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

 

[TheRealTruth]

I agree Tulsi was seeking to stand out, but this makes her seem unprincipled. I’m open to hearing her rationale, but I doubt it’ll convince me that she did the right thing.

Not going lock step with group think is now considered unprincipled? Wow

 

[Lapaz]

Not going lock step with group think is now considered unprincipled? Wow

It was blatantly obvious that Trump was guilty, and she even admitted it. The ONLY reason this was group think was because the Republicans are scared of Trump. Is she also scared? I don’t think so. I think she took an unprincipled position, because the principled position is that a president should put American election integrity first.

 

[Infoman]

Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively..... can't possibly look in the mirror and say with complete honesty that BOTH sides of this shirt show have not lied, deceived, cheated, conspired, omitted, falsified and / or mis-informed on many levels - not to "do the right thing" - but solely and expressly to destroy the other side... and none of it has been for the good / benefit of the American people or the preservation of our values... It's all been to get or maintain power... and divide us to farm votes....

Anyone that's willing to ignore these things for the sake of agreement with political ideals from either side - gets eliminated from my voting pool choices...

Anyone that's willing to call this out publicly, and put their name / vote on record against this travesty being perpetrated on our country... Gets my support.

 

[Taurus]

Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively..... can't possibly look in the mirror and say with complete honesty that BOTH sides of this shirt show have not lied, deceived, cheated, conspired, omitted, falsified and / or mis-informed on many levels - not to "do the right thing" - but solely and expressly to destroy the other side... and none of it has been for the good / benefit of the American people or the preservation of our values... It's all been to get or maintain power... and divide us to farm votes....

Anyone that's willing to ignore these things for the sake of agreement with political ideals from either side - gets eliminated from my voting pool choices...

Anyone that's willing to call this out publicly, and put their name / vote on record against this travesty being perpetrated on our country... Gets my support.

Donald J Trump told the House of Representatives to go eff themselves, denying all documents and witnesses subpoenaed by them. This kind of blatant obstruction cannot be allowed or we lose all hope of oversight.
I'm looking in a mirror right now and saying with complete honesty that the sole reason for this impeachment vote by a majority of Dems wasn't just to stick it to Team Red. Was that part of it? Sure, DC is where power is the only currency, but *sole* reason? Nah, brah. Dude's guilty as the day is long.

 

[Beach Friends]

It was blatantly obvious that Trump was guilty, and she even admitted it. The ONLY reason this was group think was because the Republicans are scared of Trump. Is she also scared? I don’t think so. I think she took an unprincipled position, because the principled position is that a president should put American election integrity first.

If her position is not based on principle, what do you think her motive was?

 

[MT15]

I think Gabbard should vote her own conscience just like all the democrats were free to do. I think many of the democratic representatives were deliberate and thoughtful with their votes. It was obvious as you watched them yesterday. It wasn’t what they wanted to do, but they felt they had to act as a check on this president.

 

[Infoman]

Donald J Trump told the House of Representatives to go eff themselves, denying all documents and witnesses subpoenaed by them. This kind of blatant obstruction cannot be allowed or we lose all hope of oversight.
I'm looking in a mirror right now and saying with complete honesty that the sole reason for this impeachment vote by a majority of Dems wasn't just to stick it to Team Red. Was that part of it? Sure, DC is where power is the only currency, but *sole* reason? Nah, brah. Dude's guilty as the day is long.

We know what Trump did... and after the IG report.... we know what the Dems did... I said -

"Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively....." I'm not going to ignore specific details because they don't suit my ideals or values... that's not in my DNA.

Objectively - both sides are bad actors in all of this.... Lies, Omissions, Falsifications, and Party Bias Misinformation have become the norm at this point on both ends of the Spectrum... and the only thing obvious to those looking at this objectively is that - There are no boundries to which either side will not cross to destroy the other...

There is no way for the Dems to remove him from office because the partisan Senate will never do it (which was known)... Just like we know that if the House was majority REPs.... this would have never been brought to a vote there...

Both are sides guilty... the only losers are the American people... All of this and the events leading to it... have been a partisan pissing contest, and I have had enough of them all... Bunch of repeated catch phrases, pandering, sob story telling, half-truth-ed, power grabbing, etc etc etc's

Screw Trump and any other politician that puts Party or Self interests over the people of the USA... which is what they are ALL doing here...

