“Ukraine whistleblower may have liaised with Vindman over Trump call”
“The whistleblower whose complaint about President Trump’s communications with Ukraine launched House impeachment proceedings was still attending White House meetings recently and may have spoken to Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman prior to filing the complaint, according to the Washington Post.
On Saturday, the outlet published details about the steps a CIA analyst took to blow the whistle after the president urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July 25 phone call to start an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, who is also leading the pack of 2020 Democrats. Notably, the Post was clear that the whistleblower is male.
“The analyst had served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration and had been in the presence of the president. After returning to the CIA, his job required him to continue to participate in National Security Council meetings,” the publication reported, indicating that the whistleblower was still attending meetings at the White House recently.
The Post claimed the whistleblower never told any of his White House contacts about his plans to file a complaint, which he worked on “after hours” in his cubicle at the CIA headquarters for two weeks before submitting it on Aug. 12.
Before filing the complaint, the anonymous person spoke with a White House official who also expressed concern over Trump’s conversation with Zelensky. The “shaken” official said the call was “frightening,” “crazy,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security.”
While unconfirmed, it is possible that the official was Vindman, who still works with the whistleblower on U.S.-Ukraine policy.
“The analyst does not identify the official in his July 26 memo, which was obtained by congressional investigators in the impeachment inquiry. But Vindman, in his testimony, disclosed that he had spoken to officials outside the White House within days of the Trump-Zelensky call,” according to the report.
Timothy Morrison, a former deputy assistant to the president and the National Security Council’s former senior director for Europe and Russia, testified that he “had concerns about Lieutenant Colonel Vindman’s judgment.” He added that others on the National Security Council, including the NSC’s former senior director for Europe and Russia, Dr. Fiona Hill, were wary of Vindman.
“Among the discussions I had with Dr. Hill in the transition was our team, my team, its strengths and its weaknesses,” Morrison said. “And Fiona and others had raised concerns about Alex’s judgment.”
Morrison also said that, although he never personally suspected Vindman of leaking, others had brought that concern about Vindman to him. Vindman testified, however, that he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is.
In the time between the July 25 call and the filing of the complaint, the whistleblower approached the CIA’s general counsel and then reached out to a staffer on Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee, “conveying his concern only in the broadest terms before the official urged him to say no more and consult a lawyer” according to the Post.
Schiff knew about it but did not immediately inform his Republican colleagues on his panel. The Washington Examiner has reported that two ex-NSC staffers are now employed by Schiff. Abigail Grace, who worked at the NSC until 2018, was hired in February, while Sean Misko, an NSC aide until 2017, joined Schiff’s committee staff in August, the same month the whistleblower submitted his complaint.
The whistleblower also reportedly met with a friend “who is an attorney and an expert on national security law” at a coffee shop. The pair “chatted briefly” before the friend “stopped the analyst before any details were broached.”
“The friend referred the analyst to another attorney, Andrew Bakaj, who had more expertise on whistleblower procedure and law,” the Post reported. “After parting ways, the friend pulled out his iPhone and deleted a calendar item he had created for their meeting that included the whistleblower’s name.”
——–
Who does that, I mean besides someone seeking to hide their deeds?
“Ratcliffe on IG report: Doesn’t take 500 pages to say everything was done right”
“Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said on Sunday that he believes the upcoming Inspector General report on the counterintelligence investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign is going to be damning evidence of wrongdoing by FBI and Justice Department officials and could lead to a full-fledged criminal investigation.
“It doesn’t take 500 pages to tell the inspector general that everything was done properly,” Ratcliffe said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The IG report is going to find that there were problems.”
For more than a year and a half, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been investigating alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrants delivered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The Justice Department and FBI obtained warrants in 2016 to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page. It is unclear, at this point, if Page was the only Trump official that the DOJ obtained a FISA warrant against
That highly anticipated report will likely spark new congressional investigations and deliver critical information to other federal reviews probing allegations of abuse by the Justice Department and the FBI.
Horowitz submitted in September a draft of his report to Attorney General Bill Barr, who was reviewing the document — fueling the belief that the public release was coming soon.”
“House minority leader demands answers from ABC News on Epstein story, Megyn Kelly reports”
“Megyn Kelly revealed that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sent a letter to ABC News President James Goldston demanding answers for why the network did not run a report from a Jeffrey Epstein accuser. Kelly broke the news on her social media accounts on Sunday evening.
Earlier this month, Project Veritas released a video of ABC News reporter Amy Robach discussing the information she received years earlier from Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre on a hot mic. The reporter can be heard expressing her frustration surrounding ABC News’s refusal to air the interview and claimed that the network made the decision after receiving threats from Buckingham Palace when they had found out Prince Andrew was implicated in the story. She also alleged that Epstein might have been murdered.
McCarthy, in his letter to Goldston, demands answers behind the network’s decision not to air Robach’s story. He asks the network six questions and they are:
1. Will ABC News provide Congress the interview Ms. Robach conducted with the victim?
2. What did ABC News learn about Jeffrey Epstein after Ms. Robach first presented her story to executives?
3. Who was involved win deciding this story was not of public interest, and what were there reasons for deciding so?
4. Can Ms. Robach expand on the “outside forces” she mentioned as potentially responsible for the story not running?
5. Was ABC News ever presented with additional evidence on Mr. Epstein from the time Ms. Robach first brought her investigation too the network and when he ultimately arrested?
6. Were authorities alerted at any time after Ms. Robach presented ABC News executives with her reporting? If so, when and what was provided?”
“The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently held its 25th Annual Gala in Washington, D.C, in which CAIR’s executive director announced a goal of pushing more Islamists into Congress.
As the Investigative Project on Terrorism reports, CAIR’s executive director Nihad Awad shares the “formula” he believes will secure Islamists greater political power:
“A strong CAIR equals a strong community. A strong community will produce a strong and confident and successful Muslim … “So I’m telling you tonight we are going to work in the next years, inshallah (God willing], to elect at least 30 Muslims in the Congress. This number is equivalent to our size and our potential as American Muslims. Including at least two [U.S.] senator Muslims.”
