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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019.Pence, Giuliani will not cooperate in U.S. House impeachment inquiry
By Karen Freifeld and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
68 Comments
Yubaru
A lawyer, needing a lawyer, what a screwed up system. The only point being to tie this all up in the courts, so the process can not go on.
Wolfpack
It’s never a good idea to cooperate with an attempted coup of a democratically elected government.
forgetaboutit
how much money will the democrats steal from the us taxpayers for this campaign fiasco?
Blacklabel
Fiona Hill testified for more than 8 hours and somehow all we get is a couple sentences of selected leaks. Transcripts for all testimony from every person are necessary.
SimondB
This is the equivalent on sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "I can't hear you, la,la,la".
The man does not want to testify because what he has done will see him sitting in a prison jail. Countdown has started on Trump disowning him and saying he had no idea what Giuliani was up too. And when of all people you have John Bolton - someone with a record of lying and deceit - warning about Giuliana's behaviour, you know you have a serious problem.
Strangerland
Claim 1) Attempted coup
Claim 2) Democratically elected government
Let's analyze these two claims a little closer. First, the claim about the government being democratically elected. The American people didn't actually choose Trump - Hillary got 3 million more votes than he did. However, the Electoral College chose Trump, against the will of the people. Some say this is not democratic, but the claim is that because this is the system, it is democratic. Basically that because the system exists in a democracy, the system is democratic.
Now let's look at the other claim, that this is an attempted coup. The dictionary defines a coup as a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. However, impeachment is a process built into the system, to remove the president from power. It is not sudden, not violent, and has a legal framework, meaning it's not illegal.
If we take the right's logic that the electoral college overriding the will of the people is democratic due to being part of the legal framework, and apply it to the impeachment of Trump, there can be no other conclusion that not only is this not a coup, it's an entirely democratic removal of the president.
Strangerland
Nope. The system allows for them to not be released. Just like the Electoral College chose Trump because they could, neither do your demands have to be met if there is no legal requirement to do so.
Live by the sword...
stormcrow
You have to smile at the irony of it all. Giuliani made a name for himself by going after the NYC area Mafia, and here he is all these years later involved with Russian mob-looking characters and having his photo taken with them, and with Trump too!
Who'd have ever thunk it!?
plasticmonkey
Is there something in the constitution that equates impeachment proceedings with a coup?
Trump and Giuliani are being hoisted on their own petard. Poetic justice.
Simon Foston
Nothing guilty-looking or suspicious about that at all, then. You would think hotshot lawyers would be able to outsmart a few congressmen if there was nothing to hide, but apparently not...
Must be a terrible dilemma for any self-respecting conservative when one right-wing idol calls another one a hand grenade who is going to blow everybody up. Who to support, Bolton or Giuliani... glad I don't have to choose.
SuperLib
Rudy needs to retire. He's lost too much of his mental capacity to be useful to either side.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Prediction: Giuliani refuses to cooperate. Is jailed or otherwise punished. Trump is not impeached as a result of no damning testimony from Giuliani. Trump pardons Giuliani.
u_s__reamer
Too bad this motley crew of grifters are averse to getting a dose of their own medicine. Just a little "enhanced interrogation" CIA-style would soon get to the bottom of the swamp and roll up all this corruption swirling around the Trump Crime Family in a jiffy.
bass4funk
Well, just as expected, the weaselly Democrats led by Pelosi and shifty Schiff came out and will not hold a vote on the House floor to make this official. Called their bluff once again. Idiots. Lol
arrestpaul
Pelosi's royal decree for impeachment isn't constitutional. The U.S. House is in charge of impeachments. The whole House. Impeachment is not started by the delusional claims of one Congresswoman. If Pelosi's edict were actually constitutional, the current Republican President who dared to beat Hillary, would already be considered to have been impeached.
The various Democrat-controlled witch hunt committees can issue as many impeachment-related subpoenas as they wish. Some subpoenaed persons may chose testify. Others many chose to ignore the un-Constitutional requests. The end result is that the Democrats will be force to defend/explain their failed impeachment request in court.
I'm sure the DNC's public relations firm (aka CNN) will continue to feed false, and misleading, claims to all of it's foreign outlets.
ArtistAtLarge
Contempt!
Simon Foston
arrestpaulToday 08:51 am JST
Nonsense.
arrestpaul
The investigation into the investigators who began the Democrat Party's dreams of impeachment are still under way. Elected Democrats are hoping that their increasingly rushed phony impeachment claims will blunt the findings of their own criminal activity.
Blacklabel
live by the sword, die by the ballot box.
to your average person what the Dems are doing looks really shady. trump released transcripts and you won’t.
add on the CNN project veritas, Hunter Biden and the fake Syria video and refusing to vote on impeachment (while still calling it impeachment) you guys have serious credibility problems.
