The Impeachment Process Has Officially Begun (1 Viewer)

[Andrus]

By Laura Bassett

After months of internal arguing among Democrats over whether to impeach President Donald Trump, the dam is finally breaking in favor of trying to remove him from office. The Washington Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would announce a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, following a bombshell report that Trump illegally asked Ukraine’s government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his political opponents. (He essentially admitted to having done so over the weekend.)

“Now that we have the facts, we’re ready,” Pelosi said Tuesday morning at a forum hosted by The Atlantic. At 5 p.m. the same day, she was back with more. "The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the constitution, especially when the president says Article Two says I can do whatever I want," referring to the segment of the Constitution that defines the power of the executive branch of the government. Pelosi's message was that checks and balances of those branches are just as central to the Constitution. And one more thing: "Today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry," she said at a conference broadcast on Twitter by the Huffington Post. ...

Read the Full Story - InStyle

 

[not2rich]

How are they different? What test do you use to determine the difference? As far as I can tell the test is simply a political disagreement: "we think what the President says he is concerned about is a sham, therefore it is corrupt."

The test is whether something that seemingly benefits solely the President's campaign is in any way advancing the Nation's interest. And the best the GOP can come up with is a concern about "corruption." Even though close analysis of the facts and timeline fails to support that theory. The House Intelligence hearings pretty well established that Trump only wanted investigations into the Bidens and Crowdstrike, and not any other form of "corruption."

Serious question. Do you think the President's supposed concern about "corruption" in a general sense is NOT a sham?

I don't just "think" it's a sham. In the absence of partisan blinders, anyone can see it is a sham.

 

[not2rich]

The big, fat public announcement. Plus Trump's complete lack of forks to give about the investigations themselves.

An important point I missed. I naively premised my arguments on Trump wanting actual investigations. Being the former reality TV star he is, he didn't want actual investigations - just the announcement of investigations. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

 

[The moose]

Wow crickets in here?

I would figure it would be jumping!

 

[Intensesaint]

Wow crickets in here?

I would figure it would be jumping!

Nobody really cares, because this won't amount to anything. The country knows this is just a partisan shell game and Trump will not get removed from office. It will come to acquittal in the Senate, and that will be that.

 

[reubenray]

Everyone expected the vote to be right down party lines and it was. Politicians don't have a mind of their own. They have to vote how the Sheepherders tell them to.

 

[MT15]

Here’s what should be troubling folks. Mitch was on tv last night guaranteeing the outcome in the Senate, and saying that his approach to the trial will not vary from the WH approach.

Doesn‘t he have to swear an oath to carefully consider the evidence presented? Does this mean he’s not going to even allow any evidence to be presented?

You all will have to get off your high horses if he does something like that. At least the Democrats are not “whipping” votes and telling their members how they have to vote. Unlike the House Republicans.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

[Mod edit: removed a deleted post]

The investigator Biden helped pressure Ukraine into firing was slow walking the investigation into Burisma and it's owner.

A more accurate phrasing for your meme would be, "Joe Biden informed Ukraine that the US would withhold aid packages until they fired the corrupt prosecutor who was refusing to investigate the company for which his son was a board member and Democrats want to impeach President Trump for attempting to extort something of value from the current Ukrainian president in exchange for an aid package that was already approved by congress and signed off on by the White House after the Department of Defense concluded that Ukrainian officials were taking the proper steps to combat the corruption Trump claims to be so interested in cleaning up."

I guess that doesn't fit in an amusing picture, though.

 

[MT15]

I don’t think your use of the word “amusing” is correct there.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

I don’t think your use of the word “amusing” is correct there.

Just the image, not the words. It was an adorable kitty.

 

[FullMonte]

Regardless of whether you think the president is innocent, guilty, or you don't know...this should concern EVERYONE.

In an interview, Mitch McConnel said that, regarding the impeachment trial, decisions would be made "in total coordination with the White House counsel." He then said, "There will be no difference between the President's position and our position in how to handle this,"

Imagine your local sheriff being charged with criminal activity, and the jury foreman saying, prior to the trial, that he has been coordinating with the sheriff's lawyers, and that there will no difference between the sheriff's position, and the jury's position in how to handle the trial.

 

[insidejob]

Regardless of whether you think the president is innocent, guilty, or you don't know...this should concern EVERYONE.

In an interview, Mitch McConnel said that, regarding the impeachment trial, decisions would be made "in total coordination with the White House counsel." He then said, "There will be no difference between the President's position and our position in how to handle this,"

Imagine your local sheriff being charged with criminal activity, and the jury foreman saying, prior to the trial, that he has been coordinating with the sheriff's lawyers, and that there will no difference between the sheriff's position, and the jury's position in how to handle the trial.

