Trump wants the GOP to be tougher defending him

[Sandy Shanks]

Is Senator Lindsey Graham stupid? Does Graham think the American people are stupid?

I ask these questions because, in his presentation today, he didn't know the difference between an impeachment inquiry and articles of impeachment.

He said the full House voted down an impeachment inquiry in July. Then he put up a poster to proves his point. The poster showed clearly that the full House voted down Al Green's Articles of Impeachment of Trump. That has happened a few times in the House. Green is premature, to say the least.

Urging that the full House vote on an impeachment inquiry, he proudly displayed the fact that was done in the case of Bill Clinton. He even had another poster to prove it. Problem is, his poster showed the vote on the Articles of Impeachment of Clinton, not an impeachment inquiry.

Then Graham argued that Trump is being denied his rights of due process, failing to mention 47 Republicans and their staffs are in those closed door meetings defending Trump all they want. Graham failed to mention that it is Trump stonewalling the House, not the other way around. He also failed to mention that what the House is doing right now is the investigation stage. To impeach a President, evidence has to be gathered. Graham failed to mention that Ken Starr, as the independent prosecutor, took five years of secret meetings to gather evidence to impeach Clinton. We no longer have an independent prosecutor. Graham didn't mention that, either. The House has to do the investigating.

Then to prove his point that Trump was denied due process, Graham came up with still another poster. Here it is:

Please note the poster says, "All the rights given to Clinton DURING IMPEACHMENT."

Not during the impeachment inquiry, the investigative stage. Trump will have every one of those rights when the Articles of Impeachment are debated and in his Senate trial IF he is impeached.

Trump is going down and he is going to take the Republicans with him. Graham's presentation was childlike in its performance. It as as if he was speaking to the intellectually challenged. Maybe he was.

This presentation along with Republicans storming the secure room in the capitol yesterday shows that they are making complete fools of themselves. Graham bragged he had 41 Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had approved his resolution.

Just the idea that Republicans in the Senate wish to pass a resolution that censures the House of Representatives gives some idea how chaotic the Trump government is.

Senator Graham is not stupid. But he is very afraid. He should be. Americans will have their say about all this, and he may become one of the casualties.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

This is what Trump and his lawyer, William Barr, do not want you to know as they, House Republicans, and Senator Graham throw out various diversions to obscure the work in the impeachment inquiry. As Trump continues to say, "no quid pro quo," his own words, the evidence, and his own acting chief of staff say differently.

In his testimony on Tuesday, William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Kiev, effectively confirmed that the President withheld military aid from Ukraine in a quid pro quo effort to pressure that country’s leader to incriminate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and smear other Democrats.

Government sources in the Ukrainian capital said Washington pressured Zelensky's camp directly about the need to accommodate Trump's desires or no military aid.

After confirming quid pro quo, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said this is how business is done in the Trump administration and "Get over it."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper — who handles Ukraine, Russia and Eastern European policy for the Pentagon — testified that U.S. military assistance was restored on September 11 without any public statement by Zelenskiy about investigations then or since.

On September 10, Trump was informed by his advisors that there was a serious problem regarding his political aims in Ukraine and the withholding of military aid, and Schiff knew about it.

Next week, investigators want to hear from two officials on the national security council: Charles Kupperman, the former deputy national security adviser; and Tim Morrison, a top Russia and Eastern Europe policy specialist.

Is it any wonder why frustrated Republicans in the House stormed the meeting room in the capitol and Graham gave us that infantile presentation, asking for a censure of the House! Republicans are desperate because the White House is avoiding the evidence and only objecting to the process. That objection has no basis in fact or circumstance. They are very concerned about the avoidance of the evidence by the White House, and Trump being the only litigator. Everyone else is silent on the issue, even Trump's counsel.

Fool that he is, Trump even admitted his weakness. "I don't have a team ... I am the team." He never knows when to keep his mouth shut.

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/25/7730...shell-testimony-and-revelations-from-the-east helped with this report.

 

[basquebromance]

i hear you donald

brothers and sisters: President Trump has the lowest rate of regulations of any president in history

tyrants dont get rid of rules, they pile them on, my friends!