Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry

[Anonymous]

I don't think this whole story is going to end the way Democrats are hoping,......

Earlier this month, during a bipartisan meeting in Kiev, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) delivered a pointed message to Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

While choosing his words carefully, Murphy made clear — by his own account — that Ukraine currently enjoyed bipartisan support for its U.S. aid but that could be jeopardized if the new president acquiesced to requests by President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate past corruption allegations involving Americans, including former Vice President Joe Biden’s family.

Murphy boasted after the meeting that he told the new Ukrainian leader that U.S. aid was his country’s “most important asset” and it would be viewed as election meddling and “disastrous for long-term U.S.-Ukraine relations” to bend to the wishes of Trump and Giuliani.

"I told Zelensky that he should not insert himself or his government into American politics. I cautioned him that complying with the demands of the President's campaign representatives to investigate a political rival of the President would gravely damage the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. There are few things that Republicans and Democrats agree on in Washington these days, and support for Ukraine is one of them," Murphy told me today, confirming what he told Ukraine's leader.

The implied message did not require an interpreter for Zelensky to understand: Investigate the Ukraine dealings of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and you jeopardize Democrats' support for future U.S. aid to Kiev.

The Murphy anecdote is a powerful reminder that, since at least 2016, Democrats repeatedly have exerted pressure on Ukraine, a key U.S. ally for buffering Russia, to meddle in U.S. politics and elections.

And that activity long preceded Giuliani’s discussions with Ukrainian officials and Trump’s phone call to Zelensky in July, seeking to have Ukraine formally investigate whether then-Vice President Joe Biden used a threat of canceling foreign aid to shut down an investigation into $3 million routed to the U.S. firm run by Biden’s son.

As I have reported, the pressure began at least as early as January 2016, when the Obama White House unexpectedly invited Ukraine’s top prosecutors to Washington to discuss fighting corruption in the country.

The meeting, promised as training, turned out to be more of a pretext for the Obama administration to pressure Ukraine’s prosecutors to drop an investigation into the Burisma Holdings gas company that employed Hunter Biden and to look for new evidence in a then-dormant criminal case against eventual Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a GOP lobbyist.

U.S. officials “kept talking about how important it was that all of our anti-corruption efforts be united,” said Andrii Telizhenko, the former political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington who organized and attended the meetings.

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told me that, soon after he returned from the Washington meeting, he saw evidence in Ukraine of political meddling in the U.S. election. That's when two top Ukrainian officials released secret evidence to the American media, smearing Manafort.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: If House votes for Impeachment, is Senate required to try him, or is it just like whether or not to bring a bill to the floor. I.E. can it be tabled?

The House won't vote for impeachment.
And, go back to the Clinton impeachment to see how it goes........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think this whole story is going to end the way Democrats are hoping,......

Earlier this month, during a bipartisan meeting in Kiev, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) delivered a pointed message to Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

While choosing his words carefully, Murphy made clear — by his own account — that Ukraine currently enjoyed bipartisan support for its U.S. aid but that could be jeopardized if the new president acquiesced to requests by President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate past corruption allegations involving Americans, including former Vice President Joe Biden’s family.

Murphy boasted after the meeting that he told the new Ukrainian leader that U.S. aid was his country’s “most important asset” and it would be viewed as election meddling and “disastrous for long-term U.S.-Ukraine relations” to bend to the wishes of Trump and Giuliani.

"I told Zelensky that he should not insert himself or his government into American politics. I cautioned him that complying with the demands of the President's campaign representatives to investigate a political rival of the President would gravely damage the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. There are few things that Republicans and Democrats agree on in Washington these days, and support for Ukraine is one of them," Murphy told me today, confirming what he told Ukraine's leader.

The implied message did not require an interpreter for Zelensky to understand: Investigate the Ukraine dealings of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and you jeopardize Democrats' support for future U.S. aid to Kiev.

The Murphy anecdote is a powerful reminder that, since at least 2016, Democrats repeatedly have exerted pressure on Ukraine, a key U.S. ally for buffering Russia, to meddle in U.S. politics and elections.

And that activity long preceded Giuliani’s discussions with Ukrainian officials and Trump’s phone call to Zelensky in July, seeking to have Ukraine formally investigate whether then-Vice President Joe Biden used a threat of canceling foreign aid to shut down an investigation into $3 million routed to the U.S. firm run by Biden’s son.