CrazyJoe
Another great day for the gutless, spineless, frightened, beaten-down losers in the White House and the Administration.
With every passing day, they are seeing more and more of their colleagues walking into the Impeachment Inquiry Room, raising their right hand, and telling their side of the story – usually backed up with emails, letters, fingerprints, DNA samples, transcripts, recordings, and video. With the notable exception of Mitch Getz getting kicked out of the hearing room, everything is pretty straightforward.
Actually, I hear the Committee is booked with witness testimony through Thanksgiving.
Don’t worry, though. Your boss, the Orange Sociopath, is behind you 100% and will never, ever throw you under the bus. He and Ronna are going to pay your legal bills and pardon you if you get convicted of federal crimes. He is a team player and extremely loyal….. just ask his three wives, 1,956 girlfriends, 7,643 former business partners, the Kurds, and the best friends he never had.
So don’t worry that 69 people were indicted during Watergate, 49 were convicted, and 40 went to prison. It won’t happen to you.
Trust Me….and Trust Him.
Pukey2
I don't blame Ghouliani - surely he knows he'll incriminate himself the second he shows his fangs.
bass4funk
Beaten down?? What? Ahhhh, that’s why they won’t take a vote on impeachment because the WH is beaten down.....lol
Utter garbage! The Democrats are out of their flipping mind! Hey won’t share any evidence with the WH, won’t allow due process, all behind closed doors, they select certain portions of these testimonies to leak to the public, won’t give this President due process, were this Obama or as with Clinton, the Dems will be their typical hypocritical self.
It’s kind of like going to the boxing ring are you tied both my hands and keep punching me in the face but I’m not allowed to punch back.
I don’t see what this has to do with anything but OK....interesting....lol
Simon Foston
arrestpaulToday 09:04 am JST
Have great hopes for that, do you? Or are you just very keen not to talk about whatever Trump and Giuliani have been up to because it's all looking more and more suspicious?
Simon Foston
plasticmonkeyToday 08:03 am JST
Well, the GOP's petard. They changed the rules back in 2015 to give the majority party unilateral subpoena power, no doubt expecting that their highly orchestrated gerrymandering would guarantee a perpetual Republican House majority.
I don't expect Trump supporters have much to say about that when they're moaning about how what the Democrats are doing is unconstitutional, of course.
lincolnman
With his demented ramblings and Charles Manson impression, I've always called Giuliani "Crazy Rudy", but given what Bolton has said, I think it's more accurate to cal him "Mr WHG" - Walking Hand Grenade....
Everyday we hear more about Mr WHG and his dirty mob-like shenanigans both in the US and in Ukraine.
What a fall from grace - from head of the New York District Attorney's Office to being investigated for illegal lobbying and other fraud by that same office.
Mr WHG is going to take down this President - by showing all the cesspool details of Trump's quid-pro-quo confession.
Go Rudy! Trump will rue the day he ever met you...
bass4funk
Ramblings of a disgruntled neocon employee, but I do like me some Bolton....
Ahhh, first Russia and now Ukraine, both hoaxes based on flimsy evidence and well, now Pelosi just reiterated that fact again by not taking a vote, knew it and Dems bought that line!
Fall from grace? More like the media hit squad trying their best to tarnish a great man, a man that saved NYC from the clutches of failed Democrats well you didn’t have to worry about wandering the streets and becoming another murder statistic. No Democrat could’ve pulled that off I would even try. But yes, in the eyes of the liberal media or so what they call themselves and the Democrats....yeah, they’re pushing him from Grace.
Simon Foston
bass4funkToday 10:04 am JST
So much for "John Bolton... the man... the legend..." Not quite so keen on him now, then?
lincolnman
Bet you'll like him even more when he testifies about that quid-pro-quo and Mr WHG...
Some flimsy evidence - a confession in writing....
Media hit squad? Is that what you call Barr's Dept of Justice these days? He's under a federal criminal investigation by Barr's own NYSD Office...an office he once led....what a fall...
yamada1043
The freak show in Washington, DC. is exasperated by the current occupant at the detriment and expense of We the People of the United States of America (U.S./USA.) ... enough already.
Joe Blow
No whistleblower testimony?
No cooperation!
Strangerland
Heh, the average person in America wants impeachment. Haven't you been watching Fox?
To the average person, Trump looks shady. To the average Trumpet, reality only their delusion.
Complete and utter morons.
Strangerland
Hah, then it's particularly ironic that the petard upon which they've hoisted themselves is one they created for their witchhunt of Hillary! Hahaha
That's like the cherry on top of the cake.
bass4funk
Love Bolton, nothings changed.
Ahhh, you guys are still looking for some mythical statement? Keep looking...Hey, Google YouTube and watch how Biden glees and gloats as he proudly admits to a quid pro quo on withholding a billion from the Ukrainians.
