Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

He really is that stupid.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Bark louder, little dog.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Trump Treason Long Read Open Thread: Why Matt Whitaker Was So Sweaty Under Questioning

Trump Treason Long Read Open Thread: Why Matt Whitaker Was So Sweaty Under Questioning

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As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge because Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away…

Mr. Trump’s public war on the inquiry has gone on long enough that it is no longer shocking. Mr. Trump rages almost daily to his 58 million Twitter followers that Mr. Mueller is on a “witch hunt” and has adopted the language of Mafia bosses by calling those who cooperate with the special counsel “rats.” His lawyer talks openly about a strategy to smear and discredit the special counsel investigation. The president’s allies in Congress and the conservative news media warn of an insidious plot inside the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to subvert a democratically elected president.

An examination by The New York Times reveals the extent of an even more sustained, more secretive assault by Mr. Trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement. Interviews with dozens of current and former government officials and others close to Mr. Trump, as well as a review of confidential White House documents, reveal numerous unreported episodes in a two-year drama.

White House lawyers wrote a confidential memo expressing concern about the president’s staff peddling misleading information in public about the firing of Michael T. Flynn, the Trump administration’s first national security adviser. Mr. Trump had private conversations with Republican lawmakers about a campaign to attack the Mueller investigation. And there was the episode when he asked his attorney general about putting Mr. Berman in charge of the Manhattan investigation.

Mr. Whitaker, who this month told a congressional committee that Mr. Trump had never pressured him over the various investigations, is now under scrutiny by House Democrats for possible perjury…

The story of Mr. Trump’s attempts to defang the investigations has been voluminously covered in the news media, to such a degree that many Americans have lost track of how unusual his behavior is. But fusing the strands reveals an extraordinary story of a president who has attacked the law enforcement apparatus of his own government like no other president in history, and who has turned the effort into an obsession. Mr. Trump has done it with the same tactics he once used in his business empire: demanding fierce loyalty from employees, applying pressure tactics to keep people in line and protecting the brand — himself — at all costs.

It is a public relations strategy as much as a legal strategy — a campaign to create a narrative of a president hounded by his “deep state” foes. The new Democratic majority in the House, and the prospect of a wave of investigations on Capitol Hill this year, will test whether the strategy shores up Mr. Trump’s political support or puts his presidency in greater peril. The president has spent much of his time venting publicly about there being “no collusion” with Russia before the 2016 election, which has diverted attention from a growing body of evidence that he has tried to impede the various investigations…

Significant cameos from various high-profile Republican thugs:

… At a time when Mr. Trump’s lawyers were urging him to cooperate with Mr. Mueller and to tone down his Twitter feed, the president’s fiercest allies in Congress and the conservative news media were busy trying to flip the script on the federal law enforcement agencies and officials who began the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Jordan began huddling with like-minded Republicans, sometimes including Representative Mark Meadows, a press-savvy North Carolinian close to Mr. Trump, and Representative Devin Nunes of California, the head of the House Intelligence Committee.

Using Congress’s oversight powers, the Republican lawmakers succeeded in doing what Mr. Trump could not realistically do on his own: force into the open some of the government’s most sensitive investigative files — including secret wiretaps and the existence of an F.B.I. informant — that were part of the Russia inquiry.

House Republicans opened investigations into the F.B.I.’s handling of the Clinton email case and a debunked Obama-era uranium deal indirectly linked to Mrs. Clinton. The lawmakers got a big assist from the Justice Department, which gave them private texts recovered from two senior F.B.I. officials who had been on the Russia case…

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  2. 2.

    schrodingers_cat

    T regime reminds me of the beginning of an old Indian folk tale, अंधेर नगरी चौपट राजा

    The land where darkness rules and the king is crazy.

  5. 5.

    MJS

    Just as we found out definitively that Trump directed Cohen to make payments to women, we will find out definitively that he asked Whitaker to get the SDNY to back off.

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    Can’t be much of a surprise here…if trumpov was ok with the investigation, then he’d be short about 10,000 tweets. If trumpov was ok with sessions, or had a legitimate reason to fire him, same thing. If Monumentally Unqualified Whitaker was anything but a trumpov hack put in place to try and figure out a way to kneecap the SC’s investigation, he wouldn’t be there.

    (Same with Barr, btw)

    I’m not sure why this is a revelation. Whitaker was always intended to help with the obstruction efforts. No other rationale makes sense.

