The White House attempting to sabotage the investigation before it starts is a blatant show of bad faith. The Trump administration doesn't want the investigation to go unimpeded because they know it could expose something bad about Kavanaugh. There is no other reason to try to limit the scope of the inquiry by flat-out ordering the FBI not to interview key witnesses about key details.
The White House attempting to sabotage the investigation before it starts is a blatant show of bad faith. The Trump administration doesn't want the investigation to go unimpeded because they know it could expose something bad about Kavanaugh. There is no other reason to try to limit the scope of the inquiry by flat-out ordering the FBI not to interview key witnesses about key details.
It's useful to point out that Don McGahn is running the show here as White House counsel. He is the one calling the shots based on all the reporting (I doubt Trump has enough knowledge about the situation to even know where to start making orders about it). Not only has McGahn been Kavanaugh's handler through this entire process, he is also his close friend. I'm reasonably certain McGahn is part of the reason he was ever picked in the first place. The idea that he should be the one dictating terms to the FBI about the scope of this goes WAY beyond the phrase "conflict of interest". It is basically like letting Kavanaugh run the investigation himself.
Trump did send out a tweet last night saying the NBC News report is false (though it certainly didn't sound like he had written this one, it seemed like one of the rare instances when the communications staff did it for him). The thing about telling lies day in and day out for 18+ months is that there is no reason anyone should believe them in any circumstance, including this one.
Yeah he's denied placing any limits and the FBI isn't allowed to issue statements that contradict his lies. Would not surprise me if McGahn / Trump relaxed the restrictions Thursday night at 1145 pm so they can claim on Friday that there were no restrictions! That's the sort of schenanigans they've been doing this whole confirmation process with Kavanaugh.
So, now the NY Times is reporting that McGahn and the White House have only approved of four (yes, four) witnesses who the FBI is allowed to question. Aside from that absurd little factoid is that Professor Ford herself is NOT one of the four people on the list. Nor, for that matter, is Kavanaugh himself This entire thing is a sham, it is nothing but political cover for Republican Senators, and Jeff Flake is either a knowing participant in this charade, or immensely stupid and gullible.
You know, Republicans in the Senate and the White House have both the time AND the votes to push through any other nominee well in advance of the mid-terms, and even if they LOSE the Senate in the mid-terms, I am certain they would attempt to do so in the lame duck. There would be no tangible difference between how Kavanaugh would rule and his replacements would, since all of the contenders are vetted for years by the same conservative legal groups. So why don't they just do so?? Why die on the hill of a man who at the very least is accused by a credible witness of sexual assault and has lied under oath multiple times?? The answer to this question is possibly the most important issue in all of this.
Well I don't think there is anything else for Dr. Ford to add to her statement that is now on the record, unless she wants to take the advice of the prosecutor and do, I forget what she called it, but another type of statement and questioning. It was one of the last things she mentioned to Ford, and I can't find it now.
It'd be nice if both Judge and K took poly tests. They won't hold up in a court of law, but they should hold up to the scrutiny of a lifetime appointment.
And as I said, this is in Flake's camp. If he doesn't like the limits being placed on FBI then he and his band of rebels can still vote no.
Jeff Flake is getting death threats over Kavanaugh hearing
Flake, Coons say they were taken aback by Kavanaugh's 'partisan' testimony Graham: GOP senators want 'limited' FBI probe into Kavanaugh Kavanaugh's hearings are a national disaster — and the worst is yet to come FBI contacts second Kavanaugh accuser in investigation Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said his family received death threats after he asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teens.
The judge, who has strongly denied the allegation, also will testify before the committee on Thursday.
Flake, a key Republican who has yet to announce how he will vote on President Trump’s embattled nominee, said a caller warned that he would take Flake and his family “out” if he didn’t stop interfering.
“The toxic political culture that we have created has infected everything, and we’ve done little to stop. Winning at all costs is too high a cost,” he said in a video carried live Wednesday from the Senate floor.
“One man somewhere in the country called my office in Arizona saying he was tired of me ‘interrupting my president,'” Flake added.
“And of that offense of allowing Dr. Ford to be heard for this offense, me and my family would be taken out. I mention this with reluctance, but only to say we have lit a match, my colleagues. The question is do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?”
