Tag: impeachment

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News Round-Up: February 7, 2020

Anthony Varrechia (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Like a LOT of folks, I find designer Anthony Varrecchia (above) to be sooo sexy. I’ve been meaning to point out, by the way, that I try to feature a wide range of InstaHunks – younger, older, muscular, beefy, bear-y, all races…Someone made a remark to me a few months ago on my ‘lack of diversity’ in the choices of eye-candy and I was like…whaaaat? • NY Times: Just hours after Donald Trump had Lt. Colonel Alex Vindman escorted from the White House, Trump has fired Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union. Both testified in the House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine. • New Hampshire: Two new polls show Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg leading the pack in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. A new NBC News/Marist poll finds Sanders gets support from 25 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, while Buttigieg gets support from 21 percent. The Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll puts the two even closer with Sanders at 24 percent and Buttigieg at 23 percent. • Courthouse News: At a record 20.4 million voters, California officials announced Thursday over 80% of the state’s eligible voters are registered to vote in next month’s Super Tuesday primary – the highest rate for a presidential primary since 1952. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla says there are currently over 3 million more registered voters compared to a similar point in the 2016 presidential election. • Washington Post: Just days after the earth saw its warmest January on record, Antarctica has broken its warmest temperature ever recorded. A reading of 65 degrees was taken at Esperanza Base along Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula on Thursday, making it the ordinarily frigid continent’s highest measured temperature in history. • ABC News: In a rare dissent within party ranks, Republican Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont said during a news conference that he believes Donald Trump abused his power and shouldn’t be in office. He added the U.S. Senate should have been allowed to hear more from witnesses who could have provided evidence about the charges against Trump. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in local gay rags across the country, like Ben McLaughlin and Lee Gonzalez on the cover of Chicago’s GRAB Magazine.

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Impeachment Witness Lt. Colonel Vindman Escorted From White House

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman

NBC News is reporting Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified during the House impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, was escorted from the White House Friday afternoon.

“LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” his attorney David Pressman said in a statement. “The truth has cost LTC Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy.”

Pressman added that, “the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit” had “decided to exact revenge” on Vindman.

Vindman had, as part of his duties, listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy, which was at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

The Washington Post first reported on efforts by the White House to push out Vindman, citing two people familiar with the move, as part of a broader targeting by Trump of perceived enemies in the wake of his acquittal in the Senate after a two-week trial. The Post reported that Vindman would be reassigned to a job at the Defense Department.

Other than to embarrass him, there was no reason to “escort” a decorated Army officer honored with a Purple Heart medal after being injured in Iraq in 2004. In his opening statement during his appearance before Congress, Vindman included an emotional message to his father. “You made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” said Vindman. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”

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Senate Votes To Acquit Donald Trump, Romney Only GOP Guilty Vote

The U.S. Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump today on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was the only Republican to cross party lines and vote to remove Trump from office. Two notable red-state Democratic Senators – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona cast ‘guilty’ votes. This becomes the first bipartisan vote to remove a sitting president via impeachment. From the New York Times:

The tally for conviction fell far below the 67-vote threshold necessary for removal and neither article of impeachment garnered even a simple majority.

The first article, abuse of power, was rejected 48 to 52, and the second, obstruction of Congress, was defeated 47 to 53. Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was the only member to break with his party, voting to remove Mr. Trump from office.

The votes, ending the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, were a resounding victory for Mr. Trump after five months of blaring scandal over Ukraine that embroiled Washington and threatened his presidency. But both sides agreed that the final judgment on Mr. Trump will be rendered by voters when they cast ballots in just nine months.

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DOJ Reveals It Has Dozens Of Trump/Ukraine Emails

The news of the emails came just hours after the Senate voted against any new evidence in Donald Trump’s impeachment trail. Because, of course. CNN reports:

The Department of Justice revealed in a court filing late Friday that it has two dozen emails related to the President Donald Trump’s involvement in the withholding of millions in security assistance to Ukraine — a disclosure that came just hours after the Senate voted against subpoenaing additional documents and witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, paving the way for his acquittal. The filing, released near midnight Friday, marks the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration that emails about the President’s thinking related to the aid exist, and that he was directly involved in asking about and deciding on the aid as early as June. The administration is still blocking those emails from the public and has successfully kept them from Congress

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Murkowski To Vote ‘No’ On Impeachment Witnesses

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced Friday she will vote against calling witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. And with that announcement, we are likely to see the trial come to an end soon. “I carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings of its process, but ultimately decided that I will vote against considering motions to subpoena,” Murkowski said.

The announcement came just prior to a four-hour debate and a vote on whether to allow new evidence, scheduled for Friday. A few of things I’ll point out here: One, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have already announced they would vote ‘yes’ on calling witnesses. IF Murkowski had voted ‘yes’ as well, it would have put Chief Justice John Roberts, currently presiding over the trial, in the position of having to break a tie. The optics of him choosing a side in the proceedings would have been horrible for the Republicans. This surely led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold Murkowski to a ‘no’ vote. Two, Murkowski isn’t up for reelection this year, and she comes from an overwhelmingly red state. She needed to look like she was standing with her party. Contrast that with Collins who IS up for reelection with a tough campaign ahead – in a state that isn’t a solidly red state. Finally, in the 20 U.S. impeachments since 1797, this is the first one to have no witnesses. Think on that.

