The case Jack Smith didn't get a chance to bring

President Donald Trump took classified documents related to his private business interests from the White House in 2021, according to materials the Justice Department apparently provided to the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the committee’s top Democrat, suggested in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that the new documents were handed over by mistake in a slapdash effort to discredit the dormant criminal case against Trump.

[...]

Raskin told Bondi the documents sent to the Judiciary Committee this month appeared to be part of a misguided Justice Department effort to feed Jordan damaging information about Smith.

“Apparently blinded by the frenzied search to find any scrap of evidence that could be twisted and distorted to level an attack against Special Counsel Smith,” Raskin wrote, “you have, quite amazingly, missed the fact that some of the documents you provided include damning evidence about your boss’s conduct and may well violate the gag order your DOJ and Donald Trump demanded from Judge Aileen Cannon.”

  HuffPo

Oopsie.

Clowns in charge of the country will inevitably make mistakes.

“These new disclosures suggest that Donald Trump stole documents so sensitive that only six people in the entire U.S. government had access to them, that the documents President Trump stole pertained to his business interests, and that Susie Wiles, then the CEO of Donald Trump’s super PAC, witnessed President Trump showing off a classified map to passengers on his private plane,” Raskin said in the letter.

Raskin asked Bondi to tell lawmakers in a classified setting who was on the plane, what the map showed and which of Trump’s various business interests were relevant to the documents. The letter includes an image of an aircraft manifest with a redacted passenger list from a 2022 flight from Florida to New York.

Yeah, Pam's not going to do any favors for Jamie Raskin. To be continued when Democrats gain control. Or will it be swept under the rug as they've always done?

If the map related to U.S. military posture in the Middle East and was shown to foreign officials, “that would amount to an unforgivable betrayal of our men and women in uniform who are currently valiantly fighting in President Trump’s disastrous war against Iran,” Raskin said.

Yes, but would it be out of character for Trump? He's never been working for the interests of the country.

I'm guessing that this evidence is in Smith's second report that Aileen Cannon is blocking and Pam Bondi is refusing to release.

House Judiciary waste of time

Adam Schiff opened his remarks to the ridiculous Jim Jordan-led hearing on Alvin Bragg's recently won criminal lawsuit against Trump:

“I want to begin by quoting the jury in the Manhattan hush money payment trial.”

“Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,” he said. “This was what the jury pronounced, unanimously on every count.”

[...]

Republicans in Congress were quick to lambast the trial and conviction as a fundamentally unfair trial that was politically motivated.

Thursday’s hearing, spearheaded by the GOP-led committee, brought that argument to the forefront, with the committee writing in a statement: “With his unprecedented, politicized indictment of President Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg has opened the door for politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials by state and local prosecutors.”

  The Hill

Aalvin Bragg brought a legal case against a fraud and criminal. He did his job.

“My Republican colleagues don’t really contest Donald Trump’s guilt; this is the fascinating thing,” Schiff, who is running for the California Senate seat left open by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), said. “Their argument is essentially he should have never been prosecuted, or they falsely claim it was a political prosecution, or they falsely claim it should have been a misdemeanor, not a felony.”

I wouldn't use the word "fascinating" to describe what the Republicans are doing.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The circus is coming to Washington

Sorry, Jim Jordan won't have time to get to important judiciary matters.

He's named 4 people at the White House, 11 people at DHS, 9 at the FBI, 3 at the Dept of Education, and the letter to DOJ has the longest list of people to be called in:

 [...] 

I think he means "Rank Member".  And those other "members" Matt Gaetz and Louie Gohmert.  The Judiciary Committee is a joke.  But not a funny one.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

FFS

Every Republican should be embarrassed.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Even deeper into Trump's corruption and attempted coup

Source article

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Add another Trump investigation

UPDATE:

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

He should, but he won't

And, of course, there should be Republicans signed on to that letter, but there aren't.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Perfect

Least competent sitting justice swearing in the newest least competent justice.

I might have thought the Chief Justice would do the swearing in, but this is more appropriate.

Also, no one is wearing a mask.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Uncalled for.  These are hateful people who have no business being on a judiciary committee.

UPDATE:

The Supreme Court announced that Roberts will give the judicial oath to Barrett in a private ceremony Tuesday after she was officially confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote.

“Upon administration of that oath, she will be able to begin to participate in the work of the Court,” the Supreme Court release states.

Barrett will be recognized in a formal ceremony at a special sitting of the Supreme Court “at a later date.”