Flake is one of the key undecided Republican votes, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
He is the only one from that group who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and could sway the nomination given the split between the panel’s 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
Flake said the only certainty about the vote is that the outcome “will forever be steeped in doubt.”
Gee maybe Trump has been a terrible politician if anyone who disgrees with him about anything gets death threats. Perhaps we made a huge mistake in selecting the racist draft dodging philandering failed businessman reality TV guy.
Gee maybe Trump has been a terrible politician if anyone who disgrees with him about anything gets death threats. Perhaps we made a huge mistake in selecting the racist draft dodging philandering failed businessman reality TV guy.
Maybe the Democrats made a huge mistake in picking Hillary Clinton. Just saying. She's the only reason I voted for Trump and I'm not the only one...
Gee maybe Trump has been a terrible politician if anyone who disgrees with him about anything gets death threats. Perhaps we made a huge mistake in selecting the racist draft dodging philandering failed businessman reality TV guy.
Maybe the Democrats made a huge mistake in picking Hillary Clinton. Just saying. She's the only reason I voted for Trump and I'm not the only one...
*edit* Actually, you know what? No. Its not the Democratic parties' fault that Trump was elected. Trump was/is openly racist and beligerent, with a long history of fraud. Hilary was...not Republican and kinda unlikeable. I'm getting really tired of people blaming the other party for fielding a candidate they didn't like, so they voted for another person they didn't like. There were more than 2 people running for President. This was not an either/or choice.
Gee maybe Trump has been a terrible politician if anyone who disgrees with him about anything gets death threats. Perhaps we made a huge mistake in selecting the racist draft dodging philandering failed businessman reality TV guy.
Maybe the Democrats made a huge mistake in picking Hillary Clinton. Just saying. She's the only reason I voted for Trump and I'm not the only one...
*edit* Actually, you know what? No. Its not the Democratic parties' fault that Trump was elected. Trump was/is openly racist and beligerent, with a long history of fraud. Hilary was...not Republican and kinda unlikeable. I'm getting really tired of people blaming the other party for fielding a candidate they didn't like, so they voted for another person they didn't like. There were more than 2 people running for President. This was not an either/or choice.
I mean, you certainly didn't hear alot of Obama voters saying "well, I HAD to vote for him, the Republicans were running McCain" or "I had no choice, Romney was the other option". I guess what I'm trying to say is, no one really felt the need to add a caveat or excuse their vote for him. With Trump, it's something that comes up all the time.
I mean, you could certainly disagree with his policies, I disagreed with some of his policies. I never felt for one second that his conduct and behavior in office needed defending, because it was self-evidently above board. It HAD to be. He had to be 10x as careful and measured given his status as the first African-American President. Anyone think Barack Obama gets elected President if he has 5 kids with 3 different wives or has an affair revealed with a porn star??
And then you have last night, where Donald Trump is literally calling Democrats "the party of crime". Which is ironic considering how many indictments and convictions are coming out of his administration/campaign. But more to the point, has there EVER been a President who so transparently HATES half the country?? If people want to know why the opposition to Trump is so fierce, it would be helpful to grasp the fact that he views anyone who didn't vote for him as an enemy. His rallies are nothing but pure primal screams of undiluted hate. They are still chanting "lock her up" two years later. He keeps telling people about progress on a border wall that isn't even being constructed. Lately he has taken to adding in a story about him helping to clear rubble on 9/11, which NEVER happened.
I want to clarify that my message is not directed at @Balrog99 , I quoted him because his comment reminded me of what I CONSTANTLY hear from people who voted for Trump.
Let me tell a story about an event that took place VERY early in Obama's first term people may not remember. A well-known Harvard professor named Henry Louis Gates was arrested for trying to get into his own home he had locked himself out of. It was a fairly decent-sized news story, and at a press conference, Obama said the cops had acted "stupidly". And my oh me oh me oh my did the goddamn shit hit the fan. To the point where Obama literally had to invite him over to the White House for a a beer and photo-op with Gates to quell the controversy. Because this isn't a country where you can even call a police officer stupid for arresting someone trying to get into their own property. And it proved that even if you are the President of the United States, you still basically have to grovel and apologize if you offend the sensibilities of a white cop, even if what they did was totally out of bounds. That was the kind of bullshit tight-rope he was walking every day for eight years. Desperately trying NOT to offend a conservative media and movement that was never going to give him the benefit of the doubt in the first place.
