The process to impeach President Trump begins 2

It's obvious that Trump tried to extort a foreign government to attack his domestic political rival. .....

There is no substantiated evidence, the reason for which the House Judiciary Committee has not even suggested extortion nor bribery in its arguments for impeachment...

It is not a case of Trump vs. Democrats. rather 1. total violations of civil rights, in the impeachment process, in the MSM portrayals and 2. that the Deep State via its representation in the CIA/NSA ad nauseum are engaged in surveillance and unsubstantiated leaks in collaboration with the MSM.

Anyone who claims partial to the ideals of justice and protection of the rules of law and constitution must be outraged!

No doubt, if ever a real champion of the People would gain presence in the political arena, such violations once used, will be repeated....

But again I must emphasize, the system is totally rigged, this is not where we must be placing our energy and hopes for egalitarian and liberating transformation!

JKR wrote:

It seems that some people hate the Democrats so much that they are completely unwilling to say that Donald Trump is in any way worse than the Democrats.

Actually no body here has ever argued that the Republican's are the lesser of the two evils in the US duopoly.  However pointing out that everyone in the US imperial system is evil is not a defence of either of the corporate fascist parties that roam the halls of Washington..

JKR wrote:

Is there really any case to be made that Trump isn't extremely corrupt?

Of course he is but that in no way negates the other truth which is that most of his opponents are also very corrupt. I frankly don't care that Trump is worse than Clinton because Clinton is over my threshold for acceptable human beings.  They are both corrupt war criminals so why should anyone cares who is worse?

Establishment Politics Are For The Rich

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/13/establishment-politics-are-for-t...

"The not-usefulness of the Trump/anti-Trump diversion has been to hide unified class interests behind manufactured class loathing. To the same extent that impeachment, Russiagate and Ukrainegate are battles between factions of the rich and professional class, the claim that racism, sexism and gender matters will be resolved through establishment politics that leave class issues unaddressed is a calculated diversion. In terms of class warfare against the working class and poor, establishment Democrats have been as dangerous as Mr Trump and more politically effective. Without a plan to remove ruling class control of the political system, policy proposals are little more than empty chatter..."

Phase 2...the counter coup...phase 3?

You Need Rehabilitation': Nunes Letter Dismantles Schiff Over FISA Lies, Stroking Steele, And Participating In Coverup

"As part of your rehabilitation, it's crucial that you admit you have a problem - you are hijacking the Intelligence Committee for political purposes while excusing and covering up intelligence agency abuses." -Devin Nunes to Adam Schiff

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) has written perhaps the most brutal 'I told ya so' letter in recent memory to Adam Schiff, his Democratic rival and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. 

After last week's Inspector General report on FBI FISA abuse revealed Schiff was peddling lies to the American public in a February, 2018 'counter-memo' to Nunes's now-proven claims, Schiff passed the buck - telling Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday that he was 'unaware' of certain things unccovered by the IG - while failing to admit he's been dead wrong on an ongoing basis about a number of things.

Nunes isn't letting this go. In a Sunday letter, he reminded Schiff that "The IG's findings of pervasive, major abuses by the FBI dramatically contradict the assertions of your memo released on February 24, 2018, in which you claimed, "FBI and DOJ officials did not 'abuse' the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump Campaign."

Schiff is in clear "need of rehabilitiation," continues Nunes, adding "I hope this letter will serve as the first step in that vital process."

"Outlining every false claim from your memo would require an extremely long letter," Nunes continues, who then lists several key claims made by Schiff which 'the IG report has exposed as false.' 

• FBI and DOJ officials did not omit material information from the FISA warrant.
• The DOJ "made only narrow use of information from [Christopher] Steele's sources about Page's specific activities in 2016."
• In subsequent FISA renewals, DOJ provided additional information that corroborated Steele's reporting.
• The Page FISA warrant allowed the FBI to collect "valuable intelligence."
• "Far from "omitting' material facts about Steele, as the Majority claims. DOJ repeatedly informed the Court about Steele's background, credibility, and potential bias."
• The FI31 conducted a "rigorous process" to vet Steele's allegations, and the Page FISA application explained the FBI's reasonable basis for finding Steele credible.
• Steele's prior reporting was used in criminal proceedings.

