Month: December 2019

U.S. authorities confiscate migrant kids’ medications at the southern border

“Doctors on Long Island say two migrant children showed up at their hospital in seriously ill condition at least in part because their asthma medication had been taken away by immigration authorities at the southern border.

The families of the children “indicated that they had albuterol in their possession that was confiscated and replacements were not supplied,” said Dr. Noy Halevy-Mizrahi of Stony Brook University, coauthor of the report in Pediatrics. “We wanted to bring awareness to this topic. Our main message is one of advocacy. We wanted to make sure to alert other physicians who might be caring for these patients.” via Reuters

Angry’s Thoughts: I don’t really have thoughts here, except sometimes I don’t recognize this country anymore. This is abhorrent.

Impeachment report details contacts between Giuliani, White House, and Devin Nunes

“Phone records released Tuesday by three House committees as part of their draft impeachment report detailed previously unreported contacts between President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, the White House, top House Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, and Hill columnist John Solomon.

As Solomon wrote opinion columns in early April 2019 attacking U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, according to AT&T phone records produced by the Intelligence Committee, he was in frequent phone contact with Giuliani and his associate Lev Parnas. 

“The Committees uncovered evidence of close ties and frequent contacts between Mr. Solomon and Mr. Parnas, who was assisting Mr. Giuliani in connection with his representation of the President,” the Democrats wrote in their report drafted by the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees.” via USA Today

Angry’s Thoughts: So Nunes was propagating conspiracy columns by John Solomon while being in contact with Solomon. Oh, and he was actively talking to – and spreading the message of – fraudsters who have been indicted after being caught in a conspiracy to defraud the United States, multiple FARA violations, etc.

Reminder: he’s already recused himself from one investigation for doing the same thing. This should have been a second.

Nunes sues CNN for $435 Million

“Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., sued CNN for defamation on Tuesday, accusing the cable network of publishing a “demonstrably false hit piece” about him amid his high-profile opposition to the Trump impeachment inquiry.

The 47-page lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, accuses the liberal network of publishing “numerous egregiously false and defamatory” statements about Nunes on Nov. 22, 2019 when journalist Vicky Ward reported claims that Nunes met with Ukranian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in Vienna in 2018 to dig “up dirt” on Hunter and Joe Biden.

Nunes, who has been leading GOP opposition to the House Democratic impeachment inquiry in the House Intelligence Committee, says he “did not go to Vienna or anywhere else in Austria in 2018” and “has never met” Shokin.” via Fox News

Angry’s Thoughts: In typical Nunes fashion, the timing of this lawsuit is incredibly bad, particularly given the extensive contacts revealed with himself and the person who he’s suing CNN over.

It’s incredible to me that the GOP keeps turning to Nunes as their impeachment champion, but I guess if nothing else, that highlights the sad state of things on the right.

Rep. Duncan Hunter pleads guilty to misusing campaign funds

“GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter showed no emotion in the courtroom when he pleaded guilty to misusing campaign money in San Diego on Tuesday.

Outside federal court, the California congressman declined to say when he would leave office.” via Politico

Angry’s Thoughts: He also tried to claim that he “made a mistake.” No, you willingly broke the law. That’s not a “mistake.”

North Korea says it’s up to U.S. to choose ‘Christmas gift’

“North Korea on Tuesday repeated its assertions that the Trump administration is running out of time to salvage nuclear negotiations, saying it’s entirely up to the United States to choose what “Christmas gift” it gets from the North.

The statement, attributed to a senior diplomat, came as North Korea continues to dial up pressure on Washington and Seoul ahead of leader Kim Jong Un’s end-of-year deadline for the U.S. to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal.” via Politico

Angry’s Thoughts: This is going to end with Trump doing something stupid like removing all our troops from South Korea, isn’t it?

He’s so desperate for a win that at this point, he’ll do just about anything. He’s also been outmatched by Kim from the start, so I really don’t see this going well.

Republican bomb-throwers prep impeachment spectacle

“They’ve gotten into shouting matches over whether socialists are Nazis. They’ve clashed with the parents of children who died from gun violence. And they’ve insinuated that a key witness was having an affair on the eve of a marquee hearing.

