Displaying 811 To 840 Of 1,008 Comments I am just one voter with an opinion, but I am NOT impressed with any politician, or voter for that matter who did not support impeaching a corrupt president with all of the evidence of corruption revealed BEFORE the whistleblower told us about the Ukraine call. In fact, it frightens me that Americans would first of all be willing to vote for someone like trump to begin with. And then when all of the information just reported in the press, let alone the Mueller Report, related to over 100 contacts between trump’s team and Russians DURING the 2016 election, as well as things trump himself said and did, trump and his family’s using the office of the president to enrich themselves, as well as trump’s obvious ingratiation with Putin, these Johnny Come Latelys FINNALY see the danger of this person to our democracy. Even for racist Americans, is NOTHING more important than your racism? And especially with so-called LEADERS of our government, regardless of party affiliation. REALLY??? You are going to wait until our house is literally burning down to even address the need to put the fire out? And congressional republicans are STILL defending and trying to protect trump. NO ONE should want a president that DESERVES impeachment. If ANY Democrat behaved the way trump has BEFORE Ukraine, I would have supported impeachment, as I did for trump. COME ONE AMERICANS!!! PLEASE get your shit in one pile!!! » Posted By TOCB On September 28, 2019 @ 6:05 am We KNOW trump is not acting in the interest of the USA. » Posted By TOCB On September 28, 2019 @ 2:02 am In another “lockdown” of a transcript, trump told Russians in a 2017 meeting that he did not care about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election because the U.S. has done that as well. No surprise that trump told Russians this, but if other Americans heard this and covered it up, should they be held accountable for a cover-up of a treasonous act by the POTUS? President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter. » Posted By TOCB On September 27, 2019 @ 6:23 pm The acting DNI is in a very tenuous position. He got the job 42 days ago. I am not sure why ANYONE would want to work in the trump administration in ANY capacity. Maguire seems to be a decent person and wants to do the right thing, but in the trump environment, that is nearly impossible. At least he is not trashing the whistleblower process as other republicans are doing. I would like to see EVERYONE who aided trump in any way to be held accountable. The principle should be, do the right thing or resign, or don’t take the job in the first place. If anyone thinks they can help the nation by working in the trump administration in any capacity, they are delusional. » Posted By TOCB On September 27, 2019 @ 4:22 am And the bad thing is that we KNOW our “president” is a crook and a traitor, YET we allow him to continue as the head of government every day, doing things that an honest government official would be tasked with. WHODA THUNK IT??? The trump administration has a “secret server”!!! The press should throw this in his face every time he mentions Hillary’s email server. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/biggest-bombshells-in-trump-whistleblower-complaint-cover-up.html White House lawyers directed White House officials to remove the electronic transcript of the Zelensky call from the computer system where such transcripts normally are stored. That transcript then was loaded into a “separate electronic system” that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. “One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.” And now trump wants to kill the whistleblower and those who talked to him or her. This threat should be included in the article of impeachment. — L.A. TIMES’ ELI STOKOLS: “Trump at private breakfast: ‘Who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s almost a spy’”: “President Trump expressed disgust Thursday morning with the explosive whistleblower complaint, slamming the intelligence officer and those White House aides who helped him or her as ‘almost a spy’ and suggested it was treason. » Posted By TOCB On September 26, 2019 @ 2:05 pm Legally, executive privilege cannot be used to cover up criminal activity. However, if you have an AG who believes the president can’t commit a crime (especially if the AG is a co-conspirator in the crime), nothing the president does is criminal. He could literally stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and it would not be a crime. » Posted By TOCB On September 26, 2019 @ 1:56 pm The acting DNI keeps saying that this whistleblower complaint is unprecedented, and he is absolutely correct. What makes this complaint unprecedented is that the subject of the complaint is the President of The United States. It is not prudent under any law or even common sense to allow the subject of a complaint to determine action to be take related to the complaint. » Posted By TOCB On September 26, 2019 @ 8:17 am There can be no assertion of executive privilege if the subject of a whistleblower complaint is the President of The United States. PERIOD! » Posted By TOCB On September 26, 2019 @ 6:58 am If one listens to the “news” of Fox “News” Channel and the “news” on MSNBC, CNN and other