In addition, Awad envisions Muslim judges, including a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, along with an Islamist extension of Hollywood.
No matter that Awad got his numbers wrong, this has been the Islamist agenda since at least the 2000s, when I heard the same professional targets outlined at national conventions. But as Middle East Forum’s Daniel Pipes wrote in 2003, it goes further.
Pipes documents how, in 1998, CAIR’s Chairman Omar M. Ahmad told a crowd of Muslims in California: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.”
In 2008, I heard this message echoed at a southern California mosque by Imam Siraj Wahhaj at an event sponsored by the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), where Wahhaj said:
“There is no America. There is only Islam.”
None of these views have been clandestine. Over the years the message has been consistent. What has changed is that the Islamist candidates they produce are more vocal about exactly which interests they represent.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s support of the Hamas terror group and the anti-Semitic BDS movement against Israel is the most recent demonstration of that.
Within this discussion of CAIR’s vision of Muslim in Congress — that is, Islamists in Congress — and those seeking other avenues of political power, it’s important to underscore that not all Muslims are Islamists. Not all Muslims are race and religious supremacists who believe that the politicization of faith is the way to go. Many Muslims stand opposed to the politicization of faith; many stand opposed to Islamists. “
“‘It Was Clearly Criminal’: How A Massachusetts Judge Allegedly Helped An Illegal Alien Escape ICE”
“Massachusetts Judge Shelley Joseph allegedly helped an illegal alien avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension by directing him to leave through a back door in April
2018, prompting federal prosecutors to charge her with obstruction of justice.
Some in the immigrant activist community are not standing by Joseph, noting that she went so far as to turn off a recording of her conversation with lawyers while conspiring to help the illegal alien, which violated courtroom policy.
Joseph is refusing to take a plea deal and is instead choosing to fight the charges. The court case could take years to reach its conclusion. “
“Nearly 80,000 immigrants approved for DACA have arrest records, USCIS report finds”
“Nearly 80,000 immigrants approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which shields those who came to the country illegally as minors from deportation, have an arrest record — including arrests for violent or sexual offenses.
The data released Saturday by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows only arrests or apprehensions for a criminal offense or an immigration-related civil offense and does not take into account whether there was a conviction, acquittal, dismissal or a lessening of charges.
The report finds that of the nearly 889,000 applicants for the DACA program, 110,000 had arrest records. Of the more than 765,000 approved for DACA, 79,398 had arrest records. Of that number, 67,861 were arrested before their most recent DACA approval, while 15,903 were arrested after their most recent approval.
The offenses incurred by DACA requestors who were arrested before their most recent approval include battery (3,421), assault (3,308), burglary, breaking and entering (1,471), rape (62), murder (15) and theft or larceny (7,926). The largest population arrested were suspected of driving-related offenses excluding DUIs (23,305) and immigration-related offenses (12,968.)
The report comes as the Obama-era program’s constitutionality is under examination at the Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the case began this week.
“As DACA continues to be the subject of both public discourse and ongoing litigation, USCIS remains committed to ensuring transparency and that the American people are informed about those receiving DACA,” USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement.
“This agency is obligated to continue accepting DACA requests from illegal aliens as a direct result of the previous administration’s decision to circumvent the laws as passed by Congress. We hope this data provides a better sense of the reality of those granted the privilege of a temporary deferral of removal action and work authorization under DACA,” he said. “
“Do Democrats like San Fran Nan and their media sycophants still caterwaul about the “manufactured border crisis” anymore? Haven’t heard that phrase much from them lately, particularly after those poor Mormon women and children were massacred by Mexican cartel sicarios the other day. But then that claim never did measure up to the facts, especially when considering crime statistics and costs associated with the massive invasion of illegal aliens.
Besides those Mormons, we also know about the tragedies of the angel parents whose children were killed by illegals – many of whom were repeat offenders. The legacy media take turns ignoring and disparaging angel families, frequently referring to them as political props for the Trump administration. Here is one example.
Gutless San Fran Nan even refused to meet with a group of Angel Moms because the political optics would not support her narrative of no funding for a border wall, as noted here.
She’s got impeachment on her mind these days and can’t be bothered with doing the country’s business, including providing for the safety and security of Americans impacted by the flood of illegal aliens from Mexico.
Here is an excellent website that keeps a running tab of serious crimes committed by illegal aliens in the US. Recommend you browse through the various categories on a periodic basis and prepare to be enraged! It is a great resource that Americans who are concerned about illegal alien crimes against Americans should regularly visit to stay informed because the legacy media will continue to obfuscate these crimes in service of the globalist Democrats’ open borders agenda.
To get further into the weeds of crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens, here is an abstract of a report by John Lott for the Crime Prevention Research Center on Arizona criminal statistics. Read this carefully, and the extrapolate the numbers for the rest of the US. This information is shocking and virtually unknown by most Americans because the legacy media avoid this topic like the plague!
Using newly released detailed data on all prisoners who entered the Arizona state prison from January 1985 through June 2017, we are able to separate non-U.S. citizens by whether they are illegal or legal residents. Unlike other studies, these data do not rely on self-reporting of criminal backgrounds. Undocumented immigrants are at least 142% more likely to be convicted of a crime than other Arizonans. They also tend to commit more serious crimes and serve 10.5% longer sentences, more likely to be classified as dangerous, and 45% more likely to be gang members than U.S. citizens.
Yet, there are several reasons that these numbers are likely to underestimate the share of crime committed by undocumented immigrants. There are dramatic differences between in the criminal histories of convicts who are U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants.
Young convicts are especially likely to be undocumented immigrants. While undocumented immigrants from 15 to 35 years of age make up slightly over two percent of the Arizona population, they make up about eight percent of the prison population. Even after adjusting for the fact that young people commit crime at higher rates, young undocumented immigrants commit crime at twice the rate of young U.S. citizens. These undocumented immigrants also tend to commit more serious crimes.
If undocumented immigrants committed crime nationally as they do in Arizona, in 2016 they would have been responsible for over 1,000 more murders, 5,200 rapes, 8,900 robberies, 25,300 aggravated assaults, and 26,900 burglaries.”