Based on secondhand information by a partisan Democrat, yeah that’s gonna hold up real well. ROFL!
No, that’s what I call CNN, WP, NYT and msnbc
Wakarimasen
This whole thing is weird. I still can't understand exactly what it is in the transcript or wherever that is so egregious. and if I am just dumb, why not launch a formal vote to impeach? That would force cooperation, no?
I thought Hunter came across as totally implausible in his interview.
Wolfpack
You know better than this. Trump won 30 of 50 states. The US is a republic (if they can keep it). It’s not a mobocracy as the Dems are attempting to turn it into. There are very good reasons for the electoral college. Like the Bill of Rights it was designed to protect the rights of the minority - whether it be the cities with respect to the rural areas during the early part of the nations history or the opposite in more modern times. It’s the Constitution. Live it or amend it. This constant whining because Hillary lost in 2016 is getting ridiculous. Hey, maybe Warren will win in the same way in 2020! Then you can feel gratified and have revenge on your political enemies. I’m rooting for you Strangerland!
lincolnman
Good - he's going to do regime change right here in the US...how about that Repubs!
Mr Bolton, please describe Mr Giuliani. Bolton: One word - Kaboom!
A confession staring you right in the face in the transcript - "I would ask you to do us a favor THOUGH.". Mr QPQ...
But they don't have Giuliani under federal investigation, Barr does...this is Barr vs Giuliani....want to explain that?
bass4funk
Hardly.
OK so basically we’re going to try and impeach a president based on an assumption, by a partisan Democrat political partisan hack? Well, now that’s a big ”kaboom”all over the Democrats faces.
Protocol and that is OK, you also need to remember both Joe Biden his son and uncle are also under investigation as well as Schiff and the other Democrats who tried to take this president down in 2016, so it’s all fair game.
bass4funk
As he should. But it really has nothing to do with the pitching a prisoner having him removed, because Bolton won’t achieve that either
Strangerland
Yep, just as there are very good reasons for the rules of impeachment, a democratic method for democratically removing a democratically elected president.
Or, we can switch to arguing that the articles of impeachment are unfair, in which case, ok, so is the electoral college.
Shall we go back and forth for a few days while I point out that you don't get one with out getting the other, and you can't get rid of one without getting rid of the other.
Sucks when you lose by your own logic, don't it.
bass4funk
Don't worry McConnell does.
lincolnman
Very convincing...Go Bolton!
They just continue to ignore the confession, don't they. Too much cognitive dissonance...
Wrong - nobody is under a criminal investigation except Rudy. So, explain Repub Barr finding evidence of a crime and investigating Rudy?
nishikat
Could Rudy be disbarred for this? Are there any REAL US attorneys here who can answer this? It is a fact that if you commit a crime it puts your legal licence in jeopardy, but depending on the severity of the crime.
bass4funk
Which basically means it doesn’t matter who testifies, Trump is not going to be removed by the Senate.
Yes, go testify like the others and then go.
As do the Democrats even with video evidence. Lol
No, they’re all under investigation, that is one reason why Barr and Durham are traveling around the world and expanding their investigation and now within 24 hours you that Hunter stepping down from his CEO position on the eve of the Democrat debate.....Irony....
wtfjapan
Democrats led by Pelosi and shifty Schiff came out and will not hold a vote on the House floor to make this official.
and it isnt required by law, meanwhile, Trump forces his associates not to testify, not replying to a subpoena is clearly breaking the law, Trump says its justified because the Dems arent holding a vote, which isnt illegal. Clearly see which side is abiding by the constitution here
Derek Grebe
Yeah, because that's what you do when you're innocent. Can you imagine the pearl-clutching and shrieking we'd have got from the Trumpistas if Hillary had refused to cooperate with the Benghazi hearings?
And - let's just get this straight, once and for all. No vote is required to begin Impeachment.
wtfjapan
Don't worry McConnell does.
nobody is expecting impeachment to be voted for by the Republicans, theyd sacrificed their morals long before their careers.The whole point of this process is to expose more to American just the lying corrupt inept misogynistic egotistical conman Trump is , polls are already showing what Americans think of Trump and impeachment even FOX cant deny the fact any longer
Laguna
Oh, the House definitely has info - a lot. Hill testified for NINE HOURS. The purpose of not making this testimony public at this time is to prevent coordination amongst the perpetrators. But it will come out eventually, and when it does, the avalanche will take many down with it. That's what the actors in this play must consider: What have others said, what evidence have they produced, and if I lie, what are my chances of getting away with it?
plasticmonkey
Right. But Trump will lose in 2020, will face prosecution, and the GOP will rue the day it ever went "rouge" supporting a corrupt and mentally unstable idiot.
bass4funk
3 branches coequal then The president can easily throw a middle finger to congress. If they don’t want to give him fair and due process, then he doesn’t have to respond to the request as well.
