Schiff interrupts Jordan to protect whistleblower confirming that Schiff knows who the whistleblower is and that Vindmen leaked the call to him thus violating the law.
Vindman, who is still employed by the National Security Council, responded by reading aloud former top Russia adviser Fiona Hill's final performance review of his work:
"Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service. He is brilliant, unflappable and exercises excellent judgment."
"Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service. He is brilliant, unflappable and exercises excellent judgment."
Vindman Was Asked Three Times To Be Defense Minister Of Ukraine
Sean Davis @seanmdav
What was Alexander Vindman doing that led the Ukrainians to believe he was qualified or interested in serving as the Minister of Defense for a foreign nation?
Julie Kelly @julie_kelly2
The biggest point GOP should hammer is that Vindman advised a foreign leader to dismiss the concerns of a US president. He’s never talked to Trump but spoke to Zelensky? I’m old enough to remember stuff about the Logan Act and what not
And he swore under oath he did not know who the whistleblower was... get Schiff's staff under oath and could be big trouble ahead for the potential Ukrainian defense minister...
Jim Jordan is an embarrassment to our great country....he looks like a bitter broken asshole who chews gum like a fucking cow chewing cud......so sad the only points he makes shows the R's have nothing but BS to defend trump and his lies!!!!!! BTW.....the memo of the call is NOT A TRANSCRIPT!!!! Biden has noting to do with trumps transgressions.....but Nunes keeps trying like a broken record of BS!!!!!!!
These same Democrats who are waxing poetic about Vindman's service have spent three years promoting the conspiracy that General Flynn is a traitor loyal to Vladimir Putin.
about Vindman's service have spent three years promoting the conspiracy that General Flynn is a traitor loyal to Vladimir Putin.
And flynn's reputation went down the shitter when he lied to congress.....let us know when Vindman shoots himself in the foot like the lying power hungry General Flynn did......god coward you are a dumber fuck than trump!!!
Jim Jordan is an embarrassment to our great country...
And yet with the utterance of one honorific he mange to turn Vindman into the most unsympathetic military officer in the nation or as one pundit said; "Frank Burns" unsympathetic.
Schiff and co-conspirators wheeled out Vindman to avoid having CIA leaker Eric Ciaramella testify. If it’s going this bad for Vindman, how much worse would it be for Ciaramella?
Trump said, "Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and the rest of the corrupt Democrats made a promise to their crazy left-wing base that they would impeach me even BEFORE I took office."
The Republican National Committee, on Trump’s behalf, cited no evidence of such promises and we did not find any.
Yeah cramps.....a wrestling coach who ignored abuse turned nothing on Vindman other than proving Jordan is another fraud with nothing but BS to defend trump by attempting to impugn american heroes......BWAAAAAAAAA!!!! And you fall in line to keep sucking up to donnie fat obese old white ass!!!!!!!
Patrick Poole and his anonymous poster coward promote fake news and neither can turn around that 70% of the country now think trump was wrong with his bribery of Ukraine.....gee 70%!!!!
@Jim_Jordan asks Col. Vindman why he didn’t go to his boss, Tim Morrison, and instead went to a lawyer. Vindman says it was a busy week... and that eventually, the lawyer told him not to go to anyone else.
To say this impeachment case is collapsing is an understatement.
Throughout his original Oct. 3 testimony, Volker repeatedly drew a distinction between requests that Ukraine investigate Burisma — a Ukrainian energy company with a history of corruption — and Biden, whose son Hunter was tapped to sit on Burisma’s board as the company attempted to clean up its public image.
"At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden," Volker said. "I did not know that President Trump or others had raised Vice President Biden with the Ukrainians, or had conflated the investigation of possible Ukrainian corruption, with investigation of the former Vice President. In retrospect, for the Ukrainians, it clearly would have been confusing."
"In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, 'Burisma,' as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden," Volker added. "I saw them as very different — the former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable."
Last month Adam Schiff colluded with Politico’s Natasha Bertrand to publish lies about WH aide Kash Patel — supposedly from closed door testimony. Kash sued Bertrand & Politico. No mention of Kash in public hearings after he filed suit. Did Fiona Hill lie under oath @LeeWolosky?
"Volker just said it's a "conspiracy theory" that Biden was corrupt in his dealings with Ukraine while VP. He continued, "I have known Vice President Biden for 24 years. He is an honorable man and I hold him in the highest regard." -
Top official Tim Morrison said Alexander Vindman's bosses had a lot of concerns about him:
-Judgement -Potential leaker -Did not keep his bosses in the loop on what he was doing -Went around his bosses' backs -Was mad he was cut out of working on Ukraine
If Russia had asked Michael Flynn three separate times to be Minister of Defense at the Kremlin, Democrats and media would have immediately held a field trial, summarily convicted Flynn, and offed him for treason. Yet media are pretending this is NBD.
"In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, 'Burisma,' as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden,"
Translation "In hindsight he saw how the Democrats were spinning it."
At the time however, (The most important impression) Burisma was a perfectly legitimate subject for investigation and is still a subject for investigation.
Lt. Col. Vindman testified earlier today that he didn’t take his concerns to Mr. Morrison because he wasn’t available, but that same day he took his edits to the transcript to Mr. Morrison. (watch): https://twitter.com/RepBradWenstrup/status/1196954589569961990
1) @realDonaldTrump greatly improved U.S.-Ukraine policy 2) A 55-day hold on aid is not unusual 3) Trump's skepticism of Ukraine is reasonable 4) Trump was legitimately reviewing aid and asking European countries to pay their fair share
Well, I thought the two witnesses this morning did very, very well.
Then I saw some of Morrison and Volker a while ago, and I thought, Oh dear. They are pushing back hard against the Democrats.
Now I just finished watching some of the ending of today's testimony and I am VERY impressed at how some of the Democratic questioners dealt with Morrison and Volker, and I was PARTICULARLY impressed with Schiff's closing remarks, so fair minded and so illustrative of his appreciation for the two Republican witnesses, including praising Volker for having the decency to admit some of his earlier assumptions had been wrong, and his willingness to call entirely inappropriate some of President Trumps remarks regarding good and decent civil servants, with specific mention of some of them.
Colonel Vindman said he believed that Mr. Trump’s request for Ukraine to open investigations into his political rivals should be viewed as demands, and that they were “inappropriate” and “likely to have significant implications” for national security. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he said of the July 25 call. “My worst fear of how our Ukraine policy could play out was playing out.” Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both testified that the hold on nearly $400 million in military aid for Ukraine was damaging to Ukraine’s ability to confront Russian aggression. “Any signal or sign that U.S. support was wavering would be construed by Russia as potentially an opportunity for them to strengthen their own hand in Ukraine,” Ms. Williams said, relaying what the president of Ukraine told Mr. Pence during a meeting on Sept. 1. Dressed in his deep-blue Army dress uniform, Colonel Vindman, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, addressed his father, who fled Ukraine with the family when Colonel Vindman was a toddler. “You made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” he said. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.” He added: “Here, right matters.” Mr. Volker portrayed himself as out of touch with Mr. Trump’s Ukraine dealings, saying that he didn’t know of “any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations.” He later said that he considered concerns around the 2016 election and Mr. Biden to be “conspiracy theories,” and “not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy.” Mr. Morrison explained how the normal National Security Council leadership structure was subverted by Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, saying it was referred to internally as “the Gordon problem.” He said he “decided to keep track of what Ambassador Sondland was doing. I didn’t necessarily always act on things Gordon suggested he believed were important.”
Adam Schiff keeps saying the whistleblower has a “statutory right to anonymity.” He said it again this morning. It is nonsense. Only the IC official who receives a whistleblower complaint is required to withhold the name, and not in all circumstances.
Adam Schiff lying to America from his committee chair is not news.
Mr. Volker portrayed himself as out of touch with Mr. Trump’s Ukraine dealings, saying that he didn’t know of “any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations.”
Scott A**hole won't like it because it debunks his conspiracy theories!
He later said that he considered concerns around the 2016 election and Mr. Biden to be “conspiracy theories,” and “not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy.”
Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees. When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives. His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.
I also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this Committee, would not be tolerated in many places around the world. In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the President would surely cost me my life. I am grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety.
Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.
@RepRatcliffe shatters the myths created by the "whistleblower"
- no violation of law or executive order - no mention of @POTUS's 2020 bid - no pressure or demand from @realDonaldTrump
With myths like these, is it any wonder why Schiff has the "whistleblower" in hiding? (watch) https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1196957121478352898
The Senate will call Eric to the stand if the House moves forward with their losing hand. Guess the poker analogy is House dems are all-in and drawing dead.
Because Trump and his trolls are lying about what Speaker Pelosi said, here is a quote from Washington Examiner (a conservative paper, usually friendly to Trump):
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats it would be “dangerous” to skip impeachment and wait for the 2020 election to determine whether President Trump should remain in office.
“That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections,” the California lawmaker said to fellow Democrats in a memo sent Monday.
Pelosi said the call to skip impeachment proceedings and let voters decide next year is “the weak response” to the hearings Democrats have been holding as part of the impeachment proceedings."
'My friend': #AdamSchiff praised TV doctor arrested on sex charges over 9-year-old girl.
Wtf is up with leftists and their close friendships with pedophiles? This is becoming a disturbing pattern. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/my-friend-adam-schiff-praised-tv-doctor-arrested-on-sex-charges-over-9-year-old-girl
Vindman wore his uniform. Vindman was offended because Nunes didn’t refer to him as Lieutenant Colonel.
Vindman’s bosses and peers say he lacks good judgment and is a leaker.
Vindman leaked to the fake whistleblower. Vindman is the Dem hero. He’s their key witness. It’s over.
He may be a democrat hero but he lied under oath about his contacts with the whistleblower and leaked classified information. He definitely is not an American hero and should be prosecuted..
Obvious but: If to identify who Vindman leaked to is to identify the whistleblower, then not only do they know who the whistleblower is, but Vindman’s testimony doesn’t “confirm” whistleblower but repeat his own claims in circular fashion.
@Jim_Jordan asks Col. Vindman why he didn’t go to his boss, Tim Morrison, and instead went to a lawyer. Vindman says it was a busy week... and that eventually, the lawyer told him not to go to anyone else.
To say this impeachment case is collapsing is an understatement.
Lt. Col. Undercover Huber Retweeted Mark Meadows So he asked his brother the lawyer who told him not to tell his boss about what he says is a critical matter of national security? That’s his story?
Can't make this shit up, who could possibly believe ???
"Support for the Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry is dropping and opposition is growing among independent voters, a Politico-Morning Consult poll released Tuesday revealed."