“Most voters don’t expect fair play from the media when it comes to news coverage of the Democrats’ impeachment attempt.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of Likely U.S. Voters think most reporters are trying to help impeach President Trump when they write or talk about the impeachment effort. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 32% believe most reporters are simply interested in reporting the news in an unbiased manner. Eight percent (8%) say most are trying to block Trump’s impeachment. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans and a plurality (48%) of voters not affiliated with either major political party say most reporters are trying to help impeach Trump, a view shared by only 36% of Democrats.
Eighty-six percent (86%) of all voters say they have closely followed news reports about House Democrats’ efforts to impeach the president, with 54% who have been following Very Closely.
Among voters who have been following impeachment news Very Closely, 58% think most reporters are trying to help impeach Trump; 34% say they are simply interested in reporting the news in an unbiased manner.”
Like with Russia, Russia, Russia, it all leads back to their dirty deeds. That’s why they hide the origins.
Accept Democrats at their word that they really want to protect whistleblower's personal safety. It's also true that cutting off questions about whistleblower allows Dems to shut off any look at how Trump-Ukraine probe started. 1/2 https://t.co/zdOdhwnokU
Who was involved? What did they do? Why did some government employees think Trump-Zelensky call represented poor judgment, or a missed opportunity, while others thought it represented wrongdoing requiring congressional investigation? 2/2 https://t.co/DgA3KtI5jg
“Prince ‘I-didn’t-party-or-do-PDAs’ Andrew is pictured doing plenty of both at wild parties on the French Riviera in 2007 (and he looks a wee bit sweaty too)
Newly-revealed video shows Prince Andrew at raucous pool party on the French Riviera in July 2008
Pictures from other events also show him enjoying attention of beautiful women including one licking his face
Andrew’s public role in danger after ‘car crash’ BBC interview where he discussed relationship with Epstein
Denied he met Virginia Roberts – let alone had sex with her – and hinted photo of them together could be fake
Duke said he ‘never really partied’, avoided ‘public affection’ and Falklands battles left him unable to sweat
But photos and video from French parties show him gripping several women and looking decidedly sweaty
2.5m people watched BBC interview described as ‘Not so much a car crash but an articulated lorry crash’
Lawyers in the US believe Duke of York ‘would not be entitled to any form of immunity’ if the FBI grilled him”
After Marie Yovanovitch hurt Democrats' impeachment drive, Adam Schiff's squad held another SECRET hearing & selectively leaked a statement from State Dept bureaucrat David Holmes.
While media spreads Holmes' selective narrative, Americans can't see his answers to key questions. pic.twitter.com/807M8e0dKu
Bill Taylor testified that he takes detailed notes about all of his conversations, & that his October 22 closed-door deposition was based on those notes.
But he says he did not know about the July 26 phone call at the time of his deposition. Apparently it is not in his notes.
That's significant because David Holmes claims he not only told Bill Taylor about the call in August, but he also claims he immediately told many of his embassy colleagues and repeatedly referenced it in meetings.
Why did Taylor never hear about it from one of those people?
OPINION
Finley: Let’s just impeach everyone
Nolan Finley, The Detroit News
If Washington, D.C. were held to biblical standards, it would be an ash heap.
Recall that God smoked Sodom and Gomorrah when Abraham couldn’t find 10 righteous men among the populace to meet His condition for sparing them.
Good luck filling that quota in the Capitol.
What we saw during last week’s hearings confirms there are no white hats in this impeachment fight. No one purely motivated. And the only righteousness on display is self-righteousness.
Picking sides is a pointless exercise that serves to perpetuate the poisonous partisanship ruining our country. We should stop pretending there’s virtue on one side of this enterprise and evil on the other and accept the reality that two things can be true at once.
Donald Trump can be an immoral scoundrel who abused the power of the presidency in pressuring a foreign country to help take down a political rival. I believe that.
And Adam Schiff can be a scheming weasel who’s had the impeachment papers on his desk for three years just waiting to fill in the blanks. I believe that, too.
I put nothing past Trump, the most dishonorable president ever to hold the office. His moral compass is without a needle. Even in this vulgar social media age, Trump’s coarseness is unacceptable for an American president. …
… Still, I find myself trapped into defending Trump against the push by ruthless Democrats and their allies to take down an elected president by any means necessary. Trump has not been treated fairly. ,,,
… For either Republicans or Democrats to see their party as holding the high ground requires a lot of squinting. My solution would be a blanket impeachment that takes them all out.
This pox-on-all-their-houses wish stems from a conviction that we are nearing the point at which dysfunctional government becomes intractable, offering no hope of ever coming together to advance the nation past its many challenges.
Back to the Bible, what we may be witnessing are the end times of our Republic.
_____________________________
David Holmes' written statement includes supposedly exact quotes from the July phone call, but the quotes are solely based on his four-month-old memories.
He admits "I did not take notes," and it did not occur to him to come forward about the call until last week.
Quick Ricky, tell us again how this is witness tampering and intimidation….
6th problem: David Holmes admits he is motivated to bolster Democrats' case for impeachment.
Holmes wrote that after seeing "press reports noting the lack of first-hand evidence" & hearings are based on "hearsay," he decided what he allegedly overheard 4 months ago was relevant.
The NY Times…. All the lies you can’t believe we’d print.
FedEx's tax bill went from $1.5 billion to $0 in a single year. What changed? The Trump administration’s tax cut — for which the company had lobbied hard. https://t.co/B3Bi6FYIaq
Morrison is asked about Vindman's testimony that his, Vindman's, proposed edits to rough transcript of Trump-Zelensky call were not included in final version. Yes, they were, says Morrison. pic.twitter.com/SluEvMhLcC
NSC handling of Trump-Zelensky call is part of Dem impeachment inquiry. But Schiff will not allow any discussion of who Vindman discussed call with. (Van Gelder is Morrison's lawyer.) pic.twitter.com/6VRtmCcunq
Morrison: 'I had concerns that [Vindman] did not exercise appropriate judgment as to whom he would say what.' But Republicans not allowed to pursue; might reveal hints about whistleblower. pic.twitter.com/rzIBaOrfP9
Chick-fil-A ends donations that sparked protests
The Chick-fil-A Foundation will no longer support the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, which affirm a Biblical definition of marriage. The restaurant’s partnership with those groups fueled protests by those who label the company as anti-gay. The foundation said it would now focus its giving in the areas of education, homelessness, and hunger.
