During the impeachment hearing today State Department officials George Kent and Bill Taylor both stated they never heard of any claims of Ukrainian political interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Additionally, both claimed to have no knowledge of any U.S. investigation that might overlap with Ukraine.
When pressed with specifically cited reports about DNC operatives engaging with Ukraine government officials to gather opposition research against candidate Donald Trump, both Mr. Kent and Ambassador Taylor denied any knowledge of the outlined reporting.
However, what everyone in the media –and on Capitol Hill– seems to forget is a letter in July, 2017 [LINK HERE], written by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley to Dept. of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, specifically outlining 2016 election interference by Ukrainian government officials; and specifically asking for an U.S. DOJ investigation therein:
They are called “decepticons” for a reason. McConnell is king, and Cornyn, Thune and Barasso are his praetorian guards. {Go Deep}
Senator John Cornyn (TX), a key member of the Senate GOP leadership; and a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees; warns the White House that a vote to immediately dismiss articles of impeachment and avoid a trial won’t work.
“There’s some people talking about trying to stop the bill, dismiss charges basically as soon as they get over here. I think that’s not going to happen. That would require 51 votes,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday. “I think it would be hard to find 51 votes to cut the case off before the evidence is presented.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top Senate Republican, John Cornyn, said on Wednesday that should the U.S. House of Representatives vote to impeach President Donald Trump, he doubts a motion in the Senate to immediately dismiss the charges would succeed.
Cornyn, who spent years as the Senate’s no. 2 Republican, said such a motion would not receive the 51 votes necessary in the Republican-controlled Senate to pass. He said he was confident that ultimately, a vote in the Senate to remove Trump from office would fail. (read more)
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, is one Republican senator who previously hinted at the possibility of advancing a motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment. However, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told GOP colleagues during a lunch meeting last month any motion to dismiss would have to come from the president’s defense team after the impeachment managers deliver the articles to the Senate.
…Senate Republicans, even though they control 53 seats, don’t think there would be enough unity within their conference to dismiss charges against Trump before the prosecutors and defense have a chance to lay out their arguments and senators have a chance to ask questions and deliberate. (link)
One of the problems in the Senate trial is the participation of the SSCI within the network of interests working to eliminate candidate Trump and then President Trump from office.
SSCI Chairman Richard Burr doesn’t go on an political targeting expedition like that without the approval of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Yes, it really is that simple.
To remind ourselves how Minority and Majority Senator McConnell took down the threat of the Tea Party revisit these old articles: CNN Part I and CNN Part II both showcase how McConnell works. Then do some research on how McConnell worked with Haley Barbour in Mississippi [SEE HERE].
The Tea Party was a risk to McConnell in 2010-2014 the same way MAGA coalition is to McConnell in 2016-2020. Take nothing for granted.
Day One of the Pelosi, Schiff and Lawfare effort to publicly construct support for the impeachment of President Trump ends. Within the questioning of State Department officials George Kent and Bill Taylor the value of adding Jim Jordan to the hearings became clear.
Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik and John Ratcliffe methodically deconstructed the false premise advanced by the impeachment crew. It became clear that both Kent and Taylor held no specific and direct knowledge of the substance behind the claims made by the democrats leading the effort. Here’s a few highlights starting with Jim Jordan:
Jordan pressed Taylor on how he came to have a “clear understanding” that the U.S. aid to Ukraine was dependent on opening an investigation into Trump’s political rivals. Jordan said there was no “linkage” and Ambassador Taylor said he came to his “clear conclusion” based on what other people said about what other people heard about conversations with other people.
Here’s the visual to help (tweet embed video):
Mad Liberals@mad_liberals
A visual recap of the “clear understanding” of Ambassador Taylor’s knowledge of what happened. #ImpeachmentHearings
.@Jim_Jordan
Next up John Ratcliffe: Rep. Ratcliffe reviewed multiple public statements made by Ukrainian President Zelensky that he was not pressured by the U.S. and had no knowledge of military aid being withheld from Ukraine.
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Then Elise Stefanik brings it home by outlining Burisma: Rep. Stefanik focused on both officials’ statements on the corruption in Ukraine and Burisma:
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TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2
.@EliseStefanik swinging the atomic common-sense hammer.
Burisma was a corruption problem.
Obama thought Burisma was a problem.
Mr. Kent thought Burisma was a problem.
Trump thought Burisma was a problem.
“A member of my staff told me about a phone conversation that he overheard” where President Trump did not seek our approval prior to talking with the President of Ukraine.
This cannot stand amid the international rules based order we have constructed for decades. Impeach!
Earlier today President Trump and First Lady Melania welcomed President Recep Erdogan from Turkey and his wife to the White House. Prior to bilateral discussions the leaders held a joint availability in the oval office. [Video and Transcript below]
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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Erdoğan and Mrs. Erdoğan. Thank you very much. We very much appreciate you being here. First Lady, thank you very much. And I know you’re going to go out to lunch after this. Great honor to have you.
The border is holding very well. The ceasefire is holding very well. We’ve been speaking to the Kurds, and they seem to be very satisfied.
