Public Trump Impeachment Hearing Mega Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Hale and Holmes transcripts are up.

I can see why the GOP was shaken after the Holmes deposition, but the Hale deposition, WTF is up with Pompeo + Rudy/Hannity? Crazy.

Source says Republican lawmakers 'shaken' by US official in Kiev's testimony

Several Republican lawmakers were more "shaken" than they publicly let on by the testimony of a US official in Kiev who overheard a phone conversation between the US ambassador to the European Union and President Donald Trump, a top GOP congressional source told CNN.

David Holmes -- who will testify publicly as part of the House impeachment inquiry -- said in closed-door testimony last week that US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland had told Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "loves your ass" and that Ukraine was going to move forward with the investigation Trump had asked Zelensky for a day earlier. Holmes said he was able to overhear the conversation due to the volume of Trump's voice while he sat with Sondland at a restaurant in Kiev.
According to the GOP congressional source, that testimony led several GOP lawmakers to express frustration that Sondland would place a call to the President in a public restaurant, and are concerned that Holmes' testimony was the most convincing argument for Trump's direct involvement in the campaign to pressure Ukraine.
The House Intelligence Committee will have Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine, testifying alongside former White House official Fiona Hill on Thursday, according to the Democratic aide. The addition of Holmes means nine individuals will testify publicly as witnesses in the House impeachment probe this week.
Holmes' testimony is making some GOP members worry about how far Sondland will go in his public testimony on Wednesday and two senior Republican sources say that some House Republicans are worried about how Sondland will handle himself at the hearing.
The sources point out that Sondland is not an accomplished diplomat and one source adds he believes Sondland was unprepared and ill fitted for the job as US ambassador to the European Union. According to multiple State Department and former State Department officials, he was not well regarded by the US diplomatic community.
House Republicans are also increasingly worried about the political fallout from the hearings overall and the impact of multiple witnesses who are career professionals.
They are especially concerned about the reaction from independent voters and suburban women voters who are watching Trump attack witnesses both on Twitter and on television.

[Anonymous]

And a majority of Americans now support ousting Trump from office. The numbers are ticking up with each witness.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/18/majority-support-removing-trump-071341
Majority of Americans support ousting Trump from office, new poll shows

Majority of Americans support ousting Trump from office, new poll shows
The poll also found that 70 percent believe that the president was wrong to pressure Ukraine to launch a probe into his political rivals.

Seventy percent of Americans said President Donald Trump was wrong to pressure Ukraine’s leader to pursue probes into his political opponents, according to a new survey, and more than half of respondents indicated he should be removed from office.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll published Monday found that 51 percent of those surveyed believed Trump should be impeached by House lawmakers, as well as convicted by the Senate. Six percent said that while Trump’s actions were wrong and that he should be impeached, he should not be ousted by the Senate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And a majority of Americans now support ousting Trump from office. The numbers are ticking up with each witness.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/18/majority-support-removing-trump-071341
Majority of Americans support ousting Trump from office, new poll shows

Majority of Americans support ousting Trump from office, new poll shows
The poll also found that 70 percent believe that the president was wrong to pressure Ukraine to launch a probe into his political rivals.

Seventy percent of Americans said President Donald Trump was wrong to pressure Ukraine’s leader to pursue probes into his political opponents, according to a new survey, and more than half of respondents indicated he should be removed from office.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll published Monday found that 51 percent of those surveyed believed Trump should be impeached by House lawmakers, as well as convicted by the Senate. Six percent said that while Trump’s actions were wrong and that he should be impeached, he should not be ousted by the Senate.

This poll is really an embarrassment as far as polling goes.

1. Only 506 adults polled.

2. They don't give any information on party affiliation or geographic information. None. We have no idea how many were polled that identify with a given party. When was the last time you saw a political poll in which, not only did they not break the questions down by party affiliation, but they don't even indicate the percentage of poll respondents by party?

