Continuing Russiagate

Ah, finished the beach walk, and got 27 teeth, including 2 decent Makos, but I guess I have to get back to it.

Ace takes notice of Judge Sullivan taking a break to consider Sidney Powell's filing that essentially accuses the FBI and DOJ of malfeasance in the Gen. Flynn persecution, Judge Sullivan Cancels Upcoming Flynn Hearing to Review New Evidence Offered by Lawyer Sidney Powell, but now news breaks from sundance at CTH that Judge Sullivan has given DOJ time to prepare a response,  Flynn Update – Judge Grants Complaining DOJ Lawyers an Opportunity to File a Reply…

Against a strong possibility the evidence Sidney Powell provided might result in Judge Sullivan dismissing the case, the DOJ filed a notice today requesting an opportunity to reply before Judge Sullivan deliberates on the Brady motion. The DOJ notice (see here) is essentially the DOJ complaining about the new and overwhelming submission of evidence.

To avoid the appearance of judicial impropriety, Judge Sullivan has instructed the DOJ to file a surreply by November 1st outlining their complaints; and then gives the Flynn defense the opportunity to refute with a sur-surreply by November 4th. (video below)

Ace, John Brennan Essentially Admits the Deep State Exists and It Exists to Get Trump. "Paper-pushers and unelected bureaucrat-tyrants have decided they run the show." Scott Johnson at Power Line, The Plot Against the President.



Da Wire, The Daily Wire, Chuck Grassley Rips Comey: You Missed Key Evidence In Clinton Investigation. I’m Going To Find It.. How dare he! Doesn't he know Democrats deserve to be free from investigation? It's in the constitution.

Adam Mill at AmGreat, Why Is This Mueller Alumnus in Charge of the Justice Department’s FARA Unit? I believe FARA is a violation of the 1st Amendment at a minimum. At Red State, Harold Finch Reads James Clapper’s Body Language (And It’s Glorious!) It is. Read it. I don't know about it's accuracy, though. Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.29.19 Julie Kelly at AmGreat, Obama Successfully Hunted Trump Campaign Aides Instead of Terrorists. He knew where the real threat to Democrat rule came from.

Sundance at Red State, DC Court of Appeals Issues Emergency Stay Blocking Release of Grand Jury Material to HJC…

It’s a good thing the DOJ did not wait for a ruling from Judge Howell.  Instead, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an emergency administrative stay; blocking the release of the Mueller grand jury materials to the House Judiciary Committee pending the court review of the appeal from the DOJ.

Insty has a FLASHBACK: Sen. Mark Warner Traded Secret Texts with Russian Oligarch’s Lobbyist Linked to Hillary. Lock him up!

Switching back to the Ukraine matter, Ace Fake "Impeachment" Witness Bill Taylor Led Delegation for Group Advised by...

wait for it... wait... for... iiiiit...!

Hunter Biden

Oh, he also worked for an "organization funded by George Soros. Bonus!

The Peacock whines, Internal White House debate stifles release of Pence-Zelenskiy call

It’s been almost three weeks since Vice President Mike Pence said he had “no objection” to releasing a reconstructed transcript of his phone call with the leader of Ukraine. But as House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry continues moving swiftly into its second month, the White House still has not made a decision on whether to make those details of Pence’s call public.

The internal debate has divided White House officials over whether releasing the call would help or hurt their flailing efforts to counter accusations that President Donald Trump held up military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

One concern raised by some of Trump’s allies is that releasing his call with Zelenskiy was a mistake because it fueled the impeachment inquiry rather than tamp it down, these people said. Another is that a comparison of Pence and Trump’s calls with Zelenskiy could potentially make the president’s self-described “perfect” conversation appear significantly less so.

One can understand the reluctance to turn anything over to such a lying bunch of hacks. David Goldman at PJ Media, It's Time for Every American Patriot to Rally Around Trump: The American Republic Is at Stake.

And on the impeachment follies? Remember yesterday, the House was supposed to vote on Thursday? Not so fast, Democratic leaders walk back Thursday impeachment vote, WaEx. But there is still plenty of discussion. Pelosi’s deceptive ‘impeachment vote’by Thomas Lifson, AmThink.

Speaker Pelosi is playing word games, trying to pull a fast one on the Republicans, the American people, and the Constitution by appearing to “authorize” a formal impeachment inquiry, while not actually passing an impeachment resolution that would trigger rights for Republican House members to call witnesses and issue subpoenas.