The judicial oath will follow the constitutional oath that Justice Clarence Thomas will administer Monday night to swear in Barrett as a justice.

  The Hill

Is all that normal?

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

We'll see

Notes on the Judiciary impeachment hearing (taken in real time) - Part 3

We're in the final (long) stretch where all members get a five-minute shot at the witnesses.

I'm expecting the Republicans will all just use their five minutes to shout, without asking the witnesses any questions.  So far, minority chair Doug Collins did not disappoint.

Trump supporters don't know that, Kevin.  Sorry, you'll be hearing it again and again.

So in the end, I counted 10 Republican shriekers (plus Doug Collins) versus 5 questioners.  It was a very long day, and nothing new was brought out, but a timeline and facts were laid out and put in the record.  Some people will see clips on the news.  Probably less than 5 people in the country will have their minds changed or their eyes opened.

Sadly, the best arguments were presented by the last of the Democratic questioners by which time even interested spectators may have decided to call it quits.

My favorite part was where, under a friendly questioner, Steve Castor answered, "Oh heavens no," like Aunt Bea's friend clara on the Andy Griffith show.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Bingo.  Except Eric Swalwell - among the seniors - he's good at it. 

UPDATE:

Yes, we all know.  He means "Jew".  After all, Rudy Giuliani is a New York lawyer, and I'm sure he didn't mean to cast aspersions on Rudy.

Notes on the Judiciary impeachment hearing (taken in real time) - Part 2

After being interrupted and objected to for several minutes, Barry Berke, the Dems original presenter and Judiciary Committee lawyer, takes a seat of Nadler's counsel interrogator, and he's much better at that than presenting information.  He's hammering Castor with questions that are getting Castor in trouble.

Rather than throwing in the towel, Gaetz interrupts to stop the onslaught and give him a breather.  As they try to go on, other Republicans interrupt to save Castor, who's waaaaay out of his league.

Nadler is going to blow a gasket.

Rep. Doug Collins takes out Berke's attack on Castor on the Dems' witness Goldman.  He pounds the man mercilessly.  I thought Goldman would be able to block it better.

Things are seriously hot.  And Gaetz keeps shouting out whenever he feels like it.

Castor is so bizarre.  The Republican lawyer begins to question him, and he asks for time to talk.  She allows him, and he goes on a long, rambling, oddball spiel.  When she gets the floor again, she says Castor, you've been talking for 75 minutes here today, and I appreciate it.  He responds:  "My wife appreciates it, too.  She likes it when I do all the talking when she's not around."  And then gives a big weird grin.  WTF???

This woman they've got as the Republican counsel inquisitor is a snoooooooooze.  Between her and Castor, you might think you're in a high school moot court.  They'd be better off if they let Collins keep snarling.

She brings up Professor Turley, and Castor immediately says, "Turley's no Trump supporter."  She says, "Right.  He's a Democrat."  That's not true.  (I actually yelled that at the TV.) He may be no Trump supporter, but he's not a Democrat.  He's a civil libertarian.

It certainly appears that way.

Now we're going to go to the five-minute rounds.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Notes on the Judiciary impeachment hearing (taken in real time)

The Judiciary Committee folks are clowns compared to the Intel people both sides.  After an opening fiasco that Nadler doesn't seem equal to, the Dems' counselor gave his presentation.  Poorly.  Is this the best guy they had?

His use of Trump clips is good, though.

The Republicans are making the hearing an absolute circus.  As Kevin Kruse tweeted, they're "interrupting each other's interruptions." This is what was expected in Wednesday's hearing but didn't happened.  They must have gotten marching orders from Trump on over the weekend.

One of Republican presenter Steve Castor's complaints is that during the early closed door hearings, Democrats interrupted Republican witnesses.  I got a chuckle out of that, since that's what the Republicans have been doing in this hearing from the start.

When the Dems switched to Daniel Goldman, the attorney who sat with Adam Schiff on the Intel hearings, things got real.  This guy is good.

Republicans are kicking up a ruckus, with Matt Gaetz shouting out shit without being "recognized" to speak.  Somebody online suggests they're doing all this so people will give up and quit watching.  Possibly.  But they're also doing it beause they're dicks.

The hearing is on a break (objected to by the Republicans) after 2-1/2 hours.  When they come back, they'll have Castor again.  I'm going to pass on that, and go back when they do the 5-minute rounds questioning the witnesses.  I want to see Goldman take down the Republicans, but I have a feeling they won't be questioning him - they'll just be giving ranting speeches for five minutes each.