Democrats are saying that Trump held back a Zelensky White House visit unless there were investigations. .@kvolker ‘s transcript says it was none other than the whistleblower’s best buddy Alex Vindman that was responsible for slow-rolling the visit. Well well well https://twitter.com/JarradKushner/status/1196339225899098112
Multiple War Heroes Slam ‘Prissy’ and ‘Disgraceful’ Lt. Col. Vindman Following Testimony
A number of famed military heroes blasted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman on Tuesday, calling him “prissy,” a “disgrace,” and “an operative with an agenda.”
Vindman on Tuesday earned their scorn for testifying against his commander-in-chief in uniform before the House intelligence Committee as part of the Democrats’ unraveling impeachment inquisition.
Multiple military vets made biting comments on Twitter about Vindman during and after his testimony.
Tim Kennedy, an active, Green Beret, Special Forces Sniper with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said “correcting a civilian about how to be addressed is for sure a way to make everyone in the military think you’re a douche bag.”
Mark Geist, a member of the heroic Annex Security Team that fought the Battle of Benghazi, Libya, on September, 11 2012, called Vindman a “disgrace.”
Former U.S. Navy SEAL and special warfare operator Robert James O’Neill said Vindman is an “operative with an agenda.” O’Neill is widely credited with firing the shot that killed Osama bin Laden.
Former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie called for Vindman to be dishonorably discharged. Higbie served two tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, reaching the rate of Special Warfare Operator, First Class.
Former US Army Special Forces soldier Jim Hanson called Vindman “prissy” and “the Frank Burns of the NSC,” who is “hated by everyone in his unit.”
Legendary Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the “lone survivor” of a elite four-man operation that went terribly wrong in Afghanistan in 2005, spoke up on Twitter when an Army vet attacked the president’s son Donald Trump Jr.
“I served this country too,” Luttrell said. “Our job as those in the uniform is to protect those that don’t wear it, not to defame them, especially the the First Family.”
Lt. Col (Ret.) Jim Hickman, who remembers Vindman as an anti-American partisan, was particularly irked by Vindman’s decision to wear his full military uniform, telling American Greatness that he did it “to again make him beyond reproach, and to make a political statement against the President. He should’ve worn his daily uniform, which is a civilian suit, period.”
The Iraq/Afghanistan war vet said that civilians are under no obligation to refer to officers by their rank but it’s considered proper etiquette to do so while they are in uniform. However, he told American Greatness that Vindman shouldn’t have been in uniform.
“LTC Vindman showed his pompous, arrogant side in today’s hearing by demanding Congressman Nunes address him as Lieutenant Colonel Vindman,” Hickman said. “The same arrogance he showed by advising the Ukrainians to do just the opposite of what President Trump’s policy was. The same arrogance that has him working against the President as a partisan in Congressman Adam Schiff’s sham impeachment.”
He added, “I witnessed this partisanship back in 2013 at Atlas Vision 13, and he hasn’t changed a bit.” The retired officer went on to vent: “I cannot express how pissed off I am right now, having watched LTC Vindman have his ass kissed by the Democrats through the entire hearing to make him out as some sort of national hero, when I know he’s a partisan hack.”
Earlier this month, LTC Hickman shared his memories of Vindman’s disgraceful behavior in Germany on Twitter and with American Greatness. Later, the New York Times published an unfair hit-piece on the disabled vet, in an effort to discredit him. LTC Hickman is a wounded warrior who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and received numerous combat medals—including the Purple Heart. He took medical leave from the service in 2017 due to complications from his injuries The Times didn’t refer to the war hero by his rank a single time in their piece.
“Makes me feel like all the harassment I went through was for nothing. Nobody even challenged his partisanship,” LTC Hickman told American Greatness.
The retired officer told American Greatness that his family has been receiving harassing and threatening phone calls since he decided to come forward with his story.
“My family and I have endured harassment for over two weeks now, because I stepped forward with the truth about Vindman. Today was a let down, and I call on anyone else who’s served with him and seen this same partisanship to have the courage to come forward,” he said. “Truth must be paramount, as there are those trying to malign against the constitution and the office of the presidency.” https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/19/multiple-war-heroes-slam-prissy-and-disgraceful-lt-col-vindman-following-testimony/
A Bad Day for Trump and Republicans November 19, 2019 at 10:31 pm EST
NBC News: “As Jon Allen points out in an analysis, Democratic staff lawyer Daniel Goldman, with calm and persistent questioning, drove a wedge between the witnesses and Trump.
“Goldman’s questioning during the second hearing led Morrison to describe a “parallel” policy process in which Sondland spoke directly with Trump — who has said that he barely knows Sondland — and that he repeatedly checked up on Sondland’s claims that he had spoken with Trump and found those claims to be true.
“That, along with Volker’s testimony, deeply damages the narrative put forth by some Republicans that Sondland and Giuliani were operating outside the president’s knowledge and to the case, put forth by the administration and many Republicans, that the aid was not withheld as leverage to produce a public statement regarding investigations.”
YEP. IT WAS A REALLY BAD DAY FOR TRUMP & THE REPUBLICANS.
How the GOP’s Star Witness Turned on Them November 19, 2019 at 10:54 pm EST
Chris Cillizza: “Former US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker was widely seen as Republicans’ impeachment ACE IN THE HOLE. On Tuesday on Capitol Hill, it DIDN'T WORK OUT THAT WAY.”
LOL
BECAUSE YOU SEE, HE INSTEAD CHOSE TO TELL THE TRUTH.
Replying to @realDonaldTrump This impeachment nonsense will go down as the biggest political miscalculation in the history of this country. Hahahahaha dimwits wasted all their political capital embarrassing themselves on national TV. Trump couldn’t have asked for better publicity.
and I hear some REAL BIG SHOES are about to drop.
CNN will be having some "undercover" talent in the big house.
HERE IS A PORTION OF THE EXCELLENT CLOSING STATEMENT OF ADAM SCHIFF.
“My Republican colleagues -- all they seem to be upset about with this is not that the president sought an investigation of his political rival, not that he withheld a White House meeting and $400 million in aid we all passed in a bipartisan basis in order to pressure Ukraine to do those investigations.
No, their objection is that HE GOT CAUGHT.
Their objection is that someone blew the whistle, and they would like this whistleblower identified, and the president wants this whistleblower punished.
That’s their objection.
Not that the president engaged in this conduct, but that HE GOT CAUGHT.”
— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. _______
And it was only after he GOT CAUGHT that he released the aid to Ukraine, two days after the whistleblower blew the whistle.
The Spectacular Failure of the Trump Wranglers Kurt Volker and many others tried to manage the President.
Impeachment is the result.
By Susan B. Glasser in THE NEW YORKER
Kurt Volker’s testimony in the House impeachment hearings, on Tuesday, put an end to the fallacy that anyone can manage, contain, steer, or constrain President Trump.
On Tuesday, nearly seven hours into the marathon third day of public impeachment hearings, Kurt Volker tried to explain to the House Intelligence Committee what it was like to carry out the nearly impossible task of wrangling U.S. policy toward Ukraine during the Presidency of Donald Trump. Volker, a veteran Republican diplomat who had been serving, since 2017, as Trump’s Special Representative to Ukraine, said that he realized last spring that he had a “problem,” and that it was Trump himself.
When Volker took the job, he testified, “I believed I could steer U.S. policy in the right direction,” an ambitious statement given that Trump had already been publicly skeptical of Ukraine and supportive of its adversary Russia. Still, Volker insisted that he thought he could maintain the long-standing U.S. policy of supporting Ukraine, a bipartisan priority ever since Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, in 2014, and launched a proxy civil war in the country’s east.
“If a problem arose, I knew that it was my job to try to fix it,” Volker said. In May, he learned that there was, in fact, a “significant problem”: the attitude of the President toward Ukraine. Trump, as Volker heard firsthand in an Oval Office meeting that month, believed that Ukraine was corrupt, “out to get” him, and harbored an animus going back to the 2016 election; he even embraced a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had intervened in the U.S Presidential race. As a result, Trump was deeply skeptical toward the Administration’s own policy of supporting Ukraine and had no desire to meet with the country’s reformist new President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Volker believed that Trump was being fed misinformation about Ukraine by his private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. “I found myself faced with a choice: to be aware of a problem and to ignore it or to accept that it was my responsibility to try to fix it,” Volker testified. “I tried to fix it.”
To say that he failed would, of course, be an understatement. Had Volker succeeded, there would not be an impeachment proceeding against Trump in the House of Representatives. Instead, just a few months after Volker tried to fix the problem, he was under oath on Capitol Hill, testifying, on Tuesday, along with three current and former White House officials. (“Impeachapalooza 2019,” as the Republican Chris Stewart called it.) All three of the witnesses who testified with Volker had listened in on Trump’s now infamous July 25th phone call with Zelensky, and in their testimony they recounted varying degrees of concern as they heard Trump demand that Zelensky do him the “favor” of investigating his political rival, the former Vice-President Joe Biden, and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election. The witnesses called Trump’s actions “improper,” “inappropriate,” and “unusual,” and said that they potentially undermine the bipartisan American policy of supporting Ukraine.
The testimony on Tuesday morning of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who is currently serving as the National Security Council’s Ukraine expert, was particularly pointed. Wearing his Army dress blues and a chest full of decorations, Vindman delivered a devastating critique of his Commander-in-Chief. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Vindman said of listening to Trump’s July 25th phone call with Zelensky. “It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent,” Vindman said. When he heard Trump press Zelensky to investigate Biden, he believed that it was a “political play,” one with unmistakable implications for the Ukrainians, and that it would “undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region.” He went to the National Security Council’s lawyer after the call to report his concerns.
It was a remarkable moment, followed soon after by Vindman denouncing the “reprehensible” attacks by Trump and his supporters against himself and other witnesses from inside America’s nonpartisan national-security bureaucracy who have come forward to testify. Speaking truth to power as Vindman did—the lieutenant colonel publicly challenged the President of the United States while still serving on his staff—would never have been possible in the Soviet Union of his birth or the Russia of today. Such public defiance of a leader would “surely cost me my life,” Vindman said. He was right: it never could have happened in Russia. It still seems unbelievable that it is happening in America.
If Tuesday morning offered the unprecedented spectacle of a uniformed officer taking on the President while still working in his White House, Volker’s testimony on Tuesday afternoon marked a moment in its own way, putting an end, hopefully once and for all, to the fallacy that anyone can manage, contain, steer, or constrain President Trump from pursuing even a misbegotten or highly politically perilous course. Volker is not the first but the latest to discover this fact, and with the catastrophic consequence of Presidential impeachment as the result.
The myth of the “adults in the room” has persisted since the beginning of the Administration, but it has never been accurate. There is no managing Donald Trump, no way to preserve one’s integrity while doing what is necessary to remain powerful in his orbit.
Look at what happened to Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis and John Kelly. Trump is a government of one. He himself has said so repeatedly. Early in his Administration, under criticism for leaving key posts open at the State Department, Trump said that, when it comes to foreign policy, “I am the only one that matters.”
