Tag: impeachment

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Trump On Lev Parnas: ‘I Don’t Believe I’ve Ever Spoken To Him’

From USA Today:

President Donald Trump and aides sought Thursday to distance him from a Soviet-born businessman who said Trump knew all about efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating U.S. political rival Joe Biden – a pivotal point in the Senate impeachment trial of the president. “I don’t believe I’ve ever spoken to him,” Trump told reporters about Lev Parnas, taking questions after an event announcing new federal guidance he has said will “safeguard” the rights of students to pray in school. Parnas said Trump knows him well and there are pictures of the two of them at various events. In an interview with CNN, Parnas said that every time Trump denies knowing him, “I’ll show him another picture. He’s lying.”

Here’s Trump telling reporters he meets thousands of people and doesn’t remember them, and that’s followed by tweets of photos and video showing the two men together.

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Pelosi Announces House Managers For Trump Impeachment Trial

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (center)
Update: NBC News reports the House voted 228 to 193 on Wednesday to send the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump to the Senate. One Democrat opposed the resolution — Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, who also voted last month against both articles of impeachment.

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi named the team of House managers this morning tasked with presenting the case against Donald Trump during the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. From the Washington Post:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped two trusted committee chairmen to lead the team that will make the case in the Senate for President Trump’s removal from office, supported by a relatively small cast of additional impeachment “managers.”

Confirming widespread speculation that swirled for weeks as she held back the articles, Pelosi turned to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to lead the House team. She made the announcement at a Wednesday news conference after keeping the cast of managers under tight wraps for weeks.

Joining Schiff and Nadler are Democratic Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Val Demings (Fla.), Sylvia Garcia (Tex.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.).

The seven-member team is smaller than the 13-member squad that presented articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate in 1999, reflecting a more tightly controlled approach to the investigation.

Later today, the full House will vote on the team of managers and to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The House managers will then process across the Capitol to hand deliver the articles in person. All of the House managers have extensive backgrounds in law. The only non-lawyer, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, serves on both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees and was the first woman chief of police in Orlando.

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News Round-Up: January 14, 2020

Ignacio Pérez Rey (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunk: Ignacio Pérez Rey (above), in Madrid, Spain, proves clothes are sexy, smiles are sexy, and Madrid is sexy. #grrr • Bloomberg News: Democratic Senator Tim Kaine says he has enough votes to pass a resolution that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to carry out a military attack against Iran without congressional authorization. Kaine said Tuesday he has 51 “declared votes“ for his resolution including GOP senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Todd Young. • The Gaily Grind: High school freshman Kayla Kenney was expelled from her Christian school after wearing a rainbow sweater while celebrating her 15th birthday with her family at a local restaurant with a rainbow cake. The school seems to have assumed celebrating with rainbows meant the teen was lesbian…? • Los Angeles Blade: Pete Buttigieg attended a primarily black gay fundraiser in Los Angeles at the home of Jordan Fudge, a managing partner of the venture capital firm Sinai Ventures. The event was co-hosted by Empire writer/director Lee Daniels, who called Buttigieg “a candidate that is worthy of serious, serious consideration.” • The Advocate: Tennessee lawmakers have approved a bill that would give faith-based adoption and foster care agencies legal cover to turn away same-sex couples and other prospective parents who offend the agencies’ religious beliefs. The governor has signaled he plans to sign the bill into law. • Netflix: The streaming giant offers this supercut of RuPaul’s most fab performances featured in the new series, AJ and the Queen. While I found parts of the series surprisingly flat and slow, Ru does bring some heat serving up lewks and body as she lip syncs for her life in these drag performances.  

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Giuliani Associate Drops New Evidence In Trump Impeachment

L-R Lev Parnas with Donald Trump
New evidence has come to light related to the impeachment of Donald Trump via the release of notes, text messages and documents on the cell phone of Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. From Politico:

The material released on Tuesday contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and other documents that underscore the close relationship between Parnas and Giuliani, who was actively pursuing an effort last year to push the Ukrainian government to announce investigations targeting Trump’s political rivals. The documents also complicate one of Trump’s oft-stated defenses of his actions toward Ukraine.

A previously undisclosed May 2019 letter from Giuliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among the tranche of documents the Democrat-led committee made public on Tuesday.

In the letter, which was obtained from Parnas’ cell phone that was turned over the Intelligence Committee on Sunday, Giuliani asked for a half-hour meeting with Zelensky as the former New York City mayor was pursuing investigations targeting former Vice President Joe Biden — and Giuliani made clear that he was acting with Trump’s “knowledge and consent” and in his capacity as a “personal” attorney for the president.

Trump, though, has stated that he was acting on behalf of the U.S. government when he allegedly pushed for the investigations.

Giuliani specifically said in his letter to the president of Ukraine he wanted the meeting as he acted in “his capacity as personal counsel to President Trump,” not for the United States.

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Senate Likely To Begin Trump Impeachment Trial January 21

MSNBC reports Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday that the Senate’s trial of President Donald Trump will likely begin Tuesday.

The announcement comes as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi indicated the House will vote to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Wednesday.

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Pelosi Will Send Impeachment Articles To Senate Next Week

L-R Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
The Washington Post reports Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will transmit the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump next week.

As recently as Thursday, Pelosi continued to insist that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should release a resolution laying out rules of a trial before the articles were transmitted.

The crux of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that President Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Pelosi has delayed transmitting the articles for weeks in an effort to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to announce the rules for the impending trial. On Thursday, McConnell told senators they should keep their schedules flexible for the end of next week when they might take up impeachment. In related news, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she is working with a small group of fellow Republican senators towards the goal of ensuring witnesses will be called during the Senate trial.

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News Round-Up: January 7, 2020

Pete Buttigieg (via Facebook)
Some news items you might have missed: • Deadline: Pete Buttigieg will appear at another Fox News town hall on January 26, a little more than a week before the Iowa caucuses, with Chris Wallace as moderator. This will be Buttigieg’s second Fox News town hall, having headlined a well-received event last May. He’s one of six Democratic candidates to appear at town halls on the network. • Instinct Magazine: A Canadian man has been busted for mailing an envelope filled with white powder – and a note with an indication that the powder was anthrax – to New York City East Village spot Nowhere Bar. • CBS News: A new CBS News poll ties Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the lead in Iowa. Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg are tied at 23%, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren comes fourth with 16% and Sen. Amy Klobuchar falls in fifth at 7%. • Washington Post: Rep. Duncan D. Hunter will resign from Congress effective January 13, more than one month after the California Republican pleaded guilty in federal court to misusing campaign funds. The six-term congressman is scheduled to be sentenced in March. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, although he is expected to serve less than one year. • Politico: Donald Trump’s reelection campaign will spend $10 million on 60 seconds of television ad time during the Super Bowl next month as the president ramps up his push for a second term. • New York Times: Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informed Republicans on Tuesday that he planned to move forward with President Trump’s impeachment trial without committing to additional witnesses or admitting new evidence, over the objections of Democrats who are insisting on both.

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Former National Security Adviser Will Testify In Trump Impeachment Trial If Subpoenaed

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton in May 2019 (image via White House – public domain)
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has issued a statement saying he will testify during the impeachment trial of Donald Trump if subpoenaed by the Senate.

During the present impeachment controversy, I have tried to meet my obligations both as a citizen and as former National Security Advisor. My colleague, Dr. Charles Kupperman, faced with a House committee subpoena on the one hand, and a Presidential directive not to testify on the other, sought final resolution of this Constitutional conflict from the Federal judiciary. After my counsel informed the House committee that I too would seek judicial resolution of these Constitutional issues, the committee chose not to subpoena me. Nevertheless, I publicly resolved to be guided by the outcome of Dr. Kupperman’s case.

But both the President and the House of Representatives opposed his effort on jurisdictional grounds, and each other on the merits. The House committee went so far as to withdraw its subpoena to Dr. Kupperman in a deliberate attempt to moot the case and deprive the court of jurisdiction. Judge Richard Leon, in a carefully reasoned opinion on December 30, held Dr. Kupperman’s case to be moot, and therefore did not reach the separation-of-powers issues.

The House has concluded its Constitutional responsibility by adopting Articles of Impeachment related to the Ukraine matter. It now falls to the Senate to fulfill its Constitutional obligation to try impeachments, and it does not appear possible that a final judicial resolution of the still-unanswered Constitutional questions can be obtained before the Senate acts.

Accordingly, since my testimony is once again at issue, I have had to resolve the serious competing issues as best I could, based on careful consideration and study. I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify.

ABC News reports Bolton informed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of his statement before it was released, but did not tell the White House. While publicly saying he wants to see witnesses testify at the Senate trial, Trump has repeatedly blocked White House officials from doing so. McConnell has said he doesn’t see the need for witnesses or documentary evidence during Trump’s trial. CNN’s Manu Raju reports that with this new development, Democrats say Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s decision to withhold the articles of impeachment until now has been vindicated.

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Poll: Support For Removing Trump From Office At All-Time High

(image via public domain)
The latest polling shows support to remove Donald Trump from office is the highest it has ever been. From The Independent:

Fifty-five percent of those asked said they were in favor of the US president’s conviction by the Senate, a figure which has shot up from 48 percent the week before.

Meanwhile, the number of people against Mr. Trump’s removal has dropped to an all-time low, according to the MSN poll.

On Christmas Day, 40 percent were opposed to the Senate voting to convict the president, who has been impeached over his dealings with Ukraine and an alleged subsequent attempt to obstruct Congress.

The gap between the two views has become much wider since last week when there was little to divide them (48 percent in favor of Mr. Trump’s removal, 47 percent against).

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Nancy Pelosi Claps Back At Trump’s “Phony Complaints”

L-R Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump
Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to rant and whine about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and “the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress.” p.s. The House didn’t conduct a trial, but whatevs… Trump wrote, “Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so. She lost Congress once, she will do it again!” But Pelosi, who hasn’t held a vote on impeachment managers yet in the House (which would then send the articles of impeachment to the Senate), clapped back: “The House cannot choose our impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct. President Trump blocked his own witnesses and documents from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the House process. What is his excuse now?”