Nunes goes on to dismantle Schiff's bullshit point by point using findings from the IG report, which include: 

• Information provided by Christopher Steele played a "central and essential role" in the decision to seek a FISA warrant on Carter Page.
• There were seventeen "significant errors or omissions" in the FISA application and renewals, and the IG did not get satisfactory explanations for them.
• The Crossfire Hurricane team failed to inform the DOJ of "significant information", and "much of that information was inconsistent with, or undercut" assertions in the FISA applications.
• The FBI relied solely on Steele information for its assertions about Page's alleged coordination with Russians to hack the 2016 elections.

(See entire list below)

Nunes then calls out Schiff for defending Steele, who peddled his discredited, Clinton-funded dossier to the media six weeks before the 2016 US election. 

"As you know, your misguided validation of the FISA warrant was part of a years-long pattern in which you touted Christopher Steele's credentials and reliability," writes Nunes.

"For example, during this committee's March 20, 2017 open hearing, you claimed Steele "is reportedly held in high regard by U.S. Intelligence." and proceeded to read into the congressional record numerous conspiracy theories proffered by Steele, all of which are false." 

Next, Nunes accused Schiff of participating in a coverup: 

As is clear from the 16 report, Carter Page was the victim of a smear campaign that was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign and was implemented by Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS. The FBI used these false allegations to obtain a warrant to spy on Page, a gross violation of an American citizen's civil liberties. Your direct participation in the smear campaign against Page is extremely concerning. considering you are chairman of the committee responsible for uncovering precisely these sorts of abuses by the Intelligence Community. Instead of joining committee Republicans in exposing these abuses, however, you excused them. And by supporting the agencies' stonewalling of our attempts to gather information on this affair, you helped cover up this misconduct.

Because of Schiff's misdeeds, and his blind faith in the US intelligence communities which the House Intelligence Committee is supposed to monitor, Nunes says "This makes it clear your rehabilitation will be a long, arduous process." 

"this committee is responsible for overseeing the Intelligence Community and exposing abuses. Yet when the IG identified gross abuses in our jurisdiction, you expressed full faith in the agencies we're supposed to be vigilantly monitoring. and you rejected any oversight whatsoever of their supposed clean-up efforts," writes Nunes. .....reported by zerohedge

Let's not forget that Schiff and his fellow Democrats are just the fall guys for the Intelligence Establishment...

if they cannot get their way via legal/political niceties...they will fall back to some other strategies...not so nice!
And when the next step in the counter coup lands...endictments against Establishment leaders? With the Durham report?

Watch out! Phase 3!

The US will disintegrate unless the Senate totally exposes corruption [Video]

The impeachment process is far more dangerous than anyone wants to admit

by Seraphim Hanisch December 17, 2019

whatever the niceties of the supposed legalities....that country is going to violence.....watch the video!

People are outraged!

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/12/16/ralph_nader_trump_impeachment_trial_senate

josh wrote:

House impeaches Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations.

And Tulsi Gabbard votes "present"

bekayne wrote:

josh wrote:

House impeaches Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations.

And Tulsi Gabbard votes "present"

Terrible play by Gabbard. To be clear, she didn't have any winning plays, but this was the most losing play. 

"Tulsi proposes censuring Trump for 'unconstitutional and reckless actions', not just a phone call but violating War Powers Act; ripping up nuclear treaties; Yemen; more. Will her Democratic critics sign on? No: on war they support Trump."

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1207708929263841280

"Never in recent history has liberal US politics been centered on issues so divorced from reality (see: The Trump-Russia conspiracy madness) and issues that matter to people's lives (ibid: Ukrainegate). As yet one more stark reminder of that, today is a solemn day indeed.

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1207460746046644229

Cody87 wrote:

bekayne wrote:

josh wrote:

House impeaches Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations.

And Tulsi Gabbard votes "present"

Terrible play by Gabbard. To be clear, she didn't have any winning plays, but this was the most losing play.

