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The [Impeachment] of the 45th President of the United States
moniker
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The Constitution wrote:The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
—Article I, Section II, Clause V
The Constitution wrote:The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
—Article I, Section III, Clauses VI and VII
And so it begins
https://youtu.be/k_Q5sFbZhNcTranscript:
Good afternoon. Last Tuesday, we observed the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution on September 17.
Sadly, on that day, the Intelligence Community Inspector General formally notified the Congress that the Administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistleblower complaint. On Constitution Day. This is a violation of law.
Shortly thereafter, press reports began to break of a phone call by the President of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election. This is a breach of his constitutional responsibilities.
The facts are these: the Intelligence Community Inspector General, who was appointed by President Trump, determined that the complaint is both of ‘urgent concern and credible,’ and its disclosure, he went on to say, that it ‘relates to one of the most significant and important of the Director of National Intelligence’s responsibilities to the American people.’
On Thursday, the Inspector General testified before the House Intelligence Committee, stating that the Acting Director of National Intelligence blocked him from disclosing the whistleblower complaint. This is a violation of the law.
The law is unequivocal. The DNI, it says, the Director of National Intelligence ‘shall’ provide Congress the full whistleblower complaint.
For more than 25 years, I have served on the Intelligence Committee – as a Member, as the Ranking Member, as part of the Gang of 4 even before I was in the Leadership.
I was there when we created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That did not exist before 2004.
I was there ever earlier in 90’s when we wrote the whistleblower laws and continue to write them, to improve them to ensure the security of our intelligence and the safety of our whistleblowers.
I know what their purpose was, and we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws. I can say with authority, that the Trump Administration’s actions undermine both: our national security and our intelligence and our protections of whistleblowers – more than both.
This Thursday, the Acting DNI will appear before the House Intelligence Committee.
At that time, he must turn over the whistleblower’s full complaint to the Committee. He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the Constitution.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Americans gathered on the steps of Independence Hall to await the news of the government our Founders had crafted.
They asked Benjamin Franklin, ‘What do we have: a republic or a monarchy?’ Franklin replied: ‘A republic, if you can keep it.’
Our responsibility is to keep it.
Our republic endures because of the wisdom of our Constitution, enshrined in three co-equal branches of government, serving as checks and balances on each other.
The actions taken to date by the President have seriously violated the Constitution – especially when the President says, ‘Article II says, I can do whatever I want.’
For the past several months, we have been investigating in our Committees and litigating in the courts, so the House can gather ‘all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity — approval of articles of impeachment.’
And this week, the President has admitted to asking the President of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The action of – the actions of the Trump Presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the President’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.
Therefore, today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I am directing our six Committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry.
The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law.
Getting back to our Founders – in the darkest days of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote: ‘The times have found us.’ The times found them to fight for and establish our democracy. The times have found us today, not to place ourselves in the same category of greatness as our Founders, but to place us in the urgency of protecting and defending our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. In the words of Ben Franklin, to keep our Republic.
I thank our Chairmen – Chairman Nadler, Chairman Schiff. Chairman Nadler of Judiciary. Chairman Schiff of Intelligence. Chairman Engel of Foreign Affairs. Chairman Cummings of Oversight and Chairman Cummings I have been in touch with constantly. He is a master of so much but including, Inspectors General and whistleblowers. Congressman Richie Neal of the Ways and Means Committee. Congresswomen Maxine Waters of the Financial Services Committee.
And I commend all of our Members, our colleagues for their thoughtful, thoughtful approach to all of this – for their careful statements.
God bless them and God Bless America. Thank you all
Source: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/92419-0
Full Video:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?464684-1/speaker-pelosi-announces-formal-impeachment-inquiry-president-trump
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III
Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election [PDF]
Washington Post
Full Timeline of the President's interactions with Ukraine
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Whistleblower Report
Surfpossum wrote: »I just spent far too much time writing up a facebook post to try and provide a sort of high-level, citation-filled rundown of The Ukraine Call since I haven't seen anything laying it out in a simple manner so I figured I'd post it here, too.The Misuse of Presidential Power to Solicit Foreign Interference in Our Election
“In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals.” 1
The money: the US was planning to send several hundred million dollars to Ukraine to help them purchase military hardware.