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Jordan began huddling with like-minded Republicans, sometimes including Representative Mark Meadows, a press-savvy North Carolinian close to Mr. Trump, and Representative Devin Nunes of California, the head of the House Intelligence Committee.

    Traitors, all.
    Also:

    It appears that Paul Ryan was ok with a suspected Russian agent in the Oval Office. Anything for that tax cut https://t.co/CnLHd5EoZU— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) February 19, 2019

    Not just tax cuts. Protecting himself because he was chair of the Republican convention and knew all about the treason that was happening. I believe in today’s vernacular we call that “collusion.”

    Tick tock, motherfuckers.

  10. 10.

    Radiumgirl

    @MJS: We already know he asked Comey to drop the investigation into Gen. Flynn. Why wouldn’t he try the same stunt with Whitaker?

  11. 11.

    chris

    Devin Nunes also, too.

    And here is what McCabe says about this in the book: "Now that the Gang of Eight was a crowd of two dozen in the room, I thought, the chance of this not getting back to the president was basically zero. Then Devin Nunes walked in, and the chance was less than zero."— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) 19 February 2019

  15. 15.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    The president’s allies in Congress and the conservative news media warn of an insidious plot inside the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to subvert a democratically elected president.

    But you see, the thing is, he wasn’t democratically elected. At least not legitimately. I hope future historians will look back on this era and see him for the treasonous, illegitimate would-be autocrat that he is.

  16. 16.

    Aleta

    Nick Merrill @NickMerrill

    For those old enough to remember almost 4 years ago when The New York Times ran with a farce of a story about Uranium One, here is the same New York Times admitting the story was a sham today…leaving out that they created it.

    
For those who don’t recall or have appropriately suppressed all 2016 election memories, this story came in April of 2015, 12 days after HRC announced she was running for President.


    * 

Because the NYT ran it, it carried enormous weight despite it being the result of a deal struck between the NYT & a book project funded by Steve Bannon.


    * 

It was incredibly problematic for the campaign as the right pounced and we worked to debunk it. Only much later through a lot of hard work educating people on the facts was it more widely accepted that Uranium One was complete crap.


    Worst of all, it had lasting damage on the @ClintonFdn, diverting resources from programs that quite literally save lives across the globe.

    John Neffinger @Neffinger
    If memory serves, they didn’t just report this story. They gave a week-long teasing rollout and semi-exclusive front-page coverage to this story drawn from a book a GOP operative and proven public liar was paid with Koch brothers’ money to write. Is that about right?

    Oh here it is! @nytimes’ first giant article about the book. Note they report they had obtained a copy, and they report out some if its contents. Note also that they had NOT DONE ANY REPORTING TO TRY TO CORROBORATE ITS ASSERTIONS.

    Wait, this was funded by HRC’s mortal enemies? Yes! But wait, that’s not all: Here’s the C.V. (pre-“Clinton Cash”) of the guy whose assertions @nytimes put on its front page without checking.

    Dean Baquet, on camera, telling the world The New York Times has “nothing to apologize for.”

    The links to articles referenced are all in this thread.

    And today: (Vox)
    CNN hires GOP operative with no journalism experience to coordinate its 2020 coverage
    Sarah Isgur once referred to her new employer as the “Clinton News Network.” By Aaron Rupar @atrupar

  17. 17.

    Felanius Kootea

    Why is Whitaker willing to go to jail for #45? I don’t understand the loyalty pledge that many Republicans have taken to put their allegiance to this buffoon over their allegiance to country.

    Why is this new revelation not an impeachable offense? At first I was of the mind that the Senate not going along was reason not to try but now I think we need the hearings just to make it clear how warped this administration is. Otherwise, we continue with the “boiling frog” effect until #45 literally murders someone and everyone just shrugs and says “he can’t be indicted, let’s sort this out at the ballot box.”

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chris:

  20. 20.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
    That makes me wonder a few things that scare the hell out of me:

    1. If given the opportunity, would Trump imprison/kill his opponents? Not even just VIPs like Pelosi, but grassroots protesters and activists; average citizens who disapprove of him and try to exercise their rights.

    2. Would the military/DHS follow his orders if given cover (eg “terrorist attack”, “mass rioting” etc) and shoot American civilians? It wouldn’t have to be all of them. Plenty of them are Republicans and we’ve heard lately what they think of their political opponents; that they can’t legitimately hold political power. Trump may not even directly order it; some reactionary troops deployed under martial law might shoot protesters for being “totalitarian libturds”, even without their CO’s orders/permission.

