Day: October 5, 2019

Apparently Some GOP Lawmakers Have Retained a Modicum of Integrity… Maybe

Representative Mark Amodei, Republican of Nevada, has indicated openness to an impeachment inquiry.
CreditCreditJason Henry for The New York Times

RENO, Nev. — Representative Mark Amodei was not prepared for the backlash from his fellow Republicans when he said Congress needed to “follow the facts” and look into whether President Trump should be impeached.

Newspapers declared he was breaking ranks. Conservative constituents branded him a traitor: “I’m Brutus, and Trump’s Julius Caesar,” he said. In short order, he was forced to explain himself to the Trump campaign’s political director, top House Republicans and the acting White House chief of staff. All had the same question: “What the heck are you doing?”

As evidence mounts that Mr. Trump engaged in an intensive effort to pressure the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Mr. Amodei is one of a growing number of Republicans who, while not explicitly endorsing the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, are at least indicating an openness to it. None have said Mr. Trump should be impeached. But neither are they defending him.

If true (we have no reason to believe it isn’t) this IS good news. It would mean there are still some republicans with at least a modicum of integrity. Unlike their party leader.

Bottom line? If they have real integrity, if they put country ahead of party (something repubs have trouble doing), they will at some point jump on board and follow the trail to justice.

SOURCE

Evil Resides In the White House…

Trump’s administration is as corrupt as any administration in history. It is likely Trump’s is the MOST corrupt period.

He has surrounded himself with individuals that willingly support his lies and conspiracy theories. Even after they have been soundly debunked. Secretary of State Pompeo is now shilling for and lying for the “president”. Simply one among many.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defiantly insisted on Saturday in Greece that the Trump administration was right to ask Ukrainian officials to investigate claims of election interference in the 2016 American presidential campaign, bolstering a widely debunked conspiracy theorythat had already been dismissed by his own diplomatic envoy.

In comments to journalists in Athens, where he was meeting with Greek leaders, Mr. Pompeo said it was the “duty” of the Trump administration to pursue whether efforts to tamper in the United States election were rooted in Ukraine, even though the American intelligence agencies have long concluded Russia was to blame.

And of the impeachment proceedings by House Democrats — the result of a July 25 telephone call in which President Trump pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals — Mr. Pompeo said, “I think there’s clearly politics involved in this.”

Yeah, there is definitely politics involved. Without a doubt Pompeo is spinning and lying in efforts to save Trump from himself.

Pompeo is no better than the lying narcissist that is presently casting a black shadow over the presidency and the nation.

More BELOW the FOLD

Back home we have Trump now throwing Rick Perry under the bus. You likely have guessed the reason why. Yup. In addition to his thrashing, squirming, and having public meltdowns on the world stage he apparently has figured out he can divert the Ukraine scandal  from focusing on him by blaming his Energy Secretary for the call he made to the President of Ukraine to see if he could get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and give him (Trump) dirt on Biden for his own political gain.

President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make.

Behind the scenes: Trump made these comments during a conference call with House members on Friday, according to 3 sources on the call.

  • Per the sources, Trump rattled off the same things he has been saying publicly — that his call with Zelensky was “perfect”and he did nothing wrong.
  • But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: “Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquified natural gas] plant,” one source said, recalling the president’s comments. 2 other sources confirmed the first source’s recollection.

Why it matters: The president’s remarks suggest he may be seeking to distance himself from responsibility or recast the pretext for the call. White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.

  • Another source on the call said Trump added that “more of this will be coming out in the next few days” — referring to Perry.

Worth noting: Text messages released this week between Trump administration officials and Andrey Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky, suggest that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was a primary advocate for arranging the call.

  • There is no mention in the text messages of Perry playing a role in making this call happen.
  • Zelensky talks about buying American oil and wanting to work with the U.S. on energy independence, but Perry and LNG are not discussed in the 5-page memo of the Trump-Zelensky call released by the White House.

Between the lines: Perry, who is reportedly resigning by the end of this year, has become increasingly embroiled in congressional Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

  • In May, Perry led a U.S. delegation to Ukraine for Zelensky’s inauguration in place of Vice President Mike Pence, and Democrats have begun to press Perry for more information about the trip and his conversations with Ukrainian leaders.

  • The House subpoena of Rudy Giuliani also seeks documents related to Perry’s “involvement with Ukrainian leaders last spring.”

  • However, Perry told the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday that, “as God is my witness,” neither Joe or Hunter Biden’s name ever came up (emphasis mine).

  • And as The Washington Post recently reported, “no evidence has emerged that Perry participated in the effort to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.”

SOURCE

What a POS the current “president” of the United States is.