Does this satisfy Chick-fil-A’s critics? Many LGBT advocates welcomed the news, but some of the fast-food chain’s conservative and Christian customers said they felt betrayed. “Incredibly stupid move by Chick-fil-A,” blogger Matt Walsh tweeted. “They won’t appease the critics by caving but they might alienate some of their customers.” The foundation said its donations going forward could include faith-based or secular nonprofit groups. It also announced plans to support Covenant House, a ministry for homeless youth founded by a Catholic priest.
______________________
Ppl in Iran chanting : “We don’t want the Islamic Republic” Iranian are looking for their rights & they believe it can’t be achieved with Islamic Republic.#IranProtests#ایران_ینتفضpic.twitter.com/SoiV9CW8jE
— Maryam shariatmadari #FreeFromHijab (@Maryamshariatm) November 17, 2019
“The House of Representatives is reportedly investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into the president.
“Did the President lie? Was the President not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” House general counsel Douglas Letter told the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about why the House now needs access to material from Mueller’s investigation, CNN first reported.”
————
Keep fishing, we’re bound to get something, right?
I’m not surprised. Modern capitalism demands continuous growth. Chick-a-fil had saturated their traditional markets and to maintain a growth strategy they expanded to NYC, Toronto, etc. However, fanchises in these areas had little value unless they changed their conservative values. Chick a fil had a choice; stay true to their conservative Christian values or stay true to modern capitalism. They choose the later.
Its not too different with Trump supporters. With rhetoric that paints any opposition as leftis or socialists (even an Economist editor), Trump supporters refuse to quit their support of Trump who they think represents right wing capitalist values even though Trump doesn’t represent Christian values. Hence they choose capitalism over conserative Christian values. I have long maintained that Christianity and capitalism are incompatible — both Chickafil’s actions and Trump confirm this.
“Rep. Lee Zeldin: Upcoming impeachment hearings should be postponed due to new development”
“New developments in the impeachment probe were revealed during two closed-door depositions that took place over the weekend, revealed Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who called for a delay in the upcoming impeachment hearings until those transcripts are publicly available.
“A lot of people didn’t realize that once the cameras ended… on Friday, we then went back to this SCIF in the Capitol basement where there was a closed-door deposition,” Zeldin said on Fox Nation’s “Maria Bartiromo’s Insiders.”
David Holmes, assistant to Ambassador Bill Taylor in Ukraine, and Office of Management and Budget official Mark Sandy, testified before Congress over the weekend, in separate closed-door depositions following last week’s highly contentious public hearings.
According to Zeldin, Sandy “went right to the heart of why there was a hold on aid to Ukraine” during his Saturday deposition, and called for a release of the transcripts containing Sandy’s statement in time for week two of public hearings.
“A great answer given, a very informative answer by Mark Sandy,” Zeldin said, “and I think it would change some of the answers given by some of these other witnesses this week.”
While many of the transcripts from last week’s hearings, both public and private, remain unavailable at this time, much of Zeldin’s questioning for the upcoming hearings revolves around the new information, and he explained that deposition rules prevent him from referencing the substance of those interviews in public until the transcripts are released.
“I believe that we should not go forward with the next open public hearing until the rest of these transcripts are out, because I have questions to ask of these witnesses…based off of what we heard.”
“White House official sues Politico, targets Schiff’s role in impeachment”
” The impeachment inquiry against President Trump has triggered a wave of charges, countercharges, court battles, subpoenas and legal threats.
Now it has produced its first libel suit.
A White House official on Monday sued Politico and one of its reporters over stories and tweets that he says falsely accuse him of “lying, deceit and unethical conduct.”
Kash Patel, the National Security Council’s senior counterterrorism director, is seeking more than $25 million in damages in the suit filed in Virginia. We have reached out to Politico for comment.
The lawsuit also names Natasha Bertrand, a Politico reporter and MSNBC contributor, as well as Politico owner Robert Allbritton. The allegations, which center on what the president was told about the situation in Ukraine, go to the heart of the case for impeachment. Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring told me: “This lawsuit is high on bombast and low on merit. It is unserious and is a public relations tactic designed to intimidate journalists and media organizations from doing their job.””
While Politico is the nominal target of the suit, it represents an aggressive attempt by a presidential aide to put Adam Schiff’s handling of the impeachment inquiry itself on trial. Describing the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee as “a demagogue with an ax to grind against the president,” Patel portrays Schiff as running roughshod over rules and interviewing witnesses “to create click-bait headlines and soundbites to feed to his co-conspirators and media sympathizers.”
The suit stems from Bertrand’s Oct. 23 story, headlined “Nunes Protege Fed Ukraine Info to Trump.” Patel previously worked for Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, spearheading the Intel Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, before joining the White House in February.
The Politico piece said Patel “was among those passing negative information about Ukraine to President Donald Trump earlier this year, fueling the president’s belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.”
Patel was “so involved in the issue,” the story said, that “at one point Trump thought he was in charge of Ukraine policy for the National Security Council.” This was attributed to closed-door House testimony by Fiona Hill,” a former NSC official. What’s more, Politico said, “Patel’s involvement demonstrates that the president had at least some support for the scheme from within the NSC” — the scheme being to pressure Ukraine into investigations that would help Trump politically.
In fact, Patel’s suit says, “at no time” before Oct. 30 “had Kash ever communicated with the president on any matters involving Ukraine. Kash never supplied any Ukraine ‘materials’ to the president.””
———–
With these people, truth takes a back seat to the agenda.
Wandering Views 
More collusion by Dems and their “witnesses.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ukraine-whistleblower-still-attending-white-house-meetings
“Ukraine whistleblower may have liaised with Vindman over Trump call”
“The whistleblower whose complaint about President Trump’s communications with Ukraine launched House impeachment proceedings was still attending White House meetings recently and may have spoken to Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman prior to filing the complaint, according to the Washington Post.