At the time, less than a year into his Presidency, perhaps that could have been dismissed as hyperbole. Certainly, it would have been surprising to hear members of Congress publicly agreeing that the entire rest of the government—themselves and their own branch included—was irrelevant. Yet that is more or less where the impeachment process has ended up.
Several of the witnesses in the impeachment inquiry found that out, to their dismay. Volker is perhaps the clearest example of this. Volker thought that he could handle the problem of Trump’s attitude toward Ukraine by engaging with the source of the “negative information flow”—Giuliani.
Others in the Administration considered this folly and warned him that it was not feasible to “thread the needle,” as Volker termed it in his testimony. Yet he tried, awkwardly insisting that he had no idea that Trump actually wanted Zelensky to investigate Biden as opposed to more generic “corruption” in Ukraine. Volker said that he had been out of the loop on the key conversations that would have revealed that motive. When he met Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington for breakfast, in July, Volker acknowledged that Giuliani did bring up Biden and that Volker tried to talk him out of it. It did not work.
Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council senior director for Russia and Ukraine, who will appear publicly on Thursday, said in her private deposition to investigators that both she and John Bolton, the national-security adviser at the time, told Volker directly and unambiguously not to talk with Giuliani. “We did say to him that we did not think it was a good idea for him to be talking to Rudy Giuliani,” Hill said. Volker’s response to her was instructive. He said that he could “reason with him and … manage this,” Hill recalled. “Well, we did not think this was manageable.”
For Trump’s supporters on the House Intelligence Committee, the President’s refusal to be managed or contained by any policy process, even that of his own appointees, has now become an argument in favor of his vindication. During Tuesday’s hearing, they leaned more strongly than before on the notion that Trump solely is in charge of U.S. foreign policy, and so the policy is whatever he says it is at any given moment—even if that contradicts what his entire Administration believes is the policy. The national interest, in this view, is whatever Donald Trump says it is, even if he seems to be saying it for his personal political benefit.
Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence panel, made exactly this point, suggesting that witnesses were merely having a policy dispute with the President, even though every single person who has appeared before the Committee has said that they were trying to carry out Trump’s policy as they understood it. “The American people elect the President, not the interagency consensus,” Nunes said. In his view, a White House process cherished by official Washington does not matter one bit. So, if Trump decided to blow up American policy toward Ukraine to withhold nearly four hundred million dollars in military aid, then that was U.S. policy.
This, of course, is one of the reasons why Trump is on his fourth national-security adviser, his second Secretary of State, and his third chief of staff. In a government of one, even the officials who want to serve the President can find themselves not knowing what it is they are supposed to be doing. They can be undercut at any moment; they have been. A few months ago, there was no policy more bipartisan in Washington than backing Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia. Just about the only person in the capital who did not support it was Donald Trump. It’s all so confusing. And that is nothing new in this Presidency.
It's not changing any minds yet but.. the suburban voters are not going be there anymore because they are sick and tired of the President.
But the numbers are not moving yet.
A majority of Americans say they’ve been paying close attention to the impeachment inquiry: 63% say so in a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll and 58% in an ABC/Ipsos poll.
But just because they're tuning in doesn't mean you can expect them to change their minds on whether President Donald Trump should be impeached. Most respondents to both polls say they've made up their minds on impeaching Trump, regardless of what is actually said at the hearings.
he actually believes his team of Obama/Biden/Schitt are WINNING!!!
Polls agree you dumb goat fucking ass hole 70% feel trump is wrong !!!!! Lost a second governor in deep red state sure is telling who is winning......BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Going to be a fun day with Sondland on the podium changing his story again!!!!! So much for buying a seat and having NO FUCKING SENSE....using a cell phone in the Ukraine to call Trump.....and you assholes jumped on a private server as being a lock her up moment....Paybacks will be a bitch!!!!!
Another day and another steaming pile of horseshit trying to divert attention from the losing trump and company!!!!
Trump press secretary faces backlash after claiming without evidence that Obama aides left ‘you will fail’ notes Five former Trump administration officials said they did not recall any such messages, and Stephanie Grisham modified her assertions later in the day.
And the goat fucker resorts to his own brand of stupidity and even fails at that!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! How's that HD stock doing after the revenue miss??????? BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!!!
WASHINGTON — As Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman sat in a stately chamber testifying on Tuesday, the White House posted on its official Twitter account a message denouncing his judgment. His fellow witness, Jennifer Williams, had barely left the room when the White House issued a statement challenging her credibility.
In President Trump’s Washington, where attacks on his enemies real or perceived have become so routine that they now often pass unnoticed, that might not seem all that remarkable — but for the fact that Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both still work for the very same White House that was publicly assailing them.
With the president’s allies joining in, the two aides found themselves condemned as nobodies, as plotting bureaucrats, as traitors within and, in Colonel Vindman’s case, as an immigrant with dual loyalties. Even for a president who rarely spares the rhetorical howitzer, that represents a new level of bombardment.
Mr. Trump has publicly disparaged cabinet secretaries, former aides and career officials working elsewhere in the government, but now he is taking aim at people still working for him inside the White House complex by name.
Morrison testified that Sondland informed him on Sept. 7 that a hold on Ukraine military aid would be released if Zelensky announced investigations into Biden and the 2016 election. Morrison stated that he got a "sinking feeling" and reported his concerns to then-national security adviser John Bolton, who told him to notify White House lawyers.
During Vindman’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Republican Counsel Steve Castor asked Vindman about receiving an offer to serve as Ukraine’s defense minister. The implication was that Vindman may not have been working in the best interest of the United States while serving on the National Security Council. Vindman seemed amused, if not offended, by the counsel’s line of questioning.
“I’m an American,” Vindman said. “I came here when I was a toddler. I immediately dismissed these offers. I did not entertain them.”
A great, great telling point in the long, long article I posted above:
"A few months ago, there was no policy more bipartisan in Washington than backing Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia. Just about the only person in the capital who did not support it was Donald Trump."
Trump, who thinks he knows more than all the rest of the government and the world.
Following this week, there are only 2 remaining weeks Congress is scheduled to be in session this year.
While @SpeakerPelosi & @RepAdamSchiff focus on their #ImpeachmentScam, we're unable to get anything real accomplished, like the bipartisan #USMCA. Americans deserve better.
Nancy said she could walk and chew gum a few months ago but obviously she can't. Why isn't the press pressing her on this???
Politico: “While Republicans have shown zero signs of breaking with President Donald Trump when it comes to impeachment itself, GOP lawmakers are also making it clear they’re unwilling to fully embrace Trump’s scorched-earth defense tactics, which have centered — at least in part — on tearing down his critics, sometimes against the advice of his own allies and advisers.”
“The impeachment effort comes down to one guy, Ambassador Sondland. All the other testimony has a Sondland core to it and a Sondland connection.” — Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), quoted by the Washington Post.
Let’s not forget who they’re protecting.....he led Bidens Ukraine op, he coordinated with intel to sabotage campaign, he leaked transcripts, he stole classified, he sparked special counsel, and impeachment.....that is the name they won’t say!!!!!!
The Senate needs to call Eric Ciaramella to testify.
What Happened Yesterday at the Hearings November 20, 2019 at 7:08 am EST
New York Times: “Two White House national security officials testified before the House’s impeachment inquiry on Tuesday that President Trump’s request to Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic rivals was inappropriate, and one of them said it validated his ‘worst fear’ that American policy toward that country would veer off course.”
“Hours later, two more witnesses — another former White House national security official and a former top American diplomat — charted a more careful course but said under oath that the president’s requests on a July 25 phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine WERE NOT IN LINE with American national security goals.”
Los Angeles Times: “The defense funding for Ukraine remains in U.S. accounts, according to the document. It’s not clear why the money hasn’t been released, and members of Congress are demanding answers.”
Sondland Kept Pompeo Informed November 20, 2019 at 7:23 am EST
New York Times: “Gordon Sondland, the diplomat at the center of the House impeachment inquiry, kept Secretary of State Mike Pompeo apprised of key developments in the campaign to pressure Ukraine’s leader into public commitments that would satisfy President Trump.”
“Mr. Sondland informed Mr. Pompeo in mid-August about a draft statement that Mr. Sondland and another American diplomat had worked on with the Ukrainians that they hoped would persuade Mr. Trump to grant Ukraine’s new president the Oval Office meeting he was seeking.”
Gordon Sondland Testifies November 20, 2019 at 7:56 am EST
Playbook: “Theoretically, he should be a great witness for Democrats: He’s the man who, in their telling, was leading the effort to get Ukraine to commit to investigating the Bidens in exchange for aid and a visit with Trump.
“Here is the Republican game plan to discredit Sondland: The GOP will try to paint Sondland as a political hack who was carrying out what he thought Trump wanted, but not what the president told him directly. Rudy Giuliani, Republicans will try to say, was making most of the orders, and maybe Trump was asking about them, but he was not directly giving them. Sondland’s testimony is full of holes; it’s already been corrected and questioned by other witnesses. Republicans feel that if they can inject enough doubt about Sondland’s credibility, they can undermine some of the larger arguments about the substance. Republicans — especially in the White House — are exceedingly uncomfortable with Sondland, and unsure what he will say.
“Democrats, of course, have a different game plan. That is to show that Sondland was, in fact, the agent Trump was using to carry out his ‘shadow foreign policy.; He spoke to the president — there are witnesses to that. But it’s by no means clear how forthcoming he’ll be about those encounters, let alone whether he’ll make a compelling witness in general.”
In the 3,500 pages of transcripts released so far, there was only one reference to bribery. Ironically to describe Vice President Biden’s conduct, not President Trump’s.
Why did we go from quid pro quo to extortion now to bribery? The answer is polling.
Gordon Sondland is expected to testify publicly in the House impeachment inquiry shortly. He was one of the so-called three amigos who emerged as the point men on U.S. dealings with Ukraine following the ouster of Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in May.
Sondland, a wealthy hotelier, is a Republican mega-donor and was President Donald Trump's hand-picked ambassador to the European Union. He is the man who witnesses say directly connected Trump to the freeze on security aid to Ukraine and demands that it commit to investigating the 2016 U.S. election and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Sondland already amended his initial closed-door testimony to acknowledge that he'd told a top Ukrainian official in September that millions in security aid would be withheld "until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing." He will have more to explain Wednesday. Some legal watchers are wondering whether the ambassador will plead the fifth on some of the questions.
Shimon Prokupecz ✔ @ShimonPro Multiple GOP sources say they are most worried about what Gordon Sondland will do tomorrow - and whether he will turn on the President. The fear, Republicans say, is that he could undercut the last GOP defense. @mkraju
All set for another big Impeachment Theater day of bureaucrats reading their resumes, bitching that Trump undermined their foreign policy, grudgingly admitting he didn't do anything wrong, and maybe winding down with a little light perjury
At least Impeachment Theater gives Americans a chance to meet the people who actually rule us, instead of just the minor functionaries we get to vote for
Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees. When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives. His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.
