Quote:The Latest on President Donald Trump and the impeachment investigation (all times local):



5:20 p.m.
A lawyer for Donald Trump is trying to distance the president’s legal team from acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.


Mulvaney acknowledged at a White House press briefing Thursday that Trump’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.


Later, Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow issued a one-sentence statement that said, “The President’s legal counsel was not involved in acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s press briefing.”

Mulvaney’s comments raised questions at the Justice Department and brought swift rebuke from Democrats, who cast his words as an admission of wrongdoing. Mulvaney said Trump did nothing improper because he was asking for help investigating a prior election.
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3:45 p.m.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says “things have just gone from very, very bad to much, much worse.” Rep. 
Adam Schiff is referring to the White House’s acknowledgement that it held up military aid to Ukraine while President Donald Trump pushed Ukraine’s new leader to investigate Democrats.


Schiff is leading the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Three House committees are investigating Trump’s push to have the Ukrainian president conduct investigations that could benefit Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.


Schiff says the idea of withholding military aid is “a phenomenal breach of the president’s duty to defend our national security.”


Trump ultimately released nearly $400 million in military and other aid to Ukraine. And the president says he’s done nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine.
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2:20 p.m.
The White House is acknowledging that President Donald Trump asked Ukraine’s leader to investigate his country’s role in meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.


Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, says Trump held up military assistance to Ukraine in part because of concern about corruption in that country.


Mulvaney says the administration also wanted Ukraine’s cooperation in investigating whether Democratic National Committee’s email servers were in Ukraine, and the White House was looking at levels of assistance that European nations were providing to Ukraine.


Mulvaney denies there was a quid pro quo and says “we do that all the time with foreign policy.”


He points to the example of the administration holding up aid to Central American countries to force them to change their policies on immigration.



Trump ultimately released nearly $400 million in military and other aid to Ukraine.

(10-17-2019, 07:57 PM)GMDino Wrote: Never mind citizens...he didn't say what you heard.  

Mulvaney statement cleaning up his briefing comments: “Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.” pic.twitter.com/iMNZ0DuH6X

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 17, 2019

 

(10-17-2019, 07:57 PM)GMDino Wrote: Never mind citizens...he didn't say what you heard.  

Mulvaney statement cleaning up his briefing comments: “Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.” pic.twitter.com/iMNZ0DuH6X

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 17, 2019

 

(10-18-2019, 12:28 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Don't know if you saw the clip from the press conference, but the reporter asking the question specifically said


"JUST TO BE CLEAR, you are admitting there was a quid-pro-quo tying the release of the aid to the Ukrain investigation of the DNC server and Hunter Biden"

Mulvany replied "Yes.  We do that all the time with foreign aid"



Here is where the White house is messing up.  Trump's defense should be to admit that there was a quid pro quo but that it was based on legitimate concerns about US interests instead of for purely political reasons.  During impeachment Republicans Senators could actually claim that they believe the quid pro quo was justified because it involved concerns any President would have in his official capacity and not just politically motivated.  But it seems the Presidents defense team has no clue what they are doing.

(10-21-2019, 07:26 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: It's been a brutal week for Mick Mulvaney. But hey, at least the administration is now openly admitting the Quid Pro Quo. That'll be helpful.

(10-22-2019, 09:32 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I'm a little behind here. So did a quid pro quo actually happen? Does it have to actually happen?

(10-22-2019, 09:04 AM)GMDino Wrote: A "lynching".

That's what the POTUS tweeted 15 minutes ago.

Tone deaf, dumb, and his supporters/defenders will eat it up with no self awareness.

So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019

.


But let's make sure we talk about what Hillary Clinton is talking about!  That's *important* stuff!  LMAO!

Quote:Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said President Trump is absolutely right to call the House impeachment process a “lynching.”



“This is a lynching in every sense. This is un-American,” Graham said to reporters.

“I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where somebody is accused of a major misconduct who cannot confront the accuser, call witnesses on their behalf and have the discussion in the light of day so the public can judge,” he said.


Graham made his comments after Trump caused a firestorm by tweeting that the House impeachment inquiry is a “lynching.”


Graham backed up the president, saying, “I think that’s pretty well accurate.” 


“I think lynching is being seen as somebody taking the law in their own hands and out to get somebody for no good reason,” he said.


Asked if he could understand why African Americans would be offended by the comparison, Graham stood his ground. 


“Yes, African Americans have [been] lynched. Other people have been lynched throughout history. What does lynching mean? That a mob grabs you, they don’t give you a chance to defend yourself, they don’t tell you what happened to you, they just destroy you. That’s exactly what’s happening in the United States House of Representatives right now,” he said.


“In every sense, this is a mob taking over the rule of law. This is fundamentally un-American and until it changes, I will fight back as hard as I can,” he said of House Democrats.


Graham’s comments reflect the escalating rhetoric and rising tensions surrounding the impeachment process, which were punctuated Tuesday by Trump's Tuesday morning tweet.


“So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights,” the president tweeted. “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!” 


The tweet drew an immediate backlash from black lawmakers, such as House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who said, “I really believe this man is prone to inflammatory statements, and that is one word no president ought to apply to himself.”


Graham, however, said House Democrats are more guilty of bad behavior by conducting an impeachment inquiry without a formal vote that would give House Republicans more power to defend the president and Trump’s legal team the ability to call witnesses.


“If this continues in the House, it’s a complete sham and I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t live very long in the Senate,” Graham said.


“If the shoe were on the other foot, if a Democratic president was going through a process like this created by the Republican majority in the House, the American media would be blowing up right now,” he added.

(10-22-2019, 02:03 PM)GMDino Wrote: Pop goes the weasel:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/466878-graham-backs-trump-this-is-a-lynching-in-every-sense

(10-22-2019, 02:09 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: What is disappointing to me is that Graham, and others, knows better. This is a constitutional process. This isn't a trial that requires due process--that occurs in the Senate after the House of Representatives vote. Statements like this from Trump I understand because he is ignorant about government processes. Graham should be ashamed not only because of his prior positions on impeachment but because he is taking part in advancing a false narrative for purely partisan reasons.

I am absolutely disgusted by national politics these days.

(10-22-2019, 02:09 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: What is disappointing to me is that Graham, and others, knows better. This is a constitutional process. This isn't a trial that requires due process--that occurs in the Senate after the House of Representatives vote. Statements like this from Trump I understand because he is ignorant about government processes. Graham should be ashamed not only because of his prior positions on impeachment but because he is taking part in advancing a false narrative for purely partisan reasons.

I am absolutely disgusted by national politics these days.

(10-22-2019, 02:36 PM)GMDino Wrote: Initial reports are saying that Taylor's opening statement is pretty damaging for Trump and Co.

Nothing publicly from the people in the room yet though.

That would explain the "lynch" tweet and another noise trying to drown out the story.

(10-22-2019, 10:35 PM)GMDino Wrote: Holy crap.

I'm guessing tomorrow quid pro quo will no longer be "bad" to the GOP?