Tuesday Morning Recap: Buttigieg And Sanders In Dead Heat, Trump Secures Another Judge And Could Roger Stone Be Pardoned?

Posted on February 11, 2020 by LifeZette

By LifeZette Staff | February 11, 2020

The New Hampshire primary

Buttigieg and Sanders remain in a dead heat going into the New Hampshire today. A large turnout will favor Sanders. Buttigieg is counting on depressed college student turnout, in both senses of the phrase, and a moderate voter base. Biden has to finish in the top three or he is in serious trouble. Warren has to just not get completely clobbered. Our call is Sanders. Then it’s on for them to savage Mike Bloomberg.

Coronavirus update

World Health Organization officials traveling in China today called the coronavirus “a very grave threat to the rest of the world.” Over 100 have died there from the virus and 43,000 others have fallen ill from it round the world. 99% percent of the cases are in China. There have been no U.S. deaths as of yet. International monitors speculate China’s rudimentary socialized health system is not capable of handling the crisis. But national pride stops them from asking for significant outside help.

Trump secures another judge

The president gets another judge through the Senate. This time it’s the nomination of Judge Andrew Basher to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell got Basher his upcoming new job with a Monday 46-41 vote in favor. The official nod will be this afternoon.

Space war?

Two Russian satellites are tailing an American spy satellite, coming as close as 100 miles. In space, that’s nudging the guy next to you in the ribs. A U.S. Space Force ( so cool to write that) general says the Russian craft’s actions are “unusual and disturbing.” Not really, Just Vladimir Putin rattling his actually relatively puny sword a bit.

Could Roger Stone be pardoned?

President Trump is hinting he may pardon his former pal Roger Stone. In a tweet this morning he called Stone’s prosecution and upcoming sentencing “horrible and very unfair.”

Across the pond

Germany has been politically upended with the news that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand-picked heir apparent, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has said no to moving into Merkel’s job. It’s like Mike Pence turning down the presidency after he won the 2024 GOP nomination for president. The Defense Minister made the move because she is upset that the political party of both she and Merkel, the Christian Democratic Union, allied with a hard core anti-immigration party, the AFD, in state elections.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Democrats Begin to Meltdown as Their Loss Looms

Posted on January 31, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 31, 2020

There was lots of drama on the Senate floor on Thursday as it began to dawn on Democrats that their years long campaign to drive President Trump from office was falling apart.

Developments during the day included:

In his opening remarks Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell sent a subtle message to his fellow GOP Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul. He told him to back off on CJ John Roberts. Roberts had the day before squelched a Paul question that named CIA informer Eric Ciaramella.Rand Paul didn’t listen and did the same thing in the first GOP question of the day. Roberts cut him down. Paul was upset and walked off the floor of the Senate. But not much later in the day Roberts allowed almost the same question, just not from Paul and not naming Ciaramella by name. At such, the Democrats, most notably Schiff, went into their victim act and fake indignation shtick.
The GOP team focused on the dichotomy of Democrat statements that contended that keeping the president in office was an “urgent” threat to national security and the nation itself, yet they delayed moving ahead for a month.

Possible swing votes Democrat Senators Manchin of West Virginia and Jones of Alabama signaled they would be voting against Trump at least on witnesses. If Schumer doesn’t give them a waiver, for state political viability, to vote for acquittal he is insane. Another possible swing, GOP Senator Lamar of Tennessee, will stay with the president. That should hold the GOP defections to 2-3, not the 4 the Democrats need to win. It could be over by Friday night, possibly Saturday morning.
The Democrats attempted to use the words of Professor Jonathan Turley, a GOP House witness, in their Senate case. It didn’t work.
A main GOP message, well articulated by all GOP lawyers, was to implore the Senate to let the people, not impeachment, decide who inhabits the Oval Office.
Sensing victory on the general question, GOP Senator Toomey of PA dropped his one witness for each side deal.

After Democrats accused Trump of somehow cheating in the 2020 election before the first vote is cast, Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone hit them with, “Talk about cheating, you won’t even face him,” meaning they are afraid to face Trump in an election again.

Indeed they are. The late day and night got even more amusing. Details to follow in the next article…

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Impeachment Trial Could Be Over Friday Night

Posted on January 31, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 30, 2020

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office is reportedly saying Thursday, LifeZette confirmed this with Hill Staff, that they have the votes to prohibit witnesses in a vote Friday afternoon and that the entire trial could wrap up with a Trump win Friday night.

Smart money right now is in almost a party line vote for acquittal on both counts with one, maybe two, Democrat defections. Call it 55-45 for the president.

LifeZette has also learned that social indicators in DC, sometimes better intel than political data, show that reservations at Capitol Hill restaurants are heavy from the Hill past 7pm Friday night. Those reservations were made since noon Thursday. Also, Amtrak reservations from the Hill to destinations all over the East Coast have increased substantially since Thursday afternoon.

If this is true, and votes can change as politics is fluid on a minute by minute basis, it would be a massive personal triumph for President Trump, his legal team, and the GOP. It would give him tremendous momentum going into his reelection campaign. It would also coincide, interestingly, with Brexit Day in the UK.

Conversely it would hand the Democrats a huuuge stinging loss after years of trying to unseat Trump with every move in their playbook. This news may have filtered down to the Senate floor, as Democrat House managers are sounding more bitter and desperate as the hours drone on.

Some Democrats are even talking about another impeachment investigation and vote in the House before the November election. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be against that. At least, right now.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Senate Impeachment Trial Moves Coming Fast and Furious, Biden Livid

Posted on January 29, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 29, 2020

Since the gavel went down in the Senate Tuesday afternoon the Hill has been abuzz with activity, plots, and counterplots. Here are the latest developments:

The Biden campaign is hopping mad with House managers and the Democrat Senate for possibly setting up a scenario where Joe Biden or his son Hunter would have to testify at the impeachment trial of President Trump.They know what it would do to their poll numbers and they have seen that Hunter is notoriously bad under pressure. His recent personal issues also do not play well with women. The Biden effort is putting tremendous pressure on Democrats not to permit witnesses at all, arguing that the numbers are just not there to remove Trump, why drag down Biden in a losing cause?

Word out of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office is that they may try a poison pill defense on witnesses. Oh sure, we’ll have witnesses, they say.And every one will be one the Democrats don’t want on the stand. Not only the Bidens, but Ciaramella, Comey, Brennan, Holder, Schiff, Nadler, and maybe even Hillary or Obama. With that prospect, they think the Democrats will think twice about witnesses.
Also, if witnesses are to be called, plots the McConnell office, they will be called at the same ratio they were called in the House. So, the GOP would have four witnesses to every one Democrat witness. Another poison pill gambit.
The White House may try to block any Bolton testimony by exerting executive privilege and then watch it play out in the courts. Bolton could testify anyway, but he may not want to go though the legal headaches of doing it.

Internal GOP polling numbers say this process is helping them with swing voters, as the swings cannot believe the Democrats are blindly defending the Bidens when the evidence of corruption on Burisma and other issues is so overwhelming.
Rumor is that Senators Warren and Sanders have grown happy with the trial and the effect it is having on the Biden campaign. They want the trial to end, but not too quickly.

Correction: In a recent piece we stated “54 Republicans” are in favor of witnesses being called. There are only 53 Republicans in the Senate. It should have read “54 senators”. Mea culpa- DK

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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