    That’s how bad things I think could get if something crazy happens. Political polarization, particularly on the right, has gotten that bad imo.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Aleta:

    Dean Baquet, on camera, telling the world The New York Times has “nothing to apologize for.”

    The only apology from Dean Baquet I’ll ever entertain is a Captain Needa apology

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    @Felanius Kootea:
    It seems to me that as long as the Republican party holds the US Senate and Mitch McConnell is majority leader, nothing that Trump does, however heinous and/or blatantly illegal, will be considered impeachable. Especially because impeachment is precisely what the “Democrat party” will be howling for.

  26. 26.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @raven:
    Sorry. If it bothers you, Adam can delete it. I wouldn’t have any problem with it. Again, I’m sorry.

  27. 27.

    Citizen Alan

    @Amir Khalid:

    I started back in 2005 pointing out to people that a President who has the loyalty of 34 Senators in all things is effectively a dictator in every way that matters.

  28. 28.

    patrick II

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    He Kidnaps children atthe border, and people followhis orders to do so. He treats their lives as worthless. He would have no trouble seeing someone killed if it benefitted him. So far he has been constrained by institution and law.

  34. 34.

    Raven

    I’m so tired of being tired
    Sure as night will follow day
    Most things I worry about
    Never happen anyway

    T Petty

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Especially because impeachment is precisely what the “Democrat party” will be howling for.

    Which is why the smart people like Nancy don’t talk about it. It’s more than just a waste of time it is another point on which the republicans will hold the line unless it is so obvious that shit for brains has to go that the only person not to know is shit for brains.

  40. 40.

    Ohio Mom

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: You mean, could Kent State happen again? There are other examples too, just can’t call them up at the moment.

    Yes. But hopefully they will continue to be relatively isolated events. One thing to remember is that our government is very fragmented, with not only with different branches but also all the levels, local, state and federal.

    In the meantime, try to cultivate an ethic of hope — I stole that from Josh Marshall, who has said optimism is a moral posture.

  42. 42.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:
    Flores was:
    > Political director of Texans for Ted Cruz in 2009
    > A Romney 2012 advisor
    > Deputy Comms director for the RNC in 2013/2014
    > Carly Fiorina’s 2016 deputy campaign manager
    > Spokeswoman for Jeff Sessions
    And @CNN’s just putting her in charge of straight news? https://t.co/ofBv93gC07

    — Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) February 19, 2019

    The Washington Post reported that during an early 2017 Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, Isgur — who was critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign — “kowtowed to Trump” and pledged loyalty to his agenda as a condition of getting the job as Sessions’ spokesperson.

    Isgur’s hire was first reported by Politico, which noted that “while it is common for departing administration officials to join cable news networks as analysts or contributors, it is less common for them to oversee news coverage.”

    From Vox, more about her at link

    (don’t know why she’s called flores here)

  44. 44.

    plato

    CNN has hired as "commentators":* Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski* Trump campaign staffer and Putin image consultant Michael Caputo* Racist Jeffrey Lord who was fired only after he literally tweeted "sieg hiel"Of course they hired a Jeff Sessions operative.— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 19, 2019

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    I got home from work a bit ago and just opened my email to find a notice from BS that he is running for pres. As I’ve had a couple of rather shitty days, I encouraged him, in very enlisted navy language, what he could best do for the country. I have to say I feel a bit better.

  46. 46.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Ohio Mom:

    In the meantime, try to cultivate an ethic of hope — I stole that from Josh Marshall, who has said optimism is a moral posture.

    Thanks. I normally do, but sometimes Trump, despite his buffoonish nature, can be scary sometimes because he has so many people around him who are willing to carry out his agenda either because they’re true believers or they have their own agendas. Ethic of hope, huh? That’s a pretty cool turn of phrase Marshall came up with. I’ll remember that.

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    Standing by my story that Whitaker is not a lawyer, but a pro wrestler that Trump met at a WWE event and decided to give a job to.

  49. 49.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Ohio Mom:
    Funny, I was just thinking about Kent State myself.

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
    If we thought about all the possible things that could go wrong each day, we’d never get out of bed. Its ok to consider the possibilities, just don’t let yourself get caught up in them.
    That being said, don’t apologize. Its ok to stress out now and then. The oaf in the oval does that to people ☺️

  50. 50.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I believe your sense of my hostility toward you is exaggerated.