I also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this Committee, would not be tolerated in many places around the world. In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the President would surely cost me my life. I am grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety.
Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.
senior official in the Trump administration" admits they are not "qualified to diagnose the president's mental acuity," they can say that "normal people who spend any time with Donald Trump are uncomfortable by what they witness."
"He stumbles, slurs, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has trouble synthesizing information, not occasionally but with regularity," the official warns.
Ads by scrollerads.com Often, they say, "the president also can't remember what he's said or been told."
If President Donald Trump were any other 73-year-old — covered by Medicare and having his annual wellness visit — he'd be checked on his cognitive functions and possible safety risks. But when the president went for his unusual checkup, the White House declined to comment about his mental fitness won't be tested.
He says that he doesn't recall all the time, "the president also can't remember what he's said or been told".
During Regan's last term, his family and staff concealed his Alzheimer's disease.
Why Dems are so worried after latest round of impeachment hearings
If coup-coup Nancy Pelosi has a panic button, now would be a good time to lean on it. With signs that Americans are tuning out the impeachment hearings, the clock is ticking on Democrats’ chance to make their case.
Pelosi is clearly worried, telling fellow Dems it’s a “weak response” to “let the election decide” whether President Trump should be removed.
“That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because POTUS is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections,” the speaker wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter to her House members.
The letter seemed strange enough when it became public Monday, but Tuesday’s hearing more than justified her fear and desperation. With her party now having failed to hit anything close to pay dirt after three long days of public testimony, she is trying to keep her members on board the impeachment train, lest the whole effort crash in failure and disgrace.
Alas, Tuesday wasn’t much help. As they did in the first hearings last week, Dems again failed to make the Ukraine issue the crime of the century or even of the Trump presidency. Their hyperbolic descriptions are not even close to the pedestrian evidence they’re producing.
Hey Eric, After trying to screw 60 million Americans out of their vote, “losing” the code word file, leaking the transcripts, and starting mueller and Schiff.....don’t worry, you and Brennan can be roomies.
The American military is considering moving Vindman and his family in order to protect them from people like rrb
Actually the people upset with Vindman are real soldiers. Vindman is exactly the sort of low ranking officer with the shit don't stink attitude that enlisted men hate.
You should see the military people go after him after his testimony yesterday! They hate him! They think he is a disgrace to the uniform!
Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified Wednesday more bluntly than he had before that President Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, sought to condition a White House invite for Ukraine’s new president to their demands that his country publicly launch investigations that could damage Trump’s political opponents.
“I know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’” Sondland said in sworn testimony. “With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
He implicated the President and the Vice President and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Sondland testified that other senior officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, knew about the quid pro quo for the Zelensky White House meeting.
Fox News contributor Ken Starr wondered aloud whether Sondland flipping on President Trump would cause GOP senators to push Trump to resign. “The real issue is the senators are watching,” Starr said. “Are senators going to now say in light of what we hear today, it’s going to be a long day even with the ambassador alone, in light of what we have heard, ‘We need to make a trip down to the White House’?
165 comments:
O for 2 today so far.
Both Democrat called Stage Actors co firm "No Bribery", by Pres. Trump.
Twitter has literally blown up on how bad this is going for Schiff and his farce.
I've watched little but am left shaking my head.
This is ridiculous.
@prezzy1991
CNN tells us Vindman must be believed because he served in the U.S. military?
Also served:
• Jeffrey Dahmer
• Timothy McVeigh
• Gary Ridgway
• Lee Harvey Oswald
• Son of Sam
• BTK Killer
• DC Sniper
• Cleveland Strangler
Thank you for your service
excuse me, that's lieutenant colonel Vindman
No used the word "Bribery".
No One.
That is until Speaker in Name Only Polosi had it poll tested.
Schiff interrupts Jordan to protect whistleblower confirming that Schiff knows who the whistleblower is and that Vindmen leaked the call to him thus violating the law.
Clearly.
Reports are Networks are dropping/limiting coverage of the Schitt Show.
Speaker in Name Only Polosi needs to pull the plug.
https://youtu.be/LUYxltg_fQQ
Vindman, who is still employed by the National Security Council, responded by reading aloud former top Russia adviser Fiona Hill's final performance review of his work:
"Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service. He is brilliant, unflappable and exercises excellent judgment."
Who got a draft deferment for bone spurs during the Vietnam war?
Who said that someone who was captured and tortured from many years was not a hero?
Who said that President Obama was born in Kenya?
BEORET//OftOO�UtOf©fi!tf 3.•t:�;'HP) The· President: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows alot about it. I would like you to find out what happened withthis whole si�uation with Ukraine, they s_ay Crowdstrike ... I guessyou have one of your weal thy people... The server, they sayUkraine has.it� There-are a lot. of things that went on, the·:whole situation .. I think you1 re _surrounding yourse·lf with someof the same people. I .would like to have the Attorney Generalcall you or your people and I would like you t� ·get to the bottom of it�. As you sa� yest�rday, that whole nonsetise ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mue�le_r, an incompetent performance-, _but they. say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, ·it's very important that· you. do
Vindman got a round of applause from some in the audience during an exchange with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y.
Maloney asked Vindman how he could be confident in telling his father not to worry about raising alarms about Trump's conduct.
"This is America," Vindman said. "This is the country I've served and defended. That all of my brothers have served. And here, right matters."
Scott A**hole you should not allow this bullshit.
He's a great American hero who came from the Soviet Union at the age of 3.
Vindman got a round of applause from some in the audience during an exchange with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y.
Maloney asked Vindman how he could be confident in telling his father not to worry about raising alarms about Trump's conduct.
"This is America," Vindman said. "This is the country I've served and defended. That all of my brothers have served. And here, right matters."
@bennyjohnson
We didn’t learn a damn thing from Vindman’s testimony.
-He has never met President Trump.
-Judgement questioned by colleagues and his boss.
-Admitted to going outside of the chain of command to leak classified information to the Whistleblower.
Why should he be trusted?
"Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service. He is brilliant, unflappable and exercises excellent judgment."
@TomFitton
Vindman Was Asked Three Times To Be Defense Minister Of Ukraine
Sean Davis
@seanmdav
What was Alexander Vindman doing that led the Ukrainians to believe he was qualified or interested in serving as the Minister of Defense for a foreign nation?
Julie Kelly
@julie_kelly2
The biggest point GOP should hammer is that Vindman advised a foreign leader to dismiss the concerns of a US president. He’s never talked to Trump but spoke to Zelensky? I’m old enough to remember stuff about the Logan Act and what not
And he swore under oath he did not know who the whistleblower was... get Schiff's staff under oath and could be big trouble ahead for the potential Ukrainian defense minister...
munch, munch, munch
@Jim_Jordan
Lt. Col. Vindman says he doesn’t know the “Whistleblower’s” identity.
@RepAdamSchiff claims he doesn’t know the “Whistleblower’s” identity.
So how is asking who Lt. Col. Vindman spoke to “outing the ‘Whistleblower?’”
@RetiredOrrin
Let's hope Rep. Swalwell doesn't have a mug on his desk when he gets his chance to ask questions. Wink face.
Is anyone even sitting near him ???
"Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service.
Hey nursing home boy Lincoln asked Lee to lead the Union forces
The election interference was by the Russians, not Ukraine in the debunked accusations
This looks like a winner donks
Most Americans—73.5 percent—would be financially worse off under “Medicare for All,” a government-run universal health care system.
All workers would pay a 21.2 percent payroll tax in addition to current taxes, in order to fund the massive increase in spending under a government-run system.
Under Medicare for All, households with employer-sponsored health coverage would have an average of $10,554 less in disposable income each year.
Americans—73.5 percent—would be financially worse off under “Medicare for All,” a government-run universal health care system.
And your point is what dog breath????? Medicare for all is deader then your fucking brain!!!!!!!
Jim Jordan is an embarrassment to our great country....he looks like a bitter broken asshole who chews gum like a fucking cow chewing cud......so sad the only points he makes shows the R's have nothing but BS to defend trump and his lies!!!!!! BTW.....the memo of the call is NOT A TRANSCRIPT!!!! Biden has noting to do with trumps transgressions.....but Nunes keeps trying like a broken record of BS!!!!!!!
@thebradfordfile
These same Democrats who are waxing poetic about Vindman's service have spent three years promoting the conspiracy that General Flynn is a traitor loyal to Vladimir Putin.
karma is coming
about Vindman's service have spent three years promoting the conspiracy that General Flynn is a traitor loyal to Vladimir Putin.
And flynn's reputation went down the shitter when he lied to congress.....let us know when Vindman shoots himself in the foot like the lying power hungry General Flynn did......god coward you are a dumber fuck than trump!!!
And flynn's reputation went down the shitter when he lied to congress...
And Vindman lied to Congress when he said he didn't know who the whistleblower was.
Jim Jordan is an embarrassment to our great country...
And yet with the utterance of one honorific he mange to turn Vindman into the most unsympathetic military officer in the nation or as one pundit said; "Frank Burns" unsympathetic.
@thebradfordfile
Democrats are screaming about “witness tampering” as they hide the only relevant witness in their sham impeachment.
and the Comey FBI with their counterfeit 302's should be worried sick and soon Flynn will get his vindication.
And it will be sweet !!!
@pspoole
Schiff and co-conspirators wheeled out Vindman to avoid having CIA leaker Eric Ciaramella testify. If it’s going this bad for Vindman, how much worse would it be for Ciaramella?
@themarketswork
Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg:
"I was on the much-reported July 25 call between President Donald Trump and President Zelensky."
"I heard nothing wrong or improper on the call. I had and have no concerns"
https://twitter.com/themarketswork/status/1196907414043250688
Statement just issued by the @WhiteHouse of Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the national security advisor in the office of @VP.
I'm sure Schiff will have him testify...
Trump said, "Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and the rest of the corrupt Democrats made a promise to their crazy left-wing base that they would impeach me even BEFORE I took office."
The Republican National Committee, on Trump’s behalf, cited no evidence of such promises and we did not find any.
We rate Trump’s statement False.
Yeah cramps.....a wrestling coach who ignored abuse turned nothing on Vindman other than proving Jordan is another fraud with nothing but BS to defend trump by attempting to impugn american heroes......BWAAAAAAAAA!!!! And you fall in line to keep sucking up to donnie fat obese old white ass!!!!!!!
@EmeraldRobinson
So Lt Col Vindman managed to exceed the wildest dreams of (checks notes) Republicans!
He perjured himself.
He admitted to being offered senior post in foreign gov't 3 times.
He admitted to going around chain of command because he was "busy"
He said Twitter made him mad.
