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US Politics The trump impeachment thread

CoastTwoCoast said:
I checked that idiot's twitter feed and it's real. Even for him, it's unbelievable he'd go that far. His ego is out of control. He's clearly a psychopath.
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Hahahaha. I’m on there lots lately. I might follow him. The funny thing about that tweet is it’s like a teenager who just tweets whatever. Other famous people compose them really carefully but Donald just grabs his phone and types.

The other funny thing I heard was he blocked Stephen King. No idea why but that seemed childish as well.
 
AbbeyLee said:
He really does seem like a big kid.

Just saw this and lol, more fat kids..

www.theguardian.com

Trump administration to roll back school lunch rules and allow more pizza

Proposal to ease Michelle Obama guidelines would let schools cut the amount of vegetables required
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Michelle Obama did a good thing getting the kids healthier lunches, now he wants to undo it of course. I guess he wants every one to look like his tubby ass. So much for "Make America Great Again!"
 
^ That's why the whole Melania "be best" thing is so hilarious (other than the name of the campaign itself). It's an anti-bullying initiative and she's married to literally the most famous cyber bully on the planet
 
Lev Parnas is spilling his guts. His claims are consistent with testimony from Ambassador Gordon Sondland at Trump’s impeachment hearings that everyone was in the loop on the quid pro quo.

New Lev Parnas records detail Ukraine surveillance efforts, contact with Devin Nunes aide
Lev Parnas is in this picture

Lev Parnas

The House Intelligence Committee released materials Friday provided by Lev Parnas, who investigators say acted as a "direct channel" between President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani and individuals close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Driving the news: The new materials detail conversations between Parnas and one of House Intelligence Ranking Member Devin Nunes' aides and highlight surveillance efforts against Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Nunes was one of the top investigators in Trump's impeachment probe.

Parnas did the following, according to documents he provided to the House committee:
  • Kept hand-written notes outlining the alleged pre-condition of a now-infamous July 25 phone call between President Trump and Zelensky: that Zelensky publicly announce an investigation into Joe Biden, Trump's political rival in the 2020 election.
  • Arranged interviews with Nunes aide Derek Harvey and Ukrainian officials, including Yuri Lutsenko, the country's prosecutor general.
  • Shared pictures and articles of Yovanovitch with GOP congressional candidate and Trump donor Robert Hyde, who texted back: "Can't believe Trum[p] hasn't fired this [b**ch]. I'll get right on that."
  • Received text messages from Hydesuggesting that the congressional candidate had Yovanovitch under physical surveillance in Kyiv. “They are willing to help if we/you would like a price," Hyde texted.
  • Appeared to receive screenshots of Hyde's conversation with a Belgian country-code number. "Nothing has changed she is still not moving they check today again. It's confirmed we have a person inside," the contact textedHyde in a string, after sharing a picture of Yovanovitch and a tweet referencing her.
What's next: Democrats hope these materials will be submitted for the record during the Senate impeachment trial.

Between the lines, as reported earlier this week: Parnas is not an especially reliable narrator; he's been indicted on federal campaign-finance charges (and maintains his innocence).
  • This is all about credibility. Parnas has now gone public with numerous eye-popping documents. But is that reason enough for Americans to take him at his word? Will Ukrainian officials confirm Parnas claims that aren't supported by documentary evidence? Or will people have to decide for themselves whether or not to take them at face value?
Go deeper: Lev Parnas: "Trump knew exactly what was going on" in Ukraine
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www.axios.com

New Lev Parnas records detail Ukraine surveillance efforts, contact with Devin Nunes aide

The new records highlight surveillance efforts in Ukraine against Marie Yovanovitch.
www.axios.com www.axios.com
 
Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, veterans of the OJ defense team and Clinton impeachment trial, respectively, are now team Trump.

Trump's impeachment team for the Senate trial will include Ken Starr, Robert Ray, Alan Dershowitz in addition to lawyers Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, per two sources familiar with the matter.

