There were gasps and laughter on the Senate floor when House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff announced this: Even as Trump's lawyers insisted repeatedly, over and over, that a president cannot be impeached for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas, his Bill Barr-led Department of Justice is in court, today, insisting that Congress absolutely can respond to a president refusing to abide by congressional subpoenas by ... impeaching that president.
CNN reports, "Justice Department lawyer James Burnham said without hesitation that the House can use its impeachment powers, among other options, like withholding appropriations." The courts have no role in enforcing subpoenas directed at the executive branch—that has been the repeated Trump court argument. In the Senate, in the meantime, Trump's team is simultaneously arguing that impeachment cannot be used in response to a president's team ignoring subpoenas, that it must be argued through the courts.
The Trump defense is inherently corrupt. The Republican defense, in the Senate, is inherently corrupt.
x"You can't make this stuff up... The Justice Department, in resisting House subpoenas, is in court TODAY and was asked: If Congress can't come to the court to enforce subpoenas... what remedy is there?The DOJ lawyers response? Impeachment." - @RepAdamSchiff pic.twitter.com/eUMkaENXHQ
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) January 30, 2020
Sen. Rand Paul has not been getting enough attention during this impeachment process, so he executed his predictable and promised stunt on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, submitting a question to Chief Justice John Roberts during the Q&A session that presumably contained the name of the whistleblower. Roberts refused to read the question, so Paul left the floor to have an "impromptu" press conference (and probably hit the send button on a fundraising email).
CNN's Manu Raju reports, "At press conference, Paul says: 'I can tell you my question made no reference to any whistleblower.' Then Paul reads aloud his question which names a Schiff's staff member and names the individual who has been reported as possible whistleblower—and asks about their contacts." This was an apparent effort to get the press to publish the name, since he seems intent on getting the whistleblower killed.
It likely won't work. One reporter asked, "With all due respect, shouldn't you be at the impeachment hearing right now?" Of course he should have been, and the sergeant-at-arms should be putting him in the Senate jail right now. He should also be disqualified from sitting as a juror in this impeachment trial and have his vote taken away—if either Roberts or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to save this trial from being a total farce.
Senate Republicans have come back to where they started: they’re going to stage an impeachment cover-up, and they’re not going to half-ass it. With Donald Trump in full public bully mode and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell twisting arms behind the scenes, the number of Republicans willing to vote for a fair trial is expected to be less than the necessary four—and even the one or two Republicans who vote to hear from witnesses will do so with McConnell’s permission, knowing that they aren’t changing the outcome.
This recommitment to cover-up comes as poll after poll shows anywhere from 66% to 80% of Americans—including substantial percentages of Republicans—wanting witnesses in the impeachment trial. Republican senators do not care.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s take is that “For the sake of argument, one could assume everything attributable to John Bolton is accurate, and still the House would fall well below the standards to remove a president from office.” But we never expected Graham to stand up to the latest powerful figure he’s attached himself to in a bid for greater relevance.
”We don’t need Mr. Bolton to come in and to extend this show longer, along with any other witnesses people might want, and occupy all of our time here in the Senate for the next few weeks, maybe even months,” said Sen. John Cornyn. Heaven forbid the Senate waste its time on frivolous things like finding out how far the president went to undermine American democracy!
Sen. Susan Collins may vote to hear witnesses, with McConnell’s permission, so she can keep duping news outlets like The New York Times into writing long-discredited nonsense like that “She is the rare member of her party who still seeks to appeal to a broad range of independent and even Democratic voters as well as Republicans.”
Senate Republicans have made it clear: They will acquit Trump even if they are somehow forced to acknowledge that he did what all the evidence shows he did, withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure the nation to help him out in the 2020 elections by digging up dirt—or at least publicly announcing that there was dirt to be dug—on the Democratic opponent he saw as most threatening at that time. Senate Republicans don’t care what he did. They just want to stay in power, and they think Trump is their best bet for doing so. And even though voters have seen through their intent to cover up, they’re going through with it anyway, because apparently Republicans are convinced it’s better to have people know you’re covering something up than to have them knowing what lies under the covers.