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Justice Dept Lawyers Contradict Trump Impeachment Team

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.”

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News Round-Up: January 29, 2020

Daniel Sheehan (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: I totally agree with designer Daniel Sheehan (above) on the issue of less: “As I get older I am understanding the notion of Less, that less can in fact be MORE. Better quality life, stronger relationships, and focus on what is really important to me as an individual and as a member of society.” Follow the wise and woofy Sheehan on Instagram here. • The Gaily Grind: Lee Brobson, 30, had to be hospitalized after he was brutally beaten up by two men during a night out after he bravely stood up for two of his gay best friends who were being subjected to a homophobic attack for holding hands. • BBC News: A number of gay men say they are going to extreme lengths to change their bodies – including using steroids and having plastic surgery – just to become “accepted” by others in the LGBT community. • NBC News: Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, argued today that a quid pro quo involving a president’s political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public’s interest. Essentially, if Trump withheld nearly $400 million in aid to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations of Democrats to help his campaign, that’s fine because Trump thinks his election is to the country’s benefit. • Advocate: Nine Republican lawmakers in Iowa have introduced a bill that would remove gender identity from the state’s nondiscrimination law — and if the bill passes, it would mark the first time an entire category was removed from such a law in any state. • MLive: Supporters of a ballot initiative to protect LGBT Michigan residents from discrimination say they’ll begin collecting signatures as soon as this weekend following initial approval from a state board. The group has until May 27 to collect 340,047 valid petition signatures in order to be eligible for statewide ballot in fall 2020. • Twitter: When Donald Trump Jr. tried to appropriate Billy Porter’s Grammy Awards lewk in an attempt to troll Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, Porter clapped back on Twitter throwing classic shade complete with closing curtains.

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Bolton Revelations Amp-Up Pressure On GOP Senators

Trump walks past reporters with no comment

Trump walks past reporters with no comment
Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
From the New York Times:

Revelations from President Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, threatened to upend the Republican strategy for a fast trial and acquittal.

A handful of Republican senators appeared to be moving closer to Democrats, who want to hear from Mr. Bolton, whose manuscript accuses the president of tying Ukraine’s military aid to politically motivated investigations as well as describes the national security adviser’s concerns that Mr. Trump was doing favors for autocratic leaders.

The president’s legal team must conclude its oral arguments on Tuesday.  After the arguments, senators have 16 hours to ask questions of each side.

A vote on whether to hear witnesses in the trial is now expected on Friday.

The Times also reports that John F. Kelly, former chief of staff to Trump, told an audience in Florida on Monday night that he believed the revelations in Bolton’s upcoming book and believes the Senate should call witnesses in the impeachment trial. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is one of the GOP senators who now seem to favor Bolton testifying.

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Senate Republicans Say They Were Blindsided By White House

Donald Trump and John Bolton

As Donald Trump’s legal team begins its second day of oral arguments in the Senate impeachment trial, some Republicans in the Senate were roiled by the report from the New York Times that the White House had been sitting on a copy of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book which apparently asserts that Trump did condition the release of military aid for Ukraine on an announcement of investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Via the New York Times:

By Monday morning, several Republican senators had angrily called the White House trying to determine who at the administration knew about Mr. Bolton’s manuscript, which aides there have had for several weeks, and what was in it. They told the White House they felt blindsided, according to people briefed on the calls who insisted on anonymity to describe private discussions.

One reason for their ire is that Mr. Bolton’s account flies in the face of the rationale the president’s lawyers have offered the Senate for his actions, and which many Republicans have latched onto themselves as a defense of his conduct.

Trump, of course, denies Bolton’s version of the story. He tweeted, “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.” Trump’s lawyers now have to somehow argue that the Donald didn’t do what he’s accused of doing after Bolton has said he did. It’s difficult to see how some GOP senators won’t vote in favor of Bolton testifying at the impeachment trial now, especially since he’s said he would testify if asked. Even folks over at Fox News see the bad timing of the Bolton news.

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National Security Adviser: Trump Tied Military Aid To Ukraine To Biden Investigations

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (image via White House - public domain)

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaking to the press in May 2019 (image via White House – public domain)
This seriously undercuts the position of Donald Trump’s legal defense team. I think it’s safe to say Bolton HAS to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial. From the New York Times:

President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.

The president’s statement as described by Mr. Bolton could undercut a key element of his impeachment defense: that the holdup in aid was separate from Mr. Trump’s requests that Ukraine announce investigations into his perceived enemies, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, who had worked for a Ukrainian energy firm while his father was in office.

Mr. Bolton’s explosive account of the matter at the center of Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial, the third in American history, was included in drafts of a manuscript he has circulated in recent weeks to close associates.