respected “news” outlets, you get a 180 degrees difference in the meaning of the memo (not a transcript of the trump call with Zelensky). On MSNBC the opinion programs begins with Nicole Wallace’s Deadline White House. Except for Morning Joe, the other daytime shows on MSNBC are more “news” shows than opinion shows. Many people in the news industry have given credit to people on Fox like Bret Baier, Shephard Smith, John Roberts as being more about facts than opinions. However, that is not what I am seeing this morning related to the spin they are putting on the trump memo on the phone call with Zelensky. Shep doesn’t come on until this afternoon, so I will wait to see how he reports on the memo. Fox is referring to the memo as a “transcript” of the call and not a memo prepared by the trump team. They are also stressing their opinions about a quid-pro-quo or lack thereof. They also neglect to point out that the claims by trump and republicans that Joe Biden did something to have the Ukrainian prosecutor fired to prevent him from investigating Biden’s son is absolutely false, and that in fact the prosecutor that Biden and the entire western world wanted fired, was not even investigating Biden’s son. This difference in “news” coverage explains why 45% of Americans are confused and misinformed. » Posted By TOCB On September 25, 2019 @ 8:36 am No one in trump’s administration or any congressional republican is going to do anything to hold trump accountable. That is a foregone conclusion. House Democrats should proceed with impeaching trump. Quite frankly, trump’s entire cabinet should be impeached, but the most effective way to do that, given the republican congressional caucus, is to defeat trump and republicans in 2020. Although we don’t traditionally prosecute past administrations and past members of Congress, the new Democratic administration and Congress MUST prosecute people who consistently conspired with trump to subvert the government of the United States. For the sake of our democracy we cannot allow people to get away with this kind of behavior, UNLESS we are comfortable with this behavior being an accepted part of our government going forward. » Posted By TOCB On September 25, 2019 @ 7:36 am Trump’s own transcript implicates him in a crime. “The call begins with Trump congratulating Zelensky on his election victory, but quickly devolves into the president pressing for an investigation of his political rivals and endorsing an apparent conspiracy theory. He seems to suggest Hillary Clinton’s private email server is in Ukraine and asserts that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation started with that country. Zelensky replied that “my candidate” for the prosecutor job “will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue.” If trump and his advisors/minions were not so ignorant and acceptant of Alex Jones type conspiracy theories, they would have considered that not only Joe Biden took measures to have the Ukrainian prosecutor fired, but so did the Obama administration and the entire free world did, including the IMF. Further, this prosecutor was not investigating Joe Biden’s son for anything, so if Biden wanted to protect his son from Ukrainian prosecution, he would have tried to have the ousted prosecutor remain at his position. The bottom line is that trump, his advisors/minions and congressional republicans and their voters are idiots, crooks and they are against everything the American government is suppose to stand for. » Posted By TOCB On September 25, 2019 @ 7:26 am That indeed seems to be the calculus of “Blue Dog” Democrats AND Pelosi’s camp. It is obviously a purely political calculus, and is probably an incorrect calculus given trump’s hold on the republican base and the GOP. These people will never abandon trump for any reason, so it is pointless to appeal to their so-called patriotism. As a Democrat, I will not support a candidate at any level who opposes impeaching trump based on constitutional grounds, REGARDLESS of the politics. In my heart of hearts, I believe that republicans and Independents in republican districts who voted for Democrats in 2018 did so at least in part because they disliked what trump was doing, and if they see that Democrats are too weak to hold trump accountable, they are less likely to support Democrats in 2020. They may stay at home, but they are not likely to vote for Democrats who are weak on impeachment. THIS IS MY OPINION. » Posted By TOCB On September 23, 2019 @ 7:04 am Put aside the FACT that in his role as vice president, Joe Biden and Barrack Obama, as well as the IMF and the entire western world worked to get the prosecutor in Ukraine fired BECAUSE he was not investigating corruption in Ukraine, including the company Hunter Biden worked for. Accept for Steve Bannon, who said it is ridiculous to think Trump Jr did not talk to his father about the infamous Trump Tower meeting in July 2016, most news outlets reported that Trump Jr did not speak with his father about that meeting, (at least that is Trump Jr claimed) and Trump Sr apparently stood by that claim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXVPtqaT9no However, Trump asks who believes that Biden did not speak with his son about his job in Ukraine. Good question Trump. YOU answer it!