    Have you read the way I reply to my beloved raven at times, or Steve in the ATL, or especially Omnes, to whom I’m often pretty snotty? You’ll need to ask them, but I don’t get the sense that they sense hostility from me.

    I apologize if I’ve troubled you.

  51. 51.

    hilts

    @Aleta:

    CNN hires GOP operative with no journalism experience to coordinate its 2020 coverage

    I cited that story in a previous thread. CNN is giving Fox News a serious run for the money as the most worthless name in cable news.

  52. 52.

    Ohio Mom

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I am sure you have heard what Mr. Rogers’ mother told him about calamities: Look for the helpers.

    There are always helpers, and they restore and strengthen our faith in humanity. One day, when you finish becoming a nurse, you will be one of the helpers. In the interim, you will live through more history and gain more perspective.

    @Ruckus: LOL. Hearing that Sanders threw his hat in was the first thing I read this morning. Did not exactly make me excited to greet the day. Lucky you had a few extra hours of innocence.

  55. 55.

    Amir Khalid

    @Citizen Alan:
    34 Senators on the President’s side will keep 2/3 of that body voting to remove him from office, but as I understand it a Senate majority leader on the President’s side will keep impeachment proceedings from taking place at all, let alone such a vote.

  60. 60.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No worries. Think of it as a habit, rather than a flaw. Habits are learned and new ones can be learned.

    Judgment isn’t helpful to you. – I suspect we all judge ourselves worse than any one else. As Ohio Mom notes, later on you’ll be a helper, and in the meantime, catastrophizing only raises your cortisol levels and blood pressure. Ask me how I know.

  63. 63.

    Ohio Mom

    @MomSense: And they ARE 3:00 am thoughts.

    Ohio Dad needed a new clock for his nightstand and for Hanukkah I gave him one full of gadgets — Ohio Dad loves gadgets. Among the things this clock does is project the time onto the ceiling in large, bright red numerals.

    Now when I wake up in the middle of the night, beset with worries and anxieties, I can’t help but see the time on the celing above. It is ALWAYS sometime between three and four. Then I make myself turn over.

    Like clockwork you might say.

  72. 72.

    Ohio Mom

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Here are my last words on this topic:

    It’s harder for some of us to gauge things like tone, intent
    and subtext in person, let alone in pixels.

    And it’s harder for some of us to cut others slack.

    Now off to my evening ablution.

  73. 73.

    Yarrow

    @Ohio Mom:

    Among the things this clock does is project the time onto the ceiling in large, bright red numerals.

    Oh, that’s awful. I couldn’t live with that. Every time I woke up in the middle of the night I’d feel like it was taunting me. It’s also bad for sleep hygiene, but that’s a separate issue.

    If I were in your position I’d tell him it’s a right shame that the projecting part of fancy gadget clock broke. Funny how that hammer just happened to slip like that.

  76. 76.

    MomSense

    @Ohio Mom:

    Oh no! I wake up at that time every night and sometimes it’s really hard to get back to sleep.

    You bought that go go gadget clock? Sometimes things fall off nightstands and tables when dusting. ?

  77. 77.

    hilts

    @Ohio Mom:

    In the meantime, try to cultivate an ethic of hope

    That will become a lot easier once Trump is beaten on Election Day.

    @But her emails!!!:

    I never wanted to live in interesting times.

    I second that, although I’d find it very interesting if Jared or Don Jr. were indicted.

  80. 80.

    sdhays

    The ASSet has named a replacement for Rod Rosenstein: Jeffrey A. Rosen.

    Mr. Rosen currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Previously, Mr. Rosen was a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. During his nearly 30 years at that firm, he held positions of Associate, Partner, Co-Head of the Washington, D.C., office, and member of Kirkland’s Global Executive Management Committee. Mr. Rosen served as General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Office of Management and Budget and as General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Additionally, he served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Mr. Rosen earned his B.A. in economics with Highest Distinction from Northwestern University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

    What’s going on? At first glance, this guy doesn’t look like a total hack. Did they show Trump someone else’s CV and hoped he wouldn’t notice?

  82. 82.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Amir Khalid:
    Du hast recht. Ich sollte nicht zulassen, dass solche kleinen Dinge mich stören. Normalerweise nicht. Soweit es mich betrifft, ist es erledigt.

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    I’d missed this earlier:

    The Florida house where Roger Stone was arrested in a dramatic predawn raid by the FBI in January is now up for rent. The longtime associate of President Trump is moving out of the Fort Lauderdale residence he leased and into a smaller nearby apartment to save money for his legal defense, his wife wrote in an email last week.

