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Impeachment Hearings

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Impeachment Hearings

In November, the House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry entered a new phase: public hearings. The House Intelligence Committee, led by committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff, has called several witnesses to testify in the inquiry, including Dr. Fiona Hill, David Holmes, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, George Kent, Bill Taylor, Kurt Volker, and Gordon Sondland.

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Insists There Will Be Blood Impeachment

by Anne Laurie|  April 17, 20249:15 am| 213 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment Hearings, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

#ProudBlue #ResistanceUnited 🎁
House Republicans walked impeachment papers to the senate today for Secretary Mayorkas. It won’t pass the Senate.We need adults in the House instead of a bunch of Magats who are just dicking around. #PutinsPuppets https://t.co/62reFxAES4

— Sheryl with an S 🟦🟧🇺🇸🌊 (@beachblond52) April 16, 2024

Per the “Senior Congressional Correspondent for Fox News”, as of this morning:
Wednesday Morning Open Thread 6
Wednesday Morning Open Thread 7

The Washington Post, yesterday — “Mayorkas impeachment moves to Senate, where trial could end fast”:

… Led by 11 impeachment managers appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Republicans have demanded a full trial, while Senate Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority, are planning to band together to dismiss or table the trial. Most Senate Republicans, despite previously voicing concerns about the substance of the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, have echoed the lower chamber’s calls for the Senate to adhere to precedent and hold a trial.

At least one Republican — Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) — said last week that he planned to vote against a full trial. On Tuesday, Romney softened his position, telling reporters that he at least wanted debate on the articles before moving to dismiss them and therefore did not support tabling the charges. Several others who have been critical of the impeachment have yet to stake out their position, including GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Collins, citing her role as a juror in the trial, declined to weigh in on how she will vote, and Murkowski vaguely said she wanted “process.”…

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After House Republicans made the ceremonial walk across the Capitol to present the articles charging Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, read them aloud on the Senate floor. Senators will be sworn in as jurors Wednesday, and then it will be incumbent on Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to decide how to proceed.

Schumer decried the proceedings Monday, saying impeachment “should never be used to settle a policy disagreement” and vowing to “address the issue as expeditiously as possible.” It’s unclear whether Schumer will move to table or dismiss the case, a maneuver that requires 51 votes to pass…

Senate Republicans have been divided on how to best influence the process from their relatively powerless position in the minority; some have agitated for an opportunity to hold Democrats accountable for the record-breaking levels of migration at the southern U.S. border. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said the Senate GOP conference had yet to come to an agreement on an approach to process the articles, but one of the options under discussion is extracting an agreement from Democrats to ensure Republicans time to debate.

“I think right now there’s still a question about how it’ll get handled, and that’s something that our members are going to have to have a conversation about today, and then hopefully we’ll have a better insight into what that process might look like,” Thune said…

Mayorkas, meanwhile, has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill over the past week, advocating for a DHS budget with higher funding than in the deal agreed to last month by the White House and Congress.

This is Mayorkas’s 30th time testifying before Congress in his capacity as DHS secretary, although he did not testify in his defense before the House Committee on Homeland Security after it revoked an invitation for him to appear, instead requesting written testimony.

“Secretary Mayorkas spent months helping a bipartisan group of Senators craft a tough but fair bill that would give DHS the tools necessary to meet today’s border security challenges, but the same House Republicans playing political games with this impeachment chose to block that bipartisan compromise,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Congressional Republicans should stop wasting time with unfounded attacks, and instead do their job by passing bipartisan legislation to properly fund the Department’s vital national security missions and finally fix our broken immigration system.”

