Russiagate 2020

I guess it's not surprise that not a lot of news has penetrated the barrier between decades (and don't try to tell me it's not the start of a new decade until Jan. 1, 2021, no one actually sees it that way).

Ace, Surprise: John Durham Is Investigating Deep State Coup Plotter John Brennan, and Other Deep State Coup Supporters Are "Concerned"

Wait, wait, wait -- I thought we were supposed to "let [top investigative official] do his job."

I thought we were supposed to let these investigations proceed, because it's important that we know if our high public officials are involved in collusion and conspiracy.

But now, the cries! The squeals!

Suddenly investigating possible criminal abuse of power is itself a criminal abuse of power!

I'm sure you're all just as surprise(d) as I am.

Ho hum, Politico Peter Strzok accuses the federal government of violating his rights. Roscoe Davis pretty much destroyed that argument in yesterdays take. But they'll keep flogging it, trying to hide his actions.

On Shampeachment, Matt Vespa at Town Hall has a subscription to WSJ, so you don't have to, WSJ Columnist Details What the Democrats Are Really Doing with This Impeachment Holdup Game

This isn’t about a fair trial. As Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel noted, a trial would only further degrade their position in the polls on this impeachment push. It was never popular from the start, and now it’s underwater nationally. It’s especially not popular in the key swing states that Democrats have to win in 2020. I think Democrats know this is a fiasco, the smart ones at least, but they made a 2018 promise to the base to impeach the president. They have to keep it. Strassel noted that Pelosi isn’t a scrub when it comes to political strategy; she can hang in there with McConnell. But the goal of this whole circus is to keep the idea of impeachment alive. It’s “rolling impeachment,” as Strassel noted. And it’s cancerous to constitutional order, but also the Senate GOP could enable it if they think the end goal is to nab a fair trial (via WSJ). . .

“We have a pre-opinion,” Schumer said.

Pour one out for the “impartial juror” talking point. RIP. https://t.co/jlul5rrjjA

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 27, 2019

As Kimberly Ross at WaEx points out, Pelosi demand for fair impeachment trial is laughably hypocritical. Libby Vaughn, Red State, Matt Gaetz: ‘Andy and I Observed Active Threats on the House Floor,’ Vote for Impeachment or Lose Support of DCCC, I for one, am shocked, shocked to find politics on the House floor! Al "Cpl.-Agarn-of-Color" Green Admits "Genesis of Impeachment" Began Before Trump Became POTUS, Hot Air cites the NYT in Schumer Demands Witnesses Be Called At Senate Impeachment Trial. Sure, and we get to pick 'em, just like the Democrats did in the House.

But, through WaPoo, Doug Jones (D-'bama) whines, Every trial is a pursuit of truth. Will my colleagues in the Senate uphold that?. But not every case goes to trial. Some get dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct. But the usual weak sisters in the Senate at least pretend to be buying the argument. WSJ, Susan Collins Becomes Second GOP Senator to Question McConnell Over Impeachment Trial,  Da Wire, Defection? Susan Collins Says She’s ‘Open’ To Witnesses At Impeachment Trial, Criticizes McConnell  Allah Pundit finds Susan Collins saying I’m Open To Witnesses At The Trial And It’s “Inappropriate” For McConnell To Say That He Won’t Be Impartial but not really meaning it.

She’s a mortal lock to vote for acquittal at the trial. If she were in Murkowski’s or Romney’s position, not having to face voters for another two or four or six years, that wouldn’t be the case. But she’s up next fall and the left in Maine is out for blood after she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. Collins voting futilely to remove Trump would do nothing to assuage that anger; all it would do is enrage the right, leaving her despised by both sides and doomed in November. Scolding McConnell here for taking his cues from the White House is a fine bit of empty posturing by a politician who’s doing what she can to appeal to swing voters back home but the cold fact is that she’s every bit as likely to vote for acquittal as Cocaine Mitch is.

Matt Vespa at Town Hall, Yale Professor Gets Roasted for Saying Mitch McConnell Has 'Zero Constitutional Authority' to Shape Trump Impeachment Trial. I tell you, it's a giant game of Calvin Ball, with higher stakes.

Some are Russiagate or impeachment related, at AmGreat, Top 12 Get-Trump Bloopers of 2019

12) If we don’t impeach, he might win the election.
How do the get-Trumpers respond to the argument that the American people can decide for themselves in 2020 whether to get rid of Trump? The ironically-named “Democrats” say, “Yes, and that’s the problem!” No, really. I’m not making this up. U.S. Representative Al Green (D-Texas) was asked, “Are you afraid this talk will help the president’s re-election?” Green responded, “I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected.”
. . .
10) Adam Schiff cries.

After polls failed to move in his direction, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was forced to gavel to conclusion his hippity-hoppity kangaroo court and was barely able to contain his tears. When you spend all of your time in an echo-chamber, it must be an emotional shock when you try to convince regular Americans with sham evidence.

9) Robert Mueller has never read the Mueller report.

After two years of perpetual dramatic photographs showing a stone-faced Robert Mueller rushing off to court flanked by sober lawyers and G-men, he turned out to be . . . well, not all there. Mueller supposedly was in charge of the investigation into whether Donald Trump colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election. These allegations originated with Fusion GPS, the company Clinton hired to smear her political opponent. The term “Fusion GPS” appears not once in the Mueller report and, as Mueller said, he’s not even familiar with the firm.
. . .
7) Lawrence O’Donnell’s single source.

Somebody should force O’Donnell to huff helium before he goes on air because his deep, authoritative anchorman voice is totally mismatched with his completely unreliable reporting. In August, he reportedly had a single source who would confirm that Donald Trump’s loans were co-signed by Russian oligarchs. Watch Rachel Maddow express warranted skepticism. He was forced to retract the very next day. Read here about another source who tied O’Donnell to some very sketchy behavior of his own.
. . .
5) That’s easy for her to say.

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell destroyed impeachment with a short, half-hour speech of his life, Nancy Pelosi was reduced to . . . well, watch it for yourself. Hey, where’s her drink?

4) Hot air out of both ends.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D-Calif.) got really worked up during an MSNBC interview in which he bloviated his anti-Trump talking points. Watch here as he releases even more hot air for emphasis.
. . .
2) Schiff called out at his own town hall.

Leftists have organized to disrupt conservative speakers and Republican town halls for years. That’s wrong and I condemn it even when it’s done to my own political opponents. I nevertheless find some guilty pleasure in watching Schiff’s own constituents call him a “liar.” It was funny, but please don’t do that. He has a right to speak, too.

Still, if you can’t resist, please do post the video.

1) Schiff’s star fact witness knows nothing.

In a world in which facts and emotions are the same thing, the House Intelligence Committee chairman probably didn’t worry about the fact that his only witness with an actual record of speaking to the president couldn’t back up Schiff’s key accusation—that Donald Trump threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine unless it investigated the Bidens.

You can watch as Ambassador Gordon Sondland melts under cross-examination as he admits that the entire case against Trump is mere presumption. This emphasized one of the two major problems with the Ukraine case against Trump: 1) the Democrats can’t prove what they alleged, and 2) Even if they do prove it, there’s nothing wrong with what they’ve accused him of doing. Other than that, they’ve put on a pretty good show.

Linked at the Daley Gator in 2019, a look back with Rika Ishikawa.