3. 32% had decided on Trump's guilt or lack of it before the Ukraine phone call.


https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/...eachment-hearings-11182019.pdf

[Anonymous]

The poll is a poll, like any other pool. A single data point i a sea of points. The bottom line is that the public airing of hearings and the constant release of the depositions etc is opening the eyes of many Americans who ultimately are not liking how the business of the country is being conducted.

W/R to point 3, we have several US Senators, like Johnson from Wisconsin, who are material witnesses and yet are somehow going to be jurors in this trial. For all of the people who have made up their minds, there are a lot of people who are seeing just how corrupt this administration is by these hearings. Transparency is a good thing, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poll is a poll, like any other pool. A single data point i a sea of points. The bottom line is that the public airing of hearings and the constant release of the depositions etc is opening the eyes of many Americans who ultimately are not liking how the business of the country is being conducted.

W/R to point 3, we have several US Senators, like Johnson from Wisconsin, who are material witnesses and yet are somehow going to be jurors in this trial. For all of the people who have made up their minds, there are a lot of people who are seeing just how corrupt this administration is by these hearings. Transparency is a good thing, no?

For all we know, 99% of those polled could be left-leaning Democrats.
So, the poll is crap. There is a reason they didn't indicate the percentage of those polled. They know that number - since the poll stated that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents were represented.
What might that reason be?

And, if you are going to talk about transparency and fairness, having Schiff oversee this fiasco is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot imagine what the GOP retort to Holmes testimony is going to be.

Did you see the President on the telephone?

Then how can you be certain that it wasn't a Trump impersonator?

Isn't it possible that Ambassador Sondland knew you were a deep-state Never-Trumper and he pranked you so you would expose yourself?

I thought Holmes and Sondland discussed the call after Sondland hung up?

Taylor testified last Wednesday that he didn't know anything about Holmes' story of a phone call between POTUS & Sondland when Taylor gave his depo 10/22.

Holmes testified last Friday that he told Taylor all about it 8/6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poll is a poll, like any other pool. A single data point i a sea of points. The bottom line is that the public airing of hearings and the constant release of the depositions etc is opening the eyes of many Americans who ultimately are not liking how the business of the country is being conducted.

W/R to point 3, we have several US Senators, like Johnson from Wisconsin, who are material witnesses and yet are somehow going to be jurors in this trial. For all of the people who have made up their minds, there are a lot of people who are seeing just how corrupt this administration is by these hearings. Transparency is a good thing, no?

For all we know, 99% of those polled could be left-leaning Democrats.
So, the poll is crap. There is a reason they didn't indicate the percentage of those polled. They know that number - since the poll stated that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents were represented.
What might that reason be?

And, if you are going to talk about transparency and fairness, having Schiff oversee this fiasco is a joke.

If you are calling these hearings a fiasco, then I hate to see what you consider this Administration. Orderly? Professional? Within norms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot imagine what the GOP retort to Holmes testimony is going to be.

Did you see the President on the telephone?

Then how can you be certain that it wasn't a Trump impersonator?

Isn't it possible that Ambassador Sondland knew you were a deep-state Never-Trumper and he pranked you so you would expose yourself?

I thought Holmes and Sondland discussed the call after Sondland hung up?

Taylor testified last Wednesday that he didn't know anything about Holmes' story of a phone call between POTUS & Sondland when Taylor gave his depo 10/22.

Holmes testified last Friday that he told Taylor all about it 8/6.

Yes, Taylor has known about the phone call for some time, and reading Holmes' testimony, lots of people in the Ukrainian embassy have known about it. Everyone should read Holmes testimony - he hasn't come forward until now because he thought that everyone else was able to testify to what he knew about the shitshow that's been going on.