On Saturday, the outlet published details about the steps a CIA analyst took to blow the whistle after the president urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July 25 phone call to start an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, who is also leading the pack of 2020 Democrats. Notably, the Post was clear that the whistleblower is male.
“The analyst had served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration and had been in the presence of the president. After returning to the CIA, his job required him to continue to participate in National Security Council meetings,” the publication reported, indicating that the whistleblower was still attending meetings at the White House recently.
The Post claimed the whistleblower never told any of his White House contacts about his plans to file a complaint, which he worked on “after hours” in his cubicle at the CIA headquarters for two weeks before submitting it on Aug. 12.
Before filing the complaint, the anonymous person spoke with a White House official who also expressed concern over Trump’s conversation with Zelensky. The “shaken” official said the call was “frightening,” “crazy,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security.”
While unconfirmed, it is possible that the official was Vindman, who still works with the whistleblower on U.S.-Ukraine policy.
“The analyst does not identify the official in his July 26 memo, which was obtained by congressional investigators in the impeachment inquiry. But Vindman, in his testimony, disclosed that he had spoken to officials outside the White House within days of the Trump-Zelensky call,” according to the report.
Timothy Morrison, a former deputy assistant to the president and the National Security Council’s former senior director for Europe and Russia, testified that he “had concerns about Lieutenant Colonel Vindman’s judgment.” He added that others on the National Security Council, including the NSC’s former senior director for Europe and Russia, Dr. Fiona Hill, were wary of Vindman.
“Among the discussions I had with Dr. Hill in the transition was our team, my team, its strengths and its weaknesses,” Morrison said. “And Fiona and others had raised concerns about Alex’s judgment.”
Morrison also said that, although he never personally suspected Vindman of leaking, others had brought that concern about Vindman to him. Vindman testified, however, that he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is.
In the time between the July 25 call and the filing of the complaint, the whistleblower approached the CIA’s general counsel and then reached out to a staffer on Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee, “conveying his concern only in the broadest terms before the official urged him to say no more and consult a lawyer” according to the Post.
Schiff knew about it but did not immediately inform his Republican colleagues on his panel. The Washington Examiner has reported that two ex-NSC staffers are now employed by Schiff. Abigail Grace, who worked at the NSC until 2018, was hired in February, while Sean Misko, an NSC aide until 2017, joined Schiff’s committee staff in August, the same month the whistleblower submitted his complaint.
The whistleblower also reportedly met with a friend “who is an attorney and an expert on national security law” at a coffee shop. The pair “chatted briefly” before the friend “stopped the analyst before any details were broached.”
“The friend referred the analyst to another attorney, Andrew Bakaj, who had more expertise on whistleblower procedure and law,” the Post reported. “After parting ways, the friend pulled out his iPhone and deleted a calendar item he had created for their meeting that included the whistleblower’s name.”
——–
Who does that, I mean besides someone seeking to hide their deeds?
LikeLike
It’s coming this week.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ratcliffe-on-ig-report-doesnt-take-500-pages-to-say-everything-was-done-right
“Ratcliffe on IG report: Doesn’t take 500 pages to say everything was done right”
“Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said on Sunday that he believes the upcoming Inspector General report on the counterintelligence investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign is going to be damning evidence of wrongdoing by FBI and Justice Department officials and could lead to a full-fledged criminal investigation.
“It doesn’t take 500 pages to tell the inspector general that everything was done properly,” Ratcliffe said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The IG report is going to find that there were problems.”
For more than a year and a half, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been investigating alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrants delivered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The Justice Department and FBI obtained warrants in 2016 to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page. It is unclear, at this point, if Page was the only Trump official that the DOJ obtained a FISA warrant against
That highly anticipated report will likely spark new congressional investigations and deliver critical information to other federal reviews probing allegations of abuse by the Justice Department and the FBI.
Horowitz submitted in September a draft of his report to Attorney General Bill Barr, who was reviewing the document — fueling the belief that the public release was coming soon.”
LikeLike
I think we need some hearings. 🙂
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-minority-leader-demands-answers-from-abc-news-on-epstein-story-megyn-kelly-says
“House minority leader demands answers from ABC News on Epstein story, Megyn Kelly reports”
“Megyn Kelly revealed that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sent a letter to ABC News President James Goldston demanding answers for why the network did not run a report from a Jeffrey Epstein accuser. Kelly broke the news on her social media accounts on Sunday evening.
Earlier this month, Project Veritas released a video of ABC News reporter Amy Robach discussing the information she received years earlier from Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre on a hot mic. The reporter can be heard expressing her frustration surrounding ABC News’s refusal to air the interview and claimed that the network made the decision after receiving threats from Buckingham Palace when they had found out Prince Andrew was implicated in the story. She also alleged that Epstein might have been murdered.
McCarthy, in his letter to Goldston, demands answers behind the network’s decision not to air Robach’s story. He asks the network six questions and they are:
1. Will ABC News provide Congress the interview Ms. Robach conducted with the victim?
2. What did ABC News learn about Jeffrey Epstein after Ms. Robach first presented her story to executives?
3. Who was involved win deciding this story was not of public interest, and what were there reasons for deciding so?
4. Can Ms. Robach expand on the “outside forces” she mentioned as potentially responsible for the story not running?
5. Was ABC News ever presented with additional evidence on Mr. Epstein from the time Ms. Robach first brought her investigation too the network and when he ultimately arrested?
6. Were authorities alerted at any time after Ms. Robach presented ABC News executives with her reporting? If so, when and what was provided?”
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The Islamization of our govt. continues.
Because who doesn’t want the foxes in the hen house?
https://clarionproject.org/cair-goal-30-islamists-into-congress/
“CAIR’s Goal: 30 Islamists into Congress”
“The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently held its 25th Annual Gala in Washington, D.C, in which CAIR’s executive director announced a goal of pushing more Islamists into Congress.