    Ted Scouten from CBS Miami spotted a “for rent” sign outside the home on Tuesday.

    Wonder if he really is broke or if it’s a ploy to get donations.

  90. 90.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yarrow:
    I wouldn’t necessarily rule out some kind soul (if you know what I mean) agreeing to pay Roger Stone an exorbitant rent for the place.

  91. 91.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: According to the article she sent out an email to supporters saying she was packing and they needed to move to a small apartment to save money. Oh, and she begged for money. I know that doesn’t really answer the question.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    BooMan has a really, really good piece on Pat Caddell at WaMo today:

    Last weekend, Patrick Caddell died of a stroke at 68 years old. If you are young enough and don’t watch Fox News, it’s quite possible that you have no idea who he was. Among other things, if they ever open a hall of fame for political pollsters and consultants, he’ll be elected on the first ballot. When he was still an undergraduate student at Harvard, George McGovern hired him and utilized his polling information to successfully buck the Democratic Establishment and secure the party’s presidential nomination in 1972. If you’ve read Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail, you encountered Caddell there as the “whiz kid.”

    In the general election against Richard Nixon, McGovern flamed out in spectacular fashion, but Caddell emerged as a hot commodity. A relatively unknown governor and peanut farmer from Georgia hired him for his 1976 bid for the presidency, and when Jimmy Carter won, his campaign manager Hamilton Jordan told the press, “You know why Jimmy Carter is going to be president? Because of Pat Caddell — it’s all because of Pat Caddell.”

    […]

    Caddell was a two-trick pony. His candidates ran campaigns light on substance and heavy on cynical attacks on the Establishment. It’s not hard to understand why attacking the Establishment seemed like an evergreen strategy to Caddell. Throughout his entire career, conditions for American workers deteriorated with every presidential cycle. Yet, with our current president, we finally see a kind of triumph of Caddellism. It’s a political philosophy so devoid of values that it can serve a McGovern or Carter and then be utilized without many edits to elect a Donald Trump.

    Just as Glastris worried might happen with Joe Biden back in 1987, Trump was elected with a nebulous mandate to disrupt and drive change, but premised on unrealistic promises and unarticulated plans. It was, and is, a recipe for disappointment.

    Yup.

    Read the whole thing.

    And don’t vote for Wilmer. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    Twitter Machine:

    Jed Shugerman @jedshug

    More Jed Shugerman Retweeted Wendy Siegelman
    Kushner/Brookfield bailout update, Flynn edition:
    @WendySiegelman (linked here) and I have been two of the people focusing the closest on the Brookfield bailout of Kushner 666 5th Ave.
    Beyond Qatar’s link, why would Brookfield bail out Kushner?
    We are learning more from Flynn. 1/

    Jed Shugerman added,
    Wendy Siegelman

    @WendySiegelman
    Mike Flynn Pushed Saudi Nuclear-Plant Plan despite warnings, per House Report – Flynn & Derek Harvey who Flynn brought to National Security Council to oversee Middle East affairs pushed “Middle East Marshall Plan” ignoring repeated legal & ethical warnings
    …
    Show this thread
    10:14 AM – 19 Feb 2019

    (via LOLGOP)

    “Follow the money…” – A. Silverman.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  109. 109.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Amir Khalid: You understand incorrectly. Impeachment is an activity performed by the House of Representatives alone. Articles of impeachment pertaining to a government official (doesn’t have to be & generally has not benn POTUS) are passed by majority vote of those House members present. They are then referred to the Senate, which can by a vote of 2/3 of the members present remove the official from his/her position (which IIRC also means s/he can never hold a Federal government position again).

    Impeachment is equivalent to indictment by a grand jury. Removal is equivalent to conviction. Most USAns don’t understand the distinction, so don’t feel badly about the confusion.

  111. 111.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Uncle Cosmo: when people say “impeachment” in casual conversations, they generally don’t mean that the House filed articles; they mean that the person was convicted and removed from office. But I suspect you knew that already.

    Also, it’s “feel bad” not “feel badly”, unless you are referring to tactile dysfunction.

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Aleta:

    Josh Dawsey @ jdawsey1
    One anecdote about Sarah Isgur: Top Trump aides were skeptical of hiring her after the 2016 election when she criticized Trump. So Jeff Sessions had to bring her into the Oval for an unusual meeting, where she promised the president she would be loyal.