They’re some of the most colorful Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — and these lawmakers are ready to bring their antics to the next act in the impeachment saga.

The committee is home to members of the hard-line Freedom Caucus like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Louie Gohmert of Texas, leaders of key conservative groups like Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and firebrands who have a flair for the dramatic like Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

All of them are fierce defenders of President Donald Trump, and all are promising to hold nothing back as the impeachment proceedings shift from the House Intelligence Committee to the Judiciary panel.

“It is our duty to raise every parliamentary and procedural maneuver that we can that’s legitimate,” said Biggs, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus. “Not to be dilatory, but to legitimately point out how flawed this process has been and how weak the Democratic case is. We will do that aggressively and assiduously.

“Let me put it this way: It will be better TV than the Schiff hearing,” he added.” via Politico

Angry’s Thoughts: Schiff did a masterful job keeping the GOP mostly at bay during the House Intel Committee’s hearings – so Nadler has at least been given the blueprint. We’ll find out tomorrow if he can follow it as well as Schiff did, or whether or not he will allow the hearing to devolve into GOP-led Chaos.

For what it’s worth, I’m told that he’s been prepping to handle GOP disruptions – we’ll see how it plays out.

A grave charge and a momentous turn in the Trump impeachment inquiry

“The stunningly consequential accusation spelled out in the Democrats’ impeachment report represents the most sweeping effort yet to capture the span of President Donald Trump’s alleged offense and to boil it into a crisp indictment.

In effect, the 300-page House Intelligence Committee summary of witness testimony, timelines and phone records accused Trump of perpetrating one of the most serious political crimes in the history of the United States.

The report is a roadmap toward formal articles of impeachment — an argument to a nation split in two on Trump’s political fate that there is no alternative but to remove him from office 11 months before the next general election over his pressure on Ukraine for political favors.

The stark charge that the House Judiciary Committee will take up in its first impeachment hearing Wednesday fits the gravity of Congress’ most somber duty — deciding whether to end a presidency.

It is that the 45th President presents an immediate, clear and future threat to American national security, the Constitution and the resilience of the republic’s democratic self-governance itself.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: Sometimes I hate the way journalists word things. If you’ve paid even limited attention for the past three years, this is not a “stunningly consequential accusation” – it’s an indisputable fact, and one that I’ve repeated often in my time on Twitter: The President of the United States is currently the biggest national security threat we face.

It’s not hyperbole to say that the United States would be hard-pressed to survive a second Trump term, at least in our current configuration.

Should the President be removed from office a mere 11 months before an election? Hell, yes. The sooner the better.

Schiff says lawmakers investigating if mystery person who spoke with Giuliani is Trump

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said on Tuesday night that his committee is still looking into the identity of the person who Rudy Giuliani was speaking with and had the obscured phone number of “-1” — and whether that person is President Donald Trump.

“We can’t confirm yet who” the number belongs to, Schiff said during an interview on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

“We are certainly investigating that,” Schiff said. “Rudy Giuliani only had one client — and that was Donald Trump.

“The committee’s impeachment inquiry report shows Giuliani speaking a number of times with that individual during several key moments detailed in the document.

Schiff noted in the interview that the phone number -1 also came up during the trial of former Trump adviser Roger Stone.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: I don’t know for sure who the -1 phone number belongs to, but if I had to guess, I’d put my money on either Trump or Hannity.

Former official says Trump often refused to believe his intelligence briefings

“One of President Donald Trump’s most common responses to intelligence briefings is to doubt what he’s being told, former Deputy Director of Intelligence Susan Gordon said Tuesday.

Gordon, an intelligence veteran of more than 30 years, said Monday that Trump had two typical responses to briefings.

“One, ‘I don’t think that’s true,'” Gordon told the Women’s Foreign Policy Group. “The one is ‘I’m not sure I believe that,'”

Gordon continued, “and the other is the second order and third order effects. ‘Why is that true? Why are we there? Why is this what you believe? Why do we do that?’ Those sorts of things.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: This is something else that I’ve frequently discussed on Twitter – Trump not only rarely even pays attention during his daily briefings, he frequently disputes the facts presented to him by his briefer(s) with seemingly no real rationale.