As I have reported, the pressure began at least as early as January 2016, when the Obama White House unexpectedly invited Ukraine’s top prosecutors to Washington to discuss fighting corruption in the country.

The meeting, promised as training, turned out to be more of a pretext for the Obama administration to pressure Ukraine’s prosecutors to drop an investigation into the Burisma Holdings gas company that employed Hunter Biden and to look for new evidence in a then-dormant criminal case against eventual Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a GOP lobbyist.

U.S. officials “kept talking about how important it was that all of our anti-corruption efforts be united,” said Andrii Telizhenko, the former political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington who organized and attended the meetings.

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told me that, soon after he returned from the Washington meeting, he saw evidence in Ukraine of political meddling in the U.S. election. That's when two top Ukrainian officials released secret evidence to the American media, smearing Manafort.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections

I am not sure how anyone can read that and think it ends badly for the democrats. The Senator was asking the President to be truthful and nothing more. In other words, he was asking the Ukranians not to succumb to Trump's request to manufacture crap about Biden. Biden is being switfboated.

[Anonymous]

Guess who benefits the most if Ukraine doesn't get any help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: If House votes for Impeachment, is Senate required to try him, or is it just like whether or not to bring a bill to the floor. I.E. can it be tabled?

The House won't vote for impeachment.
And, go back to the Clinton impeachment to see how it goes........

House impeachment whip count is up to 211.

And Clinton did have a trial in the Senate. PP is asking whether it’s a valid option to not hold the trial in the Senate at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think this whole story is going to end the way Democrats are hoping,......

Earlier this month, during a bipartisan meeting in Kiev, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) delivered a pointed message to Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

While choosing his words carefully, Murphy made clear — by his own account — that Ukraine currently enjoyed bipartisan support for its U.S. aid but that could be jeopardized if the new president acquiesced to requests by President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate past corruption allegations involving Americans, including former Vice President Joe Biden’s family.

Murphy boasted after the meeting that he told the new Ukrainian leader that U.S. aid was his country’s “most important asset” and it would be viewed as election meddling and “disastrous for long-term U.S.-Ukraine relations” to bend to the wishes of Trump and Giuliani.

"I told Zelensky that he should not insert himself or his government into American politics. I cautioned him that complying with the demands of the President's campaign representatives to investigate a political rival of the President would gravely damage the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. There are few things that Republicans and Democrats agree on in Washington these days, and support for Ukraine is one of them," Murphy told me today, confirming what he told Ukraine's leader.

The implied message did not require an interpreter for Zelensky to understand: Investigate the Ukraine dealings of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and you jeopardize Democrats' support for future U.S. aid to Kiev.

The Murphy anecdote is a powerful reminder that, since at least 2016, Democrats repeatedly have exerted pressure on Ukraine, a key U.S. ally for buffering Russia, to meddle in U.S. politics and elections.

And that activity long preceded Giuliani’s discussions with Ukrainian officials and Trump’s phone call to Zelensky in July, seeking to have Ukraine formally investigate whether then-Vice President Joe Biden used a threat of canceling foreign aid to shut down an investigation into $3 million routed to the U.S. firm run by Biden’s son.

As I have reported, the pressure began at least as early as January 2016, when the Obama White House unexpectedly invited Ukraine’s top prosecutors to Washington to discuss fighting corruption in the country.

The meeting, promised as training, turned out to be more of a pretext for the Obama administration to pressure Ukraine’s prosecutors to drop an investigation into the Burisma Holdings gas company that employed Hunter Biden and to look for new evidence in a then-dormant criminal case against eventual Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a GOP lobbyist.

U.S. officials “kept talking about how important it was that all of our anti-corruption efforts be united,” said Andrii Telizhenko, the former political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington who organized and attended the meetings.

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told me that, soon after he returned from the Washington meeting, he saw evidence in Ukraine of political meddling in the U.S. election. That's when two top Ukrainian officials released secret evidence to the American media, smearing Manafort.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections

I am not sure how anyone can read that and think it ends badly for the democrats. The Senator was asking the President to be truthful and nothing more. In other words, he was asking the Ukranians not to succumb to Trump's request to manufacture crap about Biden. Biden is being switfboated.

Yes, that is the same thing the Senator's letter back in May was about--warning the Ukrainians not to be a party to Trump's stupid shenanigans, and to follow THEIR rule of law, while our Senate and FBI/Mueller tries to follow OUR rule of law (because at that point we all knew the President couldn't be bothered).