    I’ve been trying to remember all day: Isn’t this an almost exact rerun of something Jeff Zucker did in the first months of the trump admin? bragging about how proud he was to hire I forget which trump flunky while his employees were roasting the hell out of him via leak ?

  113. 113.

    Yarrow

    I missed this yesterday:

    A pair of House Democrats are launching a new probe of what they called the “complex web of relationships” between members of the National Rifle Association and Russian individuals with close ties to the Kremlin.

    In a letter sent to NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, a copy of which was shared with ABC News, Rep. Ted Lieu of California and Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York expressed concern about the NRA’s attempts to distance itself from any formal involvement in a now infamous trip to Moscow undertaken by a group of its high-ranking members.

    More of this, please!

  115. 115.

    Chetan Murthy

    @hilts:

    Truly sickening. Bernie can go fuck himself.

    Wait, what? I read the inteview (with Ezra Klein). Wilmer’s just saying “no to open borders”. That’s all. Now, I have lots of reasons for not liking Wilmer, but this isn’t one of them. Maybe he’s anti-immigrant (which would be another reason). But nobody in any serious position of influence in the Democratic Party, is for open borders — so this can’t be a reason to dislike Wilmer in particular.

    Now, OTOH, Pigmuck? Gosh, why do I think he’s misrepresenting Wilmer’s position (to pretend that Wilmer is as anti-immigrant as he is)?

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    I’m still shocked that the former acting director of the FBI made all the rounds this past weekend, saying that the president* acted as a Russian asset would, and thus merited a Special Counsel…

    …and (yawn) nothing’s happening. Dems, where ya at? GOP, you really wanna ride this rocket all the way down?

    I’m getting tired of being the only one who is living through history, is what I’m sayin’…put McCabe and trumpov on a debate stage toe to toe, let’s hear it all, let’s see what the RWNJs say when they (finally) hear example after example of how their clown prince has put Russia (and KSA?) first ahead of American interests.

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    And now trumpov’s after Coats, too…hel-lo, writing on the wall here, GOP? Does this sound like an innocent man?

  121. 121.

    tobie

    @Jeffro: “only one living through history”??? What does that make the rest of us on BJ? Chopped liver? Seriously, though, I’d love to see the Intelligence Committee start holding televised hearings.

    A propos regulars on BJ, have Corner Stone or TenguPhule been around in the past few months? I don’t recall seeing them. Hope all is well.

  122. 122.

    Yarrow

    @tobie: I haven’t seen Corner Stone and have been wondering about him. I think someone said TunguPhule was doing something. Taking some time off? I can’t remember.

    I also miss efg and wonder if Subaru Diane has talked to him again, especially re: getting him a tablet or laptop.

  126. 126.

    jl

    Whitiker has to choose which grenade to jump on for the president, looks like. You can only jump on so many grenades, after so many, you just can’t jump on any no more.

    So, no point in jumping on an attempt to appoint a person who had already recused themselves, since it wouldn’t work. So, Whitiker jumps on the obstruction grenade. There have been so many obstruction grenades, and so many flunkies ready to jump on them. A tragic anti-heroic story. But, I can wait for the movie.

    That is how I read this story.

  129. 129.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Steve in the ATL: Most USAns over the age of 30 know of at least one President who was impeached by the House but not removed from office by the Senate (in fact there were two such). I suspect you knew that – which makes their misunderstanding of the process damn near inexcusable. I suspect you know that as well.

    According to Wiki, 19 Federal officials have been impeached: 8 were convicted &/or removed by the Senate, 7 were acquitted by the Senate, 3 resigned prior to Senate consideration, and 1 was expelled from the US Senate in lieu of consideration of impeachment.

    (Little-known fun fact: Nixon was impeached by the House and removed by the Senate. Walter Nixon, that is: Chief Judge of the Southern District of Mississippi, in November 1989. I suspect you didn’t know that – but you could have looked it up just as fast as I did, Counselor.)

    As for your note on English usage: As Richard Bruce Cheney famously said to Patrick Leahy on the floor of the Senate, Go fuck yourself.

  134. 134.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Sab:Uh…no. Andrew Johnson avoided removal by a single vote in the Senate. He failed to secure the Presidential nomination of his Democratic Party in 1868 & left the Presidency at the end of his term as elected VPOTUS (Lincoln’s uncompleted term as POTUS) in 1869, stood for & won a US Senate seat in early 1875, and died that summer. You could look it up, y’know.

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