(10-02-2019, 08:17 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: This is just baffling.

Quote:Pompeo acknowledges he was on Trump call at center of probe


WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged on Wednesday that he was on the July phone call between President Donald Trump and the Ukraine president that’s at the center of the House impeachment inquiry. But Pompeo continued to push back against what he said was Democrats’ “bullying and intimidation.”



The Trump administration has set a defiant tone, resisting Congress’ access to impeachment witnesses, even as House Democrats warned such efforts themselves could amount to an impeachable offense.


Pompeo has tried to delay five current and former officials from providing documents and testimony in the inquiry that could lead to charges against Trump. But Democrats were able to set closed-door depositions for Thursday for former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and next week for ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Pompeo acknowledged at a news conference in Rome on Wednesday that “I was on the phone call” on July 25 between Trump and the Ukraine president, saying that as America’s chief diplomat he was well-versed in U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

But he continued to sound a defiant note on the House impeachment probe, asserting that House investigators contacted “State Department employees directly” and told them not to contact State Department lawyers for advice. He said the State Department would “do our Constitutional duty to cooperate” with Congress but wouldn’t tolerate “bullying and intimidation.”


The escalating exchange of accusations and warnings signaled yet another stiffening in the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches amid the Democrats’ launching of the impeachment inquiry late last week. That followed a national security whistleblower’s disclosure of Trump’s phone call seeking help from the new Ukrainian president in investigating Democratic political rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter.


On Wednesday, the State Department’s inspector general is expected to brief congressional staff from several House and Senate appropriations, oversight, foreign affairs and intelligence committees on their requests for information and documents on Ukraine, according to an aide familiar with the planning. The inspector general acts independently from Pompeo.


In a Tuesday evening tweet, Trump cast the impeachment inquiry as a coup “intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” In fact, a coup is usually defined as a sudden, violent and illegal seizure of government power. The impeachment process is laid out in the U.S. Constitution.


Some Trump supporters cheered Pompeo’s muscular response to the Democrats. But it also complicated the secretary’s own situation, since he listened in during Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy that helped trigger the impeachment inquiry.


“Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress — including State Department employees — is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry,” said three House chairmen, Adam Schiff of the intelligence committee, Eliot Engel of Foreign Affairs, and Elijah Cummings of Oversight.


They said that if he was on Trump’s call, “Secretary Pompeo is now a fact witness in the House impeachment inquiry.” And they warned, “He should immediately cease intimidating Department witnesses in order to protect himself and the President.”


The committees are seeking voluntary testimony from the current and former officials as the House digs into State Department actions and Trump’s other calls with foreign leaders that have been shielded from scrutiny.


In halting any appearances by State officials, and demanding that executive branch lawyers accompany them, Pompeo is underscoring Attorney General William Barr’s expansive view of White House authority and setting a tone for conflicts to come.


When issuing a separate subpoena last week as part of the inquiry, the chairmen of the three House committees made it clear that stonewalling their investigation would be fought.


“Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry,” the three chairmen wrote.


Democrats often note that obstruction was one of the impeachment articles against Richard Nixon, who resigned the presidency in 1974 in the face of almost certain impeachment.


Volker played a direct role in arranging meetings between Rudy Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, and Zelenskiy, the chairmen said.


The State Department said that Volker has confirmed that he put a Zelenskiy adviser in contact with Giuliani, at the Ukraine adviser’s request.


The former envoy, who has since resigned his position and so is not necessarily bound by Pompeo’s directions, is eager to appear as scheduled on Thursday, said one person familiar with the situation, but unauthorized to discuss it and granted anonymity. The career professional believes he acted appropriately and wants to tell his side of the situation, the person said.


Yovanovitch, the career diplomat whose abrupt recall from Ukraine earlier this year raised questions, is set to appear next week. 


The Democrats also want to hear from T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, a counselor at the State Department, who also listened in on the Trump-Zelenskiy call, they said.


It’s unclear whether Pompeo will comply with the committees’ request for documents by Friday.


The House investigators are prepared for battle as they probe more deeply into the State Department to try to understand why the administration sought to restrict access to Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders.