More later perhaps.

Yes.

This should be interesting

Did they not watch Castor's performance?  Were they not there?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Mark your calendar

9:00am EST, Monday, December 9, 2019

What to expect from the Republicans today

They’ve gotten into shouting matches over whether socialists are Nazis [courtesy Louie Gohmert]. They’ve clashed with the parents of children who died from gun violence [a Matt Gaetz stunt]. And they’ve insinuated that a key witness was having an affair on the eve of a marquee hearing [Also Matt Gaetz].

They’re some of the most colorful Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — and these lawmakers are ready to bring their antics to the next act in the impeachment saga.

The committee is home to members of the hard-line Freedom Caucus like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Louie Gohmert of Texas [known for his weekly stemwinders on the House floor, dubbed “Gohmert Hour,” and for getting into fiery exchanges with his Democratic colleagues and hearing witnesses], leaders of key conservative groups like Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and firebrands who have a flair for the dramatic like Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

  Politico

Aw, Jezus. I didn't realize Gym Jordan was already a member. I thought he was only on oversight. Ratcliffe - an asshat from the Intel Committee - is also on the Judiciary panel.

“It is our duty to raise every parliamentary and procedural maneuver that we can that’s legitimate,” said Biggs, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus. “Not to be dilatory, but to legitimately point out how flawed this process has been and how weak the Democratic case is. We will do that aggressively and assiduously.

“Let me put it this way: It will be better TV than the Schiff hearing,” he added.

Ah, yes. The pizazz.

Republicans on the committee are expected to throw up a series of procedural roadblocks to try to blunt Democratic momentum in any way they can at the Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing on Wednesday. It’s the kind of scorched-earth tactic Trump relishes.

[...]

Particularly with Trump declining to send lawyers to the hearing, he’s leaning on this cast of colorful characters to serve as his last line of defense in the House.

"Colorful." They're all white, and they're all assholes. That's not colorful. That's bullshit.

Democrats are bracing for the GOP to disrupt the hearings with procedural shenanigans, and they don’t want to be baited into any unnecessary process fights that could serve as a distraction. During a practice session on Tuesday, Democrats had people play the parts of Jordan and Rep. Doug Collins of Georiga, the top Republican on the committee, so members can be prepared for their antics.

It won't be quite the same.

Part of Democrats' strategy is to stage a slew of somber, solemn hearings, which they hope will draw a contrast with the circuslike atmosphere they expect from the other side, according to a committee aide.

Fair enough, but Trump and the MAGAheads will be more impressed with the "antics".  They don't care about solemnity.  Or democracy, for that matter.

Republicans are betting some of their Democratic colleagues won’t be able to resist a little drama, either. The Judiciary panel — which has jurisdiction over everything from immigration to guns — tends to attract partisan warriors on both sides.

[...]

Leading the impeachment fight for Republicans will be Collins, a former attorney and military chaplain. Collins is also considering a Senate run in 2020, meaning his performance in the high-profile impeachment hearings could bolster his national profile and boost any potential bid.

And even though he had Trump's endorsement and support to replace a Georgia senator, he got denied the position by Georgia's governor in favor of a woman. He'll be in fine feather.

Collins, known as a Southern spitfire among his colleagues, steered the GOP through several rowdy Judiciary hearings related to the Russia probe earlier this year. During the impeachment proceedings, Collins and his band of Republicans on the panel are expected to hammer Democrats over their process and the breakneck pace of their impeachment probe.

And because Republicans will have the power to call witnesses, offer evidence and issue subpoenas — although all subject to the Democratic majority’s approval — they may force a number of fights with their colleagues across the aisle.

[...]

While the Intelligence Committee has only nine Republicans, the fewest of any panel, the Judiciary panel has 17 GOP members keen to slug it out.

[...]

With the impeachment probe moving to the Judiciary Committee, GOP members feel like they will be on solid ground when the argument shifts back to process and they are able to engage in the political combat they are most comfortable with.

I hope Jerry Nadler is up to the task. The Democrats need to haul the hearing back to reasons for impeachment every time the Republicans try to drag it to process.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 12/5:  All in all, it was a fair day.

Trump's declination of invitation to appear

Trump's lawyer (Pat Cipollone) wrote to Jerry Nadler to decline the invitation to appear at the Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing this week.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: