LGBTQ news and entertainment
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has become the latest (and most prominent) Democrat in Congress to call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race and “pass the torch.” Continue reading “Rep. Adam Schiff Calls On Biden To Step Aside And “Pass The Torch””
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) addressed Lara Trump’s gripes on CNN this morning that Donald Trump’s falsifying documents case wasn’t moved out of New York City (where the crimes actually occurred). Her implication was that the Donald “couldn’t get a fair trial” in Manhattan. and yet, he did. Continue reading “Schiff: ‘If You Don’t Want To Be Tried In NY, Don’t Commit Crimes In NY’”
Luke Macfarlane (image via Instagram)
Throughout the impeachment trial, Donald Trump’s lawyers have said that the House impeachment investigation should have played out in court. They’ve repeatedly said that subpoenas for witnesses and documents must take place in the courtroom because the judicial branch is an essential check on the legislative branch. But House Manager Adam Schiff incited laughter in the Senate when he announced that Trump’s Justice Department argued in court today that judges have no place to enforce subpoenas because of the impeachment power. According to reports, when the judge asked DOJ lawyers “If Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas, what remedy is there?,” the attorneys said, “Impeachment.” As Schiff said in front of cameras today, “you can’t make this up.”
SCHIFF: "While we've been debating whether POTUS can be impeached for bogus claims of privilege, the DOJ is resisting subpoenas in court today… the judge says 'if Congress can't enforce its subpoenas, what remedy is there,' & DOJ's response is impeachment! You can't make it up" pic.twitter.com/Tim1HHDgBO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2020
Prior to House Intelligence Committee Chairman and lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff’s appearance on NBC News’ Meet The Press this morning, Donald Trump took to Twitter to rant (and threaten?) Schiff. From NBC News:
President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., will pay a “price” for his role in the impeachment saga. “Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man,” Trump tweeted. “He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!”
The president posted those comments after writing earlier Sunday that his impeachment “is a massive election interference the likes of which has never been seen before.”
Speaking with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, said he thought Trump’s tweet is “intended to be” a threat to him. Trump responded later Sunday by calling Schiff a “conman.”
Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020
WATCH: @RepAdamSchiff: “Look at the president’s tweets about me today saying I should pay a price..”@chucktodd: “Do you take that as a threat?”@RepAdamSchiff: “I think it is intended to be.” pic.twitter.com/8uWXRSJKj0
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 26, 2020
Rep. Adam Schiff (screen capture)
L-R Defense Sec. Mark Esper, House Intel. Chairman Adam Schiff
Mark Esper on CBS: I didn’t see the intelligence about Iran posing an imminent threat to 4 US embassies, but I believe President Trump when he says there was one pic.twitter.com/pAaMVXGAde
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 12, 2020
But later in the broadcast, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff says there was nothing shown to him in ‘Gang of 8’ intelligence briefings that showed any specific evidence regarding attacks on 4 U.S. embassies.
Trump said on Fox that the intelligence showed Iran plotting against four of our embassies. As a member of the Gang of 8, that was news to me. Now, Esper says this was not intelligence, only Trump’s personal belief. That’s no basis to take us to the brink of war. pic.twitter.com/G2VRkoW9QE
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 12, 2020
He. Just. Made. It. Up. https://t.co/H0pY55SWoe
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 11, 2020
Some news items you might have missed: • Instahunks: Fashion designer Daniel Sheehan calls his white t-shirt the ‘sexiest basic’ you’ll own, but I don’t see anything ‘basic’ in this pic (above). • Newsweek: The Hallmark Channel has yet to produce any gay-themed Christmas movies, but a petition launched by outraged evangelicals is aimed at thwarting any future attempts at making a film with LGBTQ themes or characters. • The Hill: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) – “The President doesn’t give a shit about what’s good for our country, what’s good for Ukraine. It’s all about what’s in it for him personally and for his reelection campaign.” • Advocate: A Republican congressman has introduced a bill he positions as a compromise answer to the Equality Act, but it includes broad religious exemptions. • Twitter: Donald Trump said today that “it is wrong” that “laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the 9th month.” #WhoWantsToTellHim?
WATCH: Trump decries the fact that “laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the 9th month,” and says “it is wrong, it has to change.” It’s unclear if Trump is calling for forced abortions or for delaying births until the 10th month.pic.twitter.com/T4YOw3QD2D
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) December 7, 2019
Rudy Giuliani (screen capture)
Giuliani said Tuesday that he would not testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee and that he “can’t imagine” that anyone from the Trump administration would appear before the panel led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) either.
“The position I’m stating is now the position of the administration,” Giuliani said in an interview in which he revealed that the administration has written a letter that will be released soon saying that Schiff’s committee is illegitimate.
“I wouldn’t testify in front of that committee until there is a vote of Congress and he [Schiff] is removed,” Giuliani said, referring to Republican calls for a full House vote on an impeachment inquiry and the removal of Schiff as the committee’s chairman.
That’s a little like saying, “I will play your team as long as LeBron does not play…” In related news, three House committee chairmen announced that they will issue a subpoena to compel testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, hours after learning he failed to appear for a deposition. Sondland was apparently ordered by the State Department not to appear. “We consider this interference to be obstruction of the impeachment inquiry,” the three committee chairmen said in a statement Tuesday. “We will be issuing a subpoena to Ambassador Sondland for both his testimony and documents.” Shortly before he was scheduled to appear before Congress, Trump blocked Sondland’s testimony calling the committee’s “a kangaroo court.” Although Sondland’s position does not involve Ukraine officially, recent reports of text messages indicate he was central to the conversations between the White House’s request to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the newly-elected president of Ukraine.
House Democrats continue to wrestle within their own party regarding the idea of beginning impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.
This was front and center today as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he’s ‘just not convinced, not yet,’ that it’s the best thing for the country right now.
“In terms of the impeachment process, it’s not mandated by the Constitution. We can avail ourselves of this when the president demonstrates acts that are high crimes or misdemeanors. It is certainly true that much of his conduct qualifies for that, but at the same time we have to recognize the reality that one party, the Republican Party, has turned itself into a cult of the president’s personality and is not likely to act consistent with its constitutional obligations. And we have to figure out in that context, is this the right thing for the country, and I’m just not convinced, not yet, that that’s the case.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on impeachment: “One party – the Republican Party has turned itself into a cult of the president’s personality and is not likely to act consist with its constitutional obligations” https://t.co/1KA7z13fgZ pic.twitter.com/bZ6a673Fd5— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 2, 2019
Several freshman rank and file Democrats are ready to dive into impeachment proceedings, but as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week, even if articles of impeachment pass in the Democratic-controlled House, the GOP-led Senate (which acts as the judge and jury over such allegations) will never find Trump guilty.
That would then make Trump a martyr to his followers and could embolden them even more in the 2020 election.
Plus, were he to be found ‘not guilty’ by the Senate, that verdict could dissuade any charges being brought against Trump in the private sector once he’s out of office.