The whistleblower alleged in an Aug. 12 letter to Congress that the White House tried to “lock down” Trump’s July 25 phone call with the new Ukrainian president because it was worried about the contents being leaked to the public.


In recent days, it has been disclosed that the administration similarly tried to restrict information about Trump’s calls with other foreign leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, by moving memos onto a highly classified computer system.


As Trump continued to rage against the impeachment inquiry, there was little evidence of a broader White House response. 
And few outside allies were rushing to defend the president.


Trump has long measured allies’ loyalty by their willingness to fight for him on TV, and he complained bitterly this week that few had done so. And those who did, including House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” he believed had flubbed their appearance, according to a person not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.


Giuliani, who hired former assistant special Watergate prosecutor Jon Sale a day after being hit with his own subpoena, continued to push false Biden corruption accusations and promised to fight against Democratic investigators.


The call unfolded against the backdrop of a $250 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine that was being readied by Congress but stalled by the White House.

Ukraine’s president told reporters Tuesday he has never met or spoken with Giuliani. Zelenskiy insisted that “it is impossible to put pressure on me.” He said he stressed the importance of the military aid repeatedly in discussions with Trump, but “it wasn’t explained to me” why the money didn’t come through until September.

(10-02-2019, 12:00 PM)GMDino Wrote: I suppose what I will get out of all this the most is that no republican in office right now can ever run as someone who supports the law.  Unless they change in the near future their complete and total silence or full throated defense of Trump has shown that they do not care about what is legal only what helps them win.

And when the democrats do the same I will say the same about them.

Trump seems to be losing it. Here he is highjacking a question intended for the Finnish president and ranting about how there weren't "wins" before he took office. pic.twitter.com/1sU0rQpSlq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2019

(10-02-2019, 03:52 PM)GMDino Wrote: Trump just head that the whistleblower met with Schiff prior.

(Which is proper protocol.)

And Trump is announcing it's a "scandal" and a "scam" and that "Schiff helped write" the complaint.

He's completely delusional.

Now he's talking about how tough he is on Russia.  lol.

(10-02-2019, 06:10 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: NYT is reporting that, after the whistleblower was concerned that it would not be adequately dealt with through the CIA channels, reached out to the House Intelligence Committee about how to proceed. The whistleblower was instructed by a staffer to get a lawyer and file a formal complaint through the proper channels. 

Which Trump is taking to mean Schiff wrote the report with the whistleblower lol

Quote:Dodge. Deny. Defame. Testy Trump adds fuel to raging impeachment battle
GOP strategist: President’s admission of asking Zelenskiy for ‘favor’ is a ‘real problem’ for White House


ANALYSIS | Dodge. Deny. Defame. Those three words sum up a clearly perturbed President Donald Trump’s performance under questioning Wednesday about House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.


Twice Trump faced reporters and twice he grew agitated — sometimes appearing angry — as he snapped at attempts to ask pointed follow-ups and painted Democrats’ inquiry as a “hoax” and “fraud.”


[Mysterious dossier delivered to Congress by State Department watchdog]

In signature fashion, the real estate mogul and former reality television host is using a verbal and electronic sledgehammer as his primary weapon against House Democrats. Some GOP operatives and lawmakers have expressed concern that Trump’s response — he is, so far, shunning a Bill Clinton-style impeachment war room — has been too brusque.

“The Ukraine investigation [messaging] is proving hard for a couple of reasons. One is that the president himself admitted to asking a foreign head of state to help him politically — and even without the quid pro quo of aid money,” said one GOP strategist granted anonymity to be candid. “That’s a real problem. Another is that only two men — the president and [his personal attorney] Rudy Giuliani — really know all the facts, and no one trusts either man.”








Trump responds to story on Schiff getting advance details of whistleblower accusations




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Dodge
No moment summarized the scene or served as a symbol of a day in which the president lobbed curse words, insults and unsubstantiated charges at House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff and other Democrats than Trump’s angry back-and-forth with Reuters’ White House correspondent Jeff Mason.


[Trump is a one-man war room on impeachment inquiry]


“What do you want or what did you want President Zelenskiy to do with regard to Joe and Hunter Biden,” Mason asked, referring to Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a July 25 telephone conversation on which a White House-crafted summary shows Trump asking his counterpart to “do us a favor” by investigating the Bidens immediately after the Ukrainian leader mentioned a desire to buy more American anti-tank weapons.


