The impeachment inquiry

[Nom De Plume]

Upright Officials Defend America’s Values against Trump

The Trump administration is at the top a stronghold of yes-men, hypocrites, and nepotism. Nowadays, rather apolitical civil servants are the ones who prevent the United States from becoming a banana republic.

Donald Trump's attacks against the Ukrainian investigations of the House of Representatives are becoming more bizarre, and for good reason. Finally, the statements of senior officials about the shadow foreign policy of Trump’s lawyer, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have become increasingly problematic for the U.S. president. After the appearance of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump removed from her position, appointing William Taylor as her replacement, it is now clear that the president was guilty of a massive abuse of office.

He pressured Ukraine and withheld millions in aid that had already been approved by Congress to force the Ukrainian president to initiate corruption investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden. Trump wanted to find evidence to support an absurd theory that the manipulations of the U.S. election in 2016 were not carried out by Russia, as the American intelligence community had determined, but allegedly by agents working on servers in Ukraine.

Trump calls the Republicans who turn against his intrigues "human scum." He calls the impeachment investigations a "witch hunt" and " a lynching.” And most recently, in an official statement, the White House has called the officials who testified against Trump "radical unelected bureaucrats." It is high time for rehabilitation.

In fact, it is several largely apolitical and loyal civil servants such as the diplomats Taylor and Yovanovitch, or military men like Alexander Vindman, who is now working in the National Security Council, along with many others, who are currently preventing America from slipping into being a banana republic. And they are willing to endure malicious smear campaigns by Trump's defenders.

Trump is forcing many officials to face internal conflicts. These people have previously faithfully served administrations of every political shade. After all, the American system of government is entirely geared to the president, who stands like the Sun King at the top of a power pyramid and rightly demands loyalty from those who are to implement his policies within the structure. That's is what the Constitution provides.

But what if the president uses corrupt means to gain an advantage over political competitors? What if he weakens institutions and breaks many of the rules designed to ensure that a president does not abuse his power to his advantage? Or when the president lies like a trooper and tries to entangle upright officials in his own lies?

read more...
http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2019/11/1 ... nst-trump/

[Black Orchid]

Upright Officials Defend America’s Values against Trump

The Trump administration is at the top a stronghold of yes-men, hypocrites, and nepotism. Nowadays, rather apolitical civil servants are the ones who prevent the United States from becoming a banana republic.

Donald Trump's attacks against the Ukrainian investigations of the House of Representatives are becoming more bizarre, and for good reason. Finally, the statements of senior officials about the shadow foreign policy of Trump’s lawyer, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have become increasingly problematic for the U.S. president. After the appearance of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump removed from her position, appointing William Taylor as her replacement, it is now clear that the president was guilty of a massive abuse of office.

He pressured Ukraine and withheld millions in aid that had already been approved by Congress to force the Ukrainian president to initiate corruption investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden. Trump wanted to find evidence to support an absurd theory that the manipulations of the U.S. election in 2016 were not carried out by Russia, as the American intelligence community had determined, but allegedly by agents working on servers in Ukraine.

Trump calls the Republicans who turn against his intrigues "human scum." He calls the impeachment investigations a "witch hunt" and " a lynching.” And most recently, in an official statement, the White House has called the officials who testified against Trump "radical unelected bureaucrats." It is high time for rehabilitation.

In fact, it is several largely apolitical and loyal civil servants such as the diplomats Taylor and Yovanovitch, or military men like Alexander Vindman, who is now working in the National Security Council, along with many others, who are currently preventing America from slipping into being a banana republic. And they are willing to endure malicious smear campaigns by Trump's defenders.

Trump is forcing many officials to face internal conflicts. These people have previously faithfully served administrations of every political shade. After all, the American system of government is entirely geared to the president, who stands like the Sun King at the top of a power pyramid and rightly demands loyalty from those who are to implement his policies within the structure. That's is what the Constitution provides.

But what if the president uses corrupt means to gain an advantage over political competitors? What if he weakens institutions and breaks many of the rules designed to ensure that a president does not abuse his power to his advantage? Or when the president lies like a trooper and tries to entangle upright officials in his own lies?

read more...
http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2019/11/1 ... nst-trump/

What an absolute load of hogwash biased propaganda.

After the appearance of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump removed from her position, appointing William Taylor as her replacement, it is now clear that the president was guilty of a massive abuse of office.

The same Marie Yovanovitch who ordered the State Department to monitor conservative journalists, as well as Trump allies whilst being U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from the Obama Administration?

https://www.judicialwatch.org/videos/di ... inside-jw/

He pressured Ukraine and withheld millions in aid that had already been approved by Congress to force the Ukrainian president to initiate corruption investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden. Trump wanted to find evidence to support an absurd theory that the manipulations of the U.S. election in 2016 were not carried out by Russia, as the American intelligence community had determined, but allegedly by agents working on servers in Ukraine.