As you know, we’ve pulled back our troops quite a while ago, because I think it’s time for us not to be worried about other people’s borders. I want to worry about our borders. We’ve got plenty of borders to worry about.
I want to thank the President for the job they’ve done. Again, this has been thousands of years in the process, between borders, between these countries and other countries that we’re involved with, 7,000 miles away. So, we want to worry about our things.
We’re keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind, only for the oil.
And I have to just finish by saying that the President and I have been — we’ve been very good friends. We’ve been friends for a long time, almost from day one. And we understand each other’s country. We understand where we’re coming from. I understand the problems that they’ve had, including many people from Turkey being killed in the area that we’re talking about. And he has to do something about that, also. It’s not a one-way street.
So, I just want to say it’s a great honor to have you both and thank you very much. Thank you.
PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You, go ahead, please. Would you like to say something?
PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN: Thank you. (As interpreted.) Well, Mr. President, thank you. In a few moments, we shall be having a larger-scale press meeting, that’s why I don’t feel the need to come up with longer statements here.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay.
PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, well, that was good. That’s good. It’s true. A lot of truth to that.
I will say, we’re also talking about a trade deal. We do, proportionately, very little trade with Turkey. They make great product. We make the greatest product in the world. And, frankly, we’re going to be expanding our trade relationship very significantly. We think we could be doing $100 billion with Turkey. And right now we’re doing about $20 billion. But we think that number should be easily $100 billion, which would be great for Turkey and good for us.
So, we’re going to be expanding. We have our people from Commerce here. That’s one of the meetings we’ll be having. And having that big relationship, I think, is a very good one. So, we think we can bring trade up very quickly to about $100 billion between our countries. Okay?
Q What do you do, Mr. President, about the S-400s, in terms of getting that trade deal?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll be talking about it, John. We’ll talking about the S-400. We’ll be talking about that and we’ll be talking about the F-35 fighter jet, too.
Q Are you satisfied with the ISIS fighters that Turkey is keeping an eye on? Are you happy so far with the progress?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Turkey is watching the ISIS fighters. When I became President, ISIS was all over the place. I had no idea to the extent. In fact, it was shown to me about a month ago. We came in. It was a mess. And we took over 100 percent of the caliphate.
And, last week, as you know, we killed its leader and its founder. And we’re very proud of that fact. And we’ve also knocked out number two. And we have our eye out on number three, who was supposed to become number one, but he’s running right now. He’s running for his life, but we have our sights right on him.
So, we are — we’re doing very well. ISIS is very much — very much a factor that’s different than it was when I took over. When I took over, thousands and thousands of ISIS fighters were all over. Now they’re mostly imprisoned.
I will say, the Kurds are watching over them and Turkey is also watching over them. And Turkey recently has captured over 100 ISIS fighters and they are taking care of them.
Q Is there any way, Mr. President, that Turkey can possess both S-400s and F-35s? Or are those things mutually exclusive?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, John, we’re going to be talking about that. So, we’ll — we’ll talk about it. We may report to you later on about that because we’re having a second meeting in a little while.
So, we’ll see you in a little while. We’re going to be having press conference of sorts in a little while. It’s an honor to have the President and Mrs. Erdoğan with us, and they’re highly respected in their country and in the region. And we’ll see what we can do. But the relationship that we’ve had is good.
And, you know, I’ve heard all the pundits — three, four, five weeks ago. They were against what I’ve — what I did. Now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, “Wow. That’s really working well. Why are we guarding other country’s borders? We want to take care of our country.” And they’re saying it really is surprising what’s happened. Plus, we have our troops out of there, and we’ll be bringing a lot of them back home. But again, we’re keeping the oil.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, have you watched the impeachment — have you watched any of the impeachment hearing?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. No, I didn’t.
Q You didn’t watch any of it at all?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I didn’t — I did not watch it.
Q Have you been briefed on what’s —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m too busy to watch it. It’s a witch hunt. It’s a hoax. I’m too busy to watch it. So, I’m sure I’ll get a report.
Q Have you been briefed?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: There’s nothing — there’s nothing — I have not been briefed, no. There’s nothing there. I see they’re using lawyers that are television lawyers. They took some guys off television, you know. I’m not surprised to see it because Schiff can’t do his own questions.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, have you decided to postpone auto tariffs? Are you postponing the decision on auto tariffs?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll make a decision fairly soon. I was full briefed and I’ll make a decision fairly soon.
President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Erdogan hold a joint press conference at the conclusion of bilateral discussions between the two leaders. Anticipated start time 3:10pm EDT
The House Intelligence Committee will begin holding public hearings to impeach President Donald Trump today at 10:00am EDT. The hearings are carefully scripted, organized and planned. Day One begins with Ambassador William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent. To support the Democrat impeachment effort all major media networks are carrying the event live, and promoting their anticipation of drama.
Impeachment Chairman Adam Schiff has threatened severe punishment if any member of congress speaks publicly about the CIA helping to organize the ‘whistleblower‘ effort.