My vote goes to anyone that stands against ALL of this insanity... I have no idea if Gabbard is sincere about standing against this travesty... but at least she put her name on it by vote... and that's more than I can say about anyone else so far... so... I'm listening now.

 

[insidejob]

In sort of related news... Tulsi Gabbard has earned my support... by simply doing the right thing and calling out (and voting against) both sides on this BS....

Didn't she actually not vote against anything by voting as present, which is the same as not voting at all?

 

[Taurus]

We know what Trump did... and after the IG report.... we know what the Dems did... I said -

"Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively....."

Objectively - both sides are bad actors in all of this.... Lies, Omissions, Falsifications, and Party Bias Misinformation have become the norm at this point on both ends of the Spectrum... and the only thing obvious to those looking at this objectively is that - There are no boundries to which either side will not cross to destroy the other...

There is no way for the Dems to remove him from office because the partisan Senate will never do it (which was known)... Just like we know that if the House was majority REPs.... this would have never been brought to a vote there...

Both are sides guilty... the only losers are the American people...

Screw Trump and any other politician that puts Party or Self interests over ours... which it what they are all doing here...

My vote goes to anyone that stands against ALL of this insanity...

You said "solely" and I disagree with that.

They may have been waiting in the weeds for Trump to give them a reason, but the fact is, he did. In spades.

 

[coldseat]

Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively..... can't possibly look in the mirror and say with complete honesty that BOTH sides of this shirt show have not lied, deceived, cheated, conspired, omitted, falsified and / or mis-informed on many levels - not to "do the right thing" - but solely and expressly to destroy the other side... and none of it has been for the good / benefit of the American people or the preservation of our values... It's all been to get or maintain power... and divide us to farm votes....

Anyone that's willing to ignore these things for the sake of agreement with political ideals from either side - gets eliminated from my voting pool choices...

Anyone that's willing to call this out publicly, and put their name / vote on record against this travesty being perpetrated on our country... Gets my support.

Nope, that is not an objective observation. I disagree. That is clearly how the administration and most Republicans in Congress acted, but not Democrats.

That doesn't mean you can't criticize how Democrats acted in parts, but the overall process was necessary. As was this vote and the outcome.

The three areas I think criticism of Democrats is valid are:

1.) Schiff not revealing initially that his aids had some initial contact with the WB and directed him to the ICIG.
2.) Not pursuing first hand witnesses through courts and forcing testimony from them prior to moving ahead with impeachment.
3.) Just general grandstanding.

The first and third points are minor issues with transparency and conduct that don't really change anything about the charges. The second has some justification, but I think Democrats just decided they wouldn't play the WH's game of obstruction.

None of that is comparable to Trump's administration total and complete obstruction of Congress nor to the Presidents actions (of which there was enough testimony and evidence to Impeach in my opinion).

This isn't one of those both sides situation, not even when you try and force it.

 

[MT15]

We know what Trump did... and after the IG report.... we know what the Dems did... I said -

"Anyone looking at this situation (and every situation leading up to this) objectively....."

Objectively - both sides are bad actors in all of this.... Lies, Omissions, Falsifications, and Party Bias Misinformation have become the norm at this point on both ends of the Spectrum... and the only thing obvious to those looking at this objectively is that - There are no boundries to which either side will not cross to destroy the other...

There is no way for the Dems to remove him from office because the partisan Senate will never do it (which was known)... Just like we know that if the House was majority REPs.... this would have never been brought to a vote there...

Both are sides guilty... the only losers are the American people... All of this and the events have been a partisan pissing contest and I have had with them all...

Screw Trump and any other politician that puts Party or Self interests over ours... which it what they are all doing here...

My vote goes to anyone that stands against ALL of this insanity...

If you think the Russia investigation was a democratic construct you are buying the false narrative being peddled by Trump.

FBI leadership was and is Republican. During the entire investigation both when it first started and when it continued during the Trump Administration.

As already mentioned, nobody claims to be a victim like Trump. That trait and being totally untethered to the truth is a very toxic combo. I know that democrats are just people and can be wrong, but there’s only one side here that is pathological.

Your “both sides” lament truly rings hollow here in this case.

 

[BobE]

 

[Infoman]

You said "solely" and I disagree with that.

They may have been waiting in the weeds for Trump to give them a reason, but the fact is, he did. In spades.

Fair enough...

 

[BobE]

 

[Infoman]

If you think the Russia investigation was a democratic construct you are buying the false narrative being peddled by Trump.