On Wednesday, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff insisted that he did not know the identity of the so-called “whistleblower” who filed the original complaint about President Donald Trump that led to the impeachment trial.
“First of all, I don’t know who the whistleblower is, I haven’t met them or communicated with them in any way,” Schiff said Wednesday during the Senate impeachment trial.
What Schiff failed to mention was that the “whistleblower” approached a House Intelligence Committee aide with supposed details about Trump’s phone call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
How is it that EVERY SINGLE reporter and political operative in Washington, DC knows who the "whistleblower" is, yet Adam Schiff claims he doesn't?
The pencil neck geek has no credibility #FullOfSchiff https://t.co/3LOoGUZAWA
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) January 29, 2020
The New York Times reported that a Schiff committee staffer told the “whistleblower” to meet with the inspector general and file a whistleblower complaint.
Yet Schiff is still denying that any member of his staff did anything to help the “whistleblower.”
“The committee staff did not write the complaint or coach the whistleblower what to put in the complaint,” Schiff said.
Schiff condemned what he called a “conspiracy theory” that someone on his committee staff allegedly “colluded” with the whistleblower to craft a complaint that launched the impeachment investigation.
A spokesman for Schiff told the NYT that the whistleblower, “contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community.”
Schiff said his staff has shown “complete professionalism,” adding that members of his staff had become subject to threats on social media thanks to “smears” committed by President Trump and his allies.
Schiff vowed he would not do anything to reveal or endanger the identity of the “whistleblower” as the trial continues.
Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York accused Schiff on Twitter of lying about the “whistleblower.”
“Stunning that Adam Schiff lies to millions of Americans when he says he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower,” she wrote. “He absolutely knows the identity of the whistleblower because he coordinated with the individual before the whistleblower’s complaint! His staff helped write it!”
Stunning that Adam Schiff lies to millions of Americans when he says he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower.
He absolutely knows the identity of the whistleblower b/c he coordinated with the individual before the whistleblower’s complaint! His staff helped write it!
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 29, 2020
RELATED: ‘This Ain’t Over’: Doug Collins Challenges Schiff To Testify About Whistleblower
Many Republicans have called for the “whistleblower” to testify as part of the impeachment process, with Schiff repeatedly refusing at each turn.
On Wednesday, Schiff told the Senate that the “whistleblower” testifying was no longer relevant because President Trump released the transcript of the call.
“There’s no need for that whistleblower any more except to further endanger that person’s life,” Schiff said.
The post Adam Schiff Claims ‘I Don’t Know Who the Whistleblower Is’ appeared first on The Political Insider.
Donald Trump has a long history of insulting people, including senators. Unsurprisingly, he has no problem insulting progressives, like calling Sen. Bernie Sanders “crazy” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pochahontas.” He’s also insulted a number of Republicans, including saying that Sen. Mitt Romney is “not a smart person,” and of course, dubbing Sen. Ted Cruz “Lyin’ Ted.” Now, The Daily Show has compiled clips of these insults into a loop video that’s playing on the side of a truck that’s bopping around Washington D.C. during his impeachment trial, as reported by the Washingtonian. Because this video focuses on senators, we don’t even need to get into all of the times he has insulted women, including Hillary Clinton.
Here is the original video.
xPlease make sure every U.S. senator sees this important jury duty orientation video. #ImpeachmentTrial pic.twitter.com/YSl8rvczPO
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 22, 2020
Here is what The Daily Show truck driving around downtown Washington D.C. looks like.
xThe Daily Show has a truck going around the Capitol playing clips of Trump insulting senators sitting in his impeachment trial. pic.twitter.com/a8FGnpFRmm
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 28, 2020
The Washingtonian reports that The Daily Show has been airing 30- and 60-second versions of this video on local news channels in D.C. The publication says the truck has been on the move in the Capitol since Monday.
“We’re trying to always think of ways to take jokes that we have and take them outside the boundaries of 11:00 to 11:30. Like, how can we exist in the real world? How can we get closer to the people that we’re covering?” Ramin Hedayati, a producer at The Daily Show, told the Washingtonian in an interview. “Literally driving a truck outside of the building they’re in is a way to do that.”
