Action #1 – Go to your “NO WAR” rally tonight! There are over 365 of them across America!
Action #2 – Trump can use “emergency powers” to stop impeachment. His action of war against Iran is a warning.
Read yesterday’s post about the terrifying powers our immoral president can use “in case of emergency.” This is no mere “wag-the-dog” comedy. Make the calls to your legislators supporting all anti-war bills now.
Action #3 – Don’t send the articles to the Senate Chipper-Shredder of Oblivion yet!
Our more antsy legislators want to put up a white flag to McConnell and hand the articles of impeachment over to a rigged “trial” and certain dismissal or acquittal. (See Sen. Schumer’s statement here about McConnell’s misleading claims of similarity to the Clinton impeachment) There’s no hurry other than handing Trump a win before his Feb. 4th SOTU address. Our country deserves better. New developments will lead to additional charges and those involved need to speak on the record, using Congress’ power of inherent contempt if necessary, and be questioned by people who care about the answers. That means that the House has more work to do. Don’t let everything done so far evaporate in McConnell’s hands. This impeachment is worth a war to Trump. It’s worth a wait.
Minimal script for Nancy Pelosi: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi for holding the course for justice and to tell her we don’t care what McConnell and his band of quislings want. We recognize and respect the sacrifices previous impeachment witness made to reveal the truth. The Constitution has no timelines and no prohibitions against adding additional charges. If the Senate refuses to play fair, the House must step up to subpeona those revealed in the new reports. Use inherent contempt if necessary. Almost everyone involved has at one time sworn an oath to protect this country. It was more than just words. Make them do their duty.
Contact: Speaker Nancy Pelosi: email, (202) 225-0100
Minimal script for Reps/Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Rep./Sen. [___] for supporting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to hold back the articles of impeachment from the corrupt Senate. Three requests:
- Please thank Speaker Pelosi for standing her ground.
- Don’t let the Senate have the articles until after his State of the Union address on Feb. 4th AND a clear process, including witnesses has been agreed on.
- If no trustworthy agreement is made, use the House’s power of inherent contempt to compel the testimony under oath, if necessary, of all parties knowledgable of Trump’s deliberate blocking of Congressional-approved funding for Ukraine.
Contact
Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email. (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Deeper Dive
(Politico article here)
What is wrong with our Democratic legislators? Which of our people thought that there was a serious possibility of Mitch making concessions and promising to play fair? Do they think he cares that his “trial” will be an obvious sham? No! He stated, on national TV, that he’s coordinating this trial directly with the defendant and has no intention of fairness, as did Sen. Graham. Have we forgotten that McConnell is the guy who blocked Obama’s SCOTUS nominee because it was his “last year”, while openly stating he’d fill any Trump’s vacancies? We are acting like Charlie Brown, to his Lucy and that damn football. Who cares what he and his cohort of spineless sycophants want?
Let’s look at what Mitch DOESN’T want, for a refreshing change.
He does not want Trump to appear at the State of the Union Address as an impeached loser of a president, angry, unhinged and possibly melting down on national TV.
McConnell and Senator Graham will do whatever is necessary to guarantee a win out of the Senate before the end of January, even threatening to change impeachment rules or dismiss it all together to make that happen.
He does not want to get the articles so close to the SOTU deadline, that he can’t magic the incredibly corrupt process he’s planning into looking legitimate and not like a Senate majority leader and other potential jurors openly colluding with the subject of an impeachment trial and his legal team. There is no maximum time limit for the transmittal of the House’s bill of impeachment to the Senate for trial. The Constitution merely provides that the Senate controls the procedures for trial, no matter what nonsense the GOP puts out. Timing has nothing to do with seriousness, Senator Feinstein.
He does not want any of the new evidence disclosed by Just Security’s blowout report to come out in testimony in the Senate. Trump’s clearly documented decision to withhold appropriated military assistance to Ukraine, would be awkward for Mitch.
He does not want Bolton to testify because Trump doesn’t want him to testify. “[Bolton] would know nothing about what we’re talking about,” Trump said Tuesday when asked if he would be comfortable with his former national security adviser testifying on events relating to the Ukraine probe.” So bring this man to the HOUSE! There’s a lot of new evidence and no rules against voting for impeachment and then seeking additional evidence. None. Zip.
He does not want those serious foreign service professionals making a second devastating case against Trump, or any of the new witnesses exposed in the recent report. If he can get 50 of his fellow GOP lapdogs to agree to a trial with no witness, that’s what he’s going to do.
What we want.
We want the House to respect the sacrifices of the witnesses who came before the House. There is more to the story and we expect our legislators to honor their service by expanding the probe and and witness list to get the full story of Trump’s possible crimes.
- Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was threatened by the president while she was testifying.
- The White House also tweeted a quote questioning the judgment and loyalty Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council Ukraine specialist and the Army now is working to keep him and his family safe.
- Former White House national security official Fiona Hill testified that she is facing online harassment and doxxing, and is now the target of conspiracy theories, some of which are anti-semitic, involving philanthropist George Soros.
- Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has stated that his family and his businesses have received and his hotels have been targeted with false or politically motivated online reviews.
We want all the information: The new information could add additional articles to impeachment for solicitation of bribes, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the president’s misuse of congressionally appropriated and authorized foreign military assistance for personal or political gain.
We want all the witness! Reps. Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, start sending out subpoenas again for everyone feature in the new information! Use the House’s power of inherent contempt to compel the testimony under oath, if necessary, of the following witnesses on the new information before releasing articles to the Senate:
- John Bolton, former national security adviser. “If ever there were a valid basis for Congress to punish contempt by imprisonment, it’s a private citizen’s refusal to give evidence that is crucial to presidential impeachment proceedings.” However, as he recently said he would testify in the Senate, he has no plausible legal argument to prevent him from doing so in the House.
- Robert Blair, Senior Advisor to the Acting WH Chief of Staff
- Michael Duffy, associate director of National Security Programs at OMB
- Mick Mulvaney, acting chief of staff
- Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State
- Rudy Giuliani, president’s personal attorney
- Lev Parnas, to help Rep. Devon Nunez’s memory.
- Elaine McCusker, acting Pentagon comptroller
- Exclusive: Unredacted Ukarine Documents Reveal extent of Pentagon’s Legal Concerns (justsecurity)
- Federal Criminal offenses and the impeachment of Donald J. Trump (justsecurity)
- Exclusive: White House ignored Pentagon Warning on Ukraine Funding (justsecurity)
- Timeline: Trump, Giuliani, Biden, and Ukrainegate (updated) (justsecurity)
- Did Trump’s freeze on Ukraine aid violate the Impoundment Control Act. (Politifact)
- Trump holds up Ukraine military aid meant to confront Russia (Politico)
- Full Document” Trump’s Call with the Ukrainian President (July 25, 2019) (NYTimes)
- White House withholds 20 emails between two Trump aides on Ukraine Aid. (NYTimes)
- Donald Trump’s gift to Kleptocrats (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) (AmericanProgress)(USAToday)
- Nancy Pelosi Should Take All the Time She Needs to Submit Articles of Impeachment (Slate)
- Behind the Ukraine Aid Freeze: 84 Days of Conflict and Confusion (NYTimes)
- Explosive new documents reveal the lengths to which the Justice Dept. wet to concel the Pentagon’s concerns about Trump’s Ukraine aid freeze. (business insider)
- Damning new emails show Trump knew he was breaking the law on Ukraine (Vanity Fair)
Watching
Originally posted at Indivisible Ventura. Re-posted with permission.