He couldn't even start or entertain a serious conversation about race because he would be immediately accused of politicizing it. When Trayvon Martin was killed, he was raked over the coals for saying "if I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon" (and man alive, has the whole defense of that psychopath George Zimmerman ever turned out to be one of the worst takes in the history of opinions). He could barely make cursory statements about Black Lives Matter without being accused of fomenting violence. Meanwhile, Trump has ACTIVELY called for violence at his rallies and dismissed white nationalist terrorism in Charlottesville. There is no comparing these two men. One conducted himself like an upstanding gentlemen in office and one acts like piece of human garbage on a daily basis.
Gee maybe Trump has been a terrible politician if anyone who disgrees with him about anything gets death threats. Perhaps we made a huge mistake in selecting the racist draft dodging philandering failed businessman reality TV guy.
Maybe the Democrats made a huge mistake in picking Hillary Clinton. Just saying. She's the only reason I voted for Trump and I'm not the only one...
*edit* Actually, you know what? No. Its not the Democratic parties' fault that Trump was elected. Trump was/is openly racist and beligerent, with a long history of fraud. Hilary was...not Republican and kinda unlikeable. I'm getting really tired of people blaming the other party for fielding a candidate they didn't like, so they voted for another person they didn't like. There were more than 2 people running for President. This was not an either/or choice.
Unfortunately it was to me. Sorry. I can't stand Hillary Clinton and the only choice in my mind was Trump. There are basically only two choices for President in this country the Republican and the Democrat. I would have pissed my vote away on the Libertarian if Bernie had been an option. I know it was true because I stared at my ballot for quite a while before voting for Trump. It was likely a terrible decision but I know exactly why I did it and I'm sorry if you don't believe me @ThacoBell.
I don't think Hillary was that bad. Was she great? No. Hillary represented more of the same old same old.
It was dumb to push the candidate that had 30 years of smear campaigns against her. It's not right that 30 years of lying win in that case but some of that crap was going to stick in peoples subconscious. Even worse for her was that she lacked charisma or an engaging personality - that's a pretty big flaw. To me, being bland is more appealing than crazy and mean aggressiveness which is Trump.
I think a lot of people failed to recognize just how toxic Trump is and would be.
People took things for granted. They assumed we'd always have the rights and allies we had for years. People didn't imagine a President who would literally be a laughing stock and who would start fights with allies like Canada and trade wars. People had got fat dumb and complacent.
But they also wanted change. People foolishly assumed change would only be for the better. Didn't see change coming for the worst. The country the United States we know is in danger because of their mistakes. Not in a good way.
Dems could run a "make America great again" campaign in 2020 because Trump has made things worse since he took office.
I actually liked that Clinton was a boring technocrat. I want my politicians to be policy wonks instead of orators for the same reason I want my doctors to be nerds.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
I actually liked that Clinton was a boring technocrat. I want my politicians to be policy wonks instead of orators for the same reason I want my doctors to be nerds.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
Presumably Trump will have to publicly admit that he loves Justin Trudeau more than he loves Kim Jong Un. Then he will have to call Trudeau tremendous, yoooge and wonderful because right when you're embroiled in a million scandals (all the time for Trump) and there's an election about to happen you don't have a lot of leverage. Not to mention when the boss is an idiot, that doesn't help.
I actually liked that Clinton was a boring technocrat. I want my politicians to be policy wonks instead of orators for the same reason I want my doctors to be nerds.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
I forget. How many pending cases in the Supreme Court did Hillary have against her now? That were only put on hold due to her diplomatic immunity? Was it 4?
Well theres the rape and sexual harrasment charges, her violations of the constituions emouluments clause, and things like war crimes violations saying she wants to kill enemies families. Remember how she hid her tax returns to conceal her corruption and false records and refused to divest from her businesses? In 2016 she had 3500 federal lawsuits, a record for a presidental candidate...
Oh no wait those numbers are all Trump. Some cases are on hold because of his presidential immunity. Others are so bad they are going forward despite that.
