Impeachment megathread

[Rover]

Long overdue. I do hope the investigations are thorough and conclusive.

[Young Conservative]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Judge Napolitano: Trump has admitted committing crime in talks with Ukraine

Judge Andrew Napolitano told Fox News host Shepard Smith on Tuesday that the president effectively confessed to a crime when he admitted he asked Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Napolitano, a Fox News senior judicial analyst, had framed President Trump's earlier statement as an admission that he tried to "solicit aid for his campaign from a foreign government."

“So that to which the president has admitted is in and of itself a crime,” Smith followed. Napolitano responded, "yes," and claimed it was the same crime former Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated as part of the long-running Russia investigation.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

This wasn't an elaborate trap to "own the libs". But, of course campaigns and fundraising orgs will work to fundraise off of the starting of an Impeachment inquiry, that's what they do. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to expect Trump supporters to be excited to donate to the likely opponent to a first term Dem Congresswoman in a competitive district who just came out in support of impeachment. I don't think this is a game changer for Republicans in the House for 2020, there seems to be solid public support (somewhere around 50%) for an Impeachment inquiry. Actual impeachment would be a different story at this point, of course

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

Nope, but thanks for playing

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

If Trump really did have a Palpatine-like advisor working for him (as you seem to be implying), he would not be in this mess in the first place. 

[DrScholl]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

Trump's team spins everything negative as a positive so you can't buy a word from them. It's completely stupid to think that this entire affair was a set up for an impeachment inquiry to be brought against him and considering the way he went off on Twitter it doesn't seem like he is thrilled with this. Lastly, a transcript of the phone call is worthless because anyone can type up a fake transcript and submit it.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176673376015966209



https://twitter.com/saraecook/status/1176681047783804928

Trump Spox Kayleigh McEnany says video Trump posted on twitter has been prepped for 6+ weeks, didn't think Dems would be dumb enough to go down this road but were prepared if they did. Says they raised 250k within 15 minutes of email sent immediately after Pelosi announcement.

I feel all this preparation...the GOP leadership's coordinate response...the emails and videos prepared...Trump so willing and prepared to release an IG report, a whistleblower report, an independent report saying the whistleblower had political motivesm and a full transcript of the phone call...begs the question: Was this a trap and did the Dems walk right into it?

Edit (UPDATE): GOP also using fundraising splitting to raise money for eventual house noms, raised 100k for eventual GOP nom in MI08 in less than 1 hour...

https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1176572034031267841

Trump's team spins everything negative as a positive so you can't buy a word from them. It's completely stupid to think that this entire affair was a set up for an impeachment inquiry to be brought against him and considering the way he went off on Twitter it doesn't seem like he is thrilled with this. Lastly, a transcript of the phone call is worthless because anyone can type up a fake transcript and submit it.

Escalating illegal behavior forcing the Dems to start an impeachment inquiry to own the libs. Makes sense to me, lol.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1176664735263182848

https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1176685392638222337

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1176688350356549634?s=21

[Gass3268]

White House is already back tracking. Going to provide a redacted version of the complaint.

NYT: As House Democrats moved to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, the administration also prepared to release a redacted version of the whistle-blower’s complaint.

[pppolitics]

For the impeachment, Democrats should focus exclusively on the Ukraine scandal.

Do NOT try to muddy the water with Russian investigation or something else.

[DrScholl]

White House is already back tracking. Going to provide a redacted version of the complaint.

NYT: As House Democrats moved to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, the administration also prepared to release a redacted version of the whistle-blower’s complaint.

This should have been expected to happen.

[soundchaser]

White House is already back tracking. Going to provide a redacted version of the complaint.

NYT: As House Democrats moved to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, the administration also prepared to release a redacted version of the whistle-blower’s complaint.

Wow, amazing watching such beautiful 4-D chess playing. Brilliant trap to, uh...?

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1176664735263182848

https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1176685392638222337

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1176688350356549634?s=21

It seems like an alternate universe from when Rudy was "America's Mayor" after 9/11. All of this insanity is definitely going to affect his legacy. Simply supporting or endorsing Trump probably wouldn't have, but these nonsensical and ridiculous cable news quotes desperately defending Trump are definitely going to be mentioned in his NYT obit when we're looking back on his life.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

White House is already back tracking. Going to provide a redacted version of the complaint.

NYT: As House Democrats moved to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, the administration also prepared to release a redacted version of the whistle-blower’s complaint.

This should have been expected to happen.

It was:

He's releasing it ALL.

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1176633765726216194?s=20

Sure he is. The man who has been hiding the tax returns he promised to release years ago is going to release a complete whistleblower's report to the people who have just started impeachment proceedings. I call BS. Either we will never see anything, or it will be redacted or fabricated.