To be clear: many Presidents have been skeptical of portions of their briefings throughout the years – this is why a briefer typically stays on the job for a full year: it gives ample opportunity to learn what supporting information the President and members of the cabinet expect to see, etc. It typically makes the whole thing go smoother, which is always the goal: POTUS is – and should be – the CIA’s most important “customer,” and the goal is to give him what he asks for.

That’s quite a bit more complicated when the First Customer is a petulant man-child who doesn’t know what he wants.

Reminder:

For those of you who are already Patrons, our next Patron-Only Chat Session will be tomorrow (Wednesday, 12-4) night at 7 PM Eastern.

For those of you who aren’t Patrons and would like to get in on the fun, you can do so right here! For everyone else, I hope to see you at the Friday AMA on Twitter.

House Committee unveils list of witnesses in Wednesday’s impeachment hearing

“The House Judiciary Committee unveiled Monday the witnesses for its first hearing into the impeachment of President Donald Trump, announcing plans to hear from a quartet of constitutional law experts.

The hearing on Wednesday will explore the grounds for impeaching the President, and its witnesses are: Noah Feldman, Pamela S. Karlan, Michael Gerhardt and Jonathan Turley — professors respectively at Harvard, Stanford, North Carolina and George Washington law schools.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: this is going to be fun. I think bringing in experts to help lay the groundwork for the impeachment case is a good move – having four constitutional law experts tell the American people that the President is a criminal will have far more weight (particularly with independents) than members of Congress who can simply be dismissed as partisan.

Fox’s Napolitano Calls Trump Impeachment Strategy ‘Very Unwise’

“Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano struck out at President Donald Trump’s decision to not send lawyers to an upcoming impeachment hearing, calling the move “very unwise.”

“I am curious what you make of the fact that the president might want to skip out on this Judiciary Committee opening hearing and maybe others to follow, because it is essentially a Kangaroo court or it’s not fair,” Neil Cavuto said on Your World Monday.

“The rules about which the president are complaining were written by a Republican House of Representatives in 2015. The president would be very unwise not to send lawyers there,” Napolitano responded.

“The Democrats are not doing anything that the Democrats did not do to Nixon or the Republicans didn’t do the Bill Clinton. But I think he makes a mistake when he refuses to participate. It is a valid vote by the House of Representatives that authorized this,” he continued. “He also loses the argument that it’s unfair if he doesn’t take the opportunity to participate himself.” via Medialite

Angry’s Thoughts: I love that Napolitano is laying this out on Fox. It makes perfect sense to everyone with a functioning brain, but those on Fox will need some help understanding it:

It’s impossible to call something unfair when you’ve been given the opportunity to participate and lay out a defense and choose not to. Of course, when there *is* no defense, maybe the best option is to just sit it out.

Republican Impeachment Defense Claims Trump’s Ukraine Pressure Was Apolitical

“House Republicans plan to argue that President Trump was acting on “genuine and reasonable” skepticism of Ukraine and “valid” concerns about possible corruption involving Americans, not political self-interest, when he pressed the country for investigations of his Democratic rivals, according to a draft of a report laying out their impeachment defense.

In a 123-page document that echoes the defiant messaging that Mr. Trump has employed in his own defense, the Republicans do not concede a single point of wrongdoing or hint of misbehavior by the president, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times ahead of its planned release on Tuesday.

The report amounts to a pre-emptive attack by some of Mr. Trump’s most ardent supporters against Democrats’ arguments for impeachment. The Democrats have finalized a written report of their own and are scheduled to vote on Tuesday to transmit it to the House Judiciary Committee, kick-starting the next phase of the impeachment inquiry in the House as it barrels toward a likely vote on articles of impeachment.” via NYT

Angry’s Thoughts: To be clear, the GOP wants you to believe both the President’s claim that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt places on Earth *and* that – in one the most corrupt places on Earth – the company associated with the Bidens was the only one he could think of to want investigated.

Toootally apolitical. Yep.