Of course, it’s far from the first time The Daily Show has taken the Trump administration to task. On Monday, host Trevor Noah called out Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, as well as Trump’s defense lawyers.
Trump attacks everyone from government officials to private citizens seemingly with little regard to the possible consequences. People say that actions speak louder than words, but with Trump, his words and actions actually line up pretty well—and it’s nothing good.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen will offer a motion in Donald Trump's impeachment trial Friday to require Chief Justice John Roberts to subpoena documents and witnesses, if he determines they are relevant to the articles of impeachment, and to exercise his authority to rule on all issues of evidence, including executive privilege.
"A fair trial includes relevant documents and witnesses. And in a fair trial the judge determines what evidence is admitted," Van Hollen said in a statement announcing the motion. He said his effort "ensures the Chief Justice will serve the same role as a judge in any trial across our country—to allow the Senate access to the facts they need to get to the truth." He adds "No Republican can question the fairness of this approach—the Chief Justice oversees the highest court in our land and was nominated by a Republican President. And, given his authority to rule on questions of privilege, they should not fear a drawn-out process. I urge my colleagues to seek out the truth and the facts and to vote in support of my motion. Anything else constitutes an effort to hide the truth." He's right, it's perfectly fair. So it's another test of whether there are just four Republicans left who think this process should be fair.
Here's the text of the motion: "I move that for this trial the presiding officer shall issue subpoenas of any witness or any document that a Senator or a party moves to subpoena if the presiding officer deems them likely to have probative evidence relevant to either article of impeachment, and, consistent with his authority to rule on all questions of evidence, shall rule on any assertion of privilege."
By PopZette Staff | January 29, 2020
There was a time when “The Daily Show” was a humorous program that would offer funny takes on news stories of the day. Unfortunately, however, those days are long gone, as “The Daily Show” has devolved into just another bitterly leftwing television program that is hellbent on destroying President Donald Trump.
“The Daily Show” showed it’s anti-Trump bias once again this week by hiring a black truck with a large TV screen on it’s side to drive around Washington D.C. playing videos of the president insulting U.S. senators as they prepare to decide his fate in his impeachment trial. The video of Trump’s insults plays on a never-ending loop, with host Trevor Noah sometimes jumping in to address the senators personally.
“As a juror, the most important thing is to remain impartial,” he can be seen saying. “The following remarks by the defendant should not be considered when rendering your verdict.”
Please make sure every U.S. senator sees this important jury duty orientation video. #ImpeachmentTrial pic.twitter.com/YSl8rvczPO
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 22, 2020
Given the fact that the Senate is controlled by Republicans, there is virtually no chance that they will vote to impeach Trump, so this is an enormous waste of time and money. That doesn’t matter at all to the liberals behind “The Daily Show,” however, as they are relishing the opportunity to get in their immature digs at Trump.
“It’s just funny and ironic to see that [Trump’s] fate now rests in these senators’ hands, after he spent all this time insulting them and calling them names,” Ramin Hedayti, a supervising producer at “The Daily Show,” told The Washingtonian.
It was Hedayti who came up with this ridiculous idea during the first few days of the impeachment trial.
“Once the [impeachment] trial started, we just got all the clips of Trump dunking on all his prospective jurors,” Hedayati explained. “We realized — ‘Okay, there’s a lot here.’”
Too bad none of it will have any impact on the senators deciding Trump’s fate.
Who did this
https://t.co/U0isLX99i4
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 28, 2020
Nevertheless, Hedayti is standing by the stunt and appears to think it’s ingenious.
“We’re trying to always think of ways to take jokes that we have and take them outside the boundaries of 11:00 to 11:30. Like, how can we exist in the real world? How can we get closer to the people that we’re covering?” Hedayti says. “Literally driving a truck outside of the building they’re in is a way to do that.”
The lunacy of liberals never ceases to amaze!
This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
Read more at LifeZette:
Rocket Strikes U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
More GOP Senators Could Defect in Impeachment Trial
Bolton Manuscript Leaked, Romney and Collins May Vote Against the President
The post ‘The Daily Show’ Sends Truck to Washington D.C. to Play Video Of Trump Blasting Senators appeared first on The Political Insider.