Mr. Taylor currently serves as the Chargé D’affaires for the U.S. State Department in Ukraine. Mr. Kent serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the U.S. Department of State. Both State Dept. officials disagree with President Trump’s foreign policy which they hope will lead to his removal from office.
The Washington Post jumps-in to the Horowitz ‘principal review’ timeline adding that some of the opportunities for witnesses to review the final draft report are “still being negotiated”, likely by the attorney’s for the principals.
Take all reporting on this two-week review phase with a grain of salt. Despite the NDA’s there will be a rush to control the narrative. “People familiar with the matter” will start popping up in the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Buzzfeed and CNN.
There is likely to be a flood of spin from the PR teams behind each principal outlined in the report. Lawyers for James Comey and Andrew McCabe will be using every angle of Lawfare imaginable to attempt to shape their clients image within the report.
Lawyers, Lawfare legal teams, and DC-based PR consultants for Sally Yates, John Carlin, Mary McCord, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Hillary Clinton, James Baker, Michael Kortan, Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, Chris Steele, Glen Simpson, Nellie Ohr, Bruce Ohr, John Brennan, James Clapper and many more will all be working at courtroom rates to control any report damage for their clients.
The Obama administration will be working in the background, while Fusion-GPS takes in fees and pays their primary journalists and narrative engineers premium rates for column inches that protect their client interests. This is one big confab of interests all positioning to control any negative impressions and highlight their magnanimous patriotic activity.
Watch and we will see full deployment of the justification defense and “outrage trap“. After all, according to their predictable defenses, there was evidence, even if slight, that President Trump was a Russian asset belonging to Vladimir Putin…. it had to be taken seriously, etc. Even the Republicans in congress were alarmed.
We are going to see the Intelligence Community Assessment deployed as a shield… see, even the entire intelligence community was concerned about Russia; so we had to use the FISA process…. because these were unprecedented times, unprecedented threats, etc.
Spying, surveillance, unmasking, electronic monitoring, all of it will be deemed as necessary because the system of our entire governmental apparatus was under attack…
You know the routine.
Watch for it in the next two weeks; watch who is protesting the loudest; and we will be able to identify where Horowitz’s report was targeting the hardest. Look for the tell-tale signs of ‘justifications’ and who is deploying those justifications to excuse their involvement.
WaPo – The Justice Department inspector general has begun scheduling witnesses to review draft sections of his report on the FBI’s investigation of President Trump’s 2016 campaign — the clearest indication yet that the long-awaited document will soon be released publicly, people familiar with the matter said.
Several witnesses have been scheduled or are in talks to review sections of the report dealing with their testimony in the next two weeks, the people said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. That could mean public release is imminent, though the witnesses will be allowed to submit feedback — which could spark more investigative work and slow down the process.
The particulars for each witness’s review were not immediately clear and in some cases were still being negotiated. The inspector general’s office will probably offer relatively short windows for witnesses to submit feedback and take other steps to prevent leaks, as it often does in sensitive and high-profile cases. (read more)
We finally have confirmation of a procedural process that allows us to anticipate the timing for public release of the FISA report from Inspector General Horowitz.
The Justice Department’s watchdog is nearing the release of its report on the early stages of the FBI’s Russia investigation, a document likely to revive debate about a politically charged probe that shadowed President Donald Trump’s administration from the outset.
The inspector general in recent dayshas invited witnesses and their lawyers who were interviewed for the report to review portions of a draft this week and next, a critical final step toward making the document public, according to multiple people familiar with the process who insisted on anonymity to discuss it.
As part of that process, the people will have opportunities to raise concerns or suggest potential edits, making it unclear precisely when in the coming weeks a final version could be ready for release. Inspector General Michael Horowitz told Congress in a letter last month that he did not expect a lengthy review period and that he intended to make as much of the report public as possible, with minimal redactions. (read more)
Generally speaking, and using the 2018 IG report on FBI conduct as a guide, the ‘Principal Review’ phase under Horowitz usually lasts 10 business days, or two weeks. All principals, and lawyers who review the report, are required to sign non-disclosure agreements.
Presuming this is principal review week one (seems certain), that would put the final report publication after the week of November 25th through November 29th. [NOTE: Thanksgiving day is November 28th]
The inspector general may allow principal comments to be added to the final report; however, the IG usually adds rebuttal information for any principal additions. Once the principal review and final OIG referencer check is complete the report moves to publication and public distribution.
In the example of the 2018 report on FBI conduct in the Clinton investigation, the principal review was 10 days from start to finish. It seems like Horowitz is following the same schedule. With Thanksgiving on Thursday November 28th, it is likely the resport will be released the week after Thanksgiving week; however it is possible for the report to be released during Thanksgiving week if IG Horowitz limits principal additions.
As the public impeachment hearings begin tomorrow, here’s the transcript of the phone call between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.
[White HouseSeptember 25th] President Donald J. Trump released a declassified, unredacted transcript of his telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from July 25th, 2019. The transcript can be read HERE.
You can see when you read the transcript, despite the media narrative to the contrary, President Trump did not ask President Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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