Also, just a coincidence that he released the funds when he got caught in his Zelensky shakedown.

Barr disputes key inspector general finding about FBI’s Russia investigation

“Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

Barr has not been swayed by Horowitz’s rationale for concluding that the FBI had sufficient basis to open an investigation on July 31, 2016, these people said. 

Barr’s public defenses of President Trump, including his assertion that intelligence agents spied on the Trump campaign, have led Democrats to accuse him of acting like the president’s personal attorney and eroding the independence of the Justice Department. But Trump and his Republican allies have cheered Barr’s skepticism of the Russia investigation.” via The Washington Post

Angry’s Thoughts: Bill Barr remains the most dangerous man in the Trump administration, but luckily, he has no sway over the Horowitz Report. The Inspector General is independent of the Attorney General, so all Barr can *really* do is complain.

He’ll probably order another investigation until they find one that meets the desired narrative, but that was always going to be the outcome.

Also, before anyone asks, yes – this is what the argument with Barr and Trump in the Oval was about; Trump wanted Barr to have more of an influence on the Horowitz Report.

Democrats Ready Impeachment Report as Republicans Argue Trump Did Nothing Wrong

“House Democrats pressed forward on Monday with the next phase of their impeachment inquiry, putting the final touches on an Intelligence Committee report expected to form the basis of their case that President Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations of his political rivals was an abuse of power that warrants his removal from office.

Lawmakers from the panel reviewed the staff-written report for the first time on Monday evening, ahead of its public release and a scheduled Tuesday evening vote to transmit it to the Judiciary Committee. It will conclude that Mr. Trump, working with allies inside and outside his administration, used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to do his bidding in order to gain an advantage in the 2020 presidential race.

Though the factual conclusions are likely to closely track public witness testimony in recent weeks, key elements of the majority report remained shrouded in mystery on Monday night. It was not yet clear, for instance, whether Democrats would use the document to call for specific impeachment charges against Mr. Trump, or whether it would simply outline evidence of presidential wrongdoing and leave it to the Judiciary Committee, the arbiter of impeachment proceedings past, to make that judgment.” via NYT

Angry’s Thoughts: The rumor going around now is that the Dems are going to include more than Ukraine in the final articles of impeachment. I suspect they will at least include the charges of lying to Mueller and obstruction of Justice/Congress, but we will find out more tomorrow!

Judge denies DOJ request for stay on Don McGahn testimony

“House Democrats on Monday notched another legal victory in their pursuit of critical testimony tied to their impeachment efforts, though the ruling may be short-lived because the case is already on temporary hold while it works its way toward an appeal.

U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a 17-page opinion, rejected the Justice Department’s request to put a long-term stay on her earlier opinion requiring Don McGahn, the former Trump White House counsel, to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.

Jackson also decided to lift an earlier administrative stay she’d issued that had put her decision briefly on ice while the case moved up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“This Court has no doubt that further delay of the Judiciary Committee’s enforcement of its valid subpoena causes grave harm to both the Committee’s investigation and the interests of the public more broadly,” Jackson wrote.” via Politico

Angry’s Thoughts: Still not a King. Team Trump has continually lost in court, mostly because they have absolutely no viable defense. If these cases stay on their current trajectories, it looks like we will be hearing from McGahn, Bolton, et al. sooner than expected.

To be clear, DOJ will probably try to appeal this all the way to SCOTUS, but it’s so steeped in precedent (in favor of the Democrats) that it’s almost completely pointless to do so.

New charges likely in case against Giuliani associates

“New charges are likely to be brought against two associates of Rudy Giuliani who were indicted for campaign finance crimes, prosecutors said Monday.

The two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are already charged in a scheme to skirt campaign finance laws as part of a plot to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

A new indictment — which could include additional charges or additional defendants — is likely in the case, assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Zolkind said at a pretrial hearing in federal court in Manhattan, as investigators pore through a mountain of potential evidence in the case.

“The government’s investigation is ongoing, and we think a superseding indictment is likely,” he said. “No decision has been made.” via Politico

Angry’s Thoughts: It never made sense for this to be the last we heard of Parnas or Fruman, but it’s nice to have the documented confirmation. Next up in the barrel? Rudy Giuliani.