» Posted By TOCB On September 23, 2019 @ 6:25 am If this is what it will take I certainly support it, but I think we passed the tipping point a long time ago. The Constitution does not give voters the authority and responsibility to impeach a federal official, except by the vote, based on politics or whatever their chosen criteria is. When an official commits high crimes and misdemeanors, the authority and responsibility to impeach and remove an official from office is tasked to Congress. The House of Representatives is not charged with bringing the people along when an impeachment is necessary. In fact, impeachment for political reasons is not what the Constitution provides for, and Pelosi stated as much early on. (I tried to find a short clip of this statement, this is the only one I could find. At the 6:53 mark on this video, Pelosi says,
“I don’t think we should impeach a president for political reasons, but I don’t think we should not impeach him because we think it is politically impeding for us to do so.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LoT9flhL6o Now, her sole reason for not impeaching trump is politics. The only word that fits her behavior at this point is dishonesty. She has lost all credibility with me. All she is, is a politician and at this juncture we don’t need politicians. We need statesmen and stateswomen. If fact, I don’t want trump removed form office at this point, but I want him impeached because that is what the Constitution calls for when a president behaves as trump has. I don’t expect Senate republicans to remove trump from office, so Pence can become president and pardon trump. I want him impeached and then voted out of office by the people. THEN, congressional Democrats will have done their part and the people will have done their part, in spite of what republicans do or think. » Posted By TOCB On September 22, 2019 @ 9:49 pm I fully concur. Even Pelosi’s political calculations are lame. An impeached president, as well as his party, are damaged goods. If Democrats don’t impeach trump, voters are justified in believing trump MUST not have done anything wrong, otherwise Democrats would have surely impeached him. Not impeaching trump lets congressional republicans off the hook for not voting to impeach and remove trump. None of what Pelosi is saying makes even political sense to me. » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 7:49 pm We are definitely on the same page on impeachment. » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 7:41 pm Has anyone ever wondered how Monmouth words the question(s) in the polls that show only 35% of respondents favor impeachment and 51% oppose it? Although I have not found how the questions are worded, it is interesting to see the breakdown of why people think trump should be impeached and those who think he should not be impeached. https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_us_082219/ Among those who feel an impeachment inquiry is a good idea, 18% cite a need to follow the evidence, 17% say Trump has broken the law, 17% point to Trump’s moral character, 16% cite the president’s policies as problematic, 11% express concerns about racism and immigration issues, 10% say Trump acts like he is above the law and needs to be held accountable, 9% want the transparency of a public inquiry, 7% say Trump is dishonest, and 7% say he is unfit or unqualified for the office. Among those who say an impeachment inquiry is a bad idea, the top reasons include feeling that Trump has done nothing wrong (27%), it would be a waste of time and money (22%), the inquiry would be a partisan “witch hunt” (13%), Trump has done a good job as president (12%), and Congress should be working on other issues (10%). There are some differences in these rationales, though, based on how poll respondents feel about the president’s overall job performance. Among those who approve of Trump, the idea that he has done nothing wrong (34%) is the top reason for being negative toward an impeachment inquiry, followed by it being a waste of resources (22%), it is a partisan witch hunt (18%), Trump has done a good job in office (16%), Congress should be working on other things (11%), and the charges have already been investigated (7%). Among those who disapprove of Trump but feel that an impeachment inquiry is a bad idea right now, 26% say it would be a waste of resources, 16% say it would backfire on the Democrats, 16% say it is too late in Trump’s term to start this process, 10% feel that Trump has not done anything impeachable, 10% say there is no point because the Senate won’t remove him, 8% say Congress should be focused on other issues, and 7% say an inquiry would be bad for the country. Another 15% of this group offer general negative comments about Trump. In the group that opposes impeachment, 34% says he has done nothing wrong and 22% says the investigation was a waste of resources, and 18% says it was a partisan witch hunt. These three reasons comprise 73% of respondents who opposed impeachment. What this tells me is that most of the people polled by Monmouth are republicans, 85%- 95% of whom support trump regardless of what he does. A more representative poll would include the numbers of Democrats, republicans and Independents as they are represented in the general population. A random poll that is skewed toward republicans will always oppose impeaching trump, and one that is skewed toward Democrat would always support impeaching trump. We need a more representative poll, if we are going to place so much importance on polls. » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 7:35 pm No one is protected unless trump and republicans are run out of Washington. We see how they are treating McCabe for opening an investigation to determine if trump was/is a Russian agent. I