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House GOP Leader Pulls Republicans From Jan. 6 Investigation

(screen capture via YouTube)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced his five Republican choices to participate in the select committee investigating the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol building today.

And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promptly vetoed two of McCarthy’s picks saying Democrats in her caucus had raised specific objections to “the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation.”

Via Politico:

Pelosi rejected Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who was tapped to serve as ranking member, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both of whom voted to challenge certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral wins earlier this year. Her decision sent shock waves through the House and is likely to galvanize House Republicans against any participation in the investigation.

Another Republican, freshman Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), also voted not to certify Biden’s win, but Pelosi said she is “prepared to appoint” Nehls as well as Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), both of whom voted to certify the election.

McCarthy issued a scorching reply that made clear he would yank his other three picks if the speaker didn’t walk back her veto of Banks and Jordan, a move she’s highly unlikely to make.

You may recall Pelosi originally wanted to create an independent, bipartisan panel similar to the 9/11 commission. That measure was co-authored by Rep. John Katko (r-NY), and passed the House with the support of 35 GOP lawmakers.

Republicans in the Senate, however, blocked that effort, which led to House Democrats creating the select committee in June.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who Pelosi has already chosen to be part of the committee, told reporters she agreed with Pelosi’s decision.

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Pelosi Angry Over QAnon Rep. Assigned To House Education Committee

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (screen capture)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is furious the Republican leadership of the House has assigned freshman QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the

Among other things, Greene has claimed that the killing of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax.

Greene has had herself recorded as she chased and berated 17-year-old survivor of the Parkland shooting, David Hogg, and then celebrated her behavior by posting it on social media.

She’s also publicly endorsed violence against elected officials.

From the Washington Post:

Top Democrats in Congress on Thursday blasted congressional Republicans for assigning to the House education committee Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — who has identified with the QAnon cult and called deadly school shootings “false-flag” operations.

On Wednesday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) condemned the Republican leadership for giving her the committee assignment.

“What I am concerned about is the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives who is willing to overlook, ignore those statements,” she said. “Assigning her to the education committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary school. When she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“What could they be thinking — or is thinking too generous a word about what they might be doing. It’s absolutely appalling.”

Read the full report at the Washington Post.

In related news, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) has announced that he will introduce a resolution to expel Greene after recent news reports revealed that Greene had previously called for violence against Democrats on social media.

A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from the House, meaning Gomez’s resolution is almost certain to fail in a chamber where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority.

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Article Of Impeachment Will Be Delivered To Senate On Monday

The article of impeachment passed in the House will be delivered to the Senate on Monday
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York (D)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Friday that the Senate will receive on Monday the article of impeachment against Donald Trump for inciting the riot on the U.S. Capitol, clearing the way for the start of Trump’s second impeachment trial.

From the Washington Post:

“It will be a full trial; it will be a fair trial,” Schumer said during remarks on the Senate floor. Shortly after his comments, Pelosi released a statement confirming the timing.

The House impeached Trump on a single article of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 takeover of the Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob.

“Make no mistake, there will be a trial, and when that trial ends, senators will have to decide if they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection against the United States,” Schumer said.

Read the full article here.

In similar remarks, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporter, “Just because he’s now gone — thank God — you don’t get to say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration. You’re going to get a “get out of jail” card free because people think we should make nice-nice and forget that people died here on January 6.'”

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Pelosi: Trump Should Unify Our Country, Not Fuel The Flame Of Division

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on ABC This Week

During an appearance on ABC News’ This Week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked by George Stephanopoulos what President Donald Trump should be doing during the ongoing riots and protests over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

“The president of the United States should bring dignity to the office that he serves,” said Pelosi. “He should be a unifying force in our country.”

“We have seen that with democratic and republican presidents all along. They have seen their responsibility to be the president of the United States, to unify our country, and not to fuel the flame, not to fuel the flame.

“I think to take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him because he always wants to divert attention from what the cause of the response was.”

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Coronavirus Economic Relief Bill Passes In Late Night Vote 363-40

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (image via Instagram/SpeakerPelosi)

Under Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, the House passed an economic relief bill by a vote of 363-40 providing billions of dollars for paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, free testing and other measures to help Americans impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

The legislation came about after tense negotiations between Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The Washington Post reports that the agreement “threatened to fall apart entirely for hours Friday amid GOP misgivings.”

Although Donald Trump was openly critical of House Democrats during an afternoon news conference Pelosi and Mnuchin continued negotiations over the course of a reported 13 phone calls throughout the day until the deal was ultimately reached.

Lawmakers voted on the bill just before 1 am Saturday morning. All 40 ‘no’ votes were from Republicans.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week.

According to the Associated Press, the relief bill will:

• Require private health insurers to provide free testing for coronavirus and waive cost-sharing rules for those covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and federal retirement programs.

• Establish a temporary coronavirus-related sick leave benefit to be paid by employers with less than 500 employees. Businesses will be refunded by the federal government through a refundable tax credit. Employees with the coronavirus would receive 100 percent of their wages if diagnosed with the virus or are self-isolating. Folks taking care of family members would receive two-thirds of their pay.

• Up to $1.3 billion in emergency food aid for low-income pregnant women and their young children, seniors, and food banks.

• Provide $1 billion for additional caseloads and administrative costs to encourage temporarily furloughed workers to obtain unemployment benefits.

• Require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a temporary rule requiring increased protections against the coronavirus.

Finally sensing the full gravity of the circumstances, Donald Trump weighed in via tweet in support of the legislation:

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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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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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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?”

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Trump’s 1,000th Day In Office Was One For The Books

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addresses Donald Trump at the White House (public domain)

Donald Trump’s 1,000th day in the White House was certainly one for the history books.

Via Axios:

A one-page letter from Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (read it below) sounded fake when it first surfaced on Twitter, but was real:

“Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. … Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool! I will call you later.”

(click image to enlarge)

During a meeting with the congressional leadership in the Cabinet room, according to a senior Democratic aide who provided a readout, Trump declared that Jim Mattis, a four-star Marine general and Trump’s first defense secretary, was “the world’s most overrated general. … You know why? He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month.”

Axios reports that Trump told Pelosi: “President Obama drew a red line in the sand. In my opinion, you are a third-grade politician.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said: “This is not useful.”

Pelosi and Hoyer stood and left the meeting.

Afterward, Pelosi told reporters as she was leaving the White House: “What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown — sad to say.”

In response, Trump tweeted: “Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her ‘upstairs,’ or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!”

The Donald also tweeted a photo of Pelosi standing amid the room full of men. It was meant to ridicule her, but the move backfired. Standing in a bold blue suit with all the men seated, she was clearly the most powerful person in the photo.

Pelosi responded to Trump’s tweet by making the photo her profile pic on Twitter.

Also – the House voted 354-60 to condemn Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. That included 129 Republicans voting with the Democrats.

Quite the day, huh?

So. Much. Winning.

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Pelosi: “It Doesn’t Matter” If Impeachment Inquiry Threatens Democratic House Majority

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, during an appearance over the weekend in Texas, said Democrats will push ahead with the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump whether it could threaten the Democrats hold on the House in the 2020 elections or not.

Via Yahoo News:

“It doesn’t matter,” Pelosi said in the wrap-up event of a weekend festival for politicians and journalists. “Our first responsibility is to the Constitution.”

Pelosi, a California Democrat who reclaimed the gavel in the House after her party captured the majority in the 2018 November elections, spoke just blocks away from the Texas Capitol at the festival put on by the Texas Tribune.

In a conversation with Tribune CEO Evan Smith, Pelosi said the decision to move ahead with the possible impeachment was dictated by the president’s actions.

“This is a sad time for our country,” Pelosi said. “There is no joy in this.”

Pelosi said her early hesitance to move ahead with impeachment was because the facts were insufficient until a whistleblower brought to light a phone conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky

In that conversation, a rough transcript released by the White House after the whistleblower’s concerns were made known showed Trump seeking politically damaging information against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I think right now, there is a coverup of the coverup,” she said.