impeachment inquiry hearings thread

[Jiggy-Z 3419]

Just now, bolverk said:

Flat out. No question. It was a racket.

Foghorn Lindsey: Ah doo declayha this is a trahvehsty the way these Demoncrats ahr treatin' ahr presidint!

Would love to see Foghorn Lindsey get owned by little chicken hawk.

[HenryJames 64901]

Oh Lindsey is probably pretty familiar with chicken hawks.

[AnTiM 1629]

All I know is what I have known for at least thirty , maybe 40 years.  Trump is a crook, liar, and con artist.  I could never trust anyone who has declared bankruptcy more than once.  It baffles me that half the population can trust this sorry s.o.b.

[DDD Dad 14060]

12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

The Q/A from that portion ain't great either. I tried to include it in my original post but it made surly go surly

EDIT: Just realized the fucking headline quote from the excerpt doc is pretty damning too

Fucking spelling it out for the simpletons in the back

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

To piggy back off what DDD just said: can we focus for a moment on how monumentally dumb this whole plan was? It HAD to have come straight from DJT's brain. This dude seriously thought that blackmailing Ukraine to publicly announce that they were investigating the Bidens would somehow move the needle? Is there any scenario where every American with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't see that announcement and go "uh, wtf, why?" What honestly was the anticipated outcome here? I think a lot of people would have scratched their heads and wondered why now, why them.

And not to mention the fact that Biden likely won't be the nominee anyway. 

[Red Five 40108]

"In front of a microphone". Or, "talk shit about Biden publicly". 

I wish they would have gotten away with this before everything broke. 

[bolverk 28885]

7 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

That really is the kicker. It was all for appearances to smear someone who he assumed would be his rival under the threat of withholding desperately needed $400 million of US taxpayer money to defend against Putin's agression.

That's the fucking story en todo.

[Lurch 5916]

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

Yep. They JUST wanted another Comey moment: announcing -potential- wrong doing. They knew the investigation would find nothing, but that was irrelevant.

[DDD Dad 14060]

13 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

 

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

That really is the kicker. It was all for appearances to smear someone who he assumed would be his rival under the threat of withholding desperately needed $400 million of US taxpayer money to defend against Putin's agression.

That's the fucking story en todo.

 

Just now, Lurch said:

 

Yep. They JUST wanted another Comey moment: announcing -potential- wrong doing. They knew the investigation would find nothing, but that was irrelevant.

 

Just like the Bill Barr statements during his confirmation that he would look into the 2016 election "spying" on the Trump campaign.

I'll keep my powder dry on that investigation, but my sense is that Trump/Barr don't care about the outcome of any of these investigations.  They just want to push these conspiracy theories into the mainstream to pump the base and deflect from Trump's own malfeasance.

[Tuco 5003]

13 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

Asking for the investigation was wrong.  The President should not be initiating investigations into political rivals, regardless through which country. 

Asking for it to be public makes it obvious he was doing it for political reasons, and not some clunky way to seek justice.   

[Brisketexan 103143]

13 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Keep in mind that it isn't the demand for the investigation itself that makes this so wrong.  It's the demand that Ukraine publicly announce that it is going to conduct that investigation.

 

2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

That really is the kicker. It was all for appearances to smear someone who he assumed would be his rival under the threat of withholding desperately needed $400 million of US taxpayer money to defend against Putin's agression.

That's the fucking story en todo.

 

1 minute ago, Lurch said:

 

Yep. They JUST wanted another Comey moment: announcing -potential- wrong doing. They knew the investigation would find nothing, but that was irrelevant.

 

That's it.  That's the inarguable crime.

Sure, the Repubs can keep trying with their utterly disingenuous argument of "but don't we WANT our president to make sure our allies aren't corrupt?  Isn't that a good thing, to want investigations into corruption?"  Sure.  Let's presume that's actually what was happening here (it wasn't, not even the slightest, but who gives a fuck?).

What they can't explain away is that it is beyond a doubt that his condition wasn't that they investigate as much as it was that they PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE the investigation.  In fact, I believe from the testimony already in the record, it's pretty clear that it didn't even need to be TRUE -- it didn't matter if Ukraine actually investigated Biden.  The ONLY thing that mattered is for Ukraine to publicly SAY that it was investigating Biden.

