If Bolton does not testify what good is he?
If he has not been sworn in by the House or the Senate does anything he says or puts in a book mean anything?
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Indeed! The Democrats don’t need Bolton to testify. They already have his damning words, delivered through the impeccable testimony of Fiona Hill. And for those amateur lawyers out there, it is not hearsay. It was told to Hill by Bolton. Its purpose was not to “prove” that it was an actual drug deal. Rather, it was direct testimony by Hill of what Bolton told her. Perfectly proper. Testimony like that is accepted in court every day.
I also keep having this fantasy dream that Pelosi’s delay was really cover for StevenSpielberg secretly putting together a multi media “opening statement” extravaganza by the House managers, narrated by Tom Hanks that will bring the American people to their feet, clapping and cheering and stomping their feet. demanding Trump’s conviction. But then… I wake up.
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While we debate whether Schiff should subpoena Bolton, I believe we’re missing a larger issue. The role of the courts has deliberately slow. Yeah, I’ve read all the posts telling me that’s what courts do, go slowly. In fact, courts can move with alacrity when the situation calls for it.
SCOTUS decisions on releasing Trump’s tax returns to Congress, honoring subpoenas, federal court sentencing of Mike Flynn, and other cases could and should have been settled now. Yet, they languish.
In our system of checks and balances, who conducts oversight of a judiciary that’s manipulating its efforts to benefit the president?
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If the goal right now is to put as much pressure on Senate Republicans to allow witness testimony (which would include, but not be limited to, John Bolton) as possible, then this is the right move.
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There is no reason to believe that Bolton’s testimony is going to be truthful. He has a long career of peddling BS, and is not only the warmongering spin that he pushes 24/7, you don’t need to look too hard to find instances where he flat out lied. There will be are absolutely no consequences for him to lie to Congress, Barr won’t enforce anything, so he can show up at Capitol Hill and say that Trump is honestest president ever, and the most handsome too, and by the way we should nuke Iran. Might as well subpoena Giuliani.
In any case Bolton should testify behind close doors, and see what he has to say before putting him on the cameras.
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That’s what I’d like to see too. If acquitted by the Senate before then, his SOTU will be all about how he’s not guilty and calling out the Dems for one thing after another. I have no other reasoning because I don’t know how this all works and I don’t think anyone else does either.
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OT–Video purporting to show a missile fired at the Ukrainian plane…
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Why? Come on Adam people want to hear from Bolton.
Except we have other witness testimony that corroborates what happened, if Bolton does testify then he’ll have to produce evidence that the ones who did testify in front of the House Intel. Committee got it wrong. And would the Trump maladministration produce hard copies of emails and other documents to back up Bolton?
Well, there’s little to be gained other than MAKING SURE YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE WHAT THE FUCK HE’S GOING TO SAY. All trial lawyers will tell you that you never, never ask a witness a question that you don’t already know the answer to.
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Probably Bolton’s only reason to say he will honor a subpoena is to help his book sales. Don’t think it’s about the truth and exposing tRump. Why wouldn’t he testify before the House, but would “consider” testifying before the Senate?
I hate these people.
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Absolutely. I trust his judgment and strategy. He knows what he is doing. And he knows who he is up against.
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Maybe. But it appears they’re on the verge of sending articles to the Senate with the majority of the most damning testimony and documents at risk of McConnell arbitrarily excluding. You’re a crafty genius, until you aren’t.
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He doesn’t have to produce anything, he only needs to provide soundbites that act as cover for purple state GOPers and red state Democrats to absolve Trump.
You are kidding aren’t you?
I honestly don’t understand Dems’ overall strategy here, if there even is one. It seems intended and designed to satisfy Dems who’ve been urging impeachment for a long time while not actually pursuing the most aggressive impeachment possible, that even if it didn’t lead to removal would at least put a dent in Trump and the GOP’s numbers, which so far it hasn’t and clearly isn’t likely to.
Overall it feels like a “We’re doing this to shut up our annoying pro-impeachment base” kind of impeachment, rather than the real deal, with subpoenas of ALL key fact witnesses and documents, nasty court fights, aggressive pressers, etc. By design. Because comity and high road.
Repubs come armed for a knife fight. Dems for high tea with scones and crumpets.
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Not kidding-sarcasm. Should I have added the eye roll emoji?
I think that the most likely explanation is the most obvious one, that as usual Dems have folded, terrified of a real fight and genuinely not knowing how to fight one, hoping that the public’s better angels will prevail in the end. That’s worked out so well for us to date…
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Same folks who knee-jerk defend Dems on this defend them on literally everything. Some are shills, most are just stupid, at least on such things. Or, they’re terrified of real fights, including in their own lives, and project their cowardice onto politics and Dems.
There is absolutely no way a GOP senator will vote to convict Trump, that is just not going to happen, not a single one, and no red state democrat either.
So from that reality, it all comes down on how to make Republicans pay a political price for that, some believe they will pay no price, some believe yes but you have to do this… it all comes down as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
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I thought there would be some sort of a visble explosion in that instant,maybe I saw it and didn’t know what I was looking at.