Impeachment Weekend

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Polls, Republicans, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

Compared to last week, there was little development over the weekend on the impeachment inquiry, but for a lot of eyes on the Trump team’s defense, as well as GOP reaction in Congress. From the talking heads on Sunday’s news shows, it looks like the Trump team defense is going to be… ineffective. On this particular day, the GOP decided … Read More

Weekly List 150

Ken AshfordWeekly ListLeave a Comment

This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump. I’ve always had the sense that when we were finally on the road to the end of the Trump regime, the weekly list would ramp up big time. Week 150 has 225 not normal items, 10% more than any other week — a sign of the bedlam we will … Read More

Document Dump: Senate Report On How NRA Became A Russian Asset

Ken AshfordGun Control, RussiaLeave a Comment

The National Rifle Association acted as a “foreign asset” for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Drawing on contemporaneous emails and private interviews, an 18-month probe by the Senate Finance Committee’s Democratic staff found that the NRA underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria … Read More

Trump Throwing Everything At The Wall Seeing What Will Stick

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Political Scandals, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

Trump sounds upset this morning: Donald Trump’s day so far: – Attacks CNN for removing the apostrophe from Liddle’– Refers to the apostrophe as a “hyphen”– Makes up word “discribing”– This is somehow happening– He’s cracking under the pressure of impeachment– Trump is going to prison– It’s still only 7am — Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) September 27, 2019 Yeah, I won’t … Read More

Fruity-G: Rudy Is Mental

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

Today’s Atlantic: Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry. “It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m … Read More

Crazy Day Number Three: Whistleblower Complaint Release; DNI Joseph McGuire Testifies [And Updates]

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

The whistleblower complaint has been released, and it alleged what we already know about (Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine to investigate Biden), plus more. It talks about how the White House handled records of the conversation and perhaps other conversations. Essentially, the complaint alleges that the White House would “lock down” words of the transcript. The whistle-blower, moreover, identified multiple … Read More

As Trump-Zelensky Call Is Released, DOJ Quietly Moves To Cover Its Ass

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

Around the same time, the Justice Department released three important bits of news. First, the DOJ revealed that the inspector general for the intelligence community referred the matter to the Justice Department for a possible criminal campaign violation, but the DOJ judged it was not a campaign finance violation and took no action. According the NY Times, both the Inspector General and … Read More

Document Dump: The Trump-Zelensky Phone Call

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

Just released by the White House. This is NOT verbatim, as the footnote in the document notes. One could argue that it is a crafty attempt to get us to overlook the ellipses by packing the actual text with completely insane and probably criminal comments. FYI: Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz reveals on @MSNBC that he and other members of Congress … Read More

Pushback

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

It has been an interesting experience observing the defenses of Trump and his talking heads against the whistleblower and yesterday’s announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry. Absurd almost. Trump’s first tweet about it was saying it was “fake news.” That phrase is almost reflexive now. A few made some half hearted attempts at claiming the “deep state” was involved, although … Read More

Breaking: Pelosi To Call For Impeachment Inquiry; Trump Will Release Transcript Of Zelensky Call And Whistleblower Complaint

Ken AshfordBreaking News, L'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & Administration, Trump ImpeachmentLeave a Comment

The open to @JakeTapper‘s newscast this afternoon: “This is a historic day.” pic.twitter.com/yo7N2qvadM — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 24, 2019 Speaker Pelosi will make a statement at 5 p.m. following the House Democratic Caucus meeting. Advisory coming… — Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) September 24, 2019 Only two presidents have been impeached: Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton. (Nixon resigned before the House … Read More

Impeachment Murmurs Get Louder

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Oh, it’s getting ugly out there. Even at Fox & Friends, they can’t mask the trouble Trump is in: Steve Doocy: “If the President said ‘I will give you the money but you’ve got to investigate Joe Biden,’ that is really off-the-rails wrong.” pic.twitter.com/2lxUPDERJM — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 24, 2019 Jonah Goldberg, a conservative columnist, says the most noxious … Read More

Breaking News From CNN

Ken AshfordBreaking NewsLeave a Comment

Iranian President Rouhani will not meet with US President Trump at the UN, the country's Foreign Minister said https://t.co/Nov5L4HyGX pic.twitter.com/odj04NxqCR — CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) September 23, 2019

What Are We Waiting For?

Ken AshfordDemocrats, L'Affaire Ukraine, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Basically the Democrats want a video of Trump killing a guy with his bare hands, followed by a phone call to Putin where he says,”here is my bank account where you can the deposit the ten million we agreed to.” How cut-and-dried do things have to be before Democrats finally get some balls? It seems the Democratic political ecosystem, though, … Read More