That is why, when ambushed by NBC News, she was careful to make a distinction and say “It is not an impeachment resolution.” It was a walk-by comment:

Needless to say, this irks campaign staff, who wish things would accelerate. The possibility of Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, and Klobuchar unable to campaign right before Iowa while Biden and Buttigieg are free to do so is not sitting well.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) October 29, 2019

Even AllahPundit, Draft Resolution Authorizing Impeachment Inquiry Will Let Republicans Call Witnesses — Subject To Adam Schiff’s Approval. All the evidence you want, as long as it favors impeachment. Sundance, Scalise and Jordan React to House Resolution Rules for Impeachment – Schiff Instructs Witnesses Not to Answer Questions…



and Details of House “Impeachment Inquiry” Resolution – Rules for Open HPSCI Hearing(s), Lawfare Staff Questioning, and Transfer to Nadler…

Key points from rules:

• The Executive Branch will not be permitted to participate in the open HPSCI hearing.
• President Trump lawyers will not be permitted to question witnesses in the open HPSCI hearing.
• Ranking member of HPSCI (Nunes) may have subpoena power subject to pre-approval by Chairman Adam Schiff. Requests must be made in writing. Chair is not mandated to approve.
• Ranking member of HPSCI (Nunes) may have ability to request witnesses subject to pre-approval by Chairman Adam Schiff. Requests must be made in writing. Chair is not mandated to approve.
• Schiff (Chairman) and Nunes (Ranking member) will each have 90 minutes (aggregate) to question any witness brought before the committee. All other committee members will have 5 minutes each, per witness. [Remember this is a member assembly of 3 committees]
• The Chairman can allow contracted legal staff (Lawfare) to question witnesses, as part of his 90-minutes of available questioning.
• The Chair is authorized, though not required, to make depositions public.
• Upon completion of the hearing(s), the HPSCI chairman shall write a **report to the Judiciary (Nadler) with instructions of findings. The chair may include dissent from the minority opinion therein.

[**Note: IMHO this report has already been written. That was the purpose for the basement hearings. All of this public testimony is for public consumption to support the premise of a constitutional impeachment proceedings. It’s a farce.]

• The resolution then provides a process for the HPSCI report to transfer all of the assembled tri-committee material to the House Judiciary Committee where Jerry Nadler will take over.

and Troublesome – Key Republicans Unaware of Intent Behind Pelosi’s Thursday Impeachment Vote…. Me either.

Tristan Justice Da Fed, Schiff Directing Witnesses Not To Answer GOP Questions leading to Matt Margolis at PJ Media accusing Adam Schiff of Witness Tampering in 'Soviet-Style' Impeachment Inquiry. Lock him up!

Lanny Davis and Tony Soprano Scaramucci at WaPoo, We must impeach Trump. But how we remove him is another matter but at WaEx, Tom Brokaw: Democrats don't have 'the goods' on Trump as they did with Nixon. And what does that have to do with it? Allah Pundit asks, Should The Senate Even Hold An Impeachment Trial If Republicans Have Resolved In Advance To Acquit?

But here are Davis and Mooch shrugging and saying, “Why bother?” I could understand that if the testimony given to House Democrats so far looked thin, in which case the “skip the trial” ploy here might just be a sly way of sparing Dems the humiliation of presenting a weak case at trial. If impeachment is destined to backfire politically on them, go figure that Scaramucci and Davis might be looking for a way to end the process early.

One reason to have the trial? Impeaching Trump not popular in swing states (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

. . . according to Harry Enten, impeachment is not popular in key swing states like Wisconsin. He cites a new Marquette University poll from Wisconsin that finds 44 percent of voters wanting Trump to be impeached and removed from office, and 51 percent not wanting him impeached and removed.

In Florida, opinion apparently is split more evenly, but still disfavors impeachment and removal:

A poll of Florida voters conducted by the University of North Florida out this week shows the divide at 46% in support of impeaching and removing Trump and 48% opposed to it.

There is also a collective poll by the New York Times/Siena College of the following swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Arizona. Its results are quite similar to the Marquette poll of Wisconsin alone.

Just 43% of voters in these six states want to impeach and remove from office at this point. The majority, 53%, do not.

This contrasts with Trump’s voting margin in the six states. The same pollsters found Trump up by only 1.5 percentage points in the six.