Republicans Muster Their Best Against Trump Impeachment.
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“Thank God no one is accusing us of interfering in the U.S. elections anymore; now they’re accusing Ukraine.”
— Russian President Vladimir Putin (12/4/19)
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“All roads lead to Putin.”
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (12/6/19)
By Dan Peak
The Commoner Call (12/12/19)
Dear Fellow Readers,
THE BIG LIE
When considering Trump-Ukraine, who benefits, who wins?
Russia keeps Crimea and Donbas in exchange for ending a war of aggression against Ukraine. Putin benefits and Trump is once again his useful idiot, the Russian asset.
Who says this you wonder? Russian President Vladimir utin, that’s who.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s pleased that the “political battles” in Washington have put on the back-burner accusations that Russia interfered in U.S. elections.
“”Thank God,” he told an economic forum in the Russian capital on Wednesday, “no one is accusing us of interfering in the U.S. elections anymore; now they’re accusing Ukraine.””
Putin and Trump.
The conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine has been going on for six years now. Trump has never characterized this as Russian aggression; in fact he’s done the opposite. In fact at the G7 meeting in Quebec in 2018 “that Crimea is Russian because everyone who lives there speaks Russian, according to two diplomatic sources.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained all this clearly and succinctly:
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi is connecting the dots — “all roads lead to Putin,” she says — and making the argument that Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine was not an isolated incident but part of a troubling bond with the Russian president reaching back to special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings on the 2016 election.
““This has been going on for 2 1/2 years,” Pelosi said Friday.
“This isn’t about Ukraine,” she explained a day earlier. ”’It’s about Russia. Who benefited by our withholding of that military assistance? Russia.””
Who doesn’t benefit from Trump-Ukraine? Ukraine and President Zelensky. As Putin-Zelensky started this week in Paris, Zelensky is at a disadvantage but Putin hopes for a good outcome for himself:
“The Russians hope that this will be a yet another step towards a loosening of European sanctions,” Kofman said. “That’s ultimately what it is about for Russia.”
Trump has of course set the table for Putin. Trump told Zelensky in September, “I really hope you and President Putin get together and can solve your problem.”
Imagine as a father you told your 2nd grade son he’s got to ‘work this out together’ with the held-back 6th grader who keeps taking your kid’s lunch money. The poor 2nd grader is asked, “did you ever feel pressured?” Hell yes I felt pressured, I’ve been embarrassed, degraded, physically abused – but you expect me to say all that? So he answers, “no, I was not pressured”. While the 6th grader stands right next to him.
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Trump lawyer and attorney general Billy Barr to Trump’s rescue?
Trump lawyer and attorney general William Barr’s report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is now out. Trump rescued?
No. Barr’s report does not confirm Trump conspiracies. Two competing headlines tell the story.
Barr’s Inspector General Horowitz, does not benefit Trump – FBI bias against Trump is rejected. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) highlighted, “Clearly, there was a legitimate, factual basis; in fact the FBI had a moral imperative to begin this investigation.”
Barr introduces his own doubt over his report saying he doesn’t agree with some of the findings. As reported in earlier columns, this was expected and Barr did not disappoint. Trumpsters anxiously await a NEXT Barr report, this time it will be from Barr appointment U.S. Attorney John Dunham.
Trump once again wants you to believe him, not ‘your lyin’ eyes’ with his own ‘lyin’ version:
Trump: IG report of justified campaign probe shows ‘attempted overthrow’ of government
Horowitz does question some FBI processes without suggesting these affected the rationale or outcome of the investigation but expect Trumpsters to hammer this.
Oh, and by the way, one of Trump’s favorite FBI targets, Lisa Page, was exonerated from wrongdoing by the report.
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‘America First’ has become ‘Trump First’ – and the US is left to go it alone, isolated, distrusted, mocked…
Putin is a “racketeer with rockets” as related in a new book, The Return of the Russian Leviathan, by Sergei Medvedev.
Russia and Putin have now been booted from Olympics and World Cup.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency executive committee handed down the most severe punishment to date in the years-long Russian doping saga, issuing a four-year ban that will bar Russia from competing at the next two Olympic Games.”
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, acknowledged on Monday that Russia had “significant problems with doping” but said the ban was a “continuation of chronic anti-Russian hysteria”.
As Trump and Putin continually tell us: It’s never the criminals; it’s the investigation that is the problem.
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Russia-Ukraine
Calling for Impeachment, here’s how the New York Times Editorial Board summarizes Trump, his crimes and Trumpster complicity:
“President Trump has now made obvious his contempt for the notion that Congress has any authority to hold him accountable. He has signaled that he won’t mount any defense to impeachment charges in the House over his scheming in Ukraine, insisting it is somehow beneath him to participate in a constitutional process.
“Today’s Republican legislators have supported President Trump’s rejection of Congress’s independent authority by showing nothing but indifference to the alarming testimony of credible witnesses, and scorn for public servants who have had the courage to testify — an attitude that should be infuriating to anyone who expects legislators to honor their oath of office.
“There’s no question that the Russia matter underscores that Mr. Trump embraces foreign meddling in support of his own political ambitions, and it can serve as important context as House members press their case.”
Meanwhile Trump’s clown lawyer Rudy Giuliani is wheeling around Ukraine, still digging for dirt and tweeting as he goes. Some Trumpsters don’t abide this, even head cheerleader Rep. Matt Goetz (R-FL) is confused:
“Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a close ally of President Trump, broke from him Sunday to express concern that Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, traveled to Ukraine as House Democrats are poised to move ahead on Trump’s impeachment.
““It’s weird that he’s over there,” Gaetz said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “It would seem odd having him over there at this time.””
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Next step
An interesting suggestion for process has been making the rounds. Impeach Trump in the House, don’t send to the Senate and keep investigating. I mean this does address a latest GOP defense – rushed hearings lead to a poor outcome.
There were House Judicial Committee hearings on Monday, keeping Impeachment in the public eye. Dem lawyer Dan Goldman offered a clear statement for the hearings:
“We are here today because Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, abused the power of his office, the American presidency, for his political and personal benefit. As part of this scheme, President Trump applied increasing pressure on the president of Ukraine to publicly announce two investigations helpful to his personal reelection efforts.”
Trump was defended by Trumpsters for his cooperation and you’d swear some guy named Biden must be the president under investigation. Trumpsters still mount no defense for Trump.
Impeach.
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All You Need To Know: The Case For Trump’s Impeachment In Less Than 5 Minutes
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) uses his Monday House Judiciary hearing in less than five minutes to make a perfect and simple case for how Trump ‘did it’. A masterpiece. — Dan Peak