It's been a gruesome handful of days watching the public hearings in the so-called "Impeachment Inquiry." The whole thing has been a disgraceful and irrelevant waste of time and taxpayer money and I hope the voters remember that next November.
So what did we see and hear? Well, we saw and heard our intrepid career Foreign Service Officers in full pompous lecturing glory. I am ashamed to have been in their ranks. They really had absolutely nothing to offer in terms of any "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by our President. I heard from them a lot of "I assumed" and "I presumed" and "I thought," etc. It all came across as a bunch of low to mid-rank careerists and sloppy political appointees upset that the President had bypassed or ignored them, and angry that he had the temerity to set and conduct foreign policy without necessarily relying on all the talking points and memos prepared for him by the layers upon layers of bureaucrats that, unfortunately, surround that office.
The President is his own man, and that is an unforgivable sin for the herd of swamp creatures in DC.
We got lots of irrelevant lectures on the "importance" of Ukraine and how only the "experts" understood that and the great difficulties they had in getting President Trump to agree. Poor, poor babies.
I found Fiona Hill insufferable and David Holmes unbearable. Both thought a great deal about themselves.
Mr., er, uh, Lt. Col Vindman was a complete boob of a type I have encountered many times in DC: the mid-level bureaucrat who feels ignored by those above him who are clearly his intellectual inferiors. I find it surprising that nobody at the hearings sprang on him when he admitted briefing at least two people who had NOT been in on the July 25 call with the Ukrainian President. Who gave him the authority to do that? He should have had his security clearance yanked immediately. He obviously was the source for the so-called "whistleblower."
The only ones I thought came off as serious persons were Ambassador Volker who stuck to what he knew and saw, and Undersecretary Hale who proved very restrained and professional. The rest, blah, forget them. Nonsense.
Trump 2020.
They only failed to cast the 7 demons out of Schiff. Maybe next time when he returns in the sequel.
ReplyDeleteSeven demons? Their name is Legion, for Schiff is a Jew....
DeleteFr. John+
I'm really wondering how you managed to remain at State and not go postal!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they hem and haw because they realize Trump might win, and they want to plausibly claim loyalty.
ReplyDeleteI hope Schiff drafts Articles and submits them to the House. I really hope the House votes for those Articles.
ReplyDeleteBecause then it goes to the Senate where McConnell gets to set the rules. And then we get Discovery. And all the other players that Schiff was covering for get to take an oath and provide testimony...with the Chief Justice presiding.
And we can get Vindman to answer who exactly his mystery contact was. Then we get to put the "whistle blower" on the stand and link his source...and who he talked to on Schiff's staff. Then we get to call in that person and we may as well get Schiff on the record (under threat of Perjury). We may as well get little Biden on the record since this is the source of everything. And that brings up Daddy Biden and his remarks on video of how he used his influence and our tax dollars. May as well bring in Obama to see if he has any knowledge of what his VP was up to.
And we can keep this going for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for the next 6 months. ALL Senators required to attend the entire show. That should be fun for Senators named Sanders, Warren, Booker, Klobachar, Harris, etc who are currently seeking a new job anyways. Good luck with your Primaries.
Saw something earlier today that was arguing that Chief Justice Roberts might not be able to preside......if he is a fact witness with regard to the FISA warrants then he would have to step aside and let another Justice preside. He might have to step down to the Associate Justice level and let Trump elevate one of the current Associates to Chief.
DeleteThat is highly likely Sarah M. as the Chief Justice is in charge of oversight of the FISC. Seeing to matters pertinent to protocol such as for instance, recusals.
DeleteSee the judgments of first, Judge Collyer and secondly Judge Boasberg - possibly fairly quickly a third, Judge Sullivan. As the handling of the FISC has been, describing it as charitably as possible, inept - Roberts must recuse. Potentially he's a fact-witness himself.
Fine kettle of fish our bureaucracy's got us.
The US Constitution, Article 1 Section 3:
Delete"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."
Two points:
-There is no mention of any way to change the presiding judge of a presidential impeachment from the Chief Justice to another judge;
-The vote is of all Senate members "present" which does not necessarily mean all of them.
Having another judge for the impeachment trial in the Senate because Chief Justice Roberts is a fact witness may indeed be possible, but this is uncharted territory.
Tillman & Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy think that Justice Thomas may be able to preside. Here's an article at Reason explaining why:
https://reason.com/2019/11/17/could-justice-thomas-preside-over-president-trumps-impeachment-trial/#comments
I still have doubts that Nancy, who is after all an experienced politician, will make her members walk the plank on this weak case. I see a censure resolution as a way out of her dilemma.
ReplyDeleteShe may have been a sharp politico once upon a time, but her Alzheimer's is really dulling her abilities. A sharp politico would NEVER have allowed Schiff anywhere near this after the Mueller fiasco. And she has a whole gaggle of Democrats sitting in Trump districts who are now on record for voting for this farce. No matter what happens now they are going to be in serious trouble next year.
DeleteAdd to it that it looks like the initial leak of the IG report has an "FBI Official" under criminal investigation for altering (and admitting to altering) the 302 statements that were used to get a warrant to spy on Carter Page, and by default, Trump. If Durham wants to be a total dick, he could easily time his arrests to coincide with major election events that freshly remind the voters what the Democrats were up to the last 4 years.
Let's hope he does!
Delete" ... it looks like the initial leak of the IG report has an "FBI Official" under criminal investigation for altering (and admitting to altering) the 302 statements ... "
DeleteI consider it likely the subject of altering documents may be discerned here:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16020887/strzok-v-barr/
I suppose I ought bring up the possibility of another candidate, less likely in my opinion however it cannot, at this stage, be overlooked given a recent admission entered into the record by Special Asst. U.S. Attorney Brandon L. Van Grack representing:
Deletehttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6234142/136/united-states-v-flynn/
https://www.oann.com/general-flynn-lawyer-inspector-general-report-will-have-everything/
DeleteAgree with Michael K - Censure
ReplyDeleteD'Mad,
ReplyDeleteFirst, you neglected all those EXCELLENT Powerpoint presentations prepared by those Foreign Service Professionals. I bet that Trump didn't even LOOK at them!
Second, Babylon Bee reports that Trump is supporting Impeachment, so now Pelosi et al. are against it and the Democrat Candidates have all withdrawn from the race to teach him a lesson. As America's Paper of Record, one has to take such a report seriously!
Third, but what about your dogs? Are they upset that they can't take a leak on a certain Schiffless One's leg?
Green Bear
Time well spent er, well relatively speaking Mr. Amselem.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sir.
JK
You say you are ashamed to have been in their ranks (Foreign Service Officers) Don't feel like the Lone Ranger as I am getting pretty close to being ashamed to have ever been in the ranks of Army Officers.
ReplyDeleteDon't know as you're familiar Diplomad with all these parading witnesses but for the purposes of my present question I shall limit my question to just Mr. Holmes because I detect a resemblance.
ReplyDeleteWould you know if Mr. Holmes has any familial relationship to a certain Mr. Jeffrey Dahmer deceased?
Now we will get to see if the Army command structure is willing to deal with someone who can't stick to what he is supposed to be doing and assumes he know better than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteAre you ever coming back?
ReplyDeleteI am back see thediplomad.blogspot.com
DeleteThanks You were missed.
Delete