Trump

[RegisterMe]

Well he's certainly dobbed Giuliani and Trump in it, and successfully roped in Pompeo, Mulvaney and possibly Bolton too.

EDIT: And Pence.

Though the tldr does feel a bit like "I was just following orders".

[Vertigo 7]

So on the one hand we have Zelensky, who received an overwhelming vote for office based on a campaign to root out corruption, and on the other hand, we have Trump, who everyone and their mother knows is as dirty as they come. What everything seems to me is that Trump wanted someone who is well regarded and seemingly clean of scandal to publicly announce an anti-corruption investigation into Biden, irregardless if there is an actual investigation or not, in order for Trump to have a weapon to swing at Biden during the 2020 campaign.

[Tycow]

And let the Nunes bull show begin... :/

[Vertigo 7]

So Nunes is suggesting that because Biden was VP, his son wasn't allowed to have a high dollar salary in a foreign country?

[RegisterMe]

To be fair Hunter Biden having a board position on a Ukrainian gas company looks hookey as ****, largely because a) he is extremely young for such a position and b) he has no industry knowledge.

But that's not the same as saying that either Biden actually did anything wrong.

It also has no bearing on whether or not Trump held up military aid and a presidential visit / meeting in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation into the Biden's / the 2016 election / the DNC "server" etc.

[Vertigo 7]

Well, Nunes asks a lot of stupid questions "Were you aware that in May of 2012, I spanked it to a picture of a cow wearing a top hat while Obama was president?"

I really don't know why they keep bringing Obama up during this inquiry.

[Tycow]

I really don't know why they keep bringing Obama up during this inquiry.

You do deep down. It's because they have no credible arguments to make.

[Vertigo 7]

Well yeah, but I mean, no one can or will believe there's any relevance to doing so. It's either an opportunity to attack Obama, or they just want to waste time. Is there absolutely nothing else they can talk about?

[RegisterMe]

Goldman (Dem Counsel) seems to me to be much more authoritative, penetrating and focused than Castor (Rep Counsel).

[Vertigo 7]

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/2 ... ell-072080

Aaaaaannnd now Trump suddenly doesn't know Sondland "very well".

[Tycow]

Photo of Trump's notes from his appearance today:

https://mobile.twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/ ... 4020354048

Reminds me of President Clark's mad scrawlings from Babylon 5.

[pjknibbs]

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/2 ... ell-072080

Aaaaaannnd now Trump suddenly doesn't know Sondland "very well".

Let's be honest, if it became expedient for him to do so, he'd suddenly forget who Melania or Ivanka are...

[RegisterMe]

Castor did a much better job at undermining Sondland in his second run at him. I'm not sure if it will ultimately prove to be successful, but it was certainly more effective than his first go round.

EDIT: Amd Nunes is a boring stuck record. He'd do better to stfu and let the professionals get on with it.
EDIT2: Ratcliffe (R-TX) did a good job for the Republicans.
EDIT3: And for once Jordan actually scored a point.
EDIT4: Turner (R-OH) nailed Sondland.

[RegisterMe]

The second innings with Sondland was fascinating. For at least... 45 mins, an hour?, the Republicans captured the narrative, and drove at details rather than process. The Dems then got it back. It was engrossing stuff.

It was certainly the best Republican stint I've seen. Then at the end Nunes did Nunes and it all went flat.

EDIT: And Schiff's closing comments were pretty punchy.

[Vertigo 7]

Yeah, they certainly did a better job this time. Their line of questioning did seem to be more relevant and coherent than it has been previously. But, at the end of the day, Schiff is very right. Trump is leading the goons. Are we not going to hold him accountable for his actions? If not, we might as well just shut down congress and the judicial.

[Vertigo 7]

So I've gone back and rewatched a few bits and pieces of Sondalnd's testimony and I feel like Trump's goose is pretty well cooked at this point. Sondland made it very clear that Trump was unwilling to entertain things Zelensky wanted without a public announcement of the desired investigations.

In one part of his testimony, he said words to the effect of "I don't know how you can classify Giuliani as an irregular channel when you have the President telling you to work with him." and we're all well aware of what Rudy Colludy has been up to in Ukraine and his statements that he's "working on behalf of his client (Trump)" from his own TV interviews and testimony from witnesses in the inquiry.

Every ambassador has testified that Rudy Colludy was pushing Ukraine to investigate the DNC server, investigate Burisma, and investigate Hunter Biden. And now Sonland has testified that this was being done on the orders of Trump. And Sonland has also testified that the proposed WH meeting was dependent on the public announcement of these investigations, per an early on conversation he had with Rudy, and then later on suspected that the foreign aid was tied to that as well with no other plausible explanation, again something that half a dozen other witnesses have testified to as well. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to connect the dots.

I don't really think there can be any more questions as to what was going on with Trump and Ukraine. The picture is pretty clear that Trump dangled 2 official acts over Zelensky's head in order to launch a smear campaign against Joe Biden and the democrats. Call it quid pro quo, call it bribery, call it extortion, it doesn't really matter. Successful or not, he has clearly abused the power of the presidency for his own benefit. No US citizen should be okay with this in any way shape or form. Compounded by the fact that Trump has ordered the executive branch not to comply with subpoenas, we have a further evidence that Trump is abusing his authority.

[Vertigo 7]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cblWMEm_e4

Testimony from Laura Cooper and Ambassador Hale.

Missed this live, just starting watching the recording.

[RegisterMe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLvjwIWoQ8

ABC live coverage today. Fiona Hill and David Holmes. Not sure if they're up together or are going sequentially.

[Vertigo 7]

I'm loving David Holmes' opening statement. This guy is super sharp.

[felter]

Is that women to his left, the right side of the screen falling asleep, it sure looks like she is having problems keeping her peepers open.