The state of play: Jane Raskin will also be a part of the legal team, per one source familiar, as will Eric Herschmann according to a White House statement. Dershowitz will present oral arguments at the trial to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal, per a statement.The New York Times first reported the details about the president's counsel.
"While Professor Dershowitz is non partisan when it comes to the constitution—he opposed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and voted for Hillary Clinton— he believes the issues at stake go to the heart of our enduring Constitution."
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— Alan Dershowitz tweeted
Behind the scenes: Several White House officials told me they were hoping Trump wouldn’t pick Alan Dershowitz to play a role in the Senate trial.
  • They said it was an unforced error given the team was already strong and he has close, publicly documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein which could become a distraction.
  • But Trump thinks Dershowitz is magnificent on TV, a White House official told me.
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www.axios.com

Trump impeachment team includes Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz will present oral arguments at the trial.
www.axios.com www.axios.com

Draft of McConnell's rules for trial still allows motion to dismiss
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is preparing a resolution that would leave room for President Trump's lawyers to move immediately to dismiss the impeachment charges if they so choose, according to Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.

Yes, but: Republican Senate leaders, including McConnell and Roy Blunt, the senior senator from Missouri, have already said members aren't interested in a vote to dismiss. And it seems unlikely that Trump's team would push for what would almost certainly be a losing vote — a move that could be seen as a sign of weakness at the outset of the trial.

Behind the scenes: "I am familiar with the resolution as it stood a day or two ago," Hawley, the junior senator from Missouri, told me in a phone interview on Saturday. "My understanding is that the resolution will give the president's team the option to either move to judgment or to move to dismiss at a meaningful time..."
  • Hawley added that in the most recent draft of the organizing resolution he saw there was an option for the president's counsel to make a motion in multiple places, including at the beginning of the proceedings.
  • A Republican leadership aide responded: "The White House has the right to make motions under the regular order, including a motion to dismiss, right after the resolution is adopted because a motion to dismiss is a motion permitted by the impeachment rules."
Hawley added that if the final resolutiondoes not allow Trump's lawyers the option to dismiss or move to judgment at a "meaningful point" in the trial, he would be "very, very surprised," and might not vote for the organizing resolution.
  • Hawley also said he worries that if Trump doesn't have the option to move to dismiss or move to judgment then Adam Schiff would have too much control over the trial.
The state of play: There have been multiple indications — including from McConnell himself — that the Senate will not vote to dismiss the charges of impeachment against the president.
  • "There is little or no sentiment in the Republican conference for a motion to dismiss," McConnell told reporters on Jan. 14. "Our members feel that we have an obligation to listen to the arguments."
  • He said the resolution would lay out a way for senators to listen to the prosecution and defense and follow up with written questions submitted through the presiding officer Chief Justice John Roberts. "That means listening to the case, not dismissing the case."
  • That's certainly true for moderate or purple-state Republican senators up for re-election, such as Maine's Susan Collins. They have sought to show they are taking impeachment seriously and have tried to steer away from actions that would suggest they are dismissing the case against the president out of hand.
The big picture: Trump endorsed on Twitter the idea of outright dismissal of the charges against him. It could be an opportunity for some of Trump's closest Senate Republican allies to register their contempt for the case that House Democrats marshaled against the president — even if the motion is doomed to fail.
  • It could also serve as a break-glass option if the trial took a turn and Trump's allies felt they needed a mechanism to bring about an abrupt end to the trial.
What's next: Trump's team says it wants a fast impeachment trial, and Republicans are preparing for the possibility of a time frame as short as two weeks.
  • But there will be opportunities for curve balls that may extend throughout the trial.
  • Collins has joined several other Republican senators, including Mitt Romney, in saying they want to be able to vote to hear from additional witnesses — a key demand of Senate Democrats.
  • They are expected to be given that vote after the Senate has heard each sides' opening arguments.
Go deeper:
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www.axios.com

Draft of McConnell's rules for trial still allows motion to dismiss

Even if it's doomed, a motion to dismiss impeachment could give Trump loyalist a vote they want.
www.axios.com www.axios.com
 