I forget. How many pending cases in the Supreme Court did Hillary have against her now? That were only put on hold due to her diplomatic immunity? Was it 4?
It's not something I follow, but I'm pretty sure there are no pending cases against her in the Supreme Court. I'm not aware that she has ever benefited from diplomatic immunity (and if she has that would only be against foreign charges, not those in the US).
This Trump trade deal is by all accounts nothing but NAFTA with a name change and some changes to dairy products. This is how Trump operates. This is no different than buying a building and slapping his name on it.
I actually liked that Clinton was a boring technocrat. I want my politicians to be policy wonks instead of orators for the same reason I want my doctors to be nerds.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
I forget. How many pending cases in the Supreme Court did Hillary have against her now? That were only put on hold due to her diplomatic immunity? Was it 4?
Zero. Neither the Secretary of State nor any employee of the State Department receives diplomatic immunity from U.S. law. Diplomatic immunity applies to diplomats while in a country other than their home country. It would apply to a foreign ambassador residing in Washington, D.C. or a U.S. ambassador in London. It does not apply to a diplomat in their home country.
AFAIK, Hillary Clinton has never been a party to a Supreme Court case (i.e., as petitioner or respondent).
I looked it up and Clinton has no pending cases at the Supreme Court. Nor can I figure out where that information is coming from. I'm guessing it's some wild rumor or meme.
I actually liked that Clinton was a boring technocrat. I want my politicians to be policy wonks instead of orators for the same reason I want my doctors to be nerds.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
I forget. How many pending cases in the Supreme Court did Hillary have against her now? That were only put on hold due to her diplomatic immunity? Was it 4?
Well theres the rape and sexual harrasment charges, her violations of the constituions emouluments clause, and things like war crimes violations saying she wants to kill enemies families. Remember how she hid her tax returns to conceal her corruption and false records and refused to divest from her businesses? In 2016 she had 3500 federal lawsuits, a record for a presidental candidate...
Oh no wait those numbers are all Trump. Some cases are on hold because of his presidential immunity. Others are so bad they are going forward despite that.
Ouch.
It is a stupid statement, because as Grond said, diplomatic immunity is for FOREIGN prosecution. Which means diplomatic immunity means crap-all for citizens in domestic courts.
I think Putin hating her guts might have Russia suing her for something, maybe.
This Trump trade deal is by all accounts nothing but NAFTA with a name change and some changes to dairy products. This is how Trump operates. This is no different than buying a building and slapping his name on it.
Trump just said to a female reporter who he called on "I know you're not thinking, you never do", while a bunch of men smirk and laugh behind him. If I said this in response to a post in this thread, I would be banned.
Comments
Trump did send out a tweet last night saying the NBC News report is false (though it certainly didn't sound like he had written this one, it seemed like one of the rare instances when the communications staff did it for him). The thing about telling lies day in and day out for 18+ months is that there is no reason anyone should believe them in any circumstance, including this one.
You know, Republicans in the Senate and the White House have both the time AND the votes to push through any other nominee well in advance of the mid-terms, and even if they LOSE the Senate in the mid-terms, I am certain they would attempt to do so in the lame duck. There would be no tangible difference between how Kavanaugh would rule and his replacements would, since all of the contenders are vetted for years by the same conservative legal groups. So why don't they just do so?? Why die on the hill of a man who at the very least is accused by a credible witness of sexual assault and has lied under oath multiple times?? The answer to this question is possibly the most important issue in all of this.
It'd be nice if both Judge and K took poly tests. They won't hold up in a court of law, but they should hold up to the scrutiny of a lifetime appointment.
And as I said, this is in Flake's camp. If he doesn't like the limits being placed on FBI then he and his band of rebels can still vote no.
Jeff Flake is getting death threats over Kavanaugh hearing
Flake, Coons say they were taken aback by Kavanaugh's 'partisan' testimonyGraham: GOP senators want 'limited' FBI probe into Kavanaugh
Kavanaugh's hearings are a national disaster — and the worst is yet to come
FBI contacts second Kavanaugh accuser in investigation
Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said his family received death threats after he asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teens.
The judge, who has strongly denied the allegation, also will testify before the committee on Thursday.