Former Republican Congressman David Jolly on the Mayorkas impeachment:

“This is really a violation of the sanctity of the House. They’re now using their powers for this very political, unwarranted move and tool. It is sad to see how unserious it is under the Republican majority” pic.twitter.com/H7WU2OJknO

— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) April 16, 2024

Correct. The Speaker of the House next Congress will be Hakeem Jeffries https://t.co/I99i2tDZU8

— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) April 15, 2024

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Insists There Will Be <del>Blood</del> ImpeachmentPost + Comments (213)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Too Many GOP Klowns in Our National Circus

by Anne Laurie|  March 21, 20248:31 am| 239 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Impeachment Hearings, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

Lawful Evil
Neutral Evil
Chaotic Evil pic.twitter.com/nhg7zp2min

— American Imperialism Kaiju Returns (@TonyMoonbeam) March 20, 2024

Obama, Pelosi join Biden to mobilize voters ahead of Affordable Care Act anniversary

https://t.co/rtpJJnmem7

— Mike Walker (@New_Narrative) March 20, 2024

Democrats work for people; Repubs work for a tiny cabal of oligarchs, domestic & foreign.

Once again, Trump is threatening 140 million American patients with ACA repeal because he says “ObamaCare sucks” — but we know the ACA cures!

That’s why we must reelect @JoeBiden and a Democratic House and Senate to answer the cry of patients across America — #SaveMyHealthCare! pic.twitter.com/uebmjGrtsC

— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) March 20, 2024

NEW: Republicans call for raising the Social Security retirement age in clash with Biden, via @jackfitzdc https://t.co/8Vjvf4xD50

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) March 20, 2024

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Remember — sharing is caring!

Leader Schumer: The choice for Speaker Johnson is clear. Put the supplemental on the floor of the House for a vote and help deliver Ukraine the aid it desperately needs or kowtow to Donald Trump and the MAGA hard right who seem to want a victorious Putin. pic.twitter.com/ImXrJtxR4g

— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) March 20, 2024

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Too Many GOP Klowns in Our National Circus

Concerning yesterday’s center-ring saga:

Lacking support and evidence, the GOP-led impeachment inquiry against Biden continued to sputter out, even as House Republicans held a hearing featuring witnesses reiterating thin allegations that his family capitalized financially on their father’s name. https://t.co/wrAKWCH5dy

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 21, 2024


Per the Washington Post, “Impeachment inquiry appears on ice as House GOP tries to wrangle support” [gift link]:

Lacking support and evidence, the GOP-led impeachment inquiry against President Biden continued to sputter out, even as House Republicans on Wednesday held a hearing that featured witnesses who reiterated thin allegations that members of the Biden family capitalized financially on their father’s name…

With a threadbare majority, House Republicans need near unanimity to approve articles of impeachment against the president, which they do not have. Instead, skepticism among rank-and-file Republicans has only grown since an FBI informant was charged with lying about the Bidens, an implosion of what had been presented as a major piece of evidence.

In the absence of those votes, Comer and other members of the investigating committees have pivoted to the possibility of criminal referrals. Comer has threatened to make “multiple” criminal referrals, but it remains unclear whether lawmakers will formally accuse President Biden of a crime and what crimes they allege may have been committed.

“I’m not sure how we would have a criminal referral of the president yet not move forward with impeachment,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said. “I mean the [Justice Department] is never going to take that up anyway.”…

The apparent collapse of one of the House GOP’s marquee investigations was preceded by a string of incidents where Comer, who has been criticized by even some Republican colleagues for his Fox News-centric approach to the investigation, elevated allegations against Biden and his son before they publicly fizzled. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, in his opening statement Wednesday called the hearing “the end of perhaps the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations.”

“Our colleagues now are apparently preparing to save face by ending the impeachment farce with criminal referrals,” Raskin said. “But criminal referrals require evidence of crimes. And the only crimes we have seen are those of the GOP’s own star witnesses.”…

Some members indicated that they were open to weighing any new evidence House investigators may unearth in the meantime, but Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) noted that Republicans were running out of time before the rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump — and that Biden faces bigger electoral challenges than a potential impeachment that is destined to fail in a Democratic-controlled Senate.

