One thing Pelosi did by opening up impeachment is signal everyone that now is the time to strike. The leaks are coming fast and furious, and conviction in the Senate already looks like a possibility, albeit still one with a low probability. I’ll try to keep up with things and keep you informed of where I think thing are headed, but first I have to coach a soccer game and attend a baseball practice.
If you see something I should read when I get home, please leave a link here.
5
So the idea is that the Articles of Impeachment will only recite the Ukraine shakedown? Really? At a bare minimum they should include the findings of the Mueller report regarding Der Trumper’s calling for Putin’s Aid and his receipt of such aid in 2016, as well as his public statements on TV that it’s perfectly fine for a prez candidate to call for, receive and use foreign assistance to win an election. These prove the demonstrable pattern of Der Trumper’s illegal/abusive actions.
But there’s simply no good reason not to include additional Articles regarding Der Trumper’s other (already-revealed!) crimes: obstruction of justice, hush money payments to deceive the electorate, conversion of non-appropriated funds for Trumper’s Wall, refusal to turn over tax returns per federal statute and gratuitous cruelty to helpless refugee children. There’s no need for further investigation or wait for democratically-illegitimate 5-4 “rulings” from Trumper’s conservative-activist Court on these counts, they have all been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt for impeachment purposes. The evidence is the Mueller Report, testimony of direct witness Cohen and simple newspaper reports. The work has all been done. It’s not a serious question of “evidence” at this point; we have too much evidence!
The Gravedigger of Democracy’s failed senate is not going to convict whatever the charges and evidence, that’s not the point; the National Trumpalist cultists approve of every action of their lawless dictator. The point is conducting and recording a formal proceeding which details the “conservative” dictator’s illegal actions and obvious abuse of office. Der Trumper must be charged simply for posterity’s sake, and EVERY elected member of the Bad Faith Repub party must go down in history as willfully and blindly condoning the abusive acts of even their most incompetent, deranged and lawbreaking prez. The moral and intellectual failure of the Repub party and the reality of its “Party over Country” mantra will have been proven beyond doubt for anyone not in the “conservative” cult. It’s not much, but it’s all we have.
I don’t think we know what the articles will be. I do think they’ll avoid anything really contentious, like the hush money payments, for example. It’s ridiculous that Michael Cohen is in jail over that and Trump is free, but that doesn’t mean it’s a slam dunk high crime warranting removal. They could hold a separate censure vote for a variety of things, just to get as much consensus as possible and drive the point home that this guy is a trainwreck criminal.
5
I don’t know if you’ve seen this news article yet. Long story short, the head of all US Army communications at Mar-A-Lago uploaded photos of a young woman to a seedy Russian porn site. These photos were apparently of his daughter (I don’t have PACER access, so I can’t link the Proffer myself).
“Ciccarella’s use of a Russian website to upload sensitive images while overseeing official communications at Trump’s resort raised concerns among security experts”