For reference, 52 USC 30121:

Quote

§30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals

(a) Prohibition

It shall be unlawful for-

(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make-

(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;

(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or

(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or

 

(2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.

This entire exercise was a 30121(2) solicitation of a contribution of a "thing of value" in connection with a Federal election.  "Publicly state that you are investigating the likely nominee of the opposition party in the upcoming election."  Crime committed.  Quid pro quo not necessary.

Of course, the fact that there WAS a quid pro quo....well, that's ANOTHER crime.  This admin is like a club sandwich of crimes, stacked on top of each other.  Except each layer isn't turkey,  ham, or bacon -- it's all just layers of shit.

[kevwun 15189]

So Bannon is going to testify for the Prosecution in Roger Stone's trial.

[Jiggy-Z 3419]

3 minutes ago, AnTiM said:

All I know is what I have known for at least thirty , maybe 40 years.  Trump is a crook, liar, and con artist.  I could never trust anyone who has declared bankruptcy more than once.  It baffles me that half the population can trust this sorry s.o.b.

If it were only that.  Back in the day Trump had grand ideas and through sheer ballsyness and a considerable head start with money was able to get them past the startup stage, until he started pillaging them for his own lavish lifestyle.  Alas, if not for his catastrophic severe narcissistic personality disorder, I would guess that enough of them would have worked to where he actually could have become a legitimate businessman.

His rep got a huge boost from The Apprentice.  Just like poor people think Trump is what a rich person looks like and acts like, non-business people think what the interns did on the apprentice is what business people do.  The allure of that show was galling to me.  My wife, who speaks Norwegian, French and Arabic in addition to English, is a lifelong democrat, graduated from UT in architecture and had another degree from some University in Oslo and was a high profile executive for a huge construction company, loved that show, and by default I ended up watching some of it.

I was asked to leave the room on several occasions because I poo pooed  on it.  The fact that I held  a BBA and MPA from UT as well as CPA licence and ran my own own business held no sway whatsoever. 

The poor interns on The Apprentice had to be even more upset that their pricey MBA's were being tested on what I can only describe as glorified bake sales...but then again most of them had their own disorders (attention whores). 

[notre dame joe 170]

Of all the strange things to focus on, why would anyone care what happens at Ukranian press conferences?

[Lurch 5916]

Reminder, while this was going on the Trump admin actually CUT foreign aid earmarked for fighting corruption. There is ZERO credibility for any defense of these actions as simply looking to root out corruption in Ukraine.

Only two companies were ever specifically named as being of interest: Burisma and a gas company that Rudy’s indicted buddies wanted to take over

[DDD Dad 14060]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

What they can't explain away is that it is beyond a doubt that his condition wasn't that they investigate as much as it was that they PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE the investigation.  In fact, I believe from the testimony already in the record, it's pretty clear that it didn't even need to be TRUE -- it didn't matter if Ukraine actually investigated Biden.  The ONLY thing that mattered is for Ukraine to publicly SAY that it was investigating Biden.

For reference, 52 USC 30121:

This entire exercise was a 30121(2) solicitation of a contribution of a "thing of value" in connection with a Federal election.  "Publicly state that you are investigating the likely nominee of the opposition party in the upcoming election."  Crime committed.  Quid pro quo not necessary.

Of course, the fact that there WAS a quid pro quo....well, that's ANOTHER crime.  This admin is like a club sandwich of crimes, stacked on top of each other.  Except each layer isn't turkey,  ham, or bacon -- it's all just layers of shit.

And because the bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors keep on being revealed on nearly a weekly basis over the last three years (emoluments, Hatch Act, FECA [not just the most recent, but remember Stormy Daniels and the misuse of campaign funds there, as well as the Enquirer catch and kill incidents], etc.), it's all becoming normalized to the point that the American public will be so weary that any outrage will be gone by the time any of this comes to a head in the senate.