“Ultimately the American people will be voting in October or November to decide whether or not this president is suitable for office,” Garcia said. “I think he’s got enough other challenges and failures under his belt that the impeachment probably wouldn’t even affect the outcome of the election.”…

“The only information ever pushed on the Bidens and Ukraine has come from one source and one source only: Russia and Russian agents,” Parnas testified.

At the end of the hearing, Comer said he was inviting the president to testify to Congress, an invitation a White House spokesperson laughed off on social media.

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Too Many GOP Klowns in Our National CircusPost + Comments (239)

Procedural Open Thread: The Work Continues

by Anne Laurie|  February 14, 20219:35 am| 270 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment Hearings, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced the senators who made Donald Trump's acquittal possible as a ‘cowardly group of Republicans’ and blamed McConnell for not allowing the House to deliver the impeachment charge to the Senate while Trump was still in the White House pic.twitter.com/cVu6gtT8uL

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2021

I didn’t jump in on the WITNESSES NOW debate earlier, because I remember all too vividly the Repubs lying and showboating during the Iran-Contra hearings, which made it possible for that era’s monsters to finish destroying the evidence, sometimes by killing (even more) nameless not-American people. Those hearings not only gave VP Bush (and, later, his even more vile spawn) a free pass to the Oval Office, they made Oliver North a celebrity, and wealthy — and those were the days before GoFundMe.

What I said or didn’t say here wasn’t gonna change anybody’s calculations, most specifically those of the Democrats running Impeachment Two, and I’m willing to accept their political acumen in this area is more to the point than mine. YMMV…

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And there it is from @StaceyPlaskett — the clearest explanation for why no witnesses: "Other individuals who may have been there with the president were not friendly…to us and would have required subpoenas and months of litigation."

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) February 13, 2021

Biden statement late Saturday on the Senate impeachment vote. pic.twitter.com/jznihzyCm0

— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) February 14, 2021

Why did Dems take this action? McConnell made it clear that there would be no other Senate business during the trial. Weeks without Merrick Garland & other confirmations, no Covid relief bill. Dems could get no other material witnesses w courage to testify. No votes would change.

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) February 13, 2021

I mean, I don't think that impeachment was a bad idea. You do it because it's the right thing to do. But it was always going to end this way and it's not likely it has long term electoral impacts either.

— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) February 13, 2021

there is one nominally functional if occasionally feckless party and one that is thoroughly corrupted and operates almost wholly on malign intent and bad faith. https://t.co/l0QdW6kwZx

— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 13, 2021

the new democratic administration has already made life immeasurably better for immigrants, asylum seekers, trans members of our military, and other groups. so i will be voting for that party while occasionally being very frustrated at them. everybody can do their own thing.

— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 13, 2021

I realize we’re in the moment and whatever happened just now looms large but the idea that “Dems folded and didn’t call witnesses” is going to be the thing people remember about this episode even days from now is totally nuts, sorry.

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) February 13, 2021

I hate to be that guy but from a political standpoint, most voters don’t care about the trial, would rather the Senate focus on COVID relief, and delaying the trial will not change the outcome. It’s bitterly disappointing but politically this is the right move for Dems

— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) February 13, 2021

…when you realize you will have to cover boring-ass legislative wrangling… https://t.co/FB5nuP8b7s

— Alex Hazanov. (@alexhazanov) February 13, 2021

Does it suck that Trump isn’t going to face consequences for this? Absolutely. Is it Democrats fault that he won’t? Not at all and if you think it is you’re just not thinking very clearly.

As always, this is Republicans fault and you are doing what they want by not blaming them.

— Tiger Beat Anarchy ???????? (@SJGrunewald) February 13, 2021

Also recall that there is pretty decent evidence that stuff like checks and geneous UI is what kept Trump afloat, and do that.

