Russiagate Racing Along

More promises from Matt Margolis at PJ Media, Lindsey Graham: IG Report on FISA Abuse Will Be 'Stunning' and 'Damning'  and Brian Cates at ET, A New Inspector General Report About Use of Confidential Informants Is Coming.

To this point, there are three confidential informants whose activities involving Trump campaign personnel during the 2016 election have become public knowledge. Two are academics with long-established ties to Western intelligence officials, and the third is a former British MI6 intelligence officer who became a political operative:

1. Christopher Steele
2. Professor Stefan Halper
3. Professor Joseph Mifsud

Meanwhile at RCP, Joe DiGenova reports Democrats' Deep-State Denial Morphs Into Deep-State Salute. They're actually proud of their illegalities.

From Twitchy, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman remembers the previous administration transferring ‘a fairly significant number’ of Javelins to Ukraine. Hint. He's wrong. But the Obama admin dropped some very nice blankets off in Poland for the Ukrainians.

It was kind of big news when Russian puppet Donald Trump broke with the Obama administration and announced in Dec. 2017 the United States would sell lethal arms to the Ukrainian government, which is engaged in conflict with pro-Russian separatists. The Hill reported at the time that “the move from the White House is a departure from the Obama administration, which frequently condemned Russian aggression in the Ukraine but refused to approve the sale of arms to the country’s Western-aligned government.”

So The Washington Examiner’s Byron York found it odd while going through interview transcripts that witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, “top Ukraine guy at NSC,” testified that the Obama administration had transferred “a fairly significant number” of Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine … at the prompting of Chairman Adam Schiff.

while Brit Hume challenges us to Spot the huge fallacy in the Washington Post’s profile of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman

This from the article: “he was deeply troubled by what he interpreted as an attempt by the president to subvert U.S. foreign policy...” There is a huge fallacy in this. Anyone know what it is? https://t.co/L1Jfgck6G2

— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 2, 2019

The US President determines US foreign policy. When it isn't some random, politically motivated Lt. Col.

Andy McCarthy discusses The ‘Whistleblower’ and the President’s Right to Present a Defense and suggests that less might be better than more.

Presenting an affirmative case would not be without risk for the president. If the Democrats’ case for impeachment is weak and has no chance of success, he would probably be better advised to leave well enough alone. Nevertheless, if the president wants to argue that the bureaucracy has had it in for him from the start, and has coordinated with Democrats to undermine him, he has an unusual embarrassment of riches to exploit.

Byron York, WaEx, Testimony: How Trump helped Ukraine. You mean, like providing lethal aid, unlike the Obama Administration, which had more freedom to curry favor with Putin after his re-election? But Politico wonders about The unsolved mystery of frozen Ukraine aid. There's been an awful lot of talk about something for which the details are extremely murky (and rightly so; these are executive branch deliberations). From Da Beast, Key Impeachment Witnesses Finger Mulvaney In the Quid Pro Quo. They know it because they read it in the New York Times, who promptly cited them as sources. From the WSJ, Giuliani Associates Urged Ukraine’s Prior President to Open Biden, Election Probes, because it would be bad to have our allies looking into the corruption and meddling in our elections, right?

Mr. Giuliani has said his efforts in Ukraine were on the president’s behalf, “done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges.”

John McCormack at NR wonders Why Is Lindsey Graham Clinging to the ‘No Quid Pro Quo’ Defense?

“From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” Graham told reporters in September. “What would’ve been wrong is if the president had suggested to the Ukrainian government that if you don’t do what I want you to do regarding the Bidens, we’re not going to give you the aid. That was the accusation; that did not remotely happen.”

The AP complains that Was Trump call with Ukraine ‘perfect’? GOP has many answers. You mean 350 people can't always agree? If they all agreed, they'd be complaining about the Republicans marching in lockstep.

MSN In Seeking to Join Suit Over Subpoena Power, Mulvaney Goes Up Against the President, but it seems to be working for Bolton, too. Are Republicans setting him up as a fall guy?

From Maggies Farm

The Greenwich Times copies the WaPoo, House Democrats engineer a trio of opportunities to make case for impeachment. It's all about the show.

So far, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has won accolades from Democrats for an approach that is getting three bites of the media apple with each witness. First, Schiff and two other committees conducting the investigations brought them behind closed doors for depositions - some portions of which got leaked. Then, over the past week, the committees publicly released the transcripts of key witnesses, confirming what had already leaked and revealing new damaging information. And now every committee member will be fully prepped for televised hearings in the weeks ahead.

Althouse catches  32 writers who beg the NYT not to use "quid pro quo" because it's important to stick to words people understand in "these... parlous times." and use more inflammatory language.

So it's not a plea for "precise and forceful language" per se.* It's a plea to write with an agenda: We're in a struggle for survival and the NYT ought to choose the words that instill that point of view. Just as you can't "dig up dirt" unless there is dirt, you can't "reveal the struggle" for "survival" unless there is a struggle for survival.

A reminder from John Nolte at Breitbart, Snopes Confirms Dems Tried to Impeach Every Elected GOP President Since Eisenhower. AP writes how the Hot, crowded and secret room now part of impeachment lore "It’s “excruciating.” It smells like a “locker room.” And what happens there is supposed to stay there" until Schiff leaks information favorable to his own side. Deadline, CBS Will Pre-Empt Programming For Donald Trump Impeachment Hearing Coverage. That should do wonders for their ratings. But this might help, Devin Nunes and his ground release their proposed list of witness. Karen Townsend, Hot Air, GOP Releases List Of Witnesses For Impeachment. Updates: Trump Responds

From colleague Brooke Singman. Witnesses requested by GOPers for impeachment hrngs: Hunter Biden. Devon Archer, former board member of Burisma Holdings. Alexandra Chalupa, fmr DNC staffer. The Whistleblower. Nellie Ohr. NSC’s Tim Morrison. David Hale. Kurt Volker.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 9, 2019

John Kass, ChiTrib, The ‘Whistleblower’ and Rep. Adam Schiff should be first to testify in Trump Impeachment Theater. Not gonna happen, though.

On Da, Hill Sharyl Attkisson details The curious timeline for taking down Trump

It could be a coincidence that so many key names in this timeline — from John Brennan and James Comey, to Ukraine and CNN — factor into the Trump impeachment push. And, further, it could be a coincidence that we have ended up where some Trump critics said they hoped to be, even before he was sworn in.

On the other hand, in retrospect, the biggest surprise might be that, all things considered, it took them so long to get to this point.

MSN complains about Republicans attempt to move impeachment inquiry away from Trump. Really, who cares if the Bidens and Clintons are corrupt, and the movement against the President has been engineered by the Deep State? The National Interest notes that Donald Trump’s Only ‘Crime’ Is Defending Himself, that, and getting elected.

Linked by EBL in Ford v Ferrari: A Review, The Man In The High Castle: Season 4 (Final Season),  Elise Stefanik (R-NY) does a fabulous job 👍 at Schiff's Impeachment Clown Show, Westworld: Season 3, Whenever someone says "OK Boomer" I think of this...🤔 and Did AppleTV steal the arrangement from Postmodern Jukebox's arrangement of 'Creep'?.