Flake, a key Republican who has yet to announce how he will vote on President Trump’s embattled nominee, said a caller warned that he would take Flake and his family “out” if he didn’t stop interfering.
“The toxic political culture that we have created has infected everything, and we’ve done little to stop. Winning at all costs is too high a cost,” he said in a video carried live Wednesday from the Senate floor.
“One man somewhere in the country called my office in Arizona saying he was tired of me ‘interrupting my president,'” Flake added.
“And of that offense of allowing Dr. Ford to be heard for this offense, me and my family would be taken out. I mention this with reluctance, but only to say we have lit a match, my colleagues. The question is do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?”
Flake is one of the key undecided Republican votes, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
He is the only one from that group who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and could sway the nomination given the split between the panel’s 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
Flake said the only certainty about the vote is that the outcome “will forever be steeped in doubt.”
And, from Jimmy Fallon:
And this rather funny mashup of Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel L. Jackson
https://www.facebook.com/uncutCG/videos/10101941206579891/
And from Stephen Colbert
I mean, you could certainly disagree with his policies, I disagreed with some of his policies. I never felt for one second that his conduct and behavior in office needed defending, because it was self-evidently above board. It HAD to be. He had to be 10x as careful and measured given his status as the first African-American President. Anyone think Barack Obama gets elected President if he has 5 kids with 3 different wives or has an affair revealed with a porn star??
And then you have last night, where Donald Trump is literally calling Democrats "the party of crime". Which is ironic considering how many indictments and convictions are coming out of his administration/campaign. But more to the point, has there EVER been a President who so transparently HATES half the country?? If people want to know why the opposition to Trump is so fierce, it would be helpful to grasp the fact that he views anyone who didn't vote for him as an enemy. His rallies are nothing but pure primal screams of undiluted hate. They are still chanting "lock her up" two years later. He keeps telling people about progress on a border wall that isn't even being constructed. Lately he has taken to adding in a story about him helping to clear rubble on 9/11, which NEVER happened.
He couldn't even start or entertain a serious conversation about race because he would be immediately accused of politicizing it. When Trayvon Martin was killed, he was raked over the coals for saying "if I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon" (and man alive, has the whole defense of that psychopath George Zimmerman ever turned out to be one of the worst takes in the history of opinions). He could barely make cursory statements about Black Lives Matter without being accused of fomenting violence. Meanwhile, Trump has ACTIVELY called for violence at his rallies and dismissed white nationalist terrorism in Charlottesville. There is no comparing these two men. One conducted himself like an upstanding gentlemen in office and one acts like piece of human garbage on a daily basis.
It was dumb to push the candidate that had 30 years of smear campaigns against her. It's not right that 30 years of lying win in that case but some of that crap was going to stick in peoples subconscious. Even worse for her was that she lacked charisma or an engaging personality - that's a pretty big flaw. To me, being bland is more appealing than crazy and mean aggressiveness which is Trump.
I think a lot of people failed to recognize just how toxic Trump is and would be.
People took things for granted. They assumed we'd always have the rights and allies we had for years. People didn't imagine a President who would literally be a laughing stock and who would start fights with allies like Canada and trade wars. People had got fat dumb and complacent.
But they also wanted change. People foolishly assumed change would only be for the better. Didn't see change coming for the worst. The country the United States we know is in danger because of their mistakes. Not in a good way.
Dems could run a "make America great again" campaign in 2020 because Trump has made things worse since he took office.
There are a lot of people in this world that are likable. Finding someone who knows how to do their job competently is much harder, and much more important.
Oh no wait those numbers are all Trump. Some cases are on hold because of his presidential immunity. Others are so bad they are going forward despite that.
AFAIK, Hillary Clinton has never been a party to a Supreme Court case (i.e., as petitioner or respondent).
It is a stupid statement, because as Grond said, diplomatic immunity is for FOREIGN prosecution. Which means diplomatic immunity means crap-all for citizens in domestic courts.
I think Putin hating her guts might have Russia suing her for something, maybe.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-usmca-key-changes-1.4845239
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/usmca-nafta-what-we-know-1.4845103
I personally don’t like how the US got more in dairy than the TPP. Everything else is fine though IMO.