As the Investigative Project on Terrorism reports, CAIR’s executive director Nihad Awad shares the “formula” he believes will secure Islamists greater political power:
“A strong CAIR equals a strong community. A strong community will produce a strong and confident and successful Muslim … “So I’m telling you tonight we are going to work in the next years, inshallah (God willing], to elect at least 30 Muslims in the Congress. This number is equivalent to our size and our potential as American Muslims. Including at least two [U.S.] senator Muslims.”
In addition, Awad envisions Muslim judges, including a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, along with an Islamist extension of Hollywood.
No matter that Awad got his numbers wrong, this has been the Islamist agenda since at least the 2000s, when I heard the same professional targets outlined at national conventions. But as Middle East Forum’s Daniel Pipes wrote in 2003, it goes further.
Pipes documents how, in 1998, CAIR’s Chairman Omar M. Ahmad told a crowd of Muslims in California: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.”
In 2008, I heard this message echoed at a southern California mosque by Imam Siraj Wahhaj at an event sponsored by the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), where Wahhaj said:
“There is no America. There is only Islam.”
None of these views have been clandestine. Over the years the message has been consistent. What has changed is that the Islamist candidates they produce are more vocal about exactly which interests they represent.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s support of the Hamas terror group and the anti-Semitic BDS movement against Israel is the most recent demonstration of that.
Within this discussion of CAIR’s vision of Muslim in Congress — that is, Islamists in Congress — and those seeking other avenues of political power, it’s important to underscore that not all Muslims are Islamists. Not all Muslims are race and religious supremacists who believe that the politicization of faith is the way to go. Many Muslims stand opposed to the politicization of faith; many stand opposed to Islamists. “
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Clearly criminal.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/17/massachusetts-judge-helped-illegal-alien/
“‘It Was Clearly Criminal’: How A Massachusetts Judge Allegedly Helped An Illegal Alien Escape ICE”
“Massachusetts Judge Shelley Joseph allegedly helped an illegal alien avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension by directing him to leave through a back door in April
2018, prompting federal prosecutors to charge her with obstruction of justice.
Some in the immigrant activist community are not standing by Joseph, noting that she went so far as to turn off a recording of her conversation with lawyers while conspiring to help the illegal alien, which violated courtroom policy.
Joseph is refusing to take a plea deal and is instead choosing to fight the charges. The court case could take years to reach its conclusion. “
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Ah yes….
The parts the Dems and media always leave out.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nearly-80000-approved-for-daca-have-arrest-records-uscis-report-finds
“Nearly 80,000 immigrants approved for DACA have arrest records, USCIS report finds”
“Nearly 80,000 immigrants approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which shields those who came to the country illegally as minors from deportation, have an arrest record — including arrests for violent or sexual offenses.
The data released Saturday by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows only arrests or apprehensions for a criminal offense or an immigration-related civil offense and does not take into account whether there was a conviction, acquittal, dismissal or a lessening of charges.
The report finds that of the nearly 889,000 applicants for the DACA program, 110,000 had arrest records. Of the more than 765,000 approved for DACA, 79,398 had arrest records. Of that number, 67,861 were arrested before their most recent DACA approval, while 15,903 were arrested after their most recent approval.
The offenses incurred by DACA requestors who were arrested before their most recent approval include battery (3,421), assault (3,308), burglary, breaking and entering (1,471), rape (62), murder (15) and theft or larceny (7,926). The largest population arrested were suspected of driving-related offenses excluding DUIs (23,305) and immigration-related offenses (12,968.)
The report comes as the Obama-era program’s constitutionality is under examination at the Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the case began this week.
“As DACA continues to be the subject of both public discourse and ongoing litigation, USCIS remains committed to ensuring transparency and that the American people are informed about those receiving DACA,” USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement.
“This agency is obligated to continue accepting DACA requests from illegal aliens as a direct result of the previous administration’s decision to circumvent the laws as passed by Congress. We hope this data provides a better sense of the reality of those granted the privilege of a temporary deferral of removal action and work authorization under DACA,” he said. “
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And the other part they always fail to tell the truth about too.
Illegal Alien Crimes and Costs That the Democrats and Legacy Media Ignore
https://www.redstate.com/stu-in-sd/2019/11/15/illegal-alien-crimes-costs-democrats-legacy-media-ignore/
“Do Democrats like San Fran Nan and their media sycophants still caterwaul about the “manufactured border crisis” anymore? Haven’t heard that phrase much from them lately, particularly after those poor Mormon women and children were massacred by Mexican cartel sicarios the other day. But then that claim never did measure up to the facts, especially when considering crime statistics and costs associated with the massive invasion of illegal aliens.
Besides those Mormons, we also know about the tragedies of the angel parents whose children were killed by illegals – many of whom were repeat offenders. The legacy media take turns ignoring and disparaging angel families, frequently referring to them as political props for the Trump administration. Here is one example.
Gutless San Fran Nan even refused to meet with a group of Angel Moms because the political optics would not support her narrative of no funding for a border wall, as noted here.
She’s got impeachment on her mind these days and can’t be bothered with doing the country’s business, including providing for the safety and security of Americans impacted by the flood of illegal aliens from Mexico.
Here is an excellent website that keeps a running tab of serious crimes committed by illegal aliens in the US. Recommend you browse through the various categories on a periodic basis and prepare to be enraged! It is a great resource that Americans who are concerned about illegal alien crimes against Americans should regularly visit to stay informed because the legacy media will continue to obfuscate these crimes in service of the globalist Democrats’ open borders agenda.
To get further into the weeds of crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens, here is an abstract of a report by John Lott for the Crime Prevention Research Center on Arizona criminal statistics. Read this carefully, and the extrapolate the numbers for the rest of the US. This information is shocking and virtually unknown by most Americans because the legacy media avoid this topic like the plague!
Using newly released detailed data on all prisoners who entered the Arizona state prison from January 1985 through June 2017, we are able to separate non-U.S. citizens by whether they are illegal or legal residents. Unlike other studies, these data do not rely on self-reporting of criminal backgrounds. Undocumented immigrants are at least 142% more likely to be convicted of a crime than other Arizonans. They also tend to commit more serious crimes and serve 10.5% longer sentences, more likely to be classified as dangerous, and 45% more likely to be gang members than U.S. citizens.