[Captainant 26861]

2 minutes ago, notre dame joe said:

Of all the strange things to focus on, why would anyone care what happens at Ukranian press conferences?

because it would be a foreign government making an announcement that in turn could be picked up and amplified by right wing conspiracy sites and simpletons like EMAW et al as if it were fact. It's a very consistent pattern and playbook.

[DDD Dad 14060]

3 minutes ago, notre dame joe said:

Of all the strange things to focus on, why would anyone care what happens at Ukranian press conferences?

Ask Trump.  It was so important to him that he held up $400 million in Congressionally and DOD approved aid.

[Lurch 5916]

Of all the strange things to focus on, why would anyone care what happens at Ukranian press conferences?

 

Hannity would replay it nightly for a year solid. Fox would MAKE the 38% care.

[triplehorn 2664]

2 minutes ago, notre dame joe said:

Of all the strange things to focus on, why would anyone care what happens at Ukranian press conferences?

No one cares unless it's an "unexpected" public announcement from the Ukrainian president about investigating Trump's top electoral opponent in 2020 and that "Mueller had it wrong with Russia's attack, it was Ukrainian actors under the previous regime! "

and yeah about Fox/Hannity above. He was fucking in on it for the alley-oop with the Vienna-dwelling boys.

and note to self: place nd joe on ignore.

[notre dame joe 170]

1 minute ago, Lurch said:

 

Hannity would reply it nightly for a year solid. Fox would MAKE the 38% care.

 

Yes.  and if Turkey announced that they were investigating Trump Inc. CNN would have their talking heads to talk Turkey, and 0% of persuadable people would care.

[bolverk 28885]

10 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

If it were only that.  Back in the day Trump had grand ideas and through sheer ballsyness and a considerable head start with money was able to get them past the startup stage, until he started pillaging them for his own lavish lifestyle.  Alas, if not for his catastrophic severe narcissistic personality disorder, I would guess that enough of them would have worked to where he actually could have become a legitimate businessman.

His rep got a huge boost from The Apprentice.  Just like poor people think Trump is what a rich person looks like and acts like, non-business people think what the interns did on the apprentice is what business people do.  The allure of that show was galling to me.  My wife, who speaks Norwegian, French and Arabic in addition to English, is a lifelong democrat, graduated from UT in architecture and had another degree from some University in Oslo and was a high profile executive for a huge construction company, loved that show, and by default I ended up watching some of it.

I was asked to leave the room on several occasions because I poo pooed  on it.  The fact that I held  a BBA and MPA from UT as well as CPA licence and ran my own own business held no sway whatsoever. 

The poor interns on The Apprentice had to be even more upset that their pricey MBA's were being tested on what I can only describe as glorified bake sales...but then again most of them had their own disorders (attention whores). 

Questions: Are you still married to this woman? Is she hot and petite? Does she enjoy cam porn?

If the answers are right, I know which way you could steer her.

[Captainant 26861]

5 minutes ago, notre dame joe said:

Yes.  and if Turkey announced that they were investigating Trump Inc. CNN would have their talking heads to talk Turkey, and 0% of persuadable people would care.

Are you saying that CNN is an extension of the opposition party to trump, in the same way that Fox is an extension of the trump admin? Because that seems to be the parallel you're drawing between CNN and fox. Which is at best unsupported by reality, and at worst just "BoThSiDeS" mudslinging. Very good attempt at whataboutism, comrade.

[Lurch 5916]

Yes.  and if Turkey announced that they were investigating Trump Inc. CNN would have their talking heads to talk Turkey, and 0% of persuadable people would care.

 

Only one of these was an actual plan of a major party and its propaganda outlet.

[bolverk 28885]

10 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

and note to self: place nd joe on ignore.

If you lack the self-control like me from negging him to Bolivia with a Brazilian points, that's probably the right response.

[notre dame joe 170]

1 minute ago, Captainant said:

Are you saying that CNN is an extension of the opposition party to trump, in the same way that Fox is an extension of the trump admin? Because that seems to be the parallel you're drawing between CNN and fox. Which is at best unsupported by reality, and at worst just "BoThSiDeS" mudslinging. Very good attempt at whataboutism, comrade.

