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There Is No Bottom -- The Latest on the Impeachment of President Donald Trump

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | September 30, 2019

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Header Image Source: Getty Images

7:45: Happy Rosh Hoshanah! It’s clear I missed a lot today. Here’s a quick overview:

- The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani’s records pertaining to Ukraine, which mostly illustrates just how quickly the House is moving. Giuliani seems to be signalling that he may not comply.


- We learned for the first time today that Mike Pompeo was actually on the call between Trump and Zelensky, which was not previously reported. That seems like a big deal.

- In another instance in which the President used the office of the Presidency for personal gain, he apparently pressured the Australian Prime Minister to help AG William Barr by providing him with information designed to discredit the Mueller Report.

The discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia shows the extent to which Mr. Trump sees the attorney general as a critical partner in his goal to show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins, and the extent that Mr. Trump sees the Justice Department inquiry as a potential way to gain leverage over America’s closest allies.

- Meanwhile, AG Barr also held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials designed, again, to discredit connections between Russia and members of the Trump campaign.

The attorney general’s active role also underscores the degree to which a nearly three-year old election still consumes significant resources and attention inside the federal government. Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct.

There is no bottom to the self-dealing and corruption, and the entire goddamn Administration has bought into these nutbar conspiracy theories.

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Last week was a very bad one for the President of the United States, as Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. This week could be worse. According to a CBS poll over the weekend, 55 percent of Americans now support impeaching Trump. That’s a dramatic spike from where public opinion was just a week ago. Nancy Pelosi recognizes that. “The polls have changed drastically about this,” she said in a House conference call. “Our tone must be prayerful, respectful, solemn, worthy of the Constitution.”

Meanwhile, Trump has been sending his goons out to defend him, and it has not been going well. Here’s House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy lying his fool teeth off. The tweet is from Justin Amash, who was a Republican in the House three months ago (he is now an independent):

Lindsay Graham fared no better yesterday. This was embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Tom Bossert, Trump’s former Homeland Security advisor, went on This Week yesterday and basically said that the best way to get impeached is to hire Rudy Giuliani to run your defense. (He also said that, while he was a DHS advisor, he tried repeatedly to tell Trump that the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory was bunk, but Trump wouldn’t listen).

Things are not going well for the President — the Connecticut Post called upon him to resign yesterday — and the President is lashing out in dangerous ways. I don’t know that I need to run down all the tweets from the last 24 hours, but during the course of that time, Trump has publicly threatened the whistleblower, suggested that his identity be revealed, and suggested that Adam Schiff should be tried for treason.

Trump also warned that, if he is impeached, there will be a Civil War. This is another House Republican, a legit one, responding to that tweet.

Trump is clearly reading all his mentions, too, which can’t be good for his deteriorating mental health.

At this point, Donald Trump is basically hanging himself. And batshit Rudy is trying to cut off the noose but only pulling it tighter around his neck:

This week, the House is expected to speak with the inspector general of the intelligence community, and they are lining up a meeting with the whistleblower who, by the way, is now seeking federal protection, thanks to the threats from the President of the United States. We have also learned that the cover-up goes even deeper.

Meanwhile, it is Rosh Hoshanah, and I’m going to be in services for much of the day, so I won’t be around to update this post until this evening. Hopefully, when I return, Trump will have resigned all by himself. Shana Tova!


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