Welcome To aBlackWeb

Führer Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry Thread. Update: The Senate completes the coverup



Johnson: Whistleblower Complaint ‘Exposed Things That Didn’t Need To Be Exposed’

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) complained on Sunday that the whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine “has exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.”

During an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Johnson lamented “the damage that is being done to our country through this entire impeachment process” against Trump over his scheme to withhold military aid to Ukraine to pressure Ukraine into investigating 2020 rival Joe Biden.

“And by the way, those individuals that leaked this, you know, if their interest was a stronger relationship with Ukraine, they didn’t accomplish it,” said Johnson. “Having this all come out into public has weakened that relationship, has exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.”

Johnson, who visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) in early September to discuss the delayed military aid, argued that he and other senators could’ve handled the situation on their own, and in any case, Ukraine ended up receiving the aid.

“So, this would have been far better off if we would have just taken care of this behind the scenes,” the Republican senator said. “We have two branches of government.”

The whistleblower’s complaint compiled accounts from several unnamed officials who expressed concern over Trump’s July call with Zelensky, during which Trump asked Zelensky to do him a “favor” and investigate Biden as the two leaders were discussing military aid to Ukraine. The complaint led to the sprawling House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s use of American foreign policy to help his own reelection prospects.
 

House Tells Court Impeachment Probe Is Looking At Whether Trump Lied To Mueller

A lawyer for the House of Representatives told an appeals court Monday that among the issues the House is probing in its ongoing impeachment inquiry is whether President Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.



The comments came in a hearing over whether the Judiciary Committee can access certain grand jury materials from Mueller’s probe. A district court judge already okayed their release, but now the the Justice Department is asking the appeals court to put that judge’s ruling on pause while it considers the case on the merits.

Much of Tuesday’s hour-and-a-half-long hearing focused on whether the House had met its standard of showing a particularized need for the sought materials.

House General Counsel Doug Letter said that the materials could answer the question: “Was the President not truthful in his responses to the special counsel.”

Letter was asked by Judge Thomas Griffith what the Mueller grand jury materials have to do with the Ukraine-focused impeachment proceedings currently happening on Capitol Hill.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Letter said, referring to media reports that describe those impeachment proceedings as being separate from the Mueller-related inquiry.

Letter said that the House impeachment probe is “in part” about Ukraine, but that it is also looking at whether Trump obstructed the Mueller investigation and the question of, “What did he know about Wikileaks.”

The first volume of the Mueller report refers to the grand jury testimony of former Trump campaign advisor Paul Manafort, Letter said. An issue for the House is whether that testimony was inconsistent with what Trump submitted in his written answers to Mueller’s team, according to Letter.

In those written answers, Trump claimed that he did not recall being aware of any communications between his campaign and Roger Stone or others posing as intermediaries to Wikileaks.

At Stone’s trial this month, documents and witness testimony showed that Stone had suggested to top Trump campaign officials that he was in touch with Wikileaks about its release of Democratic emails. Rick Gates — a top campaign advisor and Manafort’s longtime deputy — testified at the trial that he was told by Manafort to get updates from Stone about Wikileaks’ plans because Manafort wanted to give updates to the campaign, including to Trump.

Manafort did not testify at Stone’s trial.
 

Trump-Pompeo Impeachment Rift

The impeachment inquiry has tested the seemingly unbreakable bond between President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

According to an NBC News report Monday, citing four current and former senior administration officials, Trump has griped over Pompeo’s hiring of State Department officials who have provided damning testimony for Trump. Those familiar with the matter told NBC News that during a White House lunch on Oct. 29, Trump confronted his secretary of state regarding the officials and what he views as a dull attempt to block their testimony.

A senior administration official told NBC News that Trump “just felt like, ‘rein your people in.'”

Current and former senior administration officials told NBC News that Trump specifically takes issue with Pompeo’s appointment of top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor in June. Last week, Taylor publicly testified that the President asked EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland about the “investigations” into digging up false allegations into the Bidens.

An official familiar with the tensions between Trump and Pompeo said that the secretary of state “feels like he’s getting a bunch of blame from the President and the White House for having hired all these people who are turning against Trump,” before adding that Trump feels “it’s the State Department that is going to bring him down, so it’s all Pompeo’s fault.”

NBC News reported that Trump was angry when he arrived at his White House lunch with Pompeo last month, according to two officials. Pompeo reportedly attempted to defend himself amid Trump’s ire by telling the President that he doesn’t know who half of these State Department officials are and pointing out that there are thousands of employees at the agency whom he can’t control.

One official told NBC News that Trump and Pompeo managed to patch things up during the lunch, while another person familiar with the meeting said that the secretary of state continues to be “iced out” by Trump — meaning that despite Pompeo’s inclusion in meetings, Trump is less inclined to listen to him — and that “Pompeo feels under siege.”

Earlier this month, former Pompeo senior adviser Michael McKinley testified that he was disheartened by Trump railing against ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch — whom he called “bad news” — in his July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A few days after McKinley’s testimony, Pompeo denied McKinley’s claim that he had put a stop to a statement by the State Department supporting the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Late last month, Pompeo said that he is in “full accord” with Taylor on Ukraine policy, despite Trump repeatedly accusing Taylor of being a “Never Trumper.” Days later, Pompeo stoked a baseless conspiracy theory on Fox News implying that the Obama administration held back from giving weapons to Ukraine because of Hunter Biden.
 

Trump Says He Will ‘Strongly Consider’ Written Testimony For Impeachment Probe

President Trump offered a surprising response on Monday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) suggestion that he testify before the House committees probing impeachment — he’ll consider it.

In a tweet thread Monday morning, Trump insulted Pelosi and CBS’ “Face the Nation” — calling the Sunday show “DEFACE THE NATION” — before suggesting he might be open to providing written testimony to congressional investigators.

“I like the idea and will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!” he tweeted

 

This is fucking crazy on so many levels
 

McConnell Still ‘Can’t Imagine A Scenario’ Where Trump Is Removed From Office



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) doubled down on his predictionthat a Senate impeachment trial wouldn’t lead to the President’s ouster.

According to a Louisville Courier-Journal report Monday, McConnell said that he “can’t imagine a scenario” where the Senate would vote to remove Trump from office. McConnell spoke during an appearance in Louisville to receive this year’s “Distinguished Rural Kentuckian” award from the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.

“I can’t imagine a scenario under which President Trump would be removed from office with 67 votes in the Senate,” McConnell said, echoing his own comments earlier this month.

Despite his confidence in the Senate impeachment trial’s outcome, McConnell said that he wasn’t sure how long it would last. He added that the ongoing impeachment inquiry, which entered its public phase last week, is a distraction to priorities such as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

“Nothing is happening because House Democrats seized with Trump derangement syndrome are consumed with this argument with the President,” McConnell said.

McConnell also attempted to offer some advice that President Trump would do well to follow.

“People are acting out,” McConnell said. “We need to learn how to behave better, how to disagree without anger …”

Earlier this month, several pro-Trump pundits called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to ditch the notion of a fair Senate trial by dismissing the articles of impeachment outright. However, McConnell suggested last week that the Senate has no plans to cut short an impeachment trial because “the rules of impeachment are very clear.”

191562
 
Back
Top