This aid package (announced in June of 2019) was contingent on Ukraine’s efforts to combat corruption, and the Pentagon sent a letter to Congress in which they "certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption [and] increasing accountability." 2
The setup: in June, the White House suddenly blocked the aid package without explanation.
In July, “Administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an “interagency process” but to give them no additional information — a pattern that continued for nearly two months, until the White House released the funds on the night of Sept. 11.” 3
The shakedown: this was followed by a phone call in July between Trump and the Ukrainian President in which the Ukrainian President brought up wanting to purchase military hardware and Trump’s response was to ask for some “favors.”
From the official “reconstructed transcript” created from notes on the phone call, we can see that Trump’s response to the Ukrainian President’s comment about the financial aid they are expecting to receive is to request some investigations:
“President Zelenskyy: We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.
The President: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people... The server, they say Ukraine has it.
[here the Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy, assures Trump that they are “great friends” and that “all the investigations will be done openly and candidly”]
The President: The other thing, There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.” 4
The crime: the use of the US government’s money to pressure a foreign government into manufacturing an investigation to hurt a political rival in the upcoming election is an abuse of power.
Even setting aside the use of the US government’s resources to extort assistance, “It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election.” 5
The cover-up: realizing the seriousness of what just happened, the White House attempted to hide the transcript of the phone call on a server used for classified national security info.
“White House lawyers directed White House officials to remove the electronic transcript of the Zelensky call from the computer system where such transcripts normally are stored. That transcript then was loaded into a “separate electronic system” that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. “One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.”” 6
The whistleblower elaborates on what that server is usually for: “According to multiple White House officials I spoke with, the transcript of the President's call with President Zelenskyy was placed into a computer system managed directly by the National Security Council (NSC) Directorate for Intelligence Programs. This is a standalone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information, such as covert action.” 1
The conclusion:
“I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute “a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive Order” [...] I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine the U.S. Government's efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections.” 1
Sources:
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-whistleblower-complaint-regarding-president-trump-s-communications-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/4b9e0ca5-3824-467f-b1a3-77f2d4ee16aa/?fbclid=IwAR0oj1nxRlu_PNQmeakdyEb-WwWgrLKXWPtyBUCTPDGcYab1f7WYdjRwocc
- https://www.npr.org/2019/09/25/764453663/pentagon-letter-undercuts-trump-assertion-on-delaying-aid-to-ukraine-over-corrup?fbclid=IwAR2MxuFi7LICAqM9rj7G6RaE2l_JFZ_dF3HiWoTT1W4l1j05CF3ZILIKWA4
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-ordered-hold-on-military-aid-days-before-calling-ukrainian-president-officials-say/2019/09/23/df93a6ca-de38-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html?fbclid=IwAR1QyVOTWyGYcMqN_ojzqUsGXPZeVUJ-dYefgbE8GS2hjdzyLK-iAy78ToY
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2tLXsD_2tSOnqMvNpXvIoFevBjuqCCGnQjO4r224923u54fwO9V_RyeCA
- https://mobile.twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1139309394968096768?fbclid=IwAR3Q1xwX-qk6TbgJan_dj4d15B_RmHlzh2YEPxEpKQLfXHfPjWvU5hLvwpk
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/biggest-bombshells-in-trump-whistleblower-complaint-cover-up.html?fbclid=IwAR1Axs0UcMTe9Ul9yeEcPddGY1DoOW-gSb5afE_sns9L8--QxWs1qq8oRxM
Suggestions and/or corrections are welcome
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The OP will be continually updated as information becomes available, and I have time to add to it.
moniker on
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This discussion has been closed.
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A good primer on why the Founding Fathers were so worried about foreign interference in elections: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/14/732571895/fear-of-foreign-interference-in-u-s-elections-dates-from-nations-founding?fbclid=IwAR3hOQQkP5s6_S76TorzfM1xN6I39RzbBMwVxWKbjDKmGz6WQ3vZwpbWzx8
Also, the specific statute violated is 18 U.S.C. 371, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, in which any substantial step (like a phone call) is sufficient.
