From the beginning, Vice-President Mike Pence has been up to his eyeballs in the felonious shenanigans of this Administration.
Never forget:
1. He was MANAFORT’S CHOICE FOR VICE -PRESIDENT.
2. He was Head of the Transition.
3. He lied all about Mike Flynn.
So, when I read this article, I wasn’t shocked. For several reasons. Pence keeps on this scam, thinking that if he just hides in the background, that folks will forget all the mess that he’s eyeballs deep into with this Administration. He doesn’t grasp that Dolt45 isn’t going down alone. If he’s going down, ERRRRRRBODY is going down with him, and that begins with Mike Pence.
Rachel Maddow had a good and entertaining segment about this. How Pence and his team’s lies just don’t correspond with what happened. And, not only does it not correspond, but, in many ways, Pence’s actions put him in closer with the crimes that Dolt45 is being impeached over than anyone else, other than Dolt45 himself.
Report implicates VP Pence in intensifying Trump scandal
10/03/19 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
………………….
The timeline of events paints an exceedingly unflattering picture. We know that Trump personally intervened to delay U.S. aid to Ukraine, which was desperate for the American assistance. We also know that Trump soon after had a telephone meeting with Zelenksy in which the Ukrainian leader stressed the significance of the aid package, only to hear his American counterpart say in response, “I would like you to do us a favor, though.”
Trump’s wish list included, among other things, Ukraine taking law-enforcement action to undermine Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.
We now also know that in the wake of that conversation, it was Mike Pence who spoke with Zelenksy in person, reiterating Trump’s expectations.
That’s not a great position for the vice president to find himself in. Trump’s actions are likely to lead to his impeachment, and it now appears Pence may have done something quite similar.
One of the most striking things about the Washington Post’s report on this isn’t just the top-line revelation, but also the behind-the-scenes drama – because reading the article, it seems clear that there are factions inside the White House, one of which is eager to drag Pence into this mess, and one of which is scrambling to keep the vice president out of it.
The trouble with the defense from Team Pence is how underwhelming it is.
The Post article noted, for example, that officials close to the vice president “insist that he was unaware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information about Biden and his son.” Or put another way, Pence told the Ukrainian leader that U.S. aid was on hold, and Pence pressed Zelensky about “corruption” concerns, but the Indiana Republican didn’t fully understand the big picture.
There are problems with the defense. A top member of Pence’s team, for example, was on the Trump/Zelensky call. Pence also had access to the transcript of that call soon after it took place. The Post also reported, “White House officials said that Pence probably would have received the detailed notes of the president’s call in his briefing book on July 26,” the day after the phone meeting.
What’s more, the detailed call summary was likely part of the briefing materials Pence received before his in-person meeting with the Ukrainian president. The article added, “Officials close to Pence contend that he traveled to Warsaw for a meeting with Zelensky on Sept. 1 probably without having read — or at least fully registered — the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with the leader of Ukraine.”
I did appreciate the use of the word “registered” – as if Pence saw the document showing Trump pressing Zelensky on Biden, but the vice president didn’t fully get it.
Team Pence will have to do better than this.
Here’s that good Maddow segment:
Pence,
at center of Trump Ukraine scheme, scrambles for cover
Rachel Maddow shares reporting from the Washington Post that Donald Trump made Mike Pence the middle man in his scheme to manipulate the president of Ukraine, leaving Pence scrambling to explain how he wouldn’t have been aware of the role he was playing.
So, we now have the Secretary of State, The Attorney General, and now the Vice-President all wrapped up in this.
But, there’s more.
Hello, China.
I fully believe that there is a transcript of a call to China on that secret server. Always believed that.
Dolt45 yesterday:
REPORTER: What exactly did you hope the Ukrainian president would do about the Bidens?
TRUMP: “I would think that if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation … they should investigate the Bidens … China likewise should start an investigation.” pic.twitter.com/gLVBjmSs3q
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 3, 2019
Trump brazenly (and on camera) pushes for foreign campaign help
10/03/19 12:41 PM
By Steve Benen
………………..
So, on the one hand, Trump and his team are engaged in intense trade negotiations with China. On the other hand, Trump is now publicly calling on China to dig up dirt on one of his domestic political rivals. Indeed, within a minute of seeking Beijing’s 2020 help, Trump added, “I have a lot of options on China, but if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous power.”
Daniel Dale joked, “If a whistleblower had come forward to say Trump had privately told Xi he should launch an investigation into the Bidens, it’d be a huge story. That’s what Trump just did publicly.”
In case that weren’t quite enough, during the same brief Q&A, the American president again called on Ukraine to go after the Democratic presidential hopeful. “I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens.”Subtlety has been thrown out the window. Trump is now doing publicly what he’s being impeached for doing privately.
At the least the cover-up phase is over: accused of privately pressing foreign officials to target an American opponent, Trump has decided to publicly press foreign officials to target an American opponent.
Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) Tweeted:
NEW: Trump’s attorney tells a federal judge that if he does not rule on their motion to temporarily block Manhattan DA Vance’s subpoenas by their Monday morning deadline, he will treat that “inaction” as a denial and appeal.
cc: @CourthouseNews https://t.co/IxUYMNEegc https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1180216434124820485?s=17
https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1180243019561394179
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1180219937329225728
A United States Senator 😒😒😒
The Curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL 😠 😠
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1180186328916512768
https://twitter.com/MoniquePressley/status/1180179176634114050
Thread
https://twitter.com/investing_city/status/1179974257779982336
https://twitter.com/ZcohenCNN/status/1179934569325367302
Tell it 👏 👏
https://twitter.com/ShannonSharpe/status/1179531330607972352
🤔🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/1179778881613549574
🤔🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/1179778881613549574
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1179783963902132225
They are now saying it was a heart attack, myocardial infarction.