Equally, the Democrats are doing the same. This is the reason why they’re not going to take a vote, because they know they don’t have anything and they know that the Republicans they called their own witnesses including Hunter Biden and cross examine any of their witnesses and the Democrats don’t want that, not to mention that you have about 40 Democrats that want to try districts that are vulnerable to being snuffed out by the next election.equally, the Democrats are going to the same. This is the reason why they’re not going to take a vote, because they know they don’t have anything and they know that the Republicans they called their own witnesses including Hunter Biden and cross examine any of their witnesses and the Democrats don’t want that, not to mention that you have about 40 Democrats that want to trump districts that are vulnerable to being snuffed out by the next election.
Yes, so then in other words, this impeachment inquiry is just going to remain that: “an inquiry” and nothing more.
lincolnman
And Kavanaugh will never vote with the Liberals...
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/722831702/supreme-court-rules-against-apple-as-kavanaugh-sides-with-liberal-justices
Glad we agree he should testify - Mr Bolton, please explain your statement; "He's a hand grenade that is going to take a lot of people out"....
"I would like you to do us a favor THOUGH"....there's the smoking gun...
Wrong. That's a witch hunt investigation by 19 angry Republicans and crooked Trump supporters of the process, not individuals. And another dodge on why Barr is investigating Rudy?
bass4funk
The exact same way the Democrats did back in 1998 when they were screaming bloody murder about impeachment.
https://youtu.be/YZakBC7dt6c
But let’s give a pass to the corrupt lying Democrats....
But that doesn’t mean anything. The Senate will never remove him, but the Dems want to try and go down this road, ok....
u_s__reamer
Giuliani a "great man"??!! Just ask the members of the NYFD. They have not forgotten his ignominious role in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of their colleagues at Ground Zero. The canonization of "America's Mayor" was a shameless exercise by the media in concealing the egregious bungling of a despicable, spineless individual who has milked their fake news ever since. Hubris led him to hooking up with Trump, a fatal connection that will eventually prove to be his nemesis when the dirt of Ukrainegate hits the fan.
SuperLib
More of Trump's inner circle will be indicted before his term is up. They're all just garbage human beings.
bass4funk
But he also voted in allowing the president to uphold his asylum law policy and the supreme court has been especially good to this president when it comes to immigration.
Yes, let’s take a chance on flimsy evidence by a Partisan Democrat who is spying on the president just to find a secondhand information.
And nothing happened to the President because there was nothing even with 40 FBI agents and 1500 subpoenas.
No dodge. Barr and Durham are investigating all sides and that includes the Biden’s....how we had a debate today and Hunter reigns the night before....odd.
lincolnman
You missed the point - Repubs don't vote in lock-step...
You're calling Trump a partisan Democrat since he confessed? OK, whatever....
And you were wrong when you said they were under investigation...
Absolute dodge. Barr's NYSD Attorney found evidence of criminal behavior by Rudy and opened a a criminal investigation of him - explain that...
bass4funk
No, but that’s twice liberals lost on Immigration because of Kavanaugh.
No, I’m calling Biden and his cheesy camera whites the biggest video confession since Jimmy Swaggert.
Not me, Barr and Durham and the Republicans are doing it.
The same seems to be building up for Biden. Who’s son all of a sudden steps down as CEO of a company of which has no knowledge of on the eve before his father takes the stage in a democrat debate? At the same time the Republicans know as well as Trump that the Democrats will never hold a vote, because they know they don’t want any of their witnesses to be cross referenced, that would just expose more of their lies and partisan corruption.
bass4funk
Anyway, liberals can do what they want, it’s not going to work and the President won’t be removed, but they can continue to waste time if they so wish to.
lincolnman
Focus now - we're talking impeachment...
That's weird. But if you want to call Trump a partisan Democrat, its your choice...
Wrong. The 19 angry Repubs and crooked Trumpers are looking at the process, not individuals.
His mandate, the Justice Department also said, is to determine whether “intelligence collection activities by the U.S. government related to the Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign were lawful and appropriate.”
Dodge #3 - Why is Rudy under investigation by Barr? Hunter CEO of a company? Which one?
bass4funk
Me?? No, Dems need to focus, he won’t be removed from office.
No, that’s Biden wanting everyone to lay off his dishonorable discharged son.
They did. What a waste of time, the Russian hoax was nothing but a hoax. Boy did the Democrats get suckered.
Barr and Durham want to investigate every and all accusations and that’s their job and Rudy is in that circle so be it, Hunter, his uncle and dad are in it as well. No stone uncovered
lincolnman
Your words...
Your words...
Did? Focus now, we're talking present tense.
Dodge #4. Rudy is specifically named as the subject of a criminal investigation by Barr's NYSD Attorney for illegal lobbying. That's Trump and Barr investigating Rudy. Explain that...