I agree. The whole image that she has been running on is that she is an independent thinker who is not afraid to take on the Establishment. She makes a solid case that the Impeachment process has been highlighted by partisan politics, but she's effectively not taken a position. Progressives now dislike her because of not voting to impeach Trump (on top of an ever-growing list of reasons, such as backtracking on Medicare for All, refusing to back a Green New Deal, and choosing Yang's sham UBI over Bernie's federal jobs guarantee), and those cross-over Trump voters who were impressed by her taking on the Establishment won't be impressed by this. I think it would have been more courageous to actually vote against impeaching Trump than to abstain like this.

I'm totally confused by what she did here. Quitting the DNC to endorse Bernie in 2016 was a courageous mood, if you can remember how at the time the dominant narrative was that Clinton had it in the bag so there was no point anyone else even running. Why she does this now is a mystery.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Cody87 wrote:

bekayne wrote:

josh wrote:

House impeaches Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations.

And Tulsi Gabbard votes "present"

Terrible play by Gabbard. To be clear, she didn't have any winning plays, but this was the most losing play.

I agree. The whole image that she has been running on is that she is an independent thinker who is not afraid to take on the Establishment. She makes a solid case that the Impeachment process has been highlighted by partisan politics, but she's effectively not taken a position. Progressives now dislike her because of not voting to impeach Trump (on top of an ever-growing list of reasons, such as backtracking on Medicare for All, refusing to back a Green New Deal, and choosing Yang's sham UBI over Bernie's federal jobs guarantee), and those cross-over Trump voters who were impressed by her taking on the Establishment won't be impressed by this. I think it would have been more courageous to actually vote against impeaching Trump than to abstain like this.

I'm totally confused by what she did here. Quitting the DNC to endorse Bernie in 2016 was a courageous mood, if you can remember how at the time the dominant narrative was that Clinton had it in the bag so there was no point anyone else even running. Why she does this now is a mystery.

Although giving the finger to Trump by deploying articles of impeachment may feel satisfying, Gabbard is right not to join in that losing game, which has already given Trump a boost in the polls.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/22/politics/trump-democrat-matchups-analysis...
https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administr...

See also, The Real Reasons Tulsi Gabbard Did Not Vote to Impeach Donald Trump
by Alan Macleod
https://www.mintpressnews.com/war-pillaging-and-peace-why-tulsi-gabbard-...

Partisanship in itself is not bad if the result is beneficial. I certainly think it would be beneficial removing--and jailing for life--by far the most environmentally destructive creature on the planet, though of course the Democrats also are also sustained by the same destructive corporate interests. 

But partisanship is both the beginning and end of this fiasco, not just from the Democrat controlled House but from also from the Repub controlled Senate which certainly would dismiss the charges. 

Bill Clinton, like most presidents, was guilty of war crimes but was instead impeached for lying about sex. This was also a partisan impeachment and like with Trump, the vote pretty much split by party in the House, at that time Republican controlled. It failed to get a Senate 2/3 majority, which is what would happen with Trump. Clinton's popularity shot up.

Knowing the forgone conclusion in the biased Republican Senate, Pelosi has indicated that she will not forward the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial, hoping to leverage the groundrules into some version more favorable, or simply avoid the inevitable loss. The duopoly media will take their respective positions on this. The miscreant-in-chief will have a field day as the election approaches.

contrarianna wrote:

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administr...

Rasmussen, the most Trump friendly pollster in the US has him at 48% approval. He's unstoppable! (Rasmussen had him at 50%  and the Republicans in the lead right before the 2018 Congressional elections)

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot_nov05

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1209719629469437952?s=20

Impeachment Theater While the Planet Burns

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/27/impeachment-theater-while-the-pl...

"With the gravitas of a wardrobe malfunction at a Super Bowl halftime show, Donald Trump has been impeached. This, by the same Democratic functionaries who went on to pass his $734 billion military budget and his reworked non-NAFTA trade agreement. To the perpetual 'if'', if Mr Trump isn't to be trusted with affairs of state, the alleged reason he was impeached, why enhance his power over the affairs of state through increasing the military budget? The same is true with re-upping the Patriot Act. And backing his coup in Bolivia. And his attempted coup in Venezuela. Clearer evidence of the political theater character of impeachment would be hard to find.