Absolute nonsense but I am sure Brian will lap it up.

Even though I hate polls the latest shows that even the Democrats seem to realise their ridiculous ploy is going to fail now that it has moved into the open and away from behind closed doors.

There was an increase in the number of Democrats who said Trump was likely to stay until the end of his first elected term with 56 percent responding positively, a 7 percent increase since an identical poll taken in October 2019. Democrats who said Trump would be unable to complete his term dropped by ten points, with 25 percent responding in the negative. Some Democrats were unsure, with 19 percent responding as such.

https://www.newsweek.com/majority-democ ... st-1471650

[Nom De Plume]

Evidence mounts Trump broke the law and impeachment should follow

Historians will have difficulty marking the beginning of the Trump presidency scandals, though they will agree that they began well before he took office. The FBI investigation into Russian interference in the campaign began before the election, as did the pay-off to the porn star Stormy Daniels. The audio tape in which Mr Trump boasted of his fondness for sexual assault was released before the election.

After Mr Trump’s inauguration the pace of scandal only increased. In March this year the New York Times published a list of 30 ongoing congressional, federal criminal, state and local investigations relating to Mr Trump and his business and political organisations. Alongside Russian interference, authorities were inquiring into allegations of obstruction of justice, abuse of White House security clearance processes, money laundering, irregularities in the use of inauguration funds, alleged lobbying violations and tax and insurance irregularities. The Mueller investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election resulted in 199 criminal charges, 37 indictments or guilty pleas and five prison sentences.

Despite all this, the Democratic Party’s leadership under the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi long resisted calls to impeach the President. Having finally launched impeachment hearings it now faces criticism from Republican opponents that it is now engaged in a witch hunt and from some supporters that it is playing into the President’s hands.

Throughout his first term the sheer relentlessness and complexity of Trump scandals has served to inoculate him from their consequences. He has distracted from dishonesty with malfeasance; from incompetence with intemperance. Backed by online conspiracy theorists and unyielding partisan support from Fox News, Mr Trump’s most ardent supporters see the staggering scope of the allegations against him as evidence of a “deep state” plot against his presidency.

To understand why Democrats have decided to impeach Mr Trump over the Ukraine scandal rather than any other, it helps to know the sequence of events.

In 2014, Hunter Biden, the lawyer-lobbyist son of then vice-president Joe Biden joined the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company named Burisma Holdings, whose owner is accused of corruption. Hunter Biden’s leveraging of his powerful surname was unseemly but legal.

Later that year Joe Biden was directed by Barack Obama to lead efforts backed by the G7 and the European Union to force Ukraine to investigate and remove its allegedly corrupt prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin. This inspired online conspiracies that Joe Biden was acting to protect his son. In fact all the evidence shows that Mr Biden was pursuing US policy that may have been to the detriment of his son’s employer.

In April this year Volodymyr Zelensky won the Ukranian election. Two months later the White House informed the State Department and Pentagon that Mr Trump was withholding $US392 million ($577 million) in military aid to Ukraine but not why.

In August, a CIA whistleblower came forward saying that Mr Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were demanding that Mr Zelensky pursue a corruption investigation against the Bidens in order to damage Joe Biden’s chances of beating Mr Trump in the 2020 election. It is alleged the military aid - crucial to Ukraine as it confronted Russian aggression - was withheld as part of the effort to force Zelensky’s hand.

The allegation that a president who benefited from foreign interference in the last election was now strong-arming the leader of another nation to help him win the next finally prompted Speaker Pelosi to announce on September 24 that Democrats would begin an impeachment inquiry.

So far evidence substantiating the whistleblower’s allegations continues to mount. In the first day of public impeachment hearings on Wednesday in Washington DC two senior American diplomats testified as to why they believed that Mr Trump was pursuing personal rather than national interests in his dealings with Mr Zelensky. Details of a phone call made by Mr Trump to a third diplomat regarding an investigation into Biden were aired.

Observers have noted that the Democratic questioning in the house on Wednesday was poised and deliberate. Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee avoided the grandstanding often associated with such hearings and sought to reinforce the simple case that they have been making in public, that the US President has broken US law in seeking to enlist foreign assistance to win an election.

Critics have argued that Congressional Democrats have made a strategic blunder in pursuing an impeachment that may fail in the Senate where Republicans hold a majority. The Herald believes that the allegations are not only credible but so grave as to warrant formal impeachment hearings. It is to be hoped that even in this hyperpartisan era, America’s elected representatives will consider the evidence on its merit.


https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-amer ... 53b2x.html

[Nom De Plume]

You are shooting the messenger sweetie. I'm just feeding the thread.

Otherwise, everything is biased in the world of politics. [and crime]

[Black Orchid]

But what are your thoughts?

[Nom De Plume]

But what are your thoughts?

