & lawyers are all in bed with the powerful legal firms McGahn works for.
They are protecting McGahn as he makes obscene money as private attorney.
Our justice system has failed us.
You don’t need the “notes on how this was gamed out;” you just need to know the goal. Once you know the goal, it is easy to see how the strategy and tactics fall into place to achieve it.
And Pelosi has explicitly stated her goal: “I am not for impeachment.”
It’s sort of a 230 year tradition.
Too much is being made of McGann, Mueller and that whole side of things. The grounds for impeachment even if none of that existed are manifest-behaving in a dictatorial fashion far beyond any authority granted the President under Article II. The instances of that behavior are in the hundreds and all were committed in plain sight and need no lawyerly testimony to establish. The man is manifestly unfit for the office and THAT is what impeachment was intended for (failing the Electoral College acting like a college rather than a bunch of partisan hacks).
Shouldn’t that be “(AKA Mitchie McMoscow)”? Not that Mitchell McMoscow cares, really.
Much is made of the House having a Constitutional duty to impeach Trump. Granting that, have at it. But unfit or not, the Senate is not convicting him at trial. And it seems if you have a successful impeachment vote in the House it should only be because you’re going to proceed to the next phase and conduct the Senate trial. Which at the rate things are moving would likely culminate about the time I’m standing in the voting booth pulling the lever for whatever Dem opposes Trump in the general.
Then use Moscow Mitch’s failure to move impeachment against R Senators. “You go to work every day, they (McConnell, Trump and the whole crew) don’t” is not a bad slogan to run on…