Patrick Poole and his anonymous poster coward promote fake news and neither can turn around that 70% of the country now think trump was wrong with his bribery of Ukraine.....gee 70%!!!!
@julie_kelly2
Unless Adam Schiff comes up with a blue dress soon, he’s in big trouble
@RepMarkMeadows
@Jim_Jordan asks Col. Vindman why he didn’t go to his boss, Tim Morrison, and instead went to a lawyer. Vindman says it was a busy week... and that eventually, the lawyer told him not to go to anyone else.
To say this impeachment case is collapsing is an understatement.
Quid Pro Quo? He's a Republican.
Throughout his original Oct. 3 testimony, Volker repeatedly drew a distinction between requests that Ukraine investigate Burisma — a Ukrainian energy company with a history of corruption — and Biden, whose son Hunter was tapped to sit on Burisma’s board as the company attempted to clean up its public image.
"At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden," Volker said. "I did not know that President Trump or others had raised Vice President Biden with the Ukrainians, or had conflated the investigation of possible Ukrainian corruption, with investigation of the former Vice President. In retrospect, for the Ukrainians, it clearly would have been confusing."
"In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, 'Burisma,' as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden," Volker added. "I saw them as very different — the former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable."
@RepAndyBiggsAZ
"Did anyone ever ask you to bribe or extort anyone at any time during your time in the White House?"
MORRISON: No
VOLKER: No
The Democrats' new poll-tested narrative continues to sink. Americans aren't buying their partisan impeachment of @realDonaldTrump.
@ArthurSchwartz
Last month Adam Schiff colluded with Politico’s Natasha Bertrand to publish lies about WH aide Kash Patel — supposedly from closed door testimony. Kash sued Bertrand & Politico. No mention of Kash in public hearings after he filed suit. Did Fiona Hill lie under oath @LeeWolosky?
@MarshallCohen
Volker was on the GOP's witness list.
"Volker just said it's a "conspiracy theory" that Biden was corrupt in his dealings with Ukraine while VP. He continued, "I have known Vice President Biden for 24 years. He is an honorable man and I hold him in the highest regard." -
A never Trumper?
@RealSaavedra
Top official Tim Morrison said Alexander Vindman's bosses had a lot of concerns about him:
-Judgement
-Potential leaker
-Did not keep his bosses in the loop on what he was doing
-Went around his bosses' backs
-Was mad he was cut out of working on Ukraine
(watch) https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1196925677481521153
@seanmdav
If Russia had asked Michael Flynn three separate times to be Minister of Defense at the Kremlin, Democrats and media would have immediately held a field trial, summarily convicted Flynn, and offed him for treason. Yet media are pretending this is NBD.
"In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, 'Burisma,' as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden,"
Translation "In hindsight he saw how the Democrats were spinning it."
At the time however, (The most important impression) Burisma was a perfectly legitimate subject for investigation and is still a subject for investigation.
And Hunter Biden's involvement is also.
"I just got to watch and the Republicans are absolutely killing it. They are doing so well."
-- President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning's impeachment hearing with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams.
Roger, the President is Right.
Those two role playing actors Failed your team.
"No Bribery"
Best poll test somethingvelse.
LTC. VS. Three Star General
"Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg:
"I was on the much-reported July 25 call between President Donald Trump and President Zelensky."
"I heard nothing wrong or improper on the call. I had and have no concerns"
This morning I saw the impeachment "inquiry" was on all major channels though I didn't follow.
Other than cable they all had gome back to normal programming when I checked later.
I saw Schiff was just now pleading to the camera to try and be relevant on Fox (and I suspect MSNBC and CNN but I didn't look).
I flipped through normal TV and he wasn't on.
Howling at the moon... Numbers watching must be brutal
@RepBradWenstrup
Lt. Col. Vindman testified earlier today that he didn’t take his concerns to Mr. Morrison because he wasn’t available, but that same day he took his edits to the transcript to Mr. Morrison.
(watch):
https://twitter.com/RepBradWenstrup/status/1196954589569961990
Tremendous day for Republicans and Americans
@SteveScalise
Ambassador Volker confirms:
1) @realDonaldTrump greatly improved U.S.-Ukraine policy
2) A 55-day hold on aid is not unusual
3) Trump's skepticism of Ukraine is reasonable
4) Trump was legitimately reviewing aid and asking European countries to pay their fair share
Well, I thought the two witnesses this morning did very, very well.
Then I saw some of Morrison and Volker a while ago, and I thought, Oh dear. They are pushing back hard against the Democrats.
Now I just finished watching some of the ending of today's testimony and I am VERY impressed at how some of the Democratic questioners dealt with Morrison and Volker, and I was PARTICULARLY impressed with Schiff's closing remarks, so fair minded and so illustrative of his appreciation for the two Republican witnesses, including praising Volker for having the decency to admit some of his earlier assumptions had been wrong, and his willingness to call entirely inappropriate some of President Trumps remarks regarding good and decent civil servants, with specific mention of some of them.
Colonel Vindman said he believed that Mr. Trump’s request for Ukraine to open investigations into his political rivals should be viewed as demands, and that they were “inappropriate” and “likely to have significant implications” for national security. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he said of the July 25 call. “My worst fear of how our Ukraine policy could play out was playing out.”
Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both testified that the hold on nearly $400 million in military aid for Ukraine was damaging to Ukraine’s ability to confront Russian aggression. “Any signal or sign that U.S. support was wavering would be construed by Russia as potentially an opportunity for them to strengthen their own hand in Ukraine,” Ms. Williams said, relaying what the president of Ukraine told Mr. Pence during a meeting on Sept. 1.
Dressed in his deep-blue Army dress uniform, Colonel Vindman, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, addressed his father, who fled Ukraine with the family when Colonel Vindman was a toddler. “You made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” he said. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.” He added: “Here, right matters.”
Mr. Volker portrayed himself as out of touch with Mr. Trump’s Ukraine dealings, saying that he didn’t know of “any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations.” He later said that he considered concerns around the 2016 election and Mr. Biden to be “conspiracy theories,” and “not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy.”
Mr. Morrison explained how the normal National Security Council leadership structure was subverted by Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, saying it was referred to internally as “the Gordon problem.” He said he “decided to keep track of what Ambassador Sondland was doing. I didn’t necessarily always act on things Gordon suggested he believed were important.”
The HONEST to GOD TRUTH
(watch) https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1196953417803083778
democrats should be ashamed
@brithume
Adam Schiff keeps saying the whistleblower has a “statutory right to anonymity.” He said it again this morning. It is nonsense. Only the IC official who receives a whistleblower complaint is required to withhold the name, and not in all circumstances.
Adam Schiff lying to America from his committee chair is not news.
@brithume
Unproven claims against Trump are simply described as “unverified.” Similar claims against Biden are said to be based on “no evidence.”
It’s similar with inquiries. Those into Trump = investigations. Those into Biden = dirt digging.
dishonest dems and their media lapdogs love to play word games.
He may have committed perjury.
Mr. Volker portrayed himself as out of touch with Mr. Trump’s Ukraine dealings, saying that he didn’t know of “any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations.”
Scott A**hole won't like it because it debunks his conspiracy theories!
He later said that he considered concerns around the 2016 election and Mr. Biden to be “conspiracy theories,” and “not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy.”
Lt. Col. Vindman
Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees. When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives. His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.
I also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this Committee, would not be tolerated in many places around the world. In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the President would surely cost me my life. I am grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety.
Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.
===
You traitors are attacking as American hero.
@RepAndyBiggsAZ
@RepRatcliffe shatters the myths created by the "whistleblower"
- no violation of law or executive order
- no mention of @POTUS's 2020 bid
- no pressure or demand from @realDonaldTrump
With myths like these, is it any wonder why Schiff has the "whistleblower" in hiding?
(watch) https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1196957121478352898
The Senate will call Eric to the stand if the House moves forward with their losing hand. Guess the poker analogy is House dems are all-in and drawing dead.
Because Trump and his trolls are lying about what Speaker Pelosi said, here is a quote from Washington Examiner (a conservative paper, usually friendly to Trump):
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats it would be “dangerous” to skip impeachment and wait for the 2020 election to determine whether President Trump should remain in office.
“That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections,” the California lawmaker said to fellow Democrats in a memo sent Monday.
Pelosi said the call to skip impeachment proceedings and let voters decide next year is “the weak response” to the hearings Democrats have been holding as part of the impeachment proceedings."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/nancy-pelosi-dangerous-to-let-election-determine-trumps-fate
Alky, you are looking especially Stupid.
@Rockprincess818
'My friend': #AdamSchiff praised TV doctor arrested on sex charges over 9-year-old girl.
Wtf is up with leftists and their close friendships with pedophiles? This is becoming a disturbing pattern.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/my-friend-adam-schiff-praised-tv-doctor-arrested-on-sex-charges-over-9-year-old-girl
And ask Schiff about Ed Buck amongst others...
Roger I served in the US Army, now I am a traitor?
"Wtf is up with leftists and their close friendships with pedophiles? This is becoming a disturbing pattern."
have you met James on this blog?
Roger, you team treated General Petraeus how?
@unscriptedmike
Vindman wore his uniform. Vindman was offended because Nunes didn’t refer to him as Lieutenant Colonel.
Vindman’s bosses and peers say he lacks good judgment and is a leaker.
Vindman leaked to the fake whistleblower. Vindman is the Dem hero. He’s their key witness. It’s over.
He may be a democrat hero but he lied under oath about his contacts with the whistleblower and leaked classified information. He definitely is not an American hero and should be prosecuted..
@bennyjohnson
THE ONLY WITNESSES THAT MATTER: Morrison and Volker
BOTH:
- Spoke with Trump
- Were on Ukraine call
- Both have firsthand knowledge of Ukraine decisions
BOTH TESTIFY UNDER OATH:
- No bribery/quid pro quo
- Aide not held up as a bargaining chip
BOTH DESTROY Dems entire case: https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196938830797914112
This is absolutely EXCELLENT!!!! EXCELLENT!!!!! EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFsaYLEBZas
Cowardly says: BOTH DESTROY Dems entire case.
NOPE, THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
SCHIFF DESTROYS TRUMP and EVER TRUMPERS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFsaYLEBZas
@MZHemingway
Obvious but: If to identify who Vindman leaked to is to identify the whistleblower, then not only do they know who the whistleblower is, but Vindman’s testimony doesn’t “confirm” whistleblower but repeat his own claims in circular fashion.
And the dems appear too stupid to realize this
@RepMarkMeadows
@Jim_Jordan asks Col. Vindman why he didn’t go to his boss, Tim Morrison, and instead went to a lawyer. Vindman says it was a busy week... and that eventually, the lawyer told him not to go to anyone else.
To say this impeachment case is collapsing is an understatement.
Lt. Col. Undercover Huber Retweeted Mark Meadows
So he asked his brother the lawyer who told him not to tell his boss about what he says is a critical matter of national security? That’s his story?
Can't make this shit up, who could possibly believe ???
Oh, never mind I forgot I was on the CHT blog.
Nunes' closing statement was vicious and he read it.
Schiff's closing statement (linked above) he spoke without
notes and straight from the heart.
What is thevover/under on Palsy pulling the plug?
"Support for the Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry is dropping and opposition is growing among independent voters, a Politico-Morning Consult poll released Tuesday revealed."
@JarradKushner
Democrats are saying that Trump held back a Zelensky White House visit unless there were investigations.
.@kvolker ‘s transcript says it was none other than the whistleblower’s best buddy Alex Vindman that was responsible for slow-rolling the visit.
Well well well
https://twitter.com/JarradKushner/status/1196339225899098112
EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFsaYLEBZas
Multiple War Heroes Slam ‘Prissy’ and ‘Disgraceful’ Lt. Col. Vindman Following Testimony
A number of famed military heroes blasted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman on Tuesday, calling him “prissy,” a “disgrace,” and “an operative with an agenda.”
Vindman on Tuesday earned their scorn for testifying against his commander-in-chief in uniform before the House intelligence Committee as part of the Democrats’ unraveling impeachment inquisition.
Multiple military vets made biting comments on Twitter about Vindman during and after his testimony.
Tim Kennedy, an active, Green Beret, Special Forces Sniper with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said “correcting a civilian about how to be addressed is for sure a way to make everyone in the military think you’re a douche bag.”
Mark Geist, a member of the heroic Annex Security Team that fought the Battle of Benghazi, Libya, on September, 11 2012, called Vindman a “disgrace.”
Former U.S. Navy SEAL and special warfare operator Robert James O’Neill said Vindman is an “operative with an agenda.” O’Neill is widely credited with firing the shot that killed Osama bin Laden.
Former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie called for Vindman to be dishonorably discharged. Higbie served two tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, reaching the rate of Special Warfare Operator, First Class.
Former US Army Special Forces soldier Jim Hanson called Vindman “prissy” and “the Frank Burns of the NSC,” who is “hated by everyone in his unit.”
Legendary Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the “lone survivor” of a elite four-man operation that went terribly wrong in Afghanistan in 2005, spoke up on Twitter when an Army vet attacked the president’s son Donald Trump Jr.
“I served this country too,” Luttrell said. “Our job as those in the uniform is to protect those that don’t wear it, not to defame them, especially the the First Family.”
Lt. Col (Ret.) Jim Hickman, who remembers Vindman as an anti-American partisan, was particularly irked by Vindman’s decision to wear his full military uniform, telling American Greatness that he did it “to again make him beyond reproach, and to make a political statement against the President. He should’ve worn his daily uniform, which is a civilian suit, period.”
The Iraq/Afghanistan war vet said that civilians are under no obligation to refer to officers by their rank but it’s considered proper etiquette to do so while they are in uniform. However, he told American Greatness that Vindman shouldn’t have been in uniform.
“LTC Vindman showed his pompous, arrogant side in today’s hearing by demanding Congressman Nunes address him as Lieutenant Colonel Vindman,” Hickman said. “The same arrogance he showed by advising the Ukrainians to do just the opposite of what President Trump’s policy was. The same arrogance that has him working against the President as a partisan in Congressman Adam Schiff’s sham impeachment.”
He added, “I witnessed this partisanship back in 2013 at Atlas Vision 13, and he hasn’t changed a bit.”
The retired officer went on to vent: “I cannot express how pissed off I am right now, having watched LTC Vindman have his ass kissed by the Democrats through the entire hearing to make him out as some sort of national hero, when I know he’s a partisan hack.”
Earlier this month, LTC Hickman shared his memories of Vindman’s disgraceful behavior in Germany on Twitter and with American Greatness. Later, the New York Times published an unfair hit-piece on the disabled vet, in an effort to discredit him.
LTC Hickman is a wounded warrior who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and received numerous combat medals—including the Purple Heart. He took medical leave from the service in 2017 due to complications from his injuries
The Times didn’t refer to the war hero by his rank a single time in their piece.
“Makes me feel like all the harassment I went through was for nothing. Nobody even challenged his partisanship,” LTC Hickman told American Greatness.
The retired officer told American Greatness that his family has been receiving harassing and threatening phone calls since he decided to come forward with his story.
“My family and I have endured harassment for over two weeks now, because I stepped forward with the truth about Vindman. Today was a let down, and I call on anyone else who’s served with him and seen this same partisanship to have the courage to come forward,” he said. “Truth must be paramount, as there are those trying to malign against the constitution and the office of the presidency.”
https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/19/multiple-war-heroes-slam-prissy-and-disgraceful-lt-col-vindman-following-testimony/
A Bad Day for Trump and Republicans
November 19, 2019 at 10:31 pm EST
NBC News:
“As Jon Allen points out in an analysis, Democratic staff lawyer Daniel Goldman, with calm and persistent questioning, drove a wedge between the witnesses and Trump.
“Goldman’s questioning during the second hearing led Morrison to describe a “parallel” policy process in which Sondland spoke directly with Trump — who has said that he barely knows Sondland — and that he repeatedly checked up on Sondland’s claims that he had spoken with Trump and found those claims to be true.
“That, along with Volker’s testimony, deeply damages the narrative put forth by some Republicans that Sondland and Giuliani were operating outside the president’s knowledge and to the case, put forth by the administration and many Republicans, that the aid was not withheld as leverage to produce a public statement regarding investigations.”
@JimHansonDC
#Vindman is the Frank Burns of the NSC
He corrects @DevinNunes who called him Mr. w/ the prissy reply
"It's LTC Vindman"
He's right
But only a fat-faced loser
Hated by everyone in his unit
Acts like that
YEP. IT WAS A REALLY BAD DAY FOR TRUMP & THE REPUBLICANS.
How the GOP’s Star Witness Turned on Them
November 19, 2019 at 10:54 pm EST
Chris Cillizza:
“Former US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker was widely seen as Republicans’ impeachment ACE IN THE HOLE.
On Tuesday on Capitol Hill, it DIDN'T WORK OUT THAT WAY.”
LOL
BECAUSE YOU SEE, HE INSTEAD CHOSE TO TELL THE TRUTH.
@TimMurtaugh
Adam Schiff really, really wants everyone to believe that he is pursuing impeachment reluctantly.
Even though it’s all he’s talked about for three years.
and the desperate dems and MSM want you to think it's going well for them.
even though they are shitting bricks.
ROFLMFAO !!!
@bennyjohnson
THE ONLY WITNESSES THAT MATTER: Morrison and Volker
BOTH:
- Spoke with Trump
- Were on Ukraine call
- Both have firsthand knowledge of Ukraine decisions
BOTH TESTIFY UNDER OATH:
- No bribery/quid pro quo
- Aide not held up as a bargaining chip
BOTH DESTROY Dems entire case: https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196938830797914112
@Rockprincess818
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
This impeachment nonsense will go down as the biggest political miscalculation in the history of this country. Hahahahaha dimwits wasted all their political capital embarrassing themselves on national TV. Trump couldn’t have asked for better publicity.
and I hear some REAL BIG SHOES are about to drop.
CNN will be having some "undercover" talent in the big house.
and probably should turn out the lights.
HERE IS A PORTION
OF THE EXCELLENT CLOSING STATEMENT
OF ADAM SCHIFF.
“My Republican colleagues --
all they seem to be upset about with this is not that the president sought an investigation of his political rival,
not that he withheld a White House meeting
and $400 million in aid we all passed in a bipartisan basis in order to pressure Ukraine to do those investigations.
No, their objection is that HE GOT CAUGHT.
Their objection is that someone blew the whistle,
and they would like this whistleblower identified,
and the president wants this whistleblower punished.
That’s their objection.
Not that the president engaged in this conduct,
but that HE GOT CAUGHT.”
— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
_______
And it was only after he GOT CAUGHT that he released the aid to Ukraine, two days after the whistleblower blew the whistle.
ROFLMFAO !!!
The Spectacular Failure of the Trump Wranglers
Kurt Volker and many others tried to manage the President.
Impeachment is the result.
By Susan B. Glasser in THE NEW YORKER
Kurt Volker’s testimony in the House impeachment hearings, on Tuesday, put an end to the fallacy that anyone can manage, contain, steer, or constrain President Trump.
On Tuesday, nearly seven hours into the marathon third day of public impeachment hearings, Kurt Volker tried to explain to the House Intelligence Committee what it was like to carry out the nearly impossible task of wrangling U.S. policy toward Ukraine during the Presidency of Donald Trump. Volker, a veteran Republican diplomat who had been serving, since 2017, as Trump’s Special Representative to Ukraine, said that he realized last spring that he had a “problem,” and that it was Trump himself.
When Volker took the job, he testified, “I believed I could steer U.S. policy in the right direction,” an ambitious statement given that Trump had already been publicly skeptical of Ukraine and supportive of its adversary Russia. Still, Volker insisted that he thought he could maintain the long-standing U.S. policy of supporting Ukraine, a bipartisan priority ever since Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, in 2014, and launched a proxy civil war in the country’s east.
“If a problem arose, I knew that it was my job to try to fix it,” Volker said. In May, he learned that there was, in fact, a “significant problem”: the attitude of the President toward Ukraine. Trump, as Volker heard firsthand in an Oval Office meeting that month, believed that Ukraine was corrupt, “out to get” him, and harbored an animus going back to the 2016 election; he even embraced a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had intervened in the U.S Presidential race. As a result, Trump was deeply skeptical toward the Administration’s own policy of supporting Ukraine and had no desire to meet with the country’s reformist new President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Volker believed that Trump was being fed misinformation about Ukraine by his private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. “I found myself faced with a choice: to be aware of a problem and to ignore it or to accept that it was my responsibility to try to fix it,” Volker testified. “I tried to fix it.”
To say that he failed would, of course, be an understatement. Had Volker succeeded, there would not be an impeachment proceeding against Trump in the House of Representatives. Instead, just a few months after Volker tried to fix the problem, he was under oath on Capitol Hill, testifying, on Tuesday, along with three current and former White House officials. (“Impeachapalooza 2019,” as the Republican Chris Stewart called it.) All three of the witnesses who testified with Volker had listened in on Trump’s now infamous July 25th phone call with Zelensky, and in their testimony they recounted varying degrees of concern as they heard Trump demand that Zelensky do him the “favor” of investigating his political rival, the former Vice-President Joe Biden, and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election. The witnesses called Trump’s actions “improper,” “inappropriate,” and “unusual,” and said that they potentially undermine the bipartisan American policy of supporting Ukraine.
