Tag: impeachment

Posted on

Fox News Poll Shows 50% Support Removing Trump From Office

A new poll by Fox News shows 55% of those polled approve of the current economy (44% say it’s only ‘fair’), but 50% say the Senate should vote to remove Donald Trump from the Oval Office. Even with the strong economy, the new survey says 56% are not satisfied with the direction of the country versus 43% who approve. And by a 50-44 percent margin, respondents say the Senate should vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. Remember, this a Fox News poll, folks. While the majority of responses fall on partisan lines – 81% of Democrats say remove and 84% of Republicans disagree – among independents, the results are starker as 53% of those say Trump should be removed versus 34% who disagree. This is now the third major national poll released this week to show support for removing Trump from office at 50% or higher – 51% in CNN’s poll and Pew’s polling, 50% in the Fox poll.

Posted on

Trump Threatens Schiff: ‘He Has Not Paid The Price, Yet’

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.”

Here’s Schiff’s full appearance on Meet The Press this morning:

Posted on

Audio Of Trump Ordering Ukraine Ambassador To Be ‘Taken Out’ Given To Investigators

L-R Lev Parnas, Donald Trump
ABC News reports it has reviewed an audio recording of what appears to be Donald Trump having a conversation with former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas regarding then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. In the recording, a voice said to be Trump’s can be heard saying, “Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.” Parnas’ lawyer  Joseph Bondy told the press the recording has been furnished to the House Intelligence Committee: “We do believe that contents of the conversation as portrayed by ABC News are of critical importance in the impeachment trial of the President. And would urge that it be produced to Congress.” Bondy also gave the full recording to the press for full transparency:

Trump has repeatedly announced he “doesn’t know” Parnas and “hasn’t ever spoken” to Parnas. If you listen to the full recording, it’s clear this was a lengthy dinner meeting that Trump had with Parnas and others. And he tells the public he “hasn’t ever spoken” to Parnas??? The White House has not defended the tape other than Vice President Mike Pence saying the recording “confirms what people already know.” Check out ABC News’ report below.

Posted on

Trump’s Twitter Meltdown As His Legal Team Begins Impeachment Defense

Donald Trump

As Donald Trump’s legal team began to present their defense case in the ongoing impeachment trial today, the Donald took to Twitter to encourage his followers to watch the proceedings – but on his favorite state network, Fox News. While there, he also threw out some elementary school insults at House impeachment lead manager Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for good measure. Remember when some members of the media assured us he would, at some point, grow into a more ‘presidential’ bearing? I think we got the answer to that a long time ago.

Posted on

News Round-Up: January 24, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Ramses Principe (above) waxes grateful about the journey thus far. Always a good idea, no? Follow the hunky fitness expert on Instagram here. • Washington Blade: A woman falsely accused a circuit party that caters to queer people of color of being “an organized sex party” setting off a string of investigations. • ABC News: Two-thirds of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say the U.S. Senate should call new witnesses at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. • Talking Points Memo: Sen. Elizabeth Warren has pledged to release all impeachment-related documents that the White House has barred should she become president.

• KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in local gay rags across the country. Check the latest from Gloss Magazine (below) here.
The latest issue of Gloss Magazine (via Kenneth-in-the-212)
• The Gaily Grind: A Republican ‘family values’ candidate was busted for joining a dating website for married men looking to cheat. • CNN: Bernie Sanders is facing a backlash from some Democrats after his campaign trumpeted an endorsement from comedian Joe Rogan, a popular podcast and YouTube talk show host with a history of making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments. Sanders’ national press secretary issued a statement that read, in part: “Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values. The truth is that by standing together in solidarity, we share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world.”

Posted on

ABC News: Recording Captures Trump Ordering Ukraine Ambassador Fired ‘Take Her Out’

Donald Trump (via White House/public domain)
ABC News reports it has reviewed a recording that appears to capture Donald Trump telling associates he wanted the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired. According to reports, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman – former associates of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani – were also heard taking part in the conversation. From ABC News:

The recording appears to contradict statements by President Trump and support the narrative that has been offered by Parnas during broadcast interviews in recent days. Sources familiar with the recording said the recording was made during an intimate April 30, 2018, dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Trump has said repeatedly he does not know Parnas, a Soviet-born American who has emerged as a wild card in Trump’s impeachment trial, especially in the days since Trump was impeached.

“Get rid of her!” is what the voice that appears to be President Trump’s is heard saying. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”

Trump supporters have maintained until now that no evidence exists that directly ties Trump to the current allegations that led to his impeachment. Parnas and Fruman are currently under federal indictment in New York in a campaign finance case, but Parnas has been cooperating with authorities by releasing text messages and communications between himself and Trump’s team.