MR. JORDAN: Any idea why Mn. Taylor didn't share this
information with us when we deposed him in October?
MR. HOLMES: You'd have to ask him that.
MR. JORDAN: He shared every other conversation he even had with
anyone.
MR. HOLMES: You'd have to ask him that, sin. I'm not sure.
MR. JORDAN: Had you conveyed it to him more than just that August
5th time?
MR. HOLMES: That's when I just -- I briefed him on what I heard,
and I -- as I testified, I repeatedly referred to that call as sort
of a touchstone piece of information as we were trying to understand
why we weren't able to get the meeting and what was going on with the
security hold.
I would refer back to it repeatedly in our, you know, morning staff
meetings. We'd talk about what we're trying to do. We're trying to
achieve this, that. Maybe it will convince the President to have the
meeting. And I would say, Well, as we know, he doesn't really care
about Ukraine. He cares about some other things. And we're trying
to keep Ukraine out of our politics and so, you know, that's what we're
up against. And I would refer -- use that repeatedly as a refrain.

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/holmes_final_version_redacted.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poll is a poll, like any other pool. A single data point i a sea of points. The bottom line is that the public airing of hearings and the constant release of the depositions etc is opening the eyes of many Americans who ultimately are not liking how the business of the country is being conducted.

W/R to point 3, we have several US Senators, like Johnson from Wisconsin, who are material witnesses and yet are somehow going to be jurors in this trial. For all of the people who have made up their minds, there are a lot of people who are seeing just how corrupt this administration is by these hearings. Transparency is a good thing, no?

For all we know, 99% of those polled could be left-leaning Democrats.
So, the poll is crap. There is a reason they didn't indicate the percentage of those polled. They know that number - since the poll stated that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents were represented.
What might that reason be?

And, if you are going to talk about transparency and fairness, having Schiff oversee this fiasco is a joke.

Isn’t the impeachment process described in the Constitution?

What other parts of the Constitution do you think are a joke?

[Anonymous]

Why do you think Amb. Taylor didn't include it in his original deposition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poll is a poll, like any other pool. A single data point i a sea of points. The bottom line is that the public airing of hearings and the constant release of the depositions etc is opening the eyes of many Americans who ultimately are not liking how the business of the country is being conducted.

W/R to point 3, we have several US Senators, like Johnson from Wisconsin, who are material witnesses and yet are somehow going to be jurors in this trial. For all of the people who have made up their minds, there are a lot of people who are seeing just how corrupt this administration is by these hearings. Transparency is a good thing, no?

For all we know, 99% of those polled could be left-leaning Democrats.
So, the poll is crap. There is a reason they didn't indicate the percentage of those polled. They know that number - since the poll stated that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents were represented.
What might that reason be?

And, if you are going to talk about transparency and fairness, having Schiff oversee this fiasco is a joke.

Need to read to the end of the article:

"The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls."

This appears to be a nationally-representative standing panel that Ipsos has at the ready. They poll the panel and then weight the results. Frankly, this approach is probably more accurate than trying to hunt down self-avowed democrats and republicans. It is NOT like they stood at a street corner and asked random people their opinion on the impeachment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Why do you think Amb. Taylor didn't include it in his original deposition?

Because
*he was trying to protect his subordinate from getting involved in this?
*he thought that Congress had all the info they needed already and he didn't realize the relevance of this info?
*he didn't want it to come out that Trump doesn't give a sh*t about Ukraine? (because that hurts Ukraine and Zelensky - and Taylor's interest, which is the U.S. interest, is to support Ukraine)

[Anonymous]

I really want Schiff to pointedly go over the rules so it’s clear that the Nunes-Stefanik show broke them.

[Anonymous]

How many watching live? I feel so sorry for these people. Especially the really board camera guys in the back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why do you think Amb. Taylor didn't include it in his original deposition?

Because
*he was trying to protect his subordinate from getting involved in this?
*he thought that Congress had all the info they needed already and he didn't realize the relevance of this info?
*he didn't want it to come out that Trump doesn't give a sh*t about Ukraine? (because that hurts Ukraine and Zelensky - and Taylor's interest, which is the U.S. interest, is to support Ukraine)

Thanks.