Yet, there are several reasons that these numbers are likely to underestimate the share of crime committed by undocumented immigrants. There are dramatic differences between in the criminal histories of convicts who are U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants.
Young convicts are especially likely to be undocumented immigrants. While undocumented immigrants from 15 to 35 years of age make up slightly over two percent of the Arizona population, they make up about eight percent of the prison population. Even after adjusting for the fact that young people commit crime at higher rates, young undocumented immigrants commit crime at twice the rate of young U.S. citizens. These undocumented immigrants also tend to commit more serious crimes.
If undocumented immigrants committed crime nationally as they do in Arizona, in 2016 they would have been responsible for over 1,000 more murders, 5,200 rapes, 8,900 robberies, 25,300 aggravated assaults, and 26,900 burglaries.”
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People believe what they see with their own eyes. The ones who don’t, are just being willfully ignorant, they are NTers and Dems.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/november_2019/most_say_media_working_with_democrats_to_impeach_trump
“Most voters don’t expect fair play from the media when it comes to news coverage of the Democrats’ impeachment attempt.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of Likely U.S. Voters think most reporters are trying to help impeach President Trump when they write or talk about the impeachment effort. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 32% believe most reporters are simply interested in reporting the news in an unbiased manner. Eight percent (8%) say most are trying to block Trump’s impeachment. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans and a plurality (48%) of voters not affiliated with either major political party say most reporters are trying to help impeach Trump, a view shared by only 36% of Democrats.
Eighty-six percent (86%) of all voters say they have closely followed news reports about House Democrats’ efforts to impeach the president, with 54% who have been following Very Closely.
Among voters who have been following impeachment news Very Closely, 58% think most reporters are trying to help impeach Trump; 34% say they are simply interested in reporting the news in an unbiased manner.”
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Dem Rep. Jeff Van Drew: ‘Let’s Have the Election,’ Impeachment ‘Is Going To Get Us Nowhere’
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Looks like Ricky will have to update his talking points.
Again. 🙂
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Like with Russia, Russia, Russia, it all leads back to their dirty deeds. That’s why they hide the origins.
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Another of Epstein’s buddies is caught lying.
https://twitter.com/hdixonclegg/status/1195818429590179840
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https://twitter.com/daveinfrance/status/1195846661655998464
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In case you don’t know, that’s Prince Andrew.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7695233/Videos-Prince-Andrew-partying-nightclubs-beautiful-young-women-French-Riviera.html
“Prince ‘I-didn’t-party-or-do-PDAs’ Andrew is pictured doing plenty of both at wild parties on the French Riviera in 2007 (and he looks a wee bit sweaty too)
Newly-revealed video shows Prince Andrew at raucous pool party on the French Riviera in July 2008
Pictures from other events also show him enjoying attention of beautiful women including one licking his face
Andrew’s public role in danger after ‘car crash’ BBC interview where he discussed relationship with Epstein
Denied he met Virginia Roberts – let alone had sex with her – and hinted photo of them together could be fake
Duke said he ‘never really partied’, avoided ‘public affection’ and Falklands battles left him unable to sweat
But photos and video from French parties show him gripping several women and looking decidedly sweaty
2.5m people watched BBC interview described as ‘Not so much a car crash but an articulated lorry crash’
Lawyers in the US believe Duke of York ‘would not be entitled to any form of immunity’ if the FBI grilled him”
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We already knew Soros filthy fingers were all over the Ukraine corruption, but now we know he coordinated with the “whistleblower” now too.
Talk about collusion….
Gotta love those FOIA lawsuits. It’s the onlt way to get any truth out of Democrats.
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It continues to crumble.
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2019/11/17/finley-we-need-blanket-impeachment/4203250002/
Amen
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OPINION
Finley: Let’s just impeach everyone
Nolan Finley, The Detroit News
If Washington, D.C. were held to biblical standards, it would be an ash heap.
Recall that God smoked Sodom and Gomorrah when Abraham couldn’t find 10 righteous men among the populace to meet His condition for sparing them.
Good luck filling that quota in the Capitol.
What we saw during last week’s hearings confirms there are no white hats in this impeachment fight. No one purely motivated. And the only righteousness on display is self-righteousness.
Picking sides is a pointless exercise that serves to perpetuate the poisonous partisanship ruining our country. We should stop pretending there’s virtue on one side of this enterprise and evil on the other and accept the reality that two things can be true at once.
Donald Trump can be an immoral scoundrel who abused the power of the presidency in pressuring a foreign country to help take down a political rival. I believe that.
And Adam Schiff can be a scheming weasel who’s had the impeachment papers on his desk for three years just waiting to fill in the blanks. I believe that, too.
I put nothing past Trump, the most dishonorable president ever to hold the office. His moral compass is without a needle. Even in this vulgar social media age, Trump’s coarseness is unacceptable for an American president. …
… Still, I find myself trapped into defending Trump against the push by ruthless Democrats and their allies to take down an elected president by any means necessary. Trump has not been treated fairly. ,,,
… For either Republicans or Democrats to see their party as holding the high ground requires a lot of squinting. My solution would be a blanket impeachment that takes them all out.
This pox-on-all-their-houses wish stems from a conviction that we are nearing the point at which dysfunctional government becomes intractable, offering no hope of ever coming together to advance the nation past its many challenges.
Back to the Bible, what we may be witnessing are the end times of our Republic.
_____________________________
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Quick Ricky, tell us again how this is witness tampering and intimidation….
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The NY Times…. All the lies you can’t believe we’d print.
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https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1196265391795982342
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Garbage witnesses is all they have.
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Now why do you suppose that is?
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From World Magazine Shift today:
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Chick-fil-A ends donations that sparked protests
The Chick-fil-A Foundation will no longer support the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, which affirm a Biblical definition of marriage. The restaurant’s partnership with those groups fueled protests by those who label the company as anti-gay. The foundation said it would now focus its giving in the areas of education, homelessness, and hunger.