Posted on

News Round-Up: January 22, 2020

Matthew Camp (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: I’m still in a Matthew Camp kinda mood since I met the woofy hunk (above) at the GayVN Awards Monday night. #EvenBetterInPerson • Instinct: After being canceled by Netflix earlier this year, PopTV has picked up Season 4 of One Day At A Time, with a premiere date of March 24th at 9:30 pm ET/PT. The LGBTQ-inclusive reboot of the 70’s classic follows the Cuban-American Alvarez clan, an immigrant family living and loving in California. The luminous Rita Moreno co-stars as sassy grandmother ‘Lydia.’ • NY Times: The impeachment trial of Donald Trump is now underway. Use this link to check for the latest developments in the trial. Today, Trump set a new Twitter record as he lashed out at House managers seeking his removal from office. • NBC News: Missouri lawmaker proposes bill criminalizing public libraries’ drag queen story hours. Under the proposed law, librarians would be subject to fines or jail time for holding such events. • Yahoo Finance: Michael Bloomberg has spent more than a quarter-billion dollars on political advertising since joining the Democratic presidential race, far outpacing all other candidates. Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has spent $209.3 million on broadcast television time, $13.7 million on cable, $1.1 million on radio and $27.2 million on digital. • WXII-12: A Wilkes County pastor was arrested Thursday on more than 100 counts of felony sex offenses that span 15 years, detectives said. Rodney Dean Luffman, 58, of Pleasant Ridge Road, was charged with 115 felony sex charges — 80 counts of indecent liberties and 35 counts of sexual offenses. One of the victims was as young as 4 years old, and the other was as old as 16 when the offenses occurred.

Posted on

Washington Post Sums Up Adam Schiff’s Breakdown Of Trump’s Abuse Of Power

Rep. Adam Schiff (screen capture)
Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin sums up impeachment manager and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff’s (D-Calif.) breakdown of the ways Donald Trump and his team abused his power:

  • Trump mentioned the Bidens and Burisma but not “corruption” during the July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
  • Trump followed up with a call to Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, on whether the investigations he demanded would happen.
  • A text by a Trump appointee to Zelensky’s top aide sent 30 minutes before the July 25 call stressed that Trump was looking for an announcement of an investigation into the Bidens.
  • When Trump, standing on the White House driveway, told the media that he wanted both Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden, he was not pursuing corruption in Ukraine, but rather looking for foreign countries to smear the former vice president.
  • The draft statement announcing that Ukraine would undertake corruption investigations was rewritten by Sondland and Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to specifically include Burisma and the 2016 election (i.e., Crowdstrike).
  • Giuliani openly bragged about interfering in an investigation in Ukraine.
  • Ukrainian officials threw Trump’s corrupt scheme back in our faces when asked not to investigate their political opponents.
  • Ukraine was confronted with a cut-off of vital aid in the middle of a hot war.
  • The aid was only released when Trump was caught (and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed it publicly).

Posted on

News Round-Up: January 20, 2020

Devon Gibby for DadnDaddies/Instagram
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Devon Gibby (above) spent the day at Mystic Hot Springs in Utah. “Not only is it super accessible (no 5-mile hike like others I’ve been to), but it’s the perfect balance of man-made quirkiness mixed with natural beauty. And who wouldn’t love sitting in actual bathtubs where the water doesn’t get colder while you watch the sunset behind snow-capped mountains!?” • RawStory: ‘Emasculated’ Virginia gun nuts mocked for ‘purchasing toys, dressing up in costumes, and playing fantasy games’ as they march on Richmond today. • Washington Post: In a single year, Donald Trump doubled the total number of false or misleading claims he had made in the previous two years combined. Put another way: He averaged six such claims a day in 2017, nearly 16 a day in 2018 and more than 22 a day in 2019. Lies like this one:

• RealClearPolitics: With two weeks to go until the ‘first in the nation’ Iowa caucuses on February 3, the two most recent polls there both show former Vice President Joe Biden leading the pack of Democratic White House hopefuls by 6 points. • Washington Blade: Some LGBTQ folks got riled up when Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign decided to nix a fundraiser planned at a gay club in Providence which the venue says is over a dancing pole the owners refused to remove. The Blade interviewed male pole dancers who were offended and say the decision was ‘unwarranted.’ • CNN: About half of Americans say the Senate should vote to convict President Donald Trump and remove him from office in the upcoming impeachment trial (51%), according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, while 45% say the Senate should vote against conviction and removal. • CBS This Morning: Over nearly three decades, RuPaul Charles has left his mark on culture in music, movies and reality television including taking home his sixth Emmy Award in September for RuPaul’s Drag Race. Vladimir Duthiers spoke to RuPaul about doing “it all” and how his childhood impacted his career.

Posted on

Trump Legal Team: ‘Abuse Of Power’ Isn’t A Crime

Donald Trump
From the New York Times:

In a six-page filing formally responding to the House impeachment charges submitted shortly after and filled with partisan barbs against House Democrats, Mr. Trump’s lawyers denounced the case as constitutionally and legally invalid, and driven purely by a desire to hurt Mr. Trump in the 2020 election.

“The articles of impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president,” they said in the response, which was Mr. Trump’s first legal submission in the impeachment proceeding, ahead of a fuller brief that is due on Monday. “This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election, now just months away.”

The president’s lawyers did not deny any of the core facts underlying Democrats’ charges, conceding what considerable evidence and testimony in the House has shown: that he withheld $391 million in aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine and asked the country’s president to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden.

But they said Mr. Trump broke no laws and was acting entirely appropriately and within his powers when he did so, echoing his repeated protestations of his own innocence. They argued that he was not seeking political advantage, but working to root out corruption in Ukraine.

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” attorney Alan Dershowitz (who is part of Trump’s legal team) argued that “abuse of power” is not a crime and therefore not an impeachable offense.