Trump never directly answered Mason’s question. Instead, he began by falsely stating the call summary shows Zelenskiy first mentioning Giuliani. The summary shows Trump doing that. It is merely the latest time the president has contradicted that document.


“What I want is the following,” Trump started to say before pivoting to a rant about the level of U.S. aid that goes to Ukraine versus how much Kiev receives from European countries. As Mason pressed, Trump grew visibly agitated, barking at one point: “Biden and his son are stone-cold crooked. His son walks out with millions of dollars. The kid knows nothing.”








Trump calls Joe and Hunter Biden 'stone cold crooked'




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(Trump contends Hunter Biden was paid as a board member of a Ukrainian energy firm despite having no previous experience in the energy sector.)


[White House threatens to shut down legislative process during impeachment inquiry]


Mason tried again. “Did you hear me?” Trump shouted at the reporter. “Don’t be rude!” The president never explained what he wanted Zelenskiy to do; Democrats contend Trump wanted a Ukrainian investigation to politically damage 2020 Democratic front runner Joe Biden.


Deny
The president again repeatedly denied doing anything wrong on the call, while House Democrats say they see evidence he likely violated federal laws by seeking a personal political gift from a foreign government.


In his defiant denials, the president compared investigations into his presidency to getting dressed in the morning.


“I’ve lived with it since the day I got elected,” he said. “For me, it’s like putting on a suit in the morning. [Conservative radio host] Rush [Limbaugh] said, ‘I don’t know of any man in America who could handle it.’


“It’s all a fraud. … I know I’m right. I’m very happy how I’m living,” Trump said, calling a whistleblower’s account of the call chock full of “false claims” even though it aligns with the White House’s summary.


But his denials featured more false statements and contradictions. For instance, the president on Wednesday claimed during the combative press conference that the summary of the call his staff prepared was an “exact transcript.” But during her own combative gaggle with reporters Friday afternoon, one of his top counselors, Kellyanne Conway, snapped this at a reporter who asked about verbatim transcripts of the president’s calls with other global leaders: “Those don’t exist.”


Defame
Throughout the day, including during the press conference with his Finnish counterpart — who at times seemed to duck behind his lectern and long microphone — Trump sought to paint Schiff and other Democrats as corrupt and only moving ahead with the impeachment inquiry “to win an election.”


[Trump: ‘I don’t care’ about protections for whistleblower]


He branded the Intelligence Committee chairman “Shifty Schiff,” tweeting the moniker and using it during two appearances before the cameras. “I call him Shifty Schiff. We don’t call him Shifty Schiff for nothing. He’s a shifty, dishonest guy,” Trump told reporters around midday in the Oval Office.


The commander in chief was ready when asked by Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts about a New York Times report published just before the press conference kicked off around 2:30 p.m. The story contends Schiff and a committee aide got an early description of the intelligence whistleblower’s coming complaint.


Trump ripped the California Democrat, saying in a stern manner that “it shows that Schiff is a fraud.


“I think it’s a scandal that he knew before. I’ll go a step further. I think he probably helped write [the complaint],” Trump said. “It’s a scam.”

Trump went so far as to say the Times report would help bring about “a total reversal” of the inquiry because, to him, there is “no question in my mind that some bad things are going on.”








Trump: House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff should "resign from office"




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What to make of Trump’s brash counter-impeachment strategy?


He likely is betting the burden lies more on House Democrats to use the inquiry as a 2020 campaign tool since the Republican-held Senate is unlikely to vote in a trial to remove him from office.


“Persuading the public to support impeaching and removing a president is a two-step process. The public must be convinced that the charges are true — and that they are weighty enough to justify overturning the results of a presidential election,” according to William Galston, a former Clinton White House aide now with the Brookings Institution.


Then there is talk from some House Democrats about a rapid investigation and vote on articles of impeachment, possibly even before next month’s Thanksgiving holiday.

“It remains to be seen,” Galston says, “whether the Democrats’ announced determination to proceed swiftly to impeachment will give the people enough time to assimilate new information and perhaps change their minds.”