I have no thoughts on the image you posted, although I will concede that the impeachment is quite the circus... great material for a satire!

[Slick Rhodes]

Upright Officials Defend America’s Values against Trump

The Trump administration is at the top a stronghold of yes-men, hypocrites, and nepotism. Nowadays, rather apolitical civil servants are the ones who prevent the United States from becoming a banana republic.

Donald Trump's attacks against the Ukrainian investigations of the House of Representatives are becoming more bizarre, and for good reason. Finally, the statements of senior officials about the shadow foreign policy of Trump’s lawyer, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have become increasingly problematic for the U.S. president. After the appearance of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump removed from her position, appointing William Taylor as her replacement, it is now clear that the president was guilty of a massive abuse of office.

He pressured Ukraine and withheld millions in aid that had already been approved by Congress to force the Ukrainian president to initiate corruption investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden. Trump wanted to find evidence to support an absurd theory that the manipulations of the U.S. election in 2016 were not carried out by Russia, as the American intelligence community had determined, but allegedly by agents working on servers in Ukraine.

Trump calls the Republicans who turn against his intrigues "human scum." He calls the impeachment investigations a "witch hunt" and " a lynching.” And most recently, in an official statement, the White House has called the officials who testified against Trump "radical unelected bureaucrats." It is high time for rehabilitation.

In fact, it is several largely apolitical and loyal civil servants such as the diplomats Taylor and Yovanovitch, or military men like Alexander Vindman, who is now working in the National Security Council, along with many others, who are currently preventing America from slipping into being a banana republic. And they are willing to endure malicious smear campaigns by Trump's defenders.

Trump is forcing many officials to face internal conflicts. These people have previously faithfully served administrations of every political shade. After all, the American system of government is entirely geared to the president, who stands like the Sun King at the top of a power pyramid and rightly demands loyalty from those who are to implement his policies within the structure. That's is what the Constitution provides.

But what if the president uses corrupt means to gain an advantage over political competitors? What if he weakens institutions and breaks many of the rules designed to ensure that a president does not abuse his power to his advantage? Or when the president lies like a trooper and tries to entangle upright officials in his own lies?

read more...
http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2019/11/1 ... nst-trump/

If either of these "Upright Officials" were to challenge Trump for the Presidency they would lose.

[The4thEstate]

Evidence mounts Trump broke the law and impeachment should follow

Of course impeachment will follow -- because the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats, who've been trying to force Trump out of office since the day he was sworn in.

The hearings aren't a search for the truth any more than the silly Mueller "Russia collusion" investigation was. They're designed to destroy Trump's presidency so the Democrats can get back what they crave most in life: power.

By their own admission, they're afraid if they don't remove Trump now, they'll lose to him next November. In the words of Representative Al Green: "I'm concerned that if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected."
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video ... ected.html

So don't kid yourselves, folks. The House Democrats will vote to impeach ... and then it will go to the Senate Republicans, who will promptly defeat it. And Trump will remain in office, perhaps with even a higher approval rating after the American public tires of another Democrat political circus. After all, if they're holding all-day hearings, they're not passing bills that improve the lives of average Americans.

But stay tuned. Word has it that the long-awaited Inspector General's report, covering the origins of the Russia collusion hoax, will finally be released in early December ... and that it won't make Obama administration officials look good. Between that and the Attorney General's investigation, headed by Durham, we could actually see Obama intelligence bigwigs indicted for their role in coordinating federal spying on the Trump campaign.

[BigP]

Evidence mounts Trump broke the law and impeachment should follow

Of course impeachment will follow -- because the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats, who've been trying to force Trump out of office since the day he was sworn in.

The hearings aren't a search for the truth any more than the silly Mueller "Russia collusion" investigation was. They're designed to destroy Trump's presidency so the Democrats can get back what they crave most in life: power.

By their own admission, they're afraid if they don't remove Trump now, they'll lose to him next November. In the words of Representative Al Green: "I'm concerned that if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected."
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video ... ected.html

So don't kid yourselves, folks. The House Democrats will vote to impeach ... and then it will go to the Senate Republicans, who will promptly defeat it. And Trump will remain in office, perhaps with even a higher approval rating after the American public tires of another Democrat political circus. After all, if they're holding all-day hearings, they're not passing bills that improve the lives of average Americans.

But stay tuned. Word has it that the long-awaited Inspector General's report, covering the origins of the Russia collusion hoax, will finally be released in early December ... and that it won't make Obama administration officials look good. Between that and the Attorney General's investigation, headed by Durham, we could actually see Obama intelligence bigwigs indicted for their role in coordinating federal spying on the Trump campaign.

every time i see that little prick Adam Schiff on the box I get the urge to punch his fucken teeth out

[Black Orchid]

every time i see that little prick Adam Schiff on the box I get the urge to punch his fucken teeth out

Couldn't agree more.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAkZMcL ... =emb_title[/youtube]