Mr. Trump flagrantly broke the law. Then he tried to hide the evidence of his crimes and failed. That report should have been in the House Intelligence Committee's hands weeks ago. Everything else is all BS and spin from a Trump admin desperate to save itself. This is a kid negotiating which parts of the reprimand from the principle he's willing to let his parents read.

[BlueSwan]

Just woke up to this....damn, I didn't think the democrats had it in them. It is the morally right thing to do, even if I still very much question the political implications. Also, on a strictly personal level, I would rather beat Trump at the polls than remove him from office via impeachment.

If the case is as clear cut as it looks, I actually will not rule out that the senate could convict him. We ALL know that there are plenty of GOP politicians who would very much like to replace Trump with Pence and get this nightmare over with, only they are too afraid to ever say so in public. If Trump is clearly guilty here all it really takes is for a bunch of senate republicans to grow a spine. Not likely perhaps, but certainly not unthinkable either.

[Virginiá]

https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1176676328608681984
lmao

[Pericles]

Logically, even leaving aside that Trump is clearly lying about there being 'major legislation' (the default presumption at this point has to be to take everything he says as a lie unless proven otherwise), that threat makes them look bad.

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1176676328608681984
lmao

I guess that trillion dollar infrastructure package will have to wait.

[Xing]

TwElVe DiMeNsIoNaL cHeSs

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1176676328608681984
lmao

I guess that trillion dollar infrastructure package will have to wait.

Soon we'll be hearing about the White House threatening to delay infrastructure week if the Democrats don't stop their impeachment inquiry.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Lock! Him! Up!

[pbrower2a]

Who would've thought it'd be Ukrainegate and not Russiagate?

We don't actually know it's Ukrainegate. Mr. Trump and his creatures and their allies want us to think that, but none of us knows what is in the whistleblower's complaint.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukrainian-president-to-meet-with-donald-trump-amid-whistleblower-probe-director-of-national-intelligence-2019-09-20/

Congressional Democrats have been sounding the alarm over the mysterious whistleblower report to the inspector general of the intelligence community that the Trump administration is refusing to provide to Congress. The Washington Post first reported that Ukraine was the subject of the complaint Thursday night. A source familiar with the complaint confirmed to CBS News that the conduct detailed in the complaint involves Ukraine. The source emphasized Ukraine was just "part" of the complaint, suggesting that it included more than one element/allegation.

There's a credible case to be made that Team Trump believes that openly admitting both Mr. Trump and his agents committed multiple federal felonies related to election law is better for them than letting the House Intelligence Committee see the full whistlerblower's report.

We have no idea of what the intended deal was. I suspect that Trump knew that if he could make the right deal with Putin, then he could convince Putin to give back some stolen territory to Ukraine. But in turn Ukraine would have to seal the re-election of President Trump.

In view of the vacuity of President Trump's idea of foreign policy -- that diplomacy is nothing but quid pro quo deals of the sort that someone like Nazi war criminal Joachim von Ribbentrop offered -- it would probably be a bad idea for Ukraine. Oh, Ukraine gets some territory back but becomes a puppet state of Russia...  it is something like what Molotov offered the Finns before starting the Soviet-Finnish war -- that Finland would get to annex some Soviet territory only to be itself turned into a constituent republic of the USSR. The Finns wisely thought that a bad idea and fought for the independence that they have maintained.

The President of Ukraine may be in no position to cancel the meeting, but he can recognize a bad deal for what it is.

Long live free and independent Ukraine! (Note -- I have more family ties to Poland).

[Person Man]

Who would've thought it'd be Ukrainegate and not Russiagate?

Who says it won't be both? Or more? The Watergate Congressional investigation ultimately uncovered far far more then just the cover-up over the burglary. I expect because there is so so much sleaze of trump buried minutely beneath the surface that it would take just the slightest scratching thereof to reveal numerous individual grounds for impeachment.

It seems pretty clear that House Democrats moved past the threshold of opening inquiries because (A) their current charges focus on one easily proven and easily understood act of wrongdoing and (B) their current charges are not concerned with "re-litigating 2016" in any sense.

That hasn't stopped Republican MOCs from pushing (B) as their main talking point. My opinion - and I speak as someone who remained skeptical of the virtues of impeachment prior to this past week -  is that this makes them look both imbecilic and cynical. Even the lowest of low-information voters will have to wonder how this could be about 2016 when we're talking about Joe Biden's family.

This is about the 2020 election!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Surprising no one, the WH will not release a verbatim transcript, only a reconstruction based on the notes of administration officials.