Like I been saying, Bernie is too old for the 2020 election, so is Joe Biden.
Yep 😒
https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/1179816223049240576
😠😠😠
https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1180144335226097664
I am going to do tribute post for Ms. Carroll.
RIP 😪 😪
Diahann Carroll, pioneering actress on ‘Julia’ and ‘Dynasty,’ dies at 84
POSTED 11:18 AM, OCTOBER 4, 2019, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK —Diahann Carroll, the Oscar-nominated actress and singer who won critical acclaim as the first black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series as “Julia,” has died. She was 84.
Carroll’s daughter, Susan Kay, told The Associated Press her mother died Friday in Los Angeles of cancer.
During her long career, Carroll earned a Tony Award for the musical “No Strings” and an Academy Award nomination for “Claudine.”
But she was perhaps best known for her pioneering work on “Julia.” Carroll played Julia Baker, a nurse whose husband had been killed in Vietnam, in the groundbreaking situation comedy that aired from 1968 to 1971.
Although she was not the first black woman to star in her own TV show (Ethel Waters played a maid in the 1950s series “Beulah”), she was the first to star as someone other than a servant.
The Democrats should have an entire Impeachment Social Media Team.
Dems fume over DNC treatment of Biden
The national party’s low-key role sparks frustration as Trump pummels the former vice president.
Oct 4, 2019
IRS Whistleblower: Political taint in Trump or Pence audits: WaPo
Tom Hamburger, national security reporter for the Washington Post, talks about what is known about an IRS whistleblower who has raised alarm that audits of Donald Trump or Mike Pence’s taxes, which should be insulated from politics, have been subject to pressure from a Treasury Department political appointee.
Pence strains credulity with ‘obliviousness’ defense
Greg Miller, national security reporter for the Washington Post, talks with Nicolle Wallace about Mike Pence’s argument that he had no idea about the subtext of the message he was delivering to Ukrainian President Zelensky, and the growing amount of reporting on the opportunities Pence had to be better informed, as well as his responsibility to do so.
Congress refining Trump corruption into impeachment case
Matt Miller, former spokesman for the Justice Department, discusses the range and rate of scandalous behavior produced by the Donald Trump administration and the urgency with which House committees are working to distill that behavior into a clear case for impeachment.
McFaul: Why did no one say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong’?
Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Nicolle Wallace about the role of State Department officials in the Trump Ukraine scandal, and wonders why no one at the White House explained the U.S. national security interests of defending Ukraine from Russia to Donald Trump.
Swalwell: Trump engaged in a ‘shadow shakedown’ of Ukraine
Rep. Eric Swalwell, member of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Nicolle Wallace about the latest revelations about Donald Trump’s attempt to leverage military aid for Ukraine for his own personal political ends.
Trump envoys pushed Ukraine on Biden probe statement: NYT
Michael Schmidt, Washington correspondent for the New York Times, talks about new reporting that envoys of Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to produce a statement committing to an investigation of his political rivals.
Comcast & Byron Allen’s $20B SCOTUS Battle Sees POTUS Candidates Assail NBC Owner Over Civil Rights Law
By Dominic Patten
Senior Editor, Legal & TV Critic
October 3, 2019 4:02pm
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1180106199297138688
John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) Tweeted:
response of GOP House member when i asked about demonstration of quid pro quo in texts releases last night:
“Haven’t seen them. More focused on Schiff and Pelosi’s refusal to follow normal process for impeachment inquiry. Delegitimizes the entire effort” https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1180121543034228741?s=17
Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) Tweeted:
Not a single Republican member of Congress will be able to claim, “Hey, when Trump stood on the White House grounds and betrayed our democracy, I immediately took a principled stand to defend our Constitution” https://t.co/luTOYBoIJJ https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1180120038340272129?s=17
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1180111558174629888
We could have had taco trucks on every corner 😒😒😒
Look at this deliciousness 😋😋😋
https://twitter.com/TheKitchenista/status/1180127054504873984
https://twitter.com/Bakari_Sellers/status/1180113732896206848
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1180100085788631040
https://twitter.com/PortiaMcGonagal/status/1180115676427501568
https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1180126480233308160
https://twitter.com/glennkirschner2/status/1180110705489514501
https://twitter.com/TalbertSwan/status/1179947300656963584
He works for Dolt45. Of course, he is a villain. Still wants to save himself,like the viper he is.😒😒
https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1180117430972100608
https://twitter.com/smsaideman/status/1179790080279564289
https://twitter.com/pastpunditry/status/1179779172811587584
https://twitter.com/agraybee/status/1179773392314089473
https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1179771369522892800
By a 52-21 margin, Americans think asking Ukraine to investigate Biden is an abuse of power, per USAToday poll.
The gap among independents is huge: 45%-16%.
It’s even close among Republicans: 30%-40%.
Doubling down like this is … unbelievably risky. https://t.co/PDVrJrMxSB
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) October 3, 2019
Garbage..pure garbage
Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT
.@amychozick
got her hands on that “Clinton Cash” book, y’all
Uh huh 😒🙄
https://twitter.com/SallyQYates/status/1180086950444879874
Thread
https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1179951768542892032
https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1179965245244235776
https://twitter.com/moira/status/1179962829446799360
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1179850674558779392
https://twitter.com/annargriff/status/1179960850729164802
https://twitter.com/HayesBrown/status/1179959387294769152
https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1179956039745179648
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1179955855288090624
https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1179956667955515394
https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1179948231603707905
Things are moving fast. Yesterday, Mr. Volker testified for NINE HOURS.
AND BROUGHT TEXT MESSAGES 😲😲
Good Morning, Everyone 😊😊😊