Mega-Thread: Impeachment Proceedings & Inquiry of Trump

[Levelfive]

Even if they voted on the inquiry, which just about every Democrat supports now, Trump would STILL obstruct justice and not comply with subpoenas and requests for testimony. Because he and his retarded lawyers think he is above the law. Nixon tried that and was soundly defeated in the courts. Trump will be as well.

Confirmed: "A senior administration official confirmed Tuesday after that a “full halt” was being placed on any cooperation with the House’s inquiry, including its requests that members of the administration sit for interviews or its subpoena of documents.

“The administration’s policy, under the current circumstances at least, as these rules are currently framed, [is] that the administration will have a full halt because this is not a valid procedure for going forward on impeachment inquiry,” the official said.

The administration official, however, was cagey when asked what the House could do to secure the White House’s cooperation. The official refused to commit that the White House would cooperate if there was a floor vote in the House approving the inquiry or even if the House met all the other procedural demands laid out in the letter.

“I am not going to try to provide particular red lines or things like that,” the official said. “The letter, I think, speaks for itself about flaws — we’d have to see what the house wants to do try to remedy them.”

“I don’t want to speculate we will take it as the situation develops and day by day as things change, be able to reevaluate,” the official added."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/w...etter-response

[Dontrike]

He's a populist and he's doing his damnest to follow through on what he promised. A lot of people like that.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH "He's doing his damnest" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

He's literally failed on everything, vacations more than every other president ever, has near to no victories in courts, and has fucked up more times than than the people counting them care to admit, but yeah sure he's "trying his best." Fuck that's funny.

[Shadowferal]

At this point, if/when this goes to the Senate for a trial, and if things go badly for Trump, I'll give it a coin-flip that he takes a "formal" trip to Russia and gets a room next to Snowden indefinitely.
Fucked up since if that happens, he'll leave his family behind to clean up his mess.

But the entertainment value would be priceless, since the GOP would lose themselves in collective apoplectic shock.

[Somewhatconcerned]

And this is why people say Trump would refuse to leave office even if voted out or if his term runs out. And they'd be right.

[Zaydin]

For someone who insists he has done nothing wrong, Trump sure does a great job of acting like a guilty man with a lot to hide.

[Shadowferal]

Yeah..."I got nothing to hide" translates to "No cooperation at all."

[Orbitus]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH "He's doing his damnest" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

He's literally failed on everything, vacations more than every other president ever, has near to no victories in courts, and has fucked up more times than than the people counting them care to admit, but yeah sure he's "trying his best." Fuck that's funny.

Even when he had full control of the government for 2 years, he got nothing done but a shitty tax cut for the rich that isn't helping anyone but the rich. And it is adding trillions to the deficits and debt.

[-aiko-]

"White House announces it will not comply with 'illegitimate and unconstitutional' impeachment inquiry"


This has gone from 'concerning' on my radar to 'I am considering living with out-of-country family for a while'.

[Shadowferal]

Doing his damndest by signing more executive orders in 3 years than the prior three presidents signed in either of their 8yrs in office.

[TigTone]

"White House announces it will not comply with 'illegitimate and unconstitutional' impeachment inquiry"


This has gone from 'concerning' on my radar to 'I am considering living with out-of-country family for a while'.

Unfortunately many can not do that.

[s_bushido]

"White House announces it will not comply with 'illegitimate and unconstitutional' impeachment inquiry"

I don't understand how this isn't blatant obstruction of justice... Or is it not just because formal impeachment proceedings haven't begun yet?

[nonameelf]

I don't understand how this isn't blatant obstruction of justice... Or is it not just because formal impeachment proceedings haven't begun yet?

Republicans just kind of made a law up in their own mind and think a vote is required to start impeachment investigations.

Which is just fucking silly. It's basically asking "Is Trump guilty?" before the investigation.

[Shadowferal]

Trump is using language that even McConnell is starting to have doubts about.

[kaelleria]

Trump apparently told Perry and state department officials to go through Giuliani...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/polit...ent/index.html

President Donald Trump directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal with his private attorney Rudy Giuliani when the Ukrainian President sought to meet Trump, in a clear circumvention of official channels, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.

Trump believed Ukraine was still rampantly corrupt and said that if President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to meet with him, Giuliani would have to be convinced first, one source said.

"If they can satisfy Rudy, they can satisfy the President," a person familiar with the meeting said.

Trump's push to have Giuliani as gatekeeper is more direct than what was previously disclosed by one of the meeting's participants in his statement to the House last week. It also further demonstrates how significant Giuliani was in brokering access to the President regarding Ukraine policy and in passing messages to other administration officials.

A key accusation in the whistleblower's complaint that has prompted the impeachment probe into the President's dealings with Ukraine is that Giuliani, a private citizen, had been presenting to Ukraine a US policy different than that from US diplomats.