— Alex Hazanov. (@alexhazanov) February 13, 2021

Donald Trump is a former president today because of us. Never forget that. In a democracy, voters do have the ultimate power. And when you do not vote, you surrender the only real power you have. https://t.co/keQusQK4p4

— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) February 13, 2021

Procedural Open Thread: The Work ContinuesPost + Comments (270)

Continuing Impeachment Trial Open Thread

by Cheryl Rofer|  February 10, 20215:11 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment Hearings, Open Threads, Rofer on Nuclear Issues

The previous thread was getting long. I’m not sure how much more there is to go – I am not watching, just getting snips from Twitter as I get some other stuff done.

I found this interesting – the nuclear football that follows the Vice President around was also at risk. You can see the military aide carrying it at 0:13 in the video.

Truly remarkable footage of Vice President Pence and his family being escorted out of the Senate chamber. President Trump was back at the White House, continuing to trash Pence, according to multiple people. pic.twitter.com/Vr3c5EBwTR

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 10, 2021

Stephen Schwartz follows the nuclear footballs and collects photos of them. I asked him to verify. Here’s his answer –

Correct, although that's a different military aide than was seen carrying it earlier in the afternoon that day from the House to the Senate. https://t.co/rAtaTNMte5

— Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) February 10, 2021

Sorry for the duplication. That seems to be the way this works.

Continuing Impeachment Trial Open ThreadPost + Comments (151)

Impeachment 3 – Procedure Over Content

by Cheryl Rofer|  February 9, 20214:00 pm| 173 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment Hearings, Open Threads

Here’s the live feed:

And here’s the video that the House Impeachment Managers showed. Damning.

Open thread

Impeachment 3 – Procedure Over ContentPost + Comments (173)

Impeachment Hearings Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  January 13, 20219:00 am| 200 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Impeach the Motherfucker!, Impeachment Hearings, Open Threads, Politics, Trumpery

Here we go again, citizens!

The Democrats serving as impeachment managers are Representatives Raskin, DeGette, Cicilline, Castro (Joaquin), Swalwell, Lieu, Plaskett, Neguse, and Dean. (Thanks, Baud!) The Trump defense strategy on the Republican side is rather less clear to me, but I assume we’ll hear from the kooks in the Sedition Caucus, which comprises most House Republicans.

Open thread!

PS: Sorry for squashing not one but TWO posts, but I’m gonna leave this one up for impeachment hearings discussions.

Impeachment Hearings Open ThreadPost + Comments (200)

What Kind of Fuckery Is This?

by @heymistermix.com|  January 29, 20208:44 am| 132 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment Hearings

Last night the news broke that McConnell doesn’t have the votes to block a vote on having witnesses. What this means isn’t clear, but if there’s anything clear about this whole ordeal, it’s that Comrade McConnell is going to engage in the maximum fuckery possible. In last night’s comments on a post with a different topic, Martin made this point:

As part of the process, they have a vote of whether to consider witness. That’s the vote in question here. Then there’s a process of submitting witness requests to leadership, I think it is, and they introduce individual motions for votes. They don’t need to introduce every rando request, but things they think are relevant. It could be none will pass. There will probably be some negotiating in how the motions are structured, whether individual witnesses, open or closed session, all that garbage.

That sounds possible to me, but as the ever-shifting needs of the weaker links in his caucus to have fig leafs of “I did too vote for witnesses” bump up against the desires of safe seat Senators to just get it over with, how this thing ends up will probably be at least a little unpredictable.

That first story linked brings up a Republican talking point that witnesses will cause the impeachment to be delayed by a side trip into the courts as witnesses resist their subpoenas. My understanding is that this is bullshit: Roberts will rule from the bench and his ruling is final. Congress has the sole power to impeach and remove, and there is no appeal for a ruling from the presiding officer, the Chief Justice.

I’m sure Trump, who has skirted the law by dilatory legal actions for his whole life, disagrees, but unless anyone can cite a non-wingnut legal authority, I’m thinking that any witnesses called will show up.

What Kind of Fuckery Is This?Post + Comments (132)

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