Does this satisfy Chick-fil-A’s critics? Many LGBT advocates welcomed the news, but some of the fast-food chain’s conservative and Christian customers said they felt betrayed. “Incredibly stupid move by Chick-fil-A,” blogger Matt Walsh tweeted. “They won’t appease the critics by caving but they might alienate some of their customers.” The foundation said its donations going forward could include faith-based or secular nonprofit groups. It also announced plans to support Covenant House, a ministry for homeless youth founded by a Catholic priest.
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I just saw that; it surprises me.
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Me, too.
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Womp, womp, womp…..
Poor Ricky. No one cares. 🙂
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2019/11/18/yawn-95-us-adults-skipped-fridays-impeachment-hearings
“Yawn: 95% of U.S. Adults Skipped Friday’s Impeachment Hearings”
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Too bad, so sad.
Dem Rep has to admit that none of the witnesses Dems called to testify last week had firsthand knowledge or evidence…
They heard it from a friend….
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Good news.
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And encouraging.
https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/1196415462038482944
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Don’t look now, but with their latest Ukraine issue not working out, Dems are once again about to move the goal posts.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/18/house-investigating-trump-lied-mueller/
“The House of Representatives is reportedly investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into the president.
“Did the President lie? Was the President not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” House general counsel Douglas Letter told the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about why the House now needs access to material from Mueller’s investigation, CNN first reported.”
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Keep fishing, we’re bound to get something, right?
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I’m not surprised. Modern capitalism demands continuous growth. Chick-a-fil had saturated their traditional markets and to maintain a growth strategy they expanded to NYC, Toronto, etc. However, fanchises in these areas had little value unless they changed their conservative values. Chick a fil had a choice; stay true to their conservative Christian values or stay true to modern capitalism. They choose the later.
Its not too different with Trump supporters. With rhetoric that paints any opposition as leftis or socialists (even an Economist editor), Trump supporters refuse to quit their support of Trump who they think represents right wing capitalist values even though Trump doesn’t represent Christian values. Hence they choose capitalism over conserative Christian values. I have long maintained that Christianity and capitalism are incompatible — both Chickafil’s actions and Trump confirm this.
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Ruh-roh Ricky.
Collapse is imminent.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/rep-lee-zeldin-impeachment-hearings-new-development
“Rep. Lee Zeldin: Upcoming impeachment hearings should be postponed due to new development”
“New developments in the impeachment probe were revealed during two closed-door depositions that took place over the weekend, revealed Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who called for a delay in the upcoming impeachment hearings until those transcripts are publicly available.
“A lot of people didn’t realize that once the cameras ended… on Friday, we then went back to this SCIF in the Capitol basement where there was a closed-door deposition,” Zeldin said on Fox Nation’s “Maria Bartiromo’s Insiders.”
David Holmes, assistant to Ambassador Bill Taylor in Ukraine, and Office of Management and Budget official Mark Sandy, testified before Congress over the weekend, in separate closed-door depositions following last week’s highly contentious public hearings.
According to Zeldin, Sandy “went right to the heart of why there was a hold on aid to Ukraine” during his Saturday deposition, and called for a release of the transcripts containing Sandy’s statement in time for week two of public hearings.
“A great answer given, a very informative answer by Mark Sandy,” Zeldin said, “and I think it would change some of the answers given by some of these other witnesses this week.”
While many of the transcripts from last week’s hearings, both public and private, remain unavailable at this time, much of Zeldin’s questioning for the upcoming hearings revolves around the new information, and he explained that deposition rules prevent him from referencing the substance of those interviews in public until the transcripts are released.
“I believe that we should not go forward with the next open public hearing until the rest of these transcripts are out, because I have questions to ask of these witnesses…based off of what we heard.”
— Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.”
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Good. They’re punching back.
Someone needs to pay for spreading all the libel and slander about Trump admin employees.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/white-house-official-sues-politico-targets-schiffs-role-in-impeachment
“White House official sues Politico, targets Schiff’s role in impeachment”
” The impeachment inquiry against President Trump has triggered a wave of charges, countercharges, court battles, subpoenas and legal threats.
Now it has produced its first libel suit.
A White House official on Monday sued Politico and one of its reporters over stories and tweets that he says falsely accuse him of “lying, deceit and unethical conduct.”
Kash Patel, the National Security Council’s senior counterterrorism director, is seeking more than $25 million in damages in the suit filed in Virginia. We have reached out to Politico for comment.
The lawsuit also names Natasha Bertrand, a Politico reporter and MSNBC contributor, as well as Politico owner Robert Allbritton. The allegations, which center on what the president was told about the situation in Ukraine, go to the heart of the case for impeachment. Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring told me: “This lawsuit is high on bombast and low on merit. It is unserious and is a public relations tactic designed to intimidate journalists and media organizations from doing their job.””
While Politico is the nominal target of the suit, it represents an aggressive attempt by a presidential aide to put Adam Schiff’s handling of the impeachment inquiry itself on trial. Describing the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee as “a demagogue with an ax to grind against the president,” Patel portrays Schiff as running roughshod over rules and interviewing witnesses “to create click-bait headlines and soundbites to feed to his co-conspirators and media sympathizers.”
The suit stems from Bertrand’s Oct. 23 story, headlined “Nunes Protege Fed Ukraine Info to Trump.” Patel previously worked for Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, spearheading the Intel Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, before joining the White House in February.
The Politico piece said Patel “was among those passing negative information about Ukraine to President Donald Trump earlier this year, fueling the president’s belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.”
Patel was “so involved in the issue,” the story said, that “at one point Trump thought he was in charge of Ukraine policy for the National Security Council.” This was attributed to closed-door House testimony by Fiona Hill,” a former NSC official. What’s more, Politico said, “Patel’s involvement demonstrates that the president had at least some support for the scheme from within the NSC” — the scheme being to pressure Ukraine into investigations that would help Trump politically.
In fact, Patel’s suit says, “at no time” before Oct. 30 “had Kash ever communicated with the president on any matters involving Ukraine. Kash never supplied any Ukraine ‘materials’ to the president.””
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With these people, truth takes a back seat to the agenda.
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Yep.
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