The testimony on Tuesday morning of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who is currently serving as the National Security Council’s Ukraine expert, was particularly pointed. Wearing his Army dress blues and a chest full of decorations, Vindman delivered a devastating critique of his Commander-in-Chief. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Vindman said of listening to Trump’s July 25th phone call with Zelensky. “It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent,” Vindman said. When he heard Trump press Zelensky to investigate Biden, he believed that it was a “political play,” one with unmistakable implications for the Ukrainians, and that it would “undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region.” He went to the National Security Council’s lawyer after the call to report his concerns.
It was a remarkable moment, followed soon after by Vindman denouncing the “reprehensible” attacks by Trump and his supporters against himself and other witnesses from inside America’s nonpartisan national-security bureaucracy who have come forward to testify. Speaking truth to power as Vindman did—the lieutenant colonel publicly challenged the President of the United States while still serving on his staff—would never have been possible in the Soviet Union of his birth or the Russia of today. Such public defiance of a leader would “surely cost me my life,” Vindman said. He was right: it never could have happened in Russia. It still seems unbelievable that it is happening in America.
If Tuesday morning offered the unprecedented spectacle of a uniformed officer taking on the President while still working in his White House, Volker’s testimony on Tuesday afternoon marked a moment in its own way, putting an end, hopefully once and for all, to the fallacy that anyone can manage, contain, steer, or constrain President Trump from pursuing even a misbegotten or highly politically perilous course. Volker is not the first but the latest to discover this fact, and with the catastrophic consequence of Presidential impeachment as the result.
The myth of the “adults in the room” has persisted since the beginning of the Administration, but it has never been accurate. There is no managing Donald Trump, no way to preserve one’s integrity while doing what is necessary to remain powerful in his orbit.
Look at what happened to Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis and John Kelly. Trump is a government of one. He himself has said so repeatedly. Early in his Administration, under criticism for leaving key posts open at the State Department, Trump said that, when it comes to foreign policy, “I am the only one that matters.”
At the time, less than a year into his Presidency, perhaps that could have been dismissed as hyperbole. Certainly, it would have been surprising to hear members of Congress publicly agreeing that the entire rest of the government—themselves and their own branch included—was irrelevant. Yet that is more or less where the impeachment process has ended up.
Several of the witnesses in the impeachment inquiry found that out, to their dismay. Volker is perhaps the clearest example of this. Volker thought that he could handle the problem of Trump’s attitude toward Ukraine by engaging with the source of the “negative information flow”—Giuliani.
Others in the Administration considered this folly and warned him that it was not feasible to “thread the needle,” as Volker termed it in his testimony. Yet he tried, awkwardly insisting that he had no idea that Trump actually wanted Zelensky to investigate Biden as opposed to more generic “corruption” in Ukraine. Volker said that he had been out of the loop on the key conversations that would have revealed that motive. When he met Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington for breakfast, in July, Volker acknowledged that Giuliani did bring up Biden and that Volker tried to talk him out of it. It did not work.
Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council senior director for Russia and Ukraine, who will appear publicly on Thursday, said in her private deposition to investigators that both she and John Bolton, the national-security adviser at the time, told Volker directly and unambiguously not to talk with Giuliani. “We did say to him that we did not think it was a good idea for him to be talking to Rudy Giuliani,” Hill said. Volker’s response to her was instructive. He said that he could “reason with him and … manage this,” Hill recalled. “Well, we did not think this was manageable.”
For Trump’s supporters on the House Intelligence Committee, the President’s refusal to be managed or contained by any policy process, even that of his own appointees, has now become an argument in favor of his vindication. During Tuesday’s hearing, they leaned more strongly than before on the notion that Trump solely is in charge of U.S. foreign policy, and so the policy is whatever he says it is at any given moment—even if that contradicts what his entire Administration believes is the policy. The national interest, in this view, is whatever Donald Trump says it is, even if he seems to be saying it for his personal political benefit.
Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence panel, made exactly this point, suggesting that witnesses were merely having a policy dispute with the President, even though every single person who has appeared before the Committee has said that they were trying to carry out Trump’s policy as they understood it. “The American people elect the President, not the interagency consensus,” Nunes said. In his view, a White House process cherished by official Washington does not matter one bit. So, if Trump decided to blow up American policy toward Ukraine to withhold nearly four hundred million dollars in military aid, then that was U.S. policy.
This, of course, is one of the reasons why Trump is on his fourth national-security adviser, his second Secretary of State, and his third chief of staff. In a government of one, even the officials who want to serve the President can find themselves not knowing what it is they are supposed to be doing. They can be undercut at any moment; they have been. A few months ago, there was no policy more bipartisan in Washington than backing Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia. Just about the only person in the capital who did not support it was Donald Trump. It’s all so confusing. And that is nothing new in this Presidency.
Only an idiot would believe Schiffs constant lying. He needs to come clean on his obvious lies about his coordination with the "whistleblower".
Maybe he will finally release the Russian collusion evidence he said he had for now over THREE YEARS.
And at the very least he should have given it to Mueller.
ROFLMFAO !!!
WHAT A GREAT DAY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP !!!
And what a shameful day for the COUP coordinators.
American traitors.
What a lot of worthless trivial drivel.
James said:
What a lot of worthless trivial drive
PRO TIP
Just read the highlighted text and you'll avoid the bullshit from the "pastor".
That's easy to do and saves time
Thanks for that PRO TIP.
Very useful.
It's not changing any minds yet but.. the suburban voters are not going be there anymore because they are sick and tired of the President.
But the numbers are not moving yet.
A majority of Americans say they’ve been paying close attention to the impeachment inquiry: 63% say so in a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll and 58% in an ABC/Ipsos poll.
But just because they're tuning in doesn't mean you can expect them to change their minds on whether President Donald Trump should be impeached. Most respondents to both polls say they've made up their minds on impeaching Trump, regardless of what is actually said at the hearings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/schiff-comes-down-on-republicans-in-closing-statement-73726021516?fbclid=IwAR0CsQQwEK8xzyZeVEDZWkE7lkIcPcXKbqfYlxdqVTyjnU-h3S5gx10wE3A
Schiff tells the truth about the President and his disregard for the Constitution.
Schiff hasn't spoken truth in 3 years
We're still waiting for all that Russia evidence he kept claiming he had
Only an idiot would believe Schiffs constant lying.
Only an idiot would believe Schiffs constant lying.
I give you Roger, the board idiot.
I long ago stopped reading Jane's -Alky spam.
IF they write something themselves I might read it.
"PRO TIP
Just read the highlighted text and you'll avoid the bullshit from the "pastor".
That's easy to do and saves time"
thanks for doing this blog a solid
MynameisRogernotAlky , is too funny, he actually believes his team of Obama/Biden/Schitt are WINNING!!!
No One in deposition or in testimony ever said " bribery" ,, that is until Palsy poll tested it and the DemStream carried it .
he actually believes his team of Obama/Biden/Schitt are WINNING!!!
Polls agree you dumb goat fucking ass hole 70% feel trump is wrong !!!!! Lost a second governor in deep red state sure is telling who is winning......BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
you and data are strangers.
Going to be a fun day with Sondland on the podium changing his story again!!!!! So much for buying a seat and having NO FUCKING SENSE....using a cell phone in the Ukraine to call Trump.....and you assholes jumped on a private server as being a lock her up moment....Paybacks will be a bitch!!!!!
Fatty you knee dropping defense of MynameisRogernotAlky is very queer.
Another day and another steaming pile of horseshit trying to divert attention from the losing trump and company!!!!
Trump press secretary faces backlash after claiming without evidence that Obama aides left ‘you will fail’ notes
Five former Trump administration officials said they did not recall any such messages, and Stephanie Grisham modified her assertions later in the day.
I see Peter Buttplugger is leading in some Socialist Democrat Party polls.
And the goat fucker resorts to his own brand of stupidity and even fails at that!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! How's that HD stock doing after the revenue miss??????? BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!!!
HD is doing very well. Revenue is up⬆️.
Your failure to understand all things financial and Economic is again on display.
"Cold snap of historic proportions hits East Coast, over 300 records fall"
@realDonaldTrump
A great day for Republicans, a great day for our Country!
@SteveScalise
The Dems' new "bribery" narrative is unraveling quickly.
More witnesses confirmed today that they were never asked to bribe or extort anyone.
Maybe Dems should base their allegations on actual evidence, not focus groups.
Dems have no case.
Eating their own!
WASHINGTON — As Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman sat in a stately chamber testifying on Tuesday, the White House posted on its official Twitter account a message denouncing his judgment. His fellow witness, Jennifer Williams, had barely left the room when the White House issued a statement challenging her credibility.
In President Trump’s Washington, where attacks on his enemies real or perceived have become so routine that they now often pass unnoticed, that might not seem all that remarkable — but for the fact that Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both still work for the very same White House that was publicly assailing them.
With the president’s allies joining in, the two aides found themselves condemned as nobodies, as plotting bureaucrats, as traitors within and, in Colonel Vindman’s case, as an immigrant with dual loyalties. Even for a president who rarely spares the rhetorical howitzer, that represents a new level of bombardment.
Mr. Trump has publicly disparaged cabinet secretaries, former aides and career officials working elsewhere in the government, but now he is taking aim at people still working for him inside the White House complex by name.
@Jim_Jordan
Lt. Col. Vindman says he doesn’t know the “Whistleblower’s” identity.
@RepAdamSchiff claims he doesn’t know the “Whistleblower’s” identity.
So how is asking who Lt. Col. Vindman spoke to “outing the ‘Whistleblower?’”
of course we know Schiff and Vindman are lying.
The Socialist Democrats are WINNING.
Just Ask them.😂
@RepDougCollins
The Founding Fathers warned against what Democrats are doing—political impeachment simply because they don't like a president or his politics.
The American people can see this clearly for what it is.
"
MyballsNovember 19, 2019 at 11:32 AM
Now vindman admits that he made up parts of the Trump call summary.
Oops"
Kput'z Has got his head up Trump's a*****e!
Morrison testified that Sondland informed him on Sept. 7 that a hold on Ukraine military aid would be released if Zelensky announced investigations into Biden and the 2016 election. Morrison stated that he got a "sinking feeling" and reported his concerns to then-national security adviser John Bolton, who told him to notify White House lawyers.
Soundland testifies today.
awe look what stumbled in From his secured rest home, the angry Drunk.
Biden wasn't mention. That's a dishonest characterization.
During Vindman’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Republican Counsel Steve Castor asked Vindman about receiving an offer to serve as Ukraine’s defense minister. The implication was that Vindman may not have been working in the best interest of the United States while serving on the National Security Council. Vindman seemed amused, if not offended, by the counsel’s line of questioning.
“I’m an American,” Vindman said. “I came here when I was a toddler. I immediately dismissed these offers. I did not entertain them.”
A great, great telling point in the long, long article I posted above:
"A few months ago, there was no policy more bipartisan in Washington than backing Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia. Just about the only person in the capital who did not support it was Donald Trump."
