1/27/20: Explosive new revelations in President Trump’s impeachment trial may have awakened slumbering GOP senators, who had been cruising toward a speedy acquittal.
Trump’s defense team continues to plow ahead with their presentation – insisting, for example, that no one with firsthand knowledge has ever said that Trump held up military aid until he got the investigations. (See: 1/25/20; John Bolton.)
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Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell giving thumbs up to not calling witnesses. |
“Those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton.”
On Twitter, Sen. Collins of Maine, weighs in with this:
From the beginning, I’ve said
that in fairness to both parties the decision on whether or not to call
witnesses should be made after both the House managers and the President’s
attorneys have had the opportunity to present their cases.
I’ve always said that I was
likely to vote to call witnesses, just as I did in the 1999 Clinton trial.
The reports about John Bolton’s
book strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of
conversations among my colleagues.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who had heretofore made it perfectly clear that he thought House Democrats had nothing, seems to have been poked in the ass by a very sharp reality. He suddenly tweets, “Although we won’t vote on additional witnesses in impeachment trial until Friday, House managers need to know that both sides will have same chance to identify potential witnesses to call. Obvious choices are Adam Schiff, Joe Biden and Hunter Biden for starters.”
Sen. Cornyn’s response is so idiotic, I felt possessed to respond:
Who woke you up to do your duty?
It has been clear from the start that if you and the other sycophants allowed Trump
to stiff the House on all its subpoenas, every president from now to the end of
time would ignore the subpoena powers of Congress.
Then I added, helpfully, “By the way, Rep. Schiff will eat
Trump’s lunch; and Hunter Biden will testify that, okay, he profited from his father’s
name, just like Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump.”
Lindsey Graham used to believe high crimes didn’t have to be high crimes at all, and said a president could be impeached if he or she used the office “to hurt people.” Then he fell in love with Trump and said there was nothing Trump could do or say that would ever make him want to impeach his orange idol. He wasn’t going to look at any stinking evidence. Why bother! Now he has his own, “Holy shit!” moment. Faster than you can say, “Lindsey Graham has no more spine than a tape worm,” he realizes he might want to hear from witnesses.
Graham tweets: “If there is a desire and decision by the Senate to call Democratic witnesses, then at a minimum the Senate should allow President @realDonaldTrump to call all relevant witnesses he has requested.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, a solitary voice of GOP reason, offers up a dose of hope for real patriots. “I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” he tells reporters. He makes it clear he believes Bolton’s testimony is “relevant.” “It’s important to be able to hear from John Bolton for us to be able to make an impartial judgment.”
No way of knowing, but you figure Trump starts cussing about
Romney the moment he hears this.
We do know the president grabs his phone repeatedly during the day and bangs away on Twitter. “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify,” he claims at one point. “It is up to them, not up to the Senate!”
Okay. That’s wrong. Meaning Trump is both a liar and an idiot. The Senate has a history of calling witnesses; and his own lawyer sent a letter to the House of Representatives saying Trump would defy all subpoenas for witnesses and documents.
Soon after, Trump issues this plaintive tweet: “READ THE TRANSCRIPTS.”
If you do, you will notice right away. Trump calls on
President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
Now, Bolton is prepared to say his boss tied the investigations to the military aid. Proof of the quid pro quo.
Senate Leader McConnell announces that he is going to the
doctor to be treated for wax buildup in his ears.
*
A CONCERTED EFFORT begins on Fox News and in Trump-ass-kissing circles to paint Bolton as the problem, not the president.
Senator Cornyn appears on Fox and questions the timing of the release of Bolton’s bombshell book. Um…the pertinent question is: Is what he’s going to say in his book the truth or not?
On Fox Business, Maria Bartiromo, normally all in on her love for capitalism, hints that Bolton is lying in order “to sell a book.”
Sen. John Hawley, who hasn’t read it yet, insists that Bolton’s entire account is “a bunch of hearsay.”
Such as: he heard the president say Ukraine would not get the aid until they did the investigations?
White House Press Secretary Grisham – who, like her boss has
perfected the art of not holding press briefings – hints that conspiracy is afoot.