This isn't actually bribery or extortion; it's the misuse of funds appropriated by Congress for Trump's personal benefit.
For the impeachment thread.
And also for impeaching the most blatantly criminal President in US history to I suppose.
who?
aside from the IG, the rest are trump cronies or the president of Ukraine
And there were some really bad ones!
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Everyone else eavesdropping on the call.
I dunno man, I feel like you're writing off Andrew Jackson a little too quickly there. Actual no fucking bullshit genocide is hard to top.
Anyway.
Good luck America. Let's get this done.
His own base will tear him to shreds if it helps validate them.
But they were all on the call and didn’t file a whistleblower notice, i’m unsure they would speak up if Barr tried anything shady.
Politico reporter.
Gardner basically trying to thread the needle between "this is a serious matter that deserves to be investigated" and "I am not rushing to judgment even though Trump admitted it." And failing.
As we've seen at all levels of this campaign, leaks get leaked.
When you surround yourself with self-centered sociopaths, those people will do anything for self promotion.
Also whoever reported to the IG, the Ukrainian staff, and so on. Barr had complete control of the Mueller narrative. He doesn't have as much control here.
Wild to think it took three goddamn years.
It felt like twenty.
It's a very melancholic type of feeling, slight vindication with a side of disbelief and skepticism
They will define the scope of the investigation.
If that's true then there'll be no impeachment.
...
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The rumor is that she's asking the six committee chairs who have been investigating things to give their best cases for why he should be impeached. So there will be a lot of Articles of Impeachment and we'll see what can pass through the Select Committee that we think will exist.
Trump playing games with Ukraine is something the Kremlin would fucking love, and Trump either knows that or maybe was specifically asked to do so by Putin
What you are hearing is not the roar of the finish line, it's the firing of the starting gun.
1. It won’t stop Barr from issuing another bullshit summary and the summary will probably be first.
2. You have to verify a leaked transcript and before that happens, it will be slandered until you’re are spending more time defending the source of the leak than the contents.
Even if it doesn’t work, I see zero reason to believe Trump and Barr will not try to obfuscate as much as possible.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
Well, there's also a difference between the read-out they're flouting and what the actual whistleblower report says. It could be a huge difference, but it ultimately comes down to which story catches headlines first. Republicans are desperately trying to squeeze out of this and will take anything they can get. I'm worried that if this gets defused that whistleblower could end up in big trouble.
Relevant tweets from an NBC analys/NatSec cog
I'd predict it to start over from scratch for two big reasons:
A. Mitch McConnell can effectively stonewall this in the senate, and if by some miracle it gets dragged kicking and screaming to a vote there, it won't pass.
B. 2020. The next year will be a sequential retelling of the entire story, one sin at a time, to keep them in the news for the entire election season. They'll likely time it to come back around to this last one around mid-October next year for just that reason.
Then the election is a battle to render the whole thing moot, or to retake the senate so the next step can begin.
There's too many to fucking list.
Mitch McConnell doesn't preside over Impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
John Roberts does.
- The Ukraine call is a con by republican insiders. They could sense that impeachment talk was starting to turn from impossible to possible. So rather than let it bubble up naturally and be filled with legitimate complaints, they figure, manufacture a huge controversy, something that will dominate all of the attention around the whole event. Then, when all of the impeachment proceedings focus on the manufactured controversy as a central portion of the narrative, the other legitimate issues get pushed aside. So when you ride in with an anti-smoking gun that completely clears trump (of the controversy) you can make the impeachment narrative focus on how Trump was cleared (conveniently forgetting all the other legitimate complaints).
But I am going to try.
With hope, and help (hint, motherfucking hint), I'm going to try and keep the OP up to date, bullet pointed, and filled with links/ sources to help in the social media wars to come
Let me explain. No, there is to much, let me sum up.
The impeachment thread has arrived. I must now diminish, and go in to the West.