FBI leadership was and is Republican. During the entire investigation both when it first started and when it continued during the Trump Administration.

As already mentioned, nobody claims to be a victim like Trump. That trait and being totally untethered to the truth is a very toxic combo. I know that democrats are just people and can be wrong, but there’s only one side here that is pathological.

Your “both sides” lament truly rings hollow here in this case.

I'm going by what came out in Horowitz' report, and by his testimony.... and actual quotes by the bad actors that perpetrated it... I don't do narratives.

I want all sides burned for this crap-show...

You want to lay this whole thing at the feet of Trump... Cool...

Spare me the "talking points"... Like someone said yesterday... These days, Reality is Relative.... you can have yours... my reality consists of... They are all full of shirt...

And I will vote for someone/anyone that's willing to stop all of this...

 

[Infoman]

 

[MT15]

I'm going by what came out in Horowitz' report, and by his testimony.... and actual quotes by the bad actors that perpetrated it... I don't do narratives.

I want all sides burned for this crap-show...

You want to lay this whole things at the feet of Trump... Cool...

Spare me the "talking points"... Like someone said yesterday... These days, Reality is Relative.... you can have yours... my reality consists of... They are all full of shirt.

I was speaking off the cuff. How do you blame the democrats for the FBI issues during the FISA process for Carter Page?

That’s a common narrative from Republicans, but when the entire leadership of the FBI is Republican, and the IG finds that while serious errors were made they had nothing to do with partisan politics, how do you turn around and say the democrats were responsible?

I’m not trying to play games with you, but this part of the narrative just makes no sense. Those FISA warrants were renewed several times under Rod Rosenstein.

 

[Infoman]

I was speaking off the cuff. How do you blame the democrats for the FBI issues during the FISA process for Carter Page?

That’s a common narrative from Republicans, but when the entire leadership of the FBI is Republican, and the IG finds that while serious errors were made they had nothing to do with partisan politics, how do you turn around and say the democrats were responsible?

I’m not trying to play games with you, but this part of the narrative just makes no sense. Those FISA warrants were renewed several times under Rod Rosenstein.

Steele was running his own private intelligence firm, called Orbis, when Fusion contracted him in May 2016 to talk to his Russian sources about Trump. Fusion, in turn, had been hired by a law firm doing work for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee

‘Crime in Progress’ Tells the Story Behind the Steele Dossier (Published 2019)

Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, founders of the private intelligence firm Fusion GPS, write about what turned up in their investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

www.nytimes.com

As noted, Horowitz establishes that the Steele report was crucial to the FISA process, even using the same language Nunes used (“essential”). He also confirms the Nunes assertion that the FBI double-dipped in citing both Steele and a September 23, 2016 Yahoo! news story using Steele as an unnamed source. Horowitz listed the idea that Steele did not directly provide information to the press as one of seven significant “inaccuracies or omissions” in the first FISA application.

'Corroboration Zero': An Inspector General's Report Reveals the Steele Dossier Was Always a Joke

The reports throws water on one “deep state” conspiracy theory of the Russia investigation, but validates complaints about “fake news”

www.rollingstone.com

Look, I find it hilarious that both sides here can watch and read the same things I watch and read, yet still see 2 completely different things... As I have stated many times... I am an Independent that didn't vote for... and doesn't trust Trump.... yet can't stomach the current utlra-Liberal version of the Democratic party (yet voted Dem JBE for LA Governor)...

IMO... from a completely unbiased standpoint, with no horse in this race... This looks like politically motivated bias from stem to stern...

And it looks like we have been feed this for over 2 years based on that bias... after we have been told repeatedly that none of this was true, and there was no bias...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/peter-strzok-whose-anti-trump-texts-got-him-fired-from-the-fbi-sues-for-reinstatement/2019/08/06/eaf83060-b789-11e9-a091-6a96e67d9cce_story.html

Strzok, who joined the FBI in 1996 as an analyst on terrorism cases, was once one of the bureau’s go-to agents for espionage and counterintelligence work, and he was a key figure in both the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and the inquiry into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

But in the course of that work, Strzok began exchanging politically charged text messages with an FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair. The messages, sent on work phones, were critical of numerous politicians, but none more so than Trump, who Strzok derided as “abysmal” and a “disaster.”

In August 2016, after Page wrote Trump was “not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Strzok responded: “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it.”

This is why I have trust issues...