Trump, who thinks he knows more than all the rest of the government and the world.
@RepLaMalfa
Following this week, there are only 2 remaining weeks Congress is scheduled to be in session this year.
While @SpeakerPelosi & @RepAdamSchiff focus on their #ImpeachmentScam, we're unable to get anything real accomplished, like the bipartisan #USMCA. Americans deserve better.
Nancy said she could walk and chew gum a few months ago but obviously she can't. Why isn't the press pressing her on this???
The money was released ONLY because THE PRESIDENT GOT CAUGHT
when the whistle blew.
Republicans Reject Trump Attacks on Witnesses
Politico: “While Republicans have shown zero signs of breaking with President Donald Trump when it comes to impeachment itself, GOP lawmakers are also making it clear they’re unwilling to fully embrace Trump’s scorched-earth defense tactics, which have centered — at least in part — on tearing down his critics, sometimes against the advice of his own allies and advisers.”
Quote of the Day
“The impeachment effort comes down to one guy, Ambassador Sondland. All the other testimony has a Sondland core to it and a Sondland connection.”
— Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), quoted by the Washington Post.
@RichHiggins_DC
Let’s not forget who they’re protecting.....he led Bidens Ukraine op, he coordinated with intel to sabotage campaign, he leaked transcripts, he stole classified, he sparked special counsel, and impeachment.....that is the name they won’t say!!!!!!
The Senate needs to call Eric Ciaramella to testify.
Immediately.
What Happened Yesterday at the Hearings
November 20, 2019 at 7:08 am EST
New York Times: “Two White House national security officials testified before the House’s impeachment inquiry on Tuesday that President Trump’s request to Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic rivals was inappropriate, and one of them said it validated his ‘worst fear’ that American policy toward that country would veer off course.”
“Hours later, two more witnesses — another former White House national security official and a former top American diplomat — charted a more careful course but said under oath that the president’s requests on a July 25 phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine WERE NOT IN LINE with American national security goals.”
$35 Million In Aid Still Hasn’t Reached Ukraine
Los Angeles Times: “The defense funding for Ukraine remains in U.S. accounts, according to the document. It’s not clear why the money hasn’t been released, and members of Congress are demanding answers.”
Sondland Kept Pompeo Informed
November 20, 2019 at 7:23 am EST
New York Times: “Gordon Sondland, the diplomat at the center of the House impeachment inquiry, kept Secretary of State Mike Pompeo apprised of key developments in the campaign to pressure Ukraine’s leader into public commitments that would satisfy President Trump.”
“Mr. Sondland informed Mr. Pompeo in mid-August about a draft statement that Mr. Sondland and another American diplomat had worked on with the Ukrainians that they hoped would persuade Mr. Trump to grant Ukraine’s new president the Oval Office meeting he was seeking.”
Gordon Sondland Testifies
November 20, 2019 at 7:56 am EST
Playbook: “Theoretically, he should be a great witness for Democrats: He’s the man who, in their telling, was leading the effort to get Ukraine to commit to investigating the Bidens in exchange for aid and a visit with Trump.
“Here is the Republican game plan to discredit Sondland: The GOP will try to paint Sondland as a political hack who was carrying out what he thought Trump wanted, but not what the president told him directly. Rudy Giuliani, Republicans will try to say, was making most of the orders, and maybe Trump was asking about them, but he was not directly giving them. Sondland’s testimony is full of holes; it’s already been corrected and questioned by other witnesses. Republicans feel that if they can inject enough doubt about Sondland’s credibility, they can undermine some of the larger arguments about the substance. Republicans — especially in the White House — are exceedingly uncomfortable with Sondland, and unsure what he will say.
“Democrats, of course, have a different game plan. That is to show that Sondland was, in fact, the agent Trump was using to carry out his ‘shadow foreign policy.; He spoke to the president — there are witnesses to that. But it’s by no means clear how forthcoming he’ll be about those encounters, let alone whether he’ll make a compelling witness in general.”
the lying "pastor" James said...
The money was released ONLY because THE PRESIDENT GOT CAUGHT
when the whistle blew.
Every witness has testified that isn't true.
Except committee chairman, co-conspirator, judge, attorney, witness and executioner Schiff.
He really should be off the case after all his Russian collusion leaks and lies.
Coup 2.0
@TheLastRefuge2
Alexander Vindman is what we would get if we drafted @brianstelter into military service.
Those who served in uniform.
Dwight David Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
George H.W Bush
George W Bush
@RepRatcliffe
In the 3,500 pages of transcripts released so far, there was only one reference to bribery. Ironically to describe Vice President Biden’s conduct, not President Trump’s.
Why did we go from quid pro quo to extortion now to bribery? The answer is polling.
and Coup attempt 2.0 which is flailing
Gordon Sondland is expected to testify publicly in the House impeachment inquiry shortly. He was one of the so-called three amigos who emerged as the point men on U.S. dealings with Ukraine following the ouster of Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in May.
Sondland, a wealthy hotelier, is a Republican mega-donor and was President Donald Trump's hand-picked ambassador to the European Union. He is the man who witnesses say directly connected Trump to the freeze on security aid to Ukraine and demands that it commit to investigating the 2016 U.S. election and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Sondland already amended his initial closed-door testimony to acknowledge that he'd told a top Ukrainian official in September that millions in security aid would be withheld "until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing." He will have more to explain Wednesday. Some legal watchers are wondering whether the ambassador will plead the fifth on some of the questions.
Benedict Arnold
Robert E Lee
Lt. William Calley
@Scavino45
#ICYMI: Lt. Col. Vindman was offered the position of Defense Minister for the Ukrainian Government THREE times! #ImpeachmentSHAM
and actually went back to Moscow to get married.
Lots of service members mow speaking out about him, very illuminating.
Shimon Prokupecz
✔
@ShimonPro
Multiple GOP sources say they are most worried about what Gordon Sondland will do tomorrow - and whether he will turn on the President. The fear, Republicans say, is that he could undercut the last GOP defense. @mkraju
@Doc_0
All set for another big Impeachment Theater day of bureaucrats reading their resumes, bitching that Trump undermined their foreign policy, grudgingly admitting he didn't do anything wrong, and maybe winding down with a little light perjury
At least Impeachment Theater gives Americans a chance to meet the people who actually rule us, instead of just the minor functionaries we get to vote for
Lt. Col. Vindman
Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees. When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives. His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.
I also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this Committee, would not be tolerated in many places around the world. In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the President would surely cost me my life. I am grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety.
Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.
===
You traitors are attacking as American hero.
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/day-3-of-impeachment-hearings-brings-four-witnesses-to-the-hill-73731141523
senior official in the Trump administration" admits they are not "qualified to diagnose the president's mental acuity," they can say that "normal people who spend any time with Donald Trump are uncomfortable by what they witness."
"He stumbles, slurs, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has trouble synthesizing information, not occasionally but with regularity," the official warns.
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Often, they say, "the president also can't remember what he's said or been told."
The American military is considering moving Vindman and his family in order to protect them from people like rrb.
If President Donald Trump were any other 73-year-old — covered by Medicare and having his annual wellness visit — he'd be checked on his cognitive functions and possible safety risks. But when the president went for his unusual checkup, the White House declined to comment about his mental fitness won't be tested.
He says that he doesn't recall all the time, "the president also can't remember what he's said or been told".
During Regan's last term, his family and staff concealed his Alzheimer's disease.
Why Dems are so worried after latest round of impeachment hearings
If coup-coup Nancy Pelosi has a panic button, now would be a good time to lean on it. With signs that Americans are tuning out the impeachment hearings, the clock is ticking on Democrats’ chance to make their case.
Pelosi is clearly worried, telling fellow Dems it’s a “weak response” to “let the election decide” whether President Trump should be removed.
“That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because POTUS is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections,” the speaker wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter to her House members.
The letter seemed strange enough when it became public Monday, but Tuesday’s hearing more than justified her fear and desperation. With her party now having failed to hit anything close to pay dirt after three long days of public testimony, she is trying to keep her members on board the impeachment train, lest the whole effort crash in failure and disgrace.
Alas, Tuesday wasn’t much help. As they did in the first hearings last week, Dems again failed to make the Ukraine issue the crime of the century or even of the Trump presidency. Their hyperbolic descriptions are not even close to the pedestrian evidence they’re producing.
continues
https://nypost.com/2019/11/19/goodwin-why-dems-are-so-worried-after-latest-round-of-impeachment-hearings/
@RichHiggins_DC
Hey Eric, After trying to screw 60 million Americans out of their vote, “losing” the code word file, leaking the transcripts, and starting mueller and Schiff.....don’t worry, you and Brennan can be roomies.
https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-seeks-interview-with-cia-whistleblower-121637359.html
false "whistleblowers" and false leakers need to be held accountable.
Given the pure volume of Spam by Alky and Jane they must be Winning.
@JackPosobiec
Imagine the reaction if it came out General Flynn was offered to become the leader of the entire Russian military
Our media is a disgrace
The American military is considering moving Vindman and his family in order to protect them from people like rrb
Actually the people upset with Vindman are real soldiers. Vindman is exactly the sort of low ranking officer with the shit don't stink attitude that enlisted men hate.
You should see the military people go after him after his testimony yesterday! They hate him! They think he is a disgrace to the uniform!
Did you know the Dwarfs take a stage tonight to hate on each other?
Did you know the Dwarfs take a stage tonight to hate on each other?
Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified Wednesday more bluntly than he had before that President Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, sought to condition a White House invite for Ukraine’s new president to their demands that his country publicly launch investigations that could damage Trump’s political opponents.
“I know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’” Sondland said in sworn testimony. “With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
He implicated the President and the Vice President and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Ken Starr suggests Sondland’s testimony could prompt GOP to ‘make a trip to the White House’ and ask Trump to resign.
Donald Trump has democrats embracing Ken Starr
He can do it all !
ROFLMFAO !!!
Blogger Roger Amick said...
Ken Starr suggests Sondland’s testimony could prompt GOP to ‘make a trip to the White House’ and ask Trump to resign.
Not exactly.
Sondland testified that other senior officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, knew about the quid pro quo for the Zelensky White House meeting.
Fox News contributor Ken Starr wondered aloud whether Sondland flipping on President Trump would cause GOP senators to push Trump to resign. “The real issue is the senators are watching,” Starr said. “Are senators going to now say in light of what we hear today, it’s going to be a long day even with the ambassador alone, in light of what we have heard, ‘We need to make a trip down to the White House’?
He also said that the evidence is murky.
You are a disgrace to humanity!
Not the blockbuster you though eh Roger?
https://youtu.be/iDNcnlaKIhk
#Bombshell
Not that either.
BTW you're already outdated on you're you tube link.
He all but recanted his opening statement.
Quite a few Democrats as well as media "experts" have egg on their face.
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