Not sure why Trumpkins can't see the difference between sending an official Senate letter that says "stay strong, we've got your back" and sending your private lawyer to meet in a third country to say "go do this thing and we'll reconsider that aid package."

https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/5-4-18%20Menendez%20joint%20letter%20to%20General%20Prosecutor%20of%20Ukraine%20on%20Mueller%20investigation.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not sure why Trumpkins can't see the difference between sending an official Senate letter that says "stay strong, we've got your back" and sending your private lawyer to meet in a third country to say "go do this thing and we'll reconsider that aid package."

Especially when "this thing" is help me against my domestic political opponent. But, to your point, the reason they can't see the difference is because they don't want to. They are willfully blind because they don't give a shit about this country and think they're playing some kind of game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is Trump squirming so much if there is nothing to hide?

He's not.

Then why did he call Pelosi to see if he could "straighten" this up?

He's definitely squirming. He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he's acting guilt as heck. He also knows that these hearing will run through next year when he's running for President and he'll probably be impeached by the House during the election cycle.

CNN sources have Trump on the Pelosi call as well as NBC. And he hasn’t denied it.

“Sitting in the same building where he launched his long shot presidential campaign four years ago, Trump said he couldn't believe it, he later told people.

He had felt confident after phoning Pelosi earlier that morning. The drive for impeachment in her caucus had ramped up amid reports he pushed the Ukrainian President to investigate Joe Biden, and Trump was hoping to head off a clash. He figured he could de-escalate tensions by speaking with her directly.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-incredulous-nancy-pelosi-impeachment/index.html

[Anonymous]

It shouldn't matter whether you are a D or R. I don't want a whisleblower sidelined in any administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is Trump squirming so much if there is nothing to hide?

He's not.

Then why did he call Pelosi to see if he could "straighten" this up?

He's definitely squirming. He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he's acting guilt as heck. He also knows that these hearing will run through next year when he's running for President and he'll probably be impeached by the House during the election cycle.

CNN sources have Trump on the Pelosi call as well as NBC. And he hasn’t denied it.

“Sitting in the same building where he launched his long shot presidential campaign four years ago, Trump said he couldn't believe it, he later told people.

He had felt confident after phoning Pelosi earlier that morning. The drive for impeachment in her caucus had ramped up amid reports he pushed the Ukrainian President to investigate Joe Biden, and Trump was hoping to head off a clash. He figured he could de-escalate tensions by speaking with her directly.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-incredulous-nancy-pelosi-impeachment/index.html

How does one "descalate" treason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is Trump squirming so much if there is nothing to hide?

He's not.

Then why did he call Pelosi to see if he could "straighten" this up?

He's definitely squirming. He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he's acting guilt as heck. He also knows that these hearing will run through next year when he's running for President and he'll probably be impeached by the House during the election cycle.

CNN sources have Trump on the Pelosi call as well as NBC. And he hasn’t denied it.

“Sitting in the same building where he launched his long shot presidential campaign four years ago, Trump said he couldn't believe it, he later told people.

He had felt confident after phoning Pelosi earlier that morning. The drive for impeachment in her caucus had ramped up amid reports he pushed the Ukrainian President to investigate Joe Biden, and Trump was hoping to head off a clash. He figured he could de-escalate tensions by speaking with her directly.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-incredulous-nancy-pelosi-impeachment/index.html

How does one "descalate" treason?

By doing exactly what Pelosi told him to do: “Tell your people to follow the law.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It shouldn't matter whether you are a D or R. I don't want a whisleblower sidelined in any administration.

This.

Don't lose sight of the forest for the trees.

[Anonymous]

Adam Schiff writes letters.

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190924_cmn_letter_to_barr.pdf

He wants everything from DOJ that they used to (illegally) block the release of the whistleblower's complaint to Congress.

He cites the authority vested in the Committee as part of the House's formal impeachment inquiry as justification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adam Schiff writes letters.

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190924_cmn_letter_to_barr.pdf

He wants everything from DOJ that they used to (illegally) block the release of the whistleblower's complaint to Congress.

He cites the authority vested in the Committee as part of the House's formal impeachment inquiry as justification.

If Trump's doesn't DoJ doesn't cooperate, then that should be one more reason for impeachment.

[Anonymous]

In a new poll from The Economist and YouGov,

- 62% of Americans say it is inappropriate for the President to threaten withholding foreign aid to a country if they refuse to take an action which personally benefits the President
- Including 38% of Trump voters