This is just insane. I don't see how he can get away with something like that. He's admitting that they aren't going to consider any evidence presented (if they even allow it) and are just going to let Trump get away with anything he wants because he's supposedly a Republican president. This is the farthest thing possible from the "Party of Reagan" that I registered as a member of at 18 and was actually proud to be a part of before the tea party hijacked it. And I thought the tea party was bad. The party of Trump makes the tea party look like the definition of sanity.

 

[Beach Friends]

Regardless of whether you think the president is innocent, guilty, or you don't know...this should concern EVERYONE.

In an interview, Mitch McConnel said that, regarding the impeachment trial, decisions would be made "in total coordination with the White House counsel." He then said, "There will be no difference between the President's position and our position in how to handle this,"

Imagine your local sheriff being charged with criminal activity, and the jury foreman saying, prior to the trial, that he has been coordinating with the sheriff's lawyers, and that there will no difference between the sheriff's position, and the jury's position in how to handle the trial.

This pleases me very much.

The Senate should let the POTUS decide whether witnesses are called first, or we just go straight to an acquittal.

 

[samiam5211]

This pleases me very much.

The Senate should let the POTUS decide whether witnesses are called first, or we just go straight to an acquittal.

I hope they let Rudy come read his report to everyone. He worked so hard on it.

I hope Kamala Harris gets ask him questions about it.

Some BS like that is the only way Trump blows it at this point.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

This pleases me very much.

The Senate should let the POTUS decide whether witnesses are called first, or we just go straight to an acquittal.

Do you genuinely believe that the president should be able to dictate the process for his own trial, and do you genuinely believe that McConnell should refuse to call any witnesses in this trial?

 

[MT15]

He’s trolling, IMO

 

[Beach Friends]

Oh no, I'm sirius. I think you all may not be looking at this the right way.

We all know that the Senate is not going to remove the POTUS, correct? (If for some reason there is any question about that, we can come back to it.)

So, all Mitch is saying is the matter is ripe for disposal on arrival at the Senate and they can do that expeditiously. Nonetheless, if the POTUS wants his "day in court" to shed more light on the issues, he can respect that given the fact the POTUS didn't get that opportunity in the House.

 

[Saintamaniac]

My sincere hope is that if the Democrats manage to retake the white house, the democratic president names Kamala Harris Attorney General. Rudy, Nunez & Trump would be shirtting bricks.

For anyone to say it pleases them that Mitch McConnell, the republican senator from Kentucky who has blocked numerous pieces of legislation designed to protect America from russian influence and thereby suggest that he is friendly to Moscow, will be working in conjunction with the trump defense team to ensure a desired outcome regardless of the evidence really shows that those people couldn't give a rat's arse about the constitution or the rule of law and that their loyalty is to their party rather than their country. These are the type of people I wish we could revoke their citizenship and ship their arse to Russia where they belong. The very existence of people with that attitude is an affront to everything this country is founded on.

 

[Beach Friends]

My sincere hope is that if the Democrats manage to retake the white house, the democratic president names Kamala Harris Attorney General. Rudy, Nunez & Trump would be shirtting bricks.

For anyone to say it pleases them that Moscow Mitch McConnell will be working in conjunction with the trump defense team to ensure a desired outcome regardless of the evidence really shows that those people couldn't give a rat's arse about the constitution or the rule of law and that their loyalty is to their party rather than their country. These are the type of people I wish we could revoke their citizenship and ship their arse to Russia where they belong. The very existence of people with that attitude is an affront to everything this country is founded on.

I forgive you for saying that.

Maybe I just did not explain the reality of the situation well enough. Let me try again.

I think the Senate will likely take the position that the record has been made in the House and based on that record, a vote will result in acquittal.

It's the rough equivalent to a directed verdict at the close of a plaintiff's case. If you can get a directed verdict, it would be foolish to reopen the case.

Nonetheless, if the POTUS just insists on calling witnesses that he was not able to call in the House, they are not going to stand in his way.

Look at it this way. The Saints are down by two points, have the ball on the opponent's 15 yard line and there is 45 seconds left.

Drew, by the way, is one TD pass away from setting the single season record.

Although it's first down, the smart move is to run the clock down to 3 seconds and kick the FG.

That's where we are at and no matter how much the Defense wants us to put the ball in the air, the smart move is to take the win and move on.