The cynic in me gives a week before the fighting starts again.
- Wednesday 23 Oct. In the morning, the House Intelligence Committee attempted to hold an impeachment-related hearing with a Department of Defense official about the military aid the Trump administration withheld from Ukraine. Like previous House Intel Ukraine hearings, Wednesday’s was to be held privately in a secure “sensitive compartmented information facility” (SCIF) in the Capitol. There are sound nonpartisan reasons for keeping the hearings behind closed doors for now: The inquiry touches on classified information, for one, and investigators don’t want testimony made public yet for the same reason that police officers interview criminal suspects separately. (That is, they don’t want what one witness says to influence what other witnesses may say.) Republican members of the committee were present Wednesday, as they have been for other depositions, and Democrats have said that public hearings will be held once the initial investigation is finished in coming weeks....,
Nonetheless—and likely because the content of the testimony that’s being heard is reportedly so damaging to the president—pro-Trump Republicans have made the allegedly sinister secrecy of the proceedings their chief issue at the moment. On Wednesday, this escalated to stupid and borderline dangerous/criminal levels as Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is such a powerful manifestation of MAGA energy that he was once arrested for DUI in his dad’s BMW, led 20 or so Republican House members who aren’t on the Intelligence Committee in a slow-motion raid of the SCIF room as the hearing was scheduled to begin. Several appear to have been using their phones in the facility, a violation of protocol that—if any of the phones happen to have been previously hacked—could help foreign governments gain access to classified information. (And do we really think none of these predominately male legislators have ever used their phones’ audiovisual capacities, if you get our drift, in a way that would make them vulnerable to malware?)
The unauthorized Republicans eventually left, ultimately delaying the hearing by five hours. The kicker, per Bloomberg, is Donald Trump told Gaetz, et al., that he “supported” the SCIF-raid plan in a meeting Tuesday. Thus we have the executive branch endorsing a plan to physically disrupt a legislative investigation of the executive’s conduct in a way that risks exposure of classified material. Very cool! Very normal!
Taylor ...testified that on a call, Sondland stated that Trump told him he wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “publicly” pledge investigations — which would undercut the fact of Russian sabotage of the 2016 election and help smear potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden. Taylor claimed Sondland told him the [held-back aid] money was dependent on this. Taylor then adds:
We also discussed the possibility that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, rather than President Zelenskyy, would make a statement about investigations, potentially in coordination with Attorney General Barr’s probe into the investigation of interference in the 2016 elections.
Two senior U.S. officials seriously discussed a plan in which the attorney general of the United States would publicly coordinate with a foreign government to help Trump absolve Russia of culpability for an attack on our political system, by helping to repudiate our intelligence services’ conclusion about that culpability.
When you can't defend the charges, attack the process. — Wayfarer
It will take time to see how this works itself out, but if it does work, the prophecies and hand-wringing of Trump’s opponents were for naught. — NOS4A2
In other Trump news, Trump has claimed progress in Syria, claiming a “permanent ceasefire” along the Turkish border. — NOS4A2
it's Putin, not Trump, who has made progress. — Echarmion
I suppose the SDF general was lying, then. — NOS4A2
No, Trump’s sanctions and ceasefire deal were separate from Russia and Turkey’s pact. — NOS4A2
We THANK President Trump for his tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack and jihadist groups on our people.
I remember asking how along the US should remain in that area, and you gave a great idea, broker a deal between Turkey and “the Kurds”, until they are able to escape or get ready for their defence. It appears Trump had pretty much the same idea. Broker a deal and get “The Kurds” out of the area. So now that that is over, what else do you suggest? — NOS4A2
They will not. Has any Republican in Congress even acknowledged that the closed hearings are even allowable, much less appropriate?I wonder if Trump's base even gets it. — 3017amen
Just a minor point to bring up concerning the charade yesterday. I wonder if Trump's base even gets it...
Or maybe they just 'get' the mob mentality! — 3017amen
Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a grand jury and to file criminal charges.
looks like the Durham investigation is now turning into a criminal inquiry. This does not bode well for champions of the Russia hoax. — NOS4A2
If you would like to portray youself as an objective observer, I recommend you refrain from using Trump's memes. The investigation was anything but a hoax which implies there was no reason whatsoever to suspect wrongdoing by the Trump campaign. OJ Simpson was acquitted of murder but that doesn't imply his investigation was perpetrating a hoax....Russia hoax... — NOS4A2
If you would like to portray youself as an objective observer, I recommend you refrain from using Trump's memes. The investigation was anything but a hoax which implies there was no reason whatsoever to suspect wrongdoing by the Trump campaign. OJ Simpson was acquitted of murder but that doesn't imply his investigation was perpetrating a hoax.
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