Are you claiming there's an ideological divide between the mainstream media and the Democrats?  

[Captainant 26861]

Just now, notre dame joe said:

Are you claiming there's an ideological divide between the mainstream media and the Democrats?  

I'd like to see you make the argument and provide evidence for your claims first before I argue against a strawman, strawman.

[Red Five 40108]

Oh gee the subject has been changed. That's weird. 

[bolverk 28885]

2 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Oh gee the subject has been changed. That's weird. 

Hey, I'm not the one who brought up the multilingual wife.

[Zonahorn 7848]

So when do we crowdsource Catholic Aggy?

[Upgrayedd 5743]

• National Security Advisor John Bolton abruptly ended a meeting with Ukrainian officials on July 10, 2019, after Ambassador Sondland raised “investigations,” which “triggered Ambassador Bolton’s antenna, political antenna, and he said, we don’t do politics here.” (Page 163-164)

 

Tomorrow should be fun.

[jimmyjazz 45055]

2 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Oh gee the subject has been changed. That's weird. 

No shit.

No quid pro quo!

Sure, there was quid pro quo, but everyone does it!

The quid was so meaningless that the pro quo doesn't matter!

 

Every one of you fuckers is complicit by virtue of the fact that you continue to deflect and muddy the waters.  Traitors by proxy.  Imagine how that might end . . . and imagine me laughing my ass off.

[jimmyjazz 45055]

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Hey, I'm not the one who brought up the multilingual wife.

ISWYDT

[bolverk 28885]

Just now, jimmyjazz said:

ISWYDT

Guilty as charged, counselor.

[bolverk 28885]

2 minutes ago, Upgrayedd said:

• National Security Advisor John Bolton abruptly ended a meeting with Ukrainian officials on July 10, 2019, after Ambassador Sondland raised “investigations,” which “triggered Ambassador Bolton’s antenna, political antenna, and he said, we don’t do politics here.” (Page 163-164)

 

Tomorrow should be fun.

Imagine, 12 months ago, that this warmongering walrus could potentially be a savior of the Republic.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

40 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Of course, the fact that there WAS a quid pro quo....well, that's ANOTHER crime.  This admin is like a club sandwich of crimes, stacked on top of each other.  Except each layer isn't turkey,  ham, or bacon -- it's all just layers of shit.

I have raised babies and I have seen layers of sh*t. Just wait til this admin has one of those blow-outs. Lemme tell you, an up-the-back poopie that fills a onesie up to the armpits has no chance of ever leaving the public's memory.

31 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

No one cares unless it's an "unexpected" public announcement from the Ukrainian president about investigating Trump's top electoral opponent in 2020 and that "Mueller had it wrong with Russia's attack, it was Ukrainian actors under the previous regime! "

and yeah about Fox/Hannity above. He was fucking in on it for the alley-oop with the Vienna-dwelling boys.

and note to self: place nd joe on ignore.

Barr meeting with the head of  Fox several weeks ago and more than once is one of those times that I wish there was a "transcript" of their chats.

 

The President just got off the line with Erdogan. It was not a perfect call, but "a very good" call. Don't know what that means but hopefully not war and hopefully nothing to do with Kushner being held over the President's head.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Mrs Whiggins
Clarification

[wildcat09 28387]

56 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

To piggy back off what DDD just said: can we focus for a moment on how monumentally dumb this whole plan was? It HAD to have come straight from DJT's brain. This dude seriously thought that blackmailing Ukraine to publicly announce that they were investigating the Bidens would somehow move the needle? Is there any scenario where every American with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't see that announcement and go "uh, wtf, why?" What honestly was the anticipated outcome here? I think a lot of people would have scratched their heads and wondered why now, why them.

And not to mention the fact that Biden likely won't be the nominee anyway. 

You're forgetting that that's only like 30% of Americans.

[wildcat09 28387]

51 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

 

 

Just like the Bill Barr statements during his confirmation that he would look into the 2016 election "spying" on the Trump campaign.

I'll keep my powder dry on that investigation, but my sense is that Trump/Barr don't care about the outcome of any of these investigations.  They just want to push these conspiracy theories into the mainstream to pump the base and deflect from Trump's own malfeasance.