It is difficult to tell what impeachment was expected to accomplish. A sense of 'getting Trump' seems to have been the primary motivation If so, Mr Trump has quite spectacularly not been gotten. He won't be convicted by the Senate, meaning that he won't be removed from office. Impeachment along party lines looks like the Democrats sanctioned Mr Trump - not official sanction as has been claimed. And hopes of poitically shaming Donald Trump imagine it possible to shame him.

With the current impasse over moving the charges against Mr Trump forward in the Senate, what has been demonstrated is that Democrats are incapable of governing in the most basic of senses. The question of the endgame, which one would assume had been considered before starting the process, appears never to have occurred to them. With new charges against Donald Trump now being rumored, the Democrats' apparent strategy is to double down. As politically attractive as incompetence mixed with desperation is, there are real problems in need of being solved..."

Now James Comey is back in the spotlight as one of the main characters in the Barr-Durham investigation, which is examining largely out of the spotlight the origins of the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory that dogged the White House for four long years.

In early December, Justice Department’s independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, released the 400-page IG report that revealed a long list of omissions, mistakes and inconsistencies in the FBI’s applications for FISA warrants to conduct surveillance on Carter Page. Although the report was damning, both Barr and Durham noted it did not go far enough because Horowitz did not have the access that Durham has to intelligence agency sources, as well as overseas contacts that Barr provided to him.

With AG report due for release in early spring, needless to say some Democrats are very nervous as to its finding. So nervous, in fact, that they might just be willing to go to the extreme of removing a sitting president to avoid its conclusions....from strategic culture foundation

Last post brought to you by the Trump White House communications team....

if you would bother to read anything but the CIA infiltrated press, you´d find a long list of reasons for impeaching Trump, including the latest scandal on the Douma Deception...so why this bs impeachment process?

Because the Democrats being the war party, with a good selection of ex CIAers not to mention US Israeli dual citizens are equally culpable, if not more so...
 

Trump, Iran War-Mongering & Impeachment

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1213120619128270854

"People claiming Trump did this to distract from impeachment have it in reverse. Trump was able to do this because Dems wasted political capital on the Russiagate farce and its Ukrainegate sequel. And not only has there been no opposition to Iran war-mongering, there's been help..."

I'm just waiting for someone to blame Hillary for forcing Trump to engage in war mongering. Why are people so intent on protecting Trump???

Trump's ordering of the drone-strike assassination of Iranian Commander Suleimani was a prima-facie violation of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other instruments of international law. Although it has become customary to overlook illegal targeted assassinations by American presidents, especially if they're Democrats, this latest Israeli inspired murder ordered by the current US president is, unlike the farrago of Russiagate/ Ukrainegate nonsense, an eminently impeachable offence.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

For me, it's not a matter of protecting Trump. It's a matter of looking at the situation objectively, learning how Trump is able to hang on and enact his agenda despite his rampant unpopularity, and understanding which tactics work against him and which only strengthen his hand. Screaming about how he is the incarnation of evil, as the Establishment Democrats are doing, does nothing to this effect, especially when the Democrats are complicit in so many of the things Trump has done that scare people about him in the first place.

Perhaps the most perverse thing about western duopolies is how the uniparty functions. Parties regularly do the complete opposite of what they claim to support, and don't get pushback because everyone is wearing a team jersey. Policing military interventionism is supposed to be done by the left, but nobody pushes back against military interventionism when it's a Democrat doing it. Policing deficit spending is supposed to be done by the right, but nobody pushes back against trillion+ dollar deficits when it's a Republican doing it. No wonder 40% of the population is too jaded to even bother voting.

Russians at it again.  Trying to smear another Trump opponent?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/us/politics/russian-hackers-burisma-ukraine.html

Ukraine's Interior Ministry announces criminal probe into alleged illegal surveillance of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch after text messages released by House investigators showed Robert F. Hyde and Lev Parnas discussing her being tracked in Kyiv.

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1217783392378544129