Highlights from the Mueller Investigation Notes

“The Justice Department, responding to a lawsuit by CNN and BuzzFeed, released 295 pages of witness memoranda and notes from FBI interviews that were part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, including contacts with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The witnesses include: former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, former Trump 2016 campaign aide Rick Gates, former White House chief of staff John Kelly, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former White House communications director Hope Hicks and former campaign aide Corey Lewandowski.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: There are too many individual points to effectively hit on here, and I would strongly suggest that everyone reads this article, because there’s a lot of good info here. I’ll paraphrase some below:

Rosenstein and Sessions discussed replacing Comey during transition

This was shelved when Trump – as he is wont to do – undercut the plans and publicly supported Comey staying on.

Rosenstein angry, ashamed, embarrassed, and horrified at handling of Comey firing.

Rod admits that he thought Comey should be fired, but he at least expected it to be done professionally. Why he thought that in this clown car of an administration, I’m not sure. He was also surprised that he was given credit for the entire scheme. Again, not sure how he didn’t see that coming.

Manafort tried to sway Gates testimony

From the CNN article:

“I talked to Dowd. I’ve covered you at the White House,” Manafort had said to Gates, Mueller learned in April 2018. Manafort also told Gates about two pots of money — legal defense funds — including one that Manafort and Gates could benefit from as they fought their charges.

Manafort discussed these with Dowd, Gates said. “Manafort told Gates it was stupid to plead and that he would get a better deal down the road,” the memos state. “Manafort said he had been in touch with Dowd and repeated they should ‘sit tight’ and ‘we’ll be taken care of.’ Manafort never explicitly mentioned any pardons.”

Kelly confirmed McGahn’s account of attempted Mueller firing

John Kelly told investigators he witnessed Trump tell McGahn to “correct the record” after the NYT broke the story that McGahn threatened to resign rather than carrying out Trump’s order to have Mueller fired. McGahn told Trump there was nothing to correct and refused to comment on it publicly.

Sekulow said it wasn’t necessary to elaborate on Trump Tower Moscow talks, Cohen says

From the CNN article:

Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow that there were details about the Trump Tower Moscow discussions that were not included in the statement they were providing Congress, including more communications with Russia and more communications with Donald Trump.

But Sekulow told him it was “not necessary to elaborate or include those details because the transaction did not take place.” “Sekulow said it did not matter and Cohen should not contradict Trump and that it was time to move on,” according to the summary of Cohen’s interview.

Sekulow assured Cohen that Trump was happy with him. Cohen also told investigators that he was told that as a member of a joint defense agreement he was “protected” but he would not be if he “went rogue.”

Angry’s Thoughts: this is mostly unsurprising, but it’s all impeachable. I’ve told you guys for years that Trump floated the idea of pardons to everyone in order to get them to toe the official line.

GOP-led committee probed possible Ukraine interference in 2016 election and found nothing worth pursuing

“The Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee looked into allegations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election and found no evidence to support the claims, according to sources familiar with the matter.

This squares with the overall conclusion of officials who have looked into the matter. Sources tell CNN that no US intelligence agency has ever produced a product accusing the Ukrainian government of interfering in the 2016 US election.

Some Republican lawmakers continue to misleadingly say that the government of Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election on the same level as Russia, despite the GOP-led committee looking into the matter and finding little to support the allegation. The committee went so far as to interview former Democratic National Committee operative Alexandra Chalupa — a central figure in theories that say Ukraine interfered in the election — before closing that aspect of their probe, according to the sources. Politico on Monday was first to report the committee’s exploration of Ukraine’s actions in 2016.” via CNN

Angry’s Thoughts: I’ve seen several people point to this investigation as supposed-evidence that Burr is on Trump’s side. I disagree – it is *literally* the job of his committee to look into these allegations; they would have been derelict in their duty if they hadn’t.

Investigating the claims that Ukraine meddled was reasonable – members of the GOP continuing to peddle the conspiracy after it was proven false is what’s abhorrent here.