At the May 23 meeting, Perry, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, then the State Department's special representative to Ukraine, were reporting back to Trump after they returned from Zelensky's inauguration.

Their goal was to tell Trump that they had a favorable impression of Zelensky and his government, and that he was a reformer who Trump should trust and engage with, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

They were hoping to set up a meeting between Trump and Zelensky, the sources said. They believed Ukraine under Zelensky was a more trusted ally than previous Ukrainian regimes, and that a visit between Trump and Zelensky could demonstrate to the Russian government that the US embraced a free Ukraine, according to two of the sources.

Notably, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Washington on May 23 but he did not attend the meeting with Trump.

Perry had led the delegation who attended Zelensky's inauguration, and was a central figure in the May meeting with Trump.
It became clear to the Trump administration officials, the sources said, that they would have to deal with Giuliani.

Volker hinted last week in speaking to the House how central Giuliani was in the President's foreign policy approach to Ukraine.
"The President was very skeptical," Volker said to the House committees, describing what had happened when he, Sondland and Perry spoke to Trump. "In the course of that conversation, he referenced conversations with Mayor Giuliani."

"He was clearly receiving other information from other sources, including Mayor Giuliani, that was more negative, causing him to retain this negative view" of a corrupt Ukraine, Volker added.

The US officials then set out to correct the information feed coming into the President while realizing they would need to work with --and around -- Giuliani, according to the sources.

Two months later, during an interagency meeting, the Office of Management and Budget announced it would review whether Ukraine should receive $400 million in assistance from the US that had been set aside by Congress. The question on aid that arose later eventually became a major topic of conversation among Sondland, Volker and others.

Perry acknowledged speaking to Giuliani, according to an Energy Department spokesperson. The spokesperson didn't comment on the meeting itself or the substance of the conversations with Giuliani.

When asked if he had ever spoken to Perry about Ukraine, Giuliani responded by dismissing the question.

"Did Henry Kissinger ever call me about Ukraine," Giuliani wrote to CNN on Tuesday. "What about Colin Powell."

He then said that any information about his possible discussions with Perry would be privileged. He did not explain why.

[bladeXcrasher]

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...on/2290759001/

And the Iowa National Guard is roped up in the controversy about US military staying at Trump properties.

Hey, those reduced rates were below the per diem, obviously nothing corrupt about this at all. /s

[Edge-]

Democrats know what they have to do if they want to make it official.

A floor vote to proceed with an inquiry doesn't make it any more or less official than it is right now. If you're talking about the actual vote to begin impeachment proceedings, that's a separate matter.

They don't want to do that because they a) don't want to go on the record for something that might blow up in their faces and

Or, because it's pointless and accomplishes nothing.

b) don't want to give Republicans co-equal subpoena power as has been the case with every other Presidential impeachment inquiry.

They will have this if they proceed with an actual impeachment vote, if I understand correctly. And nothing is stopping Republicans in the Senate from looking into other matters, as Graham and some are now.

[Elegiac]

b) don't want to give Republicans co-equal subpoena power as has been the case with every other Presidential impeachment inquiry.

It's generally a poor idea to give a mobster's lackey the key to his cell.

- - - Updated - - -

Abusing a weakness/loophole in the House Rules to deny precedent and due process is the Democrat's prerogative. Just as it is the White House' prerogative to use every legal recourse to put them in their place and force them to do what they're unwilling to do.

Remind me how they're going to be put in their place by legal recourse if holding a floor vote is not...

*checks notes*

Legally required.

Y'all lost the 2018 election and you need to accept the results, Sulla.

[DarkTZeratul]

I don't understand how this isn't blatant obstruction of justice...

That's very easy: it is.

[Elegiac]

LOL, you think the "results" are letting a little more than half of 1/3 of the government throw around idle threats in non-legally binding letters and wholly challengeable subpoenas?

Challenge them, then. I'm sure the White House with a 96% loss rate in court due to failing to prepare arguments that don't stand up to the most basic of legal scrutiny will be the victor here.

The results were that in an election where every American got the chance to vote for their representatives, they elected to send a Democratic majority to Congress knowing full well what powers and prerogatives they were gifting them.

And judging by current polling, their current use of said powers is pretty popular.

I suggest you either hold the vote for the impeachment inquiry and allow Republicans subpoena power or you start trying to lock people up. Both will end badly for you.

Oh look, Sulla has Moore predictions.

Remind me why we should have any respect for precedent and convention when Trump, McConnell, etc. have shown anything but?

[Dontrike]

LOL, you think the "results" are letting a little more than half of 1/3 of the government throw around idle threats in non-legally binding letters and wholly challengeable subpoenas?

I suggest you either hold the vote for the impeachment inquiry and allow Republicans subpoena power or you start trying to lock people up. Both will end badly for you.

No, what's going to happen is that Democrats are going to continue making threats and getting nowhere more than what the news media will allow them to lie about.

When you blame the media like that we know you have no real argument.

Moore lost, get over it.