JessFR said:
So that's 3 for 3 on defending the guilty. :)

Probably be 3 for 3 in getting away with it too.
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Did I read somewhere that Dershowitz was being sued by some of Epsteins' victims? If you believe Dershowitz he visited Epstein numerous times in NY and never once saw anything, partook in anything ever
 
novaveritas said:
Did I read somewhere that Dershowitz was being sued by some of Epsteins' victims? If you believe Dershowitz he visited Epstein numerous times in NY and never once saw anything, partook in anything ever
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A little history:
Jeffrey Epstein (2008)
Dershowitz was a member of the legal defense team for Jeffrey Epstein, who was investigated following accusations that he had repeatedly solicited sex from minors. Epstein's legal team investigated some of his accusers and provided both the police and the State attorney's office with a dossier containing information about plaintiffs' behavior, which had been obtained from their personal MySpace pages, including allegations of alcohol and drug use. On June 30, 2008, after Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge (one of two) of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18,[34] he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Epstein served almost 13 months before being released for a year of probation on house arrest until August 2010.[35]
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And re @novaveritas:

Giuffre says in the in the suit filed Tuesday that she was the victim of sex trafficking and abuse by Epstein during 2000 to 2002, beginning when she was 16 years old.

"When Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking in 2006, Dershowitz defended his friend and client by falsely attacking the veracity of his accusers, including calling the children whom Epstein had abused [and, in the case of Plaintiff, the Defendant himself had also abused], liars and prostitutes,” the defamation suit filed by Giuffre says.

The lawsuit was first reported by the Miami Herald Tuesday.
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www.nbcnews.com

Alan Dershowitz sued for defamation connected to Epstein sex abuse claims

"I've been looking for an opportunity to prove in court that this woman made up whole story," Alan Dershowitz said.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

I’m not sure if Giuffre is Jane Doe in this older lawsuit that was settled:
www.businessinsider.com

Lawyers admit it was a 'mistake' to claim Alan Dershowitz had sex with an underage girl tied to a notorious financier

A long-running and bitter legal dispute has finally come to an end.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
 
It certainly doesn't seem to have slowed him down any, if anything it brought out the busted Coke bottle element in his management style, just ask Iran. Now of course, I cannot figure out the hard-on he has for messing with them -- just how many Iranians or Shi'ites were on those four aeroplanes or hiding Bin Laden all that time? There are most assuredly military and other folks in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who deserve a drone up the arse, certainly more humane than a bone saw to be sure. Saudi Arabia -- the one country in the world home to trillionaires, and a perfect example of national socialism in the XXI. Century, why do they need to be protected by foreign troops from the US and proposedly Nato or whatever? All that dough and bad energy and their enthusiasm for nuclear proliferation . . . what makes them so incapable defending themselves? And why wouldn't Iran want to be a quarter turn of a screwdriver from the Bomb with the kind of neighbours they have? What would you think if all you were allowed is a tube sock full of wood screws and a cane with a brass knob on the end when you live in a flat and you have one set of neighbours who are always menacing people in the corridor trying to figure out who called the cops on the loud music at 4.30 Tuesday morning and the heavy foot traffic of freelance pharmaceutical and/or sex sales people (all of whom ostensibly can obtain firearms and switchblade knives for them, and who knows, maybe sticks of dynamite too) at all hours of the day and night, and another one who is always beating his wife to an inch of her life inch of her life inch of her life? And the cops take an hour to get there all the time anyways?

I guess not having to give a fork anymore also made Trump decide that finally he should try to improve ties with India? Good for him. I guess I am surprised too. What a crock the old policy was -- I was pretty sure that President Obama was not going to leave office without starting an eighth new war, in this case in South Central Asia and that was the one worry I had about HRC to be honest.

So by all means impeach him again -- he may have a come to JC moment about the fake opioid cri$i$ gravy train too and knock off the previous executive orders and reverse course for all we know.
 
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