think they used an excuse that McCabe was less than candid in answering some questions. We don’t even know what questions they are referring to. McCabe had the authority to release unclassified information to the press, and do so was part of his job, so it was not leaking. It is an abuse of power on the part of trump to request that the Justice Department indict McCabe, who is not a whistleblower, but an official member of the intelligence community at the time of his investigation. » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 10:33 am I would think one of the things Democrats in trump districts will have to consider is do they need votes for Democrats and Independents in those districts. If so, how enthusiastic will Democrat and Independent voters be to support them if they don’t support impeachment? Can they win trump districts without votes from Democrats and Independents? From 85% – 95% of republicans support trump, so how many republicans can Democrats of any political persuasion influence to vote for them? » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 10:25 am Although I appreciate the math of your political calculation, it is irrelevant to constitutional reasons for impeachment. The political question as I see it is that IF impeachment proceedings were introduced, how many of the 31 Democratic members from trump districts would vote against them for political reasons? Would all 31 vote against article of impeachment or will fewer vote for them? THAT is the question. The false narrative of Democrats not passing important legislation (that will not be passed by the republican controlled Senate) is a mute point. Protecting and defending the Constitution and the rule of law is THE most important responsibility Congress has. It is absolutely SICKENING that Pelosi and the Democratic caucus are so shallow as to place politics over democracy. If we win an election and lose a democracy, what have we REALLY won? It is fairly obvious that the majority of Americans see how corrupt trump and the republican party is, and if only they come out to vote in November 2020, AND the integrity of the voting system is protected, trump and republicans will be run out of Washington D.C. so fast if will make your head spin. So to sacrifice constitutional integrity in order to make a supposed safe political calculation is frankly disgusting. » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 10:16 am IF, Nancy Pelosi were a responsible Speaker of The House of Representatives, she would recognize her responsibility to work with the House Judiciary Committee to bring impeachment charges against trump. The Mueller Report lays out a blueprint for obstruction of justice charges related to the Russia investigation. Outside of the Mueller investigation, trump’s instructions to Lewandowski to fire Jeff Sessions, trump’s instructions to the inspector general of the intelligence community to not release whistleblower complaints to Congress that he has determined is of urgent concern, trump’s instructions to the Secretary of The Treasury not to release his tax returns to Congress, trump’s instructions to Michael Cohen to pay hush money for the purpose of preventing the voting public during an election from learning about his activity with women outside of his marriage, and last but not least, trump’s MANY violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution are GLARING and URGENT reasons for articles of impeachment to be drawn up against trump. Further, Mitch McConnell and other Senate republicans should be forced to explain to the public why they did not remove from office a president who violated unambiguous laws like the law requiring the release of tax returns to Congress, and the law requiring the release of whistleblower complaints to Congress, as both of these laws use the word, “shall” in them to require compliance. Additionally, what no one, including Pelosi is considering, is that MAYBE the House Democrats who replaced republicans in republican districts in the 2018 did so because a substantial number of republicans in those districts, along with Democrats and Independents in those districts, wanted trump to be held accountable for his violations of laws and Constitutional norms. Not that political reasons should even be considered in the case of impeachment, but IF they are considered, Pelosi’s fear of losing the majority in the House is probably misplaced, AND MABYE Pelosi should be ousted as Speaker of The House. Radical? YES! But also necessary! » Posted By TOCB On September 21, 2019 @ 6:55 am What exactly did Hillary do illegally? Use a private email server to conduct some official State Department business? What statute says that is a crime? Yes, it violated an Obama administration “policy”, but it was not a crime. What do you think should have been the consequences for someone who did that, when they were no longer in the government? » Posted By TOCB On September 20, 2019 @ 4:23 am I have to agree with ordinaryjosephine about Obama not doing enough to prevent trump from being installed as president by Putin. Obama should have never allowed that to happen. The Obama Justice Department should have indicted trump before the 2016 election occurred. » Posted By TOCB On September 20, 2019 @ 4:16 am I understand that one of the whistleblower’s concerns was a phone conversation between trump and the president of Ukraine about getting dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for military equipment to help against Putin aggression. First of all, trump’s boyfriend Putin might not like that. Second, Pelosi and House Democrats don’t need to investigate if trump is attempting to conspire with Ukraine to get dirt on Joe Biden, because Giuliani admitted to doing this on worldwide television last night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldf79sOBRwM So Pelosi and House Democrats don’t need to hold hearings to determine if trump is doing with Ukraine for the 2020 election, what he was investigated for doing with Russia for the 2016 election. Democrats will probably ask trump for his permission to impeach him though. Democrats to trump: Mr. President, would it be alright with you and your supporters if we impeached you? We don’t want to cause any division between your supporters and the rest of the country, but we think maybe you are a traitor. » Posted By TOCB On September 20, 2019 @ 4:02 am Trump’s lawsuit says Vance’s actions are politically motivated to “harass” him and hurt the President during his reelection campaign, and it says Vance’s subpoenas are unconstitutional because they’re part of an attempt to investigate a sitting President. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/19/politics/trump-tax-returns-vance/index.html Trump’s legal team must have gotten their law degrees from the corner store. There is nothing in the Constitution that says a sitting president cannot be investigated, or even indicted and imprisoned. Trump gets away with this crap because Congress allows him to get away with it. Of course, I don’t expect anything from republicans, but the Democratic caucus should replace Pelosi as Speaker, so they can get along with the nation’s business and stop playing politics. In the current political environment, Democrats SHOULD regain the White House and the Senate as well as keep the House. HOWEVER, as weak as House Democrats are, WHO wants to vote for them? Is it possible to include a spine with your vote for a Democrat??? » Posted By TOCB On September 19, 2019 @ 1:16 pm Lewandowski is publicly engaging in a conspiracy with trump to obstruct justice by lying to Congress and refusing to answer questions posed by Congress. Lewandowski AND OTHERS who have conspired with trump to obstruct justice better pray hard to whatever god they serve, that trump is re-elected and the rule of law continues to be ignored, because if the rule of law is ever restored, all of trump’s minions will be sent to prison. » Posted By TOCB On September 17, 2019 @ 12:24 pm Intelligence by sharpie? » Posted By TOCB On September 17, 2019 @ 11:59 am Lewandowski is currently appearing before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions related to his interactions with trump. So far Lewandowski has lied under oath about the content of the Muller Report and he has refused to answer questions. Lewandowski should be arrested for lying under oath and charged with obstruction of justice, and the committee should officially draw up an article of impeachment for contempt of Congress. » Posted By TOCB On September 17, 2019 @ 10:59 am This COULD BE a game changer. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/politics/jerry-nadler-impeachment-remarks/index.html “Personally, I think the President ought to be impeached,” Nadler told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee saying trump “ought to be impeached”, OUGHT TO influence Pelosi. » Posted By TOCB On September 16, 2019 @ 3:25 pm TOTALLY agree! Pelosi is so concerned about alienating trump supports, who will NEVER vote for Democrats anyway, that she is forcing Democrats to “settle” for policies, programs and candidates we don’t support. » Posted By TOCB On September 16, 2019 @ 8:23 amComments Posted By TOCB
“I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it,” Trump says, according to the transcript.
He adds later: “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it. … It sounds horrible to me.”
At the outset of the call, Trump also asks for Ukraine’s help in finding the location of the Democratic National Committee server that U.S. officials say was hacked by Russian intelligence in the run-up to the 2016 election.
“The server, they say Ukraine has it,” Trump says according to the transcript. “I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.”
The transcript, in keeping with White House practice, is a memorandum of a telephone conversation and is not a verbatim account of the conversation. The text reflects the notes and memories of officials in the Situation Room. A disclaimer in the transcript warns that a number of factors “can affect the accuracy of the record, including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent.”
“Virtually ‘all legal commenters agree’ that a sitting President of the United States is not ‘subject to the criminal process’ while he is in office,” his attorneys write at the start of the complaint, citing a legal memo and a Yale law review article. “Yet a county prosecutor in New York, for what appears to be the first time in our nation’s history, is attempting to do just that.”
Trump’s team, however, acknowledges that “no court has had to squarely consider the question” of whether a sitting President can be criminally prosecuted or investigated.
Nadler’s comments were some of the most detailed he has offered thus far about his rationale for the House to pursue impeachment. He said that he believes the House should act on impeachment, even if the Senate will not remove the President, because Congress has to “vindicate the Constitution.”
“We have to show that this kind of behavior — trashing the Constitution, trashing all the norms which guarantee democratic government, aggrandizing power to the Presidency and destroying the separation of powers and thereby leading the President to become more and more of a tyrant cannot be tolerated. And it cannot be normalized,” Nadler said. “We have to make sure the next President or the one after him or her knows there’s a real penalty to be paid. That’s why the impeachment is necessary, even if we cannot get a vote in the Senate.”
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