That's part of their motivation, but I do think there's part of each of them that have bought their own bullshit (because that's what happens when you have Fox News brain). Trump's ultimate goal though with all of this is to publicly absolve Russia of all claims that it interfered with 2016 so that he can justify lifting sanctions against them.  

[Dnaguy 11538]

20 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Imagine, 12 months ago, that this warmongering walrus could potentially be a savior of the Republic.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

20 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

You're forgetting that that's only like 30% of Americans.

I think it's the inverse, but then again, I always overestimate people. it's a character flaw

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 hour ago, notre dame joe said:

Are you claiming there's an ideological divide between the mainstream media and the Democrats?  

wrong thread cunt, GTFO

[NameAlreadyInUse 5092]

2 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

Would love to see Foghorn Lindsey get owned by little chicken hawk.

I suspect Lindsey is a chickenhawk, and that's why he's so hot to trot to stay on the idiot's good side, because the idiot has some proof of that hiding away somewhere.  And I don't mean the "I'm a big war supporter now but I shirked my duty to go to war when I was a young man."  I mean the gay version of chickenhawk, the "Oh that chickenhawk? Yeah he's 50 years old but he's still out trolling for dicks on campus."

[HenryJames 64901]

These guys are so fucking dumb.

[HenryJames 64901]

 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Lindsey Graham is a lawyer.  He knows, at a base level, that ignorance is no defense.  Intent of action trumps ignorance except in special instances.

"Are you aware that robbing a bank is a crime?"

"No, your honor."

"But you intended to rob the bank, and followed through?"

"Yes, your honor."

"OK, you're guilty."

He's a Southern dandy who has no discernible reason to defend Trump so strongly.

[atomheartbevo 88750]

3 hours ago, Red Five said:

I know there's no logic to any of this, but what is the point of harassing the whistleblower at this point? Like if the firefighters are all working on putting out the fire, and a few assholes are going "so where is the son of a bitch that called 911! Coward!!". 

 

3 hours ago, Lurch said:

They can’t begin the character assassination until he’s outed. Once they accomplish that, they’ll claim fruit of poison tree.

That’s it. That’s the whole plan.

A little bit of what Lurch said, but I'd toss in that if they could out the whistleblower and wreck his or her life, they almost 100% guarantee that no more whistleblowers come forward.

Their nightmare over the past few weeks has been a string of witnesses all backing each other up.  Another whistleblower or two would take things to an even higher level. 

Even worse:  A whistleblower for a completely different scandal.

It's witness intimidation, plain and simple.

Edited November 6, 2019 by atomheartbevo

[atomheartbevo 88750]

2 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

To piggy back off what DDD just said: can we focus for a moment on how monumentally dumb this whole plan was? It HAD to have come straight from DJT's brain. This dude seriously thought that blackmailing Ukraine to publicly announce that they were investigating the Bidens would somehow move the needle? Is there any scenario where every American with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't see that announcement and go "uh, wtf, why?" What honestly was the anticipated outcome here? I think a lot of people would have scratched their heads and wondered why now, why them.

And not to mention the fact that Biden likely won't be the nominee anyway. 

He most likely got it stuck in his head, from the media, that Biden could beat him.  Never mind that the field hadn't even solidified yet.  This is a guy who doesn't have very flexible thinking when something gets stuck in his head.  

Hell, he still won't let Hillary beating him in the popular vote go.  He still won't let Obama go.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23245]

 

[notre dame joe 170]

8 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

No shit.

No quid pro quo!

Sure, there was quid pro quo, but everyone does it!

The quid was so meaningless that the pro quo doesn't matter!

 

 

What is Biden's campaign slogan Alex?

[Jack Straw 2953]

17 hours ago, Red Five said:

I know there's no logic to any of this, but what is the point of harassing the whistleblower at this point? Like if the firefighters are all working on putting out the fire, and a few assholes are going "so where is the son of a bitch that called 911! Coward!!". 

the whistleblower will be killed if their identity is revealed.  this is what Trump and Republicans want - for the message to be sent that no one should attempt to hold them accountable for their treason