The same publisher who put out former F.B.I. Director James Comey’s book is handling
Bolton’s. On close examination, even that claim proves incorrect. The
publishers are different.
As Vox notes, the stupidest comment of all comes from the stupidest Trump defender, Rep. Jim Jordan. “Coming out at this late hour,” Jordan growled, “Is a kinda typical move from the Democrats.”
Bolton, of course, has never been a Democrat. In fact, the ultimate irony might be that Bolton was once a well-paid laborer in the salt mines of right-wing political commentary. His employer: Fox News.
His pay in 2017: $569,423.
(You can watch panelists on Fox News’s The Five try to make it sound like Bolton is the crook in the story. You’ll probably need to keep a barf bag handy.)
*
THE NEW coronavirus continues to spread, inside China and around the globe. There are now 4,000 confirmed cases, including five in the United States. CBS News reports that “there have been unconfirmed claims from anonymous health workers in China that many thousands more than their government is acknowledging could already be infected.” More than 50 million Chinese are under travel restrictions. The death toll rises to at least 106. At least one American, a man named Sam Roth, is trapped in Wuhan with his family, including an infant and a 5-year-old. The State Department says it has a limited ability to evacuate U.S. citizens from the area. International cruise ship operators suspend service. Airlines struggle to adjust to the threat. The World Health Organization says that the risk of the infection spreading rapidly is, “very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level.”
Travel disruptions raise concerns for stock markets worldwide.
“Consumption and travel will be the most affected, and to a lesser degree
investment and industrial production,” says Tommy Wu, senior economist at
Oxford Economics. “Travel and tourism across the region” may also be “adversely
affected.” Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and The Philippines, which all
rely on the Chinese tourism could be at risk. The Dow Jones average falls 430
points on Monday.
*
APPARENTLY, the Trump administration has decided to go full-Chinese government censorship. A reporter for NPR, Michele Kelemen, is barred from flying on Secretary of Pompeo’s plane as he heads for Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky.
It’s a petty response, since it was a different reporter for NPR who provoked Pompeo’s rage over the weekend. (See: 1/24/20.)
POSTSCRIPT: Today I mailed this letter to Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and several other Republicans who I thought, might show some spine.
January 27, 2020
Dear Senator:
It is with respect that I write to you and urge you to uphold your oath of office and protect the U.S. Constitution.
In view of the latest revelations from former National Security Advisor John Bolton, it is imperative that witnesses and documents be subpoenaed by the Senate. You must act to protect the power of Congress to hold this president, especially, but all members of the executive branch and all future presidents accountable for any misdeeds.
Having spent hours, watching witnesses come before the House committees and do their duty to speak the truth, under oath, I have almost no doubt that President Trump violated his oath of office. He put selfish personal interests above the welfare of both Ukraine, a key U.S. ally, but our nation, as well. As you well know, he refused to abide by any and all House subpoenas.
Since the House concluded its work, as best it could in the
face of Trump’s intransigence, there have been important developments. We know
from emails, leaked in unredacted form, that Elaine McCusker, a Pentagon
official, warned the White House that laws were likely being broken—and if the
hold on aid continued would be broken. McCusker offered warning on August 5,
August 9, August 12, August 26, August 28, September 1 and September 7. I
assume you are at least as well informed as I am on this matter. The
Congressional Budgeting Administration has since stated that laws were broken.
Now Mr. Bolton backs up multiple witnesses who said it was their understanding
that military aid was held up because the president demanded an investigation
into one company in Ukraine, and one family, the Bidens.
Mr. Bolton is apparently ready to testify that he was told by President Trump that that was in fact the reason.
It is possible, albeit highly unlikely, that additional witnesses might prove that Mr. Trump is innocent; and you need not vote to impeach and remove him from office to protect the U.S. Constitution.
If you fail to assert your subpoena powers, you risk the entire system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers labored for so long and so hard to create. You stand by and allow a chief executive to subvert the rule of law.
You must act, if for no other reason, than to assert the power of the legislative branch.
Sincerely,
John J. Viall
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